(ben's) best of 2024
my most enjoyed things this year
hello,
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas! Mine’s been busy but joyous.
The festive period can be a funny one and when I remembered it was Thursday, I did consider firing up my laptop and writing to you all but then I thought I’d wait. I’ve spent a lot of time on feet propping up the kitchen island this year so needed some time to recuperate.
This is a best of the year missive and while I will mention a couple of books, I already recommended a few in my Christmas guide. This will be a mixed bag of whatever has gone well or been fun this year.
In terms of my own loot, this year I received two Aeropresses (one a nifty travel version) and a grand total of zero books. I thought this must be a first but when I checked last year’s post-Christmas newsletter, I realised I only got one then so it seems everyone is on the same page. I get sent way too many of the things anyway.
if you’d like to get me a late present, take out a paid subscription!
And now, on with…
(ben’s) best of 2024
books
Rarely does something with such expectation stick the landing like intermezzo by sally rooney which somehow survived the hype. It was familiar but experimental, intimate yet ambitious and like much great writing, achieved the trick of consciousness with its characters.
For something more freewheeling that I somehow neglected to mention in my Christmas guide, martyr by kaveh akbar contained multitudes. It was funny, sad, profound and mysterious and had me gripped right up to the end. It’s a remarkable achievement.
Then a late entry for me, self portrait by celia paul was a beautiful memoir about an artist’s relationship to art. Not only was Paul’s story compelling, the personality of her prose was too. Her writing has a beautiful economy to it and I couldn’t help but read this book slowly, to savour it while it lasted.
ben’s books
Releasing short works Endgame and Superstrengths in all formats rounded off a couple of years of thinking on either project and while neither are what I’d regard as seminal bits of my oeuvre, they both make for great patchwork projects, books that have impact and create possibility by existing. I’ve already been out to speak about both books in professional capacities this year and I see more of the same the next. Pick them up on Amazon right now.
shogun
Some of this year’s highlights have come about from Shogun, the 1970s cult classic novel by James Clavell.
The book mashes together various strands of Japanese history, detailing the struggle for power in the pre-Edo era where shipwrecked British sailor has to adapt to survive in amongst the various lords jockeying for the position of Shogun. It sold millions of copies and was adapted for television in the 1980s with someone called Richard Chamberlain in the lead role.
This year, Disney released their own adaptation of the book, foregrounding the Japanese characters and paying a remarkable amount of attention to detail. To show everyone quite how much, they took a group of journalists and content creators to Japan to tour around learning about just how the series had come to light.
The series is a triumph and a rare example of being worth watching before reading. The series lacks internal perspective from any of the characters but this adds some suspense by leaving you to divine their intentions, while it naturally has to condense the 1100+ pages of the book to keep some pace to the story. The visuals are incredible, the acting wonderful and the story surprising and gripping. Once you’ve watched it, you can settle into the book for a deeper, more complete experience.
japan
I had a moment of gratitude to myself the other week outside a train station that felt so wonderful and profound it reminded me of standing by a river outside Kyoto back in March, one you’ll glimpse in the photos I’ll attach to this piece. It was a totally glorious trip, I learned and saw so many things and might write more on the anniversary of our visit, but as we gathered to say our farewells, we were all in agreement that we’d be coming back. Disney have commissioned a second series of Shogun so hopefully they still have my email but here are a few of my favourite images from my time there.
laura marling
Like Celia Paul moving beyond portraiture, Laura Marling has proven herself beautifully articulate outside her own familiar medium of music. Her Substack has been one of my reading highlights of the year in both style and substance and while her new album and the glorious performance I caught at Hackney Church proved she’s still got it behind the mic, her future as a multi-disciplinary artist will be fascinating to follow. She’s never been away but for me, this year has been a reemergence for an artist I’ve always been both fond and in awe of.
the olympics
Despite abysmal coverage on Discovery+, The Paris Olympics was wonderful viewing. For me, the world’s greatest rugby player Antoine Dupont leading a relatively unfancied French team to Olympic gold set things off in perfect fashion, the swimming was its usual set of compelling contests, Julien Alfred’s 100m victory seemed to come from nowhere (although if you watch Sprint you realise it really didn’t) and watching Armand Duplantis break the world record in the pole vault reminded you of the possibility and power in a big moment.
thyme
I’ve had some amazing food in 2024 but the best meal I ate this year was dished up in a converted barn in Oxfordshire. It’s always bothered me when people say British food is bad and Thyme in Southrop shows just how good it can be, serving beautiful produce in a cosy but modern countryside setting. I once came here for a cookery class and I’ll be back for another meal in future.
france
Reconnecting with a country that’s given me so much has been joyeux and while I didn’t make it to the Olympics, a wedding in the countryside, perusing hilltop bookshops and mooching in Montpellier made for autumnal highlights this year. I still love the place.
the boys’ literacy project
Working on this project has felt like fun but we’ve had some real impact along the way. 2025 will see some more of this kind of work and while I was talking to someone about whether to keep it a solo piratical sort of venture or whether to bring people on board, they said wouldn’t it be more fun to get a team together? They might be right but either way, it’s been one of my favourite bits of this year gone by.
If you are some sort of schoolperson or have some interest in me coming to speak about why books are for boys next year then don’t hesitate. Given it could find that rare sweet spot of paid, profound and pleasurable, I’m going to be moving on with this one.
this newsletter
Writing to you (mostly) each week is a real treat and while the move to Substack has gone well, I’ll be a bit more experimental and prolific next year now that my existing book projects are off the docket. Sometimes I feel like it’s too late and that writing on here is getting noisy but others disagree and I think they’re right. The future is just beginning.
I might write to you again before the new year but if I don’t make it, have a splendid end to 2024.
lastly
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I’ll see you next time.