Another disappointing month on the reading front sadly and even less pages than last month. I must admit I seem to be in a bit of a slump for some reason but hopefully I will be out of it soon.
Happy Friday! Apologies for being absent for so long but I decided to have a little break from the blog for a little while.
My chosen poem this week is by the poet Philip Larkin.
The Trees
The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.
Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.
Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh. afresh, afresh.
Philip Larkin
Happy Reading
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In a desperate attempt to prevent the artificial intelligence known as Control from seizing crucial information that could destroy all sentient life, Commander Michael Burnham donned the “Red Angel” time-travel suit and guided the USS Discovery into the future and out of harm’s way. But something has gone terribly wrong, and Burnham has somehow arrived in a place far different from anything she could have imagined—more than nine hundred years out of her time, with Discovery nowhere to be found, and where the mysterious and cataclysmic event known as “the Burn” has utterly decimated Starfleet and, with it, the United Federation of Planets. How then can she possibly exist day-to-day in this strange place? What worlds are out there waiting to be discovered? Do any remnants of Starfleet and the Federation possibly endure? With more questions than answers, Burnham must nevertheless forge new friendships and new alliances if she hopes to survive this future long enough for the Discovery crew to find her….
Review
I do love a Star Trek novel by Una McCormack but I must admit I struggled to get into this one to start with but once I got used to the characters I really enjoyed it.
Burnham is now alone in the future and it is very different to what she imagined or hoped for. Everything is terribly wrong and this future she finds herself in is full of people who can’t be trusted and who will betray you for their own gain without a thought. The remnant of Starfleet Burnham finds is one lone man called Sahid who is holding together a damaged space station. Sahid is a valuable friend to Burnham who helps her when she is most in need and is a comfort to her when she needs a friend, he is also someone she can trust completely.
Book is Burnham’s main friend though and he teaches her everything she needs to know to survive this new and harsh future but sadly Book is very anti Starfleet and does not have the same drive like Burnham to try and find Starfleet. Book’s cat Grudge is also one of my favourite characters of the book and it was nice for her to appear quite often in the storyline.
I did find this book rather melancholy at times, poor Burnham is clearly struggling. When she tries to move forward with her life something always pulls her back and quite often it is Sahid with another link from the past to do with Starfleet. Burnham knows that in order to make any sort of life for herself she will have to let go of her past and her friends on Discovery but she doesn’t want to. Burnham is essentially grieving but there are bright spots in the story for her. She makes new friends and starts to build a life for herself but at times it is very sad.
Overall, I enjoyed this book but I did miss the other characters from the Discovery and the banter between friends that occurs and I think that is what I struggled with when I first began reading the book. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons and I can’t wait for the next book.
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About the author
Una McCormack is the author of seven previous Star Trek novels and four Doctor Who novels. She has also written numerous short stories and audio dramas. She lives in Cambridge, England, with her partner of many years and their daughter.
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My chosen poem this week is by the Scottish poet and teacher Norman MacCaig (1910-1996).
Toad
Stop looking like a purse. How could a purse
Squeeze under the rickety door and sit,
Full of satisfaction in a man's house?
You clamber towards me on your four corners -
Right hand, left foot, left hand, right foot.
I love you for being a toad,
For crawling like a Japanese wrestler,
And for not being frightened
I put you in my purse hand not shutting it,
And set you down outside directly under
Every star.
A jewel in your head? Toad,
You've put one in mine,
A tiny radiance in a dark place.
Norman MacCaig
Happy Reading
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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’m not doing as much reading at the moment because I am struggling to read at night like I usually do but hopefully I will get back into it soon.
What I am Currently Reading
Absolutely loving this so far. I really like finding out more about Alex and Amos and their past in this book.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
Really enjoyed this and loved reading more about Grudge the queen of cats. Review will follow shortly.
What I Think I will Read Next
I’m not entirely sure what I will read next but I am hoping to get into my Maigret books again at some point because they make excellent books to read whilst the husband is watching the Grand Prix.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday 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
I have decided to take part in my first Spin event for The Classics Club. To join in you simply list 20 books left off your Classics Club list before Sunday 20th March 2022 and then the club will randomly select a number. The selected book then has to be read before Saturday 30th April 2022. I have a lot of titles left to read as I have only recently started the challenge so it has been a difficult selection but here is my list:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Silas Marner by George Eliot
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
The Runaway by Elizabeth Anna Hart
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Evelina by Frances Burney
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot
Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood
I’m really looking forward to what the random selection will be and I hope I will be able to read the book within the time frame.
Wish me luck!
Please drop me a comment if you are taking part in the Spin event or if you have read any of the books on my list.
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!
Happy Monday! I hope everyone has had a good start to the week so far.
It is time for another book off my Classics Club list, which is my main TBR at the moment and any books I read not off the list are just my usual mood reading choices.
Pressured by her unscrupulous family to marry a wealthy man she detests, the young Clarissa Harlowe is tricked into fleeing with the witty and debonair Robert Lovelace and places herself under his protection. Lovelace, however, proves himself to be an untrustworthy rake whose vague promises of marriage are accompanied by unwelcome and increasingly brutal sexual advances. And yet, Clarissa finds his charm alluring, her scrupulous sense of virtue tinged with unconfessed desire.
Told through a complex series of interweaving letters, “Clarissa” is a richly ambiguous study of a fatally attracted couple and a work of astonishing power and immediacy. A huge success when it first appeared in 1747, and translated into French and German, it remains one of the greatest of all European novels. Its rich ambiguities – our sense of Clarissa’s scrupulous virtue tinged with intimations of her capacity for self-deception in matters of sex; the wicked and amusing faces of Lovelace, who must be easily the most charming villain in English literature – give the story extraordinary psychological momentum. .
I’m really looking forward to reading this book as it will be something for different for me as I haven’t read many books where the story is told through letters.
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