I haven’t been doing monthly book hauls on this blog – usually I just add the books I’ve bought to my monthly wrap up or do a special one-off book haul if there is a particular occasion. However, December is both Christmas and my birthday so I did get quite a few books. Which makes it really quite perfect that the Top Ten Tuesday topic for the day after my birthday is “most recent additions to my bookshelf”! Without further ado, let’s get going!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme originally created by The Broke and the Bookish and currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
I acquired four books this month that were bought/gifted purely for my personal interest and reading pleasure and not anything to do with my degree.
- I watched The Apothecary Diaries anime earlier this year and it’s the first anime that I’ve watched more than a couple of episodes of, so I thought I would give the light novel a go as well. It also made a perfect gift idea to give my sister since she quite likes anime etc.
- I also asked for a physical copy of Wintering by Katherine May, which I read back in November and really enjoyed.
- The Rise of Tea Culture in China is *technically* an academic book, but it has nothing to do with anything I’m doing for uni and everything to do with my tea obsession. It’s also the book I had pegged as my most wished-for book in my Christmas Songs Book Tag, so I’m really excited to have received it.
- No Straight Road Takes You There has been on my to-buy list since it was recommended by Brona @This Reading Life during Nonfiction November, so I decided to use some Christmas money to grab myself a copy when I was shopping the sales for my sister’s birthday present
Finally, I’ll quickly go through the books relevant to my master’s thesis research. A fun Christmas present, I know, but some books I just really like to have and write all over (something the uni library tends to frown on), and I’m starting dissertation research in earnest come January so this was the perfect time. I’ll group these as there are some clear themes and also so I don’t bore you all!
First are three books in a series on Chinese women’s history written by Bret Hinsch, professor of history at Fo Guang University in Taiwan. I already owned Women in Ming China (and my dissertation is about late-Ming/early-Qing and the equivalent period in Korea), but I wanted significantly more context so I decided to get some of the other books in the series. Most of these I received as Christmas/birthday presents from my aunt, but I did buy Women in Imperial China myself.
I also received The Burden of Female Talent, about a Song dynasty poet that could be related to my dissertation but might not be. Last but not least, I bought myself The Confucian Transformation of Korea, which I’ve already read significant amounts of multiple times but I refer to it so much that I decided I really needed my own copy.
I also bought four books in Korean, but I’m doing a Korea Book Haul next month after I get to go and grab my boxes from my grandma’s house finally, so I’ll probably add those there to keep this post at ten!
Do you ask for books for Christmas/your birthday/other celebrations? If so, what is your favourite of the books you most recently received?
Keira x
P.S. My birthday was yesterday, so wish me a belated happy birthday in the comments 😉
Keira's Bookmark 