venus in the night

Today's snowflake_challenge prompt: Top 10 Challenge.

I'm going to interpret this as ten faves, not necessarily top ten, in a few different categories.

10 Favourite Albums I Listened To in 2025

This past year I made it a goal to listen to 50 albums (increased from my original goal of 2025). EPs of more than two tracks counted for this tally. They didn't have to be released in 2025, though there were several then-new releases that I checked out. Relistens of albums I'd listened to prior to 2025 also counted. The main rule was I had to listen to them start-to-finish, without skipping or shuffling a track. (relevant tag here where you can find out what 50 albums I listened to.)

Of the 50, I'll shout out these ten in particular (half of which came out this year)...

* The Weather Station - Humanhood
* TORRES - Sprinter
* The Ophelias - Spring Grove
* Bartees Strange - Horror
* Amy Millan - I Went To Find You
* Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor
* Nilüfer Yanya - Dancing Shoes (EP)
* Touché Amoré - Spiral in a Straight Line
* English Teacher - This Could Be Texas
* La Force - XO SKELETON

10 Favourite Songs Listened To in 2025
When tracking the albums I listened to througout 2025, sometimes I also made a note of any songs on them that stuck out to me. These are a handful of them (six from albums released in 2025)...

* The Weather Station - Sewing (from Humanhood)
* TORRES - Drive Me (from Thirstier)
* Lucy Dacus - Talk (from Forever Is a Feeling)
* Julien Baker and TORRES - No Desert Flower (from Send a Prayer My Way)
* Touché Amoré - Non Fiction (from Is Survived By)
* Touché Amoré - Limelight (from Lament)
* Nilüfer Yanya - midnight sun (from PAINLESS)
* Hayley Williams - True Believer (from Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party)
* Bartees Strange - Pigs Fly (from Shy Bairns Get Nowt)
* Turnstile - LOOK OUT FOR ME (from NEVER ENOUGH)

10 Favourite Books Read Since 2019
Back in 2019 I made it a point to get back into reading actual books (fiction and not). I may not be the most prolific reader -- I'm pretty sure my combined book total from 2019 to 2025 would be the number of books more prolific readers would get through in one year -- but I think I've done alright for myself!

* Taylor Jenkins-Reid - Daisy Jones and the Six
* Caroline B. Cooney - Before She Was Helen
* Damon Garcia - The God Who Riots
* Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
* L.M. Montgomery - The Blue Castle
* Mary Henley Rubio - L.M. Montgomery: The Gift of Wings
* Sarah Polley - Run Towards the Danger
* Amanda Peters - The Berry Pickers
* Sophie Lewis - Enemy Feminisms
* Taylor Jenkins-Reid - Atmosphere

11 Favourite Films Watched from 2013 to 2020
Over on my Tumblr during that time period, I tracked my film watching as (particularly during 2013 and 2014) I wanted to watch more of them. I would write about them there, and then maintain a film table where I'd rate each film one to five stars (five meaning I really liked it!). I had a number of four+-star rated films I watched during those years, including but not limited to...

* Walkabout (1971; Australia)
* A Woman Under the Influence (1974; USA)
* Charade (1963; USA)
* Babette's Feast (1987; Denmark)
* The Ballad of Narayama (1958; Japan)
* Pumzi (2009; Kenya)
* Metropolis (1927; Germany)
* Too Young To Die (2002; Korea)
* Black Girl (1966; Senegal)
* Parasite (2019; Korea)
* Elevator to the Gallows (1958; France)

(There were waaaaay more that I enjoyed; that's just a taster.)