Happy 2014! I hope the arrival of a new year marks health and happiness for all of us.
As I, and many of you, have done for the last few years,
below I've compiled information about the books and music I consumed in the year that was.
Thirty Most Played
Songs in 2013:
Mother Mother, "Bit by Bit"
Diddy with Dirty Money, "Hello Good Morning"
Dead or Alive, "Brand New Lover" (original single
mix)
Deadmau5 featuring Gerard Way, "Professional
Griefers"
Maroon 5, "Moves Like Jagger"
Nina Simone, "Take Care of Business" (Pilooski
Remix)
Amanda Palmer, "Map of Tasmania" (featuring The
Young Punx)
Azar Swan, "In My Mouth"
Muse, "Madness"
Deadmau5, "Raise Your Weapon"
Nightwish, "End of All Hope"
Firebeatz and Schella, "Dear New York"
Harlequin, "I Did It for Love"
ABBA, "Take A Chance On Me"
Honeymoon Suite, "Feel It Again"
Kate Bush, "Be Kind To My Mistakes"
Christina Aguilera featuring Redman, "Dirrty"
Jimmy Rankin, "We'll Carry On (Prelude)"
ABBA, "Summer Night City"
Dieselboy and Bare, "Beyond Thunderdome"
Exile, "Kiss You All Over"
Jenson Interceptor, "Tiny Thing"
Kim Wilde, "You Keep Me Hangin' On"
Lady Gaga, "Judas"
Linda Ronstadt, "How Do I Make You"
Seals and Croft, "Get Closer"
Siouxsie and The Banshees, "This Wheel's On Fire"
Tears for Fears, "Mad World"
Emmelie de Forest, "Only Teardrops"
Prince, "I Wonder U"
I listed thirty songs rather than twenty-five because
several of the songs at the bottom of the list were tied. Once again, this
year's list reflects a great deal of comfort listening (ABBA, Harlequin, Jenson
Interceptor, Seals and Croft, etc.), but happily there are also some new
discoveries. While my listening is perhaps less ambitious than it was when I
was in my teens and twenties, I do try to maintain some currency with popular
music — recognizing that the Web and digital music sites make doing so much
more difficult than it used to be. There is simply SO MUCH music in the world
to hear!
According to iTunes' somewhat imperfect counting system, as
of today I have exactly 11,900 songs in my library. Since last January, I
listened to about seventy percent of those songs at least once. Having iTunes
on my laptop has really changed the way I listen to music. I now have to make a
point of listening to an album as an
album, rather than as a collection of random songs. I create Genius playlists
almost daily, reflecting the mood I'm in or the music I want to work to, and I
tend to listen to personally crafted playlists on my way to and from work. Statistically,
this style of listening means that I have a handful of songs I've listened to at
least twenty times, a substantial number of songs I've played five to fifteen
times, and a large number of songs I've played once or twice. Still, it is
always a joy to hear something I've ignored for months when it turns up in random play.
New features on the version of iTunes I've just upgraded to
may affect my listening again this year. Since I've just reset my play counts
to zero again, I guess we'll see in another 365 days.
Books Read in 2013:
165
Rather than list all 165 books (as other bloggers have done),
I'll tell you a little about what I observe about my reading behaviour.
First I must acknowledge that I'm disappointed I didn't reach
200 books this year, as that number remains my annual goal. But given the year
I've had, I'm happy to have cracked 150 books, particularly as I was sitting at
147 on November 30.
I have some rules about what I record as "read." I
write down children's novels and YA novels, but I don't write down picture
books and books with limited text. I also don't write down graphica (graphic
novels, graphic memoirs, etc.). So, for instance, although I read Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger, it is
not part of my title count, nor are Feminist
Ryan Gosling: Feminist Theory (as Imagined) from Your Favorite Sensitive Movie
Dude by Danielle Henderson (a humour book that compiles entries from a now
famous blog and the infamous Hey, Girl meme) and I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats by Francesco
Marciuliano (a humorous collection of short poems in various forms).
I have struggled this year with how to write down books I've
edited — or whether to do so. I've opted not to include several books I edited
that had limited textual context, but did include the two novels I edited
(mostly because I read both novels in full at least four times each during the
various phases of editing). I think I could have included at least other two
books I edited, but I couldn't decide on a date for recording them as
"read" (for the novels, I used the publication date: not as obvious
for my contract editing work).
I notice that reading brings out my compulsive completist. I've
read almost the entire Dear Canada series this year after receiving one book in
the series to review (incidentally, I gave the book an "E," or
five-star, review). I read several children's and YA novels on the basis of
finding them on an NPR list of "best" books for young readers, and will
continue to pick away at this list over the next few months. I've been thinking
about Laura Ingalls Wilder professionally and academically, and that has led to
my reading divergently around the Little House canon, including books by Roger
Lea MacBride (Rose Wilder Lane's adopted heir), memoirs by Alison Arngrim and Melissa
Gilbert, and various books about LIW herself.
In a similar impulse, I tend to read back through the
catalogues of writers whose books I've enjoyed — even when those experiences
are of varying quality. This year's new Jaclyn Moriarty was a little uneven —
not my favourite of her novels — while Louise Rennison's new entry in the Tallulah
Casey series was happily better than the last one. I read another title in the
Size 12 (mystery) series by Meg Cabot, and a couple more in Carole Nelson
Douglas's Irene Adler series, but have no interest in reading any other series
by either of these authors. But I've read everything that Gail Bowen has
published, including the short Charlie D mysteries she's written for Orca's
Rapid Reads series; this year, Bowen contributed two new titles to my count,
and I look forward to new books from her in 2014.
A little closer to home, I was disappointed by several books
by authors from my local publishing community — authors whose work I've
previously enjoyed (but not authors I've worked with). Also, I did enjoy several
of the NWP books I read this year but must confess that I haven't re-read many
of the published books I read in manuscript: too much else to read!
I find that I'm highly responsive to the recommendations on
LibraryThing, particularly for YA and children's books. I also continue to be
an avid reader of reviews in various magazines and newspapers, and I buy and
eventually read many books on the basis of reviews and ads. Of course, I know
that doing so makes me somewhat unusual psychographically, and I'm still very
interested (academically and personally) in questions of book discoverability.
Reviewing continues to add to my list — a couple of dozen
title this year — and I've already received a stack of books for reviewing in
January. I'd definitely like to extend my opportunities as a reviewer this
year.
I am surprised that I didn't read several of the books I was
initially enthusiastic to buy or receive. These include a couple of memoirs with
immediate ties to my academic work and a few serious books about language and
culture. I'll hope to get to these soon. Of course, like any book lover, I own
far, far more books than I'm likely ever to read unless I stop buying new books
and stop borrowing books from the library. Hahahahaha: that's NOT going to
happen.
According to LibraryThing, my total library to date includes
3632 books. Of these, 957 are books I own but have not read completely, and 1237
are books I have read but do not own. This library is historical, capturing
books I read as a child (at least those I can remember) as well as books I've
read or bought as an adult reader. LibraryThing remains my favourite
social-media site (although I'm not very social on it) and is one of two or
three sites I visit almost every day.
So that's 2013 for me, in terms of books and music. If you
have any must-read or must-hear suggestions, please leave a comment below or
let me know in person.
Happy New Year!