January is generally my quietest month for reading and crafting. It’s the recovering from Christmas and setting myself up for the following year. Making plans, getting organised, that sort of thing.
I had given myself a list of titles from my TBR pile to read. I read one, The Bear and the Nightingale, at the end of December, so I was starting the year well.
And then, well, I chose two others from the pile: Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park and ECR Lorac’s Bats in the Belfry.
Somehow, they took precedence. Actually, Mansfield Park wasn’t even in the pile, it was from the list. Having read the rest of the Austen’s in November, and not being able to find my copy of Mansfield Park, I got it for my Kindle and pottered through it. Not my favourite Austen. I think Fanny and Edmund would have been better for a little nonsense, and Austen missed a chance to redeem the Crawfords. At least Henry. I’m not sure if Mary could be redeemed.
As for Bats in the Belfry, this was supposed to be the last of the crime classics for last year’s challenge, which I started, but then put down again. Now it’s finished. It was a very tangled sort of plot, but it worked out quite well in the end, I thought.
And the rest of January’s list is being rolled over to February. But at least that’s two down.
I’ve also added another recipe book to the collection, having found and purchased a copy of Elizabeth Raffald’s The Experienced English Housekeeper, to experiment with recipes alongside Mrs Crocombe’s.
Life Ever Crafting 