Books I’m Excited About #5

Hello!

I have discovered some more books that I am looking forward to this year and will be preordering these very soon. I love preordering books, I just wish I could afford the books! I have just found a very nice edition of The Lord of the Rings that comes out in October just before my birthday so I have already started dropping hints to the husband.

So here are the next instalment of books that I really want to buy and read…

Spearheaded by The Duchess of Cambridge, Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, Hold Still was an ambitious community project to create a unique collective portrait of the UK during lockdown. People of all ages were invited to submit a photographic portrait, taken in a six-week period during May and June 2020, focussed on three core themes – Helpers and Heroes, Your New Normal and Acts of Kindness. From these, a panel of judges selected 100 portraits, assessing the images on the emotions and experiences they conveyed.

Featured here in this publication, the final 100 images present a unique and highly personal record of this extraordinary period in our history. From virtual birthday parties, handmade rainbows and community clapping to brave NHS staff, resilient keyworkers and people dealing with illness, isolation and loss. The images convey humour and grief, creativity and kindness, tragedy and hope – expressing and exploring both our shared and individual experiences.

Presenting a true portrait of our nation in 2020, this publication includes a foreword by The Duchess of Cambridge, each image is accompanied by an extended caption and further works show the nationwide outdoor exhibition of Hold Still.

I’m really looking forward to this book as it looks really interesting. I know it is more pictures than words but I think the pictures will speak louder than words.

SAVE THE WORLD OR END IT…

A strange darkness is growing in the Ward. Even Corayne an-Amarat can feel it, tucked away in her small town at the edge of the sea.

Fate knocks on her door, in the form of a mythical immortal and a lethal assassin, who tell Corayne that she is the last of an ancient lineage – with the power to save the world from destruction.

Because a man who would burn kingdoms to the ground is raising an army unlike any seen before, bent on uprooting the foundations of the world. With poison in his heart and a stolen sword in his hand, he’ll break the realm itself to claim it. And only Corayne can stop him.

Alongside an unlikely group of reluctant allies, Corayne finds herself on a desperate journey to complete an impossible task, with untold magic singing in her blood and the fate of the world on her shoulders.

A new author for me but I just love the sound of this book. It looks like my kind of perfect read.

Mercia, 788 AD

In the grand Saxon halls of Mercia, King Offa rules with cold ambition. His youngest daughter Eadburh is destined for an arranged marriage, but with reckless spirit her heart is taken by a Welsh prince, a man she can never be matched with and who is quickly and cruelly taken from her.

Eadburh inherited her father’s ruthless ways but it’s the gifts passed down from her mother that are far more dangerous. She is determined to carve her own place in the world, yet her path could cause war.

Offa’s Dyke, 2021

In a cottage hidden amongst the misty Welsh hills of Offa’s Dyke, Bea Dalloway is called to help Simon Armstrong, who is searching for peace. Instead he finds himself disturbed by unsettling noises and visions.

It isn’t long before Bea is also swept up by haunting dreams. The past is whispering to them, calling out for the truth to be told at last. And as dreams and reality weave closer together, Bea and Simon must be strong to resist the pull of the past – and its desire for revenge…

I love a historical fiction book and I really do not mind what time period it is from as I will happily research the time period before reading the book.

Very excited to get ordering these books!

Please drop me a comment with any books you are excited about reading.

Happy Reading

Reading My Height in Books #3

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Easter weekend. I have had a lovely day today reading and going for a walk in the sunshine.

So I thought it was high time for an update on my Reading My Height in Books. I still haven’t worked out whether to include my digital books somehow. I only read one digital in March and it was only 159 pages so not too much of a loss. Thankfully, I managed to read four physical books so that has added to the height of the pile. I have also realised I need to store said pile as it grows through the year so it looks like it will have to hide in a corner of our living room.

So here is the pile!

For some reason I am not looking at the camera but I have never been any good at having my picture taken.

The pile is now at 13.5 inches just 53.5 inches left to go!

Here are the pictures from January and February as you can see progress is going rather slowly.

Hopefully, I can get some more books read this month!

Happy Reading.

The Weekly Brief

Happy Easter Sunday!

I hope everyone is having a nice day so far.

Here is what I have been up to on the blog this week.

Posts this Week

Currently Reading

Really enjoying this book so far. Shardlake is such a good character and the way he works out how the crimes were committed is fascinating.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Happy Reading

Happy Easter Weekend!

Happy Easter Weekend Everyone!

I hope everyone has some good weekend plans. This Easter we can see friends and family outside so today we visited my parents which was nice. Last Easter we could not meet at all, so being able to visit each other outside is a move forward. Tomorrow I am also playing for two Easter services which is another improvement on last year where the churches were also closed. Small steps to normality are happening.

I must admit I am little nervous about playing the organ tomorrow, I am rather out of practice playing in front of people but hopefully it goes well. After church tomorrow it will hopefully be a nice home cooked meal and then relaxing with a few Easter chocolates and a nice drink or two.

Monday, for us will be another day of relaxation before it is back to normality on Tuesday. Hopefully, I will get some reading in over the weekend as well because my current read Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom is excellent and I can’t put it down, my husband is also desperate to read it as well so I need to finish it fast.

So that is my Easter weekend. I hope everyone has a good Easter weekend with good books, chocolate and company.

What is everyone reading over this weekend?

Happy Easter

Friday Poetry: Robert Browning

Hello!

I hope everyone has a good Easter weekend planned with a lot of Easter eggs and yummy food involved.

My chosen poem this week is by Robert Browning who wrote this poem whilst he was travelling around Italy in 1845. Browning was writing about his nostalgia for England.

Home-Thoughts from Abroad

Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge -
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Robert Browning

Happy Reading

March 2021 Wrap Up

Hello!

Happy April Fool’s Day everyone. I hope none of you have succumbed to an April Fool’s joke today.

March was a better month for me reading wise, which was good, but I fear April will not be so good due to assignments again but I live in hope.

Statistics

Books

Pages: 404

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 159

Format Read: Kindle

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 372

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 543

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 324

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating : 🐲🐲🐲

Review

14/70 Goodreads Challenge. Now 3 books behind, really need to work on catching up.

So there is March. Please drop me a comment if you want to chat.

Happy Reading.

WWW Wednesday: 31/03/2021

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

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!

Half way through the week already! I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

So here is what I have been up to reading this week.

What I am Currently Reading

I just started this last night so I’m not very far in yet. Hopefully, it will be as good as the first in the series.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

This was an OK read but it was unusually predictable for Christie. Review.

What I Think I will Read Next

As usual I am never sure what I will read next but it will most likely be one of the above.

So there is my WWW Wednesday. Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (Review)

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

Blurb

Tommy and Tuppence, two young people flat broke and out of work, are restless for excitement. They embark on a daring business scheme- Young Adventurers Ltd- ‘willing to do anything, go anywhere’.

Their first assignment, for the sinister Mr Whittington, draws them into a diabolical political conspiracy, and they find themselves plunged into more danger than they ever imagined…

Review

This is my first Tommy and Tuppence full length novel. I read a short story about them over Christmas and wanted to read more stories about them so this book was a good start as it is the story of how Tommy and Tuppence became the Young Adventurers.

Tommy and Tuppence are broke and in dire need of money and so they come up with a plan to advertise themselves as the Young Adventurers who are willing to do anything, anywhere. I must admit when Tuppence came up with this idea I did think it was rather risky as they could be asked to do anything but it is the reader’s first introduction to Tuppence’s impulsive and adventurous nature.

Tommy is a lot more reserved than Tuppence and does tend to think before he jumps but that doesn’t mean he shirks away from adventure and gets into a fair few scraps in this story as does Tuppence.

Tommy and Tuppence find themselves hunting for the mysterious Jane Finn and they must find her in time to stop a major political catastrophe or possibly even war. This leads them into danger and not knowing who to trust.

I must admit that at the beginning I really couldn’t put this book down but then as I got further along my fervour waned. I will be honest I worked out who the illusive Mr Brown was rather early on and was frustrated with Tommy and Tuppence that they did not work it out sooner. The only surprise for me was the identity of Jane Finn but I loved the characters Tommy and Tuppence and I can’t wait to read further novels about them. This was only the second book Christie wrote and I can see this within the book as it lacks maturity in the writing. I give this book 3 out 5 Dragons.

🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

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About the author

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. She also wrote the world’s longest running play, The Mousetrap. She also wrote 6 novels under the name Mary Westmacott.

Goodreads Monday: 29/03/2021

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.

Happy Monday!

I am actually teaching this morning, I don’t usually teach on a Monday, so this will make a nice change and it will be good to see one of my students that I haven’t seen for ages, even if it is only on Zoom.

My chosen book to feature today is actually the first book of a series that one of my friends recommended to me and one that I promptly bought but have not got around to reading but I hope to soon.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

Please drop me a comment if you have read this book or the series, I would love to hear your thoughts. Plus please drop a link to your Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading.

The Weekly Brief

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. The Grand Prix has now restarted so that will now be on most weekends in this house but I don’t mind as I get more reading done whilst it is on.

So what have I been up to on the blog…

Posts this Week

Currently Reading

I’m enjoying this but I am finding it rather slow in comparison to other Agatha Christie stories I have read.

Another quiet week for me on the blog front. I am currently doing a lot of reading for my Masters and that is taking up more of my time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Happy Reading