Welcome Readers!
It’s great to have you back for another month of the What’s On Your Bookshelf Challenge, #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge, hosted by Sue, Donna, Jo and of course, me.
This image is so true – reading isn’t a waste of time, and I know I feel nourished by reading while basking in the sunlight – how about you?
Well it’s been another fabulous month of reading and my reading challenge for 2022 is going great guns. I use my reading time as ‘my time’ and enjoy escaping into different worlds.
So what have I enjoyed reading recently?
Just a few of my recent books – such a wide variety!
Some stand outs
- The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams was my only 5* rating this month, I’m very strict on giving 5 stars and this one deserved it in my opinion. Thanks to Sue for recommending this one a few months ago – have you read it? I wrote this review on Goodreads:
I really enjoyed this insightful story with books and reading at its core. the characters came alive and I could relate to many of them. There was sadness, joy, family issues, friendships but at the heart it was all about love. A true gem of a story! I noted that I had read most of the books on ‘the list’ but will admit that I didn’t enjoy the Life of Pi at the time of reading it
My Goodreads Review
- The Matilda Saga by Jackie French
As I recently read and loved The Angel of Waterloo by Jackie French, I went looking for more of her books and discovered the Matilda Saga, a series of 9 books starting with A Waltz for Matilda. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and went on to read the second The Girl from Snowy River and will keep an eye out for the next titles in he series. These first two were free with my Kindle Unlimited membership but the later ones cost a few dollars, so I will see if the local library has them first. Apparently they are classified as Young Adult fiction but I am totally hooked!
Currently I’m reading
I find I always have a few books on the go at once but they are all so different and balance out my reading nicely!
- After Story by Larissa Behrendt (listening via Audible)
- A Spring Surprise for the Cornish Midwife (Kindle unlimited)
- A Girl Walks into a Book: What the Brontes taught me about Life, Love and Women’s Work by Miranda K Pennington (paperback bought as a gift to myself)
- The Gifts of Reading: Essays on the Joys of Reading, Giving and Receiving Books – Editor Jennie Orchard (listening via Audible) – this is a great book and I’m savouring it slowly. It’s the perfect book for my WOTY which is Gift.
The Verdict
You might remember that last month I mentioned a bookshop owner in Sydney, Tanya Natalie from The Bookplate, who puts together a selection of 5-7 second-hand books for you, based on a personality quiz she gets you to do online, for a cost of $50 (including postage in Australia).
I took the quiz and waited patiently for my books to arrive, which they did earlier this week. There had been a delay in sending my parcel and when I enquired Tanya was very helpful and apologetic. I love getting parcels in the mail!
These are the books I received. I haven’t read any of them and they all sound very interesting! What do you think?
Then there’s The Bookplate’s ‘Book-quet Bundle’
Another great gift idea is a book-quet, where you can do a little quiz about a friend or relative, and they will receive a gift wrapped selection of books based on your answers to the quiz, a bit different than just sending flowers! I did this for my sister’s recent 60th birthday and she was thrilled to get a great selection of books in the mail which will keep her busy over the next few months 🙂
I know spending money can be an issue for some but I thought this idea was very clever. I feel pleased to be helping out a small business, I get some new books that I may not have chosen for myself and if I don’t like them I can simply regift them.
So my verdict is – it’s a win/win and I’m glad I’ve given it a go!
Brontë Books
I can’t let the fact go unnoticed that our online bookclub has recently finished reading and ‘dissecting’ the works of the Brontë sisters. That’s reading, zooming, baking and talking all things Brontë – what fun we’ve had!
Since we started our online bookclub in January 2021, we’ve read Wuthering Heights (Emily), Agnes Grey (Anne), Jane Eyre (Charlotte), The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Anne), Villette (Charlotte), The Professor, (Charlotte) and last but not least, Shirley (Charlotte).
I know I’ve learnt a lot from our discussions, I hadn’t read many of these before and the way we did it has been educational and also enlightening. The Brontë Sisters were ahead of their time, Charlotte in particular in terms of feminism, and while I enjoyed reading them all, some were harder work than others! I am calling Shirley as my favourite.
If men could see us as we really are, they would be a little amazed; but the cleverest, the acutest men are often under an illusion about women: they do not read them in a true light: they misapprehend them, both for good and evil: their good woman is a queer thing, half doll, half angel; their bad woman almost always a fiend.
Men, I believe, fancy women’s minds something like those of children. Now, that is a mistake.
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
We’re continuing with the classics, and next up is Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
Reading is the winner
If you’re into reading, please feel free to join us, even if it’s just to leave a comment with what you’ve been reading lately. We’ve now added a linkup (at the end of my post) so you can add your posts directly there and see what others have posted about for the month as well.
Will you join us?
Sue, Donna, Jo and I hope that you will join us in this fun series!
Don’t forget to tell me about the book(s) you’re reading at the moment!
You can read more from my stunning co-hosts here:
Sue from Women Living Well After 50
Donna from Retirement Reflections
We’re all in this together, sharing our love of reading 🙂
Happy reading to you.
Deb xx
Guidelines for WOYBS:
What: What’s On Your Bookshelf #whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge
When: Third Thursday PM (Northern Hemisphere)/ Third Friday AM (Southern Hemisphere).
Why: Share a love of reading.
Where: Linkup below, Blog, Blog Comments, Instagram or other Social Media.
Who: This linkup is open to everyone.
How: You can share in the comments, with a blog post, or on other social media of your choice. You can use the hashtag #Whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge
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Deb's World 
The books you mention are not the kind of books I read usually. Of course, I have read all the books of the Brontë sisters and Jonathan Franzen’s ‘The Correction’.
I just read ‘Magnificent Rebels’ by Andrea Wulf, a book I really like. Before I read ‘The Anomaly’ by Hervé Le Tellier, another book I liked pretty much.
Is your reading group online?
Keep well
Klausbernd
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Thanks for your interesting comment and books. Yes we have an online bookclub and currently working through some of the classics, moving into Charles Dickens after we finish Jane Austen.
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