Top Ten Tuesday: What I am reading and have just read

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf (Stand in front of your book collection, close your eyes, point to a title, and write it down. If you have shelves, point to your physical books. If you have a digital library, use a random number generator and write down the title of the book that corresponds with the number you generated. You get bonus points if you tell us whether or not you’ve read the book, and what you thought of it if you did!)

Because I read physical books, eBooks and audiobooks this felt a bit tricky to me, so instead I am going to be sharing the three books I am theoretically reading at the moment, and then the last 7 books I read. 6 of these were books that I read while I was on holiday and the other was the last one I finished before we went away

Dear Mrs Bird by A J Pearce - This is one book that I am actually reading at the moment. Somehow I ended up both with a library copy and a copy on my Kindle. I am really enjoying this one 

The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan - I started listening to this before I went away. I did take my earbuds with me but I didn't listen to a single second of it. Mostly because I didn't think of it, but also because my phone died on day 2 of my trip. 

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - This is the theoretically book. I was doing well at keeping up with a chapter a day until I went back to work and now I am woefully behind. I do intend to catch up but not sure when that will be

Saving Starlight Hall by Debbie Viggiano - This is the second book in the Starlight series. I read the first one last year and knew I would read the follow up. The review for this will be up later this week. 

The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns - I can always rely on Rachael Johns for a good read and this was no exception. I did feel exceptionally lucky to be able to read this while I was on holiday in The Maldives. I am also attending an author event for her tomorrow night. 

A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft - I really enjoy Sue Moorcroft's books and this was another good one. The review for this one will be up later this week. 

A Family for Christmas in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - Maggie Christensen is a comfort read for me every time so I was always going to read this book, and the next one, and the one after that. The review for this one will be up later this week. 

Escape to the Northern Lights by Carrie Walker - It did feel kind of strange to be reading this book set in snowy Norway while I was in very hot and humid Sri Lanka. The review for this one will be up later this week. 

The Tea Planters Wife by Dinah Jeffries - I chose to read this book as it is set in Sri Lanka. I will read more from Dinah Jeffries now. 

Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin - Christmas in New York. Yes please! (My review)

As you can see I have quite a few reviews to write this week now that we are back from holidays!

This week

I'm reading

It's been a couple of weeks as we have been on holidays but now we are back so it is time to catch up on everything I have read while I was away.

The first book I read was The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jeffries which I chose to read because it is set in Sri Lanka which is one of the places we were going. I carried this book half way around the world with me to try and get a photo of it in a fitting location. It took a couple of attempts but the photo above was taken in front of tea bushes.

Then I read several review books which are all due to be reviewed this week so now I need to get cracking on writing the reviews. Those books were Escape to the Northern Lights by Carrie Walker, A Family for Christmas in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen, A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft and Saving Starlight Hall by Debbie Viggiano

I then read The Lucky Sisters by Rachel Johns which is also a review book but not a blog tour book!

Finally I started reading Dear Mrs Bird by A J Pearce just for fun, and so far it is! I can't wait to read it and I am pretty sure I will be picking up the next book in the series as well.

In October I read a total of 11 books. While most of them were good reads which I gave a rating of 4/5 stars there was nothing that I rated as a 5/5 read. I do want to specifically call out The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns which was the only book that I gave a rating of 4.5/5 stars to.

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

Here's where I travelled through books in October

Europe

The Netherlands - A New Life in Amsterdam by Helga Jensen

Lots of countries - Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express by Rebecca Raisin

 - Escape to the Northern Lights by Carrie Walker

UK - A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft, Saving Starlight Hall by Debbie Viggiano

America

Minnesota - Heidi's Guide to Four Letter Words by Tara Sivec and Andi Arndt

New York - Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin

Asia

Sri Lanka - The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jeffries

Australia

Queensland - A Family for Christmas in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen

Western Australia - The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns

Before moving on I wanted to acknowledge the sad new of the passing of Christopher Gortner, who wrote as C W Gortner. I have read a number of his books over the years and loved most of them. I first met him on the forums at Historical Fiction Online which must have been 22 years or so ago. Since then I have been Facebook friends with him. He was articulate and opinionated and far to young to have passed. RIP Christopher. 

I'm watching

I've pretty much been watching the world go by and watching sunsets. This photo was taken from the sunset cruise we did on our last night in The Maldives. I didn't even watch a movie on the plane even though they were quite long flights.

On Saturday night we watched Operation Mincemeat which was quite interesting. It has quite a few big names from British cinema in it but the main two are Colin Firth and Matthew MacFadyen. The story tells of how sending a body carrying fake papers was the key to the successful landing of the Allied forces in Sicily in WWII. Here's the trailer

Life

We had an amazing time in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We stayed in some amazing hotels, ate some great food and saw some amazing sites. I will try and share some photos across the next couple of weeks. One downside was that my phone died on day two of our trip so my husband's phone became our phone. Hopefully mine can be fixed without losing all my data as I have lots of photos from our last couple of trips on there that I never quite got around to downloading.

It was our sixth wedding anniversary the day after we got home. We didn't do much this weekend but we are doing a fun meal next weekend to celebrate.

Posts since my last This Week post



Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Have Returned to the Library Unread
Weekend Cooking: Dish Podcast
Spell the Month in Books: October
Top Ten Tuesday: Arches and Windows
Blog Tour: Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin
Weekend Cooking: Making Couscous

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Weather Events in the Title

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: November Links

Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen - October

Six Degrees of Separation: We Have Always Lived in a Castle to The Girl Who Chased the Moon

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: Books on my Spring 2025 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 Fall 2025 to-Read List

This list is a mix of the review books I have coming up, books I ownf and the library books I currently have on my shelf.]

The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns - I always look forward to a new Rachael Johns book. I have booked in to go to a Books in Bars events in October which I am looking forward to.

Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin - If I think about the iconic cities to spend Christmas in New York would be right up there! 

A Family for Christmas in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - I look forward to each new Pelican Crossing book. I do like seeing Christmas in Australia portrayed in books

Last Stop on the Winter Wonderland Express by Rebecca Raisin - This came out a couple of months ago but I haven't got to it yet. I am looking forward to reading it!

The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jeffries - We are going on holidays to Sri Lanka shortly so I thought I would find some historical fiction to read. 

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - It is RIPXX where we read all things spooky and mysterious. I have participated many times over the years but I didn't really have anything that fitted on my TBR shelf. I therefore borrowed this book from the library as it is the readalong book.

The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden - I recently read my first Rachel Linden book and I loved it, so I have borrowed this one from the library.

An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister - The theme for my read on a theme book club this month is romance. Whilst I have many, many, many books I could choose for this theme, I am nominating this book.

The Life She Could Have Lived by Laura Pearson - I usually really enjoy Laura Pearson's books and I don't see why this will be any different!

The Chocolate Maker's Wife by Karen Brooks - This is another author that I recently read for the first time and really enjoyed, so I have borrowed this book from the library.