A P. G. Wodehouse Pick-Me-Up! by P. G. Wodehouse (Review)

A P. G. Wodehouse Pick-Me-Up! Goodbye to All Cats by P. G. Wodehouse

About the author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse wrote more than ninety novels and some three hundred short stories over 73 years. He is widely recognised as the greatest 20th- century writer of humour in the English Language. In 1936 he awarded the Mark Twain Prize for ‘having made an outstanding and lasting contribution to the happiness of the world’. He was made a Doctor of Letters by Oxford University in 1939 and in 1975, aged 93, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He died shortly afterwards, on St Valentine’s Day.

Blurb

A Wodehouse pick-me-up that’ll lift your spirits, whatever your mood.

Review

I picked up this book when I was last in Bath. I picked it up at the counter. I must admit a lot of bookshops tend to sell me an extra book at the counter.

This is a very quick read but a very fun read that contains three short stories.

Goodbye to All Cats

This story is the first in the book and I must admit my favourite and made me laugh out loud a lot! This story is all about Freddie’s experience with cats that made him dislike all cats in general for the foreseeable future.

The story is hilarious but at the same time I did feel sorry for Freddie who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ukridge’s Dog College

I was surprised by this story as I had just presumed all the stories would be cat related. I was so pleased to see this assumption was wrong because I love dog stories. This story focuses on the eccentric Ukridge, who will do anything to make a quick fortune that doesn’t involve hard work. A fantastic little read for dog lovers.

Ukridge’s Accident Syndicate

This is an interesting story but for me lacked the humour of the other two stories. I just found the story dragged a little. The basic concept is a group of friends who pool all their money to buy insurance for their friend and wait for the friend to have an accident. Oh and it does involve a dog, which is always good.

All in all I loved the book and think I will purchase the other three books in the series as they are quick fun reads that you can read in one sitting or one story a day. I highly recommend the book especially for animal lovers and anybody who just wants to read a light hearted fun book. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons! Pan loves the book as well.

Purchase Links

Book Depository

Waterstones

WWW Wednesday 11/03/2020

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The rules are answer the questions below and a 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 haven’t done one of these for ages, mainly because my reading has been so pitiful but I am slowly reading more and getting back into it again. Fingers crossed it continues, but I doubt I will read as much as I did last year.

What I am currently reading

I have been reading the Star Trek Discovery books and really enjoying them, this is my light reading. The Euripides plays are my homework for my course but I love reading them. I must admit I am becoming quite a fan of Greek Tragedy.

What I finished reading recently.

Two tiny books but at least I have finished them! I loved them both!

What I will read next

I love Elly Griffiths and have been desperate to read this, so this will definitely be next.

So here is my latest WWW Wednesday. Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday in and your thoughts on my books.

February Wrap Up

I must admit I was in two minds whether to even bother with a wrap up after February as I have read barely anything. I have read loads of chapters and journal articles for my course but no real fun books.

However, I have read a few books so I thought I would make a wrap up.

Emma by Jane Austen

Star Trek Cats by Jenny Parks

Star Trek The Next Generation Cats by Jenny Parks

A Wodehouse Pick-Me-Up! Goodbye to All Cats by P. G. Wodehouse

As you can see a few books read. Hopefully I will do better in March.

Please drop me a comment if you have any thoughts you would like to share about the books.

Happy reading!

Waterstones Challenge: Norwich

Hello!

It has been ages since I have visited a new Waterstones and ticked another store off my list but finally I have managed one. This week has been half term so I visited my best friend and her husband and their new little boy who is currently 9 weeks old and extremely cute. This meant I had the opportunity to take the little Book Dragon to his first bookshop and buy him a nice book. He slept through the whole experience but I bought him a book and his parents also bought him some books. A very lucky little Dragon!

The book I chose to buy was Winnie the Pooh! I have a beautiful book of Winnie the Pooh that a work colleague of my mom’s bought me when I was little and she told my mom that no child should be without a copy of Winnie the Pooh so I followed her advice.

I did also treat myself to a book that has been on my wish list for quite some time. I also bought a Waterstones bag that I really liked the look of.

The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths

I really liked the Waterstones in Norwich. It was very nice and the cafe was excellent, one of the best soya hot chocolates I have ever tasted.

Well worth a visit for all Book Dragons.

The photo outside the store features my best friend who you will have spotted in another Waterstones picture and her husband and their little Book Dragon in his pram. Sadly it was raining at the time. Massive thank you to Lord Book Dragon for taking the picture.

To see the list so far of my Waterstones visits please click here

New Books 18/02/2020

I have bought my first fun books for 2020! I have bought a lot of books this year but they have all been for my Masters, but I have given in and treated myself a little.

Star Trek Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack

I am so excited about this book even if to be honest the TV series is painfully slow and in certain places annoying beyond belief. This book is written by Una McCormack and her previous Star Trek novels are just amazing so I am looking forward to her take on the new series.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Cats by Jenny Parks

This one I could not resist, I bought the first one in the series for my husband as he loves Star Trek and cats and after reading it I immediately bought the second one.

So only two books as I am trying to be well behaved this year as I have so many books to read already and I know I won’t get to read many non study related books.

Happy reading

Book Trolley

Hello!

Yesterday was an interesting day. The weather led to flooding so I couldn’t get to work in the morning so I had the whole day free. I felt a little lost to be honest but I got loads of washing done, some clarinet practice, studying and I built my book trolley!

I’ve seen so many book trollies on social media lately and I gave in and got one for myself. This now means my TBR is not on the bedroom floor but neatly in the trolley. Also the wheels are brilliant, it means I can roll the trolley around to vacuum under it.

So here is the wonderful trolley.

I’m now hoping my husband will also get one so we can both have our TBR piles neat and tidy.

Please let me know if you have a book trolley and what you use it for? I would love to hear what books you use it for.

Happy Reading!

Emma by Jane Austen (Review)

Emma by Jane Austen

About the author

Jane Austen born 16th December 1775 died 18th July 1817 was an English novelist known for her six major novels. Austen’s novels are known for social comedy and accurate depiction of human relationships.

Blurb

Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen’s most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organises the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.

Review

This is a reread for me and thankfully a better read than when I first read it in 2002. I must admit when I first read Emma I swore never to read it again as I really did not enjoy the book. However, this year I plan on giving some books another chance and this was the first one on the list. In 2002 I rated this book 2 out of 5 stars.

I really enjoyed reading this book for about the first third of the book but I must admit the middle did drive me a little insane. It comes across as long winded and rather overly written and I must admit I just wanted it to get to the happy ending.

The second time of reading I felt rather differently about the characters, I still disliked the Elton’s greatly and found Frank Churchill a spoilt brat who should never have been forgiven for his awful behaviour. Mrs Bates I felt very sorry for living in ever increasing poverty and with a daughter who means well but does not give anyone a moment’s peace. Miss Bates’ dialogues I will be honest I skipped over in places because they just made me cringe.

Mr Woodhouse bless him was more of an old fuss pot than I remembered but he made me smile. Emma was her annoying vain self but thankfully Mr Knightley as usual rescued the situation. Harriet I found very endearing this time and it was nice to see her journey through the book.

I must admit I enjoyed Emma but my rating has only increased slightly to 3 out of 5 Dragons. I will be watching the new film adaptation this year to see if it beats my favourite adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Still my least favourite Austen novel but I do not hate it and would read it again.

Purchase links

Waterstones

Book Depository

Be More Cat by Alison Davies (Review)

Be More Cat: Life Lessons from our feline friends by Alison Davies

About the author

Alison Davies is an author, columnist for Child Education and a freelance writer for a range of magazines including Nursery World and Mother and Baby.

Blurb

Careful observation of the behavioural quirks of our favourite felines can actually be very revealing. From living in the moment, to trusting our sixth-sense instincts, to taking cat naps, and even going feral, there are real benefits to being more cat! In Be More Cat, Alison Davies explores nine key traits we can take on board to be more cat-like and live a happier, healthier, and all around ‘feline fabulous’ existence. With practical tips and exercises, interspersed with folklore and fun facts about our kitty gurus, there’s something for everyone in this cute, fully illustrated guide!

Review

I received this book as a Christmas present off my cats, maybe they are hinting that I am too stressed and need to be more relaxed like a cat. This is essentially a mindfulness book, linking mindfulness with cats’ behaviour and how we can use things that cats do to become more relaxed.

I really enjoyed this book and it did make me giggle a lot and I must admit I read it in one sitting as I just could not put it down. The other element I really liked was that the book has nine chapters like a cat has nine lives and each chapter was somehow cat related.

The book gives helpful little exercises that should help us and are what cats do, for instance cats will stare at a wall for hours on end in our case we would meditate. There are a lot of these different exercises in the book to help us be more mindful but I must admit some do tend to repeat themselves. There are also some cat related tips in the book which are also very amusing and very factual.

The other thing I loved about this book was the wonderful little cat illustrations that run through the book. The book is also scattered with cat related quotes which I really enjoyed.

This book is basically a self help book and the exercises are all basically yoga or meditation based but linking them to cats is brilliant. I really enjoyed this book and give it 4 out 5 Dragons. The only reason it did not get the full 5 Dragons was because it was a little repetitive. Highly recommend to all cat lovers out there!

Purchase Links

Waterstones

Happy Reading!

2019 in Review

Finally, I have time to sit down and reflect on 2019!

Firstly, I want to say a massive thank you to all of you who support me, read my blog, follow my blog and for just being amazing. Thank you!

I have been blogging for over a year! This is quite a shock to me and I am really impressed that I have managed to keep this blog going for over a year. I have also thoroughly enjoyed reading and following fellow book blogs.

Overall, I have read 71 books that equals approximately 15921 pages.

I have also read a lot more poetry and explored a lot of quotes. I have also tried to read different genres from my usual comfort zones.

I have discovered a new favourite author, Elly Griffiths and a new favourite poet Christina Rossetti.

I haven’t visited as many Waterstones stores as I would like but I am hoping to tick off more in 2020, especially in London.

I bought loads of books in 2019 and sadly have not read them all, so my TBR Pile has grown alarmingly large. I really can not help myself where buying books is concerned!

The other thing I learned in 2019 was that I really do not like reading challenges. I really struggled to keep to my Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge and really hated feeling confined to list. I found it useful whilst away on holiday to know I have a list of books to read on my Kindle but as soon as I was home surrounded my all my lovely books, I just wanted to pick and choose what I wanted. So inevitably I did not complete the challenge and have decided I will not attempt one again in the near future other than my Goodreads challenge of how many books I plan to read in a year.

The other thing learnt this year was how to switch off properly. For the first time ever I went on a resort holiday and to begin with I struggled at this relaxation business and kept thinking I needed to do things but then I realised I could just spend the day by the pool and read and not feel guilty. It was a wonderful experience and one that I hope to repeat. I managed to read a wonderful amount of books as an added bonus.

So I think that is a round up of my 2019.

New Books 6/01/2020

As promised here are my new books that I got over New Year when visiting Bath. We always visit my favourite bookshop Topping and Company because it always has some very special books and quite often signed editions. Plus when my poor husband is exhausted from following me around the bookshop and carrying the books I’ve already chosen they always offer him a mug of tea.

So here are the books I bought, I tried to be restrained so there are not as many books as I would usually go for.

Goodbye to All Cats by P. G. Woodhouse

Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year edited by Allie Esiri

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Hardy

Drop me a comment if you have read any of these. I always love to hear your thoughts.