Making the Most of Reading Week

Next week is Reading Week at my university, and in my week without classes I intend to read.

The following books are on the list.

"John Rylands Library" by BinaryApe is licensed under CC BY 2.0

1) The Spring of the Ram by Dorothy Dunnett. Trebizond is rapidly becoming one of my favourite Dunnett settings, and I'm now determined to find a book on its history, or a podcast, or something to learn more about it. Plus, the development of the character of the hero of the series, Nicholas, is fascinating. I still can't get over the fact that Nicholas is the same age or younger than some of my students.

2) Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett. Because I have to find out what happens next to Nicholas and the men he ringleads.

3) King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett. Yes, I like Dorothy Dunnett a lot. King Hereafter, a novel about the historical Macbeth, is one of those rare books with which I've fallen so completely in love that I am reading it very slowly so that it doesn't end.

4) Fantasy and Mimesis: Responses to Reality in Western Literature by Kathryn Hume; I am starting a Fun Project, which is an article about time-travel as a method of researching the Middle Ages. Yes, there are enough science fiction novels with this theme that I could (probably) manage a book, but I'll start with an article. I'm at the beginning of my literature search for relevant stuff on The Medieval and Science Fiction, but I liked Hume's article on medieval romance and science fiction a lot, so this seems like a good place to start.

5) Theodora by Stella Duffy. Having glanced through this, I'm a little wary (inspired by trying to read Procopius sideways, I have Very Specific Ideas about Theodora), but I also don't discover new historical novels about late antiquity every day so I'm giving this a go.

6) The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel. Hopefully some helpful tips and tricks to help me put things off a bit less.

7) Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski. I was inspired to start reading the Witcher after watching the Netflix series, which I greatly enjoyed. It's not always the most beautiful prose--I suspect a lot is being lost in tone and humour from the original Polish--but there's something incredibly original and compelling about the way that the book takes stereotypes of high fantasy and twists them into new shapes. 

Do you have books you would recommend? What are you reading these days?