Waterstones Challenge: Wolverhampton

Today after teaching we ventured off to Wolverhampton in search of the Waterstones there. This really was an adventure, mainly because we got lost a great deal.

The traffic was a nightmare getting into Wolverhampton so it was a rather slow journey, then we could not find our planned car park and after driving around in circles we just dumped the car in the nearest car park and hoped for the best. The next problem was finding the store, my phone said a 6 minute walk, this ended up taking about half an hour after getting very lost, again!

Eventually however we found the store and I went in search of The Priory of the Orange Tree by Sammanth Shannon. After a bit of searching we found the book and I think luckily I managed to get the last copy in the store. To be honest I was rather surprised how big the book is but I am very excited to start reading it.

This store is sadly not a favourite of mine, I found the ground floor very cramped and claustrophobic but the top floor was wonderful, it was open and well organised and a relief from being downstairs.

After our adventure we found a Cafe Nero and had hot chocolates and treats. I thought my ginerbread girl was rather Harry Potteresque.

Another Waterstones is ticked off the list and I hope to do at least one more this month, I will keep you posted.

Lady Book Dragon.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Review)

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

About the author

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. He studied law at Edinburgh University. Stevenson was against the Presbyterianism of both Edinburgh’s professional classes and his devout parents, but the influence of Calvinism started his fascination with evil. After much travelling Stevenson eventually settled in Samoa with his wife, he passed away at the age of 44.

Blurb

Published as ‘shilling shocker’ in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson’s dark psychological fantasy gave birth to the popular idea of the split personality. Set in a hellish, fog-bound London, the story of outwardly respectable Dr Jekyll, who unleashes his deepest cruelties and most murderous instincts when he transformed into sinister Edward Hyde, is a Gothic masterpiece and a chilling exploration of humanity’s basest capacity for evil.

This edition also includes Stevenson’s sinister story ‘The Bottle Imp’.

Review

This is another book I am ashamed to say I have never read and just recently I bought a lovely little edition from Waterstones and it has been sat on my TBR pile ever since. I decided it would be a good book to discover Robert Louis Stevenson’s work as I have never read any of his work before.

The first and main story is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and I went into it with high hopes, however it quickly started to disappoint. Mr Utterson the lawyer and good friend of Dr Jekyll is a perfect gentleman and shows the reader that you would be blessed to consider him your friend. Mr Utterson in fact was my favourite character and he was probably the only reason I kept reading. Mr Hyde was also a good character, he was bad to the bone and showed a man with no morals to guide him or conscience, he was happy with his actions, showed no remorse and was dangerous to all around him.

Dr Jekyll is the character which I disliked greatly! He was weak and pathetic he had bad desires within him and a perverted mind that lay hidden because of his status in society and his title. We have no idea what horrors he performed in his past but they are hinted at, now due to getting older the desires are still there but he can not act upon them without losing everything or facing the gallows. Then Mr Hyde comes along, Mr Hyde is Jekyll’s answer to everything, Hyde does all the horrors and faces the gallows and Jekyll remains the good Dr. In my opinion Jekyll is evil, he just does not show it.

Jekyll tries to reform himself but this soon fails and Hyde starts to take over. Hyde was always going to take over because Jekyll is weak but also enjoys what Hyde does, if he was truly horrified and repulsed by Hyde’s actions he would have beaten Hyde and got his life back. Jekyll did not deserve the life he had or the dedicated friends like Mr Utterson in my opinion because he was as guilty as Mr Hyde.

This story annoyed me greatly because Dr Jekyll is shown in a light where the reader should feel sorry for him but I disagree with that. Dr Jekyll was weak and evil and in my opinion worse than Mr Hyde because he had the power to stop Hyde but did not. This story on its own would have only got 2 Dragons from me.

The second story in this book is The Bottle Imp and that was my favourite out of the two. This story is about a magical imp that lives in a bottle and can grant you any wishes, however it comes with conditions that could leave the owner going to hell.

The story contains many topics greed, love, hopelessness, despair, faith, courage and much more. I really enjoyed how Stevenson came up with the story and the morals behind it. Keawe is not a greedy man he does not ask for millions off the imp he asks for enough for his dream house that he can live in for the rest of his life and enjoy it. Kokua is the woman that Keawe falls in love with and risks everything for and she in turn risks everything for him. Their love is so strong they will do anything for each other. Others in this story do not show such selflessness and greed is the dominant trait in their characters. These two people are not greedy they just want to live happily together for the rest of their lives, but can they?

A real love story that was beautiful to read and not too long. I gave this one 4 out of 5 Dragons, so overall balancing the results I gave the book 3 out of 5 Dragons.

Lady Book Dragon

Friday Poetry

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone has some exciting reading planned for the weekend. Yesterday was the first day of the year that I got to sit outside in the sun and read, it was glorious.

Days

What are days for?

Days are where we live.

They come, they wake us

Time and time over.

They are to be happy in:

Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question

Brings the priest and the doctor

In their long coats

Running over the fields.

Philip Larkin

Lady Book Dragon.

A Tiny Book Review for a Tiny Book: The Book Lover’s Guide to Tea (Review)

The Book Lover’s Guide to Tea

This is a tiny review for a tiny book. This book was in the box with the book tea infuser I blogged about here.

Firstly, it is possibly one of the cutest books I have ever read, being only 7.5cm tall and 6.5cm wide, it is tiny but surprisingly it is 47 pages long.

Secondly, it all about tea and I love tea. It has some excellent tea and book related quotes in it and the best part is it has some recipes for the perfect accoutrements to afternoon tea. I plan on trying out the recipe for the cookies and lemon squares as they look easy to make and yummy, and it also tells you which tea will go best with the said recipes.

Thirdly, it also tells you how to make the perfect cup of tea with the book tea infuser and gives you timings for the different types of tea.

A perfect little book that took a matter of minutes to read but was an interesting read to enjoy with a cup of tea. I gave this little book 5 Dragons out of 5 and I hope the recipes turn out to be a success, I will keep you posted.

Happy tea drinking and reading.

Lady Book Dragon

New Book – 14/02/2019

Hello my fellow readers!

I hope you have all had a good week and have a full weekend of reading planned ahead.

I just thought I would tell you about my latest new book. My wonderful husband took me to Waterstones on Valentine’s Day and told me to choose a book and he would treat me. I was very restrained as he had already spoiled me with some other presents and a big bunch of flowers, he is brilliant. My choice in the end was The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths. I have been looking forward to this book and so grabbed it when I saw it on the shelf, although it was hidden away right at the bottom. Another exciting book to add on to my TBR pile!

I am hoping to read a bit more next week and get down my TBR pile, work has got in the way recently and falling asleep on the sofa but next week is half term so I am hoping for a bit of reading time as I am only working on three days and they are not full days.

What will everyone be reading this weekend?

Lady Book Dragon

Waterstones Challenge: Telford

This week I managed to tick off another Waterstones store, three down, loads to go.

Telford is a lovely store, a little bit small but packed full of books. There were lots of tables with exciting offers as well, which is always good. I went in the evening and the store was quiet so I could have a good look at all the books in peace.

I kept to the rules, here is the picture of myself stood infront of the store.

And here are the books I bought whilst there:-

Red Queen by Christina Henry

Alice by Christina Henry

For an added extra I have a picture of the top of the receipt.

I have updated the list accordingly and I am planning my next adventure.

Lady Book Dragon

The Woman at Number 24 by Juliet Ashton (Review)

The Woman at Number 24 by Juliet Ashton

About the author

Juliet Ashton was born in Fulham and still lives in London. She writes under a variety of names, including her real name, Bernadette Strachan, and as Claire Sandy. She is married and has one daughter.

Blurb

When your marriage falls apart, the last place you’d want your husband to move to is downstairs. Unfortunately for Sarah, up in the eaves at number 24, her ex-husband now lives one floor beneath her with his new wife. Their happiness floats up through the floorboards, taunting her.

A child psychologist, Sarah has picked up great sadness from the little girl, Una, who lives with her careworn mother three floors below, but is Sarah emotionally equipped to reach out?

The Spring brings a new couple to the house. Jane and Tom’s zest for life revives the flagging spirits, and Sarah can’t deny the instant attraction to handsome Tom. Having seen at first hand what infidelity does to people, she’ll never act on it … but the air fizzes with potential.

The sunshine doesn’t reach every corner of number 24, however. Elderly Mavis, tucked away in the basement, has kept the world at bay for decades. She’s about to find out that she can’t hide forever.

Review

It has been a long time since I have read a book with so many twists and turns and so jam packed with storylines, I loved it! This book I got a while ago as a freebie on Apple Books and since reading it I have downloaded another of Ashton’s books to read in the near future.

The book’s main character is Sarah but also in my opinion the house itself is an integral character. The house is located in Notting Hill and is made up of flats. Mavis lives in one of the basement flats, Una and her mum live in the other basement flat, Leo and Helena share another, Jane and Tom in one and lastly Sarah in the attic flat. Sarah and Leo are divorced as Leo had an affair with Helena and finally married her. Since her divorce Sarah’s life has been turned upside down and somehow she is trying to rebuild her life again.

As the story follows Sarah it shows her develop and grow and as she does the other characters also grow and develop. The house also feels this, it fills with love and good feelings and friendship in every way.

I loved all the characters in this book apart from Leo as I just found him very smarmy and unpleasant. I also disliked Helena, she came across as very fake and annoying but thankfully she was not in the book much. This book kept me on my toes on every page, I made assumptions and they were quite often turned on their head. I just could not predict what would happen next and that is what I loved about it as it was not a predictable romance novel.

Sarah is such a caring character that I found myself wanting her to be my friend and wanting to give her a big hug. Tom is full of energy and love of life, you just can not help but smile when you read about him, his enthusiasm jumps from the page. Jane is also similar to Tom in her exuberance for life, even if she is a little bossy. Poor Mavis is a recluse and not a very nice lady, she has spent her life being miserable to people but I could not stop feeling sorry for her. Little Una is a wonderful child who has been affected by her parents’ break up but with Sarah’s experience and help she can recover from this experience.

I could tell that Ashton had thought about each of her characters in great detail and imagined their back stories, I also believe she has drawn on real life people as the characters are so believable. I truly adored this book and would happily read it again. I have given it a big 5 out of 5 dragons and I can not recommend it enough to people, especially if you enjoy a good romance novel. Thank you Juliet Ashton for a fabulous read!

Lady Book Dragon

Winnie – The – Pooh: Gloom and Doom for Pessimists by A. A. Milne with decorations by E. H. Shepard (Review)

Winnie – the – Pooh: Gloom and Doom for Pessimists by A. A. Milne with decorations by E. H. Shepherd.

About the author

Alan Alexander Milne was born in London on the 18th January 1882. He served in both World Wars, joining the British Army in World War I and was captain of the British Home Guard in World War II. Milne was known at the beginning of his career as a playwright and a writer for Punch magazine but when he created the character Winnie the Pooh all his previous work was overshadowed by the success of Winnie the Pooh. He died in 1956.

About the illustrator

Ernest Howard Shepard was born in London in 1879. He worked for Punch magazine as a cartoonist and illustrator. He is best known for his illustrations of The Winnie Pooh books and The Wind in the Willows.

Blurb

This gently-humorous collection of A. A. Milne’s most melancholy moanings will bring a smile to the face of even the grumpiest Eeyore.

Review

Waiting at a check out with all the Christmas food shopping I spotted this book sat on the side. I saw that it had Eeyore on the cover, so I had to have it immediately, anything with Eeyore, I have to have. I did not even look to see what the book was about, a definite choice purely from looks, rather than content.

This book is very short but enjoyable. Each page has a beautiful illustration on and there is a phrase and a quote involving Eeyore to back up this phrase.

Sometimes you just don’t feel like sunshine and happiness…

‘And how are you?’ Said Winnie-the-Pooh.

Eeyore shook his head from side to side.

‘Not very how,’ he said. ‘I don’t seem to have felt at all how for a long time.’

‘Dear, dear,’ said Pooh, ‘I’m sorry about that.’

I loved this little book as it reminded me of reading Winnie-the-Pooh when I was little and to be honest as a child all I wanted to read about was Eeyore, although I liked the other characters they were never as good as Eeyore. The other element I enjoyed was the humour, the carefully chosen phrases that went with the quotes were excellent and at times they made me giggle.

Although I am not a pessimist like Eeyore, I did sympathise with him and agree with some of his feelings from this book. Sometimes we do not feel our best and having a bouncy happy person around does not help our situation.

The illustrations are as beautiful as I remember and they fit perfectly with all the quotes. I was a little disappointed with the ending of the book because it goes away from Eeyore, it just feels like the people who put it together ran out of ideas, I would have preferred for them to have finished the books sooner than what feels like rambling. Due to this reason I only gave the book 3 dragons. An enjoyable and quick read to sit down to when you have a spare five minutes.

Lady Book Dragon