I’ve been dreading this moment pretty much from the second I hit publish on last year’s round-up of my musical adventures. Now it’s time for me to pick not only my top five albums of the year just gone but also update my top ten albums of all time. Naturally, this only includes the ones I have listened to in the course of this album adventure nonsense, so it’s actually the top ten albums of all time out of 200 options. But that’s double last year, and the more I listen, the more I learn.

I do so love Miranda that even though this is a kid’s book, I had to read it. Poor Chloe who loses her smile when life starts to get on top of her, she has to go on a handful of adventures to try and find it again. As an adult, reading this, the allegories with real life are obvious, but as a kid, I think this is an important story that will hopefully help anyone in the same situation.

I post the majority of my book reviews to my Goodreads profile, but occasionally like to hand-pick those that have earned five stars to share here. I haven’t been as voracious in my reading appetite this year, and have indulged in some books that I’ve read before, but still there were some great highlights along the way. Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick I love Anna Kendrick a lot, so it was no surprise that her memoir was right up my street. Having said that, I was a bit taken aback by the book because it was basically like reading inside my mind - some of the anxieties, some of the anti-social tendencies, some of the obsessive compulsive stuff, you mean Hollywood stars feel like that too?

I previously wrote about potential Christmas jumpers for those not looking for mainstream products, but this is the one I opted for: Most Wonderful HAIM of the Year. Naturally, I wanted to show this off with a photo, but it’s harder than you think when you’re in a particularly good mood at Christmas. Eventually, after too many photos where I obscure the genius of the shirt, it was demanded that I sit up straight and behave myself. So I sulked, of course.

It became startlingly apparent last year that we were missing out not having seen Elf. It came in second place on Richard Osmond’s World Cup of Christmas Films, and there was even an elf-based dance on the Strictly Christmas special. So, this year, it was high up on the festive to-watch list.

It’s been a bit of a busy year, so expeditions and adventures have been few and far between, but every December we are obliged to leave the house. The brilliant Giggles Advent calendar features jokes from many contributors of which I’m honoured to be one, and to make a fun and interesting video, Mr C and I look for new places to explore. This year, it was Drayton Manor - the medium sized theme park that features a large section of ground designated to Thomas the Tank Engine, otherwise known as Thomas Land. They were turning Thomas Land festive, and we thought what better place to capture a Christmas joke.

So, I was in between TV shows, eagerly awaiting the arrival of series two of The Crown. I had a few days to spare and Mr C suggested, based on a random tweet he’d seen, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, available on Amazon Prime. I’d sort of forgotten I even had access to Amazon Prime content, but looked this one up. It only took maybe half an episode before I was hooked. What an incredible show, and here are five reasons why:

I was feeling a little guilty when I started reading this that I only really knew ‘Mass’ for his stint on The Big Bang Theory, but he mentions that in the book and it doesn’t come across as a bad thing. In fact, he’s got a great attitude that once you’re done flying, your best job is to generate awareness and excitement by inspiring the next batch of youngsters into the sciences, even if that is through a slightly nerdy sitcom.

This is such a great idea. I don’t read many physical books anymore, but the concept of picking up a random book whilst browsing, truly random, wrapped in brown paper packaging and literally tied up with string, is inspiring. From the website: A Blind Date with a Book is a hand wrapped book, carefully curated from a wide range of popular genres that is tagged with intriguing clues alluding to the book inside. This curated collection includes everything from mystery, romance, classics, horror, adventure, science fiction to young adult.

We’ve been working on a Christmas playlist for a Sidepodcast friend, and finally have come up with the goods. As I say over there: During the past week, I listened to Apple Music’s attempt at a Christmas playlist that had one or two classics but for the most part featured party songs, tangential festive tunes, and those slowed down advert covers that are so very popular these days. That didn’t impress me too much, so I set about making a better playlist, published on Apple Music and fabulously called: How a Christmas playlist should be done.

Another story in the Lincoln Rhyme series, and this one is a bit of a departure from the previous ones. Firstly, the crime they are investigating is a bit of a woolly one, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hard and fast evidence that Lincoln can cast his forensic eye over and it’s more of a cerebral crime solving book than we’ve seen before.

I mean, I love this album. Mr C very kindly gave me the choice of BSB albums to round off the year with, and although I didn’t know it before I made the selection, this one is my favourite. It’s the boys at the height of their fame, at the height of my fandom, and it’s stacked full of pure, unadulterated pop pleasure.

This is a great album, fully of innovation and wonder and tension, guitars and rock and rhythm. I’m not always so keen on the songs that experiment from popular formulas but I really liked Sky Musings, and Don’t Delete the Kisses is a classic. Great rock that will be listenable over and over for a while yet.

I really thought this film wasn’t going to be that good - another of those predictable comedies with a few jokes, some good one-liners and not much else to think about. But it wasn’t. It was actually really, really funny with characters that were interesting and, whilst a little stereotypical, at least had more depth than your average comedy character does.

It’s that time of year, when offices start going a bit crazy with decorations, Christmas lunches, office parties and goodness knows what else. A trend I have noticed is the Christmas jumper competition, and whilst your snowmen and santas are all well and good, I’ve found a couple of Christmas jumpers that might be slightly more fun to wear. There are loads of good Star Wars ones out there. “I find your lack of cheer disturbing,” is a good one, but I’ve picked the Yoda one, because you know, Yoda knows best. This one is kinda subtle in the sense that you have to have seen Stranger Things and know what it’s all about to get it. It’d be a good way to find your fellow Stranger Things fans at a party where you don’t know anyone. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey. There’s not much else to add. The design of Christmas jumpers to have a lot of lines of various patterns lends itself very well to platform gaming, so you have to go to the master: Mario. And of course, where would we be if we didn’t have a Back to the Future jumper?

Yesterday, I talked about the concept of diving headfirst into a new subject of your choosing and just going for the learning ride. This is something I’ve struggled with before, and particularly when it comes to history. I didn’t enjoy history that much at school, but have since found a fondness for finding out how the world has come to be in the position it is in today. The trouble with history is it is a HUGE SUBJECT. Almost like it encompasses everything that has ever happened or something.

There’s something slightly different about this Lincoln Rhyme book. At first, you think you’re reading just the standard thriller where the paralysed criminalist analyses every scrap of evidence to effectively hunt down perpetrators of serious crime. But there’s more to it than that, and the twists upon twists are a wonder to behold.

There’s something brilliantly wonderful and overwhelming about diving into a subject you don’t really know a lot about. I’ve done this a few times: with films, with music and most recently with sport – getting fully involved with tennis, and this month, jumping feet first into Formula E with a new podcast and everything. At first, it seems totally overwhelming. There’s so much you don’t know, an entire history that you’ve missed out on (not so much with Formula E, being just a baby motorsport series), and so many connections you’re going to miss. What you have to do is push that to one side, ignore all the voices telling you it’s too big a subject, it’s too late, you might as well just watch re-runs of The Big Bang Theory instead.

I’ve never really been a fan of Flo, I think she’s got an incredible voice and is exceptionally talented but it’s just not really been to my taste. So I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy the album but actually it was much better than I expected. You get used to the powerful voice after a while and the songs are marvellously eclectic.

Nice album, this one. I feel like it’s a return to form by the band, more relevant than some of their other work, but I do think it’s lacking some big memorable songs. The single is good but otherwise nothing really stands out. Good music to work to though.

Ooh, I really liked this album. For a brief moment I thought I liked it more than Rumours but then I came to my senses. Some great songs on there though, and kicking off with Big Love really sets the scene for the rest of the brilliant album.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this one initially, but it grew on me on the second listen. It felt like Noel was distancing himself from previous work but didn’t go as far as, say, Harry Styles did. It’s definitely more experimental than Oasis’ work which I liked, but still has great tunes and interesting lyrics.

Mr C built this film up to me, having watched himself previously. He thought it was one that I needed to save until I had improved music/culture knowledge, but now I do, and now we’ve watched it, it’s clear that’s not true at all.

Wouldn’t have picked this one out, I don’t think, except it came in a bundle of films I purchased on iTunes. With a need for something romantic comedy-esque, we popped it on and ended up loving it. I felt like the story got off to a bit of a bumpy start - Gyllenhaal faffing about being obnoxious is fun for a while, but I did want it all to get going.

I always think November is a colourful month. Autumn is really kicking in, so the trees are rapidly changing hue and shedding their leaves. There are leftover Halloween themed items around, so orange and purple and green are scattered on doorsteps and in shops. Plus, of course, firework night – as annoying and loud as it can be – has a main promise of lighting up the sky with various shapes and colours.

The good things included the twist that turned Dom rogue in the first place - didn’t see that coming - as well as the bickering between Roman and the new boy. I also really enjoyed Jason Statham’s role in this, and I’ve not been a huge fan of his in the past. The fight sequence with the baby on the plane (weird sentence) was epic.

I’ve recently been using Apple’s Bluetooth earphones, otherwise known as AirPods. They weren’t my first choice – I don’t really enjoy the look of them, and was reluctant to get rid of my sturdy camouflage black wired earphones. Unfortunately, I upgraded to a new iPhone, one of the ones without the headphone jack, and that meant adjusting to a whole new world. The AirPods are both brilliant and awful. Here’s how.

Really, properly loved this film. After the ringer Spider-Man has been put through (as a concept, not the character himself), I wasn’t expecting much from this one, but it worked on every level. I tweeted immediately afterwards, which sums up my feelings: Was not expecting the new Spider-Man to be any good but I’ve just watched it and I, for want of a better phrase, can’t even.

Again, in anticipation of watching the TV show, I listened to the audiobook version of this. It’s read so wonderfully but I do think a lot of the warmth and inclusivity that this book gives you comes from how detailed the descriptions are. Sometimes it feels like overkill, but other times it really brings you into the time and place being discussed, so overall it’s probably worth it.

This is a proper country album, good work from Faith Hill, with some classic country songs on there. It meanders through love and loss, what ifs and maybes, and is your standard country rollercoaster ride. Nice but probably not one of my favourites.

A while back I wrote about the Amazon Dash buttons and how my initial tests left me frustrated and underwhelmed. I’ve recently started using them again and although a couple of the issues are still there, I’m now converted. It was this year’s Prime Day that kickstarted me into using them again, as some of the buttons were on offer. I picked up a couple that I’d been in two minds about and since then, I’ve started using them properly.

This album is exactly what I expected it to be – perfectly pleasant but not exceptional. I really like Slow Hands, but the rest of it doesn’t really stand out. It’s a good, solid work, and I like it better than Harry’s experimental efforts, but I can’t say it’ll stick with me.

It’s about time for the (sometimes) annual collection of novelty mugs, and this time I’ve got a selection of five that feature top secret ninjas, a bit of computer geekery, and of course, a panda. Let’s start there in fact. This panda hug mug is adorable, although it’s disappointing the hug is being given to the biscuits you are just about to eat, rather than yourself. As with many mugs like this, I worry about putting chocolate biscuits right next to the hot beverage. There’s going to be a melting situation if they are there for any length of time. But that probably just means you need to eat them quicker. Biscuits gobbled up, hug from panda, a pretty good start to the day.

I love Ken Follett and his writing is always intriguing, whipping you along through a story until you get to a satisfying conclusion. This was a different work, an earlier one, and as the author himself alludes to, it doesn’t abide by standard thriller specifications.

At first glance, this film looks like it pushes all the right buttons. A lonely man with a big idea fighting against all odds, some misfits who just want to be accepted, and… well, and Zac Efron. But all you need to remember from this trailer, and hopefully from the movie is this:

I was really looking forward to Taylor Swift’s new album. I’ve been racing through her back catalogue in preparation, and was captivated by the four songs that were released ahead of launch day. Mr C, previously the biggest TayTay fan in this household, hasn’t been convinced by the new stuff but I’m all in. Except, I’m not all in because I can’t listen to the album yet. Reputation has been kept off streaming services for at least a week, in a well-planned and manipulative launch schedule.

I love Dawn French and it’s so easy to see elements of the lady herself in the lead character of this book. Rosie Kitto is a fabulous, slightly frumpy, but cheerful and forceful character, inserting herself very firmly into the lives of an uptight old school New York family.

Loved it. The album is bookended by two fantastic songs, starting with Roseanna and ending with Africa, but in between is a wealth of 80s fun and games. It’s not necessarily aged very well, but equally doesn’t sound horribly dated, you just sort of engage in the 80s sound and go along for the ride.

A nice selection of songs that are exactly what you’d expect from these two Beautiful South alumni. Finely crafted, expert lyrics and some catchy sing-a-long beats with hidden depths. I really love Jacqui’s voice, and it’s great how the two work well separately and together within songs.

Just another one of those films that has some good moments but all in all doesn’t add up to a good comedy. I think Poehler and Ferrell could have had some good chemistry but they didn’t really have the script beneath them to get it working properly. Their relationship with their daughter was weird, so as a fundamental plot point, it gets things off to a rocky start.

This standalone work from Kerry Wilkinson charts the unfolding mystery of a kidnapped child who returns. She’s welcomed in with open arms by some, and treated with understandable confusion and suspicion by others, and sorting truth from the lies is what our journey together is all about.

I love Nadiya so was interested to read her foray into novel writing. This tells the story of a large family with lots of issues at a particularly turbulent time in their lives. I thought it was a charming story, whilst perhaps not the smoothest writing in the world, but still the kind of story that sucks you in from the first moment - I had to know what happened.

What I love most about Cars 3 is that it had absolutely NOTHING to do with Cars 2, barely referenced it and pretty much ignored that it ever happened. Instead, we’ve got what should have been the proper sequel - a story that continues the first, concentrates on racing, and delivers an important message: sometimes you need to know when it’s time to step back, and sometimes you need to keep fighting.

This album speaks so clearly of a specific point in time, midway through the noughties, where music was transitioning from fun pop to the more grungy pop that it is today. Guitar bands were prevalent and Snow Patrol were one of the best. Some great songs on this album so that I can’t believe I haven’t listened to it all before!

Love this album, it’s very much like the first – nice, simple, clean and crisp country songs with a youthful edge, and plenty of unique moments to make it stand out from the crowd. I thought this album indulged a little more in the ‘we’re not in high school anymore’ vibe, with plenty of references to US high school tropes that I’ve only seen in movies, but even with that, it’s still up there with the best albums of the year.

I’ve been rallying for more music television content since they took Top of the Pops off the air, and the BBC have delivered somewhat in the form of Sounds Like Friday Night (half an hour isn’t really long enough for that kind of show, but I’ll take anything at the moment). Now I think we’ve got time and space on TV for the return of music quizzing as well, and that brought to mind Name That Tune.

I’ve needed a new phone for a while, and was umming and ahhing about what specific iPhone to go for. In the end, I went for the 8 Plus and now I wish I had shut up and bought it sooner because the dual-lens camera is totally incredible. I’m not a natural photographer, but every single photo I’ve taken this past week or so is the best photo I’ve ever taken, thanks to the camera. The colours are gorgeous, the focus crisp, and portrait mode is something else entirely. Now I want to take more photos of everything, everywhere all the time, and I think that is worth every penny.

Earlier this year, I wrote up some thoughts on Netflix original content, and having just finished up yet another fabulous Netflix series, thought I would post an update. One Day at a Time (series 1) I don’t know the original show that this was based on, and by all accounts it’s different enough to not matter, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The Cuban family dynamic is one quite alien to me, but actually it draws you in pretty quickly, and you start to really feel for the characters. Sometimes I wondered how Penelope kept on going, but it was reassuring and quite uplifting that she did. Can’t wait for series two.