Tag: December 2020

The Lion Book of Christmas Poems by Sophie Piper (Review)

The Lion Book of Christmas Poems by Sophie Piper

Blurb

This poetry anthology includes both jolly and thought-provoking poems old and new to take the reader on a journey through the Christmas season, from the advent of winter to the dawn of the new year. Poems cover much-loved themes including the Nativity and the love and peace of God at Christmas time; the busyness and joy of family life and Christmas preparations; and hope for the new year. Poems are from names including Charles Causley, Steve Turner, Clare Bevan, Edward Lear, Emily Dickinson and many more modern and traditional poets. The anthology is enlivened with pictures and photographs to showcase a whole range of jolly Christmas styles. The giftable hardback format makes this a special book to share at home, whilst the wide scope of the poems makes this equally valuable for teachers looking for assembly and classroom resources.

Review

I really wanted a book of Christmas poetry this year so I was really pleased when I saw this little book on the Waterstones website. 

This little book contains poems by Sophie Piper who has also compiled this book and poems by poets such as Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti and many more. The book also contains stunning illustrations that have been done by a number of illustrators.

I love this little book that can easily be read in one sitting or dipped into when the mood takes you. The poems are well selected and really bring about the spirit of Christmas there are also a few carols inside as well. There are poems for everyone within this book and I will be honest my particular favourites are the ones about animals.

I highly recommend this little book for children and adults and it would make a perfect little stocking filler to read over the festive period. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Amazon | Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

(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

Sophie Piper is the author of numerous religious books for children, including Little Bunny’s Easter, My Baptism Book, and When You Were Small.

Friday Poetry: The Friendly Beasts

Happy Friday!

It is time for another Christmas themed poem and this one is about the animals of the Christmas story. Sadly the author of this lovely poem is unknown.

The Friendly Beasts

Jesus our brother, kind and good,
Was humbly born in a stable rude,
And the friendly beasts around him stood;
Jesus our brother, kind and good.

'I,' said the donkey, shaggy and brown,
'I carried his mother up hill and down,
I carried her safely to Bethlehem town;
I,' said the donkey, shaggy and brown.

'I,' said the cow, all white and red,
'I gave him my manger for his bed,
I gave him my hay to pillow his head;
I,' said the cow, all white and red.

'I,' said the sheep, with the curly horn,
'I gave him my wool for his blanket warm;
He wore my coat on Christmas morn.
'I,' said the sheep with the curly horn.

'I,' said the dove, from the rafters high,
'Cooed him to sleep, my mate and I,
We cooed him to sleep, my mate and I;
I,' said the dove, from the rafters high.

And every beast, by some good spell,
In the stable dark, was glad to tell,
Of the gift he gave Emmanuel,
The gift he gave Emmanuel.

Happy Reading

This and That Thursday

Hello!

I haven’t done a This and That Thursday for a while so I thought I would do one this week.

The studying and teaching is still going and this week I was really pleased to find out my two students who had completed their music exams at the beginning of the month had passed with a merit and a distinction. In these difficult times where their lessons have been online via Zoom since March it was an excellent result.

So here is what I have also been up to…

Christmas

Yes, we have been getting the house ready for Christmas. I love decorating the house for Christmas and I would have a Christmas tree in every room but my husband reigns me in so I just have 3 instead. Here are a few snaps of the house so far as it isn’t finished yet.

Walking

The walking continues, we have been sticking to local walks recently and only averaging 1.5 miles but I always struggle at this time of the year with my asthma.

Fitness

I’ve got back into my fitness again and have been enjoying my regular workouts on my exercise bike and doing some strength training. I have also come to realise that I really hate ab work on the floor so I have been trying out some standing ab workouts and have found I much prefer them and the aching I feel the next day shows that they must be doing me some good. I also treated myself to some Christmas leggings for my workouts through December.

So there is my week. I hope everyone is having a good week so far and managing to stay safe in these weird times.

Happy Reading

WWW Wednesday: 9/12/2020

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

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?

Happy Wednesday!

I am absolutely loving my Christmas reading at the moment and I seem to be flying through books which is brilliant.

So here is my week in books.

What I am Currently Reading

I’m just over half way through with this and sadly I have only enjoyed one story so far. I really hope it gets better.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I enjoyed all of these books and highly recommend them. I’ve only reviewed two of them so far, so here are the links: Skipping Christmas | Christmas at Woolworths.

What I Think I will Read Next

My Christmas reading list this December is above so it will be one of these books but not sure which. As usual it all depends on my mood.

So there is my WWW Wednesday! Please drop me a comment if you want a chat and of course please drop me the link to your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Top Ten Tuesday: The Nutcracker

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For more info please check out Jana’s blog.

Hello!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie but with a wintry festive feel. With this in mind I thought I would go for different copies of The Nutcracker by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Every December I read a different version of The Nutcracker. This can be translated by different people or just a different edition but my favourites are always the ones with pretty illustrations or like last year a pop up book!

So here we go…

First up is the one I have ready to read this year, the illustrations look really nice so I am looking forward to reading it.

This was last year’s read and I must admit I got very excited when I discovered it. It is absolutely stunning and I highly recommend it.

This is another beautiful edition but it is big so not easy to read for too long. This was 2018’s Christmas read.

I have the full set of these little Christmas books and I absolutely love them. This one was 2017’s.

Now you might notice this isn’t actually by Hoffmann but it is the story but it is Dumas’ adaptation and this is also the start of my tradition. I bought this when I went to the German Market in Birmingham with my then future husband and we took a trip to Waterstones and I picked this up and then read it through December 2016.

These next ones are future editions that I would one day like to buy and read.

So there is my Top Ten Tuesday and one of my Christmas traditions. Have you got any Christmas book traditions? Please drop me link to your Top Ten Tuesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (Review)

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

Blurb

Imagine a year without Christmas.

No crowded shops, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether.

Theirs will be the only house on the street without a rooftop Frosty the snowman; they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash; they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But, as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences – and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined. 

Review

The first Christmas movie I watched this year was Christmas with the Kranks and I loved it! Then my best friend told me that it was based on the book Skipping Christmas so I immediately went on to Waterstones and ordered myself a copy. Thankfully I was not disappointed.

The first thing I noticed was how faithful the movie is to the book and that was really good as I always hate it when the movie is so far from the book. Luther and Nora are husband and wife who are about to spend their first Christmas without their daughter but Luther wants to celebrate Christmas differently this year. When Luther thinks of Christmas he just sees expense and mobs of people so he decides this year Nora and himself will skip Christmas and go for a cruise instead.

Nora loves Christmas. She loves the decorations, the parties, the present buying absolutely everything but Luther persuades her this year they will go on a cruise and through the book you can see how Nora is affected by the lack of Christmas traditions in her life. Nora is a typical housewife who spends all her time dashing from one charity thing to the next, who is always helping the needy and making sure everything at home is just right.

Luther however is always counting the money and to be honest is a really selfish character and he really got on my nerves at times and I must admit this does come across in the film but the film had more of a comic element to offset the selfish behaviour. I really felt sorry for Nora having to deal with Luther through all of this but I was pleased he got his comeuppance and everyone was happy.

The other characters who were my favourites were Spike and Ned Frohmeyer. Spike was a real character and Ned was the typical nosy neighbour but there for anybody in need and always trying to bring the street together to be the best they can be.

At just under 200 pages this book took no time at all to read and was a good light-hearted quick read that made me laugh. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons and highly recommend it to anybody who wants a funny read over the festive period.

🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Amazon | Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

(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

John Grisham (1955) is an American novelist, attorney, politician and activist. He is best known for his legal thrillers.

Christmas at Woolworths by Elaine Everest (Review)

Christmas at Woolworths by Elaine Everest

Blurb

Even though there was a war on, the Woolworths girls brought Christmas cheer to their customers

Best friends Sarah, Maisie and Freda are brought together by their jobs at Woolworths. With their loved ones away on the front line, their bonds of friendship strengthen each day. Betty Billington is the manager at Woolworths, and a rock for the girls, having given up on love . . . Until a mysterious stranger turns up one day – could he reignite a spark in Betty?

As the year draws to a close, and Christmas approaches, the girls must rely on each other to navigate the dark days that lie ahead . . .

With so much change, can their friendship survive the war?

Review

I picked up this book before Christmas last year from a book stall at a Christmas fair but I never got around to reading so it was added to my Christmas list for this year and finally I have managed to read it.

I will be honest I struggled at the beginning of this book and I wasn’t entirely sure I would continue reading it but thankfully I carried on as I could see it was going to be a good story. The reason I struggled was due to Everest’s writing style, when there are a lot  of characters all talking Everest doesn’t make it very clear who is saying what and in several instances there aren’t even quotation marks to show there is a dialogue going on which really put me off. However, once I got used to it I soon got into the story.

My favourite character of the book is Ruby who is Sarah’s grandmother. Ruby looks after everyone and includes everyone as family even people she has just met. If she sees they need help she is there doing whatever needs to be done. She is also a big believer that any problem can be solved with tea and is regularly making a brew.

Freda is a wonderful character who I really felt for as she seems to get the worst luck in this book but bless her all she wants to do is do her part for the war effort and keep on going. Sarah who is married to a Spitfire pilot and has a baby daughter is also the same and happily goes the extra mile for anybody in need. 

I will be honest I would have loved a bit more about Betty because she was a fantastic character that I really wanted to see more of. Betty is a leader and a strong woman who is a true friend to Sarah, Maisie and Freda. 

This book is detailing the run up to Christmas through these friends’ lives and it is beautiful and really enjoyable. I absolutely loved the story and the excessive use of tea because as a massive tea drinker myself I believe that tea solves most problems. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons just because I struggled with Everest’s writing style but I do intend on reading the rest of the series.

🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

Amazon

(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

Elaine Everest was born and brought up in northwest Kent and has written widely – both short stories and features – for women’s magazines. When she isn’t writing, Everest runs The Write Place creative writing school in Dartford Kent, and the blog for Romantic Novelists’ Association. 

The Weekly Brief

Happy Sunday!

Another week has gone by and I must admit I am thoroughly enjoying all my Christmas reading. I find Christmas books go particularly well with hot chocolate, a warm blanket and Christmas decorations in the background.

Here is what I have been up to in the blog this week.

Posts this Week

Books I am Currently Reading

Books Acquired this Week

So there is my week and yes I know I said no more buying Christmas books but I just couldn’t help myself! I will try to do better and not buy anymore… I really will try.

Happy Reading!

The Willoughby Book Club #3

Hello!

Today my last book of my birthday present arrived from the Willoughby Book Club. I love getting these monthly book parcels so much, they really give me something to look forward to at the beginning of each month. So here is the book I got for December.

I have never come across Jess Kidd before so I am rather excited to try a new author.

I really do love the Willoughby Book Club, I love the beautifully wrapped books and the fantastic books they choose each month. Due to this I have subscribed to the Book Club for another 12 months so for each month of 2021 I will receive a lovely new book and I can’t wait!

Due to me subscribing for another 12 months Willoughby Book Club have given me a link that if people use they can get 10% off so I thought I would share it with you all just in case you also wanted to join this fantastic Book Club. For the code click here. The code expires on the 25th February 2021.

Please drop me a comment if you are a fellow member or have read the book.

Happy Reading