I hope everyone has had a good day. I am really looking forward to the weekend.
My chosen poem this week is by the British poet, novelist and translator who writes in English, Sheenagh Pugh (1950).
What If This Road
What if this road, that has held no surprises these many years, decided not to go home after all; what if it could turn left or right with no more ado than a kite-tail? What if its tarry skin were like a long, supple bolt of cloth, that is shaken and rolled out, and takes a new shape from the contours beneath? And if it chose to lay itself down in a new way, around a blind corner, across hills you must climb without knowing what's on the other side, who would not hanker to be going, at all risks? Who wants to know a story's end, or where a road will go?
One of the things I love about this challenge is that you can substitute certain books. I have made the decision to substitute some of the books on my list because I can’t find them! I have a lot of books in piles and a lot of books in boxes because I am still trying to sort out my library and now I can’t find certain books I had planned to read. I know I own them, I just can’t find them! You can find my original list here.
So here is my new list:
Medea by Rosie Hewlett
Hera by Jennifer Saint
Vertigo by G. S. Jennsen
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
The Royal Game by Anne O’Brien
The Last Song of Penelope by Claire North
Lessons by Ian McEwan
Lady Catherine and the real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon
The Princes in the Tower by Philippa Langley
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon
The Shadow King by Harry Sidebottom
Hopefully I will manage to read these over the summer.
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 managing loads of reading this week which is lovely.
What I am Currently Reading
I am flying through this and really enjoying it so far.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I finished The Three Musketeers and I am really missing those wonderful friends. I needed a quick read whilst I was at school so I managed to finish the next short story in the Far Reaches series. Reviews to follow soon.
What I Think I will Read Next
As usual I have no idea what I will read next but I think one of these is a strong contender.
My chosen quote today is by Walt Disney (1901-1966) who created the wonderful Mickey Mouse amongst other fantastic characters.
“Fantasy, if it’s really convincing, can’t become dated, for the simple reason that it represents a flight into a dimension that lies beyond the reach of time.”
A young man caught between two disparate worlds searches for his place in the universe in a wrenching short story by New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse.
Light-years from home, it’s Ira’s second chance. Just another anonymous student at a space station university. Not the orphan whose Earther heritage was erased. Not some social experiment put on display by his adoptive father. Not the criminal recruited by the human rebels. But when Ira’s loyalties clash once again, two wars break one on the ground and one within himself. Which will Ira stand with? Which will take him down?
Rebecca Roanhorse’s Falling Bodies 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 first story I have read by Rebecca Roanhorse and I was not disappointed. The story focuses on Ira. Ira’s is a sad tale, he is a human orphan who was adopted as a social experiment which means he grew up in a life of privilege but with this privilege he lost all his Earther history.
In this story humans are not the dominant species and they are trying to find ways to fight back. Humanity has been conquered and yes they are allowed to live but their history, their culture is being obliterated. This short story shows a small snippet of humanity fighting back.
This little story of just 35 pages really packed quite a punch and I really enjoyed it even if I would have preferred a different ending. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons and I will be definitely looking out for more books by Roanhorse in the future.
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About the author
Rebecca Roanhorse is a New York Times bestselling and Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction writer. She has published multiple award-winning short stories and novels, including two novels in The Sixth World Series, Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, Race to the Sun for the Rick Riordan imprint, and the epic fantasy trilogy Between Earth and Sky. She has also written for Marvel Comics and games and for television, including FX’s A Murder at the End of the World, and the Marvel series Echo for Disney+. She has had her own work optioned by Amazon Studios, Netflix, and AMC Studios.
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 have been going through my book trolleys to see what books I have on them that I have forgotten about and I found this one lurking at the back. I might pop this one on to my Summer TBR pile.
Dirty Little Secrets by Jo Spain
Death stalked the Vale. In every corner, every whisper. They just didn’t know it yet. Six neighbours, six secrets, six reasons to want Olive Collins dead. In the exclusive gated community of Withered Vale, people’s lives appear as perfect as their beautifully manicured lawns. Money, success, privilege – the residents have it all. Life is good. There’s just one problem. Olive Collins’ dead body has been rotting inside number four for the last three months. Her neighbours say they’re shocked at the discovery but nobody thought to check on her when she vanished from sight. The police start to ask questions and the seemingly flawless facade begins to crack. Because, when it comes to Olive’s neighbours, it seems each of them has something to hide, something to lose and everything to gain from her death.
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 have been looking at Kindle offers to stock up my Kindle ready for my holiday next month. I haven’t found many that appeal to me yet but I will keep looking. Here is what I have gone for so far.
I have always been a fan of Dan Jones so I am looking forward to reading his book on the Plantagenets. I haven’t done much historical reading this year so I am looking forward to getting back into it.
My chosen poem this week is by the Bengali polymath who worked as poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher. social reformer, and painter, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).
Light
Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-sweetening light!
Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the centre of my life; the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love; the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth.
The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light. Lillies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light.
The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling, and it scatters gems in profusion.
Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling, and gladness without measure. The heaven's river has drowned its banks and the flood of joy is abroad.
Haviland Tuf is an honest space-trader (one of the few), and he likes cats. So how is it that, despite being up against the worst villains in the universe, he has become the proud owner of the last working seedship, pride of Earth’s Ecological Engineering Corps?
We’ll leave that aside for now – just be thankful that the most powerful weapon in space is in good hands, hands which now control cellular material for thousands of outlandish creatures.
With his unique equipment and powerful spacecraft, Tuf is set to tackle the myriad problems that human settlers have created during their colonisation of far flung worlds. Hosts of hostile monsters, a population addicted to procreation, a dictator who is willing to unleash plagues to get his own way – and all that stands between the colonists and disaster is Tuf’s ingenuity, and his reputation as an honest dealer in a universe of rogues…
Review
I was really excited when I saw this book in the bookshop because I have been really enjoying Martin’s science fiction writing recently. This was one of those rare books that didn’t sit on on my TBR pile for very long before I decided to read it.
The book is a collection of Haviland Tuf short stories and this could be one of the reasons I didn’t gel as much as I expected with this book. Tuf was a space trader who, after agreeing to take on a job for a very suspicious group of people he finds himself the owner of the most powerful ship in the universe. The last seedship of the long forgotten Ecological engineer Corps.
Tuf is not your standard space hero. He doesn’t undertake dashing feats of bravery or flex his muscles at the enemy. Instead he is a somewhat overweight vegetarian who likes alcohol and cats. He hates violence in all forms, he prefers the company of his cats rather than humans. He is completely honest, polite and very intelligent. However, he doesn’t appear to be intelligent and it is one of the reasons that he can’t be beaten because nobody sees him as a threat.
He’s also in my opinion very unlikeable! Other than his fondness for cats I just didn’t like him. He lacked personality and a reason to be liked. He’s very arrogant and aloof and I just never found myself on his side. In fact I was always rooting for Tully Mune.
Tully Mune was what saved this book for me and I really liked her character. Her character jumped from the pages. She was vibrant, she was bold, she was powerful and a force to be reckoned with. There is a reason she has got to where she is in life and that is because she stands no nonsense and gets the job done. Her underlings respect and fear her.
I really wanted to learn more about the seedship and the Ecological Engineering Corps history but sadly we didn’t get much of that. I wanted to see how Tuf adapted and learned about running the seedship but instead the story went from Tuf becoming the owner of the seedship to basically becoming a god with no between. I was quite disappointed with this book and sadly only give it 3 out of 5 Dragons.
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About the author
George Raymond Richard Martin (1948) is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer.
Lady Book Dragon 