what's on your bookshelf challenge
Posted on by Debbie

A Sneak Peek at ‘What’s on your bookshelf challenge?’

Are you up for a new challenge?

Do you like reading, sharing what you’ve been reading and joining in new challenges?

I love reading to escape and learn new things. It’s been a cold wet winter here so far and reading in front of the fire has been my favourite place – or out in my sunroom!

On Friday August 20, I will be joining blogging friends Sue, Donna and Jo with a new monthly blogging challenge – ‘What’s on your Bookshelf’?

what's on your book shelf challenge
What’s on your book shelf challenge

What’s it all about?

We’re interested to know what you’re reading, what you’ve enjoyed lately and we want to encourage you to share your favourite books with us – why they resonated with you, how they made you feel, who are your favourite authors and what you recommend.

We will each share our posts in this series on the third Friday of each month, starting Friday 20 August 2021, linking up to each other so we can get the word out to all our regular readers. Sound like fun to you?

How can you join in?

It’s simple….

  1. We encourage you to share favourite books or recent reads.
  2. This series will go live on the third Friday of each month (actually Thursday in North America).
  3. The goal is to keep it simple and inspire others with your recommendations.
  4. You can share in the comments, with a blog post, on Instagram or on any other social media of your choice. Include the hashtag #Whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge so that we can find you and include your link in our posts.

Sue, Donna, Jo and I hope that you will join us in this new series! If you have any questions just ask us.

book lovers cartoon
book lovers cartoon

A sneak peek at what was on my bookshelf for July

I’ve read a great many excellent books lately. I don’t give out 5 stars all that often, but I have done for quite a few books in recent months. Check out my Goodreads list!

The book I’ve just finished, and absolutely loved, was The Rose Code by Kate Quinn – a definite 5 stars from me! I couldn’t put it down and was so involved in the lives of the three main characters, Osla, Mab and Beth, working in Bletchley Park during WW2. Also the blending of fiction with true events and the connection to the Queen and Prince Philip was captivating. This book was recommended to me by Sue!

The blurb from Goodreads:

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter–the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger–and their true enemy–closer.

Have you read this book? If you like historical fiction, WW2 stories and friendships, all with a twist, then you’ll love this book! I wrote a review on Goodreads too.

Up until now, I was in the habit of writing my Friday Fiction posts towards the end of each month, but now I will be joining my friends to share What’s on your bookshelf instead – on the third Friday of each month. Reading is always fun with friends.

You can see the full list of books I’ve read so far this year, complete with my ratings, here: Reading Challenge for 2021

The rating system I use

1* = did not finish/terrible; 2* = OK; 3* = enjoyable; 4* = really good; 5* = excellent

Over to you, will you join us?

Don’t forget to tell me about the book you’re reading at the moment! I do hope you’ll join us for #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge starting on Friday 20 August!

You can read more from Jo , Sue and Donna here, as I’ve linked to their posts. We’re all in this together 🙂

Deb xx

Linking up with Denyse for #Lifethisweek

All my What’s on Your Bookshelf posts can be here in one place

You can see all my reading challenges and books here on my Book Page

You can also find Deb’s World in lots of other places – stay in touch by clicking any of the buttons below.

Everyone has a story to tell!

Debbie - mother of a 40 year old

Deb is a young-at-heart & active 60+ blogger/retiree, after being made redundant from her 22-year career managing education programs in a men’s correctional centre (jail). She now spends her time reading, blogging, riding her ebike and travelling. Deb was awarded a Bravery Award from the Queen when she was 17 after a tragic accident – a definite life changing moment! She is married with 3 grown-up daughters & has 4 grandchildren. You can read more of Deb’s story here

Copyright © 2024 debs-world.com – All rights reserved

37 Replies to “A Sneak Peek at ‘What’s on your bookshelf challenge?’”

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  3. Congratulations to you all on this initiative. I see you have many keen to take part. I hope it goes well. I hate to admit it but reading actual books is something I do so little of now, because I listen to them instead. However I will check out what you are all sharing for sure.

    Oh I have pre-ordered the lovely Trent Dalton’s new book. Love Stories. How could I not after his lovely message to my daughter…he is so kind.

    Thanks for linking up for Life This Week. Next week’s optional prompt is Shopping and it will be interesting for me to decide what to write! So much has changed in #lockdown this time round. Hope to see you link up too. Cheers, Denyse.

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  6. Yes I’ll certainly join you – it’s kinda a no-brainer for me I guess but I’ll undoubtedly forget between now and then so be scrambling around like a fool at the last minute. What a great idea though!!!

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  9. Hi Debbie – this is great … I’m so going to enjoy seeing what you’re all reading – I have a very eclectic reading list … my last one was Paul Theroux “Dark Star Safari” (Overland from Cairo to Cape Town) – see you then – cheers Hilary

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  10. I loved The Rose Code also! Didn’t want it to end. Right now I’m reading The Last Bookshop in London also set during WWII in England. Great fiction about the importance of books and reading and how they help us during our most challenging times.

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    1. Hi Alison, I hope you can join in. You can either write your own post and use the hashtag so we can include your post with ours and you can link up (ping) to mine then as well or you can leave a comment, just depends on how much time you have! So pleased you like the idea!

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    1. Hi Leanne, glad to hear you’ll pop in for some recommendations. I’m looking forward to this fun new thing to do and also getting some new ideas from others. I still class Hamnet as one of my best reads this year – we’re all different though and that’s a good thing isn’t it? Have a lovely weekend 🙂

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  18. Hi, Debbie – I haven’t (yet) read The Rose Code, but I did read Kate Quinn’s ‘The Huntress.’ I seriously could not put that book down.
    I’m greatly looking forward to discovering new reads on ‘What’s On Your Bookshelf.” As Sue said, ‘Bring it On!” 😀

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