I meant to post this closer to New Year’s Day, but so go the resolutions. Here are the books and music I particularly enjoyed last year (no matter when they were released).

Books

I don’t know if these were truly the best books I read, but they are the ones I remember, that particularly enthralled me or have stayed in my mind.

• Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru
• Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Music

Again, these may or may not be the best but the numbers don’t lie. Here are my top 20 most-listened-to artists, tracked by Last.fm. Proving that, while I try to listen to new music as much as possible, most of my musical DNA set fast in my twenties.

Not represented is the music listened to in my car (since Last.fm doesn’t scrobble my old-fashioned mix CDs). If we factor that in, I’m sure you’d see a much higher representation of They Might Be Giants, Tegan & Sara, Fitz & the Tantrums, and Girl Talk.

I know.

1. The Mountain Goats
2. Metallica
3. The Beatles
4. Sufjan Stevens
5. Phish
6. Rush
7. Beastie Boys
8. fun.
9. Fucked Up
10. Bob Mould
11. Anthrax
12. Yo La Tengo
13. S.O.D.
14. Diana Krall
15. Weezer
16. Grateful Dead
17. D.R.I.
18. Group Love
19. Brian Eno
20. Frank Ocean