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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,…
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2011 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 2010 musically felt like it had one foot in the 2000s and one in the 2010s, 2011 felt…
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2010 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 The dawning of the new decade of the 2010s was marked with a lot of optimism. It was just…
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Top Reads of 2025
I’ve been doing these best reads of the year lists since 2017 and it’s become one of my favourite traditions. This year, I thought I’d recognize the top 25 of ‘25, fifteen fiction and ten fiction. Fiction 15. Life, and Death, and Giants, by Ron Rindo (2025) If I wanted to be nitpicky, there were…
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2025 Bookish Superlatives, Part 2
Yesterday I undertook the first half of my 2025 Bookish Superlatives. That post focused on questions of format, style, and readerly expectation. Today in Part 2, I’ll turn to genre and authors representing specific communities. Genres Best Romance You & Me, by Tal Bauer (2022) Coming in hot with an unexpected pick at the start,…
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2025 Bookish Superlatives, Part 1
I’m happy this morning to introduce my fourth annual Bookish Superlatives, highlighting books that excelled in different specific categories, but which may not have been among my very favourite reads of the year. Today’s post will focus on readerly expectation, media, and style. Tomorrow’s will turn to genres, audiences, and communities. Note: Because part of…
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2025 Bookish Stats
My 2025 reading year has come to a close. If you’re interested, please check back later this week for my Bookish Superlatives and Top Reads of the year. Today I’d like to look at the year as a whole and look at some statistics about some of the things I was looking out for this…
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2025 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 2024 was an extraordinary year for pop music, so when 2025 started there was a big question of whether…
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2024 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 in popular music that, for whatever reason, stand out for their incredible, outsized impact: years…
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2023 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 When I was reviewing the music of 2023, what stood out to me was, on the whole, how balanced…
Matt's Books and Music
So many books, so many songs
Matt's Books and Music 