Last week I decided to take part in the Classics Club Spin Event to decide my next read off my Classics Club List. The post can be found here.
Well the results are in and the chosen number was 11. This means my next read will be The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins and I have to finish it by 30th April 2022.
I have only read one book by Wilkie Collins but I did love it so fingers crossed I will enjoy The New Magdalen just as much.
I am thoroughly enjoying my classics reading after so long without reading any.
Please drop me a comment if you are doing the Classics Club challenge or if you have taken part in the Spin Challenge.
Happy Reading
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My chosen poem this week is by the Scottish poet and teacher Norman MacCaig (1910-1996).
Toad
Stop looking like a purse. How could a purse
Squeeze under the rickety door and sit,
Full of satisfaction in a man's house?
You clamber towards me on your four corners -
Right hand, left foot, left hand, right foot.
I love you for being a toad,
For crawling like a Japanese wrestler,
And for not being frightened
I put you in my purse hand not shutting it,
And set you down outside directly under
Every star.
A jewel in your head? Toad,
You've put one in mine,
A tiny radiance in a dark place.
Norman MacCaig
Happy Reading
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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’m not doing as much reading at the moment because I am struggling to read at night like I usually do but hopefully I will get back into it soon.
What I am Currently Reading
Absolutely loving this so far. I really like finding out more about Alex and Amos and their past in this book.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
Really enjoyed this and loved reading more about Grudge the queen of cats. Review will follow shortly.
What I Think I will Read Next
I’m not entirely sure what I will read next but I am hoping to get into my Maigret books again at some point because they make excellent books to read whilst the husband is watching the Grand Prix.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
I have decided to take part in my first Spin event for The Classics Club. To join in you simply list 20 books left off your Classics Club list before Sunday 20th March 2022 and then the club will randomly select a number. The selected book then has to be read before Saturday 30th April 2022. I have a lot of titles left to read as I have only recently started the challenge so it has been a difficult selection but here is my list:
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Silas Marner by George Eliot
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
The Runaway by Elizabeth Anna Hart
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Evelina by Frances Burney
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot
Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood
I’m really looking forward to what the random selection will be and I hope I will be able to read the book within the time frame.
Wish me luck!
Please drop me a comment if you are taking part in the Spin event or if you have read any of the books on my list.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
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!
Happy Monday! I hope everyone has had a good start to the week so far.
It is time for another book off my Classics Club list, which is my main TBR at the moment and any books I read not off the list are just my usual mood reading choices.
Pressured by her unscrupulous family to marry a wealthy man she detests, the young Clarissa Harlowe is tricked into fleeing with the witty and debonair Robert Lovelace and places herself under his protection. Lovelace, however, proves himself to be an untrustworthy rake whose vague promises of marriage are accompanied by unwelcome and increasingly brutal sexual advances. And yet, Clarissa finds his charm alluring, her scrupulous sense of virtue tinged with unconfessed desire.
Told through a complex series of interweaving letters, “Clarissa” is a richly ambiguous study of a fatally attracted couple and a work of astonishing power and immediacy. A huge success when it first appeared in 1747, and translated into French and German, it remains one of the greatest of all European novels. Its rich ambiguities – our sense of Clarissa’s scrupulous virtue tinged with intimations of her capacity for self-deception in matters of sex; the wicked and amusing faces of Lovelace, who must be easily the most charming villain in English literature – give the story extraordinary psychological momentum. .
I’m really looking forward to reading this book as it will be something for different for me as I haven’t read many books where the story is told through letters.
Please drop me a comment if you have taken part in Goodreads Monday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
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The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs-a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts- five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.
Review
This is the third time I have read this book because I have tried to read The Wheel of Time series on more than one occasion and sadly never finished it. However, I am determined that this time I will finish the series.
Every time I have read this book I have loved it and this time round was no exception and I found that I had in fact forgotten a few parts of the story that made a nice surprise. As a massive Tolkien fan I realise that The Wheel of Time series is heavily influenced by Tolkien’s Middle Earth but that does not put me off. After all hasn’t all literature from as far back as Homer and Virgil done the same thing?
This book introduces us to some main characters that are clearly going to be important in future books. Five young villagers from the village of Two Rivers have to flee after a Trolloc attack on their village. By fleeing they hope to save their beloved village from any further attack and to do this they are helped by Moraine and her warder Lan. The fiver villagers are Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and the village wisdom Nynaeve. Nynaeve is slightly older than the other four but not by much. Nynaeve is also the character that at times I find quite annoying, she is very stubborn and is always questioning and second guessing Moraine which at times just gets boring. Mat is rather a spineless character who you know is not going to be good news for the group of friends. Perrin is my favourite character out of the five as he is down to earth, caring and patient. Rand is rather bland at the moment but you can see he will develop as a character.
As the adventure continues the group meet new people who help them on their journey but they also learn that no one can be trusted because anybody could be a dark friend. One of these new friends is the Ogier named Loial who is also one of my favourite characters. Loial is never hasty and likes to think everything through, he also loves reading and always has a pile of books with him which is just like me when I go anywhere.
The world of Aes Sedai is fascinating and I can’t wait to learn more about it all and I also have so many questions regarding what happened in the past that made the Aes Sedai’s power start to dwindle. I really hope I get my answers in the following books. I really enjoyed the book and have already started book two. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.
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About the author
James Oliver Rigney Jr. (1948-2007) was an American author of epic fantasy who wrote under the pen name Robert Jordan. Jordan also wrote historical fiction under the name of Reagan O’Neal, a western as Jackson O’Reilly, and dance criticism as Chang Lung.
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I hope everyone has some good plans for the weekend.
The poem I have chosen this week really struck me when I read it so I thought I would share it.
'Hope' is the Thing with Feathers
'Hope' is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I've heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of Me.
Emily Dickinson
Happy Reading
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