Top 5 Tuesday ~ Secret Societies

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 Secret Societies.

Like the last two weeks, this doesn't fit my usual genres, but I have read a few books with the word "Secret" in the title. So I'm going with that twist.
All of the books are fantastic but very different. And they span a lot of different countries and cultures, Australia, China, Syria and the USA.

Grenville, Kate "The Secret River" - 2005

Schami, Rafik "The Calligrapher’s Secret" (GE: Das Geheimnis des Kalligraphen) - 2008

See, Lisa "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" - 2005

Thomson, Mike "Syria's Secret Library: The True Story of How a Besieged Syrian Town Found Hope" - 2018

Wells, Rebecca "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" - 1996 

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ on a Wednesday ~ Mysterious Houses

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 Mysterious Houses.

As I said last week, I'm not a big fantasy reader. So, my mysterious houses might not be the same as those of other bloggers. Northanger Abbey tells us of an old house and a family with (maybe) secrets. Jonathan Strange ... well, we have two magicians here. North Woods is indeed a house with a long history and lots of stories. And The Clockmaker's Daughter makes the house mysterious. The most mysterious one is maybe The Chibineko Kitchen where we can get connected to the dead.

Austen, Jane "Northanger Abbey" - 1818 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 

Clarke, Susanna "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" - 2004

Mason, Daniel "North Woods" - 2023

Morton, Kate "The Clockmaker's Daughter" - 2018

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

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Magical Creatures

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 Magical Creatures.

I'm not a big fantasy reader. So, most of my books with magical creatures are children's books.

Donaldson, Julia "The Gruffalo" - 1999

Ende, Michael "The Neverending Story" (German: Die unendliche Geschichte) - 1979

Ibsen, Henrik "Peer Gynt" (Norwegian: Peer Gynt) - 1867

Lewis, C.S. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (first of the Narnia Chronicles) - 1950

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

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

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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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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.

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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! 📖

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Books based on a true story

 

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.

Unfortunately, Meeghan has not posted anything for a while. If anyone knows what has happened to her, please, let me know.

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

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This week’s topic is Books based on a true story.

I always try to find some not so well known books and hope I detected some that most of you don't know, yet. And I found three translations. But in any case, they are all worth discovering.

Brooks, Geraldine "Caleb’s Crossing" - 2011

Droste-Hülshoff, Annette von "The Jew's Beech" (GE: Die Judenbuche) - 1842 

Green, Hannah (Joanne Greenberg) "I Never Promised you a Rose Garden" - 1964

Levi, Primo "If Not Now, When?" (I: Se non ora, quando) - 1982

Noa Bercovitch, Pascale "The Dolphin’s Boy: A Story of Courage and Friendship" (F: Oline, le dauphin du miracle) - 2000

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Translations

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.

Unfortunately, Meeghan has not posted anything for a while. If anyone knows what has happened to her, please, let me know.

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

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This week’s topic is Translations.

It's often very tempting to go with the same books and authors that I used before because they are my favourites. However, I have tried this time to only use titles I never mentioned before and have started with the oldest ones I reviewed.

As you can see, I have chosen books translated from Russian, Swedish, German, Turkish and Finnish. I am looking forward to seeing what other readers have chosen.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor "The Adolescent" (RUS: Подросток) - 1875 

Fredriksson, Marianne "Simon and The Oaks" (aka Simon's Family) (S: Simon och ekarna) - 1985 

Nadolny, Sten "The Discovery of Slowness" (GE: Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit) - 1983

Pamuk, Orhan "A Strangeness in my Mind" (TR: Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık) - 2014

Waltari, Mika "The Secret of the Kingdom" (SF: Valtakunnan salaisuus) - 1959

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Classic Retellings

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 Classic Retellings 

I absolutely love classics and am not always happy when someone uses someone else's idea for a story. But here we have some great novels where a story from the past was set in our times.

Atwood, Margaret "Hag-Seed. The Tempest Retold" - 2016

I have never read The Tempest by William Shakespeare but know the story. This is Margaret Atwood's view.

Kingsolver, Barbara "Demon Copperhead" - 2022

One of my favourite contemporary authors retells one of my favourite classics:
Dickens, Charles "David Copperfield" - 1850

McCall Smith, Alexander "Emma. A Modern Retelling" - 2015

Another one of my favourite stories in a modern setting.

Austen, Jane "Emma" - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)

Smiley, Jane "A Thousand Acres" - 1991

Another Shakespeare play transported: King Lear.

Wroblewski, David "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" - 2008
And Shakespeare #3:

Shakespeare, William "Hamlet" - 1599/1602 

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Classics I ♥

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 Classics I love. 

First of all, even if I repeat myself and you find it boring over time, I have to include Jane Austen. But I also love all the other books and the other ones by those authors.

Austen, Jane "Persuasion" - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
Buck, Pearl S. "Peony" - 1948

Dickens, Charles "David Copperfield" - 1850
Mann, Thomas "Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family" (GE: Buddenbrooks) - 1901 

Pasternak, Boris "Doctor Zhivago" (RUS: Доктор Живаго) - 1957

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📖 Happy Reading! 📖

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Dinner Party

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 Characters to Invite to a Dinner Party. 

Tough question. I would love to invite all my favourite authors to a dinner party and ask them about their books. But I can only have five. Our dinner parties are usually a lot larger, so it is not a good decision for me to be made. We always invite everyone we can think of and often end up with 20+. Well, this is not a normal dinner party, so I understand.

So, I thought I'll invite those authors that have a special birthday, either themselves or their book. And I have tried to find a dinner-related clue.

Mann, Thomas "Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family" (GE: Buddenbrooks) - 1901

Thomas Mann was born 6 June 1875, so he would have been 150 years in  2025. There are a lot of dinners in his book.

Pool, Daniel "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" - 1993
Well, I don't know Daniel Pool and this is the only book I read by him. But I guess you all know why this book is on this list. Exactly:
It's Jane Austen's 250^th birthday on 16 December (see #Reading Austen project) and just would have loved to meet her. Of course, many many dinners in her books ("at least three courses" LOL).

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

The dinners in Mary Scott's are not great dinner parties but all of the books in her Susan & Larry series have meal in their title and since I always loved Mary, I would be delighted to have her at my dinner party.

Trollope, Anthony "The Way We Live Now" - 1875

Another birthday, this time that of the book, 150 years since it was published. And, of course, no book by Anthony Trollope without a formal dinner, either.

Woolf, Virginia "Mrs. Dalloway" - 1925

And now we come to a 100^th birthday, Mrs. Dalloway. I believe she would have thrown a huge party for that.

Unfortunately, all my authors have passed away. I mean, no wonder, with those birthdays. Maybe I should get someone to stand in for them, like Miss Sophie in "Dinner for One". I hope I found the correct link but if not, google it on YouTube, this one might be blocked in your country.

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Happy Reading! 🍲🥗🍖🥔🍨

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ The Tudors

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 Books Set in a Specific Time Period. 

I just had to go with one of my favourites: The Tudors. There was just so much going on. It's always exciting. I have chosen some fiction and some non-fiction books by some of my favourite authors about history and historical fiction. If you know more that are worth reading, please, let me know.

Ackroyd, Peter "The History of England, Vol. 2 Tudors" 

- 2012 

Peter Ackroyd is a great writer, he just knows all the little details and can put them together so that you get the feeling, you have been there. All the problems the Tudor's encountered, how the Anglican church started, what the problems were etc. Whilst the author focuses a lot on the reformation in this edition, there is also a lot about Henry VIII's successors and how the island carried on after his death.

Follett, Ken "A Column of Fire" (Kingsbridge #3) - 2017
This is mostly the story of the fictional Willard family. There is a Romeo and Juliet plot, villains and heroes, Catholics and Protestants, Queens Mary I, Elizabeth I and King James I of England, Mary Queen of Scots, the history of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, the Spanish Armada, the Gunpowder plot and many other political events. This book has it all.

Mantel, Hilary "Wolf Hall" (The Wolf Hall Trilogy #1) - 2009

This is such a great novel about Thomas Cromwell and all the other people that played an important part in the life of probably the most interesting king among all the kings of England, Henry VIII. Hilary Mantel tries to look behind the curtain of the throne, of the court, of the royal family.

Rutherfurd, Edward "London - The Novel" - 1997
The author describes the history of this fantastic town through the lives of about half a dozen different families. He manages to let you live their lives and learn about the development, the achievements, the shortcomings of life between BC and now. But you don't just get to know the families but also their famous contemporaries. You get to meet Chaucer and Shakespeare, all the different kings and queens of England and Scotland, Sir Christopher Wren, a lot of bishops and other important clergymen. So, this is not just about the Tudors but they build an important part of the book.

Weir, Alison "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" - 1991

There is so much information here about the six ladies who were married to Henry VIII as well as a lot about the king  himself and the children. You get a complete picture of the Royal Tudor family, not just the Tudors but all their contemporaries, the European Royal families, the people and families of influence a the time.

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🤴👑👸 Happy Reading! 🤴👑👸

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Colours

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 Colours. 

Now, this was an easy one. I could have found a lot more than just five books this week but I kept it with the main colours. And I think I found a large variety of very different books here.

Xueqin, Cao (Cáo Xuěqín) "Dream of the Red Chamber/The Story of the Stone" (CHN: 红楼梦/Hung lou meng) - 1717-63

Apparently, this novel is "one of the four pinnacles of classical Chinese literature." Also known as "The Story of the Stone", it is said to be the first Chinese novel of this kind and has created an entire field of study "Redology".

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi "Half of a Yellow Sun" - 2006

I totally can relate to the quote "The world was silent when we died." I don't think many of us knew where Biafra was. Here we can learn about it.

Hajaj, Claire "Ishmael's Oranges" - 2014

A book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Like so many other books about the people of Palestine, it can only touch the surface of what is going on. Therefore, we need to read as many books about this as possible and pass them on. 

Montgomery, L. M. "Anne of Green Gables" - 1908
An orphan girl is taken in by a childless couple and she really loves both her new parents as well as the school and the neighbours and everything but still gets into a lot of trouble all the time. The novel is both humorous as well as serious.

Vreeland, Susan "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" - 1999

The main subject of the novel is a fictitious painting by Vermeer. It describes its life, starting with the last owner. A lot of interesting stories, every important timeframe is included and the change of owner is almost every time highly dramatic.

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🌈 Happy Reading! 🌈

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Directions

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.

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This week’s topic is Books with Directions in the Title. 

Directions. I had to think about the compass rose and the cardinal directions immediately. So, North, South, East, West it is.

Buck, Pearl S. "East Wind: West Wind" - 1930
This is history, life in Asia seen through the eyes of an American. The title already tells us about the divide between the East and the West, how people believe that they cannot be mixed. 

Gaskell, Elizabeth "North and South" - 1854/55
This novel tells the story of Margaret Hale whose father leaves the ministry because he has doubts about his belief. They move from the South of England to a place in the North, from a village to a town, a lot of things change for the protagonist.

Guterson, David "East of the Mountains" - 1999
What does a surgeon do who suffers from terminal illness and knows what is about to happen to him?

Remarque, Erich Maria "All Quiet on the Western Front" (GE: Im Westen nichts Neues) - 1928
One part of this book tells us about the war, the trenches, the fights, the cold, the dampness, the rats, the bad food, seeing the friends fall one after the other, worrying you might be next ... The protagonist has a home leave in between and his rendition of the visit with his family and him being in turmoil because it is a different life and he is a different person, it tells us a lot about what those soldiers went through when they survived, what soldiers still go through today. They are never the same again.
This contributed to me becoming a life-long pacifist.

Steinbeck, John "East of Eden" - 1952

The author talks about problems as old as mankind, he retells the story of Cain and Abel. An excellent report about growing up, growing in different directions, about good and evil, young and old, a very moving story.

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⬅⬇⬆➡ Happy Reading! ⬅⬇⬆➡

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Times of Day

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.

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This week’s topic is a Times of Day. Meeghan says, well, as last week, I have no idea what Meeghan says. She published a list for the remainder of the year with no extra explanation. But this topic does not really need any explanation, I think.

Abulhawa, Susan "Mornings in Jenin" (aka The Scar of David) - 2010
Everyone who is only slightly interested in world peace should read this and see how much heartache there can be, how much trouble things can cause if not thought through well enough.

Calvino, Italo "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" (I: Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore) - 1979

One of the most weird - but also most interesting - books I ever read, a reader is trying to read a book called "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller". The book is partly about the reader's life and partly about the books he is trying to read.

Follett, Ken "The Evening and the Morning" (Kingsbridge #0.5) - 2020

I love the Kingsbridge series. This one is just as fabulous as the ones before this, or the ones that come after, chronologically in the story.

Haig, Matt "The Midnight Library" - 2020
Have you ever wondered what your life might have been if something had or hadn't happened? If you hadn't visited that school you went to, if you had decided to get another profession, if you had met another partner in life? Well, here you can find how it might be if you could explore your life in different circumstances.

Mercier, Pascal "Night Train to Lisbon" (GE: Nachtzug nach Lissabon) - 2004
A Swiss Professor of ancient languages happens to meet a Portuguese woman and finds a book in Portuguese, so he gives up his whole life and goes to Lisbon to find the author. He is going on a quest, tracking down the origin of the book and the life of the author. But in the author he also finds himself.

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🌅🌠 Happy Reading! 🌠🌅

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Top 5 Tuesday ~ Sizes

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.

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This week’s topic is a Books with Sizes in the Title. Meeghan says, well, I have no idea what Meeghan says. She published a list for the remainder of the year but I haven't heard from her since. She had mentioned that she had problems posting, so let's hope that is the reason. However, it's weird that I can't find that list again. Luckily, I had copied it.

Bourgeois, Paulette "Big Sarah's Little Boots" - 1988
A favourite book of both my boys even though the main character was a girl. It's all about growing up and how it can be both a painful and a joyous occasion.

Bridwell, Norman "Clifford. The Big Red Dog" 

- 1963-2015

Clifford is huge, he is taller than a house. But he is the best friend of Emily Elizabeth, a little girl who tells us his stories. There are around 80 books where little children can read about the special bond between a dog and his little girl, about the adventures they have together.

Prelutsky, Jack - Poems for Children - A Pizza the Size of the Sun 

- 1990-2000
Jack Prelutsky writes poems that make up a picture, he writes poems that are jokes, he writes poems that are very observant and he writes poems that are just nonsense. But what all of his poems have in common, they are really really funny and kids love them. 

Trivizas, Eugene "The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig" - 1997
As the title already suggests, the wolves are little and the pig is bad, so the whole story is just the opposite from the usual fairy tale. It shows kids how every story can have two sides and how you can understand every story differently.

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🐕🐕 Happy Reading! 🐕🐕

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