Six Degrees: Ghost Stories to A Brief History of Montmaray

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 and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Ghost Cities by Siang Lu which was recently announced as the winnter of the 2025 Mile Franklin Literary Award here in Australia. I haven't read it, and I don't think I am likely too, but that doesn't mean that I can't make a chain from it!

A book I read earlier this year that featured a house that was haunted by ghosts was Lauren Westwood's The House of Light and Shadows. (my review)

I do love it when a house is almost a character in a book. In The Briar Club by Kate Quinn Briarwood House is a character in it's own right, telling part of the story. I listened to this book on audio recently and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next book I listened to on audio was Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt which also featured an unusual character - a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus. I loved the voice of Marcellus in the audiobook so I am really pleased to hear that the same actor is going to be the voice in the upcoming movie version too! 

There are remarkably few books with the word remarkably in the title (at least in my reading lists) but there is Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier which is about a woman who was a fossil collector.

Which leads me nicely to The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper.

Choosing the final book was actually a bit harder, as there were almost too many directions I could choose from but in the end I went with the surname of Cooper and chose A Brief History of Montmoray by Michelle Cooper

Next month, the starting point is Dominic Amerena’s novel about authors and publishing, I Want Everything.

Will you be joining us?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I read in August over the last 11 years

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump (Which books would you recommend to someone (it’s Jana) dealing with the dreaded book slump? No book is grabbing their attention or making them excited to sit down and read and they are suffering for it.) 

I have been there. Back in 2016 and 2017 I had a massive slump. I only read 16 books in 2016 and 11 books in 2017. Given in the past I had been reading 200+ a year it was a big change. The only recommendations I would have is to try reading authors your know you love or rereading favourite books to try and kickstart your reading again. The only other piece of advice I would have is to be kind to yourself. There might be a reason why you just can't at the moment. And your reading will come back in due course. It might look different than it used to, but it will come back.

Rather than do the theme today, I am instead going to share ten books I have read in August over the last eleven years. Why eleven years? You might notice that there is no book for August 2017 which is when I was in my big slump. The year is the year I read them in, not when they were published. 

Funny Story by Emily Henry - 2024 - I would have listened to this on audio!

The Little Paris Toy Shop by Lauren Westwood - 2023 - Man I loved this book so much! (my review)

Elodie's Library of Second Chances by Rebecca Raisin - 2022 - Rebecca Raisin is now an auto-read author for me. (my review)

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber - 2021 - This was my first book by Heather Webb and I loved it to so much. (my review)

The Switch by Beth O'Leary - 2020 - I liked this one, and yet I still haven't read any more of her books. I do own some of them so I will get to them one day. Maybe. (my review)

The Place on Dalhousie by Melina Marchetta - 2019 - What can I say about Melina Marchetta that I haven't said before. Not much really. 

The Desert Nurse by Pamela Hart - 2018 - I really liked this book. 

The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman 2016 - When I went to get the cover image for this book I saw that this author is expected to have a new book out next year called A Far Flung Life. I'm excited for it!

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen - 2015 - I just inhaled Sarah Addison Allen's first few books.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - 2014 - What a fun read this was!

If I was to hit a slump again, I think the book that I would try rereading first from this list would be The Little Paris Toy Shop, closely followed by Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe and a couple of Rebecca Raisin's books.

I am pleased to see that half of these books are by Aussie authors too. 

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: Books where a house is a character

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books that Include/Feature [insert your favorite theme or plot device here] (for example: unreliable narrators, coming of age, darkness vs. light, time travel, metafiction, a specific romantic trope, good vs. evil. cliffhangers, flashbacks, plot twists, red herrings, loose ends, stories within stories, meet cutes, symbolism, etc.) (submitted by Alice @ The Wallflower Digest)

I have chosen to do books where a house is almost one of the characters

Recently I read Happily Ever After where a woman goes to work in Templewood House and steps straight into a gothic novel. I had already decided to do this topic ever before I read this book but it seemed like a good opportunity to share a passage. This is the section early on in the book where Andi is being given a tour of the house.

We mounted an enormous staircase, carved in twiddly dark wood, curving like an impressive eyebrow over the hallway and up onto a galleried landing which branched off in various directions. "This is the most haunted part of the house," Hugo said, leading me off to the right along an upstairs corridor. Occasional glances through the huge windows told me that this wing of the house looked out over the gardens.

"I'm sorry?" As I spoke, the sun went behind a cloud and the wonderful roseate light died to leave us staring down a wood-panelled box into a murky dimness which was giving off a distinct smell of damp plaster. 

"Oh yes. Whole place is riddled with ghosts of course, but this is the worst bit." Complacently Hugo set out, touching closed doors and naming as he went. "My room, the Green Room, Scarlet Room..." We rounded the end of the corridor and set out along another, which branched around to the left.

"Hang on, hang on, can we go back to the "ghost" thing please?" I'd stopped moving now, frozen into immobility on the landing. "The house is haunted?"

"Oh yes". Hugo sounded completely blase about the walking corpse potential. "Dreadfully, I'm afraid." Then he smiled. "No need for you to worry, though. Stay in your room after dark, don't go wandering around - it's all perfectly all right."

And then later when Andi asks what kind of ghosts

"And then there's the noises, footsteps and so on, occasional ghastly scream, that sort of thing, all very standard in a house this old. There's a ghost horse in the old stable block, but that's mostly disused now, and we haven't heard him for ages, and sometime something moans in the Morning room. I'll show you that in a bit."

Happily Ever After by Jane Lovering - I had to include this one seeing as I quoted from it above! Every chapter in this book has the name of a famous house from literature which is a fun feature! (my review)

Discovery of Witches series by Deborah Harkness - I am sure that the aunt's house is a bit magical! (my review)

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." What an opening line!

Inheritance by Nora Roberts - There were a few different books I could have chosen but this it the most recent one I read.

Thornwood House by Anna Romer - This is a gothic story with an Australian setting. (my review)

The House of Light and Shadows by Lauren Westwood - This was a recent read which features a house that is slowly revealing it's secrets (my review)

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley - Never miss an opportunity to share a Kearsley book in these posts (link to joint review at Historical Tapestry)

The Peacock Summer by Hannah Richell - Another house with secrets to be revealed!

Casa Paradiso by Francesca Scanacapra - This is a bit different in that the book tells the story of Casa Paradiso through a series of stories about the various owners. It covers several hundred years. (my review)

The Girl who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen - I feel like I could have chosen any number of SAA's books, but this one features wallpaper that changes according to your mood and baking! (joint review)

Can you think of any other books where the house is almost a character?

This week...

I'm reading

It was a busy reading week this week! I read several books, a short story and finished an audiobook. 

Firstly, I finished The House of Light and Shadows by Lauren Westwood which I reviewed here. If you like a book where a house is an integral character in the story, then this might be for you.

Happily Ever After by Jane Lovering also has a house like that and for added measure each chapter is named for a famous house in literature. Here is my review.

I was then excited to see that The Bookstore Keepers by Alice Hoffman was available. This is the third short story in the Once Upon a Time Bookshop stories. These are the first Alice Hoffman stories I have read. I will be reading more as I am amazed how much story and feeling she fits into these short stories.

I was then hoping to get a bit of my reviews for March and also read an Aussie author, but the book I wanted wasn't quite ready. I therefore started A Santorini Secret by Rose Alexander which I really loved. Will be searching out some of her other titles. The review for this one will be up later this week.

I am now sneaking in a non-review read. A couple of weeks ago I went to see Mary-Lou Stephen talk about her book The Jam Maker and so I have started that one!

I also finished listening to Pride and Prejudice, narrated by British actor Rosamund Pike. I then started 

Mis-Directed by Lucy Parker which also has a couple of celebrity narrators, Nicola Coughlin and Gwilym Lee. I sat on the couch to listen to this and may have fallen asleep so I need to rewind a bit. Generally I listen to audiobooks on walks or in the car. 

I'm watching

We watched Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story which was heartbreaking and inspiring in equal measures. Jelena Dokic was a young tennis player back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She came to Australia as a refugee and then represented Australia, until she announced that she was going back to Yugoslavia. She was infamous because of the way her father, Damir, acted, even getting thrown out of major tournaments due to his aggressive behaviour. However, what the public saw was only the tip of the iceberg. The abuse that Jelena was receiving at home was horrific. She is now estranged from her father, and she is a respected tennis commentator and body image advocate. Here's the trailer

Tuesday night I went to see a preview screening of The Last Journey, a Swedish documentary in which a man and a friend decides to take his elderly father on a road trip to the south of France, to try and spark him back into life. It was a lovely movie, and we went to see it in a fab art deco theatre I had never been to before. The son and his friend, who are famous in Sweden, who produced the movie were at the screening and there was a Q and A session after. It was so touching, because when it started it was about the son not understanding how aging had affected his father, and by the end it was about him accepting that his dad was getting old. Along the way they reminisced about their summers in France. If you get the chance to see it, do so, but maybe take some tissues. It's now the highest grossing Swedish documentary of all time.

Life

We went for a lovely lunch for Valentine's Day which I posted a bit about here. Other than that it was all about the dog this week.

Max

Our lovely boy had a relapse and is not well at all. Late last year he was really unwell and was diagnosed with Addison's disease, liver enlargement, muscle shrinkage in his head and brain, and hyperthyroidism. Despite that for the most part he is a happy dog. He is a Labrador though, so you know there is something wrong when he goes off his food and water, so we ended up at the emergency vet on Thursday. He now has a couple of more things medically and so the vets talk about him having a complex medical history. He takes more medication than Robert and I do combined!

He is recovering, but we have had to have some serious conversations about what happens next time. His a very handsome boy, and has a great nature but he is not genetically blessed and wouldn't have done well in the wild! 

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Have Never Reviewed
Blog Tour: The House of Light and Shadows by Lauren Westwood

Blog Tour: Happily Ever After by Jane Lovering

The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Weekend Cooking: What I Ate in One Week (Stanley Tucci Style)


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

Blog Tour: The House of Light and Shadows by Lauren Westwood

 

Kate Goodman is about to go into an interview where she is hoping to be made a partner in her London law firm when she receives an urgent phone call asking her to come to East Sussex to look after her sister's children, Isobel and Max. Given that Kate has been estranged from her sister for 15 years, she is most surprised to find out that she has been named as their emergency contact.

Kate drops everything, heads to their fancy school and finds out that the teenagers have basically been fending for themselves for a couple of months since her sister fell and injured herself in the old house that she owns, Rookswood House. Now her sister, Emma, is in long term care due to her mental health and addiction issues. Kate has no idea what has happened, or where Emma's husband is, but she does agree to stay and care for them.

Rookswood House itself is somewhat derelict, so Emma and her family live in the nearby gatehouse.  Originally the house was home to Ada and Camille, known locally as the Weird Sisters. Ada, in particular, was well known for being a pioneering photographer, indulging in what we would see today as truly macabre photography. For example, early in the book there is a photo taken which is then developed in such a way so that the family is all neatly lined up as normal except the father is holding his head under his arm. 

Despite the dangers in the derelict house, Emma finds herself drawn to the house over and over and, despite being a very practical person, soon believes that there is someone or something in the house that is trying to give her a message.

Kate tries to figure out how to care for two teenagers, both of whom are hiding things from her, the regular calls from the schoolmaster, the builder who says Emma has engaged him to help with Rookswood, although the scope of what that really means is unclear, and tries to work out exactly what happened with her sister. There is a lot going on!

This is a dual timeline novel, although to be fair, the majority of the book is in the modern storyline, It is not a 50/50 split. Every few chapters there is an interspersed chapter during which we learn Ada's story, and what it is that she needs Kate to do in order for her to be free and maybe save Rookswood at the same time. There are so many ways in which Ada and Kate and Emma and Camille's stories echo each other. Can Kate and Emma avoid the same ending to their own relationship?

I love a book where the house is a character. Rookswood has so many secrets and casts such an imposing presence on the pages. I particularly enjoyed all the information about the history of Victorian photography, strange as it might have been. 

The only other book I have read by Lauren Westwood was the The Little Paris Toyshop which I absolutely adored (my review). This book has a very different feel to that one, so which is the more trademark Lauren Westwood book. I guess I am just going to have to read more from her to find out!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews, British Isles Friday hosted at Joy's Book Blog and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. 

Rating 4/5

About the book

The House of Light and Shadows

An atmospheric and captivating old-house mystery, layered with romance and secrets.



Secrets lurk in the shadows at Rookswood House...

When Kate goes to look after her estranged sister’s children in their creepy old house, she takes a photo of what seems to be a ghost. Frightened yet intrigued, Kate undertakes to uncover the secrets of the house and the two mysterious sisters who lived there over a hundred years before.

But like the illusions of light and shadow in the sisters’ strange and disturbing Victorian post-mortem photography, Kate discovers that all is not what it seems. Someone – or something – has their own plans for Rookswood House – and for Kate.

With a potential developer circling around, her teenage niece in danger from an unseen force, and new love on the horizon, Kate must unravel the secrets and lies of her own and Rookswood’s past before she loses everything she holds dear.

If you like historical mysteries by Eve Chase, Rachel Burton and Harriet Evans, you'll love Lauren Westwood.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/LightAndShadows

About the Author 

Lauren Westwood is an author of emotional women's fiction and intelligent romance novels.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @Lwestwoodbooks

Twitter: @lwestwoodwriter

Instagram: @lwestwoodwriter

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/LaurenWestwoodNews

This week

I'm reading

Last week I declared that I had a pretty standard reading pattern now of finishing around three books and starting a couple of others. Of course, because I made last week's declaration, I didn't get that much read this week.

I did finish The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner which I reviewed here.  I also read and reviewed The Woven Lie by Liz Harris.

Now I am reading The House of Shadow  and Light by Lauren Westwood. I  read her book The Little Paris Toy Shop a couple of years ago and I loved it. This book is completely different but it is good! My review will be up later this week.



I'm watching


We haven't watched much this week, although we are currently watching The Hunt for Red October. I have seen lots of bits of this movie but I think this is the first time I have watched it all the way through.



Life

Its been a very busy week in our house!

The most exciting thing last week is that we bought a new car! It is the updated version of the car we already had (a Nissan Qashqai) and we already love it! Meet Dot! Yes, we name our cars.

On Monday night we went to see Post Modern Jukebox in concert. Have you heard of them? They take modern songs and then give them a retro twist. For example, they may take a 2024 song and give it a 1950s treatment or a doo wop sound. It was such a great show. The highlight was a version of Hallelujah which gave me more than goosebumps. It bought me to tears! When the show ended, the cheering was the loudest I had ever heard at that venue. Here's a video from Youtube to give you a feel 

Did you do anything for Valentines Day? Robert was supposed to be busy so we booked lunch at a winery called Scotchman's Hill which is just over an hour away. The lunch was fantastic, the view lovely and of course the company was first class.

We did also go to a farewell to some friends. They are moving to regional New South Wales. We are going to miss them a lot, as they do feel like our friends - by which I mean not just my friend or Roberts friend that we both hang out with.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten 5 Star Reads from Previous Years
Blog Tour: The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick

Blog Tour: The Woven Lie by Liz Harris

Blog Tour: The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner

Weekend Cooking: Two Japanese Foodie Novel Reviews
Sunday Salon: Spell the Month in Books - February


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

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten 5 star reads from previous years

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a love freebie so I am bringing you ten books I loved so much I gave them a 5/5 rating! And let's face it, I love a good love story so a lot of them will be about love in some form or another!

Given that we have only recently done our best of lists for 2024, I have decided to go with the last ten books that I gave this rating to before 2024. 

The Dressmaker's of Yarrandarrah Prison by Meredith Jaffe - I recently saw that Lisa from ANZ Litlovers had reviewed this book, and I was reminded again how much I enjoyed it! (My review)

The Cartographer's Secret by Tea Cooper - I saw Tea Cooper talking about her latest book a few months ago! I really must read it!

Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - My goodness I loved this book! And I recently read her latest book which I liked a lot too! (My review)

The Beautiful Words by Vanessa McCausland - The first of two books by this author on my list today!

Book Lovers by Emily Henry - I have really liked all the Emily Henry books I have read but this is the one that I loved the most when I gave it a rating!

The Forgotten Palace by Alexandra Walsh - I have since read a couple more of this author's books. They have all been set in different time periods but all really good. (My review)

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Litteken - A really good WWII novel with an unusual setting (My review)

The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams - Not as well known as the accompanying book, The Lost Dictionary of Words, but an excellent read!

Dreaming in French by Vanessa McCausland - I really must read this author's newest book and see if it is as good as the two I have on this list (My review)

The Little Paris Toy Shop by Lauren Westwood - I love the cover of this one, the story, the Paris setting! I am about to read another book from this author! I hope I love it! (My review)

Have you read and loved any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors I Discovered in 2023

 

I read 38 new to me authors last year. Now, I could do a Top Ten Tuesday post with 38 different books, but I decided to narrow it down a bit by only including the new to me authors who I graded as either 4.5 or 5 out of 5 reads.

Here we go:

Erin Littekin - The Lost Daughters of Ukraine was so good. I am definitely intending to go back and read her debut novel! (my review)

Pip Williams - The Book Binder of Jericho - I haven't read Dictionary of Lost Words yet but I need to get onto it as we are going to go and see the play at the end of February.

Anthea Hodgson - My first book by this author was The War Nurses. I also listened to The Drifter which was great too. 

Jane Lovering - I read The Recipe for Happiness. Lucky for me there is quite a backlist available from this author (my review)

Durian Sukegawa - Sweet Bean Paste was so good! (my review)

Lauren Westwood - I loved The Little Paris Toyshop so much. (my review)

Bonnie Garmus - I was a bit late to the party when it comes to reading Lessons in Chemistry. I am supposed to be going to hear her talk soon too. Must check when that is. (review)

Rebecca Yarros - I really enjoyed Fourth Wing, and have since read Iron Flame. I am curious to read more but all of the other books she has written look completely different from these two books.

Kim Fay - Really enjoyed Love and Saffron by this author (my review)

Juliet Greenwood - The Last Train from Paris was really good and I will be trying to read more from this author's backlist as well. (my review)

Have you read any of these authors?

Sunday Salon: 2023 in review

Welcome to my annual year in review post. I would classify 2023 as a pretty good reading year. Let's see if the stats reflect this!

My Goodreads challenge target for 2023 was 60 books, which I met with ease. I actually completed 71 books which was approximately 22256 pages. This year I have made my challenge total 75 books so that might be a little more challenging. 

Let's take a closer look at the stats

I do tend to read a lot of new books so no surprise to me to see the vast majority of books I read were published in 2023. The oldest book I read was Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

Once again fiction was the genre that I read the most of, although that is a bit of a catch all for every novel that isn't exactly a romance, could be women's fiction or foodie fiction or whatever. It is also not a surprise to see Historical Fiction right up there either!

As a rule, I don't reread a lot. The only books I reread last year were Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (which has become a bit of a Christmas tradition for me now) and The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson which I listened to, and then listened to again when my husband was in the car with me. Interesting that they were both Christmas related and both audiobooks!

The fact that I read so many new to me authors was a bit of a surprise for me. I think it reflects the blog tours that I participate in more than anything. There were a number of authors who I read more than one book. I read 3 books by Gillian Harvey, Maggie Christensen, Sandy Barker and Siobhan Daiko and then there were 6 authors I read two books from. This is the second year in a row that Maggie Christensen has been one of the authors I have read the most books from. Actually, scrap that. It's actually the third year in a row!!

I mentioned last year that my reading has completely swung around from being predominantly paper based to now being most E-book and I don't see that changing any time soon really

No surprises with this stat either. My reading has long been skewed towards female authors

This is another stat that did surprise me for this year. Last year around 40% of my reads were by Australian authors but this year, I read quite a few more British authors. I think this is being influenced a lot by the blog tours I am participating in.

Back in the day, I would have sourced most of my books from the library but these days I am more likely to either buy books or get them for review.

I am always pretty stingy when it comes to giving out 5/5 grades. The four books I gave top marks to in 2023 were:

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Littekin - I hadn't read any WWII fiction set in the Ukraine before (my review)

The Book Binders of Jericho by Pip Williams - I went to hear Pip Williams speak at Melbourne Writers Festival this year which prompted me to read this book. I still need to read Dictionary of Lost Words, hopefully before I go see the play in a couple of months.

Dreaming in French by Vanessa McCausland - I loved this book so much! Haunting and evocative. (my review)

The Little Paris Toyshop by Lauren Westwood - I read this as part of a blog tour and I was blown away by it! (my review)

So there is it is....my 2023 reading year in review!

Previous year in review posts

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

Top Ten Tuesday: Best of 2023

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Favourite Books of 2023.

I read four books that I rated 5/5 stars and they were 

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Littekin - I hadn't read any WWII fiction set in the Ukraine before (my review)

The Book Binders of Jericho by Pip Williams - I went to hear Pip Williams speak at Melbourne Writers Festival this year which prompted me to read this book. I still need to read Dictionary of Lost Words, hopefully before I go see the play in a couple of months.

Dreaming in French by Vanessa McCausland - I loved this book so much! Haunting and evocative. (my review)

The Little Paris Toyshop by Lauren Westwood - I read this as part of a blog tour and I was blown away by it! (my review)

In exciting news, I have already read my first 5 star read for 2024!!

Here are just some of the books I rated 4.5/5 in 2023

The War Nurse by Anthea Hodgson - I was lucky enough to hear Anthea Hodgson talk about this book at the book club retreat I went to earlier this year.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - I was a bit late to the party on this one, but I loved it. I just finished watching the TV adaptation too. (My review)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - I expect to see this on quite a few lists this week!

The Martian by Andy Weir - After watching bits of the movie approximately 2,735,478 times I finally got around to reading/listening to this book. And it was good!!

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - I really need to read more of this author's books now. (my review)

Without Further Ado by Jessica Dettmann - When I read this book I felt like I really need to go and watch the Emma Thompson/Kenneth Brannagh version of Much Ado About Nothing. I still must do that!

This list is a bit of a mix of Australian and non-Australian authors, books I read for fun and for blog tours, some I reviewed and some I didn't and different genres!

Are any of these books on your list this week?