Tag: January 2023

The Box of Delights by John Masefield (Review #1)

The Box of Delights by John Masefield

Blurb

When Kay Harker meets a mysterious Punch and Judy man on his way home for Christmas, he little realizes that he is about to be plunged into adventure. The old man entrusts Kay with a strange puzzle box – the Box of Delights – before suddenly disappearing. Kay soon discovers two things: the box can transport him through time and space, and there is a plot to steal it. He must battle heroically against terrifying forces of evil in order to win the day… 

Review

When I met my husband I was introduced to the BBC adaptation of The Box of Delights because it is their Christmas tradition to watch the series every Christmas. Since then I have really wanted to read the book and this Christmas I bought a copy and got reading. 

I will be honest I have read more children’s books as an adult than as a child and this has got to be one of my favourites. I loved this book so much and even though I read it after Christmas it kept me in the Christmas spirit. 

The slang in this book is absolutely adorable and I know it is appropriate for the time it was written but phrases like ‘scrobbled’ and ‘the purple pim’ just made me smile. The characters in this book are also fantastic and even Maria who I can’t stand in the TV adaptation is bearable in the book. 

This book is so beautifully written and every scene and character is so well described that I could easily visualise everything. Abner Brown is a particular favourite of mine, he was such a fantastic baddie. Herne the Hunter and the Lady of the Oak Tree were also wonderful characters and of course Cole Hawlings. 

The one thing I did find concerning was the lack of interest the police had in reports of kidnapping and missing people. Also certain characters went missing and their nearest and dearest did not seem that concerned.

This book is full of magic and wonder and it really had me enthralled and it had so many wonderful scenes in it that aren’t in the TV adaptation. My particular favourite is lunch with the field mouse in the tree. I loved Masefield’s writing and I have ordered the prequel to The Box of Delights, The Midnight Folk to read next because I am not quite ready to see the end of Kay just yet. I loved this book and it was a great first read of 2023. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons. 

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Purchase Links

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About the author

John Masefield (1878-1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. 

Etsy

WWW Wednesday: 4/01/2023

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?

Hello!

Welcome to my first WWW Wednesday of 2023. I have had a lovely day today doing lots of crafting and it has been so relaxing. All my crafting projects (well the ones that work) are going on to my Etsy site.

What I am Currently Reading

I started reading a chapter a day of these two books from New Year’s Day and I have really been enjoying both books. I will probably start to read more of The Count of Monte Cristo once I have finished Aeneid.

What I have Recently Finished Reading

I absolutely loved The Box of Delights and I have ordered The Midnight Folk to read next.

What I Think I will Read Next

I have so many books that I want to read at the moment I am finding it difficult to choose as I just want to read them all at the same time. I might have to start a TBR jar and pick a book at random.

Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.

Happy Reading

Etsy

Bookish Goals for 2023

Hello!

Last year I was quite relaxed with my bookish goals and to be honest because of this I ignored them. This year I have decided to get back to my usual challenges.

In 2021 I attempted to read my height in books and sadly I failed. For 2023 I have decided to try the challenge again and I really hope this time I will complete it.

I had no idea what to set for this years Goodreads Challenge so I let my fellow Bookstagrammers decide for me and they chose 80 books. 80 books! I have never read anymore than 74 books in a year but I am hopeful I will manage this challenge. It might mean I read some smaller books this year.

I also want to read more classics this year as I miss my Ancient Greek and Rome literature. I am thinking I might read a lot of Greek plays but I will see what I come up with.

I have three ongoing challenges that I will be continuing with. My Classics Club Challenge, Maigret Challenge and Agatha Christie Challenge. These challenges won’t get completed this year (unless I go crazy) but I hope to make progress with them.

Reading nonfiction is something I also plan on doing more this year and I am hoping to try and read one nonfiction book a month for this year.

So here is the round up of my bookish goals:

  • Read my height in books
  • Read 80 books
  • Read more Ancient Greek and Roman literature
  • Classics Club, Maigret and Agatha Christie Challenges
  • Read one nonfiction book a month

Hopefully I manage to accomplish all these goals during in 2023.

Have you got any bookish goals for 2023?

Happy Reading

Etsy

The Weekly Brief

Happy New Year!

Blogging is now hopefully all back to normal because over the festive period everything has gone out of the window. This was sadly mainly due to illness and being too tired to blog but I am thankfully now on the mend.

I missed a weekly brief so this is technically a two week brief.

Posts Over the Two Weeks

Currently Reading

I never finished Aeneid by Virgil so I have decided that I will read a book a day starting from today to finish the book. I’m not sure why I didn’t finish it because I absolutely love the book. I have also been reading The Box of Delights by John Masefield and I am hooked. I love his writing and although the slang is rather dated it just adds to the fun of the book.

Happy Reading

Etsy