What I love about Genova’s work is that it highlights and gets deeper into diseases that you know about, but don’t really know about. This book talks about Huntingdon’s Disease, which a Charlestown cop discovers he has. The story focuses on his reaction and gradual decline, but more importantly it examines the effect his diagnosis has on the second generation.

The wonderful memoir from Dawn French that tells stories from her life in a vaguely chronological manner, in the form of letters to her nearest and dearest - and those she probably wishes were near and dear. It’s at times hilarious, at times moving, but at all times engaging, honest, warm and showing just how lovely Dawn must be to have as a friend.

That’s the key, you know, confidence. I know for a fact that if you can genuinely like your body, so can others. It doesn’t really matter if it’s short, tall, fat or thin, it just matters that you can find some things to like about it. Even if that means having a good laugh at the bits of it that wobble independently, occasionally, that’s all right. It might take you a while to believe me on this one, lots of people don’t because they seem to suffer from a self-hatred that precludes them from imagining that a big woman could ever love herself because they don’t.

I didn’t know what this book was about when I started reading it, but I was quickly engrossed in the story of Egypt, its Pharaohs and the bloody warfare that they indulge in. Although the story itself is a relatively straightforward one about two armies facing off against each other, it is the intricate details of life in Ancient Egypt that make it an incredible read.

This coming weekend is the final of Strictly Come Dancing’s 2016 competition, and it’s been an epic run to the finish. I used to write about this show all the time but haven’t shared my thoughts since 2012. It must be a good series this year to get me back behind the keyboard! Rather than prattle on endlessly, I’ll just share five thoughts about the 2016 batch of amateur dancers:

It’s only fitting to finish the year with the album that started this entire process, and what an album! It’s stuffed full of brilliant songs, and even the ones that aren’t super hit singles are still great to listen to. The stories behind this album make it incredible but even standing on its own two feet, it’s a wonderful listen.

This is plenty good enough as an album you could listen to as background music, but I found myself a bit disappointed. I know the boys took a new direction and it is far less reliant on rocking guitars, so I wasn’t surprised at the different sound, but it just didn’t quite tick the boxes for me. Totally listenable, but perhaps not as special as I hoped.

At the moment, travelling is like a distant dream - a wonderful idea full of experiences that would be fabulous, but that is just out of reach. Time, money, effort, life, all those things are getting in the way. But that doesn’t stop me letting the dream run wild, and I found an app that is such an incredible concept, I have to share, even if I haven’t experienced it myself. It’s for the more spontaneous and random traveller, someone who isn’t really sure what they want to do.

At first glance, The Pandolly Podcast doesn’t seem like it would be a good fit for me. Pandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton, fashion and dating experts from The Sunday Times Style, get together once a week to review some of the big and little stories of the week. They recommend fashion items from sponsor River Island and Instagram accounts to follow, chat about celebrities, odd stories and bigger worldwide news, plus often get into all manner of feminist issues.

I am, for the most part, always nervous about watching Pixar sequels these days, but this one delivered all the good stuff and was stunning to look at. Following Dory is an inspired choice, as she was the most popular character from the original film, although I think this sequel suffered from trying to get into the story.

What I enjoyed about this one was the number of references to the original, and the appearances of the founder members, obviously, but equally the way it told the story in a whole new way. The separate pieces coming together to explain how and why these girls end up doing the job they do. The reason for the overalls, deciding they need to be mobile ghostbusting packs, the brief visit to the old police station, all that kind of thing.

So I sort of have to admit that I’ve never really watched the television series, but of course I know the general basics - grumpy kid has to put up with fading hipster mother and her, frankly, indescribable friend. I’m not sure I would have been particularly bothered about watching this, except it entirely fit the bill for an evening where I was really feeling under the weather.

I enjoyed listening to this album, although it did cause some consternation in terms of how and why I knew some songs and didn’t know others that I probably should have done. It’s a nice listen though, full of the angst you’d expect and quite heavy going but falling short of full out unlistenable rage. High and Dry is a favourite.

Good album, perfectly pleasant to listen to, but there are some odd moments where it all feels quite familiar. Not in a rip-off kind of way, just in a ‘I’ve heard this idea before’ way. I like the mix of songs though, and the foray into country music – I didn’t know Bon Jovi did that kind of song, must check out more.

I really enjoyed this album, far more than I thought I was going to. They have such a distinctive sound and from the moment the first song starts, they’ve got you bouncing along. I love, as I’m sure most people do, Hungry Like the Wolf, and the rest of the album lives up to the high standards set by that song!

Another crazy good album from the successful girl group. I loved their last album and this one is just more of the same. It’s perhaps another step more grown up, more sexual references and that kind of thing, but it retains the beating heart of the album – incredible vocals over solid melodies with fun pop beats underneath.

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?

A solid work by John Grisham that follows the story of a lawyer who believes he was wrongfully arrested and works out a way to get an early release by revealing the culprit of another crime. As you might imagine, it’s nowhere near as simple as that and the reveal of the culprit’s name is just the beginning.

Another solid story from Nicci French, I quite liked this one particularly because it was about a crime that didn’t happen to our main protagonist. Whilst there was still an air of tension surrounding our hero, you at least didn’t read the whole thing feeling like she was in mortal danger.

A great pop album that takes you right back to where it all started. It’s easy to laugh at some of the horrific nineties tunes here, and some of the slightly dodgy singing (I’m looking at you How Can It Be), but there are some real classics tucked away on the album, and it’s great to hear boy band pop from its fledgling days.

I loved this group’s EP, so was looking forward to the full album, and it didn’t miss the mark! A good, solid, pop album – a lot of fun and with just a bit of the quirky edge that you’d expect from this band of cute misfits. Some tracks are better than others, naturally, but the good ones really make you struggle not to dance along. Or DNCE along, I suppose.

I wouldn’t have picked this one up if it hadn’t been on the Big Read reading list that I’m working through, but I’m glad I got the chance to read it. It’s an evocative story, hard work to get straight in your head, and an intensely depressing tale, but a good one.

There’s a natural nervousness that you feel when reading a book that uses much loved characters from previous works, and this book gave me that feeling. I needn’t have worried though. It’s a book that follows Dr Watson on his travels to France during the First World War, after his adventures with Sherlock Holmes.

The album begins with two great songs, so it’s off to a fab start, and although I don’t know any of the other songs, the guitar work is a lot of fun. If you want to air guitar, I reckon this album could be a good choice. However, there’s a moment of chatter about CD users waiting for record listeners to turn over for part two… probably funny at the time, but hasn’t aged so well!

Good, solid pop album, I’m not sure there are any stand out songs though, like there have been in previous years. None of it feels particularly fresh and original, but it’s still good to listen to. Although it really, really bugs me that the chorus to Private is exactly the same as Cake by the Ocean. I mean, exactly the same.

Now, you know I love James Corden and his antics, but combine them with the fabulous Hailee Steinfeld and you’re on to a winner. This game, though, it is something mindbending. Taking the first line of every song and repeating it for every line is so hard, have you tried it? Try it! A lot of fun though, and far more hilarious than it has any right to be. I’m worried I will never be able to sing songs normally, now that I know they should all just be the first line repeated over and over.

It’s an interesting work really, because it starts out from the point of view of the antagonist, and it’s quite a long time before you really see that he’s a bad guy rather than someone just working for the country they are loyal to. He doesn’t seem all that different to someone like James Bond, so it is almost hard to totally root against him - until he starts acting badly, that is.

I’ve put off reading this for a while because it felt like a personal story that wasn’t really any of my business. But then I saw that Hammond was remembering the ten year anniversary of his crash and thanking everyone that helped him, and I realised it probably is a story that is worth reading, if only to realise how thankful we should all be for the amazing medical profession.

Great album, I like The Script. Good songs, fresh perspective, slightly Irish lilt and (more than) a hint of U2 in places. I feel like it’s not their best work, but half the songs on the album were singles so it can’t have been too bad a start for their career!

Alicia’s debut album was one of the first and few that I bought and listened to in full over and over. This one is stacked full of wonderful songs, feel good music that is inspirational and uplifting – desperately needed this year! I wasn’t too bothered about the interludes but the songs themselves are great.

Not exactly a classic film for my 700th movie review, but it was exactly what we needed after a stressful few days. You sort of know exactly what you’re going to get with Kevin Hart and The Rock in the same film, and I was only slightly surprised at the Rock’s character being a little goofy throughout, even when in full spy mode. Otherwise, it does exactly what you expect of it.

You know that meme where celebrities read mean tweets about themselves? Well, app developers have picked up on this and started reading one star reviews of their products. The end result is brilliant, if you’re slightly geeky like me. Love the people that are confused and say really nice things but then award one star. And poor Marco who gets all the personal comments and nothing about the actual app in question. Hope there’s more of these in the future, although of course I don’t actually hope that developers keep getting one star reviews!

I loved Jonasson’s first book and really enjoy the style of his writing so I was over the moon to read this book. It carries on in the familiar pattern, a lowly character at the start of the story goes through a series of bizarre events and ends up having an impact on a major figure in the end.

I love Alanis so I sort of can’t believe I haven’t listened to this one all the way through before. It’s so good, full of angst and rage but a real sense of self belief. Some great songs, even if you can’t take Ironic seriously anymore. But You Learn gets stuck in my head in the best possible way. Great job, definitely one I’ll listen to over and again.

In places, you can hear the Keane-ness of the album shining through, but it’s not as close to the band’s music as I expected. There’s more production to it, more instruments and actually more upbeat songs as well. That isn’t always a good thing, it’s missing that wistful edge of Keane music. Some of this you can tell is influenced by Tom’s personal struggles but it’s an overall positive experience.

I’ve been vaguely aware of this book and film for a while but never really got round to reading it. For some reason, the idea of University Challenge popped into my head and then I thought this would be the perfect book to go with it. I love how the book is structured, with a relevant question at the start of each chapter, and that it flows through a full term at university.

Good album, from start to finish, but the problem I have with it is that it starts with Where the Streets, Still Haven’t Found, and With or Without You, so you have to ask yourself, what is the point of the rest of the album? Those three songs are incredible, and whilst the rest is fine, they are overshadowed by such an amazing start.

Up until this year, when a certain motorsport game came out that replicates the 2016 F1 season, I called our Playstation 4 “the Tomb Raider box” because that’s pretty much all it was good for. I’m not a big console gamer but Tomb Raider has always been a huge love of both mine and Mr C’s, so it was only natural we grabbed the new Rise of the Tomb Raider game as soon as it became available (which was a year later than on the Xbox, thanks peeps).

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would, it’s not like Mel C was ever my favourite Spice Girl but I quite like what she’s done here. It really feels like grown up pop, like a Spice Girl album that has gone through puberty and now has actual problems to deal with. Pop but with just a bit of an edge, I like it.

I can’t believe it was three long years ago that I first wrote about the magic of the Duolingo language learning app. Three years of free French lessons (with a few hiatuses here and there) and I definitely feel like I know more of the language than I ever have before. What’s also amazing is looking back at my initial post, to see how the app has developed. It has a fresh and much cleaner look now, the lesson style has changed slightly from a “three strikes and you’re out” approach to a more “keep trying and you’ll get there” system. There are also a lot more languages out there to choose from, I’ve already experimented with a spot of German and Dutch, but always come back to the more familiar French.

Mr C is obsessed with Taylor so he’s planning for me to work my way through all the albums, starting at the beginning with baby Taylor. This is a cute album, so very country in places, but with good heart and good songs and just a nice start to what has become an incredible career. Particularly enjoy how very country Our Song is.

This was a pleasant surprise for me. I thought I perhaps didn’t like KOL because they were overplayed or something like that. However, this album was brilliant! Some of the guitar riffs felt familiar but then the songs developed in a completely different way so it was fun to listen to something that felt both familiar and brand new at the same time. Great stuff!

This is the tale of a little known escape attempt from a German Prisoner of War camp in the midst of the Second World War. A large scale attempt to get out was attempted after the prisoners realised their tunnelling exploits were not getting them anywhere.

I listened to the audiobook of this, read by Sue Perkins herself, and whilst I haven’t read the book in isolation, I can only recommend indulging in the audio version instead. It was incredible to listen to the author’s words from the author’s mouth, including the odd moment where she made herself laugh.

I enjoyed this book far more than the previous Gabriel Marquez I read, but even so, it still wasn’t quite my cup of tea. Tracking the story was hard work but fun, so many generations trying to keep a brand new village in tact. I really couldn’t keep on top of the characters, partly because there were so many of them but mostly because they all had very similar names.

They must have been really confident that these were a) classics and b) just the first volume. Luckily, it is a great album, and so although the title makes it look like a compilation, it is actually a solid body of work by one group. It makes for some relaxing listening, especially starting with Keep on Moving, and ending up with Back for Life.

Love this album. It’s maybe not got quite so many instant classics as the previous album, but it’s stacked full of good songs, and they span quite a variety – from looping Bieber-style pop, to more gospel choir piano tunes, plus bonus Peter Gabriel! And if you don’t like that stuff, there’s enough OneRepublic anthems to get you through. Quality.

It’s written as a chronicle of the history of the show, with some asides and facts thrown in to make it interesting. There’s a step by step guide to the cast and how they were chosen to make their appearance in the show, and then the best bit of the book is the series overview, that goes through each episode in turn, adding in behind the scenes nuggets of production.

Yay, another Tom Hanks film, right? Hmm, well, I’m not totally convinced. The first half was great, Tom Hanks out of place in Saudi Arabia, the brilliantly funny driver taking him to and from a new city. I love new builds, particularly when they come in the shape of potential entire cities! The characters were great, the doctor, the annoying receptionist, the frustrated crew.

The BBC recently published a short video that explained why some people respond better to having music playing when they’re studying and others work better in silence. This is a topic that has been on my radar for a long time, because Mr C and I differ radically on our approaches to concentration. He can listen to music as he works and learns, whereas I don’t favour silence but certainly prefer a white noise that requires no additional concentration.