I thought I’d take a look back over 2016 in terms of my photos on Flickr and the Reading entries on SparklyTrainers, and pick a favourite image and a favourite book for each month. Here goes:
January
Photo
A beautiful sunny weekend in Walton – a good start the the year
Sunday strollers enjoying the beach between Walton and Frinton
Book
Hard to believe that it’s 12 months since I was reading Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb. The first book in the third trilogy featuring FitzChivaly Farseer, in his old age guise as Tom Badgerlock, exemplifies Robin Hobb’s ability to use a fantasy saga to show a full and long life, how people change and how they handle change.
February
Photo
Domesticity
New Mid Century Modern dining table and chairs
Book
No stand out book this month, but I did enjoy Walking Home From Mongolia – Rob Lilwall.
March
Photo
Forty Acres, and family
Book
I’ve always loved Historical Fiction, and Philippa Gregory’s The White Princess shows us Elizabeth of York in the part of her long life where she served as the point of connection and transition from Richard III and Henry VII.
Frustrating (Or simply a reflection of the medieval world?) how the history I was taught at school, college and university focused so much on the men – one of the things Philippa Gregory’s Cousins’ War series does so well is to show the Wars of the Roses and the arrival of the Tudor Dynasty from a female perspective.
April
Photo
Back to Nepal, On and Off the Beaten Track through Solukhumbu with Val Pitkethly, Chhiring and crew, Steffi and Charles
Me, and the view of the mountains above Thengpo
Book
An easy choice this one, and up against hard competition, but Sara Wheeler’s Oh My America! is top notch travel writing (as always), which looks at women of a certain age exploring/travelling/living/surviving in the USA in ages past.
May
Photo
Home
Book
Hard choice this month … If I could allow myself a three way tie, I’d have (in order of consumption):
- K2: Triumph and Tragedy – Jim Curran
- A God In Ruins – Kate Atkinson
- Atlantic: A Vast Ocean of a Million Stories – Simon Winchester
But I can’t, so Simon Winchester’s Atlantic wins because of its range and readability.
June
Photo
Dad and Jean’s first visit to Walton-on-the-Naze
Book
June’s tough choice is the inverse of May’s – no stand out reading really, so I’ll plump for Voices by Arnaldur Indriðason on the grounds that it’s early Erlendur and offers excellent Icelandic Nordic Noir and provides plenty of perspective on the dour detective’s personal life, past and present.
July
Photo
It would have been Jean’s party, except I hardly have any photos of that, so a very, very close second is the walking weekend in Snowdonia with Catherine and Hazel
Snowdon: Summit (1085 m / 3560 ft) – Looking down at the Miner’s Track, the Pyg Track and Llyn Llydaw
Book
I can’t wait to see private eye Cormoran Strike onscreen, and I’ve loved every one of J. K. Rowling’s crime series so far including July’s pick, Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith.
August
Photo
Bank Holiday weekend in Walton
Book
For its clever yet readable visits to China ancient and modern, The Incarnations by Susan Barker wins this month.
September
Photo
Fantastic Autumn in Ladakh
Book
Three weeks in Ladakh made for thin reading, but S. J. Parris’s Treachery was an enjoyable exploration of late Elizabethan England and felt like we’d arrived at the end of a good era for Giordano Bruno.
October
Photo
Indian Summer
Walton beaches and pier, in early evening light
Book
At the Edge of the Orchard – Tracy Chevalier with Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow by Maria Coffey as a very close second for insights into the other halves left at home when climbers head to the mountains and don’t come back.
November
Photo
An extra special Wine Wednesday treat
An early Christmas Present from the lovely team at Russia Row Pizza Express
Book
I enjoyed Some Luck, book 1 in Jane Smiley’s Last Hundred Years Trilogy, far more than books 2 and 3. Life felt simpler then, harder but more honest.
December
Photo
Austria, Winter Walking, Trins
Me at the top of the Blasergipfel
Book
If I’d have finished in in 2016, Tim Hannigan’s Murder in the Hindu Kush would have won easily, but I didn’t so I’ve gone for a spot of magic in present day London with Hidden by Benedict Jacka.