This week.....

I'm reading

Back to work this week, so in theory I had less reading time! I did still manage to get through several books.

I had started Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T J Klune last week and I finished that book, which was one of my Goodreads Summer Challenge selections. I liked the book, but it did feel a bit preachy.

I then read A Secret Diary in Rome by M A McLaughlin for a blog tour. My review will be up later this week!

Then I moved onto Mixed Signals by B K Borison. I am working my way through all of Borison's books, and only have one more book to read before her new book comes out in October. 

The last book I started this week was One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, which is another challenge selection. I have been meaning to read Rebecca Serle for a long time! After this book, I only have one more challenge book to read. I do know what I am going to read, I just have to read it

Did you notice that three of these four books had author names with just initials! That's a bit of a funny coincidence!

I'm watching


We didn't start anything new this week




Life


Why is it when I return from holidays I often get sick! Pushing on though. No time off work as things are ramping up on the project I am involved in.

On Saturday I went to the inaugural Readings Romance event (Readings is a bookstore chain here in Melbourne). The even featured the always amazing Dr Anita Heiss as a guest speaker, and then there were two really fun panels. The first talked about the meet-cute and the second was about mis-matched characters! There was swag, a paper cup of bubbles, great conversation and lots of books lovers in the room!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Places
Italy and Forever by Leonie Mack
Kate and Frida by Kim Fay
Sunday Salon: Aussie Authors Mini Reviews




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

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 short reviews

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books I Want to Read by New to Me Authors (Share books from your to-read list that are written by authors you’ve never read before.)

I am going rogue today (again!) and sharing one to two sentence short reviews of books I have been meaning to review that I have read so far  this year but not yet done so!

The Goldsmith's Wife by Jean Plaidy - Read this for the Childhood Favourite theme at my F2F book club. It's been years since I read a Plaidy but it was still so good! And a really interesting story about Jane Shore, a woman who was the mistress of a king and yet ended her life in poverty. Read this for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. (5/5 read)

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters - This book is set in 1930s US and Canada, and tells the story of a young indigenous girl who disappears one day while her family is working as berry pickers. We hear of her life but also that of her brother who was the last person to see her. Incredibly moving. A 5 star read for me. Read this for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. (5/5 read)

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida - I don't really like cats. I am more of a dog person, but I don't mind reading about cats in books, particularly in Japanese books where there is often a twist in the tail (see what I did there?).  I read this one for the Goodreads Spring Challenge. (4/5 read)

We'll Prescribe You Another Cat by Syou Ishida - I think that you might not quite understand what is going on here unless you read the first book in the series. The third book comes out soon and I will be reading it! Both of these books count for the Books in Translation and Speccy Fic Challenge. The translator for both books was E (4/5 read)

Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett - I borrowed this book at least 10 years ago and so when my rerad on a theme book club had a book you borrowed from someone as the theme, it was finally time to read it. Set in Tasmania, it looks at a family whose mother has died and how that event has impacted the father and three sons. I really enjoyed this one and will more from this author, eventually. This is an Aussie author and the book counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. (4.5/5 read)

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn - I have loved Kate Quinn's historical fiction novels. This one is a complete change in direction. It is set in the Boston Library where a young woman find the way to live inside books. It was good, but not as good as the historical fiction. Will be interested to see where Kate Quinn goes next. This book counts for the Speccy Fic Challenge, Bookish Books and New Release Challenges (4/5 read)

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan - This was another book club read. This time the theme was Mothers and Daughters. I haven't read Amy Tan for many, many years and I liked this one a lot. It counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

The Paradise Pact by Anita Heiss - I have met Australian author Anita Heiss a number of times and really like her. She is smart, opinionated, and passionate about her indigenous identity. These traits showed in the characters in this book but I didn't really connect with the story as well as I would have liked. This qualifies for the New Release challenge(3.5/5 read)

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - I feel like Ariel Lawhon is an author I should have read before now, but I haven't. I will read more from her now. I really liked that this book was based on the life of a midwife who lived in the 1800s, and tells the story of what happens in a small town when a body is found trapped under the ice in the frozen river. I read this for the Goodreads Spring Challenge and for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Even though this is a short review, this book counts as a Big Book of Summer at 448 pages long. (4/5 read)

The Couples Retreat by Mercedes Mercier - This is a book that I read for a recent book club retreat that I attended. This book was set on Kangaroo Island and features a newbie police officer who is pulled into a murder investigation at a luxurious house on the island. I liked it. It isn't my normal genre but that's one of the good things about book clubs right? This counts for the New Release Challenge and was one of the books I nominated for 20 Books of Winter.  (3.5/5 read)

Phew! I feel a bit caught up now! 

Have you read any of these books? 

Top Ten Tuesdays: 10 Authors I am Looking Forward to Meeting at the Rachael Johns Book Club Retreat this weekend

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Bookish Wishes (List the top 10 books you’d love to own and include a link to your wishlist so that people can grant your wish. Make sure you link your wishlist to your mailing address [here’s how to do it on Amazon] or include the email address associated with your ereader in the list description so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if you’d like. Please don’t feel obligated to send anything to anyone!)

I am always a bit uncomfortable with this prompt, so I am changing the theme to suit me, which I do pretty regularly to be fair. This coming weekend I am heading down to Geelong, a regional city just over an hour away from where I live, and I will be attending the 2027 Racheal Johns Book Club Reader Retreat. I have been to all four of these and they are such a good weekend. There are usually around 100 readers and 20 guest authors. So here are books by 10 of the authors I am looking forward to meeting or seeing again this weekend.

The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns - Of course I had to have Rachael Johns on the list.

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson - Anthea is the co-host of the retreat so I had to have her on the list as well. I really liked The War Nurses by this author. We started hearing about this book at the last retreat and it sounds great. It is one of the book club choices for the weekend!

A Woman's Voice by Alli Sinclair - Last year I went to hear Alli Sinclair talk about this book and it sounds so good. 

The Paradise Pact by Anita Heiss - Anita Heiss is an amazing person to spend time with. Can't wait to hear more about this book! (Update - since I wrote this post a few weeks ago, it has been announced that Anita can no longer attend)

Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn - I have absolutely loved both of Claire van Ryn's books so I am very excited to meet her!

The Paradise Heights Miniature Railway Club by Kate Solly - I have booked a couple of times to go to author events with Kate Solly, but it just hasn't worked out, so I am pleased she is one of the feature authors this weekend.

The Bookshop of Buried Pasts by Sarah Clutton - I was supposed to go to the launch of this book a few weeks ago but I ended up having to work late so I didn't make it!

Better than the Real Thing by Brooke Crawford - Last year I ran into this author at quite a few events, so looking forward to seeing her again.

Sunrise at Sunny Cross Farm by Maya Linnell - I have read a couple of books by this author. This is her new book which has just come out!

The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood - This sounds like such a fun read!

Have you ever been to a reader's retreat?

This week...

I'm reading

It's been a pretty good reading week for me this week, including a 5 star reads! 

I mentioned last week that I had started The Little Wartime Bookclub by Kate Thompson. I was surprised when I first picked it us to see how long the book is. It's very close to being a chunkster, but despite it's size I sped through it in just a couple of days. I loved it! And it was a 5/5 read!

Next I picked up Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Japanese author Michiko Aoyama. This is the third book I have read by her, and it was her debut and I thought it was fabulous. I am looking forward to reading the sequel to this book which is out in a few weeks. I will post a review of this one for Weekend Cooking in a couple of weeks time.

I then read The Paradise Pact by Anita Heiss. It has made me laugh out loud a couple of times but it also irritated me at times. I made it to the end though. 

Finally, I started my first Twenty Books of Winter read which was First-Time Caller by B K Borison. I think I started it too early though as I could easily have finished it yesterday. I had to pace myself so I could finish it today and have it count as a June read!

How on earth is it the end of May already? And isn't that what I think at the end of every month! May was a pretty good month for me. I had two 5 star reads this month being In the Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont and The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson. Shout out to Hot Chocolate on Thursday which was a standout read too, even if it didn't quite make it 5 stars. It was very close. In total I read 11 books for the month so that it s a pretty good average.

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

Bookish travel

Here's where I travelled too through the pages of books during May

Asia 

China - The Bonesetter's Daughter

Korea - A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang

Japan - Gate to Kagoshima, Hot Chocolate on Thursday

America

California - The Bonesetter's Daughter

Hawaii  - The Paradise Pact

Europe

Italy - An Italian Island Love Story, A Venice Summer

Spain - Call of the Camino

UK - The Seaside Book Club. The Little Wartime Library

France - In a Paris Fashion

I'm watching


We are big fans of Welcome to Wrexham, so the other night we watched the first episode of Nexacas which is where Eva Longoria buys into a Mexican soccer team. It is aiming for the same kind of feel as Wrexham. Not sure we will watch all the episodes but it was interesting. Now it has been announced that there will be a similar series about the Bonds Flying Roos which is the Australian Sail GP team owned by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. 

On Saturday night we finally got around to watching Remarkably Bright Creatures, which is based on the book by Shelby van Pelt, which I read and loved last year. I listened to the audio where the voice of Marcellus was provided by Michael Urie. When I first heard that they were making a movie I did hear that Urie would once again providing the voice which I was excited about. However, in the end Marcellus was voiced by Alfred Molina and he did a great job.

Here's the trailer

Life

On Thursday night we went to a new to us restaurant and had a delicious dinner and then we went to an event at the Immigration Museum called Enlightenment which is an immersive light and sound experience. The light show is set to the music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It was a really nice evening.  I do think we will go back to the restaurant, particularly because they had some truly amazing looking cocktails!


On Sunday afternoon I did something a bit different for me called Sip and Slay. Basically it was a makeup class accompanied by as much wine, champers or soft drink as you like, which may or may not be a good combination. Most days my idea of putting make up on is foundation, mascara and something on the lips, and the thought of having to put eye shadow on puts me in a cold sweat. It was a fun afternoon and I did learn a bit but I am not sure I can do the full routine that we learnt while I am sitting at traffic lights in the car!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite books by favourite authors
Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki
Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn






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

Six Degrees of Separation: Flashlight to The Stowaway

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month, the starting point is Flashlight by Helen Choi. I started to read this before Christmas and was on the verge of giving it up when I saw that it had been announced as the starting point for this month's Six Degrees of Separation. I finally finished it earlier this month. You can read my thoughts here.

Flashlight partially talks about the treatment of Korean people living in Japan up to the end of WWII. White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton also tells what it was like to be Korean and living in Japan. (my review)

My next couple of choices are all about fruit and flower. Using the idea that mulberry is a fruit, as is cherry, I have chosen my next book as The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Japanese author Takuya Asakura. I haven't read this yet but I have had it on my TBR for a few months now.

Sticking with cherry blossoms, my next selection is Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss. 

This time my blossoms are apples as I have chosen Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens, a book set in Tasmania. 

I have two reasons for my next selection. The first is using the hyphenated name of Mary-something. The last author was Mary-Lou. Mary-Anne O'Connor is the author of In a Great Southern Land. My second reason for choosing this book? Well, when you think about the Great Southern Land that is Australia you can't get much further south than Tasmania.

Which brings me to my final choice which is The Stowaway which is once again by Mary-Anne O'Connor. That should be enough of a connection, but actually there is a clue as to why I wanted to end up on this book. The day I went to buy my copy of Flashlight, I needed to buy a second book by the publisher so I could get the little Penguin you can see in the picture. This book was the other book I bought that day!

Next month, the starting point is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Will you be joining us?

Top Ten Tuesday: Sports Romances

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Genre freebie (Pick any genre you’d like and build a list around it. You can even narrow the topic if you’d like, such as: thrillers with unreliable narrators, fantasy romance with fae characters, or historical romance with suspense elements.)

This week I thought I would focus on sports romances. Now, I wouldn't say I read a lot of these any more, but back in the day I read a lot of Jaci Burton's books which all featured men with bare chests on their covers. Part of the reason for doing this topic is also because I have read a couple of books recently which have more unusual sports than just ice hockey or American football. This is a mix of old and new books. 

Head Over Wheels by Leonie Mack - I really enjoyed this book which features two professional cyclists who fall in love. Can't wait for the next book set in this world. (my review)

Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy - I read this one years ago now. This is a m/m romance where one of the main love interests is a professional Australian Rules Footballer. (my review)

Wicket Maiden by Chrissie Harrison - The main female character in this book is a professional cricketer. (my review)

Breaking the Ice by Amy Andrews - The main male character in this book is an injured ice hockey player who is working in his late grandmother's bookstore while he is recovering. (my review)

A New Dawn at Owl's Lodge by Jessica Redland - The main male character in this book is a former Olympic gymnast (my review)

Clean Point by Meg Jones - This is a tennis romance. It's on my kindle but haven't read it yet

Red Dust Running by Anita Heiss - One of the main characters in this book is a rodeo rider! I heard Anita Heiss speak about this book at Melbourne Writers Festival and it sounds like so much fun.

The Perfect Play by Jaci Burton - Given I mentioned Jacy in my intro I couldn't imagine not including one of her books in my post.

It Had to be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips - SEP was writing hockey romances when they were hot the first time round. I have to say though....can you imagine a book getting published with this cover now?

Double Play by Jill Shalvis - I used to love Jill Shalvis' books a lot but I haven't read one for years now and I have no idea why. 

Do you know of any sports romances which feature unusual sports?

This Week

Melbourne Writers Festival

Over the weekend I attended Melbourne Writers Festival. I always try to make sure that I attend something at the festival, and this time I was able to attend three events.

On Saturday, we attended an In Conversation with Anita Heiss which was facilitated by Shelley Ware. This was a wide ranging conversation from being a method writer to the inclusion of indigenous people in Australian stories to the plight of children in the current situation. Heiss' latest book, which was originally an Audible original, is called Red Dust Running and features an Indigenous cowboy so both of the presenters were dressed up in jeans, boots and cowboy hats. I have met Anita Heiss before and she is always engaging too listen too, very funny, and yet covering important topics!

On Sunday, I attended two sessions. The first was too hear Japanese author Asako Yuzuki who was interviewed by cookbook author and TV host Alice Zaslavsky. The conversation covered topics from food, the roles and expectations of women in modern Japanese society, and so much more. Like last year when we saw Toshikazu Kawaguchi in conversation, this was a translater assisted session, and she did an amazing job. There was a lady behind us who spoke Japanese relatively well and at the end of the session she was gushing about how well the translator did!

The final session was Australian author Jane Harper In Conversation with Irish author Marian Keyes. Keyes got a rapturous welcome from the moment that she walked on stage and she kept the audience engaged from the outset. I am pretty sure Harper could have asked just one question and just let Marian Keyes talk for the whole hour. One of the highlights of the conversation included the news that there is a TV series being made of the Walsh sisters books which has been sold to an Australian streaming service. It is going to be shown in Ireland later this year so hopefully we won't have to wait too long for it here! The audience laughed and clapped all the way through the hour and there was a real buzz in the room. I am so glad to have had the chance to hear her talk live. Now I wish I had time to go back and re-read all the Walsh sisters books!

I have some other photos from the two days on my Bookstagram account - Intrepidreaderandbaker.

While the festival doesn't feel the same as it did a few years ago when it was over two weekends, it was heavily promoted as a city event and there was a real buzz in the host locations, it is an event that really fills my cup. And the bonus is we get to visit some iconic Melbourne locations as well. One if the Capitol Theatre which usually isn't open to the public. This place is gorgeous! And the ceiling - amazing art deco style!

I'm reading

I mentioned last week that I was reading The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson as it is the current selection for Cook the Books. I finished that book this week, and I know what I am going to cook for the cooking part of the equation. Now I just need to find the time to make it, hopefully this week. 

I also finished The House At River's Edge by Rachel Burton, which I reviewed here.

The other book that I had to read last week as I had committed to a review date was Booked for Summer by Kathryn Freeman. I reviewed that book here. 

Even though I have two books to review this week that I haven't started yet, I started reading An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack. I really like this author's books and so far this is a good one too. 

I also started The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester. I went and heard her speak a couple of weeks ago and the story that she told about the main character in this book was fascinating. This is one of the two book club books that we will be talking about at the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat this coming weekend. I think that there is every chance that I might be reading the other book on the plane on the way over to Perth!

I'm watching


We are very lucky here as there are often film festivals which bring movies to the big screen that I would otherwise never hear about. The German Film Festival is currently on, and one of the two movies that I really wanted to see was the book to screen adaptation of the Door to Door Bookstore. I read the book last year and liked it. I was a bit surprised to see that it had been made into a very family friendly movie and I thought it a sweet movie. There was almost a cartoonish feel to it from some of the costumes to the sets and more. It also shared the magic of books and story, about the importance of found family and the impact of grief. 

On Saturday night my husband and I went to see Thunderbolts, the latest Marvel movie, and it was really good! Definitely felt like a return to form. 

We also watched a new Netflix documentary called Pangolin: Kulu's Journey. Before watching this show I had no idea what a pangolin even looked like. It is made by the same people who made My Octopus Teacher and once again it is a really nicely made documentary. 

Here's the trailer:

Life

Not much more to add here really

Posts from the last week



Top Ten Tuesday: Authors Attending the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat

Blog Tour: One More Day of Us by Shari Low

Blog Tour: The House at River's Edge by Rachel Burton

Blog Tour: Booked for Summer by Kathryn Freeman

Weekend Cooking: The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April stats






I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

SIx Degrees: Knife to Here Be Dragons

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

This month's starting point is is Salman Rushdie’s memoir, Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Murder

Using the word knife as my link I am choosing YA book The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

A somewhat similar title, but a very different book is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, who is a very well known Japanese/British author.

If you want to talk about big name Japanese authors then Haruki Murakami would have to be right up there! I am choosing to use his book Norwegian Wood, for no other reason than we just got back from a cruise that went to Japan and Korea and we were on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.

There were two main reasons for choosing the cruise that we chose. It visited Okinawa with it's interesting WWII and post WWII history, and it was cherry blossom season. A book that has both WWII history (albeit about Japanese POWs in Australia) and cherry blossoms on the cover is Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss.

Another book about POWs being incarcerated in a different county is The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies. This time though the POWs are German and are imprisoned in North Wales.

Now, if I am going to talk about books set in Wales, I can't go past the amazing Sharon Kay Penman for my final link. Her book Here Be Dragons is a book that has lived long in my memory! It is about Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales.

My chain is a bit all over the place this month which might be a product of my still on holiday brain, but part of the fun of Six Degrees is seeing the way that the links work in each participants mind. One thing that these books have in common is that they are all older books. I think the newest one is Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms which came out in 2016.

By the way, I mixed up my memes this month, and did a Six Degrees style post for my Top Ten Tuesday post last week. Interestingly that had quite a few WWII books as well. You can check it out here!

Next month, the starting point is an historical novel longlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize, Rapture by Emily Maguire.

Will you be joining us?

Top Ten Tuesday: 2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is 2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To (will you be prioritizing these this year?)

So the hardest thing about this topic is limiting the list to just ten, but I have somehow managed it.

The Mirror by Nora Roberts - I listened to the first book in this trilogy so my intention is to listen to them all. I do, however, have several audiobooks on the go so not sure when I will get to this one!

A Secret Garden in Paris by Sophie Beaumont - I really want to read this. If nothing else, I will definitely get it read before this years Paris in July event.

The Last Illusion of Paige White by Vanessa McCausland - I loved this authors last book so I really want to read this one too.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach - I didn't know I was excited to read this one until the very end of this year. I have started this one, and so far, so good!

Dirrayawadha by Anita Heiss - Such a bad reader. Anita Heiss was at the reader retreat I went to last year, she was on our table for dinner, she was great company..... and yet I still haven't managed to read this one!

The Kings Messenger by Susanna Kearsley - This is one of my favourite authors ever and yet I still haven't read her latest release

A Certain Kind of Starlight by Heather Webber - I intended to read this one before now. I honestly did!

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan - I have only read one Jennifer Ryan book but I liked it a lot so I requested it for review....and still haven't read it!

At the Stroke of Midnight by Jenni Keer - I did read the first page of this one, and then realised I had some deadlines and haven't gone back to it yet. I will though...at some point.

The Dubrovnik Book Club by Eva Glyn - This sounds so good!

Which one of these books should I move up the priority list?

Six Degrees of Separation: After Story to The Stolen Hours

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

The starting point this month is After Story by Larissa Behrent, who is an indigenous Australian author.

One of Larissa Behrendt's upcoming projects is a take on Pride and Prejudice, told through the lens of an indigenous woman. I first heard about this at a reader event I attended earlier this year when I met Dr Anita Heiss who who is the Publisher at Large of Bundyi imprint of Simon and Schuster publishing which will be publishing this book. My first connection this month is therefore Anita Heiss's latest novel DIRRAYAWADHA, which means Rise Up in the Wurundjeri language!

The reader event was organised by Rachael Johns so my next choice is The Other Bridget which is her latest book.

I don't know about you but I hear the name Bridget and the first book I think of is Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding.

Recently I read a book called A Love Letter to Paris by Rebecca Raisin. The main character, sells old letters and diaries from her market stall in Paris

My next choice is Letters from Sky by Jessica Brockmole. Whilst I chose this because of the word letters, we were also in Scotland a couple of weeks ago and we visited Skye!

My last choice has a Scottish connection as well. Recently I read The Stolen Hours by Karen Swan which is the second book in the Wild Isle trilogy. This tells the story of the people who were forced to leave the island of St Kilda back in 1930. The book tells us about the lead up to the evacuation but also then what happened after they had left the island. Which I guess means that it is a before and after story, which links it to the starting book this month. In my mind at least!

Next month our starting point is Long Island by Colm Toibin.

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2024

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2024


Let's get started!

Dirrayawadha by Anita Heiss (July) - I really enjoyed this authors last book, and after meeting her in person last weekend, I am definitely even more keen to read this one.

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (August) - I only heard about this last week but I immediately added this to my list. I loved her last book and this one sounds just as good!

A Love Letter to Paris by Rebecca Raisin (July) - I have this book to read in the next couple of weeks, perfect for a post for Paris in July!

The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley (August) - OMG! A new Susanna Kearsley book. I am ready!

Tonight by Nagi Maehashi (October) - Nagi's first cookbook, Dinner, was my cookbook of the year for 2023 and we still cook at least one thing from it every week, if not more. I am already saying that I expect this new cookbook to take that honour this year! 

Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (September) - I went and listened to Toshikazu Kawaguchi speak at Melbourne Writers Festival last month. He announced that this book was coming so I immediately pre-ordered the audiobook. I have listened to the previous books in the series on audio so there was no reason to do otherwise with this new book.

What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci (October) - Remember last February when I went a bit crazy over Stanley Tucci? Of course I have pre-ordered the audio of this book! When I listened to Taste, it was almost like he was whispering in my year!

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai (October) - I really enjoyed the first book in this series and can't wait to read this one!

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T J Klune (September) - I suspect that this book might appear on a few lists this week!

A Certain Kind of Starlight by Heather Webber (July) - I really enjoy Heather Webber's books so I am hoping to get to this book soon!

Are any of these books on your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Winter 2024 To-Read List

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Summer Winter 2024 To-Read List. Now I am going to twist it a bit and talk about just some of the books by authors who attended the Rachael Johns Book Club Reader Retreat over the last weekend (pictured above). I do feel a bit guilty that I can't talk about all the authors, but this is Top TEN Tuesday. I will talk more about the actual event next weekend

Anita Heiss - I am very much looking forward to reading the next book, Dirrayawadha, which is out in July. I am also looking to seeing at what books come out under the indigenous imprint which Heiss talked about this weekend.

Rachael Johns - I bought The Other Bridget months ago. Now it is signed I should probably read it right?

Sophie Green - I feel like I should have already read Sophie Green!

Clare Fletcher - I love the sound of Clare Fletcher's book, Five Bush Weddings.

Michael Trant - The only male author at the retreat!

Susan Mackie - I love the story behind the covers of the books in the series. And a book about a book club - yes please!

Fiona McArthur - I have read a couple of Fiona McArthur books which were part of a connected series. Time to read some of her other books!

Karina May -With a title like Duck A L'Orange for Breakfast, I should already have read this!

Leanne Lovegrove - When Leanne said that she adds a little twist of France into each book, I knew I would need to read this.

Cathryn Hein - I read this author as part of the same connected series as Fiona McArthur.

Top Ten Tuesday: April reads

 

 

  

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is April Showers — Pick your own title for this one to reflect the direction you choose to go with this prompt (books with rain on the cover/in the title, that have rainstorms in the story, or that have anything to do with rain)


I expected to find quite a few titles on my list of books I have read with the word rain or showers or something like that but I was wrong. Therefore, my twist is that instead of focusing on the word Showers, I am going to share 10 books I have read in April over the years.

April 2023 - The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Littekin

April 2022 - Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

April 2021 - The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer

April 2020 - Chocolate Cake for Breakfast by Danielle Hawkins

April 2019 - Lacey by Fiona McArthur

April 2018 - Year One by Nora Roberts

March 2017 - Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss

April 2016 - Quarterback Draw by Jaci Burton

April 2015 - Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

April 2014 - Sylvester by Georgette Heyer 

It is interesting to see how my reading has changed over the years.

Six Degrees of Separation: From The Book of Form and Emptiness to The Good Earth

 

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz. 

 

This month's starting book is The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki.

I chose to use the phrase "The book of" as my first step and which led me to The Book of Lost Threads by Tess Evans

The word threads made me think of sewing and tapestry, which lead me to the book 

Needle in the Blood by Sarah Bowers which is partially features a story of one of the women who worked on the Bayeux Tapestry.

My next choice is The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani, a book I read and loved a number of years ago now.

My next two choices are because of the name Anita. First, there is 

Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by indigneous Australian author Anita Heiss. My review is here.

My next book by an Anita is Weight of Water by Anita Shreve, which I read way back in 2008 because it was chosen as one of the Oprah Book Club books.

My final choice this month is another Oprah book club choice, The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. This is one that I read along with along with other readers on the forums. I met so many other passionate readers on those forums!

The starting point for next month we need to start with the book we finished this month, so I will be starting with The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck.

Top Ten Tuesday: Best books of 2021

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is best books of 2021. So let's start with my five star reads of the year.

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (review)

The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer

The Dressmakers of Yarrandarah Prison by Meredith Jaffe (review)

The Cartographer's Secret by Tea Cooper

I had 10 books that I graded as being 4.5 star reads. When I looked at those book these were the 6 that were closest to being graded up to a 5 star read.

Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray by Anita Heiss (review)

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber (review)

Midnight in the Snow by Karen Swan

The Clover Girls by Viola Shipman

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker

Have you read any of these books??