Tag: memes

#TopTenTuesday Books I Love Written Over Ten Years Ago

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Top Ten Tuesday

Top 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 topic is Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago. Here are ten of my favourites.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – The author’s masterpiece, a book that has never gone out of print. For me, the 1940 film starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is the original and best adaptation of this classic novel.

Mr Standfast by John Buchan – My favourite of all John Buchan’s books because of the WW1 setting and an ending that always moves me to tears

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – Christmas wouldn’t be complete without either re-reading the book, listening to an audiobook version or watching Albert Finney in Scrooge (sorry but The Muppet Christmas Carol just doesn’t cut it)

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre – The Cold War spy novel by the master of the genre that features the author’s most famous character, George Smiley. The 1965 film version starring Richard Burton as Alec Leamas is fantastic.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – You probably read it at school and, like me, may have read it many times since. For me, Gregory Peck in the 1962 film version is Atticus Finch. 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë – One of my favourite books of all time. And, yes, I am going to argue that the 1943 film starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles is the best adaptation.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys – A novel that “rescues” the character of Bertha Mason, the ‘madwoman in the attic’ from Jane Eyre, and gives us her story.

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers – My favourite of the author’s Lord Peter Wimsey books because, not only is it a great crime mystery, but it features the fabulous Harriet Vane.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco – The book that first kindled my love for historical mysteries.

Dissolution by C J Sansom – The first book in the author’s historical mystery series set in Tudor England featuring lawyer Matthew Shardlake. Mentioning it here has reminded me I still need to read book 7, Tombland. (It’s a whopper.) 

#WWWWednesday – 10th August 2022

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WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

After She'd GoneAfter She’d Gone by Alex Dahl (ARC, Head of Zeus)

Liv keeps a low profile in Sandefjord, Norway: she’s just another tired single mother, trying to make ends meet. She has never told her son about the secrets she carries or the life she lived before he was born. She will do anything to keep him safe.

Anastasia‘s life is transformed when she moves from Russia to Milan to work as a model. She’s rich. She’s desired. But there’s a dark side to the high-pressure catwalk shows; the sun-baked Italian palazzos; the drink-fuelled after-parties hosted by powerful men. Soon, she will do anything to escape.

Selma is a journalist in Oslo. She’ s investigating scandals in the modelling industry, but can’ t get her article published. Then a woman goes missing in Sandefjord. Now Selma is about to uncover the biggest story of her life…

The Women of the CastleThe Women of the Castle by Jessica Shattuck (Zaffre)

The Third Reich has crumbled. The Russians are coming.

Marianne von Lingenfels – widow of a resister murdered by the Nazi regime – finds refuge in the crumbling Bavarian castle where she once played host to German high society. There she fulfils her promise to find and protect the wives and children of her husband’s brave conspirators, rescuing her dearest friend’s widow, Benita, from sexual slavery to the Russian army, and Ania from a work camp for political prisoners. As Marianne assembles this makeshift family she is certain their shared pain will bind them together.

But as Benita begins a clandestine relationship and Ania struggles to conceal her role in the Nazi regime, Marianne learns that her clear-cut, highly principled world view has no place in these new, frightening and emotionally-charged days.

All three women must grapple with the realities they now face, and the consequences of decisions each made in the darkest of times…

Recently finished

The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys by Jack Jewers (Moonflower Publishing)

The Bone Road by N. E. Solomons (Polygon)

Bad Relations by Cressida Connolly (Viking)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

The Night ShipThe Night Ship by Jess Kidd (ARC, Canongate via Readers First)

1629. Embarking on a journey in search of her father, a young girl called Mayken boards the Batavia, the most impressive sea vessel of the age. During the long voyage, this curious and resourceful child must find her place in the ship’s busy world, and she soon uncovers shadowy secrets above and below deck. As tensions spiral, the fate of the ship and all on board becomes increasingly uncertain.

1989. Gil, a boy mourning the death of his mother, is placed in the care of his irritable and reclusive grandfather. Their home is a shack on a tiny fishing island off the Australian coast, notable only for its reefs and wrecked boats. This is no place for a teenager struggling with a dark past and Gil’s actions soon get him noticed by the wrong people.

The Night Ship is an enthralling tale of human cruelty, fate and friendship, and of two children, hundreds of years apart, whose fates are inextricably bound together.