It is my intention to astonish you all.

Tagged by the lovely and erudite @oldshrewsburyian <3

The last book I read: I've been in a reading slump recently so the last book I finished was The Star from Calcutta by Sujata Massey and it was a month ago. The latest Perveen Mistry mystery. It was good!

A book I’d recommend: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson. I feel like we're already aware of that here, but in case you're not aware of it and you like really cool, well-written fantasy, you should definitely read this! Also The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Truly the most novel of all time. Whatever type of fiction you're into, trust me, it has it. Murder mystery? Philosophy? Doomed romance? Spy thriller? Swashbuckling adventure? Victorian lesbians? Religious guilt? Family saga? Revenge? Politics? Globe-trotting? Drugs? Whatever it is, Monte Cristo has it in spades.

A book I couldn’t put down: Once I got into The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett, I really couldn't put it down. It got really exciting! My favourite of the Lymond chronicles so far. But Dunnett does really take some getting into. Worth it though!

A book I’ve read twice or more: All of Austen, obviously; also probably most Agatha Christies. She wrote so many I'm just on a constant cycle round them. Have His Carcase. The Importance of Being Earnest. The Iliad and the Aeneid because I teach them from scratch every year.

A book on my TBR: Oh gosh, I have SO many. The Rose Field by Philip Pullman is currently raising up my laptop so I don't get bad posture so that is definitely near the top of my TBR and should probably have been read MONTHS ago. And I just bought Emily Wilson's book about translation Crossing the Wine Dark Sea as a birthday present to myself which I can't wait to get stuck into. I love the way she writes about translation.

A book I’ve put down: I have stalled on Katabasis by R F Kuang. I had high hopes and it ought to have been my favourite thing ever and I do intend to finish it but when I started reading it, I wasn't quite in the right headspace to read a book all about death, even in a fantasy setting, and it just somehow didn't grab me enough to pick it back up immediately. (Katabasis is also propping up my laptop along with The Rose Field. Hooray for impulse purchase hardbacks!)

A book on my wish list: I've been highly recommended Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian recently and I know it's also the inspiration behind @qqueenofhades' epic Darklina fic so I do really want to read it now. I also really want to read The Three Musketeers. More Dumas can't be a bad thing. When I've finished my current car audiobook, the next one will be The Three Musketeers. Unfortunately my current car audiobook is War and Peace...

A favourite book from childhood: The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was properly obsessed with them. I made an architecturally accurate log cabin out of clay. I read them over and over again. Laura and Almanzo were probably my first OTP. I can still quote the proposal scene word for word. I haven't re-read them since and I'm nervous to do so because I will have to confront Ingalls Wilder's very much of her time attitude towards Native Americans which I expect will be a bit uncomfortable as an adult in 2026. I just want to love them so much.

A book I’d give to a friend: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. If someone was having a tough time, then this novel would be bound to bring them joy or at least some light relief.

A book of poetry or lyrics that I own: I have books of Rumi and Cavafy in translation. Really love both poets.

A non-fiction book that I own: Recently (as in, within the last academic year) bought Courting Disaster: Reading between the lines of the Regency Novel by Zoe McGee which I found very interesting, as well as Wild Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane by Devoney Looser, which I haven't read yet. I heard both of them speak in London. Definitely need to read more recent Austen/18th century novel scholarship this summer if my PhD plan is going to go anywhere. Which admittedly it might not. I think probably everything has already been written about Jane Austen... :/

What I’m currently reading: Almost finished Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan, the first in a series about Q from James Bond. I'm really enjoying it! But it is the sort of thing I like, so I would. Also, technically, Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett, but I stalled on it when I fell into a reading stump. Hoping to return to it soon! And, in the car, War and Peace. I am determined. But I need some more long journeys to make more progress. Still got about 50 hours left...

What I’m planning on reading next: Along with Quantum of Menace I got The Edge of Darkness (Persis Wadia 6) also by Vaseem Khan and A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee out of the library last week, so they need to be my next reads. I'm clearly on a "mysteries set in India" kick at the moment!