I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. I am sadly on the last day of an amazing holiday and I really don’t want to go home. I’ve managed to get loads of relaxing reading done by the pool and it has been absolute bliss.
Apologies if this post comes out a bit strange. I’ve had to do the post on my iPad rather than my laptop and for some reason the iPad and WordPress are just not playing well together.
Anyway, here is what has been happening on the blog
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. It is all about sharing the books that you have recently added to your bookshelves. These books can be physical books, ebooks and of course audiobooks.
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a nice weekend so far. I am currently on holiday so this has meant me buying lots of books on my Kindle.
So here are the books I have bought this week.
Lessons by Ian McEwan – This is my first McEwan novel but I am really enjoying it so far.
The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse – I love Kate Mosse and I thought it was high time I read The Joubert Chronicles.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow – I have been wanting to read this book for quite a long time now so I decided to get it for this holiday.
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods – Another one that I have been wanting to read for quite a long time.
Have you added any new books to your bookshelves recently?
‘We saw a door opening ahead of us. There was a car parked by the roadside. This guy came out pushing another guy in front of him. No, not pushing. Imagine you’re carrying a shop dummy and trying to make it look like it’s your friend walking next to you. He put him in the car and got into the driver’s seat . . . The guy drove all over the place. He seemed to be looking for something, but seemed to keep losing his way. In the end, we realised what he’d been looking for.’
A series of chance encounters sends Inspector Maigret down yet another winding path of murder and mystery. While visiting a criminal in his cell, the young convict tells Maigret of a man who’d been spotted dumping a body in a Parisian canal some years ago. On an unexpected trip to a popular inn, Maigret finds himself in the very place the suspected killer was last seen, and the Inspector is pulled deeper into the web of blackmail and deceit.
Review
I really enjoyed this Maigret book but yet again I felt very sorry for poor Mrs Maigret. All Mrs Maigret wants is her husband on holiday with her but as per usual Maigret chooses his work first. The poor woman deserves a medal in my opinion.
While visiting a criminal in his cell the criminal tells Maigret of a crime scene he witnessed years ago. The criminal witnessed a man dumping a body in the canal years ago and of course Maigret is intrigued.
Maigret ends up getting caught up with a group of friends who meet every weekend at a bar near the Seine. This group of friends happily drink, gamble and party the weekend away and enjoy swinging. This leaves Maigret drinking way too much and trying to work out what exactly these people are hiding.
Maigret has quite a task on his hands in this book as he really has no idea who could have done the crime and been responsible for the disposal of the body. After all he has no evidence just the man’s account of the crime. As he is trying to put the pieces together and deal with the people he also has Mrs Maigret sending him telegrams asking him when he will join her on holiday.
I really found this book quite different to the ones I had read before and I enjoyed the different feel about it. I also found this book quite funny in places. Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
(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.
Rees has been running away his whole life. But when a legend from his childhood turns out to be fact rather than fiction, he is drawn deeper into a hidden world that reveals a troubling truth – not just about his present, but also his past. The choice is keep running, or stay and fight.
Review
I do love a quick read and I was really excited to read this one as it is my kind of book. Ifan Morgan Jones is also a new author for me and I do love discovering new authors through the Quick Reads scheme.
This book had all my favourite things: sci-fi, legends turning out to be real and even some dragons made an appearance. However, no matter how hard I tried I just could not gel with this book! I know I struggle with short books because I find myself wanting more from the story but if this book had been any longer I would have had to DNF it.
I did not get on well with Jones’ writing style and I fear that this will be one of the books that I soon forget about because it just lacked that something for me. Jones tried to put a very human story into a sci-fi setting and for me it just didn’t work. I give this book 2 out of 5 Dragons.
(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
Ifan Morgan Jones is lecturer in Journalism at Bangor University. He is the author of Babel – the first steampunk novel in Welsh, which won the 2020 Wales Book of the Year award (in the Welsh language), the Fiction category prize, and the Golwg360 Barn y Bobl (People’s Choice award).
When Princess Atalanta is born, a daughter rather than the son her parents hoped for, she is left on a mountainside to die. But even then, she is a survivor. Raised by a mother bear under the protective eye of the goddess Artemis, Atalanta grows up wild and free, with just one condition: if she marries, Artemis warns, it will be her undoing.
Although she loves her beautiful forest home, Atalanta yearns for adventure. When Artemis offers her the chance to fight in her name alongside the Argonauts, the fiercest band of warriors the world has ever seen, Atalanta seizes it. The Argonauts’ quest for the Golden Fleece is filled with impossible challenges, but Atalanta proves herself equal to the men she fights alongside. As she is swept into a passionate affair, in defiance of Artemis’s warning, she begins to question the goddess’s true intentions. Can Atalanta carve out her own legendary place in a world of men, while staying true to her heart?
Full of joy, passion, and adventure, Atalanta is the story of a woman who refuses to be contained. Jennifer Saint places Atalanta in the pantheon of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology, where she belongs.
Review
I am a huge Jennifer Saint fan and she is now an auto buy author for me. I just wish I was faster at reading the books so they don’t sit on my TBR pile for so long!
Atalanta is not a very well known hero in the ancient myths and she is definitely not a main character in the myths so I was excited to read a story where she is the main character and not some woman at the sidelines like all the females in the ancient myths.
Atalanta was left exposed on a hillside as a baby because her father wanted a son. However, a mother bear took her in and protected her so she didn’t succumb to the elements. Once she is older Artemis herself takes charge of Atalanta. Atalanta grows up wild and free and a skilled hunter but she longs for more and so Artemis offers her the chance of adventure and fame by letting her join Jason and the Argonauts.
The story of Atalanta is told in the first person and I think this works brilliantly with how the storyline moves along because we get all of Atalanta’s feelings and opinions and we also get the adventure and interactions with the Argonauts. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the Argonauts and their hunt for the Fleece and the Caledonian boar hunt told from Atalanta’s perspective and how she proved herself worthy to be among them time and time again.
However, I did find that a bulk of Atalanta’s narrative was dominated by the exploits of men and her feelings for these men. I also felt let down at times because Atalanta was also quite passive in the story and although she had physical strength and power, mentally she was not that strong and relied on certain men in her company. For me Atalanta lacked the strength of character that Saint’s Ariadne had and that is why the book only gets 4 out of 5 Dragons from me.
(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
Jennifer Saint grew up reading Greek mythology and was always drawn to the untold stories hidden within the myths. After thirteen years as a high school English teacher, she wrote ARIADNE which tells the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur from the perspective of Ariadne – the woman who made it happen. Jennifer Saint is now a full-time author, living in Yorkshire, England, with her husband and two children.
Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is the third novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, it is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialisation to community.
Review
This is one of the books off my Classics Club list but it is also a book that is one of my all time favourite books. I have read this book quite a few times but I thought it was time for a reread.
This wonderful little book is in my humble opinion Eliot at her best. Silas Marner is a beautifully written character and one you can’t help but love. Silas had a hard start in life and was cruelly mistreated and it is because of this he finds himself in Raveloe. In Raveloe Silas keeps away from his fellow villagers and works hard. He weaves day and night and the one joy he has is his gold but then a series of events take place and Silas’ life changes forever.
This book is only short but contains so many different themes. There is the theme of religion and how different denominations of Christianity are treated with fear and misunderstanding. We witness industrialisation taking away the work of cottage industries. How newcomers are treated in communities. There is so much within this tiny book but the main theme is the power of love and it is a wonderful theme within this book.
I will be honest there are certain characters within this book I have never been keen on and the main for me is Nancy. I’m not really sure why I dislike her so much but for some reason she just grates against my nerves. Godfrey Cass is also one who annoys me, he has good points but he also has bad points and I find the bad points outweigh the good.
I just love this book and will happily reread it again. I give this book a big 5 out of 5 Dragons.
(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
Mary Ann Evans, known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She was born in 1819 at a farmstead in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, where her father was estate manager. Mary Ann, the youngest child and a favourite of her father’s, received a good education for a young woman of her day. Influenced by a favourite governess, she became a religious evangelical as an adolescent.
The rules are answer the questions below and 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 hope everyone is having a good week so far. I have had rather a stressful day at school and to be honest I am very glad I now have the summer holidays. I have a workshop to do tomorrow morning and then it is no school and I can’t wait.
What I am Currently Reading
I started Babel this week and so far I am thoroughly enjoying it. Cicero is still being read but it I am still making steady progress.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I managed to finish two books this week even if they are only small books I am happy with the fact that I managed to finish two.
What I Think I will Read Next
These are the books I currently have on my Kindle which I will be using whilst on holiday.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone had a nice weekend and is prepared for the week ahead. I’m counting down the days till my holiday and I’m working out what books to put on my Kindle.
My chosen book to feature this week is one that has been on my Goodreads TBR since 2014 but I have actually only bought the book recently.
This short novel, already a modern classic, is the superbly told, tragic story of a Cuban fisherman in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he kills and loses—specifically referred to in the citation accompanying the author’s Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.
I’m really hoping to read this soon as it is only a small book and one I think I will be able to read pretty quickly.
What are your thoughts on this book if you have read it?
Please drop me a link with your Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. There isn’t much to report on the blogging and reading front sadly but here is what I have managed this week.
Lady Book Dragon 