#58// the best of 2024

best books and TV 2024

Dear Reader,

Happy New Year my gentle souls and loud birds. How are you? Good riddance to 2024. Here’s the best kind of newsletter that sums up all things nice. I’ll jump right into it.

1. Read a cozy mystery set in a house of maze. I absolutely LOVED The Labyrinth House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji, translated by Ho-Ling Wong.

The plot is absolute bonkers. A legendary mystery writer invites four young writers to his house to celebrate his 60^th birthday. He gives them a chance to win his inheritance if they can craft the best crime story in three days, featuring the people present in the house. The story should solve the fictional murder of the author writing it. But things get weird when the writers start getting murdered in the same way they imagined in their stories.

It is a weird house too. The doorbell is hidden inside a minotaur’s mouth, the rooms are inspired by Greek mythology, the layout is like a maze. Imagine—stories being written, murders being committed, competitive writers typing away, eccentric rich author, some Greek mythology thrown in, a locked house that you might get lost in. Absolute delight! And it’s old school—How I miss stories talking about word processors and floppy disks! There’s even a reference to the OG Seishi Yokomizo (check these two books to know more about this fantastic Japanese crime writer). This one is a highlight of the year for me.

Also, my best books of 2024 is now live. It features my favorite book of the year, which is a non-fiction book! I don’t think I’ve picked a non-fic as an absolute favorite in any year since I founded The Book Satchel. Enjoy!

2. Watch the best Korean dramas of 2024. I am currently watching When the Phone Rings, a twist-filled drama of a cold marriage which becomes a loving companionship when the wife starts secretly blackmailing her husband with her kidnapper’s phone. Trust me, it isn’t as weird as it sounds. But I’ve got a whole list of dramas if you prefer something else—

3. Listen: I have been enjoying (still listening) Food, Glorious Food with Katherine Rundell and Kate Young in Down the Rabbit Hole. It is about the best kind of food—food in children’s literature and it is absolutely delightful.

4. Write a letter to your future self and it will be delivered to you on New Year’s Eve 2025. Pretty cool.

5. Set a reminder because Apple TV is free for the weekend (4^th and 5^th Jan, 2025). They have amazing shows (To name three—Severance for cool, scary dystopian, Bad Sisters for fun, murdery sisterhood, Ted Lasso for feel-good vibes). I am planning to finally watch Shrinking that everyone is raving out. Binge-ing with you. Here are the shows to watch out for.

6. Play: Found this music channel Warm Blanket on Youtube for gentle background music to listen to while working or doing chores. The tracks are not generated by AI and their thumbnails remind me of old greeting cards.

7. If you are feeling low seeing other people’s accomplishments over the last year, or you are beating yourself up for not keeping up with new year resolutions, then I have got the perfect virtual museum to wander in. This is an archive of failed products and services around the world. It makes me think none are actually failures, they paved way for something else. A new idea. Cheers to a new you.

I hope this year brings the best of everything to you. If there is something you greatly enjoyed last year, share with me. I’d love to know.

Until next time,

Resh x