Monday, December 19, 2011

Making a list, checking it roughly eleven and a half times

That time of year again. Here are the titles in various categories which gave me the most satisfaction in 2011 regardless of publication date.

Books

1. Just Kids, Patti Smith (2010)
2. Black Hole, Charles Burns (2006)
3. Repeat Until Rich, Josh Axelrad (2010)
4. Life, Keith Richards (2010)
5. Colors of the Mountain, Da Chen (2001)
6. A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson (1997)
7. Empire of the Summer Moon, S.C. Gwynne (2010)
8. Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All, Christina Thompson (2008)
9. Noodling For Flatheads, Burkhard Bilger (2000)
10. Townie, Andre Dubus III (2011)

Photography Books

1. New York Photographs 1968-78, Paul McDonough (2010)
2. Chapalingas, Rosalind Solomon (2003)
3. Parr By Parr, Martin Parr and Quentin Bajac (2011)
4. Photographs, Oraien Catledge (2010)
5. Boulevard, Adam Bartos (2008)
6. Playgrounds, Peter Friedl (2008)
7. Folk Photography, Luc Sante (2009)
8. Lapdancer, Julianna Beasley (2003)
9. First Doubt: Optical Confusion in Modern Photography, Chuang, Zucker, and Chasanoff (2008)
10. Postcards of the Night, John A. Jakle (2003)

Films

1. Marwencol, Jeff Malmberg (2010)
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy (2010)
3. The Parking Lot Movie, Megan Eckman (2010)
4. Catfish, A. Schulman and Henry Joost (2010)
5. Super 8, JJ Abrams (2011)
6. Hesher, Spencer Susser (2010)
7. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Paul Mazursky (1969)
8. Bill Cunningham New York, Richard Press (2010)
9. Page One, Andrew Rossi (2011)
10. Meek's Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt (2010)

Music

1. Whokill, tUnE-yArDs (2011)
2. Are You from Dixie?, Blue Sky Boys (1963)
3. Mirror Traffic, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks (2011)
4. Flowering Spade, Sean Hayes (2007)
5. Grotesque, The Fall (1980)
6. Flight of the Conchords (2008)
7. Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder (1976)
8. 69 Love Songs, Vol. 3, Magnetic Fields (2000)
9. The Soul of O.V. Wright (1992)
10. So Beautiful or So What, Paul Simon (2011)

7 comments:

Hernan Zenteno said...

Hey man, you make me find again The Fall. I had a vague memories of some themes but hearing them again now is just what I want. Many thanks. This will take me time to check all your thing. Busy now. Cheers.

hernan zenteno said...

And in the same mood of some theme in this album you maybe wan to check the old Birthay Party, the group where Nick Cave started sing

Michelle Geoga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Blake Andrews said...

Thanks for the tip, Hernan. I like a lot of what I've heard by Nick Cave but have never explored Birthday Party.

A warning, if you're looking for music similar to The Fall my list doesn't contain any.

microcord said...

I haven't heard of eight of your ten photobooks and I haven't heard of seven of the photographers/authors. Which makes it the kind of list I like: More to discover!

As for the two that I do know, one is a surprise. A quick look at Parr by Parr gave me the impression that it was slim (and pricy, too) -- maybe I missed something.

As for the the other listlets, I couldn't have added Black Hole -- merely because I read and enjoyed it a year or two too early. Damn fine book. I have it and also all but one of its earlier ingredients, and I don't begrudge the money I spent on the latter as each has a splendid inner-cover design.

Blake Andrews said...

The Parr book and a few others (Lapdancer, Folk Photography) were included as much for the writing as the photos. It is indeed a slim book and most of the photos can be found elsewhere but I thought the interview was great.

I would've included your Kikai book which I really like, but it seemed to overlap too much with Asakusa Portraits.

microcord said...

Blake, I certainly didn't mean to suggest "Why did you choose that book when you should instead have chosen one that I liked?"

Yes, I remember that Parr on Parr is mostly text. Text is fine with me, but my memory tells me (or misinforms me) that the text looked no longer than a couple of longish newspaper articles. And the book was pricy.

Chances are, the particular copy I looked at was freakishly overpriced (maybe it got a sticky price label intended for some entirely different book), which made it seem absurdly insubstantial. Anyway, I'll keep a lookout for a copy and approach it afresh.