Vee's Study Ave

Leaving a religion that demands so much of your life, and most often leads to being cut off from family is nauseatingly terrifying. Especially when you're doing it alone, or have no idea where to start with unpacking everything. Even more so if you still live at home.

On my Substack linked below, I have started a guide series that will go over everything I have done to unlearn and stay sane while living in a devout home, where no one could know I had stopped believing.

If this sounds interesting, please check it out! If you have some questions, or need any advice with regards to the mental and emotional side of this, my DMs on Tumblr are open, and there is a subscriber chat on my Substack.

Please note, much of my advice can also be applied to leaving other devout faiths, however, my experience is with Jehovah's Witnesses, so that is the religion I most refer too and have the most knowledge on. Any other person unlearning Christianity is more than welcome to check out my series.

My birthday night out, plus breakfast and the art gallery the next morning.

Whilst we may still have a little less than a month left of winter/summer, where I live has already decided we are in the depths of summer (somebody save me). So, I wanted to get a head start on my spring reading list!

If you're looking for a way to narrow down your TBR, or for reading ideas this Spring/Autumn, I've found the reading bingo is a fantastic way to get out of slumps! If you participate, please let me know what you decided to read and whether or not you'd recommend them!

So sorry to disappoint you (┬┬﹏┬┬).

BUT, I have found fictional stories about Penelope (some of which I read and enjoyed) that i can recommend, though it's more on retellings than Non-fictional documentary of the character that's all I can provide. 1. Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood: Lovely and quite a unique twists of Penelope and the aftermath of Odysseus's return, my queen Marg's earliest books, and i love her own take of Penelope. 2. The Songs of Penelope: I ADORE THIS, it's a trilogy that focuses on aspects of womenhood in a patriarichal society at the time, which showcases penelope, her maids, and other women of different path trying to survive and get by on Ithaca, it also weaves in other myths such as the illiad and the oresteia AND I CRIED SO HARD ON THE FIRST BOOK, Absolutely adored the second book, and the Third book was such a chef kiss. A unique part of the trilogy that each books are narrated through the eyes of three Goddesses, Hera (1st book), Aphrodite (2nd book), Athena (3rd book).

3. Women of Troy: Closest to a non-fiction it can get, but it focuses on more figures such as Megara, Atlanta, Medea, Ariadne, and Penelope going through their origins, not really penelope centric but closest to it

Hey!!! So happy to be talking to you again! I got so excited when I saw more book recs from you 👀

Ack, it's a shame there aren't non-fictional stories of Penelope's origins, but I see I now have another reason to do further research into the myths of Clytemnestra, Leda and Helen!

Thank you so much for gathering these wonderful recs for me!!! No disappointment at all, this is so amazing, I cannot thank you enough 😭

Ooooh I actually saw The Songs of Penelope when I was researching books surrounding Penelope, and I was on the fence on whether to check it out or not, but I absolutely will now!! And the books being narrated through the eyes of the Goddesses is such an interesting twist?? I cannot wait to read this. And I am ABSOLUTELY adding Penelopiad and Women of Troy to my TBR, I love when authors take characters and add their personal twists to their stories. And ofc, I can never turn down a non-fiction book, and even though Women of Troy isn't Penelope-centric, I've been looking to do more research into Ariadne. Plus, I'm always happy to be learning more about all the female figures of Greek myths.