Top Ten Tuesday: Christmas reads this year

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 hope Santa Brings/Bookish Wishes. I don't ask for books so I am sharing the last ten Christmassy books I have read!

Best Wishes from the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki - I didn't realise this was a Christmas book when I decided to read it, but it really is. It is set in the week leading up to Christmas and features talking cats, astrology and amazing sounding food!

Golden Girls on the Run by Judy Leigh - Our Golden Girls end up helping to organise a nativity play in  this book (my review)

The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan - How does getting stuck for Christmas in a crumbling Scottish castle which is full of books sound to you?

Christmas at Hollybush Farm by Jo Thomas - When a community comes together at Christmas, anything can happen. (my review)

Life Begins at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash - This is another book with community events at the centre, especially a Christmas pantomime (my review)

Good Spirits by B K Borison - This is a spin on the idea of the ghost of Christmas past visiting our main character but this is a ghost with a difference. 

The Midwife's Christmas Miracle by Fiona McArthur - My favourite part of this book was the metal ornaments that our main male character was making for our female lead.

A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft - This book features a Christmas play! (my review)

A Family for Christmas in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - I love it when we get to read about Christmas as it is in Australia. Warm days and nights, maybe some time by the pool or the beach. (my review)

Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin - I would love to visit New York at Christmas, but if I can't, reading this book has definitely taken me there! (my review)

I have more Christmas books that I have read this year, but these are the last ten. What I didn't do this year is listen to Hogfather by Terry Pratched or The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson. These have been part of my Christmas traditions over the last few years but I just couldn't fit these audiobooks in this year!

I am sharing this post with Comfy Cozy Christmas hosted hosted by Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.  

This week...

I'm reading

My difficulty in deciding which book to read next continued, which was a bit more heightened given I didn't have much reading time this week. 

In the end I started reading Hot Desk by Zara Stoneley. I have read and loved two books by this author under her other author name, Sue Heath, but it is my first Zara Stoneley book. I was kind of surprised that my library actually had any of her books. I hadn't actually looked but when I was at another library for an event, I noticed that they had one of her books on their shelves, which inspired me to look at my library catalogue, and voila! This one was there waiting for me1

I did also read a couple of chapters of One December Morning by Emma Davies but I haven't made it very far yet!


I'm watching



December 21 is affectionately known as Gravy Day to many Australians, thanks to the lyrics of a song called How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly. Last year, a movie also inspired by the lyrics of the song came out but I only got around to watching it this week. It's definitely not a light and fluffy Christmas movie which given the story in the song about a man in prison writing to his brother asking who's going to make the Christmas gravy.

 Here's the trailer:

Life


Given that I only changed jobs in August and I have already had a holiday since I started, I don't have any leave entitlements. I am therefore working through the break and so I am only getting the public holidays off. That meant cramming all the Christmas shopping into one day on the weekend.

We did have our end of year event for work last week. It was a bit different from the Christmas events I have been to for my previous employers. There were musicians, a magician, wandering oyster shuckers and so much more!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer 2025-2026 To Read List

Afternoon Tea Diaries: Palate Through Time: Before at Oxi Tea Rooms
Spell the Month in Books: December






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

This week

I'm reading

It's been a bit of an odd reading week! 

I finished Golden Girls on the Run by Judy Leigh which was a lot of fun and which I reviewed here.

After that, I pretty much hit a reading wall. I think it is because I don't have any more due dates for blog tours etc so I looked at the 50 books or so that are at the top of the various folders (amongst the thousand or so that I have on there) and couldn't decide which book was next up.

It turns out though, that a delayed flight and three hours sitting at an airport, can help with that. I read Best Wishes From the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, which is the second book in the Full Moon Coffee Shop series and is set at Christmas.

I then quickly read the epilogue to Helen Rolfe's Best Days of Our Lives which was lovely. 

On the way home I read The War Time Book Club by Kate Thompson. I have had a couple of her books on my TBR pile for a long time and I have to say I am wondering why I waited so long!

I'm watching

I haven't watched my normal number of Christmas movies yet this year and I can't see that changing this week which is a shame. I did watch Tinsel Town which stars Keifer Sutherland and Rebel Wilson as well as a few familiar British actors. It is about a washed up American action star who ends up in a small town doing pantomime. It was a bit of fun but if I was given away prizes, the prize for worst Yorkshire accent goes to Rebel Wilson. Here's the trailer

We did go to the movies to see a delightful documentary called The Golden Spurtle. It is all about the World Porridge Making Championships which is held in a small Scottish town of Carrbridge each year. You would think that a movie about porridge might be a bit stodgy but it was a lot of fun! We bought a spurtle when we were in Scotland but we haven't used it yet. Here's the trailer

We watched the first episode of the second series of A Man on the Inside with Ted Danson. We really enjoyed the first series and I hope to watch more this week!

Life

We did a quick trip up to Brisbane this weekend to do Christmas with the kids before they start travelling to their Christmas destinations!

We had dinner at a lovely restaurant and then we went to the beach with Nala, the golden retriever who used to live with us! Oh, and the kids and their partners!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set in Snowy Places
Blog Tour: Golden Girls on the Run by Judy Leigh
Weekend Cooking: Christmas at Hollybush Farm by Jo Thomas
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: November statistics





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

Weekend Cooking: Christmas at Hollybush Farm by Jo Thomas

 

Jemima Jones is a woman who is going places. She and her partner Matthew are heading back to her family farm in Wales and then they are off to taken on exciting new roles running a luxury hotel in Seattle.  Her dad has always encouraged Jem to follow her dreams, even though it takes her away from the farm. However, when Jem arrives home it is to find her dad very unwell, the farm looking worse for wear and her father on the cusp of making a deal to sell one of his best paddocks to a solar farm company. And it's not just the family farm that is looking a bit neglected. The nearby town is not what it used to be either.

While her dad has always encouraged her to follow her dreams and to make something of herself, Jem knows that she needs to stay at the farm and help her dad out while he recovers and maybe figure out what actually has been going on in her absence.  Matthew does not understand her decision making at all.

Soon she is out with the animals, fixing fences and so much more. When she looks around and sees the hard work that goes into farming with little financial reward, she begins to document her experiences on social media, quickly building up a presence online as the Social Shepherdess. 

Jem also has an unexpected house guest in the shape of Llew, a former star rugby player and now solar panel salesman. To say that things are frosty at the start is an understatement. 

Reconnecting with old friends who are similarly struggling to make ends meet and keep their businesses alive, Jem uses her growing social media fame to highlight the plight of others, most notably the local cafe which was so much a part of her childhood but now is barely staying open. When the worst happens just weeks before Christmas, Jem becomes part of a sit in to stop the cafe being set up into a bland, chain restaurant which serves microwavable food instead of the hearty Welsh food of the past.

As the town comes together, they come up with a multitude of ideas of how they can try to save their businesses and towns. Some are new ideas, and some are revivals of old traditions, but what they all do is bring the community together and Jem and her friends are at the heart of it!

Jem also has a decision to make. Does she want to continue in her corporate career or is her heart telling her that it is time to come home to the farm. And how do Llew and Matthew fit into her future. 

There are also some fun secondary characters throughout the book. I particularly like the feisty neighbour Myfanwy who has been feuding with Jem's dad for years, Evie the community nurse and Mae the single mum who work in the cafe. There are also some lovely secondary romances throughout!

I have read a number of Jo Thomas books now, including three Christmas books. They have always been a magic mix of good story and great food. It is very clear that understanding where our food comes from and supporting farmers are subjects that Thomas is passionate about

Even though I haven't really talked much about Christmas yet, this is a very Christmassy book. Food is also at the heart of this book, and there are several recipes for traditional Welsh foods that are mentioned in the book, such as Cawl which is a Welsh stew and Welsh Cakes which are scone like creations.

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews, Foodies Read hosted by Based on a True Story, British Isles Friday hosted at Joy's Book Blog and Comfy Cozy Christmas hosted hosted by Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.  

Rating 4/5

Weekly meals

Saturday - Pork Schnitzel, mash and gravy
Sunday -
Monday - Meatballs
Tuesday - Mexican Chicken and rice
Wednesday - Beef Stir Fry and rice
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Away for the weekend

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

This week...

Big news this week!! I have launched the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge for 2026! If you love reading historical fiction, reading challenges and want to connect with other historical fiction lovers....join us! Here is the sign up post

2026 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

 I'm reading

Given the above I probably should be reading some historical fiction but it feels like I am reading everything but that genre at the moment!

I finished reading Menu of Happiness by Hisashi Kashiwai, which is the third book in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series. As usual I enjoyed the stories in this book, and I will read the next book when it comes out in English. 

I also finished listening to The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan. This was connected to a short story she put out last year called The Christmas Book Hunt. This time, Mirren and Theo head to the Scottish Highlands to help a cash poor laird search his book rich castle for a book following a series of clues left for him by his grandfather. It was a fun story, but the audio wasn't fantastic. There were lots of weird gaps so I had to listen to it sped up otherwise it annoyed me!

From here it is all the books I started!

I am supposed to be buddy reading Flashlight by Helen Choi. I have read the first chapter, which was very interesting, but I hadn't gotten to it yet! Will make more in roads this week. 

Last year I read A Christmas Carol and The Chimes by Charles Dickens and posted about it here. I decided that I was going to read Dickens' other Christmas stories and so this week I started reading The Cricket and the Hearth. I must confess that I was a bit perplexed by the first part of the book which was all about the cricket, but the story is moving along now!

I also started reading Golden Girls on the Run by Judy Leigh. I need to finish this one first as I am on a blog tour for the book this week! 

I normally try to listen to Hogfather by Terry Pratchett every Christmas and I will still try to but I thought I better start Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil first. This is the current Cook the Books selection. I would prefer to be reading it, but this book isn't available in any of the libraries in my state, and the ebook was completely unreasonable priced so I have used one of my Audible credits to get it. I wasn't sure how it work as an audiobook but so far it is good. 

I'm watching


I am starting to get my Christmas on, mostly through watching things on TV, but that's a start. This week I watched A Merry Little Ex-mas, which stars Oliver Hudson and Alicia Silverstone as a newly, amicably divorced couple who are trying to look like what Christmas looks like for this first year as a separated family. It was a fun watch. 

I did also watch The Chocolate Queen - a Very Chocolatey Christmas. The Chocolate Queen is Australian pastry chef queen Kirsten Tibballs, and she shared a number of relatively simple recipes, along with a couple of guest chefs. I might watch it again to see if I can get motivated to make some of what she shared. Maybe.

We have watched quite a bit of the cricket this week, which is very out of character for us! It's not something we have really done together since we met, but apparently this year we are interested! Australia is playing England, in a test series called The Ashes which has been happening every couple of years since 1882. It helps that Australia is performing pretty well!

On Sunday I went and watched Hamnet which is showing here as part of the British Film Festival. This is the movie adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's book of the same name. It isn't a happy movie, but it was definitely good, and very moving. Definitely worth seeing if you enjoyed the book!

Life

Speaking of getting our Christmas on, we did take a quick trip into the city to check out the Myer windows. Every year they have a specially themed Christmas story. This year it was all Lego and it was a lot of fun. I did try to convince Robert to go and do some other Christmassy stuff in the city but it was the end of a long day, so that will have to be on another day!

We had our book club Christmas lunch yesterday and we did a book gifting! We all ikced a number and then we got to unwrap the corresponding book. I ended up with a book I had already read but someone else had a book they already owned so we did a sneaky swap. The book I bought home with me was Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz. It was a lovely lunch and I got to have my first mince pie and christmas pudding of the season as well as a delicious burrata and tomato salad and some roast turkey!

Finally, a quick shout out to anyone who is visiting as part of Comfy, Cozy Christmas, hosted by Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. I look forward to seeing what Christmassy adventures other people are having! I should warn you though, I am in Australia and our Christmas is less comfy and cozy than hot and sweaty, weather depending! Melbourne does tend to have variable weather so it could be 15C/59F or 38C/100F, or anywhere in between!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Christmas Books That Remind Me of Songs
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2026 Sign Up
Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 Wrap Up Posts

In My Kitchen: November
Six Degrees of Separation: Seascraper to The Four Dutchmen




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