Lit Addicted Brit: January Wrap-up and Favourites

I think last year was the first year that I've posted a wrap-up for every month. They may not have been "on time" (they were definitely not on time) but they were there and that's something. This year, I've decided to do something a little bit different. Alongside a bit of a reading wrap-up and recapping blog stuff, I'm going to mix in a Favourites section with books, films, TV, music, food and that kind of thing depending on what I've been up to in the month!

I finished 4 books in January and, with one notable exception, they were pretty good! The Smoke Hunter by Jacquelyn Benson was one I saw on Ellie's blog and bought straight away. It may not have been super literary but it was so much fun! A Suffragette archaeologist comes across what she is sure is a map and decides to boldly go where no females have gone before and see if she can find a lost ancient city. It's pretty much non-stop action and a really good distraction of a book. I read and reviewed Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake and was disappointed. I picked up a short story collection by Sophie Hanna next, The Visitor's Book and Other Ghost Stories. It was a super short little volume that I read in a couple of hours so I didn't feel as though I could give it more than three stars but the stories are weird and definitely haunting (especially The Visitor's Book!) and it's worth a read, even if I wouldn't quite recommend buying it. Then I finished Bird Box by Josh Malerman and freaked myself out thoroughly. A dystopian tale of a world where humans are being menaced by something so terrible that just seeing it once drives you out of your mind and spells your doom. Very dark but I was totally gripped and horrified so it was definitely...an experience!

The rest of the month, I've been happily making my way through the 1,000 pages of The Shadow Rising, the fourth book in the Wheel of Time series. I remembered not really loving it as a teenager but this second reading has been a completely different experience. I love the characters and I'm really appreciating the back story and gradual plot development this time around! I have about 400 pages to go so I'm planning on finishing it up this coming weekend.

TV Programme of the Month: The Crown. We finally decided to give this a try one evening and I love it. I'm in no way a royalist so I wasn't sure what I'd make of it but it focuses on the historical and political context and developments of the reign of Elizabeth II and it's so well done that I can't help but love it.

Film of the Month: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. This is actually a bit of a cheat since I saw it technically at the VERY END of December but I don't think I've watched any other films in January so I'm counting it. I think I cried about five times in the cinema (thank goodness for 3D glasses) and I adored this story.

Recipe of the Month: Flamenco eggs with serrano ham and tomatoes from Rick Stein's Long Weekends. The series that accompanied this book was a hot contender for favourite since it focuses on different European cities and their food cultures, which is something I'm always going to be bowled over by. I'll settle for giving it a nod here with this recipe that you can find recreated here. It's basically serrano ham in a Spanish style sauce, topped with eggs and chorizo and it sounds a bit lacklustre but really it's the perfect Sunday brunch dish.

Beauty Product of the Month: Avon Matte Lipstick in 'Red Supreme'. I can be a bit of a make-up snob but I decided to give this lipstick a try because it looked like the kind of deep red colour I fancied giving a try and came with a relatively modest £5 price tag (at the time) that made "giving it a try" not too much of a gamble. I love it. The colour's gorgeous and it stayed on all day with only a couple of minor top-ups. I'll definitely be mixing in a couple of other colours from this line among my usual MAC favourites.

Album of the Month: First Aid Kit's Stay Gold. I'd never heard anything by these Swedish siblings until Apple Music mixed the song My Silver Lining into a playlist I was listening to while working. I don't really know how to go about describing music but it sounds like a blend of pop and folk music to me and I love their voices, their lyrics and how their music makes me feel like Spring is just around the corner.

And they were the highlights of my January! Tell me all about the highlights of yours. Anything I missed and need to get caught up on?