The Bear – The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to write up a book review or a Sunday Songs post this week, as I’m days away from finals. I started this post in advance, as I do with all of my wrap-ups, so that’s why I managed to put it out today. But from today on, I’ll be (mostly) radio silent for the next week or so. Wish me luck…

Let’s begin, shall we?

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

April’s been its fair share of crazy, what with job interviews, preparing for finals, and wrapping up my sophomore year of college. (How’d that happen??) It’s definitely taken a toll on my reading and blogging, but I’ve still had some free time in between. Said free time has been surprisingly fruitful this month—I finished up the 20,000 word novella that I had to write for one of my classes, and I had a solid weekend where I was able to brainstorm quite a bit for my main sci-fi trilogy. I’d still be doing said brainstorming if not for…y’know, studying for an astronomy final, but once I’m free of that, I’ll be back to making my outline even more excessively long. I’m almost there…

As I said, I had less time to read than I have in the past few months, but strangely, as far as ratings go, it’s been my most positive month. I say “strangely” because I felt like I was in a stint of good, but not great books for at least the first third of April. However, it picked up significantly, partially aided from a particularly lucky haul from Barnes & Noble with a dear friend of mine.

Other than that, I’ve just been watching The Bear, Taskmaster, and Ripley (how and why is Andrew Scott so good at being SO devious), writing when I can, and preparing for the end of the semester.

Oh, and remember how (hesitantly) excited I was about the fact that The Search for WondLa was being adapted into a TV show? We’ve just gotten the first look, and…

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…not to be dramatic, but this is my villain origin story. This is my Joker arc. I’m beyond livid. They drained it. They drained it of the artistry and creativity. And the love. They made Muthr into one of those Playmobil people. Why is Otto furry and squishy? Why does Rovender have those front-facing predator eyes? Where are Eva Nine’s signature braids? Where’s the soul?

Yeah! I’m fine. They just turned my childhood into a sad, lifeless husk of a 3D animated TV show…

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 15 books this month! Somehow, I feel like I was in a slump of good but not remarkable books for at least a third of the month, but somehow, I got through a whole month with no 2 or 1 star reads? That’s a new one for me.

3 – 3.75 stars:

Flux – Jinwoo Chong (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Eat, and Love Yourself – Sweeney Boo (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Shit Cassandra Saw – Gwen E. Kirby (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Taproot: A Story About A Gardener and A Ghost – Keezy Young (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Happy & You Know It – Laura Hankin (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1) – Heather Fawcett (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea, #1) – Hafsah Faizal (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

Calamity (Uncharted Hearts, #1) – Constance Fay (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Strong Female Character – Fern Brady (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. LeGuin (re-read) – for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Ten Low (Ten Low, #1) – Stark Holborn (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
A Letter to the Luminous Deep (The Sunken Archive, #1) – Sylvie Cathrall (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Tusks of Extinction – Ray Nayler (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)
Activation Degradation – Marina J. Lostetter (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: Activation Degradation – 4.5 stars

POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

I had fun reviewing Drunk on All Your Strange New Words, A Tempest of Tea, Happy & You Know It, and Ten Low!
Music rambling! Here are my Sunday Songs from 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, and 4/28!
I took a stab at the Ten Bookish Questions Tag!

POSTS FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE THAT I ENJOYED:

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to blog-hop much because of finals, but here are some highlights:

SONGS/ALBUMS I’VE BEEN ENJOYING:

top 10 nerdiest club bangers

god, I missed this song…

the bowiemaxxing continues

no thoughts only all born screaming

imagine making Poor Things (2023) and failing to get across in two and a half hours what this song does in just under four minutes………couldn’t be me

xtc my beloved

as much as we praise Björk, I feel like she doesn’t get enough credit for how deeply romantic she can be…good god I feel so sappy and squishy listening to this song, it feels so good

david bowie make a song from the ’90s that isn’t criminally underrated challenge (impossible)

Today’s song:

hey, if we’re talking about keeping my inner middle schooler happy, at least this album was fantastic

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

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: