I have not taken part in a Top 5 Tuesday for ages so I thought it was high time I returned.
2022 for me will hopefully involve reading more classics and finishing some of the many book series I have started and not finished. This means my 2022 TBR is rather large so I will do my best to select 5 books I will definitely read (I hope).
Nemesis Games by James. S. A. Corey – This year I really want to finish The Expanse series and this is the next book to read in the series.
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome – This book is on my Classics Club list and one that I think I might have read in the past and forgotten or started reading and never finished.
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan – In 2014 I read books 1-5 of The Wheel of Time series and then restarted and read books 1-3 in 2015. This year I have started at book one again and I determined this time I will finish the series. I’m never sure why I stop reading the books because I really love the series.
Sovereign by C. J. Sansom – I love the Shardlake books and this is the next one I need to read. Again, another series I plan to finish this year.
The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexander Dumas – Another book off my Classics Club list. I love The Three Musketeers so I hope I will enjoy this book.
Please drop me a link if you have taken part in Top 5 Tuesday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
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Goodreads Monday is hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello and happy Monday!
I have decided for my Goodreads Monday posts I will feature some of the books I have on my Classics Club List.
This collection brings together Jane Austen’s earliest experiments in the art of fiction and novels that she left incomplete at the time of her premature death in 1817. Her fragmentary juvenilia show Austen developing her own sense of narrative form whilst parodying popular kinds of fiction of her day. Lady Susan is a wickedly funny epistolary novel about a captivating but unscrupulous widow seeking to snare husbands for her daughter and herself. The Watsons explores themes of family relationships, the marriage market, and attitudes to rank, which became the hallmarks of her major novels. In Sanditon, Austen exercises her acute powers of social observation in the setting of a newly fashionable seaside resort. These novels are here joined by shorter fictions that survive in Austen’s manuscripts, including critically acclaimed works like Catharine, Love and Friendship [sic], and The History of England.
This edition includes: – Frederic and Elfrida – Jack and Alice – Edgar and Emma – Henry and Eliza – Love and Freindship – A History of England – The Three Sisters – Lesley Castle – Evelyn – Catharine, or the Bower – Lady Susan – The Watsons – Sanditon
This is the only Austen I have never read so I am looking forward to reading it and seeing what her writing was like as a younger less experienced writer.
Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
A Scandinavian Christmas: Festive Tales for a Nordic Noel by Various authors
Blurb
Have yourself a very hygge Christmas with some of the best Christmas stories from across Scandinavia – old and new
This collection brings together the best Scandinavian Christmas stories including classics by Hans Christian Andersen of Denmark, Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlof, as well as the popular contemporary Karl Ove Knausgard. These Nordic tales convey a festive and contemplative spirit laden with lingonberries, elks, gnomes, Sami trolls, candles, church spires, gingerbread and aquavit in abundance.
A smorgasbord of unexpected literary gifts which make up a vibrant, elegant hardcover volume sure to provide plenty of pleasure and hygge, that specifically Scandinavian blend of cosiness and contentment.
Review
As regular readers of my blog you will probably have noticed I love a Christmas book. So when I saw this book, I bought it for my Christmas 2021 reading (the review is rather late, apologies) because it looked like a good read. The book is made up of short stories which I thought would be perfect for dipping into over the Christmas period.
I will be honest this book was rather surprising to me and at times I almost gave up with it. The reason for this was because at times the stories could be quite depressing and not something I really wanted to read about over Christmas. Yes, I know it is Scandinavian and sometimes their work can be on the depressing side. I have read a lot of Hans Christian Andersen and know that he can be on the bleak side at times but I wasn’t expecting so much bleakness in this Christmas book. The other reason I almost gave up was because certain stories didn’t make much sense to me and felt incomplete or because they didn’t have anything to do with Christmas.
My favourite stories were the ones by Hans Christian Andersen but I didn’t enjoy the more modern stories. Overall, for me the most Christmassy thing about the book is the beautiful cover. I had high hopes for this book and hoped the stories would have a bit of flare but overall I found the book rather flat and disappointing. I give this book 3 out 5 Dragons because there were a few stories I did enjoy.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
I hope everyone has exciting plans for the weekend.
My chosen poem this week is by Robert Louis Stevenson and the poem explores how imagination creates a whole new world for a child to play in.
The Land of Story Books
At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.
Now, with my little gun, I crawl
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.
There, in the night, where none can spy,
All in my hunter's camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read
Till it is time to go to bed.
These are the hills, these are the woods,
These are my starry solitudes;
And where the river by whose brink
The roaring lions come to drink.
I see the others far away
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.
So, when my nurse comes in for me,
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear land of Story Books.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Happy Reading
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Village Christmas and Other Notes on the English Year by Laurie Lee
Blurb
From the author of Cider With Rosie, Village Christmas is a moving, lyrical portrait of England through the changing years and seasons.
Laurie Lee left his childhood home in the Cotswolds when he was nineteen, but it remained with him throughout his life until, many years later, he returned for good. This collection brings to life the sights, sounds, landscapes and traditions of his home – from centuries-old May Day rituals to his own patch of garden, from carol singing in crunching snow to pub conversations and songs. Here too he writes about the mysteries of love, living in wartime Chelsea, Winston Churchill’s wintry funeral and his battle, in old age, to save his beloved Slad Valley from developers.
Told with a warm sense of humour and a powerful sense of history, Village Christmas brings us a picture of a vanished world.
Review
I ordered this book in November to read in December but sadly it didn’t arrive until the beginning of January but once I saw it only had a few Christmas stories and the rest were all based on the rest of the year I decided to read it straight away. This is my first Laurie Lee book and I really enjoyed it.
The book is divided into the seasons and each season has lots of reflections from Lee’s past. The stories range from when he was a young boy growing up in his beloved village in the Cotswolds to when he was living in London. Lee also writes about some of his memories of when he returned to live in the Cotswolds and his fight to save the beauty of his village.
I really loved Lee’s descriptions and his way with words in this book which meant that at times I could not put the book down. I particularly enjoyed his beautiful story called ‘The Shining Severn’ which describes the river Severn in all its glory. ‘Harvest Festival’ was also a favourite of mine but to be honest I loved all the stories and you could really appreciate the love Lee has for his country.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and hope to read ‘Cider with Rosie’ soon. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Laurence Edward Alan “Laurie” Lee, MBE, was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie (1959), As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). While the first volume famously recounts his childhood in the idyllic Slad Valley, the second deals with his leaving home for London and his first visit to Spain in 1934, and the third with his return in December 1937 to join the Republican International Brigade.
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The rules are answer the questions below and 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?
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I am back to work fully now but I am making sure I make plenty of time for reading.
What I am Currently Reading
I have almost finished this and I must admit I can’t wait to read the next book. I had forgotten what a great book this is.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
This wasn’t really a Christmas book as it was stories from the different seasons and only a couple of the stories were about Christmas. This was my first book by Laurie Lee but will definitely not be my last.
What I Think I will Read Next
I can’t wait to start reading some of the books off my list for The Classics Club but I also have The Witcher series to start as well.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
So for quite a while now I thought about joining The Classics Club and this year I have decided to join up. I have chosen 50 books all published before 1900 and plan to complete the list in five years, so my deadline is 11th January 2027. I used to read a lot of classics so it will be good to get reading them again and tick off quite a few books on my TBR pile.
The list has mostly new reads for me but there are a few favourites on the list and ones that I can’t quite remember all the storyline of and would like to read again.
All books that I read and review will be linked back to this list.
Lady Book Dragon 