February 2023 TBR

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. I have had a busy day with my Etsy store putting new products on the store and getting orders ready to post on Monday.

This year due to my challenges I am trying to be a little more structured with my reading but also leaving room for some mood reading as well. Every month I plan to read at least one non-fiction book, one Ancient Roman or Greek text, one Persephone book and one book off my Classics Club list.

So here are the books I plan to read for February.

Non- Fiction Read

This has been on my wish list for ages and when I had it for a Christmas present I decided I had to read it ASAP. I have actually started reading it and so far I can’t put it down.

Ancient Greek or Roman Text

This is actually on my Classics Club list as well but I am going to try and read another book off my Classics Club list this month as well.

Persephone Book

I really want to read this or at least start it this month as it is rather a large book.

Classics Club List

I’ve been sorting through some of my books recently and found my copy of this so I have left it out ready to read this month. I also have a beautiful antique copy of this book at my parents house which contains some stunning engravings but for now it will stay safely at my parents house till I get some proper bookshelves.

So those are my planned reads for this month whatever time I have left in the month I will devote to my mood reads.

I hope you have some good books planned for February.

Happy Reading

Friday Poetry: Li Po

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone has some fun plans for the weekend.

My chosen poem today is by a Chinese poet Li Po (701-762).

Poem is translated by Shigeyoshi Obata.

Addressed Humorously to Tu Fu

Here! is this you on the top of Fan-ko Mountain,
Wearing a huge hat in the noon-day sun?
How thin, how wretchedly thin, you have grown!
You must have been suffering from poetry again. 

Li Po

Happy Reading

Etsy

Reading My Height in Books #1

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a good day so far. My friend has been asking for an update on my challenge to read my height in books so here is my first update this year. I grabbed Lyra for the photo as well, she wasn’t that impressed.

The height of the books is at 6 inches just 61 inches to go!

In 2021 when I first tried this challenge the height of the pile was also at 6 inches with the books I had read in January. However, I really do not want to fail the challenge this time around so I must try and get higher numbers.

What reading challenges have you got for 2023 and are you on track?

Happy Reading

Etsy

WWW Wednesday: 1/02/2023

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 have had rather a trying day at school today so I am looking forward to curling up with my book later.

What I am Currently Reading

I have fallen a bit behind with my aim of reading a chapter of this a day so today during my lunch break I made an effort to try and catch up and I am really enjoying reading it. I think I will stick to reading just this book for a few days and see how it goes.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I finished this book this morning and I must admit I am quite pleased I finished it as I found this a really hard slog of a read.

What I Think I will Read Next

I am trying to be more structured with my reading this year so I am trying to keep up with my planned reads each month but also allowing myself some mood reads as well. I plan to read The Woman Who Would Be King as my nonfiction book this month.

Happy Reading

Etsy

January 2023 Wrap Up

Hello!

Welcome to the first Wrap Up of 2023. I really can’t believe we are already at the end of January, it seems to have flown by.

I am really pleased with the reading I have managed in January, I just hope I can keep it up for the rest of the year 2023.

Statistics

Books

Pages: 388

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 91

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 468

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 576

Format Read: Paperback (Proof Copy)

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 304

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 144

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

6/80 Goodreads Monday

I’m really pleased I managed to read one non-fiction book and an Ancient Greek book this month hopefully I can continue. I had wanted to finish a book off my Classics Club list as well but I haven’t quite finished it yet but I do only have 40 pages left so it won’t be long.

I hope everyone had a good January for reading.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Goodreads Monday: 30/01/2023

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 so far. I have had a rather long day but I did manage a bit of reading during my lunch break which is good as I am taking part in the Bookly Readathon over the next few days.

Taking place in the years leading up to the First Reform Bill of 1832, Middlemarch explores nearly every subject of concern to modern life: art, religion, science, politics, self, society, human relationships. Among her characters are some of the most remarkable portraits in English literature: Dorothea Brooke, the heroine, idealistic but naive; Rosamond Vincy, beautiful and egoistic: Edward Casaubon, the dry-as-dust scholar: Tertius Lydgate, the brilliant but morally-flawed physician: the passionate artist Will Ladislaw: and Fred Vincey and Mary Garth, childhood sweethearts whose charming courtship is one of the many humorous elements in the novel’s rich comic vein.

Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

The Weekly Brief

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. My husband and myself only had to work this morning so we decided to go out for lunch which was a nice treat.

Blogging wise I am still up to date with all my reviews and the reading is going well.

Posts this Week

Currently Reading

Happy Reading

Etsy

Darkness Rising by A. A. Dhand (Review #6)

Darkness Rising by A. A. Dhand

Blurb

Detective Inspector Harry Virdee has a lot on his plate. His team is facing government cuts, tensions are building between Bradford’s two rival drugs gangs and his wife Saima is due to give birth any day now.

So when bodies start turning up in the old industrial district, the pressure is on to get the case wrapped up as quickly as possible, or risk a full-scale gang war.

But the man behind the murders is ruthless and pushy. And things are getting personal. Harry must think fast and bend the rules if he wants to keep his city, and his family, safe . . .

Review

I picked this up because I was craving a quick and easy read and I always find the Quick Reads series perfect for this. As soon as I picked this book up and started reading it I couldn’t put it down. 

I really like the character of Harry Virdee. Harry wants to protect Bradford, he wants to make it a good place again because it is his home and he has happy memories there as well as painful ones. However, Harry doesn’t always play by the rules that a man of the law should play by. He likes to bend them slightly to get the results he needs. 

Along with cleaning the streets of Bradford from crime with a skeleton team due to cuts he also has a heavily pregnant wife at home who could go into labour at anytime. This can lead to quite a stressful situation when multiple murders suddenly take place and Harry must try and find the murderer.

This book is fast paced and action packed and keeps the reader engaged from start to finish. And unlike certain Quick Reads books it feels like a proper story and not a cut down or rushed story. Although the book doesn’t give much chance for the characters to develop or for the reader to learn the characters’ history, it is a perfect introduction to the series where you hope that you will learn more about the main characters. 

I really enjoyed this book and I plan on reading the next book in the series as soon as it arrives because I am not willing to abandon the characters just yet. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons. 

🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

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About the author

A.A. Dhand was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired his Harry Virdee novels.

Etsy

Friday Poetry: Charles Causley

Happy Friday!

I hope you all have some fab plans for the weekend.

My chosen poem for this week is by the English poet, school teacher and writer Charles Causley (1917-2003).

I am the Song

I am the song that sings the bird.
I am the leaf that grows the land.
I am the tide that moves the moon.
I am the stream that halts the sand.
I am the cloud that drives the storm.
I am the earth that lights the sun.
I am the fire that strikes the stone.
I am the clay that shapes the hand.
I am the word that speaks the man.

Charles Causley

Happy Reading

Etsy