This is a good book of advice and insights for women to take on board about how they should see themselves in the world and how the world should start behaving just a little bit better. There’s no real new news in this, but it’s always good to have a reminder and the affirmations contained within. The book covers a lot of topics in a short amount of time, so there’s not huge amounts of detail but it’s another one that will just make you that much more confident about the space you take up, and that can only be a good thing.

I’ve been meaning to write about Slow Horses for a week or so now, having wrapped up watching the six-episode first season - it’s brilliant! The first episode had me concerned, the opening sequence of a terrorist hunt in an airport going wrong was fab but then followed up by a grumpy boss being awful to his employees. However, the intrigue overrides that and once you hit the second episode, you can’t look away.

Honestly, Who Needs Love Like That has been stuck in my head for a week… even from just reading the title when I added the album to my library, and then, of course, after listening to the album twice. It’s not a bad thing though, I love it! Erasure are so brilliant and this is a great dance album full of great pop tunes bringing together Andy’s incredible voice alongside Vince’s sick beats. I like that we can go from the upbeat moments to slower songs like Oh L’Amour and everything in between. Top work.

A great second album from Sigrid, this is full of great messages including the motto ‘it’s just a bad day, not a bad life’ which I love. The album flows well from start to finish and it all has that great pop style with Sigrid’s soaring vocals over the top. The only downside to this album is, for me, there are no real stand out tracks, no huge pop singles like there were on the first album. But that doesn’t stop me wanting to listen to it over and again.

This was a weird one, taking place so much later than all the others with so much time passed. I couldn’t quite get my head around what Leto II was, even though there were plenty of descriptions, as gross as they all were. I did like the way it ended, that was good, and Siona was a really good strong female character - that’s something this series has done quite well. I was intending to read all the six original Dune novels but if I’m honest, I think I’m done with them now.

Mm, what a brilliant film. This has such bad reviews but it’s so wonderful! It’s quirky but in the best way - Orlando saying I’m fine constantly even though no one asks is a brilliant way to kick things off. It’s emotional and heartwarming and has some real showstopping moments: the map, Susan’s five minutes of stand-up, stealing beer from a bridegroom… lots of highlights. Alongside that, it has a brilliant Dawson’s Creek style soundtrack, particularly to accompany the mini road trip at the end. Loved it.

What a weird film this is, the tone is all over the place. It’s not funny enough to be a comedy, it’s too gory to be a kid’s film but it’s also not scary enough to be a proper horror. It somehow balances in between them all and doesn’t quite manage to come together. Having said that, it was kinda fun to watch, and I did wonder how it was all going to work out along the way, plus the twist is fun when it comes at the end. Alex Winter being in this is so odd, he’s not menacing at all, whereas I absolutely believe Kiefer Sutherland would kill me in my sleep just from a look. Could have been better but I can understand how it becomes a bit of a cult classic.

This is a really good movie, I think it’s trying to be a bit clever and I’m not sure it lives up to its own hype, but very entertaining along the way. Matt Damon is really good, naturally, and Ed Norton does a great job being a guy you love to hate. The only two downsides to this movie are that a) it assumes knowledge of poker, although even the bits they did explain I will never understand anyway and b) John Malkovich’s insane accent. What went into the choices behind that voice?? But otherwise, very good and the kind of film that makes you want to go to Las Vegas just to try your luck.

Loved the style of this. Short, sharp scenes piecing together a crime novel with a new duo of cops at the helm that you can’t help but love. It was very visual, you can tell the author has experience of television, the way it was pieced together. Just small things like focusing on two bit-part characters before the main ones walk in… Anyway, I liked it and the story was good - I did guess the twist, but it unfolded very well with a thrilling ending and hopefully a good lead in to the second book.

This is a kids book but I really loved the idea and had to have a look for myself. Illustrations take us through the life of one street - starting with primitive huts and hunter-gatherers, right through Roman times, Viking invasions, the Industrial Revolution, modern times and even looking to the future. I wasn’t sure the pictures were clear enough to fully engage (maybe a digital problem?) so I would have struggled with the fun Where’s Wally style questions on each page, but as a concept this is brilliant and well executed.

I don’t know why I’ve listened to one Robbie Williams before and it was the second one rather than his first solo effort - but hey, I’m righting that wrong now. This is such an interesting album to listen to knowing its place in time - leaving a globally successful band to go it alone is such a risk, but it’s clear Robbie wanted to spread his wings and get a bit more Britpop, a bit less traditional pop. That’s clear right from the start and carries all the way through the album (Angels, oddly, doesn’t really seem to fit on here despite being such a classic).

Loved this! It’s the first album in a while that’s really got me revved up and loving it. I’ve found Miranda Lambert a bit hit and miss in the past - she’s brilliant and I love her but sometimes it’s just that bit too country. This one isn’t that. It’s fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously, and has nods to other genres. Geraldene riffs on Jolene, Music City Queen is a baffling mix of styles and features the unique vocals of The B-52’s, plus a Mick Jagger cover. If I Was a Cowboy still stands out but I loved it all from start to finish.

I’ve heard good things about this movie and after an exhausting day it was exactly the right vibe to watch - although it didn’t quite live up to the high expectations. It really took a while to get going, even with the understanding that you have to spend some time introducing characters and whatnot. It did gradually get better though, and I love a good heist movie so those elements of it were fun. But I guess it just wasn’t quite as good as some other animations we’ve seen so I could take it or leave it.

I was first aware of this short story via the Dear Reader app, but played through it without really taking too much on board. It seemed to be an odd story about some wallpaper, but hey, I don’t like the colour yellow either so I quite enjoyed it. It’s only since then that I’ve realised what the story was actually about and reading it through again properly now was quite sobering. Shining a light on the treatment of women’s mental health and the sheer misunderstanding of what to do to help, the story is short but horrifying in its own way.

This is such an intriguing idea, I couldn’t help but get completely invested right from the very start a village in the Lake District is given over to become a reservoir, so the inhabitants have to leave home and start anew…. and some secrets are left to drown under the water. Until in the present, a drought has meant the village is accessible again, and we get to find out what happened. The story is told from the point of view of characters in the village pre-flooding, and then a granddaughter in the modern age. If I’m honest, I read through the modern moments as quickly as possible to just keep dipping back into the past and find out what happened, but as the book went on, the two sides seemed to come together nicely, to secure a happy ending. Hooray!

I’m not as big a fan of Breaking Bad as some people are, I know, and I only recently completed watching the whole series. I thought it was great to start with but gradually lost sympathy with the main characters so by the end, I wasn’t that bothered. It was a great ending to a TV show, though, so I was curious what would be in this movie. It was actually pretty good - picking the vibe of the TV show right up and carrying on literally where they left off, and telling what happened to Jesse next.

Ah, loved this. It’s a time travel movie, so of course it’s up my street but it was also really well done. Aside from the paradox that just can’t be avoided, it’s a time travel movie that makes sense, stacks up all the way through, and comes to a really satisfying conclusion. Perfect. The kid was amazing, and riffed with Ryan Reynolds so well, and by the time it was the two of them plus the Gruffalo, I really didn’t want to stop watching.

Another month has ticked into action which means it’s time for another 30 day challenge to begin. This time: 30 Days of Poetry. This has come from a combination of lingering thoughts about Emily Dickinson following the exceptional Apple TV+ show, and the after effects of dipping into comics last month. Not two things that appear to have much in common at first, but the thing about the comics is, it made me see that to give a new type of media that you don’t usually like a go, you really have to give it a chance. I like the odd poem here and there, the standard classics and some old ones from childhood, but otherwise, I really don’t care about it much.

My dad pointed out that I hadn’t listened to any Status Quo during this album adventure, so I put it on the list and snapped it up straight away. I know a couple of the more famous songs, and know of the ‘Quo for opening up on Live Aid, but otherwise I’ve not given them too much thought previously. It’s quite a good album, this one, the nice thing about Status Quo is they have a guitar style that you can instantly recognise. In the same way you know Johnny Cash from his train style beats, Quo have that riff that you can shake your shoulders at and the theme continues through the whole album. Fun!

I was going to listen to the latest album from Jason Aldean, released this week, but then realised it was the second part of a double-album style release, and this, Macon, was the first part. So I dipped back to the first part and quite liked it. The song with Carrie Underwood is the highlight, obviously, and I’m not totally sure I’m happy about the live songs padding out the tracklist (the second album has the same, so why not get rid of that and just release all the songs in one go?) But aside from that, it’s a traditional good ol’ country vibe - man tries to get over loved one with lots of alcohol, and I’m intrigued to listen to the second part.

Mixed feelings about this movie. It’s a great cast doing the best that they can with a pretty poor script - the occasional funny line drowns under endless chatter about how inconvenienced they are by this global pandemic. I know it’s trying to be tongue-in-cheek and Hollywood letting us know that they know how privileged they are, but it doesn’t really come across like that. Also they tried to make it sound worse than it was - trapped in a posh hotel! - but they were clearly being shuttled to and from the studio, which didn’t really become clear until nearer the end… it’s a bit of a mess.

And we’re done, 30 days of comic books done and dusted. Have I learnt anything? Quite a lot actually but I think the main result of this thirty days is to prove that the Marvel comics are too complicated for me. Brilliant but hard. However, the Star Wars reboot - with that hard cut off between current canon and previous legend - is much easier to deal with.

Absolutely whipped through this romantic drama, because although it did have that age-old trope of a city girl moving back to the country, it had a good deal more to it than that. The book starts with a tragedy, and really puts some of the main characters through the wringer, but good things do start to happen. Missed opportunities and plenty of misunderstandings later, and we get towards our happy ending. Just a good easy-to-read story.

Recently, I seem to have watched a lot of second series of things, either because they’ve just been released with much fanfare, or because I’ve done a bit of a catchup. Four of the shows I’ve watched recently have all had second series’ that differ quite significantly from their first, and it’s been very interesting to watch them myself and also see the reaction to them in the wider world. I thought I’d put my own thoughts down on paper (digital screen paper, obviously):

I think I’ve hit the hat trick of ways to consume this story now - I saw it first on stage, then watched the movie and have now topped it off with the book that started it all. I do like to do things backwards! Again, reading this, I do think I would have found it confusing if I hadn’t already known the story, it dips back and forth in time and character, and actually the three main women are quite indistinguishable for a long period of time - damaged and dealing with difficult men. It’s a good thriller though, and worth sticking with.

One of my favourite things about this year so far was getting to early spring and realising the desire to get back to my vegetable garden was back. Last year, I gave it a go but chucked it all in as a bad job after a disappointing haul of carrots. In my offline diary, I specifically wrote “and that might be the gardening over with. Bored of it now.”

This is one of those books that is engaging and really draws you in to a world… but actually once you’re out the other side of it, it’s hard to say what actually happened. I listened to the audiobook which was wonderfully read by Meera Syal, and it was engrossing to hear about the difficulties for immigrants of trying to fit in alongside all the different societal pressures from their own culture and the one they’re trying to adapt to. It was well written, and well read, but I don’t know if I ultimately liked it.

Ten days of comics later, and I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I’m going to be reading all the Marvel comics that have ever been published. I like the idea of it, of course, but by day twenty I felt like the vast array of comics available was starting to get a bit wearing. I quite like browsing the covers and revelling in all the creativity that has gone into these issues - but picking what I actually want to read has been a challenge.

The marvellous Manics with a super strong album - that first five tracks are really good, hitting you right from the start with the mood that takes you right to the end. It’s quite a long album, but it never feels like it’s taking too much of your time. I’ve really loved the most recent couple of Manics albums, and whilst this doesn’t quite live up to those for me, it’s still head and shoulders above a lot of other albums.

This is a really good album from Camila, who I now can’t help but call Camilia. It’s got those deep and wonderful latin beats, Camila dips between languages in that fluent and fabulous way, and there’s a rollercoaster of a story in there with plenty of emotions on display. I loved the guest stars, WILLOW is all over the place at the moment and I’m here for it. Very listenable, although I have to admit that whilst I love it while I’m in it, there’s nothing hugely standout to remember once you’re a couple of hours down the line.

I mean, I think it’s fair to say that if I hadn’t bought the complete Dune series within one book, I wouldn’t have gotten to book three, let alone finish it. I find them a really weird series - on the one hand, I kinda like the writing, the dynastic nature of the characters, and the way they are always plotting something. But I wish there was more about the planet itself, the people, who are we actually leading, what is the whole point? There seems to be less and less of that as we go on. Still half of the six originals are complete, so I may as well keep going at this point!

I can’t believe I’ve never seen this film before. Oddly, I have read the novelisation of the movie, and have dug out that book from a dusty old box, ready to read again. So I knew what was coming up but still wasn’t quite prepared for it. It was so good! So ahead of its time, in casting, in the issues on show, in the way it was just a snapshot in the life of these kids that comes to no specific conclusion but let’s them get on with their life afterwards.

As I’m looking out for more environmentally friendly product options, I couldn’t ignore it when I saw someone promoting Wild deodorant on TikTok and then getting an introductory deal on the same day. I don’t really need to write a long post about this because the concept is simple and really makes sense - you can buy one-offs or subscribe but overall the system is you get a reusable case and then order refills of the deodorants.

A really sweet young adult rom-com read, featuring two boys that meet in the New York and have a rollercoaster of a summer together. I liked that we dipped back and forth between the two characters - and having each author write the different point of view meant the characters really felt real, approaching life in their own unique way. I also thought the subplots about how complicated it is navigating friends-to-lovers-to-friends-again relationships can be. Super easy to read and adorable, I definitely want to pick up the sequel to see what’s next for Ben and Arthur.

We’ve had a real hit-and-miss rollercoaster journey with these brat pack films so approached this with some nervousness… mostly drawn to it because the song is brilliant. Actually you don’t hear a lot of the song in this, but thankfully, the movie stands up on its own. I liked it, which was a surprise because the characters are all deeply unlikeable. I can’t believe how creepy Emilio Estevez’s character was being and no one was batting an eyelid. It’s not great from that point of view, but moments of it were good and as a whole it was entertaining.

The critics and all the reviews I’ve seen are absolutely panning this movie but I really enjoyed it. Sure, it was predictable and not a particularly sophisticated spy movie but so what? Gangs of men have been making movies like that forever, it’s about time the women had a go. It was fun, fast and furious, a great cast and even if the plot left something to be desired, it all stacked up and made sense and allowed each character to have their moment. Perfect Saturday night popcorn action.

The phrase ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ doesn’t really cover everything we need to do to fix our planet, but it’s a really good place to start and does help you think in the right way. Reuse is one of the best options, meaning new items don’t need to be made and we can really get the most out of our products. It’s no wonder that milk delivery to your door in glass bottles has been making a comeback, sped up by the pandemic but also by a convenience/conservation aspect too.

This isn’t a particularly ground-breaking movie, the story of a coach down on his luck that reluctantly takes over a kid’s team and makes them believe in themselves, etc, etc. The only difference being this was based on a true story after Coach Peyton was suspended from the NFL (I actually would have liked to know more about all that business, but I guess that’s not what the film was about).

I’d forgotten how many of these songs I knew, and particularly it’s a really good start to an album, I think the first five tracks are all bangers. The whole thing is good though, very strong pop, if slightly over-produced in that early Popstars/X-Factor style that does sound a bit dated by now. It also feels like they hadn’t quite found their gel yet, the chemistry that is clear in later releases isn’t quite there yet. A clear example of the talent within the band, though.

Ooh, I loved this. Peck has such an incredible voice, it’s like a cross between Elvis and Johnny Cash, and combining those two greats into his own interesting style. It’s really old school and yet feels big and fresh and inviting and unlike any other country music coming out at the moment. Peck’s whole mystery-man-in-a-mask thing is fun too, like Sia’s quest for privacy. Just concentrate on the music and forget about the rest.

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.

It gets harder and harder to make and thus enjoy a rom-com, as most of what can be done has already been done. And, of course, going into this, you know exactly how it’s going to end. But, the two leads are completely likeable, Charlie Day in particular, and there were twists and turns along the way that I wasn’t expecting.

What a wonderful book this is. I listened to the audiobook read by the man himself and it’s just a warm, joyous affair, filled with knowledge and love and honesty and fun. Dick dispenses his advice in a way that is completely relaxed and without judgement, whilst still telling us what he thinks is right and wrong. I particularly enjoyed the timeline of events that have happened during his lifetime so far, and his rating them with a school style A-F.

So far, my 30 Day Challenges have fallen into one of two themes - either trying to embed a habit, or really giving something a good go. The comic book challenge is the latter, something I’ve thought about and dipped into occasionally but never had the stamina to keep up a good streak of comic book reading. One thing I didn’t mention in my introductory post, is that the vastness of the various superhero universes is another thing that has previously put me off. And my reading for the first 10 days has proved that is something I was right to be nervous about.

There’s been a TV show streaming on Apple TV+ recently, a little production called Severance, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it? I’m astounded at how popular this show has become, not because it’s not good, but because it just seems to have blown up out of nowhere. But the show features that thing that everyone loves - morals alongside a mystery. While you’re trying to figure out what on earth is going on, you’re also desperately trying to imagine how you would feel in a similar situation.

It’s hard for me to describe this album without sounding like I didn’t like it… but I did. It’s a great Genesis album and a great vehicle for Phil Collins - particularly as some of the songs sound like they have come straight off a Phil Collins album. I generally enjoyed the album, and Jesus He Knows Me gets stuck in my head far too easily, but the thing about it is, it’s so long! Well over an hour, with several of the songs nearing the 10 minute mark. One you could get away with but more than that and I start to get annoyed. But I liked it, honest!