Welcome to the end of the year, where I share my top 10 list from all the pop culture I’ve consumed over the year. This year I watched too much TV, listened to some great podcasts, and read a few great books! Here’s my favorites to share with you as we wrap up 2025. Make sure to share your favorites in the comments!

Hush – I will read and listen to anything that Leah Sottile creates. Her latest season of the podcast Hush was another epic installment in “true crime that’s really journalists doing good journalism”. This would be a great travel binge podcast this holiday season.

Good Hang with Amy Poehler – Please don’t make me pick a favorite episode so far. Amy is such a fun and down to earth interviewer and her guests have all been incredible. I have always wanted to be friends with Amy Poehler and this podcast further cements that.

What Kind of Paradise – I can’t stop thinking about this book I read two months ago. What if the Unibomber had a child that he raised in the woods and then life happens and you hear her story in flashbacks? I had heard good things, but this was even better than I expected.

Careless People – I had no interest in reading the book about how terrible Facebook is, but a friend told me it reads like a novel and is super fast paced. Accurate, I forgot sometimes these are real people, not characters that I hate even more than I did before. If you are concerned about social media and the future of tech, don’t skip this. Also, listen to the audiobook on this one- the author is from New Zealand…

The God of the Woods – I read this at the beginning of the year and it was intense and riveting. I don’t always like people who mysteriously disappear or kids being taken, but this story was something else. Every time I see someone is reading this book I get excited for them to experience it.

And So It Goes – Did I think I needed a two part documentary about Billy Joel this summer? No, I didn’t. But was it incredible and did I learn a lot and enjoy every minute of it? YES I did! This would be a great holiday watch with family of all ages…

The Pitt – Like the rest of the world, we jumped on the bandwagon and loved the first season. I didn’t realize I needed Noah Wyle to be a doctor at every stage of my life (and his), but I guess I do. And we’re all luckier for it. Also the healthcare system in our country is an abomination, but you knew that.

Platonic – Seth Rogan is super annoying, and so I started and stopped (and started) again with The Studio when it came out. But then I remembered that Rose Byrne is a comedic genius and we don’t appreciate her enough, so I gave Platonic a shot and I binged the first season in two days. You will too. But maybe not in front of your kids or grandparents.

Death by Lightning – When I saw that Nick Offerman was going to be in a historical drama about the death of President Garfield I thought it might be interesting and I’d get around to it at some point. It started getting great buzz when it came out so we tried it out, and it was great! I wish there were more historical dramas like this – fast paced and easily digestible – to teach me about more presidents (we tried the Ken Burns doc and made it a half hour, not quite my speed…)

Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music – 2025 started off as the year of the SNL 50th anniversary. With so many specials and events dedicated to the history of the show, this Questlove produced documentary about the music of SNL is far and away the best thing to come out of the celebration. I will turn on that opening montage and immediately transferred to a very happy place.

It was a wild year and a lot of sad, scary, and hard things happened for many of our friends, families, and neighbors. These were a few things that helped me escape, find respite, and recharge to continue the work. What pop culture helped you get through 2025? What are you excited for in 2026?

I always look forward to November as a bonus pop culture consumption month, and although I didn’t read much this month, I did watch a lot of holiday movies over the long weekend and consumed some great pop culture to help you get through the end of the year…

Reading

I have one book left to make my goal for the year of reading 40 books. I’ll make that goal this month, somehow… November wasn’t a great reading month for me – quantity wise, but it was great QUALITY wise. A few people online recommended Awake by Jen Hatmaker, which I hadn’t really though I’d be interested in. I was wrong, it’s incredible. Hatmaker is a well known Christian author and pastor’s wife who discovers he’s having an affair, so she gets divorced and continues raising her kids on her own (all through the pandemic). The story is fascinating and if you grew up evangelical (like me), this is one you’ll want to read. I did the audiobook and she was great.

I have had The Compound on my list for a while, and it finally came up at the library (along with 7 other books I wanted to space out over time but here we are…) and it was GREAT! Beautiful people sequestered in a compound and are being filmed for a popular reality series. If you enjoy reality TV (or honestly, if you hate it too) this was a great read.

Listening

I had been waiting for the second season of Hush to build up so I could binge the series, and it was excellent! Leah Sottile and the OPB team did it again. This time it’s an unsolved murder of a girl in Columbia County (within an hour from where I live). If you like true crime, and appreciate good journalism, this story really tells both stories, and why not having local news media is a problem in our country. I loved it (I love everything Leah does!)

I’m almost done with The Preventionist from Serial Productions and it’s really wild, as Serial podcasts tend to be. Ina Garten on Amy Poehler’s pod was my favorite interview this month for sure!

I am also really looking forward to Rachel Maddow’s new pod – Burn Order about what lead to Japanese internment camps during WWII. Okay, “looking forward to” is probably the wrong phrase, but I know I’m going to learn a lot and it’s a story I think we need to hear right now.

Watching

There’s a lot going on in the world, and here in Hillsboro right now, so my TV watching tends towards the light and frivolous. I am always grateful for the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and shows like Loot and Palm Royale. However, we watched Death by Lightening and it was FANTASTIC! It’s only four episodes about the death of President Garfield. The cast is incredible, and the story is one that I didn’t know. I wish there were more easily digestible history lessons like this, we started The American Revolution and I do not have the mental capacity for that series yet..

I watched The Roses on my flight home from Thanksgiving and it was hilarious and exactly what I needed on a plane ride, although my seat mate (husband) wishes I’d watched it at home with how much (and loudly) I laughed. Over the holiday with family I watched a few Christmas movies and A Very Jonas Christmas was exactly the over the top ridiculous holiday movie we needed to kick off the season!

I hope you were able to eat leftover pie for breakfast and binge TV shows, or podcasts, or hide in a closet and read over the holiday weekend. What pop culture are you excited for as we wrap up 2025?