The last couple of days, I’ve been repairing a hole in our dining room ceiling, sanding, priming, and painting. Meanwhile, I’ve had on Minnesota Public Radio and occasionally CNN. Everything is abuzz with list of “The Top _________ of 2006” (fill in the blank with “celebrities,” “movies,” “songs,” “albums,” “newsmakers,” and so on). Most of these, I have taken some issue with–either because I find the selections mundane or because I realize I haven’t digested enough of the music, film, and general culture of the year.
But, this leads me to ask: any “tops” of 2006 you’d like to share and comment on here?
Here are a few, from me:
Top novel: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (actually out in the U.S. from Graywolf Press in 2007).
Top poetry collection: Averno by Louise Gluck
Top movie: The Prestige
Top documentary: An Inconvenient Truth
Top song: “Hamburg Song” by Keane
Top political event: Democrats regaining Congress in November elections. Rumsfeld “resigns” shortly thereafter.
Top global events: Lack of global resolve over Darfur, Sudan. Continued unavailability of clean water to millions.
Top Minnesota event: The state sends first Islamic member of Congress to Washington in November election.
Top celebrity: Bono
I like the Keane selection. Really a great find. I thought the “Frog Prince” and “broken toy” also are quite noteworthy. Saw a review that had one of the songs as an homage to “zoo station”. I think even if all the songs were crap I might give the nod to the band for best cover art. I don’t know what it is about the cover, but I really like it. I still have yet to see an inconvenient truth, but it is on my list.