Week 30

This week I received my very first book club box. I subscribed for three months to Once Upon A Book Club. I loved getting the book like pink box.

The idea of this book club is that as you read they have carefully selected gifts which you open at the designated reading pause. 

This month’s hard cover new release is The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah.

 

The gifts are wrapped in vineyard themed gift wrapping. I couldn’t wait to read and experience the world of the story. It wasn’t long before I got to the first book gift.

I couldn’t stop reading. 

  

 

 

 

I absolutely loved this book and the characters. I didn’t want it to end. This story is told in dual timelines. Helene narrates the past through a series of journal entries during WW2 , the present narrated through Kate. Kate is a sommelier, she is studying for the Master of Wine exam and visits her family vineyard in Burgundy, France. She finds a hidden wine cellar and the diary of her great aunt, and discovers the history of the vineyard during the war. It is exceptionally told. A great selection for a book club discussion later next month. I can’t wait for the next two instalments. 

This month the Bookies R Us challenge is to read as many historical fiction books as we can. This is my first. Overall it is my 43rd book this year for my goodreads challenge, and another for the ultimate reading challenge - a book about science. Helene is a chemist, it’s her knowledge of science that assists the vineyard during the war. 

Week 29

This week I knocked off two more titles for Erin’s book challenge and the ultimate reading challenge.     Because of Mr Terrupt was recommended by my son Liam, he had read it in primary school. When he saw it off the shelf and next to my bed, he kept asking, “what do you think of this book?”. I loved it, devoured it in an afternoon. It is about an inspirational teacher, Mr Terrupt told in seven of his students’ voices. I can’t wait to talk to him about it, I know he is going to want me to read the sequels too now.

A tree grows in Brooklyn is a PBS Great American Read and was my second book this week. It was slow paced but very descriptive narrating the story of Francie Nolan’s life almost 100 years ago. Francie loves books, reading and learning and even though her family is poverty stricken she manages to overcome many obstacles. This book is full of hope, determination and preservance. It’s a classic read as the setting and story are timeless.

Week 28

I couldn’t wait for my holidays from work and the first book on my list was the third in the Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan- Rich People problems. This story continues with Nick’s grandmother falling ill. He hasn’t spoken with her since the night he proposed to Rachel in Book 1. The family antics continue with Eddie and his wife Fiona jostling for the favourite grandson position hoping to be the heir to the grand estate in Singapore,  Astrid and Collin’s union and Nick trying to see his grandmother before she dies. I loved this series and can’t wait to see the movie when it comes out. I wonder how much of the story they reveal. This also was another tick in my ultimate reading challenge for a trilogy or series ✅

The next book read was for Erin’s 9.0 reading challenge. Swimming lessons by Clare Fuller was on my audible app the longest and so I used this for the category. The story switched between the past and the present. The past was told through hidden letters from wife, Ingrid to husband Gil, when they were going through a difficult time in their marriage. The present was told through the stories of Nan and her sister, Flora as they deal with caring for their aging father, Gil and the disappearance of their mother many years ago. It was an interesting read. Well narrated.

Lastly, I joined another book challenge group on Facebook last month called Bookies R us. Each month they have a challenge to read as many book for the chosen genre. The past month was Romantic suspense. I hadn’t read a title in this genre for a long time, not since the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. So I read Linda Howard’s open season and Kerry Lonsdale’s Everything  we keep and lastly, Nora Roberts - Public Secrets. The genre surprised me, I actually enjoyed the novels more than I anticipated. I will probably revisit this genre again. Public secrets was a saga that spanned thirty years. Francie McAvoy, daughter to rockstar, Brian McAvoy, comes into is his life after her mother tries to use her birth to win him back. Seeing that she has been abused and neglected he decided to gain full custody. Brian has a new life with partner Bev, and a baby on the way and welcomes Francie into his new family. Baby Darren is adored by Francie and she promises him that she will never let anyone hurt him. Tragedy strikes when there is a bungled kidnapping and Darren is killed. Much of the book is about how Brian, Bev, Francie and the band members cope with this loss. Francie can’t remember the exact details of the night of the kidnapping and is isn’t until many years later and with the assistance of the son of the detective investigating that Francie remembers what happened that night. This was my first Nora Roberts book but it was when I finished this I remembered I bought a Nora Roberts book not long after I had my son Liam for a book club. Well I never read it and I am now thinking that this might be the longest unread physical book I own. 

Week 27

This week I read Nothing to Declare - memoir of a woman travelling alone by Mary Morris. This was the first book in Erin's 9.0 reading challenge. "Starting with N". It was an interesting travel log and memoir of a woman who ventured to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua alone in the 1980s. Quite remarkable accounts of the landscapes, ruins and people in these parts of the world. I wonder if Mary returned to Mexico, I wonder what happened to her neighbour Lupe, who the book is dedicated to and her children. I choose this book also for my read around the world challenge for Guatemala.

Just recapping my read around the world challenge so far:

Oceania:

Australia - The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman

Asia:

Korea - Kite fighters by Linda Su Park

Lebanon  - Oranges in No Man's Land by Elizabeth Laird

Israel  - One More River by Lynne Reid Banks

Afghanistan - A thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni

Iran - Leila's Secret by Kooshyar Karimi

Singapore -  Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Africa:

Kenya - Facing the Lion by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton

Sudan - A long walk to water by Linda Su Park

Rwanda - One Thousand Hills by James Roy and Noel Zihabmwe

Somalia - Through my eyes: Amina by J L Powers

Europe:

Ireland - A taste for it by Monica McInerney

United Kingdom -  The War that Saved my life by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley

Guernsey - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Denmark - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

France - Paris for One by Jojo Moyes

Norway - The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein

Finland - Big Game by Dan Smith

Belgium - And We're Off by Dana Schwartz

Sweden - A Man called Ove by Fredric Backman

Russia - Sapphire Skies by Belinda Alexandra

Greece - Girl Gone Greek by Rebecca Hall

Italy - Trafficked by Sophia Hayes

Northern and Central America

United States - Everything I never told you by Celeste Ng

Canada - The Lightkeeper's Daughter by Jean E.Pendziwol

Mexico - Little Sister - Lucy Dawson

Jamaica - The Best of Us - Sarah Pekkanen

Guatemala - Nothing to Declare by Mary Morris

South America

Venezuela - Keeper of the House by Lisa St. Aubin de Terane

29 countries visited so far. 

29 categories completed for the Ultimate Reading challenge as well.