chesilbeach

He might not sing this week. They pick the singers each week based on the songs so that they find the right voice to suit the original song, and they sometimes bring in a new singer for a particular voice. There have been a few singers that have been brought in just once to sing a particular song, but it's usually four from the main five singers.

I've got a few paperbacks left on the shelf to read, so I'm going to try and read them this week, so I've started Meet Me At The Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan which was actually a Christmas present last year!

The temperature dropped yesterday and it really started to feel wintry, so I couldn't resist starting my Christmas film viewing and watched Christmas With The Kranks last night.

No, not YA. I don't particularly like reading about history and historical events, but I loved them. Brought a whole new way of looking at history for me, and I actually learnt about events I've only heard of in passing, albeit with a big dollop of fiction thrown in. I read the first six within a few weeks as I enjoyed them so much.

It's been a busy couple of weeks at work, but I'm off for a week now. Took a trip to the recycling centre this morning to get rid of the wood from the bookshelves that had to be ripped out of the living room, plus an old metal frame from an old aquarium that's been lying around in the garage for years. Then off to the shops to get some bits and pieces, before grabbing a couple of take out coffees and going round to see my dad. I'm going to see A Matter of Life and Death at the cinema this weekend … can't wait to see it on a big screen, such a fantastic film but I've only ever seen it on television.

I finished A Tale of Two Cities on Wednesday. Loved it, but will wait for Sunday to post in the group read thread Yay!!! So happy you enjoyed it I read it last a couple of weeks ago … so, so good. Have your read Rooftoppers? Her writing is fantastic, but I'm guessing it'll be a long time before her next book as this one was a hardback edition first, which is unusual for children's books. Had a wander around my local bookshop this morning as I need to start scoping out Christmas presents! Didn't buy anything, but lots of notes made. I finished reading Gorilla Dawn by Gill Lewis yesterday … she's definitely one of my favourite MG authors. Haven't started anything else yet, so will need to have a look at what I've got left on my TBR now.

I'd also recommend them highly - fantastic fun reads.

I've been at work all day, so haven't had chance to post. Georgia is firmly my favourite now … I don't like the Charleston, but she was great last night. While I think Anita is doing really well, I'm not a fan of Gleb's choreography, in fact all of the ballroom dances suffered from looking too much like an American Smooth than whatever they were dancing. I thought it was supposed to be maximum eight bar intro and eight bar ending, and all the rest should be in hold, but that seems to have gone out of the window over the last few years. Shame about the obvious mistake in Jay's routine, but can't believe it landed him seventh on the leader board, and didn't like the song choice for this one, or Jamelia's samba (which wasn't too bad, and better than Jeremy IMHO), Helen's tango (instantly forgettable and the dress did not suit her either - I found it distracting and remember the dress more than the dance), and don't even get me started on Kellie's samba. I'm not alone, as I've seen loads of comments on Twitter about the poor song choices, including from former and current professionals … Kristina was at home sick this week, and even she tweeted about the songs! I agree about the dry ice, Madeleine - way too much at the beginning for Peter, but it did seem to clear as they started dancing around the floor, and with that and the camera work, I could barely see his footwork for the first 30 seconds! I loved this song choice, and also Katie's rumba which wasn't as bad as I'd been expecting, but she did pick her feet up too much but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not the fan of Jeremy that I know lots of people are, nothing against him personally and I don't dislike him, but I don't particularly like Karen's choreography and he's definitely the worst celebrity left, and I'd like to see him go this week, but I can't see that happening. I suspect Jamelia will go tonight and again, I know I'm in the minority, but I'd like to see her get one more dance, and would prefer to see her at Blackpool than the car crash of a routine that will include Jeremy "flying". I like it when they go to Blackpool, but I wish that meant it was the most traditional week of the series, with no props, no extra dancers, and just pure dance on the floor, but I know that's never going to happen anymore. Apart from Helen and Kellie's dresses, I thought the dresses were beautiful last night. Katie and Janette's both looked stunning, with Janette just pipping it for the dress of the night. Not quite sure why so many of the ballroom dances require shirt and waistcoat nowadays instead of proper tails … but nice to see Peter in the full tail suit.

I don't mind Ian so much, because at least he makes useful and pertinent comments about the training footage, and I do like the dancing with Zoe reminding us how good she was, but even as a fan of Karen , I have enjoyed the different dancers taking a turn over the last few weeks (although I'm not a fan of Joanne, but it was still good to have a different view). I do wish though, that they would actually talk more about the choreography to show what the pros have done to show off their celeb or where they failed to hide the faults, and not just review the dances and technique again.

Me too! It means Christmas is getting closer now

I finished the fantastic The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell today. Although a children's book, it's a brilliant historical novel set in Russia about a young girl who helps re-wild wolves that have been kept as "pets" by wealthy families, who sets out to free her mother from from prison. Beautifully described landscape and nature amid a tale of tyrannical military leaders and a girl who lives with wolves. I love Michelle Paver's writing. We read Dark Matter at my book group last year and had a really good discussion about the ghost in our group!

A grey day today.

Well, it's all kicking off now!!! Bit late with my post this week, but not sure that I have much to say about last weeks instalment, but I'm really enjoying it. Jerry Cruncher's a nasty piece of work, but what a shock Young Jerry got after following out on his "fishing" trip. Thought the description of the storming of the prison was fantastic … always beware of women who knit … Looking forward to the next chapters.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/10/amazons-new-bookshop-reverse-showroomed-in-seattle

I think today will be the last day I get home from work in the daylight until the spring. Always feels like the last milestone before the Christmas period for me, and it won't be long before we light the wood burner. Having said that, it was one of the warmest November nights on record last night, so the temperature's going to have to drop a lot before we get to that!

Mushroom cannelloni

I started The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell today … it's brilliant! Already half way through

Hi cherac. I've removed the address of your website from your first post, because as a new member, you will not be able to post links initially (please see our Forum Rules for more information about what links can be posted). We'd love to discuss your top 10 books with you, but please post the list here so that we can see them in the forum.

What an improvement this week! The BBC definitely got the balance right last night, with good and weaker dancers mixed throughout the programme. Peter was much better than I was expecting, and didn't feel like a pop music video dance which I'd been expecting, so was pleasantly surprised, but not sure it warranted 10s, to be honest. Carol was by far the weakest of the night, Jamelia was ok, but not great and getting caught up in the guitar on the floor didn't help, and I couldn't see past the hideous theme and music for Jeremy's tango. It really should be two of those in the dance off, but perhaps this is the week for our first shock elimination. Katie made a few mistakes which spoiled what could have been a great routine. Didn't understand why Anita was dancing a jive in daps, and it made it look too much like a lindy hop or swing dance, and far too much use of props for such a potentially good dancer, especially when some of the proper jive content looked really good - probably over marked for my liking. Agreed with Len () about Helen's lack of rumba content, and I think she deserved her lower place on the leader board this week … although had to laugh at Len saying he had to be consistent with his comments after having a go at Giovanni a couple of weeks ago … since when have you been consistent, Len???? Far too much mucking around at the start of Kellie's waltz, but her technique was very good … loved the heel turns at the beginning, no gapping, and she just missed one of the steps towards the end of the dance, otherwise I think she might have got 9s rather than 8s and been higher up the leader board. I loved Jay's AT music, and I loved the routine, but then the AT is often more about the woman than the man, and although I know Aliona tends to make routines all about her anyway, I think Jay danced it really well, and it looked fantastic. I know what people mean about Jay's lack of personality in the dance, but in this one, he did get it right at times. There were some great sections where he looked directly into Aliona's eyes and focussed on her only, which you want to see in the AT, but there could have been a bit more fire in him at other times to just bring that added extra. If he could get that, then this would have easily been a top of the leader board dance. Georgia is my star, and I think she's having the perfect Strictly journey. She started off good, but not too good. She's steadily progressed, been on the receiving end of a Len rant, and fully deserved her top of the leader board last week. If only there hadn't been that little mistake towards the end, this would have been a fantastic samba. She made it look great, had plenty of samba content, and even coped when the stoopid prop tables got in the way of their dancing. At the moment, she's my favourite. Overall, by far my favourite night of the series so far.

Yesterday was one of those typical British weather days where it just couldn't make up its mind. It was quite clear when I went out in the morning, but we'd had a lot of rain overnight, and I had to drive through a flooded road at one point. It clouded over on my journey, and then by the time I got into town, it was pouring down and I got drenched just going about 20m between buildings. Then it seemed to brighten up a bit, then it drizzled, and then I got home it was blue skies and sunshine. Watch the black clouds coming in and then the rain hit again. Just make up your mind, Mother Nature!!!! Today is cloudy and threatening to rain, but I guess it could go anyway based on yesterday

Had a lovely day yesterday visiting some friends and my goddaughter. So many people crammed into a tiny house though, I don't know how they put up with each other! Unfortunately, they've also got a cat now. It's been ages since I was in someone's house with a cat, but it wasn't too bad. They kept it out of the room for me, and I only stayed for a couple of hours, and I managed to get away with just a minor allergic reaction. A quieter day planned today, just catching up with a few things and maybe some reading, then we're going out to eat later on.

I finally finished The Bone Clocks!!! It's been such a long read, I'm still trying to decide whether I enjoyed it or not. Went to Waterstone's yesterday to see if they had Ali Smith's new book, but no luck, however, they did have a copy of her first novel Like which has been reprinted and I've never read, so I bought that instead.

Hi Shelfy!

52 pages left of The Bone Clocks to go … on the home stretch now...

I was listening to a BBC podcast the other day, and they read out a letter from someone writing from Espoo ... I was ridiculously excited that I knew where it was, and all because of you! I love it when odd little things like that happen