I have just finished Apeirogon and I think it will stay with me for a long time. Told using short snippets of information and related facts. Set in Israel, it touches on the relationship between Jewish and Palestinian residents. At times I had to reach for google to look up a location, or more information about a fascinating historical story. A story of love and hope, and making the most of a terrible situation💗
Next another story of love.💓✌🏼

Moments that I loved and some parts that I found a bit dull…but overall 3.5 🌟
What would you do differently if you could?
A library of opportunities to change.
#everydaylife #summerreads

This book ticks all the boxes for me!!
Based on some real historical events✅
Set in medieval England✅
Crime genre, murder mystery✅
The first in a series of books✅
A quick read and now I‘d like to read No 2!!
A great start to my reading year😊 Hope your off to a good start too 👍🏼
#crime #mystery #medievaltimes

Wishing everyone the best for 2022!
2021 for me meant getting used to wearing masks, shields and PPE in my job as an ICU nurse and spending my time at home doing the things I love like reading, sewing and gardening💚
I read some wonderful books and grew a lot of vegetables 🌶 🌽
Stay healthy and happy in 2022🌻✌🏼
#2022 #happynewyear

Thanks @Lizpixie this will be my #FirstBookOf2022 😊 Here‘s hoping for a good year ahead everyone with lots of reading and relaxing!! My last book looks like being Of Mice and Men unless I can fit a sneaky quick book in over the next few days! That brings my total for the year to 34 books…not sure what my 2022 challenges will be yet but I‘d love to read War and Peace!!
#1stBookOf2022 #readingchallenge #goodbye2021

Wow I got so spoilt by my #aussiesecretsanta @Lizpixie ❤️
Thank you Liz my gifts are wonderful.
I love the special edition of Pride and Prejudice, and I have not read the new Amor Towles..it‘s been on my list though!! Anna Downes is new to me but sounds great!
The book cover is brilliant! Perfect for taking a book to work on night duty👍🏼
So glad to be part of this swap @thegirlwiththelibrarybag
Merry Christmas everyone🎅❤️🌲📚

Thank you so much @CarolynM for my lovely Christmas card..so thoughtful ❤️🌲
My #aussiesecretsanta gifts are under the Christmas tree waiting for opening day. Thank you to my Secret Santa❤️🌲 😘
Once again I need to say how much I enjoy Litsy. Both my reading and following Litsy have been a little slow this year, but it‘s still one of my favourite things.
I hope you get a lovely book under the tree this year and here‘s to a great reading year!

My #top21in21 @CarolynM thanks for the tag😘
They are not in any particular order, but the top 2 lines were my favourites 📖📚
Kristin Lavransdater is actually 3 books..a real chunkster that took me months but worth the effort!!
I discovered Willa Cather 💕and still have another to read in her trilogy. I read 2 books by several authors..Pat Barker, Swift and Richard Osman. What a delight his books are😊 Crawdads and The Labyrinth were special !

I really enjoyed this mystery novel.. the first in a long series…so lots of reading pleasure ahead!!
The protagonist Amelia Peabody is marvellous…..spirited and self assured👏🏼👏🏼
#egypt #archeology #mysterynovel

I have had a run of fabulous books..by such brilliant authors as Willa Cather , Pat Barker and Graham Swift💕
I‘m thinking after 2 chapters that this will be a winner too. I love a book that grabs me right from the start!!
This is the first in a series of murder mystery books so lots of reading pleasure ahead😊
#murdermystery #fiction #egypt #wetdayreading

#aussiesecretsanta
My gift is in the post!!
I always forget to take a final photo at the post office 🤔
MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS
Looking forward to seeing everyone open their presents 🎁
@CarolynM @LeeRHarry @Lizpixie @Cathy_J @LapReader @Flingogal @Teresereading @MrsMalaprop @Jhullie
Thank you to @thegirlwiththelibrarybag for organising 😘
Hope everyone gets some reading time over Chrissy 🤞🏼😘

Thanks @Lizpixie for tagging me..late to the party as always!!

Dr Howard Archie had just come up from a game of pool with the Jewish clothier and two travelling men who happened to be staying overnight in Moonstone.

I love Willa Cather‘s writing ❤️
I would not have found her if not for @CarolynM !!!
I am reading The Prairie Trilogy at the moment and loving this glimpse at early days in America 🇺🇸

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

I have read some fabulous books but have had a slow reading year sadly. Most people have a bedside pile of books to read..mine is a whole bookshelf😬🤔 Lots of reading pleasure ahead!
My time has been spent at work in our ICU and spending time unwinding in my garden and vegetable patch. I have enjoyed sharing our farm-life on our Instagram cornbury_park which is the name of our property.
Hope you are making some time to read..I am planning to✅

My Friday night..with the house to myself for the first time in months😋 Some cosy crime, some history and some quilting..whilst I drink tea✅☕️🫖
#agathachristie #craft #quilting #history

Loved this book. Gentle yet meaningful! Lovely writing. Simple yet complex. Don‘t be confused..it‘s a gem. A deserved winner of this years Miles Franklin Award. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I want to build a labyrinth 💚
#australianliterature #milesfranklinwinner #labyrinth

Pat Barker is a wonderful writer. This year I have read The Silence of the Girls and now Regeneration. This book is based on true events…it‘s 1917..soldiers suffering from shell-shock are treated by psychiatrist Rivers in a hospital in Scotland. Two of the soldiers are writers Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. This is book 1 of a trilogy that I shall have to pursue!
Next on the list is The Labyrinth, which won the Miles Franklin literary award.

Hi friends I have been spending much of my free time in my garden and vegetable patch, and neglecting Litsy. I‘m reading Regeneration by Pat Barker..she‘s such a great writer, but I haven‘t got into it..probably thinking about my cauliflowers 😂😂
It‘s spring here and warm and dry already so I‘m madly planting seeds and mulching. It‘s fun growing your own food..almost as good as reading!!!
#literature #war #growyourownvegetables

I have read two Graham Swift novels in a row! First Mothering Sunday now Waterland. What a marvellous writer he is!
This book is complex yet very readable. It‘s a family saga told by a school teacher to his history class. He tells his family history with all its grief and tragedy. And it tells a story of water, specifically The Fens in England, referencing historical events. I will look out for his other books 📚 #literature

Mothering Sunday..loved it, love the title and love the cover❤️ which is from a painting by Modigliani.
Easy to read in one sitting, it‘s a tale of Jane Fairchild..a “foundling” who becomes a maid….sensual and thought provoking....a real gem❤️
#literature #fiction

This I read after reading recommendations by @CarolynM and other Litsy friends. Loved it!! Gentle yet wise..that‘s Alexandra Bergson battling life in the tough landscape of America‘s Midwest early last century.
A quote”people have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world. It is always easier to lose than to find”
I hope your snatching some happiness today!
#americanliterature #litsypick

This was not what I expected.. I skimmed a lot which I hate doing. It just didn‘t hold my interest after the first hundred pages.
Oh well on to the next book…or some embroidery 😍 I must be getting fussy in my old age😂😂😂

This is the background to “Bertha” the wife of Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre. I love and have re-read Jane Eyre several times. The story around Antoinette Cosway has always intrigued me. This feels like a gothic tale…it‘s sad..I don‘t want to ruin it if you haven‘t read Jane Eyre..is there such a reader out there😂😂
Next for me is a book that‘s been on the bedside pile for a while The Family Doctor.
Happy reading everyone 😘😘

A very special book arrived in the post today 💕 Jen Kingwell is an amazing quilt designer from Melbourne. I find myself attracted to her traditional designs with a contemporary feel. She puts colours together that sing, perfect for me to use up my scraps😊❤️
This book also has beautiful old fashioned family recipes like my grandmother made.
#australianquilts #patchwork #spongecake

I haven‘t been reading as much as I‘ve been spending time in my veggie patch whilst we are having this perfect winter weather!!
I just finished Templar Silks which I enjoyed but it didn‘t engage me like Hilary Mantel or Ken Follett‘s books do. Next on my list is Wide Sargasso Sea, which I‘ve wanted to read for ages as I love Jane Eyre💕
Here is a pic of one of my raised beds and a cauliflower. I‘ve found gardening and reading is good for my soul

Thanks @LeeRHarry for the tag 😊
📕I have read the Anne of Green Gables series many times growing up! As an adult I re-read my favourite classics occasionally. They are The Count of Monte Christo, Jane Eyre, and The Moonstone or The Women in White.
📕I don‘t pay much attention to the cover..it‘s a review or recommendation for me.
📕Wilding is a brilliant story of allowing nature to do its own thing and watching the transformation💕
@MoonWitch94

This has been highly recommended to me. I have only read the first few pages but I can tell it‘s going to be a really interesting read. It‘s 1942..a group of Jewish Refugees from Germany form a squad trained in counterintelligence and combat. This is a true story.. always the most fascinating!!
Have you read this one Cindy? @Cinfhen

One of my favourite places in Sydney is Abbeys book shop. Since Covid started I have not been to visit🙁. As Sydney is now in lockdown again I am purchasing a few books every few months in way of support! I would hate it if they shut!!
Some books here that I have read about on Litsy or heard about on the ABC bookshow📕📮
Happy reading everyone🌻
#favouritebookshop #literature

Next on my long TBR pile..historical fiction. Back to England and Jerusalem in 1200..so far so good!
I hope you are getting some time to read. For my lovely European friends I hope you are safe from the floods. I am thinking of you 💕

Perfect cold wet weather reading spot and novel!! Archie loves it too😊
I love Gary Disher‘s writing..it‘s crisp and clean and so Australian. He manages to weave several stories around a central narrative, still keeping me interested. Living in a small country town myself, I love the descriptions of people and place!!
I really recommend his books if you want a taste of Aussie country❤️
#australianliterature #crime #fiction

A world-wide pandemic that only kills men?This was certainly interesting, more so because of our current situation with COVID-19. Each chapter is a different women‘s story, following their lives as they navigate the loss of husbands and sons, the search for the source of the virus, a vaccine and the way the world changed post pandemic. It‘s a little bit déjà vu ?
3 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
#virus #pandemic

Couldn‘t resist picking this one off my book shelf after our thoughts on Australia‘s male politicians today @JennyM @CarolynM 😕😳
My hubby bought it for me…

I loved this book. It is so relatable and nostalgic as an Aussie but I think it would have wide appeal. A story of family and relationships, love and loneliness told with a gentle touch.
Hope your getting some time to read❣️📔
#australianliterature #sydney
A 5 ⭐️ read for me🌻

It‘s cold, wet and windy outside. I love these wintery evenings❤️I am sitting here in front of our fire with my doggy Archie and this wonderful book❤️
I love the writing and the realness of it!
#australian #literature #love

I do appreciate Patricia Highsmith‘s originality and writing ability but I didn‘t enjoy this book. Perhaps it‘s following the journey of a psychopath that disturbed me 😕
I‘d like to read The Talented Mr Ripley…is it as menacing I wonder??
I need something lighter now..and some gardening to cleanse the palate 😂
#literature #crime #classic

Just finished The Devil in the Flesh. An affair between a 16 year old boy and a young married women written by a 19 year old author....who died tragically when he was 20...so sad!!!
On to my first Patricia Highsmith..another fascinating author.
My reading has been a slower pace this year. Hope your getting time to read 💕📔📒📚

Nemesis is a short novel set in America in 1944. Bucky the protagonist is 23 and works as the playground director during the polio epidemic. it‘s amazingly powerful yet easy to read. It‘s about fear, suffering and self blame. 4.5 🌟
Now on to The Devil in the Flesh
#literature
#1000booksyoumustread

Half way through and totally immersed in this book. I am wondering why it took me so long to read something by Philip Roth🤷‍♀️
Set in 1944 during the Polio epidemic it‘s a hard hitting but beautifully written novel.
I remember in my early nursing days looking after patients in an iron lung 🫁 How amazing the invention of ventilators have been to medicine!!
Hope you are all finding time to do a bit of reading!
#americanliterature #life #epidemic

I enjoyed this book.. published in 1948..an old fashioned murder mystery set in a Melbourne telephone exchange. Its a romp with a strong female protagonist , who always seems to be a step ahead of the police..and the killer..good fun!!
#australiancrime #mystery #murder #Melbourne

Morning coffee on the verandah...a bit of reading..a bit of sewing.. and now off to do a bit of gardening. My perfect day off work..these are the things that keep me calm at work in our busy ICU. I‘m enjoying Murder in the Telephone Exchange. I‘m also loving the series The Durrells on TV. Has anyone read The Corfu Trilogy that it is based on? Happy reading and hobbies my friends 😘😘

I‘ve had a lifelong love of Jane Austen 💕Loved making this jigsaw which had Jane and her home and all the characters and homes she has written about in it. Lots of detail which made it easier😊
#janeausten #emma #prideandprejudice
Hope your having a lovely weekend ❤️

Oh I do love a good murder...story 😂😂
The Thursday Murder Club is so good..funny, gentle and warm hearted. Just what I needed to read. I loved the 4 main characters.. old in years but young of heart❤️I wanted to join their club😊 I will definitely be looking out for a sequel!!
Next on my reading list is Murder in the Telephone Exchange ☎️ a best seller in Australia in 1948.
#crime #murder

🖼 I grew up wanting to be an artist..I spent my childhood painting and drawing and making things! I still love art and would love to paint more than I do
⏱ I am usually up before the alarm (but in bed by 9😌)
🌈 Being grateful ❤️
📘 I‘m a lover of colour but blue is a favourite
Thanks for the tag @LapReader
Thanks again @Eggs #wondrouswednesday
Join in anyone who hasn‘t played!

Loving this romp!
🙏🏼 May I grow older like the wonderful elderly folk in this book. What fun 🤪 I don‘t want it to end! I hope there will be more books by Richard Osman.
Hope you are getting some reading time friends 😘
#crime #laughter #escapism

My second book by Josephine Tey. I enjoy her writing style. This story is built slowly and steadily around a girls physical training college. For me a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for plot but a 4 star for writing...and Miss Pym is a lovely character❣️
#classiccrime

Thanks for the tag @CoverToCoverGirl 😊
1. I was born in Sydney, NSW, Australia
2. I now live 500 km north on the mid north coast of NSW Australia 🌿
3. I have a younger brother and sister
4. My first book memory is The Magic Faraway Tree ❣️🌳
#wondrouswednesday @Eggs thank you 😊
I‘d love to tag @CrowCAH @AlaMich @Rissreads @LazyOwl @Wife if you haven‘t played 😊
4.

Today I had a trip to our bookshop with a birthday voucher from my workmates 💕 4 Australian authors..all new to me! Plus a Vegan recipe book as I am embracing a plant based diet...most of the time!!!
#ausfiction #vegandiet

A perfect Autumn day here. Breakfast on the verandah with Josephine Tey💕 I so love this time of year! Garden project in the background.. I am putting an olive tree into a big pot. Hope you have a lovely day😊🌺
#australianweather #classicmystery

Reading is taking a back door this week, but I am reading snippets of Miss Pym Disposes between stitches😊 I have come away to a 5 day craft retreat in central NSW. A group or tribe of sewers, stitches, crafters meet every year to work on our projects and talk and eat! It supports this tiny town that used to rely heavily on logging. Last time I was here it was sooo dry.. now it is lush and green..
Happy reading.. or sewing!!
#travel #hobbies

I‘m late to read this book but knew from your reviews it must have been one not to miss! I loved it..⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved the descriptions of the marshes, the animals, the insects..so vivid. Kya the principle character was wonderful. A really special book❤️❣️
#americanliterature #debut #bookhangover
My new fire pit area is a great reading spot 😊

I really enjoyed this book. It‘s my first by Pat Barker but I shall be looking out for her others. Her writing is mesmerising.
A story of death and destruction, grief and rape ..this telling of part of the story of the war in Troy is told from a female perspective by Briseis a slave of Achilles. This is the story I know as The Iliad by Homer. I had to google names and places as I read...4 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#literature #history #retelling