Categories
Books Recommendations

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

About The Forgotten Garden
Published: 2008
Book Tropes: Foundlings, Time Hops, Family Secrets, Mysterious Houses, Australia
Recommended for fans of: Susanna Kearsley, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, Possession by A. S. Byatt, The Thirteenth Tale by by Diane Setterfield

Forgotten Garden was the first book that I decided to read from my Fall 2021 Reading List — since that was the book most people recommended! It turned out to be a very engrossing read, and managed to get me out of my reader’s block.

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Memes To Be Read Books

Fall 2021 Reading List

September is nearly gone and I’m still struggling with the reading/ blogging blues that first showed up for me in July. Still, a reading list for Fall 2021 for this week’s Top 10 Tuesday seemed doable — even if I (probably) won’t end up reading through. 🙁

The reading list is tailored for:

► The R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (RIP) XVI Reading Challenge 2021 hosted @perilreaders on Twitter and Instagram, where you get to try out spooky stuff, at least once a year (in my case), and

► The Treason & Plot #WitchWeek2021 Challenge hosted by Calmgrove and LizzieRoss Writer, where you get to try out books involving gothic mayhem and dark magic.

If these reading challenges interest you, here are a few suggestions!

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Categories
Books Memes

Ten Books With Numbers In the Title

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at Books With Numbers In the Title.

I think the titles will be self-explanatory, so I am just going to take the easy way out — and post the book covers themselves. Then, let’s choose a favorite!

Which of these is your favorite book, title or cover? (And hope everyone is doing well!)

Categories
Best of List Books Memes Starred Recommendations

Top 10 Feel-Good Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at books guaranteed to make you smile, aka feel-good books.

Honestly, I think this is my favorite sort of books, irrespective of the genre. I could go on piling books here but will try to restrict it to just ten — for your sake!

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Books Memes

Second Place & Six Family Sagas

It’s time for #6degrees. Start with the monthly read, add six books, and see where you end up. The 6 Degrees of Separation Meme is hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best. The book for September 2021 is Second Place by Rachel Cusk.

Book Blurb: A woman invites a famous artist to use her guesthouse in the remote coastal landscape where she lives with her family. Powerfully drawn to his paintings, she believes his vision might penetrate the mystery at the center of her life. But as a long, dry summer sets in, his provocative presence itself becomes an enigma―and disrupts the calm of her secluded household.

I haven’t read Second Place, but the blurb reminded me heavily of family sagas triggered off by critical events in the life of an ancestor. So, here are 6 books all tied-up in family legacy.

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Categories
Books

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann

Leonie Swann Three Bags Full

August was supposed to be Women in Translation month. So I turned to Leonie Swann’s Three Bags Full, a book translated from German to English (thanks to BookWyrm Knits for telling me that).

Three Bags Full is apparently one of those books where nothing bad happens to our main characters — at least that’s what the commenters said on this Tor post by Jo Walton. The book happens to be about a flock of sheep playing detective. I was easy prey because I’m all for light, breezy reads right now (still going through a reading slump!).

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Categories
Books Memes

Ten Books To Re-Read (Or Not)

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at books we wish we could re-read as if for the first time.

Come to think of it, this is a rather difficult topic. I thought of books that had lost their sparkle? Perhaps because I grew older, or perhaps because I already know what happens in the end. Most mysterious! So here I am, trying to figure out a list. With reasons.

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Categories
Art & Illustration Recommendations Watchlist

Alice: Bizarre & Compelling Czech Film

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland gets a makeover in this old Czech film from 1988. And what a makeover it is!

The movie starts off on an eerie note, when little Alice, troubled and lonely, begins to tell you about her dream. It’s told like a child’s story, even a nursery rhyme, but the movie is clearly intended for older audience.

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Categories
Miscellany

A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson

Midsummer Tempest Poul Anderson

Book/ Series: A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson (Operation Otherworld Series Book #3, but can be read as standalone)
Published: 1974
Book Tropes: Alternative English History/ Fantasy
Recommended for fans of: Shakespeare (esp. The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream), R.L. Stevenson (esp. The Black Arrow)
Awards: 1975 Mythopoeic Award

Some time back, LibraryThing recommended A Midsummer Tempest for those who like Shakespeare’s plays, steampunk, the old adventure classics and medieval English history. I’ll second that recommendation, as long as you are certain that this blend is exactly what you’re looking for.

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Categories
Best of List Books Memes

Top Ten Side Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at those side characters. You know, those Secondary/ Minor Characters Who Deserve More Love.

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