2022: the lists

Books

Well, my reading year was well up on last year's dismal 57 books, but I only got 91 in this year. 

For those playing at home, here is how the 91 break down.

13 Fiction titles

7 Books of poetry - I wanted to get back into Poetry this year and I loved it!

42 Non-Fiction titles

29 Memoirs

37 by men

46 by women

8 by multiple authors

12 LGBTQIA

38 Australian

2 Foreign

12 POC

I am finding myself busier than ever and that means less reading time AND I find myself constantly struggling to get into some books. For this I blame COVID and devices, there is a lot of research that says devices can stall the brain a bit in terms of memory and patience. So in 2023 I will endeavour to bridge that gap!

I will say that of those 91 books there were a lot of great books, so narrowing it down was quite difficult, but here they are!

TOP 20 BOOKS

1. Love Stories - Trent Dalton - non-fiction/memoir

2. Loud - Tana Douglas - rock memoir

3. Diaries Vol 1-3 - Helen Garner - memoir as such, but so much more

4. Nina Simone's Gum - Warren Ellis - memoir/museums/esoteric

5. Faith, Hope and Carnage - Nick Cave and Sean O'Hagan - rock memoir

6. Happy-go-lucky - David Sedaris - humour/memoir

7. Solitary Walk on the Moon - Hilde Hinton - Australian fiction

8. A Pocketful of Happiness - Richard E Grant - memoir

9. Left on the Tenth - Delia Ephron - memoir

10. Mirka Mora - Sabine Cotte - art/memoir

11. Alchemy - Wendy Sharpe and Kate Forsyth - art and poetry

12. Ciao Bella - Kate Langbroek - travel

13. Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here - Heather Rose - memoir

14. One Hundred Days - Alice Pung - Australian fiction

15. Drop Bear - Evelyn Araluen - poetry

16. Call Us What We Carry - Amanda Gorman - poetry

17. All About Me - Mel Brooks - memoir

18. This Much Is True - Miriam Margolyes - memoir

19. Unsheltered - Barbara Kingsolver - US fiction

20. You've got to be kidding - Todd Alexander - travel/memoir

TOP 20 TV

Again, so much amazing, it is hard to pick faves.

1. Barry S3

2. Fisk S2

3. Only Murders in the Building

4. Our Flag Means Death 

5. The Mandalorian

6. Obi Wan Kenobi

7. Collin from Accounts 

8. White Lotus S2

9. The Twelve

10. Hacks S2

11. Better Call Saul

12. Curb Your Enthusiasm S11

13. Kominksy Method 1-3

14. Insecure final season

15. Upright S2

16. Lupin S1

17. Love Me

18. Anne with an E

19. Flight Attendant S2

20. Julia

Special Mentions:

The Walking Dead
Doctor Who Finale

TV Doco/Reality

I am not a huge fan of reality, but there are some gems that stick out.

1. The Great British Bake Off - baking -cakes and Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas!!!

2. Take 5 with Zan Rowe - music

3. Gogglebox - tv

4. The Sparks Brothers - music doco

5. Harry Potter Reunion - movie doco

6. Escape to the Chateau - French chateau DIY

7. Great Southern Landscapes - art

8. Old People's Home for Teenagers - sociology

9. Super Bob Einstein Film - comedy doco

10. KISSStory - music doco

11. Andy Warhol Diaries - art doco

12. Pistol - music series

13. Devolution: Devo theory - music doco

14. Adrienne - film/memoir doco

15. The Sit In: Harry Belafonte - tv, social justice doco

16. Salinger - author doco

17. The Parisian Agency - Paris real estate reality show

18. The Painter and the thief - art doco

19. Spike Lee: NYV Epicentres - NY doco

20. The Story of late Night - tv dodoc

Special Mentions: Zoo and Animal Shows: Aussie Snake Wrangles, The Zoo (Set in the Bronx), Who's who in the zoo (Taronga Zoo), Crikey: It's the Irwins.

Movies

I saw more movies than I realised, and most of them were really good!

1. Elvis

2. Nightmare Alley

3. Apollo 10 1/2

4. Days of Bagnall Summer

5. Weird Al

6. Moonage Daydream

7. Licorice Pizza

8. The Lost Daughter

9. Parallel Mothers

10. Belfast

11. Dune

12. Power of the Dog

13. Drive My Car

14. Quiet Place II

15. The Batman

16. Spiderman: no way home

17. Freeguy

18. Tick Tick Boom

19. Ammonite

20. Annette

Podcasts

So many amazing podcasts, so in no order, cause it is difficult to judge.

WTF continues to shine, it never gets old, Marc is utterly brilliant and his episode with Neil Gaiman was particularly so!

Ditto for Alan Alda's Clear and Vivid, and he had some great ones, including back to back episodes with Max and Mel Brooks.

Bang on and Chats 10 still make me smile.

I rediscovered Alec Baldwin's Here's the Thing, so much to catch up on.

Smartless, Unspooled, Strong Songs remain entertaining.

The Briefing and New Yorker Radio give me my news.

And two newies, one from ANderson Cooper about grief, and one from Brett Goldstein about film.

And as always, Conversations with Richard Fidler is the gold standard.

Music

1. Special - Lizzo

2. Palomino - First Aid Kit

3. Carnage - Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

4. 30 - Adele

5. Fossora - Bjork

6. Love Will Be Reborn - Martha Wainwright

7. Cry Forever - Amy Shark

8. Raise the Roof - Alison Krauss and Robert Plant

9. Penny Century re-release - The Clouds

10. Beauty and the Beat re-release - The Go Gos