I’ve had this in my list to read for such a long time that I didn’t remember too much about it when I started reading. It was an interesting mix of romance novel and action thriller, very frothy and very easy to read. The twists and turns were fun along the way, never quite sure who to trust, although I have to admit the cliffhanger style ending was more frustrating than tantalising.

I’ve seen Celia in plenty of film and TV over the years but didn’t know a lot about her life so this was an interesting read. It starts with a turbulent childhood, including a real struggle with eating disorders because of the body pressures on being a dancer, and then through a lengthy and varied career on stage and screen. Every moment is told with humour but there are the occasional reality checks and moments where Celia realises something about herself. It’s fun to hear about the moments behind the scenes of much-loved creations, the Exotic Hotel, working with Victoria Wood, and of course some of Britain’s best-loved TV. Not all of it is great but all of it is a lesson. A good read, this one.

Saw this film, ages and ages ago, so was interested in the source material. It’s interesting because there’s a character who is plugged into a virtual world, and at one point that avatar plugs into a robot and controls that too. It’s layers upon layers of fantasy and yet it’s so well written, it works. I didn’t know half the references being mentioned so some of it went over my head, but the story is good and the outcome even better. Working as a team for the win!

Corden is a love or hate character, that’s become clear although I don’t really know why. I think he’s great, and have loved some of the stuff he’s done on his late night show, but of course, it’s Gavin and Stacey that we all admire so much. This book tells how James battled through boredom in childhood and fought against regular rejections to get to a position where he was able to write, record and celebrate the success of that show.

This took a while to pick up speed, but that made the pay-off even better. It’s the kind of thriller where things start slow, and gradually the stakes ramp up, the mystery gets layered on, and you end up in a situation where the main characters effectively have to save the world. I never wanted to stop reading, despite the slow start.

I don’t remember why I picked this up, at some point during one of our alcohol-fuelled nights the topic of Greek mythology come up and I realised I knew nothing and probably should know more. So this seemed like a good introduction, and I think it was. It took a minute to get into it because there’s a lot of names and things to remember, and people sleeping with their relatives, and people eating their own children. It’s a bit weird.

I’m amazed at how closely the style of the writing reflects the original author’s. The way that Frost goes about his business, the conversations he has, and the many threads of story that weave in and out of each other, it was all exactly as I expected. There are some brutal crimes, some more simple than others, and plenty of arguments, flirting and of course, insomnia. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the next one.

I listened to the audiobook of this, which was, of course, read by Steve Coogan, or by Alan Partridge himself, I suppose we should say. The Partridge humour is some that doesn’t always work for me, but when it does, it makes me laugh a lot. His overblown manner, desperate to be more interesting and important than he is, it grates but it is kinda amusing. His judgement of others is a bit of a let-down, but equally, when he ends up being the butt of the joke, then it’s all worked out in the end.

If I’m honest, I never had any intention of reading this. It’s not so much that I was judgemental about the whole thing but I vividly remember when this trilogy first came out and people were excited about them but when pressed had to admit that they weren’t written very well and that the story wasn’t the best. So I could never understand what all the fuss is about. I decided to bite the bullet, you know, eight years later, after watching Book Club which revolved quite a lot around this first book. In the end, I’m missing out on some culture so I need to get on board.

This was a surprisingly good thriller, I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t expecting too much because I’m sort of over the genre where an ancient something is detected through a series of puzzles so that the good guys get it before the bad guys do. This was that genre but it was a good story, told well, and a fun ride.