The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Mine for yours: My favorite fiction, poetry, non-fiction, film, art, and internet of 2022 so far

Fiction
(in no order)

Blake Butler AANNEX (Apocalypse Party)

Evan Isoline DƐVDMVTH (11:11 Press)

Mike Kleine THIRD WORLD MAGICKS (Inside the Castle)

Lidia Yuknavitch THRUST  (Riverhead Books)

Kelly Krumrie MATH CLASS (Calamari Press)

James Greer BAD EMINENCE  (And Other Stories)

Caren Beilin REVENGE OF THE SCAPEGOAT  (Dorothy, a publishing project)

Thomas Kendall THE AUTODIDACTS  (Whiskey Tit)

Cookie Mueller WALKING THROUGH CLEAR WATER IN A POOL PAINTED BLACK  (Semiotext(e))

Audrey Szasz ZEALOUS IMMACULATE  (Amphetamine Sulphate)

Russell Walker PICTURE THE SCENE: A RUSSELL WALKER READER  (Very Bon Books)

John Waters LIARMOUTH  (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Jace Brittain SORCERERER  (Schism Press)

RE Katz AND THEN THE GRAY HEAVEN  (Dzanc Books)

Richard Makin WORK  (Equus Press)

James Nulick LAZY EYES  (Expat Press)

Ashley Marie Farmer BESIDE MYSELF  (Apocalypse Party)

Elle Nash GAG REFLEX  (CLASH Books)

Josiah Morgan THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE  (Amphetamine Sulphate)

Alexandrine Ogundimu AGITATION  (Amphetamine Sulphate)

Shane Kowalski SMALL MOODS  (Future Tense)

Cristina Rivera Garza NEW AND SELECTED STORIES  (Dorothy, a publishing project)

Candice Wuehle MONARCH  (Soft Skull Press)

Samuel Robertson ILLUSTRATED OLD TESTAMENT  (11:11 Press)

Christopher Norris HUNCHBACK ’88  (Inside the Castle)

Grant Maierhofer THE COMPLEAT LUNGFISH  (Apocalypse Party)

Philip Best, Editor HUMAN RIGHTS  (Amphetamine Sulphate)

Natasha Soobramanien and Luke Williams DIEGO GARCIA  (Semiotext(e))

Zac Smith EVERYTHING IS TOTALLY FINE  (Muumuu House)

 

 

Poetry
(in no order)

Jerome Sala HOW MUCH? NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (NYQ Books)

Lewis Warsh ELIXIR (Ugly Duckling Presse)

Matt Longabucco HEROIC DOSE (Golias Books)

Renee Gladman PLANS FOR SENTENCES (Wave Books)

Antonin Artaud A SINISTER ASSASSIN: ANTONIN ARTAUD’S LAST WRITINGS (Infinity Land)

Ted Rees DOG DAY ECONOMY (Roof Books)

David Trinidad DIGGING TO WONDERLAND: MEMORY PIECES (Turtle Point Press)

Paul Cunningham FALL GARMENT (Schism Press)

Piero Heliczer POEMS AND DOCUMENTS (After8 Books)

Friederike Mayröcker ETUDES (Seagull Books)

Kit Robinson QUARANTINA (Lavender Ink)

John Ashbery SOMETHING CLOSE TO MUSIC (David Zwirner Books)

 

 

Nonfiction
(in no order)

Derek McCormack JUDY BLAME’S OBITUARY (Pilot Press)

Will Alexander THE CONTORTIONIST WHISPERS (Action Books)

Ada Calhoun ALSO A POET: FRANK O’HARA, MY FATHER, AND ME (Grove Atlantic)

Dan Taulapapa McMullin THE HEALER’S WOUND: A QUEER THEIRSTORY OF POLYNESIA (Tropic Editions/Puʻuhonua Society)

Chris Kelso & David Leo Rice CHILDREN OF THE NEW FLESH (11:11 Press)

Rory Sullivan-Burke THE LIGHT POURS OUT OF ME (Omnibus Press)

Jennifer Lucy Allan THE FOGHORN’S LAMENT (White Rabbit Books)

 

 

Music
(in no order)

Destroyer LABYRINTHITIS (Merge)

Guided by Voices TREMBLERS AND GOGGLES BY RANK (Rockathon)

Caterina Barbieri SPIRIT EXIT (Dais Records)

Merzbow and Lawrence English ETERNAL STALKER (light-years)

Helms Alee KEEP THIS BE THE WAY & 2 (Sargent House)

Machinefabriek TEXTURALIS (Cassauna)

700 Bliss NOTHING TO DECLARE (Hyperdub)

Carl Stone WAT DONG MOON LEK (Unseen Worlds)

Natasha Barrett HETEROTOPIA (Persistence of Sound)

Buñuel KILLERS LIKE US (Profound Lore Records)

Kendrick Lamar MR. MORALE & THE BIG STEPPERS (PgLang)

Matmos REGARDS / UKTONY DLA BOGUSTAW SCHAEFFER (Thrill Jockey)

Flower-Corsano Duo THE HALCYON (VHF Records)

Kee Avil, CREASE (Constellation)

SpermChurch MERDEKA ATAU MATI (Riverworm Records)

William Basinski/Janek Schaefer … ON REFLECTION (Temporary Residence)

Maria Moles FOR LEOLANDA (Room40)

Richard Skelton A GUIDONIAN HAND (Corbel Stone Press)

Sonic Youth IN/OUT/IN (Three Lobed)

 

 

Film
(in no order)

James Benning THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Paul Sietsema AT THE HOUR OF TEA

Jane Schoenbrun WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR

Marie le Hir IN THE VALLEY

Colin Trevorrow JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION

Terence Davies BENEDICTION

Phil Tippett MAD GOD

Celeste Bell & Paul Sng POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ

 

 

Art
(in no order)

Charles Ray RETROSPECTIVE (Pinault Collection/Centre Pompidou)

Paul Sietsema (Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris)

Xinyi Cheng (Lafayette Anticipations)

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster OPERA (QM.15) (Pinault Collection, Paris)

David Levine DISSOLUTION (Jeu de Paume)

Laura Henno GE OURYAO! POURQUOI T’AS PEUR! (Palais de Tokyo)

Morgan Fisher PAINTINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS (Galerie Mitterrand, Paris)

Martin Kersels HOME SWEET HOME (Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris)

Luc Tuymans ETERNITY (David Zwirner, Paris)

Charles Gaines (Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris)

 

 

Internet
(in no order)

SCAB
The Wire
Bookforum
GAMESCENES
Small Press Distribution
X-R-A-Y
{ feuilleton }
Please Kill Me
Rhizome
Theme Park Review
TOWARDS CYCLOBE
Musique Machine
Original Cinemaniac
Fanzine
Volume 1 Brooklyn
Experimental Cinema
The Los Angeles Review of Books
3:AM Magazine
largehearted boy
pantaloons
Harriet
Open Culture
Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets
giphy
The Wonderful World of Tam Tam Books
Hobart
Ubuweb

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. There are my faves of the year so far as best I can recollect them, and I’m hoping to find out some of your 2022 faves in return. No obligation, of course, but it would be cool. ** David Ehrenstein, That’s quite a story. Bit of a whopper, but still. I’m sure I told you I briefly met Nico and Ari once at the Pyramid Club in NYC. They were both strung out and looking for heroin, and they didn’t look their best, let’s say. ** _Black_Acrylic, Wow, so it’s finally happening. That’ll be fascinating to watch play out. Highly hopeful for the result you want, which would very beneficial for us over here too, needless to say. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh. I hadn’t heard he killed his bodyguard, whoa. He is sadly quite rightwing, has publicly sympathised with the far right and made disturbingly Islamophobic remarks in recent years. But, yes, quite the ultimate star. ** Steve Erickson, Hey. I’ll make a beeline for ‘Who Killed My Father’ then. Should be easy to find in English here somewhere. ** Bill, Cool, my first return 2022 tip. Thanks! I will most certainly find it wherever it is. ** Okay. That was easy. So, hit me up with some faves if you don’t mind, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

21 Comments

  1. _Black_Acrylic

    Film:
    The Scary of Sixty-First (Dasha Nekrasova)
    Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond)
    Drive My Car (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

    Fiction:
    Jenni Fagan – Hex (Polygon)
    Audrey Szasz – Zealous Immaculate (Amphetamine Sulphate)
    Alexandrine Ogundimu – Agitation (Amphetamine Sulphate)
    Meg McCarville – Jonbenet Dreams of Being Shirley Temple: 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

    Nonfiction:
    Phil Hay – And it was Beautiful: Marcelo Bielsa and the Rebirth of Leeds United (Seven Dials)

  2. Impossible Princess

    Dennis! Your list is making me feel like a total philistine! Tell me how you make the time & focus to engage with so much art… Do you have specific reading hours every day? As you know, I’ve been struggling with my reading a bit recently; could be because we’re moving, so currently I don’t have the physical or mental space for much reading. Once I’ll have my own study, this will change for sure! Also, weird thing: I imagined I commented under your previous post, but I didn’t… anyway, it was so beautiful & sexy! A great prelude to your incoming boy post, which I’ve been awaiting.

  3. David Ehrenstein

    Sad to syaI haven’t kept up with recent developments in the arts.

    I just heard Woddy Allen is ann9uncng his retirement. His last film barey played anywhere and I messed it’sL/A.Screenngs.

    Godard has also retired.

  4. Kat

    Hi Dennis! I love reading your best of lists. Is this the first time a Kendrick album has featured? The first time I listened to it I wasn’t into it but I’ve found myself going back to it a lot. It’ll be interesting to see where it falls after some time has passed, but I think it might be one of his best. I liked the record by They Hate Change this year, and I had liked the first 700 Bliss tracks but haven’t listened to the album yet.

    Apart from that I’ve spent time this year in the discord server for Holiday clothing brand. Interesting how people interact there and how they view clothing, fit pics etc.

    Hope you’re well and thanks for sharing

  5. Thomas Kendall

    Oh wow, thanks man. Weird to see my work in such great company. Weird in an excellent way. Cheers

  6. Tosh Berman

    Fascinating list Dennis. On your list I have read David Trinidad’s DIGGING TO WONDERLAND: MEMORY PIECES which is excellent. And the Cookie Mueller book as well, which is great. By coincendence, I’m expecting in the mail the new Ashbery and the memoir ALSO A POET: FRANK O’HARA, MY FATHER, AND ME. Bought them both at Skylight Books.

    My choices:
    Essays Two by Lydia Davis
    Try Saying You’re Alive! by Kazuki Tomokawa
    The Very Last Interviews by David Shields (NYRB)
    Private Notebooks by Ludwig Wittgenstein (translated by Marjorie Perioff
    Everybody Thought We Were Crazy by Mark Rozzo
    The Cookie Mueller on your list
    The David Trinidad on your list
    Pin-ups 1972 by Peter Stanfield
    And a book I super love is Martian Dawn and other Novels by Michael Friedman. You know this book!

    Films:
    I discovered the films of Richard Linklater, who I somehow missed throughout the decades. I love his work.
    “Elvis” the film-bio which I think is great. (saw it in a theater, a must in theater or airplane)
    “The Hole” by Tsai Ming-liang (on Criterion Channel)
    Eagle Pennell films (on Criterion channel)
    Ashes and Diamonds by Wadja
    World on a Wire by Fassbinder

    Music: Not new releases, but new to me:
    Jacno: French Paradoxe
    M B V by My Bloody Valentine
    Pavement: Slanted and Enchanted
    Foolish Seasons by Dana Gillespie
    Ruth – Polaroid/Roman/Photo
    and all Chocolate Watch Band albums

  7. Conrad

    Hi Dennis !

    Thank you for your little list from last Saturday ! Wow, I have to see Martin Kersels, it looks so cool ! miam And the rest too. I’m really curious about the Laura Henno show + the films : Benediction (can’t find it anywhere…) etc.

    I’d really like to read the little book about music by J. Ashbery.

    Well my list would be way shorter than yours (and with older things, since I am slow…) :

    Films :
    Thom Andersen, Reconversao
    Thom Andersen, Zoopraxographer
    Len Lye (here)
    Martin Arnold (here)
    Straub-Huillet, Sicilia
    Morgan Fisher, Another Movie
    Harilay Rabenjamina, Le nez de ma mère
    Artavazd Pelechian, La nature

    Shows (in fact the only ones I have seen in fact) :
    David Hammons (Bourse de commerce)
    Charles Ray (Bourse de commerce / Pompidou)
    Allemagne années 20 (Pompidou)
    Harilay Rabenjamina, Le nez de ma mère (Goswell Road)
    Paint, painting, painter (Le Shed)
    Wang Bing (Le Bal)

    And music :
    Elvin Brandhi (live), Yeah You (live), Alex G (live), Mahler symphony n°4 (concert), Holly Herndon (a song : An Exit), Grouper : Shade + everything else, always, Basinski+Schaefer, Matmos + B. Schaeffer, Fennesz : Hotel Parallel
    and I just listened to this Trevor Dunn / SpermChurch album : it’s very good

    And books :
    Pierre Guyotat, Antoine Volodine, Janice Galloway, Avital Ronell (Stupidity)

    Yours,
    Conrad

  8. Sypha

    Well, as usual, I’ll refrain from posting mine as I’m a stickler for waiting until the year is up (but you already knew I was going to say that, no?) I will say that I do agree with some of these book selections though.

  9. Steve Erickson

    FAVORITE ALBUMS:Afrorack-s/t

    Belle and Sebastian-A BIT OF PREVIOUS
    Benny the Butcher-TANA TALK 4
    Black midi-HELLFIRE

    Burial-ANTIDAWN

    Chrisman-MAKILA

    Alison Cotton-THE PORTRAIT YOU PAINTED OF ME

    Destroyer-LABYRINTHITIS

    Mary Halvorson-BELLADONNA

    Hurray for the Riff Raff-LIFE ON EARTH

    MUNA-s/t

    Mutually Assured Destruction-ASCENSION
    Obongjayar-SOME NIGHTS I DREAM OF DOORS

    Rosalia-MOTOMAMI

    Vince Staples-RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART

    Stray Kids-ODDINARY

    Stromae-MULTITUDE

    They Hate Change-FINALLY, NEW

    Hikaru Utada-BAD MODE

    Yung Kayo-DTK

    FILMS:
    AHED’S KNEE (Nadav Lapid)

    BENEDICTION (Terence Davies)

    FABIAN: GOING TO THE DOGS (Dominik Graf)

    FEAST (Tim Leydekker)

    GREAT FREEDOM (Sebastian Meise)

    JACKASS FOREVER (Jeff Tremaine)

    MAD GOD (Phil Tippett)

    NEPTUNE FROST (Saul Williams & Amalia Uzman)

    POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ (Celeste Bell & Paul Sng)

    SEMIOTIC PLASTIC (Radu Jude)

    WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR (Jane Schoenbrun)

    I wrote a new song, “Cobalt,” intended as a teaser for an album I’ll drop next month: https://callinamagician.bandcamp.com/track/cobalt?from=fanpub_fnb_trk

  10. Misanthrope

    Dennis, I’m seeing some books I need to get. And other things I need to see.

    I’ve not really read/heard/seen anything new this year or that came out this year. Can’t think of a one. What, the new Dr. Strange movie? Idk.

    Really, the office life isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. I understand the whole worker bee/drone stereotype and it can be that. But if you’re doing something you like, you work with good people, and the commute isn’t hellish, it can be quite fun. It’s like that where I am, except that the commute is hellish, which negates most of it. Otherwise, it IS fun to me.

    But…I went over to see one coworker I’m quite close to. She was sat in her cubicle and I stood outside. We chatted for about 5 mins or so? First about something she wanted to work on (and later decided to do on her own without me, which was fine) and then a little “How are ya?” stuff. Then…she goes, “I wasn’t feeling so great this morning. Woke up with a scratchy throat.” I say, “You’ve probably got covid.” “Well, I took a test this morning and it was negative, so…”

    That was Monday. She texted yesterday that she tested positive for the ‘ro yesterday. Thanks! Not.

    Of course, you know me. I’m such a hypochondriac and so psychosomatic, that I’ve been feeling weird ever since. I took our last at-home test and it was negative. Still feel funny, though. I know it’s in my head, but still…WTF?

    I’ll stop faking it eventually. And probably sooner rather than later. 😀

  11. Stephen M

    Hi Dennis, fantastic list as usual full of personal blind spots I’m eager to fill. In brief, here’s mine:

    FILM:
    – The Novelist’s Film (Sangsoo)
    – Crimes of the Future (Cronenberg) [would love to know your thoughts on this one if you’ve seen it]
    – Ambulance (Bay)
    – RRR (Rajamouli)
    – Kimi (Soderbergh)

    MUSIC:
    – HUSK, Devin Hopwood
    – SICK!, Earl Sweatshirt
    – POMPEII, Cate Le Bon
    – 2 ALIVE, Yeat
    – Like a Fable, Shintaro Sakamoto
    – EYEYE, Lykke Li
    – EVISCERATED, funeral
    – CAPRISONGS, FKA Twigs
    – WHICH END?, tropes
    – CREST, Bladee & Ecco2k
    – DFTK, Yung Kayo
    – RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART, Vince Staples

    BOOKS (mostly ones I’m anticipating, a few I’ve gotten to already)
    – Maierhofer’s Lungfish
    – Butler’s Aannex
    – both Dorothy releases, plus the two forthcoming from Amina Caine and Giada Scodellaro (I’m an intern with Dorothy, so I got early access)
    – Dennis Lim’s Tale of Cinema
    – Camilla Grudova’s Children of Paradise
    – Ashton Politanoff’s You’ll Like it Here
    – Kathryn Scanlan’s Kick the Latch

    Eager to go through the comments and see other’s lists too. Thx!

    • Stephen M

      Shoot, forgot to mention the forthcoming Peter Christopher from 11:11 (I have the arc and it’s phenomenal), Kathryn Davis’s memoir, and Sorokin’s Their Four Hearts (tr. Max Lawton)

  12. ANGUSRAZE

    Hey Dennis!

    Hope you are doing ok, so sorry I havent messaged in a bit been busy doing a fuckton of overtime at work, trying to save money for this festival im playing, I’ve been keeping at the gym, im making some crazy progress, here is a recent photo: https://twitter.com/ANGUSRAZE/status/1539991059362713606

    As for favs, Motomami by Rosalia is defo one of my top five albums of the year, Your book Closer is one of my fav books alongside Confessions of A Mask by Yukio Mishima, and movies? Idk I havent watched many movies, theres a couple of pornos that were cool but I really enjoyed House, the japanese horror film, as well as Fallen Angels, and Happy Together.

    Let me know how u have been!

    Lots of love

    Ryan

  13. L@rst

    D-

    Let me get back to you, I’m too frazzled getting ready for a vacation to look up what came out when… but I will, in the meantime I look forward to exploring your list…
    I’m heading to my homeland, the beaches of NJ. Been quite awhile.

    Not 2022 related but I just read 2 books by Sarah Moss: The Ghost Wall and Summer Water and I would highly recommend them both. They are short and creepy and atmospheric and totally plausible.

    See you soon, and know that I’m lurking around!

    -L

  14. maggie siebert

    hiiii dennis!! another fantastic list as expected. of course happy to see hunchback on there, both because chris is a friend and it’s one of my favorite books ever. i was really baked when the cover art for the new edition was revealed on twitter and was convinced i was having some stendhal-esque reaction to it. incredibly excited to read the latest from blake, elle, audrey and grant as well. in truth i’ve been horrible about reading this year period, to say nothing of keeping up on new releases (although i did make it to third world magicks and liked it quite a bit.) i have been spending most of my time fussing with equipment and getting back into record collecting. finding it fulfilling but i’ve also been inevitably retreating into the past.

    that said! two things that have really struck me are joel potrykus’ short film ‘thing from the factory by the field’ and old nick’s “ghost o’clock” ep. both have a lot of levity which i have sort of needed lately. you might find more to like in the former but you never know.

    hope you make it to nyc sometime soon! we’re clamoring for it! xoxo

  15. Bill

    Thanks for the exciting mid-2022 lists, Dennis and everyone. I’m waiting impatiently for Benediction (among other things) to show up locally. Here are my favorites (with some 2021 pubs etc sneaking in):

    Fiction:
    RE Katz, And Then the Gray Heaven
    Elizabeth Stintz, My Volcano
    Neel Patel, Tell Me How to Be
    Percival Everett, The Trees
    Brooks Sterritt, The History of America in My Lifetime

    Non-fiction:
    Jack Lowery, It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
    Peter Staley, Never Silent: ACT UP and My Life in Activism
    Glenn Frankel, Shooting Midnight Cowboy

    Film:
    You Won’t Be Alone (dir. Goran Stolevski)
    Bestia (dir. Hugo Covarrubias)
    Hellbender (dir. Toby Poser)
    Flee (dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
    We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (dir. Jane Schoenbrun)
    Nightmare Alley (dir. del Toro)
    The Sixth Reel (dir. Charles Busch)
    Flux Gourmet (dir. Peter Strickland)

    Music:
    Puntigram/Keller/Wilbertz, Und Ja, and Yes
    David Ross/Clive Bell, Garuda vs Naga
    Neural Goldberg, doppler doppelgänger
    Allum/Butcher/Prevost etc, Sounds of Assembly
    Francois Houle/Marco von Orelli, Make That Flight

    Art:
    Gwenael Ratkke at Romer Young
    Neri Oxman at SFMOMA

    Bill

  16. fervorxo

    Hey Dennis, hope you’re well 🙂

    I can only trade some music, I haven’t read or seen too much from this year so far… yet! Thanks as always for the pointers

    The Body + OAA – Enemy of Love
    Collapsed Skull – Eternity Maze
    Drain Gang – Crest
    Duster – Together
    Guerrilla Toss – Famously Alive
    L.I.B. – Men’s Health
    Moreru – 山田花子
    Namasenda – Unlimited Ammo: Infinity
    Narc – A Waste of Good Suffering
    Perfume Genius – Ugly Season
    Rejoice – Promo 2022
    Rosalia – Motomami
    Stomach – Demo

    Cheers!

  17. Derek McCormack

    Thank you, thank you, thank you—it delights me to death to be on this list! Love, Derek

  18. Jeff J

    Hey Dennis – Always nice to see these lists. I had no idea Blake Butler released a new novel. Is it in the vein of Alice Knott or something else again?

    I’m far behind on my reading, finally starting Thomas Kendall’s book and just got a copy of the new James Greer. Looks like a number of interesting titles coming from And Other Stories. In terms of graphic novels, I dug the four volumes of Taiyo Matsumoto’s bizarro manga ‘No. 5.’

    Musically, I’ll second the Destroyer and SY albums. Just got the new Matmos and been enjoying it so far. And I really want that new Carl Stone. Is it similar to his recent ones?

    My other picks:
    -Non Band ‘Non Band’ (reissue of great Japanese post-punk from 1982, on Bandcamp)
    -Broadcast ‘Mother is the Milky Way’
    -Elaine Radigue ‘Occam XXV’
    -Wire ‘Not About to Die’

    Interesting to see ‘Benediction’ on your list. I haven’t liked the past few Terrence Davies all that much (esp. the Emily Dickinson one). Is this a return to form?

    I saw ‘Memoria’ last night which wouldn’t make any list of mine. I didn’t dislike it as much as you – there were scenes and moments I found engaging, but it seemed to add up to nada. Many of the same preoccupations about dream, shared memories, etc are in ‘Cemetery of Splendor,’ but I thought that was far more successful. Too many scenes in this felt bland to me, not charged by performance or narrative. And other times, it seemed to be trying too hard (spaceship, ghostly voiceovers).

    My friend Ross who ran the Rivette site loved the movie & had a theory about how this was organized as little cells of narrative infecting each other like the disease Tilda’s character is studying. Which is an interesting idea, I just didn’t feel that.

    What exactly didn’t work for you about the film?

  19. blake

    Thank you Dennis, always an honor to be included on these lists that I love so much from you. Hunchback 88 was a trip. I haven’t read a lot from this year but many are on here; i also loved Police Lucifer, which i wish was longer, and sommer browning’s new book of poems. And I Wished was just so moving and exciting to finally read; it’s been staying close with me ever since. god i feel i have so much to say about it but hopefully we’ll end up in the same place soon enough again. big love to you as always my friend, sending good energy, b

  20. Brian

    Hey, Dennis,

    Brian from several months ago here. I haven’t written in so long because of the schoolwork I was swamped with in April and May and the consequent crash in June, but I’ve been keeping up with the blog nearly every day and been delighted by everything you’ve shared, as always. Now hoping to resume my vocal locality on here after the lengthy trip away. I do hope all has been well with you?

    Your 2022 list is much lengthier and more formidable than mine. I own a copy of “Liarmouth” (I was fortunate enough to get it personalized by John at a signing) but haven’t gotten around to it just yet—its inclusion here is another extremely good omen for when I do. In all honesty, the only 2022 thing I really feel strongly about so far, come to think of it, is Terence Davies’ “Benediction”, which I’m very glad to see included here. I’ve caught it three times in theaters this past month out of obsession. It is the single most emotionally affecting experience with a movie I can remember having in recent years, potentially since I was a child. (No-one has to go so far as that to think the film is the excellent piece of work it is, of course.) I’d be very curious as to your own thoughts on it. The rest of your list I will have to catch up with. Particularly Jane Schoenbrun’s film—my friends are absolutely wild about it.

    As I said, I really hope the end of June finds you as well as you’ve ever been. All the best!

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