Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson

One night while the moon gleamed out of the clouds in the east, a young female otter gave birth to three cubs in a hollow oak by a woodland river. The pride of the litter was Tarka, "Little Water Wanderer," the name the ancients gave otters in Britain's long-vanished tribal past.
First published in 1927, this classic story of Tarka's life in the country of the Two Rivers has charmed generations of readers. It pictures a never-to-be-forgotten rural England and, through the character of Tarka, lets us experience nature in her infinite variety. Narrated By Michael Maloney. From Goodreads.

This is a long description of the English country side. Sometimes quite long winded. There was some interesting otter hunting sequences when Tarka was being hunted by the hounds.
The best part of this book was that I was listening to it while going for walks in the Danish countryside. I was watching birds of prey, hares and lots of different birds on these walks. I even got spooked by a pheasant that was hiding in the long grass right next to the road.
I can recommend this book to people who like very long and detailed descriptions of nature.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Audio Book Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (W-owl)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5 Finished

Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5 hosted by Crazy Challenge Connection on Goodreads.

June is just around the corner, and that means it's time for another CCC Read-a-Thon :) Our next RaT will begin at 12:01am on Thursday, May 29, and end at midnight on Tuesday, June 3, a total of six days. (Use your local time for start/end times.) We're hoping that this will help you finish your May reading lists/challenges and get a head start on next month's reading!
Again, our goals for this RaT will be to:
(1) complete any challenges ending in May that you haven't finished yet and start on June's challenges (when appropriate) and/or
(2) work on that pile of library or borrowed books that's waiting for your attention and/or
(3) read anything you want to read, just because!
If none of these goals suit your reading this month, create your own goal and let us know what you hope to accomplish :) As you read, be sure to check in here and let us know what you've read, what you think of the book, and anything else you want to tell us about it!
What do you "need" to read? And what do you *want to read? If you want to set a goal -- books finished, pages read, time spent reading -- you can do that too :)  

My goal for this RaT was 1000 pages read. Unfortunately I did not meet my goal as I only managed to finish 806 pages.

It did help with challenges though as one book helped me in a challenge and another actually completed a challenge.

Books read:

1. Along Came A Demon by Linda Welch (205 pages)
2. Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan  (288 pages)
3. It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot  (240 pages)
4. Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson (listened to 73 pages of 225)

It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot

How on earth did James Herriot come to be sitting on a high Yorkshire moor, smelling vaguely of cows? James isn't sure, but he knows that he loves it. This second hilarious volume of memoirs contains more tales of James' unpredictable boss Siegfried Farnon, his charming student brother Tristan, animal mayhem galore and his first encounters with a beautiful girl called Helen. 'He can tell a good story against himself, and his pleasure in the beauty of the countryside in which he works is infectious' - "Daily Telegraph". 'Full of warmth, wisdom and wit' - "The Field". 'It is a pleasure to be in James Herriot's company' - "Observer". From Goodreads.

This is a very humorous book. I remember watching All Creatures Great and Small - the TV-series adapted from the books James Herriot ( pen name for James Alfred Wight).
It was very clearly not an easy job but the stories he tells make it seem worth all the trouble.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and might read more in this series at a later date.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Read Scotland 2014
2014 Full House Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection - Let's Build a House
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Setting Alphabet Reading Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (I-quail)
CCC-Read your age
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5 Update

Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5 hosted by Crazy Challenge Connection on Goodreads.

Thursday 29th of May: Read Along came a Demon by Linda Welch as I needed to
Friday 30th of May: Didn't get around to do any reading.
Saturday 31th of May: Still not reading. This isn't going well.
Sunday 1st of June: Finally reading again. Finished Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan
Monday 2nd of June: Again a day of non-reading
Tuesday 3rd of June: started It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot 
Wednesday 4th of June: Finished It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot and listened to a bit of Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson

Pages Read:
Thursday: 205 pages  ➜ In total 205 pages
Friday: 0 pages  ➜ In total 205 pages
Saturday: 0 pages  ➜ In total 205 pages
Sunday: 288 pages ➜ In total 493 pages
Monday: 0 pages  ➜ In total 493 pages
Tuesday: 144 pages:  ➜ In total 637 pages
Wednesday: 169 pages: ➜ In total 806 pages

Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan

Having returned to the real world from Tir Na Nog at the end of the last book, our hero Conor finds himself arrested for the murder of his father.
When he explains to the cops that his dad is safe and well and enjoying life as king of a land of elves, imps and banshees they understandably think he is a nutcase.
That is until he is rescued by Celtic warriors on horseback and taken back to Tir Na Nog, accidentally bringing a policeman with him.
Once safely back in The Land, Conor finds that all is not well. His father is dying, the girl he loves is betrothed to another and a rather confused American cop is wandering around causing havoc.
It falls to our young hero, and his band of friends, to find a cure for the king. On their epic journey they encounter one of the most mystical and dangerous races in The Land, the shapeshifting Pooka, and find their fates linked in ways they could never have imagined.
The Prince of Hazel and Oak is a stunning fantasy adventure that takes fans of Shadowmagic further in to the land and brings back many of the favourite characters from the first book. From Goodreads.

It took me 1½ years from buying Shadowmagic, the first book in the series, before reading it and now another 1½ years later I finally got around to reading the second book.
I really enjoyed this book. Conor has come back to the real world but it is just not the same to him any longer and after being accused of his father's murder and arrested he is saved by his mother and brought back to Tir Na Nog. This time his quest is to find a cure for his father who is dying. Conor is just a teenager and quite often behaves as such but the book is humorous with him also trying to tell jokes that nobody understands.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
The Challenge Factory - R2: Team Challenge SS?
Nothing but Reading Challenges - UnCover It
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (P-polarbear)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

Along Came A Demon by Linda Welch

I'm told the dead are all around us. I wouldn't know about that, I see only the violently slain. They can be victims of hit-and-run, innocents caught in a cross-fire, the murdered. They whisper to me and they never, ever, forget the face of their killer. I've learned to live with my uncanny ability, in fact I've made a career out of it.
The departed aren't the only supernaturals I see. No, they're not vampires or werewolves or fae - those things don't exist. We live side by side with what some call the Otherworldy. That's too much of a mouthful for me, I call them demons. If you saw them as I do, you'd know why.
Right now I'm trying to track down a missing six year-old boy whose mother was murdered. Or maybe she wasn't. To further complicate the case, Clarion PD gave me a partner I'd rather shoot than work with.
I can't tell them he's a demon.
They'd think I'm crazy.
I'm Tiff Banks. Welcome to my world.
WHISPERINGS. Paranormal mystery with a splash of humor and dash of romance. From Goodreads.

Again a free Kindle book that was better than expected. Tiff can see and talk to the dead, only the ones that died an violent death. She can also see "demons" or that is what she calls them, beings from another dimension. She has to help solve the case of a missing kid and she gets paired with a demon. It is despite the killing and torture also quite humorous when she discusses things with the two ghosts that live in her house.
It was close to a 4 star book but ended as a high 3 instead. I might get the next in the series, I like it when free books reel me in.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory - R2: Team Challenge SS?
Nothing but Reading Challenges - UnCover It
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (W-wolf)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5

Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #5 hosted by Crazy Challenge Connection on Goodreads.

June is just around the corner, and that means it's time for another CCC Read-a-Thon :) Our next RaT will begin at 12:01am on Thursday, May 29, and end at midnight on Tuesday, June 3, a total of six days. (Use your local time for start/end times.) We're hoping that this will help you finish your May reading lists/challenges and get a head start on next month's reading!

Again, our goals for this RaT will be to:
(1) complete any challenges ending in May that you haven't finished yet and start on June's challenges (when appropriate) and/or
(2) work on that pile of library or borrowed books that's waiting for your attention and/or
(3) read anything you want to read, just because!

If none of these goals suit your reading this month, create your own goal and let us know what you hope to accomplish :) As you read, be sure to check in here and let us know what you've read, what you think of the book, and anything else you want to tell us about it!

What do you "need" to read? And what do you *want to read? If you want to set a goal -- books finished, pages read, time spent reading -- you can do that too :)  

I haven't been reading as much as I have wanted lately. I hope this RaT will help me get back into it.
I think my goal will be 1000 pages. I won't say number of books as my books range from 180 to over 700 pages.

As usual I have a long list of books that I may or may not read:

1. Along Came A Demon by Linda Welch
2. Drifting Home: A Family's Voyage of Discovery Down the Wild Yukon River by Pierre Berton
3. Run by Patti Larsen
4. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
5. A Place Beyond The Map by Samuel Thews
6. It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot
7. Quinn Checks In by L.H. Thomson
8. The Keepers by Donna Augustine
9. Moon Spell by Samantha Young