Madeleine

yes I just saw that about Timeless, yay. I notice that Sleepy Hollow's been cancelled as well, although I wasn't surprised.

I think it's 19.

I've replied under one of the other threads, the book blog I think, but basically I agree with you.

I agree with you Augury re The Essex Serpent - it was totally hyped and yes it's good and very enjoyable, but.... Waterstone's had it as their book of the year in 2016, but personally I think the Miniaturist, which was their book of the year in 2015, was much better, and deserved the title more. I did like the characters of Cora and William, but felt some storylines were a bit superfluous, eg Martha's campaigning in London, which didn't really seem to go anywhere. I did think it was well-written and very atmospheric, with a vivid setting (and some great weather) but I would have preferred it if it had stayed in Essex more.

Yep, I saw it in Waterstone's the other day and it's had some good reviews, although I'm always wary of "celebrity" authors, as most of them wouldn't stand a snowflake's chance in hell of getting published if they weren't well-known.

Sunday Girl - Blondie

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry - I finished this last night, and whilst I enjoyed it, I don't think it quite lives up to the hype and praise lavished on it (unlike say, The Miniaturist, which I think did live up to it's reputation). It's set in the late 19th Century, with newly widowed Cora Seaborne moving from London to the Essex village of Aldwinter, on the Blackwater estuary which is haunted by the legend of the titular serpent. The "creature" first surfaced, allegedly, a couple of hundred years previously, and now it's rumoured to be back, and the villagers are convinced it's punishment for their sins, and blame every bad thing that happens eg a crop failure, a dead sheep, a drowning (even though the victim was known to be a heavy drinker) on the serpent. When Cora arrives, accompanied by her strange son Francis (who by today's definition is probably on the autistic/Asperger's spectrum) and maid/companion Martha, people expect a middle-aged, frumpy widow, and instead get a vivacious young woman (who's been freed from a violent, domineering husband) who wanders around the estuary wearing men's trousers and coats, and collecting fossils. She meets the local vicar, William Ransome, who is trying to fight off the superstitious rumours by keeping his parishioners in check with his sermons, and sparks fly between the two, and Cora also befriends his wife, the ailing Stella, and their 3 children. More strange incidents occur, there's an outbreak of mass hysteria, odd things are seen in the local river, and the villagers become even more paranoid. Meanwhile Cora's attachment to William grows, and she's also lusted after by the doctor who tended her husband. It's very Victorian, with shades of "The Crucible" for it's paranoia, and ticks a lot of the standard Victorian gothic boxes, and although I enjoyed most of it, I felt the ending was a bit weak (thinking about it now, it was probably the only way it could have ended, but still feels a bit flat) and I also felt the scenes in London, especially the sub plot about Martha becoming involved with campaigning for better housing, rents etc for poorer people (nothing has changed since!) felt a bit superfluous and unnecessary. Personally I would have preferred it if it had stayed in Essex, but apart from these quibbles I thought it was a good, but not great, read. 8/10

It actually rained last night! Quite muggy though and not very pleasant.

Morning has Broken - Cat Stevens

England (48 counties) Bedfordshire Berkshire Bristol Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire City of London Cornwall (including Isles of Scilly) Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset County Durham East Sussex Essex - The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry Gloucestershire Greater London (excluding the City of London Greater Manchester Hampshire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Isle of Wight Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire (including North Lincolnshire. and North East Lincolnshire Merseyside Norfolk 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 Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Somerset - The Trysting Tree by Linda Gillard Staffordshire Suffolk 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 Scotland (35 counties) Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Ayrshire and Arran Banffshire Berwickshire Caithness Clackmannanshire Dumfries Dunbartonshire Dundee East Lothian Edinburgh Fife Glasgow 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 The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright Tweeddale West Lothian Western Isles Wigtown Northern Ireland Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry/Derry Tyrone Edited just now by Madeleine Quote Edit Options Hide Share this post Link to post Share on other sites

I enjoyed the Snow Child too.

Just got: To the Bright edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey The Mangle Street Murders by M R C Kasasian

sunny so far, and a bit warmer!

No I think it's just Windows 8 (quite an old laptop!).

I can't see them at home, so must be an issue with my laptop.

On the work computer it's set slightly higher (probably 125%) not sure what it is at home, but it worked fine before! And having just tried to get one, they all appeared, so it may be an issue with my home PC. Thanks for your help.

Yes seems to be, I don't use them that much so this is the first time I've noticed it.

Done all that.

Twice

Let's hope it's better than the abysmal version of Day of The Triffids which they did a few years ago.

I watched it on Saturday (well most of it) for the first time in ages, I agree it did fall apart at the end a bit, getting soppy. I agree with your theory about who or what is locked up, and it's no secret that a certain character will return. Didn't think much of Bill either way to be honest.

They disappeared after the upgrade.

Quite a few things have finished recently - Line of duty, Broadchurch, Big Little Lies, and Person of Interest only has two more to go so not much on now; still Poldark starts in June, hooray! And I have the last few of Timeless and all of Sleepy Hollow stockpiled.

It's a been a bit odd this weekend - dull at first, then a bit sunny, and then finally getting sunny around 4.30/5.00 - too little too late really!

This weekend I've bought: A High Mortality of doves - Kate Ellis The Hourglass - Tracy Rees The Secrets of Death - Stephen Booth