The Persephone Project

At the start of the year, my mind turned, as it often does, to projects. I have seen blogs devoted to all sorts of things, from the scary (build up to 100 press ups!) to scrumptious (cook your way through Cherry Cakes and Ginger Beer by Jane Brocket) and I have to say, I found the latter more inspiring than the former!

Although the writer sadly abandoned her blog early on in the challenge, she set out to make a recipe from Cherry Cakes and Ginger Beer, and read the classic chilren's novel which inspired it. It reminded me of another blog I had read, Knit The Classics, which sadly disappeared, where the bloggers knitted items inspired by classic novels.

It came to me one morning, when I was overcome with the sudden but urgent desire to re-read Someone At A Distance by Dorothy Whipple. My project would be The Persephone Project - in which I will read all the books published by Persephone, one after another. I will of course intersperse them with other books, and I anticipate it taking me years to finish. But I will enjoy the journey, I really will. As an added bonus, I plan to cook, make, or do something inspired by each book, and blog about that too.

I would love to buy them, all at once, and have them on their own book shelf to be savoured and picked one by one like ripe cherries, but alas, neither funds nor space will stretch to that. I would like to buy them, one by one, but again, even though they are reasonably priced, I am conserving funds at the moment. So, I shall order them from the library, and then purchase the ones that speak most to my soul. I ordered William, An Englishman a few weeks ago. Unfortunately there was only one copy in the county, and it was out on loan, so I had to wait for it to be returned and then delivered to my branch before I could borrow it. But happily it has arrived, and I have started it, and the project is begun.

I have not yet decided what my cook/make/do will be, but I will let you know what it is when I have thought of it, and post a book review too. Do join in, if you would like to read along with me!