Earl Grey Books

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first proper post for 2022. It’s a bit of a long one because I’ll be sharing all of the books on my TBR from before 2020. This year, I made it one of my reading goals to read through all of the books I’m about to show you, so let’s just get into it.

The Flight of the Falcon and Julius by Daphne du Maurier

I’m grouping these two together since they’re the last du Maurier’s I have left on my shelf and they’re also my oldest books. I bought a boxset of du Maurier’s works back in 2014 and these are the only two I still have left. I still have a few more of her books to buy and read, but I think I’m going to try and read these two before I do that.

The Daphne du Maurier Companion by Helen Taylor

I actually bought this one from Jamaica Inn in Cornwall, which is the setting of one of du Maurier’s more popular books, back in 2015. I’d been holding off on reading these because there are essays in here about books I haven’t read, but now I think I’m just going to end up reading around those instead.

Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life and Afterlife by Pamela Bannos

This is actually the only book on my shelves leftover from 2018 which is really quite the achievement considering I was in the US that year and I bought a lot of books. I’ve also already started reading this one so with any hope, I might actually be able to finish it off this month and that’ll be one less on here.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

The rest of the books from here on out are all from 2019. So we’re starting off with Austen—I have two books of hers left, this and Emma and I’m hoping to read both of them this year. I don’t really know what I’m going to do after I finish these, other than read them all again?

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler

I haven’t read much of Butler’s work—only Kindred and Bloodchild, but I loved both of them and I’ve been meaning to get to more of her work for a while now. Terrifyingly, this book is set in a dystopian future in the year 2025. So who knows, maybe Butler was a little prophetic.

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim

Honestly, I don’t know why I haven’t picked this one up yet. I don’t really read much contemporary YA these days, but this is #LoveOzYA which I’ll always make an exception for. Well, 2022 is the year for it!

Hunger by Roxane Gay

I was meant to read this last year. In fact, I did start it and I read the first 60 pages but boy, oh boy, this is heavy. This is a lot about trauma, and as you might be able to guess, discussions about disordered eating and self-image. This is definitely one I’ll be taking slowly.

What Kitty Did Next by Carrie Kablean

I guess my real answer to what I do after I finish all of Austen is to really lean into the retellings, continuations and so on of her works. As you may have guessed, this follows Kitty after the end of Pride and Prejudice. I honestly kind of hate Kitty, but I’m interested to see how she’s written from a different author’s perspective to see if that makes me like her more.

Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale

2019 was really the first year I got into historical romance, and while I’ve read most of them, I’ve still got a couple left. I started Flowers from the Storm months ago, but it’s actually a really hard book—the love interest suffers a stroke at the beginning of the book and the medical treatment he undergoes is horrendous. It’s a difficult read but I’m determined to get through it this year.

Mastered by Love & The Edge of Desire & Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue by Stephanie Laurens

And more historical romance. These are the only books on this list I’m giving myself a pass on—mostly because I’m nowhere near being up to these in my reading of Stephanie Laurens and I don’t want to push myself to read all of those just to get to these.

The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai

Rebecca Makkai is one of my favourite authors and this is the last of her published books that I have to read. She has a new novel reportedly coming out either this year or next, but until then this is the one I’ve got.

How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

This is one of those books that I started and then got distracted and put down for something else. That was at least a few months ago now, so I really should get back to it. It probably sounds like I’m not too enthusiastic about this, but I am genuinely interested in reading it.

The Shelf Life of Zora Cross by Cathy Perkins

I really know nothing about this one, apart from the fact it’s a biography about this forgotten Australian poet called Zora Cross.

Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

This is prequel series to the Bridgertons books and I’ve been kind of putting it off. I want to buy the other three books in the series so I can marathon it, but I’m also trying to not buy any books this Jan, so we’ll see.

Romantic Poets

And finally, I have this collection of Romantic Poetry. This’ll be one of those books I read over a few months, so I probably should start it soon so I don’t keep putting it off this year.

That’s it for these books! Are any of them on your TBR? Are there any you think I should priortise?