Top Ten Tuesday - Happy!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books I Had VERY Strong Emotions About (Any emotion! Did a book make you super happy or sad? Angry? Terrified? Surprised?), I am focusing on books with variations on the word happy in the title.

The Happiest Refugee by Ahn Do - Ahn is pretty much a national treasure at this point but he started his life in Australia as a refugee.

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku - This man went through so much but still knew how to be happy.

Happy Ever After in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen - Book number 9 in the Bellbird Bay series (review)

Happy Place by Emily Henry - I must get to the new Emily Henry book.

The Recipe for Happiness by Jane Lovering - I read this a while ago and really enjoyed it. (review)

Isla and the Happy Ever After by Stephanie Perkins - This was the follow up to the hugely successful Anna and the French Kiss!

The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal - I doe enjoy Barbara O'Neal's books.

Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith - Book number 7 in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (review)

Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts - The covers for this series are so gorgeous!

Happy People are Annoying by Josh Peck - No, I haven't read this one! But it did amuse me to include it in this list.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Books of 2022

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Favourite Books of 2022. I have linked to reviews where I have one, bu as usual, I didn't write reviews for most of them. Will try to do better in 2023.

I am pretty stingy when it comes to handing out 5 star grades. There were only two but as I look at the list there are several of the 4.5 stars that should probably have been 5 stars. Oh well. First the 5 star reads.

The Island Of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - I loved this book so much. It wasn't what I expected at all and it was so good! (My review)

The Beautiful Words by Vanessa McCausland - My one word review of this book for an earlier TTT was "beautiful"

Now for some of my 4.5/5 reviews

Book Lovers by Emily Henry - I listened to this on audio and loved it! The way that the narrator has Charlie saying "Stephens" when he is addressing the main character. Ooh la la!

With Love from Wish and Co by Minnie Darke - Darke's previous book, The Lost Love Song was one of my favourites last year. This one was really good too!

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku - What an extraordinary story. Eddie was a Jewish prisoner of war in WWII and then built a life for himself in Australia after the war.

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci - Do yourself a favour and listen to this one on audio. And then maybe borrow it from the library, and then buy the book.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - I was definitely getting FOMO so I had to read this one, and now I know what all the fuss is about.

Escape to the French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas - I read this by accident. I had another similarly titled book that I had to read for a blog tour and I read this one instead. I have since read another of her books and just bought another one, so I guess it worked out well.

The Codebreakers by Alli Thomas - This was about a group of Australian women who worked as codebreakers from a garage in the Brisbane suburbs during WWII.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran - Set in an aged care home, this book tells the story of how an extended family came to Australia from Sri Lanka, and about the current challenges they face in terms of dealing with age and racism. 

Honourable mentions to The Stand In by Lily Chu, and both The Christmas Party and The Last Summer by Karen Swan

This Week....

I'm reading...

I am kind of reading a few things and then getting distracted by a few other things, which isn't conducive to finishing much.

I did want to read something that I knew I would like so I started and finished Christmas in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christenson, my first Christmassy read for the year. I was looking for a different Christmas book and so I filtered on that word and apparently I have more than 20 unread books on my Kindle. Given that I probably read 2 or 3 Christmas books a year I have enough to keep me going for at least 8 years!

I also have started reading The Happiest Man in the World by Eddie Jaku which is a book I am really looking forward to reading. We have a public holiday tomorrow so my plan is to take the time in the morning to read it.

I'm watching....

Since getting Max, I find myself suddenly watching dog behaviour shows, such as Cesar Milan. That's a sentence I never thought I would say!

Max

Speaking of Max, we took him to his second class at puppy school but we also went to the beach for the first time which he really enjoyed. He is definitely getting much better with other dogs and he loves the water. He ended up being off the lead for a while too. He will be going to the beach again!

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

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Have Out from the Library

Blog Tour: Lilac Skies by Shivani Bansal

Weekend Cooking: A Treasure Trove of Cookbooks

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I have out from the Library right now

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week it is a Halloween freebie but i am not really feeling it as a topic, mainly because we don't really do Halloween. We have some friends who have an annual Halloween dress-up party but that has been cancelled this year.


Instead, I have decided to share the books that I have out from the library at the moment. After we moved house I joined my new local library system so now I have two that I can choose from. The old one isn't so far away that I can't visit it as necessary. Often there are different books available in both systems so it works well for me!

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku - Still need to read this one.

Lonely Planet Italy - Research for our trip which is coming up quickly.

Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull - Beatrix Bakes was a cult bakery here in Melbourne. It recently closed down

Meshi: A Personal History of Japanese Food by Katherine Tamiko Arguile - This caught my attention as soon as I saw it.

The Art of Cake by Alice Oehr - This looks like such a fun books

In Bibi's Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Juliet Turshen - I have actually reviewed this already but I am keeping it  a  bit longersothat we can cook a couple more dishes  out of it.

One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake - This is another book I am planning to read in anticipation of our trip

With Love from Wish & Co by Minnie Darke - I loved the last book from Minnie Darke

The Hidden Beach by Karen Swan  - I am reading this one at the moment!

The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart by Margarita Montifore - I have been looking for this book for ages. It is also published under the title Oona Out of Order.

This doesn't include my digital checkouts, and I just got an email to say I have another book to pick up, so lucky I did this today!

Top Ten Tuesdays: Books on my Spring TBR list

 

 

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

week the theme is Books On My Fall 2022 To-Read List. Of course, we are in Spring now so for me it isBooks On My Spring 2022 To-Read List

The Last Summer by Karen Swan - I currently have this book out from the library and I intend to read it before I return it so I don't have to reborrow it again

Meshi: A Personal History of Japanese Food by Katherine Tamiko Arguile- Another book that I currently have out from the library.

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku - My read on a theme bookclub theme this month is biography or autobiography. I am actually listening to another book to fit the theme, but I think I might read this as well.

With Love from Wish & Co by Minnie Darke - When I moved house I joined a new library. Whilst the new library system isn't as big as the previous one, I was able to put this one on hold. Luckily I can be a member of both systems!

A Year at the French Farmhouse by Gillian Harvey - I am going to be on a blog tour for this book in October.

Twenty One Nights in Paris by Leonie Mack - And this one too!

The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs - I started this a few months ago and then misplaced it, but I am intending to read it to review for Weekend Cooking in September.

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd - I am reading this at the moment!

Christmas in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen - This is the next book in the Bellbird Bay series!

The Edge of Summer by Viola Shipman - Viola Shipman has  just announced his Christmas book which is going to becalled A Wish for  Winter which is great, but I haven't read The Edge of Summer yet!

What books do you have on your TBR pile?

This Week....

I'm reading....

I managed to fit in some audiobook time over the last week and so I was able finish An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan. I have to say I was expecting a different ending... but I did still enjoy it..

I also finished reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll for this month's Cook the Books.

Then there's the books that I started. My read on a theme bookclub theme this month is autobiography or biography. I don't read a lot of biography, whether auto or otherwise, so I had to think hard about some choices. I realised that I had Jimmy Barnes's autobiogaphy Working Class Boy that I had purchased on Audible some time ago so today I started listening to that. I also borrowed The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku, so who knows, I might read two books for this month!

As we have now moved into a new area, it is time to start finding new brunch places. On Saturday I had to wait for my husband to get his haircut, I started reading a freebie Kindle book called It Was All the Pies Fault by Elizabeth SaFleur which is fun so far. And makes me want to make pie.

I'm watching

Last week was the finale of this series of My Kitchen Rules (MKR). I really enjoyed this series and I was glad with the result.

I did start watching the new series of Never Have I Ever over the weekend. I am not really the target audience at all, but I do enjoy it, especially John McEnroe's narration.

We also started watching Mr Robot tonight. I know this is an older series but we have never watched it. 

Life 

We are pretty much settled in the new house. There are still boxes in the garage but the house looks pretty good. We are still acqiring a few bits and pieces of furniture and there is one room that needs a lot of work, but mostly we are settled.

Posts from the last week

Blog Tour: Starting Over in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen

Top Ten Tuesday: Back to school

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - September linky

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked (In my Kitchen) in August

Six Degrees: The Good Earth to Burial Rites

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