January - Vintage Mystery Update

I shot through quite a few books that counted towards the Vintage Mystery Challenge this month.

Sorry they are all being bunged together in one post for the moment - for the first time in ages I am WAY ahead with my post scheduling *happy dance*. The reviews for these books will be posted in the coming months. :)

The Golden Score Card got 2 books marked of in the shape of James Bond novels. 

"Read one book by an author you've never read before" - Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

"Read one book set anywhere except the U.S. or England - Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming (parts are in the U.S. but a chunk is also set in Jamaica and the book comes to an end there)

The Silver Score Card got 6 books ticked of and this time it was all Agatha Christie.

"Read one book set anywhere except the U.S. or England" - A Caribbean Mystery

"Read one book with an animal in the title" - The Pale Horse

"Read one book with a man in the title" - Poirot's Early Cases

"Author whose first or last name begins with the same letter as yours" - The Clock

"Eat, drink and be merry : featuring food, drink or a party" - Hallowe'en Party

Read a book published under more than one title" - The Mirror Crack's from Side to Side

Tada!

Happy Reading Everyone!

Bleak House by Charles Dickens Part #3

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 8-10

Mr Jarndyce is so cute. I really can’t think of another term to fit. He has a room that he calls the ‘Growlery’ which is where he goes when he is feeling…well…growly (I wish I had one of them) and if someone has put him in a bad mood, instead of naming the person and placing the blame specifically he talks about the wind being in the ‘east’. See? Cute.

Richard, sadly, is turning out to be a bit of a numpty in his view of things, especially in money matters. I think I am going to get fed up of him very quickly if he continues on in the way he is going.

Esther is settling in well to her position as ward/companion/housekeeper and receives and unexpected visit from Mr Guppy a lawyers clerk. I won’t spoil anything by saying why he is visiting but I will say that it seemed to come out of nowhere for me so I don’t know how poor Esther must have felt.

The harsher side of Victorian living is touched on in this section as Ada and Esther are taken to see a family of brick-makers. Two very real issues of the times, domestic abuse and infant death, are very much to the fore.

Mr Omniscient makes an appearance in chapter 10 and thanks to Mr Tulkinghorn – the Dedlock’s lawyer – some new characters are introduced to the mix. Yay, more people.

And finally there is a cliff-hanger. Until now I haven’t seen any of the endings as ‘on the edge of your seat’ material. But now we have a candle going out, a dark unfamiliar room and a body on a bed. Dun dun duuuuun.

“As he rattled on the door, the candle which had drooped so long, goes out, and leave him in the dark; with the gaunt eyes in the shutters staring down upon the bed.”  

Ooo draamaa!

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme that you can find over at Tynga's Reviews :)

ASDA is to blame for this purchase :)

As Wolf Hall has been turned into a tv series and I have my no-watch-if-I-haven't-read-it rule I jumped at the book when I saw it. 

And I am never one to say no to dragons :) And just look at the cover. It is so shiney and scaley.

How to Break a Dragon's Heart (How to Train Your Dragon Bk #8) by Cressida Cowell

(books cover and synopsis from goodreads.com)

Can Hiccup complete the Impossible Task, battle Berserks, save Fishlegs from being fed to the Beast AND discover the secret of the Lost Throne? What's a Hero to do?!

I have been saying from the beginning how these books always leave me with a kind of thoughtful sad pang. The different with this one is that it was like that from the beginning. 

Thumbs Up
We are given more insight into the Viking culture and how they go about things (e.g. if you want to live, don't fall in love). We also find out why Fishlegs would have been found adrift as sea and why Hiccup is call Hiccup (admit it, you have been desperate to know too). Several bits and pieces that were dropped in through the other books were also drawn together here. 

What I love is that although these books are written for pre-teens and up they are not dumbed down at all and are actually getting more serious as the series goes on. 

Dragons with eye beams! I don't know if this little fact has been in another book and just went over my head at the time but what a brilliant idea. They have head lights!

More insane 'hero types' are introduced and we get to see a whole new island. 

Thumbs Down
This whole book seemed to have a big fat cloud hanging over it. From the beginning there is this haunted feel to things. The first chapter is call 'The Lost Child' after all. 

Slight spoiler - Me reading the first few pages : What do you mean Camacazi is MISSING?

There was more than one point that I found down right unsettling and Alvin is back *groan*.

All in All
Although the black cloud hovered over this book the sun did break through to keep up the laughs. 

Favourite Quotes

"T-T-Toothless NOT go in your father's study...Toothless N-N-Not play with the funny magic stone. Toothless somewhere else at the time..."

Valhallarama of the White arms and Chunky Thighs

Bleak House by Charles Dickens Part #2

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 5-7

I have a confession to make.

I read ahead without realising it. The horror! The shame!

Excuse me while I go and stand in a corner for a while –

Ok, all done. But in my defence week one was 4 chapters long, which logically lead to me assuming week 2 would be chapter 5 through 8. Right! Right! Wrong my gems. As you would know if you read the intro post. Heck. I wrote it and I still got it wrong.

Moving On

Ok, onto the bleak goodness of chapters 5 to 7.

Quite a few things happen in these 3 chapters.

Esther, Ada and Richard travel to Bleak House and we meet the lovely Mr Jarndyce who is taking all of them in for one reason or another.

I want to focus on chapter 7 though.

This chapter is brilliant and Mr Omniscient takes us away from Bleak House and the gang and back to Chesney Wold. The first few paragraphs of this are hilarious as Mr O hops into the heads of the various animals and tells us what they may be thinking.

“The whole seemingly monotonous and uncompanionable half-dozen, stabled together, may pass the long wet hours, when the door is shut, in livelier communication than is held in the servants’ hall, or at the Dedlock Arms; - or may even beguile the time by improving (perhaps corrupting) the pony in the lose-box in the corner”

Just the idea of all these rowdy, worldly horses snickering and shouting ‘corrupting’ comments at the innocent sheltered pony in the corner had me giggling.

Then there is the turkey –

“The turkey in the poultry-yard, always troubled with a class-grievance (probably Christmas)”

The poor turkey needs to get in touch with his union rep I think.

We also meet Mrs Rouncewell the housekeeper of Chesney Wold who, like most housekeepers in the novels of the time, seems to have become an institution.

“She is a fine old lady, handsome, stately, wonderfully neat, and had such a back and such a stomacher, that if her stays should turn out when she dies to have been a broad old-fashioned family fire-grate, nobody who knows her would have cause to be surprised.”

On the darker side of things Mrs Rouncewell tells the story of the Ghost’s Walk of Chesney Wold and a dark moment in the Dedlock family’s history.

Could this be a portent of things to come?

A Bone to Pick (Aurora Teagarden #2) by Charlaine Harris

(Book cover and synopsis from goodreads.com)

Aurora "Roe" Teagarden's fortunes change when a deceased acquaintance names her as heir to a rather substantial estate, including money, jewelry, and a house complete with a skull hidden in a window seat. Roe concludes that the elderly women has purposely left her a murder to solve. So she must identify the victim and figure out which one of her new, ordinary-seeming neighbors is a murderer- without putting herself in deadly danger.

So...2 books into the 3 books I have available of this series and I am still not sure if I like the heroine and that is making this post very hard to write.

Thumbs Up
The mystery!
One of the characters from the last book (a little old lady who I really liked) has died - from natural causes - and has left pretty much everything to Aurora. What I loved was that most of this book was spent wondering if this harmless little old lady had killed someone and kept their head as a memento.

Thumbs Down
I really don't understand a great deal of Aurora's actions in this and she seemed to go on with life a bit too easily and to almost forget about the skull she had found.

I don't know if it is the setting or what but some comments seem quite tasteless and slap me across the face when they suddenly come up.

All in All
This book was a bit of  miss for me. I could read the 'mystery' but I found it a bit dull and pointless at the end.

Onto book 3.

How to Ride a Dragon's Storm (How to Train Your Dragon Bk #7) by Cressida Cowell

(Book cover and synopsis from goodreads.com)

Hiccup has three months, five days and six hours to discover America, get back to Berk, save his father, battle Polarserpents, and win the annual Inter-Tribal Friendly Swimming Race. Can he do it?

Hiccup, Camacazi and Fishlegs are taking part in the 'Inter-Tribal Friendly Swimming Race' obviously in full viking spirit the last one to return to the beach wins! Of course, someone cheats and the adventurous trio end up in trouble and on a ship bound for America because of it.

I love the three friends. At the beginning of the book they set of on the race to gears of the crowd because Fishlegs can't swim but they stick together and Camacazi and Hiccup don't leave him alone. In fact, they were willing to return to the beach and lose the race. 

More species of dragon are introduced as they sail to America also. 

And as always the epilogue from Hiccup is just as thoughtful and melancholy as the other books. 

This is a fun read and a brilliant addition to the series. It is different from the other books as this one is set - for the most part - on a boat (well...until it sinks).

Favourite Quotes ---

"Why are you shooting at me?" howled a sprinting Hiccup. "Haven't I got enough problems?"

"how can you make a fresh start in a New World when you are carrying with you on your boat all of the same problems, the same frustrations and inequalities of the Old World? Lets face it, any country ruled by Norbert called 'the Land of the Nutjobs' would have turned out to have the same problems as the Barbaric Archipelago quicker than you can say the words 'half crazed lunatic carrying a double-headed axe'"

Bleak House by Charles Dickens Part #1

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 1-4

Charles Dickens is a funny guy. I have read other books by him and this is a re-read for Bleak House but I will honestly say that I have never caught onto his humour before like I have now. It is a dry, witty humour. The kind that had me laughing, stopping, and then wondering if I should be. Needless to say these moments of doubt ended with a shrug and a ‘Whatever, I thought it was funny!’ It is a sneaky sort of humour that just came up on me out of the London fog and pounced.

Another thing is the atmosphere. The fog, the mud, the smells, even down to the fog sneaking into the buildings was amazing.

Characters!

Yeah, I suppose I had better mention some people.

We are introduced to the Chancery court and some of the people - both officials and those with cases – involved there in chapter 1.

Quite a bit of description is dedicated to Lady Dedlock when we meet her in chapter 2 and she struck me as being a bit of a snob and more than aware of her position and looks.

Chapter 3 and 4 are through Esther’s eyes and through her we meet a variety of other characters, most important of them being Ada and Richard who are wards in the Jarndyce and Jarndyce chancery case (a case that has been going on for years and gets nowhere).

There is also an unhinged (or is she?) old lady from court and the depressed Miss Jellyby whose mother neglects her and her other children in favour of her charitable works.

Esther struck me as being just a little too nice, humble and understanding of all things. I am really hoping that this won’t grate on me as the book goes on.

Just because I found her a little annoying doesn’t mean I didn’t feel angry on her behalf though. I got really agitated when reading over how she was treated as a child. She is given the idea that she is easily left and dismissible. It is because of this that she sets out to make herself caring and helpful in hopes of receiving some affection back. I feel really sad for her.

Questions brought up

Just who is the kind but elusive Mr Jarndyce?

Why was Esther’s aunt such a meanie? Seriously, Esther didn't even know they were related until the woman died!

Why did some handwriting cause the seemingly emotionless Lady Dedlock to become ‘faint’?

And most importantly…

Why is she so bored?

See you next week!

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

(Book cover and synopsis from goodreads.com)

THE GREATEST FANTASY EPIC OF OUR TIME

The dark, fearsome Ringwraiths are searching for a Hobbit. Frodo Baggins knows that they are seeking him and the Ring he bears—the Ring of Power that will enable evil Sauron to destroy all that is good in Middle-earth. Now it is up to Frodo and his faithful servant, Sam, with a small band of companions, to carry the Ring to the one place it can be destroyed: Mount Doom, in the very center of Sauron’s realm.

Thus begins J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Lord of the Rings, which continues in The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

"I tried to make a few notes, but we shall have to go over it all again together some time, if I am to write it up. There are whole chapters of stuff before ever you got here!"

That about sums up the first half of this books. I spent most of the book wanting to press the fast-forward button and rolling my eyes. I mean, hello! The overlord of all evil is after you, but I tell you what, lets hand around for a while (months!) before we leave, and lets not forget to get a cup of tea too...

WHAT!

The pages of songs and poems grated on me a bit too, although I do appreciate that some of them worked wonderfully as info-dumping sessions in disguise.  

So far I am failing to see the attraction of these book, but we'll see how it goes. 

Bout of Books #12 Wrap-Up

Hi everyone!

So Bout of Books didn't go as well as I had hoped, but like I said it was during my first week back at work after a fortnights holiday. So all in all, not that bad really :)

I managed four audio books and 1 actually-turn-the-pages books.

Wanna know what they were?

Of course you do!

Audio - Twelfth Night
             The Tempest
             A Midsummer Night's Dream
             Bleak House (I finished the last few chapters of this not the whole thing)

All of the audio books were beautifully narrated. The Shakespeare plays had full casts and really brought them to life. I would highly recommend them if you want to give reading Shakespeare a bit of a jolt. I enjoyed a Midsummer Night's Dream a lot more than I was expecting to.

Not Audio - The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie.

Out of the Christie's that I have read so far this is not one of my favourites. Usually I zip through these but I think that it took be so long because I wasn't liking it.

I hope you all did well and achieved the personal goals you set :)

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme that you can find over at Tynga's Reviews :)

I am subscribed to the Agatha Christie Book Collection, these two books are the latest editions :)

The final Poirot and a collection of short stories.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

(Book cover and synopsis from goodreads.com)

Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the 'roaring twenties' and a devastating exposé of the shallowness of the 'Jazz Age'. Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore in the 1920's, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the dark mystery which surrounds him.

The Great Gatsby is an undisputed classic of American literature from the period following the First World War, and is one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

First Thoughts

Yay! *happy dance* I’ve finally read it. GO ME!

Second Thoughts

Well, there’s four hours of my life I’m never going to get back.

I just couldn’t  I did.

Ah. I can’t get my thoughts out properly.

OK. Here goes.

The majo 

Nope, not happening.

Right, what I will say is that I did give this book three stars so obviously I didn’t completely hate it.

I really didn’t like most of the characters – the most useless bunch of space wasters (in my humble opinion) I have ever read about. But it did seem to go by quickly despite this and I did like how all the little pieces came together to end in various tragedies.  

Right, I am leaving it there. I can feel the ‘ifs-buts-you-know-what-I-mean’s bubbling.

All in All

I am glad I have finally read this classic. I don’t really know what I was expecting,  but I am pretty sure that what I got wasn’t it and I am still trying to figure out if that was a good thing or not. 

Bleak House by Charles Dickens Intro

I have wanted to read Charles Dickens, as his novels were originally published in serial form, for some time. But, with one thing and another it has taken me this long to get round to it.

I thought I would start with Bleak House which is one of his books that I have read – even if it was about ten years ago…wow I didn't realise it had been that long till I thought about it.

Some Bleak House Facts!

So, Bleak House was published in 19 monthly segments between March 1852 and September 1853.

I am not going to be exact and wait a month between reads. After all, I have the whole book sitting here and have nowhere near the self-control and patience needed to hold back, or spend over a year reading the same book.

Ain’t gonna happen!

To start things of it is going to be weekly and I’ll go from there.

   

I’ll read it as the poor folks back in 1852 would have been able to. Stop. And then, review.

This is going to be great fun.

See you next week!

PS – Here are the original posting dates for Bleak House if you would like to follow along.

1 - Chapter 1-4 – March 1852

2 - Chapter 5-7 – April 1852

3 - Chapter 8-10 – May 1852

4 - Chapter 11-13 – June 1852    

5 - Chapter 14-16 – July 1852

6 - Chapter 17-19 – August 1852

7 - Chapter 20-22 – September 1852

8 - Chapter 23-25 – October 1852

9 - Chapter 26-29 – November 1852

10 - Chapter 30-32 – December 1852

11 - Chapter 33-35 – January 1853

12 - Chapter 36-38 – February 1853

13 - Chapter 39-42 – March 1853

14 - Chapter 43-46 – April 1853

15 - Chapter 47-49 – May 1853

16 - Chapter 50-53 – June 1853

17 - Chapter 54-56 – July 1853

18 - Chapter 57-59 – August 1853

19 - Chapter 60-67 - September 1853 (The final instalment was a double issue)

WARNING!

I don’t want to give everything away but with the way I’ll be posting SPOILERS will be inevitable. I won’t be covering every plot point and sneeze but I will be mentioning things that jump out at me.

Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden #1) by Charlaine Harris

Real Murders is a crime club. A great opportunity for the people of Lawrenceton to get together, drink wine, eat chocolate and talk at length about grisly killings. It's a strange but harmless pastime. That is, until the murders begin...

One night, librarian Aurora 'Roe' Teagarden finds a dead body. Killed in a manner eerily similar to a famous case they were about to discuss. And as more brutal copycat crimes follow, Roe must find the perpetrator. Quickly. Before she becomes the next suspect...or the next victim. 

A librarian solving mysteries. Talk about a dream come true.

Thumbs Up!

 The idea of this book is brilliant and hit all the marks for me. A book dedicated to real crimes (1), with a librarian (2). And then the bodies start to pile up (3,4 etc).

The flow of this book was great. There were moments of down time when the action was dimmed a bit but I ddidn'tfeel like I had to rush through these bits to get back to the who-dun-it. Then there are the deaths. Although it is obvious from what is mentioned that the murders are pretty gory they aren't gone into with a great deal of detail. I liked that. There were also plenty of supporting characters to shed suspicion on… A whole book club worth.

Thumbs Down!

 I am not sure how I feel about the heroine yet. The novel is told in first person but everything she tells us or thinks seems to be surface stuff with no depth. There was a romantic sub-plot of will she chose the policeman or the author which I could have happily left.

All in All!

This was an enjoyable mystery. I really hope I can get to like Aurora more in the next few books.

Ps. (not to brag or anything) I totally guessed who did it!

My Reading Goals for 2015

I always tell myself that I’m not going to set myself goals as they inevitability fall through but as last year sis go pretty well I figured I might as well put some thought into it.

Last Year!

I set myself the goal on Goodreads of 75 books. Which I achieved. Yay! Gold star for me.

I completed one and a bit bingo cards for the Book Bingo Challenge.

I also finally crossed off some long standing goals I have had for quite some time. The Great Gatsby for one thing. I feel so proud *beam* that I have finally read this as it is one of those books that always crops up on lists and on the podcasts that I listen to. So yeah…HAPPY!

But never mind last year.

2015 Goals!

Ignoring the challenges *gulp* I decided to sign up for this year I woule like to read some more Charles Dickens than I have done so far… This might be a wee bit of cheat to put this in hear as I do have some Charles Dickens (well, Bleak House) goodness scheduled, but never mind. Eventually I would like to be able to say that I have read them all :).

And now to the challenges.

Outlander Series – I want to read all of this series this year. I have read the first book several times but I want to get all of the others under my belt.

Vintage Mystery Bingo Gold & Silver – there are 36 book spots in each of these challenges. I have a huge Agatha Christie collection so where I can a Christie book will be getting slotted into a spot for this challenge.

Colour Coded Challenge – there is no genre for this challenge so I might make it for…*think think think* YA? Hmmm…I don’t know, I’ll have to think on that one. Anyway, there are 9 places for books in that challenge.

Victorian Reading Challenge – this one is really to tie in with my Charles Dickens reading goal and also to get me away from Dickens and onto some other authors. It is also going to give me the opportunity to revisit some of my favourite authors so that is always nice. :)

Audiobook Challenge – the nice thing about this challenge is that it won’t take an awful lot of effort (thank fully) because of my work I listen to quite a lot of books :)

Read! Read! Read!

There is no getting away from it. I have LOTS of books, LOADS of books that I haven’t read. I am not going to give a number (that would be way to depressing, believe me) but I am going to put in more of an effort to read the books I already have and think more before I buy new one. I’ll keep a score of the number of books I get read from my shelves as of today (5^th January) so stay tuned for the final number.

Happy Reading and all the best with any goals you have set yourself for the coming year!

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme that you can find over at Tynga's Reviews :)

Only Charles Dickens this week :)

David Copperfield

A Take of Two Cities

Hard Times

Great Expectations

Barnaby Rudge

Nicholas Nickleby

Bout of Books #12

Bout of Books is coming to town again!

Well, a computer screen near you anyway.

I ummed and ahed about doing this one as it starts the day before I go back to work and then I thought ‘och, stuff it’ and decided to sign up.

What is Bout of Books?

Well… (from Bout of Books)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Happy Reading Everyone!

Hello 2015!

Wow. 2015 is here! The speed that 2014 went zooming by at was a little scary huh?

I hope you all had a good and safe evening last night.

I was at home with my freaking out cats (cheers, fireworks) all evening safe and sound. You know, just in case you were interested.

*Awkward silence*

Alright then...

Look! A Bingo Card! Lots of Bingo Cards! So preetttty... *Drool*

So pretty...

Today is the first day of the first month of the new year so do you know what that means?

It means challenges start TODAY! Yay!

So the only challenege that is missing from this pic is the audiobook challenge. Hmm...I think I am going to have to rectify that.

Anyway, cheerio everyone and happy reading!