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March Wrap-up and Favourites

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I've been trying to work out this month why in a time when I'm perhaps more interested in books and writing than ever, my blog is quieter.  I know that in part it's because I've had limited free time recently and I've had to make a choice between reading the books or writing about books but it doesn't feel like that's it.  Over the past couple of days (literally), it's occurred to me that it's more that my approach to writing about books just doesn't seem to quite work for me at the moment.  It gives me the chance to explore the books that I want to write about in detail but with others, it makes me feel constrained.  I think for the next month, I'm going to try a few new ways of talking about the books that I've loved and see if that helps!

General musings aside, it's been a completely crazy month.  Work has been insanely busy even by its usual standards and we've had quite a few hectic weekends socially.  We did then get to spend a few days in Italy finalising our wedding plans so it wasn't all rushing about and giving legal advice!

What I've Been Reading

When I sat down to write this, I was set to write about how many books I'd got through.  It turns out, I actually haven't read that many!  Especially when you consider that one of them was a novella that I downloaded and read in the car on the way home from the airport earlier this week.  Anyway, first up was Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.  This is a series that I feel as though I should hate but I find myself completely taken by it.  They're science fiction takes on fairytales (sort of) but with an overarching story that's sort of a battle between the Lunars living on the Moon and the humans down on Earth.  It's edgier than I'd thought it would be and this instalment was even better than Cinder.  I'm glad I already own the final two books in the series.  

Next up was Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes.  I borrowed this from the library and I'm glad.  I loved The Shining Girls when I read it a few years ago for its blend of murder mystery and the supernatural but this time around I was just baffled.  I really enjoyed some elements of it and the writing was fantastic but I just feel as though I didn't get the main plot.  Or rather, maybe I did get it but I just felt as though it was a bit abstract/surreal for my tastes.

When we were prepping for holiday, I wanted something from my Kindle because I prefer it when I'm travelling and so I started the second book in the St Mary's series, A Symphony of Echoes.  The series follows a department of historians who bumble about travelling through time. The books can be erratic and crash about a bit but they're so much fun that it's hard to care!  On the way home from the airport, I followed this up with the "2.5" novella, When A Child is Born.  It took maybe half an hour and it was a cute story that did a neat job of looking at the butterfly effect.  Not award winning literature perhaps but so entertaining.

Book of the Month:  Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Other Favourites!

TV Programme of the Month:  Making a Murderer.  Somehow I never got round to watching this Netflix series when it first came out but that was clearly ridiculous because it's right up my street. I love documentaries about the legal system and this one looks at how it arguably failed Steven Avery.  It's very well put together and both Boyfriend and I are really enjoying it.

Film of the Month:  The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus.  This wonderfully weird fantastical film was completely bizarre but absolutely fascinating.  What was most interesting was that it was intended to star Heath Ledger as a slightly shifty character but filming was interrupted when Ledger sadly died.  The way that the film has subsequently been put together is so clever and it's almost worth watching for that creative feat alone.  I'll warn you, though, it's a weird one!

Recipe of the Month:  This is a bit of a cheat but one of the course on our wedding menu is the absolute best plate of food I've eaten all month and it beats what I've made for myself hands down.  Our pasta course is a potato ravioli with veal ragu and crispy bacon and asparagus and it is divine.  I was already excited but knowing what food treats we have in store for our guests is something else!

Beauty Product of the Month:  My absolute favourite perfume is the Jo Malone Peony and Blush Suede.  I have a set of products in the scent to use on the run up to the wedding and a candle for when I need a little pick-me-up.  The smell is so fresh and light and just screams Spring and it is hands down my favourite thing right now.

Album of the Month:  I rediscovered Paolo Nutini's Caustic Love this month and I'd forgotten how much I love it.  It's the perfect blend between songs that you have to sing along to loudly and songs with a political edge.  The song Iron Sky features an excerpt from a Charlie Chaplin film The Great Dictator and it's incredibly powerful.  If you missed this album when it was released a few years ago, it's absolutely worth giving a try.

Activity of the Month:  Obviously, our trip to Florence.  We planned our wedding, we ate the most delicious food, we travelled around Tuscany and we drank many glasses of chianti.  Lucca and Arezzo are beautiful (not as beautiful as Florence, obviously, but beautiful in their own ways) and the whole trip was a perfect little prelude to our wedding trip in about 8 weeks (i,e, SOON!).

I hope all of you had wonderful months of March and are enjoying the first hints of Spring.  Let me know what you're reading! 

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