1. “Red Bull & Hennessy” – Jenny Lewis 2. “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” – Lana Del Rey 3. “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings 4. “Old Town Road (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) [Remix]” – Lil Nas X 5. “bad guy” – Billie Eilish 6. “Younger” – The Mountain Goats 7. “What’s Up Danger” – Blackway & Black Caviar 8. “Gotta Get to Know Ya” – Seratones 9. “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” – The Bob Seger System 10. “Doin’ Time” – Lana Del Rey 11. “Change” – Mavis Staples 12. “Final Form” – Sampa the Great 13. “Holy Roller” – Emily Wolfe 14. “Lo/Hi” – The Black Keys 15. “Son of a Lovin’ Man” – Buchanan Brothers 16. “Pretty” – Ingrid Michaelson 17. “Grendel’s Mother” – The Mountain Goats 18. “Ashamed” – Omar Apollo 19. “Treat Her Right” – Roy Head & The Traits 20. “Los Angeles” – X 21. “Celebrity Skin” – Hole 22. “Game of Thrones” – Los Straitjackets 23. “Eia La” – Barefoot Natives 24. “Connection” – Elastica 25. “What You Need” – INXS
I’ve been slogging through a novel by one of my favorite authors for the last few months. I love his work, and want to love this one, but it’s the kind of piece that reads like it’s something the writer is in love with, and can’t be dissuaded from. We’ll see if I make it through it in 2020.
The name makes increasingly less sense as time goes on, and iPods join Walkmen as museum pieces, but the name is traditional at this point.
1. “Glue Sniffer” – Daddy Issues 2. “Make Me Feel” – Janelle Monáe 3. “Best Friend” – Sofi Tukker 4. “When the Tequila Runs Out” – Dawes 5. “Lucky Penny” – JD McPherson 6. “Hope the High Road” – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit 7. “Wild and Reckless” – Blitzen Trapper 8. “Bikini” – Caroline Rose 9. “Kill of the Night” – Gin Wigmore 10. “Oldest Surfer on the Beach” – Jimmy Buffett 11. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” – Metalachi 12. “Island Song” – Adventure Time and Ashley Ericksson 13. “Hunt You Down” – The Hit House 14. “Flower of the Universe” – Sade 15. “Today is the Day” – The Eels 16. “Run to Your Mama” – Goat 17. “California Love” – 2Pac 18. “You Will Be Free” – The Thermals 19. “Matador” – The Buttertones 20. “Jenny Loves the Sun” – Dead Coast 21. “Bomb (Girly-Sound Version)” – Liz Phair 22. “Livin’ On a Prayer” – Metalachi 23. “Kelp Monster” – Babewatch 24. “Swedish Fish” – Bombón 25. “Suckerfish (Girly-Sound Version)” – Liz Phair
I got fewer books read this year than I’d like. That’s partly because things got busy at times, but also because the final two Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books — Swords & Ice Magic and The Knight and Knave of Swords — are real slogs. Like Heinlein, toward the end of his life, Leiber was probably over-sharing about his sexual proclivities, making for dissatisfying adventure stories that are also impressively anti-erotic. I’m glad that I read them, but I’d never recommend the last two or three of those books to others.
The book club with my son included The One and Only Ivan, which is set to be a Disney movie in the coming years, I believe, and was a really great book assigned at school. We also read Traveler: The Spiral Path, the illustrated version of the first Harry Potter novel, the House with a Clock in Its Walls, and Squirm all of which we enjoyed.
