A Penny For Your Books

Just like everyone else, I am a victim of hobby and interest-rotating. Sometimes I’ll find a game I’m really interested in, every once in a while the tv screen becomes a safe haven, and a majority of the time I can’t put a book down. But due to the constancy of job applications, streaming movies and shows have reclaimed my top hobby spot. After all, they can function as full-focus activities or as a background bustle.

Because of my increase in media consumption, I figured it’s time for an updated Top 5 with shoutouts to some additional favorites. I’ve had a focus in horror for reading, screens, and life endeavors. Spooky season probably influenced this, but I’d been slowly leaning into horror for months by the end of October. Thus, you can probably guess what will lead my charts.

TV/Movies

• The Haunting of Hill House series
  • I loved coming home to turn this on. This show has the perfect mix of horror, family, mental health struggles, plot twists, and believability. It follows a family who continues to be plagued by the hauntings of their past as their current lives are fraught with death, drugs, lies, ghosts, twists, and turns.
• The Cloverfield Paradox
  • This movie does an incredible job at exploring complications of space-time within dimensional travel. It’s stressful, freaky, and leaves the viewer guessing as a crew travels to space and tests a particle accelerator in an attempt to generate infinite energy for a war-torn Earth.
• Shadow and Bone series
  • I absolutely adore Leigh Bardugo and need to read the rest of her books. So far I’ve only read Ninth House and Hell Bent, but the Grishaverse books are now high on my list. Bardugo is an executive producer of the show, so that’s all you need to know. I won’t forgive Netflix for cancelling it.
• A House of Dynamite
  • I don’t think I’ve watched another movie recently where I absolutely could not look away. This movie is suspenseful and terrifying, probably at least in part due to how realistic it is and how it could actually happen in the near future. It’s about the White House Situation Room and a US government response to an anonymous and relatively unprovoked nuclear bomb on its way to the Midwest.
• Mindhunter series
  • I’m also mad that this show was canceled. It follows two men who interview serial killers and develop the behavioral unit of the FBI. It’s wonderfully interesting and fits in with the true crime podcasts I keep listening to.
• Honorary Mention: Frankenstein 2025
  • Jacob Elordi doesn’t disappoint. Neither does Oscar Isaac or the incredible Mia Goth.

Books

• Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
  • Vampirism, feminism, sapphic tension, along with hysteria and nerves turned to longing and wanting. A woman learns what it is to want, what it is to be a woman, and what it is to be her. One of my favorite books of all time.
• Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
  • Vampirism…again. A woman can only consume blood, but longs for the flavors of normal food. Life is similarly dull, until it isn’t. This book also explores a woman becoming, and it does it incredibly well.
• Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
  • Ottessa writes the weirdest books and I love them all. During this audiobook, I felt disgusted, happy, devastated, alarmed, pissed, and nauseous. I loved it. I don’t know how to describe much of anything for this book–just read it.
• Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (Translator Sarah Moses)
  • Humans farm and slaughter other humans deemed less-than, and it’s normal (kind of). This book explores capitalism, labor, exploitation, torture, rights, and more. I actually almost didn’t finish it because it was so off-putting, and now I’m writing a Marxist analysis of this book for a final paper. Read it!
• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
  • This book is about the ongoing genocide in Palestine. It’s incredibly well-written and is a must-read for everyone. Even if you’re not into politics, read this book.
• Honorary Mention: The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica (Translator Sarah Moses)
  • This is the second Agustina book on this list, so you know how it is. Weird, feminist, creepy, stomach-churning–all the best qualities.

When it comes to podcasts, I’ve been listening to every possible episode of Morbid, hosted by Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart. They’re hilarious and incredible storytellers, and I’m laughing or gasping all the way through their shows. Please, if you need a new podcast, check them out.

Thank you for reading, and definitely let me know if you end up watching, reading, or listening to any of these. Also feel free to let me know your favorites, as I’m always looking for recommendations.