Top Ten Tuesday: V is for...

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Villains (favorite, best, worst, lovable, creepiest, most evil, etc.). 

I did start having a think about villains and a couple did spring to mind, but not ten, so in the end I decided to twist the topic a little bit. V is for villains but it can also be for many other words, so here are my ten V is for....books

V is for Venetia by Georgette Heyer - I couldn't not include this book seeing as I have listened to it at least 4 times. Narrated by Richard Armitage this is an ultimate comfort book to listen to. Aural bliss! (review)

V is for Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain - This was such a fun read. A group of strangers share a bottle of wine from 1954 and find themselves back in the past. (mini review)

V is for Voice of the Falconer by David Blixt - I loved, loved, lovedthe first book I read by David Blixt which was The Master of Verona. This was the sequel to that book and I thoroughly enjoyed that one too! (review)

V is for Virgin River by Robyn Carr - I mean, there are a whole heap of books in this series set in a town called Virgin River, and a few of them have the word virgin in the title. I couldn't not have at least one of them in the list! (post about the whole series)

V is for Vision in White by Nora Roberts - I loved this whole series of four books which features a group of wedding planners, coordinators, florists etc who work together and it's their turn to fall in love!

V is for Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik - As soon as I saw this title I knew I would have to have a V for Victory included in the list. This book is the 5th book in the excellent Temeraire series by Naomi Novik which features dragons and Napoleonic history. So much fun! (reviews from earlier books in the series)

V is for The Vineyards of Champagne by Juliet Blackwell - This was an enjoyable dual timeline which tells the story of the Champagne region of France and the events that happened there during WWI

V is for The Visitors by Jane Harrison - This book tells the story of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney but from the perspective of the indigenous people who were already here.

V is for The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods - I would love to be in Venice. Sigh. 

V is for The Village Cafe in the Loire by Gillian Harvey - I would, however, be just as content to be sitting at a cafe in the Loire as well! (review)

There are plenty of other words that I could have used for this list, but there are ten books with titles begining with V.

Top Ten Tuesday: Rereads

 

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’d Like to Re-read (Share either your favorite books that you enjoy re-reading or books that you’d like to read again!) (Submitted by Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog)

I am not normally a re-reader so originally I was thinking that I would do something different this week and actually have a post started on a different theme where I have got 10 books selected. Then when I thought about it some more I did wonder if I could make it to a list of 10 books that I have re-read, and I could! I guess that means my next freebie post is pretty much already done! Yay for me!

Here are 10 books I have re-read.

Virgin River by Robyn Carr - I could actually include most of the Virgin River series in this post, with the exception of the last book which I still haven't read yet. I read all the original books in the series back in 2010-2011, and then proceeded to re-read the first 7 books in the series over the course of two weeks in 2012. Here is a post about the whole series and how it made me break several of my own rules

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley -  I have re-read this book three times so far, twice by reading the book and once on audio with the most recent time being earlier this year, and I still loved it! Note the words so far. There is every chance I will read this again at some point. It is a bit odd though. I have other Kearsley books that I have loved but I haven't re-read any of those. Maybe I should. Here is my most recent post about this book 

Hogfather by Terry Pratchell - Listening to this in the lead up to Christmas has become one of my Christmas traditions over the last four years. I first read it back in 2007 which means that so far I have read it 5 times. 

The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson - This is now part of my Christmas tradition too. I first listened to in 2023. I enjoyed it so much that I forced my husband to listen to it too so in the end I listened to it twice in a week. My original post about this book is here

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas - Ah, Sebastian and Evie! What a book. What an author! I wish she was still writing. (my review)

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - Ah, Thomas Mackee, you break my heart. I have actually read a few of Melina Marchetta's books a couple of times but my favourite thing is to listen to the audiobook of The Piper's Son. I have listened to it five times now, including three times in about a month. It just affected me that much! I haven't listened to it for a few years now, but I have thought about listening to it again. 

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - If I had to describe my idea of aural bliss it is Richard Armitage narrating Georgette Heyer's books. I have relistened to Venetia three times and Sylvester four times after initially reading it! (original review)

Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie - I had forgotten that I had re-read this one until I was searching through my blog looking for inspiration for this post. (My review)

Relish by Lucy Knisley -  I had read this years ago and then it was selected for Cook the Books a couple of years ago. I did enjoy revisiting it! (My Cook the Books post)

Poison Study by Maria V Snyder - Years ago I read and loved the first three books in the series. A couple of years ago I decided that it was time to read the whole series. I started by rereading the first two book and never got any further. One day I will read that whole series. One day! (my original review)

Are you a re-reader?

Countdown to 2025: Day 11

 This year I am participating in Countdown to 2025 hosted by Lynn from Lynn's Books. Today is day 11 and the prompt for today is Mistletoe – a little bit of romance

Now, I read quite a bit of romance, so the question of whether this means a book with just a touch of romance or a full on one one took a bit of thought. In the end though, at the last minute I decided to go with an old school romance.

I listen to this book, Sylvester by Georgette Heyer, every couple of years because it is narrated by Richard Armitage. It is, to put it mildly, aural bliss. He also narrates Venetia, so maybe next year it will be that books turn for a re-listen.

Tomorrow's prompt is Holly and Ivy – a book with great world building

Top Ten Tuesday: Not new!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books On My TBR (submitted by Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits)

As I have a tendency to do, I have twisted this week's topic just a bit. Like most of us, I have a tendency to read new books, so my post this week is all about the books I have read this year that were published before 2020.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai - originally published in 2013. I have the follow up book ready to read on my Kindle. (review)

Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - originally published in 2018. Seeing this author at Melbourne Writers Festival is one of my highlight for this year. (review)

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa - originally published in 2010. Interesting that the first three are all Japanese books.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - originally published in 1957. One of my all time favourite audiobook experiences is listening to Richard Armitage narrate the books of Georgette Heyer. I tend to listen to them every couple of years ago. Audible bliss!

Relish by Lucy Knisley -  originally published in 2013. This was a Cook the Books selection and a re-read for me. (post)

The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith - originally published in 2015. It had been a good few years since I had listened to or read one of the Precious Ramotswe books. Highly recommend the audio versions. Might be time for the next one.

Family Tree by Susan Wiggs - originally published in 2017 - Another Cook the Books selection (review)

Song of the Sun God by Shankari Chandran - originally published in 2017. I loved the first Chandran book I read so I decided to give this one a go on audio.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - originally published in 2001 - This is another Cook the Books selection. (review)

The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - originally published in 2012 - I did do a bit of a Antoine Laurain binge this year. Another book I read by him was published on 4 January 2020 so just missed out on being counted for this purpose 

So, what have I learned from this? I am likely to read older books thanks to Cook the Books. I am also likely to read older books in translation or to listen to them on audio. And it must just be a coincidence that so many of the surnames of these authors start with a K right?

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - November statistics

 Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

In terms of the books read in October, there were 53 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. There were 52 individual titles reviewed, written by 51 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who shared 5 or more reviews this month. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 6 or just 1.

So which book was reviewed more than once in October? 

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon was reviewed at both Bibliographic Manifestations and Story for Dessert

 

There was one author who had two books reviewed during the month and that was Georgette Heyer. Both These Old Shades and Charity Girl were reviewed over at What Me Read.

I am beginning to think about the challenge for next year, so if you have any ideas on what you would like to see happen differently then feel free to leave a comment or to email me at ozdiamondlil at gmail dot com.

I'll be back next month with the statistics for November!

I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted at Readerbuzz.

Top Ten Tuesday: Trick or Treat

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's is a Halloween freebie, so we can post whatever we like, presumably at least Halloween related. However, I haven't been reading anything particularly Halloweeny recently as I am all about the feel good reads at the moment,

Bearing that in mind, my post this week is called Trick or Treat, and the books will all start with the letters of those words.

TRICK

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer 

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Cracklescape by Margot Lanagan

Kitchen by Banana Yashimoto

TREAT

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte

We don't really do Halloween but I can say it anyway......   

Happy Halloween!

Top Ten Tuesday: April reads

 

 

  

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is April Showers — Pick your own title for this one to reflect the direction you choose to go with this prompt (books with rain on the cover/in the title, that have rainstorms in the story, or that have anything to do with rain)


I expected to find quite a few titles on my list of books I have read with the word rain or showers or something like that but I was wrong. Therefore, my twist is that instead of focusing on the word Showers, I am going to share 10 books I have read in April over the years.

April 2023 - The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Littekin

April 2022 - Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran

April 2021 - The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer

April 2020 - Chocolate Cake for Breakfast by Danielle Hawkins

April 2019 - Lacey by Fiona McArthur

April 2018 - Year One by Nora Roberts

March 2017 - Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss

April 2016 - Quarterback Draw by Jaci Burton

April 2015 - Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

April 2014 - Sylvester by Georgette Heyer 

It is interesting to see how my reading has changed over the years.

This week...

 I'm reading

I mentioned last week that I started reading a book because it was calling to me. Unfortunately, a different book started calling my name and so I ended up reading No. 23 Burlington Square by Jenni Keer instead. I really enjoyed it, so no regrets, but now I need to try and fit the other book in.

I also finished reading Relish by Lucy Knisley. I will have a review up for my reread of that book on the weekend.

Now I need to decide what to read next. Should I read  one of my upcoming blog tour books even though I have about 3 weeks, or just a normal review book, whatever I feel like from my TBR list, or one of the 3 library books I have out. Decisions, decisions.

I also finished listening to Richard Armitage whisper sweet nothings in my ear. Actually he was narrating the book Sylvester by Georgette Heyer. Alway such a treat to listen to one of these books

I wasn't sure what to listen to next. However, last week I tried a new post out called Time Travel Thursday and I was reminded that 10 years ago I was reading one of the books in the No. Ladies Detective Agency and so I decided to listen to The Woman Who Walks in Sunshine, the next book for me in the series. It will also count for my Read on a Theme bookclub as well, so I will have read two books for this month.

I'm watching

We finished a couple of things this week. Firstly, we finished Bake Off : The Professionals which is a show that we love.

We also finished watching Masters of the Air, which is the story of the 100th Bomber Group from WWII. After finishing the last episode, we also watched a documentary called The Bloody Hundredth which features interviews with the actual men who lived the story from the TV series.

Last week, we watched the first part of The Three Musketeers, which was called The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan. This weekend we went and watched the sequel, The Three Musketeers: Milady. Interestingly, both of these movies were filmed at the same time. The end of the movie definitely lends itself to another movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a third movie.

Finally, I felt the need for something a bit fun so I watched Irish Wish on Netflix, which stars Lindsay Lohan. It wasn't bad. Here's the trailer.

Life

Last Tuesday night we went to see Pink in concert. This is the third time I have seen her live. The first two times it was in an arena, but this time it was in a stadium, so just Pink, her band and dancers, and 59998 other people! She always puts on an amazing show.

I also did a cooking class for a Maltese Easter treat called Fogilla. I am looking forward to sharing that experience with you all in a couple of weeks.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Read on a theme bookclub

Time Travel Thursday 

Blog Tour: The Bordeaux Book Club by Gillian Harvey

Weekend Cooking: Ready, Steady....Cook

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

This Week...

I'm reading

I mentioned last week that I started reading The Paris Cooking School which I have now finished and really enjoyed. However, I probably won't post the review for this one until July, as it will be a perfect Weekend Cooking post for Paris in July.

I also mentioned that I wasn't sure what I would listen to next. I ended up deciding to go back to something I have listened to a few times but not for a few years now. I chose to re-listen to Sylvester by Georgette Heyer, as narrated by Richard Armitage. Hello aural bliss!! 

I am on a blog tour for A Villa with a View by Julie Caplin later this week so I started and finished that this week. It bought back a lot of memories of our trip to Italy early last year.

While I was in Sydney last week, my read on a theme bookclub met and they decided that our next theme would be Crime: Fact or Fiction. I have had Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club waiting for me for a while so this seems like a good time to start reading it! Apparently I missed a cracker of a conversation. Our previous theme was "Outside Your Comfort Zone" and one of our older members decided it was time to read Fifty Shades of Grey which led to a lot of talk!

I'm watching

We are part way through several series but we didn't make a lot of progress this week. We did go and see Dune Part 2. We went a bit further afield from our closest cinema so we could get the reclining seats and it was worth it

Life

On Thursday I had a leaders day where we talked all about Diversity Equity and Inclusion. It was a full on day, but very interesting. Normally after a day like that I would go home exhausted but not this week as Ie went to see the theatre adaptation of Pip Williams' A Dictionary of Lost Words based on her book of the same name. Whilst I haven't read Dictionary, I have read the accompanying book, The Book Binders of Jericho. I really enjoyed the play, but I was exhausted by the end of the day!

In other exciting news, our holiday plans for August/September are starting to come together. I am so excited about some of the plans and I can't wait to share my experiences with you all!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Trees

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - March links

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked (In My Kitchen) in February

Six Degrees of Separation: Tom Lake to A Game of Thrones

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

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - February Stats

 

Last year I started sharing statistics each month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, and my plan is to continue to do this again this year. I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I haven't had a chance to visit everyone's reviews this month but I will do better during March. What I did notice is that we had a wide array of entries including a Newbery Prize winning author, a Nobel Prize Winner, as well as various genres from mystery, straight historical fiction and even one horror novel!

In terms of the books, there were a massive 91 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 29 participants. This is 13 more than for the same month last year. There were 89 individual titles reviewed, written by 84 different authors. There were 6 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 10 or just 1.

Let's move onto the books. There were two books that were reviewed twice during February.

Laura at Laura's Reviews and Shellie from Shellie Loves Books both read Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie. Whilst Agatha Christie regularly pops up as being read multiple times during a month, I think this is the first time that the same book has been read more than once!

The other book to be reviewed twice this month is The Paris Sister by Adrienne Chinn, second book in The Three Fry Sisters series, which was reviewed by Cathy at What Cathy Read Next and Stephanie at My World Reads

There were two other authors who were reviewed more than once this month. The first was an author called Avi. Becky from Becky's Reads review three of his books and Georgette Heyer was the other author who was reviewed twice.

It's not too late to join the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here, and you can find the March linky to add your reviews here.

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Love That Are More Than 10 Years Old

 

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 Love That ARe More Than 10 Years Old. 

I don't really read a lot of old books, so I decided to tweak the theme a little and share the last ten books I have read that are more than 10 years old. It just so happens that this list includes some books that I loved!!

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - (published in 1986). I read this earlier this year as part of March Magic. I did see that the movie version of this is currently on Netflix so I might watch it soon.

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran- (published in 2005) I read this a couple of years ago now for Cook the Books (review here)

Poison Study by Maria V Snyder (also Magic Study and Fire Study) - (published in 2005) I decided I was going to reread this series, and then carry on to read the next books in the series. I did the re-read part, but still haven't read the next books in the series. (review here)

Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys - (published in 1985) - This was originally a series of stories published during WWII and then republished in this form 

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl - (published in 1961) I actually listened to Taika Waititi and his famous friends read this story back in the early days of the pandemic!

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - (published 2010) - I have listened to this on audio several times now. Might just about be time for another listen!

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - (published 2008) - Yay! Another opportunity to mention this book! (review)

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - (published 1990) - So much fun. I have watched the TV adaptation twice so far.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - (published 1957)- There are a couple of Georgette Heyer books which have been narrated on abridged audio by Richard Armitage - my idea of aural bliss! Highly recommended. (review here)

Ross Poldark by GrahamWinston - (published 1945) - I read this after watching some of the TV series.



I am looking forward to seeing what books other participants have on their lists.

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - January stats

This year as part of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge I am intending to provide some stats after each month and then at the end of the year I will do an overall wrap up for the year. That's the plan anyway. And today I am sharing a few stats about January, so I am sticking to the plan!!

During January, there were 71 reviews shared by 25 participants. Some of you, or more precisely 6 of you, have already shared more than 5 reviews which is amazing! Well done and keep it up!

In terms of the books, there were 66 individual titles reviewed, written by 64 different authors. There were several books that were reviewed multiple times. They were:

The Girl from Paris by Ella Carey - reviewed by both Yvonne at A Darned Good Read and myself

The Man in the Bunkery by Rory Clements - This is the sixth book in the Tom Wilde series and was reviewed at Secret Library Book Blog and also by Cathy at What Cathy Read Next.

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher - This was reviewed by Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Blog and by Susan at Reading World. Paris and books! This definitely sounds like my kind of book.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray - This was reviewed by Constance at Staircase Wit and at Laura's Review.

The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews -  reviewed by Yvonne at A Darned Good Read and at Laura's Reviews

There were 2 other authors who had more than one book reviewed in January. The first was perennial favourite Georgette Heyer whose books The Toll Gate and The Nonesuch were reviewed at Whatmeread and by Susan at Reading World respectively. Anita at Series Book Lover reviewed The Burning Chamber and The City of Tears both by Kate Mosse. 

It's not too late to join the challenge this year. You can find all the sign up details here and if you have a link to add to the challenge the February Linky can be found here.

Let me know if there is another statistic  that you would be interested in seeing each month.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite romance reads

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week it is a freebie, but related to love! When I was deciding what books to choose, I decided to share the last ten romances I read which I rated as either 4.5 or 5 out of 5.

Snowy Mountains Daughter by Alissa Callen - I really enjoyed this book and I am super excited that the follow up has just been released.

Red White and Royal blue by Casey McQuiston - Despite loving this book I still haven't read the follow up book.

The Prenup by Lauren Layne - This was so much fun!

Beach Read by Emily Henry - Another really fun read. I liked The People We Meet on Vacation too and I am very much looking forward to Book Lovers which is out in May.

Something to Talk About by Rachael Johns - Rachael Johns is one of my go to authors and has been for many years

Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare - Once upon a time I read a lot of historical romance, but not so much anymore. Tessa Dare is an exception as she makes me laugh.

Hearts on Hold by Charish Reid - A sexy librarian features in this interracial romance.

Last Bridge Before Home by Lily Malone - I enjoyed this one and I am looking forward to the new Lily Malone novel.

The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary -  I mentioned before that I used to read a lot of historical romance, but I didn't read a lot of contemporary romance. This book is an example of why my reading has swung around, along with several other books on this list.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - My final choice is old school and a book I have listened to mulitple times on audio.