Top Ten Tuesday: Book titles that remind me of a song

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Bookish Wishes (List the top 10 books you’d love to own and include a link to your wishlist so that people can grant your wishes. Make sure you link your wishlist to your mailing address or include the email address associated with your e-reader in the list description so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if you’d like. Please don’t feel obligated to send anything to anyone!). 

I always feel a bit uncomfortable with this topic. I don't really have a wishlist and I would feel uncomfortable putting one up in the hope that someone would gift me something, and feeling uncomfortable if no one did!

Instead, I am bringing you 10 books with titles that remind me of a song. And you are welcome for any earworms that you might receive as a result of this post. I certainly gave myself some!

Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe - This phrase reminds me of the chorus of Thank You by Dido where one of the lines is  I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life. (my review)

Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Sophie Cousens - Makes me think of the Joe Jackson song that was released in 1978. It's a very catchy tune!

Girls Just Want to Have Sun by Jo Lyons - This is an obvious play on the title Girls Just Want to Have Fun by the fabulous Cyndi Lauper

You Can't Hurry Love by Susan Buchanan - Phil Collins anyone? And look, there's a sloth on the cover. 

Someone I Used to Know by Paige Toon - The song title is actually Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye and Kimbra, but it's close enough to make me thing of the song. 

I Knew You Were Trouble by Sandy Barker - Now we are in our our Taylor Swift earworm era. I feel like if I went looking hard enough I would find quite a few Taylor adjacent titles. (my review)

Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane - Back to the 80s with Simple Minds for this one!

Over the Sea to Skye by Sue Moorcroft - The title of this song is actually The Skye Boat Song and it is a very old song, originating in Scotland in the 19th century. You may also be familiar with it as the theme song for the Outlander TV series. I will have my review up for this book later in the week.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by Claudia Carroll - Not quite as old given that it was originally released in 1960  the title of this song by The Shirelles is sometimes shown as Will You Love Me Tomorrow but the lyrics include the word still. 

Suspicious Minds by Martin Edwards - Edwards has a whole series featuring detective Harry Devlin where several of the books have song titles. I chose this one because I love both the Elvis and Fine Young Cannibals versions.

Can you think of other titles which remind you of a song. I am sure there are lots!

Top Ten Tuesday: Unread Books on My Kindle - Part Two

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Favorite Book Quotes (You can pick your favorite quotes from books, or about books! You can set a theme like quotes from books about love, friendship, hope, etc. or you can just share quotes you loved from your recent reads!). I don't often keep note of quotes so I am going rogue again this week .... yes, again!!!

A couple of weeks ago there was a theme which was Unread Books on My Shelves I Want to Read Soon. I chose to focus only on the books that are on my Kindle. At the time, I said I could easily do this topic again, so I am going to! So here are ten more books that have been languishing on my Kindle that I would buy again!

You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane - I actually have a couple of her books on my Kindle

The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth - I feel like it is a bit sacrilegious to have not read any of Sally Hepworth's books

The Familiars by Stacy Halls - Stacy Halls writes such interesting sounding books!

The Pearl of Penang by Clare Flynn - I have all three of the books in this series. I am keen to read these because of the setting.

Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley  - To be honest I am a bit shocked that this book is on my list. I love Susanna Kearsley, and was very excited when she announced a new book just this week, only to realise that I still haven't read this book.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - I read Lincoln Highway a while ago, but haven't managed to read this one yet. 

The Pretty Delicious Cafe by Danielle Hawkins - I really must read this.

The Naturalists Daughter by Tea Cooper - I actually have a few Tea Cooper books to read.

Clap When You land by Elizabeth Acevedo - I loved With the Fire On High so much when I read it, I pre-ordered this book....and still haven't read it!

The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O'Neal - I have a few books by this author too!

Top Ten Tuesday: Sing!

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Bookish People I’d Like To Meet (These can be authors, book characters, book bloggers/influencers, cover designers, cover models, etc.) but I am going to go off topic this week...again. I have had a very busy month attending concerts, so I thought I would choose a musical theme! 

Working Class Boy by Jimmy Barnes - Jimmy Barnes is an Aussie music legend and this is the story of his childhood. He has written a couple of others about his life too!

Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke - A piece of song makes its way around the world. Such a good book!

A Good American by Alex George and A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - I chose both of these because of the musical instruments on their covers

An Island in the Sun by Kate Frost - This book features a successful songwriter spending time on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - Chosen because of the word Song. One day I will read this book. I loved Circe.

The Time of Singing by Elizabeth Chadwick - I love this cover. I really need to get back to reading Elizabeth Chadwick.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - It's hard to do a post named Sing! and not include this book.

Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane - I do like a book that gives you an earworm when you look at the title.

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett - Ah Pratchett! So much fun!

Next week I have every intention of doing the actual topic!

Top Ten Tuesday: Fancy fonts

 

 

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

week the theme is

Typographic Book Covers (Book covers with a design that is all or mostly all words. You can also choose to do books with nice typography if that’s easier!) (Submitted by Mareli @ Elza Reads)


It is interesting when you look at trends in covers. If we look at historical romance as an example. Not too long ago most covers were clinch covers with women in gorgeous dresses but these days it isn't as standard. Now, there are font covers or cartoonny in amongst the big dresses.


I haven't focussed on just one genre, but here is my Top Ten Tuesday post featuring typographic book covers.

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - The reality is that you could have picked any one of the Stephanie Plum books as they are pretty much all typographic covers!

Love Stories by Trent Dalton - Given that this is a selection of very short stories, this cover makes sense as there isn't one single story to tell

Someone I Used to Know by Paige Toon - Plenty of rom-coms have wordy covers!

The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks - This cover is very eye catching.

The Great Passage by Shion Miura - This book is all about the words, inside and out!



The People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry - All of Emily Henry's covers have been wordy so far.

Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - Such a fun cover and book!

Normal People by Sally Rooney - Quite a few of the covers for this book have bold typography on the cover.

Don't You Forget About Me - Another author who has a lot of these style of covers.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - This cover does not convey the emotional nature of this book at all!

Do you like typographic covers?

Top Ten Tuesday: Cartoon Covers

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Colorful Book Covers. I feel like I did this theme not too long ago, so I am twisting it a bit to be Cartoon-ish Covers.  They should be somewhat colourful by nature shouldn't they? 

Sweetheart by Sarah Mayberry - This book is part of four connected series of books set in the World of True North. All of the books set in the Busy Bean cafe have this style of cover.

Flying the Nest by Rachael Johns - Love the yellow of this cover!

You Were Made for me by Jenna Guillaume - If you fancy some Aussie YA this might be a good choice for you.

Rosie's Travelling Tea Shop by Rebecca Raisin - I enjoy the way Raisin writes about books and food (and Paris, although this one isn't set there)

If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane - I must read more by this author.

Beach Read by Emily Henry  - I am very much looking forward to reading this author's next book!

The Switch by Beth O'Leary - another author with an upcoming book that I am excited about!

Welcome to Rosie Hopkin's Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan - This was the first Jenny Colgan book I read but it wasn't the last. I still have plenty more of her backlist to get through.

The New Beginnings Coffee Club by Samantha Tonge - I randomly read this book about 18 months ago and I really enjoyed it! I need to read more from her.

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett - I couldn't do a TTT about cartoon covers without including at least one Pratchett cover!

This week

I'm reading

I am kind of surprised at how much I am managing to read given everything that is going on, especially with Australia gradually descending into lockdown. I don't have my commute time to mess around anymore, and so in theory that should be cutting into my reading time, but it doesn't seem to at the moment.

What I am reading though is more light hearted, fun style reads rather than anything too heavy.

This week I finished reading If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane (not quite the romance I was expecting but still a lot of fun) and Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare which was exactly what I expected and needed!

Currently I am reading The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke and My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith. I chose to read The Lost Love Song after reading lots of really good reviews of it over the last  couple of months.  I am enjoying it so far, although it did take a turn quite early in the book that I kind of sort of knew was coming but still kind of sort of surprised me.

I decided to read the Alexander McCall Smith in a more roundabout way.  I saw mention of a book called The Second Worst Restaurant in France and thought food and France - that's a book for me. However, I then realised that was the second book in the series and so I needed to find the first book. Luckily I find McCall Smith a very calming read most of the time so it is a good read for when I am awake at 4.30 in the morning.

I am still listening to The Rise of  Magicks by Nora Roberts which probably doesn't qualify as light and fun but I did start this before the world went a bit crazy!

I'm watching

Not only am I getting to read but I am also getting to watch some shows.

If you asked me what I achieved on Sunday my answer would be going food shopping, doing my nails and watching pretty much all of season 4 of Outlander! I had maybe watched 2 episodes previously, but I knocked all the others out on Sunday. Of course, my husband tells me I am an underachiever because there are still 6 episodes of season 5 recorded to watch in due course but I will get to them. And hopefully it won't take me 18 months to do so.

On Friday night we watched the last episode of Star Trek: Picard. Is it too soon to say that I am already looking forward to season 2. There was a couple of slow spots in the series, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. In particular, I enjoyed seeing all the old faces returning and really enjoyed the new characters as well.

I have continued to seek out some of the interesting shows that are available as a result of shows and venues being closed down. On Saturday I watched Oklahoma starring Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lippman. This was a first for me, and I have to say, this show was much darker than I expected it to be. While I know a lot of the songs I don't think I have ever actually seen the show or movie before so some of the story line surprised me.

Tonight I watched the 60 minute Cirque du Soleil special. We were meant to go to Cirque du Soleil a couple of weeks ago but it was postponed. Somehow I have never seen one of these shows live so it was a real treat for me to watch this.

The other show that is quickly becoming must watch for me is the Grand Ole Opry. This week the show feature Vince Gill and Amy Grant as well as two of their daughters.

Life

We are how working from home full time and I think that we are getting used to it. It's interesting listening to my husband talk. Most of the time I have no idea what he is talking about but it is lovely to hear him interacting with his colleagues. Of course, he said to me the other day that he has no idea of what I am talking about either, but that I clearly know what I am talking about. I think that is a compliment!

On the weekend just gone, we should have gone to a couple of Melbourne Comedy Festival shows but, alas, it was not to be.

I think this week is going to be a little difficult in some ways because this time tomorrow we should have been sitting at the airport waiting to get on the plane to go to London. Whilst I know that everything is out of our control, it would have been an amazing holiday.

We have been quite lucky. So far we haven't lost too much money with all of our cancellations. Companies like Airbnb were amazing to deal with and gave us our refunds straight away. We have ended up with vouchers to use from the airline and a couple of other places. I think we will still have trouble with one of the hotels and one of the activities, but overall we will end up being okay.

In other not so great news, we found out today that we may need to spend around $3500 on a new  engine for my car. Lots of conversation and no decisions just yet as to what to do. Watch this space.

Posts from the last week

Where There's Music
Weekend Cooking: March  Bakes


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

This week...

I'm reading

What's yellow and dangerous?


Shark infested custard!

This week I have finished reading When It All Went to Custard by Danielle Hawkins which I really enjoyed! I am definitely intending to read more from this author. Rural fiction has been huge in Australia for years. This book is rural, but the difference is that it is set on a sheep farm near a small town in country New Zealand!

Given everything going on in the world at the moment, I am definitely looking for feel good reads. With that in mind I also started reading my first ever book by Mhairi McFarlane,  If I Never Met You. I know a number of bloggers who really love her books, and I love good British humour so I am sure I will like it. I am so far!!


I'm watching

I am also looking to watch feel good TV as well

We watched the first series of Fleabag this week. I wasn't quite sure at first, but it was a lot of fun, and it helps that the episodes are short. I think we will probably watch season two this week.

I  did have to laugh at myself this week. I saw a TV show from Belgium that I though might be fun to watch called Team Chocolate, but I am aware that my husband doesn't like to read subtitles. I was therefore trying to gently introduce the fact that this would be necessary when he asked what language is it in. When I replied Dutch, he looked at me a little oddly. Oh, that's right, he speaks Dutch. No subtitles required!!

Life

Once again, this week is a tale of what we didn't do. We did have plans to go a lecture at the museum which was about their collection of miniatures, but of course this was cancelled.

Also cancelled was our outing to Cirque de Soleil. I have no idea why but I have never actually been to one of their shows so I was super excited to be going, but obviously it wasn't to be this time. I am sure that there will be others.

The big change this week is that we are now practicing social distancing. We are therefore working from home  most days,  and I fully expect that to be extended to be changed to full time shortly.

For the most part I am okay, but I can't quite help but feel a bit anxious about what is going on in the world. I would most likely be okay if I was to get the virus, but there would be a chance that I wouldn't be given that I had pneumonia a couple of years ago and that I am overweight. Fingers crossed that we all manage to stay safe and happy during these uncertain times.

Posts from the last week

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran
Bookish Quote
Library Loot


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