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31/12/2019 0 Comments

Books Read 2019 (Plus more)


  1. “How Saints Die” — Carmen Marcus  (January)
  2. “Pulse” — Julian Barnes  (January)
  3. “The Lonely Witness” — William Boyle  (January)
  4. “Far From True” — Linwood Barclay  (January)
  5. “Rather Be The Devil” — Ian Rankin  (February)
  6. “The Porcupine” — Julian Barnes  (February)
  7. “Monsieur” — Emma Becker (February)
  8. “Maggie & Me” — Damian Barr (February)
  9. “The Murder of Halland” — Pia Juul  (March)
  10. “The Easter Parade” — Richard Yates  (March) (again)
  11. “Knots and Crosses” — Ian Rankin  (April)
  12. “Black-Eyed Susans” — Julia Haeberlin  (April)
  13. “Madame Bovary” — Gustave Flaubert  (April)
  14. “Mrs Sartoris” — Elke Schmitter  (April)
  15. “Common People” — Various  (May)
  16. “Talking It Over” — Julian Barnes  (May)
  17. “Paper Ghosts” — Julia Haeberlin  (May)
  18. “Silent Scream” — Angela Marsons  (May)
  19. “Stop Doing That Shit” — Gary John Bishop  (May)
  20. “Sister, Sister” — Sue Fortin  (May)
  21. “To The Back of Beyond” — Peter Stamm  (May)
  22. “Is Monogamy Dead?” — Rosie Wilby  (May)
  23. “Insomniac City” — Bill Hayes  (May)
  24. “Goodbye, Things” — Fumio Sasaki  (June)
  25. “Notes to Self” — Emilie Pine  (June)
  26. “Only The Ocean” — Natasha Carthew  (June)
  27. “Acts of Infidelity” — Lena Anderson  (June)
  28. “The Good Son” — Paul McVeigh  (July)
  29. “Constellations” — Sinéad Gleeson  (July)
  30. “The Opposite of Loneliness” — Marina Keegan  (July)
  31. “Troubling Love” — Elena Ferrante  (July)
  32. “Notes on a Nervous Planet” — Matt Haig  (July)
  33. “Train Dreams” — Denis Johnson  (July)
  34. “All The Blood Is Red” — Leone Ross  (July)
  35. “The Artistic Life” — Mark SaFranko  (August)
  36. “The Park Bench” — Chabouté  (August)
  37. “The Assault” — Harry Mulisch  (August)
  38. “Peach” — Emma Glass  (August)
  39. “Come Let Us Sing Anyway” — Leone Ross  (August)
  40. “He’s Done Ever So Well for Himself” — Justin David  (August)
  41. “Drug Story” — u. v. ray  (August)
  42. “Daddy’s Girl” — Debbie Drechsler  (September)
  43. “The Summer of Love” — Debbie Drechsler  (September)
  44. “Threads” — Nathan Evans & Justin David  (September)
  45. “Lowborn” — Kerry Hudson  (September)
  46. “Made in Scotland” — Billy Connolly  (September)
  47. “Cnut” — Nathan Evans  (September)
  48. “Paul Moves Out” — Michel Rabagliati  (September)
  49. “Paul Goes Fishing” — Michel Rabagliati  (September)
  50. “Cleveland” — Harvey Pekar and Joseph Remnant  (September)
  51. “Alone” — Chabouté  (September)
  52. “Snow” — Maxence Fermine  (September)
  53. “Normal People” — Sally Rooney  (September)
  54. “AutoFellatio: A Memoir” — James Maker  (September)
  55. “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” — Ottessa Moshfegh  (September)
  56. “In The City of Love’s Sleep” — Lavinia Greenlaw  (October)
  57. “Scrapbook” — Adrian Tomine  (October)
  58. “32 Stories” — Adrian Tomine  (October)
  59. “The Pale Ones” — Bartholomew Bennett  (November)
  60. “A Choice of Whitman’s Verse” — Walt Whitman  (November)
  61. “Of Mice and Men” — John Steinbeck  (November)
  62. “Hard Labor” — Don Winter & Fred Voss  (November)
  63. “Love, etc” — Julian Barnes  (November)
  64. “Before She Met Me” — Julian Barnes  (November)
  65. “Northern Boy” — Iqbal Hussein  (November)
  66. “Stone in a Landslide” — Maria Barbal  (November)
  67. “The Fast 800” — Dr Michael Mosley  (November)
  68. “New York City in 1979” — Kathy Acker  (November)
  69. “The Reader” — Raymond Jean  (November)
  70. “How to be Alone” — Lane Moore  (December)
  71. “Stillness is the Key” — Ryan Holiday  (December)
  72. “Walk Through Walls” — Marina Abramović  (December)
  73. “The Flame” — Leonard Cohen  (December)
  74. “The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving A Fuck” — Sarah Knight  (December)
  75. “The Years” — Annie Ernaux  (December)
  76. “Lullaby” — Leïla Slimani  (December)

Books in bold were particularly good.

And just to show that writers don't live in a bubble, here's some other stuff...

Films Watched 2019

  1. Lea (2011, Dir. Bruno Rolland)
  2. The Favourite (2018, Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
  3. Split (2016, Dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
  4. The Post (2017, Dir. Stephen Spielberg)
  5. 12 Years A Slave (2013, Dir. Steve McQueen)
  6. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018, Dir. Marielle Heller)
  7. Blackkklansman (2018, Dir. Spike Lee)
  8. A Star Is Born (2018, Dir. Bradley Copper)
  9. Roma (2018, Dir. Alfonso Cuaron)
  10. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018, Dir. Barry Jenkins)
  11. The Wife (2017, Dir Bjorn Runge)
  12. Fyre (2019, Dir. Chris Smith)
  13. Cold War (2018, Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)
  14. Sauvage (2018, Dir. Camille Vidal-Naquet)
  15. The Square (2017, Dir. Ruben Östlund)
  16. The Inventor (2019, Dir. Alex Gibny)
  17. Going Clear (2016, Dir. Alex Gibny)
  18. The Angels’ Share (2012, Dir. Ken Loach)
  19. 5 to 7 (2014, Dir. Victor Levin)
  20. The Circle (2017, Dir. James Ponsoldt)
  21. A Bout De Souffle (1959, Dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
  22. Vivre Sa Vie (1962, Dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
  23. Aardvark (2017, Dir. Brain Shoaf)
  24. Destination Wedding (2018, Dir. Victor Levin)
  25. Inherent Vice (2014, Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
  26. Swimming to Cambodia  (1987, Dir. Jonathan Demme)
  27. At Eternity’s Gate  (2018, Dir. Julian Schnabel)
  28. Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom (1980, Dir. Pedro Almodovar)
  29. Labyrinth of Passion (1982, Dir. Pedro Almodovar)
  30. Dark Habits (1983, Dir. Pedro Almodovar)
  31. What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984, Dir. Pedro Almodovar)
  32. Matador (1986, Dir. Pedro Almodovar)
  33. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988, Dir. Pedro Almodovar)
  34. Pain and Glory (2019, Dir. Pedro Almodovar)
  35. The Souvenir (2019, Dir. Joanna Hogg)
  36. Venus in Furs (2013, Dir. Roman Polanski)
  37. Joker (2019, Dir. Todd Phillips)
  38. Killing Them Softly (2013, Dir. Andrew Dominik)
  39. The Irishman (2019, Dir. Martin Scorsese)
  40. Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood (2019, Dir. Quentin Tarantino)
  41. The Two Popes (2019, Dir. Fernando Meirelles)
  42. The Wee Man (2013, Dir. Ray Burdis)
  43. Bikram (2019, Dir. Eva Orner)
  44. Dovlatov (2018, Dir. Aleksey German)

Films in bold were particularly good.

Plays Seen 2019

  1. “Approaching Empty” by Ishy Din at The Kiln
  2. “All In A Row” by Alex Oates at The Southwark Playhouse
  3. “The Half God of Rainfall” by Inua Ellams at The Kiln
  4. “Miss Julie” by August Strindberg at The Jermyn Street Theatre
  5. “Top Girls” by Charyl Churchill at The National
  6. “Rosmersholm” by Henrik Ibsen at The Duke of York
  7. “Vincent River” by Philip Ridley at Trafalgar Studio # 2
  8. “Wife” by Samuel Adamson at The Kiln Theatre
  9. “The Son” by Florian Zeller at The Duke of York
  10. “Bitter Wheat” by David Mamet at The Garrick Theatre
  11. “When The Crows Visit” by Anupama Chandrasekhar at The Kiln Theatre

Plays in bold were particularly good.

Albums Heard 2019

  1. “3121” — Prince
  2. “Diamonds and Pearls” — Prince
  3. “The Next Day” — David Bowie (again)
  4. “Blackstar” — David Bowie (again)
  5. “MASSEDUCTION” — St Vincent
  6. “Low” — David Bowie
  7. “Encore” — The Specials
  8. “For You” — Prince
  9. “Prince” — Prince
  10. “Dirty Mind” — Prince
  11. “Controversy” — Prince
  12. “1999” — Prince
  13. “Purple Rain” — Prince
  14. “Around The World In A Day” — Prince
  15. “Parade” — Prince
  16. “Sign ‘O’ The Times” — Prince
  17. “Lovesexy” — Prince
  18. “Batman OST” — Prince
  19. “Music From Graffiti Bridge” — Prince
  20. “Generation” — Dexter Gordon
  21. “Love Symbol” — Prince
  22. “Other Side of ‘Round Midnight” — Dexter Gordon
  23. “Rest” — Charlotte Gainsbourg
  24. “Ca Pu’range” — Dexter Gordon
  25. “OK” — Talvin Singh
  26. “Billie’s Bounce” — Dexter Gordon
  27. “It Won/t Be Like This All The Time” — The Twilight Sad
  28. “Lux Prima” — Karen O & Danger Mouse
  29. “The Idiot” — Iggy Pop
  30. “Blue Parlan” — Horace Parlan
  31. “Still Crazy After All These Years” — Paul Simon  (again)
  32. “The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady” — Charles Mingus
  33. “Nothing New” — Gil Scott-Heron
  34. “Love & Blues in the City” — Jeff Cascaro
  35. “Strike A Match” — Sacred Paws
  36. “American Water” — Silver Jews
  37. “Blue World” — John Coltrane
  38. “No Love Deep Web” — Death Grips
  39. “The Money Store” — Death Grips
  40. “Bach: The Goldberg Variations, BMV 988” — J. S. Bach & Glenn Gould
  41. “Giant Steps” — John Coltrane
  42. “All Mirrors” — Angel Olsen
  43. “Run Around the Sun” — Sacred Paws
  44. “Moanin’” — Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
  45. “Blues Walk” — Lou Donaldson
  46. “Goodbye” — Cream
  47. “The Visitor” — Neil Young & The Promise of the Real
  48. “Time Out” — Dave Brubeck
  49. “Late Night Feelings” — Mark Ronson
  50. “Jesus Is King” — Kanye West
  51. “ye” — Kanye West
  52. “Come” — Prince
  53. "The Gold Experience” — Prince
  54. “Chaos and Disorder” — Prince
  55. “Anima” — Thom Yorke
  56. “Pain & Glory: OST” — Alberto Iglesias
  57. “Thanks for the Dance” — Leonard Cohen
  58. “18” — Moby
  59. “Mishima” — Maki Namekawa
  60. “Blume” — Nérija
  61. “Milestone Profiles: Sonny Rollins” — Sonny Rollins

You could listen to any of the above and have a good time.


Art Seen 2019

  1. Vincent Van Gogh in London at The Tate Gallery
  2. Natalia Goncharova at The Tate Modern
  3. Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency at The Tate Modern
  4. Urban Impulses: Latin American Photography from 1959 to 2016 at The Photographers’ Gallery
  5. Olafur Eliasson at The Tate Modern
  6. Pioneers: William Morris and the Bauhaus at The William Morris Gallery
0 Comments

1/1/2019 0 Comments

Books Read 2018 (Plus more)

  1. Metroland — Julian Barnes  (January)
  2. All Is Silence — Manuel Rivas  (January)
  3. The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath  (January)
  4. Limonov — Emmanuel Carrere  (January)
  5. The Looking-Glass Sisters — Gøhril Gabrielsen  (January)
  6. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning — Alan Sillitoe  (February)
  7. Silence — Shusaku Endo  (February)
  8. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner — Alan Sillitoe  (February)
  9. Winesburg, Ohio — Sherwood Anderson  (February)
  10. Fragments from My Diary — Maxim Gorky  (March)
  11. The Days of Abandonment — Elena Ferrante  (March)
  12. The End of the Affair — Graham Greene  (March)
  13. A Scattering — Christopher Reid  (March)
  14. Lost and Found — Jules Montague  (April)
  15. Outline — Rachel Cusk  (April)
  16. We Should All Be Feminists — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  (April)
  17. The Plains — Gerard Murnane  (April)
  18. Sympathy — Olivia Sudjic  (April)
  19. Birthday Letters — Ted Hughes  (May)
  20. Packing My Library — Alberto Manguel  (May)
  21. The Nothing — Hanif Kureishi  (May)
  22. My Name is Leon — Kit De Waal  (May)
  23. Everyman — Philip Roth  (May) (again)
  24. 12 Rules for Life — Jordan Peterson  (June)
  25. Left in Dark Times — Bernard-Henri Levy  (June)
  26. Transit — Rachel Cusk  (June)
  27. The Plot Against America — Philip Roth  (July)
  28. A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better — Benjamin Wood  (July)
  29. Conversations With Friends — Sally Rooney  (July)
  30. Kudos — Rachel Cusk  (July)
  31. Story of the Eye — Georges Bataille  (July)
  32. Crudo — Olivia Laing  (August)
  33. The Double — Fyodor Dostoyevsky  (August)
  34. Pitch Dark — Renata Adler  (August)
  35. The Trick to Time — Kit De Waal  (September)
  36. Sentenced to Life — Clive James  (September)
  37. The Lost — Claire McGowan  (October)
  38. Temptation — Vesna Main  (October)
  39. Special Delivery — Iselin C. Hermann  (October)
  40. The Only Story — Julian Barnes  (October)
  41. Last Exit to Brooklyn — Hubert Selby Jr.  (October)
  42. Six Foot Six — Kit De Waal  (October)
  43. The Long Take — Robin Robertson  (October)
  44. Everything Under — Daisy Johnson  (October)
  45. The Last Wolf — Laszlo Krasznahorkai  (November)
  46. Judas — Amos Oz  (November)
  47. Elevation — Stephen King  (November)
  48. Big Magic — Elizabeth Gilbert  (November)
  49. Men Explain Things — Rebecca Solnit  (November)
  50. The Outrun — Amy Liptrot  (December)
  51. Boyhood Island — Karl Ove Knausgaard  (December)
  52. Blue Light Yokohama 3 — Nicolas Obregon  (December)
  53. The Adversary — Emmanuel Carrere  (December)
  54. White Teeth — Zadie Smith  (December)
  55. The Song of Lunch — Christopher Reid  (December)
  56. Asymmetry — Lisa Halliday  (December)

Books in bold were particularly good.

And just to show that writers don't live in a bubble, here's some other stuff...

Films Watched 2018

  1. Daphne  (2017, Dir. Peter Mackie Burns)
  2. Le Mepris  (1963, Dir. Jean Luc Goddard)
  3. Moonrise Kingdom  (2012, Dir. Wes Anderson)
  4. Une Femme Est Une Femme  (1961, Dir. Jean-Luc Goddard)
  5. Get Out  (2017, Dir. Jordan Peele)
  6. The Nun  (2013, Dir. Guillaume Nicloux)
  7. Husbands (1970, Dir. John Cassavetes)
  8. Casino (1996, Dir. Martin Scorsese) (again)
  9. A Tale of Winter  (1992, Dir. Eric Rohmer)
  10. The Death of Stalin  (2017, Dir. Armando Iannucci)
  11. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017, Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
  12. Scenes From A Marriage  (1973, Dir. Ingmar Bergman) (again)
  13. Phantom Thread  (2017, Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
  14. The Structure of Crystal  (1969, Dir. Krzystof Zanussi)
  15. Le Cercle Rouge (1970, Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville)
  16. Lady Bird (2017, Dir. Greta Gerwig)
  17. J’embrasse Pas (1991, Dir. Andre Techine)
  18. Certified Copy (2010, Dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
  19. De Palma (2015, Dir. Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow)
  20. Caramel (2007, Dir. Nadine Labaki)
  21. La jalousie (2013, Dir. Phillipe Garrel)
  22. L’amant d’un Jour (2017, Dir. Philippe Garrel)
  23. You Were Never Really Here (2017, Dir. Lynne Ramsay)
  24. Cafe de Flore (2011, Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée)
  25. Blade Runner, 2049 (2017, Dir. Denis Villinue)
  26. Wonder Wheel (2017, Dir. Woody Allen)
  27. Let The Sunshine In (2017, Dir. Claire Denis)
  28. White Heat (1949, Dir. Raoul Walsh)
  29. Gholam (2017, Dir. Mitra Tabrizian)
  30. Ginger & Rosa (2012, Dir. Sally Potter)
  31. Ma Nuit Chez Maud (1963, Dir. Eric Rohmer)
  32. Career Girls (1997, Dir. Mike Leigh)
  33. Isle of Dogs (2018, Dir. Wes Anderson)
  34. Death Wish (2018, Dir. Eli Roth)
  35. To Rome With Love (2012, Dir. Woody Allen)
  36. Stardust Memories (1980, Dir. Woody Allen)
  37. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985, Dir. Woody Allen)
  38. Christine (2016, Dir. Antonio Campos)
  39. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969, Dir. Paul Mazurksky)
  40. Baby Driver (2017, Dir. Edgar Wright)
  41. Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Dir. Sydney Lumet)  (again)
  42. The Touch (1971, Dir. Ingmar Bergman)
  43. Cafe Society (2016, Dir. Woody Allen)
  44. First Reformed (2017, Dir. Paul Schrader)
  45. Bananas (1971, Dir. Woody Allen)
  46. Nuts in May (1976, Dir. Mike Leigh)
  47. Alice (1990, Dir. Woody Allen)
  48. Mistress America (2015, Dir. Noah Baumbach)
  49. Maggie’s Plan (2015, Dir. Rebecca Miller)
  50. The Meyerowitz Stories (2017, Dir. Noah Baumbach)
  51. Tyrannosaur (2011, Dir. Paddy Considine)
  52. The King of Marvin Gardens (1972, Dir. Bob Rafelson)
  53. Final Score (2018, Dir. Scott Mann)
  54. The Double (2013, Dir. Richard Ayoade)
  55. On Cheisel Beach (2018, Dir. Dominic Cooke)
  56. Fucking in Love (2014, Dir. Justine Pluvinage)
  57. Adam Resurrected (2008, Dir. Paul Schrader)
  58. Where Do We Go Now? (2011, Dir. Nadine Labaki)
  59. A Journey Through French Cinema (2017, Dir. Bertrand Tavernier)
  60. The House That Jack Built (2018, Dir. Lars Von Trier)
  61. Les Coquillettes (2012, Dir. Sophie Letourneur)
  62. The Things of Life (1970, Dir. Claude Sautet)
  63. Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018, Dir Michael Moore)
  64. Oh Boy (2012, Dir. Jan Ole Gerster)
  65. Funny Cow (2017, Dir. Adrian Shergold)
  66. I, Daniel Blake (2017, Dir. Ken Loach)
  67. Prick Up Your Ears (1987, Dir. Stephen Frears)
  68. Love Is The Devil (1998, Dir. John Maybury)

Films in bold were particularly good.


Plays Seen 2018

  1. “A Christmas Carol” by Jack Thorne at The Old Vic
  2. “The Divide” by Alan Ayckbourn at The Old Vic
  3. “Fanny and Alexander” by Stephen Beresford at The Old Vic
  4. “Describe The Night” by Rajiv Joseph at The Hampstead Theatre
  5. “Mood Music” by Joe Penhall at The Old Vic
  6. “Instructions for Correct Assembly” by Thomas Eccleshare at The Royal Court
  7. “Absolute Hell” by Rodney Ackland at The National Theatre
  8. “Consent” by Nina Raine at The Harold Pinter Theatre
  9. “Translations” by Brian Friel at The National Theatre
  10. “Beirut” by Alan Bowne at The Park Theatre
  11. “Genesis, Inc.” by Jemma Kennedy at The Hampstead Theatre
  12. “Pinter at the Pinter # 1” by Harold Pinter at The Pinter Theatre
  13. “Pinter at the Pinter # 2” by Harold Pinter at The Pinter Theatre
  14. “War with the Newts” by Tyrrell Jones at The Bunker Theatre
  15. “Wise Children” by Angela Carter & Emma Rice at The Old Vic
  16. “A Pupil” by Jesse Briton at The Park Theatre
  17. “Switzerland” by Joanna Murray-Smith at The Ambassadors Theatre
  18. “White Teeth” by Stephen Sharkey at The Kiln Theatre
  19. “Pinter at the Pinter # 6” by Harold Pinter at The Pinter Theatre

Plays in bold were particularly good.

Albums Heard 2018

  1. “Tearing at the Seams” — Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats
  2. “God Hates Us All” — Slayer
  3. “Power in Numbers” — Jurassic 5
  4. “Monster” — R.E.M
  5. “Without a Sound” — Dinosaur Jr.
  6. “Mosquito” — Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  7. “Marque Moon” — Television
  8. “Adventure” — Television
  9. “Talking Heads 77” — Talking Heads
  10. “Remain in Light” — Talking Heads
  11. “Speaking in Tongues” — Talking Heads
  12. “Everything Now” — Arcade Fire
  13. “Glasgow Walker” — John Martyn
  14. “Dirty Computer” — Janelle Monae
  15. “Closer” — Joy Division
  16. “Night and Day” — Joe Jackson
  17. “Resistance is Futile” — Manic Street Preachers
  18. “Re-return to Paradise” — Sam Sparro
  19. “My War” — Black Flag
  20.  "The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend” — Baby Huey and The Baby Sitters
  21. “Reflektor” — Arcade Fire
  22. “The Suburbs” — Arcade Fire
  23. “Avonmore” — Bryan Ferry
  24. “Kamikaze” — Eminem
  25. “Combat Sports” — The Vaccines
  26. “Everything is Everything” — Donny Hathaway
  27. “Live Broadcast - 18th April 1993 The Complex” — Leonard Cohen
  28. “Piece by Piece” — John Martyn
  29. “One World” — John Martyn
  30. “Grace and Danger” — JohnMartyn
  31. “Solid Air” — John Martyn
  32. “Just As I Am” — Bill Withers
  33. “Popular Problems” — Leonard Cohen
  34. “Old Ideas” — Leonard Cohen
  35. “Day Breaks” — Norah Jones
  36. “Blue Alert” — Anjani Thomas
  37. “The Fall” — Norah Jones
  38. “Addictions Vol. 1” — Robert Palmer
  39. “Well Kept Secret” — John Martyn
  40. “The Old Magic” — Nick Lowe
  41. “Royal Blood” — Royal Blood
  42. “Alone Again, Naturally” — Esther Phillips
  43. “Vol. 4” — Black Sabbath
  44. “The Church With One Bell” — John Martyn
  45. “Living in Extraordinary Times” — James
  46. “Le Kov” — Gwenno
  47. “Silver Eye” — Goldfrapp
  48. “Glorious Fool” — John Martyn
  49. “Pride” — Robert Palmer
  50. “More Love Songs” — Loudon Wainwright III
  51. “In the Blue Light” — Paul Simon
  52. “Morning Phase” — Beck
  53. “God’s Favourite Customer” — Father John Misty
  54. “Clues” — Robert Palmer
  55. “History” — Loudon Wainwright III
  56. “Haven’t Got The Blues (Yet)” — Loudon Wainwright III
  57. “Older Than My Old Man Now” — Loudon Wainwright III
  58. “Coles Corner” — Richard Hawley
  59. “Lady’s Bridge” — Richard Hawle
  60. “Fear Fun” — Father John Misty
  61. “Out of the Game” — Rufus Wainwright
  62. “Vulnerable” — Marvin Gaye
  63. “Blood on the Tracks” — Bob Dylan
  64. “The White Album” — The Beatles
  65. “Silence Yourself” — Savages
  66. “A Little Something More” — Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats
  67. “Extra Texture” — George Harrison
  68.     68. “A State of Wonder: The Complete Goldberg Variations” — Glenn Gould

You could listen to any of the above and have a good time.
0 Comments

1/1/2018 0 Comments

Books Read 2017


  1. Smashed in the USSR: Fear and Loathing on the Steppes — Caroline Walton & Ivan Petrov  (January)
  2. The Lesser Bohemians — Eimear McBride  (January)
  3. The Sex Lives of English Women — Wendy Jones  (January)
  4. The Lonely City — Olivia Laing  (January)
  5. Nutshell — Ian McEwan  (January)
  6. Grief Is The Thing With Feathers — Max Porter  (January)
  7. The Essex Serpent — Sarah Perry  (February)
  8. The London Train — Tessa Hadley  (February)
  9. On Love — Charles Bukowski  (February)
  10. First Love — Gwendoline Riley  (March)
  11. The Hall of Uselessness: Collected Essays — Simon Leys  (March)
  12. Remedy Is None — William McIlvanney  (April)
  13. Future Sex — Emily Witt  (April)
  14. Sins as Scarlet — Nicolas Obregon  (June)
  15. Anything is Possible — Elizabeth Strout  (June)
  16. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay — Elena Ferrante  (June)
  17. The Story of The Lost Child — Elena Ferrante  (July)
  18. Backbone Flute — Vladimir Mayakovsky  (July)
  19. A Man in Love — Karl Ove Knausgaard  (July)
  20. The Dying Animal — Philip Roth  (July) (again)
  21. In Gratitude — Jenny Diski  (July)
  22. The Tryst — Monique Roffey  (July)
  23. The Power of Meaning — Emily Esfahani Smith (July)
  24. Trysting — Emmanuelle Pagano  (August)
  25. The Key — Junichiro Tanizaki  (August)
  26. My Name Is Lucy Barton — Elizabeth Strout  (August)
  27. Sabbath’s Theatre — Philip Roth  (September)
  28. On the Suffering of the World — Arthur Schopenhauer  (September)
  29. The Children Act — Ian McEwan  (September)
  30. The Child in Time — Ian McEwan  (September)
  31. Sylvia — Leonard Michaels  (October)
  32. Portrait of a Mother as a Young Woman — Friedrich Christian Delius  (October)
  33. Four Major Plays: A Doll’s House; Ghosts; Hedda Gabler; The Master Builder — Henrik Ibsen  (October)
  34. Venus in Furs — Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch  (October)
  35. Bonjour Tristesse — Françoise Sagan  (October)
  36. Christodora — Tim Murphy  (October)
  37. The Shooting Party — Anton Chekhov  (October)
  38. Levels of Life — Julian Barnes  (November)
  39. Dunbar — Edward St. Aubyn  (November)
  40. The Cut — Anthony Cartwright  (November)
  41. Henry and June — Anais Nin  (November)
  42. The Power of Now — Eckhart Tolle  (December)
  43. The Kingdom — Emmanuel Carrere  (December)
  44. Tony & Susan — Austin Wright  (December)


Books in bold were particularly good.
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Books Read 2016

  1. My Universities — Maxim Gorky  (January)
  2. The Zone — Sergei Dovlatov  (January)
  3. Home of the Gentry — Ivan Turgenev  (January)
  4. So Long, See You Tomorrow — William Maxwell  (January)
  5. Clever Girl — Tessa Hadley  (January)
  6. Separate Flights — Andre Dubus  (February)
  7. Adultery and Other Choices — Andre Dubus  (February)
  8. Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreev — Maxim Gorky  (February)
  9. Redeployment — Phil Klay  (March)
  10. Laidlaw — William McIlvanney  (March)
  11. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams — Stephen King  (March)
  12. They Came Like Swallows — William Maxwell  (March)
  13. Fear of Dying — Erica Jong  (April)
  14. Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair — Pablo Neruda  (April)
  15. Midwinterblood — Marcus Sedgwick  (May)
  16. My Brilliant Friend — Elena Ferrante  (May)
  17. Patrimony — Philip Roth  (May)
  18. Wonder Boys — Michael Chabon  (May)
  19. Blue Light Yokohama — Nicolas Obregon  (June)
  20. Still Writing:The Perils and Pleasures of the Creative Life — Dani Shapiro  (June)
  21. The Papers of Tony Veitch — William McIlvanney  (July)
  22. Gilead — Marylyne Robinson (July)
  23. Strange Loyalties — William McIlvanney  (July)
  24. Martin John — Anakana Schofield  (July)
  25. At Hawthorn Time — Melissa Harrison  (August)
  26. The Little Red Chairs — Edna O’Brien  (August)
  27. Marie — Madeleine Bourdouxhe  (August)
  28. Seven Brief Lessons On Physics — Carlo Rovelli  (August)
  29. Tampa — Alissa Nutting  (August)
  30. A Summer Affair — Ivan Klima  (September)
  31. The Noise of Time — Julian Barnes  (September)
  32. Gorsky — Vesna Goldsworthy  (September)
  33. Country Girl — Edna O’Brien  (September)
  34. Confessions of a Mask — Yukio Mishima  (October)
  35. I Remember — Joe Brainard  (November) (again)
  36. His Bloody Project — Graeme Macrae Burnet  (November)
  37. The Vegetarian — Han Kang  (November)
  38. The Engagement — Chloe Hooper  (December)
  39. The Story of a New Name — Elena Ferrante  (December)

Books in bold were particularly good.
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1/3/2016 0 Comments

Books Read 2015

  1. Bird by Bird — Anne Lamott  (January)
  2. The Lover — Marguerite Duras   (January)
  3. To Rise Again At A Decent Hour — Joshua Ferris   (January)
  4. Genie and Paul — Natasha Soobramanien  (January)
  5. Ghosting — Jonathan Kemp   (February)
  6. Broken Vessels — Andre Dubus   (February)
  7. Perfect Lives — Polly Samson   (February)
  8. The Russian Master & Other Stories — Anton Chekhov   (February)
  9. Father Sergius — Leo Tolstoy   (February)
  10. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich — Alexander Solzhenitsyn  (March)
  11. The Suitcase — Sergei Dovlatov   (March)
  12. Pushkin Hills — Sergei Dovlatov   (March)
  13. My Childhood — Maxim Gorky   (March)
  14. Eugene Onegin — Aleksandr Pushkin   (March)
  15. The Compromise — Sergei Dovlatov   (April)
  16. Notes From Underground — Fyodor Dostoevsky   (May)
  17. Petersburg Tales — Nikolai Gogol   (May)
  18. The Gambler — Fyodor Dostoevsky   (May)
  19. At Night — Alex Quick   (May)
  20. First Love and Other Stories — Ivan Turgenev (June)
  21. Don’t Try This At Home — Angela Readman  (June)
  22. Pimp — Iceberg Slim  (June)
  23. All That Is — James Salter (July)
  24. Old School — Tobias Wolff  (July)
  25. The Ecliptic — Benjamin Wood  (July)
  26. Too Loud a Solitude — Bohumil Hrabal  (July)
  27. Life Drawing — Robin Black  (August)
  28. All Dogs Are Blue — Rodrigo de la Souza  (August)
  29. A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing — Eimear McBride  (August)
  30. Layla — Nina De La Mer  (August)
  31. The Hair of Harold Roux — Thomas Williams  (September)
  32. The Gentleman from San Fran. & Other Edits — Ivan Bunin  (September)
  33. My Apprenticeship — Maxim Gorky  (September)
  34. Dolores Claiborne — Stephen King  (October)
  35. The Palace Thief — Ethan Canin  (October)
  36. The Best British Short Stories — Nicholas Royle ed.  (October)
  37. Revival — Stephen King  (November)
  38. The Prank — Anton Chekhov  (November)
  39. Anna Karenina — Leo Tolstoy  (December)
  40. Contempt — Alberto Moravia  (December)

Books in bold were particularly good.
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1/3/2016 0 Comments

Books Read 2014

  1. Knockemstiff — Donald Ray Pollock
  2. A Movable Feast — Ernest Hemingway
  3. Double Indemnity — James M. Cain
  4. A Death in the Family — Karl Ove Knausgaard
  5. Heart of Darkness — Joseph Conrad
  6. Girl with the Pearl Earring — Tracey Chevalier
  7. Severina — Rodrigo Rey Rosa
  8. Unreal City — Michael Smith
  9. Hard Rain Falling — Don Carpenter
  10. The Brothers — Asko Sahlberg
  11. Dirty Love — Andre Dubus III
  12. The Cage Keeper & Other Stories — Andre Dubus III
  13. The Things They Carried — Tim O’Brien
  14. Married Love — Tessa Hadley
  15. J — Howard Jacobson
  16. The Remains of the Day — Kazuo Ishiguro
  17. The Psychopath Test — Jon Ronson
  18. Orkney — Amy Sackville
  19. A Fighter’s Heart — Sam Sheridan
  20. The Last Samurai — Helen DeWitt
  21. The Blue Room — Hanne Orstavik

Books in bold were particularly good.
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1/3/2016 0 Comments

Books Read 2013

  1. Pulp – Charles Bukowski
  2. Ask The Dust – John Fante
  3. Rust and Bone – Craig Davidson
  4. The Devil All The Time – Donald Ray Pollock
  5. Cold Water – Gwendoline Riley
  6. The Last Picture Show – Larry McMurtry
  7. A Street Cat Named Bob – James Bowen
  8. Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell
  9. The Beautiful Indifference – Sarah Hall
  10. Books Vs. Cigarettes – George Orwell
  11. Eleven Kinds of Loneliness – Richard Yates
  12. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere – Z Z Packer
  13. Too Much Happiness – Alice Munro
  14. Disgrace – J. M. Coetzee
  15. Cold Spring Harbor – Richard Yates
  16. Clay – Melissa Harrison
  17. The Rachel Papers – Martin Amis
  18. The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
  19. Give Me Everything You Have – James Lasdun
  20. Big Ray – Michael Kimball
  21. Magda – Meike Ziervogel
  22. Why I Write – George Orwell
  23. A Sport and A Pastime – James Salter
  24. Ballistics – D.W. Wilson
  25. Sick Notes – Gwendoline Riley
  26. Joshua Spassky – Gwendoline Riley
  27. Zoo Time – Howard Jacobson
  28. A Night in Chile – Roberto Bolano
  29. The Periodic Table – Primo Levi
  30. Shop Talk – Philip Roth
  31. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? – Jeanette Winterson
  32. The Dead Zone – Stephen King

Books in bold were particularly good.
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1/3/2016 0 Comments

Books Read 2012

  1. London Triptych – Jonathan King
  2. With The Kisses of His Mouth – Monique Roffey
  3. The Last Holiday – Gil-Scott Heron
  4. Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes
  5. Man Without a Country – Kurt Vonnegut
  6. Whatever – Michel Houellebecq
  7. Twentysix – Jonathan Kemp
  8. Voices from the Moon – Andre Dubus
  9. Opposed Positions – Gwendoline Riley
  10. The Ghost Writer – Philip Roth
  11. Zuckerman Unbound – Philip Roth
  12. Night Train – Martin Amis
  13. The Pregnant Widow – Martin Amis
  14. Lionel Asbo – Martin Amis
  15. Archipelago – Monique Roffey
  16. The Lighthouse – Alison Moore
  17. Pig Tales – Marie Darrieussecq
  18. The Music of Chance – Paul Auster
  19. Ablutions – Patrick DeWitt
  20. On Writing – Stephen King
  21. Beginners – Raymond Carver
  22. Elephant – Raymond Carver
  23. Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
  24. MIR 9 – Writer’s Hub
  25. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
  26. Drown – Junot Diaz
  27. Bright Lights, Big City – Jay McInerney
  28. Once You Break A Knuckle – D. W. Wilson
  29. The Old Man & The Sea – Ernest Hemingway
  30. The Bellwether Revivals – Benjamin Wood
  31. Seven Years – Peter Stamm
  32. Swimming Home – Deborah Levy
  33. Charles Bukowski: Locked In The Arms of a Crazy Life – Howard Sounes
  34. South of No North – Charles Bukowski

Books in bold were particularly good.
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1/3/2016 0 Comments

Books Read 2011

1. “Portnoy’s Complaint” - Philip Roth
2. “The Farewell Symphony” - Edmund White
3. “Mrs. Dalloway” - Virginia Woolf
4. “Deception” - Philip Roth
5. “ Taming The Beast” - Emily Maguire
6. “Sunstroke” - Tessa Hadley
7. “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
8. “Bluesman” - Andre Dubus III
9. “Love Me” - Gemma Weekes
10. “Mud” - Michele Roberts
11. “Seize The Day” - Saul Bellow
12. “The Sound Of My Voice” - Ron Butlin
13. “Kalooki Nights” - Howard Jacobson
14. “City Boy” - Edmund White
15. “The Good Psychologist” - Noam Shpancer
16. “Light Fell” - Evan Fallenberg
17. “The Women Who Got Away” - John Updike
18. “Townie” - Andre Dubus III
19. “Disturbing The Peace” - Richard Yates
20. “The House of Sand & Fog” - Andre Dubus III
21. “Lord of the Flies” - William Golding
22. “The Last Weekend” - Blake Morrison
23. “Teach Us To Sit Still” - Tim Parks
24. “Going Buddhist” - Peter J. Connradi
25. “Goodbye Columbus; And Other Stories” - Philip Roth
26. “The Idle Parent” - Tom Hodgkinson
27. “Come On In!” - Charles Bukowski
28. “How To Be A Woman” - Caitlin Moran
29. “Hollywood” - Charles Bukowski
30. “Tales of Ordinary Madness” - Charles Bukowski
31. “Brooklyn Follies” - Paul Auster
32. “Giovanni’s Room” - James Baldwin
33. “The Slap” - Christos Tsiolkas
34. “The Nose” - Nikolai Gogol
35. “Away From Her” - Alice Munro
36. “The Final Testament of the Holy Bible” - James Frey
37. “The Maples Stories” - John Updike
38. “A Christmas Carol” - Charles Dickens 

Books in bold were particularly good.
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1/3/2016 0 Comments

Books Read 2010

1. “Netherlands” - Joseph O’Neill
2. “Envy” - Kathryn Harrison
3. “An Education” - Lynn Barber
4. “The Diving-Bell & The Butterfly” - Jean-Dominique Bauby
5. “The Dying Animal” - Philip Roth
​6. “Strangers” - Anita Brookner
7. “We Don’t Live Here Anymore” - Andre Dubus
8. “The Garden Of Last Days” - Andre Dubus III
9. “On Chesil Beach” - Ian McEwan
10. “The Humbling” - Philip Roth
11. “Must You Go?: My Life With Harold Pinter” - Antonia Fraser
12. “The Kiss” - Kathryn Harrison
13. “The Buddha Of Suburbia” - Hanif Kureishi
14. “The Spend Less Handbook” - Rebecca Ash
15. “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” - Moshin Hamid
16. “Death Of A Lady’s Man” - Leonard Cohen
17. “The Postman Always Rings Twice” - James M. Cain
18. “The Bridges Of Madison County” - Robert James Waller
19. “Homage To Catalonia” - George Orwell
20. “The Monk” - Matthew Lewis
21. “Apples” - Richard Milward
22. “Indignation” - Philip Roth
23. “Wetlands” - Charlotte Roche
24. “The God Delusion” - Richard Dawkins
25. “Exit Ghost” - Philip Roth
26. “A Jew Must Die” - Jacques Chessex
27. “The Finkler Question” - Howard Jacobson
28. “In Praise of Older Women” - Stephen Vizinczey 29. “Invisible” - Paul Auster
30. “Black Coffee Blues” - Henry Rollins
31. “American Pastoral” - Philip Roth
32. “No More Mr Nice Guy” - Howard Jacobson
33. “Intimacy” - Hanif Kureishi
34. “The Act of Love” - Howard Jacobson
35. “Room” - Emma Donoghue
36. “The Dwarfs” - Harold Pinter
37. “The Taxi Queue” - Janet Davey
38. “The Breast” - Philip Roth
39. “Becoming Strangers” - Louise Dean
40. “The Easter Parade” - Richard Yates
41. “Nemesis” - Philip Roth
42. “Young Hearts Crying” - Richard Yates
43. “The Fifth Child” - Doris Lessing
44. “The Prague Orgy” - Philip Roth
45. “Push” - Sapphire

Books in bold were particularly good.
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