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diteach · 3 years

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2020 in review

I was tagged by @apeironaxiomaton to look back at 2020 and pretty much to try and not hate it so much! Thank you!!

Also I’m stealing the idea of putting everything under a cut, which I have never done in my life (and probably should start doing) bc it makes things neat as heck. Almost none of these are in a particular order.

Top 5 movies I saw this year:

Volevo Nascondermi by Giorgio Diritti - this movie is REALLY good AND I have good memories tied to the protagonist for Reasons I’m gonna cry bye (a shame that I’ve only watched this other excellent movie starring Elio Germano tonight bc it should be on this list)

Emma (2020)

The King’s Speech

Spirited Away or Porco Rosso - I had watched the first before and never the second so I think the fairer choice would be Porco Rosso but I’m not entirely convinced of it

The Wolf of Wall Street - look, I simply have a weak spot for stories that are so absurd they can be nothing but real (see “the other Elio Germano movie”)

Top 5 TV shows I watched this year:

Murdoch Mysteries - it will stay engraved in the first place of EVERY chart in saecula saeculorum and NO nothing can take its place I don’t care

Peaky Blinders

Alias Grace - which I was sure was a movie? I was so shocked to discover it isn’t like was it really six hours long what the

The Queen’s Gambit

Suburra: Blood on Rome - “The series was developed by Daniele Cesarano and Barbara Petronio for Netflix, making it its first Italian-language original television series.” I’ll be honest, some bits were a little bit hmm-inducing. Not the best tv series I’ve ever seen, but it managed to be fun and easy to watch. Suspenseful even!

Top 5 Songs:

So there’s a reason why Spotify said I’m an octogenarian this year and for as much as I complain about it... it’s right... Spotify’s right. And it will only get worse, I’m afraid. All the songs are from the same playlist which was my most listened to (and is the most interesting to share imo). I swear I have listened to other, newer things as well.

Shake That Thing by The Abe Lyman’s California Orchestra

Night Hawk Blues by The Coon-Sander’s Nighthawk Original Orchestra

Where the Sweet Forget-Me-Nots Remember by Merle Johnston and His Ceco Couriers (I’ve loved these flowers since I was a kid it was so nice to find a song with them in the title!!)

Dew Dew Dewey Day by Nat Shilkret

The Panic is On by Mezz Mezzrow And His Swing Band

Top 5 Books I Read This Year:

so this is embarrassing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I “bought” an insane amount of books and read a grand total of...like...t w o. It was actually like four and some short stories (which I hated and are therefore banished from the good boy list) so I’m gonna list my silly little titles and make my silly little comments about them all. From “””””best””””” to “worst” we have:

The Adventures of a Modest Man by Robert W. Chambers - I literally cannot shut up about this book and, yes, it is the one tied to this illustration, about which I equally cannot shut up about. It’s so horrible that it makes a 360 and comes back as good, but not before hitting you with a cardboard tube for a laugh and subsequently stabbing you in the kidneys just because it can. I think we can confidently state that we are in the “I didn’t say it was good, I said I liked it” realm. I have so many questions about this book. Why was it written? Was it taking itself seriously? Was it commissioned by someone? Why is it so gay but only if you know that the author is a man? Maybe it’s a parody? Was it an experiment made by the author to test his own skill? I know jack about literature, unfortunately, so grain of salt here but it made me feel strong feels. Not that I could identify any of them if you asked, but they’re definitely there.

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot - I’m counting this in bc what is a book if not a patchwork of silly little paragraphs anyway so yes, we have a collection of poems. Not only do I know jack about literature; as a matter of fact, I know jack about poetry as well! All I’m gonna say is: I like cute things, I like cats, the poems were cute AND about cats. I really liked it! I often find myself going back and reading again specific parts just for the delight it is to read them out loud! I also may or may not have named the cats you can adopt in Stardew Valley after some of Eliot’s cats. The movie Cats (2019) did one good thing: making me read this.

How You Can Keep Fit by Rudolph Valentino - Yes, that is correct. A book on fitness written (in English!) by silent movie superstar Rodolfo Valentino. It is less than 100 pages on real, actual exercises that the reader can replicate in the comfort of their own house with little to no equipment. With a sprinkle of old timey manly manner of speaking, a few anecdotes from the author’s childhood in ye merry Italian countryside, a dusting of precious advice against ice-cream, and a dash of genuine intrigue for these newly discovered “vitamins” everyone is talking about. Overall a fascinating read that I treasure dearly! Valentino also wrote a book of poems, which I am absolutely thrilled to read this year.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway - Hmm.. I have mixed feelings about this one. Whenever the original language of a book is English, I instinctively want to read it in that language. Because I can! And because that way I get to read exactly what the author wrote. If it was another language, I’d get a translation, make peace with the fact that selling my soul to acquire perfect knowledge of all things is morally questionable, and call it a day. Problem: I’m a sucker for old books. And old books I did find indeed. There were three books by Hemingway for sale, very pretty, and for an almost symbolic price too so I bought them. They are Italian translations from the late 50s and my plan was to go through one in Italian, one in English, and after that, decide in which language to read the last one. I believe it was a mistake for me to start with Italian in Hemingway’s case. He’s known for having a very, VERY peculiar style that is integral to how the novels are perceived and I feel like I've robbed myself of literal peace of mind. For as much as I found the story interesting, I could not ignore the voice in the back of my head that kept wondering “was it necessary to render it like this?”. It did make me feel feels and think thoughts, but honestly? It was partially for the wrong reasons imo. It’s one of those books you should read at least once in your life, I guess, so I’m definitely glad I did it! Surprisingly, it captured me more than I expected and trapped me into its little world. I could clearly imagine the scenes in my head, which hadn’t happened in years! I’m really excited to move on to the next two books and finally be able to say if I appreciate his style or not.

Top 5 positive things that happened to me in 2020:

Visited Rome and took a stroll around on my own (sort of) for the first time in my life. I had never seen it at night :) Right after that I celebrated my birthday and got some cute gifts, including sweets that were sent all the way from Australia!!

Managed to buy my mom a gift, which is possibly the only real Accomplishment of 2020.

Took a bizarre trip this summer (I know, guilty) and fell in love with Slovenia

Discovering I like textile arts kinda gave me hope for myself and for the future. I say kinda for I dare not think concretely of anything too positive lest it should be prematurely taken from me. I shan’t elaborate. It is what it is.

Therapy!!!

The last few months of 2020 really hit me hard whereas in the beginning nothing was too bad so it was nice to see the list growing and growing! So many tiny good things happened and it’s worth to cling onto them. I’m tagging @sonicysuchillydog, @nurmilintunen, @alfonzone and anyone else who’d like to participate!! “Tell them I sent you” lol. Guys.............if you don’t feel like going thru your 2020 feel free to ignore bc......I get it............................

#mutuals #apeironaxiomaton #year review #yeah that book section is uhhhhhhhhhhhh #oof #i feel like this year the situation is finally going to change and i very much look forward to that #ive been trying to get myself to read more for ages and i feel that now whatever was stopping me has been partially removed/has gone away #there's LOTS of anya taylor-joy in this list hm #in case anyone cares yes i loved her in emma yes i hated her (and probably will hate in the upcoming season) in peaky blinders #and yes i was scared of her in the queens gambit #shes a good actress! i like her :)#there's also lots of old age and the smell of my grandma's house #not sure how to feel abt THAT #also incredibly lots of I T A L Y #my country and i are in an abusive relationship in which it keeps beating me but i keep going back for love #its complicated #i didn't think i had SO MUCH to say #im sorry guys as usual my posts get long and messy #edit: actually in the tv series thing there should also be the man in the high castle #i had (illegally lol) watched the first two seasons years ago and stopped bc i couldnt find the newer episodes #this year i watched it all over again and i have to say i enjoyed it much more than the first time!#i also already have the book so 👀👀👀 looking forward to that too 👀

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pokemonjunge · 5 years

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Shelf - History Tag

❀ This tag is for those books that came to you in an unusual, interesting, funny, or sweet way. Pick 5 (or more if you want) books from your shelf and tell us the story of how you came to own that book. If you’re a public library user and don’t really own any books, you can still participate. Just tell us the most interesting/funny/sweet ways you came to find a particular library book.

@books-and-cookies tagged “ anyone else who wants to do this” and I kinda want to do this! I’m not entirely sure whether I am gonna be able to come up with 5 stories, but lets see.

1. Aquila by Ursula Poznanski - I got this one by a lucky chance. I was looking for a book as a birthday present for a book loving friend and decided to get this one for her. I ordered it online and a few days later a package arrived - a pretty big one, too big for one book. So I opened it, wondering what was inside it, and inside was - the book. But twice. I was confused and a bit worried and checked what I paied for, but they only took the money for one copy. As noone contacted me to send the second copy back, I kept it, read it and loved it.

2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Listen, I LOVE Alice in Wonderland. Yet I never owned a copy of it. About a year ago my Grandfather (who we didn’t really have any contact to anymore, it is complicated) died and my parents went to his flat to check for things that should not be thrown away. He was a big friend of books and literature and apparently he had an english version of this book. My parents took it back with them because they know how much I love it and now it has a special place in my shelf. It is old and yellowed and smells of cigars and I love it very much!

3. Alterra - Der Krieg der Kinder by Maxime Chattam - I could not find an english title for this one, and that fits just perfectly into the weird story of this book. This is part 3 of a trilogy of which I got part 1 as a birthday present when I was about 11 or 12. I loved that book and read it over and over again, but I never noticed that it was only part one of a trilogy. The ending was open, but not incomplete, it just felt like a good, open ending. When I found out that there where two more books like that I wanted to get them - and I could not find part 3 anywhere, at least not at a reasonable price. These books are beautiful hardcovers, and part one and two where quite affordable, but part 3 was only available on ebay for about 200€. In the end I finally found the book as an eBook for like 8€, and as happy as I was to be able to read it, I am still sad that I never found an affordable copy of the hardcover to accompany the two others in my shelfe. I think there was a reissue at some point, but it is not even close to the beauty of the original hardcovers so I just sticked with the digital version. The story was marvelous to the end, btw.

4. Die Spur der Bücher by Kai Meyer - Another german one, not sure whether it is translated yet. Kay Meyer is one of my favourite authors and I got this book on release day. So far so unspectacular, but then, at the end of the year, my birthday came, and a friend gave me another copy of this book. At first I was a little awkward because I already owned it and didn’t want to disappoint my friend, but then she told me she knew I already had a copy of it and told me to look inside. I opened the book and found an inscription by the Author! We live close to Frankfurt where the Frankfurt Book Fair is each year, and Kay Mayer reads from his books almost every year on that fair. My friend was there and got that book signed for me, which was really awesome! And having another copy of the book meant that I could gift my unsinged copy to another friend who really enjoyed it, so everything turned out great!

5. Stormlight Archive 3 - Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson - The story of this one maybe isn’t very special, but the Stormlight Archive is very dear to me. The german version of this series consists of many more books (german is longwinded I guess xD) and I’ve read the first four when I was a child and found them in our nearby library. I absolutely loved them and could not wait for the next ones to come out. I waited. And waited. And waited. Idk how long, but a very long time, but I never forgot about these books. Then finally, last year around Christmas, the first part of the translation of Oathbringer was released, and a few months later the second part. I bought all the other books, which I did not onw yet for some reason, reread them and finally came to reading the new ones, and they where amazing. The series is not finished by the way, so here’s to another 10 years of waiting xD (Reminds me of something... *cough* Kingkiller Chronicles *cough* Patrick Rothfuss *cough*)

So this is it! I’ve managed to get 5 stories together and it was quite fun! I don’t really have anyone to tag, maybe @warm-poetry. Otherwise, anyone who wants to do this, feel tagged! :D

#shelf history tag #booklr #book tag #books

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