Madeleine

I've not heard of the winner either. I remember there was a lot of controversy when Bob Dylan won the Lit Prize, apparently it was for his poetry.

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall - Bob Dylan/Roxy Music etc

Why does it always rain on me - Travis

The Bookseller of Inverness by S G MacLean - this is a stand alone novel by the author of the Alexander Seaton and Damian Seeker series, and is set 6 years after the battle of Culloden, one of the defining events in Scottish history, and, having played dead to survive the battle, Iain MacGillivrary is living a quiet life as the titular bookseller, until a stranger comes into his bookshop and starts to search through his old books, so determinedly that Iain has to force him to leave the shop, but next day, when he opens up, he finds the man murdered, by a weapon bearing the Jacobite symbol of a white cockade. Once the man is identified, it turns out that he is looking for the Book of Lost Names, which contains codes for names of various people who may or may not be traitors, and when people on that list start to also be murdered, Iain finds himself being dragged back into recent history, as well as dealing with the return of his absent father, who has to be kept hidden due to the nature of his own mission - to restore the King to the throne. This took me a while to get into, and I did find it hard to keep up with the historical details, and who was a Jacobite and who wasn't. I must admit this is a period in history which I know virtually nothing about (apart from watching Outlander!) and I did find it difficult to follow at times. It was well-written and thrilling at times, with genuine tension as Iain and his father tried to evade the Redcoats, but I have to say I prefer her historical crime novels. Her research must have been phenomenal. 8/10

Interesting about your singing, I'm in a choir despite not being a very good singer - they take anyone in my choir! - and have been put in the tenor section, which is a pretty low singing group, and even though I can't reach any top notes sometimes the lower notes are too low for me, so you might find yourself switching tones, or keys, depending in what you're singing at the time. I have no idea which notes I'm singing either, I can read basic music but that's about it. The main thing is you should be comfortable with how you're singing, you don't want to damage your voice.

Fabulous bone structure!

Do they know it's Christmas - Band Aid

The Way we Were - Barbra Streisand

I agree with Luna, she is stunning, see if you can find a clip of Portrait Artist.

Me too!

U got the look - Prince

Yes she's stunning isn't she, I'd heard of the author but didn't know anything about them. I'm glad her artist won the heat too, the painting was brilliant.

Hello, there is a thread for horror etc,which should have some suggestions for you.

Is anyone doing this? I'm gong to read The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell.

Every breath you take - The Police

The Man in Black and other stories by Elly Griffiths - I finally finished this one, it's a collection of short stories featuring many of her regular characters plus a few new ones as well,some are spooky, some feature a crime, some are only a few pages long, others a bit longer - the longest story, and one of the best ones, is a Ruth Galloway/Harry Nelson tale where the pair find themselves on a Nile cruise, supposedly won by Harry. Two are Christmas themed, with one again featuring Ruth and her cat, which I read last year for Xmas, and I recently decided to finish the book. The tales are all very readable, with the author's trademark humour, and it's a good collection for dipping into if you don't feel like tackling a single book, and some are very suited to this time of year. 8/10

So many books are let down by the ending, I'm looking at "Cold Mountain" as one example. I know lots of people who have a big dent in a wall due to that ending!

Take me out - Franz Ferdinand

Go wild in the Country - Bow Wow Wow

Sad to hear of Jilly Cooper's sudden death at the weekend, apparently after a fall. I've only read one of her books but she was a great character, such a shame.

going back to my roots - Odyssey

Good idea, I'm happy to go with first book for the next read ie New Year.

Run for Home - Lindisfarne

River Deep Mountain High - Ike and Tina Turner

Definitely!