Six Degrees of Separation ~ Wild Dark Shore

Charlotte McConaghy
"Wild Dark Shore" - 2025

#6Degrees of Separation:

from Wild Dark Shore (Goodreads) to The Rider on the White Horse 

#6Degrees is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I love the idea. Thank you, Kate. See more about this challenge, its history, further books and how I found this here. 

I have never heard of this book, or even this author. So, no surprise that I haven't read the starter book. But, here is the description:

"A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together."

Since today we have a word that leads me to another book, I shall go back to the good old system of using words (which I haven't been able to do since November 2025). I like it because I can come up with lots of different topics.

So, we'll start with the word "Wild".

Sendak, Maurice "Where The Wild Things Are" - 1963

Civardi, Anne; Cartwright, Stephen "Things People Do" - 1986

Brooks, Geraldine "People of the Book" - 2008

Pamuk, Orhan "The Black Book" (TR: Kara Kitap) - 1990

Oates, Joyce Carol "Black Girl/White Girl" - 2006

Storm, Theodor "The Rider on the White Horse" (aka The Dikegrave/The Dykemaster) (GE: Der Schimmelreiter) - 1888

The connection between the first and the last book? They both take place at the seashore, there is rough weather, a storm and secrets.

📚📚📚

Happy May!

 Happy May to all my Friends and Readers

New Calendar picture with this

beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch

"Das Cliff am Südstrand von Sellin im Frühling"

"The Cliff on the South Beach of Sellin in Spring"

Frank says to this picture:

"Es macht immer wieder Spaß, an der Ostsee direkt am Strand zu malen. Einfach mit den Füßen im Stand zu stehen, dem Rauschen der Wellen und den Möwen zuzuhören, die Sonne und den Wind auf der Haut zu spüren."

"It's always a pleasure to paint right on the beach at the Baltic Sea. Simply standing with my feet planted on the sand, listening to the sound of the waves and the seagulls, feeling the sun and the wind on my skin."

I can imagine how beautiful it must be to spend a day on the beach painting - if the weather plays along. I love being at the beach, the air is just wonderful.

Read more on their website here. *

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We just happened to go to an open air museum that has three different kinds of windmills, depending on which part of the construction is moving.

We haven't been to the beach last month, but we were able to see a beautiful windmill in a small open air museum in Bad Zwischenahn.

If you haven't seen enough windmills for today, I did a collage of some last year in May (see here). Seems like this is the month for windmills.

* * * 

Since we find more and more people like that nowadays, I will choose this German word of the month:

Schubladendenken

I checked whether there is an English translation for that and found pigeonholing and stereotyping. I think I prefer the latter. We are talking about narrow-mindedness, bigotedness, blindness, ignorance, obstinacy. Haven't we all lost friends we thought were nice people until they let out their political thinking?

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This month was the first time in years that I didn't finish a book. A friend had lent it to me and I told her I didn't like another one I had read by that author but I would try this. It was even worse. No more books by Ian McEwan.

With my local book club we discussed "The List of Suspicious Things" by Jennie Godfrey. We all quite liked it.

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* You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about the two artists. 

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🌷 I wish you all a very Happy May! 🌷

Wordless Wednesday ~ Daily Walk 2

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Food

 

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". It was created because they are particularly fond of lists. It is now hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

Since I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other bloggers who share their lists here.

This week's topic is a Freebie. I picked Food since I missed that a while ago. This time, in the order that those meals are served/eaten during the day. Breakfast, Tea(time), Dinner. 

Capote, Truman "Breakfast at Tiffany's" - 1958

Scott, Mary "Breakfast at Six" - 1953

Scott, Mary "Board, but no Breakfast" - 1978 

Vonnegut, Kurt "Breakfast of Champions" - 1973

Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946

Bryson, Bill "It’s teatime, my dear! Wieder reif für die Insel" (German edition of The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island) - 2015

Mortenson, Greg "Three Cups of Tea" (with David Oliver Relin) - 2006 *

Scott, Mary "Strangers for Tea" - 1975

Koch, Herman "The Dinner" (NL: Het diner) - 2009

Scott, Mary "Dinner Doesn’t Matter" - 1957

I was very surprised when I found out years ago that for a lot of British people, tea not only describes the drink but the food that we would call dinner in general.

📚Happy Reading 📚

Kingsolver, Barbara "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"

Kingsolver, Barbara, Steven L. Hopp, Camille Kingsolver "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" - 1990

Live the year with Barbara Kingsolver and her family on their farm.

I grew up like this. My parents didn't own a farm but they rented a house with a large garden, quite normal at the time in the countryside. We would grow everything, really everything the family need during the year. Except for the potatoes, the garden was not large enough, especially since we hardly ever had rice or pasta. But my uncle was a farmer and he would come by once a year and fill half of our little cellar room with potatoes. The other half would be harvested in a nearby apple orchard. We also had chickens, rabbits (which I still refuse to eat to this day) and even a pig from time to time. Fresh milk would be fetched from the next farmer, the one who also owned our house.

So, I read this book with a laughing and a crying eye. Too many memories of a hard childhood. But also so much that sounded familiar. Not just the planting and harvesting of the veggies, the washing of the preserving jars and then the processing and the cooking. A lot of work. In the end, I was happy I don't have to do that anymore.

What I liked about the book was the togetherness of the family, the will to stick together and live off the land for a whole year. Of course, not everyone would be able to do that. We all have to go out and earn a living, there is not that much time left to grow everything we want to eat. Also, most people don't have the money to have land so large that they can live from the proceeds any longer.

Mind you, a lot of her findings about food you can buy and probably shouldn't, are about the US American market but we all have to find what is good food and what isn't

So, I understand people who didn't like the book because of that. But we can all learn from the author and buy more local food, buy more stuff that is in season and didn't have to be shipped all over the world until we get it.

I also loved her remark to lactose intolerance. I belong to the (large) group of people inflicted with it and often have to hear snide remarks. I should take an excerpt from her book along with me in future:

"This is not an allergy or even, technically, a disorder. Physical anthropologists tell us that age four, when lactose intolerance typically starts, is about when nature intended for our kind to be wholly weaned onto solid food; in other words, a gradual cessation of milk digestions is norma. In all other mammals, the milk-digesting enzyme shuts down soon after weaning. So, when people refer to this as an illness, I'm inclined to point out we L.I's can very well digest the sugar in grown-up human foods like fruits and vegetables, thank, we just can't nurse. From a cow. Okay?"

As a big fan of gatherings by family and friends, I also loved her accounts of those. She obviously has more space than we do but even in our smaller apartments, we often had several dozens of visitors to our parties.

There are also contributions by her husband and her daughter Camille who includes a lot of recipes that you can download here: AnimalVegetableMiracle.

Does Barbara Kingsolver still belong to my favourite authors? But, of course. All her books are great!

Book Description:

"Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighbourhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat."

Book Quotes

 

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet". Aristotle

Education can be fun, but in the end, it really has to be sweet, no matter how it was during the time. I always loved learning and going to school. Yes, I had some teachers who shouldn't have become teachers but in the end, most of them really love their job and do their best.

"Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history." Oscar Handlin

Oh, if only some people (especially one) would try to understand that.

"Books are such an underrated essential. Every book is a key that unlocks another world, leads us down the path of a different life and offers the chance to explore an unexpected adventure. Every one is a gift of either knowledge, entertainment or pure escapism." Bella Osborne, The Library

Where would we be without books? Still sitting in the trees and eating bananas.

Find more book quotes here.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Daily Walk

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Politics

 

Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.

And here is a list of all the topics for the rest of the year.

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This week’s topic is Politics.

Politics is always an interesting topic and we should read a smuch about it as we can. I have chosen the last books I read about politics. I can recommend them all.

Clinton, Hillary Rodham "What Happened" - 2017

Harris, Kamala "107 Days" - 2025

Keefe, Patrick Radden "Say Nothing. A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland" - 2018

Lanschot, Reinier van "We are Europe" (NL: Wij zijn Europa: een nieuw Europees verhaal) - 2024

Mak, Geert "The Dream of Europe. Travels in a Troubled Continent" (NL: Grote verwachtingen. In Europa 1999-2019) - 2019

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

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Ephron, Nora "Scribble Scribble"

Ephron, Nora "Scribble Scribble. Notes on the Media" - 1978 

I love Nora Ephron and must have read every novel she ever wrote. And some of her non-fiction publications. A while ago, I read "Crazy salad. Some things about women" which was written in the Seventies, at a time where we had no internet and not as much information about what was going on across the pond as it is now.

Same as in that book, we find articles she wrote for a magazine, this time Esquire. I have never seen that publication and I didn't know many of the celebrities or newspapers or events she writes about. But she has such a lovely way of writing, you want to dig into all those stories and find out what the background was, though she does give quite some information about that already.

So, if you like Nora Ephron, you might want to pick up this book. If you haven't read anything by her, I suggest you start with one of her wonderful novels (see here).

There would be a lot of quotes I could put here, but I just leave it with three:

About "People" magazine:
"A celebrity is anyone People writes about; I know the magazine is filling some nameless, bottomless pit of need for gossip and names but I haven't got room in my life for so many lights."
Nothing seems to have changed here.

About two of my least favourite authors (Capote and Kerouac)
"Russell Baker: Capote's famous comment on Kerouac - that's not writing, it's typing."
I could say that for both of them but I will remember this quote the next time I come across a book like this.

About "Gourmet" magazine:
"I don't actually read it. I sort of look at it in a fairly ritualistc manner." 
I love cook books and cooking and baking magazines. And I think it's that same for me, I just love looking at the recipes and imagine I would make them all. Mind you, I usually try a few of the recipes

Book Description:

"Twenty-five tussles with the American media and its various faults and glories reveal an incisive journalist's dislike of such episodes as Haldeman on CBS and the New York Magazine takeover and her passion for such gifts as Upstairs, Downstairs and the Double-Crostic.

This volume is a collection of the columns the author wrote for Esquire magazine from 1975 to 1977. Her subject was the media, especially print journalism."

Steinbeck, John "Travels with Charley"

Steinbeck, John "Travels with Charley. In Search of America" - 1962

I have always loved the books by John Steinbeck. Until I read "Cannery Row". But that didn't keep me from reading more books by him and when our 1961 Club came up and I found there was one book by him, I chose that immediately. Unfortunately, I had just finished it when I found out that this book was published in 1962 (although it was probably written in 1961). Well, I couldn't finish another one in a day or two, so this will have to do with my contribution to this challenge (but I will read another one later and put a link here).

But I am more than happy that I read this book because it brought back John Steinbeck to me and the way I have always loved his literature.

While I am not a big fan of campervans or camping as such, I enjoyed following the author and his dog Charley through the United States. I doubt I will ever get there but in a way, I have the feeling I have now. He says himself towards the end that "… I have not intended to present, nor think I have presented, any kind of cross-section so that a reader can say, 'He thinks he has presented a true picture …' I  don't. I've only told what a few people said to me and what I saw. I don't know whether they were typical or whether any conclusion can be drawn." I think that is the best anyone can try to do and I am glad we could accompany him on this trip.

He also mentions "I like weather rather than climate." That is one great quote and I couldn't agree more.

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

And if you think there are better books about travels through the USA, please, let me know.

Book Description:

"To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers."

John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception".

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

Book Quotes

"And if anyone objects that they are not worth all that effort, I will cite Cioran (not a classic, at least not yet, but a contemporary thinker who is only now being translated into Italian): 'While the hemlock was being prepared, Socrates was learning a melody on the flute. What good will that be to you?, he was asked. At least I will earn this melody before I die.'" Italo Calvino in "Why Read the Classics?" (IT: Perché leggere i classici?)

Italo Calvino has some of the best quotes about reading. And this one could be relating to a lot of things (like learning a melody) but it certainly is valid for reading.

"That Moment as You’re Reading a Book When You Realize… 'Hey I’ve already been doing that.' That’s when you know you’re on the right track." Johnny Hamilton

Happens a lot. And it reminds me of a quote by Kathleen Kelley (Meg Ryan) in You've Got Mail: "So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?" I'm not sure about that, I like it both ways.

"Writers. Unsungs Gods for they are the creators of worlds." N.N.

They sure are. I just would like to know who said this first. If you know, please, tell me.

Find more book quotes here.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Dawn Redwood

Top 5 Tuesday ~ Religion

  

Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.

Meeghan had to take some time out, but luckily, she's back and has given us new topics.

And here is a list of all the topics for the rest of the year.

* * *

This week’s topic is Religion.

I have read quite a few books about religion, all kinds of religion. So, I tried to list some books about different ones.

Brooks, Geraldine "People of the Book" - 2008

Buddha "The Dhammapada" (Sanskrit: धम्मपद) - ca. 300 BC 

Harari, Yuval Noah "Sapiens. A Brief History of Mankind" (Hebr.: Ḳizur Toldot Ha-Enoshut/קיצור תולדות האנושות) - 2014

Mahfouz, Naguib "Children of Gebelawi" (aka Children of our Alley; arab: اولاد حارتنا Awlād ḥāritnā) - 1959

Schaik, Carel van & Michel, Kai "The Good Book of Human Nature: An Evolutionary Reading of the Bible" - 2016

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

📚 📚 📚

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Me

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". It was created because they are particularly fond of lists. It is now hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

Since I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other bloggers who share their lists here.

This week's topic is Me. (Example titles: Well Traveled could describe you if you like to travel, Hotshot Doc could describe you if you’re an awesome doctor, Falling into Place could describe a life where things are starting to work out, An Infinite Love Story could describe your relationship, It Could Have Been Her could describe a thing you’re happy you avoided or a path you could have taken but didn’t. You can explain your choices or not, and they can be as specific or as abstract as you’d like.)

I have found several books with topics or titles dear to my heart, that would describe me. First I thought, I'll sort them by importance but I found that too hard, so I stuck with my usual order: alphabetical

Reading and Lists

Adams, Sara Nisha "The Reading List" - 2021

I'm a book blogger, so I love reading. And I also love lists, as this challenge shows us.

Daughter

Gordimer, Nadine "Burger's Daughter" - 1979 
Of course I'm a daughter. You are either a son or a daughter of somebody. My parents passed away more than ten years ago but I will always be their daughter.

Mother

Gorky, Maxim (Максима Горького) "Mother" (RUS: Мать/Matj) - 1906/07
I am the mother of two sons and I would like to be seen as the mother in this book, a mother who doesn't just care about her own children but also about their friends and other young people who are our future.

A Needle and a Thread

Hislop, Victoria "The Thread" - 2011

I have always loved arts and crafts, I've been sewing clothes for the whole family, knitted jumpers and other essentials, but I even enjoyed crafting with paper even more.

Music

Seth, Vikram "An Equal Music" - 1999
Who doesn't like music???

Wife
Shalev, Zeruya "Husband and Wife" (Hebr: בעל ואישה) - 2000
I've been married for almost 43 years, so I definitely am a wife.

Travels
Smiley, Jane "The All-true Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" - 1998

Travelling was always a great passion of mine.

Kitchen/Cooking

Takahashi, Yuta "The Chibineko Kitchen" (J: ちびねこ亭の思い出ごはん 黒猫と初恋サンドイッチ/Chibinekoteino omoidegohan kuronekoto hatsukoisandoitchi) - 2020

Even though hubby loves cooking, you will also find me in the kitchen often.

Books
Tung, Debbie "Book Love" - 2005
Of course, I absolutely love books. Our house is full of novels and non-fiction books.

Green
Ulitzkaya, Lyudmila "Imago" or "The Big Green Tent" (RUS: Зеленый шатер = Zelenyi shater) - 2010
Green is my favourite colour and most of my clothes have some sort of green, there is green in all our rooms and if I could have had it, our car would have been green.

📚Happy Reading 📚

Krasznahorkai, László "Satantango"

Krasznahorkai, László "Satantango" (Hungarian: Sátántangó) - 1985

Whoever knows me, is aware that I love Nobel Prize laureates and that I try to read at least one book of every new recipient (plus a few more of some former ones).

This year, it was a Hungarian author that I had never heard of. But that is often the case. This was his first novel for which he received a lot of praise. Qutie a few of his books (including this one) were also turned into films.

But, as I said, for me he was completely new, probably for most Westerners. I had no idea what I was going to read. The story tells us about an almost abandoned village somewhere in the middle of nowhere. People have lost all hope that anything good will still come to them.

We get to know them one by one. First you have the feeling that these are short stories that have nothing to do with each other. But, gradually, the pieces fit togethers and we get to know the whole dilemna.

The story reads almost like dystopia. But you have to make yourself clear that this was the reality for many people behind the Iron curtain. And that there are still people there who want them to go back to that. They should read this book and see where all this leads.

Book Description:

"In the darkening embers of a Communist utopia, life in a desolate Hungarian town has come to a virtual standstill. Flies buzz, spiders weave, water drips and animals root desultorily in the barnyard of a collective farm. But when the charismatic Irimias – long-thought dead – returns to the commune, the villagers fall under his spell. The Devil has arrived in their midst."

László Krasznahorkai received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2025 "for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art".

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

The 1961 Club

This book challenge takes place twice a year and concentrates on one year and one year only. I call it "Read the Year Club". This time, 1961 was picked. For more information, see Simon @ Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy @ Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings (here is Karen's invite and here is Simon's). If you are looking for inspiration, there are a few books from that year that I read already:

Bruckner, Karl "The Day of the Bomb" (GE: Sadako will leben) - 1961

Buck, Pearl S. "A Bridge for Passing" - 1961

Grass, Günter "Cat and Mouse" (GE: Katz und Maus. Danziger Trilogie 2) - 1961

Griffin, John Howard "Black like me" - 1961

Heller, Joseph "Catch-22" - 1961

Juster, Norton "The Phantom Tollbooth" - 1961

Lem, Stanisław "Solaris" (PL: Solaris (powieść)) - 1961

Lewis, Oscar "The Children of Sanchez" - 1961 

Naipaul, V.S. "A House for Mr. Biswas" - 1961

Scott, Mary "Tea and Biscuits" - 1961

Stone, Irving "The Agony and the Ecstasy" - 1961

Tanpınar, Ahmet Hamdi "The Time Regulation Institute" (TR: Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü) - 1961
Tau, Max "The Country I Had to Leave" (GE: Das Land, das ich verlassen mußte) - 1961

Yates, Richard "Revolutionary Road" - 1961

Another book that is also on my list:

Rawls, Wilson "Where the Red Fern Grows" - 1961 (Goodreads)

This challenge takes place from 13 to 19 April 2026.

I have picked a story by a fascinating author of whom I always wanted to read more:

Steinbeck, John "Travels with Charley" - 1962

Godfrey, Jennie "The List of Suspicious Things"

Godfrey, Jennie "The List of Suspicious Things" - 2024

This book was chosen unanimously by our local German book club for our discussion in March 2026. An interesting story about two girls who want to find a killer. A serial killer. What they mainly do is "investigating" the people around them, i.e. nosing around. Of course, as we can imagine, they cause more evil than good with that.

I might never have picked up this book in the book shop, it looked more like chick lit than anything else. And it being a Sunday Times bestseller doesn't really recommend it to me, either. But, the member who suggested it, had read it and said it was good. And I know she has a great taste.

Besides the story of the "Yorkshire Ripper", there are many different subjects in this book, growing up, first love, mental illness, racism, almost any topic that can come up.

While I quite liked the book overall, I was not too keen on the ending. Maybe the author wanted to get away from something too cozy but it could have been different. It should have been different.

We had a wonderful conversation about this book. So many fates were touched upon.

We also found out that "the cover features a raven to symbolize the themes of curiosity, intelligence, and the menacing atmosphere and the milk bottle represents British school life from the time. The bird is the dark, dangerous intrusion of the outside world, reflecting the fear felt in Yorkshire during the time of the murders." (AI)

From the Back cover:

"Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South.

Because of the murders.

Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn’t an option. So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don’t.

But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families - and between each other - than they ever thought possible.

What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?"

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Places on My Bucket List

"Top Ten Tuesday" is an original feature/weekly meme created on the blog "The Broke and the Bookish". It was created because they are particularly fond of lists. It is now hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

Since I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other bloggers who share their lists here.

This week's topic is Books About/Set In Places on My Bucket List. 

I have been to many places in Europe but there always some countries and/or towns that I'd really like to see. If you are missing a certain country where you think I certainly would love to go, it's probably because I've been there before, often several times.

Australia 

Bryson, Bill "Down Under/In a Sunburned Country" - 2002

Austria/Vienna
Hamann, Brigitte "The Reluctant Empress" (GE: Elisabeth, Kaiserin wider Willen) - 1981

Canada 
Lawson, Mary "Crow Lake" - 2002 

Cyprus 

Şafak, Elif "The Island of Missing Trees" - 2021

Italy/Rome/Milan/Florence 

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (Goethe German) "Italian Journey" (aka Letters from Italy) (GE: Italienische Reise) - 1817

Japan 

Takahashi, Yuta "The Chibineko Kitchen" (J: ちびねこ亭の思い出ごはん 黒猫と初恋サンドイッチ/Chibinekoteino omoidegohan kuronekoto hatsukoisandoitchi) - 2020

New Zealand 

Scott, Mary "Breakfast at Six" - 1953

Norway 
Bjørnstad, Ketil "Villa Europa" (NO: Villa Europa) - 1992

Russia/St. Petersburg 

Rutherfurd, Edward "Russka. The Novel of Russia" - 1991

Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona 

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Shadow of the Wind" (E: La sombra del viento - El cementerio de los libros olvidados #1) - 2001 

📚Happy Reading 📚

Six Degrees of Separation ~ The Correspondent

 Virginia Evans
"The Correspondent" - 2025

#6Degrees of Separation:
from The Correspondent (Goodreads) to Letters Back to Ancient China 

#6Degrees is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I love the idea. Thank you, Kate. See more about this challenge, its history, further books and how I found this here. 

This book is on my wishlist but it's not out in paperback, yet, so I won't get to it until later.

Description:

"Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.

Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

Sybil Van Antwerp’s life of letters might be 'a very small thing,' but she also might be one of the most memorable characters you will ever read."

Brooks, Geraldine "Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over" - 1997

Hanff, Helene "84 Charing Cross Road" - 1970

Hesse, Karen "Letters From Rifka" - 1992

Austen, Jane "Selected Letters. 1796-1817" - 1796-1817

Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World" - 2016

Rosendorfer, Herbert "Letters Back to Ancient China" (GE: Briefe in die chinesische Vergangenheit) - 1983

This month, my books are all about letters and correspondence, one of my favourite subjects since I have always been an avid letter writer.

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Spell the Month in Books ~ April 2026

 
Reviews from the Stacks

I found this on one of the blogs I follow, Books are the New Black who found it at One Book More. It was originally created by Reviews from the Stacks, and the idea is to spell the month using the first letter of book titles.

April: Easter OR Pastel Covers

Hmmm, I don't have any books about Easter, I'm not the biggest fan of books with pastel covers, they are often too "light" for me. But I have a few, of course.

APRIL

A

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos "The Angel's Game" (E: El juego del ángel) - 2008
P

Mahfouz, Naguib "Palace Walk" (arab: بين القصرين/Bayn al-qasrayn) - 1956
R
Shakespeare, William "Romeo and Juliet" - 1597
I

Hislop, Victoria "The Island" - 2005

L
Oates, Joyce Carol "Little Bird of Heaven" - 2009

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Happy Reading!

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