I should perhaps consider adding poetry to this list, but that might just end up being too confusing. It is true, however, that between reading a lot more poetry over the past two years, watching more classic movies and not taking transit, I am simply not reading as much as I used to. That said, I did read Don Quixote (and Nabokov's Lectures on Don Quixote), Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano and Joyce Cary's First Trilogy, though it often felt I was reading things I felt I ought to read out of obligation rather than books I was actually enjoying on their own merits.
I cut it extremely close with the Bulgakov. I was rereading this in anticipation of watching a live musical version of The Master and Margarita at Crows Nest. In the end, I wrapped up all but the last few pages of the epilogue during the intermission! While I thought the adaptation was done well, I do think it would have been fairly hard to follow if one wasn't quite familiar with the source material. Several years ago, I reread Melville's Moby Dick before seeing Lookingglass's adaptation. In that case, I think I finished the morning of the performance. Of course, I was on holiday and had a bit more time for uninterrupted reading...
Top 3 of 2021
Coupland Binge
Raymond Kennedy To Ride a Cockhorse
Barry Dempster The Outside World
Best novel reread
Bulgakov The Master and Margarita
Honorable mention
Coupland Shampoo Planet
Tomson Highway The Rez Sisters
John Williams Stoner
Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence
Nick Hornby High Fidelity
Shankar No End to the Journey
Patrick Hamilton The Slaves of Solitude
Malcolm Lowry Under the Volcano
It's a little hard to tell where I will focus in early 2022, but probably Crime and Punishment, followed by Arlt's The Seven Madmen. Perhaps Desani's All About H. Hatterr, Beckett's 3 Novels and maybe even some Celine. And presumably some lighter fare interspersed between the heavier novels.
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