Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I must admit today has been a struggle. I just seem to be constantly tired at the moment and it isn’t helping me with my working day. I’m not even reading before bed as I am straight asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow which is very rare for me.
So my chosen book that I want to feature off my TBR for this week is another that I have been wanting to read for ages. As I might have mentioned a few times I love Rosamunde Pilcher’s books and I still have so many left to read. I really hope I manage to read this beauty soon as it has sat on my bookshelves for way to long.
An instant bestseller when it was first published, The Shell Seekers is an enduring classic which has touched the hearts of millions of readers worldwide. A novel of connection, it is the story of one family—mothers and daughters, husbands and lovers–and of the passions and heartbreak that have held them together for three generations. This magical novel—the kind of reading experience that comes along only once in a long while—is the perfect read, whether you are returning to it again, or opening the cover for the first time.
At the end of a long and useful life, Penelope Keeling’s prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolising her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather’s work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer…and it lies in her heart.
Diddly Squat – A Year on the Farm by Jeremy Clarkson
Blurb
An idyllic spot offering picturesque views across the Cotswolds, bustling hedgerows and natural springs, it’s the perfect plot of land for someone to delegate the actual, you know, farming to someone else while he galivants around the world in cars.
Until one day, Jeremy decided he would do the farming itself.
After all, how hard could it be? . . .
Faced with suffocating red tape, biblical weather, local objections, a global pandemic and his own frankly staggering ignorance of how to ‘do farming’, Jeremy soon realises that turning the farm around is going to take more than splashing out on a massive tractor.
Fortunately, there’s help at hand from a large and (mostly) willing team, including girlfriend Lisa, Kaleb the Tractor Driver, Cheerful Charlie, Ellen the Shepherd and Gerald, his Head of Security and Dry Stone Waller.
Between them, they enthusiastically cultivate crops, rear livestock and hens, keep bees, bottle spring water and open a farm shop. But profits remain elusive.
And yet while the farm may be called Diddly Squat for good reason, Jeremy soon begins to understand that it’s worth a whole lot more to him than pounds, shillings and pence . . .
Review
I am a huge fan on Clarkson’s Farm but have only just got around to reading his first book about the farm.
This is my first book by Jeremy Clarkson and it will definitely not be my last. The thing I really liked about this book was the format it was written in. I know that all these chapters are in fact from his column that he writes but I loved the shortness of each section and all the stories covered. The second thing I loved was the fact you get details in the book that you don’t get in the TV programme. One of these details is about the pigs that Clarkson gets for the farm.
Clarkson really highlights the problems that farmers face on a daily basis. The constant battles with the weather, the rules and regulations, competing with the price of food from abroad and much more. Clarkson faces all these troubles and tries to find ways to overcome them. He tries to diversify his farm and turn it into a successful business that helps everyone including the wildlife.
This book was a very quick read and one that I could easily read in one sitting. I loved all the aspects it covered and the extra details it gives. It is an informative and funny read that made me laugh and I learned a lot. I would have loved more about Kaleb, Gerald, and Charlie though as I found that they were rather lacking in this book but appear a lot more in the second which made it an even better read. Overall, I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.
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About the author
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born April 11, 1960) is an English broadcaster and writer who specialises in motoring.
He writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun, but is better known for his role on the BBC television programme Top Gear.
From a career as a local journalist in the north of England, he rose to public prominence as a presenter of the original format of Top Gear in 1988. Since the mid-1990s Clarkson has become a recognised public personality, regularly appearing on British television presenting his own shows and appearing as a guest on other shows. As well as motoring, Clarkson has produced programmes and books on subjects such as history and engineering. From 1998 to 2000 he also hosted his own chat show, Clarkson.
Apologies for the lack of posting but this week has not been a good week. For this reason I am posting an old favourite to cheer myself up.
Bobby Shaftoe
Bobby Shaftoe's gone to sea,
Silver buckles on his knee;
He'll come back and marry me,
Bonny Bobby Shaftoe.
Bobby Shaftoe's bright and fair,
Combing down his yellow hair,
He's my ain for evermair,
Bonny Bobby Shaftoe.
Bobby Shaftoe's tall and slim,
Always dressed so neat and trim,
The ladies they all keek at him,
Bonny Bobby Shaftoe.
Bobby Shaftoe's getten a bairn
For to dandle in his arms;
In his arm and on his knee,
Bonny Bobby Shaftoe.
Anon
This weeks topic has left me struggling to choose just five books. It turns out a lot of my favourite books are just one word titles. Anyway, here are the ones I chose.
Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week.
My chosen book to feature is one that I will hopefully read this month. It is also one that I have been really excited to read.
The middle ages are seen as a bloodthirsty time of Vikings, saints and kings: a patriarchal society which oppressed and excluded women. But when we dig a little deeper into the truth, we can see that the ‘dark’ ages were anything but.
Oxford and BBC historian Janina Ramirez has uncovered countless influential women’s names struck out of historical records, with the word FEMINA annotated beside them. As gatekeepers of the past ordered books to be burnt, artworks to be destroyed, and new versions of myths, legends and historical documents to be produced, our view of history has been manipulated.
Only now, through a careful examination of the artefacts, writings and possessions they left behind, are the influential and multifaceted lives of women emerging. Femina goes beyond the official records to uncover the true impact of women like Jadwiga, the only female King in Europe, Margery Kempe, who exploited her image and story to ensure her notoriety, and the Loftus Princess, whose existence gives us clues about the beginnings of Christianity in England. See the medieval world with fresh eyes and discover why these remarkable women were removed from our collective memories.
Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. I have spent a lovely day reading A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon.
My TBR pile for February went rather well. I managed to read two books and a half off the list. Sadly I didn’t read my Persephone book or finish Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
Nonfiction Read
I bought this book last year and to be honest I forgot about it but yesterday I remembered it again and decided it should be this months nonfiction read.
Ancient Greek or Roman Text
I will hopefully finish Meditations this month and then start The Greek Plays. I have already read some of the plays but it will be good to reread them again.
Persephone Book
I really hope to read this this month as I never managed it last month.
Classics Club List
I’ve read this book so many times but I really want to read it again and it is one of the books on my Classics Club list.
So those are my planned reads for this month whatever time I have left in the month I will devote to my mood reads.
I hope you have some good books planned for March.
I hope everyone has some fab plans for the weekend.
My chosen poem this week is one that my students sing and play regularly as it is a great beginner piece.
Lavender's Blue
Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen;
Call up your men, dilly dilly, set them to work,
Some to the plough, dilly dilly, some to the cart;
Some to make hay, dilly dilly, some to thresh corn,
Whilst you and I, dilly dilly, keep ourselves warm.
Anon
It is time for another update of Reading My Height in Books. I tried to get Lyra to join in with the photo this time but as soon as she saw the pile of books she became suspicious and ran away.
The book pile now contains 12 books and is exactly 11.5 inches high. This leaves me with 55.5 inches to go.
This time in 2021 I was at 8.5 inches high so I am ahead. Hopefully I can keep ahead of 2021 and finally manage to read my height in books.
Lady Book Dragon 