For 2025 I have decided to have a go at Spell the Month in Books which is hosted at Reviews From the Stacks. The link party opens on the first Saturday of the month, but I won't be posting until after that as I already have other things scheduled every Saturday and for the first two Sundays of the month.
The idea is that you use the title of books to spell the month name. There is also usually a theme each month, but May is a freebie! It is also the shortest month so it should be relatively easy, right? Except I have really struggled to come up with my own theme.
In the end, I looked at my spreadsheet of books read and look for the most recent book I have read and then would figure out a theme from there. The first book was something I listened to, so my theme is books I listened to!
Mis-directed by Lucy Parker - Narrated by Nicola Coughlin and Gwilym Lee, this was a fun story about two cast members in a historical TV drama fall in love!
Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker - Narrated by Richard Armitage (swoon) and Tuppence Middleton, this was the final book in the Seven Sisters series.
The Yellow Wood by Minnie Darke - This was another Audible original and it was narrated by Remy Hii and Aisha Aidara.
Interestingly, all of these performances were by two narrators which I wouldn't have said was something I normally listen to a lot!
The June theme is Summer Reading Begins; use books you found at the library or see there. I will probably twist this to Winter Reading but I am not sure yet
I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted by Readerbuzz.
We have a public holiday here today for Labour Day so, in theory, that means more reading time! Well, not really, as I do have quite a bit of reading time already.
Last week I finished listening to The Truth by Terry Pratchett. I originally started listening to this back in January, but then I put it aside to listen to Jane Austen. I do intend to write something about this, but I will say here that my favourite character was Otto the vampire iconographer who had a terrible tendency to disintegrate every time he took a photo with a flash!
I have now gone back to listening to Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley. This is a long book so I will probably be listening to this for a couple of months at least.
I finished reading If You Could See Me Now by Samantha Tonge. I really like Samantha Tonge's books but they are a bit tricky to review because there are things that you definitely need to not know when you are starting the book. My review is here.
I also read and reviewed The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephens, which I really loved! I had been to see the author talk a few weeks ago. I really think going to author events really enhances the reading experience! This was a 5/5 read for me!
For a bit of a change of pace, I also devoured Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young. I had read a couple of chapters a couple of weeks ago, but this week I picked it up and started again and devoured it! This was my first book by her, but it will not be the last! I thought it was fab.
I have two reviews due later this week so I read Love and Laughter (and Other Disasters) by Elora Canne, and started reading The Shadow on the Bridge by Clare Marchant.
In other big news, I finished volume 1 of War and Peace this week. It is funny what you find when you look back in the archives of your blog. I was searching for something last week and came across this post from 2010 which is the last time I attempted to read this book. I have made it further this time than I did then, but I have to figure out what my strategy is going to be for when we go away for a couple of weeks. I don't really want to drag the book around with me, and I don't want to change versions or translations. Maybe I will read a few chapters ahead and then catch up when I get home!
We had our read on a theme book club meeting on Saturday. The theme was Classics and this is just some of what people read. I listened to Pride and Prejudice and will have a post up soon with some thoughts, not necessarily on the book, but on the enduring impact and legacy of Jane Austen or something like that anyway. Our next theme is Spy and I have a couple of ideas of what I am going to read.
I'm watching
You may recall that last weekend I went to the movies and saw the latest Bridget Jones movie. While I knew that I had watched the first one, I had no recollection of the second and third films at all, so this week I sat and watched the first 3 movies. If I had to rate the four movies I would say that the first and last movies are the best, followed by the third one and then the second one was the least entertaining!
The French Film Festival has just started and I am a little bit gutted that I am going to be away for most of it as there are quite a few movies that I wanted to see showing. I did go to the movies by myself on Friday night to see Jane Austen Wrecked My Life which was a lot of fun. It is about a woman who wants to be an author, but can't seem to finish any of her stories. Her friend sends a few chapters off and she gets accepted into a Jane Austen residency writers retreat in England. It is a fun movie!
Here's the trailer
Life
After book club I went to see the Yayoi Susama exhibition for the second time. The second half of the exhibition is so much fun, full of immersion rooms, polka dots, pumpkins with polka dots. It's a lot of fun. You can see a couple of photos from the first time I went here, and then below are some from my most recent visit.
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Most Anticipated Books Being Released in the First Half of 2023
Happy Place by Emily Henry - April.
Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker - May
The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson - April
The Homecoming by Alison Stuart - January
Homecoming by Kate Morton - April
Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See - June
Snowy Mountains Promise by Alissa Callen - February
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune- April
Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes - February
The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick - April
April is looking like a big month for new releases! Are you looking forward to any of these?
