2024: My year in music, books and movies
This is the eighteenth year in a row that I've posted an annual roundup of everything that I've been reading, watching or listening to over the previous twelve months. I suppose in another couple of years I should write up some kind of meta-commentary or "best of the century" list, although that would probably require some serious spelunking of archive.org to retrieve long-dead posts from abandoned websites.
In the spirit of the prevailing winds of change, this is also the first time I've used AI to help me compile the lists below. It wasn't entirely helpful, managing to turn a list of 33 items into three lists totalling 30 items (it successfully identified the three missing books when I asked it to, which begs the question why it managed to ignore them in the first place?), so even for this small task it's not been that much of a time-saver. Maybe by this time next year I'll simply be able to point it at the relevant feeds and it will write the entire thing for me?
Reading
My usual mixture of classics, random finds from charity shops, re-reads of old favourites, and a handful of graphic novels to pad the numbers a little.
Fiction
- The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway)
- The Martian (Andy Weir)
- World Without End (Ken Follett)
- Solaris (Stanisław Lem)
- Manhattan Transfer (John Dos Passos)
- Season of Migration to the North (Tayeb Salih)
- Night Watch (Terry Pratchett)
- The Cider House Rules (John Irving)
- Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert A. Heinlein)
- Her Fearful Symmetry (Audrey Niffenegger)
- The House of Doors (Twan Eng Tan)
- The Moon and Sixpence (W. Somerset Maugham)
- The Sky People (S.M. Stirling)
- Franny and Zooey (J.D. Salinger)
- Ham on Rye (Charles Bukowski)
- Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)
- Peter Duck (Arthur Ransome)
- The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov)
- All the Seas of the World (Guy Gavriel Kay)
- Across the River and into the Trees (Ernest Hemingway)
- Hollywood (Charles Bukowski)
- For Esmé — with Love and Squalor and Other Stories (J.D. Salinger)
- Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (Douglas Coupland)
- The Great When (Alan Moore)
One of these years I won't read anything by Hemingway or Bukowski, but it wasn't this year. The two Salinger collections were 10p charity shop finds (thanks, Wood Green in Ely!); of the 'classics' I read, Wuthering Heights was not what I expected, and both The Master and Margarita and Solaris were a little underwhelming.
While The Martian, World Without End, and The Cider House Rules were all excellent, I think my favourite new discovery this year has to be Manhattan Transfer. Although I'd seen it mentioned in several 'best of all time' lists in the past, I was only finally motivated to pick it up after reading about the Fitzgeralds' riotous, roving 1920s New York parties (in Sarah Churchwell's Careless People) where John Dos Passos featured as a frequent guest.
Non-fiction
- If Only They Could Talk (James Herriot)
- Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby (Sarah Churchwell)
- Man’s Search for Meaning (Viktor E. Frankl)
- The Wire: The Complete Visual History (D. Watkins)
- Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different (Chuck Palahniuk)
- Girl in a Band (Kim Gordon)
- Mr Know-It-All (John Waters)
Fewer autobiographies than last year. The Palahniuk book is one of the few writing books that contains actual, actionable advice (although I've forgotten exactly what that advice was by now).
Comic books
- On a Sunbeam (Tillie Walden)
- Marvel 1602 (Neil Gaiman)
- Peepshow: The Cartoon Diary (Joe Matt)
- The Bradleys (Peter Bagge)
- Hate, Vol. 2: Buddy the Dreamer (Peter Bagge)
- Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book Six (Alan Moore)
- Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book Five (Alan Moore)
- Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book Four (Alan Moore)
- Other Lives (Peter Bagge)
I finished off the Swamp Thing collection at the start of the year. Peter Bagge always tends to show up in this list because my Bagge collection is right next to my office sofa.
Watching
Courtesy of Letterboxd, these are just the films that were new to me in 2024. I have no idea how many were actually released in the past year, probably not very many – I think we only went to the cinema once.
- Frank
- The Boy and the Heron
- My Cousin Vinny
- The Holdovers
- Civil War
- Babylon
- Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
- On the Road
- My Side of the Mountain
- Godzilla Minus One
- The Beach Boys
- RRR
- Orion and the Dark
- Jim Henson Idea Man
- Barbie
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
- Sly
- The Last Duel
- The Three Musketeers: Milady
- Saltburn
- ZEF - The Story of Die Antwoord
- Hype!
- Elephant
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
- WHAM!
A few films I'd been meaning to get around to watching for a long time; a few I only watched because I was on a long plane ride. The second part of the French Three Musketeers adaptation wasn't quite as good as the first; RRR was very entertaining and probably the movie on this list that I've shown more people clips from than any other; and Babylon was a big disappointment considering the cast and director. But I think my favourite new watch this year is a toss-up between My Cousin Vinny (1992) and Frank (2014).
Listening
Top artists listened to in 2024
- Pearl Jam
- The Indelicates
- Iglooghost
- Low Roar
- Love/Hate
- Elbow
- Grandaddy
- Alice in Chains
- Sleater-Kinney
- Metallica
As per usual, any band that straddles both the 'old favourites from my youth' and 'released a new album this year' lists is almost guaranteed to take the top spot, and Pearl Jam did it again in 2024 (plus Dark Matter is one of the better albums they've put out in recent years). The Indelicates also finally released a new album (Avenue QAnon) this year, their first since 2017's Juniverbrecher, although the strong showing here is actually more a side effect of their show (supporting Art Brut) that we attended at the end of October.
I also got into the habit of sticking on the Death Stranding soundtrack – 80% composed of Low Roar songs – whenever I needed to focus, which is why they've unexpectedly jumped into the top 10 this year.
Top albums listened to in 2024
- Tidal Memory Exo - Iglooghost
- AUDIO VERTIGO - Elbow
- Death Stranding (Songs from the Video Game) - Various Artists
- Blu Wav - Grandaddy
- Little Rope - Sleater-Kinney
- Dark Matter - Pearl Jam
- TANGK - IDLES
- This Could Be Texas - English Teacher
- Real Power - Gossip
- All Hell - Los Campesinos!
As in most years, this list is almost entirely new releases, with those that came out the earliest generally getting the most listens despite not actually ending the year as my favourites. So that's why we get Iglooghost, Elbow, Sleater-Kinney and IDLES represented here, but no Been Stellar, Wunderhorse, Mannequin Pussy, or The Linda Lindas, all of whom put out far superior albums to those mentioned above.
2024 picks
Favourite book: Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
Favourite film: Frank (2014)
Favourite album: Real Power by Gossip