This felt like the most random of the James Bond books, like a sweeping together of previously unpublished stories following Fleming’s death. Of course it’s fine to do that, but it just makes it hang together a little oddly. As with the previous couple of books, Bond’s growing antipathy to his work shows here too - being reluctant to shoot a female assassin, and letting someone decide their own fate rather than arresting or killing them himself. The last story wasn’t really a story at all, but more of a search by Bond for good eggs in the city of New York. Odd, but still quite fun.

It’s not ideal, is it, having to host an Olympic Games during an enduring worldwide pandemic. Tokyo 2020 delayed their games by a year and still it didn’t feel like it was really the right time to go ahead with it. But when would be the right time? That’s the difficult question. Many, many precautions were put in place and still athletes were having to self-isolate after catching or being pinged about a potential exposure to Covid.

Having watched Cruella, and previously seen the movies, I figured it was worth having a look at the source material, so read through this one quite quickly. It’s a bit weird, from the dog’s point of view, but once you get into it, it flows well. I quite liked it. Going through many adventures to get there and back, I can see why this book captured a lot of imaginations. What I don’t understand is how the Cruella from the origin story movie becomes this fur-hungry monster, but hey, things evolve!

Another Amazon Original short story from Deaver, and I really liked this one. It’s compact and neat but full of the traditional twists and turns. I quite liked that it was from a different point of view than normal - not the detectives, or the protagonist, but instead from an old school reporter, steeped in the traditional ways of making the news, juxtaposed with the new generation of reporters. It was a great old vs new story, and in the end, how both worked really well together. Good stuff.

Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin are a pretty much golden couple of the 1990s comedy genre, so this held a lot of promise right from the get-go! Initially, it felt just like a remake of Planes, Trains and Automobiles rather than its original outing in 1970, but then they actually get to their New York destination so then it becomes a bit more of a destination rather than a travel comedy.

I mentioned yesterday in my post about Riviera that I wasn’t a huge art fan, and that’s true but it made me wonder if it’s because I don’t know enough about the subject matter. A solution to that quickly leapt to my attention - the DailyArt app. The title says it all really, the app presents you with a new piece of art every single day with a bit of background and a story behind the piece. Giving art context really helps to appreciate it and there’s a good mix of modern and classic pieces. Plus if you don’t like something one day, there’ll be a brand new piece along the next day!

This album was fine, which is the only word I can use to describe and I know is more of a diss than it really sounds. But that’s what it was. Good enough music, and I liked listening to it, but it was firmly background music and once it was over I wasn’t left with any impressions either way. It’s just fine!

So, overall I did like this, but it’s very different from the first album and a bit of an adjustment. Where the previous album was a very specific mood, this one was more middle of the road, and it had a real rollercoaster vibe where some of it was excellent and some of it I didn’t really care for.

It’s pretty much exactly what I was expecting - odd, occasionally funny, very dated, with Tom Hanks stealing the show as per usual. I didn’t realised Dragnet had this whole history, lots of TV shows and adaptations and remakes. It wouldn’t have affected the viewing of this but equally, watching this didn’t particularly make me want to seek any of them out, which isn’t a good sign.

I’m not a huge art lover, so it’s a bit of a wonder that the Sky show Riviera appealed to me. The show initially followed the dramatic and over-the-top adventures of an art curator in the South of France, dealing with deception, murder, and rebellious families, all with high fashion and expensive paintings draped along the way. The main draw, if I’m honest, was the lovely Julia Stiles and actually it ended up being worth watching.

Louise Redknapp’s memoir isn’t a particularly groundbreaking story but a nice, interesting journey, with an honest but respectful history of her childhood, early days with Eternal, marriage to Jamie, and everything that came after that. There were some weird bits at the end of each chapter, where it felt like it was going to be wisdom, but then it also seemed like a bit of an interview, but it wasn’t clear whether Louise was asking or answering the questions or both. I thought maybe they would be skippable, but then there were some great interesting pearls in there very occasionally, which only made it more frustrating. Overall a good read though.

I tried to read this once before, and I’m not sure why I didn’t get further than a few chapters, because on a second reading, it was pretty gripping. The initial mystery and underlying whodunit was great, and kept me interested, along with the fascinating time period and disturbing mentalities of the village at that time. The only problem with it was at times it felt a bit drawn out, perhaps too repetitive in places - torture the woman, find the children, torture the woman, find the children. But I stuck with it and was glad to get to the big reveal towards the end, and curious to see what happens in the rest of the series.

I’m not particularly creative in the kitchen - I don’t mind trying things but I need the guidance of a recipe. I don’t really have the knowledge or gut feeling to get experimental. This book is probably more for those who want some underlying knowledge to then be able to work some magic in the kitchen, so it wasn’t completely useful to me.

Another audiobook I raced through, with the lovely Susan Calman talking about her struggles with depression. It’s open and honest, candid in a way you would expect from Susan, but with the humour required to make it a light and lovable listen, despite the weighty and serious subject matter. Although Susan is clear about not giving medical advice and that everyone navigates their own mental health differently, there are some good tips on improving your outlook on life, and it’s always good to hear how someone manages to keep the crab of hate at bay.

Okay, I wasn’t expecting this to be good. So while I was watching it, I actually found it to be more entertaining than I’d thought it would be. Some of the moments between Ryan and Samuel are really quite funny. BUT. But but but. The plot is ridiculous, zipping about the globe and leaving absolute devastation, plot holes and confusion in its wake.

This book, if I’m honest, didn’t really have anything new in terms of leadership lessons, but where it shines is in having something to hang them on. There are some incredible practical examples of the common sense lessons actually working, putting them in context in a useful way. And with the additional insight into military life, it was a fascinating read.

I think I might have seen this before but so long ago that I could barely remember anything about it. I thought it was something similar to The Full Monty but with slightly more brass instruments and slighty less stripping. That’s pretty much what it was, but so moving and funny and gentle and heartbreaking. It’s such a hard situation, because life and technology moves on and situations and jobs change, but there’s no excuse for decimating a community and then just leaving them in the dust.

I wanted to listen to an older album again, and picked out Gerry and his pals for a listen. It’s one of those albums where you’re like, I recognise this song from somewhere else! This time it was Jambalaya - and I’ll be honest, it was weird hearing a song about the Bayou in a Liverpool accent. But hey, the band sing good rock songs, makes a good album, and of course has the world-famous You’ll Never Walk Alone that is now so synonymous with football.

The first time I listened through this album I thought it was some pretty good pop but nothing seemed to stand out. However, second time through, I could start picking out areas of greatness and by the end I really liked it. Anne-Marie has a great voice, obviously, and combines it well with some guest stars and duets along the way. There’s a definite theme of breakup and revenge, and coming to terms with yourself, and I think there are some good messages in there. Definitely a grower, I think.

I’ve seen a variety of reviews for this movie ranging from brilliant to brutal, but I’m glad to say I really enjoyed it. Let’s be clear, there’s very little originality in this movie - it’s got The Mummy, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tomb Raider, Romancing the Stone, and probably many more. But it embraces that and works within it’s boundaries to create a fun adventure movie. Switch off and prepare to enjoy it and you probably will.

I don’t remember why I had this audiobook nestled away in my Audible library, but it made for a good, quick listen while I was doing some chores. It was so well read by Martin Jarvis that you really felt the grumpy childish nature of dear William. I like the style of these older children’s books too, similar to Paddington and some of the Enid Blyton books, where your main character goes on a variety of different adventures, so each chapter is effectively a short story. It feels like you’re just dipping along for the adventure before dipping back out again. Very nice.

I think Tony Robinson mentioned this book on one of this many TV shows following him on a walking adventure, and I was intrigued. The book is very much of two halves - the first an insight into time Orwell spent boarding in slum houses and with a variety of grisly neighbours and landlords, and the second a very political treaty into the merits and perils of socialism.

Interesting book this one, you could feel the fact that it was originally published in four parts but it still worked well as a whole. I thought it was going to be the traditional rom-com, but actually it had quite a few more layers than I was expecting and a lot more depth. The only trouble is, because of the cliffhangers, there are some moments that seem put in there for no purpose, they don’t serve the wider story really.

This is a movie from the same people that brought us John Wick and you can feel that every time there’s a fight sequence. It’s pretty derivative of its sister movie, but still, an entertaining ride. I like how it’s put together, the montage at the beginning tells you so much in such a short space of time, it’s well done.

It’s amazing to think this is Madonna’s debut album, starting her career with such great songs as Borderline and Holiday. Although it does sound of its time on the whole, there are elements of this album that are also timeless - Madonna’s signature sound being one of them. It’s a short album but packs a powerful punch and kicks off a long-lived and ever-changing career.

Really good album this one! Quirky and fun, although some serious tracks along the way, but great lyrics and good beats to bop along to. It’s unmistakeably Barenaked Ladies, they have that signature sound that you can’t miss, but that means you can just sink in and enjoy. A couple of the tracks stand out more than others, but it also works well as a whole, and is definitely one that will be worth listening to again and again to pick more out of it each time.

A fun fact from Disney’s behind the scenes of the recent Loki series is that the God of Mischief has been on the big screen for less than two hours out of the fifty or so available in The Infinity Saga. Two hours across ten years, and yet this character is so incredible popular. I saw one of those weird bracket competitions on Twitter for who was the MCU’s best villain and it came down to Thanos vs Loki. Villain is a bit harsh for the Asgardian scamp, and I don’t actually know who won out of the two of those, but it does show how popular he really is.

The book takes a little while to get going - and as it is short, there’s not that much time to pick up speed - but once it gathers some momentum, it’s really good. It crosses a few different genres, a bit of horror here and there, some mystery and of course the inevitible science fiction. The characters aren’t necessarily ones to root for, but at the same time, there are some moral dilemmas thrown up that are worth thinking about. I can see why it’s stood the test of time.

You can tell that this book wasn’t fully formed before Fleming died. It was published posthumously and was going through the editing process at the time, and by all accounts Fleming wasn’t very happy with it. So it’s not a surprise that it doesn’t have quite the same impact as other stories. It feels shorter, less complete, and there’s a lot less depth in certain areas. But it has all the elements a good Bond novel should have - a bad guy to chase, a thrilling action sequence, plenty of intense personal danger, and a leading lady or two.

I think I might have started reading this before, because it felt very familiar. But I think I got distracted and wanted to write my own Big Brother style book, which never got past 100 words but obviously meant I never went back to the book. I had no idea whodunit and how it was going to end, so it was fascinating to travel through the mystery with the contestants and detectives. The tale dips back and forth between past and present, so you can follow how the contestants entered the house and got to know each other through the prism of how things ended.

I remember reading this before, and I actually blogged about it at the time. This book was released as an app, and it was one of the first reading experiences I had on a phone. As a book, I said it was fine, a bit predictable, a super quick and easy read (obviously, being part of the excellent Quick Reads initiative), not challenging but doing the job well. I pretty much agree with that although I think I enjoyed it more this time round as I was just reading the book rather than thinking about the whole app concept as well.

So it was a hot day, and it felt like the right thing to do, watch a movie set in the frozen north to try and feel a little bit cooler by proxy. It might have worked too, but I didn’t notice because I was so busy goggling at this movie. What is it? I was sort of expecting your regular disaster movie - big trucks crossing ice that they have no business being on. But it turned into something quite different, a rescue mission against the odds with the addition of an industrial sabotage plot.

I knew a lot more of this album than I thought, I guess at the time I was really interested in what Mel would do post-Spice Girls. It’s a really good album, with lots of catchy pop songs, but I do think it feels like a hotch-potch collection rather than a coherent album. Like Mel was properly experimenting with all genres - dance, latin, modern pop, classic pop, a little bit of everything. I enjoyed listening to it though, and there are some classic songs on there that will stand the test of time.

I really liked this album. I think I heard a track a while ago and was keen to hear more, and that was before learning the lead vocalist is Bono’s son. That just adds to the intrigue. Listening to the full album, it struck me first that it sounds like the kind of music you’d imagine U2 making if they were just starting out now, and secondly the vocals do sound quite similar to Bono. But not in a way that is copy-cat, more in a way that is continuing the family line… a positive thing. I loved it!

This is such a lovely book. I listened to the audiobook so I could have Lenny’s dulcet tones tell me his story in own voice and it was a wonderful experience. It’s not a ‘first-I-was-born-then’ memoir, but it does focus on Lenny’s experiences growing up and his very early career. The whole way through it sounds as though that’s a deliberate act and we may or may not get a part two with some of his later exploits as well.

Reading this book was a very similar experience to watching the movie - it was a somehow riveting and tense read but at the same time just highlights how dangerous and ultimately fruitless these endeavours are. Why are so many fishermen doing this? Regardless, though, the book is great. Piecing together the events of the storm from interviews with survivors and family members, from a variety of boats and rescue crews. Unlike the film, there’s no definitive ending to the story of the Andrea Gail, no one knows what happened, so Junger pieces together his best guess given the information we do have.

After ditching the last movie, we ended up with the original intention of watching Scary Movie. It’s better for trying to spoof only one or two films, funny where it needs to be, a bit dated in places but actually comes up with its own great twist at the end that I didn’t see coming.

We felt like watching another spoof, something mindless to soothe a restless brain, and were heading towards Scary Movie. However, before we got there, we went down a rabbithole and saw Chris Evans in this - thought it might be worth a go. Unfortunately, couldn’t get much past the twenty minute rule - it was just too busy. Spoofs are always hit and miss, that’s fine, some bits are funny and some aren’t, but this was trying to do so much that it ended up just being too much.

Not a bad entry in the Bond canon, this book delves very deep into Japanese culture with a lot of detail about how James has to try and adapt to fit in with a whole new world to him. It feels like Fleming was leaning in to having a more over-arching series in the last few books - Blofeld has become a running theme, and in this book we find Bond dealing with the death of his wife which we witnessed in the previous book. Earlier novels felt more standalone but now we’ve got a character who is learning and growing. Super interesting ending too, with Bond left adrift in a foreign country having lost his memory. What will happen next?

Right, so, I knew this was going to be a bit of action junk food going in - Chris Pratt leading a bit of a twisty time travel action movie fighting a war against aliens so far in the future. At first, it actually went better than I thought it would. Some areas were eye-rolling, but then they would answer every plot twist question we raised and it seemed to make sense.

I’m aware of, but have not seen, the movie adaptation of this, so dived straight into the source material instead. It’s such a harrowing story, highlighting once again the horrific nature of slavery, how awful human beings can be to each other for no good reason, and how no one is safe. At some points, I had to pause reading because it was just too awful, but it was worth pushing on to have a little bit of redemption at the end. Northup tells the story very stoically, factually, from moment to moment, and although you can tell he’s holding the true emotion of it back, you still get a feel for how these events affected him. Certainly an important read.

Of course the overarching plan is to watch all the films in the world, but there are quite a lot in existence already and then all these creative types just keep making more, so, you have to pick and choose. I’m sure you’re well aware by now that I love a structured challenge and I saw Stephen King tweeting recently about his ongoing project - to watch a movie from every year between 1961 and 2021. What a great idea!

It makes me laugh a little that this is an album listed as Rock, a genre that covers such a wide variety of music it’s incredible. This is old school rock: soft, gentle, playful, swinging. It’s dated but also legendary. Although aware of the day the music died, I don’t know that I’d really thought about it too much before but having listened to this album, I’m starting to get a sense of how much talent really was lost that day. It seems such a shame that Holly only had time for two solo albums.

I remember really liking Bugzy’s first album which was a bit of a surprise at the time, and with that in mind I was keen to see how this second album played out. It’s good, maybe not quite reaching the heights of the first, but really a very strong follow up. Considering everything Bugzy has been through, there’s a heavier feeling about it, but that deep retrospective and processing of events is what grabs you and keeps you engaged. Very good.

Wahey, this was a great movie and totally worth waiting for! Finally Scarlett Johansson gets to take centre stage and this is such a great movie for her but also as an ensemble piece with her extended family. It took a little while to get going, filling in that backstory and showing Natasha in hiding from the authorities, but once the action started and the espionage got under way, it was a rollercoaster ride to the end.

This is a short story commissioned by Amazon, and it follows your usual Jeffery Deaver style - some horrifying murders that need solving. It was good though, short, entertaining, and with a twist that I didn’t see coming. Considering how much I read of Deaver’s works, that’s a really good sign. I believe there’s another Amazon Original short story so I’ll be digging that one out too.

As I was reading this, it felt oddly familiar. I don’t think I’ve read it before, but you never know. Regardless, it took a little while to grab me, and there was a little too much detail about future archaeology for my tastes, but underneath all that it was a really interesting and fun story to get on board with. I did think it was interesting that events kept piling on to the point that Jarra herself believed her deception, but then when she did reveal all it was slightly underwhelming - having built up to what could happen all book, she was just accepted. Having said that, it does tend to be the case that when you get to know the person underneath, any sense of racism you might have can fall away.

Such a fun film, I can’t believe we haven’t watched this one before - it’s a cult classic and everything! It contained a few surprises, like when a random All Saints member popped up, but ultimately was that coming-of-age, choosing your passion over your parents, story that you can’t help but root for. Great soundtrack, great drama, and plenty of football too.

I honestly don’t know why I wanted to switch this off after the twenty minute rule. There wasn’t really anything particularly wrong with it, and it was easy to see Jack Nicholson’s character had quite the journey to go on. I guess I just didn’t like anyone in the movie, and I couldn’t bear the thought of spending two hours following them. Life’s too short and there are too many movies to get through!

How joyous for Wimbledon to be back on our screens! One week down and one to go, and what great tennis we’ve seen so far. I hadn’t particularly intended to write a post about this year’s championships, but then I remembered that it’s so-called Manic Monday, and it’s potentially the last one we will see. Going forward, Wimbledon will no longer have that sacred Middle Sunday off, instead they will play on through.