2018 - MY READING YEAR

More for my own amusement than any expectation that this holds any interest to anyone else....

I surpassed my annual target of 120 books for the year, totalling 137 for 2018.
Books is a somewhat loose term, insofar as I'll count anything available to source on its own as a book.

The vast majority of my reading was "crime fiction" though I have no idea on the number of books in the various sub-genres - PIs, police procedurals, Noir, Cosies, mysteries, thrillers, hard-boiled, who-dunits .......

QUALITY - subjective obviously - but overall no stinker books encountered, which if I approach my reading on the basis of selecting what I think I will enjoy isn't a surprise.

More of the same needed in 2019, I reckon.

11 - 5 STAR READS
55 - 4.5 STARS
51 - 4 STARS
6   - 3.5 STARS
13 - 3 STARS
1   - 2.5 STARS

AGEING - I think I've called myself out on my oft-repeated claim that I enjoy books from the 60s, 70s and 80s in a pre-tech age. Yeah man - you enjoy them, but you don't read them!

I'll see if I can get double digits for 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s this year.

1 from the 1930/40s - a collection of pieces previously released singly
1 from the 1940s
1 from the 1950s
2 from the 1960s
0 from the 1970s
1 from the 1980s
4 from the 1990s
10 from the 2000s
74 from the 2010s
43 from 2018




FACT v FICTION - I used to target myself with one non-fiction book a month.
That's gone for a Burton then!

Try and read more in 2019, which shouldn't be too challenging.

134 fiction
3 non-fiction




READING FORMAT
The kindle wins - hopefully in 2019 I'll read more physical books

81.5 Kindle

28 paperback
10 Epub file on laptop
8   PDF
5   hardback
3   audible
1   magazine
.5  iPhone

LENGTH
Does size matter?

14  <50 pages
16  51-100 pages
33  101-200 pages
44  201-300 pages
24  301-400 pages
6    400+ pages

My longest read was 640 pages - The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker
My shortest was 13 pages - Breaking Spirits by Glenn McGoldrick

DIFFERENT AUTHORS
103 in total, plus 4 anthologies which had multiple authors.
One author was read under two different published names - Jack Strange/Jack D. McLean

NEW-TO-ME AUTHORS
59 in the year

POPULAR AUTHORS
15 authors were read more than once

12 times Lawrence Block
3 each by Nick Kolakowski, Graham Smith, Robert Parker, Glenn McGoldrick
10 authors twice








GENDER ANALYSIS
77 male authors (with 105 books)
26 female authors (with 28 books)










AUTHOR NATIONALITY
14 different countries represented, not too much from Europe overall and nothing Scandinavian - Don't Cry For Me Nordic Crime.

46 USA
27 ENGLAND
8 SCOTLAND
3 CANADA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND
2 IRELAND, NORTHERN IRELAND
1 SOUTH AFRICA, MALAYA, BELGIUM, SWITZERLAND, ZIMBABWE, GERMANY, GREAT BRITAIN (unable to ascertain whether from England, Scotland or Wales)
with a couple UNKNOWN




SOURCE
I'll try and read more pre-owned books in 2019

55 pre-owned
25 publishers
19 Kindle Unlimited trial
15 authors
10 Net Galley
8  publicists
5  Edelweiss

PAGES READ

Monthly - 2761 - 4170 - 2909 - 1022 - 533 - 1816 - 2966 - 1511 - 1890 - 4481 - 2667 - 1247

Total - 27973

Monthly average - 2331 pages
Average book length - 204 pages

FAVOURITE COVERS

DECEMBER 2018 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY - 6 OF THE BEST! (PART 2)

Make hay while the sun shines, which is what I did in December - the intention being to start reading some of the books I own in 2019 and stop buying more. (I'll see how that goes!)

Here's six more that were acquired in December......

Don Winslow - The Force (2017) - purchased

I can't actually remember what was the last Winslow novel I read, but it's been a few years now. Maybe I can address that oversight in 2019?

The acclaimed, award-winning, bestselling author of The Cartel - voted one of the Best Books of the Year by more than sixty publications, including the New York Times - makes his William Morrow debut with a cinematic epic as explosive, powerful, and unforgettable as Mystic River and The Wire.

Our ends know our beginnings, but the reverse isn't true . . . 

All Denny Malone wants is to be a good cop.

He is "the King of Manhattan North," a, highly decorated NYPD detective sergeant and the real leader of "Da Force." Malone and his crew are the smartest, the toughest, the quickest, the bravest, and the baddest, an elite special unit given unrestricted authority to wage war on gangs, drugs and guns. Every day and every night for the eighteen years he's spent on the Job, Malone has served on the front lines, witnessing the hurt, the dead, the victims, the perps. He's done whatever it takes to serve and protect in a city built by ambition and corruption, where no one is clean - including Malone himself. 

What only a few know is that Denny Malone is dirty: he and his partners have stolen millions of dollars in drugs and cash in the wake of the biggest heroin bust in the city's history. Now Malone is caught in a trap and being squeezed by the Feds, and he must walk the thin line between betraying his brothers and partners, the Job, his family, and the woman he loves, trying to survive, body and soul, while the city teeters on the brink of a racial conflagration that could destroy them all. 

Based on years of research inside the NYPD, this is the great cop novel of our time and a book only Don Winslow could write: a haunting and heartbreaking story of greed and violence, inequality and race, crime and injustice, retribution and redemption that reveals the seemingly insurmountable tensions between the police and the diverse citizens they serve. A searing portrait of a city and a courageous, heroic, and deeply flawed man who stands at the edge of its abyss, The Force is a masterpiece of urban living full of shocking and surprising twists, leavened by flashes of dark humor, a morally complex and utterly riveting dissection of modern American society and the controversial issues confronting and dividing us today.

Shaun Bythell - The Diary of a Bookseller (2017) - purchased

A bit of non-fiction which I picked up when browsing after Christmas. I'm an inveterate book buyer, time to see things from the other side of the fence.....

Love, Nina meets Black Books: a wry and hilarious account of life in Scotland's biggest second-hand bookshop and the band of eccentrics and book-obsessives who work there

'The Diary Of A Bookseller is warm (unlike Bythell's freezing-cold shop) and funny, and deserves to become one of those bestsellers that irritate him so much.' (Mail on Sunday)

'Utterly compelling and Bythell has a Bennett-like eye for the amusing eccentricities of ordinary people ... I urge you to buy this book and please, even at the risk of being insulted or moaned at, buy it from a real live bookseller.' (Charlotte Heathcote Sunday Express)

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ...

In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.

Travis Mulhauser - Sweetgirl (2016) - purchased

I got a copy of this a few years ago via Net Galley but never read it. It was less than half price in Waterstones' sale, so maybe having it under my nose will inspire me to read it. I do think I will enjoy it.

A tense cat-and-mouse game and a brilliantly realised story of hope in a seemingly hopeless place. 

Percy is 16 and used to her mama disappointing her. But this time her mama's been gone for nine days, and she's been seen up at Shelton Potter's farmhouse. Which can only mean she's strung out on meth again, and who knows when she'll be back. 

A blizzard rolls in, and Percy jumps in her pickup and sets off for the farmhouse. She finds Shelton and a woman passed out on the floor, sleeping off the latest binge. But no sign of her mama. 

Percy heads upstairs and finds a neglected baby girl in urgent need of care and attention. Percy knows she has no choice. She has to take the baby and get her to a hospital as soon as she can. 

But the blizzard shows no sign of stopping, and soon her pickup is snowed in. Now she's on foot, and before long two-bit criminal Shelton wakes up and heads out with four of his associates, on the hunt for whoever has taken the baby.... 

Taut, darkly humorous and told in Percy's unflinching voice, Sweetgirl is a moving exploration of courage and sacrifice that is horrifying, tender, and hopeful.

Nick Petrie - Light it Up (2018) - purchased

The third in Nick Petrie's Peter Ash series. I have the first on the shelf but haven't read it yet....

Denver, Colorado. 

Peter Ash is wearing an armoured vest, has a pistol strapped to his leg, a semi-automatic rifle by his side, and a large stash of drugs money behind him. It's hot, the static is buzzing and he's trying not to think about what happened last week. 

Ash is riding shotgun in a truck leased to Heavy Metal Protection, a security firm that protects cash-rich cannabis entrepreneurs from modern-day highwaymen. Just seven days ago, Heavy Metal lost an entire vehicle, crew and cargo, disappearing without a trace. 

Armed robbery? Double homicide? Whatever, Ash is there to make sure it doesn't happen again. There's no doubt he has the skill set for the job: eight years of hard-won combat experience and a nervous system fused on high alert - a crippling liability in civilian life... but a survival trait in a combat zone.

James M. Cain - The Cocktail Waitress (2012) - charity shop purchase

Another of those Hard Case Crime novels with an entertaining cover. Seemingly a lost final novel from Cain published posthumously......

Following her husband's death in a suspicious car accident, beautiful young widow Joan Medford is forced to take a job serving drinks in a cocktail lounge to make ends meet and to have a chance of regaining custody of her young son. At the job she encounters two men who take an interest in her, a handsome young schemer who makes her blood race and a wealthy but unwell older man who rewards her for her attentions with a $50,000 tip and an unconventional offer of marriage... Includes a 4,000 word feature on the locating of this "lost" Cain novel, by Hard Case Crime editor, Charles Ardai

Tony Knighton - Three Hours Past Midnight (2017) - purchased 

Another author I have yet to read anything from, though his other Crime Wave Press published book - Happy Hour: And Other Philadelphia Cruelties sits on the pile. I do like my heist novels.

His last job a disaster, a professional thief teams with an old partner eager for one last score – a safe in the home of a wealthy Philadelphia politician. But they are not the only ones set on the cash. His partner dead and the goods missing, he hunts for his money and the killer to find out that this may have been a job best left undone.

DECEMBER 2018 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY - 6 OF THE BEST! (PART 1)

A few more into the collection during December......

Scott Von Doviak - Charlesgate Confidential (2018) - purchased copy

Years ago a recommendation from Stephen King would have me purchasing on auto-pilot. Not always these days, but I do like my heist novels and this one sounds a bit different.....


“CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL is terrific.” – Stephen King

A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrative that moves from 1946 to 1988 to 2014 and back again, CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL establishes Scott Von Doviak as a storyteller of the first order.

A group of criminals in 1946 pull off the heist of the century, stealing a dozen priceless works of art from a Boston museum. But while the thieves get caught, the art is never found. Forty years later, the last surviving thief gets out of jail and goes hunting for the loot, involving some innocent college students in his dangerous plan – and thirty years after that, in the present day, the former college kids, now all grown up, are drawn back into danger as the still-missing art tempts a deadly new generation of treasure hunters. A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrative that moves from 1946 to 1988 to 2014 and back again, CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL establishes Scott Von Doviak as a storyteller of the first order, and will leave you guessing until the very last page.

Douglas Skelton - The Janus Run (2018) - purchased copy

I've enjoyed a couple of books in Skelton's Davie McCall series - Blood City and Open Wounds - with a couple more still to get to. How could I resist a book with a character titled Coleman at it's forefront - even if he does spell it incorrectly?

"Bullet-ridden, bold, brilliant." Neil Broadfoot

When Coleman Lang finds his girlfriend Gina dead in his New York City apartment, he thinks nothing could be worse... until he becomes the prime suspect.

Desperate to uncover the truth and clear his name, Coleman hits the streets. But there's a deranged Italian hitman, an intuitive cop, two US Marshals, and his ex-wife all on his tail. And trying to piece together Gina's murky past without dredging up his own seems impossible. Worse, the closer he gets to Gina's killer, the harder it is to evade the clutches of the mysterious organisation known only as Janus – from which he'd long since believed himself free.

Packed with plot twists, suspense and an explosive climax, The Janus Run is an edge-of-the-seat, breathtaking thriller – NYC noir at its finest.

Ralph Dennis - Atlanta Deathwatch (1974) - purchased copy

A long forgotten and out of print series, or in my case - a never heard of one, has been brought back to life by Brash Books. Twelve titles to be republished in total, regarding Hardman, an Atlanta PI.

The first novel in the unforgettable, ground-breaking series by Ralph Dennis is finally back in print... after being coveted for years by collectors of the very best in hardboiled fiction. 

It's Atlanta, 1974. Jim Hardman was a mediocre cop until he was wrongly accused of corruption and thrown off the force. Now he works as an unlicensed PI, trouble-shooter and bodyguard... often partnered with his drinking buddy Hump Evans, a black, ex-NFL player who supports his playboy lifestyle by working as hired muscle. 

Hardman is hired by The Man, a black mobster, to investigate the murder of his white girlfriend, a college student. It's a case that plunges Hardman and Evans into the center of a violent street war that stretches from Atlanta's seedy back alleys to the marbled corridors of power.

This new edition includes an introduction by Joe R. Lansdale, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hap & Leonard crime novels.

Praise for the HARDMAN novels:

"His prose was muscular, swift and highly readable. Like Chandler and Hammett before him, Dennis was trying to do something different with what was thought of as throwaway literature." Joe R. Lansdale, from his introduction

"Expert writing, plus good plotting and an unusual degree of sensitivity. Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment. " The New York Times

"The Hardman books are by far the best of the men's action-adventure series." Mother Jones Magazine

"Ralph Dennis is an underappreciated master. His Hardman series is one of the finest in the P.I. genre." 
Robert Randisi, founder of the Private Eye Writers of America

Laura Lippman - I'd Know You Anywhere (2010) - purchased copy

Another author, I've heard good things about but have never tried. Lippman has about twelve novels in her Tess Monaghan series and nearly the same number of standalone novels. this one sits on its own.

Eliza Benedict cherishes her peaceful, ordinary suburban life. But her tranquility is shattered when she receives a letter from the last person she ever expects to hear from: Walter Bowman. There was your photo, in a magazine. I'd know you anywhere. 

In the summer of 1985, when she was fifteen, Eliza was kidnapped by Walter. He had killed at least one girl and Eliza always suspected he had other victims as well. Now on death row for the rape and murder of his final victim, Walter seems to be making a heartfelt act of contrition. Having wondered why Walter had let her live, she cautiously makes contact with him. 

Yet as Walter presses her for more and deeper contact, it becomes clear that he is after something greater than forgiveness. He wants Eliza to remember what really happened that long-ago summer. He wants her to save his life. And Eliza, who has worked hard for her comfortable life, will do anything to protect it - even if it means finally facing the terrible truth she's kept buried inside.

Rusty Barnes - The Last Danger (2018) - purchased copy

I enjoyed the first Killer From the Hills book - Ridgerunner a couple of years ago, as well as his subsequent Knuckledragger. I do like Rusty Barnes and his books.

Three months after a shootout with the renegade Pittman family robbed him of his brother, Matt Rider is trying to put his life back together. His wounds are many, his sworn enemy Soldier Pittman may wake up and begin to tell what he knows, his wife is on the knife edge of sanity, and his teen daughter has gone missing with the son of his sworn enemy. 


In a whirlwind series of killings, thefts and rash decisions, Rider ends up muling drugs across the Canadian border for the Pittman family in order to save his daughter and wife from an even worse fate, even as he betrays them. Rider must choose between what is best for his conscience and what his sometimes murderous instincts tell him: kill them all.

Travis Richardson - Lost in Clover (2012) - purchased copy

Another speculative punt of sorts, in this case a double one as I've just bought Richardson's recently released short story collection as well - Bloodshot and Bruised

Welcome to Clover, Kansas, a small town sitting in the middle of America’s Heartland. It's a peaceful community, until the night that high school student Jeremy Rogers accepts an invitation to party with the “cool” older kids. After things go irreparably wrong, and Clover is thrust into the national spotlight, Jeremy keeps his involvement a secret. As the town heals from the tragedy, Jeremy falls into a psychological abyss from which he cannot escape, until he encounters the monster from his past and has an opportunity to redeem himself. A novella.

2018 - MY BOOKS OF THE YEAR

My top reads of 2018 and looking back it seems a lifetime ago since I read some of these. 

11 reads from a yearly total of 137 rated as 5 STARS on the random, arbitrary Keane Scoreboard. 

I don't know if I've gotten more miserly as the year climaxed but my last 5-er was Kevin Wignall's For the Dogs in September. Maybe time for my quarterly happy pill?

If I was to narrow the selections down to some top, top picks on the basis of which of these 11 books I would re-read first if forced to pick say 3...... step forwards - Alan Parks, Preston Lang and Mick Herron

 
Links to my thoughts on all these beauties below.....


Lawrence Block - Keller in Des Moines (2016) (5)

Blair Denholm - Sold (2017) (5)

David Young - A Darker State (2018) (5)

Steve Brewer - Homesick Blues (2016) (5)

David B. Lyons - Midday (2018) (5)


Earl Javorsky - Down to No Good (2017) (5)

Cormac O'Keeffe - Black Water (2018) (5)

Preston Lang - Sunk Costs (2018) (5) 

Alan Parks  - Bloody January (2018)  (5)

Mick Herron - The Marylebone Drop (2018) (5) 

Kevin Wignall - For the Dogs (2004) (5)

DECEMBER 2018 - READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

My reading was bumping along nicely, until I broke up for the work year on the 21st and since then it kind of disappeared over a cliff. One book completed since about the 16th December, and only eight in the month. Never mind - at least I hit my yearly target of 120.

Pick of the month

Eight reads in the month and no 5 STAR read again, but a couple nudging the bar - Tom Vater's The Monsoon Ghost Image and Finn Bell's The Easter Make Believers. By a hair - I'll go for Bell's offering as my pick of the month.

Four 4 STAR reads - K.A. Laity's White Rabbit, Daniel Pembrey's Initiation: Amsterdam,'83, Eric Beetner's Rumrunners and Adam Maxwell's Kill it Fire.

1 x 3.5 STAR rating for Breaking Spirits, a short story from Glenn McGoldrick

and 1 x 3 STAR read from Ariana D. Den Bleyker for Red Hands, a slightly ambiguous and puzzling psychological thriller which kind of left me with some questions as opposed to some clarity - which in truth was the author's aim.

I spent time in the company of........

a delusional, mentally ill cop-cum-killer,

an ex-cop turned psychic in communication with the spirit world,

a pair of private detectives, hunting a dead man and caught up in the dark side of US post-9/11 overseas rendition and torture,

a young, enthusiastic Dutch policeman with ambitions to catch a kidnapper,

an angry grieving son looking for payback,

a family of outlaw drivers, smuggling booty, no questions asked,

a criminal collective looking for payback,

and a pair of cops on the hunt for a fugitive with a hostage in the wilds of deep south New Zealand.

Settings.....

US somewhere, spooky London, Germany and Thailand, Amsterdam, England's North East, somewhere else in America, the fictional English town of Kilchester, and remote parts of New Zealand

The full list of eight reads with links to my thoughts on them below.....

Ariana D. Den Bleyker - Red Hands (2016) (3)

K.A.Laity - White Rabbit (2014) (4)

Tom Vater - The Monsoon Ghost Image (2018) (4.5)

Daniel Pembrey - Initiation: Amsterdam,'83 (2018) (4)

Glenn McGoldrick - Breaking Spirits (2017) (3.5)

Eric Beetner - Rumrunners (2015) (4)

Adam Maxwell - Kill it with Fire (2018) (4)

Finn Bell - The Easter Make Believers (2018) (4.5)

Anal analysis for my own amusement - read on if you're an insomniac ......

New to me authors in the month - 2 in total - Tom Vater and Finn Bell

I have more on the pile to read from both

Authors enjoyed before - Ariana D. Den Bleyker, Adam Maxwell, K.A. Laity, Daniel Pembrey, Glenn McGoldrick and Eric Beetner

More on the TBR pile from all of them except Den Bleyker

8 reads from 8 different authors

3 were sort of series books - Tom Vater's Detective Maier has two earlier cases, Eric Beetner's McGraw family or at least one of them feature in a prequel Leadfoot, Adam Maxwell's criminals feature in an earlier Kilchester caper - The Dali Deception.

K.A. Laity's White Rabbit characters  has scope to become one if the author picks up with the same characters in future

Gender analysis - 2 female authors, 6 male

Of the 8 authors read, 1 hailed from New Zealand, 3 are English, 3 are American and 1 was German - I think

All 8 of the reads were fiction,

All 8 of the books were published this decade - 4 from 2018, 1 each from 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014

No older books and none from the man-cave blue tub stash in my garage.

Publishers - 1 each from Dark Passages Publishing (subsequently reprinted by Fahrenheit Press), Crime Wave Press, 280 Steps (now reprinted by Down and Out Books), The Lost Book Emporium, Fox Spirit Books, and Finn Bell Books,

4 titles were self-published - 2 of the above being self-produced

3 of the 8 reads were pre-owned,

1 came from the publisher - cheers to Henry at Crime Wave Press,

3 came from the author directly - cheers to Adam Maxwell, Finn Bell and Daniel Pembrey

1 was an Edelweiss early reviewer ARC received a few years back, so long ago I was unable to leave feedback for it.



Favourite cover? Eric Beetner's Rumrunners

Second favourite cover - Red Hands by Ariana D. Den Bleyker

Funny enough both of my top covers, the books have been republished since by new publishes and have new covers. I still prefer the old one in both cases.

My reads were this long 87 - 182 - 217 - 106 - 13 - 282 - 144 - 216

Total page count =  1247 (2667 in November) ....... a decrease of 1420 pages

6 were Kindle reads, and 1 was a paperback, 1 was a PDF kill some trees printout,

1 < 50,
1 between 51 < 100,
3 between 101 < 200,
3 between 201 < 300,
0 between 301 < 400,
0 > 400 pages

Eric Beetner's Rumrunners was the longest read at 282 pages

Glenn McGoldrick's Breaking Spirits was the shortest at 13 pages long.

2 BY E. LOCKHART

Two from another new-to-me author - E. Lockhart and not one who is especially familiar to me.
E is actually Emily and she has written a lot of YA books.

Not sure if these two are YA or more aimed at the adult market.
I guess I'll find out when I get around to reading them.

She has four books in her Ruby Oliver Quartet series and six standalone novels to her name.

Her website is here.




We Were Liars (2014)

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends - the Liars - whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

"An ambitious novel with an engaging voice, a clever plot and some terrific writing." - New York Times Book Review


Genuine Fraud (2017)

From the author of the unforgettable New York Times best seller We Were Liars comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel - the story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.

Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete.

An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two.

A bad romance, or maybe three.

Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains.

A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.

A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

DECEMBER 2018 - FILMS + TV (+ OPERA)

A not too bad month of viewing, though I had expected to watch a bit more over the festive season than I actually did. I probably dipped in and out of a lot of stuff the rest of the family watched, which I'd either seen before or wasn't bothered about.

Two series watched start to finish, a trip to the opera (no I wouldn't have believed it either), three films and a couple of dramas - one two hours long and the other an hour over three evenings.......

Happy Valley - Series 2 (2016) - BBC Drama on Netflix

Missed it first time around, but thanks to Netflix all caught up now. Pretty damn good.... tense, taut, tight, compelling, amazing acting - especially Sarah Lancashire. I would never have thought the dizzy blonde Raquel from Corrie all those years ago would grow and become one of Britain's most talented actresses. I'd rate this series up there with Line of Duty as one of my favourites. Fingers crossed for a third series.

From Wikipedia.....

Series 2
Eighteen months after the events of the first series, Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is back at work and has won the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) for gallantry, for rescuing Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy) from Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), who is serving a life sentence in prison. But when Royce's mother is killed, Catherine finds herself implicated in a string of murders. While trying to prove her innocence, Catherine is tasked with investigating a human trafficking operation linked to the serial killings. Meanwhile, senior HMIT officers Detective Superintendent Andy Shepard (Vincent Franklin) and Detective Inspector Jodie Shackleton (Katherine Kelly) begin to suspect that the supposed fourth victim of the serial killer, Victoria Fleming (Amelia Bullmore), was in fact murdered by someone else. Gradually their investigation starts to lead them towards Victoria's actual killer – police detective John Wadsworth (Kevin Doyle), whom Fleming had been blackmailing. Catherine's grandson, Ryan, develops a friendship with a new teaching assistant, Miss Wealand (Shirley Henderson), who is secretly a prison groupie infatuated with Royce. Royce, whom the court has forbidden having any contact with Ryan, is using Wealand to try to build a relationship with Ryan and get revenge on Catherine. Ryan increasingly concerns his family by asking questions about his father and even suggests Royce should be forgiven.

Benjamin Britten's War Requiem (2018) - Opera at London Coliseum

My son spent a bit of time on Britten's War Requiem during one of his Uni years and mentioned this was on. I googled the tickets, nearly shitting my pants at the £125 ones that popped up. A bit more considered searching found some up in the Gods at under £25 each, so off we popped - son, wife and moi. Best night ever? No, but I really enjoyed it, despite not having the best seats. Not rushing back, but the fact a lot of it was in English made it a million times more accessible than some several hundred years old German or Italian opera. Britten doesn't hide his pacifism and war is shit attitude under a bushel. I happen to agree with him.

From Wikipedia.....

The War Requiem, Op. 66, is a large-scale setting of the Requiem composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed in January 1962. The War Requiem was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, which was built after the original fourteenth-century structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. The traditional Latin texts are interspersed, in telling juxtaposition, with extra-liturgical poems by Wilfred Owen, written during World War I.

The work is scored for soprano, tenor and baritone soloists, chorus, boys' choir, organ, and two orchestras (a full orchestra and a chamber orchestra). The chamber orchestra accompanies the intimate settings of the English poetry, while soprano, choirs and orchestra are used for the Latin sections; all forces are combined in the conclusion. The Requiem has a duration of approximately 80-85 minutes.

Britten, a pacifist, was inspired by the commission, which gave him complete freedom in deciding what to compose. He chose to set the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead interwoven with nine poems about war by the English poet Wilfred Owen. Owen, who was born in 1893, was serving as the commander of a rifle company when he was killed in action on 4 November 1918 during the crossing of the Sambre-Oise Canal in France, just one week before the Armistice. Although he was virtually unknown at the time of his death, he has subsequently come to be revered as one of the great war poets.

The Sinner Season 2 (2018) - Netflix drama

Another 8-part series. I think I enjoyed the first season a bit more. Maybe Jessica Biel and her family and her situation were more sympathetic than the characters and tale this time around. Bill Pullman was very good again. I didn't really find the female, lesbian, friend, daughter, cop character too believable. Any chief of police with even one testicle would have benched her. Not the worst series I have ever watched and I guess I'll be back for a third if there is one.

From Google....

Detective Harry Ambrose returns to his hometown in rural New York to assess an unsettling and heart-wrenching crime -- parents murdered by their 11-year-old son with no apparent motive. As Ambrose realizes there's nothing ordinary about the boy or where he came from, the investigation pulls him into the hidden darkness of his hometown. He's pitted against those who will stop at nothing to protect its secrets -- and the mysterious Vera, who proves to be a complicated, enigmatic piece to this haunting puzzle.

Rosemary's Baby (1968) - DVD film

Sourced a copy of this on Ebay to thrill and chill the kids, after being forced to sit through horror films of their choosing for the past five or six years. I watched this one maybe thirty-five years ago and bits of it were still familiar. It retains its potency and is still quite powerful and disturbing and possible spoiler alert............ I was willing her the throw the baby out of the window near the end, but she didn't. I ought to read the book by Ira Levin, even though I know what happens.

From IMDB......

A young couple moves in to an apartment only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life.

The Greatest Showman (2017) - Film - TV viewing

Watched with the family maybe Boxing Day and TBH wasn't one I was looking forward to, even though my wife and one of my girls raved over it when they saw it at the cinema maybe last year. Knock me down with a feather - pretty bloody amazing. I could probably have sat through it again a second time straight after. Much preferred Hugh Jackman to Zach Efron, but they were both good to be fair, as were the rest of the cast.

From Google....

Inspired by the imagination of P. T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business & tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.

Torville and Dean (2018) - ITV drama

I'm all over these ice skating dramas after watching, I Tonya at the cinema earlier this year. An enjoyable ITV two-hour drama on Britain's Olympic Gold Medal Winners in Sarajevo in 1984. I didn't know who the two leads were (still don't), but they were very good. Intense and gripping - even if I did know the outcome. I thought it captured the passion, determination and intensity of elite sportsmen and women.

From ITV Hub....

Docudrama telling the incredible story of former British, European, Olympic and World champion figure skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

A Bad's Moms Christmas (2017) - DVD film

An okay film, a few laughs to be had but nothing more. One of my daughter's DVDs and truth be told I've seen worse. Not seen the original and no real desire to if it's more of the same. Next......

From Wikipedia.....

A Bad Moms Christmas is a 2017 American Christmas comedy film written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. It is a sequel to the 2016 film Bad Moms. The plot follows the three moms from the first film (Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn) dealing with their own mothers (Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, and Susan Sarandon) visiting during the Christmas holiday.


Principal photography on the film began in Atlanta, Georgia in May 2017, and the film was released by STXfilms in the United States on November 1, 2017. It received mixed reviews, with criticism aimed at the thin story and raunchy jokes, and grossed over $130 million worldwide.

The ABC Murders (2018) - BBC TV mini-drama series

In truth, I've never been a massive fan of Hercule Poirot dramas on the screen (or come to think of it in my reading) (Ditto Miss Marple). I've never been particularly drawn towards David Suchet in anything, but more especially as the Belgian detective. If there is another one with John Malkovich, deal me in. Rupert Grint as Inspector Crome just seems like a grown up Ron Weasley - nothing wrong with that. The bloke out of Broadchurch - Andrew Buchan was pretty damn good. A decent three hours of television. Never read the book, so I don't get to compare. A few friends thought it slow, not me.

From the Guardian......

The Agatha Christie veteran Sarah Phelps dramatises the queen of crime’s fiendish murder mystery, hailed on its publication as “a baffler of the first water”. An ageing Hercule Poirot (played here with added heft by John Malkovich) is contacted by a killer who tours the country by train, leaving a copy of the ABC railway guide at the scene of each murder. As Poirot tries to investigate, he is humiliated by the police and taunted by the “faceless beast” of a murderer. The suspense is exquisite and the production is fantastic.