What did you do in 2019?
See #2
1. Read a lot of books
Finished more than my one-a-week quota! Among this year’s favorites:
– Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg, about an artistic, highly-strung family living in Italy under Mussolini.
– Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Mathias Enard imagines that Michelangelo lived in Istanbul for a year to build the bridge over the Bosphorus.
– Exhalation by Ted Chiang, science fiction stories with big brains and hearts.
– The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai opens in Chicago in 1985, when a mysterious disease stalks the gay community, then continues in Paris 2015, when a mother searches for the daughter who left her.
– Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday, a fictionalized account of the author’s affair with the much older Philip Roth–her deft portrayal of the balance of power shows exactly why such relationships are problematic.
* For the books I am currently reading, follow us on Instagram.
2. Adopted Buffy the rodent slayer
Buffy, Jacob’s sister, is from the family of cats that has lived downstairs in my building for many years. Several times a week she would present the guards with a freshly-killed rat that was almost as big as she was. After she gave birth to four kittens she looked so scrawny and exhausted that after the kittens were weaned I decided to adopt her. Now the vicious killer is a sweetie.
3. Watched a lot of movies and TV series. Among this year’s favorite movies:
– Once Upon A Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino. Saw it five times at the cinema. The second time some schmuck in the front row was on his iPad the whole movie and I would’ve strangled him but that would require taking my eyes off the screen.
– Avengers Endgame by the Russo Brothers. Okay, more of a theme park, but loved it—never has the lifting of a hammer been so exciting.
– Uncut Gems by the Safdie Brothers. Everyone go home, that Oscar is Adam Sandler’s.
– The Irishman by Martin Scorsese. Requires multiple viewings to appreciate every part of its greatness, so there are advantages to having it on Netflix.
– Marriage Story by Noah Baumbach. His parents’ divorce was the subject of The Squid and The Whale. This is about his own divorce, and though it is comparatively civilized it still turns the couple inside-out.
– Pain and Glory by Pedro Almodovar. The quietest Almodovar, and the most moving. Hollywood has never figured out what to do with Antonio Banderas (and Penelope Cruz), but in his own idiom he is a master.
4. The Sanity Maintenance Program on Studio B.
Writers, filmmakers, artists, actors, therapists talk about how they keep their balance in a world that grows bonkers by the day. Watch the episodes here.
5. Published The Collected Stories of Jessica Zafra
6. Did book events (See previous posts)
7. Literary residency in Spain
Read my Spain diary.
Read Last Tour with Carlos Celdran in BusinessWorld.
8. Walked a lot, got more health-conscious.
9. Got used to having white hair.
10. Fed a lot of cats.
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