A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett (Review #43)

A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett

Blurb

Twenty early short stories by one of the world’s best loved authors, each accompanied by exquisite original woodcut illustrations.

These are rediscovered tales that Pratchett wrote under a pseudonym for newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s. Whilst none are set in the Discworld, they hint towards the world he would go on to create, containing all of his trademark wit, satirical wisdom and fantastic imagination.

Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Ministry of Nuisances with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and go on a dangerous quest through time and space with hero Kron, which begins in the ancient city of Morpork…

Review

I was so excited to read this book and it went immediately to the top of my TBR pile when it arrived. I couldn’t wait to read the words of one of my all time favourite authors again and I was not disappointed.

In all honesty I could have happily read this book in one sitting but sadly these things called work and tiredness rather got in the way. However, it didn’t take me too long to fly through the book and it made a lovely distraction from work.

I know these stories are some of Pratchett’s early work which was written under a pseudonym but as soon as I started reading them I recognised Pratchett’s voice and excellent sense of humour. Each story was excellently written and had me laughing out loud.

The Christmas themed stories had me longing for snow and Christmassy scenes. In fact I might reread the Christmas stories closer to Christmas to get me into the spirit of Christmas. My particular favourites of the Christmas stories were ‘A Partridge in a Post Box’ and ‘How Good King Wenceslas Went Pop for the DJ’s Feast of Stephen’. I loved how Pratchett had used the popular Christmas Carol as part of the story. I found myself trying to sing the story to the words. ‘How Scrooge Saw the Spectral Light (Ho! Ho! Ho!) And Went Happily Back to Humbug’ I also found incredibly clever and a really interesting take on the traditional Christmas story from Dickens because what exactly did happen all those years later once the spirits had left Scrooge alone?

I enjoyed so many of the stories in this book and definitely didn’t find a story that I didn’t like. I loved seeing the beginnings of the Discworld series and Pratchett’s characters and writing style take shape. What I also found fascinating was the story of how this book came about. If it wasn’t for the patience and perseverance of Pat and Jan Harkin we might never have had this wonderful book of short stories.

This book was a joy to read and one I will happily dip into again and again. I give this book 5 out 5 Dragons and it has to be one of my favourite reads for 2023.

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Purchase Links

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About the author

Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels.

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The Classics Club: Spin #35 – Results

Hello!

The results are in and I am so happy! The number for the Spin event was 2. Number on 2 my list is Persuasion by Jane Austen. This will be a reread for me but as I love Austen and Persuasion is my favourite Austen novel I am not complaining. I can’t wait to get reading this fabulous book. I am still hoping to read Northanger Abbey this month so the end of this year will be a filled with Austen.

Persuasion is Jane Austen’s last completed novel. She began it soon after she had finished Emma, completing it in August 1816. She died, aged 41, in 1817; Persuasion was published in December that year (but dated 1818). Persuasion is linked to Northanger Abbey not only by the fact that the two books were originally bound up in one volume and published together, but also because both stories are set partly in Bath, a fashionable city with which Austen was well acquainted, having lived there from 1801 to 1805. Besides the theme of persuasion, the novel evokes other topics, such as the Royal Navy, in which two of Jane Austen’s brothers ultimately rose to the rank of admiral. As in Northanger Abbey, the superficial social life of Bath-well known to Austen, who spent several relatively unhappy and unproductive years there-is portrayed extensively and serves as a setting for the second half of the book. In many respects Persuasion marks a break with Austen’s previous works, both in the more biting, even irritable satire directed at some of the novel’s characters and in the regretful, resigned outlook of its otherwise admirable heroine, Anne Elliot, in the first part of the story. Against this is set the energy and appeal of the Royal Navy, which symbolises for Anne and the reader the possibility of a more outgoing, engaged, and fulfilling life, and it is this worldview which triumphs for the most part at the end of the novel.

I really hope I finish the book before the 3rd December 2023.

Please drop me a comment if you are doing the Classics Club challenge or if you have taken part in the Spin Challenge.

Happy Reading

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The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a good weekend so far. Sadly not much reading again but I did manage to finish a book.

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Friday Poetry: E. V. Rieu

Happy Friday!

What will everyone be reading this weekend? I am hoping to finish Divine Might by Natalie Haynes and start a new book but as per usual I’m not sure what.

My chosen poem today is by E. V. Rieu (1887-1972). Rieu was a celebrated translator and editor, and the man behind the Penguin Classics range. In his spare time he wrote poetry for children.

The Flattered Flying Fish

Said the Shark to the Flying Fish over the phone:
'Will you join me tonight? I am dining alone.
Let me order a nice little dinner for two!
And come as you are, in your shimmering blue.'

Said the Flying Fish: 'Fancy remembering me, 
And the dress that I wore at the Porpoises' Tea!'
'How could I forget?' said the Shark in his guile:
'I expect you at eight!' and rang off with a smile. 

She has powdered her nose; she has put on her things;
She is off with one flap of her luminous wings.
O little one, lovely, light hearted and vain,
The Moon will not shine on your beauty again! 

E. V. Rieu

Happy Reading

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The Classics Club: Spin #35

Hello!

I haven’t taken part in a Classics Club Spin event in ages so I thought it was high time to take part again. My classics reading hasn’t been great so far this year and I know if I am going to manage the full 50 books I need to increase my reading.

Anyway, here are my selected 20 for the spin on the 15th October. I will then read the chosen book before 3rd December.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Cecilia by Frances Burney
Evelina by Frances Burney
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood
The Runaway by Elizabeth Anna Hart
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Candide by Volatire
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Bleak House by Charles Dickens

I’ve listed all the female authors from my list and then made up the rest with some of the male authors. Hopefully, a female author book is chosen as I really fancy a classic by a female author.

Happy Reading

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Mid Week Quote: May Sarton

Hello!

I had a blissful hour sat in my car today reading my book during my lunch break and it was so nice to just have the time. I’ve fallen so far behind with my reading recently I’m now pretty sure I won’t catch up.

My chosen quote today is by the Belgian-American novelist, poet and memoirist Eleanore Marie Sarton (1912-1995). May Sarton was Sarton’s pen name.

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.”
May Sarton

Happy Reading

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Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths (Review #42)

Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths

Blurb

Ruth’s old friend Dan Golding dies in a house fire. But before he died Dan wrote to Ruth telling her that he had made a ground-breaking archaeological discovery. Could this find be linked to his death and who are the sinister neo-Nazi group who were threatening Dan? Ruth makes the trip to Blackpool to investigate, wary of encroaching on DCI Harry Nelson’s home ground. Soon Ruth is embroiled in a mystery that involves the Pendle Witches, King Arthur and – scariest of all – Nelson’s mother.

There are forces at work in the town that that threaten all that Ruth holds dear. But, in the final showdown on Blackpool Pleasure Beach, it is Cathbad who faces the greatest danger of all.

Review

At the end of September I needed a comfort read and this usually means I pick up a Dr Ruth Galloway book. I still haven’t read all the books from the series but I am almost there.

I will be honest I did get a little bit annoyed with Ruth in this book. I thought her reaction to visiting Judy and the new born baby rather selfish and considering she was a mother and has been in Judy’s position she wasn’t very understanding. She is also constantly so down on herself which I think is sad because she is clearly a wonderful woman who has a lot to live for.

The thing I loved about this book was that we learn more about the characters we have come to love. We learn more about Nelson’s mom and sisters and the arguments they have and find fun. We learn more about Cathbad’s childhood in Ireland and his mother and grandmother. We also learn about Michelle’s mother and Nelson’s relationship with his mother-in-law. I honestly couldn’t get enough of the background information that was packed in this book. It really made me understand and appreciate the characters more.

Dan’s discovery that Ruth goes to investigate is fascinating and I found it really intriguing. As per usual the archaeological side and history and myth side were bang on and Griffiths had clearly done her research. I really wanted to know more about the discovery and I hope it might be mentioned more in the next book.

This book is packed full of events, we have arson, suicide, murder, kidnapping and more. The book is non stop and it was really interesting to have it mainly set in Blackpool rather than Norfolk. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Foyles | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Elly Griffiths was born in London and began her career in publishing, she then turned to writing full time. In 2016 she won the CWA Dagger in the Library for her work. Griffiths lives in Brighton with her family.

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Goodreads Monday: 9/10/2023

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.

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. My day has been particularly exhausting but I have worked out a good reading routine whilst at school. I can average half a page of reading whilst I’m waiting for my next student to arrive and I must admit it soon adds up.

My chosen book to feature this week is one I picked up in Hay-on-Wye during the Summer. I thought it would the perfect read for October so I’m hoping I manage to read it this month. If it gets cold enough I might even manage to read it in front of a nice fire.

This is a book to be read by a blazing fire on a winter’s night, with the curtains drawn close and the doors securely locked.

The unquiet souls of the dead, both as fictional creations and as ‘real’ apparitions, roam the pages of this haunting new selection of ghost stories by Rex Collings. Some of these stories are classics while others are lesser-known gems unearthed from this vintage era of tales of the supernatural.

There are stories from distant lands – Fisher’s Ghost by John Lang is set in Australia and A Ghostly Manifestation by ‘A Clergyman’ is set in Calcutta. In this selection, Sir Walter Scott (a Victorian in spirit if not in fact), keeps company with Edgar Allen Poe, Sheridan Le Fanu and other illustrious masters of the genre.

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

Happy Reading

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If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend. Very little reading has taken place this weekend but hopefully I will catch up during the week.

Blog Posts

Currently Reading

Happy Reading

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The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse (Review #41)

The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse

Blurb

Carcassonne 1562: Nineteen-year-old Minou Joubert receives an anonymous letter at her father’s bookshop. Sealed with a distinctive family crest, it contains just five words: SHE KNOWS THAT YOU LIVE. But before Minou can decipher the mysterious message, a chance encounter with a young Huguenot convert, Piet Reydon, changes her destiny forever. For Piet has a dangerous mission of his own, and he will need Minou’s help if he is to get out of La Cité alive. Toulouse: As the religious divide deepens in the Midi, and old friends become enemies, Minou and Piet both find themselves trapped in Toulouse, facing new dangers as sectarian tensions ignite across the city, the battle-lines are drawn in blood and the conspiracy darkens further. Meanwhile, as a long-hidden document threatens to resurface, the mistress of Puivert is obsessed with uncovering its secret and strengthening her power.

Review

This book was a holiday read for me so the review is rather late. Hopefully, I am starting to catch up with them now though. I really like Kate Mosse’s work so I was very excited to start reading this series.

I was really excited to read this book and it did not disappoint. The only problem I had with the book was I found the narrative a little bitty and at times this made the book drag. It didn’t feel like Kate Mosse’s usual flow of narrative.

This historical fiction novel was packed with adventure, mystery, conflict and some romance. Mosse takes us back to France’s Wars on religion the fighting between the Catholic Church and the Huguenots. The story is set in Languedoc in 1562, in Carcassonne. Minou Joubert is the main character of this book and when she receives an anonymous letter saying ‘She knows that you live’ her life is about to be turned upside down.

When Minou meets a Huguenot convert called Piet Reydon who needs her help to leave La Cite they find themselves drawn to each other in the most dangerous of circumstances. The story then begins to pick up pace and we are shown how family secrets can be hard to bear and the consequences of secrets.

As well as Minou’s story we also have the battle between the Catholics and Huguenot’s going on. Neighbour turns on neighbour and lives of innocents are caught in the middle. The story is fast paced and sets the scene for the time and location beautifully. I really enjoyed this book and the only thing that let it down was the bitty narrative. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Bookshop.org | Foyles | Waterstones | WH Smith

About the author

Kate Mosse is an international bestselling author with sales of more than five million copies in 42 languages. Her fiction includes the novels Labyrinth (2005), Sepulchre (2007), The Winter Ghosts (2009), and Citadel (2012), as well as an acclaimed collection of short stories, The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales (2013). Kate’s new novel, The Taxidermist’s Daughter is out now.

Kate is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (previously the Orange Prize) and in June 2013, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to literature. She lives in Sussex.