The header picture is an enlarged version of a social media icon by nomnomicons. Sometimes I feel like that puppy – ready to rip pages apart!! It isn’t always a criticism of the book (or film) because other people might well enjoy what I hate. Just as I hate rice pudding and my husband loves it! So for some of you these comments might serve as recommendations!

On television

Willie Nelson and Friends: Outlaws and Angels

Some time ago I dithered about booking for an expensive concert in Manchester featuring Willie Nelson then decided against it because I realised it was entitled Willie Nelson and Friends and I had no idea how great a part the friends would play. I’m so glad I didn’t pay out for something like this! I still love Willie Nelson, but his friends are a very mixed bunch and although some of them are talented and some are to my taste, those two qualities don’t always overlap, and then there are others who are neither. I got tired of watching and listening and felt I could always listen to his albums without being asked to listen politely to his friends as well.

Arctic Murders

This was the series set in Iceland which we thought would be interesting though I had a suspicion it was based on a book I’d tried and abandoned. The detectives themselves were not especially exciting, though one, borrowed from Norway, had some strange family problems. They did, however, get themselves into ridiculous situations. After a while, it gets tiring trying to send some kind of psychic message to a fictional character telling them not to go into a dark house alone etc. My husband continued to watch the series so I kind of saw it out of the corner of my eye while reading a book.

The Investigation

This was another my husband watched but I got carried away with something else on my laptops with my headphones on. It was based on a true story about a Danish journalist who was found murdered and I vaguely remember the case, but the way it was told was so slow I just couldn’t be bothered with it.

Dawn French Live: 30 million minutes

I like Dawn French as a comic actress, for example in The Vicar of Dibley. This was more of an autobiography and I got thoroughly bored very quickly.

Books 

A picture perfect holiday by ZA Maxfield

This was told in first person and was, I’m sure, realistic, but since I don’t like listening to too much swearing in real life or reading too much of it on the page I quickly decided the narrator was not someone I wanted to follow. I am not, please understand, particularly prudish. I’m as likely as anyone to swear if provoked. However, although I know there are people who use swear words every other word, I don’t have to listen to them – or read about them. I usually like and recommend this author and was sad when I found this book not to my taste.

Hold Still by Lisa Regan

This was a book borrowed from the Amazon Prime library and I was glad I hadn’t paid for it. I found it slow and confusing and gave up after a couple of chapters. I now have no memory of what it was about except that it involved a boring American detective.