November Wrap Up

Hello my fellow Book Dragons!

Well it has been another busy month with lots of studying and assignment writing as well as the normal day job keeping me busy.

Not as many books read this month but hopefully in December it will increase because I have loads of books I want to read.

Books Read (Click on the Titles to be taken to the review):-

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare

A Very Murderous Christmas by various.

Total page count this month:- 656

Year page count:- 14,017

Happy reading!

Friday Poetry: William Shakespeare

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone has some fun weekend plans! Mine involves work and painting the dinning room sadly, although I am looking forward to going to a Christmas Fair where my sister is having a craft stall.

This week I have chosen a Shakespeare sonnet.

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love

Which alters when in alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no! it is an ever-fixèd mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand’ring bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me prov’d,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.

William Shakespeare

Mid Week Quote: Marcus Aurelius

Hello Everyone!

I am so sorry this is a day late. I have been desperately trying to get my first assignment handed in. Thankfully it is all handed in and now I get a bit of respite before starting the next one.

“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”

Marcus Aurelius (170-180 CE)

Happy Reading!

Friday Poetry: Myra Cohn Livingston

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone has some good reading plans for the weekend.

My chosen poem this week is about the Earth and how we want to keep it and not destroy it.

Prayer for Earth

Last night

an owl

called from the hill.

Coyotes howled.

A deer stood still

nibbling at bushes far away.

The moon shone silver.

Let this stay.

Today

two noisy crows

flew by,

their shadows pasted on the sky.

The sun broke out

through clouds of grey.

An iris opened.

Let this stay.

Myra Cohn Livingston

Christmas Book Haul

Hello!

Today I have had a wonderful day off, as I spent the morning reading and then went and spent the day in Birmingham book shopping and exploring the German Christmas Market.

I had a lot of fun in Waterstones and bought quite a few books and my husband also got some as well so the lady on the check out was quite surprised at the varied selection. I also had a lot of fun looking at the children’s section.

Here are my lovely books:-

I bought this book because my best friend, nicknamed Tufty Seal highly recommends Adam Kay as a writer so I am really looking forward to reading this book.

I saw this today and just had to buy it as I absolutely love the film!

I must admit I got this because the cover was pretty, I know very shallow, but sometimes a pretty cover is all you need to buy a book.

I bought this because I loved the last book with Murder Christmas stories I hope this one does not disappoint.

Another book from the Christmas table at Waterstones. I hope it does not disappoint.

This book I got in the children’s section. I always get a version of The Nutcracker each year and this year I got this little one with a pop up surprise at the end!

I also got two very pretty decorations from the German Market.

Please drop me a comment if you have read any of the books.

Happy Reading.

WWW Wednesday: 20th November 2019

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and a share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you will read next?

Well it is time for another WWW Wednesday, I must admit I only do these when I have started new books and at the moment I seem to be on a roll hence the weekly posts!

What I am currently reading

Christmas on the Little Cornish Isles by Phillipa Ashley

I started this a few days ago and so far really enjoying it, fingers crossed it continues that way.

One Day In Winter by Shari Low

I’m still going with this one but as it is on my phone and I only really read it when I’m waiting for students to turn up it isn’t going very fast. However, I am enjoying it and I am averaging a chapter a day.

What I recently finished reading

Finished this a few days ago and really enjoyed it. A great book to dip into or read straight through. My review is here.

What I think I will read next

I recently bought both these books and I know I am Christmas reading but I do not think I have enough Christmas books to see me through till Christmas. I need to pad my list out a bit with none Christmas books.

So that is my WWW Wednesday, please drop me comment with your WWW Wednesday link in and I will head over to check it out. Also if you have any thoughts on the books mentioned today please feel free to comment below.

Bye for now.

Mid Week Quote: Lewis Carroll

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Are people getting into the Festive spirit yet? I haven’t started putting decorations up yet, that will be in December but I am reading Christmas books and playing Christmas music.

This week’s quote is by Lewis Carroll and one I can relate to as recently I am using my dictionary a great deal when studying and also using The Oxford Classical Dictionary almost daily!

“What a comfort a Dictionary is!”

Lewis Carroll (1893)

A Very Murderous Christmas: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season by Various Authors (Review)

A Very Murderous Christmas: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season by Various Authors and edited by Cecily Gayford

Blurb

The Christmas season is one of comfort and joy, sparkling lights and steam rising from cups of mulled wine at frosty carol services. A season of goodwill to all men, as families and friends come together to forget their differences and celebrate the year together.

Unless, of course, you happen to be harbouring a grudge. Or hiding a guilty secret. Or you want something so much you just have to have it – whatever the cost. In A Very Murderous Christmas, ten of the best classic crime writers come together to unleash festive havoc, with murder, mayhem and twists aplenty.

Following Murder on Christmas Eve and Murder under the Christmas Tree, this is the perfect accompaniment to a mince pie and a roaring fire. Just make sure you’re really, truly alone …

Review

I bought this book last year just after Christmas so I never read it and thought I would save if for Christmas 2019. I’ve been desperate to start my Christmas reading and so kicked it off by reading this book. I read a short story a night and loved it.

The book has a range of short stories but sadly they are not all murder mysteries and some are just merely mysteries. My favourite story was Camberwell Crackers by Anthony Horowitz, it really made me giggle.

The first story in the book The Man with the Sack by Margery Allingham set the scene of a wonderful Christmas in the old days where the village children would come and visit the big house and someone would dress as Father Christmas and give out presents. I really enjoyed the beginning of this story but must admit I found the ending rather a disappointment and it was all a bit too predictable for me.

The Adventure of the Red Widow by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr was very amusing and it was a nice Sherlock Holmes mystery and I enjoyed the murder mystery immensely but I must admit I found the ending rather sad, not something I wanted from a Christmas book, even a murder mystery Christmas book.

Camberwell Crackers by Anthony Horowitz my absolute favourite of the book and made me giggle. A proper little Christmas story.

The Flying Stars by G. K. Chesterton I must admit I found this story rather annoying in places and rather predictable. Just could not get on with characters in this story and rather pleased it was only short.

A Problem in White by Nicholas Blake this story I did enjoy and loved how it unfurled, a real mystery and set on a train with snow. A perfect Christmas tale with more than one crime to solve.

Loopy by Ruth Rendell now this story I found disturbing and rather worrying. The main character had clearly been over protected by his mother his entire life and also did not live in the real world or cope well when made to deal with it.

Morse’s Greatest Mystery by Colin Dexter. Oh I love a Morse story and this one was excellent. Morse is so eccentric in this story and his usual grumpy self, it did make me laugh.

The Jar of Ginger by Gladys Mitchell. An odd Christmas story and I’m not entirely sure I would have included it in a Christmas book if I had been choosing the stories but the plot was good and overall an interesting concept.

Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces by John Mortimer. This is another wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed. It had all the Christmas requirements: a pantomime, snow, a cold vicarage, Christmas parties and festive spirit. A perfect little Christmas story.

The Problem of Santa’s Lighthouse by Edward Hook. The last story of the book was a great mystery and rather Johnathan Creek in style and not just because of the windmill!

Overall I loved this book and would highly recommend it, especially as you can just dip into it over the festive season. The only reason it didn’t get the full 5/5 Dragons and only 4 was because it did not have a full set of murder mystery stories and because The Flying Stars just annoyed me.

Purchase links;-

Waterstones

Book Depository

Music and Reading

Hello my fellow book dragons!

Over the last few days I have been pondering something that happens to me and I was wondering if it happens to any of my fellow readers.

As a musician music is a massive part of my life and so is reading and often the two go together as I do like to listen to music and read at the same time. However, when I reread a book I notice I associate certain parts of the book with certain songs. This happens the most when reading Harry Potter. When I first discovered the Harry Potter series I was visiting my sister in Scotland and read the books on the car journey to and from her house. At this time I also had a massive Linkin Park addiction and so now whenever I read one of the first four Harry Potter books I think of certain Linkin Park songs.

Now this evening whilst teaching one of my flute students I also had the same experience. My student is currently learning a piece I performed at university and had to write a massive essay on comparing 4 different performances of the same piece. This meant for weeks I was constantly listening to this piece, I was also commuting back and forth to university on the train and when I wasn’t writing essays on the train I was reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Now when I hear this piece I think of the book and it brings back very nostalgic memories of one of my favourite books.

This happens a lot with me whilst reading and I was wondering if anybody else experienced it or similar situations? I would love to hear your thoughts. Please drop me a comment.

p.s My cat Lyra wanted to feature in the photo as well but wouldn’t keep still.

Christmas Reading list: Update

Hello!

So yesterday after spending a great deal of time reading and note taking for my Masters, I decided I would check out Amazon and see if they had any super cheap Christmas books. To be honest I do not usually buy books off Amazon unless it is for my Kindle but yesterday I felt like a treat.

So the list has grown again, I just hope the new books prove to be good. I have also read one of the books on the list and a review will be posted shortly.