Earl Grey Books

Since late June, I’ve been trying to curb my book buying. I’ve been doing pretty well actually, for me at least. But today I’ll be showing what I’ve picked up from June to now—some that I’ve purchased, some from a little free library and a few gifts from friends. So let’s get to it.

Little Free Library

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

I haven’t read any classics in a really long time, but I picked this one up when I saw it. North and South (also by Gaskell) is one of my favourites and I’ve never read anything else from her. I’ll get around to it one day.

Red Rising (Red Rising Saga #1) by Pierce Brown

This is one that I’ve always been sort of vaguely interested in, but not enough to actually pick it up. I love using little free libraries for that—it’s a way of trying books without having to buy them or borrow them. If I don’t like this (or any of them) I’ll just donate them to another. I’m really not sure how I’ll feel about this one, it could go either way.

Daughter of the River by Hong Ying

This was the only non-fiction I picked up from this library. It’s a memoir about Hong Ying growing up in China in the 1960s. The blurb is kind of vague, but I think she goes on to become an activist. It sounds like it might be an interesting read.

Passenger (Passenger #1) by Alexandra Bracken

I read this one ages ago from the library, but Bracken is a favourite author of mine so I picked this one up when I saw it. I never continued this series so the plan is to reread this one and then read the second—thankfully, it’s only a duology.

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

I’ve also seen this one around a bit and was sort of interested. I’m planning on keeping it aside for Eurovisionathon which happens each April through May.

Gifts

Rise of the World Water (Frostheart #3) by Jamie Littler

This one arrived out of the blue in June from my friend Tracey. I’d mentioned that I was having a bit of a hard time and was quite sick and she sent me this a get-well-soon gift. I haven’t read book two yet, but now I have another reason to.

The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms #1) by Tasha Suri

I’m buddy reading this one with my best friend, Katey. We’d picked this one out and then I realised my library hold was saying I had a 10-week wait. Katey very kindly sent me a copy so that we could actually read it together. We’re about 200 pages in so far.

The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic & The Burning God (The Poppy War #1-3) by R.F Kuang

This is kind of a gift? Another one of my best friends, Eli, gave me his copies of the Poppy War series when I went to visit him for his birthday last month. I’d planned to start The Poppy War this month but I think it’ll be September or October before I actually have the me and mental space to start another big fantasy series.

Purchased

The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1) by Richard Osman

While I was up in Sydney for BABE (you can see my haul for that here), I bought a couple of other books from some bookstores. First up, I finally picked up a copy of this. I’ve been meaning to read this since it was released, but I just never picked it up. I’ve got this one lined up to read as soon as I’ve finished some other things.

No Modernism Without Lesbians by Diana Souchani

I also picked up this one which had been on my wishlist for a while. It’s a non fiction about the importance of particular queer women (and non-binary people, I believe) in the modernist movement. I read a little bit of this when I first bought it and it was really interesting already.

Song of the Forever Rains (Mousai #1) by E.J Mellow

This was another one I picked up. This has been on my radar for years and I just haven’t picked it up. I’m hoping to get to this one soon.

King of Battle and Blood & Queen of Myth and Monsters (Adrian x Isolde #1-2) by Scarlett St Clair

I bought this a few days before BABE in preparation for meeting Scarlett St Clair at the event. Unfortunately, St Clair dropped out…about half an hour before the first night ended because of ‘deadlines’. This kind of left a bad taste in my mouth because she was reportedly still in the US (while the event was in Sydney) and hadn’t alerted the organisers or any of her fans that she wouldn’t be attending. Needless to say, this isn’t super high on my list of priorities.

Yellowface by R.F Kuang

Last but not least. I’d been intending to wait on this one, maybe get it from the library, when Ktey told me she’d read and enjoyed it. That was literally all it took for me to go out and buy it. I read the first 80 pages but then got distracted, I’m hoping to finish it before the end of the month.

And there we are. That’s everything from the last few months. Right now I’m actively trying to not buy anything (or accumulate any books otherwise) because I’ve bought a lot this year already. But it is my birthday in a few weeks, so I’ll probably have another haul then.

Until then, have you read any of these? What have you bought lately?