Waterstones Challenge: Worcester

It’s half term so I decided to go a bit further out for the next Waterstones visit and Worcester was the one we chose. We turned it into a National Trust visit as well and visited Elgar’s Birthplace.

The visit to Elgar’s Birthplace was really good and quite different since the National Trust has taken over. I went a few years ago and it was quite a different layout, my husband has never been though and really enjoyed it, apart from basically all the signs using it’s instead of its, that drove him insane.

After our visit, we went into Worcester and found the Waterstones, it is quite small but really well laid out, I loved the top floor it was so spacious and welcoming and it also has an escalator which I thought was excellent for easy access. The book I went in for was The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon but it was not there and after my husband looked it up it was because I had got the release dates wrong and the book is not out until the 26th February 2019. I’ve never been good with numbers, let alone dates. It was not a wasted journey though, because I managed to buy three books. I will be honest, I went to the till with just two books but then the third just jumped into my hand and I ended up buying it as well.

The three books I got are:-

The Crossing Places: A Dr Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths

I have just recently discovered Elly Griffiths’ Dr Ruth Galloway and I just can not put the books down so I was happy to find one that I have not read.

Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher

I wanted to read another Rosamunde Pilcher book after falling in love with Coming Home so it looks like this will be next on my list.

The Story of Brexit: A Ladybird Book

This was the book that jumped into my hand at the till, I do find the Ladybird books rather funny and good to read with a mug of tea.

We celebrated the latest Waterstones visit by going to Pizza Express for a treat and then we went to my parents’ house and had Coco cuddles. Coco is my dog who has always been one of my reading buddies. Sadly when I moved out she stayed with my parents so I go over as often as I can for cuddles. Coco loves using piles of books as a pillow.

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

Book Sleeve Product Review

After years of reading and never leaving the house without a book, I decided to get a Book Sleeve, so my poor books would stop getting dog earred and battered in the neverending pit that is my handbag.

I had a good browse on Amazon and finally chose a medium book sleeve with Sloths on so it would match my diary, the price was £10.59. I think they match quite well but I must admit when it first arrived I was quite shocked how bright the green background was, it does not come across that bright in the picture below or on Amazon but believe me it is bright.

I have been using the sleeve for about a week now, I have used it for a tiny book that was about a 100 pages long so the sleeve swamped the book somewhat but the book did not get damaged and stayed safe in the sleeve. The next book I am using it for is a great big hard back book pictured below. It just about fits so really I do need a slightly bigger size for hardbacks but for paperbacks it is wonderful and so far my hardback book has stayed safe and sound.

I love my sloth book sleeve and I will definitely be using it on a regular basis, although due to the colour I imagine it will mark easily but I think it looks like it should wash quite successfully if something bad happens to it. I think I will get a bigger one for the hardbacks and a smaller one for the small paperbacks I read. This one is well made and of good strong material so I am hoping it will last me for many more reading years to come. Really happy with the product and was expecting it to be more expensive if I am honest, so the surprise with the price was a big bonus.

If you are interested in getting the Sloth Book Sleeve the Amazon link is here.

Happy reading my fellow Book Dragons!

Lady Book Dragon.

Mid Week Quote

Happy Wednesday!

What is everyone reading this week?

Today’s quote is from The Compleat Gentleman by Henry Peacham.

The book was written as a guide for young men of the period to become well-rounded, couteous members of society. It was full of practical advice on how to travel, what to read and much more.

“The desire to have many books, and never to use them, is like a child that will have a candle burning by him all the while he is sleeping.”

Henry Peacham

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

A Bookish Tea Infuser

I finally got to use my new tea infuser that I got for Christmas. My friends know me so well, the two things I absolutely adore are tea and books and my best friend managed to get me something that combines both these things.

So here is the fantastic tea infuser with the little book of tea it came with. The Book tea infuser is called A Tale of Two Ci-Teas one of my favourite books.

I can report the tea infuser works brilliantly and I made the tea in a suitably bookish mug.

I hope my next mug of bookish tea I can accompany it with a good book but sadly this mug of tea had to stay on the AGA to stay warm as I did some jobs.

Do you have any bookish related items? I would love to hear what they are.

Lady Book Dragon.

100 Books Scratch Off Bucket List

I mentioned at Christmas that my best friend bought me the 100 Books Scratch Off Bucket List and I decided that I would start reading the books on there that I have not read before. Anyway the list has been sat looking at me since Christmas and I still haven’t made a start on reading some of the books off the list.

So I thought I would make a few lists and enlist you my fellow readers to help me decide on which book to read next.

Here is what the poster looks like

Firstly, the books I have already read:-

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The Complete Art of War by Sun Tzu
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter (Series) by J. K. Rowling
The Picture of Dorain Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
A Game of Thrones (Series) by George R. R. Martin
MacBeth by William Shakespeare
The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) by J. R. R. Tolkien
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
Winnie the Pooh (Complete Collection) By A. A. Milne
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Watership Down by Richard Adam
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Bird Song by Sebastian Faulks
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Books I have not read (the ones I own are in blue):-

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
Naughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
His Dark Materials (Trilogy) By Philip Pullman
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Ulysees by James Joyce
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Wild Swans by Jung Chang
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson
A History of Venice by John Julius Norwich
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
London Fields by Martin Amis
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
My Man Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle
Gladys Aylward the Little Woman by Gladys Aylward
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Dissolution by C. J. Sansom
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Misery by Stephen King
The Odyssey by Homer
Tell No One by Harlan Coben
Moby – Dick by Herman Melville
Middlemarch by George Eliot

So out of the books on the list that I have not read and own which do you think I should read next? Whichever book is the most popular I will read next. Thank you in advance for your choices.

Happy reading.

Lady Book Dragon.

Star Trek Discovery: Desperate Hours by David Mack (Review)

Star Trek Discovery: Desperate Hours by David Mack

About the author

David Mack has been writing since 1995 and is best known for his freelance Star Trek Novels. He has also produced a Star Trek script and worked on a Star Trek comic.

Blurb

Aboard the Starship Shenzhou, Lieutenant Michael Burnham, a human woman raised and educated among Vulcans, is promoted to acting first officer. But if she wants to keep the job, she must prove to Captain Philippa Georgiou that she deserves to have it.

She gets her chance when the Shenzhou must protect a Federation colony that is under attack by an ancient alien vessel that has surfaced from the deepest fathoms of the planet’s dark, uncharted sea.

As the menace from this mysterious vessel grows stronger, Starfleet declares the colony expendable in the name of halting the threat. To save thousands of innocent lives, Burnham must infiltrate the alien ship. But to do so, she needs to face the truth of her troubled past, and seek the aid of a man she has tried to avoid her entire life – until now.

Review

After watching the first season of Star Trek: Discovery I was hooked with the series and decided to see if there were any books written based on the series. My cousin who is a major Trekkie informed me there was and I immediately went out and bought all four. I have read quite a few of the books based on the Star Wars films but never any Star Trek books, so this one is a first for me and will definitely not be my last.

I loved this book as it revealed so much about Burnham and Spock and their history together and their respective childhoods. The description of Spock was perfect to what I have always seen on the TV series of the original Star Trek. Burnham was also a perfect fit to the TV Burnham and I must admit I could not help but feel sorry for both of them. They are both troubled and have their own pasts to confront and get over and will need each other eventually to come to terms with their issues.

My other favourite character is Captain Georgiou, she is so strong and powerful, I can just imagine her power and influence on the Shenzhou, she is so full of wisdom and knowledge that her crew can not help but look up to her and be inspired. She is a powerful female lead in the book who holds strong to her principles and is not pushed around by men.

The other element I like in the book is that we get to meet Captain Pike and the USS Enterprise. In all honesty I find Pike to be a bit of a young puppy in comparison to Georgiou but I do not mind that one bit either, it is just another example of Georgiou’s wisdom, firm beliefs and power. Yes she shows weakness and loss of temper but it is also always controlled and just shows she is human.

The storyline of the book I found fascinating and was hooked very early on by the idea of this ancient ship acting out its orders from long ago. I immediately wanted to know more about the ship and where it had come from and could not put the book down.

The two elements which I did not enjoy very much was firstly the character of Saru, sadly I found Saru to be a bit of a wet blanket. He was constantly worrying, being socially awkward and just generally getting on my nerves. Yes, I know it is to do with his species and his genetic make up but at some time I felt like he did not belong in Star Fleet and could be better utilised elsewhere. I was delighted every time Burnham wound him up because I think Burnham and myself share the same point of view regarding Saru.

The second issue I had with the book was occasionally I found it to be a bit slow and I wanted it to move on quicker, this was mainly with the Burnham and Spock interactions. I just found them to be long winded, as the reader I knew the point that was being put across and did not need it dragged out like it was. I was desperate to know what was going to happen next and did not have the patience to deal with the twaddle that was present at times.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and at times could not put it down and that is why I have given it 4 out of 5 Dragons. I highly recommend it to any Trekkies out there and sci-fi lovers who are not necessarily Star Trek fans. I loved it so much that as soon as I finished it I started to read the next in the series Drastic Measures.

Lady Book Dragon.

Waterstones Challenge: Merry Hill

This week on the 7th February I visited my fourth Waterstones off the list, Merry Hill. It has been a while since I have visited the Waterstones at Merry Hill and I had forgotten how small the store is. Small in a good way, as sometimes I get overwhelmed by massive bookstores and just do not know where to look.

It was a really nice atmosphere in the store and quiet, which I love because you do not have to rush or fight through people to have a good browse. As usual the books were laid out perfectly and so I managed to find some good books to buy.

Here are the books I bought and I used my special book buying bag that I got for Chistmas off my sister-in-law.

The books I bought are as follows:-

The Man with No Face by Peter May

This edition I got is actually signed by the author and as he is a favourite of mine I just could not resist buying it. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it anyway.

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

Have been waiting for this to come out for a while now, I was very excited to buy it.

Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott

This is actually my husband’s choice and I bought it for him but would also like to read it when he has finished it. It looks very intriguing and different to what I usually read.

Dog Stories Everyman’s Pocket Classics

I love the Everyman books, I just think they look so pretty. We have the cat version of this book and I thought it was high time we had the dog one.

Anyway this was my book haul, I think it is a good haul and can not wait to start reading them.

On to planning my next Waterstones adventure.

Lady Book Dragon.