This year, February had 2 things going against it: it was frigid as hell, and it was the month before my eagerly-awaited vacation. I hated every minute of it. Nah, I’m just kidding. It wasn’t that bad. But I’m glad it’s over because (a) March feels like a month when I can reasonably allow myself to dream of spring (it’s not close but it’s closer) and (b) I’m off to Mexico! Hasta la vista, fam!

Ok, but first:

I wasn’t sure how February’s outfit lineup would turn out because most of it was improvised on the fly, but I actually really like. I feel like my wardrobe is really gelling right now, which is a big part of my satisfaction with the resulting outfits. My key accent for the month was red (different shades) and I like how that warmed up my usual neutrals.

I’ve been doing a bit of closet-editing in anticipation of my clothing swap and a secondhand sale event I’m participating in later in March. I feel like I’ve reached the point where almost all of the pieces left in my closet are an 8, 9 or 10 (out of 10). Which is great … were it not for all the cool things I keep finding at the thrift store, and can’t resist bringing home. I’m working on my thrifting FOMO, and definitely being far more selective than before. But I’ll never not get excited about experimenting with new pieces, so I think my next wardrobe management exercise will be to set aside a “core” closet (of staple pieces and statement items that I mean to keep long term) and a smaller, rotating capsule of “trendy” pieces that I can replace regularly – always thrifting and recycling, of course.

What’s new in your closet these days?

Viv Groskop, The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature. My best friend recommended this book to me, and as a bibliophile (with ¼ actual Russian heritage, hah!) I loved it. This wasn’t my immediate reaction, though. I think the book’s title is misleading; I understand why they did it (self-help books are big business) but I think it does a disservice to the book, which is actually a love letter to Russian literature (and the Russian spirit) and a memoir of sorts. Once I figured this out, I settled into the book and enjoyed it. If you like reading about books and their authors, and about the love of reading, this is a book for you. But don’t expect actual “life lessons”. If I had to sum up the “life lesson” part – which, by the way, is accurate of my Russian grandmother’s attitude in life (take that for anecdata) – it’s this: life sucks, sometimes because you make terrible choices and sometimes just because, and then you die. The end.

Tanith Lee, Red as Blood: Tales from the Sisters Grimmer. My best friend also loves Tanith Lee so I decided to look her up on Amazon. I ended up choosing this collection of short stories because I love reading revisionist takes on fairytales (like Daniel Mallory Ortberg’s The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror). Lee’s takes were a mix of horror and fantasy for the most part, with a little sci-fi action thrown in for good measure. I really enjoyed the stories, especially “Red As Blood”, “Wolfland” and “Beaty”.

Dorothy Sayers, Whose Body; Clouds of Witness; Five Red Herrings; Strong Poison. After binge-reading her short stories, I moved on to Sayers’ mystery novels and quickly devoured most of those as well. By the end, I came to appreciate Peter Wimsey more than before; he’s still not my favourite classic detective (that would be Ngaio Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn) but he’s moved up the list for sure.

James Runcie, Grantchester mysteries (volumes 1, 3, 4, and 5). I recently picked up the 5-volume set of mysteries featuring Canon (and later Archdeacon) Sidney Chambers at Value Village mostly because the cover art was appealing and the books looked new. I previously watched season 1 of the TV show, so I kinda knew what to expect but was still pleasantly surprised. Each book features a series of connected vignettes from the life of Canon Chambers, focusing mostly but not exclusively on his detecting adventures with his friend, Inspector Keating. Some chapters can only very loosely qualify as “murder mysteries”, and even the murders are very … mundane, for lack of a better word. No locked room mysteries or fiendishly clever villains. Just everyday life in the English countryside with a dash of crime. Even so, there was something very soothing and pleasant about breezing through the books; I also enjoyed seeing the way Sidney’s relationships with friends and (spoiler alert) his wife developed over the course of a decade or so. [NOTE: the only reason I wasn’t able to read volume 2 is because my mom borrowed it to take it with her on a 2-week vacation. I binge-read the whole series in the meantime, but will probably circle back to volume 2 now that she’s back.]

Ophelia Field, The Favourite: The Life of Sarah Churchill. I haven’t seen Yorgos Lanthimos’ recent movie The Favourite but I hope it turns up on Netflix soon. In the meantime, I read this biography of Sarah Churchill, long-term favourite (hence the title) of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch. I pick up biographies of historical figures, especially women, whenever I can find them at the thrift store because (a) I love this genre, and (b) they are otherwise expensive and sometimes hard to find in bookstores or online. [I looked it up, and the hardcover of this book is currently $52 on Amazon; I paid less than $5 for an older hardcover edition, in great condition.] Anyway, this is a very thick tome, and some of the historical details were a tad boring (which I skipped, no shame in my game). Still, I enjoyed it for the most part. The book offers a glimpse at a period of English history with which I am less familiar than, say, the Tudor or Victorian eras, from the perspective of a (important) side-player. Sarah seems to have been a pretty interesting character for the era, and she had a front-seat to much of the political maneuvering that took place during her lifetime, which gives her biography plenty of scope. After reading the book, I am more intrigued than ever to see what Lanthimos has done with these characters in his movie.