Countdown to 2010, #6

This is a double entry - two top five lists instead of one top ten list, because for both of these it was a lot easier to choose a top five than a top ten. I would say it was a good music year and a good book year. I didn't feel like I did as much reading as I normally do (dissertation and all), but I still averaged a book every couple weeks or so and that's not bad. As far as music goes, I had a lot fewer new discoveries this year than I had rediscoveries of music I already liked and now grew to love, and personal discoveries of a lot of music that other people already discovered years to decades before I did.

5 Favorite Books of 2009

(I'll refrain from commentary since I have full reviews
of all of these over on my book blog.)

• What is the What, by Dave Eggers
• Heat, by Bill Buford
• Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, by Alex Ross
• The Code of the Woosters, by P.G. Wodehouse (one of the two new reviews up on my book blog)
  

5 Favorite Albums of 2009

(Short list below, with commentary in the
footnotes for interested readers.)

• Abbey Road (The Beatles)¹
• Far (Regina Spektor)²
  
• In C, Remixed (Grand Valley State University New Music Group, and various other artists)³
• La Pasión Segun San Marcos (Osvaldo Golijov)⁴
• The Shepherd's Dog (Iron & Wine)⁵
  

¹ Or Revolver, or Sgt. Pepper. Before going to the UK, I realized I was woefully unfamiliar with Britain's biggest music export of the 20th century, and I decided I needed to change that. I had help indoctrinating myself, and I discovered music that was a lot broader and more interesting than what I'd been expecting. Although come to think of it, I don't know why I hadn't expected that. There's got to be a reason everyone still loves the Beatles.

² Half the time I'm not quite sure what Regina Spektor is singing about, and yet somehow it still really speaks to me, and to whatever thoughts and feelings and experiences I'm having at the moment. Regina Spektor was also my very first concert ever, back in October.

³ This isn't really a sit-down-and-just-listen album, but it came out right on the heels of my reading The Rest is Noise, and so when I heard about the release, I was intrigued. I knew something about the piece, and I thought the concept behind this particular recording was interesting. Grand Valley State University is just a couple hours away, and so when I saw that they were doing a performance of "In C" I got all excited and decided to take a day off of dissertation writing to go see them. Very cool.

⁴ This 2000 Latin American work by the Jewish-born Golijov is no Bach passion, although it was commissioned for the 250th anniversary of his death. It ranges from exuberant dance pieces to the simple and beautiful "Agonía." The composer himself is not Christian, but in speaking about the work he talked about trying to really capture the Christian experience, and as a Christian and a Latter-day saint, the piece speaks powerfully to me.

⁵ This is one of those rediscoveries I was talking about. I've had Iron & Wine on my playlist for a few years now, but this year I finally gave him a really good listen, and suddenly found I couldn't get enough. I still can't.