I couldn't quite work out where this story was trying to go. It seems like your typical holiday read with two guys and two girls, romance, jealousy and plenty of other relationship troubles. There's another strange dream-like therapist that talks to Arthur throughout the story, and I don't quite get where that part was going. There's a lot of talk about destiny and bloodlines and there's a bit of a twist at the end. Ultimately, I found it interesting but quite confusing.

You may not hear a lot from me for a while now. Packing up everything we own commences this weekend, the move takes place during the week, and then of course, there is the tedious wait for broadband. How will we survive? I won't be able to check my gossip and Mr C won't be able to check for Formula 1 news. We'll be unbearable. Think cold turkey, think withdrawal …

... Believe me, there is nothing, and I mean nothing, more boring than people wanting to describe their dreams to you ... Trust me on this, it kills relationships stone dead. The day one partner wakes up and starts saying 'It was amazing, there was this rabbit in a bowler hat cooking an omelette...' that's when love dies. Scaramouche, We Will Rock You But, I'm going to anyway. Just in …

After months of bad weather, I actually managed to get a nice, sunny day and one where I didn't have to work. So, I hot-footed it to Marwell Zoo and spent a couple of hours there snapping pictures and looking at the cute animals. There were a million kids there, along with their mothers and the pushchairs. In fact, I'd go so far as to wager a bet that it …

Second attempt at The Whole Ten Yards. I didn't think it was as good as the first one, and was disappointed with the way it started, but I got into it about halfway through. With that achieved, I settled down to watch Strictly Dance Fever, which was brilliant, and has, of course, bumped my old favourite dance, to be replaced by the Charlston. And I've narrowed down my favourite couples …

Mixed up with the smart conversation are plenty of descriptions, intrigue and thrills. Each chapter, each page, makes you want to read onwards. I felt like I wanted to know more about what Darby was doing as she was doing it, but that lack of information helped the mystery of whether she would be successful in the end or not. I may be alone in wanting to know about her actually chopping off the beloved hair and dying it a different colour.

I can't imagine a situation where I would want to go on an extended trip to visit someone else's family by myself, even if it is the in-laws. Laura travels to Cornwall to stay with her husband's family, and she makes fast friends with everyone - until a letter arrives that accuses her of having an affair. One of the problems I had with this book is that a lot of the characters are just too good to be true. All very polite, all opening doors for each other, pulling out chairs. Perhaps it's just indicative of a different time, or a different generation, but I found it quite hard to swallow. It was written in 1984, so perhaps I am not being generous enough with it.

I've been looking into some interesting software for helping people get the most out of their writing. Whilst mine has very much taken a back seat for the last year or so, it's still something I think about from time to time. I note down ideas, plan chapters, scribble out some dialogue, that sort of thing. I downloaded a nifty little piece of software called Writer's Cafe, and I really …

Dirk Pitt is his exact same self. I have read some of the newer books first, but Pitt is the same in those as he is in this. Always up for an adventure, fearless in the face of adversity and incredibly strong, he manages to overcome practically any obstacle. There are times when you have to suspend your belief, but I think that comes with the territory. I was a little confused by the Congresswoman character. She is supposed to have an on-again, off-again relationship with Dirk, but whenever I've read the books they are on-again. I must have missed the off-again stories.

I don't really know why I read this. It was on the bookshelf of a family member, and I was sitting near it, so I opened it and began to read. The story of Paul Burrell and his relationship with the Royal Family begins with his early years and how he got a job at Buckingham Palace. The information about dragging round Corgis every single day, twice a day, to how he became a butler and what that entails was absolutely fascinating.

I'm often told that if I'm going to watch television so much, I should take the time to watch educational programmes instead of Emmerdale and ER and such. I'm all for learning about stuff. I thought Journey Of Life was excellent, although some might think that a TV vet should probably stick to what he knows best and not try to be a presenter. I also started to really enjoy …

One big problem I had with this book was the sheer number of characters. It started off quite simply with just the narrator and his family, and the accused and their family. Then there was a victim and that family, three hospitals, doctors, scientists, police, reporters, friends, relations and goodness knows who else. By about halfway through I was getting very confused.

I've been thinking about this a lot and I have a question. At the end, it turns out that he was frozen, awaiting the time when he could be unfrozen and medicine will have progressed far enough to fix his face, and in that time he was having the Lucid Dream treatment. This meant he thought he was living but really he was dreaming and he could choose how the …

Michael Schumacher breaking down for the first time in about three years. Mr C was over the moon and you could actually feel the happiness radiating from him for the rest of the day.

I found it hard to get on side with Jack McEvoy because he seemed a really closed off character. A reporter with a conscience, but a closed off and lonely man. He's desperate to move up in his career, but not about to push his principles to make it work. The book doesn't delve too much into what makes him tick, but I suspect there is more to come on that front.

Jack Reacher is ex-military and is the go-to guy when the Secret Service need help protecting the Vice-President elect. He's brought in to analyse the holes in their security and finds plenty. Reacher is a mysterious character, a complex guy living out of a suitcase but with plenty of metaphorical baggage.

Truro Cathedral.

I didn't feel like this was particularly original and there were a few predictable moments throughout the book. The reactions of the characters were all signposted from quite a long way away, and it made them less interesting and not very engaging. Standard and stereotypical characters with no one I could specifically relate to. Having said that, they weren't so bad that I stopped reading, and I did care enough to keep turning the pages. I suspect it may have been more from curiosity than a desire for them all to get a happy ending.

...and then ruin it with an annoying Irishman in a ridiculous suit. I'm probably not the only one who's going to comment on this but I just wanted to mention how funny it was that the BBC finally got their brand new Doctor Who series up and running, after much hype and speculation, and they managed to ruin the tension of the first five minutes by fading up and down …

Me: What's that smell? Dad: What? Me: It's really strong, fragrance, soap, something like that? Dad: Oh, yes, it's probably that candle shop. Me: No... it smells like Lush. Dad: Never heard of it. Me: It's a really cool soap shop. They make handmade soaps and shampoos and things in big blocks and you can go in and just grab a chunk. Like the cheese counter, only not edible. Dad: …

I was expecting Secret Window to be a slasher horror type, which is why I didn't watch it with Mr C, and I was mystified as to why Johnny Depp would star in such a film. But of course, this is no such film. It's actually a really intense, clever, psychological thriller with a huge twist at the end. I did not see it coming. Followed by The Incredibles which …

How unpredictable is the weather at the moment? This time last week it was pouring down with rain. Two days ago, it was so windy that I actually wanted to stay in the office rather than risk going outside. Today, it's sunny as hell. In fact, I've been watching for signs of spring, but forget that, summer looks like it's here. I would be happy about this if it weren't …

The light above my head started flickering at work yesterday. It started with just the level of the light dipping. Then there was a rhythmic flickering, then it started flashing on and off. The guy in charge of repairs and other such things was in the middle of something important, and would be a while, so we were left working with a disco light atmosphere. I thought it would give …

We stayed up (well I was woken up in the wee hours of the morning) to watch the first Formula 1 race of the season, starting at 3am. It was worth every yawn though, Michael Schumacher started from the back of the grid. And just as I figured out his ridiculously clever strategy and thought we were doomed to face another Schumacher win, he went and crashed and had to …

I'm a bit late with these this year, but you know how it is. My diary has quotes on the bottom of each page and I like to share the best ones with you. "Going to church no more makes you a Christian than sleeping in your garage makes you a car." Garrison Keillor "Love thy neighbour as yourself, but choose your neighbourhood." Louise Beal "Politicians are the same everywhere. …

A conversation with my technophobe colleague. Him: "I really want to get the Jungle Book on DVD, isn't that a great film?" Me: "Yes... it's a great one." "I've been round all the shops, and I can't seem to find it anywhere." "Oh." "Did you know that Disney only release them in batches, every now and again?" "God, they're so awful. That means they can keep re-releasing it as a …

A disappointing week this week. Starting with Resident Evil 2 and The Talented Mr Ripley (which was recorded off the television, not rented), both of which left me feeling I'd missed something. Resident Evil suffered from the fatal "sequel disease", the symptoms of which include trying too hard to come up with a story that doesn't really work thus include much more shooting and monsters to try and make up …

Oh my god, just four days left to the first Grand Prix weekend!!! How excited?? To celebrate, I thought I would join in the fun (and make it extra exciting in case Schumacher decides to dominate again) by participating in a Fantasy F1 competition. You pick the elements, driver, tyres, etc, and score points depending on how well they do. But all the ones I looked at just weren't quite …

A space probe falls out of orbit and crashes to earth, way off from the designated site. There appears to be a new form of bacteria on it, and when a team of scientists go to investigate, they find this is going to be far more than they bargained for. A national disaster could be in the making. You don't really get much chance to draw breath and get to know the characters involved in this story, which is probably good because you're never sure who is going to survive and there's far too much else happening to spend a lot of time on someone's back story.

The writing felt different to any other book I have read before, but I don't know if it is a style known to crime stories. It's told as though you were relating the story to a friend, although with far more detail. Crichton is a master at setting the scene and giving enough background information to aid understanding but not so much you fall asleep. There's a lot of Victorian 'crime-speak' and whilst some of the sentences are translated for you, sometimes it's just left for you to get the drift of what's going on. Nevertheless, it's a great tale, told well, with characters as large as the crime itself.

Deaver manages to combine stories and characters together in a surprising and intriguing way. Building tension and prolonging the suspense seem entirely natural, and it seems the characters are always racing against crime. This book is similar to the other Rhyme, but there are more twists and turns along the way, building on previous ideas to keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

I could not relate to Pamela at all - I wouldn't want to. She's a city girl at heart, but promises her husband she'll give the country a try. She absolutely doesn't, setting out to hate it from the moment they get her. The husband is so nice, it's hard to have any sympathy for her once she starts cheating on him. The way she breaks news and reacts to things really winds me up.

Some useless facts for you... Typewriter is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard. Walt Disney was afraid of mice. More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes. In Michigan, it is illegal to chain an alligator to a fire hydrant. If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would …

But this involves going outside. Although I am anti-outside almost all the time, today is worse than usual. It is windy. I hate the wind. I don't actually know why, except that it just makes me edgy. When I was walking out of work and bumped into a colleague a while back, he said, "Windy isn't it?" and I replied, "Yes, it makes my hair go everywhere." Not really the …

The guy that rattles his change in his pockets incessantly. I don't care how much money you have or haven't got on you so please find a less irritating nervous habit. The people in Holby City that use their mobile phones all the time - even the doctors! This is not a good message to send out to your viewers. In ER, the only time I've ever seen reference to …

You've spent so much time working on your website that during the day at work, you realise that you've been writing a letter at work and have escaped all the &'s.

Cost Of War - a website that is constantly telling you how stupid George Bush is. And the comparisons are pretty mind-blowing.

The Bourne Supremacy was a disappointment but only because my memory doesn't stretch as far back as the previous film. The Terminal was the complete opposite: a surprise hit. Funny and heart-warming, even if some people didn't recognise Catherine Zeta-Jones until we got to the end of the film and I said "It was good, but Catherine Z-J was a bit annoying." He was astonished. My main gripe about her …

I went to Bournemouth today. It was a dull day and not really one for paddling, so instead, I journeyed into the Oceanarium - a sort of Sea Life Centre. There will be plenty of photos to peruse in the Photo Blog soon enough, although it's hard work getting a fish that's still for long enough to take its photo. A little boy was having the time of his life …

The fire alarms went off at work today, but stopped after about five seconds. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at each other. An authoritative voice boomed, "Everybody out, please, that was the fire alarm." Nobody moved. We weren't questioning the authority, we just didn't know whether it truly was a fire drill or not. It didn't sound again and someone trotted downstairs to ask reception what was …

Another Clive Cussler book that begins with a seemingly random event (this time it's a hurricane), that leads to Dirk Pitt getting involved, and that, of course, leads to a ridiculously evil plot either to destroy or take over the world. Pitt and his buddy Giordino get into all sorts of mischief and usually manage to save the situation. It may be formulaic, but it's still pretty awesome.

Harris' style of writing is so descriptive. I can always smell what a character is smelling or feel the wind off the tide just by turning the page. Wool, flowers, metal, chocolate, wine, everything she puts a pen to will appear in your senses. Her writing is slow-moving and heart-felt, no violent or graphic sequences involved or needed, just people and their feelings and their lives. It was enchanting.

The thriller side of this book is only half of it, with a lot of other issues going on - a stranger trying to be accepted, the integration of the black half of town with the white half, families forced apart, and how to make a business successful. There's very little romance involved, which always makes me happy. For a change, Grisham's central character isn't a lawyer but is a journalist. He's keen to make money but willing to work for it and doesn't expect an easy ride. All he wants is to find out the truth.

There's plenty of material to work with here, a body, a stake, a killer, a teacher/student issue, family matters all kinds of things. As a horror writer, Laymon doesn't seem to want to stray too far from reality. However, without being allowed to stretch your imagination, the suspense is all the book is about and the story is padded around three basic questions. Is she a vampire? Who killed her? What about the daughter?

A cross between a whodunnit, and a page-turning adventure story, there are plenty of twists and turns to make this an unputdownable, if conventional, book. The characters are strong, intelligent and independent, but some of their speeches about technology and ancient rituals can come across as patronising. Overall, I liked it though.

This article tells us that every single team lined up for this year of F1 is happy to limit their testing time throughout the season. All, that is, except Ferrari. Surprise, surprise, the boys in red have decided that they're above the rules that apply for everyone else and will test whenever and wherever they feel like it. Whilst they're not actually breaking any ruling, some may call this an …