This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is: Book Titles That Include the Word “[insert word of your choice here]” (Pick a word and share ten book titles that include that word!)

Lots of possible choices here, but I’ve chosen the word ‘Summer’. These are all books that I’ve read and reviewed on my blog.

1. The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick – The first in a trilogy of historical novels telling the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I enjoyed all three books.

2. A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson – Not my favourite by Ibbotson but I still liked it. It follows the daughter of a suffragette who decides to become a housekeeper at a boarding school in Austria.

3. St Martin’s Summer by Rafael Sabatini – Sabatini’s novels are almost always a lot of fun and this one, set in early 17th century France, is no exception.

4. Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut – This is the only book I’ve read by Galgut and sadly I didn’t like it much at all. It’s a novel based on the life of the author E.M. Forster and focuses on his love affairs during his time in India and Egypt.

5. The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay – The first book in The Fionavar Tapestry, a fantasy trilogy published between 1984 and 1986. It’s very different from his later books, which feel much more like historical fiction.

6. Long Summer Day by RF Delderfield – The first in Delderfield’s A Horseman Riding By trilogy, a wonderful family saga set in a farming community in rural Devon during the first half of the 20th century.

7. Dark Summer in Bordeaux by Allan Massie – One of a quartet of dark, atmospheric crime novels set in Occupied France. I still haven’t read the final two.

8. The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson – The war referred to in the title is the First World War and this moving novel follows the story of a young woman who starts a new job as a school Latin teacher in the summer of 1914.

9. The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn – Also beginning with that same innocent summer of 1914, the novel shows us the effects the outbreak of war will have on society, class structure and the life of one seventeen-year-old girl.

10. The Year Without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd – The stories of six people, some real and some fictional, whose lives were affected by the extreme weather that followed the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1816.

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Have you read any of these? Can you think of any other books with Summer in the title?

This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is: “Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2026”.

I have already put together a list of new historical fiction to look out for in the second half of this year, so a lot of my ‘most anticipated’ titles are on that list. I didn’t want to list any of the same books again, so here are another ten books being published between July and December that have caught my eye.

1. Crash by Belinda Bauer (30th July 2026) – I’ve only read a few of Bauer’s novels but enjoyed them all; I’m not sure if I like the sound of this particular book, a thriller involving planes, but I definitely want to read more of her work so could be tempted to try it.

2. The Curse of the Saltmarsh Girl by Clare Marchant (7th August 2026) – A dual timeline novel with the historical section set during the plague of 1665. I recently read Marchant’s The Alchemist’s Secret, which I enjoyed but haven’t reviewed yet.

3. The Salt King by Natasha Pulley (20th August 2026) – Described as an ‘end of world thriller’ about people turning into salt statues. I liked one of the two Pulley novels I’ve read but not the other, so I’ll be interested to see what I think of this one.

4. The Heiress of Northanger Abbey by Nancy Bilyeau (1st September 2026) – I usually stay away from Jane Austen sequels and prequels, but I’ve enjoyed all of Nancy Bilyeau’s other books, so I may have to read this one!

5. The Silent Appeal by Janice Hallett (3rd September 2026) – I’ve loved all of the Janice Hallett books I’ve read so far; the unusual style doesn’t work for everyone but it does for me. This will be the third in her Appeal mystery series.

6. The Strangers by Naomi Alderman (17th September 2026) – I haven’t read any of Alderman’s previous books, although I’ve heard a lot about them. This new novel, about the discovery of a strange new species, is the first one that has really sounded appealing to me.

7. The Scholars by MacKenzie Common (24th September 2026) – A murder mystery set in Oxford University. This is Common’s second novel and as I liked her first book, I’m looking forward to reading this one as well.

8. Murder on the Haunted Express by Emma Mason (22nd October 2026) – Just in time for Halloween, the second book in the Midge McGowan mystery series, set on an apparently haunted train. I hope it will be as entertaining as the first one, which I read last year. .

9. The Mortician by Sharon Bolton (5th November 2026) – I always look forward to a new Sharon Bolton book; I had mixed feelings about her last one, but this one about a young mortician caught between two rival gangs sounds more promising.

10. The Last Handmaid by Clare Whitfield (5th November 2026) – A Gothic novel about Countess Erzsébet Báthory, Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer. I enjoyed Whitfield’s last novel but this sounds quite different.

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Are you interested in reading any of these? Which new releases are you hoping to read in the second half of the year?

This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is: “Books with Handwriting on the Cover (Or fonts that look like handwriting. Titles, subtitles, covers with letters on them, etc.)”

1. A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie – Many editions of Agatha Christie’s novels have her signature on the cover, so this was an easy choice to start my list. In this one, Miss Marple investigates the poisoning of a businessman who is found dead with a handful of rye in his pocket.

2. The Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton – Enid Blyton was a big part of my childhood and her Adventure series was one of my favourites. I particularly loved this one and Castle of Adventure. As with Christie’s books, her signature usually appeared on the cover.

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows – This novel about life in German-occupied Guernsey during the Second World War is written in the form of letters, which makes the writing on the cover very appropriate.

4. Myself When Young by Daphne du Maurier – As the title suggests, this is du Maurier’s autobiography and focuses on her childhood and early adulthood. The book ends just after her marriage so we don’t get any thoughts on her later life.

5. Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini – I loved this classic novel set during the French Revolution! The flamboyant calligraphy on the cover suits the theatricality of the main character, Andre-Louis Moreau, who joins a Commedia dell’Arte acting troupe as part of a larger plan to avenge the death of his friend in a duel.

6. Nelly Dean by Alison Case – A retelling of Wuthering Heights written from the perspective of the servant, Nelly Dean. An interesting idea, but I’m glad Emily Brontë chose to tell Catherine and Heathcliff’s story instead of Nelly’s! The title font looks like it could be handwritten, doesn’t it?

7. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon – This is the eighth book in Gabaldon’s Outlander series and is set mainly in 1770s America during the Revolution. I loved the first three books in this series, but the later ones not so much. I assume the font here is intended to look like writing in blood.

8. The Lost Book of Salem by Katherine Howe – We follow a 20th century history student as she attempts to track down a spell book belonging to Deliverance Dane, one of the women accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The cover itself looks like a book with a pretty handwritten font.

9. Miss Granby’s Secret: or The Bastard of Pinsk by Eleanor Farjeon – The subtitle is written in handwriting on the cover, which is quite apt because The Bastard of Pinsk is an unpublished manuscript written by Adelaide Granby, who has recently died. Her niece inherits the manuscript and reads it, hoping to learn more about Aunt Adelaide and a possible secret love.

10. The Silk Merchant’s Daughter by Dinah Jefferies – This novel follows the story of the daughter of a silk merchant living through a turbulent time in the history of French Indochina, the group of former French colonial territories which included Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Several of Jefferies’ other book covers also use a similar elegant font.

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What do you think of these covers? Can you think of any others that have handwriting on them? And have you read any of the books I’ve listed here? I’m away in the Lake District this week with limited internet access but will reply to comments when I can.

This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is: “April Showers (Interpret this however you’d like: rainy day reads, books that make you cry, books that give you happy tears, books to wash away a bad reading experience, books set in rainy places, books with rain/raindrops/umbrellas on the cover, blue book covers, etc.)”

There are so many ways to approach this week’s topic, but I’ve decided to make a list of things you could do on a rainy day and choose a book title to fit each one.

1. Go to a museum

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

2. Play cards

Cards on the table by Agatha Christie

3. Have tea

Tea on Sunday by Lettice Cooper

4. Go to the library

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn

5. Play hide and seek

A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor

6. Sit by the fire

Fireside Gothic by Andrew Taylor

7. Write in your diary

Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield

8. Decorate your house

The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen

9. Tend your indoor plants

Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell

10. Wait for the sun

The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop

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What do you like to do when it’s raining outside? Can you think of any other books I could add to this list?

This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is: “Books on my Spring TBR”.

There are more than 10 books I would like to read this spring, but here are some that are definitely on my list.

1. A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer – I’ve just started reading this one in preparation for 1961 Club in April. There are at least two other 1961 books I would like to read as well, but not sure how many I’ll have time for.

2. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch – I was intending to read this in March for Cathy’s Reading Ireland Month and Iris Murdoch readalong, but got distracted by other books. It will be an April read instead, I think.

3. Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie – I’m planning to read this in May for the Read Christie challenge as the theme that month is Christie’s short story collections.

4. Love Lane by Patrick Gale – A sequel to Gale’s A Place Called Winter, which I read a few years ago and enjoyed.

5. This Dark Night by Deborah Lutz – I’m trying to read more non-fiction this year, so I’m looking forward to this new biography of Emily Brontë.

6. Troubled Waters by Ichiyo Higuchi – Most of the Japanese fiction I read tends to be crime, so I’m curious about this short story collection, which will be something slightly different for me.

7. A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz – I’ve enjoyed all of the other books in Horowitz’s Daniel Hawthorne series, so I’m expecting to enjoy this one as well.

8. Benbecula by Graeme Burnet Macrae – I’ve been meaning to read this since it was published last year and was reminded about it when it was recently longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

9. The Artist by Lucy Steeds – This is also on the Walter Scott Prize longlist and has excellent reviews, so I’m looking forward to reading it.

10. Strange Buildings by Uketsu – I thought Uketsu’s previous two books, Strange Pictures and Strange Houses, were fascinating, so I can’t wait to read this one.

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Have you read any of these or would you like to? What are you hoping to read this spring?

This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is: “Book Titles Featuring Ordinal Numbers (Ordinal numbers are numbers that define an item’s place in a series. For example: first, second, third, fourth, tenth, fourteenth, thirty-third, one hundredth, etc.) (submitted by Joanne @ Portobello Book Blog)”.

I was hoping I could find a book that I’d read with each of the ordinal numbers from first to tenth, but I was a few short so had to use some higher numbers as well.

1. First of the Tudors by Joanna Hickson – Historical fiction exploring the beginnings of the Tudor dynasty through the story of Jasper Tudor, uncle of the future Henry VII.

2. The Second Sleep by Robert Harris – At first this seems like a straightforward historical mystery set in the 15th century, but it soon becomes clear that what you’re reading is actually something completely different!

3. Third Girl by Agatha Christie – A Poirot mystery from 1966, which has a strong sixties feel, making it quite different from her earlier novels. One of my favourite Christie characters, Ariadne Oliver, plays a big part in this one too.

4. Fifth Business by Robertson Davies – The first book in Davies’ Deptford Trilogy. This one is set in a small Canadian town and follows the sequence of events triggered by the innocent act of a boy throwing a snowball.

5. Katharine Parr, the Sixth Wife by Alison Weir – As the title suggests, this is the story of Henry VIII’s sixth wife, Katharine Parr. It’s the final book in Alison Weir’s Six Tudor Queens series and probably my favourite.

6. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff – A wonderfully vivid and gripping novel set in Roman Britain and telling the story of a young centurion whose father disappeared with the Ninth Legion.

7. The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson – A dual timeline novel with the historical thread set in the 17th century and following the story of a woman sold into slavery in Morocco after being captured during a raid by Barbary pirates on the coast of Cornwall.

8. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield – A Gothic novel about family secrets and the power of books and storytelling. I enjoyed this one.

9. The Fourteenth Letter by Claire Evans – A mystery set in Victorian London. I was disappointed because I felt there was no real sense of time and place, but the plot was interesting.

10. The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan – The first in a trilogy of novels set in Mughal India and describing the events that lead to the construction of the Taj Mahal. I still haven’t read the other two books.

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Have you read any of these? Which other books with ordinal numbers in the title can you think of?