Earl Grey Books

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is a back-to-school freebie. Even though it’s definitely not the start of the new school year here in the Southern Hemisphere, I couldn’t resist the chance to talk about some non-fiction titles on my shelves right now that I can’t wait to pick up.

I decided to share five with you this week because I’m just really exhausted and ran out of time and energy for this. But here they are!

Twelve Caesars by Mary Beard

This is one of my most recent non-fiction purchases, but I just love Mary Beard. I read SPQR last April and immediately fell in love with her and the way she writes. I found her writing style incredibly easy to follow, almost as if she was there talking me through it all in real-time, but without it even feeling like it was dumbed down or anything less than meticulously researched. I have already started reading this one, but I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it by the end of tomorrow.

Young Romantics by Daisy Hay

I’ve had this one since 2020 when I visited Keats’ House in London, pre-COVID. It’s been sitting on my shelves ever since, but I’ve recently reignited my interest in it because I’m doing a Uni class about the Romantics this semester. We don’t look at Keats or Percy Shelley, but I know this book also looks at Byron and Mary Shelley—who we are studying towards the end of the semester, but are also two of my favourite writers already. I think this’ll be a great read.

The Amazons by Adrienne Mayor

I’ve had this one for a little while as well, but it’s one that is really interesting to me. It looks not only at the idea of the Amazons, but at warrior women across the ancient world. I’d read the first chapter of it a few months ago and was already fascinated by it, so I’m sure I’ll love the rest of it too.

Women and the Surrealist Movement by Whitney Chadwick

It took me every drop of my willpower to not make this list only about art history. That’s my major at Uni, so I have a lot of books about it on my TBR that I’m ridiculously excited about. But I could easily do a post about that another time, so instead, I limited myself to just this one. I picked this because I’ve read some Whitney Chadwick before, but also because I have a fascination with the women in the surrealist movement—especially Remedios Varo (I highly recommend looking her up), so I’m hoping there’s something about her in here.

The White Album by Joan Didion

My life was changed by Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking when I read it after my mum passed a few years ago. Ever since I’ve wanted to make my way through the rest of Didion’s work, and I have read a few since, but I purchased this one after Didion’s passing and I’m excited to get to it soon.

And that’s it for today! Have you read any of these?