Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week theme Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read but I feel like I did a variation on that not too long ago. I have had this post half written in draft for weeks so I decided to go with this theme instead. I do see myself doing variations on this theme on occasion in the future too!
Have you ever noticed how many authors there are with the same first names. There are a proliferation of books who are written by people named Susan (however it is spelt) or Elizabeth or Jane or Kate or Victoria. Today, I am focussing on the name Jane! So here are ten books written by author's whose first name is Jane.
Jane Austen - Hand's up if this was the first Jane you thought of when I said what my theme was this week!
Jane Harper - I am a long way behind on Jane Harper's books but I do like their Australian setting.
Jane Lovering - A recent favourite author. I have read a number of her books over the last few years.
Jane Tara - I read this book club a couple of years ago.
Jane Harrison - This book tells of the arrival of British settlers from the point of view of the Indigenous people who witnessed, and then suffered because of it
Jane Yolen - A while ago I was reading a lot of fairytale retellings and this was a good one!
Jane Sanderson - I liked this book because it was set in both Adelaide and Sheffield which are both places I have listed
Jane Harris - I don't know why I haven't read more by this author.
Jane Smiley - I liked this book but I didn't love the abridged audio.
Jane Yang - This is one that is on my Kindle.to read.
Do you have any other authors named Jane that immediately come to mind?
It's been a pretty good reading week for me this week, including a 5 star reads!
I mentioned last week that I had started The Little Wartime Bookclub by Kate Thompson. I was surprised when I first picked it us to see how long the book is. It's very close to being a chunkster, but despite it's size I sped through it in just a couple of days. I loved it! And it was a 5/5 read!
Next I picked up Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Japanese author Michiko Aoyama. This is the third book I have read by her, and it was her debut and I thought it was fabulous. I am looking forward to reading the sequel to this book which is out in a few weeks. I will post a review of this one for Weekend Cooking in a couple of weeks time.
I then read The Paradise Pact by Anita Heiss. It has made me laugh out loud a couple of times but it also irritated me at times. I made it to the end though.
Finally, I started my first Twenty Books of Winter read which was First-Time Caller by B K Borison. I think I started it too early though as I could easily have finished it yesterday. I had to pace myself so I could finish it today and have it count as a June read!
How on earth is it the end of May already? And isn't that what I think at the end of every month! May was a pretty good month for me. I had two 5 star reads this month being In the Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont and The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson. Shout out to Hot Chocolate on Thursday which was a standout read too, even if it didn't quite make it 5 stars. It was very close. In total I read 11 books for the month so that it s a pretty good average.
Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen
Bookish travel
Here's where I travelled too through the pages of books during May
Asia
China - The Bonesetter's Daughter
Korea - A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang
Japan - Gate to Kagoshima, Hot Chocolate on Thursday
America
California - The Bonesetter's Daughter
Hawaii - The Paradise Pact
Europe
Italy - An Italian Island Love Story, A Venice Summer
Spain - Call of the Camino
UK - The Seaside Book Club. The Little Wartime Library
France - In a Paris Fashion
I'm watching
We are big fans of Welcome to Wrexham, so the other night we watched the first episode of Nexacas which is where Eva Longoria buys into a Mexican soccer team. It is aiming for the same kind of feel as Wrexham. Not sure we will watch all the episodes but it was interesting. Now it has been announced that there will be a similar series about the Bonds Flying Roos which is the Australian Sail GP team owned by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.
On Saturday night we finally got around to watching Remarkably Bright Creatures, which is based on the book by Shelby van Pelt, which I read and loved last year. I listened to the audio where the voice of Marcellus was provided by Michael Urie. When I first heard that they were making a movie I did hear that Urie would once again providing the voice which I was excited about. However, in the end Marcellus was voiced by Alfred Molina and he did a great job.
Here's the trailer
Life
On Thursday night we went to a new to us restaurant and had a delicious dinner and then we went to an event at the Immigration Museum called Enlightenment which is an immersive light and sound experience. The light show is set to the music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It was a really nice evening. I do think we will go back to the restaurant, particularly because they had some truly amazing looking cocktails!
On Sunday afternoon I did something a bit different for me called Sip and Slay. Basically it was a makeup class accompanied by as much wine, champers or soft drink as you like, which may or may not be a good combination. Most days my idea of putting make up on is foundation, mascara and something on the lips, and the thought of having to put eye shadow on puts me in a cold sweat. It was a fun afternoon and I did learn a bit but I am not sure I can do the full routine that we learnt while I am sitting at traffic lights in the car!
Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in May for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. It's been a good start to the 2026 challenge. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month.
I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!
If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.
Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.
Please remember...
add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review).
it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!
You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.
One of the beauties of being involved in a book club is that some times you find yourself reading books that would otherwise not have crossed your reading radar. Some times, they don't work for you (Land of Milk and Honey, I am looking at you!) but some times they do. Call of the Camino is not a book that I recall hearing about before it being chosen for the current selection of Cook the Books. The question is did it work for me or not? Read on to find out!
When journalist Reina Watkins' nemesis at work is unable to make the start of a walk along the Camino that he was supposed to be doing for an article, she jumps at the opportunity. Not only is it a chance to get one up on Matt, but walking the Camino is something that she has always been interested in because her parents met on the trail years before. They both died when she was young, so armed with her father's journal, she is hopeful that it will help her understand her parent's story, and her own history.
Because it is very last minute, she hasn't done any training and she only has her trusty Doc Martin's the first few days are very trying for Reina, but as the trek continues she begins to understand the call of the Camino - why so many people have been taking this pilgrimage for so many years. When she hears that Matt, her rival, is hot on her trail, she is determined that this time she will be the one who writes the better article, especially given her personal connection.
Interspersed with Reina's story, we hear her mother's story. Reina always thought her mother was Portuguese but it turns out that she was from Andorra. Caught up in the middle of a historical family feud, Isabelle chooses to join the Camino to escape from danger. Ill-prepared, she hopes that the mantra of the Camino, the Camino will provide, is true for her.
The third voice in the story comes in the form of Reina's father's journal, and it is through this, and then a coincidental meeting that Reina learns more about Isabelle.
As readers, we are witness to the trials and tribulations of both women, from injuries to soreness, fatigue and danger. On the plus side there are the characters that they meet along the way, other pilgrims who are sharing in this significant journey, and it is this camaraderie that affected me the most.
I do know several people who have done the Camino. One of my friend's dads has done it three times, and her brother went with him one time and ended up meeting his now partner who lived in a different country. I definitely know that it changes lives, and we saw that with both of our main characters. Can I see myself doing the Camino? Not really. I do more steps when I am on holiday that I do the rest of the time but still, this kind of strenuous walking sounds too far, too far for me! I did, however, enjoy reading about it! And I would be more than happy to go to Spain at some point!
When this book was chosen, I immediately thought that I would be choosing some Spanish recipe. I did hope that something more would have jumped out of the text to help me decide. I thought about tortilla, but to be honest, I thought someone else would have chosen that to make.
Instead, it gave me the opportunity to pull one of my favourite cook books off the shelf. I say favourite, but it's a favourite book to look at. Even though I have owned it for years, and I posted about it for Weekend Cooking back in 2012, I don't believe I ever did get around to cooking from it! That changed this week.
The thing I loved about this book is that it gives you food history, regional specialties, spotlights ingredients and producers. It is an amazing book to look at and I love the dust jacket I have on my copy. The colours just pop! One thing I did find a little interesting was what wasn't in this book. It was originally published back in 2012, before the world went crazy for Basque cheesecake, alternatively known as San Sebastien cheesecake, and there is no recipe in the book for it! Just thought that was interesting!
I was hoping to choose a recipe that had been mentioned in Call of the Camino, or that at least came from the regions that the Camino passes through. In the end I chose this recipe for two reasons. One, there was a mention of roast chicken towards the end of the book, and I liked the fruitiness of this recipe, given that it echoed the part in the book where our characters stumbled across La Casa de los Dioses (The House of the Gods) where the walkers can help themselves to fruit. In the book it mainly talks about the watermelon, but I really, really don't like watermelon so I am going with apples and grapes.
In the intro to this recipe it mentions that in Asturias Reineta apples are used but the Golden Delicious variety is a good substitute. Asturias is one of the places that the Camino passes through so this recipe works as a regional dish. We ended up using a different variety of apples as there were no Golden Delicious at the supermarket.
It was an interesting recipe. I am not sure we would make it again. You can see the grape juice has kind of caught a bit, but the chicken itself was very moist, and it was interesting to have the apples and grapes with chicken. We would normally pair cooked apples with pork. We served it with roast potatoes as I wasn't really sure what else to serve it with.
The next selection for Cook the Book is called Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal. Not sure what to expect with this one. I guess I will find out when I read it!
I am sharing this post with Foodies Read, hosted at Based on a True Story.
Roast Chicken with Apples and Grapes (Pollo con manzanas y uvas) - Claudia Roden
Serves 4-6
5 Golden Delicious apples Juice of ½ a lemon 1kg white seedless grapes, destalked 1 x 1.5kg chicken Salt and pepper 3 tablespoons olive oil 75g butter
Peel and core the apples. Cut one in half or into quarters, so the pieces will push easily inside the chicken, and the rest of the apples into 8 slices each. Drop the slices into a bowl of water acidulated with the lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring.
Blend half of the grapes in the food processor and collect the juice by pressing the mush through a small-holed sieve with a wooden spoon. Discard the skins left in the sieve. You should get about 250ml of juice. Stuff the chicken with the halved or quartered apple and put it in a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and rub with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Turn the bird breast side down in the baking dish and pour in 125ml of the grape juice. Roast in an oven preheated to 190°C/gas 5 for 45 minutes, then take the chicken out, turn it over, pour the remaining grape juice over it and return to the oven. Cook for another 30 minutes or until the chicken is brown and caramelized and the juices run clear when you cut into the bird between the leg and the body with a pointed knife.
While the chicken is roasting, heat the butter with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan. Put in the drained apple slices and the remaining grapes and sauté over a medium heat, turning over the fruits and shaking the pan gently until the grapes are soft and golden and the apples tender and caramelized. It can take 20 minutes. Transfer to a baking dish with their juices and reheat in the oven when you are ready to serve.
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner Sunday - Roast Chicken with Apple and Grapes (new) Monday - Baked Gnocchi (new) Tuesday - Enchilada Wednesday - Molten Pumpkin Pasta Bake (new) Thursday - Out for dinner 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
A little while ago Laura from Laura's Reviews shared a review of Passage to Tokyo by Poppy Kuroki which is the second book in the Ancestor Memories series. I was sufficiently intrigued by the premise that I knew I wanted to read the books, but I had to start with the first book. That was both because I prefer to read series in order but also become of how gorgeous that cover is!
Isla McKenzie may have a Scottish accent and red hair but she has always been attracted to Japanese history and culture, thanks to her Japanese grandfather and ancestry. She travels to Japan with the hope of finding out whether her one of her ancestors was a Samurai as per family legend, through doing some research and visiting local Samurai sites. She travels to Kagoshima at the very south of Kyushu where the Satsuma Rebellion started and finished, effectively marking the end of the Samurai era in Japan in the late 1870s.
However, no one would have expected that being stuck in a temple during a severe thunderstorm could possibly lead to a journey back in time. Suddenly Isla finds herself in the historical city in the weeks leading up to what she knows will be the end. Found by two warriors, Isla is put under the charge of Keiichirō. As a foreigner, Isla is not trusted, especially given how strangely she is dressed and her lack of understanding of the world around her.
Keiichirō comes from a family with a long history in the Samurai tradition. However, his family has fallen out of favour and so Kei is keen to do everything he can to please the Samurai leader. It doesn't really please his sister to have the foreigner in their home though.
Whilst the first half of the book really focusses on Isla and settling in to her new life, the second half of the book follows the rebellion with numerous brutal battles portrayed. Isla knows that it is not going to end well, and as her feelings for Kei grows she faces several agonising choices. How does she warn him of what is coming, will that change his decisions, and what will it mean for her if she can't get back to her own time. Does she even want to return to her own time, if she can?
I haven't read a lot of Japanese history, so this was really interesting to read. I think it was also a case of the right book at the right time as I enjoyed this! I am really looking forward to reading the second book, and hoping that there will be more books in the series!
I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here and the Speccy Fiction Challenge hosted at Book'd Out.
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors (Pick your ten favorite authors and your favorite book written by each one of them.) (submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext). After going rogue with my topics for the last two weeks, this week I am back on track.
I have broken this into two separate groups. The first five are authors who I have loved for years. The second group are more recent discoveries for me.
The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick - I have gotten really behind on EC books but I still count her one of my favourites. I have given a lot of her books very high rating. At the time I read this one I gave it a 4/5 but this is the foundational book for me, about William Marshal and a several of her later books focus on him or his descendants.
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman - This is SKP's book on Richard III, the first one I had read by her and is absolutely a 5 star read.
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - I loved the first 4 books in the Outlander series, but if you are forcing me to pick a favourite it is the third book in the series
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - I could not do a list of favourite authors without including Susanna Kearsley. I also could not do a list of favourite SK books without mentioning The Winter Sea. It's a book I have reread 3 times and I am not a rereader.
The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns - Rachael Johns is one of only two authors that I consistently read when I had a years long reading slump a while ago.
Midnight in Paris by Gillian Harvey - This author writes a lot of books featuring people moving to France for a new life. This one was a bit different but I loved it!
Head Over Wheels by Leonie Mack - I don't read a lot of sports romances this day but this one featuring professional cyclists was a lot of fun. And book 2 in this world is coming out soon. Can't wait. I also am enjoying her Wedding Adventures series. And her standalone books. You get the idea!
The Paris Bookshop for the Broken- Hearted by Rebecca Raisin - I love the way that Rebecca Raisin writes about food, books and places, especially when she writes about Paris.
The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine by Laura Pearson - This was my first Laura Pearson and I loved, loved, loved this book!
Summer in Bellbird By by Maggie Christensen - In the last 5 years I have read 26 books by Maggie Christensen. She must be a favourite by definition right? They are my definition of comfort reads for sure.
Even though work is absolutely crazy and I am exhausted at the end of every day, I am still managing to get some reading time in. Being so tired does impact my enjoyment of books. Last year I had many, many more 5 star reads by this point in the year. However, I did have one 5 star read this week which was exciting.
I finished reading A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby. I had previously borrowed a Lynne Shelby book from the library so I went back on to request it again given that I enjoyed this book so much. It seems a bit weird to me, but the book is no longer availabe which is a bit sad. I guess I will have to buy it if I want to read it!
Last weekend we went to see the movie The Sheep Detectives which is based on the book Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. I was a bit concerned about reading the book now having seen the movie so recently but I am going to say that the movie is more inspired by the book than based on it. A lot of the story is different to the movie, and it needed to be so that the movie could get a family friendly rating. I am half way through the book right now so will be interested to do a full comparison of the two versions once I get to the end.
My 5 star read this week was In the Paris Fashion by Sophie Beaumont. I had read and enjoyed Beaumont's two previous books set in Paris so I knew I would like it. It felt like the right book at the right time for me as I read it in a day, and I closed it with a very contented sigh. Does the book have some flaws. Absolutely. Will everyone love it like I did. Probably not. Did it leave me smiling long after I finished the book. Yes. And that's what makes it a 5 star read for me!
I did also start reading The Little War Time Library by Kate Thompson this week. I am finding it hard to put it down! It is due back at the library already so I need to hurry up and finish it
I shared my Classics Spin list last week, and the spin landed on number 9, so I am going to be reading the Australian Classic, Careful, He Might Here You. I am looking forward to getting started on it once I pick it up from the library.
I'm watching
We had a date night on Saturday night which consisted of going to a Turkish restaurant for dinner and then watching The Mandalorian and Grogu at the cinema. The dinner was good, and we would totally go again. The movie was fine. The story could easily have been done as a TV series. My husband is a big Star Wars fan so we were likely always going to go and see it.
Life
See last week's comment about work being frantic. It's true again this week with weekend work and late nights. Not sure it is going to calm down yet.
When her grandmother dies, Yeon-hwa inherits a debt-ridden bakery shop called Hwawodlang (which translates as the Flower Moon Temple Pastry Shop. It is not, however, a normal bakery. The will specifies that the shop can only open until 10pm until midnight, and it also specifies that Yeon-hwa must run the shop for at least a month. A month seems doable!
It turns out though that this bakery is different in other ways. The customers are spirits, making their final stop before passing on into the afterlife. There is also a black cat who watched Yeon-hwa with very knowing eyes and shaman named Sa-wol who are helping Yeon-hwa to understand the true nature of the bakery, the connection with a temple and ultimately to understand her grandmother.
Yeon-hwa has always felt a distance from her grandmother even though she stepped in to care for Yeon-hwa when she was a young girl and her parents were killed in a car crash. Now, Yeon-hwa wishes their relationship could have been different, and they could have had conversations about life, about her parents and about the bakery, but it is too late.
The various chapters feature a different sweet being made and we learn the reason why the spirits are requesting this particular item. It always have some meaning to the spirit and to the person it is intended for. The other thing is that obviously ghosts don't usually carry cash, so they in effect pay for their pastry by leaving an item that means something to them behind.
Chocolate Jeonbyeong Crackers - A woman asks Yeon-hwa to make these for her daughter and leaves behind something precious.
Plum-Blossom Manju Buns - A shy man who had only just summoned up the courage to ask a girl out asks for manju buns to be made for her, to help her move on.
Green Tea Dango - A woman asks for this to be delivered to her fellow artist colleague and friend
Strawberry Chapssal-tteok - A young boy wants to give Strawberry Chapssal-tteok to his older step sister who blames herself for his death.
Chestnut Yanggaeng of Goodbye - We learn more about Sa-Wol and Yeon-hwa learns more about her parents and grandmother.
Along the way, we also learn some of the rules of the afterlife which includes the fact that a spirit has 3 years to pass into the after life, otherwise they will be stuck forever.
While there are plenty of Asian books which people returning from the past/future/afterlife to have one final conversation with their loved ones, that is not the case here. Yeon-hwa is the one who has the interactions, including seeing details of their lives and then she and Sa-Wol act as conduits to the loved ones. It does have that familiar episodic structure that we see in so many of these types of books
I enjoyed reading this book but I didn't feel as connected with it as I might have expected to be. I don't think we particularly go to know Yeon-hwa as well as we could have. It was almost like we were kept at arms length which is a bit like Yeon-hwa's own relationship with her grandmother. However, it does have the same feel as a lot of those books so it is feel good and affirming without being excitable.
I was wondering how I was going to be able to describe all the different pastries which are mentioned in this book while writing this post, so I was very pleased to find a link to this video which shows what all the different desserts look like
Doesn't it all look so pretty!
This book was nice to read without being compelling, so I have to ask myself would I read more books set here and the answer is probably. It doesn't look like the author has written any more books yet, but she might!
I chose to read this book as it fit the AAPI Heritage category on the Spring Goodreads challenge. I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story, with the Books in Translation Challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader and the Speccy Fiction Challenge hosted at Book'd Out.
Rating 3.5/5
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner Sunday - Beef Rendang (new) Monday - Sausage and Broccoli pasta (new0 Tuesday - Mexican Chicken and Rice Wednesday - Pork chops, mash and cauliflower Thursday - Tomato and Paneer Curry 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
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