- Ticket to Ride - fun for a twosome or a larger group. Family friendly.
- Exploding kittens - Easy to pick up, quick to play, and so, so, fun. It'll be a gateway into the maker's other games (Bears vs Babies, Throw Throw Burrito, etc).
- Hanabi - Cooperative game with difficult conversation restrictions. Wonderful, but play only if your marriage is strong enough.
- Splendor - simple but engaging.
- Seven Wonders - Recommended for 3+ players but can be done with two. There is a two-person variant (Duel) that's not bad.
- Dominion - So many ways to set the game up you'll never have to play it the same twice.
- Carcassonne - A fun world building game. Pub friendly.
- Any of the "Exit: The Game" series - escape room in a box. One & done play.
- Pandemic
- If you like Risk, try Axis & Allies
- Betrayal at house on the hill - two games in one. First collaborative, then someone becomes the enemy and each side is given different missions. Many variants. This game takes a LONG time.

Books - Non-Fiction

FWIW - These recommendations are non-fiction works that almost read like fiction. While I like the longer, dense non-fiction as well (e.g. Hamilton by Chernow), I have a hard time recommending those to folks.

- Hellhound on his Trail (Hampton Sides)
- Destiny of the Republic (Candace Millard)
- The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston)
- The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson)

Music

A few of my favorites from 2019 (which seemed like a down year of music for me...). I know this wasn't exactly the directive of Pat's post - but seemed like a good place for a few suggestions.

- Sharon van Etten - Remind me Tomorrow
- Jenny Lewis - On the Line
- Lizzo - Cuz I Love You
- Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride
- The Highwomen
- Sturgill Simpson - Sound and Fury
- The Racontuers - Help Me Stranger

Looking back past 2019, after watching the Ken Burns Country Music series (which I thought was outstanding), I've gone back and revisited a good chunk of "old" country music. Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, Dolly, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, etc. If you're interested, I think the official soundtrack to the series is a good place to start to get a taste of things - and then you can find the artists that you'd like.

I have also been looking back through Tom Petty's full catalog - beyond the singles - ever since he passed. He was really good at his craft.

Lastly, you can always count on me to recommend the old Memphis soul work. Booker T & The MGs, Sam and Dave, Al Green, and Otis Redding are all pretty accessible classics. If you want to dig a bit deeper, check out the Bar-Kays, the Mar-Keys, Rufus & Carla Thomas, William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett and Albert King.

It’s called Breaking Bad. It’s about a high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has inoperable lung cancer, so he decides to start cooking crystal methamphetamine. The first few episodes are fairly humorous and follow the contretemps of the protagonist and his sidekick as they seek to rid themselves of competitors in the drug trade.

TV Shows
The Last Man on Earth (RIP)
Silicon Valley
The Wire
I Think You Should Leave
Party Down

Movies
The Death of Stalin (completely absurd and completely hilarious, plus you get Michael Palin, who is probably my favorite comedian of all time)
Freddy Got Fingered (everyone should see it once just to see how long they can last before turning it off)

Music (Album or Singer/Group)
Paris (the band, and I think, the album. Fronted by Bob Welch, ex-Fleetwood Mac--think Glen Frey singing for Led Zepplin.)

Books, Non-Fiction
From the Holy Mountain
In the Footsteps of the Master (fascinating travelogue through British Palestine in the early 1930s)
Shipping Out (technically an essay). It's here, https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf

Books, Fiction
Confederacy of Dunces
The Great Divorce
The Hemingway Thief (By Shaun Harris, my roommate in Keenan)

Podcasts
The History of Rome

Board Games
We play a game in my family where every person gets the same number of paper slips as there are players. Everyone writes a sentences on the top slip of their paper stack, then passes the stack on to the next person. The next person reads the sentence, places that slip on the bottom of the stack, then on the blank top slip, draws a picture of what the sentence says. They then pass it all on. The third person looks at the drawing, places it on the bottom of the stack, then has to write a sentence describing the drawing. The process repeats until the stack comes back around to the player with whom it began. Basically a version of telephone, and ends up with people crying with laughter every time.

I’ll add Booksmart, which I finally got around to watching. It was excellent.

If you liked the strange 80s film and are open to watching a 10-hour Netflix series of the same muppets, give this a chance.

It’s really an amazing fantasy epic and an astonishing technical achievement. The voice actors are incredibly strong too (Simon Pegg, Mark Hamill, Taron Egerton, Awkwafina, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader are just a few—the collection of talent here is impressive).

Note: not really for little kids despite the premise. These muppets are cruel to each other.

In no particular order:

• Justified - I'd watch Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins read the phone book at each other.
  
• The Leftovers - One of the great meditations on grief, loss, and faith ever televised.
  
• Fargo - Great stories and great actors. Every season has its own charms.
  
• The Good Place - One of the great meditations on moral philosophy ever televised.
  
• Watchmen - Lindelhof's follow-up to The Leftovers is an exploration of race, fascism, anti-fascism, and power.
  
• The Mandalorian - This might be the best Star Wars property ever. It's a love letter to the first trilogy and its roots in Kurosawa and the spaghetti western, while simultaneously exploring some of the more obscure corners of Star Wars lore (that final scene hints at so much!!!).

We are in the age of amazing podcasts!

Revolutions: Haiti (but Bolivar, Mexico also amazing!)
The Ancient World: Bloodline (should have already listened to History of Rome)
Dan Carlin: Mongols
The China-Africa Project
History of Byzantium (starts at the fall of the western Empire)
China History Podcast (stories, he's not great at the broad history strokes)
China Econ Talk (start at Peter Hessler interview; an episode on the fall of the Soviet Union was fascinating)
SpyCast
Serial, White Lies+all the other smug NPR stuff
Edit: how could I forget Caliphate, which left me crying on the bus.

TV Shows
Rubicon
Firefly
WestWorld
American Horror Story
The Expanse (technically I haven't watched this yet, waiting to binge)
Black Mirror
BoJack Horseman
Better Call Saul+Breaking Bad
Stranger Things
The Good Place (just starting it now)

TV Shows
The Good Place (I'm late to this party, but love it)
Hap and Leonard
Chernobyl
Fargo
Derry Girls

Movies
Heavy Trip
Amazing Grace, Aretha Franklin
Hail, Caesar! (my godson claimed it was the most Catholic of the Cohen brothers movies; I was rewarded in the re-watch)

Music
boygenius
Thunderbitch
L'Heritier, Nigra Sum
Day of Wrath, Skin Tirade

Books Non-Fiction
Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens (my doctor recommended this to me during our annual date)
Sebastian Junger, Tribe (a former student and current Navy SEAL recommended this to me)
William Strauss, The Fourth Turning (I picked up this recommendation here)

Books Fiction
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
Linnea Hartsuyker, The Half-drowned King
Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology
Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus
Marilynne Robinson, Lila (or Gilead if you haven't read that first)

Podcasts
Ear Hustle
Stay Free: The Story of the Clash

Games
Out of the Park Baseball (I always have this on my computer for when I'm in meetings)

TV: Rectify

Movies: I rewatch The Apartment every December. Saw Little Women yesterday and enjoyed it way more than I anticipated (Credit to Gerwig and Ronan, who is quickly becoming the best actress of her generation)

Music: Lord Huron

Books, Non-Fiction: The Warmth of Other Sons

Books, Fiction: Grief is the Thing with Feathers

I would also recommend finding a new sport to get really into. Streaming gives you so much cool stuff and euro sports are great if you have early rising kids.

Pop culture. No offense intended.

- No text -

Ulysses, The Name of the Rose, and Midnight's Children. As for more recent fare, I think Marlon James is a genius who has yet to write his masterpiece, though A Brief History of Seven Killings comes pretty damn close. I've probably banged the drum for Hilary Mantel enough in previous book threads, but the last book of her Thomas Cromwell series comes out in March, so now is the perfect time to read the first two--her Cromwell is my favorite literary character this side of Leopold Bloom and Quentin Compson. Speaking of Quentin, I think Absalom, Absalom! is the great American novel, while To the Lighthouse is my favorite British novel.

As for music, Miles Davis. I know jazz isn't everyone's bag, and the board's jazz fans are already well acquainted with him, but it's worth noting just how deep and diverse his catalogue is, particularly in the Prestige and Columbia days, when every record he made was essential listening. IMHO, no one in popular music crafted more masterpieces than Miles.

I'm way behind the film and television zeitgeist these days, but watch Fleabag.

Books.....
Name of the Wind
Way of Kings
Tale of Two Cities
Shadow of the Wind
Blood Song
Ready Player One
Brothers Karamazov
Anna Karenina
Three Musketeers
Skinny Dip

TV
Daredevil
The Wire
The Watchmen
True Detective
Arrested Development
30 Rock
Clone Wars
Avatar the Last Airbender

Games
The Witcher 3
Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild
Dragon Age
Mass Effect
Planescape Torment
Knights of the Old Republic
Baldurs Gate

TV Shows
30 Rock
The Americans
Veep

Movies
Hell or High Water
Snowpiercer
Arrival

Music (Album or Singer/Group)
Caamp
The National
Max Richter

Books, Non-Fiction
How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North

Books, Fiction
¯_(ツ)_/¯

Podcasts
Start Here
The Allusionist

Board Games
Ticket to Ride