That Was the Year That Was
I did promise/threaten an update on some of the posts I would have made this year had I had the time or the mental energy. Having no idea how to start I'm going to borrow an old fandom meme but as my year has been entirely lacking in fandom I'll adapt the questions.
Here we go
Your main fandom of the year
Sadly there hasn't been one and I feel a bit bereft without one but if anything could be called a fandom this year it would be History. It's been a year where history has seemed very important so I've been following a lot of historians on Twitter, watching TV history programmes, listening to history podcasts and generally geeking out. Not a fandom but definitely an enthusiasm of very long-standing.
Your favorite film you watched this year?
Hm...tricky one. We went to the cinema a lot at the beginning of the year, had a great time at the London Film Festival but haven't seen very much since and nothing that has really wowed me (including Arrival). From earlier on in the year I would probably go for Room which I thought was intense and excellent. We saw some good films at the Film Festival but the one I enjoyed the most was a small British film, which should really have been on TV. It starred Riz Ahmed as a Private Investigator in West London, hit all the cliches and then found some more, was far too long, but I just enjoyed spending time with the characters. Not a good film, but one I liked.
Your favorite book read this year?
There were two actually, with special mentions for a series I'm reading. The series is the Jack Aubrey saga by Patrick O'Brian with three books down and about another 20 to go. I've tried to get into this for years but suddenly something clicked when I listened to Master and Commander on audio and now I've read Post Captain and HMS Surprise. The characters are fascinating and life in Nelson's Royal Navy is wonderfully described. The naval terminology was a bit difficult at first, but it gradually starts to make some kind of sense if you just let it flow over you.
The first book was Hild by Nicola Griffith, which I read when my mother was in hospital (the first time) and immersing myself in the politics of 7th century Northumbria was a lovely distraction. Griffith made Hild and her world come wonderfully alive and though I've seen the book described as fantasy I thought it was really much more of a straight historical novel. It reminded me very much at times of Rosemary Sutcliff and Dorothy Dunnett and I can't give higher praise than that.
The second book was Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Having enjoyed Dickensian I thought I'd go to the source despite the fact it was 900 pages long. After a couple of chapters of "oh, get on with it, man" and "why so many characters" I just started to relax and enjoy the ride. I've seen two very good TV adaptations of Bleak House but reading it was an entirely different experience. TV goes for the drama but the joy of the book is the detail, the characters, the biting satire and the humour. As I got closer and closer to the end I actually wished it had been longer!
Your favorite tv show of the year?
I've watched quite a bit of telly this year but mostly on our TiVo so I'm going to judge this one by the TV shows I watched "live": The Night Manager (excellent performances all round with special mention for Olivia Colman); The Missing (I'm not sure it entirely made sense in the end but it was a hell of a ride); but in the end the prize has to go to The Great British Bake Off. I'm not sure how a show about cake became so compulsive but we were completely addicted and are going to miss it terribly. A civilised pleasure.
Your best new discovery of the year
There should be fandom in there but I haven't had a fandom discovery. My best discovery of the year is probably Twitter. I've been on it since 2011 but I haven't paid that much attention to it until this year. I'm only really a retweeter but watching reactions to Brexit and Trump has been an eyeopener on the best and worst of people on the internet. Some people are intelligent, witty and smart, others should just crawl back underneath their rocks. All human life is there and sometimes I'm disgusted and sometimes I'm awed.
Your biggest disappointment of the year
Brexit, Brexit, Brexit, with a side order of Trump. I'm still furious.
Your biggest squee moment of the year
I've had a lot of squee moments. We've had some very good holidays this year so if I can get Flickr to oblige I'll stick in some squeeful photos.
Eating Sachertorte in Vienna
Shakespeare's schoolroom, Stratford-upon-Avon
Going to the Sky Garden for a birthday treat. The views are amazing but they are through glass so don't show up that well on a photo, but the interior was fantastic too.
Going on a fun train holiday in Yorkshire and visiting Whitby, somewhere I've always wanted to go
Most exciting holiday of the year was Sicily. Greek temples, Norman mosaics, Roman mosaics and a volcano
These mosaics at Monreale are so stunning that photos don't really do them justice
Cleaning the Roman mosaics
Up Mt Etna. Some of that is cloud, some of that is steam, it's rather hard to tell which, but it was an amazing experience
And that's all without even mentioning the posh afternoon tea, the History Festival visit, the Duck Tour, the marmite chocolate, the brilliant performance of Travesties, weekends in Lewes and Eastbourne, and many other fun things that happened in 2016.
This year may have seemed terrible at times, but obviously it wasn't all bad. To end on: despite all the many offerings the TV channels threw at us over Christmas the only thing we watched with my mum on Christmas Day was an old episode of Judge John Dee with Martin Shaw. We went round to see her yesterday and I told her several things that were on TV in the evening that she could watch but this morning she told me that she'd watched Inspector George Gently with Martin Shaw. At the age of 88 my mother has discovered Martin Shaw. I don't think I'll introduce her to Professionals slash just yet, but I was highly amused.
Here we go
Your main fandom of the year
Sadly there hasn't been one and I feel a bit bereft without one but if anything could be called a fandom this year it would be History. It's been a year where history has seemed very important so I've been following a lot of historians on Twitter, watching TV history programmes, listening to history podcasts and generally geeking out. Not a fandom but definitely an enthusiasm of very long-standing.
Your favorite film you watched this year?
Hm...tricky one. We went to the cinema a lot at the beginning of the year, had a great time at the London Film Festival but haven't seen very much since and nothing that has really wowed me (including Arrival). From earlier on in the year I would probably go for Room which I thought was intense and excellent. We saw some good films at the Film Festival but the one I enjoyed the most was a small British film, which should really have been on TV. It starred Riz Ahmed as a Private Investigator in West London, hit all the cliches and then found some more, was far too long, but I just enjoyed spending time with the characters. Not a good film, but one I liked.
Your favorite book read this year?
There were two actually, with special mentions for a series I'm reading. The series is the Jack Aubrey saga by Patrick O'Brian with three books down and about another 20 to go. I've tried to get into this for years but suddenly something clicked when I listened to Master and Commander on audio and now I've read Post Captain and HMS Surprise. The characters are fascinating and life in Nelson's Royal Navy is wonderfully described. The naval terminology was a bit difficult at first, but it gradually starts to make some kind of sense if you just let it flow over you.
The first book was Hild by Nicola Griffith, which I read when my mother was in hospital (the first time) and immersing myself in the politics of 7th century Northumbria was a lovely distraction. Griffith made Hild and her world come wonderfully alive and though I've seen the book described as fantasy I thought it was really much more of a straight historical novel. It reminded me very much at times of Rosemary Sutcliff and Dorothy Dunnett and I can't give higher praise than that.
The second book was Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Having enjoyed Dickensian I thought I'd go to the source despite the fact it was 900 pages long. After a couple of chapters of "oh, get on with it, man" and "why so many characters" I just started to relax and enjoy the ride. I've seen two very good TV adaptations of Bleak House but reading it was an entirely different experience. TV goes for the drama but the joy of the book is the detail, the characters, the biting satire and the humour. As I got closer and closer to the end I actually wished it had been longer!
Your favorite tv show of the year?
I've watched quite a bit of telly this year but mostly on our TiVo so I'm going to judge this one by the TV shows I watched "live": The Night Manager (excellent performances all round with special mention for Olivia Colman); The Missing (I'm not sure it entirely made sense in the end but it was a hell of a ride); but in the end the prize has to go to The Great British Bake Off. I'm not sure how a show about cake became so compulsive but we were completely addicted and are going to miss it terribly. A civilised pleasure.
Your best new discovery of the year
There should be fandom in there but I haven't had a fandom discovery. My best discovery of the year is probably Twitter. I've been on it since 2011 but I haven't paid that much attention to it until this year. I'm only really a retweeter but watching reactions to Brexit and Trump has been an eyeopener on the best and worst of people on the internet. Some people are intelligent, witty and smart, others should just crawl back underneath their rocks. All human life is there and sometimes I'm disgusted and sometimes I'm awed.
Your biggest disappointment of the year
Brexit, Brexit, Brexit, with a side order of Trump. I'm still furious.
Your biggest squee moment of the year
I've had a lot of squee moments. We've had some very good holidays this year so if I can get Flickr to oblige I'll stick in some squeeful photos.
Eating Sachertorte in Vienna
Shakespeare's schoolroom, Stratford-upon-Avon
Going to the Sky Garden for a birthday treat. The views are amazing but they are through glass so don't show up that well on a photo, but the interior was fantastic too.
Going on a fun train holiday in Yorkshire and visiting Whitby, somewhere I've always wanted to go
Most exciting holiday of the year was Sicily. Greek temples, Norman mosaics, Roman mosaics and a volcano
These mosaics at Monreale are so stunning that photos don't really do them justice
Cleaning the Roman mosaics
Up Mt Etna. Some of that is cloud, some of that is steam, it's rather hard to tell which, but it was an amazing experience
And that's all without even mentioning the posh afternoon tea, the History Festival visit, the Duck Tour, the marmite chocolate, the brilliant performance of Travesties, weekends in Lewes and Eastbourne, and many other fun things that happened in 2016.
This year may have seemed terrible at times, but obviously it wasn't all bad. To end on: despite all the many offerings the TV channels threw at us over Christmas the only thing we watched with my mum on Christmas Day was an old episode of Judge John Dee with Martin Shaw. We went round to see her yesterday and I told her several things that were on TV in the evening that she could watch but this morning she told me that she'd watched Inspector George Gently with Martin Shaw. At the age of 88 my mother has discovered Martin Shaw. I don't think I'll introduce her to Professionals slash just yet, but I was highly amused.