Goodreads Monday: 10/04/2023

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 Easter Monday Everyone!

I have the week off this week and although I have things to sort and do I am planning a few little adventures. I am also planning on catching up on my reading as I have rather fallen behind.

My chosen book this week is by an author I have wanted to read for a long time but have still not managed to get around to reading. This year I mean to change this and I have bought a few of the books to make sure they are waiting on my TBR pile. This is one of the books I plan on reading soon.

Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend Professor Magnus Lane. During his stay he agrees to serve as guinea pig for a new drug Magnus has discovered in his biochemical research; the effect of which is to transport Dick from the house at Kilmarth to the Cornwall of the 14th century.

What are your thoughts on this book if you have read it?

Please drop me a link with your Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

The Weekly Brief

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend so far. Blogging and reading has gone a little better this week thankfully.

Blog Posts

Currently Reading

I haven’t put this down all week and I am now so close to the end. After a few hiccups with this book I have really got into it now.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Diddly Squat: ’Til The Cows Come Home by Jeremy Clarkson (Review #12)

Diddly Squat: ’Til The Cows Come Home by Jeremy Clarkson

Blurb

The seeds are being sown, the soil turned, the farm shop restocked – that’s right, it’s time for another riotous trip to Diddly Squat Farm with farmer-in-progress Jeremy Clarkson . . .

Welcome back to Clarkson’s Farm.

At the end of Jeremy’s first year in the tractor’s driving seat, Diddly Squat farm rewarded him with a profit of just £144. So, while he’s the first to admit that he’s still only a ‘trainee farmer’*, there is clearly still work to be done.

Because while he’s mastered the art of moaning about nearly everything, some of the other attributes required of a successful farmer prove more of a challenge.

Who knew, for instance . . .

That loading a grain trailer was more demanding than flying an Apache gunship?

That cows were more dangerous than motor-racing?

Or that it would have been easier to get planning permission to build a nuclear power station than to turn an old barn into a farm restaurant?

But if the council planning department and the local red trouser brigade seem determined to frustrate his schemes at every turn, at least he’s got Lisa, Kaleb, Cheerful Charlie and Gerald, his dry-stone-walling Head of Security to see him through.

Life on Clarkson’s Farm may not always go according to plan. There may not always be one. But there’s not a day goes by when Jeremy can’t say ‘I’ve done a thing’ and mean it . . .

Review

Like the first Clarkson’s Farm book I flew through this book and could have easily read it in one sitting. The format was the same as the first book which I love and the illustrations that marked the different chapters were beautiful. 

The main thing I loved about this book was that Lisa, Kaleb and Charlie featured more and they had their say which didn’t happen in the first book. Like the first book Clarkson really highlights the plight of farmers in the UK and all the red tape they have to work through and I think it was highlighted even more in this book because we learn about the situations of farmers who are local to Clarkson’s farm. 

I found this book even funnier than the first book and I actually enjoyed it more than the first. Clarkson calls himself a trainee farmer and he really is but he is also willing to learn and will try his hand at anything. Even if this means Kaleb coming along and shouting at him for doing it wrong. At least Clarkson is willing to try. 

I can’t wait for the next instalment of Clarkson’s farm and really hope that Clarkson does succeed with beating the council and getting his restaurant. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons. 

🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

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.

Etsy

WWW Wednesday: 5/04/2023

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. I am trying to get more reading done this week but I keep finding myself distracted by jobs.

What I am Currently Reading

What I have Recently Finished Reading

Another fantastic Elly Griffiths book. I just can’t get enough of Griffith’s books at the moment.

What I Think I will Read Next

Loads of books to read but I need to finish some of the books I have started and not finished first.

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

Happy Reading

Etsy

Reading My Height in Books #3

Hello!

It is time for another uncomfortable photo of myself standing next to a pile of books. I will be honest the pile of books has not increased much in March as I was struggling to focus with my reading and I kept flitting between books.

The book pile consists of 15 books and now measures 14.5 inches high. This leaves me with 52.5 inches to go.

I am still ahead of 2021 though as the pile was only 13.5 inches high. Hopefully, April will add some more height to the pile of books and be more successful than March.

Look at that pile grow!

Lyra is still refusing to appear in more pictures sadly but hopefully I will convince her to appear again soon.

Happy Reading

Etsy

March 2023 Wrap Up

Hello!

I hope everyone had a good March. My reading was not good in March for one reason or another but my main reason is I just could not focus.

Statistics

Books

Pages: 207

Format Read: Hardback

Review

Pages: 240

Format Read: Hardback

Review to follow

Pages: 464

Format Read: Paperback

Review to follow

15/80 Goodreads Challenge

I am now behind on my Goodreads challenge and my other challenges but hopefully I catch up soon.

Happy Reading

Etsy

WWW Wednesday: 22/03/2023

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. I am trying to do a bit more reading this week as I have been falling behind my targets.

What I am Currently Reading

I took a little break on this but I am now back into reading it and can’t put it down.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I really enjoyed this and will definitely be reading more by Robert Masello.

What I Think I will Read Next

So many books to read and so little time. I now have 4 weeks off school so I hope to get some of these books ticked off my TBR pile.

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

Happy Reading

Etsy

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Spring 2023 To-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For more info please check out Jana’s blog.

Hello!

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday is a rewind so I have chosen last weeks topic as I missed it last week. So here are some of the books I plan to read in Spring 2023.

All of these have been stuck on my TBR pile for far top long. This year I am buying less books and so far I have only bought one book a month. This lack of book buying will hopefully mean I can get through my TBR pile a bit this year.

Fingers crossed I get around to reading some of these books.

If you have taken part in Top Ten Tuesday this week please drop me your link and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Goodreads Monday: 20/03/2023

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 hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I will be honest I haven’t had the best start to the week. Teaching naughty children and having my time wasted left me very annoyed but at least I got some reading done in my lunch break.

My chosen book this week is one from one of my all time favourite authors, Alexandre Dumas. I would love to eventually read all of his books but I will be honest most of his books are rather weighty and take me quite a while to read. However, I live in hope that one day I will manage it.

Cornelius von Baerle, a respectable tulip-grower, lives only to cultivate the elusive black tulip and win a magnificent prize for its creation. But after his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in deadly political intrigue and is falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival. Condemned to life imprisonment, his only comfort is Rosa, the jailer’s beautiful daughter, and together they concoct a plan to grow the black tulip in secret. Dumas’ last major historical novel is a tale of romantic love, jealousy and obsession, interweaving historical events surrounding the brutal murders of two Dutch statesman in 1672 with the phenomenon of tulipomania that gripped seventeenth-century Holland.

Fingers crossed I will get around to reading this soon but first I must finish The Count of Monte Cristo!

Happy Reading

Etsy