Six Degrees of Separation: The Safekeep to I Knew You Were Trouble

 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's starting point is the 2025 Women’s Prize winner, The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden.

A Dutch author I have read is Simone Van Der Blugt. Her book was called Midnight Blue and was about the distinctive Delft pottery, in particular the time when the art on the pottery changed from being of Asian scenes to being of Dutch scenes which we associate with it now.

Another art inspired book was The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley which featured a mother and daughter naturalists who drew flowers and produced amazing books. Part of this book was set in Suriname which was a Dutch colony. (My review)

When I first visited Amsterdam back in the 1990s I was a little surprised that we went to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner. The reason for this was that what we now call Indonesia was another Dutch colony known as the Dutch East Indies. Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe tells the story of fighting for Indonesian independence from the Dutch against the backdrop of WII. (My review)

The capital of independent Indonesia is now called Jakarta but it used to be known as Batavia. My brother in law and his family live in a town where there is a replica of the boat of the same name (and a shopping centre called Batavialand!). A new release that I am interested in reading is Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens

The Dutch played an important part in the history of European discovery of Australia. landing here long before the British arrived.  I have long been interested in the story of the Batavia, which was shipwrecked off the coast of Western Australia in 1629. A book that tells the story of the Batavia is The Night Ship by Jess Kidd.

Finally, I am going to finish with a contemporary novel by an Australian author which is partially set in Amsterdam and features a tall Dutch man as the main male character. My husband is 100% Dutch blood even though he was born in South Africa, as both of his parents are Dutch. The book  is I Knew You Were Trouble by Sandy Barker but Robert is no trouble whatsoever! (My review)

So there's my Six Degrees of Separation with a Dutch flavour. Both the first and last covers feature the distinctive houses of Amsterdam so that is almost a full circle right?

Next month, the starting point is the winner of the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Ghost Cities by Siang Lu.

Will you be joining us?

Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

I read 44 new to me authors las tyear, so I have had to try to figure our how to pick just ten. Interestingly I only had three 5 star reads last year and they were all from new to me authors, so that was an easy decision. 

The next four choices are people who I read more than one book or story from, and then I chose three Aussie authors who didn't fit into either of the previous categories!

Melissa Ashley - The first book I read last year was The Naturalist of Amsterdam and therefore it was my first 5/5 read for 2024 (my review)

Sue Heath - I loved The Secret Ingredient from this author. I am really hoping that we get something new from her in 2025. I'll be reading it. (my review)

Laura Pearson - I loved The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine so hard! I also read The Last List of Mabel Beaumont and bought just about all her other books. I will be reading her new book in the next week or so! (my review)

Hisashi Kashiwai - read both of the books that are available in English from the Kamogawa Food Detectives series last year. You can read my review of the first book here.

Gisele Stein - I read both The Anywhere Hotel and the associated short story called How Captain Found The Anywhere Hotel in quick succession

Jennifer Bohnet - I read two of Jennifer Bohnet's books set in France last year. The first was  A French Adventure (review here) and A French Country Escape (review here)

Helen Rolfe - Helen Rolfe's Skylark series is set in an Air Ambulance station and this provides a great backdrop to the stories. I read the third book this year as well. You can see my reviews for all three at this link

Sophie Beaumont - I really loved The Paris Cooking School (my review). I have her latest book, A Secret Garden in Paris to read on my Kindle.

Alli Parker - I have been talking about this author's book, At the Foot of the Cherry Tree, quite a bit recently. (my review)

Tess Woods - I read The Venice Hotel late last year and really enjoyed it!

Have you read any of these authors?

Sunday Salon: 2024 year in review

Welcome to my annual year in review post!

2024 was a pretty good reading year I think. Initially I set my goal at 75 books for the year but I exceeded that so I revised my goal to 104 books for the year. I did end up reading 120 books during the year, but I am still leaving my goal at 104, as that feels quite doable at a rate of 2 books per week.

You can see all my reading and blogging goals for this year in my recent Top Ten Tuesday post.

Let's get into the stats....

Despite my best intentions I do tend to read a lot of new releases. I ended up reading 75 books that were published in 2024. The oldest book I read was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens which was originally published in 1843.

Genre wise, there are no surprises that my reading is dominated by general fiction (which is a kind of catch all for all sorts of books), historical fiction and contemporary romance.I did read 4 non fiction books last year, which seems to be about my normal amount.

One of the things that has changed over the last few years is that I am reading a lot more British authors. This is mainly because of the blog tours that I am doing which feature of couple of British publishers. One of my goals for this year is to focus a little more on Australian authors.

Not sure why there was a dip in March, but most of the rest of the year was pretty consistent in terms of the number of books read per month.

No surprises here really. My preferred reading format is definitely e-books these days. I do so enjoy the paper book experience when I have it though.

From a blogging perspective, I do have a fairly established routine. I will pretty much always post on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday, and a couple of Sundays a month and then as needed on other days of the week. 

Some other stats:

I read 44 new to me authors in 2024, which is 37%. 

The authors who I did read multiple books by were Maggie Christensen with 5 books,and Antoine Laurain with 4 books. This is the fourth year in a row that Maggie Christensen has been my most read author. I also read 3 books each from Gillian Harvey, Rebecca Raisin, Sandy Barker and Toshikazu Kawaguchi

I don't do a lot of rereads at the best of times. This year there were four rereads. Two of those are Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson which are now both part of my annual Christmas traditions. 

As always my reading is always skewed to read a lot more women authors than men. This year I read 76 books by female authors and 44 by men. 

A new statistic that I started recording this year is whether I have reviewed a book or not. I don't intend to go back to reviewing every single book I read, but I am pleasantly surprised that I reviewed 60% of the books I read.

The final statistic for me to share relates to the grades that I have given out. I am always pretty stingy with my 5 star grades, with the vast majority of my reads being a 4/5 if I liked it. Here are the grades for what I have read this year. There was one book that I gave 2.5 and only 3 that I gave 5/5 grades to. Those 3 books were:

You can read my review here.

You can read my review here. 

You can read my review here.

Previous year in review posts. If there is no link I skipped that year.

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

I am sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted at Readerbuzz

Top Ten Tuesday: Best books of 2024

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Best Books I Read in 2024

The first three are easy! These are the three books that I rated as 5/5 reads.

The Secret Ingredient by Sue Heath - I knew from the first couple of pages I was going to love this book! And I did! (my review)

The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley - This was my very first read of 2024 and I loved it! (my review)

The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson- This book is the book that I recommended to the most people this year. I loved the whole concept! I also gave 4.5/5 to another book from this author. Can't wait to read her next book which I have waiting for me to read soon. (my review)

After that, it gets a bit harder as I had 15 books that I rated as 4.5/5 but I can only choose 7 more, so here goes!

The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns - This was a big book, and I read it in a day! Can't remember when I last did that! (My review)

A Wedding in the Sun by Leonie Mack - Given that I had two books by Leonie Mack that I gave 4.5/5, I had to have at least one of her books in the top ten today. (My review)

Funny Story by Emily Henry - Emily Henry is consistently good!

An Astronomer in Love by Antoine Laurain - I read several books by this author this year so it is only right that he is on this list. (My review)

Summer at Santorini Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin - I love the way that Rebecca Raisin writes about food, books, places! (My review)

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See - I pretty much always enjoy Lisa See's books! This was no exception!

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros - I gave this a 4.5 just because of the fact that I could not put it down! I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series when it comes out!

Are any of these books on your favourite list?

Countdown to 2025: Day 28

 This year I am participating in Countdown to 2025 hosted by Lynn from Lynn's Books. Today is day 28 and the prompt for today is Candlelight – a book that kept you up into the early hours

For this prompt I have chosen the first book I read this year, which was my first 5/5 read for the year!

Tomorrow's prompt is A roaring fire – a book that was heartwarming

Top Ten Tuesday: Read on a theme book club

  

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books I’m Worried I Might Not Love as Much the Second Time Around (I love re-reading, but there are some books that hit so perfectly and I loved so much that I worry reading them again wouldn’t be the same. Or maybe the books I read when I was younger wouldn’t be favorites anymore. Or maybe some books just don’t age well?).

I don't reread that much, except for certain audiobooks like Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and two Georgette Heyer books which are narrated by Richard Armitage.

Instead this week, I am going to share some of the books that I have read for my read on a theme book club. What is a read on a theme book club? And is it book club, bookclub or book-club? My book club meets approximately every 6 weeks and at each meeting we decide on a theme for the next choice. You then read whatever book you like that meets the theme rather than the more traditional method of picking a specific book that everyone then has to read

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman - This is the current theme which is Crime: Fact or Fiction. It seemed the perfect time to read a book I have had on my TBR for a while now.

The Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein - The theme for this was Out of My Comfort Zone, which for me was a new to me self published author. I missed the meeting for this as I was away for the weekend which was a shame as one of the other ladies read all three Fifty Shades books and the conversation was apparently hilarious.

The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley - The theme for this one was A Book with a City in its name

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - The theme for this one was Science and it was one of the few occasions where a couple of us read the same book.

Spring Clean for the Peach Queen by Sasha Wasley - The theme was Colour in the Title

The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens  - The theme was Spring

The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams - This is the only book we have ever all read for the one meeting, and we chose to do this because some of us were going to hear her speak at Melbourne Writers Festival.

The Visitors by Jane Harris - The theme for this one was Indigenous Authors

Dreaming in French by Vanessa McCausland - The theme for this one was Australian Authors. To be fair, a lot of the authors on this list are Australian!

The Proxy Bride by Zoe Boccabella - The theme was New and I chose this one as I bought the book new, it was a new author to me and it was about starting a new life.

What themes do you think you would choose if you were in a read on a theme book club!

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge February Statistics

 

For the last couple of years I have been sharing statistics each month for the Historical challenge, and my plan is to continue to do this again this year. I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! Having visited most of February's posts, I can tell you that there are some very interesting books being reviewed - unusual times and places, translated fiction and more - and I have added several books to my TBR list!

In terms of the books, there were 56 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 22 participants. This is less than for the same month last year but I am sure we will catch up!  There were 56 individual titles reviewed, written by 55 different authors. There were 3 reviewers who reviewed more than 5 books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 6 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in February? Well, none actually, which I think is a good indicator of the wide variety of historical fiction books there are out in the reading world!

There was one author who was reviewed more than once, and I am very pleased to say that she is an Australian author by the name of Melissa Ashley

Tracey at Carpe Librum reviewed Melissa Ashley's 2019 book The Bee and the Orange Tree which tells the story of Marie Catherine D'Aulnoy and is set in the French courts in the 17th century. You can find her review here.

The book that I read was The Naturalist of Amsterdam which was once again set in the 17th century but this time in Amsterdam and Suriname. My review is here (safe to say I enjoyed it a lot!)

Last week I shared the longlist for the Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction as my Top Ten Tuesday post. 

The only book from the longlist that has been reviewed so far this year is Cuddy by Benjamin Myers, which Helen from She Reads Novel reviewed this month. It sounds like a really good read. 

My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor is also on the longlist, and this was one of the most reviewed books of the 2023 challenge.

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here and you can add your links to the March link post here.

I am linking this post up with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz!

The Naturalist Of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley

 

I don't know about you, but I am always on the lookout for historical fiction that is something that bit different, whether it be setting, subject or something else. As soon as I heard about this book, I thought it sounded really interesting for a number of reasons, but if I had to pick just one reason then it would be because of my husband's Dutch heritage.

I originally intended to read this mid last year when my read on a theme bookclub chose Science as a theme. However, I realised that it was too early compared to release date so I ended up reading Lessons in Chemistry instead. The theme for our January meeting was a book with a place name in the title.  I must confess I did have about 40 different titles on my Kindle  that would have fit the theme, and that doesn't include any titles with Paris in it, but this was the perfect choice for me!

 

We first meet Dorothea Graff (also known as Dortje or Dort) she is living in a Labatist community. Her mother has moved with her daughters into the religious community, leading to the breakdown of her marriage. It is a very austere life, and the only joy for Dortje is the times when she gets to spend time with her mother assisting with her work.

Her mother, Maria Sybilla Merian, is a famous naturalist, someone who observes nature and then, in Maria's case, creates amazing manuscripts full of detailed paintings and descriptions. Her work is popular and incredibly collectible at the highest levels of society. Dortje grows up assisting her mother, and when Maria decides to travel to Suriname there is no question as to whether she will be her mother's companion. It is a remote and dangerous life, but there is also incredible beauty in the unique plants and creatures that abound.

Whilst Dort loves her life in Suriname, she does wonder if she will ever have an identity of her own, whether she will ever meet an appropriate suitor. When the family returns to Amsterdam, it seems like her time may have come, but sometimes life gets in the way, and soon it becomes clear that not only is she her mother's companion, assistant and student she will be responsible for the protection of her ongoing legacy.

This is not necessarily an easy read. There is lots of details around the insects, about the printing processes and techniques and more. It is a book that feels pretty meaty but for me that was one of the things I loved about it. 

I also love it when you are reading great historical fiction and you find yourself going off to Google to search for information after reading about something and that is what happened with this book. This is especially true give that this book tells the story of real women from history.

I found myself searching for information about things like the Labatists religious community. Another thing that I learnt about was the existence of the Dutch West Indies Company. I feel like I know a bit about the Dutch East Indies Company, particularly given some of the history where Dutch explorers found the West Australian coat, and being involved in Indonesian history and more. I can't say I knew a lot about the Dutch West Indies Company. In a way, I would think it should be more well known given that the Dutch West Indies were responsible for founding New Amsterdam, which in time became New York, but it isn't really.

I also found myself searching for more information about Suriname, as I am not sure I could have said where it was prior to reading this book.

After having read about it in this book, I have added a place to visit next we go to Amsterdam to visit my brother in law and his family, which may be as soon as later this year. Hortus Botanicus is the oldest botannical gardens in the world and I definitely intend to go and explore at some point.

I am so glad that I got to read this book, and I am very interested to explore Melissa Ashley's backlist. It seems as though she rights about fascinating women from history, and I am looking forward to reading more.

I will be sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Rating 5/5

About the book

Amsterdam, at the turn of the 18th century. For as long as she can remember, Dorothea Graff has lived in service to her mother, Maria Sibyilla Merian, one of the greatest naturalists in Europe. But as she collects insects and colours illustrations for Maria’s world-famous publications, Dorothea longs for a life that is truly her own.

When Maria becomes entranced by the plant and insect life of Suriname, she is determined to record it for herself, taking Dorothea with her. All the family’s savings are ploughed into the dangerous expedition, but greatness is never achieved without sacrifice. The Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname will be Maria’s masterpiece, but ensuring its legacy – and her own survival – will become her daughter’s burden. When offered a chance of happiness, will Dorothea have the courage to take it, and risk everything her mother built?

From the jungles of South America to the bustling artists’ studios of Amsterdam, The Naturalist of Amsterdam gives voice to the long-ignored women who shaped our understanding of the natural world – both the artists and those who made their work possible.

Six Degrees of Separation: Sunflowers to Daughter of Fortune

 

 

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 this month is the book that we finished with last month. This means that my starting point is Sunflowers by Sheramy Brundrick. Sunflowers is about the life of Vincent Van Gogh. 

Over the years I have read a number of books about art history, but I think for the purposes of this exercise I am going to choose Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant, which is set during the Renaissance.

I saw Sarah Dunant speak at Melbourne Writers Festival a few years ago. Someone who I saw at MWF last year was Pip Williams, so for my next book I am choosing The Book Binder of Jericho which was one of my 5/5 reads last year.

My first 5/5 read for this year was a book called The Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Hamilton. This is the story of a young woman who works for her mother which is a famous naturalist. Their travels take them as far a field as Suriname.

This book reminded me a bit of A Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.

And it also reminded me of The Botanist's Daughter by Katye Nunn which I listened to last year but apparently neglected to record it on either of my spreadsheets or Goodreads, so it took me a little while to find the title.

 Part of The Botanist's Daughter was set in Chile, so my final link had to be a book that was also partially set in the same country which is Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. I could also have linked through the word daughter as well!

The starting point next month is Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Will you be joining us?

This week

I'm reading

It's been a while since I have done one of these weekly posts but I realised that I missed being able to look back so I am back!

The theme for my read on a theme bookclub this month is a book with a city name in the title. When I looked on my Kindle I had about 45 options for this theme, and that didn't include books with the word Paris in the title. In the end I decided to read Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley. I originally started it a couple of months before it was published when the bookclub theme was science, but I put it down because it was too early and ended up reading Lessons in Chemistry.  This was, however, the perfect chance to read it, and I absolutely loved it.  This is therefore my first book of the year for 2024. Sheila from Book Journey always has a first book of the year event, but I read this on my Kindle and didn't even have a cover image on it so I haven't shared it there.

I am also reading The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai for the Japanese Literature Challenge hosted at Dolce Bellezza during January and February. I have a feeling I am going to love this book as well. Expect to see a post about this book for Weekend Cooking in the coming months. This will also count for the Books in Translation Reading Challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader.

Finally I am listening to At the Foot of the Cherry Tree by Australian author Alli Parker. This is her debut novel and is based on her grandparents story.  I haven't had much listening time recently so I am looking forward to getting back to listening soon!

I'm watching

This week we finished watching two series. The first was the TV adaptation of Lessons in Chemistry. As I mentioned above I read the book last year and really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the TV series too. Obviously it was different to the book, but it was a good watch. I am also going to go and hear the author, Bonnie Garmus, talk at a live event in a couple of months which should be interesting!

We also watched the final episodes of Attack on Titan which is a Japanese anime series we have been watching with my son.

As I am sitting here writing this post I am also watching a documentary called A Year in Champagne.

Life

On New Year's Eve in 2022 we were at Mont St Michel and enjoyed a fabulous night with the locals,, eating an amazing dinner, drinks and dancing. This year was a little more ....quiet. My sister and her family came around for dinner, and then we were watching the live concert from Sydney Harbour, but their dog got freaked out by the illegal fireworks going off all around us to they ended up going home at about 10pm. Robert and I watching until the end of the fireworks and then went to bed. 

Whilst I am working over the Christmas/New Year period, Robert is not. He's given himself a list of things to do from putting the TV on the wall, to sorting out the garage, and a few other things. I get tired just watching him.

A couple of days ago we put together our new bookshelves in our study. Look at the possibilities of all these empty shelves!! We did start putting books on the shelves today, but there are still a few boxes to go and I am pretty sure we don't have enough shelves. We'll see.

Max

Max really seems to not particularly like having his photo taken, but I still persist!

The 2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is now love! If you love historical fiction please consider joining us. You can find all the details at the sign up post which is here.

Posts from the last week

Festive Treats 2023

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Most Recent Additions to my TBR pile

Bookish Books Reading Challenge

Weekend Cooking: Best of 2023

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: January links

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