So, uhm. TIME FLIES??? I know I say that over and over again, but every time I need to do a monthly update, it’s like I feel I did the last one just yesterday??
But if it’s time, it’s time! I’ll be linking up with the usual crew at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday post, but this time I’m also linking up with Stacking the Shelves at Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality! I will also be linking up with Book Date for It’s Monday! What are you reading? and Mailbox Monday, and last but not least – a little belatedly with Feed Your Fiction Addiction.
So let’s take a good, looong look at this past month. What have I accomplished?
nothing- read 10 books
- only hauled 13!
- got my first paper ARC copy
- went on vacation
didn’t have enough chocolate cake(actually, I might have)- got a ridiculous socks-looking tan on my legs
- because I went on a short vacation!
- launched my first monthly link-up meme!
JOIN, MINIONS
Let’s start from the top. Books read, posts posted, books hauled, and then – shenanigans! (Oh wait, I’ve already posted the list of shenanigans. Nevermind!) I also apologize in advance for any typos or spelling mistakes – yesterday at 1 AM I was still singing in a karaoke room, and I was still working half a day before I sat down to write this post.
~ Books Read ~
In August, I’ve started one of the best fantasy series ever – His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. When I read the third part, I’ll be reviewing them all together in a ball of anxiety over not being able to review such a bundle of goodness a joint big review. Wish me luck. Also? READ IT.
Then I’ve also read Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman in preparation of The Rules of Magic, coming up in October. I did like it, and it’s definitely worth a read, but I wasn’t in awe of it. You’ll be able to read the review on Sept 15th.
One of the miracle finds of this month has been The Punch Escrow. I will be posting a review shortly, although I’m having another episode of oh no this book is too good to review and you know how that works.
And of course you all know They Both Die At The End. I wasn’t in awe of this one either, although it is a good book. I have reviewed it here, and I warn for possible triggers. I know you want to get your hands on that one, you better read my warnings. Or don’t come running to me crying! And cry is something you’ll certainly be doing if you read this one.
The Growing Season was another wonderful read by Helen Sedgwick, and I have to say, I haven’t read anything by her I haven’t liked yet. I review it here. Truly recommended, especially if you are interested in feminist ideas and philosophy.
I was also overjoyed to receive The Golden House by Salman Rushdie, but I am sad to say the book failed to engage me completely. I will be reviewing it on the 8th of September. I’m still wondering if the book was too smart, or if I wasn’t smart enough. Ah, the constant deal with literary.
The Thousand Tiny Miracles of Living Twice, however, might have been much less convoluted and literary than the previously mentioned one, but also much more enjoyable. Recommended as a warm, cozy tale for when you’re feeling blue.
And Sip was… Strange. It’s a dystopian story about how the world falls after people become shadow junkies, drinking and stealing each other’s shadows. At first I thought it was YA, then I realized it wasn’t… So basically, it’s a dark dystopian tale with a YA tone, but with way too much horror, gore and sexual detail to actually be YA. I don’t know if I’ll be posting a review on my blog – possibly only Goodreads. The story was not bad, but I feel like it was just snippets, not a full book. I was left with “What did I just read..?” after I finished.
Endurance is Scott Kelly’s memoir of spending a year in space – on the international space station. This book was an amazing read! I recommend it to anyone who is at least a little into space or scifi – especially scifi! Because you need to know how that space stuff really works (most of the time? Nope, not how it works in books.) It’s truly amazing to read about the things that are so easy on Earth, and find out how hard they might be out there. It makes you really thankful. And inspired!
#GRAVITY
~ The Stats! ~
So I think I’m doing fine on my yearly goal and alright on my Mount TBR goal! But not so much on my Blogger Shame goal! I was only doing current ARCs this month. I hope State of the ARC can motivate me next month.
~ On The Blog In July ~
I have posted a total of 13 times this month, and some of them were fun discussion posts which were quite popular, and I’m happy with that! Here are the posts in case you want to catch up. Unfortunately, I won’t be posting so many fun discussion posts next month 🙁 because I have been insanely busy and we will have many house guests in September! So I hope you can be entertained by my reviews, at least 🙂 I will also be posting a second State of the ARC in the last week of September, so you can plan to participate if you want.
~ Book Haul August ~
So this month I got even less books! Yay me! (Isn’t it funny how we’ll cheer for that, of all things..?) And I won a giveaway hosted by the lovely Lucy, thank you! I never win anything lately, so it was such a wonderful surprise. Out of my review copies, I’m most excited about The Girl In The Tower, and I wouldn’t have it if it wasn’t for Teacher of YA who kindly informed me that I was missing out on it on NetGalley!
Win!!
Books I Bought
Books I Got For Review
And that’s it for my August! What about you? I promise I’ll write a more fun monthly update next month – hopefully when I’ve got a little bit more energy. Share your links with me in the comments!
I’m Evelina and I blog about books that made an impression on me. I love middle grade, women’s, scifi and some literary too.
Karaoke time!!! Okay I keep hearing good things about The Punch Escrow, which is also such a fun title (and I have no idea what it means- I know, read the book!!!) Which I may actually. And SIP does sound… different.
Congrats on State of the Arc- looks like a fun feature. And Six of crows- woo hoo. I’m reading that one now.
Well, Escrow because of what Escrow is – keeping a hold of something for someone before the conditions let you release it. The Punch bit is harder to explain 😀 so yes! Read the book! You won’t regret it. I also think it’s totally your type of book.
I think you might actually enjoy Sip too, it wasn’t bad, just… just not for me, maybe.
And how is Six of Crows so far?
Six of Crows has actually started kinda slow for me, which surprised me because everyone I know loves it. But I’m sticking with it and we’ll see. I think I expected to love it off the bat and my expectations may have been too high?
Yeah, that’s the trouble with hype 🙂 expectations are never a good thing. We’ll see how much I will like it.
YAY for karaoke night 🙂 I haven’t done one of those in ages!
I actually enjoyed Rules of Magic more than Practical Magic… it gave a lot of back story, and the characters were so well done!
Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading 🙂
Did you post your review yet? I might have missed it 🙂 but that’s also what I’m thinking – it’s more recent, and chances are I will also like it more, cause either way, I just adore her writing style 🙂
No, I haven’t even written my review yet… But I will… soon.
I’m really looking forward to They Both Die At The End because THAT TITLE IS AWESOME and I’ve never read anything by the author before.. Have a great week!
I hope you like it 🙂 it was much too depressive for me xD you have a great week too! And sorry if I haven’t visited yet – not finished with my rounds yet!
I’m thrilled to see you enjoyed His Dark materials. That series is my favourite.
One more book left to finish it, but yes! I’m sure I will like the third one as well. It’s such a brilliant series 🙂
Oh Karaoke sounds awesome and totally worth being too tired to write a blog post! I like your new state of the ARC meme! Cool idea!
Thanks Sam 🙂 yeah, karaoke was definitely worth it 😀
Girl in the Tower does look great, but sadly, I have not read the first book. I do hope it lives up to your expectations. SoC is a great win. I thought that book was incredible. But, can you actually eat enough chocolate cake?
Thanks! The first book in the series was kind of slow, but I think it’s worth the read. I’ll be able to say more after I’ve read the second one 🙂
And you are totally right. I don’t think one CAN eat enough chocolate cake! 😀
Impressive post! Lots of facts and fun moments. I have The Rules of Magic from NetGalley, and it’s been so long since I read Practical Magic, that I might have to re-read it. Right? But wait, the blurb says it’s a “prequel” to Practical Magic…so I’m good. Right?
Ha-ha…who knows?
I am definitely curious about The Punch Escrow.
Enjoy your week, and thanks for visiting my blog.
You’re totally good! You know what happens, I think it’s enough 🙂 and you should definitely read The Punch Escrow! It’s soooooo worth it!
Karaoke sounds like fun! So many books! I hope that you get to enjoy them all.
Jenea’s Book Obsession’s Sunday Post
Thanks 🙂
Wonderful wrap-up!! The bit about the chocolate cake made me laugh out loud. 🙂
Thanks! I’m glad it did 😀
I didn’t know there was a sequel to Practical Magic coming out. Or maybe I did. I love Alice Hoffman’s writing. I keep meaning to read more by her. I’ve only read two of her books (Practical Magic being one of them). I still haven’t read His Dark Materials, but I want to. I’ve wanted to for over 20 years. Why haven’t I read them yet?! Your new books all look so inviting! So do mine. I wish you luck with your new meme! I am so behind with my NetGalley ARCs. I’m working on it, but it is slow… Read more »
Yeah, Hoffman writes wonderful stuff! You should read more by her. Faithful is also a wonderful (recent) book by her. And you should definitely read His Dark Materials. That series is amazing!
I’ve have Philip Pulman’s Dark Materials on my TBR for years but haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. I really must do that!
You should totally, it’s like the best series ever 🙂
This is a totally normal post for someone who is overworked, overtired, and behind on everything. CRUSHED IT! You are amazing and magical. Also, I don’t think it’s possible to eat enough chocolate cake. I’m just saying. Was it delicious? Is there more? Will you share?! Pweaze. You read a TON this month! Since I haven’t seen reviews for all these books I am happy. Why? Because it means that we’re both normal humans. I just cannot keep up with writing reviews, posting reviews on my blog, and reading. It’s just not possible. Can we just blog full-time? Maybe? Yes?… Read more »
Haha 😀 I was writing a really boring post at first… But then I added the funny list and called it a day 😀 I think I made it better. I had to do something xD Remember how I was posting it the day after coming back home at 1 from karaoke? Remember how I was going out with my sister, her husband, my boyfriend and my cousin last night? Yeah. Let me tell you, I was feeling MUCH better the time I was posting that one xD but it was totally worth it xD (we got back wayyyy past… Read more »
I think it’s been years since I read Practical Magic but I am looking forward to The Rules of Magic. I remember it being somewhat of a slow read but I LOVED the movie. Of course it didn’t hurt that Stevie Nicks was on the soundtrack as she is one of my faves. In Case I Go looks and sounds great. Hope you enjoy all your books!
Thanks!
Love your State of the Arc title and idea. I’m going to have to do some stats of my own, but I don’t know about making lovely little charts like you did. I’m not that savvy, lol.
Anyway, have a great week! Once I get everything tallied up, I’ll link up to your post.
My Sunday Post
Thanks! If you want to join in next time, I’ll be doing it in the last week of September. Hope you can join 🙂 haha, I will only have simple picture charts from now on too, really 😀
Karaoke night? Yay, awesome!! Oh you make me miss it. I might go tonight.
I hope you have a wonderful week and awesome reads this week. Happy reading my friend. ❤️
You should definitely go!!! 🙂
Love your mix of books and enthusiasm in how you write. It’s great to read your posts…even if they are written on very little sleep!
Awww Emma <3 thank youuu! That's such a lovely thing to say!!
I remember sitting down and reading the Philip Pullman books right through one after another but such a while ago I could easily do a reread.
Yeah, I almost did the same 😀 stopped myself by the third book cause I felt like I would just blast through it, but now I’m thinking I should have just gone for it 🙂
I like that Pullman series. I read it years ago and copies are on my keeper shelves. I do a State of the Stack post around the first of each month which talks about review books I get, read, review, or plan to read. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Oh, that’s cool, a similar name too! You can put your link in my linky if you want! When you post it. Then we can all visit you 🙂
You can never have enough chocolate cake though, Evelina. I only had one piece last month and that certainly was not enough, haha.
Looks like you read a great amount last month though.
One piece! Now that is definitely not enough 🙂
Love your list! And I admire your record-keeping mojo. Every January I start to keep track of books read on a spreadsheet and never keep it up beyond a few weeks!
Definitely agree with you on His Dark Materials! I listened to the trilogy on audio, but may read in print someday!
I picked Practical Magic for our book club selection for October. I hope we can get enough copies with the movie coming out!
Hahaha, thanks 😀 I’m a list maniac though. I’ll have a physical list, a digital list… list overkill 😀 I hope you can get enough copies. I haven’t started my own yet, but I’m very curious about it 🙂
Good post as always. I hope your stats and comments have recovered to acceptable levels 🙂
Thank you, Paul 🙂
Hooray for vacation (even the short ones) – and I’m still laughing about your tan. 🙂
Reading 10 books and hauling 13? Sounds about right.
How awesome that you won Six of Crows! I still need to read the Grisha trilogy. So behind!
I also haven’t read that, so you’re not the only one 😀
Great post! Hope you have a great week!
Thank you!
Ooh congrats on the physical ARC and the win! And it sounds like you accomplished a lot! We’ll forgive you for some typos 😛
Thanks xD
Ha! Glad you enjoyed your karaoke so much—sounds like fun! (Even if it does make you a little tired). I’m off to go check out your posts that I missed…
Thanks!
I enjoy your sense of humor! I want to read They Both Die in the End too. I am reading an ARC of Warcross that I got last week in the mail from the publisher and so far it’s living up to the hype. If I love it enough, I will have to buy the hardcover to keep.
Oh, Warcross! I’m actually so curious about that one, but I didn’t make the bandwagon, haha 😀 (read: I woke up too late to request xD) I’m glad you like it. And thanks for the compliment 🙂
First paper ARC is so exciting! I’ve been enjoying my digital ones :))
Yeah, especially when you’re international 😀
The Punch Escrow does sound great. I like the idea of genetically modified mosquitos cleaning air pollution!
It was wonderful 🙂 I should have the review ready on the 26th! Yeah, the mosquitos were a pretty crazy idea 😀
I’m always thrilled when I DON’T acquire more books. It always feels like a victory. I hope you’re having a great September!
I’m glad we can relate then 😀 have a great one too!
It sounds like you had a really great month. I think it is funny how we all want all the books but feel proud when we don’t get too many. Yay for chocolate cake and physical arcs. I love them both. I hope you are having a great September so far!
Thanks Carole! I think though, for all my happiness about hauling few books last month, this month is going to kill it 😀 I’ve already hauled quite a few. Oh well!