Cheers!

(Yes, that's my hand.) Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I was recovering from a wicked hangover (too many crimson drinks, apparently), and it was all I could do just to watch four episodes of The Simpson's, much less turn on my computer and type. So apologies for that. Welcome back - I know I've been gone for awhile, but hopefully you'll like the changes I've made to the blog, and if you don't...well, sorry. I did write one entry on December 24, but it's lame so if you haven't read it yet I wouldn't bother. For my first entry back, I thought I would do the obligatory Year in Review list o' crap. I was going to do a new year's resolution list, but all the things on my list are the same old boring shiznit on everyone else's list- lose weight, get a better job, do something meaningful with my life, yadda yadda yadda - so instead I'm going to unveil my picks for 2005's best books and movies. The books listed are taken from the books I've read in 2005, not necessarily books published in 2005, since I don't often read new releases. But since you all know that I'm an avid movie-goer, rest assured those will all be 2005 releases.

Best Books 2005
1. Blue Shoe/Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott (tie)
2. We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families by Philip Gourevitch
3. Murder on the Leviathan by Boris Akunin
4. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

While I was making my list, I realized something about myself, and that is that I evidently read a lot of crap. My originial intention was to make a top ten list, but I cannot even think of ten books I've read this year that I would put on a ten best list, even though I figure I've probably read between 30 and 40 titles - just coming up with five turned out to be hard enough. Another thing I realized is that I should probably keep a list of all the books I read during the year, for no other reason than that it would be really cool to have a list of all the books I've read. Especially since the majority of my books come from the library, so I lose track from time to time. Hopefully the "What I'm Reading Now" section of my blog will help a little with that. Anyway, on to the movies.

Best Movies 2005
1. Crash
2. The Constant Gardener
3. Junebug
4. Pride and Prejudice
5. 40-Year-Old Virgin

The hard thing with these lists, especially the movies list, is picking between the most Important Movies/Books, and the most Enjoyable/Entertaining. Unfortunately for lazy-minded people like me, the twain do not often meet, so I tried to mix it up a bit. For instance, Crash was a very uncomfortable movie to sit through (I almost left during the first ten minutes, and if you've seen the movie I think you know why), and it's probably not a movie I would like to see again. But I think it's an excellent piece of art, and makes some interesting and provocative observations about American racial tensions. And then there's Pride and Prejudice, which does virtually nothing new with the whole Jane Austen thing, but it was one of those movies where it was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to see at the time and it wasn't horrible, so it left me with a very favorable impression. Actually, I doubt I would ever not put a Jane Austen adaptation on a top movie list, but that's just because I'm a brit lit geek.

Anyway, thanks for coming back to me, oh my wonderful readers, and I hope I won't let you down this year. (And if you want to put your own lists in the comments, please feel free. I'm also a list geek.) Happy 2006!