Top Ten Tuesday: Books set during or after WWI

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books I Enjoyed that Were Outside My Comfort Zone (or books you’d like to read that are outside your comfort zone!) However, it might not be a surprise to see that I am going rogue. It's not the first time and it won't be the last.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lest we forget.

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers That Feel Like Winter

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the topic is Book Covers That Feel Like Summer (Submitted by Ellie @ Curiosity Killed the Bookworm). Now we are right in the middle of winter so I thought I would choose wintery books instead.

However, I only recently did a Six Degrees of Separation with all winter titles so I am going to try to not use any of those books this time.

As I composed my list I did have a sudden realisation that most of my winter covers are very snowy, and yet that is not what winter looks like for us at all! There is snow a couple of hours away from us but it is very unusual for us to actually get snow at my house!

So, here are my winter, but not my winter, books.

The Christmas Party and Midnight in the Snow by Karen Swan - Karen Swan has been publishing one summer book and one winter book so I could possibly have just done a heap of her books but lets do some other authors as well.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden - Russian fairy tales are intrinsically wintery to me!

The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte - Another Russian setting, this time during winter in WWII. Such a great book!

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent - Moving away from Russia, this book is set in Iceland. My memories of this book are that it is very wintery and bleak.

In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl - I loved this book when I read it a number of years ago.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - Another fairy tale retelling, this time Polish. This book is so wintery!

Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole - This cover is possibly closer to what our winter looks like...maybe.

The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys - Pretty sure the main river in Melbourne has never frozen so much that you could host ice fairs on it!

Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh - This is a bit of a genre departure for me these days but back in the day I used to read quite a bit of paranormal romance.

So there are my wintery books, without using a single one with the word winter in the title!

Six Degrees of Separation: What Are You Going Through to The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

 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. 

The starting point for this month is a book called What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez. I found this a tough book to start with. I am also realising that so often my go to books for this meme are the same ones! I think I have avoided that this time, but only just. And there's no guarantee that it won't happen in future!

What You Are Going Through appears to have a number of themes, but one of them is about euthanasia which brings me to my first book which is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

After the death of a loved one, what follow is grief. Grief is a central theme of The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman which I read this week.

There was a lot of snow in The Secret of Snow and the word snow is what made me choose In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl. I loved this book when I read it a few years ago. It is set in WWI France.

Also partially set in WWI is Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole, and you can't do a connections about an epistolary book set during war without then linking to the next book. You just can't!

That right! The next book is The GuernseyLiterary and Potato Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows.

From there, the final choice is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, part of the Flavia de Luce mystery series.

Next month's starting book is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, and I already have two ideas of what my first links might be.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I've Loved But Haven't Reviewed

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is Books I Loved but Never Reviewed.

Once upon a time I used to review everything, and then I had a few years where I didn't  review anything, and now I am reviewing some things. What this  basically means is that this week's topic is easy to find books for. I just have to refer to my handy-dandy spreadsheet and look for 5 star reads and there's my list. I am, however, a bit stingy with 5/5 gradings so this is a mix of 4.5 and 5 star reads

The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary - I read and loved this last year. From memory, I read it while on a plane going....somewhere and it was a perfect plane book!

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - I listened to this on audio and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Peacock Summer by Hannah Richell - This was another audio book that I thoroughly enjoyed. This was also my first Hannah Richell book. I am waiting for this year's book to come into the library so I can enjoy that, unless I end up listening to it first of course.

In Falling Snow by Mary-Ann McColl - I had forgotten about this book until I saw it's name on the list. This is a WWI novel about a young woman who finds herself working in a hospital in France. It is a dual timeline where Iris is looking back at her life.

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - In a way it is a bit of a travesty that I have never reviewed this book. I mean, I have listened to it four times now and rated it as a 5/5 read three of those four times. This is 100% a comfort listen.

Something to Talk About by Rachael Johns - This is the sequel to Talk of the Town, which I also read this year. Rachael Johns is one of the authors who I still read when I wasn't really reading.

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See - I have read many Lisa See books over the years, usually featuring Chinese characters. This time, the book is about the divers of the Korean island and Jeju and it was totally fascinating.

The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati - I have been a fan of Sara Donati's writing for years. This book skips forward a couple of generations from where the Into the Wilderness series finished and features two lady doctors in 1880s New York. I really must read the next book.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper - I have enjoyed all the books by Jane Harper, and I am really looking forward to her new book which is out next month!

The Quarantine Station by Michelle Montebello - This was another enjoyable read. This book is another dual timeline, this time with the historic section being on the quarantine station in Sydney in 1918.

Have you read any of these books?