I enjoyed reading this so much. The start of the book was all action/adventure, how is he going to escape from prison, and gradually it turned into more of a mystery - how exactly is he going to get revenge on all these people that have done him wrong? It was a page-turner throughout though, totally captivating.

Having completed the full works of Sherlock earlier this year, I was intrigued by this prequel idea - so little is known about Sherlock's life prior to the books, Conan Doyle doesn't give very much away. You have to take a leap of faith and accept that these have been sanctioned by the Doyle estate, because it's essentially creating a whole new backstory for literature's most famous detective.

Brilliant! So funny, loved it. Enjoyed with a glass of wine which made it all the better. So many funny bits and pieces, great quotables that we're going to say to each other now, and a worrying amount of it that we related to. It felt very Gavin & Stacey, as in the main couple were amusing but it was really the cast and characters around them that made the best scenes. As a side note, I was happy they didn't make Anna Faris over to look a bit less hippy in the end, I could have sworn that was going to happen.

It was better than I thought, a lot quieter, slightly awkward, quite moody, but interesting. We had a bit of a moment realising that the King and Queen were the same as those in the King's Speech and that was fun. It's not our normal kind of film at all, but it was gently amusing and perfect for our low-key requirements.

There was information at the beginning and at the end, but the real focus was on the stories. Ranging from simple looks at humanity as it was, or is now, to wild predictions about what the future could be like, there was a vast spread of interests. I found what I usually do with books like these - some I wasn't that interested in, but those that I was, I ended up disappointed that the stories were so short!

I'm not a huge music video aficionado, but Mr C tends to point out those that catch his eye whenever he spots them. Recently, a new video from Kelly Clarkson emerged, for her single People Like Us, and it's worth a look... for the wrong reasons. There's an odd story about saving a colourful child from a world of black and white, but that's not what I saw. I'm fully …

Here's my random thoughts, in no particular order, about events in Ambridge in May: Kirsty boosts Tom's morale when he really needs it, let's hope he's not going to have any rebound feelings in that direction. It would just be embarrassing for everyone involved. Josh gets a loan from his parents so he can buy a share in the chicken business, which puts Pip's nose out of joint. She gets …

I've been making my way through several running books and, even those about running marathons, have something to them that an unfit jogger like me can understand. This one, however, it wasn't at all relatable. This is all about ultramarathons and running for 100 miles at a time, up mountains and across deserts. It's about pushing the body to its very limit, to try and find the breaking point, and step back just before you go too far. That's not really my thing at all.

I've fallen a bit behind on trailers for upcoming films (or those coming soon to iTunes that I have yet to be aware of). That being the case, here's a bumper crop of five trailers that recently caught my eye. Elysium A good bout of action, set in the future, with a dystopian Earth and Matt Damon? Sign me up right now. And what do I like just as much …

I don't have an enormous amount to say about this one. It was good, not great but a reasonable way to pass the time. It wasn't as good as the Marigold Hotel, but still had some interesting characters and a couple of chuckles along the way. I think the finer points were lost on us, classical music not really our thing, but it was still fun. Plus bonus Sheridan Smith!

Very mixed feelings on this one. Firstly, it was beautifully done, whether they were live action shots or the extensive amount of CGI, it was good to see the realism that is often missing in musicals. I was also very intrigued to see the strength of acting, whereas musicals tend to focus more on singing, this was absolutely the other way round. Seeing these characters and their real pain was incredible.

Not really very good at all. There weren't many particularly sympathetic characters, and I was aghast at how all the soccer mom's were portrayed. I know that's a stereotype but it wasn't handled well at all! The pace of the film was odd, it was predictable and had a very abrupt ending. I wasn't really expecting it to be good, and even so it was disappointing.

Starting with the good news, I reached the halfway point of the "500 kilometres in one year" challenge. It's quite a big achievement for me to have reached the middle mark, especially considering the slow start to the year I had! The gap between actual and target is also very heartening. The bad news is that running at the moment is a complete nightmare. There's a big leap in that …

It was confirmed yesterday that Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who at the end of the year, after taking part in the 50th anniversary celebrations and a Christmas special that will feature the regeneration. I had pondered recently whether it was time for the show to have the change and shake-up that comes with a new Doctor, and it seems those in the know are on the same page. Three …

There are quite a few teenage/young adult books that are on the Big Read list, and normally I indulge in them like a guilty pleasure. This one seemed a little less interesting to me than some of the others. It had all the traditional stuff – parental angst, self-consciousness, endless trouble with boys and friends and boyfriends. But somehow, for me, it seemed to miss the mark.

I really enjoyed this one. It was confusing to start with, flipping between three points of view, although gradually I realised there was symbol at the top of each chapter that helped you figure out which character was sharing their point of view. Gradually it came together, anyway, and turned into a really gripping thriller.

It really wasn't the film I thought it would be, far more 'gritty' for want of a better word. Yes there was the nudity and the swearing, but for a change it didn't feel gratuitous. It was a bit depressing in places, but laid open the hideous Catch 22 of being the only pilot who can save lives, despite being open to criminal action for doing so.

I'm always intrigued by the desire to live in compact spaces - whether it is seeing how they manage to fit impressive buildings into small pockets of land on Grand Designs, or a great layout on a narrow boat. Today I stumbled across this video from Gizmodo, in which there is some great design thinking on display to make the most of zero space in a New York City apartment. …

Football is still mostly a mystery to me, but I occasionally find matches on TV and leave them on so I can soak it up via osmosis. This weekend, the Champions League final was on TV, and we watched Bayern Munich - the only German team I have heard of - play another German team. At one point I recognised the name Schweinsteiger but that's about as far as it …

Recently, Mr C played me a music video that showed nothing but the lyrics of the song in question. I was a bit disappointed, thinking it was just like Adele's Skyfall video. Whilst that was quite Bond, and an interesting experiment, I thought a video of only the lyrics was a bit... lazy. However, it turns out that there's a craze for Official Lyrics Videos that run alongside their more …

When Will Smith appeared on Graham Norton last time, he did the rap from Fresh Prince and it was brilliant. This time, he goes a step further. At first, it's like... yea, he's rapping with his kid, that's cute. Then he does the Fresh Prince bit again. And then, it gets magical. I almost welled up, it was so good.

Picked this one up in a Humble Bundle and although it got off to a really slow start, the first few chapters were so intriguing that I had to keep reading. It gradually picked up the pace and ended up being a pretty good page turner. Showing off the really awful side of identity theft, it is one of those that makes you sit up and take notice and ponder if this could happen to you.

I've been trying to read this one for ages, little bits here and there, and I finally knuckled down and gave it a good go. I got nearly halfway through before I had to admit defeat. I just couldn't follow any of it. I don't mind the stream-of-consciousness style but it didn't seem to be going anywhere, and it didn't seem to make any sense at all.

I vividly remember watching the episode of Sex and the City where they finally revealed Mr Big's name. It was such an intense letdown that I couldn't believe it had been given the go ahead to be screened. I was so disappointed, and I wasn't even that big a fan of Carrie and co. Thus, I approached this episode of Doctor Who with some trepidation, worried they would reveal our …

Loved this, although not quite as much as Moneyball. I thought it was quite predictable in places, and although the emotional journey was interesting and incredibly well-acted, you could sort of see where it was going from very early on. However, we have recently been talking about how John Goodman steals every film he is in, no matter how small the part. Turns out that is not the case when Clint Eastwood is involved.

I always appreciate a unique and amusing way of getting a message across. I also appreciate Matt Damon. This video, and the mission behind it, is win-win!

Another book that is the first in a series of crime novels, but this one is a little bit different. Set in what appears to be the flapping 1920s, Phryne Fisher (a terrible name, I must say) heads to Australia and becomes a private investigator. She's got more money than sense and enough bravery to do the job, managing to gather a collection of characters around her along the way.

I have a love/hate relationship with Charles Dickens, but this one was a book I loved. It was different in style to many of the Dickens books I have read so far, much more concise, far less of a sprawling work. The story was interesting, and although it did follow a character through much of their life, it felt a lot more focused and structured.

This is an interesting read, a sort of guidebook to the concept of running a marathon. Written by Richard Nerurkar, it takes you through the very basics of why you might want to run a marathon, through some training schedules, preparing for the race, and advice on what to do when things don't go to plan. There's also an extra section about turning into more of an elite runner.

It wasn't long into my Film Watch experiment that I faced the question of "What constitutes a film?" I had made notes on something that I watched via the iPlayer and then after a little bit of investigation, I found it was a made-for-TV movie. This made it less appealing to me in terms of Film Watch-ing it, and I decided not to publish it. From then on, I decided …

Having devoured this very quickly and enjoyed almost every word of it, I can't quite understand why I haven't read it before. It's short and fabulously well-written, and the tension can be felt from start to finish. I really liked the first half, with such attention to detail in the vast differences between those who had seen the Martians first hand, and the gradual spread of panic. The juxtaposition of those fleeing with those who were going about their daily life was brilliant.

A couple of weeks on from watching Mission to Lars, Mr C and I settled down to watch another documentary film. This time, it was Side By Side - a film in which Keanu Reeves talks to a lot of directors, cinematographers, producers, actors and the like about the evolution from film to digital when it comes to making movies. Once again I didn't think I was going to like …

Expectations couldn't be anything but high for this episode of Doctor Who. The Cybermen were promised to be back - bigger and better, but hopefully less colourful than the Daleks 2.0 - and it was also a return to the series for Neil Gaiman, after his incredible episode, The Doctor's Wife. Although the man himself spoke of how different this episode would be, I was still anticipating good things. And …

I have a love / hate relationship with books about running, because whilst I enjoy reading about other people's adventures with the sport/exercise that has grabbed my attention, I am always insanely jealous of those who are actually quite good at it. This was an autobiography of sorts from Charlie Spedding, bronze medal winner in the marathon at the Los Angeles' Olympics.

I've been joyously listening to the new podcast from Molly Wood and Tom Merritt, called It's a Thing. They were so good together on Buzz Out Loud and it was a shame when they went their separate ways, but onwards and upwards, the glorious duo are back together! This time, it's not specifically technology topics, they just talk about whatever they deem to be an up and coming trend, or …

It's been Mr C's turn to come up with something for us to do on a day out for a while now. With a sunny bank holiday approaching, he said he finally had something in mind, so we hopped in the car. I'm not good with surprises, but he wouldn't tell me where we were going. After navigating us this way and that, he admitted that I shouldn't really get …

This was an interesting one, I think I must have snatched it up in a Kindle sale or Daily Deal somewhere, as I do so love the start of a series. It surprised me to find this was written way back in the 1950s, and that there was a whole world of sequels out there waiting, but the first had to grab my attention.

The trouble with reviewing these excellent 'In an Hour' books is that I just end up displaying my complete ignorance of the topic in the first place. And they are usually quite important topics. This time, I read the book in my lunch hour, meaning it really did take just sixty minutes to devour.

My foray into books featuring amusing anecdotes/columns has been limited to a bit of Bill Bryson, the occasional Jeremy Clarkson and now David Sedaris. I've heard him on This American Life before, although I haven't listened to that show in far too long. Regardless, I was a bit concerned that reading his words wouldn't translate as well to the page, and I did suffer a little because I couldn't remember what his voice sounded like in my head. I find with this kind of thing, it often helps to hear their intonation as you are reading along.

I have recently been looking at magazines on the Newsstand, and investigated the digital version of the BBC's GoodFood magazine. Considering most of my recipes tend to come from the BBC or their GoodFood equivalent, this seemed like a natural extension. In my first issue, I stumbled across this recipe for a lighter Bakewell tart. It being "lighter" didn't bother me all that much, but I suddenly had a craving …

I think I knew within a couple of chapters that I wasn't going to particularly enjoy this one, but as it was so short, I kept on ploughing through it. Gradually, I got into it a bit more, but by the end, I wasn't sure I'd learnt anything, or would remember what I had just read.

Enjoyed this one! It has its predictable elements, boy meets girl, girl embarrasses herself then meets boy again as he turns out to be her new boss. Kooky friend. Big debt collector/stalker. You know how it is. It was nice that this had enough elements to make it individual to most run-of-the-mill romantic comedies, it was funny and super awkward throughout. The British guy was cute as a button, which always helps, too.

I really quite enjoyed it. The one reason I'm not going all out and giving it a full five out of five is because some of the fight scenes were just a bit brutal for my tastes. I know Reacher is above and beyond the law, but these things don't seem so graphic when you are reading about them. It wasn't all that bad, it just felt as though he fought dirty too much and I found it distasteful.

Knowing this episode was written by Mark Gatiss and was set in Victorian Britain, I was fully expecting his brand of gothic horror to be stamped all over it. I hadn't expected it to be quite so disturbing, but it was an episode that stood up for itself very well, despite very little alien or sci-fi meddling. The highlights of the episode were, of course, provided by Madame Vastra, Jenny …

Helen persuades her mum and dad to think seriously about Tom's proposal, and after a bit of debate, Pat eventually comes round. The timing couldn't be better, as they agree to sell the cows and make all his dreams come true just as Brenda decides to break his heart. I thought the break-up was done very well, although slightly weird. Am I the only one who thought it odd they …

Mr C rented the documentary Mission to Lars from iTunes, and settled down to watch it one evening. I sat, aloofly, browsing magazines on my iPad, mostly ignoring the TV. I've never managed to get into documentary films - for whatever reason they fail to grab my attention when it comes to trailers and thus I never really get round to giving them a go. The only documentary I can …

All the videos we've seen from those Russian dash cameras have been dramatic/explosive/terrifying. Here, a slice of the nicer side of humanity.

I read this because I have a vague long-term goal to watch all the Bond films in order, and thought this could be a bit of a quick-start guide. It does fulfil that role, although it is also a bit snobbish in repeating the fact that the books are better than the films. I also want to read the books too, so that was not necessarily a bad thing.

So, having read Les Miserables and followed it up with World Without End, two of the longest books on the planet, I suddenly realised how many books I have sitting on my Kindle waiting to be devoured. I think I'm going to have to pick some of the shorter ones and start ploughing through. Expect more than a few Casual Reader updates over the next while. Whilst on that subject, …

Hoorah! At last I have managed to not only keep up with the target, but overtake it and get a bit of a healthy lead. Another achievement this month is to have no gap longer than three days. That is something I am looking at working on reducing even further but I am slightly torn. This 5k route I have found myself is becoming routine but I think I would …