Are we all just here because You’ve Got Mail is in our top movies? Seems like it!
1. My favorite movies are Dirty Dancing, You’ve Got Mail, Grease, and Now and Then.
2. My favorite book is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Every time I finish it, I just want to start it over. The first time I read it, I felt like it had always been a part of me.
3. BIG BIG BIG recommendation for Taskmaster on YouTube. Family friendly! Truly hilarious. Start with season 2, just because the first episode of that season is a perfect hook/example of what the show is like.
1. I'm really bad at watching movies and one of my goals this year is to watch more, but right now, I'd say When Harry Met Sally, Knives Out, Legally Blonde and Spotlight. That feels like a strange list, so I might have to think about this more and watch more movies.
2. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. It's very grounded magical realism appeals to me in the sense of what is possible in a novel, but Aimee Bender portrays every character so empathetically and tenderly. I return to it every few years when I need a boost. I also just finished The Last Devil to Die, the most recent installment of the Thursday Murder Club books and while I cannot pick a favorite of those, they are just so delightfully funny and so warm that I want to curl up inside every single one. This more recent one will stick with me for a while.
3. I am bouncing around quite a bit in my TV watching these days, but I have to say, Kerry, if you have a way to watch CBS' Ghosts, you really must! I think it would be right up your alley. I hear that the British version is also very good, but I haven't seen it yet myself.
I LOVED The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake when I read it years ago...maybe I need to do a reread.
The only knowledge I have of Ghosts is the GIFs I see on social media. But I always love a sitcom and have such a hard time finding new ones, so I'll give it a try! Thank you for the recommendation!
Ghosts is one of my current faves and this is shocking, but the American version is better than the British version. I feel like that never happens but I love the American actors. I am so excited new episodes are coming this month.
Love this idea! Love to see what other people are reading and watching!
1. Movies: Princess Brides (also maybe a favorite book) Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility (everyone in that movie flawless) Sixteen Candles (if only my 16th birthday has been like that) and finally the all time favorite You’ve Got Mail - I’m not sure what I love most about the movie, Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Manhattan, Dave Chappell???
2. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. This series is just a love letter to readers
3. Finishing the latest season of All Creatures Great and Small and starting on the new season of Vera.
All Creatures is one of my faves, too! I just finished season two and I'm in no hurry to watch season three because I like knowing I have so much left.
What are your four favorite movies (your Letterboxd top four, in other words)?
A Room With a View (Merchant/Ivory FOREVER), The Goonies, Moonstruck, The Princess Bride
What is your favorite book of all time? I’d love to hear why if you’re so inclined.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. This has become my comfort novel. I am not religious and they way it satirizes religion really tickles me. I love every character. They feel like family.
What TV show are you currently watching? I'm re-watching Northern Exposure on Prime and it is bringing me so much joy. This show is so quirky and fun and hilarious and thoughtful and I love it.
This WILL be the year I finally watch A Room With a View!
I've also been thinking about rewatching Northern Exposure, although I've only seen part of the first season, which I own on DVD (although it's currently buried in my basement somewhere). I'm so glad it's streaming now!
1. The current situation on my Letterboxd (@emsaf98) is in no particular order: Coyote Ugly, Black Swan, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Pulp Fiction, but four is never enough!! (Honestly Little Women (2019) is probably a close 5th if not one I'd swap to put on there)
2. Secret History by Donna Tartt!!
3. Currently living for new season of Vanderpump Rules, Love Island Allstars and The Traitors season 2! On the non-reality tv side, I have been working my way through American Horror Story for the first time.
I would like to commend Coyote Ugly. I remember renting it at Blockbuster (!) and they would shout the movie title as they slid it around security. So embarrassing. Also the SOUNDTRACK.
1. Sense and Sensibility, The Big Lebowski, The Departed, and of course You've Got Mail!
2. The Idiot by Elif Batuman because it's the most I've ever been able to relate to a main character. It also perfectly describes that feeling of being lost and awkward and on your own for the first time.
3. Homeland: It's not a great show! It's cheesy and has too many plot twists, many that are infuriating and make no sense! But I love the Carrie/Saul characters and storyline. And there's so much wonderful "Claire Danes cry face."
I want to watch The Departed because I just finished (and loved) Killers of the Flower Moon, and I realized I've never seen any of Martin Scorsese's "big" movies.
Sense and Sensibility and You've Got Mail in my top 4 as well. So many great lines and the acting is just perfect. Alan Rickman is forgiven for his characters in both Love Actually and Robin Hood because of this movie!
1. Movies: Clueless, Pride and Prejudice (2005!), Crazy Rich Asians, and White Christmas
2. how to choose???? If forced into a single choice, I'd say HOPE WAS HERE by Joan Bauer - but if I could toss a series in there, it's the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace, always.
3. Just finished the Percy Jackson series on Disney+ and had an amazing time! I'm a touch too old to have grown up with the books, but I read them all this year as part of a dive into middle grade and the series is a perfect adaptation of it.
1. Four favorite movies as of right now, this moment: Juliet, Naked; My Cousin Vinnie; Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael; This Is Spinal Tap
2. Favorite book of all time again is Anne Frank's diary. It has just always been a very meaningful book to me. Another book I would name as of right now, this very moment, would be I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella. I have probably listened to that audiobook 18x.
3. We are currently watching The Expanse as a family, and I just finished up For All Mankind! We're all about space over here apparently. I am also watching My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Obviously I knew you were going to say Juliet, Naked because you're doing the Lord's work spreading the good word about that movie!
I was absolutely obsessed with Anne Frank's diary as a kid. I would repeatedly check it out from the library and carry it around everywhere with me. I haven't tried reading it as an adult!
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of my all-time faves!! I have one of the songs stuck in my head at all times.
haha if I'm remembered for one (1) thing let it be my love of Juliet, Naked.
I've reread her diary multiple times, including in the last couple of years! It's still wonderful! I also carried it everywhere with me as a kid!
Thank you for understanding that I did not mean "MY Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," I've been really fixated on that mistake. I actually still think of your post where you talked about your two favorite songs, which I didn't let myself click on then because I hadn't seen the whole show, but I'm saving it for when I have.
Very late to this game as I'm catching up on all my newsletters today but I love this idea!
1. Favorite movies will always and forever be Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again; I think they are perfect and everything media should be. Honorable mentions go to The Sound of Music (a childhood favorite) and Crazy Rich Asians (A++ rom-com).
2. I always annoy myself trying to answer this because I'm incapable of declaring an all-time favorite book, but The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan comes to mind as one that kind of changed my life?? I read it my senior year of college when I'd just gotten back into reading for fun for the first time in years and was immediately obsessed/deeply emotionally invested, and it's what got me thinking (in a very naive and honestly kind of bonkers way) that maybe I could try to write a romance novel. My first attempt was basically Royal We fanfiction, then I got a more original idea, etc etc the rest is history, so I'll always have a soft spot for that one!
3. I'm almost caught up on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and it's been enjoyable in a totally detached from reality way, but what I really want is ten more seasons of Vanderpump Rules, the existing ten of which I watched in a fever dream two months at the end of last year!
It IS hard to choose one all-time favorite book...I spent years trying to figure out what mine is and now that I have a good answer I'm NEVER changing it!! I loved The Royal We, too...love that it was your gateway into romance writing!
What are your four favorite movies (your Letterboxd top four, in other words)?
Lady Bird, 500 Days of Summer, Cool Hand Luke, Little Women
What is your favorite book of all time? I’d love to hear why if you’re so inclined.
This is too hard to answer -- my favorite book I read last year was Stay True by Hua Hsu. I love male-male friendship! I think it is really important and also an an area of life I have no experience in!
What TV show are you currently watching?
Loudermilk on Netflix! It's like Netflix's version of Shrinking!
1. Favorite movies are: 10 Things I Hate About You, Good Will Hunting, Beauty & The Beast (Disney animated) and Little Women (2019). I feel like that is a wide range, but I can always sit down and watch these movies which I think make them favorites. I'm *gasp* not a big movie watcher. But you inspire me, Kerry! :)
2. Favorite book of all time is HARD. I feel like every life season I have a new favorite. For a long time (age 15 - 25) I would have told you Catcher in the Rye. I, like Holden, felt my HS was full of "Phonies". I haven't read that book since my mid-20s so I should go back! Now I think my favorite book is either Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese , Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, or The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. All three have sweeping stories and beautiful writing.
3. Currently watching Season 4 of True Detective on HBO MAX. It's a bit creepy, but I'm so intrigued! I'm also rewatching Never Have I Ever on Netflix. I think its such a smart show set in High School.
I love love loved Catcher in the Rye in high school (I'm sure that's not surprising) and I'm always thinking about doing some Salinger rereads, but I haven't made it happen yet.
Okay, I really need to start season 4 of True Detective! I loved the first season, didn't watch the second, and liked the third.
1. Casablanca, It’s a Wonderful Life, E.T., Harold and Maude, (4 is impossible) Royal Tennenbaums, Top Hat, Jaws
2. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater--it’s a perfect book, one I’ve read & listened to (omg the audio book is so good) at least 20 times and I still find more to delight in every time
3. Shows are so mood based for me! But I’m obsessed with All Creatures Great and Small, will always stop everything to watch Project Runway, recently obsessively watched Halt and Catch Fire, and super enjoyed The Morning Show
Movies: The Holiday, Walk Don't Run, The Fifth Element, Penelope (and probably a lot more but those are the first that came to mind!)
Book: Jane Eyre, with a close second being The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, which only adds to my love of the classic
TV: I just finished Miranda on Britbox and it's really delightful and funny! Loved seeing a quirky female character who wasn't a manic pixie dream girl. I've been on a Hallmark movie kick so rather than TV I'll be watching all the new Jane Austen-inspired movies premiering this month, for better or for worse.
The Worst Person in the World runs through my mind often and Early Morning Riser is just the best!
1. About a Boy, Happy Thank You More Please, Groundhog Day, The Goonies
2. Joyful, Ingrid Fetell Lee - I'm much more of a fiction reader but this book helped me prioritize small things in my everyday to create joy (like a disco ball planter)
3. Just starting the new season of Queer Eye, it's the only reality type show I watch and I know I'll cry at least one episode.
Are we all just here because You’ve Got Mail is in our top movies? Seems like it!
1. My favorite movies are Dirty Dancing, You’ve Got Mail, Grease, and Now and Then.
2. My favorite book is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Every time I finish it, I just want to start it over. The first time I read it, I felt like it had always been a part of me.
3. BIG BIG BIG recommendation for Taskmaster on YouTube. Family friendly! Truly hilarious. Start with season 2, just because the first episode of that season is a perfect hook/example of what the show is like.
I'm rereading fangirl this year because I loved it but never read it again and it feels like it's burning a hole in my kindle to be read again.
This is clearly a PRO You've Got Mail crowd!
Grease was a big favorite of mine in junior high and I watched it/listened to the soundtrack over and over. But I haven't seen it as an adult!
Thank you for the Taskmaster info! I'm always looking for a fun show we can all watch together.
I’ve also played Jan (brusha brusha brusha) in a stage performance of Grease so I have an extra soft spot for it!
Chiming in because this is fun!
1. Movies: Step-Brothers, Meet the Parents, A Christmas Story, and Klaus.
2. Book: "Watermelon" by Marian Keyes (my first introduction to the romcom)
3. What We Do in the Shadows (on Hulu). Hilarious.
I love that two of your favorites are Christmas movies!
OMG Marian Keys! I've discovered her in college and read everything I could get my hands on. Rachel's Holiday was so sad.
1. I'm really bad at watching movies and one of my goals this year is to watch more, but right now, I'd say When Harry Met Sally, Knives Out, Legally Blonde and Spotlight. That feels like a strange list, so I might have to think about this more and watch more movies.
2. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. It's very grounded magical realism appeals to me in the sense of what is possible in a novel, but Aimee Bender portrays every character so empathetically and tenderly. I return to it every few years when I need a boost. I also just finished The Last Devil to Die, the most recent installment of the Thursday Murder Club books and while I cannot pick a favorite of those, they are just so delightfully funny and so warm that I want to curl up inside every single one. This more recent one will stick with me for a while.
3. I am bouncing around quite a bit in my TV watching these days, but I have to say, Kerry, if you have a way to watch CBS' Ghosts, you really must! I think it would be right up your alley. I hear that the British version is also very good, but I haven't seen it yet myself.
I LOVED The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake when I read it years ago...maybe I need to do a reread.
The only knowledge I have of Ghosts is the GIFs I see on social media. But I always love a sitcom and have such a hard time finding new ones, so I'll give it a try! Thank you for the recommendation!
Ghosts is one of my current faves and this is shocking, but the American version is better than the British version. I feel like that never happens but I love the American actors. I am so excited new episodes are coming this month.
Love this idea! Love to see what other people are reading and watching!
1. Movies: Princess Brides (also maybe a favorite book) Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility (everyone in that movie flawless) Sixteen Candles (if only my 16th birthday has been like that) and finally the all time favorite You’ve Got Mail - I’m not sure what I love most about the movie, Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Manhattan, Dave Chappell???
2. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. This series is just a love letter to readers
3. Finishing the latest season of All Creatures Great and Small and starting on the new season of Vera.
All Creatures is one of my faves, too! I just finished season two and I'm in no hurry to watch season three because I like knowing I have so much left.
It is def one you want to savor!
I love the Thursday Next series so much and try to convince everyone to read it! Also SO excited for the Shades of Grey sequel finally coming soon.
What are your four favorite movies (your Letterboxd top four, in other words)?
A Room With a View (Merchant/Ivory FOREVER), The Goonies, Moonstruck, The Princess Bride
What is your favorite book of all time? I’d love to hear why if you’re so inclined.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. This has become my comfort novel. I am not religious and they way it satirizes religion really tickles me. I love every character. They feel like family.
What TV show are you currently watching? I'm re-watching Northern Exposure on Prime and it is bringing me so much joy. This show is so quirky and fun and hilarious and thoughtful and I love it.
Good Omens - that is one I could reread every year and it never gets old!
This WILL be the year I finally watch A Room With a View!
I've also been thinking about rewatching Northern Exposure, although I've only seen part of the first season, which I own on DVD (although it's currently buried in my basement somewhere). I'm so glad it's streaming now!
1. The current situation on my Letterboxd (@emsaf98) is in no particular order: Coyote Ugly, Black Swan, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Pulp Fiction, but four is never enough!! (Honestly Little Women (2019) is probably a close 5th if not one I'd swap to put on there)
2. Secret History by Donna Tartt!!
3. Currently living for new season of Vanderpump Rules, Love Island Allstars and The Traitors season 2! On the non-reality tv side, I have been working my way through American Horror Story for the first time.
Little Women (both 2019 and the 90s one) could easily make my top four, too!
Can you believe I’ve never read Secret History?? I started it once and for some reason stopped…I need to finally finish it!
I would like to commend Coyote Ugly. I remember renting it at Blockbuster (!) and they would shout the movie title as they slid it around security. So embarrassing. Also the SOUNDTRACK.
So underrated in my opinion!
Btw- I adore your newsletter!!!
Thank you!
Secret History is so good! Definitely a commitment, but a really great book overall. How far into it did you get?
Traitors is so good!! The UK and Australia versions are also on Peacock and very good, as well.
This is my first time watching it! May have to get into the other series after this season is over.
1. When Harry Met Sally, 2. The Princess Diaries, 3. Pride and Prejudice (2005)
2. I really can't ever pick a favorite book!! It's always whatever I read most recently. But my favorite book that I read last year was The Measure.
3. Watching the new season of True Detective (but it is soooo creepy) and season 2 of The Bear
When Harry Met Sally is basically a perfect film!
We keep putting off starting the new season of True Detective but I'm looking forward to it.
1. Sense and Sensibility, The Big Lebowski, The Departed, and of course You've Got Mail!
2. The Idiot by Elif Batuman because it's the most I've ever been able to relate to a main character. It also perfectly describes that feeling of being lost and awkward and on your own for the first time.
3. Homeland: It's not a great show! It's cheesy and has too many plot twists, many that are infuriating and make no sense! But I love the Carrie/Saul characters and storyline. And there's so much wonderful "Claire Danes cry face."
I want to watch The Departed because I just finished (and loved) Killers of the Flower Moon, and I realized I've never seen any of Martin Scorsese's "big" movies.
The Idiot really did perfectly capture that feeling!
Sense and Sensibility and You've Got Mail in my top 4 as well. So many great lines and the acting is just perfect. Alan Rickman is forgiven for his characters in both Love Actually and Robin Hood because of this movie!
Love this!
1. Movies: Clueless, Pride and Prejudice (2005!), Crazy Rich Asians, and White Christmas
2. how to choose???? If forced into a single choice, I'd say HOPE WAS HERE by Joan Bauer - but if I could toss a series in there, it's the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace, always.
3. Just finished the Percy Jackson series on Disney+ and had an amazing time! I'm a touch too old to have grown up with the books, but I read them all this year as part of a dive into middle grade and the series is a perfect adaptation of it.
White Christmas!!! I rewatched it last year and really forgot how perfect it was.
I loved Joan Bauer as a teenager and I think she's underrated!
1. Four favorite movies as of right now, this moment: Juliet, Naked; My Cousin Vinnie; Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael; This Is Spinal Tap
2. Favorite book of all time again is Anne Frank's diary. It has just always been a very meaningful book to me. Another book I would name as of right now, this very moment, would be I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella. I have probably listened to that audiobook 18x.
3. We are currently watching The Expanse as a family, and I just finished up For All Mankind! We're all about space over here apparently. I am also watching My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Obviously I knew you were going to say Juliet, Naked because you're doing the Lord's work spreading the good word about that movie!
I was absolutely obsessed with Anne Frank's diary as a kid. I would repeatedly check it out from the library and carry it around everywhere with me. I haven't tried reading it as an adult!
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of my all-time faves!! I have one of the songs stuck in my head at all times.
haha if I'm remembered for one (1) thing let it be my love of Juliet, Naked.
I've reread her diary multiple times, including in the last couple of years! It's still wonderful! I also carried it everywhere with me as a kid!
Thank you for understanding that I did not mean "MY Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," I've been really fixated on that mistake. I actually still think of your post where you talked about your two favorite songs, which I didn't let myself click on then because I hadn't seen the whole show, but I'm saving it for when I have.
That audiobook is SO GOOD! It was my gateway drug to audiobooks. One of the few I've listened to more than once too!!!!!
Very late to this game as I'm catching up on all my newsletters today but I love this idea!
1. Favorite movies will always and forever be Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again; I think they are perfect and everything media should be. Honorable mentions go to The Sound of Music (a childhood favorite) and Crazy Rich Asians (A++ rom-com).
2. I always annoy myself trying to answer this because I'm incapable of declaring an all-time favorite book, but The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan comes to mind as one that kind of changed my life?? I read it my senior year of college when I'd just gotten back into reading for fun for the first time in years and was immediately obsessed/deeply emotionally invested, and it's what got me thinking (in a very naive and honestly kind of bonkers way) that maybe I could try to write a romance novel. My first attempt was basically Royal We fanfiction, then I got a more original idea, etc etc the rest is history, so I'll always have a soft spot for that one!
3. I'm almost caught up on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and it's been enjoyable in a totally detached from reality way, but what I really want is ten more seasons of Vanderpump Rules, the existing ten of which I watched in a fever dream two months at the end of last year!
It IS hard to choose one all-time favorite book...I spent years trying to figure out what mine is and now that I have a good answer I'm NEVER changing it!! I loved The Royal We, too...love that it was your gateway into romance writing!
What are your four favorite movies (your Letterboxd top four, in other words)?
Lady Bird, 500 Days of Summer, Cool Hand Luke, Little Women
What is your favorite book of all time? I’d love to hear why if you’re so inclined.
This is too hard to answer -- my favorite book I read last year was Stay True by Hua Hsu. I love male-male friendship! I think it is really important and also an an area of life I have no experience in!
What TV show are you currently watching?
Loudermilk on Netflix! It's like Netflix's version of Shrinking!
I love books about male friendships too...part of why I loved A Little Life so much!
1. Favorite movies are: 10 Things I Hate About You, Good Will Hunting, Beauty & The Beast (Disney animated) and Little Women (2019). I feel like that is a wide range, but I can always sit down and watch these movies which I think make them favorites. I'm *gasp* not a big movie watcher. But you inspire me, Kerry! :)
2. Favorite book of all time is HARD. I feel like every life season I have a new favorite. For a long time (age 15 - 25) I would have told you Catcher in the Rye. I, like Holden, felt my HS was full of "Phonies". I haven't read that book since my mid-20s so I should go back! Now I think my favorite book is either Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese , Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, or The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. All three have sweeping stories and beautiful writing.
3. Currently watching Season 4 of True Detective on HBO MAX. It's a bit creepy, but I'm so intrigued! I'm also rewatching Never Have I Ever on Netflix. I think its such a smart show set in High School.
I love love loved Catcher in the Rye in high school (I'm sure that's not surprising) and I'm always thinking about doing some Salinger rereads, but I haven't made it happen yet.
Okay, I really need to start season 4 of True Detective! I loved the first season, didn't watch the second, and liked the third.
You didn't miss anything with the 2nd season. I didn't like it. This season is similar to tone & style of season 1. Love it.
I love reading all of these! Fun!
1. Casablanca, It’s a Wonderful Life, E.T., Harold and Maude, (4 is impossible) Royal Tennenbaums, Top Hat, Jaws
2. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater--it’s a perfect book, one I’ve read & listened to (omg the audio book is so good) at least 20 times and I still find more to delight in every time
3. Shows are so mood based for me! But I’m obsessed with All Creatures Great and Small, will always stop everything to watch Project Runway, recently obsessively watched Halt and Catch Fire, and super enjoyed The Morning Show
So many of your favorite films almost made my top four...Royal Tennenbaums! It's a Wonderful Life!
Movies: The Holiday, Walk Don't Run, The Fifth Element, Penelope (and probably a lot more but those are the first that came to mind!)
Book: Jane Eyre, with a close second being The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, which only adds to my love of the classic
TV: I just finished Miranda on Britbox and it's really delightful and funny! Loved seeing a quirky female character who wasn't a manic pixie dream girl. I've been on a Hallmark movie kick so rather than TV I'll be watching all the new Jane Austen-inspired movies premiering this month, for better or for worse.
The Holiday is a perfect film. I haven't read Jane Eyre since high school but I'm always thinking about doing a reread!
Thank you for the recommendation for Miranda...it sounds great!
The Worst Person in the World runs through my mind often and Early Morning Riser is just the best!
1. About a Boy, Happy Thank You More Please, Groundhog Day, The Goonies
2. Joyful, Ingrid Fetell Lee - I'm much more of a fiction reader but this book helped me prioritize small things in my everyday to create joy (like a disco ball planter)
3. Just starting the new season of Queer Eye, it's the only reality type show I watch and I know I'll cry at least one episode.
Ah, Groundhog Day! Just rewatched it with my family and it's so perfect.
I need to read Joyful because it seems very up my alley and I love Ingrid's instagram.