Happy Sunday!
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.
Here is what I have been up to on the blog.
Posts this Week
Currently Reading
Acquired Books
I treated myself to these two books because they were only £2 each. I do love a bargain!
Happy Reading
The House Party: A Short History of Leisure, Pleasure and the Country House Weekend by Adrain Tinniswood
Blurb
A delightful journey through the glamorous story of the English country house party by the bestselling historian.
Croquet. Parlour games. Cocktails. Welcome to a glorious journey through the golden age of the country house party – and you are invited.
Our host, celebrated historian Adrian Tinniswood, traces the evolution of this quintessentially British pastime from debauched royal tours to the flamboyant excess of the Bright Young Things. With cameos by the Jazz Age industrialist, the bibulous earl and the off-duty politician – whether in moated manor houses or ornate Palladian villas – Tinniswood gives a vivid insight into weekending etiquette and reveals the hidden lives of celebrity guests, from Nancy Astor to Winston Churchill, in all their drinking, feasting, gambling and fornicating.
The result is a deliciously entertaining, star-studded, yet surprisingly moving portrait of a time when social conventions were being radically overhauled through the escapism of a generation haunted by war – and a uniquely fast-living period of English history.
Review
We bought this book when we visited Croome last month and it has been tempting me to read it ever since. I could have easily read this book in one sitting as I found it so interesting but I made it last two days instead.
The book begins at the beginning of house parties starting from when Queen Elizabeth I used to visit and stay at people’s houses when she was travelling through the country to when eventually the traditional house party died out.
This book is filled full of glamour, wealth, luxury and everything you can imagine that happened in fine country houses during house parties.
I loved how the book described every detail of the house party from the invitations to what food and drink would have been served and the activities people would have partaken. The stories told in this book about different house guests and their hosts were hilarious. I particularly liked the house guests who brought their own thermos flask with cocktails in to have in their room because they knew their particular hosts didn’t hold cocktails before dinner.
There were a lot of little stories in this book and a lot of famous names mentioned. However, for such a short book I think too many stories were mentioned and maybe just a few famous houses should have been focused on. To be honest I would have loved a much longer book as I could have happily read another 200 pages about the famous houses and their parties. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons and I will definitely be reading more of Tinniswood’s work.
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Purchase Links
Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery
About the author
Adrian Tinniswood has worked as an author, broadcaster, lecturer and educational consultant for nearly 30 years in both Britain and the United States. Tinniswood studied English and Philosophy at Southampton University and was awarded an MPhil at Leicester University.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good June. My reading wasn’t great in June but to be honest I’m doing a lot of research at the moment so I am reading just not books I would blog about. I am also in the mood for reading longer books at the moment which is slowing me down as well.
Statistics
Only 5 books this month and it was nearly 4 but I managed to squeeze in a short book yesterday. One of the books also does not have the page info listed so didn’t show up on the statistics so I should have had 2 books in the 500+ range.
Books
Pages: 576
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲
Pages: 176
Format Read: Paperback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲
Pages: 272
Format Read: Paperback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲
Pages: 633
Format Read: Paperback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲
Pages: 144
Format Read: Hardback
Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲
30/70 Goodreads Challenge
Another month down and I am still 4 books behind on my Goodreads challenge but I am confident I can soon catch up once studying calms down.
Please drop me comment if you want to chat about books.
Happy Reading.
Hello!
Some of you might have read that I have been attempting to read all of the Agatha Christie novels in order of publication but I haven’t really made it into a challenge but I have decided that it needs to be a challenge because I like ticking things off lists. This challenge only includes Christie’s full length novels and not her books of short stories.
So here is the big list of books. The crossed off titles are the ones I have already read and reviewed, click them to be taken to the review.
So just 74 books to read! Thankfully, I have already read 3 of these books so that just leaves 71 which is still a lot of books.
Wish me luck!
Happy Reading
Happy Sunday!
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.
Here is what I have been up to on the blog this week.
Posts this Week
Currently Reading
Thoroughly enjoying this so far.
So there is my week on the blog.
Happy Reading
These Violent Nights by Rebecca Crunden
Blurb
Once upon a time, inhabitants of another world tore a hole through the universe and came to Earth. They called themselves Suriias, and rivalled humans in knowledge and skill with one great exception: they had magic.
War followed. Humanity lost. And three hundred years later, humans are on the brink of extinction.
Orphans Thorn and Thistle live in hiding. They are the last of their families, the last of their friends. They scrape by, stealing to survive and living on the streets or hiding in sheds. But even under the brutal regime of the Suriias, there are places where humans can mingle in secret with magical sympathisers, and one night Thistle gets an unexpected offer of marriage from a Suriia with high standing and friends in all the right places. For Thistle, it’s a chance at safety and comfort; for Thorn, it’s a chance to find the ones who killed her parents.
And so the pair move into the capital city of Courtenz. An urban monstrosity of magic and might, false friends and flying cars, drones and death tolls, the new city promises a fresh start – and new love – for both.
But if there’s one thing Thorn knows for certain, it’s that dreams can swiftly turn into nightmares.
Review
Firstly, a massive thank you to Rebecca Crunden for gifting me a copy of her wonderful book These Violent Nights in exchange for an honest review.
This is rather a substantial book and I was a bit worried about the size of the book when I first started reading it because I struggled to get into it to start with. However, thankfully I kept reading because I was soon hooked and was pleased at the size of the book because I did not want to leave the characters and finish the book.
Thistle and Thorn are humans who live in hiding from the Suriias who are magical beings from another world. Thistle and Thorn have a very sad past and this has left both of them scarred both emotionally and physically. When Nithin who is a Suriia proposes to Thistle, Thistle and Thorn move in with Nithin and his best friend Kol. Thistle is overjoyed to be safe and living in wealth and comfort but Thorn only sees it as an access to find the murderer of her parents.
I really felt sorry for Thorn during this book. She is forced to live with the very species she fears and hates and even though Nithin and Kol support humans and are fighting for the humans’ rights Thorn struggles to trust and believe them. At the same time Thorn sees her best friend slowly slip away from her and change. Thorn feels alone and angry with everything and no matter how much Kol tries to help her she still resists. I completely agree with the character Lucien who says that Thorn has never had a chance to breathe.
Thistle annoyed me and made me rather angry at times because she hurt Thorn so much. Yes, Thistle wanted to start living life and enjoy her new found freedom and wealth but she forgot her best friend at times and didn’t see just how much Thorn was suffering.
I loved the concept of this book and I loved how in the end humans and Suriia had to work together and overcome each species’ difficulties. I also loved the different romances that occurred within the book and how they crossed species. This book was brilliant and I will definitely be reading more books by Rebecca Crunden. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
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Purchase Links
(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.)
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
Blurb
An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face downwards in a shallow grave on a golf course.
But why is the dead man wearing his son’s overcoat? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse . . .
Review
This is the second full length Poirot novel I have read and I will be honest it kept me on my toes. This book is so full of red herrings I was never sure of who the murderer was until Poirot explained all at the end.
The more I read the Poirot stories the more I realise just how amazing he is and far better than the TV version. Poirot is funny, eccentric, cheeky and quite naughty at times. Hastings is his usual useless and silly self, always jumping to the wrong conclusions and getting into trouble.
In this book Poirot and Hastings rush off to France to help a man who has written begging for Poirot’s help as he believes his life is in danger. However, when they get there they realise that they are too late and instead of protecting someone they have a murder to solve instead.
Poirot has competition in the form of the young French detective Giraud. Giraud believes Poirot is a dinosaur and believes that Poirot will never solve the murder because his methods are old fashioned. Giraud rather amusingly spends most of the time on his hands and knees crawling around for clues and generally not finding them.
There are so many things that do not add up in this murder but Poirot uses his little grey cells to work them out and also finds time to sort out Hastings’ love life. I also loved how Poirot sometimes called himself Papa Poirot to Hastings.
I really enjoyed this book and I loved learning more about Poirot’s character but did find Hastings very annoying at times. Christie is so clever at writing a murder plot with so many different aspects you never see what is really happening until the end. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
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Purchase Links
Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery
(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
Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. She also wrote the world’s longest running play, The Mousetrap. She also wrote 6 novels under the name Mary Westmacott.
WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.
The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.
Happy Wednesday!
I have spent the day finishing another assignment and now it has finally been handed in I intend to spend the next couple of days doing lots of fun reading until I start on the next one. However, I also need to catch up on house work so that might also have to happen.
What I am Currently Reading
I struggled to get into this initially but now I am hooked.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
Really enjoyed both these books. Here is the review for The Late Monsieur Gallet. Review for The Murder on the Links will follow shortly.
What I Think I will Read Next
As usual I am never quite sure what I will read next, it all depends what mood I am in.
So there is my WWW Wednesday please drop me a link with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.
Here is what has been happening on the blog this week.
Posts this Week
Currently Reading
I’m only 30 pages in so far but I’m finding it really interesting.
Acquired Books
So there is my week. I hope everyone has also had a good week.
Happy Reading
The Late Monsieur Gallet by Georges Simenon
Blurb
In the second Maigret mystery, the circumstances of Monsieur Gallet’s death all seem fake: the name he was traveling under, his presumed profession, and, more worryingly, his family’s grief. Their haughtiness seems to hide ambiguous feelings about the hapless man. Soon Maigret discovers the appalling truth and the real crime hidden beneath the surface of their lies.
Review
This was my fifth Maigret novel that I have read this year and I must admit this one did make me laugh. The best word to describe Maigret in this novel is ‘grumpy’.
It is the holiday season in Paris and this means that Maigret is left in charge with only a skeleton staff to keep law and order and when a royal visit takes away all the police officers but himself he is left to solve a murder without any of his usual staff to do the leg work for him in the scorching summer heat. It also means he has to stay in a second class hotel which really upsets him!
Maigret must find who murdered Monsieur Gallet but everything about the murder seems very wrong to Maigret and as he investigates he realises more and more that the facts don’t fit the crime. In his investigations Maigret meets Madame Gallet the wife of the deceased and dislikes her immensely, she appears very aloof, proud and cold to Maigret. In fact I have noticed in the Maigret novels that it is very rare to find a woman other than Mrs Maigret who Maigret actually thinks highly of. Although I did feel sorry for Mrs Maigret in this book because during all of his investigations Maigret never rang to tell his wife where he was even though he was staying in a different town and not coming home. Mrs Maigret must have the patience of a saint is all that I can say.
I loved how this story unfolded and due to several very well placed red herrings I never had a clue till the end of who was the murderer or why. Maigret follows the clues and builds the picture of what happened and he comes across as the most eccentric character at times, from standing on random walls to climbing through windows he really made me laugh. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
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Purchase Links
Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery
(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
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.
Lady Book Dragon 