2017 was not a good year for me; in fact, it supplanted 2007 as my shittiest year so far. There were, however, a few bright spots. In this post I’ll list the books I most enjoyed reading and the “ticket stub reviews” of movies I saw in 2017. I may eventually get around to sorting through the photos I took and pick out some favorites, but not today.
First, the books. Each year, I list the books I read in the back pages of my journal and give them a star rating from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). I don’t think I’ve ever had a one-star book on the list, mainly because if it’s that bad, I most likely didn’t read more than two or three chapters before giving up on it. Sometimes I finish a book and forget to add it to the list, so it’s probable that I’ve read three or four more books than listed. I have 33 books on the 2017 list. I won’t type the titles of all 33 books, but will tell you the ones I enjoyed most.
I did not rate any book with five stars.
Four star books:
Star Trek: The First 50 Years, Volume 1
Star Trek: The First 50 Years, Volume 2
Hidden Figures
Jim Henson: The Biography
I usually enjoy reading fiction more than non-fiction, so it’s interesting to me that the four best books I read last year were all non-fiction.
I saw twelve movies and one stage play in 2017. I save the ticket stubs and write tiny reviews on them, then stuff them in an envelope in the back of my journal. Here are the movies – and stage play – I saw, in chronological order, and the ticket stub reviews I wrote:
Hidden Figures – Excellent! Oscar contender.
Lego Batman Movie – Non-stop laughs.
Beauty and the Beast – Enchanting
Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 – Good, but 1st was better.
Wonder Woman – Empowering
Despicable Me 3 – Funny & sweet
Spider Man Homecoming – Light & fun
Leap! – Cute
*The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) – First time I really laughed in a month.
Victoria and Abdul – Judy Dench rules!
Thor: Ragnarok – Thumping good time!
Murder On the Orient Express – Murder of the 1974 movie.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Good, not great. Not as fun as the originals.
*stage play
The best movie I saw last year was Hidden Figures. I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to read the real story of these remarkable women and the book was one of the four best books I read in 2017.
What was your favorite book and/or movie of 2017?