Pride Month Reading Challenge | TBR

Happy Pride Month!

This month Simon @ Savidge Reads and George at @ The George Lester are hosting a reading challenge to celebrate Pride, and as someone who doesn't identify with any kind of label but definitely doesn't consider herself 'straight', I couldn't resist joining in.

They're hosting some fun challenges on Instagram that you can take part in, so today I thought I'd share my very tentative TBR for the month. Now as many of you know already I don't do well with TBRs, but it's my goal to read at least one LGBT+ book this month and there are several I can choose from, so today I thought I'd share them with you!

The Night Watch is the only one of Sarah Waters' novels I've yet to read. I've actually started it a couple of times and haven't been able to get into it, but as she's one of my favourite authors I'd really like to have all of her novels under my belt until she releases her next one, whenever that may be. The Night Watch is set during the Second World War and is told backwards, following a group of characters in London during The Blitz. As with all but one of her novels, The Night Watch is a book with at least one queer protagonist - although her non-queer novel, The Little Stranger, has a side character who it's fairly heavily implied is not heterosexual - and I'm looking forward to reading another novel from one of my favourite storytellers.

Yet another favourite author of mine, I've adored both Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli, who is now my go-to author for YA contemporary fiction. Now her latest novel, Leah On the Offbeat, follows one of the side characters from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda who just so happens to be bisexual. It's very rare to come across bisexuality in fiction, especially a bisexual main character, so I can't wait to read this one.

One of my friends is a big Alexander the Great fan and she's been recommending Mary Renault's novels to me for a while now, so really it's about time I picked up a copy of Fire From Heaven and I now have a copy of this gorgeous new Virago 40th anniversary edition. It's so warm in the UK right now that I've been craving some fiction set in Ancient Greece and this novel is the perfect opportunity for me to merge that desire with Pride!

All I know about Emily Skrutskie's The Abyss Surrounds Us is that it's the first book in a duology, something I'm very into right now, and it's a book about lesbians, pirates and sea monsters. What more could a girl want? If I enjoy this one it'd be nice to to read the whole duology this month but we'll see how my reading goes as I recently started Ken Liu's The Grace of Kings, which is quite a beast.

Gail Carriger has become one of those authors I turn to when I'm in the mood for something comforting and fun, but whether or not I read her two novellas, Romancing the Inventor and Romancing the Werewolf, depends entirely on whether or not I finish her Parasol Protectorate series this month. To be honest I might just read Romancing the Inventor as I'm fairly sure Romancing the Werewolf is set over Christmas, so it'd be nice to save it for December, but if I feel like I need some gay werewolves in my life this June - and when don't I, let's be honest - I'll be picking this one up too.

Have you got any reading plans this Pride Month?

Top Ten Tuesday | Ancient History

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 '10 Books From X Genre That I've Recently Added To My TBR List'. If you saw my Summer TBR you'll know Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles is on there and that the warmer weather always puts me in an Ancient mood, but, however much I might enjoy historical fiction, I've read basically no historical fiction set in the Ancient world - it's a sub-genre of historical fiction I've only just begun to be interested in, just as I've only really become interested in Ancient history in recent years. 

Like most children I grew up fascinated by Ancient Egypt, The Mummy is one of my favourite films, and I had several holidays to Crete as a child that definitely stirred an interest in Ancient Greece, as did Disney's Hercules. I've become fascinated by Italian history since my trip to Rome in 2015, and I've since visited Florence and Bologna too, and I've always found the story of Pompeii really interesting. I love Mary Beard, too, and I've enjoyed every single one of her documentaries I've watched.

Basically, my interest in the Ancient world has always been buried somewhere under the surface, but it's only in the past year or so I've had an active interest in it in terms of doing my own research. So this week I'm sharing a list of books, mostly fiction but there is some non-fiction in there too, that are all set in or are about Ancient Egypt, Greece or Rome. If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore by Bettany Hughes: This piece of non-fiction sounds super interesting; not only is Bettany Hughes discussing what the real Helen of Troy would have been like, discussing the period of history in which she was said to live, but she's also looking into how Helen has been portrayed over the years, from royal beauty to promiscuous whore. I really enjoyed Susan Bordo's The Creation of Anne Boleyn, which looked at the cultural history and impact of Anne Boleyn, and I'm hoping this book will do the same for Helen of Troy.

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault: I know basically nothing about Alexander the Great, other than that he did an awful lot for someone who died fairly young, but I've heard brilliant things about Mary Renault's novelisations of his life. One of my friends is a huge Alexander the Great nerd and she loves these books, so I have high hopes!

Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott: Okay so I lied a little, this book isn't set in Ancient Egypt, Greece or Rome, instead it's the first in a fictionalised series of the life of Celtic queen Boudica. I remember learning about Boudica in primary school, when I was about 8 or 9, and I've always thought she was a pretty cool lady. This is the start of a series about her life that has very good reviews on Goodreads, so onto my TBR it goes!

Troy by Adèle Geras: I met Adèle Geras while I was at university at a Litfest event; she was on a panel with Celia Rees, one of my favourite childhood authors and the author who first got me into historical fiction, but I never went on to read any of Geras's work. I remember her discussing this book in particular because an Ancient Greek scholar told her off for including lemons in the book when the Ancient Greeks didn't have lemons. I'm all for historical accuracy, but even I can't help wondering if that's going too far...

The Sweet Girl by Annabel Lyon: This one doesn't really have very good reviews, but I'm intrigued all the same; I read Lyon's Imagining Ancient Women last year where she discussed the research she did to write this book, so it'd be interesting to read the novel, too.

Pompeii by Mary Beard: Mary Beard is one of my favourite historians and the Classicist Queen. I watched her documentary on Pompeii last year, or possibly the year before, and really enjoyed it because she didn't discuss Pompeii's demise, but instead showed the kind of town Pompeii was before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. I'd love to learn more!

The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran: I haven't read a single book set in Ancient Egypt and my knowledge of Ancient Egypt is pretty dire to be honest with you. This novelisation of Nefertari's rise to power has me intrigued - especially as I know practically nothing about Nefertari.

Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery by Judith Harris: This book isn't about Ancient Rome exactly, but it is about Pompeii's rediscovery from the 18th century onwards which fascinates me just as much as Ancient Pompeii itself. An awful lot of Ancient art was rediscovered and then hidden away in a secret museum, where only certain people were allowed to look at it because it was deemed as vulgar, and I find the idea of rediscovering an Ancient civilisation only to hide it away again really interesting.

Daughter of the Gods by Stephanie Thornton: This is another book with great ratings on Goodreads and another book set in Ancient Egypt, this time a novelisation of the life of Hatshepsut. According to Egyptologists Hatshepsut was one Ancient Egypt's most successful pharoahs and I'd like to learn more about her - or at least a version of her in fiction.

Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn: I get the feeling that whoever designed the cover of Daughter of the Gods also designed this one. Yet again, this book has great ratings on Goodreads and Kate Quinn seems to be a very respected author in the world of fiction set in Ancient Rome. Plus it has a gladiator in it. I like gladiators.

Which books made your list this week?

2015 Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge! | Week 3

It's week three of the Forgotten Histories Reading Challenge, and this week's challenge is to read a book with an LGBT protagonist.

Below are a list of books for any of you who are unsure as to which book to read. Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Tipping the Velvet

by Sarah Waters

The Sealed Letter

by Emma Donoghue

Fingersmith

by Sarah Waters

She Rises

by Kate Worsley

Affinity

by Sarah Waters

Lord John and the Private Letter

by Diana Gabaldon

Wildthorn

by Jane Eagland

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

by Tom Spanbauer

Orlando

by Virginia Woolf

The Persian Boy

by Mary Renault