Autobiography of Roy Castle, probably best known as the presenter of the TV show ‘Record Breakers’ in the 1980s. Earlier in life he worked as an entertainer – tap-dancing, playing the trumpet, and doing comedy routines – and he died of lung cancer (despite never having smoked) in 1994.

I’d always had a lot of respect for Roy Castle, who was a christian and a family man as well as very involved in show business, so I was pleased to see this book on a second-hand stall.

It starts well, with descriptions of his impoverished working-class roots, albeit in a very happy family environment. His mother encouraged him in his early appearances on stage, and he charts his disappointments as well as his successes.

Unfortunately the middle section is long-winded, detailing a number of practical jokes, amusing conversations, and the various events he attended and people he worked with. These things are probably of interest to those who were there at the time, but left me rather bored, skimming rapidly through lists of names, and wondering what was so funny about the many incidents he cites.

The last part of the book is in diary form, after his first diagnosis of cancer, with treatment that worked, followed by a recurrence that lead to his demise shortly after the book was completed.

I enjoyed the parts that described Roy’s family – once or twice I even had tears in my eyes – and would rate this three-and-a-half stars if I could. Worth reading, and very interesting in places; just a pity the middle section was not cut down significantly.

I resisted this film for quite some time. I really didn’t think I would be interested in the story – based on a true one – of twelve middle-aged WI members who posed nude for a calendar. Yet several people recommended it highly to me, so eventually I put it on my wishlist.

It’s a delightful story. The nude posing is very tastefully done, and while the making and selling of the calendar is obviously a significant part of the film, it’s not all. We meet the characters at the beginning, in particular the feisty Chris (Helen Mirren) and her close friend Annie (Julie Walters). Both are excellent in the roles. There’s some humour, and there are moments of sadness, yet without either being overdone.

All in all, I thought it a wonderful film, and would rate it as four and a half stars if I could.

I’m not entirely sure why this book is SO popular. It’s a good story: Mack, devastated by family tragedy, has suffered depression for four years. Then he has a note, apparently from God, inviting him to spend a weekend with him…

The majority of the book is taken up with Mack’s conversations with the three Persons of God. Much of what is said is positive and encouraging, as he learns about the nature of unconditional love and forgiveness. Perhaps the theology veers towards universalism, but it IS fiction, and should be taken as such.

I nearly gave up on this book. The first few chapters are so badly written, I wanted to get out a red pen and edit them. The descriptions are ponderous, full of clichés, repetitions and unnecessary adjectives.

Fortunately it gets a lot better once the conversations with God begin, and I did get more drawn into the story. There were one or two very emotional moments that brought a tear to my eye, and while I didn’t actually read or learn anything new, there were some good reminders about the importance of relationship as opposed to rules in the Christian life.

Recommended to anyone caught up in rule-based religion, or wanting to know more about the nature of God. Just don’t forget that it’s one man’s fictional interpretation, not absolute truth. It’s also very ‘American’.

This is the best book I have come across to encourage the writing of short stories. It’s light, yet full of wisdom. It doesn’t assume the reader is an expert, but neither does it assume idiocy. It gets, in my view, the balance exactly right.

There are chapters on getting started, creating people, conflict, plot, setting and voice. Each one has plenty of examples of what is being described, and a good selection of exercises at the end of each one. These exercises don’t require the writing of every possible genre – they are general enough that any writer can choose his or her own style and type of story.

I didn’t do all – or even most of – the exercises, but I found the techniques and ideas extremely helpful. I’ve dipped into it many times over the past year, and will no doubt continue to do so.

Highly recommended to anyone who has ever considered writing short stories, including those who have already had some published.

Alice is a talented tennis player, and a determined young lady, apparently destined for stardom. She has excellent self-discipline, she is strong, and appears to have just the right amount of competitive spirit.

We follow Alice through six years where tennis becomes increasingly important to her. By the time she’s eighteen, she’s considered one of the top eight young players in the UK.

Then disaster strikes. This isn’t unexpected: The first chapter describes her, at the age of 24, desperately hoping that she can have a trial of a new drug, since she has suffered from the disease for the past six years.

The latter two-thirds of the book chart the many vain attempts made to discover a drug – or combination of drugs – that can help her.

It’s extremely well-written, almost as if it were a novel. By the time I’d finished I felt as if I knew Alice and her family well.

I learned a great deal about rheumatoid arthritis, and had quite an insight into the suffering of a young person – not just the physical pain, but the emotional and social problems that go alongside such an illness. I found some parts very moving.

Highly recommended.

This movie is based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a determined young woman who felt called to be a missionary in China in 1930. She was not considered suitable by the China Missionary Society, so she worked for some months as a parlourmaid until she could afford the train ticket to take her to China.

At first Gladys is treated with suspicion, but she learns the language, dresses and lives like a Chinese woman, and shows tremendous courage in the face of great adversity. There are a few additional fictional romantic moments in the movie, but on the whole it’s very true to her life story, documented in many places.

The acting is excellent, the photography stunning at times, the many Chinese children utterly delightful. It’s a fairly long film – about two and a half hours – but I found it enthralling, despite knowing the overall storyline. Produced in 1958, the opening sequence and titles look very dated, but the rest is extremely well done.

Recommended.

This little book raises several important questions about the future of Western culture, and where the church fits in. The author believed that – in the UK, at least in the 1980s- the Enlightenment view of science as somehow superior to religion was fast becoming obsolete.

He acknowledged that we did not wish to return to the Dark Ages, and that science and technology have improved our lives in many important ways. Nevertheless, he believed that Christians needed to make a stand not just in private but in public life too, so that the emergence of new societal structures would in some way reflect the ethos and morality of Scripture.

A bit dry in places, and now nearly 25 years later it seems a bit dated, though still relevant to many. Probably three-and-a-half stars.

While not a fan of Dickens in general, I have always liked ‘A Christmas Carol’, so was pleased to be given this movie version of the story some time ago.

It stars Patrick Stewart, who is probably best-known for his role as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s a tribute to his acting that he made an extremely good Scrooge, but I did rather wish he had been given a wig. I could easily believe in him as the ultimate miser in the scenes in his hat, or even his night-cap, but when his head was bare he somehow looked more like the captain of the Enterprise (and I’m no Trekkie) than Dickens’ character.

Still, it’s a minor gripe. My other is that some of the special effects looked extremely dated, but then the film is ten years old and computer graphic effects have improved enormously since 1999.

I haven’t read the book for some years, but from what I recall this film version was pretty true to the book. It worked well, and on the whole I enjoyed it. A nice start to Christmas!

Somehow, Janette Oke’s characters get under my skin. This is the fourth bookin the ‘Love Comes Softly’ series about pioneer families in America. In this book, Marty and Clark make the long journey out West by train, to see their married daughter Missie and to meet their two grandsons. Their visit is unexpectedly extended far longer than they expect.

Not the greatest of literature, but the characters are three-dimensional, and several times I found tears in my eyes as I read. Since this is American Christian fiction, here’s the obligatory explanation of how to become a Christian included in a couple of places, but it comes fairly naturally during relevant conversations and is not pushed.

Gives a good idea of what it might have been like for people like this in the early days of train travel, despite being a very light read that would be suitable for teens or children.

It’s not necessary to have read earlier books in the series, but it would probably help. There are quite a number of different characters, which could be confusing for someone picking this book up as a stand-alone read.

I hadn’t realised at first that this is an adaptation of a classic fairytale, though perhaps I should have done. It was billed as ‘Christmas Magic and Fantasy’ in the Daily Mail, where we got the DVD free, but it’s nothing of the sort; there’s plenty of snow and ice, not to mention magic and fantasy, but it’s not at all connected with Christmas.

The story is about the evil Snow Queen (Bridget Fonda) who manages to send a sliver of ice into the heart of Kai (Jeremy Guilbaut), a young man who works in a hotel and is in love with the owner’s daughter Gerta (Chelsea Hobbs). He changes character, then vanishes… and she decides to follow him. The second half sees her travelling through the realms of the different seasons, encountering many strange people and creatures including some talking animals, before she finally reaches the Snow Queen’s castle, where Kai is captive.

The film is sad in places, a bit frightening in others, and even slightly amusing at times in some of the caricatured characters. There are some lovely skating scenes, and some dramatic special effects. Gerta and Kai are excellently cast, and the whole works very well despite being quite a long movie – shown on TV in two parts, as it’s nearly three hours long.

Once I’d realised that it was a slightly bizarre and surreal story, I enjoyed ‘The Snow Queen’.