Books and Reading Wednesday: Books on my Bookshelf

Another post for my Books on my Bookshelf series!

(Books on my Bookshelf is not a review, just my personal memories and feelings on the books I own).

This week it’s Three Kingdoms, attributed to Luo Guanzhong and translated by Moss Roberts.

Despite the picture, it’s not a series, it’s one massive book chunked up into four volumes.

I got them a few years ago, I remember I added them to my wishlist for one Christmas, and when Christmas came my uncle and aunt gave my Sun Tzu’s, Art of War to hold me over until Three Kingdoms arrived, as it was quite hard to get hold of 😀

My main memories of these books were devouring them as soon as I got them, and to be honest, I read them so fast I didn’t remember much about them! So, I took them on vacation with me one year, to a beautiful cottage in the middle of nowhere.

It rained quite hard at times, so I had the most relaxing and snuggly time cosied up by a fire, listening to the rain outside, Harli led beside me, whilst I re-read these books in a more relaxed fashion. Which meant I could enjoy them to the full.

But I don’t regret that fist read through where I sped through them, I was so excited to read them!
And sometimes, that’s the best way to read a book, to go through it, have a great time, and then go back through again and pick out the details you missed first time!

Three Kingdoms is a romanticised version of the historical period in ancient China when the Han dynasty fell and chaos ruled. A thrilling read with loads of figures from history. Though be warned, it’s not an easy read. But the books themselves are awesome; the stunning portraits at the beginning always capture my interest.

Some of the portraits.

Example of the beautiful illustrations that are dotted throughout all the books.

Random quote: ‘In the shadowlight of the fires no one detected the deception.’

Favourite thing about the book: The style. There is no worry or concern about how you should write a book, it’s just written for enjoyment, and that makes it such an great read.
Also, the illustrations are great throughout.

Least favourite thing: The fact that characters often have two names, their true name and then like a nickname, and there are A LOT of characters, so you have to make sure to remember it all to keep up, as they interchange the two names often.

Something I took away from the book: That a great story doesn’t’t have to be written in the same way everyone else writes. Also, the realisation I really enjoy battle scenes 😀

Has there ever been a book you were so excited to read you just read it so fast? Have you enjoyed re-reading books?

Books and Reading Wednesday: End of October Indie Review

Hands of Evil by Melissa Barker-Simpson

Goodreads synopsis:
Jonathan Jukes is accustomed to working alongside the police within his role as close protection officer at Morgan and Fairchild. But when Detective Sergeant Charles Macavoy requests the team’s help, JJ finds it’s his toughest case yet.

A serial killer, whose calling card is to remove the hands of his victims, is targeting interpreters. When lines begin to blur and JJ’s past comes back to haunt him, he soon discovers the biggest threat comes from a woman who stands at the centre of it all

Review:

This is the second book I’ve read by Melissa Barker-Simpson and it most certainly will not be the last!

The author’s ability to draw the reader into the story and characters is incredible. Each time I sat down to read I planned on only doing it for an hour, but every time it ended up much longer. I would glance up at the clock and not even realise two hours had flown by.

The characters throughout were brilliantly written, and I loved how Melissa wrote the character of Grace. The interactions between the characters flowed really well and the dialogue was engaging and realistic.

Throughout the book the romance and action is balanced perfectly. The plot is well paced and I never once found myself skipping through sections, in fact, it was almost the opposite as there were some scenes I read over twice because they were so good!

I highly recommend this book. Melissa Barker-Simpson creates a engaging story filled with great moments, along with high quality writing and enjoyable characters.

Links:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes and Noble

Goodreads

Books and Reading Wednesday: Books on my Bookshelf

Doing the bookshelf tag last week got me thinking about all the books I own and the selection I have, but also the memories that come with them.

Books aren’t just books, I don’t just read a book, I experience a book.

A whole bunch of memories linger with the books I own.

So, I thought it would be nice to go through my books and make a post about the ones I own.

It won’t be reviews, but more just about the book and the experience I had with it.

I will be including all books: paperbacks, hardbacks, eBooks (kindle is still my bookshelf, just an electronic one!), audiobooks, etc.

So to start this series off I have Neil Gaiman’s, ‘Fragile Things’, which was included in the tag last week.

Please excuse the terrible quality picture taken on my bed; I was in a bit of rush!

I received this book for my birthday a few years ago. It was the first time I’d heard of Neil Gaiman, I didn’t even know he was a famous author! I was dubious about reading it, as it really didn’t seem like my kind of book, especially due to the fact it had ghost/horror stories in it.

I don’t do horror at all!

But anyway, out of a sense of obligation, I started reading it. And it took my breath away.

I couldn’t stop reading the selection of short stories contained in this book. I knew they were going to give me nightmares, but I didn’t care, I had to keep reading!

One of my main memories about reading this book was sitting in bed and it was very late and snowing outside. I’d just reached a short story about this kid who sees a gypsy woman beneath a lamp post, I won’t spoil it, but it creeped me out because the conditions (snowing, night, etc) were very similar to what was happening as I was reading it.

Then the lamp post outside my window flickered and I was done! 😀 It wasn’t even that scary of a story, but the way he wrote it had my heart leaping into my throat. I slammed the book shut and had to continue reading in the daytime.

I think my favourite story out of the whole book was one about the seasons, where the seasons were having a discussion around a camp fire.

Though it’s not the one I remember most. The one I remember most was about a creepy doorknocker in the middle of the woods!

I’m being vague, just in case people pick this book up, which I would highly recommend!

Random quote:‘There is a worm at the heart of the tower; that is why it will not stand.’

Favourite thing about the book: The title page of each new story. Very pretty.

Least favourite thing: One particular story was very disturbing and still haunts my thoughts to this day! (If you get the book, it’s the one with the old lady and the cat).

Something I took away from the book: Not to be worried about the length of a story. It can be powerful even with just a few sentences!

Well, there you go. My first post in this series. The posts will probably evolve over time, not entirely sure what I want to do with them yet, just have some kind of record of the memories with these books.

Reviews are great, but sometimes it’s nice to remember the personal memories about the books I own, where I got them, when I got them, that kind of thing 🙂

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Progress Report:

Status of sixth manuscript: Writing first draft.
Word count: 2054 (Total word count: 14,202).

Books read: 2/4

Mid-October book review: Writing review.

Books and Reading Wednesday- Mid-September Book Review!

The Scandal of the Season

Very pretty cover!

Goodreads blurb:

London, 1711. As the rich, young offspring of the city’s most fashionable families ll their days with masquerade balls and clandestine court-ships, Arabella Fermor and Robert, Lord Petre, lead the pursuit of pleasure. Beautiful and vain, Arabella is a clever coquette with a large circle of beaus. Lord Petre, seventh Baron of Ingatestone, is a man-about-town with his choice of mistresses. Drawn together by an overpowering attraction, the two begin an illicit affair.Alexander Pope, sickly and nearly penniless, is peripheral by birth, yet his uncommon wit and ambition gain him unlikely entrance into high society. Once there, privy to every nuance and drama, he is a ruthless observer. He longs for the success that will cement his place in society; all he needs is one poem grand enough to make his reputation.

As the forbidden passion between Arabella and Lord Petre deepens, an intrigue of a darker nature threatens to overtake them. Fortunes change and reputations — even lives — are imperiled. In the aftermath, Pope discovers the idea for a daring poem that will catapult him to fame and fortune

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This book is a fictionalised version of an actual historical event. A soon-to-be baron, Lord Robert Petre, seduces London’s beauty, Arabella Fermor, whilst he is also involved in a Jacobite plot to assassinate the Queen and put the exiled prince on the throne.

Sounds exciting, right?

It was supposed to be a sexy, thrilling story of a scandalous affair whilst being dangerous with all the Jacobite intrigue.

But when I got to the end I was just kind of like, ‘What actually happened in this book?’.

Don’t get me wrong, it was alright. It was a book I was happy to read, it’s just not much actually happened. It wasn’t all that exciting, the characters weren’t overly compelling, and the main romance wasn’t the romance I was interested in. I didn’t really care if Arabella and Lord Petre got together, I was much more interested in the blossoming relationship between Alexander and Martha, which was sweet and lovely and didn’t get as much attention as it deserved.

There were an abundance of characters and viewpoints throughout and sometimes, especially at the beginning, I struggled to keep up with the amount of characters being thrown at me. But I got there in the end and started recognising who was who.

The writing suited the time period the story was set for, and I did enjoy the fact that it was about real historical events. But again, not the most exciting event to write a book about, in my opinion.

I dunno, it was just not a book that I could get excited over or really involved in. The ending left me disappointed, as it just kind of ended without really wrapping things up.

What I did like most about the book was the Afterword, where the author detailed what happened to the people in real life after the events in the book, that was really interesting.

Overall, it was an OK read, I don’t regret reading it, but it certainly didn’t get me excited to find out what came next or really care about what happened to the characters throughout.

I would recommend it to those interested in this particular event and time in history, as you’d already have an interest in the subject.