2022

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 very lazy day due to having such a tiring day yesterday. This has meant quite a bit of reading which has been lovely.

My chosen book this week is another off my Classics Club list.

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden sex worker, can offer the chance of redemption.

Purchase Links

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Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday 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

First Lines Friday: 15/04/2022

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!

Happy Friday!

I started a new book today so I thought I would feature it on today’s First Lines Friday post.

As usual the answer is below the cat pictures.

It was dark under the trees, only a little moonlight penetrating the half-bare branches. The ground was thick with fallen leaves; the horses’ hooves made little sound and it was hard to tell whether we were still on the road. A wretched track, Barak had called it earlier, grumbling yet again about the wildness of this barbarian land I had brought him to.

And the answer is…

Autumn, 1541. King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to attend an extravagant submission by his rebellious subjects in York.

Already in the city are lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak. As well as legal work processing petitions to the King, Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a secret mission for Archbishop Cranmer – to ensure the welfare of an important but dangerous conspirator who is to be returned to London for interrogation.

But the murder of a York glazier involves Shardlake in deeper mysteries, connected not only to the prisoner in York Castle but to the royal family itself. And when Shardlake and Barak stumble upon a cache of secret documents which could threaten the Tudor throne, a chain of events unfolds that will lead to Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age . . .

So how did everyone do?

Please drop me a comment with your First Lines Friday 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

WWW Wednesday: 13/04/2022

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!

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a good week so far.

What I am Currently Reading

I struggled a bit to get into this but now I am thoroughly enjoying it and I have no idea who the murderer is.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I really enjoyed both these books and I will definitely be dipping into Big Panda and Tiny Dragon again.

What I Think I will Read Next

So many books to read, I’m not sure whether to go stand alone or book series.

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

Goodreads Monday: 11/04/2022

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.

The book I have chosen for this week is one that has been sat on my TBR for a very long time.

A compelling depiction of a man imprisoned by his own pride, Dombey and Son explores the devastating effects of emotional deprivation on a dysfunctional family. Paul Dombey runs his household as he runs his business: coldly, calculatingly and commercially. The only person he cares for is his little son, while his motherless daughter Florence is merely a ‘base coin that couldn’t be invested’. As Dombey’s callousness extends to others, he sows the seeds of his own destruction.

Purchase Links

Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday 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

WWW Wednesday: 6/04/2022

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!

It has been a while since I have done a WWW Wednesday because I haven’t been reading much but I seem to be getting back into it again.

What I am Currently Reading

I am thoroughly enjoying the Wilkie Collins so far. I can already see how the story is going but I am enjoying it none the less. The James Norbury is just beautiful.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I thoroughly enjoyed both these books. Reviews will follow soon.

What I Think I will Read Next

There are so many good books I want to read and I just don’t know what to decide. I am loving The Wheel of Time and The Expanse series but I am finding it hard to decide which series to carry on with next.

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

Goodreads Monday: 7/03/2022

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.

This weeks book off my Classics Club List is another new author to me and one that I have been meaning to read for many years and own a lot of her books already.

When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.

In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.

Purchase Links

Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

Hopefully I will get around to reading this book this year and it will be another classic off my ever growing TBR pile.

Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday 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

Goodreads Monday: 21/02/2022

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 been trying to catch up on chores today but I did manage some quiet time with my book as well.

I am continuing with featuring books off my Classics Club list and I am also linking my Goodreads Monday posts on the main list as well so I don’t forget which books I have featured.

Wilkie Collins is rightly regarded as one of the nineteenth century’s most eminent writers. Although many Persephone readers will know The Woman in White and The Moonstone, he in fact published twenty-one other novels. The New Magdalen (1873), Persephone Book No.138, is about a ‘fallen woman’, Mercy Merrick, attempting to rehabilitate her character and her reputation; and the (often reprehensible and unkind) attitude of some of those around her.

I absolutely loved reading The Woman in White so I am looking forward to reading The New Magdalen. I always find it such a shame that books get lost and forgotten so I think it is great of Persephone books to get this book back on the shelves and people reading it again.

Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday 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

WWW Wednesday: 16/02/2022

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!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. It has been a couple of weeks since I have done this post because I have been stuck reading the one book. However, I am now back!

What I am Currently Reading

I have just started Moll Flanders and so far so good.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I loved this so much and towards the end I simply could not put it down.

What I Think I will Read Next

Think it will most likely be Nemesis Games as I need to get back to TheExpanse series but it always depends on my mood.

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

Top 5 Tuesday: Series I Haven’t Finished

Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, and now being hosted by Meeghan reads.

Hello!

I thought this weeks prompt for Top 5 Tuesday was a good one for me as I am rather hopeless at finishing book series.

The Wheel of Time – When I first started reading this series I read the first 5 books then gave up. A year later I tried again and reread the first 3 books. Now after 7 years I am attempting the series again and I have nearly finished the second book. I am also determined that this time I will finish the series.
Shardlake – I started this series last year and read the first two books but I need to get back to get back to reading the series because I do really like the character of Shardlake and the books.
The Expanse – I started this series last year and read the first 4 books. I absolutely love this series so I am looking forward to getting back into it.
A Song of Ice and Fire – My not finishing this series is not my fault. Like a lot of readers, I am desperately waiting for Mr Martin to write the next book in the series.
The d’Artagnan Romances – I love The Three Musketeers and have read it more times than I remember. I have also read and loved Twenty Years After. I would really like to finish this series as I just love the characters.

Fingers crossed I finish these series sometime in the future.

Please drop me a link if you have taken part in Top 5 Tuesday 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

Goodreads Monday: 24/01/2022

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!

I hope everyone has had a good Monday so far. I haven’t had much teaching today which has meant I could do bit of reading and have a lovely walk. Tomorrow is a busier day for me so will probably mean less reading but I am still hoping for a nice walk to clear away the cobwebs.

I am continuing to use my Goodreads Monday posts to feature a book on my Classics Club List as that makes up quite a bit of my TBR pile at the moment.

Taken from the poverty of her parents’ home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle’s absence in Antigua, the Crawford’s arrive in the neighbourhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation. Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen’s first mature work and, with its quiet heroine and subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, one of her most profound.

This will be a reread for me but I last read Mansfield Park in 2014 so it will be nice to read again and refresh my memory.

Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday 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