2024 was an inspiring year in which I visited a number of fascinating exhibitions. Despite some lengthy books I managed to reach my target of one book per week on average. Below I've listed some of the stand-out books that I read. The full list is here: just type 2024 in the search field.
Best Books: Fiction
Vasily Grossman: Life and Fate. It had been on my shelf for years and I finally came around to reading it. If you've read it I don't need to tell you that it is amazing. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it. Don't let the 900 pages scare you off. It's a page-turner.
Anton Chekhov: 52 Stories. I received this as a birthday present. A wonderful collection of short stories that have stood the test of time.
Stefan Zweig: Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers. Another classic and a wonderful novel full of nostalgia for pre-war Europe.
Martin MacInnes: In Ascension. A flawed masterpiece that I upgraded because I still think about it from time to time.
Best Books: Non-Fiction
Rick Rubin: The Creative Act. A Way of Being. An excellent book and one that I have recommended to friends and students.
Lorraine Daston: Rules. A Short History of What We Live By.
T.J. Clark: Picasso and Truth.
John Darwin: After Tamerlane. The Rise and Fall of Global Empires 1400-2000. Another book that had been on my shelf for years. A superb revisionist history of the world and a must read if you want to understand today's world.
Steven Nadler: Spinoza. A Life.
Jonathan Israel: Radical Enlightenment. Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750. I plan to read the sequels, if I can find the time, because that's another 3,000+ pages.
John Vaillant: Fire Weather. A True Story from a Hotter World. An account of the colossal wildfire that engulfed Fort McMurray, Canada in 2016. In the years since there have been many more equally devastating wildfires in Australia, California, Canada, Greece, Portugal, the list goes on and on. A sobering book.
Best Exhibitions
There's not much point in listing the best exhibitions, since most of these have already closed. However, some will travel to another location.
Pierre Huyghe: Liminal at the Punta della Dogana
Bande dessinée 1964-2024 at the Centre Pompidou
Paris 1874. Inventer l'Impressionisme at the Musée d'Orsay
Berlinde de Bruyckere: City of Refuge III
When We See Us at the Kunstmuseum Basel
Richard McGuire: Then and There. Here and Now at the Cartoonmuseum Basel
Best Albums
Charli XCX: Brat
Fontaines DC: Romance
Hilary Hahn: Eugene Ysaye. Six Sonatas For Violin Solo op.27
Felipe Lara: Portals
Age Veeros: Outlines of the Night
Best Films
The Zone of Interest
Anatomy of a Fall
Monster
Anora