Tag: memes

#TopTenTuesday Books to Shelter in During a Storm #TuesdayBookBlog

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Top Ten TuesdayTop Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

  • Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
  • Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
  • Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
  • Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Books to Read During a Storm.  I think during a storm you want to feel safe so my list contains books set in places that might keep you secure.  Links from the title will take you to my review. 

  1. Fortress of Fury by Matthew Harffy – the great fortress of Bebbanburg withstands a siege in 7th century Anglo-Saxon Britain
  2. Castle Gay by John Buchan – the residents of a besieged Scottish manor house resist a gang of foreign baddies   
  3. A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering by Andrew Hunter Murray – if you’ve nowhere to shelter just break into the second home of a wealthy person while they are away
  4. The Household by Stacey Halls – a house in a secret location offers refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute
  5. Sanctuary Motel by Alan Orloff – Mess Hopkins throws open the doors of his motel to the homeless, victims of abuse, or anyone else who could benefit from a comfy bed with clean sheets and a roof over their head
  6. The Fort by Adrian Goldsworthy – Flavius Ferox is posted to a remote fort during a period of uneasy peace between Dacia and the Roman Empire 
  7. Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar – a Czech astronaut is launched into space beyond the earth’s atmosphere
  8. My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor – diplomats, refugees, and escaped Allied prisoners seek protection in Vatican City, a neutral country within German occupied Rome 
  9. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells – just go back in time before the storm
  10. The Man in the Bunker by Rory Clements – unpleasant company but at least it’s pretty much impregnable

#6Degrees of Separation – A book chain from Sandwich by Catherine Newman to Talland House by Maggie Humm

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It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation.

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own six degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post.   You can also check out links to posts on Twitter using the hashtag #6Degrees.

SandwichThis month’s starting book is Sandwich by Catherine Newman set in Cape Cod. It’s a novel I’ve not read or even heard of before now and, based on the description, probably not a book I’m likely to pick up.

Links from each title in the chain will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

Fairly predictably my first link is food-related and something you might use when making a sandwich.  Butter by Asako Yuzuki (translated by Polly Barton) features a female serial killer who is also a gourmet cook. 

The Language of FoodEliza Acton, the main character in The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs, was definitely not a serial killer but was a pioneering cook. She was the author of the first recipe book aimed at domestic readers, Modern Cookery for Private Families. 

Miss Graham's Cold War CookbookMiss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees also features recipes but this time as a way of communicating coded messages as part of an operation to root out Nazis trying to escape prosecution after the end of WW2.

In Mr Standfast by John Buchan, it’s John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress which is used to decipher coded messages between Richard Hannay and his comrades who have been given the task of tracking down and destroying a network of German spies during WW1.

Hannay’s adventures take him to, amongst other places, the Isle of Skye which is also the setting for To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

Talland House in St. Ives, Cornwall is where Virginia Woolf spent many summers as a child and Talland House by Maggie Humm is a historical fiction novel featuring characters from To the Lighthouse.

My chain has taken me from Cape Cod to Cornwall via the Isle of Skye. Where did your chain take you this month?