Best of 2021

FICTION BOOK 

Piranesi – Susanna Clarke

Wolf of the Plains - Conn Iggulden

Bones of the Hill - Conn Iggulden

The Sisters Brothers - Patrick deWitt (far superior to the film)

The World of Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse

Honourable mention:

Arrival – Ted Chiang

Lord of the Bow - Conn Iggulden

POETRY

Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes – Billy Collins

NON FICTION (MUSIC)

Never Met A Story I Didn't Like – Todd Snider

The Beatles and the Historians – Erin Torkelson Weber

A Dream About Lightning Bugs – Ben Folds

Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink – Elvis Costello

Honourable mention:

The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock Roll – Rich Cohen

 

NON FICTION (OTHER)

Born a Crime – Trevor Noah

Fathers, Sons, Blood - Harry Crews (essay in Classic Crews: A Reader)

FILM

 

Doctor Sleep (Director's Cut)

Free Guy (Disney +)

Dune (pt.1)

The French Dispatch

Spiderman: No Way Home

Honourable mention:

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

King Richard

BEST BAD FILM

Airport '79: The Concorde (Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_DT8BST4FY)

TV

Ted Lasso (season 1) (Apple TV)

Honourable mentions:

Ted Lasso (season 2) (Apple TV)

Call My Agent (seasons 1-3) (Netflix)

We Are Lady Parts (E4)

COMEDY SPECIAL

Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 – James Acaster (Vimeo)

Rory Scovel: Live Without Fear (Youtube)

Honourable mentions:

All James Acaster's specials (Netflix)

Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia (Netflix)

DOCUMENTARY

The Dawn Wall (Netflix)

The Black Godfather (Netflix)

Todd Snider: The Storyteller (Youtube)

Get Back (especially ep. 1) (Disney +)

Honourable mention:

The Movies That Made Us (Netflix)

ALBUM

War and Peace – Edwin Starr

Spike – Elvis Costello

The Complete Duets – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Billion Dollar Babies – Alice Cooper

 

SIX THINGS YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD WATCH/READ/LISTEN TO 

Piranesi – Susanna Clarke – utterly beguiling. Like nothing you've ever read before.

Airport '79: The Concorde (Youtube) – absolutely hilarious, defying all laws of physics, aerodynamics and character development.

Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 – James Acaster (Vimeo) – hilarious and structurally ingenious.

Ted Lasso (season 1) (Apple TV) – heart warming, funny, great characters. I would say “if you don't love it you're dead inside”, but this show will resurrect you anyway.

The Dawn Wall (Netflix) – An incredible life affirming story, of friendship amputation, terrorism, murder and rock climbing.

Get Back (ep. 1) (Disney +) - like watching Picasso at work (on his worst canvas). A privilege. And funny too.