Top Ten Tuesday: Armchair Travelling

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books for Armchair Travelers (Submitted by Laurie C @ Bay State Reader’s Advisory). I love armchair travel and books where people make a new start. I can and have done posts about specific destinations like Paris and Greece. My take on the theme this week is choosing books where the travelling is an integral part of the story, and I am using all different forms of transport!

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells - I have gone big with my first form of transport - space travel!  And the transporter is actually a key character in the book. 

Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson - I have read a number of books where travel on the Ghan is featured. The Ghan is a train that runs through central Australia from Darwin to Adelaide and vice versa. (my review)

Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express by Rebecca Raisin - This is another train book. This time the train goes through Europe ending up in Lapland

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - This book probably have a bit of a different feel to most on this list, but at it's heart this is a road trip as a young man travels from Nebraska to New York.

The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary - This is the story of an uncomfortable road trip to Scotland when two sisters give on their exes and his mate a ride to a wedding. 

A Wedding in the Sun by Leonie Mack - Speaking of road trip to weddings, this book features the ex wife and the ex husband of the happy couple who are thrown together at the last minute and have to make it to the wedding in Spain in time! (my review)

The Croatian Island Library by Eva Glyn - Our characters spend the summer sailing between Croatian islands providing a library service. (my review)

The Arctic Cruise by Caroline James - I have read a couple of books set on cruise ships by this author. This was my latest and saw the characters chasing the Northern Lights. (my review)

Golden Girls on the Run by Judy Leigh - When two older women borrow one of their grandson's red Ferrari, they travel from Ireland to the south of England. (my review)

Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn - The modern part of this dual timeline features a mother and daughter travelling from far north Western Australia to Tasmania (my review)

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I read in August over the last 11 years

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump (Which books would you recommend to someone (it’s Jana) dealing with the dreaded book slump? No book is grabbing their attention or making them excited to sit down and read and they are suffering for it.) 

I have been there. Back in 2016 and 2017 I had a massive slump. I only read 16 books in 2016 and 11 books in 2017. Given in the past I had been reading 200+ a year it was a big change. The only recommendations I would have is to try reading authors your know you love or rereading favourite books to try and kickstart your reading again. The only other piece of advice I would have is to be kind to yourself. There might be a reason why you just can't at the moment. And your reading will come back in due course. It might look different than it used to, but it will come back.

Rather than do the theme today, I am instead going to share ten books I have read in August over the last eleven years. Why eleven years? You might notice that there is no book for August 2017 which is when I was in my big slump. The year is the year I read them in, not when they were published. 

Funny Story by Emily Henry - 2024 - I would have listened to this on audio!

The Little Paris Toy Shop by Lauren Westwood - 2023 - Man I loved this book so much! (my review)

Elodie's Library of Second Chances by Rebecca Raisin - 2022 - Rebecca Raisin is now an auto-read author for me. (my review)

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber - 2021 - This was my first book by Heather Webb and I loved it to so much. (my review)

The Switch by Beth O'Leary - 2020 - I liked this one, and yet I still haven't read any more of her books. I do own some of them so I will get to them one day. Maybe. (my review)

The Place on Dalhousie by Melina Marchetta - 2019 - What can I say about Melina Marchetta that I haven't said before. Not much really. 

The Desert Nurse by Pamela Hart - 2018 - I really liked this book. 

The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman 2016 - When I went to get the cover image for this book I saw that this author is expected to have a new book out next year called A Far Flung Life. I'm excited for it!

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen - 2015 - I just inhaled Sarah Addison Allen's first few books.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - 2014 - What a fun read this was!

If I was to hit a slump again, I think the book that I would try rereading first from this list would be The Little Paris Toy Shop, closely followed by Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe and a couple of Rebecca Raisin's books.

I am pleased to see that half of these books are by Aussie authors too. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I have read while on holidays

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Planes, Trains & Automobiles/Books Featuring Travel (books whose plots involve travel or feature modes of transportation on the cover/title) (submitted by Cathy @ What Cathy Read Next)

Oooops. I did holiday vibes post last week. Probably should have looked ahead a bit before choosing that topic. So what am I going to do instead? How about books I have read on holidays, including on planes! 

I am currently on holidays in South Africa, so here is a pic of the book I was finishing off today sitting outside at our lodge, looking out at the pool and the bush.

The Map Maker's Promise by Catherine Law - This is the book I was reading in the picture above.

Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg  - I read this on the plane home from Queensland

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr  - I read this on the way to Tassie a couple of years ago.

Escape to Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen - I read on the way to Broome

The Language of Love by Annabel Abbs - I read this during an Easter road trip down the Great Ocean Road

Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi - I read this while I was on holiday in South Africa last time

Just One Wish by Rachael Johns - I read this book on my way to my wedding in Vanuatu

The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary - According to my blog I read this on a plane to somewhere

Barriers to Entry by Ariel Lawhon - I read a few short stories on my flight this week, and this was one of them.

Come Fly With Me by Helen Rolfe - I couldn't not include this book which is about a helicopter pilot in an emergency response team

Do you read much while you are on holidays

Top Ten Tuesday: May Flowers

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is May Flowers - Pick your own title for this one to reflect the direction you choose to go with this prompt (books with flowers on the cover, flower names in the title, characters whose names are flower names, stories involving flowers/gardeners).

Here are some flowers that I have received this week!

Back in April, the theme was April Showers and rather than do showers, I thought I would share 10 years worth of April reads. I thought I would do the same with this week's theme. So here are 10 books I read in May over the last few years.

2024 - The Shakespeare Sisters by Juliet Greenwood - I am currently reading this book. I have the second book in the series to read soon too.

2023 - The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson - I really liked this one when I read it last year.

2023 - A Taste of Italian Sunshine by Leonie Mack - The first book I read by Leonie Mack was set in Paris, this one in the vineyards of Italy, and the last one in the mountains of France. I already have the next book to read by her and this one is set in Spain

2022 - The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - This was a long, but enjoyable read.

2021 - The Dressmakers of Yarrandarah Prison by Meredith Jaffe - this one is a 5/5 read for me!

2021 - All Systems Red by Martha Wells - I don't read a lot of sci-fi but this series is a lot of fun!

2020  - The Postmistress by Alison Stuart - Australian historical fiction set in a fictitious town inspired by an actual town a few hours away from me that I would love to visit

2020 - The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan- I do mix things up a little bit genre wise! This is crime fiction!

2019 - The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary - Still the best book by this author that I have read.

2018 - Templar Silks by Elizabeth Chadwick - This is one of my favourite historical fiction authors and yet I don't often read her. Must rectify that!

Six Degrees of Separation: Beach Read to The Night Ship

 

 

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 the starting point is Beach Read by Emily Henry - a book I read and loved a few years ago.

I also read/listened and loved this author's latest book Book Lovers recently, so I am using this as my first link. 

The main female character in Book Lovers is named Nora Stephens, so I am going to choose a Nora Roberts book as my next link. The question is really which one. There are just so many to choose from. In the end I am choosing Year One, the first book in the Chronicles of the One trilogyl

One thing that links both of these books is that they are narrrated by Julia Whelan who does an excellent job. Julia Whelan has now started writing her own books and so my next link is to her book Thank You for Listening

Another author whose name is Julia is Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton series. She is another author where there are many books to choose from, but I am going with The Viscount Who Loved Me, which is the second book in the series and the most recent of the series to be adapted for TV.

For the next link I am choosing a book that I have recently watched the adaptation of - The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary. I watched the last three episodes while I was on the plane. 

The book that I tried to read on the plane was The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

Next month the starting point is Trust by Hernan Diaz. Will you be joining in?

This week

Before I get started this week I am going to mention that the sign up post for the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is up! If you like reading challenges and you like reading Historical Fiction, or maybe want to try a new genre this is the challenge for you. The sign up details are here:

Sign up post

I'm reading...

This week I started Golden Oldies Book Club by Judy Leigh. I have heard good things about this author's books but this is the first time I have read one myself. So far it is a lot of fun! I need to finish this book shortly as I need to have my review up this week.

Despite the fact that I knew that I had a deadline for Golden Oldies, I did also start a book called Finding Love at the Christmas Markets by Jo Thomas. I read and enjoyed Jo Thomas earlier this year and when I saw this title I knew I had to read it. We are heading to Europe soon and our first step is The Netherlands. We will be spending time with family there, but the one thing that I said that I had to do while we are there is a Christmas market!

I also started listening to Mrs Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Garrico, narrated by Juliet Stevenson.We watched the movie a month or so ago and really loved it. You can tell that there has been some changes made due to political correctness (the book was originally published in 1963) but so far I am really enjoying the listening experience.

I'm watching....

I was excited to see that there is an adaptation of The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary. I have watched the first couple of episodes and liked it. I am going to watch the rest of it this week.

If I find time, my intention is to finish watching more of season 2 of Only Murders in the Building, at least before we leave.

One series we did finish was Andor. The ending of the series definitely was suggestive that there will be a second series. Here's hoping at least!

This time of year is festive movie time. This weekend I watched a British Christmas movie called Your Christmas or Mine

Life

This weekend we went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the theatre. It was actually really good. Generally when we go to the theatre we see musicals or comedians, but this play was good too!

It was also the final bookclub of the year. Our first theme is "New". Could be a book about a new start, a book I just bought, a new author to me, or anything. I have no idea what I am going to read but I am sure I will come up with something.

Last week we went to see Sandy Toksvig which was a lot of fun.

We have a big weekend this weekend coming and then the holiday that we started planning three years ago at least will begin. Cannot wait!!

Festive treats...

It's time to start thinking about what I am going to read and watch and eat in the lead up to Christmas. It is going to be a bit different this year as we go away part way through but we will see what we can add to the list.

1. Christmas in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

2. Twenty One Nights in Paris by Leonie Mack

3. Guardians of the Galaxy Holidays Special

4. The Great Christmas Cook Off by Helen Buckley

5. Your Christmas or Mine

6. Greg Wallace's Weekend Breaks - Christmas Markets in Vienna

7. Sarah Addison Allen's Instagram Advent Calendar

Posts from the last week

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: December linky

Six Degrees of Separation: The Snow Child to The Bookstore Sisters

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked (In My Kitchen) in December

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2023 Sign Up

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Top Ten Tuesday - Books I Read About Vacations

 

 

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 Read on Vacation. It might surprise you to know that when I am on holidays, I don't really read a lot. I read a Rachel Johns book when we were on our way to Vanuatu and I read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi when I went to Africa a few years ago, but other than that I can't really read while on holidays.

So my list today is books about holidays/vacations

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes -  This one isn't really about a holiday, but the word is in the title so it counts!

You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry - Poppy and Alex have done several trips together but this one just feels different!

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson - I love the cover on this one.

Sixty Summers by Amanda Hampson - Three friends travel around Europe for a summer.

Almost French by Sarah Turnbull - A holiday fling turns into a whole new life in Paris for this Australian woman.

A Wedding in Tuscany by Sandy Barker - This is the fifth book in a series which is called The Holiday Romance series

The Jam Queens  by Josephine Moon - Whilst the title doesn't suggest it is about a holiday, one of the big parts of this book is a trip on the Ghan train from Darwin to Adelaide. That's a trip I would love to do.

The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary - I do enjoy a good road trip myself.

Along for the Ride by Mimi Grace - This isn't really a holiday story, but the start of the story is two people who dislike each other going on a road trip across country.

How to Mend a Broken Heart by Rachael Johns - Features a woman who goes on an extended holiday to New Orleans! Bought back lots of memories of my own holiday there a few years ago.

Thanks for stopping by my Top Ten Tuesday post.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books from My Past Seasonal TBR Posts that I Still Haven't Read

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic 

is Books From My Past Seasonal TBR Posts I STILL Haven’t Read (Submitted by Dedra @ A Book Wanderer). Can I just say, I have PLENTY of options here!

Below is a selection, including the list that they originally appear on.

Marriage of Lions by Elizabeth Chadwick - Autumn 2022

10 minutes 38 seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak - Autumn 2022

Go Tell the Bees I am Gone by Diana Gabaldon - Summer 2021 (and Spring 2021)

Act Like it by Lucy Parker (Spring 2021)

The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley (Winter 2021)

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer (Winter 2021)

Road Trip by Beth O'Leary (autumn 2021)

Return to Virgin River by Robyn Carr (Spring 2020)

Clap when you land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Winter 2020)

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams(Winter 2020)

Which of these books do you think I should move up the list to read now?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with no words

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the topic is Books Too Good to Review Properly (I have no words!) (Submitted by Dedra @ A Book Wanderer). I have decided instead to do a twist on this and do Books with No Words. Now it's not that the books don't have words, it's just that I listened to them and so I didn't actually do the reading.


So, here are the last ten books I listened to on audio.

Taste: My Life in Food by Stanley Tucci- read by Tucci himself. Very enjoyable.

Before the Coffee Goes Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot) - Right now I am all about short, engaging audiobooks and this one fits the bill. I think that the follow up book to this will be my next audiobook.

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett - Listened to this just before Christmas. Thinking I might do that again too.

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley  - One of my all time favourite books

The Sun Sister by Lucinda Riley - Part of the Seven Sisters series. I have listened to them all on audio.

The Roommate by Dervla McTiernan - Connected to the Cormac O'Reilly mystery series.

Normal People by Sally Rooney - You don't notice things like missing speach quotation marks when you are listening to a book instead of reading it.

The Switch by Beth O'Leary - One of the narrators of this book was Daisy Edgar-Jones who starred in the TV adapttion of Normal People.

The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan - This is another of the books in the Cormac O'Reilly series. I think I have listened to them all on audio too.

The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan - I enjoy Jenny Colgan's books and this is another author who I tend to read on audio instead of reading the book.

Have you listened to any of these?