Happy Wednesday!
I hope everyone is having a good week so far.
My chosen quote this week is by the American novelist Sarah Dessen (1970).
“Life is an awful, ugly place to not have a best friend.”
Sarah Dessen
Happy Reading
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a good week so far. At the beginning of March reading was rather slow but then it picked up towards the end. This means I only managed to read 4 books and I am still behind with my Goodreads challenge.
Statistics
Books
Pages: 306
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲
Old Book
Pages: 578
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
Old Book
Pages: 165
Format Read: Paperback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
New Book
Pages: 384
Format Read: Paperback
Review to follow
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲
Old Book
That is another 3 books off the TBR pile and one of the new books I have bought this year. The TBR is slowly shrinking!
Goodreads Challenge: 10/50
24 Books in 2024: 5/24
Old Books: 3
New Books: 1
Happy Reading
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!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I am looking forward to a week of reading and adventuring.
My chosen book from my Goodreads TBR is one of my Persephone books. I currently have all my Persephone books on display in the hallway and it is only a small collection which I try to expand every year.
Monica Dickens’s first book, published in 1940, could easily have been called Mariana – an Englishwoman. For that is what it is: the story of a young English girl’s growth towards maturity in the 1930s. We see Mary at school in Kensington and on holiday in Somerset; her attempt at drama school; her year in Paris learning dressmaking and getting engaged to the wrong man; her time as a secretary and companion; and her romance with Sam.
We chose this book because we wanted to publish a novel like Dusty Answer, I Capture the Castle or The Pursuit of Love, about a girl encountering life and love, which is also funny, readable and perceptive; it is a ‘hot-water bottle’ novel, one to curl up with on the sofa on a wet Sunday afternoon. But it is more than this.
As Harriet Lane remarks in her Preface: ‘It is Mariana’s artlessness, its enthusiasm, its attention to tiny, telling domestic detail that makes it so appealing to modern readers.’ And John Sandoe Books in Sloane Square (an early champion of Persephone Books) commented: ‘The contemporary detail is superb – Monica Dickens’s descriptions of food and clothes are particularly good – and the characters are observed with vitality and humour. Mariana is written with such verve and exuberance that we would defy any but academics and professional cynics not to enjoy it.’
Happy Reading
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a good Easter weekend so far. This week has been a little bit better blogging wise and much better reading wise.
Blog Posts
Currently Reading
I started The Priory yesterday and so far I am absolutely loving it! I will definitely be reading more books by Dorothy Whipple.
Happy Reading
Nightflyers by George R. R. Martin
Blurb
The crew of the starship Nightflyer is heading into the outer reaches of known space in search of a legendary alien race known as the volcryn.
The mission is led by Karoly d’Branin and the ship captained by the mysterious Royd Eris, who appears only as a hologram who drifts among them, sometimes playing chess with the beautiful and brilliant warrior, Melantha Jhirl.
Soon the explorers begin to feel they are being watched. Macabre accidents befall them one by one. Is there someone else on board? Royd won’t say. And there is no turning back: the volcyrn are near…
Review
When I picked this up last month I was quite excited because I enjoy reading Martin’s work outside of A Song of Ice and Fire. I was not disappointed.
As I was reading this I could clearly see it was an earlier work of Martin’s because the writing was less sophisticated than his newer works and his characters were not as in depth as his newer creations. However, this is also a novella so there isn’t too much room for development of characters. None of these things I minded though as I couldn’t put this book down.
The crew of the starship Nightflyer all have certain skill sets and qualifications so they can research the illusive Volcryn. The head of these researchers is Karoly but the captain and owner of the ship is Royd. Royd only appears to the crew as a hologram but it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems on the starship and horrific events start to unfurl.
Royd tries his best to put everyone at ease and tries to be everyone’s friend but he makes a special bond with Karoly and shares Karoly’s passion for wanting to find out more about the Volcryn. Royd forms a very special bond with the wonderful Melantha though and it soon becomes clear that that bond will be one that neither will break.
I love a good sci-fi read and the only fault I found with this book was that it was too short (not something I associate with a book by Martin)! I would have loved a more in depth novel with more background information about everyone and the worlds they come from but I can’t complain because what I did have was a wonderful, action packed little book. I would happily read this book again and have recommended it to my husband who also loves sci-fi. I give this book a big 5 Dragons out of 5 Dragons.
🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
Purchase Links
Bookshop.org | Harper Collins | Waterstones | WH Smith
(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
George Raymond Richard Martin (1948) is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer.
Happy Friday and Easter Weekend Everyone!
I hope you all have some fun plans for the Easter weekend. My husband and myself are mainly working but we have some adventures planned for next week which will be a nice break.
There is a Pleasure in the Pathless Woods
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot conceal.
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean - roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin - his control
Stops with the shore; - upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain
A shadow of man's ravage, save his own,
When for a moment, like a drop of rain,
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.
His steps are not upon thy paths, - thy fields
Are not a spoil for him, - thou dost arise
And shake him from thee; the vile strength he wields
For earth's destruction thou dost all despise,
Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies,
And send'st him, shivering in thy playful spray
And howling, to his gods, where haply lies
His petty hope in some near port or bay,
And dashest him again to earth: - there let him lay.
Lord Byron
Happy Reading
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.
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I have now finished teaching for a bit so I am hoping to get loads of reading done. I’m actually quite impressed with my reading so far this week.
What I am Currently Reading
I’m still doing my daily reading of The Fires of Heaven but I will be honest that I am not always managing a chapter. Cleopatra and Frankenstein is now a 100 pages in and I’m still not sure whether I like it or not. I will continue with it for a little longer.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
Absolutely loved these two books! Review for Nightflyers will hopefully be posted tomorrow. Review for Blade Breaker is here.
What I Think I will Read Next
As per usual I am never entirely sure what I will read next but it is highly likely it might be one of these books.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
Blurb
Fighting beside her band of unlikely companions, Corayne is learning to embrace her ancient lineage and wield her father’s powerful sword.
But while she successfully closed one of the Spindles, her journey is far from over.
Queen Erida’s army marches across Allward with her consort, Taristan, right beside them, opening more portals into nightmarish worlds, razing kingdoms to the ground.
Corayne has no choice but to assemble an army of her own if she’s to save the realm as she knows it. But perilous lands await her and the companions, and they face assassins, otherworldly beasts, and tempestuous seas all as they rally a divided Ward to fight behind them.
But Taristan has unleashed an evil far more wicked than his corpse armies. Something deadly waits in the shadows; something that might consume the world before there’s any hope for victory.
Review
This is another book that I have taken way too long to read. I really do not know why I have delayed reading this book because I absolutely loved Realm Breaker and couldn’t wait to see what happened next. I probably should have read it sooner because then it wouldn’t have taken me so long to remember what happened in the first book and remember the different characters.
OK, I know I spent a lot of time going ‘that’s from Tolkien’ but I generally do that with every fantasy book I read because every fantasy author does tend to be heavily influenced by Tolkien. I mean The Wheel of Time series by Jordan almost has direct quotes from The Lord of the Rings! However, this didn’t put me off this book and just like The Lord of the Rings I could not put this book down.
I love the characters within this series and I spent a great deal of the book worrying about the fates of Dom, Sorasa, Sigrid, Andy, Corayne and even Charlie at times. I dreaded turning a page and reading of something happening to one of these characters. I loved seeing the relationship between Dom and Sorasa develop. I loved seeing how Sigrid would happily challenge anyone to an arm wrestle and win and face any battle with bravery and bravado. The loyalty in this group of companions was moving to see.
Queen Erida might be a baddie but I do like her character. She was the child who was meant to be a boy. Her parents wanted a prince and instead they got a princess and so she has spent her life learning to be strong, learning to rule with a rod of iron and show no weaknesses. Although she is a pampered princess she is hard and unyielding and now with Taristan’s help she is showing her people and the rest of the Ward just what she is made of and her thirst for power. I do wonder what lies ahead of her and wonder whether she will need Tristan’s help for much longer or will she outgrow him?
This book left me with a lot of questions which I hope the next book will answer for me.
I am so pleased I have the next book to read so I can be put out of my misery. I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. I happily give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons and will happily read this book again.
🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
Purchase Links
Bookshop.org | Foyles | Waterstones | WH Smith
(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
Victoria Aveyard (1990) is an American writer of young adult and fantasy fiction and screenplays. She is best known for her fantasy novel Red Queen.
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. Sadly, the weather has kept me out of the garden today but I have been busy doing some teaching and chores.
My chosen book to feature this week is one I have recently purchased but one that I want to read as soon as possible because it looks really interesting.
Medea longs for a different life. Since childhood, she has been separated from her sister, shunned by her mother, and persecuted and tormented by her brother and father. All because of a unique and dangerous witchcraft.
But when a dashing young hero, Jason, arrives to claim the famed Golden Fleece that her father fiercely protects, Medea sees her opportunity for escape. Her offer to help Jason overcome the trials set by her father sets in motion a journey that will test every ounce of her strength, magic and loyalty; a journey that will see her battle monsters, dethrone kings and fall in love.
But when faced with the ultimate betrayal, Medea is driven to an act of desperation so brutal it rips apart the lives of everyone involved…
Happy Reading
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. I have managed quite a bit of reading and some gardening jobs. Blogging is still not going as well as it usually does but hopefully it will improve.
Blog Posts
Currently Reading
I’m not sure what to make of Cleopatra and Frankenstein so far. I have read 50 pages so far and I could just leave it but I will read a bit more and see if it improves.
Happy Reading
Lady Book Dragon 