Friday, 25 May 2018

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!
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It has been a long and tiring week! If you have been following my blog you'll know that my dad and I have been working on reorganising and deep cleaning the entire house over the last few weeks. Basically we have neglected the house for too many years and it's taking a lot of effort to get things back into a tidy and user friendly condition! We stopped yesterday to have a rest over the weekend but good progress has been made. We still need a new carpet for the living room but that might have to wait until next year as we have more to do in the house and garden. Over the next two weeks we'll be doing more in the house so my blogging may be affected, though all my regular posts will go up as usual. I had little time online this week so today I'm getting caught up with blog visits. 
 
I haven't done any buying or downloading this week but I do have more from the last few weeks that I haven't shared with you yet. Reading has been a bit sporadic but at the start of the week I did read a pile of short story and serial novel parts for new authors I'd discovered and I read the whole of the Yeti novel which I've really enjoyed. Overall I'm happy enough with my week as I did a lot of flopping on my bed and tv watching!
 
DOWNLOADS
 
 
 


Chuckles Blogging World
I've been playing catch up because I was offline at the start of the week to get my house into order so I'm still a bit behind but hope to catch up today.
 
Book Reviews 
none this week
 
Regular Posts 
Time was short so no sample post this week. Cover Love was all about Stephanie Burgis, Top Ten Tuesday was about the apocalypse, Can't Wait Wednesday was They Feed, Books From The Backlog was DMZ and I went Around The Blogs as usual.

Chuckles Cover Love

Around The Blog With Chuckles

Top Ten Tuesday

Can't Wait Wednesday

Books From The Backlog
 
 Discussion Posts
Chuckles Chat was Scenarios we love and hate about apocalypses and Game of Thrones Gossip looked at The Tullys.
 
Chuckles Chat
 
Game of Thrones Gossip

Film Reviews
none this week
 
Special Posts 
I did two posts about our moving the furniture nightmare.
 
The Great Chuckles Moving Day

The Great Chuckles Moving day part 2 and 3

Book Tags/Blog Awards
 none this week

Currently Reading/Up Next
I've finished and enjoyed Rick Chesler's The Yeti. I think I might continue with his books and read DMZ, along with Hunter Shea's Fury of the Orcas. Still want to maybe fit in Behemoth.
 
 
Next week on the blog 
It'll be just my usual weekly posts as I continue with the house clearing! 
 
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Thursday, 24 May 2018

Books From The Backlog-DMZ


Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf.  You might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. Go to Carole's blog and add your blog post link in to join in the fun! Hosted by Carole at https://carolesrandomlife.blogspot.co.uk/

This seems like a fun feature and I have been planning to take part since Carole launched this so at last, here we go! I have a TON of unread books to choose from in various genres and I'm looking forward to sharing some of them with everybody. 


Six friends on a tourist trip to the Korean DMZ have their lives changed forever when they decide to step into a no-man's land. But they soon discover that a border is not the only line they've crossed. A revealed secret between them causes bad blood to spill over, preventing the friends from cooperating. With the specter of capture by a totalitarian regime awaiting them should they stray too far off course, and with a pack of primordial predators roaming the woods, the wayward travelers must find a way to set aside their differences if they are to avoid becoming either political prisoners... or prey.

North Korea, bloodshed and dinosaurs...just my kind of read! I've enjoyed most of what I've read by the author so getting this one was a no brainer really. It is newer to my shelves, having only been purchased in October 2017 and my dad has already snagged it to read!
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The Great Chuckles Moving Day part 2 and 3


Well it didn't go exactly to plan! (does it ever???) and at the end of day one we had only managed to put the stuff back into one of the dvd units. We just had so much to move to get into each piece of furniture plus dusting and hoovering along the way. Yesterday we had to move piles of 'stuff' to the back of the room to let me get my computer desk into its new position while my dad moved his entire cd collection to the hall-he still hasn't decided what to do with that lot! 

We then spent the entire afternoon sorting my dad's dvds into categories. Martial arts/korean films, foreign horror, western, war, gangland/mafia and the western version of martial arts films that the likes of Van Damme, Chuck Norris etc appear in. Then we had to put each lot into alphabetical which was a nightmare with so many. I particularly hate titles that start with an actual number as my brain can't work out where that fits in with those starting with letters! My dad decided that it made more sense to have the martial arts and korean in one bookcase, so we did that, then put all the other categories into the second bookcase together, so I had to get all of those categories into one alphabetical pile. Groan!

This is our third full day of removals, trying to get a few bits and pieces sorted in the hall. It'll get half done today. We still have my dad's cds to sort out which will take a day or two as well but at least progress is being made. I'm dog tired though! Hope to catch up with comments and blog visits today and tomorrow. 
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Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Game of Thrones Gossip #68 The Tullys

Welcome to my Game of Thrones Gossip, where us fanatics get the chance to discuss everything we love about this amazing TV series. I decided to do a whole series of these discussion posts that let us say everything we want and enjoy every second of it! Please feel free to comment fully and without restriction!

I have to warn you that it is important that you have seen all six seasons before reading any of these posts because these posts and blogger comments will be exploding spoilers all over the place. If you haven't watched the series and plan to, be warned that it's a bad idea to be here right now! I take no responsibility if you read on and things are spoiled for you.

Now I'm looking at the main characters introduced in season three, what our season two characters were doing and looking at all the bests bits. Enjoy the season three posts! Today I look at Edmure and Brynden Tully.

Edmure is the youngest of the Tully children, behind Catelyn and Lysa and was responsible for naming Petyr Baelish 'Littlefinger' when he lived with the Tully's as a child. On the death of his father Hoster, he became the Lord of Riverrun and was living there with his uncle Brynden and the Tully bannermen when Robb brought his forces to them for the family to attend the funeral. Edmure's duty was to send the flaming arrow out across the water to set fire to the funeral boat of Hoster but after a few failed attempts, Brynden impatiently takes over, feeling that his nephew is messing everything up. Brynden tries to bring comfort to Catelyn and she is pleased to hear that he and Hoster made peace with each other before his death.


Brynden and Edmure clash afterwards over the decision of Edmure to use his troops to attack a mill owned by the Lannisters, instead of following Robb's instructions. Edmure defends himself by saying that his decision sent Gregor Clegane fleeing from the Riverlands, that wars can't be one with only one person winning battles and that there was plenty war glory to go around for all of them. Robb furiously tells him that he had set out a plan to lure Clegane deeper into the Riverlands so he could be surrounded and killed and that Edmure's actions allowed him to escape. The Stark-Tully army lost more men than the Lannisters in the battle, something that Robb can ill afford after upsetting the Freys with his wedding. Edmure says sorry but notes that he would have acted differently had he been in on the plan. The attack on the mill does secure two Lannister hostages, Martyn and Willem, Kevan Lannister's younger sons, who are then murdered by Rickard Karstark and his men. Brynden and his men capture Karstark  and take the killers to Robb.

Edmure tells Robb that Tywin will seek revenge if he finds out their fate and suggests a quiet burial that is not mentioned to anyone but Robb refuses to ignore the situation. He is determined to give the boys justice. When Catelyn says that Karstark should be kept alive as a hostage, Edmure reminds Robb that he has value as a prisoner and his men should be told that no harm will come to him if his men remain loyal to their King, which will stop them from abandoning the cause. Brynden and Talisa also agree with this plan which Robb decides to ignore. Robb soon regrets his decision to execute Karstark when his family are proven right and the Karstark army desert overnight.


An alliance with the Freys could save the situation but the terms are that Edmure must marry Roslin Frey. He is unhappy about having to marry a woman he has never seen and his uncle tries to threaten him into doing it. Edmure wants the right to pick his own wife and thinks stalling might gain him that right from Walder Frey, which Catelyn is critical of, suggesting he is willing to risk losing a war to get a prettier wife. In the end, he reluctantly agrees to do this service to Robb and grumbles about it all the way to The Twins. His mood soon changes at the wedding when he sees how beautiful Roslin is. He is in jovial mood when the women manhandle him out of the hall to the bedding ceremony, thus he and his bride are not present when the carnage begins.


Brynden is at the wedding, sitting with Catelyn and Roose Bolton. He is amused by the recent wedding of Roose to Fat Walda Frey when Roose admits he was offered his bride's weight in coin to marry one of them so he chose the fattest. Catelyn is less than impressed by the story. Brynden is somewhat worried by the way several Frey women are eyeing him up as husband potential! Brynden has drunk too much during the feast and has to go on a toilet visit just before the bedding ceremony begins. He is outside when the hall doors are locked and is thus spared by the carnage of the Red Wedding. The day after, Roose confides his worries about Brynden escaping the massacre and is concerned that he may make it back to Riverrun before he can be caught, though Walder Frey is less concerned about it with Edmure as his hostage in the dungeons.
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Can't Wait Wednesday-They Feed


Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at http://www.wishfulendings.com/ to spotlight and discuss books we're excited about but haven't read, which may not even be released yet. 

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. 

The night uncovers all we wish not to see.

A troubled man enters a dusky park before sunset. A young woman follows, hidden in shadow. Both have returned to the park to take back something the past has stolen from them, to make right six long years of suffering, and to find justice or perhaps redemption—or maybe they'll settle for some old-fashioned revenge.

But something evil is alive and awake in those woods, creatures that care nothing for human motivations. They’re driven by their own insatiable need: a ravenous, bottomless hunger.

The campgrounds are full tonight, and the creatures are starving. Before the night is over, they will feed. 

 I've been watching for a chance to grab this book and I'm surprised I haven't featured it by now. Hopefully I'll have it by the time I post this as it came out in April!
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