WWW Wednesday 13th November 2019

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?

What I am currently reading

One Day in Winter by Shari Low

This is a new author for me and I got the book for free on Apple books. I’m only two chapters in but so far it seems to be going ok.

A Very Murderous Christmas by various authors

I have read six stories so far and so far absolutely loving the book!

What I finished reading recently

Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare

I finished this on Monday and sadly I found it a really disappointing read and I feel like a bad person for saying it because it is by William Shakespeare!

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

I loved this book so much, it kept me hooked from beginning to end. I highly recommend it.

What I plan on reading next

The Night I Met Father Christmas by Ben Miller

This arrived at the weekend and I am so excited to read it after my best friend told be about it. I must be well behaved though and wait till I have finished at least one of the books I am currently reading.

Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday or if you have read any of the books.

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths (Review)

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

About the author

Elly Griffiths was born in London and began her career in publishing, she then turned to writing full time. In 2016 she won the CWA Dagger in the Library for her work. Griffiths lives in Brighton with her family and the cat Gus.

Blurb

Forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway is called in to advise when builders, demolishing a Victorian house in Norwich, uncover the skeleton of a child – minus the skull. Is it some ritual sacrifice or just plain murder?

The house was once a children’s home. DCI Harry Nelson meets the priest who used to run it, who tells him two children did go missing forty years before – a boy and a girl. They were never found.

But someone is trying hard to put both Ruth and Nelson off the scent – and a seemingly forgotten crime becomes terrifyingly real, with deadly consequences.

Review

Firstly, Elly Griffiths is fast becoming an absolute favourite of mine, every book of hers I read I can not put down and look forward to reading the next one.

I loved this story and loved the connections with Roman history and the God Janus. When I was younger I absolutely loved the history of the Roman Gods and Janus was a personal favourite, I became obsessed with closing gates so I didn’t anger him.

It was really nice to be reading about Dr Ruth Galloway again, she is such a wonderful character, she is down to earth, intelligent and not glamorous or hung up on her appearance. DCI Nelson is rough around the edges and does not pull his punches and quite funny.

The character that I really enjoyed in this book is Cathbad, he is so free and funny and really does not care what people think of him. I wish he would feature more in the stories to be honest.

The book was fast paced and kept me hooked from the beginning. I must admit I did work out the culprit but it did not ruin the story for me and it was a nice surprise that the story did not go down the predictable line I thought it was looking like.

The other element I loved was the personal dramas of the characters unfolding and I enjoyed that as much as the actual crime investigation unfolding. Overall I loved this book and have given it 5 out 5 Dragons. I highly recommend it to everyone but especially people who love a good crime drama.

Purchase links:-

Waterstones

Book Depository

Christmas Reading List: Update

I am getting so excited for Christmas that I have started reading my Christmas reading list! I will be adding to this list, as at the moment it is way too short. I always go to the German Market in Birmingham to do some Christmas shopping and I always spend a lot of time in Waterstones and that is usually when I get most of my Christmas books, so watch this space!

So here is the list in no particular order:-

The Night I Met Father Christmas by Ben Miller

Miss Marley by Vanessa Lafaye

A Very Murderous Christmas by various authors

A Very Country Christmas by Zara Stonely

A Literary Christmas: An Anthology

I have just started reading A Very Murderous Christmas and so far it is proving to be very good.

If you have any Christmas books to recommend to me please drop me a comment.

WWW Wednesday: 6th November 2019

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?

What I am currently reading:-

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

As some of you may know I do love books by Elly Griffiths and this is no exception, I am racing through this book.

Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare

I’ve set myself the challenge to read more Shakespeare, as I have only read his work that I had to at school, so far this is proving to be an interesting if slightly long winded read.

Books I have recently finished:-

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Really enjoyed this and could not put it down. Fantastic read.

The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs

Another great read, that I polished off in a few hours.

What I think I will read next:-

This is always a tricky question for me as I generally always change my mind, so apologies if I don’t stick with my first choices.

Miss Marley by Vanessa Lafaye

A Literary Christmas.

That is another WWW Wednesday complete. Please drop me a link to your WWW Wednesday and please feel free to comment about any of the books listed.

Happy reading.

Book Haul 4/11/19

Guess what?

I’ve been buying books again!

Only four books I promise.

Two of the books I got because I found them interesting and linked to my Masters and the other two are pretty and Christmas books so I just had to get them.

Here they are:-

Miss Marley by Vanessa Lafaye

A Literary Christmas: An Anthology

Ancient Rome by Virginia Campbell

Ancient Greece by David Michael Smith

I cannot wait to start reading them!

Happy Reading!

Christmas Reading List

Hello everyone!

I have started to think of my Christmas reading list. I usually begin my Christmas reading on the 1st December but this year I am very tempted to begin earlier because usually I am so busy during the month of December. Also I just want to get into the Christmas spirit!

The first on the list is a book recommended to me by my best friend, who sent me a very excited text yesterday telling me I just had to read it.

The Night I Met Father Christmas by Ben Miller

The second book will be a new copy of The Nutcracker which as you know I read every year and every year I get a new edition, the prettier the better.

So let the planning and Christmas book buying commence. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Happy reading.

October Wrap Up

Well looking back on October I can say it was thankfully a better month than September.

Books read

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

3/5 Dragons

324 pages

Classics: A Very Short Introduction by Mary Beard and John Henderson

4/5 Dragons

145 Pages

Girl in Trouble by Stacy Claflin

3/5 Dragons

317 pages

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

5/5 Dragons

422 pages

(If you click the image it will take you to the review)

Total pages this month: 1208

Total pages this year: 12897

Here’s to another good month of reading.

The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs (Review)

The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs

About the author

John Belliars (1938-1991) was an award-winning American author of many gothic mystery novels for children and young adults.

Blurb

When orphaned Lewis Barnavelt comes to live with his Uncle Jonathan, he is amazed to find out there is a wizard in his family.

Lewis experiments with Uncle Jonathan’s spells and uncovers the mystery behind the ticking that he can hear throughout the house, sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. It’s an evil clock and it could destroy humankind.

It is up to the Barnavelt’s to find where the clock is hidden in the walls – and stop it.

Review

I bought this book ages ago and it has just been sat in a pile gathering dust but I spotted it the other day and thought that looks like a fun quick read and thankfully I was correct. As I have mentioned previously I do enjoy reading children’s books and especially enjoy reading them when I’m very busy or stressed. I can truthfully say I loved this book and could not put it down.

The three main characters Lewis, Uncle Jonathan and Mrs Zimmermann were fantastic. I especially loved the character of Mrs Zimmermann who isn’t afraid of anything and speaks her mind and has an unhealthy obsession with the colour purple. She just seems to be the ultimate cool aunt figure.

Uncle Jonathan is the ultimate cool uncle, teaching Lewis to play poker and letting him stay up late and basically doing what he likes within reason. Lewis is the typical child who doesn’t quite fit in at school but has found his happy place living with his Uncle because as the story develops you can see that Uncle and nephew are rather alike.

Overall I loved the storyline and it kept me hooked from the start, the idea of magic being in a house and its walls was fantastic and in places it was rather spooky although that part was rather rushed through but that was probably because it is a children’s book. The only issue I had with the story was the lack of story about the actual clock, considering the book is about the clock in the walls it hardly features and it just feels like a very rushed ending.

I give this book 4 out of 5 dragons because of the lack of clock in the story. I highly recommend it to children and adults alike. A really good read that keeps you hooked from beginning to end.

Purchase links

Waterstones

Book Depository

Book Haul 28/10/2019

Hello everyone!

Well today is my first day of half term and I celebrated by having a lie in and a leisurely day. I had to run into our nearest town to run some errands and my husband suggested visiting Waterstones for a browse. Well a browse is something that never happens with me, it always ends in buying books. I was just going to buy Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths but my husband said that Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver looked good so I ended up buying another book because it was on buy one get one half price.

Not too much damage with just three books bought.

Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

A Keeper by Graham Norton

Please drop me a comment if you have read any of these books. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Happy reading.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Hello Everyone!

It’s time to celebrate!

So I have now been blogging for a year! One whole year blogging about all things books and loving every minute of it. I have discovered loads of fellow book blogs and through these amazing blogs I’ve discovered some fabulous books I would not normally have considered reading, so thank you my fellow book bloggers.

Thank you for all my followers who have followed me from the beginning and to my followers who have just joined me on my journey, I truly appreciate all of your support.

Here’s to another year and hopefully more blogging about all things books.

Happy Reading