Reading, Watching, Listening, Et Cetera: July 2010

I was checking out the website of this guy I kind of know. It was very nice, part weblog, part other stuff. Anyway, one of the things he had on his site was annual lists that contained every book he read, movie he watched, etc, over the course of that particular year. I thought it was cool. I want to try to do something similar and figure the best way to do it will be to create monthly lists so I remember to stay on top of things.

Books I Finished

2666, by Roberto Bolano.

Girl with Curious Hair, by David Foster Wallace

Books I’m Currently Reading

Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace, by David Lipsky.

Ulysses, by James Joyce.

Suttree, by Cormac McCarthy.

Manhood For Amateurs, by Michael Cabon.

The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner.

Portraits and Observations: The Essays of Truman Capote.

Books I’ve Purchased or Otherwise Received

Under the Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry.

Ulysses Annotated, by Don Gifford.

Movies Watched

Predators (theater)

Inception (theater)

Visoneers (home)

Fargo (home, previously seen)

Avant-Garde: Experimental Cinema: 1928-1954: Vol. 2 (home)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (home)

Twilight (home)

New Moon (home)

Stephen King’s It (home, previously seen)

Music

No shows or new albums, sadly.

One Fact and One Short Anecdote that Possibly Reveal a Great Deal About Me

Fact

I am a Sagittarian (see the “Dog-eared 14” post immediately below).

Anecdote

I was in my car with a woman I was trying to woo. We had spent much of the day together in a group with a common purpose and there was clearly some mutual attraction, or at least desire, but we hadn’t yet gotten to that moment when the mutual interest was made clearly known. It was late at night and we were driving through the trees [n.1]. We had just started driving and I excitedly turned to her and said: “Do you want to hear the saddest song I’ve ever heard?” [n.2] Simultaneously I reached for my iPod and started scrolling through my playlists with alacrity. [n.3]

Note 1: Not literally, of course.

Note 2: “Levi Stubbs' Tears,” by Billy Bragg. The lyrics of course, and the guitar—my God the guitar—it just rings with sadness and pain. [n.2a] [n.2b]

Note 3: She very delicately and politely laughed and said yes, but later, suggesting something a bit lighter for the moment. It was remarkably deft handling.

Note 2a: Billy Bragg is in my top-five of all time. He has a solid shot at #1.

Note 2b: Anne and I just saw the Four Tops in concert, but sadly Levi Stubbs is dead.