281. Daily Reading Goals and Thoughts on Shelly’s Sex Appeal
Amy elaborates on the reading goals she’s set for herself in 2026 to help center her distracted mind, including her mission to read at least one poem a day. The compelling joint biography of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon, also prompted a fact-finding mission to determine whether Percy Bysshe Shelley was truly swoon-worthy enough to merit Mary’s adoration. A portrait that’s newly theorized to be a long-unrecognized rendering of the poet might settle the hot-or-not debate. This bonus episode is available to paid subscribers or for individual purchase.
Mentioned in this episode:
Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries by Sarah Gristwood
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 270 on The Sitting Room Library
The 2026 Reading Pilgrimage Online book group
The Pilgrimage Series by Dorothy Richardson
Poetry in English: An Anthology
Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon
Amelia Curran’s portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley
William Edward West portrait of (possibly) Percy Bysshe Shelley
“Will the Real Percy Shelley Please Stand Up?” by Molly Minturn
“Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats” by Percy Bysshe Shelley