List 2009

Here is the List from 2009, email version (i.e., only titles and such, no descriptions).  Steph's contributions included.

Books:
The Middle of the Air, Kenneth Butcher
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
The Book of Ruth, Jane Hamilton
A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick
An Acceptable Time, Madeleine L'Engle
Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
Wilderness Tips, Atwood
Alias Grace, Atwood
The Red Tent, Anita Diamante
The Robber Bride, Atwood

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger
The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood
The Source, James Michener
Miracle at St. Anna, James McBride
Falling Angels, Tracy Chevalier
Virus X, Frank Ryan

Movies:
Sunset Boulevard
Rififi
UP
A Bug's Life...All Pixar!

Citizen Kane
Stardust

TV Series on DVD:
The first 3 seasons of Scrubs
Family Guy
Batman and Robin

Albums:
Zee Avi, self-titled
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
Belle&Sebastian: Dear Catastrophe Waitress, If You're Feeling Sinister
Johnny Cash: American Recordings (various), Solitary Man
The Strokes: Is This It
Sonic Youth: Goo, Rather Ripped     

Fleet Foxes, self-titled

Mark Knopfler, Get Lucky

List 2008

Here's most of the List from 2008, as it appeared then.  No descriptions or reviews, just titles, etc.  Steph's contributions to follow.

Books:

The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Fall on Your Knees, Anne Marie Macdonald
Driving Mr. Albert, Michael Paterniti
Laughter in the Dark, Vladimir Nabokov
Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner
Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank
Cat's Eye, Margaret Atwood
Patron Saint of Liars, Ann Patchett
Run, Patchett
Bel Canto, Patchett
Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi
The Mapmaker's Wife, Robert Whitaker
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
Wind in the Door, L'Engle
Swiftly Tilting Planet, L'Engle
Many Waters, L'Engle
His Dark Materials series, Phillip Pullman
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Code of the Woosters, P.G. Wodehouse
Much Obliged Jeeves, Wodehouse
Jeeves in the Offing, Wodehouse
Carry on Jeeves, Wodehouse
101 Days, Asne Seierstad
Virgin Blue, Tracy Chevalier
Girl with a Pearl Earring, Chevalier
Blind Assasin, Atwood
Consider the Lobster, David Foster Wallace

Movies:

Juno
Be Kind, Rewind
Lars and the Real Girl
Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)

Music

Juno soundtrack
Village Green Preservation Society, Arthur, and Muswell Hillbillies, The Kinks
Shangri-la and Kill to Get Crimson, Mark Knopfler
Tigermilk, Belle & Sebastian

Music!

In the same manner as the last post (Books!), this post is to discuss the music that I have "discovered" and really enjoyed.  This stuff may be old news, or even REALLY old news, but all stuff that I like, and obviously stuff that I think you should check out and give to friends and family--the whole point of this list.  Again, no particular order.  Disclaimer: I don't really review music.  I'm not a musician.  I don't know about musical Stuff.  This is about music I like, for whatever reason.

No. 1: Age of Miracles, by Mary Chapin Carpenter

So, I'm not a middle-aged female, but I really enjoyed this album.  I heard an interview with Carpenter on the Diane Rehm show and they played just a couple clips of the album, and I was hooked.  The music is beautiful, the lyrics thoughtful, and some of the songs are very catchy.  My mom is a big MCC fan, and I bought her the album for Mother's Day, and she really liked it, too.  It didn't blow me away the way that some of her earlier work has, but it's wonderful, especially to listen to while driving with the windows down on a gorgeous day (I mean, just look at the cover!).

No. 2: Sawdust, by The Killers

This came out in 2007, so it's probably already been noted by the general public and everyone has moved on.  But I come to most things late, and I heard pretty mixed reviews--not even really mixed, just generally lukewarm--about the album, so I delayed in listening to it.  Regret.  I wish I had listened to it immediately.  I love it.  It has covers, b-sides, and rerecordings, and it's wonderful.  The opening track has Lou Reed singing on it, and it. is. awesome.  The whole album feels much darker than their others, and that first song really sets that tone.  To put it simply, it rocks.

No. 3: Room on Fire, by The Strokes

This whole album is damn catchy and fun.  I don't think the individual songs stand out as much as do the songs on Is This It? but they all hold up to listening in sequence or separated, like on shuffle.  I also like to listen to it in the mornings to help wake up or while I'm working out--get that blood pumping!  I haven't yet listened to their latest album (2006), but I will.  And I will love it.  Because it's The Strokes.  I worry that people who don't like them may possibly be the undead.  (If you don't like The Strokes, here are some questions to consider: Do you have a pulse?  Do you breathe?  Regularly?  Do you eat brains?  Just think about it.)

No. 4: Fraise Vanille, by Helena

There should probably be accents over one or both of the e's in her name, but I don't know how they should face or where they should go, and since I didn't find the answer on the first page of results from my Google search, I gave up.  So there you go.  It doesn't really matter anyway.  But the album, that DOES matter.  Its happy songs are bouncy and delightful and the more serious songs are gentle and bittersweet.  Of course, this descriptions and even the categories of "happy" or "serious" are drawn only from the sound of the music, because I don't speak French.  The whole time, I have no idea what she's saying, what the song is about, etc.  However, that doesn't stop me from really enjoying it.  A special recognition needs to be given to the very last track, "La Bécasse," (ha!  Got that accent.)  This song is amazing.  If you are in a sour, grumpy, or just plain bad mood, this song can magically throw that mood in the trashcan and replace it with rainbows and sunshine.  I challenge you: If you can remain in a bad mood (for real, guys) while listening to that song, I will do the Peanut Butter Jelly Time dance for you.

No. 5: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, by Phoneix

So, when I find an album that I really get into, or even just a song or two, I do this thing where I listen to it over and over and over again until I'm absolutely sick of it, and then I don't even want to think about it again for eight months.  I think I've listened to this approximately 47,397 times, and I'm nowhere near being sick of it.  The first two songs are by far the catchiest, but the whole album is solid.  The third track is all instrumental, for which I generally have little patience, but I listen to it anyway because I like this CD so much.  No, I haven't listened to their earlier albums yet, but I plan to as soon as is humanly possible.  Until then, I'll just keep the CD in my car and the album on my ipod and listen nonstop. 

Books!

OK, so this post will cover - or at least begin to cover - the books that will go on the Feagin List this year!  These books are not necessarily new, just new to me, and have stood out in all of the reading I've been doing this year.  They are in no particular order, alphabetical, preference, whatever.  Deal with it.  I'll talk about my experiences reading them, what I liked about them, but not necessarily summaries or plot synopses.  Again, deal with it.

No. 1: Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

Fiction.  Story of a boy from England traveling over a magical boundary into the world of Faerie to find a star to take to his love.  I listened to this on audiobook, read by Gaiman, which was WONDERFUL.  Obviously, the author ought to read his own work well, but Gaiman was superb - excellent narration, excellent voice.  I'm also a big fan of the movie, which I saw before I ever read the book, but the two are different enough to remain separate entities in my mind, although both very enjoyable.  I like fantasy in general, but I don't think you have to in order to get into this story.  His conception of Faerie is interesting and original (at least, to me).

No. 2: The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker

Non-fiction.  About the human capacity for language.  My first time reading this was for an introductory Linguistics class, but it does not read like a text book.  Pinker explains concepts clearly and with many examples, so that you don't have to be a Linguistics student to understand it all.  I found it not at all dry, but engaging, fascinating, and humorous.  

No. 3: The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx

Fiction.  Tells the story of Quoyle, a rather pathetic man, who leaves behind a broken life and returns to his ancestral home in Newfoundland.  The back of the book had a comment from someone about how, out of all the characters, the setting was the most important one, most forceful, something along those lines.  It sounded silly, like something you'd read in a paper for an English class.  However, the reader cannot ignore the attention that Proulx gives to describing the setting, making the reader feel the isolation, cold, wet, and overwhelming lack of control over the land, water, and weather.  Much is hinted at, not stated; Proulx uses a light touch in creating her story.

No. 4: Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction.  Series of short stories about people in a small town in Maine, united by the appearance of Olive Kitteridge, a town fixture and someone we all know.  I loved this book.  I did not love Olive Kitteridge.  However, she did fascinate me.  I found her completely plausible, and the stories drew me in to the town of Crosby.  Sometimes I feel like writers go out of their way to make their books sad or tragic in some way, because they won't be viewed as "serious" writers if their work is too happy, and this book struck me that way.  I like depressing stuff, so that isn't really a complaint.  Anyway, I loved reading it, and I even loved that it made me cry.

No. 5: The Ladies of Grace Adieu, and Other Stories, by Susannah Clarke

Fiction.  Short stories, mostly set in the world of Faerie created by Clarke in her very excellent book Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.  One story has Jonathan Strange in it (the titular story) and one has the Duke of Wellington from Strange and Norrell, but that's it, as far as overlap between the two books.  One story is set in the world of Faerie and town of Wall that Gaiman created in Stardust, and I think it's really cool when authors I like are friends.  Loved this book.  I love Clarke's style and tone and ideas and everything she touches.  My biggest problem with it is that it is short.  Also, I wanted her to continue the story of Strange and Norrell, which this book does not do.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I'll do more books, plus get to music and miscellaneous stuff in future ones.  Enjoy!