2019 was a year full of milestones for Merge and for me! Merge turned 30 and I turned 40; Merge had a festival & I ran a marathon; And we put together You Wish, the first Merge Holiday music Compilation! Bring on #Merge2020!
Books:
Red, White, and Royal Blue, Wayward Son, Heavy, The Library Book, Becoming, The Great Believers, You Think It, I’ll Say It, The Incomplete Book of Running, Dept of Speculation, Normal People, Evvie Drake Starts Over, Deckawoo Drive, Save Me the Plums, Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory, Bringing Down the Duke, The Wedding Party, How to Be a Family, Song of Achilles, Circe, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts, Find Me, The Dutch House, Calypso, Pachinko
Internet faves:
Wait, Why Does Everyone Want Their Crushes to Run Them Over?, Sarah Thyre (twitter & IG), Shady Baby, Susan Orlean’s home renovation, Pebble & Helen, Alexis Ohanian, Role Call, Got Distracted, Lisa Draws (Inktober), Ask Molly, Bridget Jones’s Diary Diary, Comments by Celebs, The Evil Witches, MarthaStewart48, “Barbra will tell you”
Movies, TV & podcasts:
The Electric Grandmother, Schitt’s Creek, Superstore, Tully, Catastrophe, What We Do in the Shadows, Fleabag, A Simple Favor, Spectacular Failures, Forever 35, The Dream, Stacks
Music & IRL:
MRG30 Festival (!!!), MRG30 Kick Off with Eric Bachmann, the Love Language & Teenage Fanclub at Haw River Ballroom, Dear Evan Hansen, Noname at the Cat’s Cradle, Paul McCartney at PNC Arena, “Iko Kreyòl - HaitiaNola Album Version,” “Summer Girl,” celebrating Garth Brooks’ greatest hits with Cecile, “Sucker,” the Mountain Goats at HR Ballroom (X2), “All Day Long,” Generationals at Motorco, Mikal Cronin at Motorco, Fruit Bats at Motorco, Superchunk AF & TORRES at Motorco, Kiese Laymon + Tressie Cottom at UNC, Heather Havrilesky at the Regulator Bookstore, "Lost in the Woods," Dan Kois at Flyleaf Bookstore, RVG & TEKE TEKE and making new friends at the Reeperbahn Festival, Cordo with Andy Stack and the City Slang crew, “Bad Guy,” Harry & the Potters at the Greensboro Public Library, White Christmas at DPAC, A Legendary Christmas, “Not”
Misc:
YMCA in Melrose, MA, Harvest Records, Tiki Room, Star Tours, Biore Sunscreen, Epsom salt, Compression socks, NUUN, Goodr sunglasses, Coffee thermos, reusable bags, Emily McDowell Postcards, tiny earrings, Cardboard Baz, Tula Rey Martinson, The Stars of Track and Field We Aren’t, Sold Out Bull, Perez Hilton Cameo from Mike, my 40th birthday party
