All my favorites this year - #18

Plus, gear reviews for backcountry skiing.

Happy merry, etc. This is edition 18 of Shangrilogs and it’s also the final newsletter of the year! Good grief. Thanks for enjoying this project and supporting me. Some day, I’d really like to just be a writer and not a corporate desk jockey, so I am on my knees with the prayer hands emoji thanking you for being here. 

And since you like this newsletter (or at least that’s the hope), I wanted to leave you with some of my favorite newsletters. 

Newsletters:

• The Sunday Soother by Catherine Andrews. This is like the Bake Off of emails, but just the warm blanket part and none of the baking. Catherine has a course on Intentional Living that, if you’ve felt a little lost in the wind these past couple years, could really help. 

• Om Weekly by Kelly Barrett. I’ve been reading this newsletter for years. If you like yoga, smart essays, and self-exploration, it’s hard to go wrong here. Kelly also has a class coming up — if you like Yoga by Adrienne but want to get more out of your practice, consider this class with Kelly.

• Claire Bigg’s has a newsletter but I think you should follow her on Instagram if you like deep dives on fashion and on writing and on art. She’s a Stories person, not a Grid person. 

• Jami Attenberg’s CRAFT TALK for the writers out there, and definitely George Saunders’s Story Club

• The Practical Kitchen because I send so many of these recipes to Ben

• Construction Physics is just generally so fascinating, but start here

• Nerdletter is great for money stuff

• Evil Witches: this is technically a newsletter about motherhood, but I subscribe because as many of my friends enter motherhood, I want to be a good friend to them. Also I am rabid about parental leave being woven into the fabric of this nation. 

• Culture Study is just really good

• And duh, Ann Friedman

One more thing, this isn’t a newsletter, but a yearly ritual of mine: Susannah Conway’s Year in Review. I don’t care if you’re “not the journaling type.” Journaling does amazing things for our brains. I’ve been writing about it for years in the mental health space. It’s basically free therapy. So carve out a few hours and do the Year in Review. It has made such a big difference in my life. 

Alright unfortunately we’ve made it as far as we can without passes: The rest of this email is for paid subscribers. It includes: 

• my favorite books of the year

• my favorite songs of the year

• the things I loved most this year and would recommend to others

• AND! gear reviews of our backcountry equipment (mine and Ben’s, so we cover our bases.) 

Here we go: