#TopTenTuesday Books I Hope Santa Brings

Top Ten Tuesday new

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.

Christmas 4This week’s topic is Books I Hope Santa Brings. Although there are loads of books I’d be happy to unwrap on Christmas Day, in reality I’m unlikely to receive any actual books because my family and friends wouldn’t know what to buy as I have so many books already, and I don’t like being that specific with Christmas lists. However, in the expectation of some gift cards turning up under the Christmas tree, here are some book I’d spend the money on.  (Links from the titles will take you to the book description on Goodreads.)

The Streets by Anthony Quinn – I read my first book by this author – Eureka – recently and as a result I’m keen to explore more of his back catalogue. This one caught my eye because it was shortlisted for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2013.

Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth MacNeal – I read the author’s debut novel, The Doll Factory, recently. This book is also set in Victorian times and sounds like it has a similarly intriguing plot as its predecessor.

Falling Creatures by Katherine Stansfield – This is the first book in the author’s ‘Cornish Mysteries’ series. I’ve read the two subsequent books, The Magpie Tree and The Mermaid Calls, but I’d love to find out how it all began.

The Girl in the Maze by Cathy Hayward – Having read some great reviews of this debut novel, I immediately added it to my wishlist. 

Little Boy Lost by Margharita Laski – I can’t recall which book blogger I have to thank for making me add this book, originally published in 1949, to my wishlist but it was probably a Persephone Books fan.

A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson – This was a book on the longlist for this year’s Booker Prize that caught my eye, alongwith The Fortune Men (which I’ve read), The Sweetness of Water (which I’ve yet to read) and…

An Island by Karen Jennings – As well as being intrigued by the storyline, I also love it when a small publisher makes it to the longlist of a major literary prize.  

Not One Of Us by Alis Hawkins – This is the latest book in the author’s ‘Teifi Valley Coroner’ historical crime series which I’ve followed from the beginning, although I still have to read book two in the series, In Two Minds

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson – Another book I’ve seen a lot of love for, one reviewer describing it as an ‘astonishingly exquisite debut novella’.

Resistance by Mara Timon – I loved the author’s first book, City of Spies, so I’m keen to read this one as I cannot resist (get it?) a novel set in World War 2.


#WWWWednesday – 15th December 2021

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

LittleLittle by Edward Carey (Gallic Books)

In 1761, a tiny, odd-looking girl named Marie is born in a village in Switzerland. After the death of her parents, she is apprenticed to an eccentric wax sculptor and whisked off to the seamy streets of Paris, where they meet a domineering widow and her quiet, pale son.

Together, they convert an abandoned monkey house into an exhibition hall for wax heads, and the spectacle becomes a sensation. As word of her artistic talent spreads, Marie is called to Versailles, where she tutors a princess and saves Marie Antoinette in childbirth.

But outside the palace walls, Paris is roiling: The revolutionary mob is demanding heads, and… at the wax museum, heads are what they do.

Her Hidden LifeHer Hidden Life by V. S. Alexander (Avon)

It’s 1943 and Hitler’s Germany is a terrifying place to be. But Magda Ritter’s duty is the most dangerous of all…

Assigned to The Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat, she must serve the Reich by becoming the Führer’s ‘Taster’ – a woman who checks his food for poison. Magda can see no way out of this hellish existence until she meets Karl, an SS officer who has formed an underground resistance group within Hitler’s inner circle.

As their forbidden love grows, Magda and Karl see an opportunity to stop the atrocities of the madman leading their country. But in doing so, they risk their lives, their families and, above all, a love unlike either of them have ever known…


Recently finished

Links from titles will take you to my review

The Lost Girl in Paris by Jina Bacarr (Boldwood Books)

The Alphabet of Heart’s Desire by Brian Keaney (Holland House)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber)


What Cathy (will) Read Next

The Cornish CaptiveThe Cornish Captive by Nicola Pryce (ARC, Corvus via Readers First)

Cornwall, 1800. Imprisoned on false pretences, Madeleine Pelligrew, former mistress of Pendenning Hall, has spent the last 14 years shuttled between increasingly destitute and decrepit mad houses. When a strange man appears out of the blue to release her, she can’t quite believe that her freedom comes without a price. Hiding her identity, Madeleine determines to discover the truth about what happened all those years ago.

Unsure who to trust and alone in the world, Madeleine strikes a tentative friendship with a French prisoner on parole, Captain Pierre de la Croix. But as she learns more about the reasons behind her imprisonment, and about those who schemed to hide her away for so long, she starts to wonder if Pierre is in fact the man he says he is. As Madeleine’s past collides with her present, can she find the strength to follow her heart, no matter the personal cost?