Best of 2007: Books and Music
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This year ended up being more a music year than a book year for me. I read a lot, but there were only a few books that really captured me:
* The Sociopath Next Door: This was a fascinating nonfiction book about the nature of sociopaths. In a nice departure from custom, this author didn't focus on violent sociopaths, which most (apparently) aren't. She defines sociopaths as people missing a conscience.
* 1982 Janine: An amazing and unusual novel about an older, alcoholic Scottish man looking back on his life, confronting his mistakes, and fantasizing about sex.
* God against the Gods: An excellent, excellent history of the early Christian period.
* Severance: A book of poems, each of which imagines the thoughts of a person who has been beheaded, in those few moments in which some have speculated consciousness endures after beheading. Each subject is a real historical figure who was beheaded, ranging from a prehistoric hunter killed by a saber tooth tiger to Ann Boleyn to Nicole Simpson.
* The Closing of the Western Mind: One of the best history books I've ever read, detailing the transition from the classical world to the medieval world.
* On Chesil Beach: Another great Ian McEwan novel, more short story than novel, really. Very contained and modest, but just as brilliant as his other work.
I was enthralled with the following music this year:
* Carry On, by Chris Cornell
* Out of Exile, by Audioslave
* Thank You, by Stone Temple Pilots
* The Imposter, by Kevin Max
* Warm Strangers, by Vienna Teng
* The Green World, Dar Williams
* Camino Largo, by Fernando Ortega
Please post your favorites of the year in the Comments section if you're so inclined!
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This year ended up being more a music year than a book year for me. I read a lot, but there were only a few books that really captured me:
* The Sociopath Next Door: This was a fascinating nonfiction book about the nature of sociopaths. In a nice departure from custom, this author didn't focus on violent sociopaths, which most (apparently) aren't. She defines sociopaths as people missing a conscience.
* 1982 Janine: An amazing and unusual novel about an older, alcoholic Scottish man looking back on his life, confronting his mistakes, and fantasizing about sex.
* God against the Gods: An excellent, excellent history of the early Christian period.
* Severance: A book of poems, each of which imagines the thoughts of a person who has been beheaded, in those few moments in which some have speculated consciousness endures after beheading. Each subject is a real historical figure who was beheaded, ranging from a prehistoric hunter killed by a saber tooth tiger to Ann Boleyn to Nicole Simpson.
* The Closing of the Western Mind: One of the best history books I've ever read, detailing the transition from the classical world to the medieval world.
* On Chesil Beach: Another great Ian McEwan novel, more short story than novel, really. Very contained and modest, but just as brilliant as his other work.
I was enthralled with the following music this year:
* Carry On, by Chris Cornell
* Out of Exile, by Audioslave
* Thank You, by Stone Temple Pilots
* The Imposter, by Kevin Max
* Warm Strangers, by Vienna Teng
* The Green World, Dar Williams
* Camino Largo, by Fernando Ortega
Please post your favorites of the year in the Comments section if you're so inclined!
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posted by Anonymous at
12:46 PM
2 Comments:
I dunno about Best of, but here are a couple recent favorites:
The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice --yes, the vampire lady, but writing an excellent historical novel about the community of people of color living in New Orleans in the 1800s
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje --a beautifully written novel about those who were murdered ("disappeared") in Sri Lanka and a U.N. anthropologist trying to find them.
Thirst by Mary Oliver -- poems about grief, nature and thought from one of the most readable American poets
Leonard Woolf by Victoria Glendinning -- Thoughtful, balanced biography of Leonard Woolf -- socialist, politician, journalist, novelist, and yes, Virginia Woolf's husband
Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda -- Delightful, brief essays on literature which redefine and expand the definition of "classic"
here is my semi-exhaustive list.
BOOKS I LOVED FOR THE FIRST TIME:
Watership Down, The Road, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Fray, Buffy Season Eight, The Sociopath Next Door (thanks, LW!), Excellent Cadavers, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, The Silver Spoon, Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 1, The Joy of Cooking, Hons and Rebels, Cloud Atlas, Saturday, Atonement, A Year in Provence, Never Let Me Go, The Kite Runner, What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal: A Novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Severance: Stories, Forty Words for Sorrow, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, Watership Down: A Novel
BOOKS I FELL IN LOVE WITH ALL OVER AGAIN:
The Leopard, Harry Potter Books 1-6, The Color Purple, The Lovely Bones, Lucky, The Chosen, If This Is a Man, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Wrinkle in Time, Silence of the Lambs, Faking It (thanks, LW!, The Exorcist
MOVIES I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED ON THE SILVER SCREEN OR ON DVD:
The Devil Wears Prada, No Country for Old Men, 3:10 to Yuma, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Queen, Hot Fuzz, Knocked-Up, The Hoax, Casino Royale, The Lives of Others, The Departed, Children of Men, Little Miss Sunshine, United 93, The Last King of Scotland, Notes on a Scandal, Thank You for Smoking
TV TO WHICH I AM NOW ADDICTED:
Friday Night Lights, The Office, 30 Rock
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