Mixed feelings on this one. If I’m honest, I almost gave up after the first couple of chapters but I stuck with it and I guess I’m glad I did. It’s so lovely to read, lyrical, poetry almost, a glorious glimpse of letter-writing between enemies turned friends turned lovers. But I can’t say I really followed what was going on, what the story was, where they ended up, it sort of went over my head. It was a pleasure to actually read, but I don’t know if I got anything out of it.

When I listened to this album, it was instantly familiar to me, I knew it far better than I thought I did… and I love it! From start to finish, it’s raging and raw, powerful and moving, and a whole assault on the senses. In The End is a proper classic song, but there are plenty more on there that live up to it. It obviously means more now that Chester is no longer with us, too.

I love Texas and this album lived up to all my expectations. Sharleen’s incredible voice layered over some great pop-rock songs. I don’t know if any of it stood out as exceptional to me, but as a whole it’s a really good album. I don’t totally understand why the single Hi is on their twice, I feel like the band should have picked which version they liked best and gone with that, but you can’t argue with a bit of bonus Wu Tang Clan.

I honestly can’t believe I’ve never seen this before - it’s such a part of pop culture history, and it’s about music and dancing, and it’s brilliant! The concept of banning dancing and music is bizarre to me but that doesn’t take away from the greatness of a group of kids rebelling against the system so they can live their best lives. And the soundtrack is epic!

Any movie that involves a time loop situation is going to be compared to Groundhog Day, it just is. Thankfully, this one doesn’t fare too badly! The logic of the problem is mostly sensible, although there were a few strands left dangling. Samberg and Milioti bounce off each other really well, and I liked how differently they approached the situation. Nyles was totally worn down by it all, Sarah uses the time to learn everything she possibly can about how to get out.

This is a fun tie-in to Mythic Quest - their second season standalone episode tells how Longbottom made his mark on the science fiction world and this is the book that did it. I listened to the audiobook, about 40 minutes long, in which Longbottom reads his story with added asides, and there are introductions and interruptions by Mythic Quest founder Ian. It’s not a good story, at heart, clearly, but what I really liked was the quickly dampening enthusiasm of Ian - starting out so keen to hear the draft, then gradually realising it’s not quite what he thought it was. Good stuff.

I’ve really enjoyed reading these How to guides from Merky Books, and seeing how they follow the same initial structure but then vary depending on the subject matter. Unfortunately, I think this was the weakest one for me - it had some good thoughts about taking care of yourself and how important it is to look after your wellbeing, but I wasn’t sure about all of the practical advice. I wasn’t sure about the scientific backing behind all the therapies suggested and recommended, so I think you’d have to take this book as a first port of call and then do some significant further research. But it’s always good to have a place to start!

I had no idea about this crash before picking up this book, but what an extraordinary and tragic event to have lived through! Strouch waited a long time to tell his story but does so with great sensitivity, honesty and reflection. The events unfold sort of chronologically, but more dipping into various areas of the event - spirituality, survival, hope, despair, telling what happened via emotions rather than via a timeline. It’s an eye-opening and incredible read.

I felt like I was walking a tightrope reading this book. Joe Lycett is a great comedian, and I love his approach to life, but there are times when this wobbled a bit for me. I’m not big on pranks, and so had to feel like the recipient of these messages and emails really deserved it… the spam festival one was great, whereas the woman just trying to keep pets out of her workplace didn’t seem so funny. But that’s my problem, not Joe’s, and I really like the way the book is laid out, the way it’s written, and the general feeling of positivity it gives you - you don’t just have to take things lying down, Lycett’s got your back!

It’s a bizarre concept, you do have to wonder what Ann had been drinking when she came up with this idea - although you can guarantee I’m going to go on and read the book now! It’s definitely an odd idea to hinge a friendship story on but if you can overlook that, it really is a nice coming-of-age tale of four friends learning to deal with the hand that life has dealt with. They’ve each got their own things to learn and they vary in degree of seriousness but are all handled sensitively and with equal weight.

I only first became aware of Richard Marx through the age-old debate over Hazard, but gradually I’ve really come to like his various works. A more recent Christmas song worked its way into my heart, and I’ve listened to a previous album that went down quite well. This one, with the aforementioned controversial song, also was far better than I’d expected! You have to go into it expecting some dated music, in fact it sounds very 80s despite being released in the early 90s, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As long as you like solid 80s pop, you’ll like this.

And regardless, with this album she’s absolutely earned her spot at the top of current pop royalty - it’s brilliant. A bit Taylor Swift, a bit Lennon Stella, but with her own stamp firmly on it. Kicking off with some grungy pop, before leading into the soul-searching pop that seems incongruous from a 17-year-old but somehow works perfectly. I loved it.

The reviews for this movie had suggested it wasn’t going to be any good, but I actually really enjoyed it. It’s very derivative with barely an original idea in there, but it told a good story and I liked following the twists and turns. I’ve seen 101 Dalmations before but remember very little about it because it wasn’t good. I don’t know a lot about Cruella, but I don’t understand how this slightly twisted but not horrific character turns into one that murders puppies - she had the chance here and opted not to… so goodness knows what happens later.

I’ve read a few medical memoirs, and they tend to follow a similar pattern - heart-warming stories offset by the frustrations of a sprawling mess of a national health service. This has that at its core but I think focuses more on the problems than the patients, although apologetically so. Edwards admits it himself that as he’s keeping this as something of a diary, it tends to be the bad days that draw more attention, the rants he needs to release, that hit the page. But there are some upsides to the down, some days that keep the spirits up, so that overall it’s a good and enlightening read.

What a weird entry in the Bond back catalogue? It’s like those Sherlock stories where the eponymous hero doesn’t come in until right at the last minute and there’s all this bizarre backstory that you have to fight to care about beforehand. This is similar, in that we hear all about Vivienne’s life history and it’s not until the last minute that Bond appears. Also, it’s not like a big conspiracy that the agent needs to resolve, it’s just a situation that he stumbles across and barely makes it out of alive. It’s just odd from start to finish!

Having watched the film on Netflix, I was interested in how the book would stack up. It’s very similar, just a few tweaks in the film to give it that extra edge. But I loved the book, it’s equisitely written, super simple, laying out the facts, following these few characters as they go about their business and change our understanding of history. It’s just wonderful, I was always disappointed when I had to put it down.

This was a pretty good film overall, very blockbuster-ish, tense and moving but actually quite gentle considering some of the more brutal war films that have been released since. I spent the first half of the film being agog at how many famous names and faces were in the cast, and then the second half thinking - we can’t have gone through all this and then find they don’t make it back, can we? But having just watched The Perfect Storm, I wasn’t convinced! Thankfully it was an okay ending, which made for a perfectly enjoyable watch.

To celebrate their 100th anniversary (there’s a lot of great history there that’s probably for another time), Kotex have launched a global She Can Initiative to support and promote menstrual cycle hygiene and education - getting rid of that never-ending stigma about the cycle that half the population live with for a good portion of their lives. As part of the intiative, they’ve launched a series of videos with inventor Simone Giertz to help visualise various areas of the menstrual cycle by the art of machine.

Overall a pretty good film, I thought. Gibson and Downey Jr made a good duo, the situation was pretty rubbish but the bad guys seemed to get their comeuppance, and there were plane crashes that weren’t too hard to look at. Top notch. The big downside to this movie is that it was supposed to be set in the 70s-ish, but it looked so firmly late 80s, like they didn’t even bother with historical accuracy. Not the end of the world though, a good way to pass a couple of hours.

Mr C was quite shocked that I hadn’t listened to any Clash so far in this album journey, so we rectified that quite quickly. I was a bit nervous going into it because these are the absolute pinnacle of punk, what if I didn’t like it? Not to worry, I did. The only downside to it is that the songs are all pretty similar, you jump on board the Clash vibe and that sustains you to the end.

Hmm, I just wasn’t bothered about this one. I remember enjoying the previous St. Vincent album I listened to and it being something of a surprise so I was looking forward to this but it just didn’t speak to me at all. To be honest, I can’t remember anything about it and I’m only a couple of days from having heard it.

I am completely in love with the show For All Mankind. The sheer audacity of the whole thing is wonderful. It’s out there but also somehow grounded in reality. If you’ve not seen it, or read my thoughts on Series 1, the premise is an alternative history where Russia landed on the moon before the US, and everything that follows from that. I read a review of the show that explained how anything that tries to exploit the butterfly effect - small things creating exponential changes - is bound to start slow but gradually pick up speed. That describes the first season perfectly. It took me two attempts to get going with it, but once I did, I adored it.

Syal writes with such intimate depth and expression that you get a wonderful and vivid picture of life as a youngster in the Midlands at that time. It’s a difficult book, touching upon the difficult subject of immigration which is layered on top of the already troublesome time of growing up. It feels like Meena is too young for some of the things she goes through, but life comes at you fast, and it’s a great, moving, alarming and comforting story about family, friends and everything in between.

This is a great entry in the Merky Books How To strand, very practical with a lot of good insight and tips into what a brand is, what different elements can be focused on, and how you should go about building the brand you want. Good stuff. However, I did find it quite difficult to read because having two authors meant they were both talking about themselves and/or each other in the third person, which made for a really weird dynamic. Good content but an odd style for me.

It’s just brutal. Such a good movie but so heart-wrenching, so tense, so ultimately sad. All these people risking their lives for what? From start to finish this movie is brilliant though, at first delving deep into the lives of these fishermen - the distubances of having to come and go and the struggles of those left behind. Then the boats take to the sea, the storm descends, and it’s a very visceral experience from there. It’s the kind of film that leaves you flat and depressed, but worth the ride.

I’m sure I’ve seen this before, it all felt quite familiar, but I didn’t remember any specifics of what was going to happen. It’s a good, solid John Hughes movie - a family thrown together in awkward circumstances, rubbing up against each other in all the wrong ways but learning to love each other by the end. Exactly what you’d expect.

Yay for the lovely manufactured pop sounds of the 1990s. There’s nothing particularly special about S Club 7 in the 90s pop universe, but they do have some good and memorable songs. I was a bit surprised that there were a couple of more Spanish-influenced numbers on there, and I liked it when it stumbled on to a track clearly letting the boys taking centre stage for a change. Overall just a nice, feel-good, pop album.

I really loved this! I don’t think I know this band, but I wish I did because that Ska beat is so uplifting. It’s almost impossible to listen to this without bopping along, tapping your feet, etc, etc. The only downside is a lot of the songs sound the same, looking at that track-listing I honestly couldn’t pick out which song was which now, but I loved it while I was listening. Definitely one to revisit in the future.

This book has me a bit puzzled. It’s beautifully written, brings you right into the environment so that you can almost taste the sea salt and smell the rusting metal. It flows nicely, I didn’t want to put it down. But ultimately, there didn’t seem to be a point to it. It was a glimpse of a life in a potential near-future, and there was a hint of a story, a mystery, more that we needed to know.

At first glance, this feels like a good, traditional Bond story, with a big bad to overcome, a girl or two to deal with along the way, and some help from Felix Leiter just when it’s needed. But actually when you look closer, the book veers so far from the debonair James Bond that we know it’s almost a different character.

I remember watching the TV show that this book is tied-in with when it was on oh-so-long ago, but I’m not sure if I ever read the book. I saw a newer book by Dick Strawbridge that led me back to this one, and I thought it would be interesting to have a quick dive in. It brought back some memories but what was fascinating to see was how much has changed and how much hasn’t. There are areas that the Strawbridges focus on that are still a problem today, but also areas that we have actually managed to make progress on - plastic bags, etc.

I liked this a lot more than I was expecting to! You have to like Ricky Gervias, otherwise it’s not going to be your cup of tea, because he’s really doing his trademark stuff of being sarcastic and fed up of the human race around him. He does it very well, but it does make it quite unbelievable that Téa’s character would actually come to like him.

This was a bit of an odd film that was okay while watching, but the more I think about it, the more boring it seems to be. At heart, the problem is I just don’t care about Jean Grey, she’s not a very interesting character and I’m not sure Sophie Turner does a very good job with her either.

Wow, what a ride. This movie is intense from the opening moments of blasting off with the crew into space, to the sudden realisation that they’re a team of four and not three, and then everything that follows! At heart, the moral dilemma is an excruciating one, almost impossible to know what the best thing to do would be.

I had honestly never heard of Gomez before, even though they seem to have many, many albums. This is their first one and actually I quite liked it. The underlying songs are great, there is the occasional moment where the band try something experimental and it’s okay but drags on just a beat or two too long. Reign it in just a bit and this would be a really solid album.

The third part of Eric Church’s trilogy, of which I only have access to two, is just as good as the first. In fact, I think I preferred this album to Heart (something Mr C and I disagree on), but they’re ultimately quite similar. This one is slightly less rocky and more bluesy, and I really enjoyed it. Hell of a View stands out, being the single, but I enjoyed the whole thing.

I can see why The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was scheduled to be the first of the new breed of Marvel TV shows to appear on Disney+. It’s a more standard superhero series than the innovative approach taken by WandaVision. However, I loved both of them equally in different ways. Falcon was a much calmer show, despite traditional action sequences, superhero fight scenes and plenty of drama. Although it had all that you might expect from a MCU movie, Falcon had a lot more. There was a deeper dive into the psychological effects of living in this world, whether that is regret from things you’ve done, how hard it is on the people left behind, or how much courage you have to have to take up the mantle.

I feel like I’ve read this before but I don’t have a review of it anywhere so I figured I’d give it another go. Whether I’ve read it before or not, I’m glad I got to experience it again. Mack deep dives into what drives a comedian to choose this career, and what makes someone funny, by examining his own history in a unique and hilarious way. Usually dipping too much into childhood and early days can be dull but this was never boring.

A lovely memoir. I picked this up after watching Tony Robinson interview the author on his Walking Through History programme. It’s not an area I know a lot about, Guernsey, and it was fascinating and terrifying to think about the occupation by the Germans during the Second World War. This is the story through the eyes of a child, and it’s interesting to hear about the ways the kids tried to get extra food, the things that weren’t allowed (radios), and the way everyone tended to look out for each other. When the Red Cross ships arrived, I could feel the relief pouring from the page. Lovely.

I really liked this film, but do have to temper that with the knowleddge that I was mostly just relieved not to be watching Cherry anymore. But it is a good movie, a gentle comedy with some excellent chemistry between Seth and Barbra. It’s not huge on laughs, but bumbles along in a really nice way. Eventually it leads to an ending that I didn’t see coming and was actually really satisfying. It’s just a nice movie, worth watching but not earth-shattering.

Mm, I wanted to like this because Tom Holland is a bit of a talent, but it didn’t grab me at all. We had to do the twenty minute rule because to be honest, by the time I got that far in, I was so bored. They didn’t seem like interesting people, and the amount of narration was similar to listening to an audiobook - which I love but there’s a time and a place.

As soon as I saw that Lord and Miller were involved in this, I realised we were in for a real trip - the films they make are exhausting in the best possible way, stacked full of easter eggs and jokes and packed with emotions. The film is a combination of road trip family drama and world-ending machine apocalypse - not natural bedfellows, but it works so well.

Sandra Bullock head and shoulders saves this movie with her brilliance, but otherwise it was a bit of a letdown. They set themselves up for a difficult ending as all the characters were likeable so there couldn’t be a happy ending for everyone. They did the best they could but it was a bit unsatisfactory.

Oh man, this film is something else. It’s in two distinct parts, both of which are absolutely incredible, but they don’t seem to fit together in any understandable way - like it’s trying to be too clever and falling down at the final hurdle? Aubrey Plaza is out of this world, in fact all three of them work well together. The row they have in the middle of the first part is mesmirising in all sorts of ways.

I won’t deny, this is an odd little film, but I really loved it. Two headstrong and properly rural Irish families bump up against each other in a variety of ways as they try and figure out love and heritage, and the continuation of family farms. It did feel like a film of two halves - I could feel the play behind it as the second half kicked in.

Great album this one, stacked full of short but sweet rock and roll tunes. I really liked how it kicks off with some proper finger-clicking music, impossible to sit still to. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster of an album though, dipping straight down into a slower love songs. And I can’t believe this album has Old Shep on it - such a downer! And so hard to follow, it’s a weird juxtaposition to suddenly dive straight back into the guitars. But hey, trust in Elvis, it’s a good album overall.

It was good, solid country, but with a more rock feel than I was expected. Stick That In Your Country Song is pretty aggressive after all! Good songs, probably not supremely memorable, but let’s wait and see what Soul has to offer next week!

I’m really loving these bitesize Merky Books How To guides, they dip into a subject and give you a really good beginner’s guide, and remove all the guilt you might be feeling about a topic particularly if you think you should already know the stuff already. This one wasn’t quite as good as some of the others I have ready already, but only because I wanted more from it.

It feels a bit cheeky to call it a book as it feels more like an extended magazine article, but there’s no denying it’s a nice piece. Sam is inspirational and seems like a lovely guy, and it’s nice to see the author connect with his extended friends and family. Would have liked to delve a bit deeper but it was still a nice read.