These past two or three weeks I’ve really been struggling to decide what to read, so I’ve ended up with an eclectic mix of things I’m part of the way through. I am really enjoying them all so I thought I’d talk through them with you today.
The Bloody Countess by Valentine Penrose
As you’re about to see, my current reads are a really weird mix of popular books and very, very niche ones. This first one is a definitely a niche title—Valentine Penrose is an artist, writer and poet that I’m obsessed with and this is her book about Erzsebet Bathory. Penrose was a Surrealist so this is far from a straightforward biography, but I’m personally reading this for Penrose and not some much to learn about Bathory.
Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey #2) by Dorothy L. Sayers
I’ve almost always got a reread on the go, and this is the one for right now. I read this for the first time back in 2020 and so I’ve forgotten absolutely everything. I seriously couldn’t tell you a single thing that happens in this book, hence the reread. I’ve only just started so I’m 26 pages in, but I’m enjoying it.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I honestly didn’t think I’d ever read this one. I have an aversion to anything circus-related in part because of the whole ‘freak’ connotation for people with physical differences (like myself), but we started a book club at work and this was the first pick. I’m not completely hating it because there’s very little circus so far, but I’m only 18% in. I really don’t know what to expect from the rest of this story, it’s nothing like what I thought.
Silver Bullet (State of Grace #2) by Colette Rhodes
This is likely the only book from this list I’ll finish before the end of the month. I reread book one in this series a few days ago and immediately went into book two. This one is kind of huge, it’s somewhere around the 500 page mark in the omnibus I’m reading it from, but it’s so good. I’m about 120 pages off the end.
The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia #1) by Carissa Broadbent
I got this one in the Tangled Fable box at the very end of July and I’ve been reading it with some of the other people who purchased the box too. I’ve really not been making time for this so I’ve only read the first chapter. I’ll try and make some time for it over the coming weekend once I’ve hopefully finished one or two of these others.
Where Is Ana Mendieta?: Identity, Performativity and Exile by Jane Blocker
Rounding the list out with another niche art book. As you can see from the title, this one is about the artist Ana Mendieta who has become a favourite artist of mine recently. I heard about this book from a lecture talking about Mendieta’s work and I immediately had to find an eBook of it. It’s a slow going book, but incredibly interesting.
Have you read any of these? What are you reading right now?
Earl Grey Books 