Top Ten Tuesday: Love

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is a Love Freebie (in honor of Valentine’s Day tomorrow). I have kept it simple and I am sharing the last ten books I have read with some variation of the word love in the title.

The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke - Still love this book so much! (my review)

Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop - I do enjoy Victoria Hislop's books although it has been a while since I read one.

The Railway Girls in Love by Maisie Thomas - I am a bit behind on this series. (my review)

Love Stories by Trent Dalton - This was such a fun book. Short vignettes on love. It could be a person or a thing.

With Love from Wish & Co by Minnie Darke - Another good book from this author

Book Lovers by Emily Henry - Because we all love books right?

Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas - I really need to read more Jo Thomas books.

Love and Saffron by Kim Fay - I am wondering how many more times I can sneak this book onto a TTT list. (my review)

The Christmas Love Letters by Sue Moorcroft - This was a lovely Christmas story (my review)

Love in the Time of War by Adrienne Chinn - This is the most recent book I bought with the word love in the title. I haven't actually read it yet.

Have you read and loved any of these books?

Top Ten Tuesday: Audiobooks

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is book by debut authors that I am excited to read, but I have got nothing, so I am going to focus on the last 10 audiobooks that I have listened to. 

All This Could be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews - This is the book I am currently listening to.

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico - I listened to this after watching the movie. It is different from the movie, and it probably shows it's age in some ways but it was still fun!

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett - I have listened to this in the run up to Christmas over the last couple of years.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry - Loved this audiobook. So much so that I recommended it to my boss who is now on an Emily Henry audiobook binge!

The Stand-In by Lily Chu - This was narrated by Philippa Soo, who starred in the musical version of Hamilton, and it was a lot of fun. I might listen to the next Lily Chu book next. Maybe.

Working Class Boy by Jimmy Barnes  - Jimmy Barnes is an Australian rock legend who had a rough start to life. This is his story of growing up in poverty with violence and alcoholism.

Love Stories by Trent Dalton - During the pandemic, Trent Dalton sat at a desk with a typewriter in the city and asked people to tell him their love stories, about all sorts of things, not only limited to romantic love

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This is the second book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series.

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne Valente - a very odd story, told in a very compelling way.

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci - Listening to Stanley (yes, we are on first name basis) narrate this book was such a pleasure! Highly recommend

There's a bit of a mix of genres there. Surprisingly there is no historical fiction, Must fix that!

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?

This Week....

 

I'm reading....

I really struggle to find time to listen to audiobooks, so when I do listen it takes me forever to finish one. For example, I started listening to Love Stories by Trent Dalton months ago. Fortunately this is a series of short stories so it didn't matter that it took a long time to listen to it, but I am glad to say that I finished it this week! Yay! Now to choose the next one. I do think it will probably be the latest Jenny Colgan book because I have listened to that whole series on audio but we will see.

I also am struggling to find reading time at the moment becasue there is a lot going on, but I did start reading The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer last week.

I'm watching....

The main thing I have been watching over the last couple of weeks is the new series of My Kitchen Rules. Manu Fiedel is back but he has a new co-host, Nigella Lawson, the domestic goddess herself. It's funny because usually it is Manu that everyone goes wild for, but it is almost a case of Manu who when Nigella turns up.

I am not feeling great today so I ended up watching a very odd, no let's call it quirky, movie called Lost in Paris. I also finished watching the second season of Sweet Magnolias. Now I think I can find some viewing time to watch Virgin River, or Outlander, or Emily in Paris or...well there's a lot I could be watching.

Life...

Well we were supposed to be moving over the weekend just gone, but once again our situation changed and so we have had to postpone for two weeks. We did still go and lay down the grass in the backyard, which is an odd order to do things in but that was one of the things we couldn't change at the last minute.

We are gradually taking things over so the longer it takesto actually move the less the movers will have to move.

It's  all a bit stressful really.

Posts from the last week

Weekend Cooking: International Scone Week

Historical Fiction Reading challenge - July stats

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

This Week ....

I'm reading...

Last week I was intending to finish reading The Language of Love, and I still intend to do so but I found myself getting side tracked by a completely different book, mainly because I coudn't renew the library loan. That book was Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran and I really enjoyed it. I originally picked it up as I thought it might be a good book for Weekend Cooking, and the cover and title sounded good. 

Whilst there was plenty of talk about food in the book, it was really a book about much meatier topics, including the lasting legacy of trauma, racism, the power of our individual stories and so much more.

I also started reading The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. The theme for our read on a theme bookclub this month is a type of road. For example, the title could include the word street, avenue, road, court or something like that. I did have another book that I was intending to read, but I have been meaning to try Amor Towles for a while now so this seemed like a good opportunity. I was a bit surprised to see how chunky the book was. Once upon a time I would buy a book based on how thick it was but not so much anymore. Hopefully I can get through the nearly 600 pages before our meeting in a couple of weeks.

I did also make some progress on my current audiobook, Love Stories which was written and narrated by Trent Dalton. I am going into the office for a few days this week so that will give me a fair bit of listening time.

I'm watching...

Our binge watch over the last week was Clarkson's Farm thanks to it being mentioned at Sam Still Reading last week. Jeremy Clarkson is known for being a co-host of Top Gear and The Grand Tour. We really enjoyed this series. It was funny and it really shone a light on the life of a farmer..

We are also very pleased that Masterchef Australia is back! This season it is a fans vs faves series, so half of the contestants are from previous series and half are new to the show.

We also started watching Moon Knight, a new Marvel series. I was a bit confused by the first episode but after watching the second episode I think it makes a bit more sense now. We'll see!

Life

Today is Anzac Day and so it is only right that I start my recap of the last week with an acknowledgement of the day and for those past and present who have served to protect our country.

We went to Bendigo today, taking advantage of the public holiday and the nice weather. We caught the end of the Anzac Day service and wandered through the gardens. Our main reason for going to Bendigo today was to see the Elvis: Direct from Graceland exhibition. It was an excellent exhibition, and it certainly bought back memories of when we visited Graceland itself around 3 years ago.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Going Shopping

Weekend Cooking: Baked Prawn Nasi Goreng

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

This Week....

 

I'm reading...

I managed to finish two books last week. Yes too! I won't deny that I was under pressure for the second one as I was finishing it the morning that I was supposed to be posting about it, but that's okay right?

The first book that I finished was the audiobook of Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguche (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot and narrated by Kevin Shen). I listened to the first book a few months ago, and reviewed it here. I probably like the first one a bit better but this was good too.

The other book I finished was The Custard Tart Cafe by Isabella May which I reviewed on Saturday. I had been told that I had to bake something to take to work on Thursday and this book provided the inspiration!

So if I finished two books, what have I started?

On audio I have  started listening to Love Stories by Trent Dalton. He sat on a street corner in Brisbane during the pandemic and asked people to tell him their love stories. A lot of them are about romantic love, but a lot of them are not. Dalton has also narrated the audiobook which is always interesting.

I have also started reading The Snowy River Cattleman by Alissa Callen and I am very keen to read more. I loved the first book in this series when I read it last year!

I'm watching...

Another week of not watching much, although we did squeeze in a couple of episodes of Picard which I think we will catch up on this week. 

We did happen to find The Kings Man which is the story of the establishment of the King's Man agency. We loved the first two movies. This one felt different, mainly because it was set during WWI, but I still really liked it!

Life

The highlight of last week was seeing Crowded House in concert! It was held at one of our outdoor venues here. The concert was amazing, with so many great songs to singalong to, but I am way too old and too fat to sit on the ground as there were no chairs allowed of any kind. Both of us paid the price as as we had very sore backs on Saturday!! You can watch a video of Something So Strong here! So good!

I am a little bit jealous of my son today as he has gone on an overseas holiday. He landed in LA a few hours ago as he is going to a wedding of one of the guys he became friends with when he was at college in Kansas playing basketball. We went to watch him play basketball and then dropped him off at the airport on the way home. 

Our holiday plans for later in the year are starting to come together so it will be our turn soon hopefully.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Second Books in a series

Weekend Cooking/Blog Tour: What I Baked in March

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - March stats

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I have 1-Clicked recently

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's theme is about quotes which is something that I am really absolutely no good at. So instead, I bring you something I am good at, which is the 1-click purchase, whether it be for books or audiobooks. I have a terrible tendency to read emails from Bookbub in the middle of the night I am not sure if that is why I 1-Click with abandon or if I would do that anyway! Probably the latter. 

Here are ten of my recent purchases:

Boys Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton - this has been one of the biggest books here in Australia so it is possibly a bit surprising that I haven't already read this, but I haven't. When it came up as a daily deal on Audible I snapped it up.

The Model Wife by Tricia Stringer - I have read a few books by Tricia Springer over the years and so when this came up as a Daily Deal I didn't have to think twice.

Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Called Helga by Todd Alexander - I have no idea why I bought this one! Maybe because of the title?

War Brides by Helen Bryan - I do like a WWII story, and this one looks like a good one.

Opium and Absinth by Lydia Kang - I have seen this book mentioned on a few Top Ten Tuesday posts so I htought I would take a chance on it.

Deadman's Track by Sarah Barrie - I have heard a lot of good things about Sarah Barrie so thought I would give her a try.

The Life She Chooses by Maggie Christenson - A few months ago I bought the first book in this series. I haven't read it yet but that doesn't stop me from buying book two.

The Sun Also Rose in Paris by Penny Fields-Schneider - Arty Paris in the 1930s! Yes please.

The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplan - These destination style books are generally something that I enjoy. I haven't read this author before so we will see how it goes.

The Beekeepers Promise by Fiona Valpy - Dual timeline, France, WWII. This one ticks all my boxes!

Have you read any of these books? Do you have a tendency to 1-click at any time of the day?