This week

I'm reading

It's been a while since I have done one of these weekly posts but I realised that I missed being able to look back so I am back!

The theme for my read on a theme bookclub this month is a book with a city name in the title. When I looked on my Kindle I had about 45 options for this theme, and that didn't include books with the word Paris in the title. In the end I decided to read Naturalist of Amsterdam by Melissa Ashley. I originally started it a couple of months before it was published when the bookclub theme was science, but I put it down because it was too early and ended up reading Lessons in Chemistry.  This was, however, the perfect chance to read it, and I absolutely loved it.  This is therefore my first book of the year for 2024. Sheila from Book Journey always has a first book of the year event, but I read this on my Kindle and didn't even have a cover image on it so I haven't shared it there.

I am also reading The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai for the Japanese Literature Challenge hosted at Dolce Bellezza during January and February. I have a feeling I am going to love this book as well. Expect to see a post about this book for Weekend Cooking in the coming months. This will also count for the Books in Translation Reading Challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader.

Finally I am listening to At the Foot of the Cherry Tree by Australian author Alli Parker. This is her debut novel and is based on her grandparents story.  I haven't had much listening time recently so I am looking forward to getting back to listening soon!

I'm watching

This week we finished watching two series. The first was the TV adaptation of Lessons in Chemistry. As I mentioned above I read the book last year and really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the TV series too. Obviously it was different to the book, but it was a good watch. I am also going to go and hear the author, Bonnie Garmus, talk at a live event in a couple of months which should be interesting!

We also watched the final episodes of Attack on Titan which is a Japanese anime series we have been watching with my son.

As I am sitting here writing this post I am also watching a documentary called A Year in Champagne.

Life

On New Year's Eve in 2022 we were at Mont St Michel and enjoyed a fabulous night with the locals,, eating an amazing dinner, drinks and dancing. This year was a little more ....quiet. My sister and her family came around for dinner, and then we were watching the live concert from Sydney Harbour, but their dog got freaked out by the illegal fireworks going off all around us to they ended up going home at about 10pm. Robert and I watching until the end of the fireworks and then went to bed. 

Whilst I am working over the Christmas/New Year period, Robert is not. He's given himself a list of things to do from putting the TV on the wall, to sorting out the garage, and a few other things. I get tired just watching him.

A couple of days ago we put together our new bookshelves in our study. Look at the possibilities of all these empty shelves!! We did start putting books on the shelves today, but there are still a few boxes to go and I am pretty sure we don't have enough shelves. We'll see.

Max

Max really seems to not particularly like having his photo taken, but I still persist!

The 2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge is now love! If you love historical fiction please consider joining us. You can find all the details at the sign up post which is here.

Posts from the last week

Festive Treats 2023

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Most Recent Additions to my TBR pile

Bookish Books Reading Challenge

Weekend Cooking: Best of 2023

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: January links

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date