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Monthly Reading Roundup: March 2026
March was a decent reading month, but I struggled to find books that really captivated me. I finished a lot of great books, but also didn’t make it past page 15 of a lot too. Nine Raves Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor (1971) Premise: An aging woman moves into a London hotel…
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2018 in Music
[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.] Introduction My best of the year lists always include a couple out-of-left-field albums and songs. And that’s what makes it…
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2017 in Music
[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.] Introduction Usually when I’m writing up these summaries, there’s a big theme or narrative I can latch on to. 2017…
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2016 in Music
[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.] Introduction While there were a lot of strong albums released in 2016, from first rate artists like Sia, Ariana Grande,…
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2015 in Music
[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.] Introduction 2014 was an all-time great year in pop music for me, so it’s not surprising 2015 was a bit…
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Monthly Reading Roundup: February 2026
I realized last month that doing a full recap of all my reading was going to be too onerous to be sustainable, so this month I’m introducing a new format, Nine Raves and One Pan, with an additional spot highlighting a piece of Notable Nonfiction. Nine Raves Searching for Terry Punchout, by Tyler Hellard (2018…
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2014 in Music
[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.] Introduction There are some years whose music is universally acknowledged as being superlative — 1969, 1984, and 2024 come immediately…
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2013 in Music
[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.] Introduction If I had to pick a theme for the music I loved in 2013, it would have to be…
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2012 in Music
[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.] Introduction 2012 is the year that 2010s music finally feels like 2010s music. You have Taylor Swift’s shift towards pop…
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Monthly Reading Roundup
January was an interesting month in my reading life. Overall it was been successful, with a lot of 4.5- or 5-star reads, but not much has really stood out to me so far. The book for which I had the highest hopes, David James Duncan’s Sun House (2023), proved to be far too long, repetitive,…
Matt's Books and Music
So many books, so many songs
Matt's Books and Music 