Madeleine

Incredibly windy last night, still quite blowy today but nice and bright.

Yes January is horrible, this week has been particularly bad with dismal weather, although as you say it's brighter now, and yes the mornings are a bit lighter, as are the evenings; but I've had a cold, haven't slept much and public transport has been a nightmare practically every day since the start of the New Year! Hope Coran's test goes OK.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

The Unforgettable Fire - U2

Candles

Glad the dentist went well, I hate the cleaning too, it's usually the worst part!

Cold and windy today, but bright and sunny.

Not so cold here but a horrible morning - dark, rainy and windy, absolutely vile; bit better now but think it's still drizzling. I don't envy you those hot temperatures!

Dull and cold but dry.

Yep I was amazed at the amount of smoking as well, especially sometimes halfway up a mountain - they were obviously much fitter back then!

We had drizzle most of last night, and it was still damp this morning, cold and grey now.

Great review, I've got this one too!

Greek

Yes hard to believe it was only a couple of weeks ago. I'm thinking of hols as well, the trouble is you have to book up so early now to get the time off work and somewhere decent to stay as places get booked up so quickly (and I want to avoid the school holidays, especially for Cornwall).

Same here, back to cold and dull today.

I like that series too, Ann Cleeves is probably a better writer, although the book wasn't badly written, so it looks a promising series.

First read of the New Year: Death on a Longship by Marsali Taylor - this is the first in a new series of mysteries set in the Shetland Isles, which I came across in a discount book shop last year. Cass Lynch is a qualified sailor who has lived abroad (and on boats) ever since she left home at 16, after her parents split up and she was packed off to France to live with her mother, a well-known classical singer, leaving her father, a businessman, on Shetland. She's come back to be the skipper of a reconstructed Viking longship for a film being shot on the island, but when the leading lady is murdered (and found on by her on her boat), she's thrust into the media spotlight and is also a suspect. Further acts of sabotage follow and Cass finds herself trying to identify the killer before more harm is done to either herself or her friends and family. I found this an enjoyable read, and wonder if, in subsequent books, Cass will team up with the policeman, Macrae, with whom she seems to have an affinity. It'll be interesting to see Cass reconcile with her family, and how she adapts to living on solid ground! 7.5/10

Oh dear, as I feared, a note was pushed through our door last night saying that a Bengal cat had gone missing..... I'm sad to say that I'm not surprised. Let's hope it's just got shut in someone's shed or garage.

That's lovely, Athena, happy 5th anniversary!

England (48 counties) Bedfordshire Berkshire Bristol Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire City of London Cornwall (including Isles of Scilly) - The Miller's Dance by Winston Graham Cumbria Derbyshire Devon - The Riviera Express by T P Fielden Dorset County Durham East Sussex Essex - The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry Gloucestershire Greater London (excluding the City of London - The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith Greater Manchester Hampshire Herefordshire - Nigel, my family and other Dogs by Monty Don Hertfordshire Isle of Wight Kent - The Body in the Ice by A J Mackenzie Lancashire - The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley Leicestershire Lincolnshire (including North Lincolnshire. and North East Lincolnshire Merseyside Norfolk - The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths North Yorkshire (including Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, York, and Stockton-on-Tees south of the River Tees) - Some Veil Did Fall by Kirsty Ferry (set mainly in Whitby) Northamptonshire Northumberland - Holy Island by L J Ross Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Somerset - Time's Legacy by Barbara Erskine Staffordshire Suffolk - River of Destiny by Barbara Erskine Surrey Tyne and Wear Warwickshire West Midlands West Sussex East Riding of Yorkshire (including Kingston-upon-Hull) South Yorkshire West Yorkshire Wiltshire Worcestershire Wales (8 counties) Clwyd Dyfed South Glamorgan Mid Glamorgan West Glamorgan Gwent Gwynedd Powys - Sleeper's Castle by Barbara Erskine Scotland (35 counties) Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Ayrshire and Arran Banffshire Berwickshire - The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley Caithness Clackmannanshire Dumfries Dunbartonshire Dundee East Lothian Edinburgh Fife Glasgow - Eleanor Oliphant.... - Gail Honeyman Inverness Kincardineshire Lanarkshire Midlothian Moray Nairn Orkney Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Ross and Cromarty Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale Shetland - Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves Stirling and Falkirk Sutherland Northern Ireland Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry/Derry Tyrone

Still quite cold and dull, meant to get a bit milder after today.

feet

Thanks for the challenge, I've had the book for years (also the film which I still haven't seen!). I'm also going to send off for the Little Women books from the Radio Times.

Yesterday was lovely and sunny but with a bitterly cold wind, today dull and not quite so cold (but still pretty cold!).

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