TEN BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2002: Sabbath’s Theater; Confessions (Augustine); Notes from Underground; Sweet Smell of Success; Death in Midsummer; Real Choices: Listening to Women, Finding Alternatives to Abortion; Love in the Western World; The Counterlife; The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror; Republics Ancient and Modern, vol. III: Inventions of Prudence: Constituting the American Regime

Runner-Up: Miss Manners’ Basic Training: The Right Thing to Say

FIVE BEST MOVIES I SAW IN 2002: The Bat Whispers; On the Waterfront; Network; High Noon; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

You’ll notice that I really, really, really don’t read or watch new stuff. Mainly this is because there is so much terrific old stuff to catch up on; but I do feel the lack. I wish there were authors or moviemakers who made me so excited that I eagerly scanned the publishing/entertainment news hoping to find that they were coming out with a new work. On the other hand, the last two authors I did that for were Thomas Harris and Donna Tartt, and what I got in return for my anticipation was the execrable Hannibal and the I-haven’t-read-it-because-it-looks-very-lame Little Friend. Meh.