From Issue 25: Susan Sontag’s diaries reveal a witty fondness for the humble list, as a way of conferring value and exploiting the realms of her knowledge. Her lists of likes and dislikes have become justly notorious. Here AM Homes picks up that baton
LIKE
Being absurd/silly/Talking in bad accents/ Schubert’s ‘Trout’/A picnic dinner at home/Drinking alone/Laughing, ideally with others – not at them/ Landscapes/Train travel/Jeanette Winterson/ Ladybugs/Bach/Rachel Whiteread/Susan Sontag’s ego/Time travel/Dogs/Paris/Howard Hodgkin/Collecting strange items/Other people’s stupid conversations/Ironed sheets/Babies/ Cake of almost every kind/Leonard Cohen/Mark Rothko/Pens/Patti Smith/Paper/Jimi Hendrix/ Typewriters/Saying good morning to strangers/ Adventure/A good cry/Watching animal videos/Ice water/Aperol spritz/Olives/Cheese and crackers/ Daydreaming while looking out of windows/Walking in Paris/Walking on the moon – in my dreams/ Sylvia Whitman and David Delannet, owners of Shakespeare & Co, in Paris/Going to a lecture on a subject I know nothing about/The warmth of LPs – especially with a couple of clicks and scratches/ The resonance of wood instruments/The sound of a cello/The Who/Marriage/Glenn Gould/Joy/ Blue M&Ms/The sound of a vacuum cleaner in the room next door/The wind in the trees, rain on the roof, thunderstorms/Margaret Atwood/The sound of my mother laughing, the lists my father used to make, the respect my grandmother taught me/Joyce Carol Oates/Wandering/Blondie/Nina Simone/ Scones and jam/Rachel Maddow/Libraries’ wood panelling/Cheese sandwiches/History/Art/The smell of my uncle Irwin’s cigars, and my auntie Carol’s accent/voice/My grandmother and her many brothers and sisters all at the same table arguing/ The power of images/Joan Didion/Pictures my child makes/The smell of Katherine’s neck/The ACLU/Poems my child writes/The power of nature/ The power of nurture/The fact that one does not exist without the other/Greta Thunberg/The feel of turning a page/Flea markets/Finding what I’ve been searching for/Bearing witness/The ocean/ Lakes/Mountains/Walking in the autumn leaves/ Meditating in a group/Being a passenger/Inspiring others/Anonymous acts of kindness.
DISLIKE
The inevitability of so many things/Fatigue/ Misplacing my phone daily/Losing a sock/Leaving something behind in a hotel/The smell of urine on the streets of NYC/Stepping in shit, whether literal or metaphorical/Things that are inanimate and yet seem to desire to kill me: slick marble floors, uneven sidewalks, potholes/Rough sheets/Dirty bathrooms/The smell of cigarette smoke/Being called Amy, I really do go by AM/Vacations – too stressful/Spelling – dyslexic/Security checkpoints/ Immigration agents who believe they rule the world with their rubber stamper/Men with guns with no sense of humour/Men with guns in general/The moral failure of the US Republican Party/The lack of action within the US Democratic Party/Facebook posts where people have updated their profile picture/Self-absorption/That anyone thought Brexit would be good for the people of England/ The phrase “Out of an abundance of caution”/ Navel-gazing in the absence of action/Avoidance in myself or others/The flush of fear-stomach drop/ The arrogance of youth/The invisibility of middle age/Not having enough time to think, to write, to ponder/Not having enough money to think, to write, to ponder/The sensation of tripping and falling/Physical pain/Exercise/The 24-hour news cycle that just repeats itself every 20 minutes/ Aggressive people/Hostility/Ego/The posting of rude comments online – trolling/Poisonous plants/ Anything that causes itching/Panic attacks/ Anything that restrains me/Any person who clings too tightly – except children/Shellfish/Hierarchy/ The idea of eating an octopus/Those who fail to take action to improve the lives of others/The blank- faced, searing white glow of a computer screen.
