Tag: memes

#TopTenTuesday Ten Oldest Books in my TBR Pile #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 topic is Weird or Funny Things I’ve Googled Thanks to a Book, submitted by Astilbe at Long and Short Reviews. Unfortunately this topic stumped me (sorry, Astilbe) so instead here are the ten oldest books in my TBR pile. Links from each title will take you to the book description on Goodreads. The dates shown (sob!) are the date I added them to my Want-To-Read shelf according to Goodreads.

  1. When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman (May 2013) – historical novel set in 12th century England following the death of King Henry I
  2. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (September 2013) – the author’s debut novel that follows the life of Ruby Lennox, starting with her conception in 1951
  3. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (September 2013) – the first in the author’s series featuring private investigator and former police detective, Jackson Brodie
  4. Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey (June 2014) – Maud is forgetful but there’s one thing she is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing
  5. The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey by Rachel Joyce (October 2014) – the parallel story to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
  6. Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz (September 2015) – a sequel to Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel, Goldfinger
  7. Nor Will He Sleep by David Ashton (November 2015) – the fourth book in the author’s historical crime series featuring Inspector Jame McLevy
  8. The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel (January 2016) – the concluding book in the author’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy 
  9. Any Human Heart by William Boyd (January 2016) – the fictional biography of Logan Mountstuart
  10. The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor (April 2016) – an historical thriller set during the time of the Great Fire of London

Which do you suggest I brush the dust off and read first? (Bear in mind, if you’re going to say The Mirror & the Light – which I know you all will now – that it’s nearly 900 pages long.) If you know, what’s the book that’s been longest in your TBR pile?

#6Degrees of Separation – A book chain from Tom Lake to Rogue Male

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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.

Tom LakeThis month’s starting book is Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Once again, it’s a book I haven’t read but it is on my wishlist. Links from each title will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

Picking up the second word of title, my first link is to The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting set in 19th century Norway. (Mytting’s non-fiction book, Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way, was a perhaps unlikely sounding bestseller.)

Also set in Norway, but more than two hundred years earlier, is The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman. Set in an isolated fishing community, it’s the story of a grieving widow who is sent to the grim fortress at Vardø to be tried for witchcraft.

Staying in the 17th century and accusations of witchcraft, in Witch Wood by John Buchan moderate young Presbyterian minister, David Sempill, finds himself up against religious extremists who show no mercy as they search for evidence of witchcraft and demonic possession in the Scottish village of Woodilee.

Buchan’s autobiography, Memory Hold-The-Door, was reputedly John F. Kennedy’s favourite book. In 11/23/63 by Stephen King, an English teacher from Maine, travels back in time on a mission to prevent Kennedy’s assassination.

An assassination attempt – this time on President de Gaulle – is the subject of The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth.

In Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, an unnamed Englishman plans to assassinate the dictator of a European country whose identity, although not stated, isn’t hard to guess given the book was published in 1939.

My chain has taken me from present day Michigan to pre-WW2 Europe. Where did your chain take you this month?#6Degrees of Separation March