Amazing blog posts: ten of the best from 2017, from Cuba to California

Amazing blog posts and awesome photography from 2017.   Chosen by readers, they include my favourite: a shot from Cuba featuring Che Guevara.

Ten top blog posts from 2017

In 2017 I polled readers to find their favourite ten posts, out of the 47 I published that year.

Spot the Che Guevara tattoo

It wasn’t easy, whittling down the winners.  I left out many favourites, including my account of how, aged 8, I used to electrocute myself regularly with my girlfriend Barbara in Wonder Woman and Wartime Moral Confusion; or my review of The Last Jedi: the galaxy’s most shagged-out designers?

But eventually we had a fine top 10.

2017: Top ten blog posts

So here are my top 10 blog posts, in chronological order:

1.  19 January: The Simpsons – existential, circular fantasy 9/10.  One of my most-clicked blogs.  Would we want to live in a world where no-one grows old, where “everything fits together and no-one gets hurt”?
2. 21 February: Nine questions about the Alan Clark Diaries: 0/10? Or 10/10?  My attempt to make sense of the life of the creepy but charismatic (sound familiar?) politician Alan Clark, who observed amongst other things: “Obituary pages nearly always cause satisfaction – if not Schadenfreude.”
3. 20 March: Definitive: Chuck Berry’s 7 greatest tracks (with clips).  My tribute to the Shakespeare of Rock’n’Roll, inspired by others’ inadequate lists.  What is No.1?  Take a look.
4. 31 March: Vienna Cafe Reviews.  The launch of my cafe review page – the most popular of 2017.  See why at the link.
5. 17 June: Happiness and small victories.  A rather personal blog about things that make me happy.  Features air-punching and bicycles.
6. 8 July: How to read P G Wodehouse: a practical guide.  The beginning of my “slow burn infatuation” with this terrific comic writer.
7. 2 September: Central European melancholy 10/10.  Why melancholy matters; and why we should celebrate the fact that we are alive, knowing we and our loved ones will inevitably die.
8. 28 October: The Americans.  The colourful prologue to the story of my 1979 solo hitch-hiking trip around 27 US states in seven weeks.
9. 4 November: A new Hotel Story: The Three Heads.  “The Three Heads” takes my total of short “Hotel Stories” to seven.  I’m proud of them.  They’re available on Amazon (“Seven Hotel Stories“) or you can read excerpts on this blog.
10. 2 December: “Blood Summit” now available!  Read Chapter 3.  The biggest writing news of the year for me: publication of my Berlin thriller “Blood Summit”.  And a plea for help with publicising the book – all assistance gratefully received.

Other nominations welcome

Did you read another blog post of mine in 2017 – or any other year – that you particularly liked?  Do let me know using the “contact me” form.

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