Behind the times

It's that time of year again for top-ten lists. Because I am karmically allergic to anything new, and because there are enough lists out there recapping 2008, my lists are of favorites I encountered this past year that were NOT produced in 2008. I would recommend the following titles to anyone in search of quality used material.


Books

1. Joe Gould's Secret, Joseph Mitchell (1996)
2. A Sense of the World, Jason Roberts (2007)
3. An American Requiem, James Carroll (1996)
4. One Drop, Bliss Broyard (2007)
5. Sex and Death to the Age of 14, Spalding Gray (1986)
6. Thunderstruck, Erik Larson (2007)
7. Ada Blackjack, Jennifer Niven (2003)
8. Memoir of the Bookie's Son, Sydney Offit (1995)
9. Running the Table, L. Jon Wertheim (2007)
10. The Earth Moved, Amy Stewart (2004)


Photography books

1. American Sports, Tod Papageorge (2007)
2. Iowa, Nancy Rexroth (1977)
2. South Central, Mark Steinmetz (2007)
3. Yoknapatawpha, Alain Desvergnes (1993)
4. Hackney Flowers, Stephen Gill (2007)
5. Outside and Inside America, Bill Dane (1993)
6. On the Sixth Day, Alessandra Sanguinetti (2005)
7. Shards of America, Phil Bergerson (2004)
8. Sunset Park, Thomas Roma (1998)
9. Landscapes, Ray K. Metzker (2000)


Films

1. Brother From Another Planet, John Sayles (1984)
2. The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominik (2007)
3. No Country For Old Men, Coen Bros. (2007)
4. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Peter Care (2002)
5. The Wife, Tom Noonan (1995)
6. I Like Killing Flies, Matt Mahurin (2004)
7. What Remains, Steven Cantor (2005)
8. Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant (2007)
9. 51 Birch Street, Doug Block (2005)
10. Juno, Jason Reitman (2007)


Music

1. Irresistable Impulse, James Chance (2003)
2. M.I.A., Kala (2007)
3. Silver and Gold, Prince Far I (1973)
4. His Band and The Street Choir, Van Morrison (1970)
5. Tago Mago, Can (1971)
6. Words Are Dead, Horse Feathers (2006)
7. Now You Know, Doug Martsch (2002)
8. End of Amnesia, M. Ward (2001)
9. One Foot In the Grave, Beck (1994)
10. Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits (1990)