Input 2024

Since 2021, I’ve recorded every Book, Film, and Television series I’ve seen each year.

Usually, I’ll write a round-up post at the end of the year with long lists of every title. For my 2024 roundup, I’ve decided to keep it a little more succinct.

Those who know me know that I think a lot about Input and Output. What creative information do I take in, and what creative acts do I undertake? I believe a healthy mind has a good balance between these two.

Here are the best and worst of my Inputs for 2024.

Books

In 2024 I read 25 books – roughly one every two weeks. Of these, 36% were graphic novels, 32% were audiobooks, 20% were ebooks, 1 paperback, 1 hardcover, and 1 printed screenplay.

There was a conscious effort on my behalf to try new mediums. In 2023, my reading was about 80% audiobooks, so the inclusion of ebooks, a screenplay, and a bunch of graphic novels was, well… novel. In 2025, I think I’ll hunker down with a few more physical books.

Book of the Year: The Swallowed Man by Edward Carey

An unforgettably woeful tale of Geppetto, the father of The Wooden Boy, Pinocchio. The audiobook was great – and if you can, I’d recommend listening this way. It’s read by the author, who, despite not having a particularly charming radio voice, must surely have some background in theatre. Touching and poignant are such overused words, so I’ll simply say that this story burrows – no, dives – deep, lodging itself, and lighting up in the dark corners of your inner self.

Runner Up: The Great Undoing by Sharlene Allsopp

A thought-provoking and character-focused hard sci-fi, set in a near future apocalypse where Australia has become the dominant world power.

Wooden Spoon: Rebel by Bernard Cornwell

What a letdown! After thoroughly enjoying Cornwell’s Sharpe series (my favourite book series ever written), I was desperately hoping that his ability to bring the Napoleonic wars to life would translate to the American Civil War. Alas, it did not. Despite a brief appearance by Sharpe’s son and allusions to Sharpe’s armaments, I found myself thoroughly bored.

Film

In 2024 I saw 41 movies. Of these, 34% were seen in a cinema, 29% on my television, 2 on my MacBook, 2 on my iPhone, and 1 on a plane.

Film of the Year: Monkey Man, directed by Dev Patel

I’m a sucker for a good, stupid, action film. Give me Fast & Furious, give me Taken, give me John Wick. And Monkey Man does. It’s been described as an Indian John Wick – a fair comparison, but it’s a lot more than that too. This film has a lot more heart than your typical shoot-em-up fare, plus the beautifully gritty backdrop of subcontinent slums. Hiding underneath it all are themes of poverty, the caste system, and Hindu nationalism. It’s become my favourite action film, and my go to recommendation for anyone who enjoys the genre. This was Dev Patel’s directorial debut, and I cannot wait to see what he creates next.

Runner Up: Napoleon, directed by Ridley Scott

I’m not quite sure why critics mostly panned this film. I enjoyed it quite a lot! Going into the film, I already had a strong interest in Napoleonic France (having read the entire Sharpe series, I feel like a minor expert!), so perhaps that helped. There were a few historical inaccuracies that bothered me (charging in line rather than column, as Napoleon was famous for). Aside from that, I found the settings and performances captivating, and the storytelling quite exciting.

Wooden Spoon: Madame Web

Enough has already been said about this terrible picture. I mean, I hate to speak ill of a film – there’s such a huge amount of work that goes into every single one. But a dud is a dud.

Television

In 2024 I watched 30 season of television, across 23 different shows, comprising of 283 episodes. That’s 5.5 episodes of television each week. Of these episodes, 22% were Outlander! An additional 12% were Marvel shows, and 11% were Star Trek.

Television Season of the Year: The Penguin (Season 1)

I know a lot of people skipped this because it’s a DC show, and you know, Batman. It’s set in the same universe as Matt Reaves’ The Batman, but it doesn’t feature the character in any important ways, and doesn’t require that you’ve seen the film. The important thing to stress about The Penguin is that it is not a super hero show. There are no super heroes. The Penguin is a mafia drama, and a good one, holding its own right alongside Scorsese’s GoodFellas. Frantic, fast-paced, never sure who to root for. It left me, let’s say, staggering.

Runner Up: For All Mankind (Season 4)

Possibly the greatest show on Apple TV+, save perhaps Severance. And consistent. Every season has built on the last and taken the show new places. Season 4 is no different. The thing I’d say about this show is that it’s a great “watch it with the wife” kind of show. It’s been my experience with most couples that one prefers character drama while the other would rather gunfights and spaceships (or spaceships having gunfights). This show has it all.

Wooden Spoon: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Season 1)

After having enjoyed most of the previous films in the “MonsterVerse” franchise, and knowing the high calibre quality of Apple TV+ shows, I had high hopes for this series. Unfortunately, it was terrible.

This post should give you some indication of the types of Inputs I enjoy! If you have any recommendations, especially if they relate to one of the items above, please reach out and let me know! My favourite recommendations sound like “I saw you enjoyed X – you should try Y, it’s like X but with a touch of Z”.