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

I finished a couple of books this week. I finished reading Maame by Jessica George which is the current Cook the Books selection. On Sunday night we cooked the recipe that I was inspired to get my husband to cook, so my review will be up on Saturday.

I also finished The Midwive's Christmas Miracle by Fiona McArthur. I mentioned last week that I realised that I hadn't read all the books in the previous connected series. I am not sure why but it really bothered me!

I then started reading Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop by Kenji Ueda, which is another Japanese book and I started Good Spirits by BK Borison. After reading the first chapter of that book I am pretty sure I am going to love it!

This weekend was our read on a theme book club meeting. It was a free choice theme this time and above are some of the choices that people read. My choices were Maame and The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns. The first theme for 2026 is Childhood Favourites, and I have a few different ideas of what I might read but I haven't decided yet.


I'm watching

Nothing in particular

Life

On Saturday night we went to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing the music of Billy Joel which was a lot of fun. You forget how many amazing songs Billy Joel has had over the years! It was a great night!

It was a momentous blogging occasion for me this week! It is 20 years since I started my blog! Can you believe it, because I am not sure I can! Here's my post about it!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books set in or After WWI
Mini reviews of two Aussie novels
Weekend Cooking: Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventures
Sunday Salon: 20 years!





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

This week I finished reading Dear Mrs Bird by A J Pearce, and I am happy to report that I loved it. I have already bought the next book in the series and hope to get to it soon! 

I then read The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama. I read her book What You Are Looking for in the Library last year, and liked it, but there was one particular element of the story which bothered me a bit. No such issue with this one. I am already looking forward to her next book and thankfully there isn't too long to wait as it is out early next year. 

Next I started reading Maame by Jessica George. This is the current Cook the Books selection and I think I already know what I am going to cook. That could change but we will see. 

Finally I started reading The Midwives Christmas Miracle by Fiona McArthur. This is the first in a new trilogy that is set in the same world as a number of other books I have read. Only thing is the main female character is friends with a person who was clearly in another book. I thought I had read all the books set in Wirralong but apparently I only read the first two books in the last series set there! Time to rectify that I think. 

I did go to not one but two Rachael Johns events. I had already bought tickets to the Books in Bar event which is held in a city about an hour away from me and then they announced an event at my local library. I am trying to support anything held at the library so they keep having them so snuck away for a long lunch and went to both events!

I'm watching

We started watching Joanna Lumley's Spice Trails and we are finding it very interesting. In the first three episodes she has visiting Indonesia, India, and Madagascar. 

Life


The day after we got back from holidays was our wedding anniversary but I didn't want to schedule something so close to being away, so last night we went to our anniversary dinner. We did a thing called Le Petit Chef and Friends. Basically it is an animation than uses your table cloth and plate as a screen and tells a story about each course that you are going to eat. It was a lot of fun and the food was surprisingly good as well. 

I mentioned last week that my phone died while we were on holidays. I got it back from the repair shop this week which is good news. The bad news is that they had to replace the motherboard and I lost everything I had on my phones, which is basically thousands of photos. 

Posts from the last week



Top Ten Tuesday: What I am reading and have just read
Blog Tour: Escape to the Northern Lights by Carrie Walker
Blog Tour: Saving Starlight Hall by Debbie Viggiano
Blog Tour: A Family for Christmas in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Blog Tour: A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft
What We Ate on Holidays: Sri Lanka and The Maldives

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: October 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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Winter 2024 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 Summer Winter 2024 To-Read List. Now I am going to twist it a bit and talk about just some of the books by authors who attended the Rachael Johns Book Club Reader Retreat over the last weekend (pictured above). I do feel a bit guilty that I can't talk about all the authors, but this is Top TEN Tuesday. I will talk more about the actual event next weekend

Anita Heiss - I am very much looking forward to reading the next book, Dirrayawadha, which is out in July. I am also looking to seeing at what books come out under the indigenous imprint which Heiss talked about this weekend.

Rachael Johns - I bought The Other Bridget months ago. Now it is signed I should probably read it right?

Sophie Green - I feel like I should have already read Sophie Green!

Clare Fletcher - I love the sound of Clare Fletcher's book, Five Bush Weddings.

Michael Trant - The only male author at the retreat!

Susan Mackie - I love the story behind the covers of the books in the series. And a book about a book club - yes please!

Fiona McArthur - I have read a couple of Fiona McArthur books which were part of a connected series. Time to read some of her other books!

Karina May -With a title like Duck A L'Orange for Breakfast, I should already have read this!

Leanne Lovegrove - When Leanne said that she adds a little twist of France into each book, I knew I would need to read this.

Cathryn Hein - I read this author as part of the same connected series as Fiona McArthur.