This month I have mostly been reading - May and June

Yes, its a double whammy this time, I realised I'd forgotten to do May so late into June that I thought I may as well just do a bumper post with both months together. I don't remember which books belong to which month, so it'll just be one list.

1. 'Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R. Tolkien
I read LOTR years ago as a much younger reader, but never got round to re-reading it as an adult until now. It goes without saying that its an epic read, but one worth almost every page turn (naturally the Tom Bombadil section doesn't fit into that description!). Not sure there's much that I can say that hasn't been said a million times before about the books! They'll definitely be getting another re-read sooner than this time though!

2. 'Doctor Who and the Mutants' by Terrance Dicks
This was the first of the Target novelisations that I read, I had it free with a magazine and chose it purely because it was the only one that the shop I was in had written by Terrance Dicks. The story features the Third Doctor, and the biggest thing that struck me was how many similarities there were between this incarnation and the modern ones that I was familiar with. An enjoyable read, even if it was a little briefer than the current BBC book series volumes.

3. 'Doctor Who and the Power of Kroll' by Terrance Dicks
A second magazine freebie, this time chosen because it was the only one on offer in the shop I was in. Starring the Fourth Doctor, the story is part of the Key to Time story. I quickly got into this book and found it really hard to stop reading - a good job it was a nice thin book!

4. 'Essential X-Men volume 1.
The first installment of the Marvel Essential X-Men series, this book really helped to remind me of just why I love the X-Men. With a great combination of exciting plots and developing characters I found myself saying "just an issue more" every time I was reading it. I really can't wait to read the rest of the collection.

5. 'Wishing Well' by Trevor Baxendale
6. 'The Pirate Loop' by Simon Guerrier
7. 'Peacemaker' by James Swallow
I've lumped these three together, books 19 - 21 in the Doctor Who 'New Series Adventures' books, I bought them and read them all together. Each book features the Doctor and Martha in a contemporary story, futuristic story, and historical story (something I think that happens in each batch of three books that is released). I think of the three my favourite was probably 'The Pirate Loop', with 'Wishing Well' the weakest of the three but nevertheless an entertaining read.

8. 'The Bone Garden' by Tess Gerritsen.
This book isn't in the Rizzoli series, but instead the first standalone book Gerritsen has released this decade. I'm a big fan of the Rizzoli series, and have enjoyed a couple of the earlier standalone books. This one was well written and had a decent plot but it didn't really feel like her book, it was missing something.

9. 'Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur' by Gary Russell
The first IDW comic all collected in one volume was an entertaining read, though all the blurbs mentioned a mission to find the best chocolate milkshake in the universe which made up a sadly small part of the story. I enjoyed it but then I read...

10. 'Doctor Who: The Forgotten' by Tony Lee and Pia Guerra.
This IDW comic was a thoroughly brilliant read, I had to resist the temptation to constantly text or tweet to tell people how much I was enjoying it. The story cleverly takes in every version of The Doctor, I really wished I'd had enough time to sit and read it from cover to cover - once I had realised the format the anticipation was just huge. One of the best things I've read this year.

I think that that is it. Looking back over the list it amuses me that all bar one of the books are 'genre', knowing the books I've bought to read in the coming weeks I think the balance might be slightly different next month.

What I did on my 'holiday'

I've managed a whole week back at work, and with exception of my ankle being a little swollen each night its been a pretty successful experience going back. I'm lucky to work in a really supportive team, three of the other therapists had taken cases that needed seeing quicker than I was going to be able to despite their own huge workloads. They've also all been acting as my own personal drivers, taking me to and from all of the schools I've needed to visit. Think I'll be baking for a few weeks to say thank you.

I thought I'd gather together a list off all the things I watched on my enforced 12 day break.

TV
The State Within eps 4-6 (I was halfway through before I went to London)
Jekyll whole series
Dollhouse eps 1-3
Sense and Sensibility whole series
The Second Coming
Doctor Who series 3 eps X, 1, 2

Films
30 Days of Night
Fargo
Jurassic Park
Serenity
Son of Rambow
The Sixth Sense

+ lots of Twenty20 cricket.

My list only includes the things I chose to watch - I also saw more hours of the soaps than I can to remember, and equally bad things that my parents love to watch. Another reason to be glad I'm back at work - no more Loose Women!

Summer Good Food Show

Yesterday I went to the Summer Good Food Show at the Birmingham NEC. Due to my continued ankle problem I had to go via chariot, better known as my grandad's wheelchair. This is an experience I aim to not have to repeat any time soon!

The show itself was a mixture of food producers, drink (mainly alcoholic) producers and companies trying to sell the newest must have gadgets. The majority of food producers wanted to sell their products but weren't willing to offer samples. Those that did offer samples were either very generous (Carte D'Or icecream being the best) or incredibly small (a sample of chocolate that measured less than 5 mm cubed). The drink producers couldn't have been more different, they all offered samples, and if they had a range of products they were prepared for you try each one if you so wished. My favourite drink that I tried was Pink Elephant Wine, a rose from Portugal. The worst was Camitz Sparkling Vodka, truly truly awful.

In the afternoon we saw The Hairy Bikers in the Summer Kitchen. They were incredibly entertaining despite having to censor themselves heavily (they'd been warned no bad language and no innuendo). They cooked lovely looking, and smelling, food and managed to nearly trigger the smoke alarms on a semi regular basis throughout the show.

All in all it was an enjoyable day, but I don't think I could join the masses who go to every show.

Dollhouse

I was eagerly awaiting the start of Dollhouse from the moment I heard Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku had met to discuss it. Any new project that had the pair of them involved was sure to be brilliant. Then, like most people the more I heard about the concept the more I felt a little unsure of it.

I've watched the first four episodes now, and I can't say as I'm overly impressed with the show. I know lots of people who watched it via the American transmission reckon that you need to get past the first six episodes and I'm more than willing to stick with it but there are just some things I can't get to grips with. My major issue with the show is that it doesn't feel to me like a Joss Whedon show. I watched Serenity on Wednesday after watching episode 4 and the difference between them in terms of tone, wit and just downright cleverness is so vast. I haven't laughed out loud in 4 episodes, which is something I've never before been able to say for Buffy, Angel or Firefly.

There is of course the whole morally dubiousness that I still can't quite reconcile. The idea of the actives being programmed to order and then wiped clean is something that leaves me feeling uneasy each episode. Again I trust Mr Whedon to have some master plan, and it will all get sorted out.

All of that aside there are two promising parts as far as I'm concerned. The first is the Alpha plot that is slowly building through the series, this is what I'm hoping will make Dollhouse alright. The second is Tahmoh Penikett - I thoroughly enjoyed watching him in Battlestar Galactica and I'm enjoying having the opportunity to watch him some more.

Concert: John Barrowman at the Royal Albert Hall

Last Monday I went with Gemma and Emma to see John Barrowman in concert. We went last year to see him at the Hammersmith Apollo and had an excellent time, so when the chance came to see him at the Royal Albert Hall we all jumped at it.

The earlier part of Monday was spent in a trip to Forbidden Planet, whilst Gemma was at work, and plenty of eating and drinking. We discovered that Piazza Cafe in Covent Garden has terrible customer service - it took over 5 minutes to get the milk for my tea, and when it came to be time to pay they assumed that we were giving a tip of almost £5 (our bill was only £5.10) rather than us actually wanting change.

The concert itself was fantastic. It started at 7.30 with a typically energetic John bounding out onto the stage (it was a little amusing to watch all of the people arriving between 8.00 and 8.30 who'd made the misguided decision to arrive late to miss the support act). The show was a real mixture of music and chat, photos were used as jumping off points for anecdotes that then led into songs - a mixture of tracks from the current album, from previous albums, and some just because.

Part way through both halves the special guest, Daniel Boys was welcomed onto the stage. He was also fantastic - its really nice to see how he is developing as an artist in his own right since 'Any Dream Will Do'. We saw him last year, the special guests were Daniel, Keith and Ben from the tv show and they performed three or four tracks. This year it was Daniel's turn on his own, and we're sure that within the next couple of years we'll be buying tickets to see his own tour.

Its difficult to try and pick my personal highlights from the show, there were so many. John's parents joining him on stage to demonstrate a dance was fabulous, and his final song 'I Am What I Am' is always going to be something special.

Carry on Camping?

Last weekend I had my first proper experience of a Scout camp. My only previous experiences of this kind were a week long Guide camp which was a nightmare from start to finish, and dropping my brother off at various Cub and Scout camps. This was the first time I went myself, and the first time as a leader.

The group I'm a leader in (6th Kidderminster District) is 75 years old this year, so this was a birthday camp. All three sections; Scouts, Cubs and Beavers attended though for the Beavers this was only from lunchtime on Saturday to lunchtime on Sunday (there are strict regulations we have to follow because they are so young). We went to Blackwell Court - a local activity camp centre and stayed in the Manor House (Beavers aren't allowed to stay in tents).


The weekend was a mixture of time spent doing whatever the kids wanted (mainly playing football with the older kids or building dens), a range of activities, games with all of the Cubs and Scouts, and eating. I also spent a fair amount of time looking after crying children - particularly when it was time for me to be eating, I even missed out on the birthday cake.

I'd been warned before I went that it would be an exhausting experience, and it was. What I hadn't been told though was how much fun I would have, I really can't remember enjoying 24 hours quite that much. I even managed to get an interrupted few hours sleep.

Next time it'll be a Beavers only sleepover, and it looks like it'll be Doctor Who themed. I can't wait!

Immobile

I spent last weekend on camp with the Beavers, though more about that in another post. Over the course of the weekend I managed to turn my ankle in a tiny hole in the ground. I didn't think much of it, and continued with my early week plans and headed off down to London to see John Barrowman with Gemma and Emma (again, that deserves a whole post to itself). By the time I got back from London my ankle was the size of a grapefruit and looked awful so we went straight off to minor injuries.

The very nice Nurse Practitioner that I saw (he was called Paul O'Grady which amused me) thought initially it was fractured but the x-ray thankfully showed that it was just a really bad sprain. I'm stuck at home as a result with my leg out in front of me on a pile of pillows and a big bag of peas. I'm trying very hard to be patient, but sitting around doing little is something I find difficult. I'm going to use the time to catch up on some dvds, do a little reading, and get on with some knitting. I'm also, now that the fog of painkillers is starting to reduce, going to catch up with a bit of blogging.