I always write that I believe I'll have some new kind of introduction to this post, yet it’s seemed craven in recent years to celebrate anything during the heights of the pandemic, the lives lost in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank (and so many places around the world), the invasion of Ukraine, and the terrorizing of immigrants and our Trans friends, family, and neighbors (and so many others) in this country. The sadness and horror can feel endless and yet we still create and consume art and we still try to figure out how to get through. So, I'm back with this post, I’ve added some new wrinkles (honoring those we lost, as well as the Top Five downloaded episodes of This Podcast Will Change Your Life), and I'm once again joined by the delightful guest blogger, consummate pop culture consumer, and son extraordinaire Myles Tanzer.
So, as it has been, and God-willing, always will be.
Just better.
Let's begin.
Memoirs and creative nonfiction assemblages that sing, and hurt, and explore trauma, death, nostalgia, pop culture, love, literature, the present, past and future, and everything in between.
Finding GOD Along the Way / Christine Eberle, The Great Black Swamp / Patrick Wensink, Leave / Shayne Terry, How the Hell Did I Not Know That? / Lucie Frost, Watching the Detective / Deborah Shapiro
Essay collections that spoke to me and will speak to you that had some quite memoir-like qualities.
Out There in the Dark / Catherine Coldiron
Nonfiction work that is academic, definitely, sort of memoir-like, by friends old and new.
Patterns that Remain / Stacey Diane Arañez Litam & The Magic of Knowing What You Want / Tracey Gee
Poetry that’s memoir-like, heartbreaking, and achingly beautiful.
Brutal Companion / Ruben Quesada, Salt Pruning / Ignatius Valentine Aloysius & David Allen Sullivan, Feller / Denton Loving
Novels that are memoir-like, or auto-fictionesque & just quite terrific.
If You Love It, Let It Kill You / Hannah Pittard
Terrific novels steeped in mystery & dread, life & loss, folklore & wholly engaging, while speaking to the times we live in.
The Castle / Seth Rogoff, The Divorcees / Rowan Beaird, Deaf Heaven / Curtis Smith, Situation Nowhere / Bobby Miller
And the novel that was so wholly engaging and whacked I could not put it down, period.
The Stalker / Paula Bomer
Fantastic books written by fantastic authors and friends whose lives and work I intersected with this year in all sorts of literary ways.
Psalms from the Badlands / Hosho McCreesh, Miles in Time / Lee Matthew Goldberg, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls / Maureen Aitken
Kick-ass short story collections by kick ass writers who, you know, kick ass.
A Flash of Darkness / M.M. De Voe & Detonator / Peter Mountford
And a wonderful short story collection I was honored to blurb.
Magic Can’t Save Us / Josh Denslow
Novels by former Tortoise authors & Chicago humans who are both wonderful and substantive, the authors and the books.
American Mythology / Giano Cromley & The Perturbation of O / Joseph G. Peterson
Movies I re-watched, because well, Noah Tanzer or Myles Tanzer and you know, parenting.
Mystic River
Movies I re-watched because there was a special screening at the Music Box Theatre (and the tickets were a present from Myles Tanzer) and were still quite good.
Friday Night Lights
Movies I missed and / or forgot about and finally watched and were mostly pretty good.
28 Days Later, The Descent, The Accountant
More recent movies I missed and / or forgot about and finally watched and were mostly pretty good (all of which started with the letter “S” and had one-word titles).
Scrapper, Sacramento, Scrambled
More recent movies I missed and / or forgot about and finally watched and were really good
C’mon C’mon
Plus one I watched in preparation for one of the best crafted movies of the year that wasn't quite my favorite movie of the year.
Barbarian
Rom-Coms (and / or holiday movies), which were okay, sort of, though this is a wildly underrepresented category this year regardless.
Summer of 69
A sort of Rom-Com, which I wanted to be more than it was, and I wanted more from it based on the director’s last movie, which I loved, which was also a sort of Rom-Com, and starred Pedro Pascal and Dakota Johnson (Chris Evans too).
Materialists
Another sort of Rom-Com, which was far better, and also starred Dakota Johnson.
Splitsville
And yet another sort of Rom-Com, which was even better, though it didn’t star Dakota Johnson, which isn’t why it was better.
Twinless
The two superhero movies I watched, which was one more than last year, were fine, and one starred Pedro Pascal.
Thunderbolts* & Fantastic Four: First Steps
Summer action movies, good enough or just enough. There was one, and yes, it was good enough, if not as good as its predecessor.
Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning
The documentary I watched & had no words.
No Other Land
The mostly fine, sometimes good movies that were still mostly fine movies, even if not quite as good as I hoped they would be.
Mickey 17, Naked Gun, Highest 2 Lowest, Caught Stealing, House of Dynamite
The almost really good movies I was more than happy enough to see because I'll never see enough movies to satisfy my movie Jones regardless.
Die My Love, Bugonia, Oh, Hi!, Jay Kelly
Well-crafted movies I really liked.
The Long Walk, Hedda, Sorry, Baby, Train Dreams
Plus two such well-crafted movies from Steven Soderbergh.
Presence & Black Bag
The movies I have not seen yet, though, are apparently quite well-crafted, and will be seen.
The Testament of Ann Lee, It Was Just an Accident, The Secret Agent, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
The quite well-crafted & stunning movies that some may argue are the best movie of the year.
Sentimental Value & No Other Choice
The best crafted and fully joyful and / or energizing movie-going experiences of the year that weren't quite my favorite movie of the year.
One of Them Days, Weapons, One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme
And the movie that was my favorite movie of the year and arguably the last few years.
Sinners
The people we lost this year.
Tony Fitzpatrick (1958-2025)
NM State Senator Bill O'Neill (1957-2025)
John Domini (1951-2025)
New music which I continued to do a way better job of finding this year (including two from The Boss), way better, mostly thank you to Myles & Noah Tanzer, Pitchfork, and the Apple Music account we added in 2021 (which is not a plug, just a reality), that I was mostly really happy with, starting with musicians I already listened to.
Foxes In The Snow /Jason Isbell, Forever is a Feeling / Lucy Dacus, Send A Prayer My Way / Julien Baker & TORRES, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) / Japanese Breakfast, Victory / Slick Rick, Tracks II: The Lost Albums / Bruce Springsteen, Let God Sort Em Out / Clipse, Pusha T & Malice, Don't Tap the Glass / Tyler the Creator, Snipe Hunter / Tyler Childers, Hard Headed Women / Margo Price, Twilight Override / Jeff Tweedy, Nebraska '82: Expanded Edition / Bruce Springsteen, Double Infinity / Big Thief
Music and artists quite new to me that I really loved. Which includes loads of country & alt-country (is that still a thing), rap, and lots of electronic. And yes, there was a lot of it.
Who Let The Dogs Out / Lambrini Girls, Amour / Babymorocco, Can't Rush Greatness / Central Cee, Mapambazuko / Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta, Weft / Blue Lake, Kansas Anymore (The Longest Goodbye) / Role Model, If Not to Give a Fantasy / Kilbourne, Mela / Baalti, Elvers Pass / Jorg Kuning, Light For The Midnight / Cold Specks, When the Distance is Blue / Macie Stewart, Dance Music 4 Bad People / Hieroglyphic Being, Scanners / Anthony Naples, Tether / Annahstasia, Gulp / Facta, The Universe Will Take Care of You / James Holden & Waclaw Zimpel, Suspension of Belief / gyrofield, Planting by the Signs / S.G. Goodman, Cuntry / Cleo Reed, I Barely Know Her / sombr, Pressing Onward / Big Freedia, Last Missouri Exit / Case Oats, Clams Casino / Brian Dunne, Late Great / Laura Stevenson, Honeymoon In A Hotel / Eileen Alister, Worldwide / Snooper, The Art of Loving / Olivia Dean, Young Love / Boo Boos, Fatal Optimist / Madi Diaz, How I Learned to Love What's Gone / Suzie True, Forever / bassvictim, babyface / Sorry Mom, My Supernova / Wata Igarashi, Westward / Dylan Gossett, Both Sides of the Blade / Max McNown, What of Our Nature / Haley Heynderickx & Max Garcia Conover, Music for the Soul / Sam Barber, I'm Not Him / Tyler Nance, Out of the Blue / Waylon Wyatt, Kelly / Kelly Lee Owens, Lonely Mountain Top / Charles Wesley Godwin, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy / James McMurtry, crazy arms / Pigeon Pit, I Love the Red Trail / Everybody's Worried About Owen
The latest from the artist formerly known as Tim Walikis (and who I’ve known for 40+ years).
Later Might Be Gone / Omit The Band
Music I got to listen to live, it was not enough, though I did see Ike Reilly, twice, yup.
Ike Reilly @ Schubas (with the Noah Tanzer), Lucy Dacus @ Chicago Theater, Japanese Breakfast @ The Salt Shed (all with the Noah Tanzer), RTJ / Wu-Tang Clan @ United Center, Otoboke Beaver @ Empty Bottle, The Ike Reilly Holiday Residency @ GMAN Tavern (with the Debbie Pritzker Tanzer)
The one Harlan Coben television show we watched because we always have to watch at least one—quality be damned.
Missing You
And one that felt like a Harlan Coben show, just better (and not a 2025 show for the record).
The Jetty
Good (or good enough) television shows where the second season was as good as the first one.
Platonic, Gen V, The Night Agent, Poker Face, Karen Pirie
Great (or nearly great) television shows where the second season was as good and at times even better than the first one.
Severance & Such Brave Girls
Great television shows where the second season was not as great as the first one and still enjoyable.
The Last of Us & Nobody Wants This
Good (or good enough) television shows where the third season maintained the goodness and at times the excellence.
Fisk
Great (or nearly great) television shows where the third season maintained the goodness and at times the excellence.
Dark Winds
Great (or nearly great) television shows where the third season dipped some and was still quite enjoyable.
White Lotus & Yellowjackets
Shows that came back for a fourth season, which were as good, or at least nearly as good as their excellent runs thus far.
Abbott Elementary & Hacks
Shows that came back for a fourth season and were closer to how good they had been, even if they still weren’t quite as good.
The Bear
The only show that was back for fifth season and if even far from the great heights it once climbed to, was still well-worth the watch, if not the actual wait to do so.
Stranger Things
Shows I caught-up on and I’m really glad I did.
Industry
Shows I caught-up with, we’re fine, are probably done, and I’m fine with it.
Dr. Foster
Shows I caught-up with, quite enjoyed, seemed to be over, are not, and it kind of rocks.
The Comeback
Shows I finally started, quite enjoyed, and will just never catch-up.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Television shows that ended, that were fun, sometimes exceptional, and I'm going to miss watching.
Somebody Somewhere
New not bad shows that seemed like they were going to be renewed for a second season and were not.
Laid
New shows that are okay, sometimes good, mostly crime shows, three of which were kind of British.
Black Doves, Dept. Q, Your Friends and Neighbors, Code of Silence, Untamed, Stick
New shows that were much better than those, only one of which was crime-related, and neither British.
St. Denis Medical & The Penguin
New shows that were much better than those, and just good, damn it, one, maybe two of which were yes, crime-related, and none of which were British.
Task, The Studio, Long Story Short, The Lowdown, The Chair Factory
The new show, which was such a shockingly good, compelling piece of television, and so damn unexpected, while also not about crime or British.
The Pitt
Limited run shows okay enough.
All Her Fault, The Beast in Me, Down Cemetery Road
Limited run shows that were better than that.
Dope Thief
Limited run shows that were among the best shows of the year.
Adolescence
American true crime shows, awfully absorbing.
Amy Bradly is Missing
A show possibly framed as an American true crime show, that was wholly heartbreaking, and needs to be framed as something else.
A Perfect Neighbor
There were also the Top Five downloaded episodes of This Podcast Will Change Your Life.
(1) This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Three Hundred and Fifty-Two - A Really Fun Time, starring the Cynthia Weiner
(2) This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Three Hundred and Fifty-Six - Surreal Moments, starring the Ruben Quesada
(3) This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Three Hundred and Fifty-Four - Where Is This Train Going, starring the Ignatius Valentine Aloysius & David Allen Sullivan
(4) This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Three Hundred and Sixty-Two - In The Moment, starring the Hannah Pittard
(5) This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Three Hundred and Sixty-Seven - In Balance, starring the M. M. De Voe
Live theater, which was not even as much as I watched in 2024.
Or none.
Art exhibits, so much less than 2024, and nothing outside of Chicago.
Elizabeth Catlett / A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies & Bruce Goff / Material Worlds @ The Art Institute of Chicago
Also, activities art adjacent, though really just art that mostly doesn’t fit into prior categories.
Carmen / Joffrey Ballet @ the Lyric Opera House & Paul Reiser: A Career-Spanning Conversation / Chicago Humanities Festival @ the Music Box Theatre
The podcasts I still listen to again and again, if sometimes inconsistently at that and maybe less regularly than usual, while adding nothing new.
Other People with Brad Listi & The Slate Culture Gabfest
And the podcast I will never listen to again, though not out of the choice, not mine anyway.
WTF with Marc Maron
~
And Now for the Myles Tanzer...
Movies I Still Need to See
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, The Testament of Ann Lee
Favorite Movies I’ve Finally Seen
C’mon C’mon, Hanna, Jawbreaker, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, Obvious Child, Stand By Me, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, The Virgin Suicides
Easily the Worst Movies I’ve Seen
Brave the Dark, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Monkey, You’re Coridally Invited
The Honorary Superhero Movies of the Year
The Fantastic 4: First Steps, Thunderbolts*
Tanzer Family Movie Night Category
A House of Dynamite, Oh Hi!, Sacramento
“Mom is out of town dad, so how many movies can we watch this weekend?”
Hedda, Sorry Baby, Train Dreams
Movies I Saw By Myself That Are All Lowkey Crazy
Final Destination Bloodlines, The Housemaid, The Life of Chuck
Craziest Movie Watching Experiences (all for completely different reasons)
Bring Her Back, Bugonia, Hamnet
Saw Opening Weekend
Wake Up Dad Man, Wicked: For Good
Totally Forgot I Saw This Year
Mickey 17
Most Disappointed Movies of the Year
The Roses, The Running Man
The Most Underrated Movies of the Year
The Long Walk, A Nice Indian Boy, Presence
Double Feature that I Saw with Roya That are Both Underrated Movies That Have No Common Theme
Drop, The Wedding Banquet
Double Feature that I Saw with By Myself That are Both Underrated Movies That Have a Common Theme
The Threesome, Twinless
Double Feature that I Saw with By Myself That are Both Pretty Bad, But Have a Common Theme
Companion, Heart Eyes
Probably Would’ve Liked It More If the Sound was Better
Black Bag
“Oh, so this is the movie my students keep talking and singing about.”
KPop Demon Hunters
The IDK what Category to Put These Movies in Category
Caught Stealing, Die My Love, Materialists, Together
Best Animated Film of the Year
Zootopia 2
Late-Night Solo Watches
Jay Kelly, The Life List
International Movies I Saw with Dad at the Music Box
No Other Choice, Sentimental Value
The Best Musical Film of the Year
Kiss of the Spider Woman
The Best Comedy/Romance Film of the Year
Splitsville
The Best Romance Film of the Year
Eternity
The Best Comedy Film of the Year
One of Them Days
Movies That Would Be The Best Movie of the Year in Any Other Year
Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Weapons
By Far The Best Movie of the Year
Sinners
Ketchup Shows with Noah
Gravity Falls, Percy Jackson
Ketchup Shows with Mom
Happy Endings, Workin’ Moms, Younger
Ketchup Shows with Dad
The Comeback
Another Year of Competition Shows
The Amazing Race, Project Runway, Top Chef, The Traitors
So Happy It’s Back
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders
A Pretty Good Series That Sadly Got Cancelled
The Residence
A Pretty Good Mini-Series That I Should Stay a Mini-Series
Forever, Task
A Great WTF Mini-Series
All Her Fault
A Great Mini-Series
Dying for Sex
Yet Another Year Where RuPaul and Drag Race Took Over My Life
Canada’s Drag Race, Drag Race France All Stars, Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale, Dragula Titans, RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
But By Far the Best Competition Show of the Year
Squid Game: The Challenge
Do ‘Mormon’ Women STILL Make the Best Reality TV? Yes.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
Best Animated Show of the Year
Long Story Short
It’s Good, but Boy Do I Feel Dumb Watching It
Severence
Yes I Watched It, and I Don’t Know if I’m Proud of It
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Yes I Watched It, and I’m Proud of It
The Hunting Wives, Law & Order: SVU, Running Point, St. Denis Medical
It’s Back and Is It Better?
Nobody Wants This, The White Lotus
It’s Back and it Finally Ended:
Stranger Things
It’s Back and Thank God It’s Better
The Bear
Shows That Continue to Eat
Abbott Elementary, Gen V, Hacks, The Last of Us, Stranger Things, Yellowjackets
Great New Shows That Aren’t On the Level as My Number 1
Paradise, Pluribus, The Studio
Great Shows That Took WAY TOO LONG to Get Renewed
Adults, Overcompensating
Easily the Best Mini-Series of the Year
Adolescence
My Favorite Show of the Year That Also Took Over My Whole Entire Life
Heated Rivalry
Easily the Best Show of the Year
The Pitt
Listened to Once, Now Just Listened to a Couple of Songs
AM I THE DRAMA? (Cardi B), Blush (Molly Grace), EVERYONE’S A STAR! (5 Seconds of Summer), Forver Is a Feeling (Lucy Dacus), Gold Star Babyby (The Aces), I Barely Knew Her (sombr), MUTT (Leon Thomas), SWAG ( Justin Bieber)
Will Be the Next Big Thing
The Provocateur (Adéla)
Need to Hear in the Club NOW
Eusexua Afterglow (FKA twigs), It’s Not That Deep (Demi Lovato), Midnight Sun (Zara Larsson)
A Really Good Back-to-Back Album
Man’s Best Friend (Sabrina Carpenter)
A Not So Really Good Back-to-Back Album
The Life of a Showgirl (Taylor Swift)
Stop What You’re Doing and Go Listen
BITE ME (Reneé Rapp), Virgin (Lorde)
Slam Dunks
The Art of Loving (Olivia Dean), So Close to What (Tate McRae)
Easily One of the Best Albums of the Year, that’s not a Debut Album
MAYHEM (Lady Gaga)
Easily the Best Albums of the Year, that are Also Debut Albums
Addison (Addison Rae), THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY (JADE)
Saw at ‘All Things Go’ and Really Enjoyed
Alemeda, Ashe, Gigi Perez, Paris Paloma, Zinadelphia
Very Excited that I Saw Them at ‘All Things Go’
The Aces, Griff, Molly Grace, Rachel Chinouriri, Wallows, Wild Rivers
The Best Set of the Year, Like Phenomenal
Doechii
Best Vibes of the Year (and yes they are polar opposites)
Charli XCX, Hozier
Pop Star in the Making Experience
Addison Rae
The Best Concerts of the Year if I Didn’t See Beyoncé
FLO
The Best Concert of the Year (No Question)
Beyoncé
Books I Reread Cause I Have Free Will
Book Lovers (Emily Henry), Deep and Dark and Dangerous (Mary Downing Hahn), People We Meet on Vacation (Emily Henry), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky), We Were Liars (E. Lockhart)
Audio Books I Devoured (I ONLY listen to autobiographies and they HAVE to be read by the author)
Bottom of the Pyramid (Nia Sioux), The House of My Mother (Shari Frankie)
Finally Read a Ben Tanzer Book
After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Grammar of Cinema
Did I Really Need to Read? Eh
We’ll Always Have Summer (Jenny Han)
Books I Finally Read
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Suzanne Collins), The Leftovers (Tom Perrotta)
Catching Up on Abby Jimenez
The Friend Zone, The Happy Ever After Playlist, Life’s Too Short, Say You’ll Remember Me
My Hockey Books :) (all by Rachel Reid)
Common Goal, Game Changers, Heated Rivalry, The Long Game, Role Model, Tough Guy
The Best Books I’ve Read This Year
The Charm Offensive (Alison Cochrun), Goodbye Earl (Leesa Cross-Smith)l, The Seven Year Slip (Ashley Poston), Stalker Stalker (Lee Matthew Goldberg), Sunrise on the Reaping (Suzanne Collins)
My Favorite Movie Performances of the Year
Jessie Buckley in Hamnet, Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme, Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another, Michael B. Jordan in Sinners, Jacobi Jupe in Hamnet, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in Sentimental Value, Paul Mescal in Hamnet, Sean Penn in One Battle After Another, Stellan Skarsgård in Sentimental Value, Teyana Taylor in One Battle After Another
My Top 10 TV Performances of the Year
Owen Cooper in Adolescence, Hannah Einbinder in Hacks, Stephen Graham in Adolescence, Janelle James in Abbott Elementary, Katherine LaNasa in The Pitt, Adam Scott in Severance, Rhea Seehorn in Pluribus, Jenny Slate in Dying for Sex, Jean Smart in Hacks, Noah Wyle in The Pitt
My Top 10 Songs of the Year
Born Again (LISA), Church (JADE), Fame is a Gun (Addison Rae), The Giver (Chappell Roan), Man I Need (Olivia Dean), Midnight Sun (Zara Larsson), Sally, When The Wine Runs Out (ROLE MODEL), Sushi (FKA twigs), Suzanne (RAYE), Tears (Sabrina Carpenter), What Was That (Lorde)
~
Most finally, there are many people to thank for making this really awful year somewhat better in spite of all that has been going on and feels like it still will be. And I'm most definitely overlooking some, a lot maybe, and I apologize for that, but there you go.
Ryan W. Bradley, Steve Lafler, Lavinia Ludlow, Rob Funderburk, Greg Olear, John Barrios, Joseph G. Peterson, Michael Seidlinger, Gabino Iglesias, Adam Lawrence, Dave McNamara, Mike Smolarek, Beth Gilstrap, Duncan MacKenzie, Andrew Keating, Avner Landes, Matty Byloos, Michael Czyzniejewski, Ken Wohlrob, Mike Keren, Myles and Noah Tanzer, Leza Cantoral, David Masciotra, Clayton Smith, Bryanna Tartt, Alisha Bashaw, Mel Bosworth, Paul Cohen, Joshua Chaplinksy, Lee Matthew Goldberg, Christopher Gronlund, Hannah Pittard, Todd Summar, Megan Stielstra, Hosho McCreesh, W. Todd Kaneko, Jim Warner, Mathieu Cailler, David S. Atkinson, Emory Easton, Debbie Pritzker, Steve Eisner, Diego Báez, Steven Seighman, BL Pawelek, Catherine Coldiron, Mallory Smart, James Yates, Larry Rosen, Kristin Fouquet, Jacob Budenz, Lisa Ellen Niver, Clayton Smith, Denton Loving, Seth Berg, Maggie Manoyan, Elizabeth Coffey, Mark Wish, Amber Sparks, James Tate Hill, Elizabeth Crane, Mike McClelland-Williamson, Tommy Dean, Stacey Diane Arañez Litam, M.M. DeVoe, Deborah Shapiro, Lori Jakiela, Kurt Baumeister, Maureen Aitken, Robert Vaughan, Jerry Stahl, Gregory L. Norris, Michael Gillan Maxwell, IG Publishing, Meg Tuite, Chris Linkenbach, Robert Duffer, Kathy Haueisen, Coco Picard, Brian Alan Ellis, Nat Kimber, Keir Graff, Luke Jerod Kummer, Jackson Bliss, Joanna Topor MacKenzie, Jeff Linkenbach, Matt Rowan, Mike DeCapite, Jacob S. Knabb, Jason Behrends, Andrew DeYoung, Jason Pettus, Joanna C. Valente, Moeses Soulright, Anthony Michael Morena, Brad Wolff, Amber Griffith, Bob Hartley, Shifra Malka, Joanna Shroeder, Barbara Newman, Leah Jones, Johnny Misfit, Sean Barrow, Paul Lamb, Trish McDonald, Victor David Giron, The Book Cellar, Gretchen Kalwinski, Michael Paige Glover, Jennifer Banash, Bill O'Neill, City Lit Books, Marilyn Atlas, Cynthia Weiner, Matt Fitzpatrick, Judith Tanzer, Kimberly Ann Southwick, Erika T. Wurth, Leesa Cross-Smith, Dana Book, Brian Gresko, Denton Loving, Beth Splaine, Garret Schuelke, Shaindel Beers, Chris L. Terry, Kara Vernor, Michael Moreci, Adam Tanzer, Patricia Ann McNair, Glen Binger, Ali Gray, Sean Beaudoin, Sean H. Doyle, JJ Starr, David Scott Hay, Ken Sherman, Corey Best, John Reed, Jerry Brennan, Serena Makofsky, Matt Micheli, Callie Nelson, Miette Gillette, Dan Conway, Lauren Becker, A Novel Idea, David Legere, Andrew Farkas, Adrianne Ralston, Brad Listi, Bob Hill, Robert James Russell, Brian Gresko, Lori Hettler, Sharyn Skeeter, Tobias Carroll, Leah Angstman, Christian Winn, Angelique Pesce, Charita Cole Brown, Brad King, Spencer Dew, Glen Binger, Neile Parisi, Steve Karas, Tracey Gee, Ruben Quesada, Aubrey Cox Warner, Josh Dale, Sarina Prabasi, Amanda Headlee, Barry Graham, P&T Knitwear, Wendy C. Ortiz, Dave Newman, Jeremy T. Wilson, Donald Quist, Christine Maul Rice, D. Foy, Ben Drevlow, JH Palmer, Cari Luna, Michael Welch, Amber Griffin, Shawn Henry, Elaine Soloway, Rachel Robbins, Judith Krummeck, Michael Tager, Behn Reza, Largehearted Boy, Cyn Vargas, Anne Poirier, Tim Drown, Greg Santos, Joe Starr, Village Well, Joe Thompson, Howard Fox, Allison Joseph, Alan Heathcock, Tony Brunelli, Valerie Roche, Christina Olson, Tara Fishler, Keith Lesmeister, Sara Lippmann, Spencer Fleury, Grace Agnew, Mikaela Shea Fowler, Ariel Rudolph, Kyler Bingham, Giano Cromley, Zoe Zolbrod, Dawn Hogan, Kali VanBaale, Tom Williams, Jennifer Pastiloff, Joshua Mohr, Jackson Bliss, Deborah Greenhut, Neil Elman, Steph Patton, Amy Danzer, Patrick Wensink, Nicholas Barron, Exile in Bookville, Daniel C. Nester, Maria Price, Robert Tomaino, Ashley Marie Farmer, Paul Lamb, Stuart Ross, Steph Rogers, Hannah Pittard, Curtis Smith Alice Kaltman, Paul Cohen, Gary Mills, Kacy Tellesen, Susan Messing, Rick Kogan, Amy Guth, Khloe Karova, Jeff Pfaller, Emily Schultz, Shaindel Beers, Christine Eberle, Volumes Bookcafe, Susan Messing, Dave Closson, Jonathan Evison, Leland Cheuk, Rebecca & Kimberly George, Shayne Terry, Robert James Russell, Donald G. Evans, Carla Ritz, Matt Covert, Jeffrey Yamaguchi, Davis Schneiderman, Carlos Matos, Ray Charbonneau, Sam Slaughter, Gina Frangello, Nick Ostdick, Len Kuntz, Pete Anderson, Terry Hiner, Alicia Del Real, Lucie Frost, Pam Hoadley, the Tomaloff's, Paula Bomer, Brandon Will, Melissa Faliveno, J. Bradley, Jason Fisk, Gint Aras, Yogi Roth, Eric Spitznagle, Beth Gilstrap, Charles Rubner, Ryan Ridge, Sara Thompson, Lee L. Krecklow, Keidra Chaney, Christopher Bowen, Liz Mason, David Olimpio, Jessica Kashiwabara, Christoph Paul, Ines Bellina