More reading time required

Happy New Year all! We had a quiet new year too, just staying in with a few drinks watching Big Fat Quiz of the Year. We normally spend it at our friends in Doncaster, who have also got young kids, but what with a new baby & new dog, it would have been too trying to get up there & organise a dog sitter. After a few days of my hubby being at home off work & my eldest in nursery though, we've finally managed to get the bookcases & books in the house! We had a bit of a cull as we went along too, but had to be quite brutal cos of running out of space! Still, I feel much happier about being able to look at our collection & pick out books to read now.

Your favourite read of the year? Time & time again by Ben Elton. Fabulous time travel story about trying to change the series of events that led up to the outbreak of WW1 Your favourite author of the year? Based on the book I'm still reading now & the couple of spy type books I read by him earlier in the year, Ken Follett just gets the nod here over TP. Your most read author of the year? Terry Pratchett - this was before his death even. I had some companion books to read, plus Raising Steam & A slip of the Keyboard Your favourite book cover of the year? Raising Steam. Terry Pratchett covers are always fun (although not as good now as the old Josh Kirby covers.) The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? I don't abandon books in general, I'm stubborn! The book that most disappointed you? The grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck as I expected to enjoy it much more than I did, based on how good Of Mice & Men was. The funniest book of the year? Not one of his best, but I'd pick Retromancer by Robert Rankin over Raising Steam as the latter is more clever than riotously funny. Your favourite literary character this year? Probably the evil torturer dude from Joe Abercrombie's series - the last book in that being Last argument of kings Your favourite children's book this year? Dragons of Crumbling Castle by Terry Pratchett. Not that I can remember what it's about, but I'm sure it was good! Also my only children's book of the year (if you discount all the numerous picture books I read to my son. ) Your favourite classic of the year? By default, The grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck wins here. It was a hard slog, but I can still see the merit in it. Your favourite non-fiction book this year? A slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett. A collection of brilliant articles on various topics. Your favourite biography this year? N/A Your favourite collection of short stories this year? N/A Your favourite poetry collection this year? N/A Your favourite illustrated book of the year? Dodger's Guide to London by Terry Pratchett Your favourite publisher of the year? I don't really pay attention to such things very often. Your favourite audiobook of the year? N/A Your favourite re-read of the year? Even though it's actually my only re-read of the year, The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. I've still got some way to go before I get back to where I left off the series so it would finish (book 8) and then to read beyond to its conclusion.

Glad the flood defences are doing their job effectively, Sarah. I can't imagine what the people up north are currently suffering though. It looks like a nightmare

Toby Frost's Space Captain Smith series is a good read. I'm not sure if it's technically a space opera, but it's set in space & is rather amusing. I suppose it's in a similar vein to hitchhiker's guide, so it depends how much of a comedy type book you want to read. Something more serious than those, but well worth a look is Stephen Donaldson's The Gap series. The story you think you're reading in the first volume gets completely turned on its head in the subsequent books.

The Theory of Everything - really good Star Wars The Force Awakens - absolutely brilliant

By my standards, a paltry 25 or 26 if I finish Fall of Giants in the next 2 weeks. I think I've spent too long looking at my phone or watching telly this year, well that and I've been busy with the kids

Fave authors, that is those that I generally have to acquire all books of: Terry Pratchett Robin Hobb Tracy Hickman/Margaret Weis Ben Elton Stephen King F Paul Wilson Brian Keene Tad Williams Agatha Christie R A Salvatore

That's a brilliant album, glad you can listen to it again! It's a shame when something in real life tarnishes the music you're listening to at the time.

Read it now! This is one book you don't want spoiled, particularly if they follow the same changes as were made for the stage play, which completely ruined the dramatic effect of the book, imo.

After trying to get my son to watch Big Hero 6 ever since he was bought it for his birthday back in June, as an alternative to the zillionth showing of one of the three Toy Story's, we finally convinced him & we all really enjoyed it. He actually sat through all the way through without being distracted!

Enjoying so far, even though I'm not as far into it as I'd like.

I haven't actually read any Hilary Mantel, just watched the tv series. How does it compare to the book (if you've done both)?

The last kingdom ep 5 - followed this one a bit better Catastrophe - love this show. Only one ep left. Jessica Jones 1-4 - really liking this so far You, me & the apocalypse - one to go, am interested to see how this all ends up The Bridge 1-3 - yay, Saga! London Spy 1 -2 - different to what I expected it to be Eddie Izzard - Force Majuere - had this a while without getting round to watching it. Some good stuff in here & it probably warrants a repeat visit Ash vs The Evil Dead ep 1 - totally bat-shhhhhhh crazy!

After slow progress with Dissolution for many weeks, over 2 evenings i put down my phone & the tv controller and just got through the last 250 pages easily. I enjoyed it in the main, but I think what made it better was I had recently watched a documentary about 'The last days of Anne Boleyn' and all the points raised in the documentary - about whether she was framed for adultery/treason - were part of the story. It meant I had a better understanding of what the known facts were in comparison to what this story's version of events was. Added to the fact that I am also finally getting round to watching Wolf Hall, it's been a bit of a Henry VII/Anne Boleyn/Thomas Cromwell theme going on! Next up is my last library book - Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. I loved Pillars & World without end so it'll be interesting to see how this compares. Though it could take me some time to get through as it's somewhat of a massive tome!

Went to see Hunger Games 3.2 this afternoon. It was a bit of a nightmare as we took Ellie & she got upset as soon as it started. She'd been fine the previous time we went to the cinema (at 2 weeks old) but this was a different cinema and I think the volume was much higher, so even the blanket around her head didn't stop her getting upset at the loud bits. I ended up watching the whole film from the entry corridor whilst sitting on the floor feeding her so that it was a) a bit quieter for her and b) I could make a quick escape out the door if she started off again so as not to disturb anyone else's viewing. I think I'll be sticking to 'newbies' cinema from now on! The film was pretty good though & stayed true to the book as far as I can remember.

That results show kinda made a mockery of the whole point of the dance off & it just turned into a case of comparing the dancer's past performances. Yes, Peter has danced very well in the past, but that "jive" was atrocious - I wasn't a regular viewer of the show before this series and even I could tell it was missing lots of the key elements! Surely the judges should be rewarding improvements like the ones jamelia had made & adding some tension to the voting process so that if you have a bad week, even if you're one of the faves, you could still go? What did Jamelia say, by the way? I don't watch ITT.

Hello & welcome

I've been watching lots of stuff - it's probably taking over my reading more than it should have done though. The last Kingdom 1-4 - pretty good so far, though sometimes I get a bit confused by all the characters. To be fair, I'm currently easily confused, especially as I quite often multi task whilst watching telly via IPlayer on my phone Supergirl ep 1 - I rather enjoyed it although it seems very much 'The OC' take on a comic book character rather than the darker approach of say, Daredevil! Arne Dahl - quite enjoyable scandi crime series. I still have no idea why it was called that name though?! Looking forward to The Bridge this week, though isn't the guy not in it any more? I shall miss him if so. River - quite a different type of series & I enjoyed it. I concur with the underratedness of Nicola Watson (although I can't really see her as anything other than 'Ruth' . I've got her other recent series 'Unforgettable' (or was it 'Unforgotten') ready to watch on the TiVo too. You, Me & the apocalypse - bizarre premise, but I'm really enjoying this [Catastrophe - hilarious as ever. I love Sharon Morgan Together 1-6 - sweetly amusing comedy Peep Show - back on form after a 3 year gap:) The Apprentice -they are all quite annoying, but I still love this show & the incompetence of them all This is England 90 ep 1 - great so far - need to finish the series Doctor Who - usual mix of good & bad episodes Josh ep 1&2 - so far, a bit of a paint by numbers kind of sitcom, but I'll stick with it for now There's probably other stuff I've forgotten about too

I'm still plodding through Dissolution by C J Sansom. I'm enjoying it, but honestly sometimes there are so many days in between reading sessions that I forget what's going on! I must improve my book picking up average!

I've not been here for ages. Catching up on the posts has been like taking on a novel itself!! I've been super busy (not with reading, unfortunately) but am still resisting the fact that Christmas is coming (apart from using it as a bargaining chip for my eldest's behaviour - it's the first year he's been properly aware of the Christmas build up & what it entails. Congrats on the new job Shelfy! I haven't got my boss on Facebook but I have got some colleagues as friends. It can be annoying that you can't vent about your job or make any mention of job hunting because of this.

Yep, Daredevil was a brilliant series

I mostly tend to see Toy story 1-3 on repeat these days, with the occasional variety of Bolt, monsters inc, lion king & various other disney's. We did manage to watch half of American sniper and part of Hunger games 3.1, in preparation for going to see part 3.2 next week.

We had our first proper night out in a while & saw Frank Turner last night at the Birmingham o2 for the 10th time. He was on good form as usual! I even got to have a rare pint as I was away from Ellie for an evening.

I cannot believe it is November! So much for my theory about library books! I have severely neglected my reading lately (and also message boards ) but this afternoon I made a concerted effort to finish my current book - Retromancer by Robert Rankin. It wasn't one of his best but it still had lots of funny bits in it. I started another library book - Dissolution by C J Sansom.

No no no, Christmas should not be discussed until December 1st. Although with kids to buy for, I may have to relax my previous stance! Gah...