I received my last parcel from previous book orders today, and I can now post a picture of the combined haul:

I’ve already read and loved Orlando, but I couldn’t resist the gorgeous hardback edition, which will look great along the others of Woolf’s books that have accumulated on my shelves.

Oh, and The Sparrow… I read one chapter just before Halloween Bingo and was hooked – a sci-fi story that starts out at the Vatican? I am so looking forward to getting back to it. I may even have to read it during the game. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will fit any of my bingo squares/tasks. On the other hand, this is probably another book that I want to read without any deadlines, pressures or distractions, which is also true for all of the other books in this haul.

Fire from Heaven is a much lauded book in the Virago series that I am trying to read books from. I have heard so many good things about this book and others set in Ancient Greece by Renault. I have only read Renault’s The Charioteer, and really liked her style so I am really intrigued by what she brings to her story about Alexander the Great.

Between Two Thorns is a fantasy offering (I believe) by Emma Newman, whose book Planetfall I read recently (comments on the book can be found here). This is another instance where I may not have completely loved the first book I have read by the author but can recognise elements in style or atmosphere or voice that I found really appealing, so I am keen to find out what Newman makes of a paranormal fantasy setting.

Monstrous Little Voices is a book I came across when looking for books by Emma Newman. The description on GR (copied below) leads me to think that this will be a fabulous addition to my Will’s World project.

It is the time of Shakespeare. Storms rage, armies clash, magics are done – and stories are made. Five new great and terrible tales reshape the Bard’s vision, a new set of stories that will be told and retold down through the centuries. 
In the Year of Our Lord 1585, all the major powers of the Mediterranean are at war. The throne of the Grand Duke of Tuscany is the prize, and every lord from Navarre to Illyria is embroiled in the fray. Prospero, the feared Sorcerer-Duke of Milan, is under pressure to choose a side, and witches stalk the night, steering events from the shadows. Even the fairy courts stand on the verge of breaking down.
Monstrous Little Voices collects five of today’s most exciting names in genre fiction – Jonathan Barnes (The Somnambulist, Cannonbridge); Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Shadows of the Apt, Children of Time); Emma Newman (The Split Worlds, multiple-award-nominated Tea and Jeopardy podcast); Hugo-nominated blogger Foz Meadows (Solace & Grief, The Key to Starveldt’s); and upcoming novelist (and journalist for the Ottawa Citizen) Kate Heartfield – to delve into the world Shakespeare created for us. With wars and romances, its magics and deceptions, discover five stories he never told, but could have. Stories of what happened next or what went before, of the things unseen or simply elsewhere in the world as Shakespeare’s own tales unfolded on the stage.”

Book Description sourced from Goodreads

Lastly, I came across Julius Green’s book about the theatrical side of Agatha Christie – her stage plays and their productions. I don’t know what to say about this one other than it was only a matter of time before I’d acquire yet another book about Dame Agatha.