What I’ve watched

Key: (B) = book | (F) = film | (T) = television series | (P) = podcast series | (TH) = theater performance | (M) = musical performance | [R] = reread/rewatch/relisten | (Tk) = talk

• January
• 29
• Finished watching Hijack on Apple TV T Have not seen anything as tense in a long, long time.
• 27
• Saw The Holdovers at the Nuovo Sacher F Is the final message that privilege always wins in the end? Nevertheless, wonderful.
• 23
• Saw Wim Wenders' Perfect Days at the cinema F Lovely, gentle film, full of beautiful quiet touches.
• 22
• Started reading Brooklyn Crime Novel by Jonathan Lethem on Kindle B Too much geography, maybe.
• 21
• Finished reading Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit on Kindle B Incredibly well written and very illuminating. Now to reread Orwell.
• Started watching Hijack on Apple TV T Very taut.
• 19
• Finished watching Reacher s02 on Amazon Prime T Cartoonish violence and strength, and nobody left alive.
• 14
• Started watching Criminal Evidence on Apple TV T Looks to be very good.
• 12
• Watched Roleplay on Netflix F Pretty weak secret assassin stuff.
• 10
• Started reading Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit B Lovely rambling stuff that all ties together.
• 04
• Watched Equalizer 3 on Netflix F Good men doing bad things, in Sicily and the Amalfi.
• 02
• Started watching Reacher s02 on Amazon Prime T No change; Reacher is still Reacher, but we have back story.
• February
• 24
• Started reading The Last Life by Claire Messud B Promising, despite lots of adjectives.
• 23
• Started watching House of Cards s02 on Netflix T Mesmerising.
• 22
• Started watching Ferry The Series on Netflix T Life among the lowlifes.
• 21
• Finished watching House of Cards s01 on Apple TV T Kinda gripping to see all those bad people doing bad things.
• 15
• Finished reading Yellowface by R.F. Yuang B Hall of mirrors. White, yellow, white, yellow.
• 05
• Finished reading Brooklyn Crime Novel by Jonathan Lethem B Not so great. [Review]().
• 03
• Started watching the US House of Cards on Netflix T As good as the original?
• March
• 26
• Started watching The Gentlemen on Netflix T Good film, better TV?
• 22
• Watched My Generation on Hoopla F Michael Caine the perfect person to tell the story of London in the 1960s, and what a time it was to be alive.
• 17
• Finished watching Ferry: The Series on Netflix T Sometimes you just have to kill your best mate. Enough with the Belgian low-lifes.
• 15
• Started watching Masters of the Air on Apple TV T Such unrealistic hair, but otherwise engaging.
• April
• 30
• Started reading The Day Before Happiness by Erri De Luca B Rather wonderful. Spare and compassionate.
• 22
• Finished watching Masters of the Air on AppleTV T And a few of them lived happily ever after.
• 17
• Started watching Ripley on Netflix T Astonishing cinematography, redolent with menace, very watchable.
• 16
• Finished watching The Gentlemen on Netflix T Bloody marvellous, innit? Second series will surely disappoint.
• May
• 07
• Started watching Sugar s01 on AppleTV T Oh those demons!
• June
• 18
• Started watching Bodkin on Netflix T Very watchable tosh.
• Finished reading Napoleon: a life in gardens and shadows by Ruth Scurr B Fascinating and eminently readable.
• 13
• Started watching Presumed Innocent on AppleTV T Overwrought.
• 11
• Finished watching Jack Ryan s04 on Amazon Prime T Sheiss, aber gut gekocht.
• July
• 31
• Finished reading Brooklyn by Colm Toibìn B Absolutely delightful and, it seemed to me, insightful into lives and minds. A total gem.
• August
• 21
• Started watching Bad Monkey on AppleTV T Very entertaining, vintage Hiaasen; is this his first to be turned into a show?
• 20
• Finished watching Cowboy Cartel on AppleTV T Pretty good in the end, and I suppose they have to use actors, so yes, OK.
• Finished reading Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford B Simply wonderful, deeply satisying, not least the reason that jumps us into an alternative history.
• 19
• Finished watching Molly’s Game on AppleTV F Are we supposed to admire her unwavering moral compass?
• 16
• Watched The Instigators on AppleTV F Fun heist romp, but I’m not sure they instigated anything.
• 11
• Started watching Cowboy Cartel on AppleTV T We’ll see. Not absolutely convinced yet.
• 08
• Finished watching American Bufflo by Ken Burns on AppleTV T The usual schtick and a story I kind of knew but had no appreciation of the scale of the slaughter.
• 4
• Watched Klute on AppleTV F So good, and so genuinely creepy.
• 02
• Finished watching Presumed Innocent on AppleTV T What an appalling ending, after such a good series. Cop-out.
• September
Much happened, none of it recorded because holidays make these things unimportant. I read Colm Toibín's The Heather Ablaze and loved it. We watched a few episodes of Shogun and the original Beetlejuice; what was all the fuss about? And we watched Line of Duty. A lot.
• October
• 16
• Finished reading The Fraud by Zadie Smith B Absolute magic. The first of Smith's books I've read, which I did only because I had run out of fiction and The Squeeze had just bought it. After about five pages I simply could not put it down. Fiction is so much better than fact, sometimes.
• Finished watching Slow Horses s04 on Apple TV T Still gripping, but maybe sliding, a little? And yes, fiction is still so much better than fact, sometimes.
• 14
• Finished watching Line of Duty s06 on Acorn TV T and what a ride it was. Started at some point in September in Northern Ireland, where I am able to use iPlayer, and just squeezed in under the wire on a trial membership of Acorn TV, which seems to offer nothing else of interest. I wonder, in fact, how they snagged LoD. In any case, a stunningly effective long arc of drama. To me, the echoes of actual events -- Cyril Smith, Stephen Lawrence -- made it all the more believable, and the triumph of The Institution at the end all the more depressing. Jed Mercurio really is rather talented.
• November
• 24
• Watched Nomadland on AppleTV F Very engaging and, in its way, lyrical. Or maybe elegaic? Beautifully made.
• 23
• Started reading The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst B Back in the milieu, with an Italian flavour.
• 21
• Saw Parthenope at Cinema Intrastevere F Beautiful, strange, not entirely sure what was going on much of the time.
• 20
• Started watching Bad Sisters s02 on AppleTV TSuch good writing and acting. Who they gonna kill?
• Watched A Alma de um Ciclista on Amazon Prime FLovely gentle documentary about classic bicycles and their enthusiasts.
• 18
• Finished watching The Diplomat s02 on Netflix T Blimey! Didn't see that coming.
• 10
• Finished watching Lincoln Lawyer s03 on Netflix T Top second-tier stuff, watchable and crass at the same time.
• 07
• Finished reading Slow Horses by Mick Herron B gripping, despite having seen the TV show, with lots of interesting back story.