Tackling The TBR March#4

 

 

In December 2018 I launched Tackling The TBR, a challenge to reduce the ever extending TBR pile and 2019 was pretty successful in that regard. In 2020 I intended to make a big effort to reduce my TBR by buying less, getting stuff read and getting rid of the things that I just don't want to read from my bookshelves and my ereaders Maurice and Myrnin! However the darn Coronavirus Pandemic has put the skids under all my plans and I had to suspend the challenge. I've now decided to bring it back in a bid to kickstart my TBR reduction as nothing else has been working.
 
The TBR total shown is the total number of books I own but have not read yet-wishlist books are NOT in my TBR! Sometimes there will be a difference between the books read and new total-if I read a book not on the TBR it counts for books read for the week but not for this challenge.

BOOKS IN

-Books in refers to bought, downloaded or gifted books being added to the TBR list. 

BOOKS OUT

-Books read refers to books read that were ON the TBR and DNFed is obvious. 

-Deleted from the TBR are books I lost interest in reading, or sequels to DNFed books I no longer want to read and have been removed without starting to read them. These three categories added together are my books 'out'.

I'm posting my progress on the 7th, 14th, 21st and final day of the month as before, even if there is no progress to report and anyone else is welcome to join in. No rules, set up your posts how you want and when you want, just reduce the pile! And each week I'll add my new week to the end of the post so I can track how the whole month went.

********************

March 1st-7th

TBR Start Total: 1531

 

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 1

 

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 4

Books DNF: 3

Others Deleted From TBR: 0

 

Target Total: 1500

 

New Total: 1524

 

Another decent reading week, rattling through some short horror and either finishing or DNFing them. Either way it gets them off the TBR which is good!

********************

March 8th-14th 

 

TBR Start Total: 1524

 

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 4

 

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 6

Books DNF: 0

Others Deleted From TBR: 5

 

Target Total: 1500

 

New Total: 1517

 

Another good week for getting stuff done, reading 6 books which offsets the four that I bought and downloaded. I also cleared 5 other books I no longer wanted to read off my e-readers which was an added bonus.

******************** 

March 15th-21st

 

TBR Start Total: 1517

 

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 0

 

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 2

Books DNF: 1

Others Deleted From TBR: 0

 

Target Total: 1500

 

New Total: 1515

 

I got a bright start to the week for reading but have taken a few days off it to watch a few dvds after my hard work painting!

******************** 

March 22nd-31st

 

TBR Start Total: 1515

 

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 4

 

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 1

Books DNF:

Others Deleted From TBR:

 

Target Total: 1500

 

New Total: 1518

 

OK took a little bit of a hit this week due to a few new books I ordered and less reading than I had hoped for this week. I'll get back on it next month! The new plan is to tackle books lying forever on my tbr or those with mixed reviews that might be DNF candidates.

********************

 

Top Ten Tuesday-One Word Book Titles #2

 Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. 

I've lost count how many times I've done this week's topic and there's only so many times I can say I want to live at Hogwarts, Rivendell, Winterfell. I'm going rogue and expanding on last week's rogue topic of one word titles. I'm looking at more one word titles with good covers that made me want to read it.

1) Harry Adam Knight-Slimer 

 2) JA Konrath-Grandma?

 3) Richard Laymon-Amara

4) Mark Lukens-Followed

5) Ronald Malfi-Snow

6) David Meyer-Behemoth

7) Jeffrey B Miley-Shriek

 

8) Martin Morris-Agrushell

 9) WW Mortensen-Slithers

10) Dan Padavona-Crawlspace
 

Chuckles With Chuckles-Dumb Quiz Answers #2

 

Welcome to Chuckles With Chuckles, a semi-regular look at stuff that amuses me. We are starting with dumb answers given on TV quiz shows. I might not know all the answers but I certainly know the answers that are wrong!

Q) What is another name for cherrypickers or cheesemongers?

A) Homosexuals

(answer is British Army Regiments)

Q) On which street did Sherlock Holmes live?

A) Er...

Q) He makes bread.

A) Er...

Q) He makes cakes.

A) Kipling Street? 

 

Q) Where do you think Cambridge University is?
A) Geography isn't my strong point.
Q) There's a clue in the title.
A) Leicester. 

Q) Who had a worldwide hit with "It's A Wonderful World"?
A) I don't know.
Q) I'll give you a couple of clues. What do you call the part between your hand and your elbow?
A) Contestant: Arm.
Q) Correct. And if you're not weak, you're ...?
A) Contestant: Strong.
Q) Correct: And what was Lord Mountbatten's first name?
A) Contestant: Louis.
Q) Well, there we are then. So who had a worldwide hit with the song "It's A Wonderful World"?
A) Frank Sinatra?  

 

Q) What is the capital of Italy?
A) France.
Q) France is another country. Try again.
A) Oh, um, Benidorm.
Q) Wrong, sorry, let's try another question. In which country is the Parthenon?
A) Sorry, I don't know.
Q) Just guess a country then.
A) Paris.  

 

Q) On what day does new year's day fall?
A) The 31st.  

Q) In which direction do the hands of a clock travel?
A) Anti-clockwise.

Q) We're looking for an occupation beginning with "T" 

A) Doctor.

Q) No, it’s "T". "T" for Tommy. "T" for Tango. 

A) Oh right... (pause)... Doctor. 

 

Q) Which Danish city is famous for its statue of a mermaid?
A: Denmark. 

 

Q) You step in it and it takes you up and down to different floors.
A) Dog poo? 

 

Q) Who did Britain go to war with over the Falklands?
A) Er...
Q) It's a South American country.
A) Iran?  

Q) Which Cluedo character has a military rank?
A: Colonel Sanders

 

Q) Who sang the song Je t'aime, moi non plus with Jane Birkin?
A) Two contestants (given a choice of three answers): Jacques Chirac.

 

Q) The Berlin Wall was demolished in which country?
A) Er...
Q) East and West came together...
A) Er...
Q) It begins with a "G".
A) Er...
Q) No, I can't give you that one.  

 

Q) Who was Bill Clinton's vice president?
A) I don't know.
Q) Come on, he also stood for president himself. You know, Al...
A) Al Jolson.  

Q) What is the correct name for the Australian wild dog?
A) The dingbat.

 

Q: Which American actor is married to Nicole Kidman?
A: Forrest Gump. 

Chuckles Weekend Roundup

          Welcome to my feature Chuckles Weekend Roundup where I will be looking at what books I've received, anything interesting I've done or bought or watched and other random stuff. I'll be taking a look back at what happened in my blogging world too, sort of like The Sunday Post that some of you do! 

 

Please note that I'll be visiting your STS/SP as normal, but I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow DISQUS to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I am the only one who does that on my social media! I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. Sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me because I deleted my account with them but I will persevere as it only happens the odd time!

 

Today the clocks go forward an hour here in the UK so I'm going to be grumpy about getting an hour less sleep from now until October. Those of us with hibernating bear DNA do not enjoy this spring upheaval!!! I was busy last weekend varnishing the fence, getting it done before the bad weather came in during the week. The last few days have been cold, wet and miserable so welcome to spring! I've used this wet spell to order in and receive more varnish ready for the weather to change. According to the forecast we're back to a mini heatwave next week but I'll believe it when I see it. I might get the chance of a second coat of varnish on our side of the back fence if the weather is good so fingers crossed.

 

I wasn't really in a reading mood this week but I did get one full creature feature novella done but it wasn't a great read really. A bit disappointing as a previous book by that author was a 5 star read. Instead I did some binge watching which was also fun, more about that later. I'll get back to the dinosaur book I started and maybe try and fit in something else short before the month ends, we'll see how it goes tonight. I'm doing the same amount of exercise each day but this week for some reason I just feel totally knackered and a bit fed up!

 

Chuckles Blogging World 

I got way behind on pretty much everything blog wise this week. I have now caught up with blog visits and comments, and will now try and get a few posts ready for this coming week. I hope I don't fall behind again but that'll depend on whether I'm varnishing or not.

 

 Book Reviews

 

Enid Blyton-The Island Of Adventure

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/03/book-review-island-of-adventure-by-enid.html 

Mary L Trump-Too Much And Never Enough

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/03/book-review-too-much-and-never-enough.html

 

Regular Posts

 

Top Ten Tuesday

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/03/top-ten-tuesday-one-word-book-titles.html 

Chuckles Friday Reading Roundup

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/03/chuckles-friday-reading-roundup_27.html

 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/03/around-blogs-with-chuckles_27.html 

Discussion Posts

 

Spring Things #3

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/03/spring-things-3.html 

Reading Challenges

 

Tackling The TBR

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/03/tackling-tbr-march-3.html 

Films & TV & Music

This week I was on a binge watch mission and rewatched SAS Who Dares Wins seasons one to five, which I really enjoyed. Also watched a couple of Jaws films too! I also bought the DVD of Bravo Two Zero, since I'm in a special forces mood! 

 

Book Tags/Blog Awards

none this week

 

The Week In Review 

Started it in a mood to just watch stuff and that carried on until last night when I went back to getting some reading done. It's hard to get a balance right!

 

The Week Ahead

I plan to go back to the dinosaur book that I started the previous week and get another chunk of that done but I'd also like to squeeze in another few short books before the month ends to sort the damage my book buying has done this week!

 

 

 

FOLLOW ME:
https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chuckles-book-cave-9910183 
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3426724-chucklesthescot 
https://twitter.com/chucklesthescot 
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/chucklesthescot/ 
 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

 

We all enjoy snooping and lurking on other people's blogs right? Why not share those entertaining things you found with other readers and bloggers too! Welcome to Around the Blogs with Chuckles, where I take time out to show you some of my favourite blog posts from the previous seven days and link you up so you can check them out. 

 

It is vital that we all stick together online at this time. Do what you can to show some love to other blogs, to books and authors and let us all know that you are staying safe and well. Hearing from our friends will make it easier to deal with whatever is coming during the pandemic. Stay safe everyone.

 

This week!

 

1)  Book Review-The Cousins by Karen M McManus

Barb's review.

http://bookertsfarm.blogspot.com/2021/03/dont-understand-hype.html 

 

2) Book Review-Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims 

Heather's review.

https://www.randomredheadedramblings.com/2021/03/book-review-thirteen-storeys-by.html 

 

3) Book Review-Horrid by Katrina Leno 

Bark's review.

http://barksbooknonsense.blogspot.com/2021/03/review-horrid-by-katrina-leno.html 

 

4) Book Review-Sheltered by Justin S Leslie 

Carole's review.

https://carolesrandomlife.blogspot.com/2021/03/review-sheltered-by-justin-s-leslie.html 

 

5) Book Review-Adverse Possession by Rebecca Zanetti

Mary's review.

http://scarymarythehamsterlady.blogspot.com/2021/03/review-adverse-possession-by-rebecca.html 

 

6) Book Review-The Unbroken by CL Clark 

Mogsy's review.

https://bibliosanctum.com/2021/03/22/book-review-the-unbroken-by-c-l-clark/ 

 

7) Book Review-The Enbalmer by Alison Belsham 

Heather's review.

https://www.randomredheadedramblings.com/2021/03/book-review-embalmer-by-alison-belsham.html 

Chuckles Friday Reading Roundup

 

Welcome to my Friday Reading Roundup! This feature will show exactly what I've been reading and DNFing through the last week. 

I took a week off from reading to watch a few things but got back into reading last night. Not a great read though!

READ

1 star.

 

Book Review: Too Much And Never Enough by Mary Trump

Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents’ large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.

A first-hand witness to countless holiday meals and family interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humor to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald’s place in the family spotlight and Ivana’s penchant for re-gifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer’s.

Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists, and journalists have sought to parse Donald J. Trump’s lethal flaws. Mary L. Trump has the education, insight, and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider’s perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families.

My Review: 

There is little doubt that being brought up in the Trump family was not what most of us would term normal. It was a family of ruthless ambition and expectation where everyone was expected to do their bit to further the family name and achieve fortune and glory. This is certainly the picture that was painted by Mary Trump, daughter of Donald Trump's oldest brother Fred Jr, who I'll refer to as Freddy. She begins the book by talking about the awkward family reunion at the White House after Donald Trump has become President, where they sit around the table sharing awkward memories and listening to Donald talk. Mary finds herself thinking about the past as she sits there and it is the past that she talks about in detail in this book.

She talks about her grandparents and the way they chose to bring up their children. Fred was an ambitious and successful man who demanded that son Freddy follow in his footsteps to be his heir, despite Freddy not really being suited to the role. She talks about how Fred would belittle his son and never think he was good enough to do the job ot take on the responsibility, leading to Freddy caving in and leaving to try and find his own way in the world. Fred would play his kids off against each other, leading to Donald learning that beating everyone else in the family was the way to get the right attention from his father. Donald and Freddy's parents were basically emotionally absent from their kids despite being in the same house, and their so-called parenting was non existant. Bad behaviour was encouraged and tolerated in a sort of survival of the fittest way. Basically, Donald 'won' because he was able to adapt and survive it best.

The word family is pretty misleading here, in that Freddy was the one family member who seemed to have a moral compass and care about everyone else. Fine qualities in a man unless you grow up as a member of this ruthless family. The other siblings seem to have no loyalty or feeling for each other and are ready to stab each other in the back, which is shown in the way that Mary and her brother were treated after Freddy's death. I have sympathy for young Donald growing up as nobody was really there to guide him and show him his way in the world. He seemed to be left to make it up as he went along, and it is no surprise to hear tales from Mary about how Donald grew up emotionally distant from his family and his wives. It is pretty inevitable that a Trump family lifestyle would leave scars on a young boy.

 

Freddy Trump Jr's life is a bit tragic to say the least. He broke away from his family to pursue his own dreams of being a pilot and seeking his own way in life but even that failed to make him happy for long. He seemed to forever want to get that approval from his father who by now was more invested in bringing Donald through as his heir. It details the issues that Freddy had with alcohol which led to him destroying his career, his relationship and Mary's family. It is a sad story about a broken man who didn't quite have the strength to live his own life, or the fortitude to stand up to his father. Instead he seemed to gradually just break down bit by bit until his death. It is hard not to feel sympathetic for a man who was regarded as too soft to be a Trump and felt forever a failure.

 

Let me be clear about this. It is NOT a book about Donald Trump, which I believed it to be when I bought it. It is the story of his brother Freddy and his poor relationship with the rest of his family. Donald pops up occasionally but is more of a bit character than a main player. He is generally used to show the reader how Fred moulded young Donald into who he is today, and how Fred enabled Donald's attributes. I actually had sympathy for Donald at times because he just wasn't shown any love in that family as a toddler so can it really be a surprise that he struggles in personal relationships with people and copies his father in behaviour with people he doesn't like? There is a look from a professional point of view at various possible mental health disorders that Donald may have, which is professional speculation from Mary.   

Freddy's story is being told by his daughter and I get why she wanted to do this. It was quite interesting to read for the most part but I bought it thinking it was about Donald Trump from her perspective, and he wasn't the main focus of the book. I found the blurb on my copy to be a tad misleading about that. To be honest, had I known the true content, I wouldn't have bought it.

Read January 2021

2.5 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday-One Word Book Titles

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. 

Yes I'm going rogue again to look at ten one word book titles on my tbr where the title and cover  made me want to grab a book.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

Book Review: The Island Of Adventure by Enid Blyton

For Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann and Jack, the holiday in Cornwall is everything they'd hope for - until they begin to realize that something very sinister is taking place on the mysterious Isle of Gloom.

But they're not prepared for the dangerous adventure that awaits them in the abandoned copper mines and secret tunnels beneath the sea.

My Review:
I had actually started this book during last summer as lighter reading for my mood during the pandemic but I got distracted from it for some reason and never got it finished. I went back to it last month and got it completed.

Philip is spending time with a tutor at extra lessons in the summer after being ill which is where he meets Jack and his sister Lucy-Ann for the first time. Jack needs extra coaching because he has little interest in studying. Their parents died in a plane crash and the siblings are having to stay on with the tutor as their uncle is not interested in taking care of them. Philip suggests that they run away and come back with him to Craggy Tops, where he lives with his Uncle Jocelyn, Aunt Polly and sister Dinah, while his mother is working away from home. When Jack's Uncle Geoffrey is prepared to pay Aunt Polly to look after Jack and Lucy-Ann for the summer, the four children look forward to a summer of fun in Cornwall.

 

The children are all fascinated by the nearby Isle of Gloom, which is declared to be haunted by their unpleasant servant Jo-Jo. Jack is convinced that there could be rare birds out there and wants to 'borrow' Jo-Jo's boat to explore it. He gets an opportunity to see the island up close when their new adult friend Bill Smugs takes them out in his boat. But when the boys sneak out to explore the island one day on their own, they discover that people have been there recently, doing something inside the mines and tunnels. Is there some kind of smuggling or illegal activity going on? Is this why they are being warned off the island? Is Bill involved in it? The boys decide they have to find out what is going on, leading to a dangerous adventure and more trouble than they expected. 

 

The children all have different personalities and hobbies. Jack is an avid birdwatcher and has a pet parrot called Kiki that goes everywhere with him. Kiki is a complete pain in the neck with her frequent screeches, and repetition of all her different phrases on almost every page. I started to find that it was slowly getting on my nerves. Lucy-Ann was the youngest and weakest of the group, scared of everything, the one who gets seasick, but the attribute most wearing is her inability to function when Jack isn't around. Philip is a great animal lover who forever has creatures in his pockets or crawling around him. I wasn't keen on the number of animals that he just gathers and keeps, as he is basically imprisoning animals against his will. I'm also not keen on the level of violence between Philip and Dinah. Dinah flares up at the slightest thing and the siblings are forever hitting and attacking each other, which is disturbing.  

 

Enid Blyton's books are old fashioned in attitudes, a product of the times that they were written in. This book was first published in 1944 so the girls are expected to do the household chores like cleaning, while the boys do the heavier chores. The more dangerous parts of the book feature the boys on an adventure while the girls are left behind for their own safety. There is even a comment from a character that Philip's mother should stay at home with her children instead of working for a living, which is certainly an outdated attitude. I can ignore this kind of thing in books as I know that times were different when the books were written. Other readers may be offended by it, so be aware of the content.    

 

Other readers have commented through the years about Blyton's use of non-white characters to be her bad guys and this book is one of them. Jo-Jo is a nasty character, surly, unpleasant, spies on the kids and tries to hit the boys on a couple of occasions. Some readers may be offended by the constant references to his colour, so be warned of that content too.  

 

I liked the adventure element to the story, just as I did when I read it as a kid. While I could ignore the oldfashioned attitudes in the writing, I was often irritated by the fighting between Philip and Dinah, and especially by that parrot. I don't think I'll read on with the rest of the series, at least not for the moment. It's not as good as the Secret series.

 

Read March 2021

3 stars. 

Tackling The TBR March #3

 

 

In December 2018 I launched Tackling The TBR, a challenge to reduce the ever extending TBR pile and 2019 was pretty successful in that regard. In 2020 I intended to make a big effort to reduce my TBR by buying less, getting stuff read and getting rid of the things that I just don't want to read from my bookshelves and my ereaders Maurice and Myrnin! However the darn Coronavirus Pandemic has put the skids under all my plans and I had to suspend the challenge. I've now decided to bring it back in a bid to kickstart my TBR reduction as nothing else has been working.
 
The TBR total shown is the total number of books I own but have not read yet-wishlist books are NOT in my TBR! Sometimes there will be a difference between the books read and new total-if I read a book not on the TBR it counts for books read for the week but not for this challenge.

BOOKS IN

-Books in refers to bought, downloaded or gifted books being added to the TBR list. 

BOOKS OUT

-Books read refers to books read that were ON the TBR and DNFed is obvious. 

-Deleted from the TBR are books I lost interest in reading, or sequels to DNFed books I no longer want to read and have been removed without starting to read them. These three categories added together are my books 'out'.

I'm posting my progress on the 7th, 14th, 21st and final day of the month as before, even if there is no progress to report and anyone else is welcome to join in. No rules, set up your posts how you want and when you want, just reduce the pile! And each week I'll add my new week to the end of the post so I can track how the whole month went.

********************

March 1st-7th

TBR Start Total: 1531

 

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 1

 

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 4

Books DNF: 3

Others Deleted From TBR: 0

 

Target Total: 1500

 

New Total: 1524

 

Another decent reading week, rattling through some short horror and either finishing or DNFing them. Either way it gets them off the TBR which is good!

********************

March 8th-14th 

 

TBR Start Total: 1524

 

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 4

 

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 6

Books DNF: 0

Others Deleted From TBR: 5

 

Target Total: 1500

 

New Total: 1517

 

Another good week for getting stuff done, reading 6 books which offsets the four that I bought and downloaded. I also cleared 5 other books I no longer wanted to read off my e-readers which was an added bonus.

******************** 

March 15th-21st

 

TBR Start Total: 1517

 

BOOKS IN:

New Books In: 0

 

BOOKS OUT:

Books Read: 2

Books DNF: 1

Others Deleted From TBR: 0

 

Target Total: 1500

 

New Total: 1515

 

I got a bright start to the week for reading but have taken a few days off it to watch a few dvds after my hard work painting!

********************