The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

The only reason I read this book was because an extract of it was used in the Language Paper 1 last summer.

I was interested to see what it was all about.

It turns out the novel is about a village in which all the women of child-bearing age become mysteriously pregnant.

The children all end up to grow at an accelerated rate and have telepathic abilities.

I quite like the concept of the book, it is seen as a classic piece of science fiction, I just didn’t really like it that much.

I was slightly disappointed by the ending…

The 2025 monthly challenge is drawing to a close. We had to wait until the last day of the month to get in a theatre visit for this month, and unbelievably it was the eleventh different venue of the year.

So, November’s outing went something like this:

Production: The Long Drop

Venue: Diss Corn Hall

Only about 25 hardy souls made it to Diss Corn Hall on a cold November night to witness a reasonably good production.

It covers five decades and tells the story of five different women all in Holloway Prison sentenced to the death penalty.

This is simply a story about women. Regular women who have, for a variety of reasons, ended up on the wrong side of the law. Some stories we can all relate to, some not so much, but either way they deserve to be heard.

It was a good production, in a beautiful venue. It doesn’t threaten the top spots, but good all the same.

Goes in at number 8.

1. An Inspector Calls
2. Dracula
3. Things We Do For Love
4. Jekyll & Hyde
5. Norwich Spooky Story Walk
6. Charley’s Aunt
7. 1984
8. The Long Drop
9. Metamorphosis
10. Shakespeare Revisited
11. Edgeland

One outing left to complete the year!

‘Eat & Run’ by Scott Jurek

It’s a running book. Scott Jurek is a famous ultra-marathoner and vegan. Every chapter is about his experiences running different races, followed by a recipe.

The book is a pretty standard book about running: the highs and lows.

‘I Am Number Four’ by Pittacus Lore

Teenage Fiction. Friendly alien comes to Earth from another planet, he is number four of nine in total, only a load of evil aliens follow him to kill him.

The evil aliens, for some reason or another, have to kill the nice aliens in number order, number three is dead, so number four is next.

It’s not a bad book – it’s the first in a series of six – it’s also been made into a film.

‘Play’ by Luke Palmer

Teenage Fiction. Follows four lads, Mark, Luc, Matt & Johnny, who grow up together at school.

It’s a good book. Explores the friendships between the lads as they battle with drugs, relationships, growing up and trying to survive.