Reading - June 2026

Choosing You by Stacy Finz (2021)

Predictable but nice. The little US town of Nugget, where this series is set (this is the 11th book!) is unrealistically wholesome and basically an escapist fantasy, but that's what we want anyway and everyone ends up happy.

The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll (1989)

I bought this, the early classic of computer espionage and hacking, over thirty years ago and haven't read it in at least twenty (definitely not since 2009), but the details remain in my mind. It's fascinating to learn about the early internet, from several years before I first came across it and at least 10-15 years before it became common ground.

Holding On by Stacy Finz (2021)

So finally I've reached the end of the Nugget series. There's nothing in this to indicate that it's the last one, just another sweet, wholesome romance set in small town America. Very readable and enjoyable.

Wild Eyes by Elsie Silver (2024)

Superior romantic fiction - well constructed, well told and thoroughly readable. The only slightly sour note is that while the MFC is gaining her independence and learning to speak up for herself, she lets herself be a submissive male fantasy plaything in the bedroom. Nothing wrong with that if that's your thing but it seems inconsistent with the character and with the theme of the story. Still, I'm pleased to note that there are three other books - so far - in this series.

An Ethical Guide to Murder by Jenny Morris (2025)

An entertaining and compelling examination of the ethics of murder, framed within the concept of someone who can somehow transfer life force from one person to another at will. If some of the characters seem a bit light - particularly the boyfriend - then it only detracts slightly.

The Partner by John Grisham (1997)

I find Grisham highly readable - you really want to know how it will all play out - but this is a lesser entry in the canon, which explains why I haven't read it in over twenty years. And the cheap shot twist at the end makes no sense - a twist has to make sense in hindsight, even if you didn't see it coming.

Clueless by Amy Heckerling (draft script, 1994)

Reading early version of scripts is interesting, seeing what stays in and what gets cut. There's almost always fewer words in the film, because you can do so much more on screen without them. But this is pretty close to the final thing.

Nemesis by Agatha Christie (1971)

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie (1976)

At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie (1965)

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (1930)

For some bizarre reason, the twelve Miss Marple novels in three omnibus volumes are not in anything even close to chronological order. So here, in Volume 3, we have the last three stories, albeit not in order themselves, and then the first. Why? Anyway, they're all very good and if the eventual motive for murder seems perhaps a little light, the point is the puzzle and, as always, they're well set up and designed. Light reading for a hot day (I read three of them in one day).

Let The Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura (2024)

A perfectly pleasant romance, set at the 2024 Olympic Games and featuring Black characters, which was nice as it made a change to get their cultural background but made no real difference to the story.

Death on Ice by R. O. Thorp (2024)

A locked room murder mystery with a slightly improbable set of characters and plot, but engaging and a good read.

Watching - June 2026

Tom Scott: England (season/"part" 1, 2026)

Tom Scott, having taken a break from YouTube after ten years of constant activity, returned this year with what is, to all intents and purposes, a broadcast quality documentary series (presumably self-financed and independently produced) covering all the counties in England. The episodes are short, very varied in subject matter and, assuming you like Tom Scott, interesting. Luckily, I do like him. "Season 1" contains the first ten episodes on Nebula, which I signed up to for this. I'm not sure I'm finding anything on Nebula I couldn't find on YouTube, but it wasn't expensive.

Taskmaster (season 18, 2024)

As always, plenty of laughs to be had. It's so impressive that they've kept the standard this high for so many seasons.

Scrubs (season 1, 2001)

Where it all started! In preparation for watching the return of Scrubs, I thought I'd have a quick cruise through all eight seasons (we're not counting season 9), but as usual I'd forgotten how long a season of US sitcoms actually is. Still very funny, sometimes very moving and sometimes a little over-reaching.

F1: The Movie (2025)

Watching this again reminds me of, firstly, how implausible the whole thing is, and secondly, what an amazing publicity coup by the F1 organisation the film is.

Boomerang (1992)

I can't find where now, but I read somewhere that this was both an underrated romcom and an underrated Eddie Murphy film. Marcus (Murphy's character) is a womanizer who doesn't understand why the girls he loves and leaves get upset when he walks away, only to get all possessive and clingy when he comes across Jacqueline (Robin Givens), who treats him the same. Luckily, sweet Angela (Halle Berry) is there to show him what real love is. There's mileage in the idea but the way it's played is slightly clumsy (you can't tell me a player wouldn't realise he's being played, and the role reversal is too pat), and there seems to be a slice missing from the film near the end, where Marcus and Angela fall in love. But Murphy is as watchable as always while being pleasingly more subtle than usual, and a mainstream comedy film populated almost entirely by black characters is still a rare thing.

Ted Lasso (season 1, 2020)

I knew little about this other than it was supposed to be good, but there it was on my free Apple TV subscription, so I gave it a go. When I saw that the credits mentioned Bill Lawrence, creator of Scrubs, I knew I was in for a good time, and so it proved. There's plenty of laughs of course, but plenty of pathos too. What pleases me most is how English the whole thing is - albeit slightly cleaned up, of course - in a way that surprises me in a US sitcom that is, presumably, primarily intended for a US audience.

Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson (2021)

Mark Ronson has got to be one of the coolest people on the planet and obviously his contact list is unparalleled, but this was a bit of miss for me. I suppose it's possible that's because I already know most of the information being presented here, so although it's interesting to see some things, most of it's labouring the point for me. Might be worth it if you like music but have never wondered about some of the mechanics of making it before.

Minority Report (2002)

Yet another Philip K. Dick novella transplanted onto the screen and slightly bowdlerised as a result, this is nevertheless a satisfying techno-thriller with an enjoyable frosting of "what is reality anyway" (although not too much because that would get in the way).

Watching - May 2026

Jet Lag: The Game (season 3, 2022)

I signed up to Nebula to watch Tom Scott's new series and in the hope that perhaps there might be something there that wasn't just YouTube junk. But everything I've found so far is also on YouTube. Still, never mind, it wasn't expensive. This was recommended to me by B and it passes the time nicely enough - not brilliant but an OK watch. I'll probably watch more at some point.

Ghosts (season 1, 2019)

Revisiting a family favourite. Just as good as I remembered and several classes above what I see of BBC1 sitcoms these days.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

A fun and occasionally touching family-oriented action adventure.

The Sure Thing (1985)

Sometimes I just like to retreat to simpler times and this unassuming but incredibly sweet teen romcom is one of my favourites. I also found an early draft of the script online and the differences are really interesting.

Emma (1996)

This TV film makes four versions of Emma I've seen (excluding Clueless) and is probably the best and most faithful to the original book. While necessarily feeling somewhat rushed in the early stages - there's a lot to pack into one and a half hours - it doesn't feel like it's missing anything important. Kate Beckinsale is much better as Emma Woodhouse than any others I've seen and the production - by the same team coming straight from the previous year's legendary Pride and Prejudice - feels natural and realistic. If you don't know the book and want to start somewhere, this is where I'd recommend.

Taskmaster (series 17, 2024)

Reliably funny. I liked Nick Mohammed's good humour and occasional magic tricks, but the whole cast were good. Minor gripe though, and nothing to do with this particular season, but I do find it annoying that the last programme is always announced as the "grand final", when it's nothing of the sort: the competition is a league, not a knock-out.

Margin Call (2011)

I'd never heard of this film until I saw a couple of clips in a completely unrelated YouTube video, and so was pleased to find it streaming on Plex. If I remember correctly, The Big Short is a much better film about the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis but this is an interesting and different perspective from the inside of a fictional bank looking to save its own skin.

The Big Short (2015)

And just to check my memory, I re-watched this straight after. It's a brilliantly made film and an insane story, but what blows my mind the most is, bar a few name changes and one or two fictional scenes to make it a bit neater for film, it's all true. Information is Beautiful reports the film as 91% accurate (to the book, that is) and Steve Eisman - played by Steve Carell as "Mark Baum" in the film - recently did an interesting reaction video where he confirms most of his bits of the film, even the ones that you think are obviously just dramatic license.

Adam Hills: Inflatable (2011)

Amusing stand-up.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Thor (2011)

Avengers Assemble (2012)

Still watching (gradually) the MCU films in order, but the problem with seeing them back to back like this is that they merge into each other slightly, which is a shame because they're all individually impressive, engrossing and beautifully made. They hit a certain spot like nothing else, I guess, but it's not always what I want to be seeing.

Our Welsh Chapel Dream (season 3, 2026)

In which Keith finally gets to make some pots in his new pottery and Marj's glasses get improbably even larger. They seem a bit more present in this series, unlike last time when they felt like guests in their own documentary. They're both really sweet and it's gentle entertainment to see what they're doing. The intrusive and irritating recaps at the start of each episode and after each ad break need to go though. Are most TV viewers really morons with five second attention spans or is it just that documentary makers have a low opinion of their viewing public?

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Sunday's film night with Z, and what better to share with my youngest than this jolly tale of gambling, crime, drugs and guns? Still very stylish and blackly comic.

John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs

Ian Leslie

2025 

A very 2020s take on a 1950s relationship

There are one or two books about The Beatles already^{[citation needed]} so it would take a novel approach to make this much-analysed subject fresh. Thankfully, that's what Ian Leslie has achieved, using 43 songs as jumping off points for an in-depth look at the central relationship in the band, that between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It makes for an interesting, engrossing read, one I enjoyed very much.

But - you knew there was a "but" coming, surely - entertaining as it is, I can't take it too seriously. If you leave out the (very) well-known facts and biographical elements, what's left is basically just reams of speculation. Leslie - a psychologist, to judge by his previous books - has taken snippets of old interviews and pieces of lyrics that Lennon and McCartney both acknowledged were often just included because they fitted the music, and built upon them a castle of sand.

Leslie even points this out himself: in the chapter about "I Am The Walrus", he mentions how John Lennon:

"rails at 'experts textperts' - those who confidently offered interpretations of Beatles lyrics"

while literally doing the same thing himself in the same paragraph (and the rest of the book), apparently unaware of the irony. 

Overall, although it's an interesting approach, I'm not sure the conclusions are warranted based on the slender evidence. Lennon and McCartney met in the late 50s and barely more than twenty years later one of them was dead. What they went through together, no-one else will understand, but casting it in the light of a 21st century bromance is almost certainly not how they thought of it themselves. At least, that's my opinion. But what do I know, since I'm not them, and neither is Ian Leslie.

Reading - May 2026

Alex by Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor (1987 - 2024)

I first came across Alex in The Independent, probably in the late 80s or early 90s. It was always a very sharp satire on City life and I've bought a few books from the early 2000s. Finding out that it was still being published as late as 2024 was a bit of a surprise - nearly forty years is some going! Luckily the cartoons - yes, all 9,021 of them - are on the Alex site and although it took me a while to go through them, I enjoyed it.

John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie (2025)

A very 2020s take on a 1950s relationship.

Round Ireland With a Fridge by Tony Hawks (1998)

Gently amusing re-read that is a bit dated now perhaps.

The Sure Thing by Steven L. Bloom and Jonathan Roberts (second draft, 1983)

The Sure Thing is an little gem of a film that doesn't get much recognition. Having just watched the film and then the "Making of", I was curious to read the script. This second draft is fascinating because, although it contains most of the same scenes as the eventual film, most of the dialog is completely different; the characterisation is inconsistent, it's not clear why either of the main characters would like each other and in general it's a noticeably worse film. From things mentioned casually in the featurette, I suspect that Rob Reiner, then right at the beginning of his directing career, basically rewrote the script, or at least heavily guided the authors. It often seems unfair to talk of a "Rob Reiner film" but given the similarities in tone between this and When Harry Met Sally a few years later (which was written by Nora Ephron but developed in collaboration with Reiner) it seems fair to give him a reasonable amount of credit here.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (1933)

Having just watched the TV dramatisation from 2010 (with David Suchet), I wanted to read the book again to remind myself of the plot and see how close the adaptation came. Well, it's pretty close: the book has less action, which is fitting for a locked-room mystery, and although the solution is now well known, it isn't any less impressive from a story telling point of view.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis (2010)

Having just re-watched the film (twice!), I wanted to re-read the book. It's ten years since I first did, and the story it tells is still just as shocking. I don't fully understand the financial products involved (although I'm slightly mollified that the same is true for all but a handful of people in the world), but it doesn't stop this being a fascinating read. That said, while we hear from the people who figured out that the whole sub-prime market was a house of cards waiting to fall, we don't hear from anyone who built it. Were they just kidding themselves or did they understand what was going on but just didn't care? I suspect, and Lewis hints, that they won't or are legally bound not to discuss it, but it would be good to know. Lewis weaves a compelling tale and concludes, as any rational person surely must, that the issue, while complex, is not unsolvable. But there has to be a political will to solve it, and that's the thing that was - and is - really lacking. Why is that absent? Now there's a question.

Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis (1989)

One of the themes that strike me from both this and The Big Short is the way that the money markets (is that the right term?) too often end up being the tail that wags the dog of actual industry. The sub-prime crisis was caused by the banks' demands for more and more mortgages that could be packaged up into bonds, and similarly here we learn that junk bonds were so profitable that investment banks, having run out of them, artificially created more by engineering corporate takeovers that would then end up being financed by more junk bonds. I'm sure I'm over-simplifying things, but there's an imbalance here surely. Anyway, Michael Lewis is as entertaining as always while maintaining a sane view into the madness of the 80s (a madness that is mild compared to what later occurred, of course).

Going Home by Stacy Finz (2014)

Our online library finally has the last two books in this series and so, as a reminder, I re-read this first one. No surprises of course, but still a sweet and wholesome romance.

Flash Boys by Michael Lewis (2015)

The last in the trilogy of Michael Lewis books I got a week ago and the first I hadn't read before, Flash Boys (he does give good title) is just as interesting, this time about the next way that the financial markets conspired to make money at the expense of ordinary people - high frequency trading (HFT). Again, though, in taking the perspective of the people who uncovered the shenanigans (those who then founded the stock exchange IEX), we're left with the impression of shadowy demons behind the scenes who created the mess in the first place, but who we never hear from. Someone - lots of people - figured out how HFT could work and made billions from it. I can understand why many of them wouldn't be keen to talk publicly but surely enough would to make the genesis of the story tellable. As it is, this is like coming in to the story when it's about to end; we find out what happened but not really who or how. Lewis makes it excellently readable though, as always.

Reading - April 2026

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1919)

An early collection of stories - some date originally to 1911 - and including some that don't actually feature Jeeves and Wooster at all, but an apparent Bertie Wooster prototype called Reggie Pepper. The Wodehouse style is all in place and just as enjoyable as ever.

Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson (2014)

I was keen to read this as the title promised an amusing look into why people behave in incomprehensible ways. That was scotched pretty quickly: the title is the funniest thing about it and in any case the author quickly explains that there aren't really any "idiots" at all, just people we don't understand. OK, that's fair enough - in my more tolerant moments, I recognise this perfectly well, even if it's not really what I wanted to read. But when Erikson then goes on to claim that everyone's personality traits derive from one of four categories (a theory derived from a piece of 1920s bunkum), he really lost me. Because even allowing for his stipulation that most people are mixtures of personality types, the central concept is still obviously and comically reductive. To quote Ben Goldacre: I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that. What Erikson presents is barely more useful or scientific than a horoscope: generic observations that allow people to say, "yes, I know someone just like that!" without offering any real insight. The whole thing is beautifully deconstructed in a detailed article by VoF, the Swedish Skeptics' Association, and exposed for the pseudoscience it is.

And Away ... by Bob Mortimer (2021)

A genial, leisurely tour through Bob Mortimer's life, in which he comes across as slightly bemused at what he's achieved. His emergence from behind Vic Reeves to become the much-loved comedian he is now is a sweet story, one that he implies kind of happened to him. As ever, I'm sure this fails to mention the amounts of hard work put into the achievement. But he's easy company and the book is never less than engaging.

Carry On Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1925)

A wonderfully amusing collection of short stories, including "Bertie Changes His Mind", the only Jeeves & Wooster story narrated from the perspective of Jeeves. Now available for free from Project Gutenberg, along with many other Wodehouse volumes.

Watching - April 2026

Zootropolis 2 (2025)

Lots of fun, and full of background jokes and moments that would make it worth rewatching and pausing. But there's too much going on in the plot and it all feels like they're trying a bit too hard. Good to watch with the family over cocktails though!

Man on the Run (2025)

Surprisingly low-key but engaging documentary about 70s era Paul McCartney, mostly as a member of Wings. I'm not sure if this was self-commissioned, as seems to be all the rage these days, but McCartney is credited as an exec producer, so what you gain in access to private films and photos you lose in objectivity. Nevertheless, it was an OK watch.

The Other Bennet Sister (2026)

This took a little while to warm up, but it developed into a sweet, if slightly predictable, period drama with an enjoyably different perspective on a familiar story. A few minor quibbles: Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet could have used a few more facial expressions - the pained look on her face was perhaps understandable given her situations but became over-used; and Mrs Bennet (Ruth Jones) was too much of a pantomime dame yet again (I blame Alison Steadman). But that didn't stop this being a good watch that C, K and I binged over three nights.

Taskmaster (season 15, 2023)

I would say this was a good series but honestly, I remember very little about it now. Continues to be good watching over lunch.

McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass (2026)

A perfectly good 20-30 minute YouTube video forced to parade around in the costume of a "major documentary" with a heavily padded run time. What is it with the constant dramatisation of events? I have a good imagination, I don't need to be shown a broken padlock on the ground to know what is meant by "they broke the padlock". And the way they dragged out the fairly simple chain of events might have worked if there was more detective work actually involved, but either they fudged the telling or there just wasn't that much to tell. All that said though, I wasn't particularly bored and quite enjoyed it all.

Point Break (1991)

One of the ultimate boy's films. Patrick Swayze glamorises crime and walks a bit funny, but he's still commanding, and Keanu Reeves does Keanu to perfection.

Dave (1993)

A quiet gem of a film, in my opinion. Kevin Kline is understatedly superb, never leaving you in doubt of which of the two characters he is at any moment by using the subtlest of facial expressions. The plot is slightly preposterous but hey, it's a comedy!

The American President (1995)

It's a little depressing to realise that this film is thirty years old and yet the issues being discussed haven't shifted an iota, and neither have the morals of the right wing improved. Richard Dreyfuss is excellent: two shades off from being a pantomime villain and yet entirely believable as a Republican senator and amoral arsehole (the two being seemingly synonymous - both in this film and real life, I'd contend) who sees nothing wrong with making appalling personal slurs and does so with apparent impunity (remind you of anyone?). Anyone not suffering from the US's bizarre cultural gun fetish would applaud the final scenes, so to learn that someone as apparently enlightened as Barack Obama described the film as a "liberal fantasy" tells you everything you need to know about US politics and culture.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

I was very happy to be able to introduce another person to a classic, and glad to say they enjoyed it very much.

Live and Let Die (1973)

So, so dated, and not really doing much for race relations either. But if you can ignore that then it's mildly entertaining.

Agatha Christie's Poirot (season 4, 1992)

Three feature length episodes of pretty famous books, told pretty faithfully. Nice to see the stories respected rather than mangled (I'm looking at you, Kenneth Branagh).

Taskmaster (season 16, 2023)

I couldn't quite understand what Julian Clary was doing on this as he never seemed to be interested, but overall it was just as funny as usual.