Top Ten Tuesday: Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is  Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today (These could be authors who have passed away or retired/are taking a long hiatus from writing. You could also spin this and share authors who have switched to a genre you’re not interested in.) (submitted by Rebecca @ Top100Books)

When I  checked I realise that we did this topic a couple of years ago. Most of the names are the same (although I chose different book covers to share) but I did change a couple of them! For the most part I have chosen authors who have passed away, except for the last two!

I did have another author in my list and it was only when I went to Fantastic Fiction to check that I realised that she has actually had about 5 books out in the last few years. Whoops!

Anyway, here's my list.

Diana Norman/Ariana Franklin - I loved the Mistress of the Art of Death series which this author published under the name of Ariana Franklin, but I first started reading her books under her name Diana Norman, and I particularly enjoyed her Makepeace Hedley trilogy which started with A Catch of Consequence

Sharon Kay Penman - I love SKP's books and often mention books like The Sunne in Splendour or Here Be Dragons in relation to her. This time though, I am going to use the first of her Justin de Quincy mysteries as my choice. 

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - I think it is maybe time for me to reread The Shadow of the Wind. I loved that book so much. 

Susan Vreeland - It appears I have only read three of this author's books, but they definitely left an impact!

Lucinda Riley - When Lucinda Riley passed away before the last book in the Seven Sisters series was released, her son took over the writing. Recently, it's been announced that he has written a new book set in the same world. I am invested enough to want to read the book, but also not sure how I feel about it all!

Terry Pratchett - I do occasionally find myself wondering what Sir Terry would make of the world right now. 

Stieg Larsson - Remember how popular this author's books were back in the early 2000's. Crazy to think that he passed away before the books were published and so successful.

Kerry Greenwood - When this Australian author passed last year I was sad to think that we had no more Phryne Fisher novels to come, even though I still have a lot of the series to read.

Laura Florand - Laura Florand will always appear on these lists for me. No, she hasn't passed away, but she no longer writes. When I went through a reading slump that lasted for years a while ago, she was one of the few authors who I still read! 

Lisa Kleypas - Don't panic. Lisa Kleypas is alive and well. In fact, she probably shouldn't be on this list at all given that she has recently announced that there will be a new book coming out from her soon. It's just that it has been a long 5 years since the last one! This is one of her standalone books which is probably lesser known, but it is also one of my favourites.

Top Ten Tuesday - Chronologically speaking!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Book Titles Featuring Ordinal Numbers (Ordinal numbers are numbers that define an item’s place in a series. For example: first, second, third, fourth, tenth, fourteenth, thirty-third, one hundredth, etc.) (submitted by Joanne @ Portobello Book Blog)

I have chosen to twist the topic a bit. I am going to do books that are the number in the series by which I mean the title might be the fifth book in the series for example. At least one of them will be ordinal! 

1. An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister - Last year I read and adored this book. The second book in the Love Notes series is due to be released in July! I am so looking forward to it!

2. Us Against You by Fredrik Backman - This is the second book in the Beartown trilogy. I am hoping to read the third one soon! (my review)

3. The Deadly Dispute by Amanda Hampson - I read and loved all three books in this series last year, of which this is the third. The fourth book is out next month! (my review)

4. Everyone in This Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson - This is the fourth book in the Ernest Cunningham series. I have only read and loved the first two but I do know that I will read this one eventually

5. Safe Harbour in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - I do really enjoy Maggie Christensen's books. This is the fifth book in the Pelican Crossing series. The eighth book in the series is out early next month (my review)

6. The Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth Peters - This is the sixth book in the excellent Amelia Peabody series. I unintentionally stopped reading this series at book number 14. It has been more than 15 years since I read that book but I do have such fond memories of it, and I feel as though I could pick the next book without too much difficulty.  (my review)

7. The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley - This is the seventh book in the Seven Sisters series. It feels a little bit ironic that there was an eight book released!

8. Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon - This is the last book I read in the Outlander series. I don't know if I have the energy to pick up the next book in the series at the moment.

9. To the Nines by Janet Evanovich - I continued to read up to book 19 before I deliberately stopped reading this series. This book was the last one that I rated as a 5 star read. It was all downhill from here.

10. Witness in Death by JD Robb - I read up to book 17 in the series before I unintentionally stopped reading them. Book 62 in the series was recently published so I don't see myself ever catching up on this series. (my review)

Top Ten Tuesday: Big Books!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books with a High Page Count (Share those doorstop books!)

Once upon a time if I saw a big, thick book on a bookstore shelf then there was every chance I would buy it. The bigger, the better! I even used to participate in a Chunkster Challenge. These days, I don't read that many chunksters. Also, if I am going to buy big books, it would most likely be an ebook that I can read on my Kindle.

Originally I was planning to refer to my spreadsheets and do this topic by looking for the books with the most number of pages. However, I decided to go with a simpler approach. Instead I scanned my overflowing bookshelves and looked for the thickest books I could find! The only rule/guideline I had was that I could only use one book per author. Of course, when I was putting them back on the shelves I found several other books that I should have used for this prompt too!

I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb -(863 pages) I swear that I got this book not long after it came out, but I still have never read it!

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - (1270 pages) I am currently doing a chapter a day readalong so after talking about reading it for 15 years I am finally doing it!

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes - (614 pages) This is another one I haven't read yet. It almost feels like a pattern forming here right?

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon - (980 pages) Most of Gabaldon's books could fit this theme. I have read this one. (My review)

The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley - (672 pages)I am not even sure why I have a paper copy of this book because I listened to all 8 books in this series. That's a lot of listening time.

Bettany's Book by Tom Keneally - (599 pages) It looks like I got this off of a remainders table. I haven't read it yet and I am not really sure if I will or not. It survived the last cull of my bookshelves. It might not survive the next one whenever that happens!

A Song in the Daylight by Paullina Simons - (767 pages) I loved many of Paullina Simons's books, but this wasn't my favourite. I did see that she has just announced that she has a new book coming out. It sounds great, but I am not sure if I will rush out and read it or not.

Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor - (860 pages) Gosh I loved this epic book! Someone I know is reading this at the moment and called it a great romp, and that is the perfect description of the book! I used the words bawdy romp in my review.

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman - (909 pages) SKP is another author who wrote big epic books! 

Dawn on a Distant Shore by Sara Donati - (647 pages) This is a favourite series. I noticed when I took it off the shelf that there is a bookmark in it. I must have been intending to reread it at some point.

By looking at the variation in pages numbers on all the page numbers you can really see what a difference the way the book is produced from the thickness of the paper to the size of the font!

Do you love big books!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Feature Travel

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 Feature Travel. I've done quite a few travel themed Top Ten Tuesdays over the years. This time, I am keeping it simple and just sharing some of the recent books that I have read that feature travel in one way or another!

Let's go, or should I say, bon voyage!

An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack - Wedding planner Sophie is asked to organise a wedding at the top of a mountain climb so she needs to travel to Italy to find the locations. The catch, her guide is her ex-boyfriend. 

Booked for Summer by Kathryn Freeman - British woman Jade Taylor goes to the island of Nantucket to run a cute bookstore for three months where she meets the owner of the resort that wants to close the store down. (My review)

One More Day of Us by Shari Low - Singer Moira Chiles spent a large part of her career working on cruise ships. This story takes us back to her first trip when she lived in Hong Kong back in the early 1990s. (My review)

A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot - When Molly receives an inheritance from someone she has never heard of, she has to travel to Corfu to accept it. What is she going to do with half an apartment, half a boat and a quarter of a cat amongst other things! (My review)

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley - This is the final book in the Seven Sisters series, and follows Pa's life as he travels all round the world.

Secret Beneath a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet - Francine travels to Cannes with her mother and daughter after her estranged father dies. (My review)

Where the Birds Calls Her Name by Claire van Ryn - The travel in this one is a bit closer to home. Saskia and her daughter drive from Broome in far north Western Australia to Tasmania as they discover who Saskia's mother is and who Saskia needs to be in the future. (My review)

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin - Ava travels from her job as a librarian in the Library of Congress to work in Lisbon in Portugal during WWII. (My review)

The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley - The method of travel in this one was by ship and by horse. A group of travellers go to Scotland from London on the King's business. (My review)

White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton - A young girl travels from Korea to Japan in the years prior to WWII, and then she struggles to return home. (My review)

Where did your Top Ten Tuesday take you today?

Spell the Month in books - May

 

Reviews From the Stacks

For 2025 I have decided to have a go at Spell the Month in Books which is hosted at Reviews From the Stacks. The link party opens on the first Saturday of the month, but I won't be posting until after that as I already have other things scheduled every Saturday and for the first two Sundays of the month.

The idea is that you use the title of books to spell the month name. There is also usually a theme each month, but May is a freebie! It is also the shortest month so it should be relatively easy, right? Except I have really struggled to come up with my own theme. 

In the end, I looked at my spreadsheet of books read and look for the most recent book I have read and then would figure out a theme from there. The first book was something I listened to, so my theme is books I listened to!

Mis-directed by Lucy Parker - Narrated by Nicola Coughlin and Gwilym Lee, this was a fun story about two cast members in a historical TV drama fall in love!

Atlas:  The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker - Narrated by Richard Armitage (swoon) and Tuppence Middleton, this was the final book in the Seven Sisters series. 

The Yellow Wood by Minnie Darke - This was another Audible original and it was narrated by Remy Hii and Aisha Aidara.

Interestingly, all of these performances were by two narrators which I wouldn't have said was something I normally listen to a lot!

The June theme is Summer Reading Begins; use books you found at the library or see there. I will probably twist this to Winter Reading but I am not sure yet

I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted by Readerbuzz.

This week

I'm reading

I did a lot of starting books this week! Some finishing but nowhere near as many as I started!

One book that I finished was the audio of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker, the final book in the Seven Sisters series. I have listened to all of these on audiobook. Given that each of these books is more than 20 hours long that's a lot of listening time! I started listening to the first book more than 6.5 years ago, so it has been a bit commitment! This final book was narrated by Richard Armitage for Pa Salt's parts and Tuppence Middleton for the modern story. It feels like this book did what it needed to do in terms of tying all the origin stories together, and telling Pa's story, so I was satisfied with the end of the series. I did have one question about what happened on the luxury super yachts (IFYKYK) but overall it was good. 

I then started listening to Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Kerry Greenwood had passed away recently, so I thought it would be a good time to go back to the next Phryne Fisher book. It did surprise me a little that is 16 years since I read one of the books but I think I have slipped back into the world quickly. After listening to Richard Armitage for so long it did take me a little while to get used to the sound of a new narrator but I think I am there now!

We did a bit of a roadtrip on the Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend, and I convinced my husband that we could listen to a book while we drove. It needed to be something that he would enjoy too, so I chose The World According to Kaleb by Kaleb Cooper. Kaleb Cooper is a young British farmer who is now a bit of a celebrity thanks to his appearances on Clarkson's Farm, a reality TV show featuring well known British....presenter I guess is the best word....Jeremy Clarkson. It is only a short book at around 2.5 hours and it was amusing. Kaleb is a young man who knows exactly what he likes (farming) and what he doesn't like (sheep among other things!). 

As that book was so short, we then started listening to The Satsuma Complex which is both written and narrated by Bob Mortimer. Bob Mortimer is a British comedian who appears regularly on panel shows such as Would I Lie to You and he makes us laugh a lot every time he is on! He's a great oral storyteller. We will listen to this when we are in the car together for the next little while!

In terms of books I was reading myself, I finished The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe. The review for that will be up this week. 

I then read The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer, which is another super interesting book by her! It's a bit of a genre bender but I will say more when I review it next week!

I also started The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson which is going to be my read on a theme book club selection this time around. The theme is 1960s and this book is set in 1966 so it fits the theme beautifully. 

I also started The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer. I picked it up on a whim when I went to the library last week, but I can only borrow it for a week so I needed to get going with that one sooner rather than later!

Finally, I didn't take the physical books I was reading with me when we went away so started The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods. I am a bit torn now as to which book to finish first as I did get sucked into this one pretty much straight away!


I'm watching


We are big fans of the archeological show Time Team here in my house. It is often on the Real History channel at around dinner time so we will watch it if it is on, even if we have seen the episode multiple times before. I was a bit surprised to find that over the last couple of years they have been making Time Team specials that are only on Youtube! This week we watched one called Digging Band of Brothers which was an excavation of the camp where the US 101st Airborne Division was based in Britain. There are a few other specials that we will watch now! If you are interested this is the link.

We also started watching a new series of  the American Baking Show which is the first one I have seen where Paul and Prue are the judges.

I also watched How to Steal a Million as part of the Springtime in  Paris event hosted by  Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings. What a fun movie! It starred the beautiful and ethereal Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, who was very handsome as a young man.  The premise is that Audrey Hepburn's father is a serial art forger. He agrees to hand over a famous statue to display in a museum without realising that he has agreed to have the piece authenticated. If it is tested, then it will be revealed as a fake then he will be found out. Hepburn's character then enlists the help of a man she caught stealing a painting from her own house (or so she thought) and hijinks ensue. The movie had such charm and naivety. I couldn't help but think if the movie was made today how very different it would be! I am planning to watch the next couple of movies for the event this week.


Life

I had to go to the funeral of a friend last week. He was a larger than life character who drew people to him. It was a reminder to live life to the best of your ability as you don't really know how long you have. Also #$%$ cancer.

In Australia, Easter is a four day weekend with public holidays on both Good Friday and Easter Monday. A lot of people choose to go away for the weekend. Originally, we were planning to go away overnight next weekend, but then my son is going interstate that weekend so we decided to go on Friday and come back on Saturday.

You probably recall that we like a good art silo, and this trip we managed to see 4 full size ones, plus a collection of smaller ones. The main reason for heading up the highway was to go to the Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum. During WWII, Lake Boga was a secret base for the repair of flying boats like the Catalina aircraft and saw Australian, American and Dutch planes landing on the lake.  It was also a key point in the communications between the Allies. It was a fascinating place, and I think it might be a place that we go back to should we be up that way again. Recently there has been a new art silo done at Lake Boga, which reflects this history. The other photo is of a silo at a place called Sea Lake, which was cool because in the day you can see the image below, but at night they projects some films onto the silos taking about the farming and the dark sky environs around which means amazing stargazing

One of the highlights of the trip was going to a nearby lake called Lake Tyrrell which is the largest salt water lake in the state of Victoria.  We went at sunset the first night and it was spectacular. I took so many photos. The next morning we went at about 8am and we were pretty much the only ones there. Well...us and the flies. 

We had to come back on Saturday as we had a show from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival featuring another British comic, Tom Allen! He is on various UK show and he was very entertaining. This was the only show we got to go to in this year's festival as we were away for most of it!


Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: What I Read on Holidays
Blog Tour: Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn
Blog Tour: Secrets Under a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet

Weekend Cooking: What We Ate on Holidays: Japan and South Korea - the Sweet Edition

Spell the Month in Books - April





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

This week...

 

I'm reading

We have a public holiday here today for Labour Day so, in theory, that means more reading time! Well, not really, as I do have quite a bit of reading time already. 

Last week I finished listening to The Truth by Terry Pratchett. I originally started listening to this back in January, but then I put it aside to listen to Jane Austen. I do intend to write something about this, but I will say here that my favourite character was Otto the vampire iconographer who had a terrible tendency to disintegrate every time he took a photo with a flash! 

I have now gone back to listening to Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley. This is a long book so I will probably be listening to this for a couple of months at least. 

I finished reading If You Could See Me Now by Samantha Tonge. I really like Samantha Tonge's books but they are a bit tricky to review because there are things that you definitely need to not know when you are starting the book. My review is here. 

I also read and reviewed The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephens, which I really loved! I had been to see the author talk a few weeks ago. I really think going to author events really enhances the reading experience! This was a 5/5 read for me!

For a bit of a change of pace, I also devoured Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young. I had read a couple of chapters a couple of weeks ago, but this week I picked it up and started again and devoured it! This was my first book by her, but it will not be the last! I thought it was fab. 

I have two reviews due later this week so I read Love and Laughter (and Other Disasters) by Elora Canne, and started reading The Shadow on the Bridge by Clare Marchant. 

In other big news, I finished volume 1 of War and Peace this week. It is funny what you find when you look back in the archives of your blog. I was searching for something last week and came across this post from 2010 which is the last time I attempted to read this book. I have made it further this time than I did then, but I have to figure out what my strategy is going to be for when we go away for a couple of weeks. I don't really want to drag the book around with me, and I don't want to change versions or translations. Maybe I will read a few chapters ahead and then catch up when I get home!

We had our read on a theme book club meeting on Saturday. The theme was Classics and this is just some of what people read. I listened to Pride and Prejudice and will have a post up soon with some thoughts, not necessarily on the book, but on the enduring impact and legacy of Jane Austen or something like that anyway. Our next theme is Spy and I have a couple of ideas of what I am going to read.

I'm watching

You may recall that last weekend I went to the movies and saw the latest Bridget Jones movie. While I knew that I had watched the first one, I had no recollection of the second and third films at all, so this week I sat and watched the first 3 movies. If I had to rate the four movies I would say that the first and last movies are the best, followed by the third one and then the second one was the least entertaining!

The French Film Festival has just started and I am a little bit gutted that I am going to be away for most of it as there are quite a few movies that I wanted to see showing. I did go to the movies by myself on Friday night to see Jane Austen Wrecked My Life which was a lot of fun. It is about a woman who wants to be an author, but can't seem to finish any of her stories. Her friend sends a few chapters off and she gets accepted into a Jane Austen residency writers retreat in England. It is a fun movie!

Here's the trailer

Life



After book club I went to see the Yayoi Susama exhibition for the second time. The second half of the exhibition is so much fun, full of immersion rooms, polka dots, pumpkins with polka dots. It's a lot of fun. You can see a couple of photos from the first time I went here, and then below are some from my most recent visit.

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Author sisters
Blog Tour: If You Could See Me Now by Samantha Tonge
Weekend Cooking: The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephens
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - February stats




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: Books I Never Reviewed

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's them is Books I Never Reviewed. When I set my reading/blogging goals this year, I said that I wanted to make sure that I reviewed all the historical fiction I read and all the books by Aussie authors. So far, I have well and truly exceeded that and have reviewed just about everything I have read. It isn't my intention to go back to reviewing every book I read as there is too much "I am so far behind" pressure that comes with that, but when it happens organically....great.

So I will start with the couple of things I have read but not reviewed this year, and then go back to last year's list to see what I can find there!

The Wedding People by Alison Espach - I read this a couple of weeks ago and absolutely loved it! It's a 5 star read for me. I intend to review this later this week.

Never Want to Sea You Again by Leonie Woods - This is a short story freebie from the author's Substack page. It's a fun, forced proximity romance. One fun thing is that you can choose if you want to read the spice version or the not so spicy version of the story! I chose the spicy version. A billionaire's secret daughter hides on board a yacht and finds herself in the middle of the ocean with a grumpy sailor! 

The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods - I read this towards the end of last year and really enjoyed it! It brings together a group of characters in a Venice hotel at Christmas time and they end up having to work together to help one of the guests. It was darker than I expected but very good!

The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley - You know, I have read all but the last book in this series and never reviewed any of them! I listen to them all on audio and they are big books. I do find the accents that are used, and the fact that there are different narrators for every audiobook, a bit odd. Maybe when I finish the series I will do some kind of retrospective review!

The Last Night in London by Karen White - I meant to pick up a Madeline Martin book when I started this one, but I liked it nonetheless!

The Ex Factor by Rachael Johns - This was another free short story and is still available on Substack. In this story a woman returns to the town and the husband she left behind so that she can get her divorce papers signed. This one was a bit spicy too!

Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This is part of the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. I have reviewed a couple of them but not all of the. Seeing this author at Melbourne Writers Festival was one of my bookish highlights of last year. I listen to this series on audio too!

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods - Another audio read. I liked this one, without loving it. It's about a bookshop that has disappeared and a modern quest to find out what happened there. I am super excited about Evie Woods next book which is out soon called The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris!

The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson - Yes, another opportunity to gush about how amazing Laura Pearson is. I have now read three of her books and they are all so unusual with really imaginative ideas! And, of course, great reads! My favourite is The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine, but this comes a close second.

The Yellow Wood by Minnie Darke - I have been a huge fan of Aussie author Minnie Darke since I read The Lost Love Song which is an absolutely beautiful book. This was an Audible only book about a free spirited woman who doesn't want to be tied down to anyone or anywhere and the artist who loves her and is trying to move on.

The Presidents Hat by Antoine Laurain - Over the last couple of years I have become a bit of an Antoine Laurain fan girl. There's every chance I will still review this for Paris in July later this year.

And yes, I know that is eleven choices but I thought I would throw in an extra given that two of them are short story freebies from the authors!

Have you read any of these?

This week

 I'm reading

Well, it has been a very busy couple of weeks, which is why I missed last week so we have a bit to catch up on. From a reading perspective though, the first week was very busy, but this second week I haven't read much at all!

On audiobook, I finished listening to The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley! This is the seventh book in the Seven Sisters series, and I have to say....  arrggghhh that ending! It felt like an unfinished book to me. I therefore started listening to Atlas: The  Story of Pa Salt so that I could get some answers. It doesn't hurt that Richard Armitage is one of the narrators.

I managed to squeeze in The Chimes by Charles Dickens, which I posted about here.

I did start reading Last Christmas by Clare Swatman, but I have had to put it aside for now. Not sure if I am going to get back to this. It might be next Christmas.

As I mentioned in last week's Top Ten Tuesday post, we did a family read of Bluey: Verandah Santa, which was a lot of fun..

Finally I started reading The Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang which is the current selection for Cook the Books. To be fair, I am struggling with it a bit, but I am determined to finish it this year!

I'm watching


Before we came away we watched the movie Blitz, which tells the story of the Blitz on London, through the eyes of a young woman and her son. It wasn't too bad.

I then  watched A Paris Christmas Waltz. I mean.. Paris and Christmas? Yes please!

We then watched A Very Musical Christmas which was the stars of Australian musical theatre singing Christmas songs! The event raised funds for Beyond Blue, and I hope that they do it again.

On our family Christmas Day, the two boys/men said that we should watch a movie together and it was decided that we would watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The irony is that they were both asleep very quickly so the rest of us watched it but they didn't!

Life


We travelled to Adelaide for Christmas Day, and then after that, we have taken a road trip to the Eyre Peninsula, and we are just beginning to start the journey back to Melbourne! There have been silos, sailings, street art, seafood, scenery and so much more! Here's a couple of pics

Posts from the last two weeks



Countdown to 2025: Day 16
Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer 2024-25 To Read List
Countdown to 2025: Day 17
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge Wrap Up Posts
Countdown to 2025: Day 18
Countdown to 2025: Day 19
Countdown to 2025: Day 20
Countdown to 2025: Day 21
Weekend Cooking: Christmas Tree Cake
Countdown to 2025: Day 22
Sunday Salon: A Very Dickens Christmas
Countdown to 2025: Day 23
Countdown to 2025: Day 24
Top Ten Tuesday: Christmas Reads!
Countdown to 2025: Day 25
Countdown to 2025: Day 26
Countdown to 2025: Day 27
Countdown to 2025: Day 28
Weekend Cooking: A Tale of Two Christmases




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

Countdown to 2025: Day 27

This year I am participating in Countdown to 2025 hosted by Lynn from Lynn's Books. Today is day 27 and the prompt for today is Christmas Crackers – Ended with a bang

It's not that it ended with a bang as far as the story goes, but rather in  my frustration at where it ended! Never mind, I have started the final book so I can finally get the answers after the earlier 7 books.

Tomorrow's prompt is Candlelight – a book that kept you up into the early hours

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer 2024-25 to read list

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Winter 2024-2025 to-Read List. As I am an Aussie, it is currently way too hot for it be winter, so these are my summer reads!

Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - I am always very excited by the news that there is a new Gillian Harvey book on the way. This one is out in January, and the cover is gorgeous!

The Chimes by Charles Dickens - I read A Christmas Carol a couple of weeks ago, and I am intending to read at least one more of his Christmas stories. Yes, there is more than one!

The Many Futures of Maddy Lawson by Laura Pearson - Spoiler! Laura Pearson is going to be on my list of favourite new authors that I first read in 2024

Venice Hotel by Tess Woods - I have actually already started this one. Now it's a question of finishing it!

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker - I just finished listening to The Missing Sister. There was a three year gap between the last two books but I am not waiting that long to listen to the final book in the series.

The Mirror by Nora Roberts - This is the second book in The Lost Bride trilogy. I will also listen to this one. The question is will it be before Atlas or after it!

The Last Illusion of Paige White by Vanessa McCausland - I have loved the last two books I have read by Vanessa McCausland so I have high hopes for this one.

The Jam Maker by Mary-Lou Stephenson - This one is out in February and I am very much looking forward to it!

The Secret Paris Garden by Sophie Beaumont - I really liked The Paris Cooking School! My plan is to read this before the end of the year but we will see!

The Bad Bridesmaid by Rachael Johns - I posted my review of The Other Bridesmaid yesterday. The Bad Bridesmaid is about Bridget's best friend Fred and is out in February!

Are any of these books on your list!

Top Ten Tuesday: Stormy!

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books to Read During a Storm (these can be cozy/comfy reads, books with storms in them, atmospheric reads for dark and stormy nights, light reads to combat the heavy weather, etc.) (Submitted by Astilbe.)

For my first three choices I thought I would share some books that have components of storms in the title. If there is a storm happening around you, there may be wind, there may be thunder and there may be rain. There could be other things, but let's start with those:

He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters - As a bonus this cover also has some lightning on it!

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine - Rachel Caine has a whole series of books called Weather Wardens where all the titles are weather related.

The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith - This is one of the Isabel Dalhousie which is set in Edinburgh, so I imagine you would need to be used to rain!

And now lets move onto books with stormy titles.

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale - A romance classic from the early 1990s!

Firestorm by Rachel Caine - This is another book in the Weather Wardens series.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher - Apparently I read this in 2008 and again in 2011 - who knew! I certainly didn't remember that!

The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French - I recently started reading another Jackie French book but didn't get very far before I had to return the book to the library!

Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley - Never miss an opportunity to get a Susanne Kearsley book into the a TTT post!

A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin -  this is the third book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, more commonly known as the Game of Thrones books.

The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley - The second book in the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. I am currently listening to the seventh book in the series.

This Week...

 

Before I jump into my normal what I'm reading, watching and doing post, I wanted to share that the 2025 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is ready to go. 

If you love historical fiction, or if you would like to read some historical fiction in the hope that you will find some books to love, or if you love reading challenges, we would love to have you join us!

You can find out all the details here.

I'm reading

This week I didn't really get as much liked as I would have. I finished The Silver-Haired Sisterhood by Judy Leigh, which is another book set on the Isle of Skye. I seem to be reading quite a few of them at the moment. You can find my review here.

I then read Starting Over at Starlight Cottage by Debbie Viggiano who is a new author to me! I reviewed that book here.

Currently I am reading Stuck in Second Gear by another new to me author, Carmen Reid. This one features a roadtrip through France which I am very much enjoying, and my review will be up later this week.

I finished doing my annual listen to Hogfather by Terry Pratchett! Even though I have listened to it multiple times there are still things that I remember and other things that I do not!  

I have now gone back to listening to The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley. 

It was our final meeting for our read-on-a-theme book club on Saturday so we had a lunch instead of our customary meeting. Everything was delicious, and not just the food. The theme for this selection was food/cooking. Here are just some of the choices that we shared.

I thought I was being a bit clever as suggesting 25 as our next theme. I was thinking people could read a book from when they were 25, or that was published 25 years ago, or the 25th book in a series, but it might actually be a bit tricky. I have chosen a book now, but it did take some searching to find the book that I wanted to read.

Finally, I am intending to join in with the  "A Very Dickens Christmas" challenge hosted at Snapdragon Alcove. 


I'm watching


If I didn't get as much reading done as I would like, I did get a lot more watched than I have been in previous weeks.

The latest season of Great British Bake Off started here last week. I also watched a couple of the festive specials.

We binged watch two shows. The first was Muster Dogs: Where Are They Now. A couple of years ago now we watched the first season of Muster Dogs, which is when they took a group of Kelpie puppies and sent them off to be trained. At the end of the year they came back together and did a series of tests to work out which the best dog/trainer combination was. Last year, in the second season, they did the same experiment with a litter of Border Puppies. This season was to go back to see how some of the dogs and their owners/families are doing. It's such a delightful show.

The second show we binged was A Man on the Inside which stars Ted Danson as a man who goes undercover in a retirement village to solve a crime! It was so good! We loved it!

We also finished watching Shogun, which I thought was really good but it did take us a while to get through as it is not a show that I could watch more than one or two episodes at a time.

I watched several Christmas movies this week. I loved one, like another a lot, and had a don't waste your time reaction to the third. 

The one that I loved was That Christmas, which is an animated movie written by Richard Curtis, who is famous for a lot of big movies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually. It was so sweet.

I liked The Text Before Christmas, which follows a woman who receives a wrong number call very close to Christmas from an older woman, and they build a relationship which leads them to spending several Christmases together. And she has a dishy son and so on.

Finally, we like British comedian Jack Whitehall and we are even going to seem him live in a few months. However, his Christmas special, Jack in Time for Christmas, is ....not good. It does have a funny part with Michael Buble right at the beginning but it all goes downhill after that.

I did go to the movies this week. I was going a little bit stir crazy from being at home, or maybe from so many Christmas movies. I chose to go and see an Iranian movie called My Favourite Cake. I will confess that I thought it was going to be more foodie than it was, but it was interesting, and the story about the movie was very interesting. It is about an older woman who has been a widow for many years, who decides that she needs to meet a man, but it all goes a bit wrong!

Here's the trailer for That Christmas

Posts from the last week

It's been a very busy blogging week this week, mainly because I am participating in Countdown to 2025 which means a post for that everyday, plus whatever else I am posting. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Short Stories
Countdown to 2025: Days 1, 2 and 3
Countdown to 2025: Day 4

Blog Tour: A Christmas Surprise in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen
Blog Tour: The Silver-haired Sisterhood by Judy Leigh

Countdown to 2025: Day 5

Blog Tour: Starting Over at Starlight Cottage by Debbie Viggiano

Countdown to 2025: Day 6

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 Sign up post

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked In My Kitchen in November

Countdown to 2025: Day 7

Six Degrees of Separation: Sandwich to Agnes and the Hitman

Countdown to 2025: Day 8





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