Sonoma County experts reveal best of the year in books, music and movies

Soon, we’ll be hearing predictions for trends in popular culture during the new year, but before that happens, let’s take a quick look back at this year’s most popular books, music and movies, as reported by local merchants.

Copperfield’s Books recently compiled its best-selling books of the year. The list is heavy on fiction, with six of the top 10 and including two Pulitzer Prize winning novels. There are stories of love, murder, war, aging, dying and even getting organized forever in this unique list. Children’s top sellers ranged from Harry Potter (of course), humor, movie tie-ins, bios and classics.

Best-selling books

1. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts I & II” (Special Rehearsal Edition) by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany. In this play script based on a J.K. Rowling story, Harry Potter is all grown up and an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, along with being a husband and father of three schoolaged children.

2. “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman. This is literally the story of a grumpy old man.

3. “Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins. Last year’s third best-selling book is now in paperback. It also was made into a film this year starring Emily Blunt.

4. “Little Paris Bookshop” by Nina George. Who doesn’t love a novel set in a bookstore? This international best-seller is the story of Monsieur Perdue, who prescribes ways to mend a broken heart and other hardships from his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine.

5. “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo. Haven’t we tidied up enough yet? Apparently not. The Japanese woman details her unique system for decluttering and organizing one’s belongings.

6. “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry” by Fredrik Backman. A second novel by best-selling Swedish author Fredrik Backman is the story of a precocious young girl who personally apologizes to the people her late grandmother wronged in life.

7. “When Breath Becomes Air” Paul Kalanithi. The author was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer shortly before beginning his career as a physician and kept a journal detailing the last months of his life. His moving memoir was published posthumously earlier this year.

8. “The Sympathizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen. A Pulitzer Prize winning novel about war and its aftermath published in 2016.

9. “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr. Another Pulitzer Prize winning novel about war and its aftermath, published in 2015.

10. “Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive” by Laura Hillenbrand. Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive by Laura Hillenbrand sits in tenth place. Adapted from the adult novel of the same name, this spellbinding account tells the story of Louis Zamperini, a thief turned track star, Olympian, airman, castaway and prisoner of war.

Top children’s books

1. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts I & II” (Special Rehearsal Edition) by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany.

2. “Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive” by Laura Hillenbrand

3. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid No. 11: Double Down” by Jeff Kinney

4. “Trials of Apollo Book One: The Hidden Oracle” by Rick Riordan

5. “Nightmares! The Lost Lullaby” by Jason Segel, Kirsten Miller

6. “Ghosts” by Raina Telgemeier

7. “BFG (Big Friendly Giant)” by Ronald Dahl

8. “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs

9. “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown

10. “Hilo Book 2: Saving the Whole Wide World” by Judd Winick

(Source: Copperfield’s Books)

Top albums

Last Record Store’s best-selling albums of 2016:

1. “Blue & Lonesome” by the Rolling Stones

2. “Hardwired ... to Self-Destruct” by Metallica

3. “4 Your Eyez Only” by J Cole

4. “We Got it From Here ... Thank You 4 Your Service!” by Tribe Called Quest

5. “You Want It Darker” by Leonard Cohen

Here are the 2016 albums picked as Top 10 favorites by Last Record Store owner Doug Jayne:

1. “Dig in Deep” by Bonnie Raitt: “Bonnie took some time off between albums. She dealt with personal loss and came back strong with ‘Dig in Deep,’ featuring the great Jon Cleary on keyboards. When Bonnie Raitt has it going on, there’s no one better.”

2. “Post Pop Depression” by Iggy Pop: “Produced by the dude from Queens of the Stone Age, Josh Homme. Eight new songs, much of the recording done over two weeks in Joshua Tree with Queens of the Stone Age members and the drummer from the Arctic Monkeys. Check out ‘Gardenia.’ GREAT song.

3. “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” by Sturgill Simpson: Sturgill’s third album, and he has moved forward as an artist. While his first two albums were good in a Waylon Jennings sort of way, this new album is beautiful in ways I can’t really describe. It sounds fresh and unique every time I play it.”

4. “2” by Mudcrutch: “This album seemed to come out at the right time. Tom Petty making another album with the band he played with as a teen in Florida. He certainly doesn’t save his great songs for the Heartbreakers; check out “Trailer.” A classic.”

5. “Undercurrent” by Sarah Jarosz: “Sarah Jarosz hits her stride on her fourth album. She is 25, and musically comparable to Gillian Welch. Check out ‘House of Mercy.’”

6. “Colvin & Earle” by Colvin & Earle: “I’m a huge Steve Earle fan, and a moderate Shawn Colvin fan, so I was thrilled that this album is so good. Ten songs, five covers, five originals that they wrote together. Listen to ‘You Were On My Mind.’?”

7. “American Tunes” by Allen Toussaint: “Allen was working on this album with producer Joe Henry when he died unexpectedly in November 2015. It’s a tribute to great American composers: Ellington, Professor Longhair, Fats Waller, Paul Simon. Allen was a treasure.” If you have time, there is a great podcast here: americanroutes.wwno.org/archive/.

8. “American Band” by Drive-By Truckers: “On their 11th studio album, Drive-By Truckers goes political. The writing is really good. Check out ‘Once They Banned Imagine.’ Yeah, that happened.”

9. “Redemption & Ruin” by The Devil Makes Three: “A concept album: five songs of Ruin (drinking, drugs, good stuff) followed by five songs of Redemption (death, God, Tom Waits.) I love this band.”

10. “You Want It Darker” by Leonard Cohen: “I am so glad that my wife made me take her to see Leonard Cohen in concert. He toured like a kid with a crazy dream from 2008 to 2013. He put out albums of new songs in 2012 and 2014 and completed the trilogy in October with ‘You Want It Darker.’ I still have a hard time saying, ‘The late, great Leonard Cohen.’”

Top 10 movie rentals

Joe Kaminski, owner of Joe’s Video in Santa Rosa, compiled his list of the year’s most popular rentals with statistics from both his Stony Point Road location and his former store on Yulupa Avenue, which closed in September.

1. “The Martian”

2. “The Revenant”

3. “Bridge of Spies”

4. “Sicario”

5. “Deadpool”

6. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

7. “The Hateful Eight”

8. “The Legend of Tarzan”

9. “Sisters”

10. “The Intern”

You can reach staff writers Diane Peterson at 707-521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com, and Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.