BelleS

01 – Best film you saw last year – Blue Valentine 02 – A film that you’ve seen more than 3 times - Arsenic and Old Lace 03 – Your favourite film series – Alien Series 04 – Favourite film of your favourite series – Alien 05 – A film that makes you happy – Kind Hearts and Coronets 06 – A film that makes you sad – Requiem for a Dream 07 – Most underrated film – Fearless 08 – Most overrated film – Chariots of Fire 09 – A film you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving – The Truman Show 10 – Favourite classic film – The African Queen 11 – A film you hated – Sound of Music 12 – A film you used to love but don’t anymore – Kramer vs Kramer 13 – Your favourite film maker - Hitchcock 14 – Favourite film of your favourite film maker - Rear Window 15 – Favourite male character – Red Redding (The Shawshank Redemption) 16 – Favourite female character – Ellen Ripley 17 – Favourite quote from your favourite film – Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above 18 – A film that disappointed you – Inception 19 – Favourite film from a book – Once Were Warriors 20 – Favourite romance film – Murphy's Romance 21 – Favourite film from your childhood – Mary Poppins 22 – Favourite film you own - The March of the Penguins 23 – A film you wanted to watch for a long time but still haven’t – Breakback Mountain 24 – A film that you wish more people would’ve seen - Once Were Warriors 25 – A film character who you can relate to the most – Evelyn Couch from Fried Green Tomatoes 26 – A film that changed your opinion about something – Angel Baby 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending – The Usual Suspects 28 – Favourite film title – Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 29 – A film everyone hated but you liked – Il Postino 30 – Your favourite film of all time – The African Queen

The book might have been Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural. It has the two stories you mentioned in it - though it's possible they are also in other anthologies of course.

Limericks may not be 'beautiful' but they can a joy to those of us who love the sound of words! My contribution: A man from Lower Largo bought toast with butter to go. He said, 'Blast and damn, I forgot the jam. Now my food tastes just so-so'.

Two favourite poems: well, two that were published over 75 years ago. 'When I am dead, my dearest' by Christina Rossetti: When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget. and 'Love's Philosophy' by Shelley: The fountains mingle with the river And the rivers with the ocean, The winds of heaven mix for ever With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single, All things by a law divine In one another's being mingle - Why not I with thine? See the mountains kiss high heaven And the waves clasp one another; No sister-flower would be forgiven If it disdain'd its brother: And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the moonbeams kiss the sea - What are all these kissings worth, If thou kiss not me?

Could the book have been one of the Tales of the Bard trilogy by Michael Scott? They were published in the mid to late 1980s I think.