Tag: Book bingo

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Ravenclaw Edition) by J.K. Rowling

ravenclaw goblet of fireTitle: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Ravenclaw Edition)
Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 23rd January 2020
Format: Hardcover, Paperback
Pages: 640
Price: Hardcover: $32.99, Paperback: $21.99
Synopsis: Let the magic of J.K. Rowling’s classic Harry Potter series take you back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This Ravenclaw House Edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire celebrates the noble character of the Hogwarts house famed for its wit, learning and wisdom. Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts is packed with more great Ravenclaw moments and characters, including the return of Moaning Myrtle, who – with typical Ravenclaw intelligence – helps Harry solve a crucial clue in the Triwizard Tournament.

Each Ravenclaw House Edition features vibrant sprayed edges and intricate bronze foiling. The Goblet of Fire blazes at the very centre of the front cover, framed by stunning iconography that draws on themes and moments from J.K. Rowling’s much-loved story. In addition to a bespoke introduction and exclusive insights into the magical paintings of Hogwarts, the book also boasts new illustrations by Kate Greenaway winner Levi Pinfold, including a spectacular portrait of master wand-maker, Ollivander. All seven books in the series will be issued in these highly collectable, beautifully crafted House Editions, designed to be treasured and read for years to come.

A must-have for anyone who has ever imagined sitting under the Sorting Hat in the Great Hall at Hogwarts waiting to hear the words, ‘Better be RAVENCLAW!’

When the Quidditch World Cup is disrupted by Voldemort’s rampaging supporters alongside the resurrection of the terrifying Dark Mark, it is obvious to Harry Potter that, far from weakening, Voldemort is getting stronger. Back at Hogwarts for his fourth year, Harry is astonished to be chosen by the Goblet of Fire to represent the school in the Triwizard Tournament. The competition is dangerous, the tasks terrifying, and true courage is no guarantee of survival – especially when the darkest forces are on the rise. It is the summer holidays and soon Harry Potter will be starting his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is counting the days: there are new spells to be learnt, more Quidditch to be played, and Hogwarts castle to continue exploring. But Harry needs to be careful – there are unexpected dangers lurking.
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The 20th anniversary editions of the Harry Potter books are being released in house colours – red for Gryffindor, yellow for Hufflepuff, blue for Ravenclaw and green for Slytherin, often with additional house information and information about characters in that house who are side characters, such as Garrick Ollivander in the Ravenclaw edition, Rubeus Hagrid in the Gryffindor edition, Cedric Diggory in the Hufflepuff edition and Voldemort in the Slytherin edition. I received a hardcover Ravenclaw edition to review from Bloomsbury, and it’s beautifully put together – the story is there, but it is the additional information that is interesting, as well as revisiting the story.

The additional information also gives insights into Moaning Myrtle and indicates that she was in Ravenclaw when she was alive. Moaning Myrtle has a key part in one area of The Goblet of Fire, and it is always fun to see characters we have met before return, like Dobby. I love reading the books because I think the movies miss out on so much and presume a lot of their viewers – that they’ve read the books, and can they fill in the gaps. Perhaps this is where knowing the books helps fill in those gaps, and why I prefer the books. I remember the time this book came out – it was the year I met my best friend, Laura, and it was Laura and her mother who got me into the books, and for that, I am grateful and that is what makes them special to me – Laura and Liz are in those pages for me.

In the Goblet of Fire, we are at the midway point of the series – where everything changes. Up until now, there have been hints at Voldemort coming back, but not quite, and now, the threats are real, and slowly, across the novel, build up to the darkest ending so far, and starts a new death count of significant characters in the series. It is a turning point for everything and hurtles our once innocent characters into a stage of their lives where they are in more danger than ever before, and nobody knows who will survive what is to come, and who won’t.

A nice addition to a collector’s series of the Harry Potter books.

 

Books and Bites Bingo debut novel – The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One)

 

game card books and bites

Ticking off my fourth square this time, the debut novel, I went with The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One). This is Meg Keneally’s debut novel, though it is written with her father, Tom Keneally, who wrote Schindler’s Ark. This is the start of a series, set during colonial times in Port Macquarie, around 1825, and explores not only a crime, but also the history of the convict era and implications of being a convict, as well as the interactions with the local Indigenous people and ideas about how these interactions could have occurred and what they meant for different people – so it is an interesting look at how this may have happened.

soldiers curse

 

It is a complicated, and lengthy mystery, but finding out what happens at the end is very satisfying, and so the meandering road it takes to get to the resolution and main death is very well executed, and satisfying as you dig through the layers and uncover who the characters are. The true nature of the crime and those involved is also quietly bubbling away in the background as suspects are mentioned and dismissed until the true killer is uncovered. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

I’m hoping to read the rest of the series this year, and it is going to be one that hits many categories in my reading challenges, some multiple times!

Onto the next square – I’m not sure what it will be but I can’t wait to fill it and reveal it to you!

Books and Bites Bingo Set in Europe: Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn

game card books and bites

The third square I am marking off is a book set in Europe. With this one, I had many countries, genres, time periods and authors to choose from that are on my shelf and will be headed my way. However, as my goal is to mark off the easier categories in all challenges first, with one book per book bingo square but knowing that other challenges may well have multiple entries and books, as they are fairly open. If this happens, then it is fine for me – it will just mean a more detailed list at the end!

Josephines garden

Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn is set in post-Revolutionary France, also known as the Terror at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. People are still feeling uneasy with the new way of things on all sides, and in the midst of these politics and politics of gender expectations and family, Josephine Bonaparte creates a garden at her home, Malmaison while her husband heads off on campaigns around Europe to take land for France and its empire.

Whilst Napoleon has his sights set on growing France within Europe, Josephine is focused on her small section of Europe, her little world that she has created, away from the memories of the Terror, yet there are still worries about it at the back of her mind.

So there are three squares already checked off in this book bingo challenge! I am sure some will be more challenging, yet in checking off the easier ones as early as possible, I will be able to focus on those as I get closer and try to get those done as well.

Books and Bites Book Bingo – Written in the First Person: Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium by Belinda Murrell

game card books and bites

My second book bingo card, the Books and Bites Bingo Card, is a more casual one for me. I’ll post as I fill a square, rather than on a schedule as I am with the other one, and ideally, one post per square for better clarity. So this is my post for my second square – written in the first person.

There were many options I could go with here, that I have read, am reading and that I could read in the coming weeks and months. However, as there are other categories to fill in this and all my challenges, I chose one that I read just after New Year.

Pippas Island 5

Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium is the fifth in the Pippa’s Island series by Belinda Murrell. Pippa tells these stories as she adjusts to life on an Kira Island after moving there with her mum, brother and sister from England. Across five books, Pippa has told her story as she has made friends and watched her new home being built. I’m hoping there are more to come, but for now, I will be content knowing Pippa has her home, family and friends, and this book has managed to tick off several different challenge categories.

Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn

Josephines gardenTitle: Josephine’s Garden

Author: Stephanie Parkyn

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 3rd December 2019

Format: Paperback

Pages: 480

Price: $29.99

Synopsis: A captivating story of love, nature and identity in Napoleon’s France

‘Stephanie Parkyn is one very talented storyteller.’ -Mrs B’s Book Reviews

France, 1794. In the aftermath of the bloody end to the French Revolution, Rose de Beauharnais stumbles from prison on the day she is to be guillotined. Within a decade, she’ll transform into the scandalous socialite who marries Napoleon Bonaparte, become Empress Josephine of France and build a garden of wonders with plants and animals she gathers from across the globe.

But she must give Bonaparte an heir or she risks losing everything.

Two other women from very different spheres are tied to the fate of the Empress Josephine – Marthe Desfriches and Anne Serreaux. Their lives are put at risk as they each face confronting obstacles in their relationships and in their desire to become mothers.

From the author of Into the World comes a richly imagined historical novel about obsession, courage, love and marriage.

‘Enthralling novel, rich in historical detail … Highly recommended.’ –Good Reading on Into the World

 

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Set in the days after the Terror, the French Revolution, Josephine’s Garden is the story of three women – Josephine Bonaparte, Marthe Desfriches, and Anne Serreaux. These three women have lived through revolution in different ways. Josephine, also known as Rose, has lost her husband to the guillotine and is now wed to Napoleon Bonaparte. Marthe Desfriches has lost two husbands, one to war, and is onto her third marriage to Jacques Labillardiere, a botanist who made an appearance in Into the World, along with other characters like Robespierre. Anne Serreaux, married to another botanist, becomes friends with Josephine as a garden grows at Josephine’s home – made up of plants and animals from New Holland, cultivated by Josephine and her botanists as Napoleon fights his way across Europe.

AWW2020He demands an heir from Josephine – something she had been struggling to give him, and she must allow her children from her first marriage to he used as pawns in the political games of Napoleon as survivors of the Terror – either royalists or those who see Napoleon as another leader who will not free them but will be just as bad as the royal family that has recently died, so there is an undercurrent of further rebellion as Napoleon starts to establish himself as emperor of France.

Much of the action takes place at home, away from the war front of the Napoleonic Wars of 1803-1815 as Napoleon tries to gain power over European states to build the French Empire – many years prior to Europe forming as we know it today, and several decades before Bismarck and the German wars of unification. Napoleon is often away at war, but the moments he appears in the novel are significant – demands of an heir, assassination attempts and plans, and family trying to drive Josephine out because she has failed to produce an heir, so rumours swirl that she is barren. This intrigue builds throughout the novel and causes tension in many relationships. Carefully balanced with what Josephine wants, and what she is able to give, this is explored sensitively and given the attention it needs. Much of what drives all the tensions is the idea of producing heirs to secure empire, and women and their role to reproduce and raise the future generations – the expectations placed on the new aristocracy in as they seek to rebuild the power they lost – or a new power in the new nation of France without a monarchy to lead them.

Marthe is unhappy in her marriage to Labillardiere – she longs for a child, yet he refuses to give her one. He has other plans and is determined to keep botany secrets from Josephine so he can write his book. It would seem that in many ways, there are lots of people plotting against Josephine and Napoleon, separately and apart, but in different ways. As Josephine tends her garden, political unrest and alliances tear her family apart, and her friends become embroiled in various activities – some nefarious and some very personal as rumours swirl about Napoleon’s activities at home and abroad. Marthe’s story is gently dealt with at first, until she discovers secrets later on, and her story, and suspicions about what she is up to within the new empire and whether she is acting against Napoleon ramp up.

The inclusion of the historical figures from Into the World ties the two books together cleverly – but can both be read as standalone novels, separate from each other. This is an intriguing period in history, and I have noticed that there seem to be more stories appearing now about it, or maybe I am just noticing that there are more around as it has been drawn to my attention by these books and Kate Forsyth’s latest. Either way, these stories are given life now, and we see – through Josephine’s eyes – how ego drove Napoleon and his ambitions as she sought to create a beautiful antipodean garden in France.

Josephine’s fate is tied up with Anne and Marthe eventually, and the political undercurrents of the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleon’s need to secure his empire as he tries to build the French Empire in the image that Napoleon wishes to see. Intrigue and secrets fill this novel. Stephanie Parkyn has written this exquisitely, evoking the gardens and feelings of post-Revolutionary France – as those who were affected by the Terror navigate a new world. Her research has brought these people to life – and I loved the nods and throwbacks to Into the World. If there is more to come, especially about certain characters who make an appearance in this book, then I am very eager for it and will be recommending this novel to lovers of historical fiction.

Books and Bites Bingo – Intro and square one marked off

Just for fun, I am picking up another bingo challenge. Like all challenges this year, I have chosen them based on the openness of the categories, to fiction and non-fiction and to Australian and non-Australian authors. I feel this will give me a better chance of filling in all or as many of the categories as I can in each.

Books and bites bingo.png

Found in the Books and Bites Online Bookclub I am in, started by Monique Mulligan, who works at Serenity Press, this one has a few categories the others do not, but I will easily find books – either one or multiple – that slot into each once easily and nicely. My aim here, as in all others, is to mark off the ones I can do easily first, and work towards the others as I go through the year. Hopefully, many will be checked off by work and review books as well as my own reads, and I have already checked off one in this book bingo, which is published on the 28th of January.

game card books and bites.png

I’ll add that to this post, and then aim to post an update every couple of weeks. My first square checked off for this one is a title longer than five words: The Nine Hundred: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune McAdam. The review will go live in a few weeks, and I hope to link it to this post then. From there, as with my other book bingo, I will post in fortnightly increments, whilst aiming to post monthly updates in relation to all challenges and reading in general.

Books and Bites Bingo

 

Set in Europe

Debut Novel

Travel Memoir

Published More than 100 Years Ago

Written in the First Person

 

Fairy Tale Collection

A Book with a door on the cover

Written by someone called Jane

An Australian crime or thriller

Wherever you go

 

Eco-themes

A Neil Gaiman book

Short story collection

Published the year you were born

Makes you blush

 

That Book you keep putting off

A book with lots of hype

Short story collection

A book with bad reviews

Book to movie

 

Scary

Someone you love’s fave book

Made into a TV Series

A title longer than five words: The Nine Hundred: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune McAdam

Fave childhood book

Book Bingo one 2020 – A Prize Winning Book

Book Bingo 2020 clean

Welcome to another year of book bingo with my co-hosts, Amanda Barrett and Theresa Smith. This year, we have cut down the number of squares from thirty to twelve, so one square a month to post about, though nothing is stopping us from filling out the card within a few months and scheduling every post. Which perhaps, might be a good way to think about it – filling it out as soon as possible and getting it all scheduled to focus on everything else and running the challenge and our posts for the Australian Women Writers challenge.

Book bingo 2020

With many options to yet come through, and some decisions to still be made, I decided to start with the prize winner category. There were many books I could have chosen for this, in many genres and categories, but settled on Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales, which looks at how an ordinary day can turn into one of blindsides, tragedy and things that we don’t expect to happen when we roll out of bed in the morning. I go into much more detail in my review, and this book ticked off at least one category in each of my reading challenges, so I am off to a good start there!

Any Ordinary Day

Any Ordinary Day had nuances in it that gave insight into what goes on behind the scenes of journalism at times and how the ongoing, twenty-four seven news cycle changed the way news was delivered and the trickle of details that come out over time, rather than a report with all the facts at once, which I found interesting in light of current responses to media. Understanding that journalists perhaps can have pressures of networks or publications pushing them to get a certain angle or get everything in by a certain time – shows how only seeing the end result, the story presented or printed – can affect how people react. Either they want to know more, or they get frustrated with so little coming through when they think it should, yet at the same time, people get frustrated when they’re not informed – so in writing this book, Leigh examined the balance of this and ethics and how she struggles  to maintain this balance so she can do her job effectively, whilst still maintaining her humanity. A very well-thought out book in my view.