Dilettante's Diary

Favourite Works: 2004-2013

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Oct 29/15
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July 29, 2015
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May 19/15
Apr 30/15
Apr 19/15
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March 23/15
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Winter Reading 2015
Feb 20/15
Feb 8/15
Jan 29/15
Jan 20/15
Highs 'N Lows of 2014
Dec 19/14
Dec 2/14
Nov 10/14
Oct 29/14
Fall Reading 2014
Sept 17/14
Summer Reading 2014
Aug 22/14
Aug 8/14
July 11/14
June 16/14
May 28/14
Apr 30/14
Apr 16/14
Apr 2/14
March 21, 2014
March 13/14
Feb 11/14
Sept 23/13
Favourite Works: 2004-2013
Two Novels by BARBARA PYM
Sabbath's Theater by PHILIP ROTH
July 18/13
Summer Reading 2013
June 19/13
May 30/13
Spring Reading 2013
May 10/13
Apr 18/13
Mar 29/13
March 14, 2013
The Artist Project 2013
Feb 25/13
Winter Reading 2013
Feb 7/13
Jan 22/13
Jan 12/13
A Toast to 2012
Dec 19/12
Dec 16/12
Dec 4/12
Fall Reading 2012
Nov 17/12
Nov 6/12
Art Toronto 2012
Oct 23/12
Oct 4/12
Sept 28/12
Summer Reading 2012
Aug 26/12
Aug 8/12
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2012
July 14/12
June 28/12
MIMC
May 27/12
May 20/12
May 4/12
La Traviata: Met's Live HD Version
Apr 21/12
Apr 6/12
Mar 22/12
Mar 9/12
The Artist Project 2012
Academy Awards Show 2012
Feb 26/12
Feb 11/12
Jan 23/12
Jan 15/12
Jan 7/12
Dec 20/11
Dec 12/11
Nov 27/11
Nov 18/11
Nov 7/11
Art Toronto 2011
Oct 22/11
Oct 17/11
Sept 30, 2011
Summer Reading 2011
Aug 11/11
July 28, 2011
July 19/11
TOAE 2011
June 25/11
June 20/11
June 2/11
May 14/11
Apr 29/11
Toronto Art Expo 2011
Apr 11/11
March 24/11
The Artist Project 2011
March 11/11
Feb 23/11
Feb 7/11
Jan 21/11
HIGHS 'N LOWS OF 2010
Jan 17/11
Dec 21/10
Dec 6/10
Nov 11/10
Fall Reading 2010
Oct 22/10
Summer Reading 2010
Aug 9/10
Aug 2/10
TOAE 2010
July 16/10
The Shack
June 27/10
June 3/10
May 5/10
April 17/10
Mar 28/10
Mar 17/10
The Artist Project 2010
Toronto Art Expo 2010
Feb 22/10
Feb 3/10
Notables of '09
Jan 11/10
Dec 31/09
Dec 17/09
How Fiction Works
Nov 24/09
Sex for Saints
Nov 11/09
Housekeeping
Oct 22/09
Oct 6/09
Sept 18/09
Aug 23/09
July 31/09
July 17/09
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2009
Toronto Fringe 2009
Zen Wrapped In Karma Dipped In Chocolate
June 28/09
June 6/09
Myriad Mysteries 2009
May 10/09
CBC Radio -- "The New Two"
April 14/09
March 24/09
Toronto Art Expo '09
March 1/09
The Jesus Sayings
Feb 8/09
Jan 26/09
Jan 10/09
Stand-outs of 2008
Dec 24/08
Dec 4/08
Nov 16/08
Oct 27/08
Oct 16/08
Sept 26/08
Sept 5/08
July 21/08
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition 08
July 5/08
June 23/08
June 4/08
May 18/08
May 4/08
April 16/08
March 26/08
Head to Head
Feb 26/08
Feb 13/08
Jan 30/08
Jan 17/08
Notables of 2007
Dec 30/07
Dec 8/07
Nov 22/07
Oct 25/07
Oct 4/07
Sept 18/07
Aug 29/07
Aug 8/07
Summer Mysteries '07
July 20/07
June 28/07
June 8/07
May 21/07
May 2/07
April 14/07
March 23/07
Toronto Art Expo 2007
March 8/07
Feb 16/07
Feb 2/07
Jan 24/07
Notables of 2006
Dec 27/06
December 11/06
November 28/06
Nov 8/06
October 14/06
Sept 22/06
Ring Psycho (Wagner on CBC Radio)
Sept 6/06
August 12/06
July 18/06
June 27/06
June 9/06
May 23/06
Me In Manhattan
May 2/06
April 12/06
March 17/06
March 9/06
Feb 16/06
Feb 1/06
Jan 11/06
Dec 31/05
Dec 12/05
Nov 25/05
Nov 4/05
Oct 24/05
Sept 7/05
Sept 16/05
Sept 1/05
Aug 10/05
July 21/05
Me and the Jays
July 10/05
June 15/05
May 18/05
April 27/05
April 18/05
April 8/05
March 21/05
Feb 28/05
Feb 21/05
Feb 4/05
Jan 28/05
Jan 19/05
Jan 5/05
About Me
Dec 20/04
Dec 5/04
MOVIES
BOOKS
RE-READINGS
MYSTERIES/CRIME books
VIDEOS and DVDs
PLAYS
OTHER STUFF: Art Exhibitions, Concerts, etc.

The FInal Round-up!

You might be interested to know what have been some of the most notable works, for me, in these past nine years of reading and watching and listening. As you know, I prefer to avoid rankings of "best" and "worst" but I’m happy to mention some of the works that have stood out for me. They may not be the works that are the most noble or the most lofty in the opinions of some people, but they’re the ones that had the biggest impact on me and gave me the fondest memories. In some cases, my original reviews of these works may not have been unreservedly laudatory. If such a work appears on this list, though, that means it made a stronger impression in retrospect.

You’ll also be aware that some of the works reviewed on this website didn’t make their first appearance in the world in recent years. (The pages on which they were reviewed are indicated in brackets.)

A reminder: In the first months of Dilettante’s Diary, works were filed by genre rather than by dated pages. That’s why you find some early reviews on pages labelled "BOOKS,’"MOVIES" etc. Those pages are listed at the bottom of the navigation bar.

Movies:

A Mighty Heart (June 28/07)

A Prairie Home Companion (June 27/06)

Argo (Oct 13/12)

Before Sunrise (Videos and DVDs page)

Boy A (Sept 5/08)

Brothers (June 15/05)

Hunger (April 14/09)

I, Claudia (Feb 28/05)

If... (March 26/08)

Kenny (March 26/08)

The King’s Speech (Dec 21/10)

Le Grand Silence (July 20/07)

L’Enfant (April 12/06)

Lincoln (Dec 4/12)

Little Miss Sunshine (Sept 6/06)

Mama Mia! (July 21/08)

Me, You and Everyone We Know (Sept 1/05)

Of Gods and Men (March 11/11)

Police, Adjective (Jan 7/12)

The Queen (Oct 14/06)

Restrepo (Aug 2/10)

Schultze Gets the Blues (March 21/05)

The Secret in their Eyes (May 5/10)

The Social Network (Oct 22/10)

The Soloist (Dec 31/09)

Somewhere (Jan 21/11)

This Is England (Nov 22/07)

Two Lovers (May 10/09)

Vera Drake (Movie page)

Winter’s Bone (July 16/10)

Zero Dark Thirty (Feb 7/13)

 

Books:

Fiction:

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (Jan 5/05)

At Swim Two Boys by Jamie O’Neil (Books Page)

Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan (Summer Reading 2010)

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (Spring Reading 2013)

Cathedral: Short Stories by Ramond Carver (Nov 8/06)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Winter Reading 2010)

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (A page of its own, between Nov 11/09 and Oct 22/09)

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (Aug 9/10)

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (Feb 16/07)

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (June 8/07)

The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn (Spring Reading 2013)

Room by Emma Donoghue (Dec 6/10)

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño (June 4/08)

The Sweetest Dream by Doris Lessing (Books Page)

Where I’m Calling From: Short Stories by Raymond Carver (Nov 8/06)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Spring Reading 2013)

Non-fiction:

Darwin: A Sense of Place by Janet Browne (Books Page)

The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow (Summer Reading 2010)

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (May 21/07)

Hardcore Zen by Brad Warner (Feb 26/08)

The Judgement of Paris by Ross King (Jan 30/08)

Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralnick (Summer Reading 2010)

The Paris and New York Diaries of Ned Rorem 1951-1961 by Ned Rorem (Feb 23/11)

Quiet by Susan Cain (Winter Reading 2013)

Remembering Mr. Shawn’s New Yorker by Ved Mehta (Summer Reading 2010)

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Winter Reading 2013)

What Paul Meant by Garry Willis (Nov 11/09)

Crime/Mystery:

Gone Girl by Jillian Flynn (Oct 4/12)

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Nov 11/09)

One Shot by Lee Child (Summer Mysteries 07)

 

Music:

La Fille du Regiment, Met Opera HD Live Transmission (April 16/08)

The Magic Flute, Kenneth Branagh’s film of the opera (March 24/09)

La Sonnambula, Met Opera HD Live Transmission (March 24/09)

La Traviata – Met Opera HD Live Transmission (A page of its own, listed on the navigation bar between April 21/12 and May 4/12)

Rigoletto, Met Opera HD Live Transmission (Feb 25/13)

 

Theatre:

Ah, Wilderness! (Plays page)

All in the Timing (Feb 11/12)

Bigger Than Jesus (Dec 5/04)

Glorious (December 11/06)

Hamlet, Necessary Angel Production (Nov 24/09)

Hockey: The Musical! (July 5/08)

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (April 14/09)

Noises Off (Plays page)

Sur le Fil (Jan 24/07)

Vigil (Plays page)

 

Art Work:

Given that I’ve looked at the work of thousands of artists in the past nine years, it would be impossible to for me to comb through my reviews to find the names of all the good ones. The artists I’m listing here, then, are those whose names pop into my mind because their work is very distinctive and because, in most cases, I’ve seen it many times. Inevitably, some excellent artists will inadvertently be omitted.

With regret, I’ve omitted the names of many friends in the Toronto Watercolour Society who are excellent artists. I found it impossible to make choices among them and, in any case, this list is about artists I’ve discovered through attending shows anonymously, not about artists who are my friends. I suggest that you go to the TWS website www.torontowatercoloursociety.com to discover the fine work of the society’s artists.

As for the artists listed here, in brackets you’ll find one or two pages on which their work is mentioned; most of them are mentioned on several pages. Rather than read my words about them, you should Google their names and find the images of their work for your own enjoyment.

Simon Andrew (Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2009)

Peter Barelkowski (Jan 11/10)

Anne Barkley (June 20/11)

Daniel Barkley (Nov 11/10)

Anthony Batten (Oct 17/11)

Michel Beaudoin (Toronto Art Expo 2010, listed just above the Feb 22/10 page)

David Brown ((Nov 11/10, Oct 4/12)

Simon Carter (Nov 11/10, Jan 21/11)

Ray Catell (Apr 1 6/08)

Tom Climent (Nov 11/10)

Timothy Daniels ( on "Head to Head" page, listed between Feb 26/08 and March 28/08)

Pat Fairhead (Nov 11/10)

Rachel Gareau (Sept 16/05)

Julia Gilmore (The Artist Project 2010)

Brian Harvey (Oct 23/12)

Thrush Holmes (Nov 18/11)

Jane Hunter (Dec 20/04, Oct 22/09)

Elizabeth Jaworski (Feb 2/07)

Alex Kanevsky (Nov 8/06, Nov 11/10)

James Lane ( on "Head to Head" page, listed between Feb 26/08 and March 28/08)

Brent Laycock (Nov 11/10)

Gordon Leverton (Oct 23/12)

Mary Anne Ludlam (Sept 16/05)

Linda Martinello (Nov 18/11)

Nancy Oakes (Dec 16/12, Feb 7/13)

Teodora Pica (Nov 17/12)

Dominique Prévost (Jan 21/11)

Dan Ryan (on "Head to Head" page, listed between Feb 26/08 and March 28/08)

Andrew Salgado (The Artist Project 2010, listed just below the page dated Mar 17/10)

Laurie Sponagle ( on "Head to Head" page, listed between Feb 26/08 and March 28/08)

Vivian Thierfelder (Nov 11/10)

Paul Robert Turner (on "Head to Head" page, listed between Feb 26/08 and March 28/08).

Yaohua Yan (TOAE 2010, listed between July 16/10 and Aug 2/10)

Micheal Zarowsky (on "Head to Head" page, listed between Feb 26/08 and March 28/08)

Ming Zhou (Aug 2/10, Feb 2/07, Oct 24/05)

You can still reach me at: patrick@dilettantesdiary.com