August 2020 Wrap-Up (It’s already September?!)

reading~

How many of my planned books did I read:
I planned 11. Of those, I read 7 and one is in progress. I also read 4 others, so a total of 11 overall. Does that count? 😂

the plan

the result

There were a few accidents in here. Like I chose Heartsongs with the idea of adding a nice bit of poetry to my reading. However, I didn’t realize that Heartsongs was written by a child. Like, a five year old. And it shows. Even the best poetry by a five year old is still about underwear and his favorite foods. That was disappointing since my expectations were drastically different, so if anyone has some recommendations of favorite poetry collections, let me know!

I also had an attempted book in here, The Penultimate Quest. It started off interesting though really not what I had anticipated, and then it veered heavily into the weird and overly philosophical and man it was like when I was dating a guy who was taking a first year philosophy course at college and he got really into it. Not necessarily bad, but sometimes it gets pretty tiring. I might keep trying to finish that one in chunks, but I might not. 😐

However, I also had my fav arc ever, which I am now nearly done with! It’s taking a while partly because it’s 850 pages and partly because I’m really savoring it. I don’t want it to end. 😭 I also managed to steel my heart and make it through Craigslist Confessional even when I thought it might be too much feels for the moment. It was a lot of emotion, and it was so so good. Highly recommend, y’all.

life~

We’re almost done with working on the house! Oh, jeez, am I exhausted. And my S.O. is probably even more exhausted because he’s the one making most of the phone calls and lifting heavy things. But finally, we have arrived at the point where the physical work on the house is almost done and we’re just working through last touches and paperwork. YAY!!!!

I met my brother’s fiance in person finally; she’s from the Philippines and they’ve been working on her visa to come to the US for a whileeee. Obviously COVID19 added some delays to the already lengthy process, but I’m so excited that she’s here! I took her around the city and we ate delicious Asian food because she misses it. Too much pasta and bread here; not enough rice and MSG. I’m totally in agreement with her.

Honestly, this month felt like it had zero breaks. I don’t even know when I managed to read. Every weekend is entirely filled with house construction and the week is work. Still part time, by the way, despite the rest of the team being full time. Not only does that suck because I’m making peanuts compared to my usual, but it’s critical for our mortgage right now. /sigh All in all, I’m very lucky to be where I am though. But still.

blog~

Oh, a delightful milestone: the blog hit 500 views for the first time ever! Thanks all y’all. It’s positively thrilling to be slowly growing a community of people who share interests and want to build a conversation together. ♥

Here are some of my favorite posts I worked on this month, in case you missed them!

• Top 5 books with Thorn in the title (fantasy sure loves its thorns!)
• To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars v. Battlestar Galactica
• The library that started from empty beer cartons
• Review: The Cat I Never Named by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess
• Word Origins: this is Jeopardy!

And here are some of my favorite posts by other bloggers!

• I never DNF books: here’s why! by Nyx @ Drizzle & Hurricaine Books (fitting because I just DNFd a book this month 😅)
• Happy independent bookstore day! by Jenny Lawson @ The Bloggess (book people will always persist in finding ways to celebrate books, even in a pandemic)
• 10 Reasons to Read the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Krysta @ Pages Unbound (it worked — I found my own copies to read!)
• Fable by Adrienne Young [Dark And Gritty Tale of the Sea and Survival] by C.G. @ Paper Fury (I’ve been so torn on this book and this review helped me make up my mind)
• Books to ease your wanderlust during lockdown by Darina @ Facing the Story (I needed this list now more than ever)

Stay happy y’all. 😊