It’s the beginning of March so it’s time for me to do my second month-in-review post woohoo!

What I Read in March

March was an exceptionally good reading month because unless I’ve miscounted several times, I’ve managed to read 16 books! One of them was even in Japanese (albeit really short but still!!)!

Highlights of my reading month:

• I started reading/rereading (after more than a decade, can I really call this rereading?) the Dark is Rising sequence. Initially, I wanted to space them out but my curiosity won out and I think I’m already halfway through the four books because I’ve already finished Over Sea, Under Stone and The Dark is Rising.
• Again, I did not go back to Book 2 of the Chrestomanci series, instead choosing to read Black Maria by DWJ since it’s one of the books that I’ve been wanting to read. No regrets though, it’s fantastic with interesting magic and a pretty dark start.
• If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli, you MUST read Mixing Work with Pleasure. It’s by Toshio Suzuki, a producer and former president of Studio Ghibli and he gives so many behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the marking of the movies.
• If you’re a fan of mysteries, I can’t not give a shout-out to The Twyford Code, which is truly very fun and one of the more inventive mysteries that I’ve seen lately.

While I didn’t do a proper count, I think I read a lot more fiction this month (though one nonfiction, which I’ll mention soon, did make a pretty big impact). Perhaps that’s why I finished more books; I generally find fiction faster to read, especially if it’s in a genre I enjoy.

March Teas

It’s been another fairly quiet month on the tea front. I finally got around to opening the Lupicia teas that come in the subscription I’m sharing and I posted my first Quick Tea Reviews for the subscription. I’m hoping that in April, this will be a regular feature and it will motivate me to finish all these little packets of tea so that I can open one of the bigger black teas that I’ve been eyeing.

Off the Blog

First up: very exciting news on the personal front because I became an aunt!!! I shan’t say too much because I’m not sure if my fam knows about this but I am very excited and I wanted to just share a little.

Now on to other things. Last month, I mentioned considering a substack. Well… after reading Afternoon Tea: A History (review to come sometime in April!) I felt like I wanted to look into the history of afternoon tea in Singapore and well… I’ve made a substack for that. Actually, it’s not solely for the history of afternoon tea, but rather, it’s a project space where I can post quick tidbits of what I’ve found and what I’m working on, so that I can bounce ideas off people and even if it never makes it into a proper blog, it’s still somewhere.

Last but definitely not least, after a few months of being fiscally prudent when it comes to book purchases, I have caved and gotten six new books!! It’s from BookXcess (no surprise there) and it came really quickly – delivered 2 days after I ordered and with free shipping so I’m really pleased!

Three books are Austen themed and three are… British niche-history books, if I’m not wrong (I know the Cream Tea one is about the British holiday but I’m not too sure if it’s a history or about holiday spots). I’m thinking of starting Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes (about the lives of 1950s British women) first because it looks so interesting but please let me know which of these books caught your eye!

Oh yes and before I forget: there’s something wrong with the comments since you can’t really reply to it or like them. I’m looking into it and I hope to find out what’s wrong soon! But don’t be afraid to comment – I can still see them and I love reading comments!

How did your March go?