Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.
The topic this week is a Freebie and I’m featuring Books with Living Things in the Titles.
These are all books I’ve read, so the links take you to my posts on them.
The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams – the story of two sisters, Ginny and Vivi. Vivi, the younger sister left the family mansion 47 years earlier and returns unexpectedly one weekend. Ginny, a reclusive moth expert has rarely left the house in all that time.
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun – about Koko, the Siamese cat and Jim Qwilleran who investigate a stabbing in an art gallery.
Corvus: a Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson – a remarkable book about the birds she has had living with her; birds that were found out of the nest that would not have survived if she had not taken them in.
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald – I really wanted to love this but I found it difficult to read and draining, despite some richly descriptive narrative. It’s about wildness, grief and mourning, and obsession, which made it heavy reading for me.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding – about a group of boys stranded on a desert island. Things got completely out of hand ending in chaos. It is absolutely gripping and very dark, showing the savage side of human nature.
James Herriot’s Cat Stories by James Herriot – James writes that cats were one of the main reasons he chose a career as a vet. They have always played a large part in his life and and now he has retired they are still there “lightening” his days.
The Lady of the Ravens by Joanna Hickson – set in the early years of Henry VII’s reign as seen through the eyes of Joan Vaux, a lady in waiting to Elizabeth of York, whose marriage in 1486 to Henry united the Houses of Lancaster and York after the end of the Wars of the Roses.
The Owl Service by Alan Garner – the basis of the story is the Welsh legend from The Mabinogion about Lleu and his wife Blodeuwedd who was made for him out of flowers. It’s a tragedy about three people who destroy each other through no fault of their own but just because they were forced together.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday – a novel about Sheikh Muhammad, who has an estate in Scotland where he pursues his great love of fly fishing, wants scientific advice on how best to introduce salmon fishing into the Yemen.
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney – a murder mystery set in Canada in 1867 beginning in a small place called Dove River on the north shore of Georgian Bay. Laurent Jammet, a hunter-trader, has been found in his bed with his throat cut. His neighbour, 17 year old Francis Ross, is missing and his mother fears he may be the killer.
BooksPlease 
This is a fantastic idea for a prompt. It would be lovely if you’d share this with Jana for a future TTT, I think.
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Thanks for that suggestion – I’ll do that, but it is a topic I found on the list of previous topics.
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Oh, these are such fine choices, Margaret! I love James Herriot’s books, although I’ve not read them for a while. It made me smile to see one of them here. And I used to read Lilian Jackson Braun’s work all the time (again, haven’t in a long time). I really like your choices!
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I loved James Herriot’s books when I read some of them years ago. I haven’t read any more of Lilian Jackson Braun’s books before – I’ll kook out for them.
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Lord of the Flies was a good read. I haven’t read the rest…yet!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-confessions/
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Yes, Lydia it is a great read!
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How fun! I like the mix of character names and animals. I think there is a similar TTT coming up in April with animals.
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Lord of The Flies gives me bad flashbacks to GCSE English, I hated that book so much! Glad you enjoyed it though. My dad used to read me James Herriot’s books as a kid and I loved them so much, I remember reading the Dog Stories, but I don’t know if I read the cat stories or not? I had no idea Salmon Fishing In The Yemen was even based on a book, I watched the film with Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor a while back and remember enjoying it though.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/01/31/top-ten-tuesday-405/
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I haven’t seen that film, but I can imagine it would be great as a film.
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Yeah it was good.
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Such a fun collection! I love James Herriot’s writing so much — so warm and funny and real 🙂
Here’s my TTT this week…
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I agree!
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What a lovely collection! I’ve read three and am interested in two more – James Herriot’s cat book, which I hadn’t heard of, and Corvus. Off to look those up.
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I think you enjoy both books, especially Corvus. I hope you do!
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The only book on your list this week that I’ve read is The Lord of the Flies, and that was many years ago for school. So it doesn’t have positive memories for me.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/ten-of-roses-favorite-books-of-all-time/
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Cool list idea! The only one I’ve read is Lord Of The Flies, but now I’m wondering how many “animal title” books I’ve read.
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