August 2023 Wrap-Up 🎂

Happy Friday, bibliophiles!

I just finished my first week back to school, but after this, chances are I’ll be somewhat radio silent until I can get fully settled into my routine. The only reason that this post is seeing the light of day is that I start working on my wrap-up posts about a week in advance, so here we are.

Let’s begin, shall we?

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

Summer’s officially over, but the weather sure doesn’t seem to think so. Hopefully I won’t have to endure much more of my (long) walk to class in this 90+ degree heat.

That aside, I’ve had a good August, for the most part. My initial “yay, I’m going back to college!” got partially replaced by “oh god, I’m going back to college” closer to move-in, but I’m feeling better now. (The fact that I’m in a much nicer dorm than I was last year certainly helps. It doesn’t constantly reek of weed in here! Huzzah!) I had the opportunity to soak up the last dregs of summer beforehand, at least. I finished up my summer job at the library, bought a catnip toy for my cat for his sweet 16, completed another trip around the sun, and blew part of my paycheck on books to celebrate said trip around the sun. Worth it.

My blogging’s been a tad slower since I’ve been trying to get everything together before I moved in, but I feel like I’ve still been able to be productive. I’ve enjoyed reviewing all of my books this month and putting together graphics and going off about music. And I got in one book tag that WordPress screwed up and I had to recreate from scratch, but it was fun in the end. Once my schedule figures itself out, I’ll get back on the writing train, but for now, I’m mapping out the best route to my class in That One Building on the other side of campus.

Other than that, I’ve just been drawing, watching Only Murders in the Building (for the love of god, can we just stop pairing Mabel with people who have zero chemistry with her 😭). Good Omens (pain, suffering, even), Heartstopper (Lucy Dacus and Wolf Alice paying in the same episode >>>>>>>), and Taskmaster (“you’ve got no chutzpah”), and reveling in the fact that my new dorm has air conditioning. It’s the (not so) small things.

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 17 books this month! Other than the one stinker in the batch (sorry, The Surviving Sky), it’s been a great reading month in terms of quality and in terms of quantity. Expect some kind of mini-review post for all of the books I bought for my birthday and the books I got as gifts, because they’ve all been fantastic so far.

1 – 1.75 stars:

• The Surviving Sky (Rages, #1) – Kritika H. Rao (⭐️.75)

3 – 3.75 stars:

• Sea Change – Gina Chung (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• The Lost Dreamer – Lizz Huerta (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Nightbirds (Nightbirds, #1) – Kate J. Armstrong (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• The Blighted Stars (The Devoured Worlds, #1) – Megan O’Keefe (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
• Machinehood – S.B. Divya (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)
• Imogen, Obviously – Becky Albertalli (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)
• The World of Edena – Mœbius (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

• Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up – Selma Blair (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Night Masquerade (Binti, #3) – Nnedi Okorafor (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Devil and the Dark Water – Stuart Turton (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Warrior Girl Unearthed – Angeline Boulley (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• The Book Eaters – Sunyi Dean (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Verse, Chorus, Monster! – Graham Coxon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1) – Arkady Martine (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• A Half-Built Garden – Ruthanna Emrys (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)

5 stars:

• This is How You Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: This is How You Lose the Time War – 5 stars

POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

• I had fun reviewing Magonia, Machinehood, Nightbirds, and Imogen, Obviously!
• Music rambling! Here are my Sunday songs from 8/6, 8.13, 8/20. and 8/27.
• I had fun with the Waffle Book Tag!

POSTS FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE THAT I’VE BEEN ENJOYING:

• Phoenix @ Books With Wings talks about how book reviews are sometimes read less than other types of posts, and why that might be.
• Vee @ Vee Bookish goes through the international covers of Emma Lord’s Tweet Cute!
• Susy @ Susy’s Cozy World talks about her favorite books of the last few months!
• My awesome brother talks about the music he’s been listening to this August!

SONGS/ALBUMS THAT I’VE BEEN ENJOYING:

Today’s song:

That’s it for this month in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!