hello! this annual round-up is later than usual because i was in a different location and could not access my very analogue records of books read and movies seen.
numbers because i am otherwise benumbed and have no energy for societal/political commentary, plus notables:
41 books read, amazingly
40 by non-cis male authors (!!)
the biggest swerve in my reading style in many years happened in the last 6 weeks of the year - i started reading escapist (sci-fi/speculative/fantasy) fiction, well, those featuring queernormative societies and strong female protagonists. very enjoyable!!! highlights - Gideon the Ninth/Harrow the Ninth for sheer bravura, A Memory called Empire for centering language in an otherwise very plot-driven genre, and especially This Is How You Lose the Time War for its very abstract lyricism. this appears to be a hugely growing area of LGBTQ+ literature and i love it.
others i loved: Crying in H Mart (michelle zauner), Yolk (mary h.k. choi), Everyone (Else) is Perfect (gabrielle korn), The Magical Language of Others (e.j. koh), The Secret to Superhuman Strength (alison bechdel), Piranesi (susanna clarke). hmm perhaps surprisingly all except 2 of these are memoir-ish, but they were all excellent "exceptions" to the usual memoir style.
25 films watched, almost unbelievably
i continued my way through chantal akerman's oeuvre (Je Tu Il Elle, No Home Movie, News From Home - especially liked the last), and also rated Kajillionare, Beanpole, Chess of the Wind, Passing, Titane highly. Memoria was a little off for me, though i had high expectations.
after many years i was finally able to track down Secondo Me, a doco following the lives of opera cloakroom attendants. it was everything i hoped for!
dud of the year - The Dead Don't Die - what the actual fuck, jim jarmusch? as my now-retired professor would say, that was a total waste of time.
4 operas/concerts attended, very believably.
my first Das Rheingold, good for drifting off in and waking up still on the same chord, essentially
schubert and beethoven's c major string quintets by the ACO! otherworldly. maybe partly because that's how it felt being at a concert again after 16 months.
and then another 7 month break until i saw handel's messiah and teared up when the choir got going, god! funny thing is i had been listening to a choir rehearsing for the month prior, in the building below my apartment. did not connect the dots to the fact that there would then be a concert.. but realised in time to attend like a proud parent!
who knows what 2022 will bring! stay tuned! you are very patient!
