A Bear’s Diary

Daisy is a bear of a different kind. Bought by Lord Byron as a joke she is the best investment he ever made, While he spends his student days in dissipation and fornication Daisy writes his essays and sits his exams for him with success.
Leaving the unreliable and disreputable Byron behind she sets off on her travels taking the reader to the theatres and courts of London, she meets royalty, fights for Wellington in Portugal and Spain, travels to Russia, Japan and New York she fairly gets about all the while collecting bears and performing with her dancing troupe collecting friends wherever she goes.
More travelogue than diary Daisy is not much for self analysis or reflection but perhaps this is true of all bears. Daisy faithfully narrates her adventures with her merry band of bears and dedicated human friends giving the reader a brief and entertaining glimpse of this period of history all over the world. Quoting the classics as she goes

This breezes along as a travelogue of sorts of Daisy, a dancing bear who has become too old is sold off to Lord Byron, who is told he can't keep a dog at Oxford, so keeps a bear instead.. Daisy is a very special bear, she can fight and write greek essays that garner firsts, saving Byron's bacon when in reality I suspect Byron's bear led a pretty awful existence.She then travels on with his manservant to Portugal, the Indies and Russia gaining a pack of bears, being reunited with her son and fighting for life and justice. It's all light hearted but I just couldn't suspend my disbelief at the things the bears could do and I found the anthropomorphism a bit cloying after a while. It was fun at first but ultimately, I lost interest. I never liked Paddington Bear, Winnie the pooh or The wind in the willows as a child, I guess even as an adult anthropomorphism isn't for me.

I don't know what I just read. It was interesting, but it did not hold my attention like other books do.

This was OK for me. I lost interest about half way thru.. It's a fairly imaginative tale, and told pretty well. I just didn't click with it as much as other books. Probably good for a light read.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

Well. This was... something. I mean the main character is a bear and it involves Lord Byron somehow? I think its fair to say if you're looking for weird look no further.

This was a well written and an original take on a well known tale. Unfortunately I really struggled to engage with this book. I’m not even sure why......except it didn’t hold my interest.
It was an interesting premise though.

This is a very fresh approach to an historical tale. It will definitely take a sense of whimsey as well as suspension of disbelief to accept the diary of a bear that reads Greek and Latin and managed to complete Lord Byron's final university exams for him, but accepting all that, I marched on and enjoyed Daisy's adventures.

In the tradition of picaresque tales, Daisy moves from city to country, dancing to war, and manages to have a very philosophical outlook on her life and times. If a reader is looking for a book that doesn't make them feel like they have "been there, done that," this might just be the perfect choice.

I got a kick out of it and am grateful to Netgalley for providing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a candid review

A delightful read, this is the tale of Daisy, a bear who at the start of the book, is briefly owned by none other than Byron, who keeps her in his rooms at Cambridge. However, she is no ordinary bear, not only to dance, but to read and write in English, Latin and Greek. She does not stay long with Byron, and embarks on an epic series of adventures. Along the way, she gathers a troupe of bears who go to perform for royalty, fight in the Napoleonic wars, explore the Arctic and much more. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend it.
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy.