The Best of 2022

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We made it to the end of the year... and our favorite episode! The hosts of LARB Radio Hour Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman share their favorite books, movies, TV shows, podcasts, music, and more in this look back at the year that was 2022.

BEST BOOK

• Eric: Douglas Stuart, Young Mungo


• Kate: Kathryn Scalan, Kick the Latch; Yiyun Li, The Book of Goose; Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation; Elvia Wilk, Death by Landscape; Rachel Aviv, Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us; Annie Ernaux, assorted titles; Gwendolyn Riley, My Phantoms; Natalia Ginzburg, Family Lexicon


• Medaya: Gwendolyn Riley, My Phantoms; Elif Batuman, Either/Or; Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain; Claire Louise Bennett, Checkout 19; Tove Jannson, The Summer Book; + Audiobooks: Tina Brown, The Palace Papers; Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice 

BEST MOVIE

• Eric: Barbarian; Tár; Everything, Everywhere, All at Once; Honorable Mention: The Black Phone, Official Competition


• Kate: Vengeance is Mine (1984); The Devil, Probably (1977) — both released by The Film Desk; All the Beauty And The Bloodshed 


• Medaya: Tár; Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

BEST TV SHOW

• Eric: Acapulco; Mythic Quest; Physical 


• Kate: The Parisian Agency


• Medaya: Seinfeld; Love is Blind; Nathan For You / The Rehearsal; White Lotus 

BEST PODCAST

• Eric: Loud: The History Of Reggaeton (Spotify/Futuro Media); Honorable Mentions: Missing Richard Simmons (Dan Taberski/Pineapple Street) and The Town (Matt Belloni/Puck)


• Kate: HeidiWorld: The Heidi Fleiss Story


• Medaya: Poog

BEST MUSIC

• Eric: Rosalia, Motomami; Beyoncé, Renaissance; Taylor Swift, Midnights; Carly Rae Jepsen, The Loneliest Time


• Kate: NTS Radio; Baby Oh! de San Martin Texmelucan


• Medaya: Rosalia, Motomami; Beyoncé, Renaissance; Beverly Glen-Copeland

OBJECTS WE COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT THIS YEAR

• Eric: ASUS Pro-Art external monitor for laptop; AMC Theaters’ recliner seats


• Medaya: Mascara :)

BEST SCANDAL:

• Kate: L.A. City Council Tape Scandal