December 2023 Reading List

Alice Croydon lives in country Australia and she has a dream to have a career in fashion design. She has done her training in the city but decides to go back home and marry her sweetheart Finn.

Working in the local couture shop her ideas are not appreciated, but that doesn’t stop her from designing her own wedding gown.

When photos of the gown get into the hands of a top fashion designer he comes to offer her a job in London. But does she follow her dream or stay to marry her sweetheart?

A lovely read on how to choose what direction to take in life.

After reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in November I wanted to read more from Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Daisy Jones had good reviews.

I listened to it as an audiobook and many, many different voices truly added to the wonderful atmosphere.

Now I’ll be honest, I thought this was a real rock band. Each character is looking back, including Daisy Jones, on how their group formed from their perspective – and it’s funny to see the different interpretations of the same situation.

And as I kept listening I was thinking – I’ve never heard of them. Yes, I was born in the late 1970s, and this was set in the 1960s, but still, I thought I would have come across them. I let that thought stew and it wasn’t until I’d finished reading that I read more about the book to find out it was fictional. Well, I felt a bit stupid, but it did prove it was great storytelling.

Highly recommend!

Now to go an check out the TV series.

Narrated by Sara Arrington, Jennifer Beals, Arthur Bishop, Fred Berman, Benjamin Bratt, Jonathan Davis, Ari Fliakos, Holter Graham, Judy Greer, January Lavoy, Robinne Lee, Peter Larkin, Henry Leyva, P.J. Ochlan, Robert Petkoff

Runs for 9 hours and 3 minutes.

An easy going read set in the seaside town of Stringbark Bay. There are some loveable locals but things get turned upside down when five couples jointly purchase a house on the bay that is only accessible by boat.

It’s a real mix of couples and it takes most of the book to understand how they are all connected.

It is a murder mystery as one of the household is found dead in the water soon after arriving, so we uncover how the group is related and who was the murderer.

A great Australian book.

I listened to this while visiting Canberra. I had it on when I walked the dog and when I was driving around on my own visiting the National Film and Sound Archive and the National Portrait Gallery. So when I think about this book, Canberra comes to mind.

Set in Sydney in 1965 it takes you back to a time when there were Tea Ladies to give you tea and coffee and you didn’t have to get your own. Not always the best tea and coffee as raised in the book but they gave a comforting rhythm to the day.

What drew me to the book was where the tea ladies worked – a fashion house. I love to take a peak into how they work and this gave me a glimpse.

When one of the tea ladies sees a message written on the window of an empty building opposite she puts on her investigative hat to see who left the message.

It’s a lovely story with lots of delightful characters that take you back to a very different time in history.

Narrated by Zoe Carides, it runs for 10 hours and 42 minutes.

Alice has a gift – she can write love stories for those looking for love, and they come true. Not always as expected but they give the recipient hope and she is soon earning good money from her gift.

When she has to write a love story for a recluse in a mansion she really struggles and has to spend quite a while with her to determine what her love story is.

Wintering was in Leonie Dawson’s Best Books of 2022 list. Leonie loved the quiet and thoughtful ways Katherine May writes. And I couldn’t agree more. She really has a great way of explaining how you feel when life is tough and how to embrace the opportunities that arise. And how we all need to “Winter” – rest and retreat.