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: Authors I'd Love Another Book From

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Authors I’d Love a New Book From (These could be authors that have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might jut not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!)

The first five authors I have mentioned are people who have passed away.

Terry Pratchett - When I was looking at the website, I saw that they have found a "lost" book so there will be something new.

Ariana Franklin - This is an example of a series where a family member continued the series after the author's death.

Sharon Kay Penman - While we will never have a new SKP book, I do still have a couple of books still to read.

Susan Vreeland - I really liked this authors take on historical fiction.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - I did love Shadow of the Wind so hard

And the next few just don't seem to be writing anymore

Lisa Kleypas - There's an irony that I have three historical romance readers on this list because I just don't really read this genre anymore.

Liz Carlyle - I used to love Liz Carlyle's books but there hasn't been a new one for years now.

Loretta Hill - This author was writing rural fiction featuring women working in really interesting jobs before she just stopped writing.

Laura Florand - A while ago I was going through a huge reading slump and there were only two authors who I was still reading. Laura Florand was one of those.

Tessa Dare - In theory there is going to be another Tessa Dare book but it does keep on getting delayed. The release date is now 3036

Six Degrees of Separation: Friendaholic to Forever in Blue

 

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. 

 

This month's starting point is Friendaholic by Elizabeth Day.

The last book that I finished reading was The Silver Ladies Do Lunch by Judy Leigh which is all about lifelong friendships in a small village near Oxford. I reviewed this book a couple of days ago.

The word lunch made me think of the Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland, which in turn made me think of the Renoir paintings we saw when we were in Paris, but let me get back on track.

I really enjoyed the books I have read by Susan Vreeland so I am going with another of her books, Clara and Mr Tiffany, which is all about the creation of Tiffany glass lamps. (My review)

Another book with the word glass in the title is Sea Glass by Maria V Snyder

This then links to The House in the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune through the word sea

For my final link I have chosen Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares because cerulean is a shade of blue. (My review)

I don't always try to link back to the starting point but given that Forever in Blue is the fourth book in the Sisterhood of Travelling Pants series which is all about friendship, I think it ties back nicely.

Next month the starting point is Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov and translated by Angela Rodel.

Top Ten Tuesday: Places I visited which reminded me of books I have read

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Bookish Goals for 2023, I really only have two of those (and I am already behind on one of those) so instead I am twisting the topic to have the opportunity to share some photos from my trp!

My theme for this week is places I have visited which reminded me of books I had read. Obviously, I need to work on the title to make it a bit snappier, but it is what it is right now.

For context, I am currently in Italy, having visited The Netherlands, France and Italy. We will be travelling home via Singapore so there will be more, but for now, these are just some of the places where I found myself thinking about books I had read while I was away

Bayeux - There is so much history in Normandy, whether it be medieval or WWII or somewhere in between. I found my self thinking about Elizabeth Chadwick's books as well as Sharon Kay Penman's books. However, for the purpose of today, I am choosing to match with The Needle in the Blood by Sarah Bower

Saint Chappelle - Amy Plum introduced me to this place and it has been on my bucket list ever since.

St Malo - When we were planning our route we were looking for somewhere to stay between Normandy and the Loire Valley and I chose this place purely and simply because of Anthony Doerr's wonderful book All the Light We Cannot See.

Chennonceau - I first blogged about wantiing to visit Chennonceaux back in 2011! This book tells the story of Catherine de Medici who left her mark on this chateau.

Louvre - I have read a number of books now which talk about the saving of art from The Louvre. One passage which came to mind was from The Riviera House by Natasha Lester where they talked about the processs of getting The Winged Victory of Thamocrace out of the Louvre. Interestingly, at Chambord in the Loire Valley there is a new permanent exhibition which talked about saving the art from The Louvre during WWII.

Musee D'Orsay - We loved visiting Musee D'Orsay - we definitely did not have enought time thher. Whilst Renoir's painting Luncheon of the Boating Party is not one of the ones we saw, I did find myself thinking of this book while I was there.

Musee D'Orsay - I really wanted to get a photo of the clocks at Musee D'Orsay. They are on a number of covers but this it the one that comes to mind.

Naples - The obvious choice for Naples would be Elena Ferrante but instead I am choosing The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella

Puglia - As I started this post I was staying in a trullo in Alberobello. I was inspired to want to visit Puglia thanks to this book. We did a walking tour of the town and the guide asked why we chose to stay here and I shared the title!

Rome - We arrived in Rome late on Monday so our main tourist day is tomorrow so no pictures yet!

Six Degrees of Separation: Second Place to The Kitchen Child

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.

This month, the book that Kate has chosen as the starting point is Second Place by Rachel Cusk who I am plannning to watch in one of the online sessions at Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) this weekend.

Another author that I  have seen at MWF is Sarah Dunant. At the time she was talking about her book Blood & Beauty which is about Lucrezia Borgia. One of the talks I attended was also addressed by an art specialist who talked about some of the symbolism in a painting.

I do have a lot of books that I have read which talk about art and history. I ended up choosing Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland which traces the various owners of a particular painting back through time. (review)

The Riviera House by Natasha Lester is a new release that I read last week which focuses on art that was stolen from owners during World War II, in particular a painting that is owned by one of the main characters in current times. I am planning on posting a review of this book in the next week or so.

As I mentioned I could just do a whole 6 Degrees post on historical fiction books that I have read about art through history. Maybe another time. For today I am linking to Mr Rosenblums List by Natasha Solomons, a book that I read and loved years ago.

There isn't really a logical link between Mr Rosenblums list and my choice, Major Pettigrews Last Stand by Helen Simonson. In my mind though, they are books that seem to have a similar feel, and I think I read them relatively closely together. I just checked my list and there was two months difference. (review)

My final link is actually to a short story called The Kitchen Child by Angela Carter. I chose it because it is read by Helen Simpson (sounds similar to Helen Simionson)  as part of a series that was original released by The Guardian around 10 years. If you have twenty minutes spare, I did listen to this story again as I wrote this post and it was still delightful. (review)

The starting point for next month is The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, and I already know what my first link is!!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Colour in the Titles

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is Books with Colours in the Title.

When I looked at my books read spreadsheet, I realised that I could have done entire Top Ten lists of red and blue books. Instead, I am going to focus on the primary colours - red blue and yellow - to make up my list for this week.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chinamanda Ngozi Adiche - I have long had an interest in reading books set in Nigeria. This was a particularly good one.

The Girl in the Yellow Vest by Loretta Hill - This is a book features a female engineer working in a construction environment in Queensland. I really enjoyed Loretta Hill's writing. It doesn't look like she is writing anymore which is a shame.

The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey - I do enjoy a book set in Ireland. This one is set in Northern Ireland in the early years of the 1900's which was quite a tumultuous time.

Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland  - This book follows a painting of a girl (in hyacinth blue) through the years from owner to owner. I really enjoyed this book!

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore - This is the third book in the Graceling YA fantasy series. Just thinking about this book makes me want to revist the series.

Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith - This is the seventh book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series and features a pair of talking shoes.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - This book holds a special place in my blogging heart. I read this book and I just wanted to talk to someone about it and it become the first book I wrote a review of. When I read it years later it wasn't a great review but it was the start of this blogging journey.

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan - Shaun Tan writes and illustrates the most amazing books. Whilst The Arrival is my favourite, and probably always will be, this was an enjoyable.

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley - Among the many series that I keep on saying I really need to get back to soon is the Flavia de Luce mystery series, featuring a precocious young girl as the sleuth. This is book 3 in the series.

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett - I am cheating for this last book because once you have all the primary colours you can make all the other colours, which quite frankly is magic!

What colourful reads do you have on your Top Ten list.