More reading time required

Abysmal reading year, absymal reviewing year! Time to try and rectify that with some mini reviews. Some easier than others as I made some notes at first but then forgot about it later in the year. The Unmumsy Mum by Sarah Turner 5/5 I loved this. I love her blog and this was a must read. It's so funny and rings so true. Hurrah For Gin by Kate Kirby 5/5 Again, another must read blog and a must read book. I was reading this whilst many times going, "yes, yes, yes".

Favourite read? Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb Favourite author? Robin Hobb or the legendary Terry Pratchett Most read author? Stephen King Favourite book cover? Elantris by Brandon Sanderson Book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? N/A Book that most disappointed you? End of Watch by Stephen King Funniest book? Toss up between Hurrah For Gin & The Unmumsy Mum Favourite literary character? Favourite children's book? The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett Favourite classic? Swallows & Amazons by Arthur Ransome Favourite non-fiction book? A Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson Favourite biography? N/A Favourite collection of short stories? N/A Favourite poetry collection? N/A Favourite illustrated book? Hurrah for Gin (even though they were only stick figures ) Favourite publisher? Hodder possibly (as that's the current one I'm reading and I don't normally take note) Favourite audiobook? N/A Favourite re-read? Wizard & Glass by Stephen King

Just 23 finished for me, which is not great, especially considering I was at 21 in September. My reading was very much in fits and starts, with me flip flopping from reading 3 books in 3 weeks to 2 books in 3 months.

Evening all, hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I had a great time. I started my new job last week too and that's going well too (although still trying to find my way around things). Also, I only had to go in 1 and a 1/2 days over xmas as I had some holiday to take.

My reading speed has been abysmal this last couple of months, but I was determined to at least finish the Wheel of Time book that I started in September to keep up my TWoT re-read. Anyway, I finished Crown of Swords last night - hurrah! I'm still yet to finish Wolves of the Calla, but I have 2 and a bit days to add to my 2017 finished list.

Yep there was. It was quite a good one too imo. It also involved a little regeneration at the end.

Ooh, lots of choice! Personally, as much as I like the Marples & Poirots, I really rate the Tommy & Tuppence books and other stand alones. Tommy and Tuppence books are kind of more of a spy type mystery. The first one is The Secret Adversary and there's also N or M and a couple more, I think. Other stand alones that are really good are And then there were none (to use its modern title) and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. To be honest though, you can't really go wrong with any of them. The only ones I've struggled with in the past are At Bertram's Hotel and 4.50 to Paddington and that might have been more to do with my frame of mind at the time rather than them being bad books.

My reading has stalled since the beginning of the month through too much telly and trying to fit in extra programming training at home before I start my new job. I must try and force myself to crack on with getting through the books I'm reading.

Afternoon all Wow, lots going on here! Welcome back Sabry, great news about your granddad, Athena and to the fire, Virginia! I've not been around much lately as I've been preoccupied with stuff at work. I handed my notice in on Tuesday to my job of 10 years, which was a daunting prospect, but was actually fine in the end! I start my next job on 19th December, which is closer to home, more money & better future prospects, though it is a bit scary as it's likely to be much harder. Still, I was losing motivation at my current place, so something had to change. Plus, my husband works there (albeit in a different team), so I have a bit of inside knowledge, which will help.

I watched La-La Land on Netflix the other day. Whilst I liked it, I couldn't quite see what the hype was all about. Perhaps I need to watch it again...

Shed loads of stuff - I'm finding it difficult to keep up with it all! Gunpowder - very bloody and gruesome but pretty good Motherland - love this! (still only seen one ep and the pilot so far though) The Apprentice The A word - fab so far Dave Gorman's Life is Goodish The Russell Howard Hour Detectorists Still need to catch up with I know who you are (but the episodes are so damn long.....) and Blue Planet II, which my 5 year old saw a trailer for and now wants to watch it (not sure how long that will last! )

I watched Jackie - I was impressed by Natalie Portman's performance. I started watching Wonder woman at the weekend - I've only just remembered I've still got about an hour to go as I was starting to doze off so we turned it off. It's not bad so far though.

I was quite disappointed by the couple's departure as they've done some of my favourite dances of the series, though I didn't like the dance they did this week at all. As chesilbeach said, based on the dance-off alone, I thought their dance was worse than the other couple's so there probably would have been uproar either way. Craig's scoring was a little harsh which wouldn't' have helped, but people can't moan at them going if they didn't vote for them (I don't vote :D)

With my 3 books on the go experiment, I found I was favouring one book above the others, so I finished Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb at the weekend, and since then I've been trying to concentrate on reading A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan as that was the one I was most behind on (it would also be nice to have read at least one TWoT book this year so I feel I'm making progress). Though that does mean that I've not read any Wolves of the Calla for a while.

November, where is the year going! Happy birthday for the weekend. And I've just read in another thread that your birthday was last weekend but you're celebrating this weekend. So, happy birthday for last week and happy celebrating this weekend.

I finished watching Black Lake, which wasn't bad. I'm happy to hear that I Know Who You Are is back this weekend. I'm also watching Robot Wars, which is good fun.

Have been going through some Amazon Prime films: The Girl on the Train - a reasonable adaptation of the book, from what I can remember of it David Brent: Life on the Road - as amusing and cringe-worthy as The Office

True! Although they are not so terribly bad as others in the past. I did think that Brian should have gone in week 2 rather than Chizzy though (based on the 1st dance anyway, I didn't really pay attention to the dance off).

Strictly Bake Off The Apprentice Black Lake - quite a good little swedish ghost series. 2 eps in so far Liar

Ok, I will join in. Favourites are Alexandra and Aston, though Debbie McGee is very good too. We seem to have disposed with the comically bad dancer already (Rev Richard) - probably because he was just bad and not funny or entertaining.

It was shocking news about Las Vegas, but I find it equally astounding how there is still no debate on gun control in America and how defensive some people get about it. The most telling meme I saw went something like this: - Now is not the time to talk about gun control. We shouldn't talk about this when there has just been a mass shooting. - So when there hasn't just been a mass shooting, we'll talk about gun control? - Yes. - Ok, when's that? - Never.

Doctor Foster - a bit of ridiculous fun and yet devastating too. Bake Off - I felt guilty for watching it at first, but am now just as hooked as before. (Mel & Sue are still better though ) The Handmaid's Tale - 3 eps in so far and liking it People Just Do Nothing series 1 -4 : Missed this the first time around and raced through all the eps over the weekend before they disappeared off iPlayer

I saw the recent tv series on Sky which I enjoyed. I didn't realise until now that it was based on a book though! I finally finished A Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson yesterday. It only took me 7 months. Still, this was based on very inconsistent lunchtime reading. I wasn't expecting to finish it quite so soon though, as I was only 75% through it, but the last 25% was just references, bibliography and the index!

Spotlight - not bad

I started the other two books, Wolves of the Calla & Fool’s Assassin. I’ve managed to rotate them quite successfully at the moment, though I’m slightly ahead with Fool’s Assassin at 200 pages as opposed to 100ish pages for the other two.