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!
Is everyone ready for Christmas yet? I am still nowhere near ready for Christmas but hopefully I will get there soon. One thing I do know is that I won’t be able to read as many books as I usually do in December this year.
What I am Currently Reading
I just started the poems today and so far so good. Yes I am still plodding along with the Kate Mosse and I am determined to finish it before the New Year.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories wasn’t really a finish because once I got to page 136 the book started again at page 89. I was really frustrated and upset about this as I was really enjoying the book but sadly I am unable to finish it. I did ask Penguin about this on Twitter but they chose to ignore my tweet, oh well. I finished Murder in the Falling Snow this morning and I really enjoyed it. I really enjoy these books and I always make sure I buy the new one each year.
What I Think I will Read Next
I really don’t have a clue what I will read next. To be honest it all depends on my mood.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
The Dragon Reborn—the leader long prophesied who will save the world, but in the saving destroy it; the saviour who will run mad and kill all those dearest to him—is on the run from his destiny.
Able to touch the One Power, but unable to control it, and with no one to teach him how—for no man has done it in three thousand years—Rand al’Thor knows only that he must face the Dark One. But how?
Winter has stopped the war—almost—yet men are dying, calling out for the Dragon. But where is he?
Perrin Aybara is in pursuit with Moiraine Sedai, her Warder Lan, and Loial the Ogier. Bedeviled by dreams, Perrin is grappling with another deadly problem—how is he to escape the loss of his own humanity?
Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve are approaching Tar Valon, where Mat will be healed—if he lives until they arrive. But who will tell the Amyrlin their news—that the Black Ajah, long thought only a hideous rumour, is all too real? They cannot know that in Tar Valon far worse awaits…
Ahead, for all of them, in the Heart of the Stone, lies the next great test of the Dragon reborn….
Review
This is the third time I have read this book but this time through I am determined to actually finish the series and not give up after book 5.
I really enjoyed this book because it wasn’t overly focused on Rand, the events the book focuses on are linked with Rand but isn’t thankfully on him. I will be honest Rand drives me up the wall. All I want to do with Rand is shake him and tell him to stop being a stroppy teenager and grow up.
My favourite character in this book is Perrin. Perrin has a lot to deal with but he doesn’t sulk and act out, he handles it like a man. Perrin has discovered something about himself and it is hard for him to accept but he is trying to deal with it as best he can. Perrin is with Moraine Sedai, Lan and Loial in pursuit of Rand and the pursuit is not easy because Perrin doesn’t know who to trust and because he sees the devastation that follows Rand wherever he goes.
This book also lets us spend more time with Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve which is nice because we start to see what strong characters these three women are. We also get to learn more about Tar Valon which I find fascinating. I really hope we learn more about the tower and the history of the Aes Sedai in the next books.
This book also introduces more of the Forsaken and gives us more of the history about them. We learn how many are no longer imprisoned and we learn more about the individual Forsaken backgrounds. We also learn that more people are Darkfriends and that nobody can be truly trusted.
I really enjoyed this book and I think I enjoyed it more than the previous times I have read the book. I plan on really getting into the series during 2023 but I know that certain books in the series are not as good as others. 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
James Oliver Rigney Jr. (1948-2007) was an American author of epic fantasy who wrote under the pen name Robert Jordan. Jordan also wrote historical fiction under the name of Reagan O’Neal, a western as Jackson O’Reilly, and dance criticism as Chang Lung.
I hope everyone has had a good weekend so far. I am still trying to catch up on my book reviews but I am falling further behind sadly. Hopefully, things will start to slow down work wise so I can catch up with everything.
I hope everyone is having a good week so far and you all have exciting weekend plans. I will be honest December is not proving to be our best month. I have spent most of the week without a car and just because I have a hugely busy weekend of playing jobs my car is still not fixed so I will have to borrow my Mom’s car. This will be the first time ever my Mom will have let me drive her car.
As we get closer to Christmas I have decided to go for a Christmas themed poem.
Mary's Burden
My Baby, my Burden,
Tomorrow the morn
I shall go lighter
And you will be born.
I shall go lighter,
But heavier too
For seeing the burden
That falls upon you.
The burden of love,
The burden of pain,
I'll see you bear both
Among men once again.
Tomorrow you'll bear it
Your burden alone,
Tonight you've no burden
That is not my own
My Baby, my Burden,
Tomorrow the morn
I shall go lighter
And you will be born.
Eleanor Farjeon
I thought I would go for a festive quote this week.
“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”
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. Our December is not going quite to plan so far. We have had lock problems, car problems and problems with the house. We are hoping our luck will change soon. I have finally started my festive reading but it is looking less and less likely that I will get many festive reads complete this month.
What I am Currently Reading
I am really enjoying this so far. Some of the stories I have read before but others I have never come across which is really nice and I also really love the variety.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
These sadly did not have the wow factor for me and were a bit disappointing.
‘The greatest power we woman can own, is that we take in secret . . . ‘
Seventeen years ago, king Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them have returned, and the women have been left behind to run the kingdom.
Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. Whilst he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that husband is dead, and suitors are starting to knock at her door . . .
But no one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’ empty throne – not yet. Between Penelope’s many suitors, a cold war of dubious alliances and hidden knives reigns, as everyone waits for the balance of power to tip one way or another. If Penelope chooses one from amongst them, it will plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning and her spy network of maids can she maintain the delicate balance of power needed for the kingdom to survive.
On Ithaca, everyone watches everyone else, and there is no corner of the palace where intrigue does not reign . . .
Review
I was really excited when I saw this book whilst book shopping in Bath as I love an Ancient Greek retelling. A book that focuses on Penelope rather than Odysseus was like a breath of fresh air, Odysseus has enough literature about him.
The other element I really enjoyed was the fact that the gods were involved and we could see their interactions with each other and with the mortals. So many retellings tend to ignore the gods because I think people don’t see them as trendy enough anymore but they play a vital role in the myths and I believe they should still be included.
Hera is the main god to feature in this book and it was really nice to see her involved as it is usually the male gods taking centre stage or the impressive female gods like Athena and Artemis.
Penelope is the queen of Ithaca but as all queens of Greece she might appear beautiful and regal but she has very little power. Clytemnestra is a perfect example of what happens to a queen of Greece who tries to rule in a mans world and Penelope knows she must avoid this at all costs. So Penelope is the perfect example of a meek and mild woman who listens to her male advisors and appears to be the perfect queen. However, behind the scenes we see a very different queen. Penelope is a woman of two faces and we get to see both.
I really got into this book and really enjoyed it to start with but towards the middle the story really started to drag for me and to be honest I got a little bored. This meant my reading slowed down which made the book worse because it felt like it was never-ending. Thankfully, I kept with the book because the ending was better. This book was really well written but I felt it was just too long and could have been shorter. Overall, I enjoyed the book but for me it did drag. However I will give the next book in the series a chance because I would like to see what happens next. I give this book 3 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
Claire North is actually Catherine Webb, a Carnegie Medal-nominated young-adult novel author whose first book, Mirror Dreams, was written when she was just 14 years old. She went on to write seven more successful YA novels.
Politically Correct Holiday Stories For an Enlightened Yuletide Season by James Finn Garner
Blurb
Holiday tales have long delighted and entertained us, but until now they’ve always been burdened with society’s skewed values and mores. Stories that reinforce the stifling class system (Dickens’s A Christmas Carol), legitimise the stereotype of a merry, over-weight patriarchal oppressor (Santa Claus in The Night Before Christmas), and justify the domestication and subjugation of wild animals (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) abound in the literature and lore of this season. Now James Finn Garner has stepped in to revise and improve these familiar tales to free our social consciousness from the ghost of prejudice past. From the newly revised “Nutcracker” to “Frosty the Persun of Snow”, these stories rekindle the true holiday spirit and redefine the idea of “good will to all men” to include womyn, pre-adults, and companion animals as well.
Review
I picked this up from a National Trust second hand bookshop. When I saw the book I immediately picked it up because I thought it looked like quite a fun read. The book was clearly brand new as well which also added to the appeal.
At only 99 pages I thought this would be quite a quick read for me but it turned out that it took me a while to read rather than flying through it like I normally would. This is probably because I didn’t really gel with this book and wasn’t so keen to pick it up and read it.
I can understand the appeal of this book because it is political correctness in overdrive and it kind of has a funny appeal to it but after a while it just started to get on my nerves. My favourite story was the retelling of A Christmas Carol. This was because of Scrooge’s fantastic reactions to the spirits that visit him especially the last spirit. In fact I was a little disappointed with the ending because I really wanted Scrooge to act on his new philosophy.
Rudolph the Nasally Empowered Reindeer was probably my least favourite story as Rudolph was just too irritating.
Overall, I did enjoy this book but it didn’t really hook me in and didn’t have me as gripped as I expected. This is definitely a book that I could take or leave and I give this book 3 out of 5 Dragons.
🐲🐲🐲
About the author
James Finn Garner is an American writer and satirist based in Chicago. He is the author of Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, Tea Party Fairy Tales, and Honk Honk, My Darling.
I hope everyone has had a good weekend so far. My blogging hasn’t gone quite to plan this week. I had planned to blog yesterday but we got stuck outside our house for hours and hours waiting for an emergency locksmith because our lock broke. Hopefully next week will be a better blogging week.
I have finally started my festive reading and I am very behind. I am really enjoying this book although I was very surprised to see how small the print is (maybe I am getting old).
I have done lots of Christmas shopping this week which also meant that I have bought a few books for myself as well. I will post a book haul soon.
My chosen poem today is only a short one but it is by my all time favourite poet and I do find the poem rather thought provoking.
What Are Heavy?
What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow:
What are brief? To-day and to-morrow:
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth:
What are deep? The ocean and truth.
Christina Rossetti
Lady Book Dragon 