Goodreads Monday: 8/9/2025

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.

Happy Monday!

I was back at school today which was a bit of a shock to the system but it was nice to see returning students and meet new ones.

My chosen book to feature today is another recent addition to the Goodreads TBR. I’m really excited to read this book because as a musician I’m intrigued read about Austen’s love of music and hopefully find out which composers were her favourite.

She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and Music by Gillian Dooley

Like her much-loved heroine Emma Woodhouse, Jane Austen ‘played and sang’. Music occupied a central role in her life, and she made brilliant use of it in her books to illuminate characters’ personalities and highlight the contrasts between them.

Until recently, our knowledge of Austen’s musical inclinations was limited to the recollections of relatives who were still in their youth when she passed away. But with the digitisation of music books from her immediate family circle, a treasure trove of evidence has emerged. Delving into these books, alongside letters and other familial records, She played and sang unveils a previously unknown facet of Austen’s world.

This insightful work not only uncovers the music closely associated with Austen, but also unravels her musical connections with family and friends, revealing the intricate ties between her fiction and the melodies she performed. With these revelations, Austen’s musical legacy comes to life, granting us a deeper understanding of her artistic prowess and the influences that shaped her literary masterpieces.

Happy Reading

Etsy

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The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a good weekend. I’ve now got back into my blogging routine which is good and I’m doing well with my reading.

Blog Posts

Currently Reading

I’m really enjoying this so far but I find there is a lot of French to understand which disrupts the story for me at times.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Stacking the Shelves: 6/9/2025

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. It is all about sharing the books that you have recently added to your bookshelves. These books can be physical books, ebooks and of course audiobooks.

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. I’ve managed some reading today which has been lovely. I had two books arrive this week that I had preordered ages ago.

  • Medusa by Rosie Hewlett – I’m really excited to read this version of Medusa’s story. I always find the story of Medusa a hard story to read because she was a very wronged woman.
  • The Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman – I am a huge fan of Tracy Borman and can’t wait to read her latest book.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Friday Poetry: Henry David Thoreau

Happy Friday!

My chosen poem this week is by Henry David Thoreau born 12th July 1817 and died 6th May 1862. Thoreau was an American essayist, poet and philosopher.

Men Say They Know Many Things

Men say they know many things;
But lo! They have taken wings,-
The arts and the sciences,
And a thousand appliances;
The wind that blows
Is all that anybody knows.

Henry David Thoreau

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

September 2025 TBR

Hello!

I will be honest my August TBR didn’t go very well and I only read one of the books I planned to read.

I will try better with my September TBR I promise!

  • She Played and Sang by Gillian Dooley
  • Unfortunately She Was A Nymphomaniac by Joan Smith
  • Holbein The Ambassadors by Tracy Borman
  • The Last Song of Penelope by Claire North
  • Hera by Jennifer Saint
  • Aphrodite by Phoenicia Rogerson

I really hope I get to read some of these but I have just started Villette by Charlotte Bronte and i know that will take me quiet a while now I am back at work.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

August 2025 Wrap Up

Hello!

August didn’t go as well July reading wise but I still managed to read 3 books. I bought a lot of books in August so I must get reading them all!

Statistics

Books

Pages: 480

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review to follow

New book

Pages: 226

Format Read: Kindle

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review to follow

New Book

Pages: 557

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review to follow

Old Book

Goodreads Challenge: 41/50

Old Books: 1

New Books: 1

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 1/9/2025

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 September so far. I have had a busy day of taking my bedroom apart and putting it back together. I never knew getting a new rug would cause so much of a problem!

My chosen book to feature this week is one that has been on my TBR for a very long time but I needed to read the previous book in series before I get to this one. I can’t wait to get reading this as I just love the series.

Tiamat’s Wrath by James S. A. Corey

Thirteen hundred gates have opened to solar systems around the galaxy. But as humanity builds its interstellar empire in the alien ruins, the mysteries and threats grow deeper.

In the dead systems where gates lead to stranger things than alien planets, Elvi Okoye begins a desperate search to discover the nature of a genocide that happened before the first human beings existed, and to find weapons to fight a war against forces at the edge of the imaginable. But the price of that knowledge may be higher than she can pay.

At the heart of the empire, Teresa Duarte prepares to take on the burden of her father’s godlike ambition. The sociopathic scientist Paolo Cortázar and the Mephistophelian prisoner James Holden are only two of the dangers in a palace thick with intrigue, but Teresa has a mind of her own and secrets even her father the emperor doesn’t guess.

And throughout the wide human empire, the scattered crew of the Rocinante fights a brave rear-guard action against Duarte’s authoritarian regime. Memory of the old order falls away, and a future under Laconia’s eternal rule — and with it, a battle that humanity can only lose – seems more and more certain. Because against the terrors that lie between worlds, courage and ambition will not be enough…

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you