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I'm reading
Welcome to August! And yes, in my head I am thinking how did that happen!
It was a pretty normal reading week for me. I finished a book I had started last week, finished a couple of books and started a couple more! Seems to be my regular pattern at the moment.
The book that I had started last week was Summer at the French Bakery by Jo Thomas. As you might guess from the title it is about a woman who moves to France and starts a bakery. It was also the last book I reviewed for this year's Paris in July! My review is here.
I then had a complete change of pace. I used to read a lot of historical romance but it is very, very rare for me to do so these days. This was not only a historical romance it was also a m/m romance. How to Fake it in Society by K J Charles was so much fun. I originally picked it up as it would have fitted a prompt for the Spring Reading Challenge at Goodreads but then I ended up reading something else. I have already requested another K J Charles book from the library
I have three blog tours this week, so I realised that I needed to focus on those books. I therefore read The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien. This is the second book in the Threads of Resistance series. My review will be up later this week.
Another book that I need to review this week is Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen. I love Maggie's books set in Pelican Crossing! I started this and I am about half way through, and it is the same comforting, familiar read! My review for this will be up later this week too!
I did also read the first couple of chapters in A Far-Flung Life by M L Stedman. It almost seems a shame to reading it now. Most years, my read on a theme bookclub decides we will go down the more traditional route of all reading the same book. We have chosen this book to read together in October, but this will be due back at the library long before then.
July was a pretty good reading month. I had one 5 star reads and I did have 4 books that I rated as 4.5/5 reads! I also had a lot of fun with Paris in July (as usual) which was Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson! I have now read and loved all of her WWII librarians books so now I have to wait patiently for the next one of those which I think will be out in a couple of years. In the meantime, I will be starting to work through her backlist.
Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen
Bookish travel
Ireland - Seascraper by Benjamin Wood, The Story Collector by Evie Woods
England - The Book Lover's Bucket List by Hannah Claire, The Secret Society of Librarians by Kate Thompson, The Palace Women by Jennifer Ryan, How to Fake it in Society by K J Charles
Portugal - Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker
Australia
Queensland - Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson
I'm watching
We started watching Ride or Die with Hannah Waddington and Octavia Spencer this week. So far we have watched three episodes and we will watch it through to the end.
We also started watching World War II with Tom Hanks which we will continue with. I am, however, a bit surprised that there are twenty episodes to get through, so it might take us a while.
Breakaway Femmes - The Forgotten TDF - documentary about the women's Tour de France in the late 1980s. It was a really interesting documentary and fascinating to think that the rampant sexism and misogyny talked about in this series was so recent! By which I mean in my adult lifetime! And shocking to think that it took until the mid 2010s for the women's TdF to start again. Here's the trailer:
Life
On Saturday we had a lovely day out in the Yarra Valley which is a wine area about an hour and a half away from us. We did something called the Coldstream Food Trail which has about 10 stops on it, although we only did 4 stops. We stopped at a brewery, and then went to a place called Coombe Yarra Valley which is a lovely place that has been created in the former home of world famous Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba. from there we did some cider and cheese tastings. The main reason we went out there was to do a Fondue and Bingo lunch at Chandon which was a lot of fun! I mean, fondue and sparkling wines...what's not to love. It was a beautiful clear winter's day and a lovely way to do some exploration of just one tiny pocket of the Yarra Valley. We did see some amazing looking restaurants that we will go back and visit again at some point!
The other thing that we did last week was go to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Winter Gala which featured music from composers such as Bernstein, Gerswhin and Cole Porter! It was a lot of fun, and the tickets were super cheap at only $20 each. My husband loves orchestral music so we go semi regularly, but this was too good an opportunity to pass by.
Posts from the last week
Top Ten Tuesdays: Historical Fiction set in France - the WWII edition
Paris in July: French movies
Summer at the French Bakery by Sue Thomas
Paris in July: Au revoir!
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: August Links
In My Kitchen: July
Six Degrees of Separation: Land to Still Life
I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings
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