rich_jacko

2023 was the year I ran a marathon in under 3h45m and climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Let's break it down a bit more:

• 2 holidays away - Norfolk with friends in April, and Tuscany by myself in September (my first trip abroad in over 4 years!)


• 1 new arrival in the family - my cousin's baby daughter, Isobel


• 1,023km run - including 1 marathon (setting a new PB of 03h42m47s), 4 half marathons (sort-of, including the Round Sheffield Run), and 44 parkruns in a staggering 20 different locations. I also donned hi-vis vests in 3 different colours, volunteering a total of 33 times across 4 different events.


• 1,064 days - breaking into quadruple figures with my Duolingo streak (also a 440-day winning Wordle streak, not missing a single day with either this year).


• 35 films at the cinema - the 35th of which was my favourite, Miyazaki's The Boy and The Heron, but many others were very good too.


• 12 books read - rather paltry really; I have no excuse. I've loved Chris Wooding's 4-book Tales of the Ketty Jay, and also been through Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir), Amongst Our Weapons (Ben Aaronovitch), The Apollo Murders (Chris Hadfield), The Collectors (Philip Pullman), The Descent of Man (Charles Darwin), Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin), Wild (Amy Jeffs) and Stone Blind (Natalie Haynes).


• 3 music gigs - 4, if you count listening to Arctic Monkeys from the park, just outside the fences. ;o)


• 3 days of snow - which, frankly, is not even close to enough.


• 2 swims in the sea - which isn't remotely enough either!

Plans need to be made for 2024 (I have the odd one or two in mind...). I hope all yours come to fruition - a healthy and happy New Year, everyone! :o)

As was the case in 2020, 2021 was another year in which I haven't read as many books as I normally would. I was puzzled by this last year, given all the tedious extra free time I had. However, I reckon I've cracked the reason now - It's because I've tended to do a lot of my reading on trains and trams, and far less travelling has meant far less reading. However, I have stepped up my reading to something closer to my "normal" two books a month (although a couple of these were short graphic novels and another couple were extremely short). Quite an even mix of fiction and non-fiction this time. I can't be bothered writing mini reviews for them all, but suffice to say I enjoyed nearly all of them a great deal:

• The Time-travelling Caveman and Other Stories (Terry Pratchett)
• Peace Talks / Battle Ground (Jim Butcher)
• Between the Stops (Sandi Toksvig)
• Notes from a Small Island (Bill Bryson)
• Transformers: Regeneration One, '84 - Secrets and Lies (Simon Furman et al)
• Transformers / My Little Pony: Friendship in Disguise (Ian Flynn et al)
• To be Taught if Fortunate (Becky Chambers)
• Running in the Midpack (Martin Yelling, Anji Andrews)
• Sweet, Sweet Revenge Ltd. (Jonas Jonasson)
• The Blunders of Our Governments (Anthony King, Ivor Crewe)
• Artemis (Andy Weir)
• England Your England (George Orwell)
• No One is Too Small to Make a Difference (Greta Thunberg)
• Heroes / Troy (Stephen Fry)
• I am C-3PO: The Inside Story (Anthony Daniels)
• Piranesi (Susanna Clarke)
• Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Torro & Cornelia Funke)
• All on the Board (All on the Board)
• The Christmas Pig (J.K. Rowling)

Life got in the way of my reading time quite a bit this year. I haven't read nearly so many books as I have in previous years, but I still managed to fit in the following:

• Norse Mythology (Neil Gaiman) - I want to sit around a campfire, listening to Neil Gaiman tell stories. This is as close as I'm likely to get.
• The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man (Jonas Jonasson) - Still crazy, still brilliant.
• Transformers comics (IDW) - A slightly messy end to a series that's been running since 2006 (and which I've recently introduced the Goblin Child to)
• Buffy comics (Dark Horse) - A neater end to another long-running comics series, this one running since 2007 (What comics am I going to read now?)
• Betty Boothroyd - the autobiography - Given to me a while ago by Gillian. Bercow's retirement seemed like the ideal moment to read it.
• Border (John Ajvide Lindqvist) - I re-read this short story in anticipation of the film. Didn't get around to watching the film, but still enjoyed the story.
• Star Wars: Ahsoka (E.K. Kohnston) - Picking up the story of Anakin's former padawan post-Clone Wars. Okay, but not exactly revelatory.
• The Gospel of Loki (Joanne M. Harris) - Another take on Norse mythology, and interesting to read from a different perspective. Everyone likes Loki ;o)
• The View from the Cheap Seats (Neil Gaiman) - More Neil Gaiman. A collection of speeches and non-fiction.
• The Atrocity Archives (Charles Stross) - First of the Laundry Files. I didn't get on with it, so won't be reading the rest.
• Bizarre Romance (Audrey Niffenegger & Eddie Campbell) - Short stories by her, illustrated by him, signed by them both (at the lecture of hers I went to back in May)
• Mythos (Stephen Fry) - Books on Norse and Greek mythology? Gosh, wasn't I cultured? Stephen Fry brings to life all the petty rivalry and debauchery of the Olympic soap opera in his own unique style.
• The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (Natasha Pulley) - Victorian London, sinister plots, time-bending weirdness and a clockwork octopus. Gloriously bonkers.
• Gnomon (Nick Harkaway) - As weird and wondeful as I'd expect from Harkaway. Mind-blowing, in a good way. I need to read this again to make more sense of it.
• Record of a Spaceborn Few (Becky Chambers) - More stories of everyday people in a distant future. Every bit as humbling and full of the breadth of humanity as the first two.
• Lies Sleeping (Ben Aaronovitch) - Latest in the "Rivers of London" series. This was a very significant chapter, and makes me want to re-read them all.
• Brief Cases (Jim Butcher) - It's been too long, but this short story collection helps fill the gap. I loved the stories from other character's perspectives (especially Zoo Day!).
• Idol Scribblings (Hannah Hudson-Lee) - My very talented friend, Hannah's first published book. Nice to have the pantheon on my bookshelf as well as her ongoing blog.
• Malamander (Thomas Taylor) - Two kids solve a mystery in a spooky seaside town. Cthulu for juniors. No, really (only better written).
• The Book of Dust, Volume Two: The Secret Commonwealth (Philip Pullman) - I'm currently about halfway through this. Curse you, Philip Pullman, for making me sad (for Lyra and Pan) on Christmas Day!

My "to read" shelf is almost empty. Other than "Peace Talks", I don't know whether any of my favourite authors have anything new coming up. Who knows what I'll end up reading in 2020?

As I mentioned a year ago, I wanted to spend some time in 2018 actually re-reading some of the books I've already got, rather than merely devouring new ones. And I did. This year, I have re-read:

• His Dark Materials et al (Philip Pullman)
• all of The Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) - now please hurry up and finish writing Peace Talks, Jim!
• Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift)
• various Roald Dahls, and also read Boy and Going Solo for the first time

I haven't only been re-reading, of course. On top of that, this year I have also read:

• The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace & Babbage (Sydney Padua) - possibly my new favourite book ever!
• Dunstan (Conn Iggulden)
• Star Wars: Scoundrels (Timothy Zahn)
• The Furthest Station (Ben Aaronovitch)
• The Signalman (Charles Dickens)

...and quite a lot of non-fiction for a change:

• Harry Potter: A History of Magic (various)
• Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life (Peter Godfrey-Smith)
• Hello, Is This Planet Earth? (Major Tim Peake)
• Rise (Gina Miller)
• We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe (Jorge Cham & Daniel Whiteson)

I still have a few books waiting on my "to read" shelf, but beyond those, I have no idea what I'll be reading in 2019 yet! :o)

I went to an entertaining talk with Ben Aaronovitch this evening as part of Sheffield Uni's Arts & Humanities Festival. He was interviewed by a literature professor for an hour and then took (loads of) audience questions.

It was fascinating hearing Ben talk about the genesis of the series, from it's origins as a TV series pitch, and how it came about as an antithesis to every TV cop trope and Scandi noir detectives. The background to the Rivers was interesting too - It all started with Mama Thames as an immigrant goddess from a tiny stream in Sierra Leone.

This is an author who is clearly in love with the world he's created. He described the writing process in a very fun way, especially the way he envisages the characters talking to him ("why don't I have an arc?" "Some people need to learn when to stop talking." "You gave Lesley an arc..."). He was also very open about how much he's worked out and how much he's making up as he goes along, enjoying running to keep up with his characters as they go off in unexpected directions - much to his publisher's frustration!

He has plans to take Peter out of London again. Probably not to Sheffield, although he did expound on how he would characterise the River Don, and praised the virtues of Park Hill as a murder mystery location...

Afterwards, I got my copy of Rivers of London autographed, and chatted with Ben about book covers, comparisons with The Dresden Files, and why he chose deepest, darkest Herefordshire as the setting for book 5.

A good way to spend the evening. Plus I can report that The Riverside does a mighty fine burger. :o)

I don't normally post lone book reviews, but I'm going to make an exception for The Martian, because it's flipping great.

The concept is pretty simple - A lone astronaut gets stranded on Mars. Everyone thinks he's dead. He's not.

It's a survival story and a gripping page-turner, but a solid piece of 'hard' sci-fi too. In real life, Chris Hadfield says the astronaut's mantra is to always think, "Okay, what's the next thing that can kill me?". In this story, Mark Watney goes through that over and over again. First of all, how can he not die? Then, will he be able to re-establish contact with Earth? Does he have any chance of surviving? He may be stranded, but he does have all the abandoned equipment from what was supposed to be a 31-day surface mission. The science is believable, the solutions he comes up with to his never-ending problems are ingenious, and for a story that plays out over nearly two years (Earth time), it remains tense throughout.

A large part of the book's success is in making Watney a really likeable guy - Most of the book is told from his perspective through his log entries. He is ingenious, resourceful, good in a crisis and brilliant at botching things in ways that no one else would be crazy enough to try. He's loyal to the crew who left him behind and puts others before himself. He has a deep understanding and a healthy respect for things that can kill him, but at the same time he's always ready to lighten the situation with humour. He's massively irreverant, has no time for authority and mouths off at every chance he gets. The review extracts on the cover mention Robinson Crusoe, Gravity and Apollo 13. Those are obvious comparisons, but I was also struck by a different one. I kept trying to think who Watney reminded me of, and about halfway through the book I realised - He's Harry Dresden in space! (if Dresden was an astronaut...)

The Martian is a short read - I read over three-quarters of it on the train to London and back last Tuesday, then finished it off on Saturday. I definitely recommend it, though I'm not sure about whether to catch the film adaptation or not. The trailer looks pretty uninspiring.

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On an unrelated note - I've now broken up for the summer hols. I'm not back in work until September! Woohoo!

I meant to do this post a couple of days ago, but got distracted by snow ;o)

Here's the round-up for the last six months of 2014( under this cut )

I had foolishly resolved to get my "to read" pile down in 2014, by reading books faster than I bought them. I half-managed it, getting the pile down from 20 at the start of the year to 13 at the end. It doesn't need to get down to zero (I need choice of what to read next, after all!) but it would be good to knock it down a bit further in 2015. I've made a New Year's resolution to stay off the interwebs at weekends if possible, which should help!

P.S. - Thank you to Adam for hosting an excellent New Year party last night, and to the Nightingales for bringing the comedy moustaches, glasses, etc! I didn't get any photos, but I see there are a few floating around :o)

Partly because it's ages since I've posted a poll, and partly because I'm curious...

[Poll #1953616]

Wow, this makes six evenings in at home on the trot. I can't remember the last time that happened! (Mind you, one of them was hosting a Doctor Who gathering, so I'm not sure it really counts as a "quiet evening in", and I had been to Jamie's party earlier in the day.) Work has quietened down a bit too, no longer making me travel up and down the country on a weekly basis.

This isn't entirely unwelcome. While I enjoyed a lot of the whirlwind that was October, it did often feel like I was barely holding on as my life hurtled down the track. A few weeks of relative calm before all the December mayhem kicks in is no bad thing. There's also the 3FS to look forward to this week, and roleplaying back on at the weekend, so it's not all quiet. Plus a few nights in has given me the chance to spend some quality time catching up with my DVD and book collections. And my Lego :o)