Top Ten Tuesday: Books set during or after WWI

 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 Enjoyed that Were Outside My Comfort Zone (or books you’d like to read that are outside your comfort zone!) However, it might not be a surprise to see that I am going rogue. It's not the first time and it won't be the last.

Instead, in honour of the fact that today is Remembrance Day which commemorates the end of World War I at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, I am sharing ten books I have read that are either set either in or just after WWI.

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonsen - This book is set in the immediate aftermath of WWI and deals with the impact on society and for those who returned. I could have chosen The Summer Before the War too. I read both of these books earlier this year. (my review)

The House at the River's Edge by Rachel Burton - This book starts just before the outbreak of WWI. It is a dual timeline so we get to see what the legacy of the events that occurred were through the generations. (my review)

The Desert Nurse by Pamela Hart  - Follows a young Australian woman who becomes a nurse in  Egypt during WWI.

 The Vineyards of Champagne by Juliet Blackwell - Another dual timeline, with the historical section being set in the Champagne area of France during WWI. 

The Girl from Paris by Ella Carey- I used to read a lot of Ella Carey's books which are predominantly set in WWII. This one, however, is a WWI story.  (My review)

When I Come Home Again by Caroline Scott - Set in the aftermath of WWI, this story looks at the impact of trauma on two men who both served.  (my review)

In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl - I loved this book when I read it a number of years ago.  This is another nurse story with a young Australian woman travelling to France to work in the field hospitals in France

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes - I had forgotten that this was a WWI story. It is set in occupied France and is another dual timeline story. (my review)

Black Diamonds by Kim Kelly - This book tells the story of a young man who goes to war but also of life on the home front with the woman he left behind. (my review)

The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally - Two sisters head off to become nurses in WWI.

Lest we forget.

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.

Christmas quotes: The Christmas Miracle

When I read this book earlier this year, I learnt a number of things about champagne making, and about people living in the champagne caves during WWI. 

In this quote a soldier is to his marriane  (which translates to godmother) but in this case were people who wrote to soldiers in the trenches, even though they had never met.

Here is an excerpt from one of his letters in January 1915 telling a story that is quite well known now, but still moving

I hope you will not think badly of me when I tell you that despite the dreadfulness that fills my daily existence, there are moments of strange and glorious beauty. I seize upon them eagerly: a startlingly clear night, the stars twinkling and beckoning with their immaculate shine, untouched by the terror  of bullets and shells, safe even from the poison gases.
A violent bombardment that leaves everyone shaken, yet somehow, miraculously, alive.
Or the Christmas Eve miracle - have you heard of it?
Truthfully, I don't know whether or not to believe sit actually happened, but I choose to. It is too wonderful a story not to. It was told to us by a medic who claimed he witnessed it firsthand.
This is the way he told the story:
Those of us who live in the trenches are at times only a few meters - or less - from the enemy ensconced  in their own pits. When it is quiet, we sometimes speak to one another, or even barter for small items such as cigarettes. We are young men trying to stay alive, and when the enemy shows his human face, we are reminded that we used to be neighbors, relatives, fellow farmers, and merchants.
So, on Christmas Eve, while in his trench, a British soldier began to sing "Silent Night," his sonorous voice filling the quiet void. You many know, my dear marraine, that this is a song originally written in German. Other soldiers joined in, and when they finished, the Germans answered in kind,singing "Stille Nacht" in the original German. From then on the singing continued, and as darkness fell, candles were lit along the line. Some say there were even some gifts exchanged, and an informal cease-fire allowed each side to collect their dead from No Man's Land in peace.
So, there  you have it. A brief break in the fighting, in recognition of our shared humanity. I imagine the officers in charge wouldn't like the idea  of us seeing such humanity in our foes.
And when the night was over, the slaughter recommenced.

Weekend Cooking: Bread as religion

We were supposed to be in France this weekend, not in Champagne, but in Normandy. I was hoping to find some amazing boulangerie or patisserie on our travels but alas we can't even go and find a patisserie here, let alone there.

When I read The Vineyards of Champagne earlier this year there were a few scenes that made me want to be in France,  eating bread, right now. This was one of them

The next day Rosalyn helped Emma into the front passenger's seat and climbed in the back with Emma's crutches.

At the butcher a few towns over, Emma and Blondine argued over which basket to buy and which pate was : the pate de campagne or the truffled  mousse. At the fruit stand, Emma  and Blondine argued over whether to buy apples  or pears, clementines or Valencia oranges, or dried fruits like plums, apricots, and dates.

And that was nothing compared to the long, drawn-out discussion at the counter of the boulangerie. Blondine insisted on bread that was pas trop cuit, not too cooked, which engendered yet another heated discussion with Emma, who was staunchly of the opinion that a well-browned baguette was best. Soon the baker emerged from the rear of the store to weigh in on the proper degree of doneness of a perfect baguette, and several other customers waiting their turn to order chimed in.

Rosalyn stayed out of it, relishing the opportunity to examine the baked goods on display. The boulangerie wasn't a patisserie - a shop that specialized in pastries and desserts - but nonetheless sold delectable looking choux, or cream puffs, as well as eclairs, madeleines, macarons, meringues  and tartes aux fruits, which were miniature open-faced fruit and custard tarts..How in the world did the French stay so skinny?

The boulangerie smelled like heaven, and Rosalyn hoped the scent would linger on her clothing the way the cigarette smoke had after the Epiphany party.

The disputants in the Great Baguette Debate at last called a truce - neither side had convinced the other, though all agreed the proprietor of the boulangerie had the best bread in all of Champagne - and  to appease Emma, Blondine bought several baguettes in varying  degrees of doneness, as well as an assortment of other breads to bring home with them.

Back in the car and once again en route to visit Madame Bolze, Blondine ripped off the heel of a baguette and handed it to Rosalyn.

"It's called le quignon, the bit you eat on the way home," she explained.

"There's a name for that?" asked Rosalyn, and took a bite  of the delicious fresh baguette.

"You don't even want to know how many words the French have to describe all types of bread, bread creation, and bread consumption," said Emma, letting her head fall back on the headrest and breathing out a weary sigh. "I'm telling you, it's a religion."

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.

This week...

I'm reading...

I finally started reading a book set in France, which I expected to do a couple of weeks ago but then I got distracted by other books.

The only issue is the book I am reading is The Vineyards of Champagne and after reading a few chapters I have already had a look to see where the Champagne reason is to see if it was doable to visit there during our week in France. It's not at all, but I guess that just means that I need to start planning our next trip to France!

Over the years that I haven't really been blogging about books, or even reading books I had stopped receiving any review books which I am totally okay with. Much better to send them to someone who will actually review them, but every now and again I receive one out of the blue which is a nice treat. This week I received Fiona Lowe's  latest book, Just an Ordinary Family, which sounds really good.

Don't fall of your chair but, despite what I said earlier, I actually wrote a book review this week. Actually I wrote review for all three books in a trilogy, so I guess technically it was thee reviews!

I'm watching...

Great British Bake Off is back! Thank goodness! A food show about food where the people act like decent human beings. We are now watching the tenth series.  I think I have been watching the show since series two (I even posted about series three six years ago) but I have seen all ten series, and I am always happy to watch whichever season is on whenever it is on. But it's not only Great British Bake Off that I am addicted to. We also watch The Great Australian Bake Off with Matt Moran and Australian cooking legend Maggie Beer and last year we watched The Great Kiwi Bake Off too.

Last week I mentioned that My Kitchen Rules was back but the jury was out as to whether we would keep watching or not. My comment about Bake Off being a food show about food is probably in direct comparison to MKR where the food is the secondary part of the show these days. The main part of the shows seems to be manufactured drama between the contestants, between the judges, manufactured dating drama etc. I guess what I am saying is that it will be a bit of surprise if we make it through the whole series! Bring on Masterchef I say.

Speaking of food related viewing, I rewatched The Hundred Foot Journey this week. What a lovely movie it is. I first posted about this movie several years ago and it definitely hasn't lost its charm!

Life

I've had a toothache all week which has been then causing headaches. I went to the dentist and he was surprised that I still have my bottom wisdom teeth. About 25 years ago I had an episode with my wisdom teeth and the dentist said that I may need to have them out but that was two weeks before I was leaving to move to the UK so I didn't end up doing anything about it. The next time they played up was seven years later and it was two weeks before I was moving from Adelaide to Melbourne so I didn't do anything then either. I am not planning to move so no idea why they are playing up now.

We went to the ordination of a friend who is becoming a deacon/minister of the Anglican church. It was a much more formal church service than I have been to for a long time. One of the interesting things was that they made a couple of small changes due to the Coronavirus crisis. The first was that they said during the part where you turn around and greet the people around you that you should only say hello rather than shake hands with everyone and they made some changes to communion.

We finally finished booking all of our accommodation for our trip. I love planning a trip, the things you are going to be doing, the sites, the anticipation of going on holiday! I do not, however, enjoy the finding accommodation part of planning, and this time I found the Paris particularly hard. Because there are going to be three  of us for that part of the trip, we needed to ensure that there was privacy, and then there's which part of Paris to stay in, how to stay within the arbitrary budget my husband has in mind (which I possibly would have been a bit more generous with). I can't even actually remember which arrondisement we are going to be staying in! Let's just say I'm glad that this part of the planning is done now! Back to the fun stuff now. And yes, I know, it's a nice problem to have!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday - Books from my TBR that I hope will be 5 star reads
Statues and Silos - interesting sights from home and abroad
Weekend Cooking - Lots of baked goods.

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