After 4 days of “No Book Purchase August”, I’ve started in on my book stacks in earnest.

This is my current reading pile:

• “The Princes of the Renaissance” (Mary Hollingsworth) - an excellent overview of some of the key players in the Italian Renaissance, highlighting both their political and artistic endeavours.

• “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived” (Adam Rutherford) - a history of humanity told through genetics and DNA, revealing the startling fact that everyone with European ancestry is descended (in some way) from anyone in 10th Century Europe who has descendants.

• “Legends & Lattes” (Travis Baldree) - a lighthearted queer fantasy romp about retried female orc mercenary staring up a café.

• “The Life & Death of States” (Natasha Wheatley) - a sweeping analysis of the experiments with sovereignty in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its successor states in central and eastern Europe.

• “Beowulf” (trans. Seamus Heaney) - a bi-lingual publication of the Old English epic poem by Irish Poet Seamus Heaney.

• “Beowulf” (trans. J.R.R. Tolkien) - Tolkien’s translation and commentary on Beowulf. Re-reading both versions in preparation of a couple of anticipated arrivals…