A quick end-of-year retrospective, with selected media I consumed (and enjoyed) throughout thee year. This is not limited to things that were published this year.

Books

Started strong, but didn’t keep up in the second half of the year, I wasn’t in a reading mood. Roughly in order:

  1. Piranesi, Susanna Clarke. Certainly the book I enjoyed the most. Probably not as good as her first novel (a real masterpiece), but still excellent. Please write more!
  2. Il grande ritratto, Dino Buzzati.
  3. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin.
  4. Stations of the Tide, Michael Swanwick.
  5. The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson.
  6. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan.
  7. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote.
  8. 1Q84, Haruki Murakami.
  9. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay.
  10. Termination Shock, Neal Stephenson. Of course I devoured it, and at least I didn’t hate it as the previous one. But it’s still a no.

All in all, a bit of a disappointing year, no great discovery.

Comics

  1. Slam Dunk, Takehiko Inoue. I knew the anime, which is great, but - wow, the manga is perfect.
  2. Uzumaki, Junji Ito. So dark and disturbing it often verges on the ridiculous (not necessarily a flaw, it’s great!).
  3. Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli.
  4. Cinzia, Leo Ortolani.
  5. Born to be a larva. Appunti di vita: 1, Boulet.
  6. Niente da perdere, Jeff Lemire.
  7. Sophia, Vanna Vinci.
  8. Fermo, Sualzo.
  9. Reverie, Golo Zhao.

Non-fiction

  1. Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, David Kushner. The extremely fun and nerdy history of the creators of Doom.

Games

  1. Psychonauts 2 (PS4) The best game I played this year - a great sequel, loyal to the original game and full of craziness. Incredible level-design.
  2. Baba Is You (mobile) Sucked me in so badly. Great game if you like challenging puzzles where you need (very) lateral thinking. Only very rarely (end game) it feels a little unfair, but you can find spoiler-free hints (kudos to the author).
  3. Manifold Garden (PS4) Extremely elegant puzzle game. You move in an infinite Escher-like world where you decide which way is up, down, left and right. Plays like clockwork - very satisfying.
  4. SnowRunner (PS4) Yes, a truck simulator. A truck-trapped-in-the-mud simulator, to be precise. Oddly satisfying.
  5. Bad North (mobile) Delightfully minimalist strategic game by the author of Townscaper.
  6. GeoGuessr (web) Very pleasant and relaxing distraction, especially during COVID (semi-)lockdowns. Addictive.
  7. Loop Hero (PC) Roguelike with an interesting concept - you don’t control your hero, but you decide what enemies he will encounter on his path.
  8. Pirates Outlaws (mobile) A mobile clone of “Slay the spire” with a pirate theme.
  9. The Touryst (PS4) It’s OK - no real challenge, the voxel art is pretty and the whole thing is very relaxing. But not sure it’s really worth the time.
  10. Maquette (PS4) The concept sounds cool, but with this kind of puzzle game it’s all about the execution. Too often frustrating.
  11. There is no game (mobile) Funny mobile game all about meta. Once you understand the shtick (30 seconds in), the gameplay is rather monotonous - unlike Baba, where the game actually throws new mechanics at you all the time. Still, it’s entertaining till the end.

Movies and shows

I was back in a theater! But still watched very few new movies (Freaks Out, The green knight, È stata la mano di dio). Mare of Easttown was a great TV show. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell was a nice surprise. And a re-watch of The office happened. \