I wrote a rather heartfelt post at the beginning of this month, baring my soul a little more than I probably should have. Sometimes, though, you have to let others know why you work the way you do. I felt like if I didn’t share with y’all, I would be lying. And I want this blog to be built on trust (along with books and food).
So, here’s what I managed to do over the month of August:
- Read 8 books (and started 3 others), while participating in #TheReadingQuest
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (My all-time favorite stand-alone book; if you haven’t read it yet, you need to, because I give this 5/5 stars.)
- Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (I reviewed it at the beginning of August with a 4/5 stars.)
- Illuminae by Kristoff & Kaufman (reviewed on 8/13 with 4/5 stars)
- The Bellmaker by Brian Jacques (book 7 of the Redwall series)
- Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jacques (book 8 of the Redwall series)
- Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (just one of the greatest graphic novels I’ve ever read)
- A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (it’s one of my favorite books, but as with all trilogies, the second and third books are a downgrade)
- Golden Age by James Maxwell (it’s okay, I might write a review on it later)
- Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (like AG&TB, it’s this first book that’s fantastic, but the others are not good at all)
- Biketopia: Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction Stories in Extreme Futures by various authors (I won this from GoodReads and it’s pretty cool!)
- Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen (for my only class of the semester, ENG 513)
- Tried 2 new recipes
- Chocolate Fudge Freezer Pops (I gave them 4/5 stars, because while they were very delicious, they just didn’t have that extra kick to them that I wanted.)
- Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake (I gave it 5/5 stars, because it’s a GIANT CINNAMON ROLL)
- Didn’t stay within my budget by buying:
- New towels (the ones I bought 5 years ago for my freshman year of college are still shedding like crazy and they’re bleach-stained from various acne medications)
- Earrings (on sale & with a coupon!)
- 3 books (whoops; The Bellmaker and Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jacques; The Book Thief [replacement] by Markus Zusak)
- Various school supplies (like folders to organize my students’ work in the upcoming semester, & stamps for my planner)
- Three plants (that are still alive at the time of this writing!) and some flower pots
- Some beauty supplies from LUSH
- Various fast food dinners
- …And various other items/groceries
- Finished my summer internship with a total of nineteen articles under my belt (and I received a $200 gift card!)
- Went to my first therapy sessions, and learned the following ways to deal with my anxiety:
- Keeping my mind busy
- Looking at anxieties.com to figure out different ways of helping myself
- Breathing exercises
- Turned 23, with as little celebration as I could muster
You might be wondering why I’ve listed some books as being read, and yet you have yet to see a book review for them appear on my site. I don’t review every book I read (yet! I do keep a small review list on a sticky note inside the cover in case I decide to review the book someday!), and I have a very long back-log of reviews. For example, on August 1, I had 9 book reviews already scheduled to post on my blog. That list has just gotten longer. I don’t think I’ll start posting book reviews twice a week, either, because I like having a bit of a cushion when it comes to posts. I used to have a long list of recipe reviews ready, but I haven’t been able to keep up with them since you-know-who left.
Look forward to a post tomorrow on what I’m going to attempt in September.
Thank you for sticking with me through these past few weeks. I know my blog hasn’t always been the happiest, but knowing that there’s someone out there listening helps a little bit.
As always, keep reading.
Books are Only the Beginning 