I’ve been very intrigued by the news that came out recently of Iga Swiatek’s one-month tennis ban for failing anti-doping tests, the way this has been handled versus others. As a long-time Simona Halep fan it was frustrating to see her sitting in the sidelines for multiple years whilst the case was investigated, and it’s not been a barrel of laughs since she returned to the courts - what with such a lengthy spell without playing competitively and the almost immediate injuries.

Reacher is a compelling character so it’s always interesting to start a book in this series. There were two fascinating sides to this story - first watching Reacher grapple with the idea of owning a house and settling down and not wandering the world with no ties anymore. And then the bigger story around veterans that are missing in action and the ongoing search for answers for the families left behind. I loved both sides of this and found it a really interesting read, so that I’m looking forward to the next book in the series already.

Whilst Strictly Come Dancing is drawing towards its conclusion for 2024, the latest series of Dancing With the Stars in the US has crowned its champion. For the last couple of years, after the big move to Disney, we’ve been able to watch all the dances regularly each week on YouTube, and all I can say is I agree with the people that think the result wasn’t the right one.

This show got off to an incredible start for me, because we have only just watched Little Shop of Horrors and lo and behold, they open the main show with a fantastic group dance based on that very musical. Best timing ever. Follow that up with the appearance of Miranda, who promised to be in the audience in November and just managed to squeeze it in before December hits. Well, how can the dancing live up to this great opening? Let’s find out!

I really loved this book. It was so detailed, but never dull. Great characters and dialogue and you really got swept up and carried away with the plot. There’s quite a lot of set up with Laurie, quite a lot of hearbreak, before the real story and rom-com fun begins, but once it does, it’s just brilliant. I don’t want to spoil it by saying too much more, but the trope of ‘fake-romance-becomes-true-love’ is done really well here. Recommended.

Just in time for Musicals week on Strictly, I managed to squeeze in an actual musical viewing. Here & Now - The Steps Musical made its debut in Birmingham, and I rocked up to take in one of the shows. It was brilliant! I love Steps, their kind of wonderful guilty pleasure of music that you know isn’t exactly great art but is one heck of a crowdpleaser.

I started reading Phil Collins’ autobiography and it’s taking me quite a long time to get through it, but always worth dipping into the back catalogue of the iconic drummer. At first glance, I thought this album only had one song I knew on it, but there were a few where I just didn’t recognise the name. Why is Something Happened… called that when the chorus is something completely different? Nevertheless, it’s classic Phil Collins, relatively easy listening and some great tracks along the way.

LINKIN PARK carrying on after the sad death of Chester was a bit of a surprise to me, as he seemed so intrinsic to the band, but they’ve found a pretty good vocalist in Emily Armstrong. She’s got some pipes on her, she really does. The album starts out well but then there’s a specific point where there’s a clip of someone saying ‘get your screaming pants on’ and that’s exactly what happens. The rest of it gave me a headache. It’s the first time a 30ish minute album has felt long. So mixed reviews from me!

Richard Osman himself says he doesn’t necessarily remember plots or mysteries much later after reading books, but you do tend to remember how the story made you feel and if you connect to the characters. And that’s where this series really shines. Elizabeth and Stephen’s story in this is heartbreaking but wonderful and the expanding cast of characters, moving in and out of each other’s lives, is a real joy to have grown with. Yes there was some kind of mystery and lots of murders to unravel but it’s the people that are the heart of this Thursday Murder Club.

More facts dropped by Claudia at the top of the show - every couple left in the competition has scored at least one 10. But at this point we hadn’t seen a 40, despite the sheer quality across the board. No gimmicks this week, just seven couples trying to get through to the quarter finals, and musicals week. As they descended to the floor, I realised how empty it is now and that prompted me to come up with predictions for the final: Tasha, Sarah, Chris and Jamie. I want Sarah to win it but really do think Chris is in with a chance.

This was a cleverly written book, and a great story. I loved the three different threads that initially seem like they have nothing to do with each other and then gradually come together by the end. I did guess that they were different timelines along the same story, and half guessed one of the twists but still, it was a fabulous read with a somehow sad but hopeful ending.

I loved this film. I loved it more than I did the first one, which I wasn’t at all expecting. This was just like seeing my brain on screen - from when I was a teenager, yes, but also lingering now. The potential for an orange fuzzball of anxiety is real. This film has such an incredible way of unpacking your emotions and making the way they link together and affect each other completely relatable.

We all know that Bake Off viewers have mixed feelings about the show - it’s still a comfortable entertaining watch, and the bakes look absolutely delicious, but it just continues to get more and more complicated and drift further from what made it special in the first place. I wrote about this in October 2022, and everything said then still stands. However, one positive change to the show is the addition of Alison Hammond, who took over from Matt Lucas last year. She’s a breath of fresh air, hilarious with that brilliant laugh, and she works well with Noel Fielding whilst retaining her own sunny personality. She occasionally falls off the benches and generally brings a little bit of adorable chaos with her.

I loved this. It came as a bit of a surprise, and a disappointing one at that, when we realised I haven’t done any Suede so far in this album adventure… especially as we keep talking about them during our 90s TOTP rewatch. Finally have remedied that situation and what an album. Some stand out tracks, obviously, in Trash and Beautiful Ones, but I loved some of the others as well, The Chemistry Between Us got stuck in my head for a little while. Just overall great 90s work.

I’ve listened to one The Cure album before but not for a while, and this, an unexpected brand new album, was a surprise. It’s great! Unlike the Bastille album of a couple of weeks ago, in which I said you’d do well to sit down and listen to it intently, this one feels very much designed not for hardcore listening but for pleasant background music - in the best possible way. There’s plenty of instrumental in there, and drawn out songs without being noodly and self-indulgent. I really liked it.

Starting another Baldacci series and I quite enjoyed this one. It started out well, with the two main characters having similar experiences and ultimately pooling their knowledge to start figuring out the big conspiracy. I did get a bit confused by all the different characters and how they fitted together by the end. But I loved King and Maxwell and am definitely interested in what they get up to next.

What a brilliant movie. David Leitch said he made it as a love letter to stunt people and it absolutely is that - I learned so much and was so impressed by what we saw. The story is fun, and cleverly worked so that you don’t necessarily see the twists and turns coming, and the romance layered on top of the action works really well. I enjoyed the meta way the making of the film directly related to what was happening (split screen, and how the third act worked, etc). The best thing about this film (aside from Ryan Gosling being about as handsome as it’s possible to be) was that there was nothing wasted. Nothing was in there just to be in there, every little detail and plot point had a purpose and was referenced later. It was fantastically done and a lot of fun to watch.

I loved this book. It’s one of those where the initial actions are mysterious but relatively small and then gradually we start to unravel what’s going on, and the stakes get higher and higher until it’s a really serious potential threat to the safety of humankind. At the heart of this is Reacher, who gets swept up in a kidnapping completely by accident, and how he deals with that at every step of the way is fascinating. I also enjoyed the outside efforts of law enforcement to try and figure out what’s going on, and completely get the wrong end of the stick. Just a really good adventure.

Oh Blackpool you say? Well why not. Did anyone actually count the number of times it was mentioned during the weekend? Still, the lights looked good, the floor was sprung, and the Pet Shop Boys were there! Seriously, I loved this dance so much, it’s some of my favourite group dance work in a while! Anyway, on with the competition!

I loved this! Been following Chad Radwell’s career since he was Chad Radwell and he’s getting better and more adorable by the minute. And this is a great movie, good acting, solid story, impressive action sequences and the special effects were breathtaking. I don’t understand this life where you want to head towards the terrifying weather, but I was so invested in the whole thing. I really enjoyed the original movie too, and I suppose there’s an argument about whether this film was needed, as it tells pretty much the same story, but I loved it, so it can stay!

Bad Monkey is not a hugely enticing name for a TV show to me, and even now I’m not 100% sure how it ties in to the story. There is a monkey in it, but most of the time it seemed to be a pretty good one. The star of the show is not, as it turns out, the monkey, but actually Vince Vaughn who puts in a really star turn as Andrew Yancy, an on-again off-again police detective who does NOT stop talking but has a heart of gold and goes with his gut to somehow get to the right result. He draws people in around him, they trust him even though he annoys them, and sometimes he even gets the girl.

Lovely Louise has popped up a few times on our rewatch of Top of the Pops, which is currently in 1996. I’m always a bit surprised by how many songs of Louise’s I know and remember fondly, and this album is a good collection of them. It’s also got a full album of good songs, with very little filler, although you obviously have to enjoy 90s pop to really dig it. I have one tiny complaint and that is the weird epic key change at the end of Goodbye to Love, which is only there about ten seconds before the end of the song. What’s the point?? But overall a great listen.

Nothing to complain about with this album, really, it was like going back in time a bit and listening to that good early 00s guitar music. There were no bangers on here, not like we know Razorlight are capable of but I really enjoyed the album overall. I do think the song with TayTay in the title is a bit weird though, it’s got nothing to do with her so why try and cash in on her name like that?

Hmm, this was an okay film, watchable and entertaining enough as it went by, but not a patch on the original and completely forgettable. Do we really need to keep making these Despicable movies? I can’t remember the plot even now, something about a school? Genuinely, the minion in the vending machine was the best thing about it.

I’m not sure what drew me to this book, but it seemed to be a clear and concise telling of what happened to those poor kids in the cave and the lengthy, ultimately successful rescue attempt. Written by a journalist, it feels well explained with good sources and a pretty unbiased feeling about what happened. Where there were dodgy decisions being made, there was still usually a reason behind them, which is highlighted well by Gutman throughout. Ultimately, it’s a great book about a difficult situation that could have been a tragedy but ended up working out okay. It makes you feel so glad that people have these skills and are prepared to help out no matter what.

This was so good. Obviously! You’ve got everything brilliant about Deadpool, the meta moments, breaking the fourth wall, the endless stream of jokes and ripping on the people that pay the bills (spends the whole time slagging off the multiverse whilst also being a solid multiverse movie!)… and then adds in the great buddy comedy with an even grumpier variant of Wolverine.

There’s no theme this week so the dancers are just doing their own separate things, but with one thing on their mind (apparently) - getting to Blackpool. The B word is so over-used at this point in the competition that you really just want this week over so we can get there and get it done with. But apart from that, another great week of dancing gets underway!

I used to listen to the podcast that this book was born out of, and enjoyed it. I don’t listen to podcasts much anymore, but when I started reading this book, I realised I was going to have to listen to the audiobook version - partly because the formatting didn’t distinguish between Chris and Rosie’s paragraphs, but also because you just have to hear their excellent voices and the way they bounce off each other. I really liked the book, except the final section - I’m with Rosie that it’s a chapter that just wasn’t needed in the book really. But outside of that, it’s just the great, honest, open chat that you’d come to expect from this pair.

Oooh, I loved this. Obviously, you’ve got a dream team duo helming the movie - both have incredible star power individually, then put them together and you’ve got something special. Of course this had one of the things I like most, people that do extraordinary things but just bumbling along together, grumping at each other. It’s like Avengers scenes where they’re just hanging out, the best part!

There’s nothing subtle about these movies, they’re not particularly smart and they’re not particularly clever, they may as well just shout ‘we’re talking about racism, here, okay?’ But for some reason, I still quite like it. There are interesting things to be explored within - how a fragile peace deal can break down when another threat emerges, how desperate you can be to find out how you fit in, etc. It’s bright and colourful, with fun Disney songs, and a good (if not subtle) message.

This was a lot better than the first one, I’m glad I didn’t let myself be put off by the first. Although the story was very similar, the characters were better drawn and the pacing was much better. This had so many of the cliches that Scream riffs on - the random murder at the beginning, and the people having sex with each other everywhere, etc - that it must be part of the defining horror mythology. I’m still not completely convinced by the motivations or baddies here, but it was worth a watch, and on to the next!

I’m not sure about this one, really. It reads very easily, quick to power through, but ultimately I didn’t really enjoy the story that much. It starts with an interesting hook, that this child is left abandoned at the swimming pool and then the ramifications of taking him in and looking after him. But once all the revelations started happening, it sort of drifted away from me. Lots of people doing questionable things and contrived situations. Hmm, just not sure.

I was expecting this to be harder rock than it was, given the facepaint and all, but it’s actually very approachable, very eighties rock music. Things kick off with Crazy Nights and it carries on in the same way from there, good guitars, good vocals, no disappointments. Nothing stands out particularly either, once the first track is out the way, but overall I enjoyed it.

It’s a very chill album so you’re going to have to be in the right mood for it, and ultimately I think the best mood is going to be cuddled up on a sofa in front of a fire with a blanket, a hot chocolate, and a great set of headphones, giving it time just to listen through the whole thing. I’m never going to do that though, which in turn means I’m probably not going to listen to this again.

I really enjoyed this. We had previously watched some behind the scenes about the house disappearing at the end so knew we were building up to that… but I didn’t know anything about how it got there. The tension was brilliant, the kid actors really good and of course Spielberg & Hooper know what they’re doing when it comes to cinematography!

I feel like I’ve read this before but upon this reading, all I could really picture was the moments that were so well done in the recent TV adaptation on Prime. It’s such a good book though, starting out with a great visual, an intriguing character, a surprising situation. And it all gradually starts to unfold, the greater mystery, who can you trust, what are we going to do about it? I really enjoyed it and am glad to have read it to finally kick start the series off.

This was one of those super quick reads, a rom-com of sorts which kicks off with that age-old story of having a one night stand that then turns up at your place of work as the new starter. In this case, our heroine is the boss and Ryan is the new guy who has a lot of work to do. Neither of the main characters in this are particularly relatable, and both are surprisingly mean to each other along the way, but ultimately they do start to soften towards each other and the inevitable happens - a happy ending! A quick read, potentially not one to rush to the bookshelf for.

I don’t know a lot about Hadley Freeman’s work, but have seen the occasional article here and there. This book details her own experience of anorexia as a teenager, spending a good few years in and out of eating disorder hospitals, but it also approaches the subject as a journalist might - looking for facts, figures, the development and evolvement of the disorder and how it’s treated, plus catching up with people from her past and seeing how they are doing now. It’s a stark read, brutal in places, but a really important and honest look at a disorder that is misunderstood and often mishandled.

This is a short novella from David Baldacci, and at first I wasn’t sure I was going to finish it, but it did grow on me as the mystery started to unravel. Two college football players start looking into the death of a superstar player from a previous generation, and the answers end up being much closer to home than you would think. Not bad for a short read.

Icons week is finally here after quite the build up. It feels odd going from one theme week directly to another, but actually if you dig into it, this isn’t so different to other weeks - a variety of different songs by a variety of different artists. The big news this week was poor Amy, taken ill at the end of last week’s show. The legend is on the mend but has Lauren stepping in for her this week with JB.

Wow, this was a trip. I know (and love) a few of these songs but have somehow never actually watched the movie or seen the musical before. I like how quirky it is, having the trio as a chorus popping up in and out of character all the time, and how camp some of the acting is. And Rick Moranis is playing an adorable hero, which is cute.

I knitted a couple of these fingerless mittens last year and they all disappeared, gobbled up by adoring fans I like to think. So after a couple of recent froggings, I figured it’d be nice to knit up something super quick and easy and one that I could keep for myself this winter.

This is a bumper edition of the television roundup from recent weeks (and months), it’s been a little while since I did a collection of recent viewing but also I’ve been under the weather which means the volume of episodes ticked off has seen an upsurge as well. Let’s get straight on with it!

I noticed this game appear on Apple Arcade earlier in the year, and downloaded it but haven’t actually opened it until very recently. I was looking for something that required no brainpower whatsoever and would be a bit of a zen release for a frazzled mind, and this fit the bill perfectly. It’s such a simple premise. You are in control of a koi fish in a pond, and you direct it to swim around, gradually eating up various morsels in the pond to allow it to grow. As you grow, you can expand the pond, and upgrade the koi to swim faster and neater to gather even more. Eventually, the koi will be so advanced it will take that next step into a dragon.

I probably shouldn’t have read this in the days leading up to the latest US election but oh well. It’s another really good Ken Follett sprawling novel, where you have a few disaparate threads that gradually come together to the big picture. In this case, it’s a stark view of how easy it would be for world war three, nuclear style, to come about. Terrifying, but eye-opening - how much comes down to the leaders not wanting to lose face in front of their own people and in front of other people. That the fate of the world could be in the hands of one or two people like that, it’s unnerving. A good, unsettling read.

It probably didn’t help that I watched this sequel directly after finishing the original Cat People movie, but it didn’t live up to its predecessor at all. It’s barely connected to the first film, just happens to have some of the same people in it. This one is all about a lonely and isolated young girl and how people deal with imaginery friends and reaching out to other lonely people despite generational differences. It had interesting psychological themes, and definitely got me thinking, but it was even less scary than the first one and with barely any mention of felines, I don’t understand why this is a sequel at all.

This movie has been on the iPlayer for ages and I keep seeing it and thinking I should give it a look, the title and the poster are so intriguing! As it’s something of a horror thriller, I figured this was the right time of the year to watch it. It wasn’t particularly scary, although the bus scene and the swimming pool scene were incredibly well done. There was just something so creepy about the whole thing and the unsaid things about psychiatry and not believing women and their legitimate feelings… it was a work of art.

This was a bit of a weird one, the tone of it was all over the place and I couldn’t quite work out whether it was trying to be funny or terrifying or gory or what. The plot didn’t make a lot of sense but if you can suspend all of that, then it’s a medium okay vampire movie with some shocking gore towards the end, and the potential to kick off a bigger franchise afterwards.

This wasn’t a great movie really, but it was watchable and I managed to get to the end which is always a good sign. Kelsey Asbille does as best a job as she could with the script, but it was pretty scant - very little motivations for the characters and some twists and turns that don’t quite make sense. The visuals are pretty good though, and it does have an unsettling vibe to it.