Mid Week Quote: Terry Pratchett

Hello!

Yesterday was Terry Pratchett’s birthday so I decided that a Terry Pratchett quote was required. Pratchett is one of my favourite authors, I have read all of his Discworld books and many others. I used to eagerly await the latest publication and have the book preordered to either be delivered or picked up. In 2013 I read all the current published Discworld novels in publication order and loved every minute, it also helped me get through a particularly brutal Jury Duty case. So here is the quote…

“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.”

Terry Pratchett (1998)

Happy reading!

Top Five Tuesday: Series I Want to Start

This meme is hosted by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm. For more details head over to her blog.

I really liked the look of this weeks theme as there are loads of series I would like to start but I’m a bit naughty with books in a series and I tend to give up or read the books in the wrong order. So here are my Top Five Series I Want to Start…

1. The 100 Series by Kass Morgan

I own all the books in this series and they are currently sat on my TBR pile making me feel guilty for not starting them yet. I haven’t seen the TV series but my husband has watched them all.

2. The Expanse (Novel series) by James S. A. Corey

I love the TV series of this and I own the first book in the series which I really want to start as I love a sci-fi book.

3. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

This is another series that I own but have never attempted reading but really want to but the first book is rather thick and tends to put me off slightly.

4. Languedoc Series by Kate Moss

I love the sound of this series and to be honest I’m not sure why I haven’t read them yet. Maybe something to start whilst in lockdown.

5. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

I have read some of Robin Hobb’s books in the past and really enjoyed them so would love to read this series.

So that is my Top Five Tuesday this week. Please drop me a link with your Top Five and please give me your thoughts on the series I have mentioned if you have read them.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming

About the author

Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Second World War Navy Commander. He was a grandson of the Scottish financier Robert Fleming, who founded the Scottish American Investment Trust and the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co.

Fleming is best remembered for creating the character of James Bond and chronicling his adventures in twelve novels and nine short stories. Additionally, Fleming wrote the children’s story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and two non-fiction books.

Blurb

“With the proceeds from his latest invention, Crackpot Whistling Sweets, Commander Caractacus Pott buys his family their first car. It looks like a wreck, but once restored it turns out to be no ordinary vehicle: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a magical car which can fly, swim and even think. Chitty and the eccentric, plucky Pott family set off on a succession of increasingly perilous adventures that take them across the English Channel and all the way to Paris.

Review

I will be honest I have never read Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but I absolutely love the film and watched it again over Easter which made me think it was high time to read the book. Thankfully I had some Waterstones points to order the book.

I was so excited when I started reading this book and it was just perfect, I loved everything about it. The first thing that I did notice was that the book and film are completely different. Now I know that there are always differences between the book and film but this was major, it was like Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes who wrote the screenplay only read the first few chapters of the book and did not bother with the rest of the book.

Thankfully, I did love the book just as much as the film. I also loved the background information that you got in the introduction about the original Chitty Bang Bang built by Count Zborowski.

The Pott family are just adorable, the perfect eccentric family. Caractacus the father is an inventor and explorer but he is much more interested in his inventing. Mimsie is the mother who lets Caractacus get on with his inventing and supports whatever he suggests. The twins Jeremy and Jemima love their crazy family and also fully support their father. The twins also go to private school so their adventure with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has to be during their school holidays.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a magical car that is part of the family and you can’t help but feel for the car when you read about her. She comes across as that wonderful favourite family pet.

The story is beautifully written and it does feel like a James Bond story but for children which I love. I adored this book and highly recommend it for children and adults. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.

Purchase Links

Book Depository • Waterstones

On Chapel Sands: My Mother and Other Missing Persons by Laura Cumming (Review)

On Chapel Sands: My Mother and Other Missing Persons by Laura Cumming

About the author

Laura Cumming (born July 1961) the art critic for The Observer. In addition to her career in journalism, Cumming has written well-received books on self-portraits in art and the discovery of a lost portrait by Diego Velázquez in 1845.

Blurb

In the autumn of 1929, a small child was kidnapped from a Lincolnshire beach. Five agonising days went by before she was found in a nearby village. The child remembered nothing of these events and nobody ever spoke of them at home. It was another fifty years before she even learned of the kidnap.

The girl became an artist and had a daughter, art writer Laura Cumming. Cumming grew up enthralled by her mother’s strange tales of life in a seaside hamlet of the 1930s, and of the secrets and lies perpetuated by a whole community. So many puzzles remained to be solved. Cumming began with a few criss-crossing lives in this fraction of English coast – the postman, the grocer, the elusive baker – but soon her search spread right out across the globe as she discovered just how many lives were affected by what happened that day on the beach – including her own.

Review

I had such high hopes for this book and I was so excited when I bought it because I loved the sound of the book and thought it sounded like a fantastic read. Sadly, I was very disappointed, although I know that this is probably a controversial opinion looking at other reviews on Goodreads and on book blogs. I do however think the hype and advertising for this book has been very misleading in just how gripping the story is.

I enjoyed the beginning of this book but quickly guessed the outcome as it was just an age old story that has happened many times in history.

This to me was a book of meandering thoughts and it drove me mad, Cumming clearly knows her stuff about art and history but this book really needed to be more to the point. Cumming just kept going off course and it was infuriating, this also meant that there was far too much book for the main thread of the story. It really could have been half the length and for me would have been a lot more enjoyable if it had been shorter and more to the point. It was like Cumming was worried it was going to be too short so she padded it out with other random thoughts.

I can see that this story is written for the love of her mother and I can imagine that Cumming’s mother must be very touched by her daughter’s book but to the casual reader it is too much. It is also very repetitive at times. I was grinding my teeth in frustration. It really could have done with someone just gently removing the repetition from the book for Cumming.

Overall I’m amazed I stuck this book out because some days I could have quite easily chucked it through the window but I did finish it in the end just to see the outcome. I give this book 2 out of 5 Dragons because only books that I do not finish get 1 Dragon.

Purchase Links

Book Depository • Waterstones

Friday Poetry: A. E. Housman

Hello!

You will have noticed that this isn’t Friday but I will be honest I forgot the days of the week and forgot it was Friday yesterday. However, I have decided I will post the poem anyway because everything is so random at the moment anyway.

I have chosen another Housman poem I think this will now be my fourth, I feel I might be getting another favourite poet! This poem is all about not being able to go back but to live in the present instead.

Into my Heart an air that Kills

Into my heart an air that kills

From yon far country blows:

What are those blue remembered hills,

What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,

I see it shining plain,

The happy highways where I went

And cannot come again.

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I hope this post finds everyone well and safe. So here is what I have got up to this week other than reading.

Jigsaw

I have started another Jigsaw and now just have the sky left, I always find the sky to be the worst part in a jigsaw.

Cooking and Baking

I have been trying to do a recipe each week that I have never made before and this week was spaghetti carbonara, it was very yummy. I also made one of my favourites, rhubarb crumble with soya custard.

Walking

We are still going on daily walks and regularly go and see these three sheep we have affectionately nicknamed the Three Amigos!

Flute

I have been really enjoying practising the flute everyday for at least an hour, it is so nice to enjoy playing again.

New Skill

I bought a Ukulele and so today I started learning how to play it. Thankfully, I used to play the guitar so it is all coming back. I’m really enjoying learning a new skill so will see how it goes.

So, that is what I have been up to this week. Please drop me a comment with what you have been up to as well.

Mid Week Quote: Katharine Hepburn

Hello everyone

Here is my chosen quote for today, which is attributed to Katharine Hepburn.

“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.”

Katharine Hepburn (1991)

WWW Wednesday: 22/04/2020

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and a 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?

Another good week reading! Here we go…

What I am currently reading

Still plodding along with Homer but I am enjoying it. The Herodotus is part of some recommended summer reading for the next part of my course.

What I recently finished reading

Absolutely loved The Carpet People but On Chapel Sands drove me mad and to be honest I’m not entirely sure how I finished it.

What I might read next

Another selection of books, hopefully I read one of these next but I seem to be quite picky at the moment change my mind a great deal on what to read next.

That is another WWW Wednesday is complete. Drop me a comment with your thoughts on the books I have listed and of course please drop your link to your WWW Wednesday.

Top 10 Tuesday: Titles that would make good band names

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!

I’m back again for another Top 10 Tuesday, I must admit I was very excited about this one as it appeals to my my musical background and my love of books. Some titles are linked to the reviews. So here goes…

Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss

Dead Men by Richard Pierce

Fear Itself by James Swallow

Jaws by Peter Benchley

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

Watermelon Snow by William A. Liggett

Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott

Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter

So that is my Top 10 Tuesday! Drop me a link with your thoughts and with your Top 10 and I will check them out!

Keep Reading!

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett (Review)

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

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.

Blurb

In the beginning, there was nothing but endless flatness. Then came the Carpet…

That’s the old story everyone knows and loves (even if they don’t really believe it). But now the Carpet is home to many different tribes and peoples and there’s a new story in the making. The story of Fray, sweeping a trail of destruction across the Carpet. The story of power-hungry mouls – and of two Munrung brothers, who set out on an adventure to end all adventures when their village is flattened.

It’s a story that will come to a terrible end – if someone doesn’t do something about it. If everyone doesn’t do something about it…

Review

It was so good to read a Pratchett book again as it has been way too long. During the lockdown to read a book by one of my favourite authors was like a warm comfort blanket wrapped around me. The Carpet People was written by a 17 year old Pratchett but this edition is the one that he republished after going through and making a few changes.

I really enjoyed reading this book as it was full of the typical humour of Pratchett and although it was not as refined as his Discworld novels it was still a joy to read. I loved how this book made my imagination run wild, it reminded me of the Borrowers, a race of people that live in the carpet.

The fascinating world of the carpet is brilliant with all the different tribes, kingdoms and an empire. I loved how the individuality of the people came through. I also loved how the women decided to do battle and fight for women’s rights at the end.

I have seen some pretty bad reviews about this book and it really surprises me as I know this book has a few flaws with characters randomly disappearing but since this was one of Pratchett’s first books it is bound to have some flaws as Pratchett was starting to find his feet as an author. Obviously if you compare it to the Discworld books it is lacking slightly but it is still a highly enjoyable story to read which will give you a good giggle.

I highly recommend this book to all fantasy and comedy lovers, it is a quick read that will make you laugh. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.

Purchase Links

Book Depository

Waterstones