Six Degrees of Separation: Wifedom to Wolf of the Plains

 

 

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz. 

 

The starting Point for this month is Wifedom by Anna Funder whicch tells the story of George Orwell and his wife.

Another book about a famous author and his wife is Paris Wife by Paula McCain which tells the story of Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley Richardson and their lives in Paris.

Now the most obvious jump from here are the many many books I have read set in Paris but I am going to avoid this for now. We may still end up there! Instead, I am going to go to another famous literary couple who hung out in France, F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and their letters which were published in a book called 

Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

I do like a really good book epistolary novel and I just happen to have read one last night called Love and Saffron by Kim Fay.

A while ago I read a dual timeline novel called The Secrets of Saffron Hall by Clare Marchant which is set in Tudor times.

This leads me quite nicely to Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, another book set in the Tudor court of Henry VIII.

And then to Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden, which is a historical fiction novel based on the life of Genghis Khan. I presume that his wife/wives might get a mention?

The starting point for next month is I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. Will you be joining us?

Top Ten Tuesday: Series that I just sort of stopped reading

 

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

week the theme is Completed Series I Wish Had More Books. I have decided to twist it a little bit and talk about the series that I kind of, sort of, just stopped reading. It wasn't a conscious decision to stop, but just haven't picked up the next book in the series.... yet. In some cases it has been 10 years or more since I stopped.There's still time right?

The last book I read in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series was The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection which is book no. 13 in the series by Alexander McCall Smith. Book number 23 is due to be released this year. Just a little bit behind then.

The last book I read in the Play by Play series by Jaci Burton was Quarterback Draw which is book no. 9 in the series. It does look as though the series has ended at book no. 14. This is especially strange given that this was one of the few contemporary series I was reading a few years ago. Now I am reading lots! Just not sports ones!

I used to wait with great excitement for the next Diana Gabaldon book to come out. I would buy it as soon as I saw it in the shops. I still haven't bought the latest book in the Outlander series let alone read it!

I listened to the first two books in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy on audio. Goodness knows when I will get to the third one.

This is another trilogy where I have read the first two books in the trilogy and meant to read the third one, Ambulance Girls At War by Deborah Burrows. I did borrow this book from the library at least twice but still didn't read it.

I read and loved Dear Banjo by Sasha Wasley, the first book in the Daughters of the Outback trilogy, a few years ago. Still haven't read the other two books in the series. I have bought other books by Wasley since then too!

I have read the first 18 books in the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr at least twice. So why haven't I read the last book that was released a couple of years ago yet.

I have read a lot of books by Lisa Kleypas over the years. The last book I read in The Ravenels series was the third book, Devil in Spring. There are now seven books in the series. One of the issues is that I just don't read a lot of historical romance any more.

I have read the first 3 books in the Study series by Maria VSnyder twice, including a couple of years ago when I read them in anticapation of moving onto the next book in the series. Still haven't  read the next book which is sometimes referred to as the first book in the Glass trilogy or as part of the bigger overall series, Chronicals of Ixia.

A series that I really can't understand why I stopped reading is the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. I loved them so much. I read up to The Golden One, book 14, and then just stopped. I feel like I would have to reread a lot of them before I could pick up the next next book in the series. The series ended up being 20 books long.

Do you ever just stop reading a series without meaning to?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Enjoyed But Have Never Mentioned on the Blog

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the topic is Books I Enjoyed But Have Never Mentioned. In theory this is a topic that I should be able to do quite easily especially as I had a couple of years where I didn't post much about books, but it has taken a while to compile because of the word "never". I ended up going back as far as 2014 to find books I couldn't find mentioned at all. Here's what I came up with.

City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin - The third book in the The Twelve trilogy

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne - I had forgotten that I had read this. As recently as a few weeks ago I was asked if I had read it and I was like...no, not yet. Wrong!!

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen - This the first book in the series of the same name. I liked this but I never read any further.

Templar Silks by Elizabeth Chadwick - I really need to read some more Chadwick and soon!

A Kiss in Lavender by Laura Florand - Laura Florand is one of the authors that I still read during my massive reading slump.

Quarterback Rush by Jaci Burton - I read 9 books in the Play by Play series but not sure I mentioned many of them.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante - I am not sure why I never read any more of this series after this book.

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel - This is the second book in the Cromwell series. I was very excited about the third book when it came out last year in 2020 but still haven't actually read it.

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen - I've mentioned lots of other SAA books on the blog but not this one. This was her last book and was published 6 years. That means 6 years of anticipation for her next book which is out later this year.

Evergreen Falls by Kimberly Freeman - I really enjoy Kimberly Freeman's books. I still have a couple to read.

If we do this topic again I might have to go back into the 2000s to find another 10

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Get to in 2020....but I didn't!

 

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 Meant to Get to in 2020....but I didn't. The reality is that this post could be a top 50 or 100 books and it might not still be enough!

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - After reading With the Fire on High early in 2020, I was super excited to read this book, even pre-ordering it, but I still haven't actually reading it.

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel - I have listened to the first two books in this trilogy and I do intend to do this one on audio too, but with substantially reduced listening time a 38 hour long book feels like too much of a commitment right now.

The Survivors by Jane Harper - I have really enjoyed Jane Harper's other books, and I really need to go to see the new movie which has been made of her first book, The Dry!

Return to Virgin River by Robyn Carr- Oh the surprise when it was announced that there was going to be a new book in the Virgin River series after many years, no doubt on the back of the success of the first series of the adaptation on Netflix. And yet, haven't even looked at the first page yet.

The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O'Neal - I have been a fan of Barbara O'Neal for a long time now, and yet I still haven't read this one yet!

Death and the Maiden by Samantha Norman and Ariana Franklin - When Ariana Franklin (who also wrote under the name Diana Norman) died more than ten years ago, I was upset to think that we wouldn't get any more of the Adelia Aguilar story. This book brings the series to it's conclusion.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams - This book came out just near the beginning of the pandemic and I heard the author talk about this in one of the first online author events I attended, which is what made me buy the book

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten - I enjoy reading a good book about Russian history, or at least I will when I get to it!

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain - This is one author I am convinced that I will really enjoy....when I actually read her!

The Paris Hours by Alex George - Recently I was scrolling through my blog and I came across a quote I have shared from a previous book by this author. It reminded me again that I want to read this book.

So there's just ten of the books that I meant to read last year, but didn't quite get to!

This week....

I'm reading...

In the last week I managed to finish three books. The first one I finished Secrets of Saffron Hall which I mentioned last week. After finishing that I was really looking for something really fun and engrossing to get lost in, and so Matilda Next Door by Kelly Hunter fit the bill perfectly.

Kelly Hunter is one of those authors who I know that I can pick up at any time and will love. There's just something about her writing.  The other reason why this is such a comfortable read is that this is the first book in the third quartet of books set in the small fictional town of Wirralong. Each book in the quartet is written by a different author, but Kelly Hunter has written one of the books in each of the quartets. Because this is the ninth book set in the town there are many familiar characters and land marks, but there was a part that was also set in London. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I might have tempted fate by jumping straight into the next book in the series, Maeve's Baby by Fiona Macarthur. The weird thing is that I have no recollection of pre-ordering this book but it was already on my Kindle, but it was already there, so I must have done. This book unfortunately didn't work quite as well for me, but that's okay. The next two book in the quartet are out later this month and you can guarantee I will be returning to Wirralong then.

The I started reading The Last Charm by Ella Allbright. I love the concept, which is that it tells the story of two young friends through the charms on a charm bracelet. So far, I am enjoying it, so hopefully I will continue to do so.

I also finished listening to The Roommate by Dervla McTiernan and started listening to Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown.

I'm watching...

Our quest to watch all the feel good shows continues with Anh's Brush with Fame. Anh Do is an Australian artist/author/comedian/so many other things. The premise of his show is that he invites a celebrity to come into his art studio and he talks to them about their lives while he paints their portrait.

His style of painting is quite unusual but very effective. He has even been nominated for the Archibald Prize, which is Australia's most prestigious portrait prize. He uses trowels and knifes to slather paint on and then he uses his fingers, and other small tools to finish off. Some times I am blown away by the painting. Other times not so much. I am always impressed with the stories that he manages to get out of his guests, often emotional and often funny.

The other thing that we started watching this week is Umbrella Academy. My son suggested that we watch it not long ago. I did mention to the team at work that we were going to start it but I was told that it wasn't my kind of thing. I am pleased to say that I am proving him wrong.

Life

We took a day off on Friday to give ourselves a three day weekend which was needed because work has been very intense.  One day back in the office today and I am already feeling the strain.

I spent most of the weekend attending Melbourne Writers Festival (you can read my wrap up here) so I did enjoy getting to indulge in all things bookish. I am going to be continuing to indulge by attending a few session at Edinburgh Writers Festival, although I probably won't do write ups for those. This morning I listened to Hilary Mantel talk about her final book in the Cromwell trilogy, Mirror and the Light which was a very interesting conversation.

We also did some cooking and we started a new jigsaw puzzle (I say we, but really it is my lovely husband). It is actually a picture of us at Top of the Rock in New York. My husband is cursing me a little bit because apparently doing an arty angle is fine for putting a photo on Instagram but it doesn't translate particularly well into a jigsaw.


Don't forget you can now follow my blog on Facebook here.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I've Loved but Haven't Reviewed Yet
Library Loot
Alphabet 2020: Q is for Quiet Please
Weekend Cooking: Making Macarons
Sunday Salon: MWF Digital Week 2

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

Top 10 Tuesday: Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020

In my quest to find ways to try to get myself into blogging I thought I would participate in this week's Top 10 Tuesday meme as hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The theme this week is the books you are excited about in the first half of the year. I don't know if I can join in on the topics on a regular basis and I didn't come up with ten books but never mind!!

Here are the top 8 books I'm looking forward to

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel - The third book in the Wolf Hall series about the life of Thomas Cromwell

The Switch by Beth O'Leary - The Flatshare by this author was my sole 5/5 read in 2019 so I am very much looking forward to this book

Hid From Our Eyes by Julia Spencer Fleming - It has been 7 years since the last instalment in the Rev Clare Fergusson/Russ van Alstyne series which is one which I was well and truly invested in back in the day

The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan - The next book in the Cormac Reilly crime series set in Galway

The Queen's Bargain by Anne Bishop - Another long wait for this book, this time 9 years. In fact, I'm not sure that I even thought that there would ever by another book in the Black Jewels series but here it is!

Something to Talk About by Rachael Johns - Australian author Rachael Johns has been one of my go to authors for a few years now, and I'm sure that this book won't disappoint

The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman - Confession time. I have loved so many SKP books but despite that I am actually quite behind on her books. Doesn't stop me being excited about a new one though!!

The Women's Page by Victoria Purman -I really enjoyed the Land Girls and The Last of the Bonegilla Girls by this author. This time the author is focusing on the lives of women in the immediate aftermath of WWII.

What upcoming releases are you excited about?