Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is New to Me Authors in 2021!
Maggie Christensen - I read 6 books by Maggie Christensen last year, 5 of which were part of her Granite Springs series featuring older protaganists who live in the university town of Granite Springs falling in love. I need to get back to that series. I do have another of her books up soon to read.
Martha Wells - I am not really a sci-fi reader, but I really, really enjoyed the first three Murderbot books. Must read the fourth book.
Meredith Jaffe - One of my 5/5 books last year was The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison. So good! My review is here.
Kelly Rimmer - Another 5/5 read. I really need to get back to her books.
Karen Swan - Bree from All the Books I Can Read absolutely loves this author. We mostly have similar reading tastes, but there are some notable exceptions. Fortunatey, Karen Swan is not one of them.
Heather Webber - I read two of Heather Webber's books last year. If you like magical realism, the American South and some tasty sounding food then this may be the author for you.
Lucy Parker - I can't really believe I haven't read Lucy Parker before. I loved Battle Royal and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Helen Hoang - I know I should have read Helen Hoang before, but I hadn't. I have now.
Micaiah Johnson - Another science fiction read. This one came highly recommended by several blogger friends.
Kristin Harmel - Kristin Harmel is one of those authors I knew I would like when I finally got to read her. And I did!
Recently I joined a book group on Facebook. I can't remember why, but I did. One of the books that was mentioned many times was this book, The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel. I had heard of this author before, mainly because of her most recent release, The Book of Lost Names but I hadn't read her. It turns out she is one of five authors that are involved in the group but I didn't figure that out until much later! I am not always the sharpest tool in the toolbox.
When Liv Kent's husband declares their marriage over, she loses everything. Her force of nature French grandmother, Evie, turns up unexpectedly to her door and drags her to Paris. Evie is 99 years old and yet still elegant and fierce. Once in Paris, Liv begins to feel the weight of her loss lifting but it is clear that her grandmother has something on her mind, and yet she won't actually say what it is. Together they travel to Reims, where her grandmother's behaviour becomes very odd, to say the least.
Evie has things to tell Liv, but how do you begin to tell the stories of the past when there is so much tragedy, so many lies, so many secrets. These stories have been untold for many years, back to World War II.
This is a dual timeline novel, so whilst we learn about Liv's heartbreak and the underlying cause of the breakdown, and about her relationship with Evie, the historical timeline deals with life at Maison Chauveau - a family run vineyard in the Champagne region of France, which is centred around the city of Reims.
When Ines marries Michel, owner of Maison Chauveau, she thinks it will be a glamourous life, not realising at all that running a vineyard is hard work that she is expected to participate in, whether it be by moving bottles around or preparing the barrels for the wine, it is hard physical labour. The couple is assisted in the venture by their chief winemaker Theo and his wife Celine.
The beginning of WWII is a difficult time for everyone in France, with the German occupation imminent. Michel sees what is coming and prepares the champagne caves, hiding his most successful vintages deep within the network of tunnels. It is, however, hardest for Celine who is part Jewish. Whilst in the early days of the occupation she is not a target for the Nazis because she is married to a French man and was born in France, she doesn't know what is happening with her extended family and she is worried.
Whereas Theo believes that they should just keep their heads down and do as the Germans say, Michel is more determined to do what he can to derail the German occupiers. The Germans, however, are most interested in the champagne that he produces, so he has to be seen to be compliant. It's a fine line, especially when Celine catches the attention of an officer, especially as the net tightens on Jews as the war progresses.
Ines was introduced to Michel by her closest friend Evie, who lives in Reims with her husband and together they run a restaurant that soon becomes the haunt of German soldiers. With her husband so preoccupied with the vineyard both legal and illegal, Ines begins to feel ignored and so she turns to her friend Evie. Evie is involved in a dangerous game of her own, one that Ines threatens with her rash and impulsive behaviour. And so begins a series of events that will ultimately end in betrayal and death.
One of the interesting things about this book, particularly the historical part, is that none of the characters are especially likable. They are all a bit flawed and there are secrets and lies between all of them, but in a way that makes them interesting. Normally you have the one character who is all things good fighting the good fight, but these characters are treading fine lines as best they see fit to try and survive in a time where there is danger at every turn.
What I did enjoy was the author's writing style. From the first page I felt very involved in the story so I will be reading more from her.
I also enjoyed the history and culture regarding wine making that was included as part of the story, the detail of how the soil affected the grapes and help create the champagne, the barrels and more:
On the day before March's first full moon, late in the month, the cellars filled with a dozen workers - most of them children between twelve and fifteen, who were grateful for the small fee Michel would pay them at day's end, and despite her growing exhaustion, and the way her whole swollen body ached, Celine mad her way below ground to help. It was tradition to begin bottling the wines the day the springtime moon rose in the sky; for hundreds of years, winemakers in Champagne had believed that the power of the lunar cycle drew the bubbles into the bottle.
I'd like to share one other quote, but I am going to skip a couple of key phrases which would otherwise be spoilers:
....she'd found a bottle of 1940 Champagne Chauveau in a specialty wine store on West Seventy-Second Street and bought it, thought it had cost a small fortune. But it had been a sign; it had been the last vintage Michel and Theo had finished together before the world fell apart. All of them - Ines and Celine, too - had played a part in making the wine that year, and as *she* popped the cork in the living room with shaky hands, she felt as if she were holding something that belonged to another age, another reality.
........Even though the 1940 harvest had been so terrible, the bubbles were fine and elegant, the wine itself buttery as brioche, with a crisp, lemony-edge and just the faintest traces of caramel and chalk. It was perfect, a masterpiece, and ode to the land, to the cellars, to the winemakers. Celine had been right about this vintage; they had managed to make something beautiful from the chaos. Michel would have been so proud, and as she drank sip after perfect sip, she closed her eyes and imagined returning to Ville Dommange......
This is not the first time that I have read about the caves in the Champagne region being used during both world wars, and I know that I have at least one more book on my TBR which treads the same ground. It is, however, fascinating history and I would love to visit the areas if we ever get to travel to France again!
New York, 2019: Liv Kent has just lost everything when her eccentric French grandmother shows up unannounced, insisting on a trip to France. But the older woman has an ulterior motive—and a tragic, decades-old story to share. When past and present finally collide, Liv finds herself on a road to salvation that leads right to the caves of the Maison Chauveau
Weekly meals:
Saturday: Sunday: Spaghetti bolognaise Monday: Pork Nachos Tuesday: Chicken Stroganoff Wednesday: Chicken Stroganoff (leftovers) Thursday: Steak Mushroom and Broccolini with potatoes Friday: Chicken schnitzel, chips and gravy (takeaway Friday)
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. 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. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.
I am not really sure how it happened but I have joined a lot of bookclub type groups on Facebook. On one of them there has been one book mentioned quite a few times that caught my attention. I can't remember if it was a reading choice or something butafter seeing it mentioned over and over I decided to read it myself. Who says peer pressure ends when you are a grown up? And what is that book? The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel. She is an author I have heard of before, but I haven't read her before. So far, I am very much enjoying the book and I can definitely see myself reading more of her books...after I have finished this one of course.
I am about half way through listening to The Sun Sister by Lucinda Riley, but I do have a few drives to work coming up so I should be able to make a bit of a dent in it over the next couple of weeks.
I'm watching....
I started watching The Watch last week, mainly because nothing else caught my attention, and I am pretty sure it wasn't worth the effort. It is supposed to be an adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Watch books, which are part of the Discworld series, but it's missing something, maybe the humour or the heart or something.
I think this week we might start WandaVision and see how that goes. I have also got episodes of Us, Discovery of Watches and an Australian show called The End to get to too.
Is anyone watching anything good at the moment?
Life....
I was home alone over the weekend. My husband had to drive up to Queensland with his son and so in theory I had the house to myself. That is the longest we have been apart since he moved in, so I had to try very hard not to mope too much.
On Saturday night I joined some friends at a free Melbourny Symphony Orchestra event. It was reallly interesting. A couple of years ago there would have been about 12000 people at this event, all sitting on blankets in the park, crowded together. Of course,in this new world we had to watch in a COVID safe way, so we all had a pod seated a maximum of 6 people, you could order food from food trucks that you then went and picked up at a nominated time. It was all very efficient and very civilised, and a perfect way to spend a very balmy summer night.
I also managed to track down my first uoouoo. What is a uoouoo you ask? They are a series of painted sculptures that are scattered around the city to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Royal Children's Hospital. I do intend to find at least some more over the coming few weeks.
A couple of months ago I came up with an idea to start a regular feature where I take a look at the bestseller lists for a particular country and compare them to the Australian one! The first month I looked at the British bestseller list, and then last month it was France. This month I am taking a look at a Canadian bestseller list.
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens, G.P. Putnam’s
The Midwife Murders, James Patterson, Richard DiLallo, Grand Central
The Woman Before Wallis, Bryn Turnbull, Mira
The Guest List, Lucy Foley, William Morrow
Their Last Secret, Rick Mofina, Mira
The Order, Daniel Silva, HarperCollins Canada
And here is the Top 10 for Australia as at 15 August from BetterReading.com
When She Was Good by Michael Robotham (Hachette)
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Hachette)
The Yield by Tara June Winch (Hamish Hamilton)
1st Case by James Patterson (Century)
The Order by Daniel Silva (HarperCollins)
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (Harper Collins)
Say No More by Karen Rose (Hachette)
A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville (Text Publishing)
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Affirm Press)
The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)
The last time I looked at the Australian bestsellers list was in mid June. Of the books on this current list Boys Swallows Universe, The Dictionary of Lost of Words and Where the Crawdad Sing were there two months ago. I still need to get around to reading the first two of these books. I own Dictionary of Lost Words having bought it when it first came out, but I haven't quite managed to crack it open yet.
The two other books on this list that call to me are both Australian authors, and I heard them speaking at Melbourne Writers Festival. I am very interested in reading The Yield by Tara June Winch and the other is A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville. I have read Grenville's previous historical novels so I will get to this one eventually.
It is interesting that Where the Crawdads Sing is still appearing on lists around the world even thought the book was released two years ago. I don't see this book disappearing off the lists any time soon given that there is now going to be a movie made of it.
When I look at the Canadian list, the two historical fiction novels are the two that I am drawn to the most. The Book of Lost Names is a WWII novel based on a true story. The title of The Woman Before Wallis is kind of self explanatory if you have any knowledge of 20th century English history but it also includes links to American "royalty", the Vanderbilts. It sounds like quite a read.
The two Canadian authors are Shari Lapena and Rick Mofina. Both of these novels are crime novels, with Shari Lapena's appearing to be a twisty turny suspense novel. It turns out that Mofina has written around 25 novels, and won multiple writing prizes, and he has a very interesting life story.
Are there any of these titles that you find interesting? Have you read any of these books or authors?
Next month, I am planning to take a look at the bestsellers list in South Africa!
I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon, which is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
