Review of 2009: Non-Fiction and Film

I spent a full ten months in Antigua this year, compared to just six in 2009. It's a record for me and one I can already see myself falling short of next year.

I still don't really consider myself an ex-pat. Though I share some of my wife's interests here in Guatemala I still make my own living predominantly outside the country and haven't felt that reversing out the time I spend in the UK and Guatemala has resulted in such a massive lifestyle change as others who more consciously emigrate or indeed ex-patriate themselves.

Having such a long association with this lovely town and my local relatives by marriage, I also feel a good deal more assimilated when I'm here than other foreign residents I could mention. So call me a tourist if you like...albeit one who spends a bit more time here than most. (You most certainly won't find me calling myself a 'citizen of the world' however. Last time I overheard someone doing that, I thought what a twat! )

What's the difference between an ex-pat and an immigrant, I've had cause to ask myself a few times this year? That an ex-pat generally won't fight for his or her adopted country seems like an obvious one; in fact they generally run for their embassies at the first sign of trouble. (Though, the distinctions are very often more subtle. For example, your average American in Florence will occasionally wander around fantasising about being Italian in a way that can be contrasted with their equivalents over here, who will almost never dream of being Guatemalan.)

Anyway, 2008 was memorable in that I made good on the decision to spend more time out here and in the way that the departing Bush administration almost took the entire global economy out with them when they fumbled the winding up of Lehman Brothers.

Yet I believe that it is the contents of this year which will stick with me for longer. It's had one grim personal moment in particular, but also plenty of uplifting ones as the general sense of circling the drain eased from the late spring onwards. It has been the year that I finally found my way to Oaxaca and discovered the uncomplicated pleasures of Mazunte.

I then spent a good part of the summer back at the farm in Berkshire and was glad to be around when most needed. I've also felt personally rewarded (and useful) in the various roles I have undertaken for Commetric this year.

V and I have avoided making any major changes to the house over the last twelve months but have stored up a few biggies for Q1 2010. The local cat population has fluctuated, but we're steady on the chuchos.

Meanwhile, my investment in Amazon seven months ago has worked out so well that I don't know how much longer I can continue to deny myself a Kindle. Nevertheless I've rather scaled down my non-fiction reading this year so I've settled on a top 5 rather than a top 10:

1) The Berlin Diaries Of Marie Vasiltchikov — MARIE 'MISSIE' VASILTCHIKOV
2) The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher — KATE SUMMERSCALE
3) Agincourt — JULIET BARKER
4) Henry, Virtuous Prince — DAVID STARKEY
5) D-Day — ANTHONY BEEVOR

The opposite problem applies with my favourite films of 2009, as there were 20+ to which I accorded at least an A grade. Anyway, here — in no particular order — are the twelve I picked for my year-end chart in ultimately undisciplined fashion:

— Tony Manero
— A Perfect Getaway
— Che, Part 1
— Thirst
— The Hurt Locker
— There Will Be Blood
— Vicky Cristina Barcelona
— Gran Torino
— Moon
— Drag Me to Hell
— The Damned United
— Let the Right One In

There was also a pair of very memorable feature-lenth documentaries:
— Man on Wire
— Encounters at the End of the World

These are all 2008/9 releases. Of the comparative oldies, we also greatly enjoyed...
— The Quiet Family

BTW, one night very soon we're going to be watching The White Ribbon, Haneke's Palm D'Or winner and a movie I suspect might have made it onto this list if we'd seen it in time,.

Review of 2009: Fiction

It's that time of the year where all forms of media indulge in their general summing up...so why not?

2009 was the year of the bloodsucker in so many ways. I even found myself reading a vampire novel — Guillermo del Toro's The Strain — on holiday in Mexico.

I've delved a bit more into genre fiction than I have lately been accustomed, and found the experience generally rewarding. James Lee Burke's Swan Peak, perhaps the most outstanding of several detective novels I read, only just fell outside the top ten and not far behind it were Michael Connelly's Nine Dragons and his own The Tin Roof Blowdown.

In contrast some of the literary fiction I took in this year was a tad disappointing; most notably Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee and Mentira by Enrique de Hériz.

1) Los Detectives Salvajes — ROBERTO BOLAÑO

2) The Year Of The Flood — MARGARET ATWOOD

3) Breath — TIM WINTON

4) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao — JUNOT DIAZ

5) Jeff In Venice, (Death In Varanassi) — GEOFF DYER

6) Dance Dance Dance — HARUKI MURAKAMI

7) White Tiger — ARAVIND ADIGA
8) The Remains of the Day — KAZUO ISHIGURO

9) El Búfalo De La Noche — GUILLERMO ARRIAGA

10) Ordinary Thunderstorms — WILLIAM BOYD

Once again I seem to have failed to review all of the titles in the list and my response to The Savage Detectives is still something of a work in progress.

Geoff Dyer's two part novel fully deserved a place here in spite of the fact that I've only actually completed the Jeff in Venice stage!

It may come as a surprise to some that The Remains of the Day features so low in the list, but I've come to this excellent novel somewhat late with my expectations informed by the film, and the chart is a personal ranking based as much on what I got out of each individual work as its inherent literary qualities.