This is a quick and easy book to read, simply a list of email correspondence as our protagonist James replies to those trying to scam him out of money. A collection of some of the best conversations gathered over two years, as we start to see more of how the scams work and, more importantly, why they don’t!

It did feel as though Nina, the mother, was recklessly dashing this way and that without a real clue what she was looking for - which is probably exactly how a parent would behave, I don’t know. The trouble is, that doesn’t make for a good story. As much as I knew Nina would be the one to end up stumbling over the truth, I sort of wanted to shout at her to at least listen to the police - they weren’t deliberately trying to hinder the investigation.

One thing that had never really occurred to me about streaming music services until the last couple of weeks, is the access you have to things that you don’t need all the time. Sure, you want to create playlists of your favourite songs and you want to listen to the best band albums over and over again, but sometimes there is music you only require for a specific period of time - and Christmas is that time.

I really loved this. I’ve been reading a lot of crime fiction recently, and it was so nice to lift my head out of the murky world and instead into the slightly more frothy existence of Ms Rebecca Bloomwood. I’ve seen the film, and although the book is slightly different, it still follows the fun (if difficult) path.

One of my earliest forays into recording my voice involved working with LibriVox to create audiobooks. The site is a great place full of volunteers who help to record and gather together public domain works, creating a vast archive of audiobooks. I haven’t had time to participate in a long while, but did manage to list all the projects I was involved with. It was previously a constantly updated page on this site, but I’m moving it to this static archive for now.

The long-awaited update to the Apple TV that allowed third-party apps has been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, there are lots of new apps to play with and some of them are fan-flippin-tastic! On the other hand, usability and simplicity has taken a big knock, and there were some pretty serious niggles that are, thankfully, gradually being ironed out. Better to dwell on the good, though, and I’ve found the apps to be a breath of fresh air. The Apple TV has always been a pretty big part of our TV/film watching experience, but now it’s added a whole new level with games. There are two easy comparisons to make with the new gaming functionality, and that’s to put it up against the Wii (casual gaming, less of a focus on graphics) and the Playstation (top of the range graphics, more expensive games).

This felt like it had elements of other Nicci French novels all intertwined together, and it was a good read perhaps because of that. The story works backwards in a sense, as our heroine has memory loss following a horrific incident. Kidnapped and prepared to die, she manages to escape and then has to try and piece back together the fragments of her life and how it went so drastically wrong.

My growing obsession with all things space and moon-like meant this book was an easy purchase. The story of Al Worden, one of the three astronauts that made up the Apollo 15 crew, it’s not an easy read. There’s controversy and bittersweet moments throughout, but that’s the life you lead when you’re doing something amazing like broadening humanity’s horizons.

On the surface, this is a crime thriller about a serial killer who is copying a previous monster’s work twenty years down the line. It goes far deeper than that, though, and ends up being a really intriguing work about what it is to grow up and survive in the wake of previous atrocities.

It’s a big responsibility and an honor to work in that huge orbiting laboratory. Figuring out how to support life in the hostile environment of space has resulted in thousands of down-to-earth spin-offs, from temperature-regulating underwear to heart pumps that rely on Shuttle fuel-pump technology. The concrete benefits and by-products of the science we do in space have touched fields from agriculture to medicine to robotics. Data gathered on the Shuttle and ISS help power Google Maps; experiments with different dietary and exercise protocols have revealed how to ward off, permanently, one debilitating type of osteoporosis; the robotic machinery now used inside the parts of nuclear power plants that are too hazardous for humans is a direct descendent of Canadarm: the list goes on and on.

I was super excited to watch the new Jessica Jones series on Netflix. I’d not got on board with Daredevil, but this was something different. The concept appealed 100% - Marvel expanding their universe with female characters at the helm? Bring it on. Netflix allowing us to binge watch the entire series at once? I’m on board! The trouble is, it arrived just before I got to my latest exam break, so I had the pain of avoiding spoilers and looking wistfully at the Netflix tweets about the series, waiting, waiting, waiting until I could find the time to watch.

Aw, loved this one. It took me a while to get into it, particularly because I didn’t really like the animation of the humans, so it was a bit distracting. But I also thought they didn’t really handle the explanation of how the brain and core memories and things worked particularly well, it was very much tell instead of show, which Pixar are usually much better at.

I wanted to love this, because I’m a huge Paul Rudd fan, and Marvel has rarely let us down to date. I just couldn’t quite get on board with it, though. It seemed like a great cast assembled, but they never quite gelled together in a way that the other groups have. There were a lot of good things about the film, a few funny moments, some nice action sequences, and some clever ideas. But I had three pretty significant issues with the whole thing.

As is often the way, the first part of my December downtime has been spent curled up under a duvet desperately waiting for the hour I can have my next Lemsip. This year, I tried a new tactic of supplementing the real medicine with that other thing that’s supposedly even better: laughter. There were a few new stand up shows available on iTunes, those that have presumably also been released on DVD in time for Christmas, and I was very entranced by Dylan Moran’s live show Off the Hook.

Once again, I’ve ended up reading a book that accompanies a TV show that I never saw. However, I liked the concept of this one, Griff Rhys Jones tracing his roots to find out what makes the Welsh people and their amazing country-land tick. From the highs of mount Snowdonia, to the lows of mining or panning for gold, this book really does cover a lot of ground.

I think this was aired on James Corden’s show last week, but I’ve just caught up with the video now. Love Me Like You Do isn’t one of my favourite Ellie songs, but how can you not love it done in so many different ways? I particularly enjoy the country version, with some exceptionally dodgy accents. I’ve been listening to more and more country music recently, and not a lot of it sounds like that!

I’ve fully embraced the world of Apple Music, far more than I have any other streaming product. It’s not perfect, but considering how many Apple shaped gadgets I have, it fits into my life better than other streaming services do. It’s had quite a big impact on my listening habits, which is perhaps a story for another day, but the bottom line is I’m listening to a lot more music than I used to.

Loved it. Loved it all. From the opening scenes in which Tom Cruise actually hangs off the side of a massive plane taking off, because he can’t let anyone else do his stunts, to the closing moments with Alec Baldwin and Jeremy Renner making friends at last, it was brilliant. It had an enormous amount of action and stunts in it, but still managed to have moments of old-school drama. For example, running endlessly around backstage at the opera would probably normally be considered boring to the attention-grabbing generation, but it was stacked with tension and misdirection and all-round greatness.

For the first half of this film, I was totally enamoured with it. Jonah Hill played the stressed out journalist very well, I loved that Felicity Jones was in it, and the cinematography was stunning. I don’t even know where to start with James Franco - he played an incredible range, sometimes within the space of a few minutes: vacant horror, creepy stalker, friendly jail buddy, wronged husband, crazed killer.

I love a good Ken Follett thriller, and this was one of those - not only a great spy chase but centred around getting a rocket up into space as well! Set in the heart of the space race, this book aims to tell the fictionalised behind the scenes story of why the Explorer 1 rocket launch was delayed twice, because of the weather (even though it was a sunny day in Florida).

This was an absolutely gripping read from start to finish, a story of lustful romance gone very wrong. Even at the start, when it was the depressing details of one relationship ending and another clearly doomed one starting, it was unputdownable, leading slowly, step by step, to the achingly haunting conclusion.

This is the story of a single document, a Victorian certificate of marriage, encompassing the backstory of how it came into being and the significant impact it can have in hte modern day. I envisage this story came into being after the author stumbled across such a document, and it’s fascinating to wonder what is the drama behind the simple piece of paper.

I liked the concept of this from the start - the story of a murder told in two halves. One aspect, from the moment it happened onwards, and the other, from way back leading up to the murder itself. The first quarter of the book didn’t quite live up to my expectations, it felt a little contrived to be introducing all these men as we readers were supposed to be desperately guessing which one was lying on the carpet with a dent in his skull.

This was not the film I was expecting at all. The cover, and the fact that Pierce is in it, are so reminiscent of The Love Punch, that I assumed it was going to be a bit of a rom com dash about beautiful locations with some fun dialogue. It was way more serious than I’d expected, although not a heavy film overall - there were still laughs to be had and a few twists and turns along the way.

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this, and I was surprised at the intensity of the story right from the beginning. Flowertown tells the story of what happens when a chemical spill means an entire community is quarantined from the outside world… for years. With relationships growing tense, supplies running out, and conspiracies going wild, Flowertown dives right in with our heroine Ellie, and doesn’t let up until the end.

As a book, it got off to a slow start for me. Lots of French words that didn’t make a lot of sense, and that whole report to M that took me several times to read and fully understand. There’s also the full description of how baccarat works, but I’m such a dunce at these casino card games, I couldn’t get my head around that either.

I saw the film before I read this book, and I think it would have been better to have the big reveal be a surprise upon reading. However, it was still interesting to see how it all unravelled in text, and how we dipped between Amy and Nick’s point of view all the way through - whether it was in diary form, was truthful or made up or otherwise.

This was such a hit and miss film. It wasn’t a patch on the first one, although I wasn’t expecting it to be at all. The trouble is, the story was nowhere near as good - although underneath there was a really good point about where the line for human/animal/teddy bear rights is drawn. It’s like there was a great discussion to be had, but Seth opted to skirt around it for most of the film. In the end, this was just a vehicle for some more of the tasteless nonsense of the first.

On the surface, this was a solid indie film, taking a close up look at a relationship and how it works when compared to the next generation. All the acting was good, I quite enjoyed Ben trying to relax and unwind even in scenarios he wasn’t quite comfortable with. And the younger couple were just so hipster it hurt.

Last month, Mr C and I finished watching all of the Bond films. We’d been pondering the merits and pitfalls of doing such a thing, but when I bought the iTunes bundle of all 23 films up to and including Skyfall, it was inevitable. We finished the films just in time for the hype to start for the new film, Spectre, which means there’s a lot of great Bond content on TV and the internet just as our interest has peaked.

I’ve been looking forward to this one from the moment it was announced, being the minion fan that I am. However, there was also so much hype and press about it that I felt like it was familiar right from the off. There were still some nice surprises, particularly the opening intro Pitch Perfect style, but actually it just felt like a nice, comfortable, minion-tastic ninety minutes.

…

I felt like this story took a while to get going - there was a lot of buildup about our protagonists rather chequered history of her own, alongside a quite drawn out first meeting with her new next door neighbour, the celebrity film star.

Properly loved this one. It was no doubt helped by the fact that we’ve just trawled our way through the entire James Bond archive, but what a fantastic comedy spy homage film. It was packed with nods to the source material, but was an equally solid story in its own right. How one woman manages to dig deep and do what’s right for her country, despite being surrounded by, let’s face it, fools.

Such a frustrating film. All the elements seemed like they were going to be great - stellar cast, beautiful setting, interesting script. Sadly, none of it made any sense at all. There was plenty of implied knowledge about Hawaii and its myths, history and legends. I had no clue who all the people were supposed to be and how they fitted in to the story, who actually was Bradley Cooper and what was he doing?

It’s a great story - a different dimension in time and space where creative thinkers get free reign? Sign me up! It’s overall optimistic, despite the undertones, and although it does feel a little bit preachy about positive thinking and how we’re clearly not doing anything to change the end of the world as we know it, mostly I just felt inspired to do awesome things.

I’m always in awe of people who decide to do crazy things like row across an entire ocean - but to do it with someone you barely know is even more of an endeavour. Ben Fogle and James Cracknell seem like the most unlikeliest of rowing partners and were it not for a slightly drunken moment of bravery from Ben, it might never have happened!

I’m always intrigued to start a new crime/thriller series because you always have to wonder how it can be any different to what has gone before. Annoyingly, I’ve picked up this series partway through, but still, then you get to see how the author helps new readers along. Whilst the standard elements are in place here - cop with new partner, murder to be solved, frustrating case that drags on - it’s all a little bit different.

I’m a big Jack Reacher fan, and whilst the concept of an author nabbing someone else’s characters isn’t new, I wasn’t totally sure I was comfortable with it initially. Then I saw that Lee Child was totally on board with this outside in view of the world of Reacher, so I figured I’d give it a go.

This film felt like it had all the potential to be great but it just sort of fell short. It got off to a slow start, with a focus on the Icelandic families and their need to send kids out to hunt to prove themselves. Sort of hard to relate to that but okay. It got better when Samuel LJ got involved, although it felt like he was trying just a bit too hard at points. Doing the Die Hard line felt out of character, really.

I loved this. It can never get close to the first film, which has something special that I can’t quite put my finger on, but it undoes a lot of the damage of the two sequels. Chris Pratt does an excellent job in the title role, although I feel like it wasn’t too much of a stretch - guy being skeptical about crazy people messing with dinosaur DNA - who wouldn’t be?

I enjoyed this because I love a good disaster film but let’s all be honest - it’s not actually a great movie. It has all the elements necessary for the disaster genre - scientist being ignored, hero in search of his family, plucky kids doing their best to stay alive, and some relationship drama thrown in as well. There’s some incredible CGI in this one, you can really tell how the technology is marching forwards. From the skyscrapers wobbling, to the ripples in the earth, with some impressive physical stunts thrown in for good measure.

I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, as I’ve been a follower of Joanne’s work in podcasting and promoting writing as a career. I enjoyed the story, one of your classic religion meets action thrillers where there’s a global chase in search of artefacts that could just see the destruction of the world. It’s a tough genre to stand out in but I think the characters in Pentecost do a good job at holding their own.

If you’d asked me before we started which was my favourite Bond film, I’d always say this one. Not the best, for sure, but my favourite. North Korea, hovercraft, ice palace, invisible car, Halle Berry, lots of good stunts and plenty of fun. Plus Pierce.

Two strong female characters, although I properly cannot get over the name Christmas. Bond films do funny names, I understand, but Christmas Jones isn’t a pun in and of itself, and they barely reference it until right at the end. Weird. Loved Sophie Marceau, the right mix of vulnerability and vengefulness.

Such a sad tale this one. It starts and ends with death, and traverses the exhausting trials of grief throughout. There’s a mystery to be solved - why did Ellie’s husband die in a car crash with a strange woman in the car? Was it an affair? An accident? Or, more likely, given the genre of the book, murder?

On a whim, I started watching the entire series of Bond movies starting from the beginning and working through each iteration. Somewhere along the way, I realised I had the Roger Moore autobiography, but I didn’t want to read it until I’d finished watching his 007 outings. With that achieved, I dived in.

Not only is this a Brosnan Bond film but it’s also one I’ve seen before - finally! I love this film enormously. From the brilliance of Jonathan Pryce as your media mogul gone mad, to the incredible helicopter versus motorbike stunt, to the superb stealth boat and remote control car, there’s so much to love.

As much as I’ve enjoyed the process of working our way through every Bond film, I can’t quite describe the relief to get to my beloved Brosnan. I can see why people attach themselves to the different variations of the character, but Pierce is definitely mine. Suave but funny, womaniser but without the aggressiveness we’ve previous seen, an action hero with some relatively up to date kit, and that general feeling of over-the-top but fun and fantastic action.

The story of a journalist working in Berlin in the fraught moments before world war breaks out for the second time, Zoo Station is captivating. Although much of it is logistical - travelling here, meeting this person, setting up arrangements - it’s never boring. There’s a tension throughout that keeps you second guessing and eager to know more. And there’s a sort of depressing foreboding to the piece, watching horrific events unfold without being able to stop them, knowing something terrible is about to happen at any moment.