friday favourite – 2018 travel reading list

I stumbled on a travel blog called Traveling with MJ and her Jan 1st post was a travel reading challenge. It caught my eye since many of us tend to read more when we are on vacation and I usually try to read a book that takes place in a country that I’m visiting. The initial list has 24 different ideas, if you do the math that’s 2 books per month. Don’t let that scare you, feel free to make yours the 2018/19 travel reading list! Here’s the list. It’s a creative idea and our friday favourite.

THE 2018 BASIC TRAVEL READING LIST

1. A book that takes place in the country of your origin
2. A book that takes place in a destination you’d like to visit
3. A book with a type of food in the title
4. A book that takes place somewhere you’ve always dreamed of living
5. A book that takes place in your hometown
6. A book that is set in a period of history in which you are interested
7. A book recommended by a friend
8. A book that you read years ago and want to re-read
9. A book with an animal in the title
10. A book with a type of plant in the title
11. A book set in the future
12. A book set in your favorite country or region
13. A book that is an adventure story
14. A book by an author whose last name starts with the same letter as your last name
15. A book by an author who is not of the same gender as you
16. A book with a silly title
17. A book that’s perfect for reading over lunch
18. A book from a genre you don’t typically read
19. A book with a purple cover
20. A book published in 2018
21. A book that is also a movie
22. A guidebook
23. A book that is written by or is about a famous person
24. A book that inspires you to make a change

Let us know if you take the challenge, I expect ACC (Alison) to be the first one done!

HAR

 

friday favourite – Armand Gamache

He’s not real, but he totally comes to life on the pages of my Friday favourite – the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series of crime novels by Canadian author Louise Penny. If you ever watched Foyle’s War – for me, the two lead characters share much of the same charm.

I think there are 12 in the series. I am working through them in order – I’ve just started #8 The Beautiful Mystery. It’s worth the discipline and the waiting as I reserve them from my local library.

It might get a little old and tiring for some, I guess, but I love how the characters in the fictitious Quebec town of Three Pines make up the cast in varying degrees in every novel.

Cooler weather is coming…snuggle in with Armand.

CJR

books we haven’t read

We keep thinking we will write a post about all the books we’ve been reading but it never seems to happen.

So instead, here is a list of books I haven’t read but are on my nightstand, waiting for my attention! Feel free to add yours to the list!

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. A recent article in the NYTimes about the Naples of the media-averse Elena Ferrante caught my eye, so I bought the book and it sits on my nightstand.

I loved Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann and so I bought Transatlantic and have yet to crack the cover.

Julianna Baggott was a guest author at an event I helped plan at our local library last fall and I received a copy of her latest novel Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders. I would like to read it!

My friend who once owned a bookstore recommended The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I bought it. I haven’t read it.

What haven’t you read???

HAR

 

 

 

friday favourite – gin glorious gin

I love the book, the bottle collection and making the perfect blend of gin to tonic (lots of ice, rub lime around the glass rim, squeeze lots of fresh juice on the ice, add 1.5 oz of gin and 3 oz of tonic. Guzzle or sip. Gin goodness.

CJR