We are now more than a week into 2007, so it is probably time for me to face up to the fact that 2006 is over. A brief summary:

FAVORITE FILMS WATCHED IN 2006
"The Weeping Meadow" dir. Theo Angelopoulos
(I was not as rigorous in recording my movies watched this past year as my book read, but this film springs immediately to mind for its painterly precision and vast beauty)
"49 Up" dir. Michael Apted

% of 1001 MOVIES YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE FINISHED BY DECEMBER 31, 2006
47%

YEAR REACHED IN (ROUGHLY) CHRONOLOGICAL PROGRESS THROUGH "1001 MOVIES" LIST
1953

FAVOURITE PLAY SEEN IN 2006
"Eh Joe" by Samuel Beckett
directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Michael Gambon,
at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on the 4th of July

MOST ANTICIPATED PLAY SEEN IN 2006
"Rock 'N' Roll" by Tom Stoppard, at the Royal Court Theatre, London
(With an extraordinary performance by Rufus Sewell in the central role)

TOTAL BOOKS READ IN 2006
93 Books, of which
58 were graphic novels
17 were non-fiction
7 were collections of short stories or personal essays
8 were from the list of 1001 books

% OF "1001 BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE" READ BY DECEMBER 31, 2006
15%

FAVORITE BOOKS READ IN 2006 (in descending order)
1) "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" by Tom Stoppard (a reread, many many times a reread)
2) "Ex Libris" by the delightful Anne Fadiman
3) "Great Expectations," my Dickens of 2006
4) "The Mayor of Casterbridge" by Thomas Hardy
5) "The Vintner's Luck" by Elizabeth Knox
6) "A.L.I.E.E.E.N." by Lewis Trondheim
7) "The Book of Illusions" by Paul Auster

LITERARY "DISCOVERIES" OF 2006
Paul Auster
Lewis Trondheim, the French graphic novelist, of "Dungeon" fame
Anne Fadiman


Onward and upward!