“Stars and Satellites” Trampled by Turtles, 2012
The hyper-picking band slowed down and embellished its string work with a serene touch while singer Dave Simonett got personal and expressive in songs like “Alone.”
Best of the decade
Best
of the
decade
It's over.
We've been through a lot in the last 10 years — let our critics and reporters guide you through all the highlights. From classical music to hit TV shows, we've got it covered.
10
“The Collected Poems of Robert Bly” Robert Bly, 2018
How better to cap the 70-year-career of a literary lion than with a stunning retrospective of poems?
9
“Don’t Call Us Dead” Danez Smith, 2017
Poems grounded in love and violent death made Smith a finalist for the National Book Award.
8
“What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky” Lesley Nneka Arimah, 2017
Original, bizarre, funny and tragic, these stories lit up the literary sky like a rocket.
7
“The Song Poet” Kao Kalia Yang, 2016
Yang’s second memoir is the story of her father’s life in Laos and the family’s migration to America.
6
“There’s Something I Want You to Do” Charles Baxter, 2015
Ten graceful, subtle stories, split between virtues and vices, by a winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story.
5
“A Brief History of Seven Killings” Marlon James, 2014
Brutal and ambitious, this novel was the first by a Jamaican writer to win the Booker Prize.
4
“Dear Committee Members” Julie Schumacher, 2014
Hilarious letters by a frustrated academic won Schumacher the title of funniest person in America.
3
“Black Aperture” Matt Rasmussen 2013
Searing debut about a brother’s death — winner of the Walt Whitman Award.
2
“Flora & Ulysses” Kate DiCamillo, 2013
The tale of a girl and a squirrel got DiCamillo her second Newbery Medal.
1
“The Round House” Louise Erdrich, 2012
The second in Erdrich’s “justice trilogy” won the National Book Award.
10
Pain and Glory 2019
Pedro Almodóvar’s magnificent return to form is an autobiographical drama with Antonio Banderas as an artist trying to regain his mojo.
9
“Paddington 2” 2018
Both “Paddington” movies are great but this one has Hugh Grant, lampooning his own vanity with glee.
8
“Maggie’s Plan” 2016
Screwball comedy with the freshest actor in the biz, Greta Gerwig, before she became the freshest writer/director, alongside Julianne Moore’s sidesplitting “Danish” accent.
7
“I Am Love” 2010
Luca Guadagnino would go on to bigger recognition with “Call Me by Your Name,” but this stylish romantic drama is his best, with a stunner of a performance from Tilda Swinton.
6
“Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse” 2018
The best superhero movie of the decade is also the funniest, the most inclusive and the most poignant.
5
“Phantom Thread” 2017
More than any of these movies, this elegant study of a deeply odd BDSM relationship has lingered and deepened in my memory.
4
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” 2014
Wes Anderson’s farce is a grab bag of hilarious, tender weirdness, and Ralph Fiennes is uproarious in the lead.
3
Moonlight 2016
Oscar (eventually) got it right with this compassionate, boldly structured beauty.
2
Stranger by the Lake 2014
From France, a Hitchcockian thriller about devastating loneliness, set at a remote spot where men hook up for sex.
1
Mad Max, Fury Road 2015
A spellbinding thrill ride and an exhilarating demo of what the movies can do.
Credits
Writing Chris Riemenschneider, Laurie Hertzel, Neal Justin, Chris Hewitt, Rohan Preston, Jon Bream, Alicia Eler, Terry Blain
Editing Tim Campbell, Hannah Sayle
Design Anna Boone, Jamie Hutt, Josh Penrod
Development Anna Boone, Jamie Hutt