hello!! i have done zero substantial typing on the computer for exactly 8 weeks and it has been glorious. the best thing i did this year was to wing it and take more time off to enjoy decompressing along the way. (of course this was within reason and with thorough establishment of expectations and there were no unexpected implosions or consequences). i took several small trips and read a lot!
- 75(!!) books read. none of them by straight white men. only one by a male author at all, i think (The Three Body Problem, where i was not inspired to read the sequels.)
my favourites, in order of being read:
- Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead: a solo character epic. engaging and extreme and probably too neat in the end but i didn't care.
- Flung Out of Space, Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer: ahh patricia highsmith is fascinating in horribly distasteful ways. i loved the art (also highly recommend Cosmoknights) and the pacing. one to re-read at different speeds.
- Companion Piece, Ali Smith: classic Ali Smith - lyrical, very current yet also timeless because it is about people, who are endlessly interesting.
- On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden: excellent webcomic of graphic novel proportions! boarding school sci-fi and beautiful art.
- Vera Kelly Lost and Found, Rosalie Knecht: love this mystery series (written in classic style and form and very engaging plot-wise) and wonder if there will be more?
- Skinship, Yoon Choi: long-ish short stories based in the Korean-American experience. so many facets and aspects of the immigrant and inter-generational experience. sometimes quite funny, in a sparse, indirect way.
- Our Wives Under the Sea, Julia Armfield: ooo this one is very memorable. seamless melding of different writing styles in an honestly weird gothic body horror sci-fi-ish romantic story. i don't think adding any more description will help. it was perfect.
- Ornament and Silence, Kennedy Fraser: New Yorker essays in the art/fashion world, reminiscent of Janet Malcolm. excellent. one of the only real hard-cover books i read this year because i could only find it at the university library.
- Raised by Wolves, Jess Ho: incisively written, a fascinating look into the world of the Melbourne hospitality industry, and millennial Cantonese-diaspora life.
- Leech, Hiron Ennes: sci-fi gothic period body horror, in a completely different way from Our Wives Under the Sea. a very very interesting premise that dissolves and then reforms the lines between individuality and a hive mind, but without you knowing.
- How Far the Light Reaches, Sabrina Imbler: marine biology/queer memoir in essays. somehow it works, astonishingly well in fact.
laid out in this fashion, this list is hugely varied! it's as if i chose 11 niche genres and picked one book to represent each.
highly commended: The Priory of the Orange Tree, The Liar's Dictionary, Portrait of a Thief, Salt Slow, Cleopatra and Frankenstein.
quote of the year, from a book i have not yet finished: "Her voice is like three sick pigeons trapped in a grocery bag." (Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel). wow.
the reinstatement of in-person film festivals also meant that i saw quite a lot of films. i overestimated my capacity and was very tired at the end of MIFF. in any case, i saw 28 films throughout the year and my favourites were, again in viewing order:
- The Power of the Dog
- Turning Red
- Petite Maman
- Never Rarely Sometimes Always
- The Matrix Resurrections
- Nelly and Nadine
i attended a range of concerts and opera! highlights included Ensemble Gombert, Victorian Opera's Elektra, Jonas Kaufman as Lohengrin, Melbourne Opera's Lucrezia Borgia, Australian Ballet's Kunstkamer, and the most technically mind-boggling show of the year, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a truly astounding one-person show.
'til next time! may we appreciate art in all the ways it deserves.
