CHRIS SIMPSON
  • HOME
  • TEACHING
  • WRITING
  • ABOUT
  • THOUGHTS ON WRITING
  • CONTACT
  • BOOKS READ
  • HOME
  • TEACHING
  • WRITING
  • ABOUT
  • THOUGHTS ON WRITING
  • CONTACT
  • BOOKS READ
Search



Books Read 2021 (plus more)

8/1/2022

0 Comments

 


  1. “The Lying Life of Adults” — Elena Ferrante  (January)
  2. “Moscow Circles” — Benedict Erofeev  (January)
  3. “The End of Eddy” — Édourad Louis  (January)
  4. “I Love Dick” — Chris Kraus  (January)
  5. “Persepolis” — Marjane Satrapi  (January)
  6. “Motherhood” — Shelia Heti  (January)
  7. “An Event in Autumn” — Henning Mankell  (February)
  8. “Crush” — Frédéric Dard  (February)
  9. “Crime and Punishment” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky  (February)
  10. “The Executioner Weeps” — Frédéric Dard  (February)
  11. “Zen and The Art of Murder” — Oliver Bottini  (February)
  12. “In The Cut”  — Susanna Moore  (February)
  13. “One Way Out” — A. A. Dhand  (February)
  14. “A Drinking Life — Pete Hamill  (March)
  15. “Don’t You Leave Me Here” — Wilko Johnson  (March)
  16. “Heartburn” — Nora Ephron  (March)
  17. “Requiem For A Dream” — Hubert Selby Jr.  (March)
  18. “A Boy’s Own Story” — Edmund White  (April)
  19. “The Brotherhood of The Grape” — John Fante  (April)
  20. “MainStream” — Various  (April)
  21. “Who Killed My Father?” — Édourad Louis  (April)
  22. “In The Dream House” — Carmen Maria Machado  (April)
  23. “Waiting Period” — Hubert Selby Jr.  (April)
  24. “Atomic Habits” — James Clear  (April)
  25. “Jews Don’t Count” — David Baddiel  (April)
  26. “Shuggie Bain” — Douglas Stuart  (April)
  27. “Odes” — Sharon Olds  (May)
  28. “The Giro Playboy” — Michael Smith  (May)
  29. “The Descent of Man” — Grayson Perry  (May)
  30. “An Apartment on Uranus” — Paul B. Preciado  (May)
  31. “The Narrow Road to The Deep North” — Basho  (May)
  32. “The Way Home” — Mark Boyle  (May)
  33. “Move!” — Caroline Williams  (May)
  34. “Politically Homeless” — Matt Forde  (June)
  35. “The Tunnel” — Ernesto Sabato  (June)
  36. “Exposure” — Aga Lesiewicz  (June)
  37. “Discipline Equals Freedom” — Jocko Willink  (June)
  38. “Existentialism and Excess: The Life…” — Gary Cox  (June)
  39. “You Were Never Really Here” — Jonathan Ames  (June)
  40. “The Abbey” — Chris Culver  (July)
  41. “Morning: How To Make Time” — Allan Jenkins  (July)
  42. “The Hustler” — Walter Tevis  (July)
  43. “The Shadow Collector” — Kate Ellis  (July)
  44. “Crossroad Blues” — Ace Atkins  (July)
  45. “Luster” — Raven Leilani  (July)
  46. “A Spring Betrayal” — Tom Callaghan  (July)
  47. “Divorcing” — Susan Taubes  (July)
  48. “The Less Dead” — Denise Mina  (July)
  49. “Daisy Jones & The Six” — Taylor Jenkins Reid  (August)
  50. “The Colour of Money” — Walter Tevis  (August)
  51. “The Answer Is…” — Alex Trebek  (August)
  52. “Room at the Top” — John Braine  (August)
  53. “Ankomst” — Gøhril Gabrielsen  (August)
  54. “Hunger” — Knut Hamsun  (August)
  55. “The Lone Woman” — Bernardo Atxaga  (August)
  56. “Everybody” — Olivia Laing  (August)
  57. “Real Estate” — Deborah Levy  (September)
  58. “The King of Fools” — Frédéric Dard  (September)
  59. “Dancing in the Dark” — Karl Ove Knausgaard  (September)
  60. “Kitchen Confidential” — Anthony Bourdain  (September)
  61. “Home in the Vinyl Cafe” — Stuart McLean  (October)
  62. “The Warriors” — Sol Yurick  (October)
  63. “The Listeners” — Jordan Tannahill  (October)
  64. “Invisible Cities” — Italo Calvino  (October)
  65. “The Good Father” — Wayne Grady  (October)
  66. “The Vinyl Cafe Celebrates” — Stuart McLean  (November)
  67. “Sonny Liston Was A Friend of Mine” — Thom Jones  (November)
  68. “Why Marianne Faithfull Matters?” — Tanya Pearson  (November)
  69. “Olive Kitteridge” — Elizabeth Strout  (November)
  70. “Exteriors” — Annie Ernaux  (November)
  71. “Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It” — Oliver Burkeman  (November)
  72. “Life at the Top” — John Braine  (November)
  73. “American Salvage” — Bonnie Jo Campbell  (November)
  74. “A Walk in the Woods” — Bill Bryson  (November)
  75. “Indelicacy” — Amina Cain  (November)
  76. “Second Place” — Rachel Cusk  (November)
  77. “Micromastery” — Robert Twigger  (November)
  78. “Rewilding” — Micah Mortali  (December)
  79. “The War of Art” — Steven Pressfield  (December)
  80. “Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times” — Katherine May  (December)
  81. “Essential: Essays by The Minimalists” — Ryan Nicodemus & Joshua Fields Millburn  (December)
  82. “Dhammapada” — Sangharakshita (Trans.)  (December)
  83. “Everything That Remains” — Ryan Nicodemus & Joshua Fields Millburn  (December)

Books in bold were particularly good.

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

Albums Heard 2021

“Ain’t Necessarily So” — Andy Bey
“Groovin’ High” — Dizzy Gillespie
“Milestones” — Miles Davis
“Body and Soul” — Coleman Hawkins
“Besame Mucho” — Art Pepper
“Taj Mahal” — Taj Mahal
“Another Time Another Place” — Kevin Mahogany
“My Romance” — Kevin Mahogany
“Shades of Bey” — Andy Bey
“Naturally” — J J Cale
“Spurts” — Richard Hell
“Leftism” — Leftfied
“I, Assassin” — Gary Numan
“Doctor Adamski’s Musical Pharmacy” — Adamski 
“Funny How Time Slips Away” — Junior Parker
“Lift to The Scaffold” — Miles Davis
“The Other Road” — Ray Barretto
“Indestructible” — Ray Barretto
“Texas Cannonball” — Freddie King
“Charanga Moderna” — Ray Barretto
“The Cry of Love” — Jimi Hendrix
“Elegant Gypsy” — Al Di Meola
“Lazarus: OCR” — Various
“Fleetwood Mac” — Fleetwood Mac
“Arzachel” — Arzachel
“Blood Moon” — Fraction
“A Funky Thide of Sings” — Billy Cobham
“The Allman Brothers Band” — Allman Brothers Band
“Population II” — Randy Holden
“Pappo’s Blues, Vol. 1” — Pappo’s Blues
“Physical Graffiti” — Led Zeppelin
“Years Gone By” — Albert King
“Out of The Wild Come” — The Baron Four
“You Won’t Remember Dying” — Bulbous Creation
“Trip Thru Hell” — C. A. Quintet
“Freddie King Is A Blues Master” — Freddie King
“Burglar” — Freddie King
“Oxygéne” — Jean-Michel Jarre
“Woman Across The Water” — Freddie King
“Will O’ The Wisp” — Leon Russell
“Milo Goes to College” — Descendants
“Yanqui U.X.O” — Godspeed You Black Emperor
“Carney” — Leon Russell
“Kamikaze ’89” — Edgar Froese
“Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” — Wu Tang Clan
“CSN” — Crosby, Stills & Nash
“Morgen” — Morgen
“Demos” — Crosby, Stills & Nash
“Black Sabbath” — Black Sabbath
“Never Say Die!” — Black Sabbath
“Meddle” — Pink Floyd
“Everything Sucks” — Descendants
“Introspection” — The End
“The W” — Wu Tang Clan
“No Man’s Land” — Victor Periano’s Kingdom Come
“13” — Black Sabbath
“Anabelas” — Bubu
“Hyperborea” — Tangerine Dream
“Weasals Ripped My Flesh” — The Mothers of Invention
“13 Songs” — Fugazi
“Tour de France” — Kraftwerk
“Techno Pop” — Kraftwerk
“Jerusalem” — Jerusalem
“Computerwelt” — Kraftwerk
“In The Court of King Crimson” — King Crimson
“Minimum-Maximum” — Kraftwerk
“The Emancipation Procrastination” — Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
“New Long Leg” — Dry Cleaning
“I&II” — Friendship
“Crosby, Stills & Nash” — Crosby, Stills & Nash
“Mm…Food” — MF Doom
“Czarface Meets Metal Face” — Czarface and MF Doom
“Aglio E Olio” — Beastie Boys
“Funhouse” — The Stooges
“Every Hero Needs A Villain” — Czarface
“Wild Things Run Fast” — Joni Mitchell
“Both Sides Now” — Joni Mitchell
“Double Dose of Danger” — Czarface
“Keyboard Fantasies” — Beverly Glenn-Copeland
“The Mouse & The Mask” — Dangerdoom
“Done and…Dusted” — Dust Junkys
“Eliminator” — ZZ Top
“I’m The Man” — Joe Jackson
“So Far” — Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
“Really” — J. J. Cale
“Beverly Glenn-Copeland” — Beverly Glenn-Copeland
“Deguello” — ZZ Top
“Primal Prayer” — Beverly Glenn-Copeland
“Nothin’ but the Blues…Live” — Lightin’ Hopkins & Freddie King
“Other Voices” — The Doors
“Confusion” — The Big Brother & Ernie Joseph
“Secrets” — Herbie Hancock
“Eat A Peach” — Allman Brothers Band
“Idelwild South” — Allman Brothers Band
“Solitary High Social Club” — Lay-Far & Phil Gerus
“At Fillmore East” — Allman Brothers Band
“Big Lizard in My Back Yard” — The Dead Milkmen
“Beelzebubba” — The Dead Milkmen
“Green Twins” — Nick Hakim
“Claremont Editions, Vol. 1” — Various​
“One Trick Pony” — Paul Simon
​“Gentle Giant” — Gentle Giant
 “Walk Among Us” — Misfits
 “The Sonics Boom” — The Sonics
 “Toxicity” — System Of A Down
 “Lost Chance” — James Chance & The Contortions
 “Whistling Down The Wire” — Crosby & Nash
 “Heavy Soul” — Paul Weller
 “The Köln Concert” — Keith Jarrett
 “Sounds of Silence” — Simon & Garfunkel
 “Old Friends Live On Stage” — Simon & Garfunkel
 “Fillmore East 1970” — Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
 “The Wind” — Balmorhea
 “Free Your Mind…” — Funkadelic
 “Maggot Brain” — Funkadelic
 “Angel Clare” — Art Garfunkel
 “Electric Music For The Mind & Body” — County Joe & The Fish
 “Shotgun Willie” — Willie Nelson
 “Future Days” — Can
 “Frampton” — Peter Frampton
 “True Meanings” — Paul Weller
 “Funkadelic” — Funkadelic
 “Zoolook” — Jean-Michel Jarre
 “Aqualung” — Jethro Tull
 “Dem Bones/Decapitated” — Broken Bones
 “Mothership Connection” — Parliament
“Stoned Guitar” — The Human Instinct
“Third Dimension” — Rahsaan Ronald Kirk
 “Colours” — Ken Nordine
 “Brutalism”— Idles


​
That's 375 albums in total. Can recommend most of them.

​
Films Watched 2021

  1. “The Green Ray” (1986, Dir. Eric Rohmer)
  2. “Jack Reacher” (2012, Dir. Christopher McQuarrie)
  3. “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” (2016, Dir. Edward Zwick)
  4. “The Minimalists: Less Is Now” (2021, Dir. Matt D’Avella)
  5. “Mission: Impossible” (1996, Dir. Brian DePalma)  (again)
  6. “Mission: Impossible II” (2000, Dir. John Woo)
  7. “Mission: Impossible III” (2006, Dir. J.J. Abrams)  (again)
  8. “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” (2011, Dir. Brad Bird)
  9. “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation” (2015, Dir. Christopher McQuarrie)
  10. “Mission: Impossible - Fallout” (2018, Dir. Christopher McQuarrie)
  11. “7 Years” (2016, Dir. Roger Gual)
  12. “Election” (1999, Dir. Alexander Payne)  (again)
  13. “My Sister’s Good Fortune” (1995, Dir. Angela Schanelec)
  14. “While Were Young” (2014, Dir. Noah Baumbach)  (again)
  15. “Non-Fiction” (2018, Dir. Oliver Assayas)
  16. “The Long Goodbye” (1973, Dir. Robert Altman)
  17. “The Big Feast” (1973, Dir. Marco Ferreri)
  18. “The Lie” (2018, Dir. Veena Sud)
  19. “Fantastic Mr Fox” (2009, Dir. Wes Anderson)
  20. “Pleasantville” (1998, Dir. Gary Ross)  (again)
  21. “Bombshell” (2019, Dir. Jay Roach)
  22. “The Captor” (2018, Dir. Robert Budreau)
  23. “Young Guns” (1988, Dir. Christopher Cain)
  24. “Young Guns II: Blaze of Glory” (1990, Dir. Geoff Murphy)
  25. “Mystery Men” (1999, Dir. Kinka Usher)
  26. “The Blues Brothers” (1980, Dir. John Landis)  (again)
  27. “Boyhood” (2014, Dir. Richard Linklater)
  28. “Room” (2015, Dir. Lenny Abrahamson)
  29. “Men With Brooms” (2002, Dir. Paul Gross)
  30. “Lift to the Scaffold” (1958, Dir. Louis Malle)  (again)
  31. “Mank” (2020, Dir. David Fincher)
  32. “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” (1972, Dir. Peter Yates)
  33. “A Special Day” (1977, Dir. Ettore Scola)
  34. “Rope” (1948, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)  (again)
  35. “Sound of Metal” (2020, Dir. Darius Marder)
  36. “The Birds” (1963, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
  37. “The Fly” (1986, Dir. David Cronenberg)  (again)
  38. “Carrie” (1976, Dir. Brian DePalma)  (again)
  39. “Hair” (1979, Dir. Milos Forman)
  40. “House on Haunted Hill” (1959, Dir. William Castle)
  41. “Theatre of Blood” (1973, Dir. )
  42. “Nomadland” (2020, Dir. Chloé Zhao)
  43. “The Father” (2020, Dir. Florian Zeller)
  44. “The Outsiders” (1983, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
  45. “The Terminator” (1984, Dir. James Cameron)  (again)
  46. “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” (1991, Dir. James Cameron)  (again)
  47. “Terminator Genisys” (2015, Dir. Alan Taylor)
  48. “Terminator: Dark Fate” (2019, Dir. Tim Miller)
  49. “The Truth” (2019, Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
  50. “The New Girlfriend” (2014, Dir. François Ozon)
  51. “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” (2021, Morgan Neville)
  52. “Next Time I’ll Aim For The Heart” (2014, Dir. Cédric Anger)
  53. “La Piscine” (1969, Dir. Jacques Deray)
  54. “The Puffy Chair” (2009, Dir. Jay Duplass)
  55. “Claire’s Knee” (1970, Dir. Eric Rohmer)
  56. “Leg Gang” (1977, Dir. Jacques Deray)

Films in bold were particularly good.

0 Comments

Books Read 2020 (Plus more)

1/1/2021

0 Comments

 

  1. “Adèle” — Leïla Silmani  (January)
  2. “Femme Fatale” — Polly Wiseman  (January)
  3. “A Man’s Place” — Annie Ernaux  (January)
  4. “The Man Who Saw Everything” — Deborah Levy  (January)
  5. “The Italian Teacher” — Tom Rachman  (January)
  6. “In the Café of Lost Youth” — Patrick Modiano  (January)
  7. “Walthamstow” — Michael Shann  (January)
  8. “Vivian” — Christina Hesselholdt (January)
  9. “Soho” — Richard Scott  (January)
  10. “Night Sky with Exit Wounds” — Ocean Vuong  (January)
  11. “The Pharmacist” — Justin David  (January)
  12. “Clothes, Clothes, Clothes Music, Music, Music Boys, Boys, Boys” — Viv Albertine  (Feb)
  13. “Charlotte” — David Foenkinos  (February)
  14. “How to Relax” — Thich That Hanh  (February)
  15. “The Nickel Boys” — Colson Whitehead  (February)
  16. “Strange Hotel” — Eimear McBride  (February)
  17. “Great Fires: Poems 1982 - 1992” — Jack Gilbert  (February)
  18. “Gunslinger” — Edward Dorn  (March)
  19. “The Cost of Living” — Deborah Levy  (March)
  20. “Melisande! What Are Dreams?” — Hillel Halkin  (March)
  21. “Do/Pause” — Robert Poynton  (March)
  22. “The Counterlife” — Philip Roth  (March)
  23. “Everything I Know About Love” — Dolly Alderton  (April)
  24. “Little Miss Awesome” — Ally North  (April)
  25. “Little Miss Awesome” — Steve Hussy  (April)
  26. “The Facts” — Philip Roth  (April)
  27. “Hating Olivia” — Mark SaFranko  (April)
  28. “Steps” — Steve Hussy  (April)
  29. “Fugitive Pieces” — Anne Michaels  (April)
  30. “Insel” — Mina Loy  (April)
  31. “The Long Drop” — Denise Mina  (April)
  32. “Lincoln in the Bardo” — George Saunders  (April)
  33. “Mindfulness in Plain English” — Bhante Henepola Gunaratana  (April)
  34. “The Undertaking” — Audrey Magee  (April)
  35. “The Land of Decoration” — Grace McCleen  (May)
  36. “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” — Greg McKeown  (May)
  37. “The Professor of Poetry” — Grace McCleen  (May)
  38. “Carnegie Hall With Tin Walls” — Fred Voss  (May)
  39. “Milk and Honey” — Rupi Kaur  (June)
  40. “The English Major” — Jim Harrison  (June)
  41. “Devil in a Blue Dress” — Walter Mosley  (June)
  42. “Welfare” — Steve Anwyll  (June)
  43. “Hide and Seek” — Ian Rankin  (June)
  44. “Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency” — Olivia Laing  (June)
  45. “Brothers in Blood” — Amer Anwar  (June)
  46. “Elements of Fiction” — Walter Mosley  (July)
  47. “Fante Bukowski” — Noah Van Sciver  (July)
  48. “A Fan’s Notes” — Fredrick Exley  (July)
  49. “My Dark Vanessa” — Kate Elizabeth Russell  (July)
  50. “Good Samaritans” — Will Carver  (July)
  51. “The Polish Boxer” — Eduardo Halfon  (July)
  52. “Those People” — Louise Candlish  (July)
  53. “Black Sun” — Owen Matthews  (July)
  54. “Girl” — Edna O’Brien  (July)
  55. “Three Women” — Lisa Taddeo  (August)
  56. “The Red Right Hand” — Joel Townsley Rogers  (August)
  57. “August Is The Wicked Month” — Edna O’Brien  (August)
  58. “The Long Goodbye” — Raymond Chandler  (August)
  59. “In Praise of Shadows” — Jun'ichirō Tanizaki  (August)
  60. “The Sweet Indifference of the World” — Peter Stamm  (August)
  61. “Good Day?” — Vesna Main  (August)
  62. “The Bluest Eye” — Toni Morrison  (August)
  63. “Bank Robber Stories” — Jeffrey P. Frye  (August)
  64. “Bird in a Cage” — Frédéric Dard  (August)
  65. “Get Carter” — Ted Lewis  (August)
  66. “Supporting Cast” — Kit De Waal  (September)
  67. “Red Death” — Walter Mosley  (September)
  68. “King Kong Theory” — Virginie Despentes  (September)
  69. “A Long Way Off” — Pascal Garnier  (September)
  70. “Plender” — Ted Lewis  (September)
  71. “GBH” — Ted Lewis  (September)
  72. “In the Absence of Men” — Philippe Besson  (September)
  73. “The Appointment” — Katharina Volckmer  (September)
  74. “Swan Song” — Nathan Evans  (October)
  75. “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” — Ken Kesey  (October)
  76. “The Gravediggers’ Bread” — Frédéric Dard  (October)
  77. “The Wicked Go To Hell” — Frédéric Dard  (October)
  78. “‘Nikolai Nikolaevich’ and ‘Camouflage’” — Yuz Aleshkovsky  (October)
  79. “All About Sarah” — Pauline Delabroy-Allard  (October)
  80. “Skint Estate” — Cash Carraway  (October)
  81. “Winter” — Karl Ove Knausgaard  (October)
  82. “Greenlights” — Matthew McConaughey  (November)
  83. “Narcoleptic” — Steve Hussy  (November)
  84. “97,196 Words: Essays” — Emmanuel Carrère  (November)
  85. “Jesus’ Son” — Denis Johnson  (November)
  86. “The All of It” — Jeannette Haien  (November)
  87. “The Fall” — Albert Camus  (November)
  88. “Beside The Sea” — Véronique Olmi  (November)
  89. “The Patty Diphusa Stories and Other Writings” — Pedro Almodóvar  (November)
  90. “Diving Into The Wreck” — Adrienne Rich  (November)
  91. “Autumn” — Karl Ove Knausgaard  (December)
  92. “Possession” — Annie Ernaux  (December)
  93. “Berlin Tango” — Kevin McAleer  (December)
  94. “The Song of Lunch” — Christopher Reid  (December) (again)
  95. “A Frozen Woman” — Annie Ernaux  (December)
  96. “Embers” — Sándor Márai  (December)
  97. “Happening” — Annie Ernaux  (December)
  98. “I Remain in Darkness” — Annie Ernaux  (December)
  99. “Simple Passion” — Annie Ernaux  (December)
  100. “A Woman’s Story” — Annie Ernaux  (December)
  101. “The Queen’s Gambit” — Walter Tevis  (December)
  102. “How We Live Now” — Bill Hayes  (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 2020

  1. “Call Me Lucky” (2015, Dir. Bobcat Goldthwaite)
  2. “Before Sunrise” (1994, Dir. Richard Linklater) (again)
  3. “Before Sunset” (2004, Dir. Richard Linklater) (again)
  4. “Before Midnight” (2013, Dir. Richard Linklater)
  5. “Parasite” (2019, Dir. Bong Joon-ho)
  6. “Midsommar” (2019, Dir. Ari Aster)
  7. “Submission” (2017, Dir. Richard Levine)
  8. “The English Patient” (1996, Dir. Anthony Minghella)
  9. “The Hunt” (2012, Dir. Thomas Vinterberg)
  10. “Begin Again” (2013, Dir. John Carney)
  11. “Brawl in Cell Block 99” (2017, Dir. S. Craig Zahler)
  12. “Roxanne” (1987, Dir. Fred Schepisi)  (again)
  13. “Miles Ahead” (2015, Dir. Don Cheadle)
  14. “My Cousin Rachel” (2019, Dir. Roger Michel)
  15. “The Roaring Twenties” (1939, Dir. Raoul Walsh)
  16. “Blast of Silence” (1961, Dir. Allen Baron)
  17. “Paul Schrader: Man in a Room” (2019, Dir. Alex Ross Perry)
  18. “Jules Et Jim” (1962, Dir. François Truffaut)
  19. “The Harder They Fall” (1956, Dir. Mark Robson)
  20. “Lincoln” (2012, Dir. Steven Spielberg)
  21. “Truly Madly Deeply” (1990, Dir. Anthony Minghelia)
  22. “Office Space” (2000, Dir. Mike Judge) (again)
  23. “Humpday” (2009, Dir. Lynn Shelton)
  24. “Little Women” (2019, Dir. Greta Gerwig)
  25. “Your Sister’s Sister” (2011, Dir. Lynn Shelton)
  26. “The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia” (2009, Dir. Julien Nitzberg)
  27. “Tusk” (2015, Dir. Kevin Smith)
  28. “Nothing Changes: Art For Hank’s Sake” (2018, Dir. Matthew Kaplowitz)
  29. “Doctor Sleep” (2019, Dir. Mike Flanagan)
  30. “Sorry We Missed You” (2019, Dir. Ken Loach)
  31. “The Towering Inferno” (1974, Dir. John Guillermin)
  32. “Contagion” (2011, Dir. Steven Soderbergh)
  33. “Killer Joe” (2011, Dir. William Friedkin)
  34. “Black Mass” (2015, Dir. Scott Cooper)
  35. “Uncut Gems” (2019, Dirs. Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie)
  36. “Bridge of Spies” (2015, Dir. Steven Spielberg)
  37. “Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo” (2019, Dir. Brett Harvey)
  38. “Machete” (2010, Dir. Ethan Maniquis, Robert Rodriguez)
  39. “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” (2011, Dir. David Fincher)
  40. “Lost Bullet” (2020, Dir. Guillaume Pierret)
  41. “Wild At Heart” (1990, Dir. David Lynch)
  42. “The Occupant” (2020, Dir. David Pastor, Àlex Pastor)
  43. “The Motive” (2017, Dir. Manuel Martín Cuenca)
  44. “John Wick” (2014, Dir. Chad Stahelski, David Leitch)
  45. “Weiner” (2016, Dir. Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg)
  46. “Your Son” (2018, Dir. Miguel Ángel Vivas)
  47. “Getaway Plan” (2016, Dir. Iñaki Dorronsoro)
  48. “The Hunt” (2020, Dir. Craig Zobel)
  49. “The Mad Bomber” (1973, Dir. Bert I. Gordon)
  50. “Finding Vivian Meier” (2013, Dir. John Maloof, Charlie Siskel)
  51. “Nancy” (2018, Dir. Christina Choe)
  52. “Les Choses De La Vie” (1970, Dir. Claude Sautet) (again)
  53. “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” (2020, Dir. Charlie Kaufman)
  54. “Police” (1985, Dir. Maurice Pialat)
  55. “Kamikaze ’89” (1982, Dir. Wolf Gremm)
  56. “On The Rocks” (2020, Dir. Sofia Coppola)
  57. “Thelma and Louise (1991, Dir. Ridley Scott)
  58. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017, Dir. Martin McDonagh)
  59. “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979, Dir. Robert Benton) (again)
  60. “Jesus’ Son” (1999, Dir. Alison Maclean)
  61. “Brief Encounter” (1945, Dir. David Lean)
  62. “Hail, Cesar!” (2016, Dirs. The Coen Brothers)
  63. “Burn After Reading” (2008, Dirs. The Coen Brothers)
  64. “Valley of Love” (2015, Dir. Guillaume Nicloux)
  65. “Seymour: An Introduction” (2014, Dir. Ethan Hawke)
  66. “Another Round” (2020, Dir. Thomas Vinterberg)
  67. “Good Time” (2017, Dirs. Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie)
  68. “Die Hard” (1986, Dir. John McTieran)  (again)
  69. “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999, Dir. Stanley Kubrick)  (again)
  70. “Maximum Overdrive” (1986, Dir. Stephen King)
  71. “You, The Living” (2007, Dir. Roy Andersson)
  72. “La La Land” (2016, Dir. Damien Chazelle)
  73. “Soul” (2020, Dir. Pete Docter)
  74. “The Foreigner” (2017, Dir. Martin Campbell)
  75. “The Warriors” (1979, Dir. Walter Hill)  (again)
  76. “The Room” (2003, Dir. Tommy Wiseau)  (again)

Films in bold were particularly good.

Plays Seen 2020
  1. “Muzik” by Jonathan Harvey at The Leicester Square Theatre
  2. “The Incident Room” by Olivia Hirst and David Byrne at New Diorama Theatre
  3. “Nine Lives” by Zodwa Nyoni at Bridge Theatre

Obviously, not many this year. Theatre makers and theatre staff work tremendously hard before the pandemic, during it and they will after it. I can't wait to see more plays when available.

Albums Heard 2020
  1. “Solid” — Sonny Rollins
  2. “Gang Signs & Prayers” — Stormzy
  3. “Paul’s Boutique” — Beastie Boys
  4. “Workaround” — Beatrice Dillon
  5. “Studies I - XVII” — Rupert Clervaux & Beatrice Dillon
  6. “We’re New Again” — Gil Scott-Heron and Makaya McCraven
  7. “Musical Offering” — Philip Glass & Feico Deutekom
  8. “The Mystery Lights” — The Mystery Lights
  9. “Them Crooked Vultures” — Them Crooked Vultures
  10. “Boarding House Reach” — Jack White
  11. “Bitches Brew” — Miles Davis
  12. “Après” — Iggy Pop
  13. “Sea of Noise” — St. Paul & The Broken Bones
  14. “TUTTI” — Cosey Fanni Tutti
  15. “Tubular Bells” — Mike Oldfield
  16. “Angles” — The Strokes
  17. “All of You” — Miles Davis
  18. “Love 2” — Air
  19. “American Beauty” — Grateful Dead
  20. “The Night Chancers” — Baxter Dury
  21. “Post Pop Depression” — Iggy Pop
  22. “History of Melody Nelson” — Serge Gainsbourg
  23. “Songs for the 10 Voices of the 2 Prophets” — Terry Riley
  24. “Hello Nasty (Deluxe Version)” — Beastie Boys
  25. “Head Hunters” — Herbie Hancock
  26. “Empyrean Isles” — Herbie Hancock
  27. “Tutu” — Miles Davis
  28. “Lodger” — David Bowie
  29. “The Man With The Horn” — Miles Davis
  30. “Illmatic” — Nas
  31. “GREY Area” — Little Simz
  32. “B.E.D” — Baxter Dury, Delilah Holliday, Étienne de Crécy
  33. “King of the Delta Blues Singers” — Robert Johnson
  34. “Horses” — Patti Smith
  35. “Prince of Tears” — Baxter Dury
  36. “Berlin” — Lou Reed
  37. “Broken English” — Marianne Faithfull
  38. “Flesh” — Viv Albertine
  39. “Swimming” — Mac Miller
  40. “Heavy is the Head” — Stormzy
  41. “Circles” — Mac Miller
  42. “Hunted” — Anna Calvi
  43. “Station To Station” — David Bowie
  44. “1990” — Daniel Johnston
  45. “Electric Mud” — Muddy Waters
  46. “Durand Jones & The Indicators” — Durand Jones & The Indicators
  47. “Spiral” — Bobby Hutcherson
  48. “Moondog” — Moondog
  49. “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space” — Spiritualized
  50. “Love, Loss and Auto-Tune” — Swamp Dogg
  51. “Pink Moon” — Nick Drake
  52. “And It’s Still Alright” — Nathaniel Rateliff
  53. “Pedestrian Verse” — Frightened Rabbit
  54. “The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators” — The 13th Floor Elevators
  55. “Amandla” — Miles Davis
  56. “Safe as Milk” — Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
  57. “Both Sides of the Sun” — Jimi Hendrix
  58. “To The 5 Boroughs” — Beastie Boys
  59. “Check Your Head” — Beastie Boys
  60. “King Lear” — Philip Glass
  61. “Rising Son” — Takuya Kuroda
  62. “Crush” — Floating Points
  63. “RTJ4” — Run The Jewels
  64. “For Lovers” — Octa Octa
  65. “Where Are We Going?” — Octo Octa
  66. “Mass in F Minor” — The Electric Prunes
  67. “Wabi Sabi” — Sven Wunder
  68. “Funky Skull” — Melvin “Lil’ Son” Jackson
  69. “Resonant Body” — Octo Octa
  70. “Undercurrent” — Bill Evans; Jim Hall
  71. “War Stories” — UNKLE
  72. “None of Us Are Getting Out of This Alive” — The Streets
  73. “Siti of Unguja” — Siti Muharam
  74. “Le jeu” — Student Kay
  75. “Singles” — Bauhaus
  76. “Thelonius Alone in Sand Francisco” — Thelonius Monk
  77. “Mønk” — Thelonius Monk
  78. “Wildflower” — The Avalanches
  79. “All About My Mother” — Alberto Iglesias
  80. “Contemporary Voices” — Otis Murphy & Pacifica Quartet
  81. “Mozart Mambo” — Sarah Willis
  82. “The Blues and The Abstract Truth” — Oliver Nelson
  83. “Night of the Mark VII” — Clifford Jordan
  84. “The Pleasure Principle” — Gary Numan
  85. “My Beauty” — Kevin Rowland
  86. “The Very Best Of…” — The Stylistics
  87. “Born Under A Bad Sign” — Albert King
  88. “A Deeper Understanding” — The War on Drugs
  89. “Bending New Corners” — Erik Truffaz
  90. “Seeking Thrills” — Georgia
  91. “Strange Weather” — Marianne Faithful
  92. “Blowing Hot and Cool” — Dexter Gordon
  93. “World of Echo” — Arthur Russell
  94. “Unfollow The Rules” — Rufus Wainwright
  95. “The New Abnormal” — The Strokes
  96. “Autobahn” — Kraftwerk
  97. “Trans-Europe Express” — Kraftwerk
  98. “The Ever Fonky Lowdown” — Wynton Marsalis
  99. “Bookends” — Simon & Garfunkel
  100. “Day of Judgement” — Ngozi Family
  101. “Shaker Loops” — John Adams
  102. “Must The Devil Have All The Good Tunes?” — John Adams

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

Art Seen 2020
  1. William Blake at The Tate Britain
  2. Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits at The Royal Academy
  3. Nam June Paik at The Tate Modern
  4. Albert Ohelin at The Serpentine
  5. Them at The Redfern Gallery
  6. Charlotte Salomon at The Jewish Museum
  7. Aubrey Beardsley at Tate Britain
  8. Andy Warhol at Tate Modern
  9. Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2020 and Jan Svoboda at The Photographers' Gallery
  10. We: Photographs from Russia 1996 -2017 by John Peter Askew at Pushkin House

I was really lucky to see as much art I did last year. A real blessing.
0 Comments

Books Read 2019 (Plus more)

31/12/2019

0 Comments

 

  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

Books Read 2018 (Plus more)

1/1/2019

0 Comments

 
  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

Books Read 2017

1/1/2018

0 Comments

 

  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.
0 Comments

Books Read 2016

9/1/2017

0 Comments

 
  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.
0 Comments

Books Read 2015

1/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  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.

0 Comments

Books Read 2014

1/3/2016

1 Comment

 
  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.
1 Comment

Books Read 2013

1/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  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.
0 Comments

Books Read 2012

1/3/2016

0 Comments

 
  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.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Own thoughts.

    Archives

    January 2022
    January 2021
    December 2019
    January 2019
    January 2018
    January 2017
    March 2016

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • HOME
  • TEACHING
  • WRITING
  • ABOUT
  • THOUGHTS ON WRITING
  • CONTACT
  • BOOKS READ