Tag: memes

Top Ten Tuesday: Unread Books On My Summer 2019 TBR

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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.

This week’s topic is Books On My TBR I’m Avoiding Reading and Why. Now, I don’t have any books in my TBR pile I’m avoiding reading because if I was they’d quickly be ejected from my TBR pile and, ideally, found a new, more appreciative home. However, I do have plenty in my TBR pile still unread. Don’t we all? Therefore I’ve decided to revisit an earlier Top Ten Tuesday topic and see how many of my Summer 2019 TBR I actually read. Don’t hold your breath for the words “All of them”!

Links from the book titles will take you to my review or more information about the book.

  1. A Modern Family by Helga Flatland – ‘a beautiful, bittersweet novel of rich insights and extraordinary perception as a family drama creates a quiet earthquake’  A good start as I read and reviewed this one as part of the blog tour.
  2. The Mathematical Bridge by Jim Kelly – historical crime mystery set in 1940s Cambridge, the follow-up to The Great Darkness. I’ve started this one but I’m only a few chapters in.
  3. Improvement by Joan Silber – ‘a bold and piercing novel about a young single mother living in Harlem, her eccentric aunt, and the decisions they make that have unexpected implications for the world around them’  Hmm, yet to pick this one up
  4. The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle – ‘Delicious but never indulgent, sweet with just the right amount of bitter’  Success! Another one I read and reviewed.
  5. The Narrow Land by Christine Dwyer Hickey – ‘A novel of loneliness and regret, the legacy of World War II and the ever-changing concept of the American Dream’ Oh dear, another one still sitting untouched on the bookshelf.
  6. Transcription by Kate Atkinson – ‘a bravura novel of extraordinary power and substance’ And another…
  7. Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce – ‘A disturbing, toxic and compelling novel that explores the power of fear and desire, jealousy and betrayal, love and hate’ And another…you can see the way this is going, can’t you?
  8. In My Life by Alan Johnson – ‘this isn’t just a book about music. In My Life adds a fourth dimension to the story of Alan Johnson the man’ Wait a minute, Cathy’s actually read one of the books on her list? Yep, and reviewed it.
  9. Munich by Robert Harris – September 1938. When the stakes are this high, who are you willing to betray? Your friends, your family, your country or your conscience? Thought it was too good to last. This one’s still waiting patiently as well.
  10. Ponti by Sharlene Teo – ‘A radiant, achingly beautiful novel about relationships between women’ (Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From) And this one, unfortunately. Three out of ten. Bet you can’t wait to see my Autumn 2019 TBR list…

#6Degrees of Separation: From A Gentleman in Moscow to Winter in Madrid

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It’s the first Saturday of the month so 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

This month’s starting book is A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and for my chain I’ve decided to make a literary journey across the capitals of Europe. Apart from anything else, it seems appropriate given what is currently going on in UK politics. Links from the book title will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

I haven’t yet read A Gentleman in Moscow although it’s been in my TBR pile for some time. However, I know it’s set in 1922 and concerns Count Alexander Rostov who is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.

For my first link in the chain, we continue the theme of imprisonment with The Good Doctor of Warsaw by Elisabeth Gifford. It’s a powerful, compelling account of the fate of those who struggled for survival in the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War.

It’s the Cold War which is the backdrop to Prague Spring by Simon Mawer, set in the former Czechoslovakia during a turbulent period of its history. Although I haven’t read it, it’s been on my wishlist ever since I read another of the author’s novels, Tightrope.

Hopping across the border to Austria takes me to Vienna Spies by Alex Gerlis. Described as ‘a taut, tense masterclass in espionage fiction’ it’s another book I haven’t read but which I added to my wishlist having enjoyed the author’s previous book, The Swiss Spy. Vienna Spies takes place in the fiercely pro-Nazi city of the title in the final months of the Second World War.

On to Germany and The Man from Berlin by Luke McCallin, the first in his terrific historical crime series featuring German military intelligence officer, Captain Gregor Reinhardt.

Staying with World War Two, we’re taking a Night Flight to Paris courtesy of author David Gilman. Set in Nazi occupied Paris in 1943, the book immerses the reader in a world where danger, suspicion and fear is a constant companion.  I loved its mixture of atmospheric period detail, dramatic action scenes and compelling story line.

Finally, let’s cross the Pyrenees into Spain for Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom. Set in 1940 in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, it tells the story of Harry, a privileged young man traumatized by his experiences at Dunkirk, who is despatched to the ruined city of Madrid as a reluctant spy for the British Secret Service.

This month we’ve travelled across war-torn Europe from Moscow to Madrid. Where did your chain take you?

AGentlemaninMoscowThe Good Doctor of WarsawTheManFromBerlinNIGHT FLIGHT TO PARISViennaSpies