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)
