The winter holidays are a chance to step back and reflect—and catch up on everything you’ve missed over the last 12 months. To help you find the good stuff, each December we ask The Logic’s newsroom for recommendations on what to read, listen to and watch.
In this year’s selections you’ll find a mix of topical non-fiction, character-driven television series, under-the-radar films and an eclectic selection of albums (plus, one essential podcast episode). Some relate to business and tech, but many others don’t. All of our picks were published or broadcast this year.
Grab your hot cocoa and holiday sweaters, and snuggle up somewhere warm. It’s time to dive into our staff picks of 2023.
BOOKS
Going Infinite
By Michael Lewis
The knock on Lewis (known for books like Moneyball, The Big Short and Flash Boys) and his latest work on FTX is that he didn’t understand crypto well enough and wasn’t tough enough on FTX’s fallen boy genius Sam Bankman-Fried. But if you approach Going Infinite as an attempt to explain what Bankman-Fried was thinking—right or wrong—as he rode the FTX rocket and then crashed, it’s a superb read. Lewis had wildly good access inside the company as it soared, and the biggest question Going Infinite leaves is how so many people got taken in. – David R.
LIV and Let Die: The Inside Story of the War Between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf
By Alan Shipnuck
You’d be forgiven for assuming that a book about golf wouldn’t fly off the page, but you’d be wrong. Shipnuck takes the reader inside the ropes during the most turbulent period in the history of the sport. It’s a gripping read that recounts the PGA Tour-LIV Golf war for what it really was: a fight for the soul of professional sports. Is it about legacy or greed? Diplomacy or sportswashing? Pride or ego? It also enters the boardroom and courtroom dramas where critical decisions were made that some would soon regret. The deadline for a proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf is just days away, and with last year’s Masters Tournament champion John Rahm’s marquee LIV signing, the story is far from over. This book will catch you up. – David S.
Outlive: The Science and Art Of Longevity
By Dr. Peter Attia & Bill Gifford
As a fitness and longevity enthusiast, I’ve struggled with Google’s health searches being dominated by sponsored content and polarized information. Attia, a leading expert in modern health, provides a comprehensive and up-to-date guide to well-being with his latest book. Covering everything from exercise, diets, and fasting to mental health and sleep hygiene, the book also discusses practical tools like health-monitoring apps. Implementing Attia’s recommendations over the years has enhanced my understanding of my body, as well as fostering intentional well-being and gratitude. I highly recommend a slow, deliberate read of this insightful book. – Armita
Pervatory
By RM Vaughan
The manuscript of Vaughan’s last book was found on his computer two months after the 55-year-old writer and artist took his own life. The resulting book, Pervatory, is a profane, hilarious, bitter, absurdist jaunt through Berlin with lapsed freelance columnist Martin Heather. Exactly why Heather departs for Berlin is (to these Montreal eyes, anyway) worth the price of admission. Living in Toronto, Heather says, “eventually reality dawns on you—the particular reality of living in the largest city of a leftover colony—that you will never be good enough. The centre is always elsewhere.” Heather has a series of wild sexual encounters through Berlin before (and after) he falls for Alexandar, a man who is as doting outside the bedroom as he is cruel within it. The chapters are short bursts of quick-draw observation and frankly shocking set pieces, leading to an unguessable ending. I only wish that Vaughan were still around to give us more. – Martin
TELEVISION SERIES
Succession, Season 4
Jesse Armstrong, HBO
Is the “Succession” finale the read-watch-listen pick equivalent of a pumpkin spice latte? Yes. Are pumpkin spice lattes delicious? Also yes. Sometimes things are popular because they’re excellent. “Succession” consistently delivered—incredible characters, crackling writing, but not so highbrow as to be above a soap opera plot twist or a physical-comedy gag. I was left wanting more—incidentally, not a feeling I usually have after finishing a pumpkin spice latte. – Claire
The Traitors (U.S.)
Marc Pos, Peacock
“The Traitors” is a reality TV show filled with twists, turns and deception. The show brought together 20 American celebrities and everyday folks to compete in a series of challenges and build a prize fund worth $250,000. But the game doesn’t stop there. Hidden among the players are Traitors,whose objective is to get to the end undetected while murdering the Faithfuls one by one. I binge-watched this show within three days of discovering it. My favourite franchise so far is U.K. Season 1, but that was released in 2022. The U.S. version, which premiered January 2023, runs a close second. – Kim
FILMS
Air
Ben Affleck, Amazon Studios & Warner Bros. Pictures
It’s the underdog business story of Nike, when the then-fledgling sneaker brand was still trailing behind brands like Adidas and Converse in basketball. The movie—with stars including Ben Affleck (partnering again with his BFF Matt Damon), Viola Davis and Jason Bateman—tracks Nike’s historic deal with the up-and-coming 21-year-old Michael Jordan. The film delivers a sharp and entertaining business-of-sports-and-marketing story, and artfully nails down 1980s nostalgia. – April
Going In
Evan Rissi, Vortex Media
Going In is Canadian Rissi’s first feature film. Set in Toronto in the late ‘80s, it follows Leslie, a professor who has taken a quiet, sober life after leaving behind his crazy party days with his former best friend Rueben. When Rueben’s brother is kidnapped by a drug lord who is behind a new drug epidemic taking over the city, he seeks out a hesitant Leslie’s help to get him back. – Aaliyah
M3GAN
Gerard Johnstone, Universal Pictures
This movie takes an age-old sci-fi premise—AI gone wrong—and updates it for a time when that feels more relevant than ever. Equal parts campy horror and dark humour, it’s a fun watch that captures the tech industry’s absurdity without becoming pedantic. It also leaves you with haunting questions, not of blood and gore but of what families will do to supplement a lack of human connection in today’s tech-laden world. – Anita
ALBUMS
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
Caroline Polachek, Perpetual Novice
The cover of Polachek’s Desire, I Want to Turn Into You depicts the singer-songwriter crawling through a subway car onto sand. She looks ahead into a place, perhaps a beach, that the viewer can’t see. The album, too, feels like a journey into her mind, with lush production and strikingly offbeat lyrics (“Look at you, all mythicalogical and Wikipediated,” she sings on “Blood and Butter”). It’s pop, but also avant-garde; experimental, but traditional, using everything from flamenco guitars to bagpipes. It’s grown on me and is now my favourite album of the year. – Sebastian
The Returner
Allison Russell, Fantasy Records
Given that I’m Russell’s top 0.005 per cent fan on Spotify this year, it’s my duty to recommend her latest album The Returner, a follow-up to her solo debut Outside Child (previous group acts include Po’ Girl, Birds of Chicago and Our Native Daughters). The Montreal-born singer-songwriter, clarinetist and banjo player expands upon her Americana roots in the multi-genre album by infusing an eclectic mix of funk, soul, disco and pop. It’s a celebratory album, focusing on resilience and joy after hardship. And it’s made richer with Russell’s communal singing, sometimes through call-and-response verses, with an all-women group of accompanying musicians. – Leah
Mighty Poplar
Mighty Poplar, Free Dirt Records
The debut, self-titled album from this bluegrass supergroup, including members from Punch Brothers and Watchhouse, serves as a beautiful tribute to the genre, and includes renditions of folk favourites like Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and Leonard Cohen’s “The Story of Isaac.” Between such broody folk ballads and more traditional bluegrass picks from the likes of the Carter Family (“A Distant Land to Roam”) and John Hartford (“Let Him Go on Mama”), the entire album is delightful. – Amanda
First Two Pages of Frankenstein & Laugh Track
The National, 4AD
In September, The National released a surprise album—a sister record to their earlier 2023 release, First Two Pages of Frankenstein—called Laugh Track. The first album, released in April, captures their near-breakup during the pandemic (a result of prolonged separation due to the lack of touring combined with their lead singer’s bout of depression). Though still incredibly sad, like all National songs, Laugh Track carries with it a levity that signals their recommitment to the band, their music and a new era of performing. There’s something soothing, especially in a post-COVID-19 world, about music that captures the process of plotting a way forward even after something you once took for granted unravels. – Anna
Javelin
Sufjan Stevens, Asthmatic Kitty
Stevens’s Javelin begins with a goodbye. Dedicated to his late partner Evans Richardson who died in April, the album is him at his best, once again making it look easy to layer a banjo with a choir, a synth and a flute into something not only coherent but beautiful, too. It ends on a hopeful note with a short, stripped-down cover of Neil Young’s “There’s a World.” The choir echoes nearly every line—You can see the righteous dream. Look around you, has it found you? Is it what it really seems? The answer is left up to the listener. – Hanna
PODCASTS AND AUDIOBOOKS
The Woman in Me
Written by Britney Spears and read by Michelle Williams
Britney Spears’s memoir, The Woman in Me, was destined to make headlines in 2023 for taking readers through the singer’s Disney roots, complicated rise to popstardom and painfully public conservatorship battle. It’s an excellent read for any pop-culture fiend, but I highly recommend consuming the aural version read by the incredible Michelle Williams. Williams’s five-hour-and-31-minute performance is delicate, harrowing and unexpectedly funny, thanks to her impressions of certain characters in Spears’s story. – Jenna
Ozempic, Maintenance Phase
Aubrey Gordon & Michael Hobbes
As Ozempic mania hit the headlines, I knew two things for certain: the podcast “Maintenance Phase” would do an episode about it, and that episode would be the best source of reliable information about the blockbuster diabetes and off-label weight-loss drug. I was not disappointed. Hosts Gordon and Hobbes apply their usual combination of researched deep dive and heavy sarcasm to one of the most breathlessly overhyped stories of the year—and I’m saying that as a reporter who has covered AI. – Claire
