fiftyfifty.me

I didn’t think it was possible. I was 30ish books in, and we were closing in on Thanksgiving.  I was close to giving up and slacking through the rest of the year indulging in my new Netflix tv obsession.  Then Susie gave me a look, the look sisters can give you, and said audibly what her eyes already said. “You started this. You can do it.”

So I went home armed with books I would never have picked up myself – short story collections, graphic novels, books she thought would absorb me and haul me, like an Iditarod team, across the icy plains of PROCRASTINATION.

I’m proud to announce that I just put down book #50. I did it!   The recap:

Favorite book this year:

NIGHT FILM by Marisha Pessl. I waited a long time for the sophomore novel from the author of Special Topics in Calamity Physics, and I was not disappointed.   It’s an intense read, and I was couch-bound, enraptured with the world she had created.  Well worth the social points you’ll lose for being a hermit as you read it. 

Honorable Mentions:

Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life by Melody Moezzi.  The term bipolar is thrown around, we hear a celebrity diagnosed and then the term fades away again. Moezzi pulls the curtain back in what is one of the most raw, beautiful books I’ve ever read. She compiles her experience, that of the people around her, and medical records, to provide a 360 degree view of something people are often too scared to talk about.

The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn.  It was refreshing to read a humorous, honest narrative of the challenges women who are married with kids might think and feel when they think no one is listening.  The voice of this nov

el was one of the most memorable I’ve read in years.

Books I powered through because I felt like I should:

Cyndi Lauper’s memoir. Also - Don’t Hassle the Hoff.  I know, I know, I deserved it.

Book that surprised me:

The Language of Flowers.  Sometimes I forget the ways in which fiction can crack open a new world for you.  The Victorian language of flowers was a beautiful theme in this novel.

Favorite movie this year:

Saving Mr. Banks. I’ve never once paused when asked what my favorite movie is (Mary Poppins), so to hear the story behind the making was a complete treat. The fact that they didn’t destroy my favorite movie was a bonus.

Honorable mention:

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. An amazing documentary that reminded me how much of our own health is in our control if we’re willing to take that first step.  I know, a documentary about juicing. I didn’t expect it either!

Movies I powered through because I felt like I should:

Jiro Dreams of Sushi. YAWN.

 

 

 

Movie I would recommend to anyone who listens:

The Sapphires.  A movie about an Aboriginal soul group touring during Vietnam. A sleeper, but so good and educational at the same time. The music is outstanding.

Movie that surprised me:

Senna, documentary about the Brazilian race car driver.  Any film that can make me care about something I didn’t care anything about, much less cry about, is a masterpiece.

Same for Craigslist Joe. Such a powerful movie about connecting.

It’s been a good year! Thank you all for being part of the madness and thank you especially to Jon for being the pilot of this wild ride and Susie for your beautiful art and Olympic-style coaching to get me across the finish line.

See you all for fiftyfifty.me in 2014 - and Happy New Year!

-Lilly

 

Full 2013 consumption list with favorites in bold:

BOOKS 

Matched, Ally Condie

The Soulmate Secret, Arielle Ford

Just Kids, Patti Smith

State of Wonder, Ann Patchett

The Age of Miracles

Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir

The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbough

Priceless Memories, Bob Barker

The Mermaid of Brooklyn, Amy Shearn

Suri’s Burn Book

Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg

My Lives, Roseanne Arnold

Beautiful Ruins

Life After Life, Kate Atkinson

Sleepwalk with Me

Don’t Hassel the Hoff

Haldol and Hyacinths

Since You Asked, Maurene Goo

It’s So Easy (and Other Lies), Duff McKagan

The Art Forger, B.A. Shapiro

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris

Love, Lucy, Lucille Ball

Night Film, Marisha Pessl

(Night Film is a doorstop of a book = 2 books)

Pretty Little Liars

Pure Drivel, Steve Martin

Clumsy

I Never Liked You, Chester Brown

The Night Circus

Abundance of Katherines

The Silent Wife

Stitches, Anne Lamott

The Impostor’s Daughter, Laurie Sandell

Isadora Duncan, Sabrina Jones

The Vietnam War (graphic novel by Zimmerman)

Ghost World (Daniel Clowes)

Perfect Example (John Porcellino)

Together Tea (Marjan Kamali)

The Reason I Jump (Naoki Higashida)

Thoreau at Walden (John Porcellino)

Awaken the Spirit Within (Rebecca Rosen)

Never Ending Summer, Allison Cole

The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway

Everything Was Fine Until Whatever, Chelsea Martin

Elements of Content Strategy, Erin Kissane

Chasing Utopia, Nikki Giovanni

Incarnadine, Mary Szybist

101 Great American Poems

The Key, Cheri Huber

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

 

MOVIES

Life of Pi

Broken City

Happy Accidents

Extract

Hemingway & Gellhorn

Identity Thief

Silver Linings Playbook

Quartet

Don’t Stop Believin’

Campaign

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Piece of Work (the Joan Rivers docu)

The Place Beyond the Pines

The Queen of Versailles

Matrimonio all’Italiano

The Great Gatsby

The Guilt Trip

Butter

The Internship

The Golden Child

Religulous

What To Expect When You’re Expecting

Despicable Me

The Heat

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead

Anchorman

Ira & Abby

Along Came Polly

56 Up

After Porn Ends

Jeff Who Lives at Home

Senna

Joyful Noise

Craiglist Joe

Gravity

Mission Impossible 3

Best Man Christmas

Breakin All the Rules

Pitch Perfect

Catching Fire

The Sapphires

Philomena

Romantics Anonymous

The Island President

Skyfall

I Don’t Know How She Does It

Saving Mr. Banks

The Italian Job

Paradise

The Freebie