Tag: may wrap-up

Reading really picked up for me in May! I think I’ve leaned into the escapism, so racing through books has been my go-to. Also 90 Day Fiance, as you will see. I’ve been working through our Women’s Prize Squad Longlist, but now have to wait until holds come in on some books. I may make a TBR post for June, as there are some things I’m certain I’ll be reading! I also got a cat, so please see 100 pictures of her below hehe.

Books Read:

• Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. 4 stars, review.
• Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson. 1 star, review.
• My Name Is Monster by Katie Hale. 3 stars, review.
• Kept Animals by Kate Milliken. 5 stars, review.
• Braised Pork by An Yu. 2 stars, review.
• Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater. 4 stars, review.
• Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel. 3.5 stars, review.
• Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey. 2 stars, review.
• The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy. 3.5 stars, review.

Books read: 9 books
Average rating: 3.11 stars

Other Media:

• Movies:
  • Missing 411 [2017]. 2 stars.
  • Contagion [2011]. 2 stars.
  • The Girl on the Third Floor [2019]. 1.5 stars.
  • World’s Greatest Dad [2009]. 3 stars, rewatch.
  • The Wicker Man [1973]. 2 stars.
  • Oof, a bad month for movies. No wonder I did so much reading.
• TV Shows:
  • Please refrain from judging me, haha
  • Westworld, Season 3 Eps 7-8.
  • 90 Day Fiance, Season 5, Season 4 Eps 1-7. I’m obsessed.
  • The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart, Season 1 Ep 2.
  • Locke & Key, Season 1 Eps 6-7.
  • Normal People, Season 1 Ep 1.
  • Shrill, Season 2 Eps 1-3.
  • Rick and Morty, Season 4 Eps 6-9.
• Video Games:
  • Umm, I think nothing?? I fall in and out of gaming moods so I’m out of it right now.
  • Maybe just a bit of Tetris 99.

Short Reads:

• Blog post; Messy Women in Literary Fiction by Fatma
• Article; I Thought Stage IV Cancer Was Bad Enough by Caitlin Flanagan
• Blog post; book review: My Dark Vanessa by Rachel
• Blog post; Book Review: My Dark Vanessa by Fatma
• Blog post; Why I Switched to LibroFM for Audiobooks by Kal
• Blog post; 10 Work From Home Tips (I Don’t Always Follow But Should) by Hadeer
• Blog post; Block Editor: Tips & Tricks by Charlotte

My Month in Photos:

Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Facebook

Books Read:

• Normal People by Sally Rooney. 5 stars, review.
• Your Tarot Court by Ethony Dawn. 4 stars, review.
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi. 5 stars, review.
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. 5 stars, review.
• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. 3 stars, review.
• The Vanishing Season by Dot Hutchison. 2 stars, review.
• Delay, Don’t Deny by Gin Stephens. 4 stars, review.

Books read: 7
Average rating: 4 stars

Other Media:

• John Wick [2014]. 3.5 stars. Fun shooty guns.
• John Wick: Chapter 2 [2017]. 3.5 stars. Yeah, I got into John Wick this month.
• John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum [2019]. 3 stars. YEAH, I got into John Wick this month. 😂
• Detective Pikachu [2019]. 3.5 stars. Not an objectively good movie, but loads of fun as a Pokemon fan!
• Game of Thrones, Season 8. I don’t even want to discuss it.
• Law & Order: SVU, Season 14 Ep 7 – Season 15 Ep 17. Hmm maybe sharing how much SVU I’m watching will motivate me to watch less, HA.
• Killing Eve, Season 1 Ep 1. This has come highly recommended so I’m excited to watch it!
• The Bachelorette, Season 15 Eps 1-3. There’s a bar in Somerville that airs this weekly, so I got caught up and went with my friend. It’s my first season of any Bach show and it is… quite interesting. 😂

Notable Posts by Others:

• Rachel 100% nails the issues I had with Praise Song.
• Ally explains how the book community can sometimes go a bit too far.
• Naty discusses WHY the Women’s Prize shortlist is such a disappointment.
• Rachel also does a great job discussing the disappointment that is the Women’s Prize shortlist.
• Ally shares the different types of book reviewers you’ll see. Which are you?
• Katie skillfully tackles why a recent post about girls with swords on book covers was Bad.
• Steff explains how to become a beta reader and what it involves.
• Gabrielle continues to ask why men just won’t let women BE at sports games.
• Kristin shares some great books that are under 200 pages.

My Month in Photos:

Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Facebook

Books Read:

• Quiet Rumours edited by Dark Star Collective. 5/5 stars, review.
• St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. 2/5, review.
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. 3/5, review.
• The Summer Children by Dot Hutchison. 4/5 stars, review.
• Borne by Jeff VanderMeer. 3/5 stars, review.
• Unwifeable by Mandy Stadtmiller. 3/5 stars, review.

Books DNF’d:

• Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao. I cared about the characters a lot, but the plot just wasn’t doing it for me and I felt like I was just sad for no reason.
• Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist. Everything felt really rushed at the start and I wasn’t getting invested in the plot or the characters.
• Never Stop Walking by Christina Rickardsson. Just wasn’t getting invested like I wanted to.
• History of Violence by Édouard Louis. The writing style didn’t work well with me.
• Asperger’s Children by Edith Sheffer. Unfortunately this was a lot more dry and dense than I was expecting and I couldn’t really get through it, even though the content seemed important.

Books read: 6
Books DNF’d: 5
Average Rating:  3.33 stars

Movies:

• Gone Girl [2014] directed by David Fincher. 2/5 stars.
• Mommy Dead and Dearest [2017] directed by Erin Lee Car. 4/5 stars.
• Stardust [2007] directed by Matthew Vaughn. 2.5/5 stars.
• Who Took Johnny [2014] directed by David Beilinson & Suki Hawley. 3/5 stars.

Other Posts:

• Mini-Review Compilation #5
• Down the TBR Hole #15
• The Mystery Blogger Award
• Down the TBR Hole #16
• Mini-Review Compilation #6
• Down the TBR Hole #17
• Akinator Genie Challenge

Notable Posts By Others:

• F/F Erasure in Fandom and Fanfiction by Natasha @ Cats and Paperbacks

Reading Goal Progress:

In May, I read 6 books, which puts me at a total of 35 books for the year. I’m 5 books ahead of schedule and at 47% of my reading goal for the year. 🙂

Monthly Photo Dump:

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