Books of the Month // December 2022

Hope you all had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

In my last post (see here) I talked a bit about my health and how my deteriorating health has made updating the blog a bit difficult in the past year. Well the reason I haven’t updated since then is that on November 10th I underwent a double lung transplant and then spent three weeks in and out of a coma in intensive care due to a series of very unlucky complications. It was a bit touch and go for a while but I was able to spend Christmas with my family and now I’m back at home (although being looked after very well) hence why I’m writing this blog post! Although for a little while posts may not be regular, I’m hoping I’ll be less sick in 2023 and be able to dedicate more time to writing!

Now December is always a month where I get a ton of new books. Not only is it my birthday (10th December) but it’s then Christmas and my friends and family know I do love a book as a gift! So I thought I’d do a short little blog post showing you a few of the books I received in December.

I was obsessed with Ancient Egypt when I was a kid however over the years I’ve gravitated towards other eras of history (hello the Renaissance). Despite that I’ve recently wanted to do a bit more ancient reading. Nefertiti was always my favourite hence this book and the one below. Very excited to read this two.

Recently re-read some old favourites about Elisabeth “Sissi” Empress of Austria and Maximilian here pops up in many of them as her brother in law. I however know very little about him and the circumstances surrounding him and his wife Charlotte/Carlota becoming Emperor and Empress of Mexico. It’s a fascinating yet tragic story and I’m looking forward to reading this. I was recommended this one so fingers crossed it’s good!!

A Christmas present from my mama!! I love Anne Boleyn. I love Hever Castle. What’s not to love. 10/10 Crimbo present buying there mother dearest.

My knowledge on Chinese history is to be quite honest, not great, and limited to Wu Zetian who I ADORE. Cixi has always been fascinating to me though and so I’m excited to learn a bit more. I’m aiming to do a more reading on Chinese history so if anyone has any suggestions let me know!!

Not exactly history but I do love my classics – I did the Iliad (which is one of my favourite books) at college and I also love the Odyssey. I read the Aeneid years ago and enjoyed it so looking forward to reading again. this is such a beautiful version.

Not quite a history book but it’s historical fiction so it kinda counts???

Thank you all for giving this post a little look!! I’ll hopefully be back with a new post soon.

Alexandra x