Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Go grab a cup of tea if you’d like to and let’s chat. I know I sure enjoy tea when the weather grows so cold and snowy at the end of January where I live.
Every year I expand upon this new-to-me author topic by also mentioning which book I read from the new authors on this list and if I’d be interested in reading more from them.
In my opinion, these details make this prompt more interesting.
1. Author’s Name: Alan Bennett
What I Read From Them: The Lady in the Van
Would I Read More From Them: Yes. I like his descriptive writing style and dry sense of humour.
2. Author’s Name: Marion McKinnon Crook
What I Read From Them: Always Pack a Candle: A Nurse in the Cariboo-Chilcotin
Would I Read More From Them: Probably not. The author didn’t include enough details about her patients and coworkers for me to easily remember who was who or develop a reader’s bonds with any of the folks she knew. I know this was done to protect their privacy as she was talking about real people (or amalgamations of multiple real people into one character in a few cases). With that being said, this sparse writing style did negatively affect my interest in her work.
3. Author’s Name: Antonia Hylton
What I Read From Them: Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum
Would I Read More From Them: Absolutely. This found an excellent balance between protecting patient privacy and giving readers enough information to connect with the people I read about.
4. Author’s Name: Ben Farthing
What I Read From Them:I Found A Circus Tent In the Woods Behind My House and I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls
Would I Read More From Them: Probably. His work is creative but doesn’t always follow through on the execution of certain plot twists that logically should have happened. With that being said, I think I’d be amused enough to overlook that if his next premise is as attention-grabbing as these two were.
5. Author’s Name: John Connell
What I Read From Them: The Lambing Season: Stories of Life on an Irish Family Farm
Would I Read More From Them: Never. The blurb did not match what the author ended up writing about. I thought it would be a gentle tale of what it’s like to raise sheep when it was actually about the author’s religious beliefs. (People who avoid reading blurbs and who like it when the inspirational genre suddenly inserts itself into a farming memoir might enjoy this one, though!)
6. Author’s Name: Gavin Pretor-Pinney and William Grill
What I Read From Them: Cloudspotting for Beginners
Would I Read More From Them: Yes. It was like a picture book for adults because it showed drawing of the dozens of different types of clouds which was cool and educational.
7. Author’s Name: Chloe Dalton
What I Read From Them: Raising Hare
Would I Read More From Them: Yes, but I’d want the author to explain why she didn’t bother to google simple facts about lagomorphs like how much they love to chew on things and how much they hate being picked up in most cases. Her experiencing raising a hare would have been much easier if she had asked a few people who had pet rabbits for some tips. The two species are similar enough for that to be helpful, I think.
8. Author’s Name: Liz Berry
What I Read From Them: The Home Child
Would I Read More From Them: Yes. This ended so abruptly that I’d love to hear more about the protagonist’s life as a young adult.
9. Author’s Name: Natalie Naudus
What I Read From Them: Gay the Pray Away
Would I Read More From Them: Maybe? The writing was well done, but it’s rare for me to read much young adult fiction these days. If she wrote fiction for adults, I’d read more from her for sure.
10. Author’s Name: Jody Cooksley
What I Read From Them: The Small Museum
Would I Read More From Them: Unsure. This wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t very memorable for me either. I could see most of the plot twists coming from a mile away which is a problem for the mystery genre for this reader. If she writes something in another genre or if reviewers say this isn’t an issue for her next book, I may give it a shot, though.
I haven’t read Lady in the Van, but I loved the movie with Dame Maggie Smith and would be interested in experiencing the original story!
You might really like it!
Nice lineup of authors—it’s always fun to see who leaves a lasting impression. Whether it’s positive, neutral or negative.
For sure!
I’m keen to check out Gay the Pray Away! I hope you continue to find many more new and amazing authors in 2025, Lydia 🙂
Thank you. Happy reading!
Oooh, that Cloudspotting book looks interesting. My grandchild is obsessed with weather and, even if it’s not for her age group, she would love learning facts while looking at the pictures.
I’d bet she will love it!
This is useful! Something about lambing I would totally pick up, but not if it’s more religious than anything else! Glad I saw this 😂
Thank you. Yeah, it was a disappointment. I’m sure there are lots of other readers out there who would be drawn to it if only the blurb had mentioned the inspirational content there.
Hey, Cloudspotting for Beginners! That one is on our shelf. My husband had it before we got married, and he loves it. (And he makes fun of me for being weather-obsessed. Dude, I’m not the one with a book about clouds.) I need to read it. Perhaps this will be the year.
Oh, fun! I hope you like it if you read it. It’s so detailed and helpful if you like clouds.
I’m partway through Madness myself, but I have to keep putting it down because the topic is so heavy. She has a fantastic writing voice though, something that a lot of nonfiction writers lack.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you.
Yes, it was a very heavy read, indeed. I definitely can’t fault you for taking breaks there.
And she had an amazing writing voice!
Cloudspotting for Beginners sounds interesting and something new to learn
Absolutely. 🙂
Hey Lydia how are you? Cloudspotting for Beginners looks delightful. I’ve always been a big fan of clouds and love learning more about them, and how cool the book even contrasts clouds on other planets. Neat little detail.
Happy Tue!
Hi, Greg! It’s nice to hear from you again. I’m doing well.
Hope you like the cloud book.
I forgot Natalie Naudus wrote a book! I’ve enjoyed them as an audiobook narrator.
Cool. 🙂
I’ve got The Small Museum on my TBR so it’s a shame to hear that it was rather predictable. It also sounds like that Lambing book was majorly misadvertised. It’s so frustrating when book blurbs do that. I hope you enjoy anything else that you pick up by the authors you’re still interested in.
Thank you, Charlotte. May you enjoy The Small Museum. I wish I could have given it a better mini review there.
Thank you. And don’t worry, you can’t help that it was a disappointment to you. I find some thrillers too predictable at times too.
Great lineup of newly discovered authors – love that you mentioned whether or not you’d like to read more by them!
Thank you. 🙂
Alan Bennett wrote The Uncommon Reader, which is a such a fun book. Now I will look for the title you read.
Interesting! I’ll keep an eye out for it.
I think that John Connell title would’ve confused me too.
🙂
I haven’t read any of these authors, but it’s great that you enjoyed them all for the most part, Lydia.
Thank you. 🙂
Cloudspotting for Beginners sounds great!
It was fabulous!
Well, I didn’t think to say why I liked the ones I did, but the ones I shared were all binge-worthy (to me!). I love how you said whether or not you would read them again and why. Have a great week.
Thanks. 🙂
I haven’t read any of these authors yet, but they sound amazing. Happy Tuesday, Lydia!
Thanks. 🙂
I haven’t read any of these but the Cloudspotting one looks very interesting! I’ve been going for a walk around sunrise each morning and I love taking a picture every day and tracking what the sky looks like.
Thank you. What a cool hobby.
Such fun to discover new-to-me authors. I haven’t read any of these. They sound good.
Thanks. 🙂
Okay, I have to say that “a picture book for adults” really caught my attention! That sounds like a neat book.
It was so fun. I think you’d like it.
I haven’t heard of any of these authors, but I’m glad some of them were a hit for you. It’s always nice to find new authors to love.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Thank you. 🙂
Antonia Hylton’s book is on my TBR. It sounds like a tough read but I appreciate your recommendation.
You’re welcome. It was not an easy read, but it was an illuminating one.
I agree that giving this topic more detail makes it more interesting 🙂 Oh no, Lambing season sounded lovely until I read the would I read more from them, yeesh 😣.
Thanks. I was really expecting to love that book, too!
The Antonia Hylton book sounds really good, I’ll have to keep it in mind😁
I hope you like it! It was so informative.
I enjoyed reading your brief thoughts on each of these. I will probably avoid John Connell’s book. I don’t think that one is for me either. I have heard of Bennett’s An Uncommon Reader, but not A Lady in the Van. I will have to check that one out!
Thank you. Happy reading!
I’m off to check out The Lady in the Van.
Hope you like it!
All new to me authors. I like you included ones you wouldn’t read again. I must remember that for next year.
Another one of Alan Bennett’s books worth checking out is The Uncommon Reader. It’s about the Queen and reading and was quite a funny story.
Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van sounds wonderful.