Books Read 2020 (Plus more)

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.