A list of things to love in 2020
Honestly, I don’t just dwell on the callousness, stupidity and moral bankruptcy of President Donald Trump all day. I have other interests, too.
As tempting as it would be to devote another column to his humiliating week — “Yo, Semite,” Jonathan Swan’s brilliant interview/evisceration on HBO and the quote of the year regarding COVID-19 deaths “It is what it is” — I thought I’d do something I haven’t done in a while: I’m going to write about a few things I love that you should love, too.
At first I tried to break everything into categories that we could all relate to — Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV — but it wasn’t appropriate. Consequently, this is going to come across as random, possibly, but I don’t care.
No movies or art exhibits are listed, obviously, because everything is shut down. There’s not a lot of music listed here, either, because I’ve been listening to podcasts nonstop.
Still, this list would be remiss without a shoutout to new records by Bob Dylan, “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” Father John Misty, “Off-Key in Hamburg,” Sault’s “Untitled (Black Is)” and Lucinda Williams’ “Good Souls, Better Angels.” Locally, “Nightwalk,” an album by Animal Scream and “Kols Loves Karl,” a Karl Hendricks Trio tribute album by Kind of Like Spitting, are also in heavy rotation.
Television is mostly a vast wasteland these days because everything has been shut down. Still, I love an admittedly difficult to watch show called “I May Destroy You” starring Michaela Coel, the half-hour HBO comedy/ drama’s creator, writer and star. This is a series about PTSD caused by a sexual assault and how it affects Arabella (Coel) and her Black millennial circle of friends. Turn on the subtitles until you get the hang of the Black British dialect. It is stunningly well acted and unpredictable.
Two weeks ago, MSNBC debuted “The ReidOut,” the network’s replacement for “Hardball with Chris Matthews” which was canceled for very good reasons. Host Joy Reid is the most animated, indignant and interesting talking head on the liberal network. She’s also its most natural talent. It should not have taken a million faux pas by Mr. Matthews to earn Ms. Reid her shot at prime time.
Favorite commercial: The ongoing Progressive Insurance ads starring Motaur, the half-man/ half-motorcycle guy who drolly asserts his dignity despite being a modern centaur. The absurdity and discomfort depicted in these ads is always exquisite.
Favorite podcasts: “The Argument” by The New York Times, “Political Gabfest” by Slate and “Why Is This Happening?” by Chris Hayes. “The Ezra Klein Show” still has the best interviews, as his recent talk with Bryan Stevenson proves. Two podcasts I listen to religiously (pun intended) are “Another Name for Every Thing” by Richard Rohr and “Nomad,” a podcast out of England. Both have been instrumental in reshaping my understanding of faith and religion in recent years.
Books that I have loved and admired in recent months include a wild science fiction novel called “Providence” by Max Barry that feels both old-fashioned and weirdly contemporary.
Everyone owes it to themselves to reread “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller and “Replay,” by Ken Grimwood, the guilty pleasure novel about reliving one’s life over and over and exploiting one’s knowledge of coming events to become rich and powerful.
“Deacon King Kong” by James McBride, a book selected by Oprah’s Book Club, is seriously brilliant and riotously funny. My favorite nonfiction book of the year so far is Eddie S. Glaude Jr’s “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.”
“Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics” by local artist/cartoonist Tom Scioli is such a breathtakingly gorgeous graphic novel that I flipped through the book for a half-hour taking it all in before I began reading it. It is an instant classic.
National critics are already falling over themselves praising “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” a collection of short stories by Pittsburgh author Deesha Philyaw. The hype is well deserved. These are stories about Black women that haven’t been told with this level of depth, wit or insight before, so it will not shock me if Oprah gets around to selecting it before the end of the year.
I’m currently whizzing through Carl Hoffman’s “Liar’s Circus,” a riveting deep dive into the world of Trump political rallies. Mr. Hoffman interviews folks who attend these rallies as if they’re old-fashioned tent revival meetings. It conveys the horror of Mr. Trump’s con game while remaining sympathetic to those being swindled by him.
Though I abandoned David Mitchell’s “Utopia Avenue” halfway through, I’ve picked it up again at the urging of friends and intend to finish it. I just ran into a rough patch, but it is reading well again. I can’t even remember why I stopped in the first place.
Books on my metaphorical nightstand to get to next include: “The City We Became” by N.K. Jemisin, “Gettysburg” by Kevin Morris, “The Hate Monger” by Jean Guerrero, “Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980” by Rick Perlstein and “25 Great Sentences and How They Got That Way” by Geraldine Woods.
Writers I’ve recently discovered and find that I absolutely adore are Alix E. Harrow (“The Ten Thousand Doors of January”), Joe R. Lansdale (“More Better Deals”), Claire North (“The Pursuit of William Abbey”) and Erin Morgenstern (“The Starless Sea”).
Yes, I read self-help books, too, for all the good it does me. I just started “Atomic Habits” by James Clear and “The Working Memory Advantage” by Tracy and Ross Alloway. Wish me luck.
Tony Norman