The Library encompasses several sections. I track media based on ownership as a priority over viewing, because I'm one of those people with a library of books and games that's far, far bigger than their belly.
There will be a Film & TV library at some point as well, but I've only just recently started keeping track of my watching habits so it's a weirdly thin-looking table at the moment.
Rankings
I'm writing down my favourite things I read, watched or played here. These have no basis in when the thing actually came out, only when I finally got around to watching, reading or playing it.
I've only started doing this in 2023, so the entries only go back as far as I've been keeping track of things I've read and played — around 4 years. Anything earlier than that will be a little patchy, and unfortunately, I've never properly tracked my Film and TV watching.
2025
In Games — Isles of Sea and Sky. In-progress as I write this, but thus far, one of my new favourite puzzle games. It's a rare puzzle game that captivates me the way this one has, like Stephen's Sausage Roll and Tunic before it, so I'm pleased to have another one. I picked up the previously abandoned Hollow Knight too, and have found it a far less frustrating experience this time around.
In Films & TV — Nosferatu and Arcane were ahead by several points for most of the year. I finally watched Arcane in earnest after false-starting it back when the first season came out. Mickey 17 was excellent, although it wobbled in the third act for me. In the end, it looks like Sinners is the winner. It's not without its faults, but I really, really enjoyed it.
In Books — Another year without a clear winner. Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time stood out to me, as did K. O'Neill's The Moth Keeper and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, all excellent and worthy of praise.
2024
In Books — I didn't read one single book that stood out to me head and shoulders above the rest. I greatly enjoyed The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin and I laughed extremely hard at Men at Arms and Maskerade by Terry Pratchett and I learned a lot from Painted People by Matt Lodder.
In Games — Baldur's Gate III. Karlach, my beloved. It's basically the only game I played this year because of how magnetic and detailed it is. I bought two copies for my partner and I to play it together for Christmas 2023 and we still haven't quite finished it for wanting to do everything in the game. The only real break for another game was diving into Satisfactory again with the 1.0 release.
In Films & TV — The Boy and the Heron. I don't think it's my favourite Miyazaki film, but it's quite possibly his best film. Most films struggle to tell one story coherently, and this one manages to keep a pretty good grasp on about six, all layered together. Should it be his last, it's definitely a fitting end to his legacy.
2023
In Books — Discworld. Just the whole thing. I finally got around to reading them and found myself absolutely loving Pratchett's work. I've not read the entire collection just yet, but so far Going Postal is my absolute highlight. My non-Discworld runner-up was perhaps Legends & Lattes for the simple pleasure of reading something warm and lovely.
In Games — Andrew Shouldice's Tunic. A wonderful throwback to the days of booklets and manuals that came with game boxes, only this one is a foreign-language import you can't understand. The game then, a Zelda-style isometric RPG with no text or dialogue, is one you must come to fully understand, mechanically and otherwise, through a mutual exchange: the world will teach something new about the manual, which in kind will reveal something new about the world.
2022
In Books — the collective works of Becky Chambers. I was gifted a copy of her A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet way back in 2015 or 2016 by a close friend and, I'm ashamed to say, did not get around to reading it until this year.
Well. It was a banger, and so was the rest of the series which I dutifully read afterwards, as well as the spiritually-related novella To be Taught if Fortunate and, the real winner, the Monk & Robot duology. Monk & Robot is, so far, A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, which have both fast-tracked themselves to become some of my favourite novels of all time.
In Games — Disco Elysium. I don't think I need to say any more. Stray was my runner-up, but also I finally played Stephen's Sausage Roll, which might be the best puzzle game ever made.
In Films & TV — Pixar's Luca.
2021
In Games — Red Dead Redemption 2. Might be the best Western ever made in any medium and an incredible experience.
In Books — Neuromancer. Something about William Gibson's sparse, no-bullshit writing style really stuck out to me and drew me in.
2020
In Books — Perdido Street Station and its sequel The Scar. Perdido Street is a book that I technically started in 2019 and would otherwise have made my list even unfinished, but that's back in the before times that we don't talk about. I've since read a big chunk of China Miéville's bibliography and all have been equally brilliant.
In Games — Kentucky Route Zero. Although I've been screaming about KR0 for years, Act V finally came out this year and it was an unexpectedly out-of-character ending. A single, long scene that wrapped up the story in a wholly unexpected way.
In Films & TV — Pendleton Ward's The Midnight Gospel.
