I’m suffering from blogger’s block at the moment, but a best of the year list practically writes itself. This year I’m confining it to movies and books.
I didn’t watch many movies in the second half of the year, but saw some fine ones in the first. The year got off to a good start with two flawless works of cinema: Unstoppable, a tensely-filmed action suspense thriller, and The Social Network, the fascinating, superbly-scripted drama about the origins of Facebook. The King’s Speech was a cracking good drama about courage. Disney’s Tangled was a charming animated comedy romance, enhanced by 3D. The Kids are All Right, a funny and honest look at a family, was top-notch entertainment. In 127 Hours, director Danny Boyle—and some well-chosen music--keeps you on the edge of your seat in spite of the static situation.
Honorable mention to Hereafter, True Grit, Blue Valentine, The Adjustment Bureau, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (in 3D) and The Tree of Life. I’m also glad I went to see Tron, Super 8, The Town, How Do You Know, Morning Glory, Source Code, and Black Swan.
I read some terrific books this year, too. Revolution in the Head was a truly enjoyable look at both the 1960s, when Christian social values gave way to self-before-others consumer materialism, and the music of The Beatles that was a major component of those years.
Escapist reading doesn’t get any better than Jean-Claude Izzo’s Marseilles Trilogy (Total Chaos, Chourmo; Solea), noir policiers with a tough, tender, venal idealist hero, and all the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the South of France.
A.S. Byatt’s The Children’s Book was an absorbing tale of growing up in England in the 1880s, with fascinating historical detail.
Best of all was John Gray’s Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, which suggests that our relentless human endeavors are an unconscious immortality project. Such truth telling is of great value.
Honorable mentions to non-fiction The New Economics (David Boyle), Justice (Michael Sandel), Whole Earth Discipline (Stewart Brand), Honey Money (Catherine Hakim) and Mrs. Woolf and the Servants (Alison Light), and fiction In This House of Brede (Rumer Godden). I’m also glad I read The Happiness Project (Rubin), and Nocturne (Attlee).
--Julian
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