I hope everyone has some exciting plans for the weekend. I have a busy weekend playing the organ for a wedding and a church service.
My chosen poem this week is by Hilda Doolittle who published under the name H.D. Doolittle was an American modernist poet.
Heat
O wind, rend open the heat,
cut apart the heat,
rend it to tatters.
Fruit cannot drop
through this thick air -
fruit cannot fall into heat
that presses up and blunts
the points of pears
and round the grapes.
Cut the heat -
plough through it,
turning it on either side
of your path.
H.D
Happy Reading
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I thought it was time for an update on life outside of books. The usual things continue such as teaching and studying but I have been fitting in some other adventures as well.
Paint by Numbers
Yes I have another paint by numbers which proved to be useful whilst my husband was watching the Grand Prix. This one is an Eeyore which my friend very kindly sent me.
Walking Challenges
I’ve recently completed a virtual walking challenge and now I am trying to walk 1,000,000 steps for a sponsored challenge by Diabetes UK. This has involved going on some beautiful walks which at times have been a bit muddy. I love going on different walks as it is fun to discover new places and get out of the house.
Worcester
We spent the day in Worcester today and tried to find all the elephants. Sadly we didn’t find them all but we had great fun and rewarded ourselves with pizza. There were also some strange creatures in Worcester which looked great. It was a lovely day and I went to my first bookshop in over 18 months.
Hopefully more adventures will be coming soon.
Happy Reading
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Happy Wednesday. I hope everyone is having a good week so far.
This weeks quote is by Benjamin Franklin (1705/1706-1790) who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and the first United States Postmaster General.
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Benjamin Franklin
Happy Reading
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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. I have been having better luck with my reading this week so that has been good.
What I am Currently Reading
I have about a quarter of this book left and I just love it.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
This was a lovely short read that filled up the waiting time I had after my vaccine. Review.
What I Think I will Read Next
As usual I am never too sure what I will read next but it might be one of these.
Please drop me a link 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
Henry VIII’s third queen is dead, leaving the King’s only son without a mother and the country without a queen. And as preparations are being made for Queen Jane’s funeral, her stepdaughter, the Lady Mary, laments the country’s loss.
But, only a month later, the King has begun his search for a new wife. Will Mary accept this new queen, or will she be forced to live in the shadows of Queen Katherine, Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Jane for ever?
Review
I have read all the main novels from the Six Tudor Queens series but I have still got the short ebooks to finish off. This little short kept me occupied whilst I sat and waited after my second vaccine.
This book begins at the death of Queen Jane and is told from the perspective of Lady Mary. Lady Mary loved Queen Jane because Queen Jane welcomed her and reunited her with her father and was a Catholic so when Queen Jane died Lady Mary was very upset and also felt sorry for her baby brother Prince Edward.
Through this short book we see Mary work through her grief but also see her worry about what will happen to her next, now that Queen Jane is no longer there to be her friend at court. We also see that Mary’s health is not great in this book and that she is plagued by tooth ache.
The main books from this series are all based on the wives of Henry VIII so it is nice to have a small book based on Lady Mary and to see her thoughts and feelings of her life as the daughter of Henry VIII. Her father hasn’t made life easy for her but Mary still loves him and wants to spend time with him but now she has a new worry in the form of a possible new step mother.
I really enjoyed this short story and I would love Weir to write a full book for each of the children of Henry VIII. I just really wanted this story to be longer. I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.
🐲🐲🐲
About the author
Alison Weir was born in 1951 and is a British writer of history books, and latterly historical novels, mostly in the form of biographies about British Royalty.
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!
Happy Monday! I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have caught up on loads of admin and annoying things that take up time and I’ve fitted in some dissertation writing.
I thought I would feature another book on my ever increasing TBR list.
This weeks choice is nonfiction book.
An engrossing biography of the longest-reigning female pharaoh in Ancient Egypt and the story of her audacious rise to power in a man’s world.
Hatshepsut, the daughter of a general who took Egypt’s throne without status as a king’s son and a mother with ties to the previous dynasty, was born into a privileged position of the royal household. Married to her brother, she was expected to bear the sons who would legitimize the reign of her father’s family. Her failure to produce a male heir was ultimately the twist of fate that paved the way for her inconceivable rule as a cross-dressing king. At just twenty, Hatshepsut ascended to the rank of king in an elaborate coronation ceremony that set the tone for her spectacular twenty-two year reign as co-regent with Thutmose III, the infant king whose mother Hatshepsut out-maneuvered for a seat on the throne. Hatshepsut was a master strategist, cloaking her political power plays with the veil of piety and sexual expression. Just as women today face obstacles from a society that equates authority with masculinity, Hatshepsut had to shrewdly operate the levers of a patriarchal system to emerge as Egypt’s second female pharaoh.
Hatshepsut had successfully negotiated a path from the royal nursery to the very pinnacle of authority, and her reign saw one of Ancient Egypt’s most prolific building periods. Scholars have long speculated as to why her images were destroyed within a few decades of her death, all but erasing evidence of her rule. Constructing a rich narrative history using the artifacts that remain, noted Egyptologist Kara Cooney offers a remarkable interpretation of how Hatshepsut rapidly but methodically consolidated power—and why she fell from public favor just as quickly. The Woman Who Would Be King traces the unconventional life of an almost-forgotten pharaoh and explores our complicated reactions to womenin power.
I love anything to do with Ancient Egypt so I am really looking forward to read this.
Please drop me a comment if you have a Goodreads Monday post and I will head over for a visit. If you have read this book please let me know your thoughts.
Happy Reading.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
The gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out from humanity’s home planets in a vast, poorly controlled flood, landing on a new world. Among them, the Rocinante, haunted by the vast, posthuman network of the protomolecule as they investigate what destroyed the great intergalactic society that built the gates and the protomolecule.
But Holden and his crew must also contend with the growing tensions between the settlers and the company which owns the official claim to the planet. Both sides will stop at nothing to defend what’s theirs, but soon a terrible disease strikes and only Holden – with help from the ghostly Detective Miller – can find the cure.
Review
I will be honest I always find the beginning of The Expanse books a little slow but once I get into them and the story starts to get moving and I simply can’t put the book down. Cibola Burns proved to be exactly the same.
As usual the book is told from a few characters’ points of view and the characters that we had this time were Holden, Basia, Elvi, Havelock and The Investigator. The prologue is from Bobbie and the epilogue is by Avasarala. Each chapter is told by a different character and shows us each scene and situation from the point of view of that character.
Holden we know really well by now, captain of the Rocinante and a man who always tries to do the right thing but does have a habit of inadvertently causing conflict between people. Holden is sent with his crew Naomi, Alex and my favourite Amos through the gates to help mediate the situation between the Belters and RCE on the new planet Ilus. Both the Belters and RCE claim the planet is theirs but the Belters were there first and they will do anything they can to make sure they can keep it and the mining rights.
Basia is one of the Belters on Ilus and he lives there with his wife and two children but Basia has fallen in with the wrong crowd and makes some questionable decisions which land him in hot water. However, he is a good man and a dam good welder who will do anything he can to help his family.
Elvi is one of the scientists who arrive with the RCE ship and I must admit she is rather annoying. Yes, she is clearly a genius and is very useful for the story but the way she follows Holden around like a lost puppy is rather annoying and she can be rather heartless sometimes with the things she says. She forgets people have feelings sometimes.
Havelock we have already met as he was Miller’s partner at one point. Havelock is now working for the security of RCE and is trying to keep a ship full of scientists calm. Havelock is a character who always tries to do the right thing. He is understanding and tries to keep everyone happy but sadly he has a rather different boss who makes him do things he is not keen on or embarrassed about.
The Investigator was actually my favourite point of view and I found it rather fascinating and I was frustrated that we did not see more of The Investigator. I will not say more as don’t want to spoil the character.
Overall, this story touches many points, immigration, major corporations crushing the little people, love, terrorism and much more. I particularly liked seeing how the intruders on the planet were effected by the natural ecosystem of the planet. I give this book 5 out 5 Dragons.
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About the author
James S. A. Corey is the pen name of fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, George R. R. Martin’s assistant. They both live Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Happy Friday! I hope everyone has some fantastic plans for the weekend. I have spent most of today dissertation writing and will be doing the same over the weekend as well as prepping a church service for Sunday and practising music for two church services so I doubt I will get much fun reading in but I will try.
My chosen poem today is by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) who was an English novelist and poet. I must admit he is one of my favourite authors and I must get around to reading more of his work as I haven’t for a while.
WeathersI
This is the weather the cuckoo likes,
And so do I;
When showers be tumble the chestnut spikes,
And nestlings fly:
And the little brown nightingale bills his best,
And they sit outside at 'The Travellers' Rest',
And maids come forth sprig-muslim drest,
And citizens dream of the south and west,
And so do I.
II
This is the weather the shepherd shuns,
And so do I;
When beeches drip in browns and duns,
And thresh, and ply;
And hill-hid tides throb, throe on throw,
And meadow rivulets overflow,
And drops on gate-bars hang in a row,
And rooks in families homeward go,
And so do I.
Thomas Hardy
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
Lady Book Dragon 