March consumption diary

MUSIC

I went to see MJ Lenderman and the Wind at The Loons in Lyttleton at the end of March. 

It was really great. The last 20 minutes of the set (before the encore) got a bit ambient/dragging on for my old, out-of-practice standing for four hours self. But either side of that: magic. 

Opening act, Wurld Series, was also pretty good. Lenderman described them as weird. My wife said they looked like accountants who were also in a band. I think both descriptions are slightly unfair. They were more like if Midlake was a Flying Nun band (okay, maybe not as amazing as that sounds).

The thing I forget about concerts until I am back at one is how great they are for finding solutions to writing problems or coming up with new ideas. Something about being around all those other people - strangers mostly - but so much of the experience is personal and interior. Anyway, the novel I worked on last year and I thought needed to get much fatter and overtly "important"... well, I decided during the gig that maybe it would work as a novel-in-stories, and all the "fat" might be unnecessary.

READING

Stoner by John Williams (audiobook, novel, US, 1965) -  A little late to the revival, or maybe I'm the start of the 3rd wave, but v v v v v good.

Gliff by Ali Smith (audiobook, 2024, novel, UK) - Triggering (not just in the title's similarity to my name) in the way Ali Smith can be: the slide to techno-authoritarianism shown from the other side, clear-eyed and pun-filled.

The reluctant fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (audiobook, novel, Pakistan/UK, 2007) - four hour audiobooks for the win. Any longer and the narrator addressing his American interlocutor framing may've become annoying. As is: great.

Several short sentences about writing by Evelyn Klinkenborg (audiobook, non-fiction, US, 2012). Loved the final section where VK dissects subpar sentences.

Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit by Emma Neale (physical book, poetry, NZ, 2024). My daughter's class had to memorise a sonnet by Shakespeare (each choosing a different one), so I learnt one of Neale's poems...The young house surgeon / jogs the tree canopied avenue (etc). I could feel my brain working in ways it hasn't for YEARS. So good.

Juice by Tim Winton (audiobook, novel, Australia, 2024). A good book in the end, marred by the fact the narrator said "cachet" instead of "cache" 90% of the time (post-apocalptic, so lots of caching)... Couldn't even be consistently wrong. (There were other mispronounciations, too. Tagging this for next time someone asks what my pet peeve is).

Going Zero by Anthony McCarten (audiobook, novel, NZ, 2023) - felt like it should have been a TV series, but also understandable why it wasn't. 

Everything I know about love by Dolly Alderton (audiobook, non-fiction, UK, 2018) - I preferred the Alderton novel I read last year. This felt a bit random brain splurge. Sucker for structure, me.

The extraordinary disappointments of Leopold Berry, Sunderworld v-01, by Ransom Riggs (audiobook, novel, US, 2024) - Not really my thing.

(For those counting along, that's 9 books, which is what I averaged in Jan/Feb... so still on pace for 108).

MOVIES & TV

Adolescence - worthy of the buzz

White Lotus - Season 3 (okay, there's still one episode to go, but)

Paradise - Season 1

Severance - Season 2

Dune Part 2

(And my daughter finished all seasons of Gilmore Girls, include A Year in the Life... She got annoyed when I fangirled over the scene where Rory is at a Shins concert. Oh that we could live in 2000-2007 again (when many would have longed for an even earlier time)).