Polite Paradise

I'm almost finished with Jane Austen: The Secret Radical by Helena Kelly. It's a really interesting look at Jane Austen's novels, with the idea that Jane was far more engaged with the political climate and events of the day than she's often given credit for, and that there's a lot more going on in the novels than just pretty young women going to balls and navigating romantic dilemmas. Occasionally, I think she makes a bit of a stretch with her arguments, but overall it's very well-argued and persuasive. Even when I don't agree with her, it's definitely a really interesting perspective on the novels and it's made me think about them in a very different way.

I've also just started Killers of the Flower Moon, which is about a series of murders that took place on the Osage Indian reservation in Oklahoma in the 1920s. I'm not that far into it, but so far it's really interesting, and it's something that I didn't know anything about previously, so I'm learning a lot.

I just recently finished The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. A boy is raised in an old graveyard by the ghosts of its inhabitants, but eventually has to leave the safety of the cemetery to face the man who killed his family. A really engrossing story and beautifully written, but have some kleenex ready!