Anyway, the list. (Those books I've read are bold.)

1. J.M. Barrie - Peter Pan
2. Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot
3. Ferdinand Bordewijk - Karakter
4. Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
5. Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass
6. Italo Calvino - If on a Winter's Night a Traveller
7. Joseph Campbell - The Hero with a Thousand Faces
8. Miguel de Cervantes - Don Quixote
9. Hugo Claus - Het verdriet van België
10. Erich von Däniken - Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past
11. Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
12. Mark Dunn - Ibid: A Life
13. Erasmus - Lof der Zotheid
14. F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
15. Anne Frank - Het Achterhuis
16. Jostein Gaarder - Sophie's World
17. William Gibson - Neuromancer
18. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
19. Brothers Grimm - Fairytales
20. Joseph Heller - Catch-22
21. W.F. Hermans - De donkere kamer van Damokles
22. Homerus - Iliad / Odyssey
23. Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
24. Franz Kafka - Der Prozess
25. Rudyard Kipling - The Jungle Book
26. H.D. Lawrence - Lady Chatterley's Lover
27. Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
28. Herman Melville - Moby Dick
29. John Milton - Paradise Lost
30. Alan Moore / David Lloyd - V for Vendetta
31. Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita
32. Nescio - De uitvreter / Titaantjes
33. Gerard Reve - De avonden
34. J.D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye
35. Bram Stoker - Dracula
36. Strunk & White - The Elements of Style
37. Mark Twain - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer / Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
38. Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
39. Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
40. Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Mists of Avalon

And in case you're wondering why, I made this list just because I can. I read a lot anyway, so I might as well make it a little bit challenging by adding some some classics and books that are (at least slightly) outside of my comfort zone to the mix. Also, I was way too late to make a list of 30 books to read before I turned 30.

Eventually, I'll either integrate this list in my 100 Things list, or put it on a separate page. Until then, I'll keep crossing off those books I've read here.

1. Daniël Lohues (136)
2. Bløf (110)
3. mr. a balladeer (106)
4. Melissa Etheridge (97)
5. Acda en De Munnik (93)
6. Van Dik Hout (89)
7. Savatage (83)
8. Bruce Dickinson (73)
9. Meat Loaf (70)
10. Wende (65)
11. Bruce Springsteen (64)
12. Porcupine Tree (62)
13. Simon & Garfunkel (61)
14. a balladeer (60)
15. Bon Jovi (59)
    Metallica (59)
17. Arid (54)
18. Trans-Siberian Orchestra (49)
19. Clint Mansell (48)
    Dio (48)

Somehow, I'm not at all surprised. For some time know I noticed my preferences shifting towards the more mellow, wussy music. With an occasional barrage of heavy shit, of course.

Making a list of my most played songs of the last three months is a bit pointless: 9 songs in the top ten come from mr. a balladeer's excellent Sorry, Kid.—which is, so far, my album of the year. (The other song is Anneke van Giersbergen & Agua de Annique's quite enjoyable cover of Papillion.)

Music

• Album of the year
  1. Jenny Owen Youngs — Transmitter Failure
  2. Delain — April Rain
  3. Daniël Lohues — Allennig III
  4. Muse — The Resistance
  5. Wende — No. 9
• Song of the year
  1. Daniël Lohues — Geleuf allen' nog in de maone (download .ogg *)
  2. Het Monica Da Silva Trio – Philip Freriks ik ben je bitch niet (download here)
  3. Yenny Owen Youngs — Transmitter Failure (download .ogg *)
  4. Carl Sagan - Glorious Dawn (feat. Stephen Hawking) (video)
  5. Henk Westbroek en Goddess of Desire — Satanklaas (previously…)
• Cover of the year
  • Anneke van Giersbergen with Agua de Annique feat. Niels Geusebroek — What's the Reason? (Silkstone cover) (video)
  • Nailpin — Fistful of Ideals (Heideroosjes cover) (video)
  • Dream Theater — Stargazer (Rainbow cover) (video)
• Fist-pumping feel-good theme song of the year
  • Jenny Owen Youngs — Last Person (video)
  • Anneke van Giersbergen & Agua de Annique — Hey Okay (video)
  • Mika — We Are Golden (video)
• The "I don't understand why I didn't check their stuff out earlier either" department
  • Grof Geschut
  • Melissa Etheridge
  • Joni Mitchell
• Live performances (and other cultural events) I've attenended this year
  • 2009–01–21 — Wende, De Flint, Amersfoort
  • 2009–02–09 — BLØF (acoustic), Beatrix Theater, Utrecht
  • 2009–02–12 — Anneke van Giersbergen with Agua de Annique and special guests Niels Geusebroek, Marike Jager, Sharon den Adel and Kyteman, Melkweg, Amsterdam
  • 2009–02–14 — a balladeer + Charlie Dée, P60, Amstelveen
  • 2009–02–21 — Daniël Lohues, "Allennig III", Kleine Komedie, Amsterdam
  • 2009–03–25 — Acda en De Munnik, "Acda en De Munnik Spelen", De Flint, Amersfoort
  • 2009–04–10 — a balladeer + Charlie Dée, De Kelder, Amersfoort
  • 2009–04–18 — Lebbis, "Hoe laat begint het schieten?", De Flint, Amersfoort
  • 2009–05–31 — Jon Oliva's Pain + Masterstroke + Age of Evil, De Boerderij, Zoetermeer
  • 2009–06–05 — Stream of Passion + Autumn, 013 (kleine zaal), Tilburg
  • 2009–06–13 — Torenpop: De Staat + Heideroosjes, Amersfoort
  • 2009–06–27 — Krezip (afscheidsconcert) + Gem, Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam
  • 2009–07–11 — Making Strange Theatre Company, "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot", The Space Upstairs at the Project Art Centre, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2009–07–12 — Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, RDS Arena, Dublin, Ireland
  • 2009–08–07 — Wende & JeugdOrkest Nederland, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
  • 2009–08–27 — a balladeer, Lieve Vrouwekerkhof, Amersfoort
  • 2009–08–29 — Amersfoort in Vervoering: a balladeer (Marinus solo) + Markowski + Joosk, Burg. Brouwerplantsoen, Amersfoort
  • 2009–09–26 — Delain, Tivoli De Helling, Utrecht
  • 2009–10–09 — Roemer van der Steeg, "Ik ben geen kernfysicus" / Nina de la Croix, "Alles kan kapot", Theater de Lieve Vrouw, Amersfoort
  • 2009–10–30 — Van Muiswinkel & Van Vleuten, "Heren, het allerbeste!", De Flint, Amersfoort
  • 2009–11–13 — Wende, "No. 9 Clubtour", Tivoli Oudegracht, Utrecht
  • 2009–12–05 — Charlie Dée, "A Tribute To Joni Mitchell", Theater Bellevue (kleine zaal), Amsterdam
  • 2009–12–13 — "Tanz der Vampire", Ronacher, Vienna, Austria
  • 2009–12–23 — The Bald & The Beautiful, Velvet Amersfoort (instore)
• Concert of the year
  1. 2009–07–12 — Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, RDS Arena, Dublin, Ireland
     A glorious, joyous and life re-affirming celebration of rock and roll.
  2. 2009–11–13 — Wende, "No. 9 Clubtour", Tivoli Oudegracht, Utrecht
  3. 2009–04–10 — a balladeer + Charlie Dée, De Kelder, Amersfoort
  4. 2009–12–05 — Charlie Dée, "A Tribute To Joni Mitchell", Theater Bellevue (kleine zaal), Amsterdam
  5. 2009–12–13 — "Tanz der Vampire", Ronacher, Vienna, Austria
• Artists I listened to the most in the past 12 months, according to Last.FM
  1. Dusty Springfield
  2. Bløf
  3. Bruce Springsteen
  4. Daniël Lohues
  5. Acda en De Munnik
  6. Meat Loaf
  7. Dream Theater
  8. Charlie Dée
  9. a balladeer
  10. (tie) Porcupine Tree
  11. (tie) Rush
• Tracks I listened to the most in the past 12 months, according to Last.FM
  1. Daniël Lohues – Geleuf allen' nog in de maone (17×)
  2. (tie) Charlie Dée – Big Yellow Taxi (14×)
  3. (tie) Charlie Dée – A Case Of You
  4. (tie) Carole King – It's Too Late
  5. (tie) Roosbeef – Te Heet Gewassen
  6. (tie) Charlie Dée – Little Green (13×)
  7. (tie) Jenny Owen Youngs – Led to the Sea
  8. (tie) Roosbeef – Onder Invloed
  9. Bruce Springsteen – The Wrestler (12×)
  10. (tie) Bløf – Vandaag (11×)
  11. (tie) Dream Theater – A Rite of Passage
  12. (tie) Melissa Etheridge – Like The Way I Do
  13. (tie) Grof Geschut – Moe
  14. (tie) Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream

Literature

• Books I've read this year (in reversed chronological order)
  • John Green — Looking for Alaska
  • Stephen King — Under the Dome
  • Terry Pratchett — Nation
  • There's Probably No God: The Atheist's Guide to Christmas (edited by Ariane Sherine)
  • Richard Dawkins — The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
  • Stephen King — Carrie
  • Kluun — God is gek: De dictatuur van het atheïsme
  • Michael Scott — The Sorceress (Book Three of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
  • Kevin J. Anderson — The Edge of the World (Book One of Terra Incognita)
  • John Green — An Abundance of Katherines
  • Terry Pratchett — Pyramids
  • Carlos Ruiz Zafón — El Juego del Àngel (in English: The Angel's Game)
  • Stephen King — Misery
  • Jonathan Stroud — Heroes of the Valley
  • Warren Zanes — Dusty in Memphis
  • Jonathan Stroud — The Leap
  • Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren't as Scary, Maybe, Depending on How You Feel About Lost Lands, Stray Cellphones, Creatures From the Sky, Parents Who Disappear in Peru, a Man Named Lars Farf, and One Other Story We Couldn't Quite Finish So Maybe You Could Help Us Out (Edited by Ted Thompson, with Eli Horowitz)
  • Guus Kuijer — Het doden van een mens
  • Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves — InterWorld
  • H.P. Lovecraft — Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft
  • Mary Shelley — Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus
  • Daniël Lohues— Zes jaar vrijdagmiddag (columns)
  • Terry Pratchett — Equal Rites
  • Stephen King — Just After Sunset (Stories)
  • Neil Gaiman — Odd and the Frost Giants
  • Bas Haring — Kaas & de evolutietheorie
  • Charles Darwin — On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
  • Michael Scott — The Magician (Book Two of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
  • Neil Gaiman — Fragile Things
  • J.K. Rowling — The Tales of Beedle the Bard
• Favorite books of the year
  1. Stephen King — Under the Dome
  2. Jonathan Stroud — Heroes of the Valley
  3. Terry Pratchett — Nation
  4. John Green — An Abundance of Katherines
  5. H.P. Lovecraft — Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft
• Favorite non-fiction book of the year
  • Bas Haring — Kaas & de evolutietheorie
• The "This was the first and last time I read anything by this asshat" award
  • Kluun — God is gek: De dictatuur van het atheïsme

Odds and ends

• Favorite website of the year
  • xkcd.com
• Favorite word of the year
  • Godverkutjes
• Least favorite word of the year
  • Ontvrienden
• Places I've spent the night this year
  • Amersfoort
  • Noorden
  • Antwerp, Belgium
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Reutum
  • Sinderen
  • Vienna, Austria
• Reasons why, this year too, tall people rule harder than the short ones
  • It's genetic.
• Things I got a bit wound up about this year
  • Religious idiotery. Which includes Lying for the Lord™, religious figureheads acting like crybabies, discrimination because the supposedly holy book mandates it, condoning the rape of children, etc.
  • Geert Wilders, his single issue and complete lack of constructive ideas.
  • Internet Explorer
• Things that, as fas as I'm concerned, may go extinct in 2010
  • Kamervragen
  • De Wereld Draait Door
  • Internet Explorer
• Best photo I took this year
  • Prikkeldraad
• Things I'm planing to do in 2010
  • Find a new job. Stat.
  • Cross off at least 6 items of my 100 things list.
  • For the past 27 months I've seen at least one concert or play or something each month. Let's see if I can keep up with that schedule for another 12 months.
  • And still: don't mess with perfection.

* You should be able to play Ogg Vorbis files in any decent media player like Foobar2000, Winamp or VLC.

So, now that I found a hole in my schedule, I thought I might just as well write something useful, like a list of ten tips for successful blogging.

1. Be informative.
2. Be relevant.
3. Be you.
4. Link to stuff.
5. Remember that yesterday's news is so 2008.
6. Quality, not quantity.
7. Update your website regularly.
8. Write about things you care about.
9. Publish a list every now and then.
10. Ignore lists with tips for successful blogging, and do your own thing.

1. Daniël Lohues - Allennig III
2. Delain - April Rain
3. Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream
4. Jenny Owen Youngs - Transmitter Failure
5. Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know

The other albums date from 1965 (Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty) to last year's number two on my list of older albums I acquired this year:

1. Carole King - The Carnegie Hall Concert
2. Roosbeef - Ze willen wel je hond aaien maar niet met je praten
3. Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
4. Grof Geschut - Twaalf
5. Jacques Brel - Infiniment

Then, finally, to round things up, my ten favorite new (as in new to me) songs of the year so far.

1. Daniël Lohues - Geleuf allen' nog in de maone [download]
2. Anneke van Giersbergen feat. Niels Geusebroek - What's the Reason? (Silkstone cover) [download]
3. Grof Geschut - Laat maar
4. Delain - Control the Storm
5. Bløf - Vandaag
6. Roosbeef - Onder invloed
7. Tinted Windows - Kind of a Girl
8. Jenny Owen Youngs - Last Person
9. Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream
10. Charlie Dée - A Case of You (Joni Mitchell cover)

• Things that exist for no good reason whatsoever: temperatures below 0 °C. 8:36 AM Jan 6th
• Ancient Chinese Proverb of the Day: If you don't want to hear an honest answer, you probably shouldn't ask the question. 3:54 PM Feb 19th
• Brekend: http://talentenvertaler.nl "Want alles wat je kan is belangrijk." *puntje van neus aanraakt* 10:02 AM Mar 11th
• Heb ik weer fijn geregeld: Jeroen van der Boom in Amersfoort, ik elders. 1-0 voor mij heet dat dan. 12:27 AM Mar 22nd
• Fietsen door de regen is net zo leuk als Moppentoppers met Ron Brandsteder. 8:50 AM Mar 25th
• Liep net langs een reclamebord met de tekst "100% halal". Vroeg me spontaan af hoeveel slagingskans een 85% halal slager zou hebben. 5:53 PM Mar 25th
• Een amandel paasstaaf is toch niets anders dan een banketstaaf die over is van kerst in een andere verpakking? 8:43 AM Mar 27th
• Ik wil morgen wel eens zien hoe het RefDag en NedDag de winnaar van de Libris Literatuur Prijs bekend maken. 10:28 PM May 11th
• Trek pas de deur achter je in het slot als je zeker weet dat je de sleutel bij je hebt. #extragratistip 6:51 PM May 12th
• Waargebeurd verhaal: Ik moet 9.95 betalen, en geef een tientje. "Heeft u er vijfennegentig cent bij?" 10:54 AM May 23rd
• Ik zat er helemaal naast met mijn voorspelling dat Wilders meer stemmen zou halen dan de rest van de PVV. http://tinyurl.com/mhrh5a 12:19 PM Jun 11th

• On account of my thing for libraries: if I ever visit Yale university, I need to check out the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
• Independent.ie lists the 10 best bookshops in the world.
• The title says it all: 10 Christ-like Figures Who Pre-Date Jesus
• Pixar's thirteenth movie will finally be one with a girl as leading character. But, oh noes!, it's a freakin' princess! NPR asks, Et tu, Pixar?
• If I were to send out Christmas cards (which I'm not), these checkbox cards would be a good option. Too bad I did something similar some years ago.
• And who says that us humans and apes can't have a common ancestor? If this ain't pretty conclusive evidence, I don't know what is…
• (of course, nothing is what it seems)
• And finally, I've been using a beta version of the soon to be released Firefox 3.5 for some weeks now. And it rocks my world. Hacks.Mozilla.org showcases what new nerdy features it has.

• While I'm not a big fan of train models, I can definitely see the appeal of this portable miniature train set.
• For if I ever feel the need to put up a birdhouse.
• A very sexy computer case mod.
• Cory Doctorow asks a good question: how did we end up with a copyright law that only protects critics, while leaving fans out in the cold?
• Knitted Chtulhu skimask. Do want.
• Coraline (the stop-motion animated movie version of the book by Neil Gaiman) is finally showing in the Dutch theaters. So this is as good an excuse to point out some production art.
• Thomas Allen cuts up paperback-covers and let them tell a story of their own. I've been aware of his art for some time, but after seeing another gallery of his work, I think I should let you in on the secret too.
• Cynical C's You Can't Please Everyone series collects one start reviews from Amazon for classic movies, albums and books.
• Hospital Food is a blog about hospital food.
• Let's Be Friends is a hybernating blog about unusual friendships from the animal kingdom.
• Awkward Family Photo's is a blog about awkward family photos.
• Bacon Today—which brings daily updates on the world of sweet, sweet bacon—shows how to improve your regular brownies. With bacon, of course.
• Finally, I finally found a great screensaver. Fliqlo.

• May 15 is Bike-to-Work Day in the US. Why don't we have something like that here in The Netherlands?
• Whenever people are opposed to gay marriage, it's usually because the bible says that a marriage is between a man and a woman. But wait, there are some forms of marriage in the bible they never mention.
• Humans descended from apes? I don't see it. At all.
• According to the standard model of cosmology, the universe is 13.7 billion years old.
• Thomas Doyle likes to create little scenes.
• If you got one trillion Zimbabwean dollars, why not use it as wallpaper?
• 40 reasons to hang out in a graveyard.
• The Big Picture is peeking into North Korea.
• Just what the heck is electronic mail?
• The Cactus Dome may look like USS Enterprise burried in the sand, but it covers a dirty secret.
• On hate mail.
• The AV Club opens the gateway to chansons.
• Once again a study shows that people who download music without paying for it buy more music too. And once again, the record industry doesn't buy it.
• Once I get this whole buying CDs thing under control, I should browse Flickr for storage inspiration.
• I'd be first in line for a movie like Henson's 11.
• Uncomfortable plot summaries.
• Kottke rounds up several media packaging mashups that I nealy linked to.
• And to round it up, the Comic of the Post™, because of the third panel. Also, the runner-up and the obligatory LOLcat.