I knew it had been a while since I'd written anything vaguely book-related but I didn't realise it had been nearly six weeks! February and what's already gone of March has been so busy. It turns out that working pretty solid 50-60 hour weeks, planning a wedding, trying to maintain a semblance of a social life and finding time to actually read some books doesn't leave a great deal of time for writing about books. We're away in Italy soon for some wedding planning so a break is in sight but I'll only be vaguely hanging on here for a while, I think!
What I've Been Reading
For a month that was so full of other stuff, I actually managed to get a fair amount read. First on my list was Shadow Risingby Robert Jordan. I wrote a bit about this in my last wrap-up but the first time I read this as a teenager, I remember being bored by this instalment in the Wheel of Time series. This second read through had me wondering why! I didn't give it the five stars I gave the three preceding books but it was still a solid 4 stars. After that, I received my first Moth Box in January (which I'll talk about properly another time, hopefully) and picked out one of the books to read straight away. I went for Sufficient Grace by Amy Espeseth, which is the story of a young girl in a small religious community in rural Wisconsin and how she copes when she learns a secret about her best friend. The writing was stunning and I loved the book, perhaps all the more for knowing that it wasn't one that I ever would have picked out on my own. I've ordered another box for March and I'm really looking forward to seeing what's in it.
THEN I finally read the devastating Maus by Art Speigelman. It's a graphic novel account of the author's father's life and experiences as a Jewish man during the Second World War and it's every bit as hard-hitting as it sounds. I can't believe it's taken me this long to finally get to it! An easy 5 stars.
Last up were two books that I don't think could have been more different if I'd intentionally gone out to pick up polar opposites. Cinder by Marissa Meyer, a relatively frivolous cyborg retelling of Cinderella, and then The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel, a new thriller. I liked the fairytale retelling a surprising amount and was supremely grossed out by the thriller, to the point that I just can't recommend it. A bit of a rough end to the month's otherwise great reading!
Book of the Month: Maus by Art Spiegelman
Other Favourites!
TV Programme of the Month: Medici: Masters of Florence is this month's winner. It's about the rise of the Medici family in Florence and the history of the city. I'll admit that we started watching it because it's set in Florence and that's where we're getting married this year but we continued watching because it's actually rather good. It stars Richard Madden of GoT fame and Dustin Hoffman so it's not quite as small fry as it sounds.
Film of the Month: I haven't been to the cinema in a while and I actually can't think of a single film I watched during February! What a bust. Actually, I did watch a naff Kate Hudson romcom one night while Boyfriend was out but it was not good and I'm not naming that even if it is by default my favourite of the month.
Recipe of the Month: We've been watching Gino d'Acampo's Italian Escape series recently (seeing a theme?) and I've made this dish of pasta shells with guanciale, potatoes and tomatoesa few times in recent weeks (except with serrano instead of guanciale). It's easy, properly comforting because it has both pasta and potato and it's delicious.
Beauty Product of the Month: I have quite greasy skin naturally and most moisturisers just destroy my skin and have me breaking out all over. Lush's Vanishing Cream is now an absolute staple in my routine. It smells like lavender, which I love, and it's super light so it'll soak in quickly and leaves no grease. Perfection.
Album of the Month: I was eagerly awaiting the release of Rag 'n' Bone Man's album, Human, and I was not disappointed. As I learned last month, I have no clue how to write about music but I do know that I love his voice and how the album is a mix of styles, some hip hop, some soul and some more...rocky tracks? I don't know but I do know that if you liked the single Human, you'll probably really like the album so I'd recommend giving it a try. It's the kind of album that you put on and happily listen to all the way through without realising where the time's gone!
Activity of the Month: A new item that I've largely created just to say how much I loved the London Bookshop Crawl. Bex has been running it for a while but February was the first time I could make it. Hanna and I got the train down to London in the morning, shopped all day and rested our feet on the way back up and compared purchase notes. I bought about 10 books and I've so far read one so that's something! My stand out shop of the day was easily Persephone Books, which was adorable and crammed full of unique-sounding books from lady writers of old. If you ever get chance to go, do! I also loved getting the chance to meet bloggers who I've been chatting to for years (like Katie and Ellie BookWorm), even if I didn't get to chat to all of them as much as I'd have liked!
And that (finally) was February! March has continued on with a similar theme of being terribly busy but it's starting to clear a little bit. Sort of...tell me about books to distract me! :)
For a month that was so full of other stuff, I actually managed to get a fair amount read. First on my list was Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. I wrote a bit about this in my last wrap-up but the first time I read this as a teenager, I remember being bored by this instalment in the Wheel of Time series. This second read through had me wondering why! I didn't give it the five stars I gave the three preceding books but it was still a solid 4 stars. After that, I received my first Moth Box in January (which I'll talk about properly another time, hopefully) and picked out one of the books to read straight away. I went for Sufficient Grace by Amy Espeseth, which is the story of a young girl in a small religious community in rural Wisconsin and how she copes when she learns a secret about her best friend. The writing was stunning and I loved the book, perhaps all the more for knowing that it wasn't one that I ever would have picked out on my own. I've ordered another box for March and I'm really looking forward to seeing what's in it. 
