Andrew McDonald

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

@RobynHitchcock @EugeneMirman Acid Bird, perhaps?

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

@IAmTheEggPod Tug of War with @i_am_mill_i_am at the beginning of Covid. Thank you for the pleasure you gave us at a very hard time.

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

In no order, here are my favorite 10 books read in 2021. (Plus The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, which had to go back to the library.) I started (and stopped) reading Portrait of a Lady in September 1995 so it was nice to restart, finish, and realize my 1995 self was wrong.

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

@TheyMayBeParted Oddly, he was there to help commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Beatles playing at Comiskey Park. I won a “guess the Beatle” photo contest that day and was given a Best of the Beatles DVD. (Still unwatched, I’m afraid)

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

Here are the 10 books I liked best this year. My favorite—much to my surprise—was The Magic Mountain, whose depiction of isolation and the passage of time resonated in 2020. Many thanks to Book Twitter and the inestimable @BacklistedPod for recommendations and companionship.

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

At last? @BeatlesPod

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

Very excited this package traveled 6,000 km to arrive in my mailbox today. Thanks @Teatlemania !

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

Well this is a nice surprise—@PLinUSA has sent me pies for waking up early each weekend to watch @AVFCOfficial. Thanks @ChicagoVillans #MyPLThanksgiving

[EggPod 🍏 @IAmTheEggPod]

At last! It’s official
https://t.co/2OLfYjUk0S

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

@Lloyd_Cole Just signed up!

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

@FarisAlikhan1 @scottjshapiro It is. It’s called a diaeresis and goes over the second vowel to indicate that it forms a separate syllable. The New Yorker seems to be only major publication that still does this.

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

And here’s my favorite two paragraphs read this year: Renata Adler describing the late 2010s in 1976’s Speedboat:

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

Fmr. President Obama and I apparently have three things in common: a birthday the first week of August, an often thankless devotion to the Chicago White Sox, and a desire to list our favorite books read in 2019. Here are mine:

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

@MelMelvin5 @rpm66 @JamieSpencr @anthonyewaller @GavinCoughlan @GordonPlace @tjc216 @fableboyblue @PavyJP @yashville @youngguv Apollo C. Vermouth

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

@mrhonorama @flyingmonkphoto I was too young for the Park West as well, but here’s my 1979-era cassette of the show thanks to WXRT.

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

Anyone can run a 5 minute mile on dry land, of course, but very few of us can keep up that pace in 70 feet of water. Thanks to my Nike running app, I am now able to offer visual proof of my unique gift.

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

There’s only one @IanTaylor7! @theglobepub @ChicagoVillans

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

5% of my followers have asked about favorites. Here’s maybe the top 10 with David Seabrook, Eve Babitz, and (ahem) Marcel Proust being perhaps the first among equals.

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

2018 seemed like a frightening year in many respects, but reading these books was an effective coping strategy. Thanks to @BacklistedPod, @Heaven_ali, and many others for suggestions and inspiration.

[Andrew McDonald @amcd1917]

@MelMelvin5 @JamieSpencr @anthonyewaller @GavinCoughlan @Gordon_Place @PavyJP @fableboyblue @tysegall This is great, Mel, though it’s going to take me half of 2019 to work my way through your list.