1. Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon, phenomenal epic on light, science, anarchy and modernism. Best of 2006-2007 and perhaps the decade. Viking/Penguin

2. Mistress Oriku by Matsutaro Kawaguchi first time English translation and publication of a classic tone poem set in Meiji era Tokyo about a former Geisha and her artistic Tea house on the edge of encroaching change. Tuttle press

3. Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders. Hilarious essays on a variety of current cultural signposts. Riverhead Press

4. Blood Tea and Red String on DVD, a stop-animation gothic religious vision of dolls, mice and Oak forest creatures – a 13 year obsession by young filmmaker Cristine Cegavske.

5. Electric Salome: Loie Fuller’s Performance of Modernism by Rhonda K. Garelick, brilliant book that gives justice and recognition to this early performance artist. Princeton University Press

6. Fantod Pack, Edward Gorey’s gruesome tarot deck, Pomegranate

7. The UFO Factory in New Detroit

8. Silmaril: The Voyage of Icarus “captures the dark, mysterious, and achingly beautiful acid folk & Christian-themed psychedelic sounds” Locust double LP.

9. International Day of Peace September 21st.

10. Propinquity: Propinquity -neglected folk rock classic of 1973, reissue Asterisk, CD

11. 20 to Life: The Life and Times of John Sinclair DVD a film by Stephen Gephardt

12. Koudelka by Robert Delpire, Dominique Edde, Anna Farova, and Michel Frizot, Aperture, NY.

13. Cameron Jamie retrospective at MIT may-July 2007, and the eclectic designed catalog; Cameron Jamie by Philippe Vergne, Kathy Halbreich, Cameron Jamie, and Charles Bukowski. Walker Art Center, Pub.

14. Me and My Brother book and DVD set by Robert Frank, Steidl Press

15. The Original Art of Basil Wolverton From the Collection of Glen Bray by Glen Bray and Doug Harvey and Monte Wolverton, Last Gasp

16. Day is Done by Mike Kelley essay by John Welchman, Yale University Press

17. Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas by Danny Glover, Kathleen Cleaver, Amiri Baraka, and Sam Durant, Rizzoli

18. Nathaniel Mayer: Why Don’t You Give it to Me? Alive Records CD/ LP

19. Jim Shaw: Distorted Faces & Portraits 1978-2007, with lovely bonus 53×37-inch fold-out poster dust-jacket portrait of Ronald Reagan’s face embedded with violent American figures like Manson and Rambo. JRP Ringier

20. Wipe That Clock Off Your Face by Brian Belott book and DVD, Picturebox, Inc.

21. Storeyville by Frank Santoro, Picturebox, Inc.

22. Mario Bava Box Set Vol. 2, Back Bay

23. Monster Island: The Children of Mu, End is Here records, double LP

24. Independent press Process Books gets the freakout award for reissuing Guitar Army by John Sinclair, and publishing The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, YaHoWha 13, and The Source Family by Isis Aquarian and Electricity, Moondog: The Viking of Sixth Avenue by Robert Scotto and Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and The 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound by Paul Drummond all in the month of October, wow!

25. In Memory of Shakey Jake, Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake, RIP

Cary Loren runs The BookBeat, an independent bookstore open since 1982 in the Detroit area.