Abbott Elementary – The Bookish Mutant

Happy Thursday, bibliophiles! Happy Leap Day too, I suppose.

Already the end of February, huh? Good riddance honestly. Not that I had a bad month, but I’m just ready for all this gross, slushy weather to be over with.

Let’s begin, shall we?

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

February’s definitely still been busy, but now that I’m more used to my schedule and able to keep myself on track, it’s all good. Things are getting into gear with my classes, I’ve been able to make time to write and make art and hang out with friends, and the weather is starting to warm up. Key word is starting. We’ve had snow almost every Friday or weekend without fail for…probably a month or two? Colorado. The meteorological indecision never ends. But luckily, other than that first week, I’ve been able to blog somewhat steadily.

Reading has been similarly good—sadly, most of the books I’ve read for school so far haven’t been my favorites (apologies in advance to all the Jane Austen fans here), but other than that, there have been very few misses! I also shifted my focus to books by Black authors this month for Black History Month, and I’ve read both familiar and new-to-me authors and had tons of fun. I also ended up having two five-star reads in a month, so I’d call it good! I’m glad that I’ve been able to keep up my reading schedule, because there’s so many books I’m excited to read soon! A whole bunch of holds from Libby have been pouring in, all of which I’ve been eagerly anticipating…

Other than that, I’ve just been cranking out tons of writing, drawing here and there, watching Abbott Elementary, BEEF (absolutely SHAKESPEAREAN lemme tell you), The Bear (ngl I’m mostly just in it for the needle drops), and Constellation (WHAT IS GOING ON 😀), and being in a near-constant state of being on my toes since I never know when we’re gonna get dumped with snow.

Oh, and I think we have the best possible end to a month that I’ve had in several months…BABE. WAKE UP. NEW ST. VINCENT JUST DROPPED. WE’RE GETTING THE ALBUM, TODAY’S THE DAAAAAAAAAAAY

APRIL 29TH CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH.

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 17 books this month! Definitely more than I expected to read, but I’m about at the point in the year where I’m familiar enough with my schedule that I can squeeze in more time for reading. There were definitely a few stinkers in the mix, but I had not one but two five star reads this month, which was pretty incredible! My eternal thanks to Audre Lorde and R.F. Kuang.

2 – 2.75 stars:

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. – Samantha Irby (⭐️⭐️)
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen (for school) (⭐️⭐️)
Caleb Williams – William Godwin (for school) (⭐️⭐️.5)
Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1) – Colson Whitehead (⭐️⭐️.75)

3 – 3.75 stars:

That Self-Same Metal (Forge & Fracture Saga, #1) – Brittany N. Williams (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Empress of Salt and Fortune – Nghi Vo (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
When the Vibe Is Right – Sarah Dass (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Fortuna (Nova Vita Protocol, #1) – Kristyn Merbeth (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
The Melancholy of Summer – Louisa Onomé (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay – Kelly McWilliams (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

The Monsters We Defy – Lesleye Penelope (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
How Long ’til Black Future Month? – N.K. Jemisin (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Sing Me to Sleep – Gabi Burton (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
No Gods, No Monsters (Convergence Saga, #1) – Caldwell Turnbull (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
We Are the Crisis (Convergence Saga, #2) – Caldwell Turnbull (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

5 stars:

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches – Audre Lorde (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution – R.F. Kuang (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: Sister Outsider – 5 stars

POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

I made another list of book recommendations for Black History Month!
I had fun reviewing Sing Me to Sleep, No Gods, No Monsters, and The Melancholy of Summer!
Here are my Sunday Songs for 2/11, 2/18, and 2/25!
I reviewed The Smile’s excellent new album, Wall of Eyes!

POSTS FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE THAT I ENJOYED:

SONGS/ALBUMS I’VE BEEN ENJOYING:

I’ve listened to this an unhealthy amount of times

NEW CHELSEA WOLFE WOOOOOOO

it always comes back to Bowie

AND NEW IDLES we are truly blessed

obsessed now

fantastic album

Today’s song:

“All born screaming” YEAH I CERTAINLY AM. MY GOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD THE QUEEN HAS RETURNED

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

Happy Wednesday, bibliophiles! I hope this month has treated you well.

First month of the year is over, whew! I don’t wanna jinx it, but I think the rest of the year will be good.

Let’s begin with the first wrap-up of 2024, shall we?

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

January’s been a good start to the year so far, I’d say. The first half was wonderfully relaxing, what with the joys of how long winter break is in college, so I was able to recharge, catch up on reading, and get some sleep in before school started back up again. As for school, I think it’s shaping up to be a great semester! I’m finally taking some classes for my newly declared women and gender studies minor, and I’ve been enjoying those, along with the amazing English classes I’m taking for my major. It was disgustingly cold for a solid week, but at least my school had the sense to call a delay (would’ve preferred a snow day, but beggars can’t be choosers, I guess), but now it’s…unusually warm? It’s nice to be able to wear a t-shirt in the afternoons, if you ignore climate change.

As I said, January has given me the chance to get back on my old reading and blogging schedule. I still didn’t blog as much outside of my regular schedule (these scholarships I’m applying for aren’t gonna write themselves), but it was much nicer not having to do that outside of schoolwork. Fingers crossed, my workload is reasonable at the moment, so I’m soaking up all the time in the honeymoon period of the semester that I can. The reading batch I had was fantastic, for the most part! I had a streak of no books that I really didn’t like for a solid three weeks, and even after that, it’s mostly been 3-5 star reads all around! Anticipated reads, books I’ve been meaning to read for a while, and re-reads—it’s been a good bunch this month. I put my reading goal at 150 books this month, which my middle school self would probably declare something along the lines of “cowardly,” but to her I’d say to wait until college.

Other than that, I’ve just been catching up on sleep (for the first half of the month, anyway), drawing, watching Abbott Elementary (so comforting and delightful!), seeing Robyn Hitchcock live (dude’s a complete weirdo, but an insanely talented weirdo), and stocking up on hot chocolate and tea in equal measure in preparations for the permanently indecisive Colorado weather. Somebody’s gotta keep us on our toes.

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 18 books this month! Winter break gave me a good head start for the first half of the month, but I’ve been able to keep up some of the momentum through the end. And it’s been a great batch too—I’ve only read one book this month that I really didn’t enjoy, and I re-read a favorite that got even better on the second go-around!

2 – 2.75 stars: