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. It has been a couple of weeks since I have done this post because I have been stuck reading the one book. However, I am now back!
What I am Currently Reading
I have just started Moll Flanders and so far so good.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I loved this so much and towards the end I simply could not put it down.
What I Think I will Read Next
Think it will most likely be Nemesis Games as I need to get back to TheExpanse series but it always depends on my mood.
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 thought this weeks prompt for Top 5 Tuesday was a good one for me as I am rather hopeless at finishing book series.
The Wheel of Time – When I first started reading this series I read the first 5 books then gave up. A year later I tried again and reread the first 3 books. Now after 7 years I am attempting the series again and I have nearly finished the second book. I am also determined that this time I will finish the series.
Shardlake – I started this series last year and read the first two books but I need to get back to get back to reading the series because I do really like the character of Shardlake and the books.
The Expanse – I started this series last year and read the first 4 books. I absolutely love this series so I am looking forward to getting back into it.
A Song of Ice and Fire – My not finishing this series is not my fault. Like a lot of readers, I am desperately waiting for Mr Martin to write the next book in the series.
The d’Artagnan Romances – I love The Three Musketeers and have read it more times than I remember. I have also read and loved Twenty Years After. I would really like to finish this series as I just love the characters.
Fingers crossed I finish these series sometime in the future.
Please drop me a link if you have taken part in Top 5 Tuesday 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
Star Trek Discovery: The Book of Grudge by Robb Pearlman
Blurb
New York Times bestselling author Robb Pearlman focuses on STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’s breakout star, Grudge the cat. Full of cat photos and whimsical illustrations!
Sharper than a claw and more stunning than a phaser blast, The Book of Grudge’s Prime Directive features her take on everything from space travel to the proper care and training of an array of alien species, STAR TREK-inspired quotes, and haiku meditations on Grudge’s most favourite things, including napping and people (as long as they’re far enough away).
Make no mistake, Cleveland Booker’s massive – and massively cool – cat, Grudge is no mundane mouser. This taciturn tabby is, in fact, “a Queen.” She knows it, and everyone aboard the Discovery knows it, too… though some realise it just a bit too late!
Review
This book was my cat’s chosen Christmas present for my husband but sadly it did not arrive till late January. It was ok though as the cat got my husband another present and my husband ended up with an extra present. This also meant I had to be patient and wait for my husband to read it first. Thankfully this little book was worth the wait.
Grudge was a firm favourite of mine whilst watching Star Trek Discovery and I must admit I had hoped to have seen more of her on screen. You can imagine my excitement when I heard she had a book!
The book is made up of photos and illustrations of Grudge on her own and with members of the crew of Discovery and most importantly Grudge’s views and opinions which have kindly been written down by Robb Pearlman. Grudge gives her opinions on certain members of the Discovery drew, space travel, alien species and much more. Grudge has even composed little haikus for us.
This wonderful little book is funny and shows Grudge to be the true Queen that she is. It takes less than twenty minutes to read but is totally worth it. I highly recommend this book to all cat lovers and Star Trek fans and give this book a massive 5 out of 5 Dragons. I end my review with a quote from Grudge “Cat’ plah!!!”
(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
Robb Pearlman is a pop culturalist and a #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 35 books for grown-ups and kids.
Grudge is the feline companion of Cleveland Booker and a Queen among cats.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
My chosen poem this week is by the Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). I thought this poem was a good choice for Valentine’s Day.
This sonnet is from Browning’s collection Sonnets from the Portuguese.
How Do I Love Thee?
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Happy Birthday
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
I told myself I wouldn’t buy so many books this year but it hasn’t gone quite to plan so far. My niece gave me a Waterstones voucher for Christmas and I so I put it to good use in the Waterstones sale. I also bought a book from Amazon which I very rarely do but I just could not resist.
Anyway here are my latest purchases:
In the wake of a referendum which has divided the nation, the last thing the Queen needs is any more problems to worry about. But when an oil painting of the Royal Yacht Britannia – first given to the Queen in the 1960s – shows up unexpectedly in a Royal Navy exhibition, she begins to realise that something is up.
When a body is found in the Palace swimming pool, she finds herself once again in the middle of an investigation which has more twists and turns than she could ever have suspected. With her trusted secretary Rozie by her side, the Queen is determined to solve the case. But will she be able to do it before the murderer strikes again?
This was actually my husbands choice but I am looking forward to reading it. Anything that involves the Queen solving crimes and the corgi’s and I am already hooked.
This epic trilogy by Robert Harris includes his bestselling novels: Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator
Imperium – Compellingly written in Tiro’s voice, Imperium takes us inside the violent, treacherous world of Roman politics, to describe how one man – clever, compassionate, devious, vulnerable – fought to reach the top.
Lustrum – From the discovery of a child’s mutilated body, through judicial execution and a scandalous trial, to the brutal unleashing of the Roman mob, Lustrum is a study in the timeless enticements and horrors of power.
Dictator – Riveting and tumultuous, Dictator encompasses some of the most epic events in human history yet is also an intimate portrait of a brilliant, flawed, frequently fearful yet ultimately brave man – a hero for his time and for ours.
This is an unforgettable collection from a master storyteller.
This has been on wish list for ages so when I saw a signed hardback copy at Waterstones I knew that this was the book to spend my Christmas voucher on.
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 Discoveryinto 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….
I’ve read all the Star Trek Discovery books so far and my favourites are by Una McCormack so I am really looking forward to reading this soon.
Half hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.
An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.
Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge–there’s something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.
Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in…
I have seen a lot of reviews on bookstagram and in the book blog world about this book so I thought it was time I read the book.
Half hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.
An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.
Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge–there’s something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.
Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in…
This was the book I could not resist. I really like the Immortal Guardians series so I thought I would treat myself to the companion.
So there are my new books. I can’t wait to get reading them all.
Please drop me acomment if you have read any of these books.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings by Dan Jones
Blurb
A chilling medieval ghost story, retold by bestselling historian Dan Jones. Published in a beautiful small-format hardback, perfect as a Halloween read or a Christmas gift.
One winter, in the dark days of King Richard II, a tailor was riding home on the road from Gilling to Ampleforth. It was dank, wet and gloomy; he couldn’t wait to get home and sit in front of a blazing fire.
Then, out of nowhere, the tailor is knocked off his horse by a raven, who then transforms into a hideous dog, his mouth writhing with its own innards. The dog issues the tailor with a warning: he must go to a priest and ask for absolution and return to the road, or else there will be consequences…
First recorded in the early fifteenth century by an unknown monk, The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings was transcribed from the Latin by the great medievalist M.R. James in 1922. Building on that tradition, now bestselling historian Dan Jones retells this medieval ghost story in crisp and creepy prose.
Review
This story was originally part of a set of stories written down by an unknown monk in the fifteenth century. The medievalist and novelist M. R. James found these gems in 1922 and transcribed them. Dan Jones has now taken one of these stories and retold it in modern day prose.
The story is set in the time of King Richard II and focuses on a tailor. On his way home this poor tailor encounters something terrifying and hideous. This poor tailor is then given a warning and if he doesn’t heed this warning there will be dire consequences for him.
The story is a short story and was perfect for reading whilst enjoying a cup of tea. I didn’t find the story very scary but I did find it a bit gruesome at times. I also felt very sorry for this poor tailor who I really do not think deserved his treatment by the spirit.
The book also contains the original latin which once my latin is better I hope to have a go at translating myself and seeing what the original story reads like. Overall, I enjoyed this little story but it didn’t wow me so I give it 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
Dan Jones is a historian, broadcaster and award-winning journalist. His books, including The Plantagenets, Magna Carta, The Templars and The Colour of Time, have sold more than one million copies worldwide. He has written and hosted dozens of TV shows including the acclaimed Netflix/Channel 5 series ‘Secrets of Great British Castles’. For ten years Dan wrote a weekly column for the London Evening Standard and his writing has also appeared in newspapers and magazines including The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, GQ and The Spectator.
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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 has had a good start to the week. The third book I have chosen to feature from my Classics Club list is…
The story of a woman born and bred in the murky world of seventeenth-century London. Daniel Defoe created a female character-narrator who recounts, from a woman’s point of view, her life and adventures, portraying critically the society in which she lived.
I’ve never read any books by Daniel Defoe so I am looking forward to reading this book.
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
Lady Book Dragon 