In a large frying pan, warm the oil, chilli and sliced garlic, allowing the garlic to sizzle very gently: you do not want it to colour at all – just to release its scent and become soft. Add a pinch of salt and stir.

Midnight review - The Guardian Six Minutes to Midnight review - The Guardian

Just as in the other two films (Before Sunrise and Before Sunset), what is miraculous about Before Midnight is the talking. Not talking things out, or talking things through, just talking. Two or more people having a conversation somehow turns out to be as gripping as a thriller. The second scene of this film shows Jesse and Celine driving home from the airport: a scene that plays out, in one continuous take, for around seven or eight minutes. And what happens? Nothing, or rather everything. They talk about important things. In this fourth installment in the series, Keira and her friends race against time to rescue her charge before The Harvest. They must hurry. Their enemies are bringing forth a new force to sway the balance toward evil. The shadows are rising. He is determined to stand up to “mental health snobbery … When you’re feeling a bit rough and ropey, and your mind is distracted, you can’t absorb the most highbrow text. You’re not there reading Freud and Jung and Lacan. A pop song can save your life. An episode of Friends can change your life. But when it’s in the world of books, it becomes this snobfest. I’m resistant to that. I also like confusing people, so I’ll do my big, corny, sentimental, puppy-dog line and then I’ll write a chapter about Aristotle.” I never say I’m a happy person ... It imposes certain expectations The weight of expectation might have gotten to Meyer, given that Midnight Sun is not a new narrative. But it wasn’t until I had finished reading it and dug out a copy of Twilight that I realised quite how much overlap there is. The two books are almost exactly the same, down to scenes, dialogue and viewpoint. Compare Bella, in Twilight: “I looked down at my dress, fidgeting with a stray piece of chiffon. He waited in silence.” And Edward, in Midnight Sun: “She looked down at her beautiful dress, tugging absently on a chiffon ruffle. I knew what was coming. I let her find the words she wanted.”What we aim to do is to make people who want to travel in Europe hesitate to take the plane, to make a 90-minute flight a thing of the past.” The best discovery for me in 2021, a year that I desperately needed a smile and laughter, was the haunted house sitcom Ghosts. I found it on BBC iPlayer and I was completely charmed and amused. I watched both series one and two and gleefully discovered a third series in the autumn. I watch it over and over and it feels like an old friend. Katie Tunnicliffe, 61, Sheffield A House Through Time (BBC Two)

The best recent thrillers – review roundup - The Guardian The best recent thrillers – review roundup - The Guardian

This last week, though, asking people about midnight spaghetti revealed endless personal preferences, but I was glad to be reminded of two things in particular. Embark on a mythic, comic, classic adventure with the finest fellowship since Frodo set a hairy foot beyond the Shire.” David Solomons Some of the characters were downright scary as well. The Midwinter King would have been the kind of character who gave me nightmares when I was younger, and the depictions of the raids on london, although I'm sure being historically accurate, are a lot more sinister than the blurb or cover of this book would suggest to potential readers.The Midnight Guardians is torch-under-the-duvet, can't-stop-reading magic . British folklore rebooted … in an edge-of-your-seat, heart-filled search for hope in the darkest hour." Piers Torday His fears were unfounded. Canongate rescued him. He realised the key was to write for himself and not worry about critical expectations or the division between literary and commercial fiction. The Humans gave him confidence and confirmed his new publisher’s faith in him; Reasons to Stay Alive, which was derived from a blog he wrote in 2014, established him firmly in the public mind as a teller of stories and an open, uninhibited, ego-free chaperone through the maelstrom of life. At the moment there is no alternative for medium-distance travel [other] than flights or a bad night train. And the only way we can rival planes is to reinvent the train experience. Beautiful. A magical, big-hearted adventure full of wit and warmth . One of the best children's books I've read for ages." Anna James With the spirit of Narnia, but a heart of its own. The Midnight Guardians is totally enchanting . I gobbled up every word.” Aisha Bushby