Madeleine

Easy Lover - Phil Collins and Phil Bailey

Porphyria is pretty rare, now anyway. There was also a lot of haemophilia in the royal family back then (maybe due to marrying cousins, as it can be inherited?).

There's also a disease called porphyria (spelling?) which has similar symptoms eg sensitivity to light. All interesting theories and quite possible reasons.

I was the opposite, I found The Darkest Evening took a long time to really grip me, whereas The Long Call seemed to be a bit better paced. The TV series is on this week, halfway through (on every night), it's well cast but a bit slow, they have made quite a few changes though the basic story is the same. Shetland is on tonight too so Ann Cleeves's characters are competing with each other on screen!

Me too!

It's a long time since I read the Hobbit, but yes it definitely feels like a lighter version of LoTR, aimed more at younger readers. Oh yes the songs...... they seemed to go on for ever!

Well it's probably not that original, but I suspect that

Up the Junction - Squeeze

I'm about 3/4 through the first book, and I've started wondering about the sister as well, I have my suspicions as to what might have really happened.

I loved Company of Liars. Hope you like it too.

"The Survivors" by Jane Harper - the latest novel from Jane Harper takes us to Tasmania, and it follows a similar structure to her first hit novel, The Dry, ie a young man, Kieran, returns to the small town where he grew up, with his girlfriend and baby daughter (who is quite a little character in her own right!) to help his mother move his father, who has dementia, into a care facility, and to move home herself. When a waitress who's been employed for the summer at the local diner is found murdered on the beach, old wounds resurface - of a terrible storm 12 years previously, which resulted in the death of 2 local men, including Kieran's own brother - many people still hold Kieran responsible for what happened that night; on the same night, a teenage girl disappeared, and the only trace of her was her rucksack which washed up on the beach a few days after the storm. Suspicion falls on the whole town, and Kieran finds himself wondering who he can trust, especially when even more long held secrets come to light. I enjoyed this, it was a fast easy read, perhaps not quite as involving as The Dry (or maybe its just that this format is becoming a bit too commonplace now) but a good read anyway, and a great setting too. 8/10

The Long Call" by Ann Cleeves - this is the first in a new series by the author of the "Shetland" and "Vera" novels, and this time she heads to the south of the Uk, to Devon, where her new detective, Matthew Venn, finds himself an outcast as he attends the funeral of his father; however he watches the ceremony from a distance, feeling unable to join in, as he left his parents' religious sect years ago, when he found he didn't agree with their principles, especially as a gay man. He's now happily married to his husband, Jonathan, who runs a local centre for people with learning difficulties, as well as the community in general, and when a volunteer from the centre is found murdered on a local beach, both men have a conflict of interest. The case becomes even more serious when a Down's syndrome woman, who also attended the centre, goes missing. Worryingly the incidents seem to link back to the charismatic leader of his parents' religious sect, and Matthew finds himself in a very awkward position. This was another solid crime novel from Ann Cleeves, and is a good introduction to a new character and his team, as well as his wider community. The TV adaptation starts next week, meaning that Cleeves is in the enviable position of having 3 book series adapted for TV, with the new series of Shetland just started too, although that's no longer based on her books. 7.5/10

Thanks Hayley, haven't read too much yet, so far it's reminding me a bit of a Victorian X Files!

Greased Lightning - John Travolta

Yep I had an email from them, now I just have to get to a branch over the weekend.....

I'm about to start my first Oscar de Muriel book, in the Frey and McGrey series.

chimes

white Lines - Grandmaster Flash

I think the Gary Oldman version did stick more closely to the book than a lot of the other film versions have done. I guess the whole transfer of blood issue can be seen as an erotic metaphor, and the Oldman version was a bit more explicit too, and I agree about Lucy's character being more sexualised.

With no one as Witness - Elizabeth George

Lady Godiva's Room - Simply Red

Same here Chrissy, were we separated at birth!

I felt the same about Captain Corelli's Mandolin as well!

So glad I've finally found someone else who was underwhelmed by "Crawdads". I can't understand all the hype either, at first I was quite gripped, but after a while it seemed to meander, and eventually I thought it just fizzled out with a rather abrupt ending. I don't think it's a bad book, it's very readable, but not worth all the fuss. Did love the setting and sense of isolation though.

Lady Eleanor - Lindisfarne