2023

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.

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend and is ready for the week ahead.

My chosen book this week is one that I have been wanting to read for a very long time and I really hope I get to read it soon.

Socrates sits chained to a wall in a small prison cell. In a month he will die of hemlock poisoning. At night, by the light of a tiny oil lamp, on rolls of paper smuggled in by loyal friends, he tells his three sons the story of his life.

He writes vividly about the people and events that shaped him as a person. The mother who encouraged his questions. Teachers who promoted the Greek ideals of courage and glory. Bloody battles. Lifelong friends lost and enemies made. Being proclaimed the world’s wisest man.

Fearing his sons may follow in his ill-fated path, Socrates honestly reveals his thoughts and feelings, his successes and his failures, and his search for the answer to the ultimate question—how can I be happy?

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.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 19/06/2023

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 has had a good day today. I managed to blow all the lights at the school I was teaching at today. Thankfully it was sunny enough to not cause too much bother but the bang scared the life out of me.

My chosen book today is another off my 20 Books of Summer list. I will be honest I am falling a little bit behind with my list at the moment but I’ve really tried to catch up with my reading today and hope to catch up even more this week.

Sussex, 1912. In a churchyard, villagers gather on the night when the ghosts of those who will die in the coming year are thought to be seen. Here, where the estuary leads out to the sea, superstitions still hold sway.

Standing alone is the taxidermist’s daughter. At 17, Constantia Gifford lives with her father in a decaying house: it is all that is left of Gifford’s once world-famous museum of taxidermy. The stuffed animals that used to grace every parlour are out of fashion, leaving Gifford a disgraced and bitter man.

The bell begins to toll and all eyes are fixed on the church. No one sees the gloved hand pick up a flint. As the last notes fade into the dark, a woman lies dead.

While the village braces itself against rising waters and the highest tide of the season, Connie struggles to discover who is responsible, but finds herself under suspicion. Is Constantia who she seems – is she the victim of circumstances or are more sinister forces at work? And what is the secret that lies at the heart of Gifford House, hidden among the bell jars of her father’s workshop?

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.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 12/06/2023

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 good start to the week today. I had a reasonably easy day teaching today which was nice, especially in this heat.

My chosen book to feature today is another off my 20 Books of Summer Challenge. I must admit my challenge has slowed down some what after I flew through my first book. I plan some good reading sessions on Wednesday and Thursday so hopefully I might make a dent in the backlog.

Queen Elizabeth II is having a royal nightmare. A referendum divides the nation, a tumultuous election grips the United States – and the body of a staff member is found dead beside Buckingham Palace swimming pool. Is it a tragic accident, as the police think? Or is something more sinister going on?

As Her Majesty looks for answers, her trusted assistant, Rozie, is on the trail of a treasured painting that once hung outside the Queen’s bedroom. But when Rozie receives a threatening anonymous letter, Elizabeth knows dark forces are at work – and far too close to home.

After all, though the staff and public may not realise it, she is the keenest sleuth among them. Sometimes, it takes a Queen’s eye to see connections where no one else can …

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.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Goodreads Monday: 5/06/2023

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 has had a great start to the week. I have been back at school today so less time reading sadly.

My chosen book for this week is another book off my 20 Books of Summer Challenge. This is another book that has been sat on my TBR for way too long.

It was first serialised in the Merry’s Museum magazine between July and August in 1869 and consisted of only six chapters. For the finished product, however, Alcott continued the story from the chapter “Six Years Afterwards” and so it ended up with nineteen chapters in all. The book revolves around Polly Milton, the old-fashioned girl who titles the story. Polly visits her wealthy friend Fanny Shaw in the city and is overwhelmed by the fashionable and urban life they live–but also left out because of her “countrified” manners and outdated clothes.

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.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 1/05/2023

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!

Pinch, punch first of the month! Yes it is May, I’m not sure how we are already in May but I’m really hoping this means less rain and more sunshine. I want to get out and read in my garden!

Anyway, my chosen book for Goodreads Monday is one that I have recently added to my TBR list on Goodreads but one that I hope to read very soon and not just because the lady at Waterstones said it was her favourite book of 2023 so far.

New York is slipping from Cleo’s grasp. Sure, she’s at a different party every other night, but she barely knows anyone. Her student visa is running out, and she doesn’t even have money for cigarettes. But then she meets Frank. Twenty years older, Frank’s life is full of all the success and excess that Cleo’s lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a green card. She offers him a life imbued with beauty and art—and, hopefully, a reason to cut back on his drinking. He is everything she needs right now.

Cleo and Frank run head-first into a romance that neither of them can quite keep up with. It reshapes their lives and the lives of those around them, whether that’s Cleo’s best friend struggling to embrace his gender identity in the wake of her marriage, or Frank’s financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates after being cut off. Ultimately, this chance meeting between two strangers outside of a New Year’s Eve party changes everything, for better or worse.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein is an astounding and painfully relatable debut novel about the spontaneous decisions that shape our entire lives and those imperfect relationships born of unexpectedly perfect evenings.

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.

Happy Reading

Etsy

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

Goodreads Monday: 10/04/2023

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.

Happy Easter Monday Everyone!

I have the week off this week and although I have things to sort and do I am planning a few little adventures. I am also planning on catching up on my reading as I have rather fallen behind.

My chosen book this week is by an author I have wanted to read for a long time but have still not managed to get around to reading. This year I mean to change this and I have bought a few of the books to make sure they are waiting on my TBR pile. This is one of the books I plan on reading soon.

Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend Professor Magnus Lane. During his stay he agrees to serve as guinea pig for a new drug Magnus has discovered in his biochemical research; the effect of which is to transport Dick from the house at Kilmarth to the Cornwall of the 14th century.

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.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Goodreads Monday: 20/03/2023

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.

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I will be honest I haven’t had the best start to the week. Teaching naughty children and having my time wasted left me very annoyed but at least I got some reading done in my lunch break.

My chosen book this week is one from one of my all time favourite authors, Alexandre Dumas. I would love to eventually read all of his books but I will be honest most of his books are rather weighty and take me quite a while to read. However, I live in hope that one day I will manage it.

Cornelius von Baerle, a respectable tulip-grower, lives only to cultivate the elusive black tulip and win a magnificent prize for its creation. But after his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in deadly political intrigue and is falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival. Condemned to life imprisonment, his only comfort is Rosa, the jailer’s beautiful daughter, and together they concoct a plan to grow the black tulip in secret. Dumas’ last major historical novel is a tale of romantic love, jealousy and obsession, interweaving historical events surrounding the brutal murders of two Dutch statesman in 1672 with the phenomenon of tulipomania that gripped seventeenth-century Holland.

Fingers crossed I will get around to reading this soon but first I must finish The Count of Monte Cristo!

Happy Reading

Etsy

Goodreads Monday: 13/03/2023

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 has had a good start to the week. I must admit today has been a struggle. I just seem to be constantly tired at the moment and it isn’t helping me with my working day. I’m not even reading before bed as I am straight asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow which is very rare for me.

So my chosen book that I want to feature off my TBR for this week is another that I have been wanting to read for ages. As I might have mentioned a few times I love Rosamunde Pilcher’s books and I still have so many left to read. I really hope I manage to read this beauty soon as it has sat on my bookshelves for way to long.

An instant bestseller when it was first published, The Shell Seekers is an enduring classic which has touched the hearts of millions of readers worldwide. A novel of connection, it is the story of one family—mothers and daughters, husbands and lovers–and of the passions and heartbreak that have held them together for three generations. This magical novel—the kind of reading experience that comes along only once in a long while—is the perfect read, whether you are returning to it again, or opening the cover for the first time.

At the end of a long and useful life, Penelope Keeling’s prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolising her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather’s work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer…and it lies in her heart.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Goodreads Monday: 27/02/2023

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 has had a good Monday and start to the week.

My chosen book for my Goodreads Monday is one that has been on my TBR for quite a while but one I hope to read this year as part of my nonfiction challenge.

Jerusalem 1119. A small group of knights seeking a purpose in the violent aftermath of the First Crusade decides to set up a new order. These are the first Knights Templar, a band of elite warriors prepared to give their lives to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Over the next two hundred years, the Templars would become the most powerful religious order of the medieval world. Their legend has inspired fervent speculation ever since.

In this groundbreaking narrative history, Dan Jones tells the true story of the Templars for the first time in a generation, drawing on extensive original sources to build a gripping account of these Christian holy warriors whose heroism and alleged depravity have been shrouded in myth. The Templars were protected by the pope and sworn to strict vows of celibacy. They fought the forces of Islam in hand-to-hand combat on the sun-baked hills where Jesus lived and died, finding their nemesis in Saladin, who vowed to drive all Christians from the lands of Islam. Experts at channeling money across borders, they established the medieval world’s largest and most innovative banking network and waged private wars against anyone who threatened their interests.

Then, as they faced setbacks at the hands of the ruthless Mamluk sultan Baybars and were forced to retreat to their stronghold in Cyprus, a vindictive and cash-strapped King of France set his sights on their fortune. His administrators quietly mounted a damning case against the Templars, built on deliberate lies and false testimony. Then on Friday October 13, 1307, hundreds of brothers were arrested, imprisoned and tortured, and the order was disbanded amid lurid accusations of sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Pope in secret proceedings and their last master was brutally tortured and burned at the stake. But were they heretics or victims of a ruthlessly repressive state? Dan Jones goes back to the sources to bring their dramatic tale, so relevant to our own times, in a book that is at once authoritative and compulsively readable.

Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Goodreads Monday: 20/02/2023

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 has had a good start to the week so far.

My chosen book today has been on my Goodreads TBR for a very long time and I’m not sure why as it is a book that I have wanted to read ever since I visited Exmoor with my parents. I remember falling in love with Exmoor (probably because of the very cute ponies) and desperately wanting to read Lorna Doone when I got home but it never seemed to happen.

First published in 1869, Lorna Doone is the story of John Ridd, a farmer who finds love amid the religious and social turmoil of seventeenth-century England. He is just a boy when his father is slain by the Doone’s, a lawless clan inhabiting wild Exmoor on the border of Somerset and Devon. Seized by curiosity and a sense of adventure, he makes his way to the valley of the Doone’s, where he is discovered by the beautiful Lorna. In time their childish fantasies blossom into mature love—a bond that will inspire John to rescue his beloved from the ravages of a stormy winter, rekindling a conflict with his arch-rival, Carver Doone, that climaxes in heartrending violence.

Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading