Madeleine

Have got most of the presents now, wrote the cards that needed posting today, and posted them, have lots of others but I'll see most of the recipients in person, so that's round 1 done!

Yes they did a couple of series, with Paddy Considine as Mr Whicher, the first series focusses on the book. You might be able to find it on ITV3, or one of the ITV equivalents of i player.

Catching the Eagle by Karen Charlton - a few weeks ago I read the first book in her Stephen Lavender detective series, this book is a fictionalised account of the story of her husband's ancestor,Jamie Charlton, who was accused of stealing the tenants' rental money from Kirkley Hall Estate in Northumberland - a sum of over £1100, and at the time one of the biggest robberies committed. As Charlton was working at the house at the time, and saw the rent money, and almost immediately after the robbery was seen paying off his debts, and generally spending money quite profusely, when previously he and his family had lived a hand to mouth existence, he was an obvious suspect. What follows is a story of a man who lived by his wits, but whose love of family - wife and several children - drove him on. There is also a sub plot involving a huge golden eagle, which has a price on it's head as the local try to trap it. Stephen Lavender, a real detective at the time, comes up from London to help with the initial investigation. This wasn't a bad book, at times it felt a bit like a Catherine Cookson novel, but the author's writing has improved since she wrote it, it does get a bit repetitive, and the amount of printing errors makes me wonder if it's an uncorrected proof copy, although there's no mention of it. But there were errors everywhere, with words missing and "a" suddenly appearing in the middle of a sentence, and at one point there were two sentences the wrong way round! She is apparently writing a "what happened next" novel,and has also written an account of her research. 6/10

Finished mine last night, review on the discuss your reading thread.

We don't need another hero - Tina Turner

Just seen on Facebook that the well-known author Barbara Taylor Bradford has died.

Sad to report that Phil Rickman has died, I've read a couple of the Merrily Watkins books and enjoyed them, ITV filmed the first one a few years ago and,as they often do, made a mess of it, despite Anna Maxell Martin doing her best in the lead role.

Baby come back - Player

Carry me home - James Blunt

Song for Whoever - The Beautiful South

there's a whole series now,so there should be plenty to keep you busy!

The book is even more tragic! Hardy was vilified for it, also because of the nature of their relationship, and didn't write any more novels, concentrating on poetry instead.

The Unforgettable Fire - U2

Have you read Jude the Obscure?

Yes a massive info dump, think I gave up around p 120! Well done for persevering. I did enjoy the TV version though.