never the same girl twice

2022 has been a struggle from beginning to end. I feel like I dragged myself through the year, so it's only natural that I read a lot. However, apparently I read less than last year, which is a bit surprising. Still hit my 100 book goal (by less than I thought!)

2022 READING RECAP

106 books total
95 fiction
11 non-fiction
0 in French (clearly this needs improvement!)
36 by POC and/or LGBTQI2A+ authors

This is also the first year I look at various genres:
55 fantasy (no surprise there, especially since it's just a wide genre)
13 YA
10 sci-fi (the Tanya Huff series helped with that!)
10 romance (another surprise, but KJ Charles and Ilona Andrews are the main culprits)
7 mystery (Kelly Armstrong series)
5 manga/graphic novels

TBR shelves: I did a quick count as I was boxing them up for the renovation, and came up somewhere in the mid-70s. I'd say it's because I focused on reading more from my own shelves this year, but I also did some cleaning of old series and things from the TBR pile, so that definitely helped (goodbye, 7-volume Kate Elliot series that's been taunting me for over 10 years! If I haven't read it yet, I wasn't ever gonna read it).


This year's favorites were, in no particular order:

* A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows. This book is drama-filled, tragic, and emotionally heavy-handed... and I loved every second of it. This is probably the closest I have seen to my own writing and I never wanted it to end.

* Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. A story about community, murder, and identity, I couldn't put it down.

* Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert. Haunting and creepy, this novel captured everything I liked about The Hazel Wood and took it to a new place.

* This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. I hate books told through letters or diaries. I am very picky about sci-fi. This... this was magic. My only complaint was that it was too short.

* People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. I am surrounded by romance-readers and finally caved. I couldn't put it down and I was thoroughly emotionally invested the whole time. Loved it.

* All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir. This book was intense and uncomfortable and wonderful and everything all at once. It was a difficult read but so, so worth it. Probably my favorite read of the year.

* Slippery Creatures by K.J. Charles. Oh, my heart. I stumbled across this M/M romance and couldn't resist a WWI veteran bookshop owner as a protagonist... Loved the time period, the characters, the plots, the romance, everything about this was magic. The whole series was great, though I've been disappointed in the other books by this author I've tried since then.


MOVIES 2022

Still haven't been to a movie theatre! I've actually had little patience for TV and movies this year (other than my usual compulsion for food and home renovation shows), so this list is a bit sadder. The highlights include:

* Encanto (2021) - probably my favorite Disney movie in a very long time. The characters are fantastic, the music is good, the representation is well done... and they get bonus points not just for tackling intergenerational trauma and refugees in a kid-friendly fashion, but snapping me right back to the same mentality of denial and survivor's guilt that permeated so many of the Holocaust survivors I've worked with. Absolutely my favorite thing this year.

* Persuasion (2022) - huge points for making a Jane Austen movie that is both true to the original feel and simultaneously snarky and quirky. 100% recommend.

* Knives Out (2019) - ok, I will admit, I actually just watched this a few days ago. It does the murder-mystery genre perfectly, while still giving you something new and interesting. The cast are great and I was thoroughly entertained, can't wait to watch the second one.

* Turning Red (2022) - another great animated movie that manages to tackle puberty and immigrant culture in an approachable, identifiable way for a younger audience. Just lovely.



SHOWS & EXHIBITS 2022

My nieces came to visit for a few days this summer, so I actually got out into the city and did things! It also helps that I now work in a proper museum and can see the exhibits as they open, or even work on them... I even crawled out of my shell and saw two concerts!

- ONE OK ROCK (with You Me at Six and Fame on Fire) @ Club Soda, Montreal: yes, yes, yes. SO GOOD in concert. I am obsessed.

- Olafur Arnalds @ Algonquin Commons Theatre, Ottawa: a lovely show, my first time seeing classical music live (other than a full orchestra). It definitely felt like a different kind of show than I'm used to but it was nice.

- From Pepinot to Paw Patrol: Television of Our Childhoods @ Canadian Museum of History: cute, definitely surreal to see things like Bibi and Passe Partout, as well as some of the old Reading Rainbow and Mr. Dress-up stuff.

- Unexpected! Surprising Treasures from Library and Archives Canada @ Canadian Museum of History: ok, this is cheating a bit since I was part of this project, but I still enjoyed the exhibit, especially the Decadog!

- Haunted Walk tour of Ottawa: great tour guide and lots of fun historical details! Not scary but a great way to pass an evening with two teenagers.

- General Idea exhibit @ National Gallery of Canada: I walked into this one blind (we were visiting the rest of the museum) and I was pleasantly surprised by this foray into modern art (which I don't usually love).




MUSIC 2022

This year I added 274 new songs to my music rotation, about half of what I did the year before. I've felt like I've been in a slump for much of the year, sadly. Even my #wednesdayweeklysoundtrack has fallen mostly dormant.

The highlights for this year were the following:

TOP 5 ALBUMS

* ONE OK ROCK - Luxury Disease
* CHVRCHES - Screen Violence (Director's Cut)
* Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
* All Time Low - Last Young Renegade
* Lights - Pep

TOP 5 SONGS
* Winnetka Bowling League and Sasha Alex Sloan - barcelona
* ONE OK ROCK - Save Yourself
* Tove Lo - No One Dies From Love
* Mother Mother - Hayloft II
* CHVRCHES - Bitter End

May was spent preparing for Greece and the conference. Not much time for fun reading, sadly.

( May booklist )

September has been busy, so busy. So little time to relax, and no less than two large books started.

( September 2011 )

Making up for the tiny month of June, I guess. Read lots, saw lots of movies, and generally got to relax this month. Can't wait for the insanity that is August.

( July 2011 )

So. Busy. 0_o

( February 2011 )

I saw the J.W. Waterhouse exhibit at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Montreal this weekend; it now ranks as one of the best exhibits I've seen.

I'll admit, I spent as much time looking at how the exhibit was designed as I spent looking at the paintings themselves. The theme was black-on-black (and, having spent quite a while ranting about the whole white-wall exhibition technique, I was pleasantly surprised to see the opposite effect). All the walls were painted a mat black, the lights were muted, and the exhibit lettering was black vinyl (the lights were angled to create a reflection, so the words were visible, but very subtle). Each room was grouped by theme (the early years, the mystical, the garden/bower, etc) and the decor reflected that shift: the mystic room's centerpiece was a black velvet bench in the shape of a star; the bower had four black wooden benches and black plastic roses hanging down the partition wall; the study/drawings room had two black wood and black cushioned wingback chairs, a black vase with black flowers, and a fantastic compass rose circular black rug.

The paintings were all in their original (or at least close enough) frames, of heavy gilded gold. Black curtains framed some of the most important paintings, such as the famous Lady of Shalott. What was most striking of all, in my opinion, were the colors: rich and vibrant, with lots of shades of red and bright whites... until you chanced upon what was, for me, the show-stopper: Circe Invidiosa



I tried to pick the version that best represents the coloring, but there's no describing the richness of the green water she's pouring, or the blue of both her dress and the pond, subtly different. The blues and greens practically glowed against the gold frame and black wall. There's definitely something to be said for color choices in a gallery.

(It brings to mind the Egyptian statue I saw a few years ago, also at the MMFA: a white limestone statue, over life-size, on a dark, dark blue background. The image has stayed in my mind long after I've forgotten exactly what the statue depicted... and most of the rest of the exhibit, I'm sad to say).