Top Ten Tuesday: Audiobooks

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is book by debut authors that I am excited to read, but I have got nothing, so I am going to focus on the last 10 audiobooks that I have listened to. 

All This Could be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews - This is the book I am currently listening to.

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico - I listened to this after watching the movie. It is different from the movie, and it probably shows it's age in some ways but it was still fun!

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett - I have listened to this in the run up to Christmas over the last couple of years.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry - Loved this audiobook. So much so that I recommended it to my boss who is now on an Emily Henry audiobook binge!

The Stand-In by Lily Chu - This was narrated by Philippa Soo, who starred in the musical version of Hamilton, and it was a lot of fun. I might listen to the next Lily Chu book next. Maybe.

Working Class Boy by Jimmy Barnes  - Jimmy Barnes is an Australian rock legend who had a rough start to life. This is his story of growing up in poverty with violence and alcoholism.

Love Stories by Trent Dalton - During the pandemic, Trent Dalton sat at a desk with a typewriter in the city and asked people to tell him their love stories, about all sorts of things, not only limited to romantic love

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This is the second book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series.

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne Valente - a very odd story, told in a very compelling way.

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci - Listening to Stanley (yes, we are on first name basis) narrate this book was such a pleasure! Highly recommend

There's a bit of a mix of genres there. Surprisingly there is no historical fiction, Must fix that!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Books of 2022

 

 

 

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 2022. I have linked to reviews where I have one, bu as usual, I didn't write reviews for most of them. Will try to do better in 2023.

I am pretty stingy when it comes to handing out 5 star grades. There were only two but as I look at the list there are several of the 4.5 stars that should probably have been 5 stars. Oh well. First the 5 star reads.

The Island Of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - I loved this book so much. It wasn't what I expected at all and it was so good! (My review)

The Beautiful Words by Vanessa McCausland - My one word review of this book for an earlier TTT was "beautiful"

Now for some of my 4.5/5 reviews

Book Lovers by Emily Henry - I listened to this on audio and loved it! The way that the narrator has Charlie saying "Stephens" when he is addressing the main character. Ooh la la!

With Love from Wish and Co by Minnie Darke - Darke's previous book, The Lost Love Song was one of my favourites last year. This one was really good too!

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku - What an extraordinary story. Eddie was a Jewish prisoner of war in WWII and then built a life for himself in Australia after the war.

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci - Do yourself a favour and listen to this one on audio. And then maybe borrow it from the library, and then buy the book.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - I was definitely getting FOMO so I had to read this one, and now I know what all the fuss is about.

Escape to the French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas - I read this by accident. I had another similarly titled book that I had to read for a blog tour and I read this one instead. I have since read another of her books and just bought another one, so I guess it worked out well.

The Codebreakers by Alli Thomas - This was about a group of Australian women who worked as codebreakers from a garage in the Brisbane suburbs during WWII.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran - Set in an aged care home, this book tells the story of how an extended family came to Australia from Sri Lanka, and about the current challenges they face in terms of dealing with age and racism. 

Honourable mentions to The Stand In by Lily Chu, and both The Christmas Party and The Last Summer by Karen Swan

This week....

I'm reading...

Last week I read my third books set in France in less than two weeks! This time it was Twenty One Nights in Paris by Leonie Mack. I enjoyed it, particularly the descriptions of Paris! Now I am not really sure what to read.

I also finished listening to The Stand-In by Lily Chu. The audiobook was narrated by Hamilton actor Philippa Soo. The story is about a young Canadian woman named Gracie who is mistaken for a famous Chinese star and so is asked, and agrees, to be her secret stand in at social events. It was a lot of fun and a really good audio experience. I even sat around doing nothing other than listening to the book for the final hour.

I have decided to go with a completely different genre for my next audiobook. I have listened to the first few minutes of Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I love the movie of his earlier book The Martian, but I have never read him before.

I also need to figure out what my next book club read is going to be. The theme next month is "immigrant story".  I am thinking that there are a couple of Lisa See books that I haven't read yet, or maybe Adriana Trigiani. I am sure I will come up with something to read in time.

I'm watching....

I read a story in the news about a shipwreck from 1911 which has recently been discovered. The story was recorded for a show called Shipwreck Hunters Australia, so we watched that episode, and then two more. The second episode is about looking for a ship that sank off the coast of Western Australia back in 1912 and the third show was about the search for flying boats that were sunk outside of Broome when it was bombed by the Japanese during WWII. The show is interesting but it is really the photography which is capturing our attention! We will be watching the rest of the series for sure.

Great British Bake Off is back although we are a week late in starting. Just means I get to watch another episode tomorrow night.

We went to the movies on Sunday to watch a movie that is showing at the Italian Film Festival called The Perfect Dinner. It is a foodie film with a bit of a Mafia twist wiith some romance thrown in for good measure. I really liked it.

Life

We went to see UB40 in concert on Friday night. The whole UB40 thing is a bit odd. There are two versions of the band. One bills itself as UB40 and the other as UB40 featuring Ali Campbell. The show was good but it was a bit strange that Ali Campbell didn't say a lot during the show. 

This week our old house is finally handed over to the new owners, but now without a bit of drama here and there. I am looking forward to it being done!

Posts from the last week

Blog Tour: A Year at the French Farmhouse by Gillian Harvey

Blog Tour: Twenty One Nights in Paris by Leonie Mack

Weekend Cooking: In Bibi's Kitchen

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

This week....

I'm reading....

It's been a big reading week here. I think I finished five books which is pretty much unheard of these days. Normally I am lucky to finish one book a week.

So, what did I read?  Firstly, I read Escape to the French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas. I picked this book up because I thought it was another book which I needed to read for a blog tour this week. Only problem is that the book that I needed to read for the blog tour was similarly titled A Year at the French Farmhouse by Gillian Harvey. However, before I realised my mistake I was at least a third of the way through Escape to the French Farmhouse and I was really enjoying it, so I kept going.

I then thought I needed something a bit different before I read another French Farmhouse book. I have been meaning to read House on the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune for the longest time and it seemed to be a good time to read it. I really enjoyed it and I am very much looking forward to reading more from this author.

After that genre change, I was ready to read the correct book for the blog tour, A Year at the French Farmhouse by Gillian Harvey. I will be posting my review for this book in the next couple of days. It will be a good one!

Finally, I received the Amazon First Reads email yesterday and one of the options was a short story by Alice Hoffman. It's somewhat shocking, but I have never read Hoffman, even though I do love some magic realism. The story is called The Bookstore Sisters, and it is very short, but I really enjoyed it. Going to have to make an effort to read more by her. At least there are plenty to choose from..

Finally, after the gritty realism of Working Class Boy by Jimmy Barnes, I needed a palate cleanser, so I am listening to The Stand In by Lily Chu, narrated by Philippa Soo. It is a much lighter listen. I already know that I am going to listen to more by Lily Chu!

I'm watching...

I was looking at the films available for the British Film Festival and I noticed a documentary titled Lancaster about the role that Lancaster bombers played in WWII. It said that the documentary is from the makers of Spitfire. Now, my hsband loves Spitfire planes and so I had to go and find that documentary film so that is what we watched on Friday. I have also bought tickets to go and see Lancaster on the big screen.

Life

Not a lot to tell this week that I can think of.

Max

It's fair to say that Max has settled in quite well. We have had him for just under a month now, and he keeps us mostly entertained. Every now and again he gets in trouble but we are quick to forgive him. This week he has learnt how to entertain himself with a tennis ball. It's better when we throw the ball for him, but he can move the ball around enough to chase it himself. He has also learnt to tip his water bowl over. Lucky we have tiles.

In this photo you can see two of his favourite things.....socks and dried leaves.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Fancy Fonts

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: September Link Up

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked In My Kitchen in September

Six Degrees of Separation: Notes on a Scandal to The Last Queen

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