Steve Chilton's Blog: Goodreads Author's Blog, page 3

List: my best books read in 2023

Three lists of my three best reads in 2023, with short reviews. They are in the loose categories of: sport, nature and novels (and were not necessarily published in 2023).

SPORT

1: Beryl by Jeremy Wilson – Well now. The first book I have given 5 stars to for over 18 months (that is nearly 100 books). I knew she was THE best, but not really what she went through to get there. Wilson covers the training, the barriers, the difficult relationship with her daughter, and weaves together a fas...

‘Voices’ on recommended list

Great to see ‘Voices from the hills’ included in this list of 8 recommended books on the UKHillwalking website. As they say, by way of introduction:

If you can’t get to the hills or crags over the festive season then the next best thing is reading about them. From long-awaited new guidebooks, to lavish landscape photography, via biographies of some inspiring figures in hill running and mountaineering, 2023 produced a good crop of titles. Whether you’re present buying for someone else or writ...

Thank you, Marshal

Volunteering at the Itchen Valley Country parkrun today in beautiful sunshine I was given a marshal point that meant I was ‘off-duty’ quite early, so after phoning in to control to say that the tail walker had come through I decided to try to capture a flavour of the course in some photos (on the camera on my pretty crap phone). There are four images of different parts of the course, which is a beautiful one-lapper that includes paths, trails, horse rides, open grassland and woodlands. Very muc...

Not everything went well for me in my best running year

The year of 1985 was something of an annus mirabilis for me and my running. That year I achieved my marathon PB with 2-34-53 at the London race in April. In the build-up to that result I did a 1-15-37 half in Watford, 55-34 at the Woking 10, and 1-58-16 at the Worthing 20 – all PBs at the time. I also did PBs on the track for 5000m and an 800m after recovering from the marathon (the 5k being just two weeks later), and an new PB of 1-14-52 at the Leighton Buzzard half marathon in June. Throughout...

What happens when your publisher goes bust

On 30 Jun 2023 I received a message from my publisher that sent shivers through me, and that I still haven’t quite got over:

I write with bad news in that Sandstone’s financial position has deteriorated and that I have taken steps to place the company into Liquidation.

Gloom – what does that mean for me? I have written five books in the last 10 years that have been published by Sandstone Press. A week on (7 Jul) I was still in deep shock and instead of doing anything creative I seemed to...

UTMB week in Chamonix 2023

I feel terrible. I’ve felt terrible for a while.

Jim Walmsley, Chamonix, Sep 2023

Soon after winning the 2023 UTMB 100 mile ultra race, and thus becoming the first American male to do so.

I have had a long held ambition to witness the event and was fortunate to be able to be there for the whole of UTMB week in Chamonix this year, thanks to the awesome offer from friends Bill and Sue to share their apartment in central Chamonix with them. This is a potted history of our week, start...

parkrun and I ….

…… have had a strange relationship. When I was a keen runner I was all about road, cross-country and fell running. parkrun wasn’t even around. I ran my last really competitive race as a v55 in the World Masters Champs on the fells above Keswick, in 2005.

From well before I stopped competing I had been coaching athletes at my club (Barnet and District AC) and they in turn were track, road and cross-country runners, although some gradually took to parkrunning – often saying it was going to...

‘Voices from the Hills’ – the book’s genesis and a few stories

If you want to know what my latest book (Voices from the Hills) is about, its genesis, and a few stories from it, then click the link to watch an interview I did with Wild Ginger Running. You can get a feel for the content from the video’s strap line, which is: You can’t run, your womb will fall out! Why women were barred from running & how they beat the ban. Jasmin Paris comments in the book’s Foreword: ‘I’m immensely grateful to the women who paved the way for my generation to compete .. as eq...

Book reviewed on UKH website

There is a very full review of ‘Voices from the hills: pioneering women fell and mountain runners’, on the UKHillwalking website. Keri Wallace says that:

This important book is incredibly detailed, outlining the many sporting achievements of early pioneers …… encompassing everything from the Olympics to the Bob Graham Round.

The review goes on to explain the historical context and the problems that women had, such as: ‘only 50 years ago women were unable to compete in traditional mo...

‘Voices from the Hills’ – videos from the book launch

‘Voices from the Hills: pioneer women fell and mountain runners’ was launched at the Skiddaw Hotel in Keswick on Sat 22 April 2023. A good crowd was in attendance to hear international runner Rebecca Robinson introduce the event.
[Click image below for video]

She then handed over to me to say something about what the book was about, with quotes from Jasmin Paris’ Foreword and my Prologue chapter.
[Click image below for video]

After my little ramble we had a Q&A session with myself ...