The end-of-the-year lists post

Here as we come to the end of another year, and everyone makes up best-of-2008 lists, I have compiled a list of my own, because, I like to make lists, and I listened to a lot of cool music and read a lot of good books this year. So, here goes:

Best albums of 2008 (at least of the ones I've gotten around to listening to)

1. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
2. Sloan - Parallel Play
3. The 77s - Holy Ghost Building
4. Fleshtones - Take a Good Look
5. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
6. Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams
7. Devotchka - A Mad and Truthful Telling
8. Marco Benevento - Invisible Baby
9. Calexico - Carried to Dust
10. Woven Hand – Ten Stories
11. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
12. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
13. Los Campenisnos – Hold on Now, Youngster
14. Dengue Fever – Venus on Earth
15. Sparks – Exotic Creatures of the Deep
16. David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
17. She and Him - Volume One
18. Copeland - You Are My Sunshine
19. Lovedrug - The Sucker Punch Show
20. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend


Best songs of 2008 (songs not listed in order of favorite to least favorite, but listed as the way I would have them flow in a mix CD)

1. "Constructive Summer" - The Hold Steady
2. "Believe in Me" – Sloan
3. "Halfway Home" – TV on the Radio
4. "Against the Skyline" – Oh Darling
5. "The News" – Carbon/Silicon
6. "Swimming Pools" – Thao
7. "Two Silver Pools" – Calexico
8. "Going Back to School" – Fleshtones
9. "Lost Coastlines" – Okkervil River
10. "The Real Morning Party" – Marco Benevento
11. "Lighten Up, Morrisey" - Sparks
12. "Strange Overtones" – David Byrne and Brian Eno
13. "The Clockwise Witness" - Devotchka
14. "White Winter Hymnal" – Fleet Foxes
15. "Blood Like" – Lovedrug
16. "I’ll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers" – The 77s
17. "Absence" – Carrie Rodriguez
18. "A&E" – Goldfrapp
19. "Cathedrals" - Joan Osborne
20. "Out Like Bats" – Tu Fawning
21. "My Favorite Year" – Destroyer


Best live concerts I attended in 2008:

1. Michael Farris - Cornerstone 2008
2. Bruce Springsteen - Scotttrade Center, St. Louis
3. New Pornographers/Okkervil River - The Orpheum, Madison, WI
4. Sloan - Dante's, Portland, OR
5. The Swell Season - The Pageant, St. Louis
6. Devotchka - The Pageant, St. Louis
7. Caedmon's Call - Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI
8. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - The Pageant, St. Louis
9. The 77s - Cornerstone 2008
10. MeWithoutYou - Off Broadway, St. Louis
11. Neko Case - The Pageant, St. Louis
12. IlyAimy - Saint Charles Coffee House, St. Charles, MO
13. Calexico - Blueberry Hill, St. Louis
14. Resurrection Band - Cornerstone 2008
15. Destroyer - Blueberry Hill, St. Louis

Favorite books I've read in 2008:

1. So Young, Brave, and Handsome - Leif Enger
2. Winter's Tale - Mark Helprin
3. Watchmen- Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
4. Cyndere's Midnight - Jeffrey Overstreet
5. Acedia and Me: Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life - Kathleen Norris
6. Fieldwork - Mischa Berlinski
7. Freddy and Frederika - Mark Helprin
8. My Name is Russell Fink - Michael Snyder
9. Danny Gospel - David Athey
10. The Infinite Day - Chris Walley
11. The Battle for Vast Dominion - George Bryan Povlika
12. Sweethearts - Sara Zarr
13. Merciless - Robin Parrish
14. The Shadow and Night - Chris Walley
15. The Next Christendom - Phillip Jenkins

Best books I've read in 2008 that were published in 2008

1. So Young, Brave, and Handsome - Leif Enger
2. Cyndere's Midnight - Jeffrey Overstreet
3. Fieldwork - Mischa Berlinski
4. Acedia and Me: Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life - Kathleen Norris
5. The Infinite Day - Chris Walley
6. My Name is Russell Fink - Michael Snyder
7. Danny Gospel - David Athey
8. The Battle for Vast Dominion - George Bryan Povlika
9. Sweethearts - Sara Zarr
10. Summa Elvetica - Theodore Beale
11. Merciless - Robin Parrish
12. Hero, Second Class - Mitchell Bonds

OK, enough lists for now. More to come next year.