Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For more info please check out Jana’s blog.
Hello!
It has been quite a while since I have taken part in Top Ten Tuesday but I loved the prompt for today so I thought I would join in. This weeks prompt has really made my brain hurt. Turns out I am not very good at thinking of one word reviews.
Blind Spot by Paula Hawkins
Unexpected
2. Women of Holy Week: An Easter Journey in Nine Stories by Paula Gooder
Reflective
3. A Crime in Holland by Georges Simenon
Frustrating
4. The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins
Beautiful
5. Big Panda and Tiny Dragon by James Norbury
Thoughtful
6. Roverandom by J. R. R. Tolkien
Magical
7. Nemesis Games by James S. A. Corey
Exhilarating
8. The Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon
Mysterious
9. Wonderlands by Una McCormack
Melancholy
10. Galatea by Madeline Miller
Disappointing
Please drop me a link with your Top Ten Tuesday and I will head over for a visit. Also please feel free to leave a comment if you want to chat about any of the books.
Happy Reading
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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 and welcome to the first Goodreads Monday of May.
My chosen book this week is actually one I have read before but one I have put back on my TBR pile because I absolutely love it and want to reread it this year.
Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is the third novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, it is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialisation to community.
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Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. My weekend has been very busy work wise but I’m hoping to get a bit of reading in tonight, if I don’t fall straight asleep.
I hope everyone has some good plans for the weekend. I have another busy weekend ahead but I am hoping to fit in some reading.
My chosen poem this week is by E. V. Rieu (1887-1972) who is best known for translating The Odyssey.
The Hippopotamus's Birthday
He has opened all his parcels
but the largest and the last;
His hopes are at their highest
and his heart is beating fast.
O happy Hippopotamus,
what lovely gift is here?
He cuts the string. The world stands still.
A pair of boots appear!
O little Hippopotamus,
the sorrows of the small!
He dropped two tears to mingle
with the flowing Senegal;
And the 'Thank you' that he uttered
was the saddest ever heard
In the Senegambian jungle
from the mouth of beast or bird.
E. V. Rieu
Happy Reading
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When a French professor visiting the quiet, Dutch coastal town of Delfzijl is accused of murder, Maigret is sent to investigate. The community seem happy to blame an unknown outsider, but there are people much closer to home who seem to know much more than they’re letting on: Beetje, the dissatisfied daughter of a local farmer, Any van Elst, sister-in-law of the deceased, and, of course, a notorious local crook.
Review
I will be honest, I struggled a little bit with this book and I think it was because Maigret was held at a disadvantage because the language barrier that he encountered when investigating. I did eventually get into the book and loved the storyline.
Maigret finds himself sent to a Dutch town to investigate a murder. The reason he is investigating a murder in a foreign country is because the accused is a French professor. Poor Maigret is definitely out of his comfort zone in this book. He can’t go into a French cafe for a nice drink to help him think, the streets he walks are not the streets he knows so well and he finds himself having a go at crossing a canal by jumping on the floating logs, which would never happen on his normal beat.
As Maigret investigates the murder he soon finds out that there are a lot of potential murderers. There is the annoying Beetje, who is a terrible flirt who hates being the daughter of a farmer and feels trapped at home. Then there is Any van Elst, the sister-in-law of the victim and who Maigret keeps reminding us is not a good looking woman. There is even the wife of the deceased and of course the accused French professor. Then for good measure there is a local who is known to make his living in underhand ways but who was a good friend of the deceased.
As Maigret tries to piece together the events of the evening that saw the murder happen he is hampered by deliberate red herrings and secrets that the locals wish to keep hidden. In the end Maigret decides to recreate the night of the murder, with himself playing the deceased, to force the murderer out.
The descriptions of the different locations in the book and the atmosphere that Simenon creates are the things that I love most about this book. You can easily imagine Maigret who is not a small man attempting to cross a canal using floating logs as stepping stones. Once I got into this book I did enjoy it and give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.
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About the author
Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was a Belgian writer who published nearly 500 novels and many short stories. Simenon is best known as the creator of the Maigret stories.
So we find ourselves half way through the week. I have so far had a good week teaching but sadly I have not got much reading done so far this week and this is mainly to just been too tired in an evening. Fingers crossed I will get some reading done soon.
My chosen quote this week is by one of my favourite musicians and people, Dolly Parton.
“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”
Dolly Parton
Happy Reading
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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 is having a good week so far. I have had a thoroughly productive day of teaching and attacking the garden, although it still looks like a wilderness but I hope it looks a bit better.
My chosen book this week is another one off my Classics Club list.
Brought up at Dorlcote Mill, Maggie Tulliver worships her brother Tom and is desperate to win the approval of her parents, but her passionate, wayward nature and her fierce intelligence bring her into constant conflict with her family. As she reaches adulthood, the clash between their expectations and her desires is painfully played out as she finds herself torn between her relationships with three very different men: her proud and stubborn brother, a close friend who is also the son of her family’s worst enemy, and a charismatic but dangerous suitor. With its poignant portrayal of sibling relationships, The Mill on the Floss is considered George Eliot’s most autobiographical novel; it is also one of her most powerful and moving.
(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.)
Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday 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
Women of Holy Week: An Easter Journey in Nine Stories by Paula Gooder
Blurb
In the style of her bestselling Phoebe, Paula Gooder uses her extensive biblical expertise to retell the events of the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension through the eyes of nine female characters she imagines accompanying Jesus during these momentous days. Accompanied by nine colour illustrations, each story brings to life the tension, drama and shock of the events of Holy Week, banishing any over-familiarity and helping readers enter into the Passion narrative in a deeper, more meaningful way. Originally given as a series of addresses at Southward Cathedral during Holy Week 2021, these nine stories are for all who long to encounter Jesus afresh through the Easter Story.
Review
I read about this book on a Twitter account and thought it would be an interesting read on the run up to Easter and I was not disappointed.
The women in Jesus’ life are quite often overlooked in the bible. This is partly due to the period in which the bible was written and how women were valued and treated in that time and also because certain books have been removed from the bible. However, Jesus did not underestimate the women who were in his life, he valued them. These women never left him, they were there at his death and they were there when he had risen.
The book contains nine stories of different women, some are named in the bible and some are given names by Gooder. Through these stories we get an insight into the last week of Jesus’ life. Some of these stories are quite well documented in the bible but for some of the stories Gooder has used a bit of poetic licence but one thing is for certain all these stories are possible.
I really enjoyed this book, I found it interesting and thought provoking and I also enjoyed the extra notes that Gooder provides at the end of the book. The notes give the bible readings that go with the stories and extra details about the history of the bible readings. I even used one of the women’s stories in a service I took before Easter and it worked really well. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will be reading more books by Paula Gooder. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.
(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
Paula Gooder is a speaker and writer on the Bible, particularly on the New Testament. She began her working life, teaching for twelve years in ministerial formation first at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford and then at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham. Following this she spent around eight years as a speaker and writer in biblical studies travelling the country and seeking to communicate the best of biblical scholarship in as accessible a way as possible, after that she spent six years working for the Bible Society as their Theologian in Residence and then for the Birmingham Diocese as their Director of Mission Learning and Development. She is currently the Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
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My chosen poem this week is by the poet and author Edith Nesbit (1858-1924).
Child's Song in Spring
The Silver Birch is a dainty lady,
She wears a satin gown;
The elm tree makes the old churchyard shady,
She will not live in town.
The English oak is a sturdy fellow,
He gets his green coat late;
The willow is smart in a suit of yellow
While brown the beech trees wait.
Such a gay green gown God gives the larches -
As green as he is good!
The hazels hold up their arms for arches,
When spring rides through the wood.
The chestnut's proud, and the lilac's pretty,
The poplar's gentle and tall,
But the plane tree's kind to the poor dull city -
I love him best of all!
Edith Nesbit
Happy Reading
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