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 have had a lovely day of reading.
What I am Currently Reading
I am about half way through Jane Austen’s Bookshelf and I am really enjoying it. However, it is giving me loads of books that I want to read so my wish list is growing and growing. I have just started a reread of The Hobbit and I am thoroughly enjoying it.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I finished my reread of Northanger Abbey and I absolutely loved it!
What I Think I will Read Next
I am still thoroughly enjoying my nonfiction reading so I’m hoping to read one of these next.
334 BC. Alexander the Great is just twenty-one years old when he sets out with a small army to challenge Persia, the largest and most powerful empire in the world.
Together, his Macedonian army marches East into the unknown – winning battles against overwhelming odds, storming impregnable fortresses from the Aegean through to India.
But there is another Alexander. Prince of the Macedonian royal house of Lyncestis, he becomes Alexander the Great’s general and most trusted friend.
Alexander of Lyncestis is between this friendship and the duty to avenge his murdered brothers. And he is under threat, too. Others – Persians, Greeks, Macedonians – see him him as a rival for the throne. For six years of conspiracy and battle, his life hangs by a thread.
For Alexander of Lyncestis is the Shadow King.
Review
Harry Sidebottom is a new author for me but when I saw this book I thought it sounded like a book that was perfect for me and I was right.
The first word I would use to describe this book is ‘immersive’. Once I started reading I was captured by the storyline and couldn’t put the book down. The writing is so descriptive that I could imagine I was there in all these incredible battle scenes. The characters are also all fantastically written. I also loved the maps at the beginning of the book which I could refer to and see how Alexander the Great’s campaign progressed. The other element I liked was the Historical Afterward which gave me more information.
The book is about Alexander of Lyncestis, a man torn between many loyalties but he gave an oath to Alexander the Great and that oath can not be broken. He is also Alexander the Great’s friend and trusted general who has fought in many battles for Alexander the Great. However, he is also a threat towards Alexander the Great and as the book goes on we see just how threatened Alexander the Great begins to feel.
The book is a brilliant retelling and I believe quite accurate account of the life and deeds of Alexander of Lycestis which has spurred me on to do my own research. Alexander the Great is a character from history that I don’t know much about but after reading this book I did some further research into him and plan on reading some nonfiction books to learn more. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons and will definitely be reading more by Harry Sidebottom in the near future.
🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
About the author
Harry Sidebottom is Lecturer in Ancient History at Merton College, Oxford, and part-time lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. He has written for and contributed to many publications, including Classical Review, Journal of Roman Studies, and War and Society in the Roman World.
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 have had a busy day of teaching so I am looking forward to my book later.
My chosen book to feature this week is another recent addition to the TBR and a new author for me as well. I love discovering new authors so I am really looking forward to reading this book.
An inquisitive life-form finds there’s more to existence than they ever dreamed in an imaginative short story by New York Times bestselling and Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Ann Leckie.
On a far-off colony, humans tower over the local species who grow the plants they need. Narr keeps the workers in line—someone has to. But when Narr learns just how short-lived their species is, the little alien embarks on a big adventure to find out why their people die and how to stop it. Stubborn and hopeful, Narr has a plan for the locals, for humans, and for the future.
Ann Leckie’s The Long Game is part of The Far Reaches, a collection of science-fiction stories that stretch the imagination and open the heart. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.
Review
This is the fourth book of The Far Reaches collection which I have been really enjoying so far. The Far Reaches collection features six short stories by different authors. This is my first introduction into Ann Leckie and I was not disappointed.
To begin with I was a little bit confused by this story because it begs the question of what is the point behind it because at first it just seems like a pointless tale about a little alien. However, once I got into this short story I realised it asked quite a few big questions.
Narr is a native species of a planet that humans have colonised. Narr’s species are subordinate to the humans and basically do all the work that the humans don’t want to do. Narr keeps the workers (his own people) in line for the humans. However, Narr soon begins to realise that his species are very short lived in comparison to the humans and that there must be a reason behind it.
This story is only 28 pages long but it packs a punch and asks a lot of questions. I really enjoyed it and I will definitely be on the look out for more books by Ann Leckie. I give this little short story 4 out of 5 Dragons.
My chosen poem this week is by one of my favourite poets.
Shake Hands
Shake hands, we shall never by friends, all's over; I only vex you the more I try. All's wrong that ever I've done or said, And nought to help it in this dull head: Shake hands, here's luck, good-bye.
But if you come to a road where danger Or guilt or anguish or shame's to share, Be good to the lad that loves you true And the soul that was born to die for you, And whistle and I'll be there.
This November I have decided to focus on nonfiction reading because I have quite a few new nonfiction books and I really want to read them. I am planning on reading fiction last thing at night but I am hoping to link in the books with my nonfiction reading.
Cleopatra’s Daughter by Jane Draycott – This has been sat on my wish list for ages so I’m really excited to now have a copy to read.
Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney – I started this on 1st November and absolutely love it so far.
She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and Music by Gillian Dooley – As a musician and a huge Jane Austen fan I am really excited to read this book.
Elizabeth The Queen by Alison Weir – Love all things Alison Weir and Tudor
The Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman – Love Tracy Borman and anything Tudor
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 have had another good day of reading and teaching. I am also sorting and moving a lot of books at the moment which means I am discovering a lot of books I had forgotten I owned.
What I am Currently Reading
I am throughly enjoying both of the these books. I feel sorry for my poor husband because I can’t stop talking about both of them.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I finished this last week and will be writing my review very soon.
What I Think I will Read Next
I’m focusing on non fiction this month but still reading fiction last thing at night so any of these books could be contenders for my next read.
I was really pleased with my October reading as I actually managed to read one book off my planned TBR which is a big improvement on previous months. I also managed to read 5 books which is a good month for me.
In her highly praised The Six Wives of Henry VIII and its sequel, Children of England, Alison Weir examined the private lives of the early Tudor kings and queens, and chronicled the childhood and youth of one of England’s most successful monarchs, Elizabeth I.
This book begins as the young Elizabeth ascends the throne in the wake of her sister Mary’s disastrous reign. Elizabeth is portrayed as both a woman and a queen, an extraordinary phenomenon in a patriarchal age. Alison Weir writes of Elizabeth’s intriguing, long-standing affair with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, of her dealings – sometimes comical, sometimes poignant – with her many suitors, of her rivalry with Mary, Queen of Scots, and of her bizarre relationship with the Earl of Essex, thirty years her junior.
Rich in detail, vivid and colourful, this book comes as close as we shall ever get to knowing what Elizabeth I was like as a person.
Lady Book Dragon 