Vampires Hearts & Other Dead Things

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles!

October is usually one of my favorite times of year, but this year was one of a lot of self-reflection. Last October was—and still is—a painful stretch of terrain to look back on, but I’m glad to say that I’m in a much better place now. Plus, fall!

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

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Since last year, I’ve had lots of time to heal, and even though the particular anniversary of the most unpleasant part was rocky, I’ve had a nice month overall. October is one of my favorite times of year, what with the confluence of Halloween and all the good feelings I associate with fall, and I got to enjoy that part to the fullest. There’s been hardly any snow at all (and what little snow we had didn’t accumulate), and the leaves have been extra bright and crunchy.

I had a lot of fun this month too! I dyed my hair, I got pumpkins, I got to watch two amazing movies (Dune and The French Dispatch) in theaters, and I just got back from LA! We went to see Danny Elfman perform the soundtrack of The Nightmare Before Christmas on Friday night, which was MAGICAL. We stopped by the La Brea Tar Pits museum and Amoeba Records too, which were both amazing. Plus, even though I only got to wear it for a few minutes after getting back to the airport, my Kaz Brekker costume was a lot of fun.

As far as writing goes, I’ve been writing my other WIP on and off. I hit 100 pages recently, but I feel like it’ll be too short…plus, and I’m fighting the urge to edit my main WIP. Maybe NaNoWriMo will sort things out.

We’ll see.

READING AND BLOGGING:

I read 18 books this month! As far as the quantity goes, it’s been my worst reading month of the year, but it doesn’t really matter. I can mostly chalk it up to a) school, b) more long books than usual, and c) at least two reading slumps, but I still read a whole lot of stuff that I’d been looking forward to. Plus, there were some single-issue comics in there too. And I’m still on track to complete my Goodreads goal, anyway.

1 – 1.75 stars:

Amazon.com: Horrid eBook : Leno, Katrina: Kindle Store — *Horrid*

The Stars Now Unclaimed (The Universe After, #1) – Drew Williams (DNF) (⭐️)
Horrid – Katrina Leno (⭐️)

2 – 2.75 stars:

Caster : Chapman, Elsie: Amazon.co.uk: Books — *Caster*

Caster – Elsie Chapman (⭐️⭐️)

3 – 3.75 stars:

Project Hail Mary: A Novel: Weir, Andy: 9780593135204: Amazon.com: Books — *Project Hail Mary*

Vampires, Hearts, & Other Dead Things – Margie Fuston (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
His Hideous Heart – Dahlia Adler et. al. (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force, #1) – Craig Alanson (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) – V.E. Schwab (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Each of Us a Desert – Mark Oshiro (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
A Neon Darkness (The Bright Sessions, #2) – Lauren Shippen (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

Amazon.com: Steelstriker (Skyhunter Duology): 9781250221728: Lu, Marie: Books — *Steelstriker*

Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Animals Real and Imagined: The Fantasy of What Is and What Might Be – Terryl Whitlatch (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1) – V.E. Schwab (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Steelstriker (Skyhunter, #2) – Marie Lu (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, #3) – V.E. Schwab (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: A Conjuring of Light – 4.5 stars

Buy A Conjuring of Light: A Novel: 3 (Shades of Magic, 3) Book Online at Low Prices in India | A Conjuring of Light: A Novel: 3 (Shades of Magic, 3) Reviews & Ratings - Amazon.in

SOME POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

I loved reviewing A Darker Shade of Magic, Iron Widow, and Steelstriker!
I made a list of Found Family sci-fi books!
I had a lot of fun with the Cozy Fall book tag!

POSTS I ENJOYED FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE:

SONGS/ALBUMS THAT I ENJOYED:

pretty solid album

this song played while I was getting my hair dyed, and needless to say, I’m obsessed

our ears are blessed by another snail mail single

this one constantly gets stuck in my head and I love it

NEW SUKI WATERHOUSE BOTTOM TEXT

Okay The French Dispatch was an INSTANT 5 stars for me and I love this cover too

DID I FOLLOW THROUGH WITH MY OCTOBER GOALS?

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Read at least 20 books: 18.
Post more than just Goodreads Mondays/Book Review Tuesdays (schoolwork permitting, of course, schoolwork first): did that! See the posts I’m proud of section for them.
Celebrate SPOOKY SEASON accordingly: yep. Only got to wear my Kaz costume for 10 minutes, but it was great.

GOALS FOR NOVEMBER:

𝓉𝒾𝓂𝓂𝓎 — Timothée Chalamet in The French Dispatch (2020),...

Read at least 20 books
Enjoy Thanksgiving Break!
Keep the progress on my current WIP

Today’s song (Halloween edition):

okay seeing this live sung by Ken Page himself was AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE

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

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

I wanted this week to be a relaxing one, and I’m glad to say that I mostly succeeded! My school had a four-day weekend this week, so I had lots of time to catch up on sleep and get some much needed rest.

After that week-and-a-half slump, I had some FANTASTIC reads this week! I’ve only read book 1, but I can already say that I’m hooked on the Shades of Magic series, and it was bittersweet to end the Skyhunter duology. 😭 I also resumed one of my unfinished drafts (FINALLY), and I managed to get out 1,000 words last night!

Other than that, I’ve been doing lots of drawing, volunteering at the library, finishing What If? and getting through more of What We Do in the Shadows, and dyeing my hair! My hair is now blue on top, and then it fades to purple and pink at the ends!! The appointment for my hair was long though, so I brought along Steelstriker…and then had to try and hold it together after I got to a gut-wrenching scene right as it was time to rinse my hair out 😵‍💫

[nervous laughter] bookworm problems, amirite