Hello, I've decided to start keeping annual lists of my favourite things. New to me rather than new per se. There's no TV list because TV is terrible now.
BOOKS
Strong sign of advancing middle age is that three of these books are at least tangentally about Adolf Hitler
DANCERS AT THE EDGE OF TIME - MICHAEL MOORCOCK
PRIVATE CITIZENS - TONY TULATHIMUTTE
BURNING SECRET / BEWARE OF PITY - STEFAN ZWEIG
THE DIRECTOR - DANIEL KEHLMANN
COME IN AND SHUT THE DOOR - CHRIS PETIT
DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS / TOURS OF THE BLACK CLOCK - STEVE ERICKSON
THE LOWLIFE - ALEXANDER BARON
LATE FAME - ARTHUR SCHNITZLER
HUNCHBACK - SAOU ICHIKAWA
VORRH TRILOGY - BRIAN CATLING
THE PEPSI-COLA ADDICT - JUNE ALLISON GIBBONS
FILMS
This category has a clear winner - I watched The Heartbreak Kid (1972, not the remake) three times in a week.
THE VANISHING (SPOORLOOS)
PERFECT DAYS
LA CHIMERA
THE GRIFTERS
LETTERS TO BREZHNEV
FRIENDSHIP
THE HEARTBREAK KID (1972)
HOARD
THE NINTH CONFIGURATION
EDDINGTON
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
MUSIC
Lots of ambient / foreign language stuff this year because it's good to read to -
BILL FAY - TIME OF THE LAST PERSECUTION
BOB LIND - SINCE THERE WERE CIRCLES
OKONSKI - ENTRANCE MUSIC
GEINOH YAMASHIROGUMI - ECOPHONY RINNE
NININGASHI - HEAVY WAY
HAROLD BUDD - PAVILION OF DREAMS
HOLGER CZUKAY - CANAXIS 5
CINDY LEE - DIAMOND JUBILEE
SHIRA SMALL - THE LINE OF TIME AND THE PLANE OF NOW
LEO KOTTKE - MY FEET ARE SMILING
ELGAR / PAUL MCCREESH - THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS
SPECIAL MENTIONS
BEST NON FICTION: CRUMB - DAN NADEL
BEST COMIC: THE RETIREMENT PARTY - TEDDY GOLDENBERG
MUSIC BONUS LIST: COMPILATIONS
I got really into listening to compilations from labels like Analog Africa, Time Capsule, Two Piers, Numero Group etc this year. My faves:
TOKYO RIDDIM VOL. 1&2
MUSIC TO WATCH THE STARS
PSYCH! BRITISH PROG, FOLK AND BLUES
WAMONO DISCO
BAMBARA MYSTIC SOUL
ROOTS ROCKIN’ ZIMBABWE
CONGO FUNK
SOFT SUMMER BREEZES
SOUL PSYCHEDELIQUE
BEEHIVE BREAKS
PENNY & THE QUARTERS