Books
- After the millennium I worked my way through the Waterstone’s 100 Books of the Century. I completed the list last year, and my favourites were probably Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being - very cliched, I know! Since then I have caught up on some contemporary books. I loved And the Land Lay Still by James Robertson. It taught me so much about Scotland that I didn’t know.
Film
- I listen to Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s film reviews every week, enjoy them bickering, then use their suggestions to catch movies I would otherwise miss. I loved Beasts of the Southern Wild (above) and Amour. I enjoyed Silver Linings Playbook - Jennifer Lawrence is an amazing actress. On Friday evenings I like to watch tear-jerkers such as Blue Valentine and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Music
- As I grow older I have come to realise it is difficult to beat folk and country music. When listening to classics like Joni Mitchell’s Blue I wonder whether my generation is capable of its own masterpieces. But every time I hear a new Anais Mitchell (above) or Laura Marling album I realise each generation captures something special from its own time. I still try regularly to go to gigs (or “concerts”, as I grow older) and recent favourites have been Wilco and Great Lake Swimmers.
TV
- During the past few months I have worked my way through a pile of box sets I hadn’t quite got round to. I loved Generation Kill and Treme. Nevertheless, I feel I have neglected The West Wing and plan to start working through all seven seasons from start to finish again.
