2024 was a decent year for reading and watching things, and I used Hardcover and Letterboxd to track each (both Goodreads and IMDB are owned by Amazon – no thanks).
At the start of the year I had a rough goal of reading ~12 books and just making use of the cinema Omnipass, and I did a decent job of both, up until I started travelling.
Highlights
The best new movies I watched:
| 🎬 Film | 📝 Notes |
|---|---|
| One Life | Familiar with this touching story via this vintage YouTube clip. |
| That They May Face the Rising Sun | A lovely, slow-moving story about rural Ireland back in the day. |
| Kneecap | Absolutely class. Irish culture on the rise. |
| The Iron Claw | Watched this tragic tale on the flight to Thailand. Dare I say it, Zac Efron for the Oscar over Cillian Murphy? 😬 |
As for books I would have to go with:
| 📖 Book | 📝 Notes |
|---|---|
| Open | Heard rave reviews about this from people whose opinion I value, and it was absolutely brilliant. Flew through it. |
| Night Boat to Tangier | Read this before going to Tangier. Good story and characters, and possibly going to be made into a movie. |
Reads
Some good new additions this year, as well as a rereading of some classics. I continued on with the Aisling series (comfort reading) and enjoyed Agassi and Ronnie’s autobiographies. Fun reading the Hobbit again for the first time in 20 years.
Towards the end of the year I shifted to more comics graphic novels, like the Dark Knight Returns – I found this to definitely be the weakest of the 80s Big Three (Maus and The Watchmen are both excellent). I then got through 12/29 Tintin books, having got the full collection earlier in the year.
| 📖 Title | ✍️ Author(s) | 📅 Finished |
|---|---|---|
| The Importance of Being Aisling | Emer McLysaght, Sarah Breen | 27 Jan |
| A Modest Proposal | Jonathan Swift | 27 Jan |
| The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien | 11 Feb |
| Open | Andre Agassi, J.R. Moehringer | 24 Mar |
| Unbreakable | Ronnie O'Sullivan | 30 May |
| Night Boat to Tangier | Kevin Barry | 13 Jun |
| Once, Twice, Three Times an Aisling | Emer McLysaght, Sarah Breen | 14 Aug |
| Brighton Rock | Graham Greene | 06 Sep |
| Tintin in the Land of the Soviets | Hergé | 22 Sep |
| Red Rackham’s Treasure | Hergé | 13 Oct |
| Burma Chronicles | Guy Delisle | 19 Nov |
| Batman: The Dark Knight Returns | Frank Miller | 22 Nov |
Watches
Got my money’s worth with the Omnipass this year, and then went to some of the more artsy movies at The Model.
According to Letterboxd, I logged 43 entries (seems a bit high) for films during 2024, with 12 of these being new releases.
Cinema
| 🎬 Film | 📅 Date |
|---|---|
| One Life | 11 Jan |
| Anatomy of a Fall | 01 Feb |
| The Holdovers | 09 Feb |
| Civil War | 15 Apr |
| Challengers | 29 Apr |
| That They May Face the Rising Sun | 08 May |
| Kneecap | 14 Aug |
| Deadpool & Wolverine | 15 Aug |
| The Teachers' Lounge | 26 Sep |
| Rose | 03 Oct |
| The Outrun | 07 Oct |
| Small Things Like These | 11 Nov |
That’s not the full story, as it was a great year for showing classics in the cinema, with many 30 year anniversary films like Forrest Gump, Trainspotting, Pulp Fiction and then some Star Wars showings which was great to see on the big screen.
The Phantom Menace deserves a nod – probably the best cinema experience of my life on the initial viewing in 1999, while on holidays in north Wales. I think it holds up well, with great action and the pod racing is class. But I had to laugh at the state of the opening crawl 😂
“Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute. The greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.”
Shows
I used be a fiend for shows but fallen off massively. Mostly watch Youtube videos on gaming/history these days.
But I did get into Mr Bates vs the Post Office in January and then Dopesick with the parents when it was on RTÉ.
Later in the year I got Apple TV and enjoyed STEVE! (Martin) - A Documentary in 2 Pieces and especially Slow Horses.
Have a fair few recommendations already for 2025 so will see how that goes.
DavAI SummAIriser
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