Category: For Fun

Top Ten Tuesday – Humorous Book Quotes

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Good evening everyone and welcome to today’s Top Ten Tuesday post!

In my Sunday Summary post last week I told you that I was planning on sharing this particular post, but that I hadn’t chosen a theme. I’ve looked at a plethora of quotes saved on my goodreads account and on my kindle and I’ve decided to share my top ten humorous quotes with you.

There is a definite weighting to a particular author I have read a lot of books by. He is very funny and the book series these come from is satirical, so it’s unsurprising so many have come from it. Yet a lot of them have a ring of truth, which to my mind makes me even funnier!

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and the quotes I share below – here are the quotes and the books they belong to: –

 

People ought to think for themselves, Captain Vimes says. The problem is, people only think for themselves if you tell them to.

Men At Arms – Terry Pratchett

 

 

 

 

“I told Lord Harms I’d return Steris to him. And I will. That is that.”

“Then I will remain and help,” Marasi said. “That is that.”

“And I could really use some food,” Wayne added. “Fat is fat.”

The Alloy of Law – Brandon Sanderson

 

 

Granny Weatherwax made a great play of her independence and self-reliance. But the point about that kind of stuff was that you needed someone around to be proudly independent and self-reliant at. People who didn’t need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who didn’t need people.

Maskerade – Terry Pratchett

 

 

Never throw the first punch. If you have to throw the second, try to make sure they don’t get up for a third.

Steelheart – Brandon Sanderson

 

 

 

 

You are not so smartThe research shows that groups of friends who allow members to disagree and still be friends are more likely to come to better decisions. So the next time you are in a group of people trying to reach consensus, be the asshole. Every group needs one, and it might as well be you.

You Are Not So Smart – David McRaney

 

 

It was clearly the room of a woman, but one who had cheerfully and without any silly moping been getting on with her life while all that soppy romance stuff had been happening to other people somewhere else, and been jolly grateful that she had her health.

Guards Guards – Terry Pratchett

 

 

The thing about the path less travelled is that it is often less travelled for a good reason.

King of Thorns

 

 

 

 

 

The conversation of human beings seldom interested him, but it crossed his mind that the males and females always got along best when neither actually listened fully to what the other one was saying. 

Pyramids – Terry Pratchett 

 

 

 

There were some things on which even they were united. No more policy statements, no more consultative documents, no more morale-boosting messages to all staff. This was Hell, but you had to draw the line somewhere.

Eric – Terry Pratchett

 

 

 

Listen,’ said Granny Weatherwax. ‘She’s well out of it, d’you hear? She’ll be a lot happier as a queen!’

‘I never said nothing,’ said Nanny Ogg mildly. ‘

I know you never! I could hear you not saying anything! You’ve got the loudest silences I ever did hear from anyone who wasn’t dead!’

Lords and Ladies – Terry Pratchett

 

That’s my Top Ten Tuesday post! Which of these quotes did you find the funniest? Let me know in the comments!

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Discussion Post: Reading Diversity is a Benefit

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I wanted to share today’s discussion post as a way of encouraging people to pick up books of different genres. All in all, I think it’s a benefit and you’ll see in today’s post why I think my opinion is justified in that based on my experience. This is of course a discussion post so if you don’t agree, or have a different experience, I would love to hear from you!

 

My Experience

I started reading at a young age and as I developed into my teenage years, I fell into a common trap. I always chose to re-read the same types of books. Fantasy was (and still is) by far my favourite genre and I will pick it up at any opportunity I could. The books I borrowed from the school library were the same. Even when I had the opportunity of every book in that room, with no risk and no gamble financially as to whether I liked it or not, I still reverted to reading the same things. At first this doesn’t sound like a bad thing, however it does have its disadvantages.

The fantasy genre is full of the same kinds of tropes. Orphaned children, an unexpected journey, fate, destiny and coming-of-age stories litter the fantasy market. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy some combinations of these tropes. But that’s not to say they’re always a good thing. In fact, when I would only exclusively read fantasy I got bored of how repetitive the books were. Sure, the characters weren’t quite the same, the journeys were slightly different and each character had their own development arc… But the story is essentially the same. I got to the point where I found myself stuck in a rut and ultimately my reading dropped off just because I felt I was lacking uniqueness in my reading preferences.

Fast forward to when I started my blog. Yes, I resumed my bad habit by reading a large number of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. But from there I diversified, and quite quickly. If there is one thing that being part of the blogging community is good for, is that there are book recommendations literally everywhere! I had already come to realise at this point that reading the same thing over and over again was the fatal flaw the first time, and this gave me the push to try new things.

Now I am a completely different reader. Fantasy is still my favourite genre and I still read a lot of it, however I regularly intersperse it with other books from multiple genres. I can now happily say that the only genre I don’t read is romance… but that’s a story for another day. The variety of books I now read has done a lot for me in terms of motivation to continue reading, but also to branch out further and try new things. There isn’t the same apprehension about trying new authors or genres… or combinations of! I only started reading horror books after starting my blog. If I went into each little detail as to how I’ve diversified we could be here all day, but you see where I’m going with this.

 

My Thoughts…

Do I think I am a better reader for having broader reading tastes? Absolutely, yes! By having a wider choice of books I have the opportunity to learn far more than I ever did before. That aside, the different genres and writers all expose me to different writing styles. There are so many fantastic authors out there that even with having an open mind and picking up nearly everything, I could never hope to get through them all in my lifetime.

Confining yourself to a niche genre does not do you any favours, in my experience. In the short term it doesn’t seem much of a problem, and indeed, there can be plenty of vastly different books in the same genre so you don’t get bored for a very long time.

But in my experience, you do hit that point eventually. I did, and I lost my reading motivation years ago because of it. I couldn’t find anything new despite my best efforts and that lead to a stagnation. For anyone who has been in a reading slump, you know how difficult it is to get yourself out of it. It took me years to get out of that one. Whilst I would be lying if I said I didn’t have the odd slump even now, they are few and far between and can often be resolved by picking up another genre.

Do you read from different genres? Do you find they help you when you are in a Reading slump from another? If you don’t agree with what I’ve said, or even if you do, I would love to hear from you! This is a discussion post after all, and it would be interesting to see what the community at large thinks!

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First Lines Friday – 14/05/2021

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Hi guys and welcome to today’s first First Lines Friday post!

Today’s featured book is a non-fiction memoir, quite unlike most of the books on my TBR at present. That said, I’m looking forward to trying something new and I think there is a lot I can take away from this particular book.

Can you guess what it is from the excerpt below? Here is today’s First Lines Friday feature: –

Having been born a freeman, and for more than 30 years enjoyed the blessings of liberty in a free state-and having at the end of that time been kidnapped and sold into slavery, where I remained, until happily rescued in the month of January, 1853, after a bondage of 12 years – it has been suggested that an account of my life and fortunes would not be uninteresting to the public.

Since my return to liberty, I have not failed to perceive the increasing interest throughout the northern states, in regards to the subject of slavery. Works of fiction, professing to portray its features in their more pleasing as well as more repugnant aspects, have been circulated to an extent unprecedented, and, as I understand, have created a fruitful topic of comment and discussion.

I can speak of Slavery only so far as it came under my own observation-only so far as I have known and experienced it in my own person. My object is, to give a candid and truthful statement of facts: to repeat the story of my life, without exaggeration, leaving it for others to determine, whether even the pages of fiction present a picture of more cruel wrong or a severer bondage.

 

 

Twelve Years a Slave – Solomon Northup

Twelve Years a Slave – Goodreads

Twelve Years a Slave, sub-title: Narrative of Solomon Northup, citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington city in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton plantation near the Red River in Louisiana, is a memoir by Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. It is a slave narrative of a black man who was born free in New York state but kidnapped in Washington, D.C., sold into slavery, and kept in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana. He provided details of slave markets in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, as well as describing at length cotton and sugar cultivation on major plantations in Louisiana.

 

My Thoughts…

Slavery is seen as an old practice. Barbaric, cruel and utterly unspeakable and yet to say that slavery does not exist today would be false. Whilst I would like to think that stories such as Solomon Northup‘s do not happen today, I’m not very optimistic. It is only by educating ourselves that we can prevent history repeating itself.

Twelve Years a Slave is a classic, non-fiction memoir – a combination I don’t read very often. However, it is for that reason that I am excited to pick up this book! Will it be an easy read? Doubtful. But still, I don’t intend to shy away from it either. I read for fun and I can read to be challenged and I think there is a lot I can learn about the truth of slavery and racism from this book.

Have you read Twleve Years a Slave? Did you enjoy it, and did you learn from it? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experience of the book so please let me know in the comments!

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Shelf Control #30 – 30/04/2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s Shelf Control post! I’m sorry if this post is a little brief, but I’ve spent the day at work, then done my weekly shop and come home to cut my grass before some bad weather comes in over the weekend. I first sat down at 9 o’clock this evening!

Shelf Control is a regular feature I started last year and I have got back into sharing these posts regularly again. It’s a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!

For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out Lisa’s introductory post linked above.

Read on to find out about today’s featured mystery novel!

 

If We Were Villains – M. L. Rio

Goodreads – If We Were Villains

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.

As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

 

My Thoughts….

I am a huge fan of theatre; something you have probably picked up from my blog before. If not then I’ll say it again now. As a former performing arts student (among other subjects as part of my A-levels) I have an appreciation for the art and I used to really enjoyed myself! I haven’t done it so much since I left school but I do like to go and watch. Having a book based around a set of performers is something that’s right up my street!

The one aspect that probably isn’t quite so ‘me’ is that the actors are studying Shakespeare. I really don’t get on with Shakespeare; it’s gobbledygook to me! Seriously though, does it make sense to anyone? I don’t think it will impact my enjoyment of the book though. It is obviously going to have some bearing on the narrative but I’m hopeful that this will be for the most part, minimal, and that you don’t have to understand too much about Shakespeare and his plays itself to know what’s going on! The premise of the book sounds really interesting and I can imagine the character relationships getting quite complex. We’ll have to see, but I can’t wait to pick up and find out.

I’ve almost picked this book up a couple of times, but experimentally only to see whether I’m going to get on with it or not. From what I read I’m hopeful! Have you read If We Were Villains? If so, what are your thoughts? As always, I would love to hear from you!

 

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Four Year Blogiversary

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I can hardly believe I celebrated my four year blogiversary last week. Sometimes it feels like I set it up yesterday… and yet it also feels like a significant part of my life at the same time. When I was younger I was terrible for starting projects and never seeing them through. When I started Reviewsfeed I had no idea if this was going to be one of those projects. I’m glad to say that’s not the case and I have learnt a lot over the last four years… About blogging in general and about myself!

I will admit that when I started out, I didn’t really have much of a clue about what I was doing. I was reading other blogs in the run-up to setting my own up, but ultimately everyone has their own style. So, I had to take the plunge and find my own way of doing things. I also wasn’t very regular in posting for the first few months – but that’s okay because I was just finding my feet then. It has been a steep learning curve but also lots of fun. If anyone is considering setting up a blog then I really recommend it… providing you know what you’re signing up for!

 

Running a blog is a huge commitment. A book blog even more so.

Aside from the several hours spent drafting, editing and publishing posts a week, there’s also all the reading to go along with it! If you love it like I do then it doesn’t feel like much of a chore, but it does demand a lot of your time. If you’re only looking for a casual hobby then maybe this is worth thinking twice about.

I love my blog. To look back at the content I’ve created, all the reviews I’ve written and the interactions I’ve had with other readers and authors alike is a pleasure, and I hope it will continue to be so. I may have slowed down a little this year but that’s only to avoid burnout. I ended up taking on a lot last year with the house move and subsequent renovation, exams for work and keeping full pace on the blog. That’s a lot to take on! Towards the end of the year I was growing a little tired of juggling it all and I don’t regret the decision to slow down with my reading. I’m still blogging regularly and I hope you are enjoying the content I’m creating?

Four Year Blogiversary stats
Four Year Blogiversary stats

I don’t regularly look at my stats but to look at how far I have come in the last four years honestly amazes me! I would never have thought that many people would want to engage with my writing and to actually consciously choose to read my opinion on something. So, to find that I’ve had over 13,000 views in the last four years is crazy!

It was hard work in the early days. I had to actively go out and interact with other people to draw them to my blog and so every view was hard earned. Now I am a lot luckier and that I get at least one or two passive views a day without having to go out and find people. That’s not even something I try to do anymore. I engage with the content I’m interested in and ultimately I want other people to do the same with my blog.

 

So, 13,000 views and nearly 600 posts later, what have I learned?

Blogging is something you really have to want to do. There will be times when you don’t feel like it, or you will struggle to write a particular post. The underlying love for sharing my views and hoping to inspire other readers to pick up a book is what keeps me going. More than that though, I do it for me. I enjoy reading and taking the time to put my thoughts together on a book. It’s almost a way to relive the narrative and enjoy it for a second time.

Having stopped taking review requests over the last few months I can honestly say that I actually prefer not taking them. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed some great books from authors who have approached me for a review. But equally, taking them on can result in a bit of pressure. Not only is there a time pressure to get it done and reviewed, but there’s also the difficulty if you don’t enjoy it as much as you hoped. I’ve been reading books that I wanted to pick up over the last few months and I found the experience a lot more enjoyable. Free books aren’t the be all and end all. Whilst I will still take the odd one here and there, I will be taking on less in future.

Access to free books is honestly the wrong reason to be a book blogger. You can put in a lot less time and effort by signing up to a library! When you first get started and get your first advanced reader copy it’s really exciting… but personally I think the novelty wears off. I do like to sign up to blog tours though. These are quite good because you don’t necessarily have to read and review book in order to contribute to the tour. Typically, I used to always try and review a book and rarely did I share an alternative feature post. However, I’ve been doing this more this year and I think the variety is honestly better for my blog. So, don’t be frightened to ask to just share a promo if you don’t have time to read and review a book – no one thinks any less of you for it!

 

In Summary

Blogging is a labour of love. It’s not always easy but it’s something I look forward to doing every day. Whether it is picking up a new book to share my thoughts on or finding new ways to share book related content, I love posting it for you!

I hope you guys really do enjoy the content on my blog – here is to the next four years!

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First Lines Friday – 23/04/2021

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Hi guys and welcome to today’s first First Lines Friday post!

I’m back to posting my First Lines Friday feature on a regular basis and I am thrilled to be sharing today’s featured book with you. Today’s feature was actually inspired by the conversation I had at work today. We have just come out of lockdown this week and I’ve enjoyed being back in the office and able to have a chat with my colleagues. I quite often end up having bookish chats with my boss. It’s quite a small company and we all know each other really well. He knows about my blog and how much I read and we often talk about our current reads or compare notes on books we have both read.

Today we ended up talking about a book series we are both part way through. It’s written by a very well-known author. The conversation reminded me of how much I am enjoying the particular miniseries of which today’s featured book is a part of. We both enjoy the series as a whole for it’s lightheartedness and satirical nature. I love the silliness and laugh out loud humour, particularly from the characters introduced in the below quote.

Here is today’s First Lines Friday feature: –

 

The wind howled. Lightning stabbed at the Earth erratically, like an inefficient assassin. Thunder rolled back and forth across the dark, rain-lashed hills.

The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which gods move men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of this elemental storm a fire gleamed among the dripping furze bushes like the madness in a weasel’s eye. It illuminated three hunched figures. As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: “When shall we three meet again?”

There was a pause.

Finally another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: “Well, I can do next Tuesday.”

Through the fathomless deeps of space swims the star turtle Great A’Tuin, bearing on its back the four giant elephants who carry on their shoulders the mass of the Discworld. A tiny sun and moon spin around them, on a complicated orbit to induce seasons, so probably nowhere else in the multiverse is it sometimes necessary for an elephant to cock a leg and allow the sun to go past.

Exactly why this should be may never be known. Possibly the Creator of the universe got bored with all the usual business of axial inclination, albedos and rotational velocities, and decided to have a bit of fun for once.

Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett

Wyrd Sisters – Goodreads

Kingdoms wobble, crowns topple and knives flash on the magical Discworld as the statutory three witches meddle in royal politics. The wyrd sisters battle against frightful odds to put the rightful king on the throne. At least, that’s what they think…

 

My Thoughts…

I love Terry Pratchett. And it was actually his Discworld novels that got me into reading regularly and ultimately into blogging as well. His satirical writing style was something that I came to depend on at that time.

The witches series is my favourite, with the death series not far behind. Truth be told, there aren’t many that I haven’t enjoyed. They all have their good elements, although some shine brighter than others and this can definitely be said of the witches series in my opinion.

The antics they get up to are hilarious, but probably the thing that draws me to the stories the most is Granny Weatherwax herself. I absolutely love her character! She is hilarious, sarcastic and truth be told a bit of a bossy boots, but she is a real driving force to be reckoned with. I wouldn’t like to cross her, put it that way!

I hope you enjoyed today’s First Lines Friday feature! Have you read Wyrd Sisters, or any of the other Discworld novels? If not, does this intro entice you to give it a go? Let me know in the comments!

 

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Shelf Control #29 – 16/04/2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s Shelf Control post! As you may recall, this is a regular feature series I started last year and I am looking to get back into sharing these posts regularly again. That said, I was meant to post this last Friday but due to finishing up work late for a week off, I decided to postpone.  My emphasis with this post is to clear some of the old books on my TBR pile; by doing so I am making sure the books on my list are still ones I am interested in and  I can get excited about reading them soon!

Shelf Control is a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read and write a post about it! Suggestions include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it, and link up!

For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

This week‘s featured book is a science-fiction themed young adult novel. On the whole, I don’t read much in the YA genre, however, I like the sound of this one. It also has a bit of a dystopian type theme which I am a huge fan of. That might sound odd given that the premise of the novel is about habitation on Mars – typically viewed as a futuristic theme. I’m interested to see how it works out anyway!

Read on to find out about the book!

 

Red Rising – Pierce Brown

Goodreads – Red Rising

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

 

My Thoughts….

I don’t always take note of a book’s rating on Goodreads, but with this one I certainly did and it makes me excited! This book has over 268,000 ratings on Goodreads and an overall average of 4.24 stars out of 5. That’s amazing!

Pierce Brown is a new author for me. This will be my first book of his; given my interest in the synopsis and the high rating it has from other readers I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ll regret picking this up!

Aside from the sci-fi futuristic vibe, I’m also really interested to see how the class system is employed and what impact it has on the novel. It’s blatantly the driving force behind the events of the book but I’d like to see how it is portrayed and how it compares to the kind of society we know. I just hope it doesn’t try to hammering too hard the different roles in society – I have actually stopped reading books in the past that focussed on this so much that it was impossible to invest into the characters! I doubt it though!

That’s all in today’s Shelf Control post. Have you read Red Rising? If so, what are your thoughts? As always, I would love to hear from you!

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The Spring Cleaning Book Tag

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s Spring Cleaning Book Tag. I saw a version of this post over on Kristin Kraves Books and I wanted to do my version. Now, it’s taken me a little bit longer than I expected to answer some of these questions. I’ve had to think about them quite a bit, but, I hope you enjoy the post and if you have any fun answers to any of the questions let me know in the comments!

 

1. The struggle of getting started: a book/book series that you have struggled to begin because of its size.

the eye of the world

I’m not one to struggle with large books. I would say that I generally prefer them. If I’m going to invest my time in a book then why not into a large series that I can really delve into and enjoy at length? However, there are some exceptions. One particular book and series I have struggled with in the past comes recommended by a friend. I do want to try this again sometime, as I do trust my friend’s recommendation and I think that I was trying to pick this up at the wrong time. This particular book and series is the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

 

2. Cleaning out the closet: a book and/or book series you want to unhaul.

Infinite Sacrifice

I have recently ‘unhauled’ a book called Infinite Sacrifice by L. E. Waters. I downloaded a copy of the book a few years ago (it was free at the time) however having read the synopsis again I’m not sure that this is something I fancy right now. I’m quite good in that if I’m not sure about a book or if I’m trying something new I won’t purchase a copy until I intend to read it. It saves the awkward situation of owning a book that I don’t want to read anymore!

 

3. Opening windows and letting fresh air in: a book that was refreshing.

I really enjoyed rereading the first two books of the Harry Potter series this year. I’ve called and refreshing as they are relatively short rates and they are very easy to get into. A lot of the later depth to the series comes in during and after book 4 in my opinion but these early ones are really approachable and quick reads as well!

 

4. Washing out sheet stains: a book you wish you could rewrite a certain scene in.

A slight variation in answer to this question but it’s the only thing I can think of right now. This isn’t so much a scene I would re-write but rather a certain aspect of what I now expect to be several instances in audiobooks that just need to be re-recorded. I’m listening to A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin at the moment and have just been introduced to the character Brienne of Tarth. I really, REALLY hate how the narrator pronounces her name!! So much so, I’m not sure if it’s going to prove a deal breaker or not! If I had the power to change anything, it would be that.

 

5. Throwing out unnecessary knick-knacks: a book in a series that you didn’t feel was necessary.

I was really disappointed with the ending of The Singing by Alison Croggan. The series itself was really good and I enjoyed all the books leading up to the end. However, the end was just so anticlimactic and disappointing that I wish I hadn’t read it! It would have been better to leave it and let my imagination fill in the blanks. The whole series is around 1500 pages and that’s a lot to invest in for a rubbish ending. I’m sorry I’ve put it like that, but it was rubbish.

 

6. Polishing the doorknobs: a book that had a clean finish.

I love a book series but equally a standalone can be just as good! My recent read of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of those examples. I really like that the events of the book were all wrapped up in a nice neat bow at the end. Finished. Done. You knew what to expect at the beginning and enjoyment of the book was the journey to get there. In my opinion there is nothing worse than a book that leaves a cliffhanger… Especially if you don’t know when that cliffhanger is going to be addressed!

 

7. Reaching to dust the fan: a book that tried too hard to relay a certain message.

In the end, I had to put down Lord of the Flies by William Golding because I just couldn’t get into it. I really like dystopian themed novels but I just really struggled with this one. The premise of the book relates to society and civilisation and what happens when that breaks down. I think this particular book spent so much time focusing on this that I couldn’t actually relate to any of the characters and I just wasn’t enjoying it!

 

8. The tiring yet satisfying finish of spring cleaning: a book series that was tiring yet satisfying to get through.

Reading the Game of Thrones series is a massive undertaking. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the books, but committing to reading the whole series is massive! So, the amount of time it took qualifies as tiring because it takes several months (in fact I think it took me over a year to read on and off) but equally it was satisfying to get up-to-date the series again!

 

So there you have my version of the Spring Cleaning Book Tag. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and I look forward to seeing you on the next one!

 

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First Lines Friday – 02/04/2021

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Hi guys and welcome to today’s first First Lines Friday post!

I’m back to posting my First Lines Friday feature on a regular basis and I am thrilled to be sharing today’s featured book with you. It will probably surprise you that this is something I have read and enjoyed previously, as it doesn’t fall into my typical genre choice. I’m not a big reader of chick-lit, however this book is absolutely hilarious and I loved it! I first picked this up as a young teenager from my school library. Although I didn’t finish it all before I handed it back, it stuck with me enough to make me get myself a copy and read it again later. I hope you enjoy today’s opening lines as much as I did!

Do you recognise this introduction, or more likely, can you relate to it?

 

1:37 am: How did I get here? Can someone please tell me that? Not in this kitchen, I mean in this life. It is the morning of the school carol concert and I am hitting mince pies. No, let us be quite clear about this, I am distressing mince pies, an altogether more demanding and subtle process.

Discarding the Sainsbury luxury packaging, I winkle the pies out of their foil cups, place them on a chopping board and bring down a rolling pin on their blameless, floury faces. This is not as easy as it sounds, believe me. Hit the pies too hard and they drop a kind of fat-lady curtsy, skirts of pastry bulging out at the sides and the fruit starts to ooze. But with a firm, downward motion – imagine enough pressure to crush a small beetle – you can start a crumbly little landslide, giving the pastry pleasing home-made appearance. And home-made is what I’m after here. Home is where the heart is. Home is where the good mother is, baking for her children.

I Don’t Know How She Does It – Allison Pearson 

I Don’t Know How She Does It – Goodreads

Delightfully smart and heartbreakingly poignant, Allison Pearson’s smash debut novel has exploded onto bestseller lists as “The national anthem for working mothers.” Hedge-fund manager, wife, and mother of two, Kate Reddy manages to juggle nine currencies in five time zones and keep in step with the Teletubbies. But when she finds herself awake at 1:37 a.m. in a panic over the need to produce a homemade pie for her daughter’s school, she has to admit her life has become unrecognizable. With panache, wisdom, and uproarious wit, I Don’t Know How She Does It brilliantly dramatizes the dilemma of every working mom.

 

My Thoughts…

Having read I Don’t Know How She Does It, I can only look to role models like my mum and marvel at how they managed so well. Now that I’m a twenty-something-year-old woman I would like to say that I’m a bit less of a burden on my parents… Although perhaps not. I’m not going to ask! The prospect of having to spend so much time and energy keeping my head above water as a working mum is daunting. However, it is something I would like to do one day if I can. I think children are a reward in themselves – even if they can be trying at times (sorry mum)!

I don’t think I could not go to work, at least not for any length of time. But still, it’s a lot to manage and if anyone ever needs convincing of that I honestly stress you need to pick up this book. Kate Reddy deals with all these trials and tribulations on a daily basis. Her sense of humour is absolutely fantastic and it is because of the humour that I love this book! As I said, chick-lit isn’t normally something I would pick up and read. However, I’m glad that I made the exception for this one!

I hope you enjoyed today’s First Lines Friday feature! Have you read I Don’t Know How She Does It? If not, does this intro entice you to give it a go? Let me know in the comments!

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Top Ten Tuesday – Places in Books I’d Love to Live

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl.

In today’s Top Ten Tuesday post, I am featuring my top ten places in books I’d love to live. I really liked the idea of this topic – which is why I’m taking part in it! Having said that, I did struggle to come up with ten. It’s not that I have a lack of books to choose from, but rather the events that take place in the book are more often than not unpleasant and consequently I wouldn’t want to live there!

For example, Westeros and Essos, the two main landmasses famous in the Game of Thrones series are notably not on here. If any of you follow the series I’m sure it’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to wonder why…

But, alas, I did come up with ten in the end. Some of them still have caveats that I wouldn’t want to live that in the circumstances of the book necessarily, but they are all lovely places but I think I could live in in more pleasant climes.

So, shall we jump into the list?

 

The Shire: Lord of the Rings Trilogy – J. R. R. Tolkien 

The Shire has to be the top entry on today’s Top Ten Tuesday list. Maybe it is because of Tolkien’s beautiful descriptions, or perhaps it has more to do with the fact that The Shire is similar enough to where I actually live. I live in probably one of the smaller villages on the island. Whilst I certainly don’t live in a hobbit-hole, I do have the benefit of a small community and country views, just as hobbits do. For context as to just how small the villages, we have one convenience shop and one pub – you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve at least got our priorities right!

 

Prague: Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor

It would be a very far cry to describe myself as a city girl. In fact, the thought is ridiculous – I just not a fan of being around people! However, the descriptions of the city of Prague are absolutely beautiful in Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. So, I concede that I would be willing to give it a go. Even if I only survived living there a day, it still counts, right?

 

Deserted Island: Circe – Madeline Miller

This may seem like a strange addition, but I have my reasons. In Circe, the title character is banished to a deserted island. No spoilers as to why, but sometimes there is a great appeal to just have my own space. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a complete social recluse, but on a Friday evening after a full week at work, there is nothing I love more than locking my front door and just shutting the world out! I’m a very independent person and I benefit from being by myself to recharge my batteries. So, perhaps you can see the appeal of being left to one’s own devices sometimes!

 

The Labyrinth: The Relic Guild – Edward Cox

I can’t wholly put my finger on it, but there is something about the Labyrinth that appeals to me. Aside from the danger of magic and the quest of a small guild to save the inhabitants, there is something I like about the idea of living in a secluded area (as we’ve already covered!). For context, there is only one gateway into the Labyrinth; none who live there can leave. I hear you ask – why does that appeal? Well I suppose it’s again much like where I live. Obviously I can leave… unless you lived on the Isle of Man you won’t understand. The island is very static; the town that I grew up in hasn’t changed since my mum was a child. In some aspects I suppose there is a reassuring element to that which does not change, however equally progressive change is also somewhat lacking. Swings and roundabouts, but the concept of the Labyrinth does remind me of home. There may be a boat in the morning here yessir, but that entirely depends on the weather. 

 

Weep: Strange the Dreamer – Laini Taylor

Weep is a legendary city in Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer duology. For this particular entry, my preference would be to visit the city before the events of the books. Cataclysmic events render the city of Weep destroyed before the books begin. However, the descriptions of its beauty even afterwards are in themselves legendary and on those alone, I would like to live in and admire the fabled city before its disaster.

 

The Misery: The Raven’s Mark Trilogy – Ed Macdonald

Of all the places to appeal to me in the Raven’s Mark series, it is the wasted, warping desert known as the Misery that strangely appeals. It goes to show that a fantastic description of a setting can go along way to influencing your perception. In the books it is an awful place; it is ravaged by monsters and there are no fixed landmarks as magic warps the landscape constantly. It is easy to get lost. If I remember rightly there is just one location/residence in the Misery that remains a fixed point. I’d have to make my base there… but at least I would wake up to new scenery every day!

 

London: Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch

I don’t profess to be an expert on modern-day London; the fact is I’ve only visited twice in my life. I visited once with my grandparents as a child and once again more recently, albeit for the more mundane reason of a training exercise for work. Still, there is a sense of excitement and appeal to the idea of there being more behind a modern-day setting. The unknown and the magical living on your doorstep is utterly fantastical and yet my whimsical brain loves the idea! If it could happen in London it could happen anywhere. I suppose we have our kind of ‘magical inhabitants‘ here on Island if you want to call them that. If you don’t say good morning or good afternoon to the fairies when you go over the Fairy Bridge, you can expect to be asking for trouble!

If anybody reading this thinks that the last sentence was a joke… It wasn’t entirely. It is tradition to bid the fairies good day when crossing the bridge. As to whether any ill-fortune becomes of you if you don’t is entirely speculative… But who wants to be taking that chance?

 

Elendel: Alloy of Law – Brandon Sanderson

The Alloy of Law is a rather steampunk setting and so living in this book would be a step backwards technologically. That would be a huge adjustment, however, the industrial revolution-esque advancements the city is gradually undergoing means that it wouldn’t be uninhabitable. And as a bonus, the city has its magical protector by the name of Waxillium – I can think of far worse choices for places to live!

 

The Emporium: The Toymakers – Robert Dinsdale

Do I even have to elaborate on this one much? Who wouldn’t want to live and work in a magical toy shop… especially when it only opens its doors for the festive season? It’s all the fun and none of the customer service lark for most of the year. Where do I sign up?

 

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Harry Potter Series – J. K. Rowling

Living at a school teaching magic is a huge appeal, ignoring the whole ‘he who must not be named‘ situation. Obviously I wouldn’t particularly want to live there during the event of the series, however as a lover of learning and magic in books this is definitely one of my top places to live on this Top Ten Tuesday list.

So, there you have it! Here are my top ten places in books I would love to live in! Do you agree with any of my choices? Or, do you have any alternative destinations? Let me know in the comments!

 

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