Paris in July/Top Ten Tuesday: Books with the Eiffel Tower on the Cover

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Freebie/Throwback (Come up with a topic you’d like to do or go back and do an old topic you missed or just want to do again!). Given that today is the kick off for this year's Paris in July event (hosted by Emma at Words and Peace) how could I resist doing something Paris-y? My theme today is Books with the Eiffel Tower on the Cover.

That gives me another chance to share one of my favourite photos of the Eiffel Tower although deciding which one was a challenge!

Some are books that I have read earlier this year. Some are books that I found when I searched the word Eiffel on my blog. The reality is that I could probably do this topic again without too much difficulty.

A Secret Garden in Paris by Sophie Beaumont - I have really loved both of the books set in Paris by this author! I am looking forward to the next one which is out later this year. I will be sharing my review of this book at some point in July!

The Paris Bookshop for the Broken-Hearted by Rebecca Raisin - This author actually has a lot of books that I could have chosen for this theme. I think this is her best book yet! (My review)

The Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein - Unlike the rest of the books on this list, only a tiny part of this book is set in Paris. However, I love the cover, and the Tower is there so it counts for this theme!

The Dressmaker of Paris by Georgia Kaufmann - Haven't read this one yet, but I love the way that the Tower is represented here.

Die for Me by Amy Plum - This is an older book which might count as romantasy these days. It features revenants and numas who are fighting their age old battle in the modern streets of Paris. And the cover is gorgeous! (My review)

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - A WWII story that I read and loved a couple of years ago now. (My review)

Twenty One Nights in Paris by Leonie Mack - The first book I read by this author. Now she is an auto-buy. (My review)

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - I have loved all of Gillian Harvey's books set in different parts of France. I read this one earlier this year and loved it. I think it is my favourite of hers so far! (My review)

The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - Another case where I had my pick of several covers! And it's nice to have an actual French author on the list as well!

The Little Paris Toyshop by Lauren Westwood - I will take any opportunity I can get to talk about this book which I read and loved a couple of years ago. (My review)

I am pretty sure that there might be another French themed Top Ten Tuesday this month, but I haven't quite decided just yet! Who am I kidding! Of course there will be! It's just a question of what it will be!

Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

I read 44 new to me authors las tyear, so I have had to try to figure our how to pick just ten. Interestingly I only had three 5 star reads last year and they were all from new to me authors, so that was an easy decision. 

The next four choices are people who I read more than one book or story from, and then I chose three Aussie authors who didn't fit into either of the previous categories!

Melissa Ashley - The first book I read last year was The Naturalist of Amsterdam and therefore it was my first 5/5 read for 2024 (my review)

Sue Heath - I loved The Secret Ingredient from this author. I am really hoping that we get something new from her in 2025. I'll be reading it. (my review)

Laura Pearson - I loved The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine so hard! I also read The Last List of Mabel Beaumont and bought just about all her other books. I will be reading her new book in the next week or so! (my review)

Hisashi Kashiwai - read both of the books that are available in English from the Kamogawa Food Detectives series last year. You can read my review of the first book here.

Gisele Stein - I read both The Anywhere Hotel and the associated short story called How Captain Found The Anywhere Hotel in quick succession

Jennifer Bohnet - I read two of Jennifer Bohnet's books set in France last year. The first was  A French Adventure (review here) and A French Country Escape (review here)

Helen Rolfe - Helen Rolfe's Skylark series is set in an Air Ambulance station and this provides a great backdrop to the stories. I read the third book this year as well. You can see my reviews for all three at this link

Sophie Beaumont - I really loved The Paris Cooking School (my review). I have her latest book, A Secret Garden in Paris to read on my Kindle.

Alli Parker - I have been talking about this author's book, At the Foot of the Cherry Tree, quite a bit recently. (my review)

Tess Woods - I read The Venice Hotel late last year and really enjoyed it!

Have you read any of these authors?

Countdown to 2025: Day 9

 This year I am participating in Countdown to 2025 hosted by Lynn from Lynn's Books. Today is day 8 and the prompt for today is Fairy Lights – something magical

I have chosen to feature The Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein. This book was one that surprised me when I read it earlier in the year. The story revolves around The Anywhere Hotel, which is a portal to ....anywhere. You just have to pick up an item and it will take you to that place. For example, if you pick up an Eiffel Tower keyring it will take you to Paris! It was a fun read!

Tomorrow's prompt is Under the Tree – a book you forgot you owned

Top Ten Tuesday: Short stories

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a freebie so we can pick topic whatever we like. I am choosing to share the last ten short stories I have read or listened to, as the case maybe

The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson - I listened to this last year, but decided to listen to it again this year. There's every chance that this might become an annual event. It's full of really interesting facts about the history of Christmas.

The Ex Proposal by Rachael Johns - This was originally published in an anthology but the author has just got the rights back so published it for her fans to read. It's available from her author facebook page.

The Christmas Book Hunt by Jenny Colgan - I got this as part of Amazon First Reads. I think it is now released and it was a bit of fun.

The Yellow Wood by Minnie Darke - This was an Audible only book, with about 4 hours of listening time.

Amelia's Shadow by Marie Benedict - This is part of a collection called Blaze about lesser known but interesting female characters. This one was about Ruth Nichols who was close friends with Amelia Earhart

The Tasting Menu by Stuart Macbride - I was tempted because this was set in Scotland, where I was when I read the story, and it was foodie, but it was a bit too much horror for me.

The Forgotten Chapter by Pam Jenoff - Another entry in the Blaze collection. 

Barriers to Entry by Ariel Lawhon - This is another Blaze book and I really enjoyed it. This one was about a woman who changes the way that people thought about criminal investigations.

The Bookstore Wedding by Alice Hoffman - I haven't read any of Alice Hoffman's full length books, but I have enjoyed these linked short stories 

How Captain Found the Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein - Last year I read an imaginative book called The Anywhere Hotel and Captain was the dog in the book. This story tells how he came to be at the hotel. I think this was only available to newsletter subscribers so I can't find a cover image for this one.

Top Ten Tuesday: Read on a theme book club

  

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’m Worried I Might Not Love as Much the Second Time Around (I love re-reading, but there are some books that hit so perfectly and I loved so much that I worry reading them again wouldn’t be the same. Or maybe the books I read when I was younger wouldn’t be favorites anymore. Or maybe some books just don’t age well?).

I don't reread that much, except for certain audiobooks like Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and two Georgette Heyer books which are narrated by Richard Armitage.

Instead this week, I am going to share some of the books that I have read for my read on a theme book club. What is a read on a theme book club? And is it book club, bookclub or book-club? My book club meets approximately every 6 weeks and at each meeting we decide on a theme for the next choice. You then read whatever book you like that meets the theme rather than the more traditional method of picking a specific book that everyone then has to read

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - This is the current theme which is Crime: Fact or Fiction. It seemed the perfect time to read a book I have had on my TBR for a while now.

The Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein - The theme for this was Out of My Comfort Zone, which for me was a new to me self published author. I missed the meeting for this as I was away for the weekend which was a shame as one of the other ladies read all three Fifty Shades books and the conversation was apparently hilarious.

The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley - The theme for this one was A Book with a City in its name

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - The theme for this one was Science and it was one of the few occasions where a couple of us read the same book.

Spring Clean for the Peach Queen by Sasha Wasley - The theme was Colour in the Title

The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens  - The theme was Spring

The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams - This is the only book we have ever all read for the one meeting, and we chose to do this because some of us were going to hear her speak at Melbourne Writers Festival.

The Visitors by Jane Harris - The theme for this one was Indigenous Authors

Dreaming in French by Vanessa McCausland - The theme for this one was Australian Authors. To be fair, a lot of the authors on this list are Australian!

The Proxy Bride by Zoe Boccabella - The theme was New and I chose this one as I bought the book new, it was a new author to me and it was about starting a new life.

What themes do you think you would choose if you were in a read on a theme book club!

This week....

I'm reading

Last week I mentioned that I was reading a book called The Anywhere Hotel, which I had chosen for the theme of outside my comfort zone for my read on a theme bookclub. I have now finished this book, and I did like it a lot, to the point that I read the connected short story and bought the author's next book. The short story which was called How Captain Found the Anywhere Hotel. What you need to know about this title is that Captain is a dog!!

I then started and finished reading The Secret Ingredient by Sue Heath. I loved this book from the first page, and I am looking forward to sharing my review for Weekend Cooking on Saturday! It will be a good one!

I have one more book to mention. I started reading Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. I haven't made much progress yet, but I expect to finish it this week.

I finished listening to Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, which is the third book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. Both of these last two books count towards the Japanese Literature Challenge.

I knew exactly what book I wanted to start listening to next, Inheritance by Nora Roberts. I did get a bit of a surprise when I started listening to the audiobook as there was an introduction. I didn't realise that it was Nora Roberts herself, so I was thinking, gee I am not sure I can listen to this whole audiobook. then I heard the actual narrator and I was reassured. I will say that the narrator, Britanny Pressley does very much sound like a Nora narrator - the same tones and intonations that I remember from other audiobooks I have listened to by this author!!

Have you heard that the New Release Challenge has a new home. It is now being hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review blog. I am excited to join in and have added a couple of my reviews from earlier this year already!

I'm watching

We started watching a new series of Great Kiwi Bake off. We watch any numbers of version of Bake Off, whether it is British, Australian, Kenyan and yes, Kiwi! This year there are new judges and one new host. I think that we need to watch a couple more episodes to get used to the new team!

Life

Well, it has taken a couple of months, but we finally have had a few hot summer days! Up until this week we had only had a couple of days over 30C. 

What else would you do on a very hot Sunday? Well, you would go and sit in the direct sun and watch a concert which features Aussie acts Bachelor Girl, Daryl Braithwaite, Noiseworks, Icehouse and ending with Scottish band Simple Minds! It was a great day out!  And one win for me....no sunburn!

 

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Have Read by Japanese Authors

The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley

Weekend Cooking: Simple Noodles by Pippa Middlehurst

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge January Statistics

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

This Week....

 

I'm reading

The current theme for my read on a theme bookclub is a book outside my comfort zone. I wasn't quite sure what to choose, but in the end I started The Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein. The premise is that a woman finds a hotel which is a portal to anywhere you might want to go around the world, although there is a catch. Why is this out of my comfort zone? Because it is a debut novel from a self published author who appear to have set up their own publishing house. I do read some self published authors, but not normally one that only has one or two books.

I'm watching

This week we started watching Masters of the Air which is a new series on Apple TV. It is produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg amongst others. So far, we have watched two episodes and it is good. It has the same feel as Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

Here's the trailer

Life

It is my sister's 50th birthday today, so my aunt is over from Perth with her friend from the UK, so we have been doing some touristy stuff.

On Friday we drove the Great Ocean Road and we had a perfect day for it! It doesn't matter how often we drive that road and end up at the Twelve Apostles it still takes my breath away.

On Saturday we visited the Queen Victoria Markets for a spot of shopping, and then we went to the State Library and then to the viewing platform of the Eureka Tower. Visiting the State Library is one of my favourite things to do in the city. Unfortunately my phone went flat so I don't have many photos but it was a great day, but oh my goodness we walked a lot.

Then on Sunday we had the family lunch. I was tasked with making the cake, which was actually a bit stressful but everyone seemed to enjoy it so that is all that matters.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors in 2023

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - February links

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked In My Kitchen in January

Six Degrees of Separation: Sunflowers to Daughter of Fortune

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