This week

I'm reading

It's been a busy reading week this week. On Monday last week I still had two books to finish for blog tours last week so my first priority was to finish both of those. The first one was Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen, which I reviewed here. The second was The Nile Cruise by Caroline James, which was a fun trip down the Nile!! I reviewed that book here.

I have been listening to Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens which was written and narrated by British comedian David Mitchell. It was a really fun audio experience, especially when he went on one of his middle-aged man rants! This was a rare foray into non fiction for me. I read it as it qualified for one of the Goodreads Summer Challenge.

I had previously listened to the first 10 minutes or so of Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi before I switched to Unruly. I have now gone back to that book on audio.

My read on a theme book club theme this time is "environment" which is the perfect reason to read my first book by Charlotte McConaghey. I chose to start with her latest book, Wild Dark Shore, because it also counted for two Goodreads categories. I thought it would take me a while to get through, but i twas so good that I ended up reading it over the course of two days

Finally I started The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin which I am on the blog tour for next week. Originally, I was going to read this on holidays and just take my laptop and write the review while I am away, but if I can get it read and scheduled this week, along with any other posts for next week then maybe I won't take my laptop. We'll see.

I'm watching

We finished rewatching Ted Lasso season 3 and of course went straight onto the first episode of Season 4. Such a good show. 

We also watched a fair bit of Bake Off this week. We binge watched 6 episodes of Bake Off: The Professionals on Saturday night, and we also watched the first episode of Celebrity Bake Off as well. Interestingly Cherish Finden was the guest judge on Celebrity Bake Off, and she was also on the grand final of Masterchef Australia! We haven't watched the Masterchef final yet as we were out last night but we will probably watch it tonight.

I did watch a Japanese film last week called Perfect Days which is about a man who is a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. It follows his very regimented life as he goes about cleaning a series of architecturally designed toilets and how he finds joy in the little things around him. It was a lovely film and it had a great soundtrack. Here's the trailer

Life

We've been talking for a while now about what the best way to store our travel memento magnets and this week we actually did something about it, and we are really happy with how it looks! You can see that there are still some gaps, so it might be lucky that we are going on holiday at the end of this week!


We had a pretty quiet Saturday, but on Sunday we went to see Six which is the rock musical about the six wives of Henry VIII. It's such a fun musical. We went to see it last time it was on and there's every chance we will go to see it again next time as well! 


Max


Max went to the spa this week so he is looking very handsome as you can see from the pic above! She puts the bandana on all the dogs to take their photos!

Posts from the last week



Top Ten Tuesday: Shhh....don't tell anyone!
Blog Tour: The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien
Blog Tour: Finding Forever in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Blog Tour: The Nile Cruise by Caroline James
20 Books of Winter: July recap!

Weekend Cooking: Library Loot!
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: July 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

Six Degrees: Land to Still Life

 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 Land by Maggie O'Farrell, which is a book that I do intend to read but haven't yet. It's funny, I had already done my chain when I actually read the synopsis and I am pretty sure I could have come up with a completely different chain! Anyway, it's done now, and I am happy with it, so here we go!

Maggie O'Farrell is an author who I should have read more from, but I haven't. The only one of her books I have read is Hamnet, which I really loved. 

Hamnet tells the story of Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, particularly following the impact on their lives of the loss of their son. Last year, I listened to Dame Judi Dench's book Shakespeare: the Man Who Pays the Rent which was co-written by Brendan O'Hara. This was an excellent book and audio.

My latest audio book is Unruly Kings:The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens by David Mitchell who not only wrote the book but is also narrating it as well. I am familiar with David Mitchell from the British panel show Would I Lie to You

One of our favourite regular panelists on Would I lie to You is comedian Bob Mortimer. Last year we started listening to his novel The Satsuma Complex, which he also narrates, while we were on a weekend away but we never finished it. 

An audiobook that I started listening to recently but decided to stop was The Names by Florence Knapp. It wasn't that the book wasn't good or that the narration wasn't good. Irish actor Dervla Kerwin was doing a great job. It's just that I felt like it is a book that I need to read so I can get through it quickly rather than listening to it over a number of weeks or month.

If I think of books that I have read set in Florence, one that immediately comes to mind is Still Life by Sarah Wingate. This book is almost a love letter to the city and it is a read that has stayed with me, despite it not being an absolute favourite!

Next month, the prompt is start with your book group’s current selection (if you’re not in a book group, start with the book that you’re currently reading).

Will you be joining us?

This week....

I'm reading

Well, it's been a week! We have just gone through end of financial year which means it has been pretty full on. There are still some final tasks to be done, but we are definitely nearly there. Having said that, I still managed to get some reading done.

I finished The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak. As I mentioned last week I was really pleased that this book is predominantly set in the city of Konya in Turkiye which is a place that we visited a couple of months ago. I found this book a bit dense, but it was extremely interesting with lots of layers. I do enjoy this author's books and have already requested the next one from my library.

Next up I read In the Weeds by B K Borison which is the second book in the Lovelight Farms series. This is a very different read to the last book but it one that I found hard to put down!

Next up, I finished The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick. I count Chadwick as one of my favourite historical fiction authors and yet I hadn't read any of her books in years. It was so nice to be back reading one of her books. 

Next up, I started reading The Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft. I am on the blog tour for this book so my review will be up in a couple of days. If you are in the UK there is also a giveaway for this book so keep an eye out for the post which will be up on Wednesday. 

You would think that with all those books on the go I would know better than to just start another book that isn't a review book, isn't due back at the library, doesn't count for the Goodreads Summer Challenge or isn't on my 20 Books of Winter list. Apparently, my brain doesn't work that way so I started reading Don't Brake My Heart by Leonie Mack. Good thing it will at least count for Paris in July!

Last week I said that my next audiobook would be the latest Before the Coffee Gets Cold book. I did listen to the intro but now I have decided that I am going to listen to Unruly: The Ridiculous History of the Kings and Queens of England by David Mitchell. I have chosen this book for the Fact or Fiction prompt on the Goodreads Summer Challenge. I'll go back to the other one once I have finished this book

I am not sure how, but I managed to get through 16 books in June, and 9 of those counted for the 20 Books of Winter challenge. I gave several novels 4.5/5 but there was only one that I gave a 5/5 rating to and that was First Time Caller by B K Borison. Looking at the list now, I could probably have given one other book 5/5 which was This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page.

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

Europe

Ireland - Three Bags Full 

France - Piglettes

UK - This Book Made Me Think of You

Russia - War and Peace

Turkiye - The Forty Rules of Love

North America

First Time Caller, The Maid, Atmosphere, The Frozen River, Project Hail Mary

Australia

Queensland - Charlie's Last Angel

NSW - The Model Murder, Careful, He Might Hear You

WA - The Palace of Lost Virtue

SA - The Couples Retreat

Asia

Japan - We'll Prescribe You Another Cat

I'm watching

I started watching Eva Longoria: Searching for France over the weekend! So far we have watched 3 episodes and it is good, although she's no Stanley Tucci. Here's the trailer!

A couple of months ago we went to watch Project Hail Mary at the movies, which then prompted me to listen to the audiobook. We decided to watch the movie again while the movie was fresh in our minds. It has been really interesting to do this as there were things that I definitely didn't remember seeing the first time around. Of course, the book is more detailed than the movie and has more depth, but I do see myself watching this movie over and over!

The Tour de France has started! That means a few weeks of seeing beautiful scenery, amazing chateau's, big churches. Oh, and a few cyclists as well!





Life

Yesterday a friend and I went to see the Cartier exhibition which is currently on at the NGV. It was an absolutely gorgeous exhibitions of all things that glitter! Fabulous!

I will have a post up about the whole exhibition later in the week but here's a taster. And yes, that is a gigantic emerald in the middle of that piece!

We also tried a new brunch place this weekend! It has a very different vibe from the usual industrial style of most modern cafes! We will definitely be going back.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: July links
Paris in July: Beinvenue!
Paris in July: Since the last Paris in July
20 Books of Winter: July recap
Classics Club Spin: Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott

In My Kitchen: June

Six Degrees of Separation: Yesteryear to The Gilded Lily

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