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)​
45. The Artist Is Present (2012, Dirs. Matthew Akers, Jeff Dupre)
46. Godard Mon Amour (2017, Dir. Michel Hazanavicius)

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