Another of Michael Crichton’s books that was written before he was the thriller writer we know and love, this one follows a doctor who gets involved in a pharmaceutical horror of surprisingly epic proportions. I’m not totally sure of the ending here, or if there was a point trying to be made, but I really enjoyed it up until then. It was so well written, engaging and with fascinating ideas. The hotel made up almost entirely of drugs and the art of suggestion is so intriguing. Awful but captivating in equal measure!
I meant to post this before Christmas but didn’t get round to it, then thought I would wait to top it up with all the festive fun that I watched as well. Except, it didn’t really feel like there was that much exceptional stuff on over Christmas? I’ve mentioned the gameshow nostalgia already, and I loved the Gladiators Celeb special, but in terms of drama and comedy, there wasn’t much beyond Gavin & Stacey, was there? So anyway, a catchup of recent viewings with or without Christmas in the middle.
I love Simon Brett’s writing, and I could honestly follow Mrs Pargeter just going about her business all day long. Her willingness to ignore what her deceased husband got up to whilst still enjoying in the perks of his many, many underworld connections is a joy. And this time, whilst also revelling in a murder investigation, we also had the fun of an ex-con trying to make up for everything bad he did to people - only his amends tend to cause more trouble than you’d expect. I loved how they tied into the main plot, it was so cleverly done. Really good read, this one.
My dad shared this post with me - 11 must-see astronomy events in 2025 - which covers great things to look up for, lunar eclipses, shooting stars, and the planets doing all kinds of wonderful things. The post is geared slightly towards a North American audience, so I went looking to see if there was anything similar for UK stargazers. Of course, the Royal Observatory has me covered.
A collection of short stories from Mr Deaver, and they live up to the twists and turns we’ve come to expect. A couple of the stories feature names we know - Lincoln Rhyme getting outside his comfort zone, Colter Shaw doing what he does best - but there are short and longer stories with new characters. It’s just a really cracking read, and although I don’t do a lot of short story reading, it’s always nice to having something you can dip in and out of.
I can’t stop thinking about this news item on the BBC, complaining once again about the incorrect headline summaries Apple’s Artificial Intelligence is creating based on their stories. In particular here, it claimed Luke Littler won the darts championship before he had (although he later did which I think wasn’t a surprise to anyone). It also claimed Rafael Nadal had come out as gay, based on a story about a different tennis player. As far as I can see, Nadal isn’t even mentioned in that original post.
I really liked this. I started reading it over Christmas before realising it wasn’t a festive read, it was just a very, very cold one. So when snow hit the UK, that seemed like a great time to pick it up again. The story follows Maya, who suffers with anxiety and panic attacks, going with her boyfriend to the Arctic, where things unravel quickly but also manage to wind round towards a level of healing. Throw in the Indian element, and a lot of family drama and revisiting the past, plus the support of great friends with their own problems, then you’ve got all the ingredients for a great read.
Only Connect traditionally has special episodes over the festive period, usually featuring previous teams returning just for the thrill of the game rather than for any particular prize. There are normally four specials, but this year there were eight, which allowed for the quiz show to try out something a little bit different.
Our hostess with the mostess Victoria Coren Mitchell explains it best:
This was so good. I’m making it a mission this year to watch more older films and what a movie to kick off with. Alfred Hitchcock is legendary and for good reason. Some of this movie is a bit on the nose. Bruno, whilst clearly psychopathic, immediately starts talking about murder to a complete stranger and they still end up enjoying dinner together. Weird. But go with the premise, and you’re in for a treat. Such well-crafted filmmaking. The boat shadows and scream, only to be tickling. The death in the glasses. The tennis game where one head is staring resolutely while the others twist this way and that. Honestly, it’s beautiful to watch.
Another easy read, lovely Paddington. What I’m enjoying at this point in the series is how Michael Bond must have been scratching around for activities for this bear to get involved in. Some of them are totally mundane, the dentist, or going to a restaurant (and getting mistaken for a critic), but others are quite out there, the gymkhana garlic situation, and Paddington actually tossing a caber!
Apple TV+ are offering access to their streaming services this weekend for free, worldwide. From 3rd to 5th January, you can watch any of the titles available, giving everyone a great chance to dip in and see what all the fuss is about. There’s some incredible programmes and films on there, and I thought it my duty to help narrow down what should be watched in the short window of availablility.
For the last few years, I’ve taken a laid back approach to resolution making and new year resets, given how hectic the outside world has been. There’s no need for any extra pressure, is the wisdom behind this, and that remains true.
However, on a personal level, last year really didn’t go to plan at all, and whilst I did achieve some of the things I set out to do (work/life balance made some real steps forward), there was a lot that slipped by the wayside.
Wanted to start the year with something super short and easy to read. I’ve read a few Danielle Steele’s before but not for a long time, and it took a while to adjust back to the style of writing - it’s very much tell don’t show, arm’s length storytelling… which isn’t necessarily the best, but you can’t argue with the characters created and the relationships as they twist and turn. You get invested even if you have to get over the style to get there.
This festive period seems to have been all about the nostalgia, with the TV rammed full of reboots of old gameshow favourites. We’ve seen Wheel of Fortune have a festive edition hosted by Graham Norton and featuring a slightly useless Richard E Grant. We’ve had a revamped Bullseye hosted by Freddie Flintoff and guest appearance from everyone’s favourite dart player Luke Littler. We’ve even had Blankety Blank back with Bradley Walsh at the helm, losing his mind whilst trying to keep control of the chaos.
A slightly different Reacher story. At first, I wasn’t really on board. I know that Reacher likes to help a damsel in distress but this just didn’t feel like something he would get involved in. But once the murder happened and he started investigating, I started to get into it, and it felt more like a regular Reacher story by the end… the big shoot out in the rain was so atmospheric! Also loved Ellie, what a smart kid.
I stumbled across this little gem on TV over the weekend - 60 Songs: BBC Two at 60 - which is a lengthy compilation of random songs from the archives of the channel, in celebration of their anniversary. It’s a real mixed bag of stuff, a surprising jukebox containing performances from the likes of Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, The Kinks, Blur, Sam Smith, and so many more. Lots of genres from pop to rock, to jazz and country, if you don’t like a song, it won’t be long before another one pops up that you do like.
I always find it slightly surprising that I’ve been doing this album thing for such a long time, next year will be the tenth year of this adventure. Two albums a week, 100 albums a year, and we’re closing in on the big 1000! The worst part of the year is having to narrow down the list to the top five, but actually this year it wasn’t too hard - there were only six on the shortlist. Hopefully next year will be better.
A good premise, very much like One Day in style. I thought we were going to get more of a will-they-won’t-they to start with, but they were already in a relationship at the beginning, and having a child by the second update. But there were lots of twists and turns, and I always like this style of book, checking in on a relationship over the course of many years. The subplot with the wonderful best friend Sarah was brutal, as well. Had to keep reading to find out what happened to her!
I’m quite forgiving of a slushy nonsense Christmas movie but I just couldn’t get through this one. The premise was weird, there were so many coincidences and weird conversations, I just had to give it up. Sorry Christina, better luck next time!
Couldn’t even get to the twenty minute rule with this one. It was slow and boring, so wasn’t feeling that fond of it and then there was a snake in the toilet and now I can’t go to the bathroom ever again. Thanks Ben Stiller.
This year I have continued reading voraciously, and although I did make progress on the bookshelf backlog, it still seems like the count of unread books goes up rather than down. I’ve enjoyed listening to a lot of audiobooks this year and discovered the wealth of reading material available digitally from the library, which hasn’t necessarily helped things! Anyway, as is now traditional, these are ten of my favourites from the year gone, in the order that I read them.
I mostly watched this because Justin Long was in it, and they were going back to Ireland which of course means lots of brilliant accents. I enjoyed that part of it but oof, it was not good. Of course the woman didn’t want kids but had to change her mind by the end, because not having kids is not a valid choice, is it? Infuriating. The whole thing around the football was similarly rage-inducing. And our main couple were all over the place in their relationship, like they were speaking completely different languages. Annoying. Avoid this one, I reckon.
It’s taken me a while to get through this book. I was lucky enough to see the author in conversation at the Cheltenham Festival, where a copy of the book was included. But I found reading the physical copy a bit hardgoing, so I opted to switch to the audiobook. Hearing the stories and advice in Miranda’s wonderfully cozy voice was much better.
At first, I thought this was going to be a twenty minute rule. It felt very low-budget, and with a very bleak start, I couldn’t really feel where it was going. I stuck with it, and I’m not sure if it got that much better. The story sort of went nowhere, and there was a lot of artificial tension introduced. I did enjoy the growing friendship between the main two, and was surprised by the ending at least. But no, steer clear.
ITV recently aired a show called Tiktok: Top 100 2024. I probably don’t need to explain what the programme was about, the title leaves very little to the imagination. It was hosted by comedian Joel Dommett, who did a lot of the heavy listing, as he counted down the top 100 videos, alongside sharing facts and figures about what else is successful on the video sharing app, and how rich some of the content creators may actually be.
This is based on three books by Richard Curtis, so it makes sense that there are various strands that pull together to make on intertwined film. That’s the only similarity to Love Actually, though, really. Instead, we’re focused on a bunch of kids and adults from a snowy village who are separated on Christmas Day for various reasons and need to feel the festive season again to be reunited. It was good, didn’t blow me away, but it was cute. I really enjoyed Rhys Darby’s character and Jodie Whittaker should do more voice work, it felt so warm.
This appears on lots of Christmas movie lists but I don’t think there’s much to make it a festive movie - just one scene in the snow on Christmas Eve. But aside from that, I absolutely loved it. It’s such a cute, gentle story, the pair of them so adorable whether they are arguing or actually getting along. And I was surprised by so many references to mental health and psychological struggles. Way ahead of it’s time! This is definitely one to rewatch, it was funny and lovely and timeless.
I read some of this and then paused for a while, trying to decide whether it had grabbed me or not. Usually if you have to ask the question, it hasn’t, but I dipped back in and actually quite enjoyed the rest of the story. Two people who had a brief holiday romance agree to meet back up in ten years, and we follow the journey to see if they actually show up. Dipping back into what happened then, and forward to what’s happening now, inevitably it is about finding that comfortable love that was there all along.
It’s billed as a Die Hard style Christmas film and it definitely wants to be that, whilst not quite living up to the Bruce Willis legend. But I have to admit, I quite enjoyed it. The story is pretty woolly, and if you know anything about airports and planes, there are plot holes galore. But Taron does a great job as the twitchy hero, and they were really good at ramping up the tension at various points. It’s weird to see Bateman as the bad guy but it was an entertaining couple of hours!
One of my favourite things about the festive season is revisiting all the great films and TV specials that have gone before. The vast array of choice is only growing with each passing year but there are some classics that will never not be aired over Christmas. Love Actually, the Vicar of Dibley’s Christmas Lunch Incident, and these unaired bonus clips from Peter Kay’s Car Share.
I’d have it every four years if it were up to me, like the Olympics… It’s just a load of stress at the end of the day. You put on two stone over two weekends, you don’t know what day it is and when your bins or gonna be emptied. There’s piss all on television, then they’ve got the cheek to repeat that twice.
There’s been a lot of build up to the big return of Wallace and Gromit, and so nice that we got it on the BBC before anywhere else. As a story, it was fine, you can’t help getting frustrated with the idiot Wallace and feeling sorry for the weary Gromit, but it was fun. The penguin is the best thing about it. Actually no, the best thing about it was the Ant & Dec joke which I am still laughing about now. Watchable with a great voice cast, but not groundbreaking.
The setup for this was really interesting - in a future where the polar ice caps are rapidly disappearing, humans gather up the remaining snow and ice and attempt to preserve it in snowglobes around the world. What a great idea for a story! The following alien attacks and Doctor figuring out what’s really going on and how to stop it as humanely as possible is pretty formulaic to the series but because of the setting and the creativity behind it, I kinda enjoyed it.
The reviews for this movie had me expecting the absolute worst, but at the same time, they really made me want to see it for myself. It wasn’t that bad, was it? I mean, it’s a great cast and they really play off the Rock being the grumpy one but having to work with someone quite different to him, a role he does with easy. Chris Evans does a pretty good job as the badun-with-a-heart, out of his depth but getting stuck in anyway.
Just wanted to share this video as it’s some really solid drone work and a nice glimpse inside the White House. Not going to get political or anything, but it might be the last sensible thing to come out of that building for the next four years!
I do admire good drone controllers because you want super smooth visuals and in a video like this, the turning circle needs to be managed very carefully!
A short novella that features everyone’s favourite maid Molly organising and slightly dreading the hotel’s Christmas party, whilst also trying to figure out what is going on with her boyfriend Juan. The world is always confusing to Molly and I feel slightly sorry for her - I’m not sure that Juan did the right thing here, he knows what she’s like and that she might misconstrue these events… and the moment when he proposes in front of everyone and Molly doesn’t really know what’s going on, I just don’t think that’s fair. I like the spirit of this book but I don’t think it quite works for me.
This is your traditional Christmas rom-com, and the underlying story about writing a column and a weird dating app that just suggests advice and doesn’t hook you up with anyone, plus enemies to lovers, etc etc, it’s all nonsense. It doesn’t work and is actually quite annoying. BUT, I do think Teri Hatcher does a great job, and the guy is almost too good to be true but so lovely, it’s kind of nice just to spend time with them, even if their activities are ridiculous.
I’ve made no secret of how much I love these books and the fifth in the series is no different. This one takes a slightly different format, as there’s no active murder being investigated so Anthony the writer character is forced to look back at an old case and how it unfolded. It did mean there was a bit less of Anthony and Hawthorne interacting together which was a shame, but the story really made up for it. Great scene setting, interesting mystery, and a fascinating ending. Horowitz has said there are many more of these books planned and I can’t wait!
An interesting idea this one, a singleton takes on the festive challenge that a dating agency proposes - twelve dates with twelve different guys leading up to Christmas, in the hopes of finding The One. I really enjoyed the inventiveness of the dates, the variety of characters that it introduced and how we eventually wound round to the end result - of course the real key to our hero’s hear twas much closer to home. Cracking read!
They’ve been building up for this movie for quite a while, and what with Chris McM winning Strictly, there’s quite a lot of expectation surrounding it. It was fun, but it’s not really a great movie. The script is mediocre and it’s a huge mashup of Home Alone and Deck the Halls with not a lot original in there. But Lee and Chris do the best with what they have, and their relationship shines off the screen so it’s quite fun to spend time with them. Probably not going to seek this out again, but would be interested in more from this duo.
This was an interesting Reacher book because rather than him rocking up in a strange town and dealing with the fallout, he’s hauled in to investigate a series of murders. So it’s almost a more traditional detective story, but hanging on the unique character of Reacher, a loner who doesn’t particularly want to get involved and who is also still wrestling with being a homeowner and the responsibility of having ties to a particular location. I just loved this, it was an absolutely chilling revelation at the end, but we move on, and I can’t wait to read the next one.
In my grumpier Grinch moments over Christmas, I get annoyed at the playlists and festive collections of songs that feature ‘Christmas’ songs that I don’t think count. Those songs that are slowed down versions of absolute tunes for festive adverts, but otherwise have no connection to December. To rectify the situation, I set about creating a proper playlist, and in 2017 released the first volume.
If you tuned in to the Royal Variety Performance on ITV last week, you’ll have enjoyed a scene from the new Mischief Theatre project: A Comedy About Spies. You bet your ass I bought tickets to that show immediately that I heard about it. It’s been a while since there’s been something new like this from the group, and it should be the original Mischief members up on stage which is a double bonus.
I was expecting the worst - these movies are ten a penny, right, Christmas, royalty, romance, etc. But I quite liked it, it was cute. Danica McKellar was pretty good, considering what she had to work with, and the wooden boring-ness of the guy kinda worked in his role as stiff-upper-lip British royalty. Even though it’s not exactly an everyday occurrence, it was at least a believable plot and a happy ending.
I liked this one even more than the previous, as this time the threat was all targeted on Starlight Beacon, a huge Jedi sanctuary-style space station. It was like a disaster movie on a ship, things gradually going wrong until it was unreversable, and then having to desperately try and find a way to save as many people as you can. As before, I listened to the audiobook, so great voice work, excellent sound effects and the occasional musical theme I recognised from the films.
I really liked the concept of this. It maybe wasn’t executed perfectly and could have done with a bit of editing but it kept me reading, whipped through it very quickly. The structure of the novel meant everything happened in quite a compressed timeline so it all felt a little bit more intense than it needed to but if you suspend your disbelief for the season, then it was a good read with a happy ending.
Wham! Last Christmas Unwrapped is an unwieldy title for a one-off TV episode that was mesmerising, surprising and joyful from start to finish. The hour long show manages to pack in a brief history of Wham the band, before and after, as well as the history of the song Last Christmas, the rivalry with Band Aid, and remembering George after his death in 2016. A lot, you might think, but somehow it never felt rushed or missing a beat, it was almost perfect.
Not a bad Star Wars book this one, carrying on from the first in the High Republic with the threat from the Nihil. This time, there’s a big expo about to happen but the terror from the enemy brings chaos and carnage from start to finish. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it - there were great sound effects, well used, and that classic Star Wars music underneath, and great voices considering how many characters of completely different styles and backgrounds. Also found the other storylines interesting - Jedi’s getting too close to other people, wrestling with their feelings, etc. Good stuff.
Loved this. Went into it with very low expectations after the recent run of Christmas movies but it was so good. Very funny, great characters, and that amazing family dynamic that you only get at the holidays. It was pretty obvious how it was going to end before it started, and there weren’t major twists and turns along the way, but even with that it felt quite original and fresh. The only complaint from the whole thing is that they spent ages looking for that tin, it was so important, and then it was just there in the cupboard. Weird. But a small niggle in a fab film.
It’s an expectation at this point, to go into the Strictly Come Dancing final, and now you’re going to be in floods of tears. This one took a little while to get me, but once the emotional showdance VTs started, I was there, I was with Motsi, any notion of appearing cool was out the window. It was nice to have four finalists again, and although we all sort of knew what the outcome was going to be before we started, I was ready to enjoy the show.
