chesilbeach

Good review! I had a problem with the

Welcome back Steeeeve! I'm in the same boat - I think that's why I love it here so much

Bandits

Once Upon a Time in America

I would say it's fine, as there is already a thread (in the Fiction board) on the book anyway, and other people have reviewed it previously.

Land of Entrapment

The Money Trap

Fell off the non-book-buying wagon today, and succumbed to the charms of the 3 for 2 table in Waterstone's, coming home with ... Eleven Minutes Late by Matthew Engel (which I've already started and read 70 pages of) The Master by Colm T

Hi Tristan!

Strangely enough, I heard about this author for the first time earlier this week, as Sue McGregor chose her book Falling Leaves as her book on Radio 4's A Good Read. It sounded fascinating and actually has some similarities to this but an adult novel rather than a childrens story.

A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

Meet The Parents

Meet The Robinsons

For One More Day - Mitch Albom

Steven Hall

Roger Deakin

Just In Case - Meg Rosoff

It depends, but I try to keep it in check! This year, I've been very good and only bought three books for a total of

Romancing The Stone

Field of Dreams

Title: It's Only A Movie Author: Mark Kermode Publisher: Random House Rating: 4/5 Synopsis: (extract from waterstones.com) To avoid fainting keep repeating, It's only a move ..only a movie ..only a movie ..only a movie If you grew up believing that Planet of the Apes told you all you needed to know about politics, that Slade in Flame was a savage expose of the pop world, and that The Exorcist revealed the meaning of life, then you probably spent far too many of your formative years at the cinema. Just as likely, you soon realised that there was only one career open to you - you'd have to become a film critic. In It's Only a Movie, the incomparable Mark Kermode takes us into the weird world of a life lived in widescreen. Written with sardonic wit and wry good humour, this compelling cinematic memoir is genuinely 'inspired by real events'. Review: When it was announced that Simon Mayo was leaving Five Live to take over the Drivetime slot on Radio 2, I turned into a five year old - stuck my bottom lip out and sulked. A few minutes later, I found out that he would stay with Five Live for the Friday afternoon film reviews with Mark Kermode and it would now be a whole two hours long. Perfect, I thought. Just a few weeks later, I find out that not only to I get an extra long helping of wittertainment each week, I now get to read a book by the good doctor too! And, what a great read it was. If you're a fan of Mark Kermode and his style of reviewing, you'll love this book. You'll understand how, where and why he came to love films, you'll get the full story behind some of his anecdotes, and you'll get the lowdown on why Mamma Mia! is so bad, it's brilliant. This is a memoir rather than autobiography, and it focuses solely on the importance film has had on Dr Ks life. To add a nice thread to run through the book and tie it all together, he imagines that he's retelling his story as if it was being made into a film with all the different actors who would be playing the various roles (Hello to Jason Isaacs). The good thing about the book is that it is obviously written by Kermode, as his distinctive style runs throughout, it's very funny, covers a wide variety of films, and is full of name dropping anecdotes about some big names and some more obscure ones too. The bad thing is that it's obviously written by Kermode, with plenty of in-jokes for listeners to the show (Hello to Fairport Convention, Stephen Fry, David Morrissey, Michael Sheen and David Tennant) which I loved but I'm not sure that it makes it accessible to film fans who don't listen to him. I guess the intended audience is his listeners anyway so maybe that isn't such a negative. I laughed out loud, I nodded knowingly, I chuckled to myself, I cringed and I giggled, and I know I will go back and read it again at some point. I would definitely recommend it to fans of wittertainment. If, however, you haven't come across Mark Kermode but love films and wondered if you should read this, I would suggest you download an episode of the weekly podcast first to see if you like his style, because if you don't I suspect you might find the book annoying.

No, I'm sorry but you're wrong. The Halifax advert is far more irritating, in fact it's annoyingly, dreadful.

Just giggled my way through the end of It's Only A Movie by Mark Kermode. The good doctor is as wittertaining on the page as he is on my iPod.

Veggie spag bol

I've been catching up with some radio programmes I recorded over Christmas, one of which was the edition of Desert Island Discs with David Tennant, and he picked White Wine In The Sun as one of his songs! Also, at the end of the programme the guest is asked if they could only have one of their choices on their desert island, which one would they choose, and he said that he'd not made up his mind until that moment and it wasn't one he'd thought he'd choose, but after listening to them on the show, he'd go for the Tim Minchin one.