Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week the theme is Books on My Spring 2026 To-Read List but as always we are in the opposite season so this is my Autumn 2026 To-Read list
Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - If Maggie Christensen has a new book out then I am reading it! Turns out she has this one coming out in April and another stand alone novel coming out in June!
Love Blooms at the Cornish Cottage by Kim Nash - I do enjoy Kim Nash's books and this is the third book in the Sandpiper Cove series. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak - We are meant to be going to Turkiye in a couple of weeks time. I am not sure if that is going to happen or not given the state of the world. I have loved Elif Shafak's other books so this was a good opportunity to read her given that she is a Turkish author.
Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki - Someone reviewed the follow up book to this for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and I was intrigued!
Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama - I have read a couple of this Japanese authors books previously so I am keen to read this one
Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson - This is the fourth book in the Ernest Cunningham series. After reading this one I will be all caught up with the series and will have to wait for the next one.
Start at the End by Emma Grey - I am so excited to read this one! I read both of Emma Grey's books last year and they were both 5 star reads.
Early Mornings at the Laksa Cafe by Janet Tay = The title of this one caught my attention.
Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn - This is the next Cook the Books selection. I am expecting to feel the need to make something Spanish after reading this!
The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappaport - Trying to read this one by the end of March as the Her Story category is the last one I need to finish for the current Goodreads Challenges
I am feeling the pressure of the end of month at the moment. I have set myself the goal of finishing all the categories in the Goodreads Challenges, I have library books due back and book club is next week. I then have several review books due in the first week of April. I do feel like I made quite a bit of progress this week though.
One of the book I needed to finish was my first Classics Club Spin selection which was The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. I read most of this on the plane last week so I was able to finish it off and write my review this week! Go me!
I had started Heir Apparent by Australian author Rebecca Armitage before I went away but I had to return the library book when I was only half way through. I ended up buying it so I could finish it. I ended up having a bit of fun with it. This was my selection for the Star Selection category of the Goodreads Challenge.
Then I needed to reread The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs. This is the current Cook the Books selection. I have decided what I am going to cook, and when I say I I actually mean what Robert will cook, and just need to finish the post ready for next week. A quick look at the top of this post might give you some idea what direction my thinking is going.
My next two reads were both for the Goodreads Challenge. For the Persona Picks category I read We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida and for Choice Archive category I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.
I started reading The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappaport as my selection for Her Story in the middle of the night on Saturday night. I am not sure if non fiction books should be middle of the night reading really!
I also started reading Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett for my book club selection. The theme this month is books you have borrowed from someone. I borrowed this from Bree at All the Books I Can Read more than 10 years ago so it is probably time I finally read it!
I'm watching
Nothing really
Life
I have picked up a cold/flu/infection on my travels which I could have done without. I have felt very average all week and today my ears are blocked so I don't think it is quite done with me yet!
I did take some time this weekend to say farewelling to Jane who used to blog from Janezworld (also Life at Number 8 and a blog/zine thing that was A String of Pearls). She passed away last week. I actually met Jane pre-blogging days on the Oprah Book Club boards. Jane and I almost met in person a couple of times but it didn't quite happen. She was, however, always very supportive of me and I was sad to hear of her passing.
Earlier this year I decided that I am going to try to read some classics this year. I therefore decided to join in with the Classics Club Spin and the first selection for me was The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa whose titles were 11th Prince of Lampedusa and 12th Duke of Palma. He wrote this book over a period of years but it was only published after his death.
I was pleased that this was the book chosen as it was quite a small book compared to some of my other options! It felt like quite an accessible start to my Classics Club Spin adventure. I then decided that this is was the perfect book to read on my recent long haul flight, which it was and it wasn't.
The Leopard tells the story of the coming of change to Sicily from independence to being part of the Kingdom of Italy. The Sicilian Prince of Salina is a man who is walking on the edge of a precipice. He is used to a certain way of life, of wealth and the privilege that comes with it. But times are changing, and the days of Sicily being independent are coming to an end. It is the 1860's and Garibaldi has overthrown the royal family in Naples. The Prince and his aristocratic family needs to adapt and quickly.
The Prince has several children but really his most beloved is his nephew Tancredi, who he does everything he can to assist. When Tancredi declares that he is joining Garibaldi's army, known as the Red Shirts, the Prince sees it as an opportunity to have a foot in both camps. Later we see Tancredi as he falls in love with Angelica, the beautiful daughter of a nouveau rich neighbour, which will be extremely advantageous for a man with a good pedigree but no real assets. This leave one of the Prince's daughters heartbroken
The writing in this book was quite dense at times, so it did take me a bit longer to read than I might have expected. I was, however pleasantly surprised by how funny some sections of the book were. For example, there is a funny scene where The Prince is having a bath and the priest comes to visit him and the Prince basically shows him everything! It bought to mind the story of Winston Churchill working while in the bath during WWII.
There were, however, odd little elements of foreshadowing where we find out that things are going to happen, particularly during WWII.
I am so glad that this was the book that came up for this Spin. Let's hope the next Spin works just as well for me.
This book not only counts for the Classics Club Spin but also for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. It also counts for the Books in Translation challenge as the book was originally written in Italian and is translated by Archibald Duke. The book also includes a few extracts of text that were discovered after the book was originally published.
I started a new role around 7 months ago. If you had of said that as a result of that decision I would have had the opportunity to spend a week in Kolkata, India, I would not have believed you. However, that is exactly what happened over the last couple of weeks. In previous roles the furthest I got to travel was to Sydney for two days.
The arrangements for this trip came together very quickly. A few weeks ago my boss said I think we are going and then next thing I knew I was applying for business visas and we were off. We went to visit our offshore processing team, and I have to say the welcome we received was incredible. We were looked after really well!
One of the bonuses of travelling for work with this company was that it is business class travel all the way. I have never travelled business class before, and I am pretty sure that there is no way that my husband will ever pay for that so it might be the only time it happens! So, yes, I was absolutely the person taking photos of everything around me including the meals. It will be a bit of a struggle to go back to economy when we go on holidays in a few weeks...depending on what the state of the world is at that time. We are supposed to be going to Türkiye via Dubai so that may or may not happen!
The food in business class was pretty good, and came with real cutlery and crockery. I had pre-booked all my meals so knew exactly what I was having. I made sure it was a good mix of western food, Indian food and Singaporean food.
The company we were visiting is huge. There is something like 27000 people working at the site we were visiting. It's hard to comprehend that number! We ate in the executive dining room every day where we had soup, a choice of dishes from the buffet and dessert. Most of the buffet and dessert dishes were local Bengali dishes. It was here that I discovered that I do actually like paneer. It is not something that I would necessarily have chosen to eat off a menu here, but I tried several different versions and they were all delicious!
My favourite discovery though was a Bengali dessert called Mishti Doi. It is a yoghurt that is sweetened with jaggery and then set within clay pots. The clay pots are porous and help draw the liquid out so that it sets into a firm but smooth texture. The closest texture I can think of is like a panna cotta. It is so delicious! I have been trying to find restaurants here that serve it, but I think it will be a case of if I see it on a menu I will just have to have it as it might not be there the next time! We also tried some other dessert such as Roshomolai, Baked Rusgala and a saffron flavoured Sandesh.
One of the highlights was a dinner that we had with the leaders. It was at a beautiful restaurant at an upmarket hotel and the food was amazing. The host just ordered a selections of dishes which came out one after another ranging from prawns to chicken to paneer and more. Everyone was really full when she said now it's time for the main course!
Whilst the work aspect of the trip was really intense, as was the humidity in Kolkata, they also made sure that we got to see some of the sights. I stayed two days longer than my bosses because we booked flights so late, and so I go to do a day trip around the city visiting some incredibly interesting places.
Whether I get to go again or not, I had an amazing experience and I am so glad I got to go!
Weekly meals
Saturday - Away Sunday - Away Monday - Spaghetti Bolognaise Tuesday - Korean Chicken Burgers Wednesday - Zucchini, Parmesan and Tomato Risotto Thursday - Japanese Pork Curry and rice Friday - Takeaway
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
If you are a fan of historical fiction, or even if you aren't, you have most likely seen this book talked about in one way or another over the last couple of year. The book has won and been shortlisted for numerous prizes and has been reviewed several times for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here.It is described as "A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.". However this wasn't really a retelling for me because I am Australian and whilst I know the name and the vaguest of details of the Huck Finn story, it isn't as well known to me as it might otherwise have been.
Here's what I knew about Huckleberry Finn before I read this book.
The story was written by Mark Twain
Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were friends
Someone builds a raft
I may have seen cartoon versions of parts of the story as a kid
The Mississippi played a big part in the story.
And that's about it. So what that really means is that the book had to stand up on it's own merits without relying on the fact that the reader knows so much of the story already. So the question is did it? And the answer is yes, absolutely.
Jim is a slave owned by Miss Watson in a small town near the Mississippi river. He lives with his wife and daughter and is respected by the other slaves. One day he learns that Miss Watson is going to sell him and he decides to run, with the idea that he will find some way to come back and free his family. He hides on an island in the river. The only problem is that there he finds Huck Finn who is also hiding on the island after faking his own death to get away from an abusive father. When you put those two facts together, Jim is in big trouble. Now, due to the timing, he will not only be a runaway slave but he will also be suspected of murder.
Together Jim and Huck travel south along the river, and they come across numerous colourful characters, not least two conmen, Duke and King, who come up with a scheme to sell Jim over and over, as well as a black and white minstrel band where Jim is painted up to look like a white man who is painted up to look like a black man. Regardless of who they meet it is Jim who seems to come out of the situation worse off through accidents, beatings and so much more.
There are times when Jim and Huck are travelling together, and other times when they are separated. I am assuming that if you read the original story we would never see what happens to Jim as we do in these pages.
Jim, or James as he prefers, is a very smart and educated man, but he knows that there is nothing that will scare a white person as much as an eloquent, educated slave and so, whenever there are white people around, he takes on a persona using poor English and pretending he can't read, let alone write. He finds himself in difficult situations because he tries to help others, often to his own cost. And when others help him, they often pay the cost.
There is a bit of a twist at the end which I presume is not part of the original story. I guess I will be adding Huckleberry Finn to my Classics Club Spin list to see what Huck got up to when he was off the page.
I love it when a book makes you feel something. It was funny (the way that the slaves put on their language for the white people who expected them to be uneducated and had no idea), it was smart (including guest appearances by famous thinkers like Voltaire and more), it was tragic (oh, Sammy!), it was violent (so many times), it was adventurous (with the river at the heart of the make and break moments in the book) and it was maddening (to think we thought it was okay to treat other people this way).
I do think potentially I would have loved this more if I was more familiar with the original story, but nonetheless this was a really good read! It's interesting to see that Everett has quite a large backlist. I will see if anything else sparks my interest at some point.
This book counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here, and counted for two different categories in the Goodreads Challenge (Black Heritage and Tale Spinners).
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.This week the theme is Green Book Covers (In honor of St. Patrick’s Day today!)
To be sure, to be sure, to be sure! Green book covers. Maybe not as easy to find as some other colours but I found enough!
Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This is the fifth book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by this Japanese author!
A Bakery in Paris by Aimie K Runyan - A dual timeline set in 1890s and just after WWII Paris! (my review)
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley - I have read this a couple of times, most recently for Cook the Books. (my review)
Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nexhukumatathil - This was another Cook the Books selection (my review)
The Bellbird River Country Choir by Sophie Green - the cover is green but so is the author name!
Sunbirds by Mirandi Riwoe - This book is set in WWII Indonesia and talks about the struggle for independence (my review)
The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer - a sliding doors book set in the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic and during WWI. (my review)
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - I had to have at least one Irish author in my list!
The Secrets of the Huon Wren by Claire van Ryn - This cover is so pretty! It had to make the list. (my review)
A Secret Garden in Paris by Sophie Beaumont - I have enjoyed both the Sophie Beaumont books I have read which are set in Paris! (my review)
Before I went away last week I carefully constructed a reading order to decide which books I wanted to read while I was away taking into consideration various challenges, upcoming review books and other factors. It would appear that I was kidding myself as I read on the plane on the way to India on Monday, and then didn't pick up a book again until Friday afternoon once work was done!
I did make a good deal of progress with The Leopared by Tomasi de Lampedusa which is my current read for The Classics Spin. I have enjoyed this one, although it is taking me a bit longer to read than I otherwise might normally.
The other book I finished was James by Percival Everett. This book was everywhere last year and I can see why. It also filled three categories in the current Goodreads challenge!
I am very conscious that I have multiple library books due back that I can't extend and so there is every chance that they will be going back to the library unread. For some of those books it won't be the first time!
I'm watching
I didn't actually turn the TV on while I was in Kolkata. I did, however, have plenty of times for watching movies and I watched four good ones.
On the way to Singapore I watched Rental Family, which stars Brendan Fraser. It is set in Tokyo and is about an American actor who is hired out to play roles in people's lives. For example, he plays a reporter who is supposedly interviewing an elderly actor about his life. It was a really nice movie and worth a watch.
On the flight from Singapore to Kolkata I watched an Italian movie called The Tasters. It is about a group of women who were forced to become the tasters of Hitler's food to check that it wasn't poisoned. The existence of these women and their role only came to light in the 1990s so it was a very interesting story.
On the way back I watched a movie from New Zealand called Tina. It was out here last year and I really wanted to go and see it but I didn't get to it. It was a lovely movie, very sad though. It is about a woman who is depressed following the death of her daughter in the Christchurch earthquake. She is forced to go back to work as a teacher in a rich school and it is about her providing inspiration to a whole new group of students.
And finally I watched a French movie called Nun in the City. This is currently showing here as part of the French Film Festival so I was delighted to find it on the movie channel on the plane. This was such a fun movie. A bit silly, but fun nonetheless. A nun named Lucie finds herself discovering what life is like after 20 years in a convent.
Life
Well...what a week! It started with a good week's wedding last Sunday evening, and then the rest of the week I was in Kolkata in India! I never imagined I would get this kind of opportunity in my line of work so to get the chance was amazing! It was also very intense and tiring. It was so much fun to meet our offshore team in person and they were so welcoming!
The company that they work for is massive, and at the campus we were visiting there are something like 18000 people working there at any one time, with round the clock shifts, so around 27000 in total. And they have six other offices in the city as well, and then more around the country. It is mindblowingly big!
The hospitality was incredible. We were really looked after very well. We had a driver everyday as well as 3 course buffet style lunch every day and they took us out to dinner at a very nice restaurant as well! On two nights they took us out to see a bit of the city including visiting Victoria Monument, the Ganges River, the Mother House where Mother Theresa lived and worked and more.
My bosses went home earlier than I did, so I got some extra time with the team and then on Saturday I had a day to myself so I went on a sights and sound tour! There were definitely both of these. I was able to visit the Mother House again and take a bit more time, as well as visit the pottery area of the city, College Street which is where the book markets are, the flower markets and walk on the Howrah bridge. Here is a short video from College Street. There is a really large area covering several blocks which is just stall after stall of booksellers.
I will say that it was very humid, which I struggle with but that aside, it was a great trip with lots of great memories created!
Who knows if I will get to go again, but if not, I am grateful that I had the chance to go this time
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