With Robert’s arrival late last year I’ve had less time for reading, but we’ve still been listening to lots of music. So, in no particular order, these were the five books and albums that I enjoyed most during 2012 (all bought during the year, but not necessarily published/released this year):
Books
- Little Gods by Anna Richards – freakishly tall girl tries to find her niche in the post-WWII world.
- The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell – fastidious trader tries to stay on the straight and narrow when posted to a Dutch trading post in 19th century Japan.
- The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa – the story of an Angolan who sells personal histories, as narrated by a gecko.
- Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín – Wexford lass finds out it’s not all that easy to escape small town Ireland in the 1950s.
- Deaf Sentence by David Lodge – onset of deafness makes tricky situations even trickier for a middle-aged college professor.
Music
- There’s No Leaving Now by The Tallest Man on Earth – if Bob Dylan were a Swedish hipster
- Passenger by Lisa Hannigan – equally catchy follow-up to Sea Sew
- Wounded Rhymes by Lykke Li – Florence and the Machine with a bit more character
- My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters And Men – very silly lyrics, very hummable tunes… Mumford & Sons meets Arcade Fire.
- What we saw from the cheap seats by Regina Spektor – a quirky lady sings quirky songs.
Didn’t see a whole lot of live music this year, but really enjoyed all that I did get along to: Lisa Hannigan, Of Monsters and Men, Suzanne Vega, Luka Bloom and Moya Brennan.
And, finally, when I told Nadine I was writing this post she said I should also mention that her favourite album was Ben Howard’s Every Kingdom.