Mona Awad - Bunny

This is the type of novel I'm always seeking out, in more than one way - as readable lit-fic with a distinctive voice, an edge and a willingness to depart from 'realism' and the literal, and as a sharp-toothed campus-outsider satire (Heathers is mentioned). When it came to Bunny, I was there for all of that, and for the directness and (seeming) lack of subtlety about the central, somewhat gory metaphors - and appreciated the way it pays off the early doubts that it creates about its narrator Samantha's mental state and reliability (and whether she's in fact a sympathetic character), in a way that also makes a virtue of the lack of explanation for just how the Bunnies are working the magic that creates their 'Drafts'. Let's say schizophrenia's in play, let's say Ava isn't real, let's say (maybe more speculatively but seems implied) that Bunny the text is Samantha's in-text thesis; in that case, where's the line between the real and what's not?

Patty Griffin - Crown of Roses

A bit of an oblique one, and without any true stand-outs, but Griffin's voice is as strong and clear as ever - figuratively, though no longer vocally.

Joy Williams - Concerning the Future of Souls: 99 Stories of Azrael

It's metaphysical, and sideways even when it seems direct; the directness comes in at least three forms, namely direct appearances from Azrael (usually in conversation with the Devil, and these are the funnest), direct examples or discussions of the passage and prospects of souls after this life (and in this period of history), and those that are both.

(Ninety-Nine Stories of God)

Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein - The Mushroom Tapes

A woman killed some family members with poisonous mushrooms in a meal she cooked, somewhere in regional Victoria - to great public fascination. That's pretty much literally all I knew about the matter, having avoided nearly all the detail and discussion at the time. So for me this was a readable more-or-less introduction to the events and the surrounding public discussion, in three safe-feeling sets of hands, and probably about as much insight - at about the level of 'certainty' - as I wanted and would've trusted.

Julien Baker & Torres - Send a Prayer My Way

It's nice, nothing more. Not really meaning to damn by faint praise - there are some good songs here and the whole album's charismatic to listen to. But when I hold this up against the quality and power of Little Oblivions or the upper echelon of the indieish country-rock genre that this collab falls into, it's not at that level. I still like it though.

2025: "Don't be a stranger"

1. Don't Let The Bastards Get You Down - Margo Price
Hard Headed Woman (Lorna Vista, 2025)

2. Hungover in a Deer Stand - Dylan Marlowe
Mid-Twenties Crisis (Sony, 2024)

3. Wristwatch - MJ Lenderman
Manning Fireworks (Anti-, 2024)

4. Am I Okay? - Megan Moroney
Am I Okay? (Sony, 2024)

5. Ankles - Lucy Dacus
Forever is a Feeling (Geffen, 2025)

6. Afterlife - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (Jagjaguwar, 2025)

7. No One Knows Us - Brandi Carlile
Returning to Myself (Interscope, 2025)

8. Golden - HUNTR/X
KPop Demon Hunters OST (Republic, 2025)

9. Glum - Hayley Williams
Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party (Post Atlantic, 2025)

10. Euro-Country - CMAT
Euro-Country (CMATBABY, 2025)

I didn't listen to music very intently in 2025, so it's no surprise that existing favourites and familiar sounds are most of this, led by Sharon Van Etten and Brandi Carlile - garlanded by the late-arriving breath of fresh air that is CMAT. In general - country vibes, pop gloss, pretty melodies, drama and feels.

(spotify)

KPop Demon Hunters

The soundtrack was already thoroughly embedded and now I've finally actually watched the thing, I have the rest of the pieces to see why it's been such a phenomenon. We could do far worse in terms of product to take over the world's attention.

CMAT - Euro-Country

What a trio this album starts off with - the title track with its curling melodies, whoops and ululations, the almost (or maybe actually) OTT Celtic-country crooner "When A Good Man Cries", and the Kraut-rock-ish - and also "Common People"-ish - "The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station" whose motorwayish sound is appropriate given the lyrics. The whole thing's a joy - music as art in several senses, individual expression far from the least of those, and in a way that bridges.

Hayley Williams - Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

I don't know why so many acts remind me of Metric, specifically Metric circa Fantasies and Synthetica - how much is anything truly distinctive about them and how much them just coming along at the right time for me. But they come to mind again across the excellent Ego Death ... - as do Garbage, and plenty of other more contemporary pop acts. This album's a smorgasbord of styles, with a pretty consistent energy and attitude - although across 20 tracks the first half's a lot stronger than the second. It's high gloss and so it sounds like the hooks and tunes should be more immediate than they are, but many of the songs here are growers - even the big anthems - while being filled with fun details.

Kathleen Edwards - Billionaire

Honestly not all that dissimilar to the one before it - Total Freedom - and if the pleasures here are more in familiarity than in new ground, well they're still pleasures. And what a swing for the rafters that title song is, "if this feeling were currency, I would be a billionaire ...".

Lucy Dacus - Forever Is A Feeling

For mine, Forever Is A Feeling doesn't have many of the obvious high points that appeared in her previous albums - show-stopper "Ankles" and maybe the title track aside - but it reaffirms the feeling I had after listening to 2021's Home Video, which is that Dacus has got the real stuff, and doesn't need the vivid emotional pyrotechnics or big anthems that are clearly also in her kit bag in order to deliver, with elegance, heart and craft.

Margo Price - Hard-Headed Woman

Here Price takes a turn back towards hardcore country and the honky-tonk sound that was more prominent in her first couple of records (Midwest Farmer's Daughter; All American Made) than the more recent two, and what do you know, while it's not quite as fully in my personal sweet spot as what she's done before, it's just as good as each of those previous ones.

Alex G - Headlights

 I like the vibe here - a torch-y heartland rock sound. But it hasn't really hit home somehow.

Brandi Carlile - Returning to Myself

Sturdily, reliably excellent - more quality from Carlile. She's hit a vein these last several years and continues to produce songs that are as enduring as they tend to be immediate, many with the feel of classics. My favourite, I think, is a bit atypical - the late-album mid-tempo drama of "No One Knows Us". Although it's also hard to go past the stormingly anthemic and unmistakeably Brandi Carlile "Human".

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

There's a nice touch to each of these, and if they're pretty big and glossy, well that feels a natural continuation of the style that Rian Johnson brought to his earlier puzzle-boxes (The Brothers Bloom remains close to my heart). Just like the original Knives Out and Glass Onion (which I seem to have missed on this blog but remember enjoying), there's pleasure from the neat, overtly plotted murder-mystery structure, the equally overt social commentary, Daniel Craig's wonderful Benoit Blanc, and a bunch of charismatic others. Probably there's diminishing returns a bit though.

The Witcher season 4

I've always thought there's been a bit of a dynamic with this show around just how seriously it actually takes itself, but maybe that's a bit inherent in the genre and the limitations of tv show budget ... but then there's episode 5 in this season where they do everyone's back-story in a row complete with movie-musical interlude. This season is three parallel storylines following Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri with only one intersection and it remains more-or-less convincing - rarely viscerally, morally or narratively exciting, but never a drag nor jarring to enjoy.

(1&2; 3)

Slow Horses season 5

Maybe a bit of a dip in quality but the built-up goodwill keeps you watching.

(1-3; 4)

Thunderbolts*

Even when they're a bit different, as this one is, there's almost always also a sameyness to these movies. Florence Pugh is fun though.

Someone Like Me edited by Clem Bastow and Jo Case

I found Someone Like Me illuminating and enjoyable (the latter in the sense of the interesting perspectives and overall quality of writing across this collection) - a kaleidoscope of experiences of autism written by women and gender-diverse people. Most came to a realisation - and diagnosis - later in life, reflecting how understanding has advanced in recent years, and reading these pieces repeatedly made me think about what it is to be a 'self', or 'typical', and how the concept of neurodiversity compares with other, older paradigms for understanding identity, behaviour and difference.

"The Playground Project" (Incinerator Gallery)

The history of playgrounds. A topic I've found a bit interesting in the past - even before becoming a parent - especially interventions by artists.

(w/ R, J, H)