Best Shit List 2022

Eight favorite books and four favorite records

Well, shit. I’m sick again, sequestered in the bedroom alone on Christmas Eve.

Earlier this evening, Mal’s mom, her sister, and her sister’s wife came over for a spaghetti dinner, which I slept though. Now, the baby’s down for the night, and Mal’s watching a movie with her sister out in the family room. Her sister’s wife is watching the Steelers on the other TV. My mother-in-law has gone back home to let her dog out. I can hear Paperweight, who is back home after being lost outside for nearly two weeks, tearing around in the hallway, probably chasing some little piece of lint.

It was a brutal Q4 in terms of health for me. I had a gnarly, extended flu in early October, then my first run-in with Covid, which was not cool, and now whatever this is. I’m hit-by-a-truck exhausted, and I’ve got no appetite.

It’s all the more shitty with a new baby around. We’re giving her all the possible distance from my bad germs. If you tally up the time I’ve been quarantined since she was born in July, it’s a significant percentage of her days.

I haven’t gotten the presents wrapped, or made my traditional multi-dozen batch of peanut blossom cookies with the Hershey Kisses on top.

And, I haven’t gotten this list done. I thought I might sit it out for ’22, but since I got the early present of a lonely night with the computer, you get some year-end recommendations. Books first, then music.

I hope you’re enjoying the holidays and looking forward to the new year.

Best,
Adam

---

I intentionally read fewer books this year. There were side effects; some good, some bad. I think I exercised less. When I was horny for knocking down titles, I was doing a lot of audiobooks which kept me walking a bazillion steps. I wrote more, though, using some of the time I’d normally be reading on my own novel instead, writing more food poems, more Bad Kids poems, and putting more stuff here on the ‘stack.

Here are eight favorites from the stuff I did read. You can find my full year-in-reading at the end of the post.

Two New Releases:

Duplex by Mike Nagel
If you’re a friend or loved one, I’ve tried to make you read this. Mike is one of the most exciting new writers I’ve come across since re-starting Little Engines. I asked the publisher of Duplex, who’s become a friend, how this tiny book of genius is doing, and he said I account for around 14% of the purchases ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux
Yes, I’m jumping on the bandwagon. Yes, I have several of her other books in the ‘up-next’ pile. Yes, I bought the death metal crewneck sweatshirt in black.

Three Older Novels I Love Now:

Justine by Forsythe Harmon
Almost a new release, really. There are grocery store scenes here, and I’ve been writing those, too. Sometimes it’s threatening, a writer finding similar things they’re working on when reading. Harmon’s book is so good, I can’t be bummed it exists. A killer little coming-of-age nugget.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
My new friend and new client Izzy Heltai told me about the time he spent in Bennington in a bad relationship, and asked if I’ve ever read Shirley Jackson. I told him I’d only read “The Lottery,” so he gifted me this, and I’m  grateful. I realize this one probably isn’t fully and firmly in the genre, but I feel like horror, which I’ve avoided, is tapping on my window.

Fair Play by Tove Johnson
My second dip-in on Tove. Will be doing more.

Three Music Books:

How to Ru(i)n a Record Label: The Story of Lookout Records by Larry Livermore
This is like putting a bowl of Froot Loops in front of me. I’m gonna scarf it down, and I’m gonna feel 100% satisfied.

Love, Death, and Photosynthesis by Bela Koe-Krompecher
The dream of a zine and a book becoming one new thing, fully realized. This one’s a beautiful heartbreaker.

Nina Simone’s Gum by Warren Ellis
I truly hate the word sacred, but this book feels that. I’m not really in on the musical world of Warren or Nick Cave or the Dirty Three, though I fully expect to have my time with it all. This book might mark the entryway. I truly hate the word sacred, but this book feels that. I’m not really in on the musical world of Warren or Nick Cave or the Dirty Three, though I fully expect to have my time with it all. This book might mark the entryway.

---

I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to my records from the ‘90s and early 2000s. When we moved a few years back, my LPs didn’t get unpacked and I never hooked the turntable up. Before the baby arrived this summer, I had a romantic notion of playing her full albums—slow listening with no skipping or playlisting—so I hauled all that shit out and set up a little spot in the living room. My time spent with new music suffered, but these four 2022 releases got me.

Bummer Year by Good Looks
This still feels miniature, like I’m one of only a few listening. My friend Chris turned me on to their record early in year, and I was in immediately. I’ve tried to further evangelize, but haven’t found many takers, honestly. I see a few B+ reviews out there, caught it on one year-end list. Feels unfair.

Cool It Down by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The tune that’s ushering out 2022 for me is “Blacktop.” If you haven’t yet, play that one very loud. If you have the option of doing it while holding your new little baby, I can also recommend.

Blue Skies by Dehd
I keep loving the simplicity of this band. They make it all feel effortless. I heard a promoter talking about a Dehd load-in on their recent tour. They were fully in the venue, gear set up, and soundchecking in a matter of minutes. He called it the easiest day they’d had at the club in ages.

One Match Left by Brooks Nielsen
I was working for The Growlers when the band came to a dead stop as all manner of bad behavior, including allegations of criminal shit, came to light. I stepped down from the booking gig, which was necessary, but was crushed to see it go. The Growlers haven’t made a peep since, but the voice of the band has hit reset and released a double-LP under his own name. There’s some confession and some contrition here if you need it from him, and of course there are melodies for days. The players on the record are all non-Growlers, and the music is adventurous in a way that band wasn’t able to be. I listened a gazillion times this year.

---

AV’s full 2022 reading list:

• Flight by Lynn Steger Strong

• I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

• Left of the Dial: Conversations with Punk Icons by David Ensminger

• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

• H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald (re-read)

• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

• If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? The Graduation Speeches by Kurt Vonnegut

• The Little Girl & the Cigarette by Benoît Duteurte

• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

• The Writer’s Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the many lives of Slaughterhouse-Five by Tom Roston

• Full of Life by John Fante

• Stay True by Hua Hsa

• Justine by Forsyth Harmon

• Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux

• My Struggle, Book Six by Karl One Knausgaard

• A Childhood: the biography of a place by Harry Crews

• Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker

• Dirtbag, Massachusetts by Isaac Fitzgerald

• The Last Days of Roger Federer by Geoff Dyer

• Duplex by Mike Nagel

• Devil House by John Darnielle

• How to Ru(i)n a Record Label by Larry Livermore

• The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

• J.D. Salinger - The Last Interview and other conversations, edited by David Streitfeld

• The Gospel Singer by Harry Crews

• Dreyer’s English, by Benjamin Dreyer

• Fair Play by Tove Jansson

• Love, Death, and Photosynthesis by Bela Koe-Krompecher

• Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

• Whale Day by Billy Collins

• Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

• Eve’s Hollywood by Eve Babitz

• Nina Simone’s Gum by Warren Ellis

• Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

• It Never Ends by Tom Scharpling

• You Never Get It Back by Cara Blue Adams