I recently listened to the audiobook of Phil Wang’s sort-of-memoir Sidesplitter, where the comedian talks about many areas of his life particularly where cultures intersect - food, family, comedy, and more global topics like the British Empire past, present and future, and how race and racism affects people every single day. They’re heavy topics in places but the book is really well done, with wit and humour but also a great deal of insight and thought-provoking ideas.

Apple have released a comprehensive round up of their 2022 entertainment and services - inevitably happy about how successful they have been - with wisdom from VP of the sector, Eddy Cue. There are lots of facts and figures, as you might imagine, but I do like the summary from Mr Cue: It’s remarkable how much great content is at our fingertips; that’s a testament to the extraordinary work of creators worldwide.

The Guardian published an interesting post last week about audiobook narration and the impact artificial intelligence could have on it. The post talks to an author who was working with Apple on a secret project that allows AI voices to provide the narration on an audiobook - and evaluates whether it’s any good or not. From sentence to sentence, the cadence of the narrator’s voice glides forward, then snags on an artificial syllable.

While we’re talking about books, one of the new year resolutions I haven’t specifically talked about is the one about not buying any more books to take up space on my digital bookshelf. I don’t want to talk numbers because I’m embarrassed, but I’ve built up quite a collection of books for an excessive TBR (to be read) list, and it’s going to take some time to get through them.

In 2021, I managed to read and review about 150 titles in my Books section, which has to be an all-time record. I say titles, rather than books, because some of them were shorts, some reference, some audiobooks, there’s a mish-mash of stuff I’ve enjoyed all year long. But even so, that’s still a lot to have managed to get through. Partly that’s because of the ongoing efforts to Hibernate for Health, but also because I’ve become absolutely obsessed with reading and do it every minute I can - cleaning my teeth, waiting for the kettle to boil, when I’m supposed to be sleeping, you know the kind of thing.

I’ve listened to more audiobooks this year and delving into the world more has opened up a few surprises. I was hugely looking forward to the audiobook of Troubled Blood, the fifth book in the Cormoran Strike series. I’ve exclusively listened to the first four books via Audible because Robert Glenister’s narration is so good, and the content is so detailed and dense that having it read to me helps me not to miss anything.

I’ve never really got on that well with Siri. Apple’s voice activated assistant can do some cool things but she never really listens to me and I find it easier just to swipe and tap to get what I want. I’m not alone in getting frustrated with Siri, but I’ve long been complaining to Mr C that she just doesn’t listen to me. He’s not experienced the same level of problems and I was taking it personally.

I’m currently listening to the audiobook Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. It’s focus is on the gender data gap - the ways in which the world is often unthinkingly designed for men and how that affects women in real and unexpected ways. I’m finding it hard going, not because of the book itself - it’s well written, researched and read - but because the unintended and far-reaching consequences of a simple lack of thinking weigh heavy on me.

Recently, I was given a handful of Cornish beers, the spoils of a trip to the South West coast, and one of them was Doom Bar. I know you can buy this in plenty of places around the country, but still, it’s always a little bit more special when something comes to you from where it’s actually made, isn’t it? I’m not a big beer drinker really, but I wanted to try the Doom Bar because… well, because Strike drinks it.

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.