When I saw the remake of A for Andromeda on BBC4 earlier this year I heard that they'd done a remake of Quatermass the previous year, before I had BBC4 and was quite disappointed to have missed it. So I was pleased to find it had been released on DVD, and it made a nice change from Doctor Who on my rental list.

I did have to get up in the middle to work out who the journalist was (Brian from Teachers, which was a bit surreal) but I really enjoyed it. I've not seen the original to compare it against, mind you. It was quite creepy towards the end but I was a bit disappointed by the way they wrapped it all up neatly. Mind you, I was waiting for the world to end and didn't expect them to save it at all.

I've also read a whole load of books, so will put them behind a cut-tag thingy.

Suddenly I'm nearly a third of the way there!

49.7cm / 155cm (32.1%)

Too Many Mothers by Roberta Taylor
In a bit of irony I borrowed this from my mother who had borrowed it from hers. This was really good. Roberta Taylor's many aunts and granmother seem to have led interesting lifes. It's not really a surprise when you get to her as a child at the end and she's a bit odd. It's amazing, given her background, that's shes got where she is today. I'd love a sequel to know how she got from there to here.

Gemma and Sisters and Gemma Alone by Noel Streatfeild
These are old so it's a slightly odd world these people seem to live in. Although when I was little most of the stuff I read was written in the 50s/60s so that seemed normal to me at the time. The Robinson family are just too good to be true but they're interesting anyway. Now I want to read the last one in the series, Goodbye Gemma.

The Prime Minister's Brain, The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster and The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again by Gillian Cross
I've just discovered that I didn't read these in the right order but it doesn't seem to matter. I'm not sure these are as good as the first one because you know the Demon Headmaster is behind it, even if you don't know exactly how. Mind you, his plans for taking over the world are always interestingly thought out and executed and I like how the kids foil him - without the adults even realising anything is up!

Nancy Drew: Smile and Say Murder
Unless this one was an exception I don't know how I ever read Nancy Drew as a child. I think at the time she seemed very grown up, now she just seems like a strange amalgam of a teenager and a young adult that doesn't quite work. Plus it was blindingly obvious whodunnit early on. And why her boyfriend stays with her I don't know, because she's a complete bitch to him.

Shards of Honor and Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
Shards of Honor was actually the first book I read on this quest this year but I have these two as one volume so I didn't feel it should count until I read the second. Having worked my way through my childish books quite quickly and as I'm waiting for the next one from the library, I thought I'd go back to Barrayar. I read these books right at the beginning but always meant to go back to them to understand the world more. What was most interesting in these was rediscovering characters I'd read in later books and had forgotten were in these.

Comments are closed.