Top Ten Tuesday | My Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR, and this week I've split my list into fiction and non-fiction. There are lots of books I want to read, but right now these are the books I'm either most inclined toward or put me most in the mood for spring. My non-fiction selections certainly have a theme as March is Women's History Month (woohoo!) so I'm hoping to absorb all the women's history I can throughout spring and beyond.

The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig: I have such fond memories of reading The Girl from Everywhere last spring that it only feels natural to pick up the sequel, which has been released very recently, this spring. I'm looking forward to seeing where Heilig takes this story!

The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown: To me, Matthew Hopkins is one of history's most wicked villains. He's also known as The Witchfinder General, and we have him to thank for the persecution of thousands of women across the UK and in the US. It's thanks to a book written by Hopkins that the Salem Witch Trials took place, such is his influence. This novel, another recent release, is about Hopkins' sister and I can't wait to read it; I think it'll be really interesting to read Hopkins through the eyes of a female relative.

Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth: Something about spring puts me in the mood for fairy tales, and Bitter Greens has been on my radar for a while. Recently I finally got a copy for my kindle and I keep thinking of picking it up so I think I'm going to read it soon; rather than the Brothers Grimm, I think Bitter Greens focuses more on the many women who told fairy tales before the Brothers Grimm collected them and subsequently took the credit for them.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson: Another thing spring puts me in the mood for is contemporary, and I've owned this novel for longer than I'd like to admit. Not only does it sound like a charming, very British book, but with the focus on the relationship between a white man and a Pakistani woman, a woman who isn't thought particularly highly of within her community, I think it's going to be a timely and important read, too.

Chocolat by Joanne Harris: I really like the film but I still haven't read the book, and frankly what better book is there to read over Easter?

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly: I saw the film not so long ago and absolutely adored it, it's one of the best films I've seen in a long time, and now I can't wait to read the book and learn more about the African-American women who helped get man to the moon.

Heartthrobs: A History of Women and Desire by Carol Dyhouse: This is another recent release and a book that sounds super interesting to me. I've seen plenty of books and articles about the male gaze, particularly when I was at uni, but I don't think I've ever read anything about the way men are portrayed for women, and I think this will be a fascinating read given the worrying love some women have for men such as Heathcliff and Christian Grey.

She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor: I love to watch documentaries and Helen Castor's are always fantastic, but I've yet to read any of her books. This one sounds brilliant and will hopefully fill some of the gap in my historical knowledge; my favourite era of history is the 16th century, particularly the reign of the Tudors, but my Medieval knowledge is lacking, so I'm hoping this book will teach me about some of the amazing women who paved the way for Elizabeth I.

Take Courage: Anne Brontë and the Art of Life by Samantha Ellis: I loved Samantha Ellis's memoir, How To Be a Heroine, and I've been looking forward to this book since I found out she was writing a book about Anne Brontë, who is my favourite of the three sisters. I'm looking forward to reading it!

Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey by Nicola Tallis: I've always had a soft spot for Lady Jane Grey ever since one of my primary school teachers introduced me to her story as the Nine Days Queen, but other than the basics I know very little about her. I know what happened to her and I know that was a very intelligent young woman, but I don't have a feel for her character in the same way I do her cousins, Mary I and Elizabeth I. I've heard very good things about this biography so far and I'm looking forward to getting to it soon.

What are you planning to read this spring?

Top Ten Tuesday | Shoulda Woulda Coulda... But Really Shoulda

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

It's no secret that 2016 was an absolutely rubbish reading year for me; I read half the amount of what I read in 2015 and, what's worse, there wasn't much I read that genuinely wowed me. As I'm sure you can imagine there were plenty of 2016 releases I ended up not getting to during 2016 and I'm hoping I can cross them off my TBR sooner rather than later!

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers: Considering The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (reviewed here) is one of my favourite books of all time, I don't know why I haven't read this yet. I think I loved TLWtaSAP so much I've been nervous that A Closed and Common Orbit won't be as good, but I won't know until I try and, frankly, I'm excited to read a story about two ladies in space.

The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss: This is one of those novels I've heard nothing but good things about so I'm hoping to get to it soon, as with every other book on this list!

The Muse by Jessie Burton: I enjoyed The Miniaturist (reviewed here) way more than I was expecting to and I think, like A Closed and Common Orbit, I haven't picked up The Muse yet for fear that it won't live up to my expectations. I do love stories about art, though, so I'd like to get to this one at some point in the coming months - especially as I've owned a copy since its release!

A Tyranny of Petticoats ed. by Jessica Spotswood: I love historical fiction centred around women, which is why it makes no since that I haven't read this anthology yet. My only excuse is that the only other anthology I read in 2016, Summer Days and Summer Nights, I ended up DNF-ing. March is Women's History Month, though, so I think I'll aim to read it around then!

Goldenhand by Garth Nix: I was so excited to discover Nix was bringing out another novel about Lirael, but it's been so long since I read The Old Kingdom series that I'm considering re-reading Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen before I tackle this one so I can refresh my memory.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry: This book has pretty much everything in it that I love about historical fiction, it was voted Waterstones Book of the Year in 2016, and I've even read about a quarter of it, but I just wasn't feeling it this year and I've heard such good things that I decided to put it down so I could come back to it when I could give it the attention it deserves. Hopefully that will be sometime soon.

The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley: 2016 wasn't a great year for non-fiction, especially when compared with 2015, so a lot of the non-fiction releases I was looking forward to I just didn't get to. This is another one I'm aiming to get to soon!

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly: This is another one I'm probably going to get to for Women's History Month if I can't read it before then. I'm really looking forward to the film!

What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi: I've actually read the first story in this collection and really enjoyed it, but I ended up putting it down for some reason I can't remember. Hopefully I'll return to it soon.

As I Descended by Robin Talley: I have an eARC of this that I still haven't read because I'm not so secretly a terrible person. But this is also an LGBT+ retelling of Macbeth, so I will definitely be reading it at some point soon. I wonder how many times I've said the word 'soon'...

Which books made your list this week?