Monthly Bookish Awesomeness: May 2015

In which I recap what went down in the last four weeks here and outside the blog.

Hey y’all! So I know I’ve been away for more than a couple of weeks now—and I apologize—but I recently went through a surgery and a slightly unexpected weekend escape before that. I’m recovering well, though, and excited to be back blogging regularly soon!

May had been really wonderful. My  childhood best friends were in town, however briefly, and I spent the whole weekend with them before I had my operation, which went successfully. This month, I also got to read Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (FINALLY!!!) and More Happy Than Not, which both exceeded my expectations. So yaaay times two! And oh. I watched Pitch Perfect! No, not the sequel. Oops. It was pretty aca-mazing.

First week of May, the lovely Hazel Ureta of Stay Bookish invited me over at her blog for Behind the Lens and I’m a happy snowman! Thank you so much, dear!

Books I Read

• Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith – Smith is many things, but what he does best is writing complex teenage boys. I had problems with the narrative style but, overall, it’s a candid look on growing up.
• More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera – This is a strong debut you guys, with characters as unforgettable as the book is unflinching in its portrayal of confusion, love, homophobia, friendship and a lot more. Silvera surely is set to win many, many fans.
• Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – There’s only one thing you need to know about this novel: Becky nailed the character voice. I mean, I can’t even. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda is such a charming, smile-inducing read. The cast instantly feels familiar and you can’t help but root for them. WHO GOES OUT THE GATE PUBLISHING HER FIRST BOOK THIS GOOD?!!!
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik – I have conflicting opinions about this. Very. But it’s reminiscent of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone with fae-ish elements. And, somehow I requested this from Netgalley thinking it’s YA, but it’s not.
• Noggin by John Corey Whaley – Gaaah. I’ve never cry heaved so hard. There was this one scene that’s just beautiful and sad and poignant and I lost it. The overall tone was very nostalgic and there were times the MC was too whiny for my liking but it still is one of those stories that you know will stay with you in a long while.
• Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver – D (of Oops! I Read A Book Again) and I are currently buddy-reading this one. This is my first title from the author.
• Half Bad by Sally Green – Yeah, I read this in April but wrote a review this month. Terrific character connections, blunt writing style and quietly compelling.

Other Stuff I Posted

• 184 F-Words, 28 Illustrations, and 4 Book References: Andrew Smith’s ‘Winger’ by the Numbers – I had TONS of fun writing this one but the reception was A LOT more overwhelming. This garnered the most page views for Bookish and Awesome and Andrew himself was “quite impressed with this scholarly achievement.” HA!
• I Would Give Up the Internet – This was the hardest tag by far.
• Ten Authors I Really Want to Meet – If you follow me on Twitter, this list wouldn’t surprise you because DUH.
• I Am More Happy Than Not – I initiated a Tag! But, really, coming up with this article was both comforting and liberating. Allow me to give you reasons to be grateful everyday.

Book Birthdays

         

Happy book birthday to Made You Up (Greenwillow Books), Uprooted (Del Rey), Anything Could Happen (Push), and Extraordinary Means (26th, Katherine Tegen Books), which all found a place in the shelves this month!

Book Radar

         

June will see both More Happy Than Not (2nd, Soho Teen) and The Witch Hunter (2nd, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) coming out into the wild, woohoo! Along with Every Last Word (16th, Disney Hyperion), and The Night We Said Yes (16th, HarperTeen).

Gold Star

I’m introducing a new feature in my monthly recap! Gold Star, inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, aims to spotlight a person, book, project or anything that makes the world a happier place (because I’m cliché like that). And this month’s Gold Star belongs to… The #BooksArentDangerous initiative! So basically, together with The NOVL, Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia asked the bookish community to upload a photo using the hashtag. And for every picture posted, they will donate a book to First Book, to help underfunded schools and libraries. They reached their goal of 5,000 and I just think that, for readers like us, spreading the love of reading is such a fulfilling cause to be a part of. Fantastic job, ladies!

Around the Interwebs

• Shannon @ Awash with Wonder always posts beautiful, reflective entries and you should check out her blog, if you haven’t already. Earlier this month, she shared how moving from one place to another helped changed her mindset and how sometimes walking away appears to be the only option and that’s not a bad idea.
• The Book trailer for The Night We Said Yes is HERE, as well as ones for Extraordinary Means, which can be an indie film on itself (I LOVE IT!), and Anything Could Happen, another one I adore. Seriously. I don’t know if this is a trend, but I’m totally digging this book trailers with indie-movie-vibe.
• And speaking of which, we get the first full-length trailer for Syfy’s The Magicians series. I had my reservations concerning this one because I’m so attached to Grossman’s characters and world (or should I say worlds?) and the age gap threw me off but now I’M CRAZY EXCITED!
• Alex London wrote this brave, heartening article on bending reality to match a closeted gay teen’s daydreams. You go, Charlie!
• Game of Thrones 05 x 06 is THE EPISODE I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE SEASON 1! Except, well, the last part.
• Kat Kennedy @ Cuddlebuggery talked about blogger exhaustion and you know it’s a real thing.
• Another from Gay YA: this personal, unapologetic piece from Adam Silvera in staying true to your story is all you need to know.
• Paper Fury, then Notebook Sisters, celebrated its fourth year anniversary! Cheers Awesome-Cait! Greet her with a piece of cake or two!
• Bad Blood MV!!! So this isn’t bookish news but I love Taylor Swift (deal with it) and her latest music video was epic and badass as promised. Although, I didn’t like the rap parts. Not at all.

I hope you all had an awesome May! For those of you who didn’t get to attend BEA15, did you torture yourselves by staying on Twitter (like I did)? And for those of you lucky bastards who went, what was your favorite part? Let’s talk in the comments below!

You can also stalk follow me elsewhere! On Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Goodreads, and Bloglovin.