MY YEAR IN FILM, 2018

Actually, my year in DVDs, i haven't been to an actual cinema in years.

I didn't buy very many new DVDs this year – i have a lot already and i still enjoy watching most of them. The new ones are indicated in red, and of these, my favourite was probably Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The fact that i'm an honorary Missourian had nothing to do with it (and it was filmed in North Carolina anyway). It was Frances McDormand's brilliant performance as a grieving mother that stole the show.

Of the films i revisited, Source Code is an all-time favourite, as are Casablanca, Angel Heart, Fargo (Frances McDormand again!) and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (original Swedish version). Watching Dogma again for the first time in many years was a delightful surprise, i'd forgotten how damned good it is and how good Alanis Morissette is – playing the Christian God exactly the way i would imagine God to be.

Jan. 7: A Good Day To Die Hard

Jan. 14: Detroit

Jan. 21: Dead Man Down

Jan. 27: Django Unchained.

Jan. 28: The Girl Who Played With Fire

Jan. 30: Salt

Feb. 3: Grumpier Old Men

Feb. 4: Skyfall

Feb. 8: Mighty Aphrodite

Feb. 11: Fargo

Feb. 15: Robin Hood

Feb. 18: Snowden

Feb. 23: The Bourne Supremacy

Feb. 25: The Fugitive

March 1: Casablanca

March 4: Inglourious Basterds

March 7: The Good German

March 10: Monty Python And The Holy Grail

March 11: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

March 18: The Bourne Ultimatum

March 25: Zero Dark Thirty

March 30: As Good As It Gets

April 5: Prometheus

April 8: Dogma

April 15: Clerks

April 22: Clerks II

April 28: Singles

April 29: Green Zone

May 7: Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

May 19: Looper

May 20: Patriots Day

May 27: Get Shorty

June 3: Ronin

June 10: Annihilation

June 24: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies

July 1: Down To The Bone

July 8: Nightcrawler

July 15: Source Code

July 15: Threads

July 22: Elizabeth

July 29: Red Sparrow

Aug. 3: Winter's Bone

Aug. 5: Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Aug. 12: Jackie Brown

Aug. 19: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Aug. 26: Angel Heart

Sept. 6: The Hateful Eight

Sept. 9: Green Zone

Sept. 16: The Girl Who Played With Fire

Sept. 23: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

Sept. 28: Stop Making Sense

Sept. 28: Gravity

Sept. 30: Léon (a.k.a. The Professional)

Oct. 7: The Eagle Has Landed

Oct. 14: Django Unchained

Oct. 21: Out Of Sight

Oct. 28: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Nov. 4: Almost Famous

Nov. 11: Detroit

Nov. 18: Die Hard With A Vengeance

Nov. 18: The Great Wall

Dec. 2: Dr No

Dec. 9: Spectre

Dec. 24: Dead Man Down

Dec. 25: Goldfinger

Dec. 26: Die Hard

Dec. 30: No Country For Old Men

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, JAN. 27th, 2019

Quotation du jour ~ Henry David Thoreau: When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here and i have to connect via a VPN, to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ i was listening from Clifton, New Jersey. I've been there fairly often.]

I'm giving this week's program an A, although it just barely deserves it. The Alice Cooper song is surely one of his / their worst, Angel's music is as awful as one might expect from a band whose manager is / was Gene Simmons of KISS, Uman managed to find a rare example of The Climax Blues Band being tedious, and there were too many songs that, while quite listenable, were simply ordinary. Then there's The Animals' “Sky Pilot” -- a song i actually kinda like but, really, Eric Burdon's lyrics show him at his most wankish. Gad, they're embarrassing....

But! Full marks to Uman for playing the 20+ minute “Close To The Edge” and the 11+ minute “Ashes Are Burning” -- i love both of those numbers and you won't hear them on yer average classic rock radio station. There were plenty of other songs i love, too, so, A it is!

That photo down there is Clifton, New Jersey's main street, btw. It doesn't look that different from the main street where i live. Ah, Canada and the USA: so many similarities, yet so many differences.

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Standin' On The Rock

Steely Dan – Don't Take Me Alive

Stabilizers – One Simple Thing

Yes – Close To The Edge

The Bliss Band – Doctor

Heartsfield – Shine On

Fandango – Blame It On The Night

The Electric Light Orchestra – Tightrope

Atlanta Rhythm Section – Sky High

The Grateful Dead – Sugaree

Renaissance – Ashes Are Burning

Angel – The Tower

Jethro Tull – Hunting Girl

Jackson Browne – Fountain Of Sorrow

Stillwater – Women (Beautiful Women)

Alice Cooper – The Ballad Of Dwight Fry

The Boomtown Rats – I Don't Like Mondays

The Animals – Sky Pilot

Bruce Springsteen – Badlands

Shooting Star – Hollywood

Procol Harum – Simple Sister

The Moody Blues – Your Wildest Dreams

Painter – West Coast Woman

James Taylor – Carolina In My Mind

Thin Lizzy – Romeo And The Lonely Girl

Crosby, Stills & Nash – Wooden Ships

Lou Gramm – Midnight Blue

Climax Blues Band – Using The Power

Genesis – Your Own Special Way

The Grateful Dead – Shakedown Street

Todd Rundgren – The Want Of A Nail

Spys – She Can't Wait

These are the albums my optometrist recommended for me this week, to help me cope with (and look at!) the grotesque and highly dubious people i have to contend with every day:

Bonnie Raitt – The Bonnie Raitt Collection

Various Artists – Red Planet

Eliza Carthy – Heat, Light & Sound

Kathy Mattea – The Innocent Years

Ashley Hutchings et al. -- Morris On

Paul McCartney – Driving Rain

Dixie Chicks – Fly

Murray McLauchlan – Greatest Hits

Florence + The Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Nazareth – Razamanaz

George Harrison – Cloud Nine

Rod Stewart – Never A Dull Moment

Survivor – Vital Signs

Marc Cohn – Marc Cohn

The Sugar Cubes – Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!

The Beatles – Help!

The Nice – Five Bridges

Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn

Quintessence – In Blissful Company

Fairport Convention – Myths And Heroes

Garmarna – Vengeance

Renaissance – A Song For All Seasons

Saga – Saga

Steeleye Span – All Around My Hat

Peter Hammill / Gary Lucas – Other World

Bruce Guthro – Celtic Crossing

James Taylor – Before This World

Sequentia – Ancient Music For A Modern Age

Mike Rutherford – Smallcreep's Day

Afro Celt Sound System – Flight

Renaissance – Scheherazade And Other Stories

Pink – Try This

Joan Osborne – Bring It On Home

Oysterband – Rise Above

Rory Gallagher – Calling Card

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, JAN. 20th, 2019

Quotation du jour ~ Daniel Barenboim: I have music in my brain all the time, all sorts.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here and i have to connect via a VPN, to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ i was listening from twenty miles south of Atlanta, in Irondale, Georgia, pop. 7446. I've never been there before (although i've been to Atlanta).]

Today's show just barely merits an A- -- which is still pretty darned good of course. Along with the usual songs that i love dearly, there was also some pretty ordinary schtuff: Huey Lewis? Randy Pie? The Marshall Tucker song is probably the one of theirs that i like the least, and when Uman announced that he was about to play a track by Aphrodite's Child, i shuddered, fearing that it would be the dreadful “The Four Horsemen.” It wasn't, thank Spriggs, but the song he did play was pretty tedious.

Highlights for me were Rockpile, The Byrds, Poco, Robin Trower, Elvin Bishop and 10 c.c., and, as usual, the program ended 'way before i was ready for it to do so.

Slade – Gudbuy T'Jane

Spooky Tooth – Cotton Growing Man

Aphrodite's Child – Break

The Band – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Deep Purple – Knocking At Your Back Door

Kenny Loggins – Heart To Heart

Steve Hackett – Narnia

The Doors – Peace Frog / Blue Sunday

Cat Stevens – Another Saturday Night

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Carry On

Huey Lewis And The News – The Only One

Rockpile – Teacher Teacher

The Byrds – Mr Tambourine Man

King Crimson – Epitaph

Dave Mason – Only You Know And I Know

Styx – Jennifer

The Moody Blues – I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock 'N' Roll Band)

Rod Stewart – The First Cut Is The Deepest

The Marshall Tucker Band – Can't You See

Poco – Rose Of Cimarron

Randy Pie – Stand Up

Wet Willie – No No No

Journey – Of A Lifetime

Jefferson Starship – Cruisin'

Sad Cafe– Black Rose

Molly Hatchet – Whiskey Man

The Steve Miller Band – Wild Mountain Honey

Robin Trower – Day Of The Eagle

Genesis – Alone Tonight

Elvin Bishop –Travelin' Shoes

10 c.c. -- Rubber Bullets

Alvin Lee & Mylon LeFevre – So Sad (No Love Of His Own)

The Doobie Brothers – Echoes Of Love

Tony Carey – A Fine, Fine Day

Procol Harum – Whiskey Train

Jeff Beck – Blue Wind

These are the albums my proctologist prescribed for me this week – to help me cope with all the arseholes out there:

Bruce Springsteen – Magic

Cassandra Wilson – Loverly

Coldplay – A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Dead Can Dance – Dionysus

Various Artists – From Clarksville To Heaven: Remembering John Lee Hooker

Kesha – Rainbow

Renaissance – Azure d'Or

Gin Blossoms – New Miserable Experience

Fairport Convention – Angel Delight

Kate Bush – The Sensual World

George Harrison – Wonderwall Music

George Harrison – Cloud Nine

The Beatles – Help!

Paul Simon – The Rhythm Of The Saints

Terje Rypdal – Chaser

Bonnie Raitt – Sweet Forgiveness

Runrig – The Stamping Ground

Richard Thompson – Mock Tudor

Yes – Fragile

Jack Bruce – Harmony Row

Joan Osborne – Relish

Pink Floyd – The Division Bell

Randy Newman – Little Criminals

Kate & Anna McGarrigle – Heartbeats Accelerating

Genesis – A Trick Of The Tail

Marillion – This Strange Engine

Rory Gallagher – Stage Struck

Rod Stewart – Never A Dull Moment

Kronos Quartet w. Bob Ostertag – All The Rage

John Lennon – Acoustic

Colin James – Bad Habits

This Mortal Coil – Filigree And Shadow

Nazareth – Loud 'N' Proud

Annie Haslam – Symphony Of Light

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, JAN. 13th, 2019

Quotation du jour ~ Jerry Garcia: You need music, I don't know why. It's probably one of those Joe Campbell questions, why we need ritual. We need magic, and bliss, and power, myth, and celebration and religion in our lives, and music is a good way to encapsulate a lot of it.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here and i have to connect via a VPN, to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ i was listening from San Francisco for the second week running. I must like it there.]

This program has changed a bit over the past couple of months, in that the host,

John Ulett (a.k.a. Uman) once seldom spoke but now introduces nearly every other song and often provides background info about the music and/or the performer. It's all right – he has a friendly voice (and is a nice guy – i met him when i was in St Louis) and the details are usually interesting, but i can't help thinking that i'd prefer less rabbit and more music.

Ah, well, it's still the best radio show i know of and still the highlight of my week, and today's scores an A+ (or seven stars out of five) (off the scale on the Spriggs-o-meter!) for the inclusion of both Dan Fogelberg and Rory Gallagher – back-to-back, no less! But it would have scored almost an A+ even without them, it was that good.

I have tried and tried to understand the popularity of REO Speedwagon in St Louis, but i simply can't. I am, after all, an honorary citizen of the place so i think i should be able to comprehend schtuff like this, but it baffles me. They're pretty much disdained in Canada and i did, once, kinda half-heartedly try to defend them to a Canajun friend, out of “civic pride,” but i couldn't. They (to use the technical term) suck. Theirs was definitely the worst selection today.

So much great music, though: and so much that i hadn't heard in a long time. The show ended far too early.

Jackson Browne – The Pretender

Fleetwood Mac – Spare Me A Little Of Your Love

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Hey Hey, My My (Out Of The Blue, Into The Black)

Supertramp – Rudy

Shooting Star – Last Chance

The Who – The Kids Are Alright

The Marshall Tucker Band – Searchin' For A Rainbow

Steely Dan – The Fez

Alice Cooper – Hello Hooray

REO Speedwagon – Easy Money

Uriah Heep – The Wizard

Head East – City Of Gold / Fly By Night

The Doobie Brothers – Ukiah / The Captain And Me

It's A Beautiful Day – A Hot Summer Day

Jethro Tull – Cross-Eyed Mary

Dan Fogelberg – Aspen / These Days

Rory Gallagher – Country Mile

Stingray – The Man In My Shoes

Crosby, Stills & Nash – Just A Song Before I Go

String Driven Thing – Circus

Camel – Lady Fantasy

John Mellencamp – Justice And Independence '85

Genesis – Man On The Corner

Planet P Project – Why Me

The Grateful Dead – Touch Of Grey

Bruce Springsteen – The Promised Land

Brian Protheroe – Pinball

Paul McCartney – Another Day

Good Rats – Back To My Music

Yes – Tempus Fugit

The Charlie Daniels Band – Saddle Tramp

UFO – Mystery Train

Joe Walsh – A Life Of Illusion

The Cars – It's All I Can Do

The Tubes – Sushi Girl

Rod Stewart – You Wear It Well

This week, i promised myself that i would re-listen to some albums i had never, for one reason or another, become overly familiar with. It didn't work out all that well. Here's the list of what i annoyed the neighbours with:

Johnny Hodges – Jazz Masters 35

Afro-Celt Sound System – Flight

Jethro Tull – Stormwatch

Mike Batt – Tarot Suite

The Kinks – The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society

George Harrison – Brainwashed

Dixie Chicks – Fly

Van Morrison – Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart

Bill Bruford's Earthworks – Stomping Ground

Billy Joel – Turnstiles

Joan Osborne – Little Wild One

Yehudi Menuhin (w. The English Chamber Orchestra) – Yehudi Menuhin Conducts Vaughan Williams

June Tabor, Iain Bellamy & Huw Warren – Quercus

Kim Mitchell – Rockland

Various Artists – Son Of “Morris On”

Portishead – Third

Mike Oldfield – QE 2

Patty Loveless – The Trouble With The Truth

Various Artists – Compil Folk 38

Dixie Chicks – Wide Open Spaces

Boys Of The Lough – To Welcome Paddy Home

Chicago – Chicago VI

Toto – Past To Present 1977-1990

Siouxsie & The Banshees – Superstition

Rod Stewart – Human

Mekons & Kathy Acker – Pussy, King Of The Pirates

The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies

Eleftheria Arvanitaki -- Ta Kormia Ke Ta Maheria

Jeff Beck – Who Else!

Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin

My Year In CDs, 2018

I bought an extraordinary fifty-nine CDs in 2018. How many did i buy last year? Maybe 35? But don't worry, i haven't all of a sudden embraced contemporary pop music, which is even worse than ever now. Very few of the albums were by current artists, they were mostly replacements for old vinyl (which i can no longer play) or "best of" collections by old favourites.

I've written replacements for old vinyl in (and in a couple of cases, old cassettes) in red. New albums by contemporary artists are indicated with an octothorpe – or hashtag, if you prefer. (#) File everything else here under “m” for miscellaneous. “Best of” collections should be obvious.

I wrote (above) that i certainly have not embraced contemporary pop music, however, there was one album by an artist who might be considered “contempop” -- Pink (although, really, i think she's a genre unto herself). I'd always liked what i'd heard of her music, without being particularly interested in exploring further, until i heard a story about her and, isn't this awful, i forget the details. But! She did something extraordinarily nice for someone and it showed to me that she's not at all the tuff chick she comes across as, but is a truly sensitive artist. So i bought an anthology and guess what? It's my CD Of The Year!

I can't choose a “best of” replacement for vinyl, though. It would be almost of them....

#Caro Emerald -- Metropole Orkest X Caro Emerald

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra – The Brandenburg Concertos

Musicians Of The Nile – From Luxor To Isna

Jack Bruce – Songs For A Tailor

Dick Gaughan – Gaughan

Dick Gaughan – The Definitive Collection

"Guys And Dolls" (Original Broadway Cast)

Jack Bruce – Harmony Row

Donna Summer – The Ultimate Collection

#Martin & Eliza Carthy – Moral Of The Elephant

John Kirkpatrick – Sheepskins

#Marillion – All One Tonight

Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette – Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

Davy Spillane – Atlantic Bridge

Mott The Hoople – Mott

Spirit – Clear

Patti Smith – Outside Society

Shirley Collins And The Albion Band – No Roses

Planxty – One Night In Bremen

Siouxsie & The Banshees – A Kiss In The Dreamhouse

#Ray Davies – Our Country: Americana act II

Runrig – Heartland

Donna Summer – Live And More

Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album

Davy Spillane Band – Out Of The Air

The Kinks – Misfits

#Florence + The Machine – High As Hope

The Kinks – Sleepwalker

Loggins & Messina – Sittin' In Again

The Kinks – Soap Opera

#Richard Thompson – 13 Rivers

The Kinks -- Muswell Hillbillies

#Wolfscote – Turn The Glass

#Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet – Landfall

The Kinks – Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround

#Runrig – The Ones That Got Away

#Happy Rhodes – Ectotrophia

Silly Wizard – A Glint Of Silver

Emerson, Lake & Powell – Emerson, Lake & Powell

The Bothy Band – The Bothy Band

#Paul Simon – In The Blue Light

Various Artists – Big Blue Ball

#Colin James – Miles To Go

Graham Nash David Crosby – Graham Nash David Crosby

#Sharon Shannon – Sacred Earth

Siouxsie & The Banshees – Nocturne

Triona Ni Dhomhnaill – Triona

The Beat – I Just Can't Stop It

Renaissance – Novella

Pink –Greatest Hits ... So Far!!!

#Dead Can Dance – Dionysus

King Crimson – Larks' Tongues In Aspic

Kenny Loggins – The Essential Kenny Loggins

Renaissance – A Song For All Seasons

#Afro Celt Sound System – Flight

#The Albion Christmas Band – Under The Christmas Tree

Atlanta Rhythm Section – ARS: The Best Of Atlanta Rhythm Section

The Who – Quadrophenia

KSHE KLASSICS SHOW, JAN. 6th, 2019

Quotation du jour ~ Confucius: Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.

[As you may or may not know, i live in Canada, and for some reason KSHE doesn't stream their audio to here and i have to connect via a VPN, to spoof a non-Canadian address. This week, according to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ i was listening from San Francisco once more.]

John Ulett dedicated the first song today to the memory of Ray Sawyer of Dr Hook, who died on December 31st at the age of 81. It was a morbid start to a mostly pretty good installment of the show and was probably the worst song he played today – although the REO Speedwagon came a close second.

I'm giving in an “A+” because of the inclusion of a Dan Fogelberg song. Otherwise, though, there were only a few songs i can honestly say i love, but most of those, i love a lot! OMG, Buffalo Springfield, Manfred Mann, Billy Joel.... And let's just say i'm glad i made to the bathroom before the Yes song came on – having seven cups of tea results in certain ablutionary necessities – i would have hated to miss a second of it. Definitely the highlight of the program. And, as much as i enjoyed it, i don't really think that Stanley Clarke can be considered classic rock. Classic jazz-rock fusion for sure, though!

Here's Ray. R.I.P.

Dr Hook -- Cover Of The Rolling Stone

Asia – Don't Cry

Buffalo Springfield – Rock And Roll Woman

The Marshall Tucker Band – Take The Highway

Boz Scaggs – Loan Me A Dime

Rare Earth – I Know I'm Losing You

Steve Miller – Space Cowboy

Traffic – Empty Pages

Kenny Loggins – Love Has Come Of Age

Z.Z. Top – Arrested For Driving While Blind

LeRoux – Take A Ride On A Riverboat

The Kinks – Living On A Thin Line

Jackson Browne – Boulevard

Ambrosia – Nice Nice Very Nice

Heartsfield – Another Man Down

Manfred Mann's Earth Band – For You

Grinderswitch – Pickin' The Blues

Slade – Run Runaway

Billy Joel – Travelin' Prayer

Tony Carey – The First Day Of Summer

Steely Dan – Deacon Blues

Taxxi – I'm Leaving

Stanley Clarke – School Days

The Micheal Stanley Band – In The Heartland

Dave Mason – Feelin' Alright

Joe Walsh – Mother Says

The J. Geils Band – First I Look At The Purse

REO Speedwagon – Only The Strong Survive

Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Gimme Your Money Please

UFO – Lights Out

The Animals – The House Of The Rising Sun

The Allman Brothers Band – Whipping Post

Yes – And You And I

Joe Cocker – She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

The Climax Blues Band – Mighty Fire

Steve Winwood – Arc Of A Diver

Dan Fogelberg – Stolen Moments

Here are the albums my proctologist prescribed for me this week – to help me cope with the people at work who are such ginormous pains in the arse....

Judy Collins – Wildflowers

Paul Simon – You're The One

James Taylor – Before This World

The Dixie Chicks – Home

The Rankin Family – Grey Dusk Of Eve

The Beatles – Abbey Road

Procol Harum – Grand Hotel

The Tragically Hip – Now For Plan A

Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother

Rush – Power Windows

Yes – Relayer

Atlanta Rhythm Section – The Best Of A.R.S.

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Born On The Bayou

Steeleye Span – Hark! The Village Wait

Manfred Mann's Earth Band – Angel Station

The Allman Brothers Band – Idlewild South

Jethro Tull – The Minstrel In The Gallery

Happy Rhodes – Equipoise

Steely Dan – A Decade Of Steely Dan

Kesha – Rainbow

Rob Hyman et al. -- Largo

Joan Osborne – Pretty Little Stranger

Caro Emerald – The Shocking Miss Emerald

Duke Ellington – Duke Ellington And His Great Vocalists

Peter Gabriel – Up

John Fogerty – The Long Road Home

Kate Bush – Hounds Of Love

Dick Gaughan – Handful Of Earth

Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band -- The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Fish – A Feast Of Consequences

Lisa Gerrard – Whalerider

The Moody Blues – To Our Children's Children's Children

Nanci Griffith – Other Voices/Other Rooms

MY YEAR IN BOOKS, 2018

As i probably moaned in previous years' posts, once upon a time i would read one or two books a week. Then i bought my first PC. So you (or i) can blame Windows 95 for the fact that i now average about one or two a month. And here's what i read in 2018. Books that were new are highlighted in red, re-visits to old friends are in boring old black.

Jan. 5: Maureen O'Connor Kavanaugh – Hidden History Of Downtown St Louis

Jan. 9: Jay Farrar – Falling Cars And Junkyard Dogs: Portraits From A Musical Life

Jan. 17: Martin Amis – Einstein's Monsters

Jan. 31: E.L. Doctorow – Ragtime

Feb. 13: Anthony Burgess – MF

March 7: Caroline Moorehead – Village Of Secrets: Defying The Nazis In Vichy France

March 23: Arthur C. Clarke – The City And The Stars

April 18: Michael Barclay – The Never-Ending Present: The Story Of Gord Downie     And The Tragically Hip

April 24: Craig Halstead – Donna Summer: For The Record

April 25: Spike Milligan – The Bedside Milligan, Or, Read Your Way To Insomnia

May 8: Robyn Maynard – Policing Black Lives: State Violence In Canada From Slavery To The Present

May 18: Edna Ferber – Show Boat

May 30: Martin Amis – The Rub Of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump: Essays And Reportage, 1994 – 2017

June 8: Kingsley Amis – Lucky Jim

June 19: Walter Havighurst – Voices On The River: The Story Of The Mississippi Waterways

June 29: Kingsley Amis – Jake's Thing

July 7: Elmore Leonard – Get Shorty

July 12: Stewart Lee Allen – The Devil's Cup: A History Of The World According to Coffee

Aug. 5: Walter Isaacson – Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

Aug. 7: Henry Freeman – American Revolution: A History From Beginning To End

Aug. 13: Elmore Leonard – Rum Punch

Aug. 23: Jonas Jonasson – The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared

Sept. 5: Hugh Bicheno – Rebels & Redcoats: The American Revolutionary War

Sept. 14: Elmore Leonard – Be Cool

Sept. 21: William Hjortsberg – Falling Angel

Oct. 10: Elmore Leonard – LaBrava

Oct. 15: Lillian de la Torre – The Exploits of Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector

Oct. 23: Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö – Murder At The Savoy

Nov. 7: Michael Palin – Erebus: The Story Of A Ship

Nov. 24: Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö – The Terrorists

Dec. 26: Michelle Obama – Becoming

And what, i hear you ask, were my favourites of the new ones? In fiction, the Jonas Jonasson was a delight but i think the nod goes to Edna Ferber: a wonderful portrait of a simpler time.

In non-fiction, Jay Farrar's book definitely deserves a nod: excellent portrait of life on the road for a working musician (he's the lead singer in Son Volt), Robyn Maynard deserves some thanks for opening my eyes to the extent that racism exists here in allegedly racism-free Canada, and Michael Palin's book was fascinating – anything to do with the Franklin Expedition interests me.

Non-fiction book of the year, though: Michelle Obama's “Becoming.” No, really. It's so completely different to anything i would normally read and it was wonderful. I don't like politics, but then, neither does she, so we got along just fine. She's an extraordinary woman. And her husband's not a bad guy, either!

I definitely have to give a raspberry to Hugh Bicheno's book about the American Revolution, though: not only was it a disorganised mess, but he let his own prejudices show through. He loathes two of my favourite people from that era -- Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin -- but he's wrong. Jefferson did not sexually abuse his female slaves (having slaves was the norm back then, sad to say). (Jefferson didn't like the system but didn't know how to end it.) He had a long-term relationship with one of them -- Sally Heming -- and they had several children together and he would have married her if it had been allowed.

And Benjamin Franklin -- who did for electricity what Newton did for gravity -- was not a "dirty old man." He was playful and he had a lot of young female friends, but his flirting with them was never "with intent".