Monthly Bookish Awesomeness: July 2015

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

July had been utterly wondrous. I met the lovely Robyn Schneider—as smart and funny and nerdy as her work. My dearest godson Carlisle, who is the adorablest, turned three. I was more actively present in our church than ever and still had the energy to help organize a bloggers/readers meet up. I had my visa interview. And on top of these I managed to blog regularly and finish six (6!) books. Time is a peculiar thing.

Books I Read

• Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider – It’s Never Let Me Go meets Looking for Alaska in Schneider’s sophomore book that is wry and bittersweet and often contemplative.
• Hollywood Witch Hunter by Valerie Tejeda – Well, yeah, this one didn’t slay me. But props to representation and feminist references.
• The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider – This is a reread, and if anything, it made me love the novel even more.
• Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa – Easily my best read of the month. Scelsa takes storytelling to a higher class and diversity higher still.
• After Dark by James Leck – Light, hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable.
• We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach – I just have a few chapters left! I’m quite on the fence with this one though.
• The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi – I wanted to like this debut but, alas, I didn’t connect with any of its characters.

Other Stuff I Posted

• Top Ten Hyped Books I’ve Never Read – I have a controversial pick. That’s all you need want to know.
• 14 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Robyn Schneider – She’s a Slytherin through and through, yo!
• No, Wait, That’s Not My Ravenclaw Answer, What? – You shan’t make me choose between a male or femal author. Nope.
• Unmissable Weekly: July 17, 2015 – Isn’t $210 just too much for a book even if it’s Harry Potter or an illustrated edition or deluxe or a Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone illustrated deluxe edition?
• Bookworms Unite! – An open invitation to a meet up which I’ll talk more of later.
• Ten Upcoming Books That Celebrate Diversity – The YA landscape is shaping up to be a brighter panorama in terms of depicting diverse experiences.
• Unmissable Weekly: July 24, 2015 – The Mockingjay Part 2 second full trailer is here and it shouts EPIC.
• Ten Characters who are Fellow Book Nerds – Also an excuse to parade my rad handwriting favorite quotations.

Book Birthdays

      

Happy book birthday to Paperweight (7th, HarperTeen), You and Me and Him (7th, HMH Books for Young Readers), and Go Set a Watchman (14th, Harper), which all found a place in the shelves this month!

Book Radar

        

This coming month, I’m excited for Never Always Sometimes (4th, Harlequin Teen), Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes (18th, Disney Hyperion Books) (!!!!!), Another Day (25th, Alfred A. Knopf BFYR), The Wild Ones (25th, Philomel Books), and The Rest of Us Just Live Here (27th, Walker Books).

Gold Star

#BOOKWORMSUNITE YOU GUYS!!!

It’s strange how we pulled this off but we did. Three weeks maybe. Three weeks was all it took to, in a whim, suggest a meet up, get an enthusiastic response, brainstorm, put the words out and make it happen. But stranger is the event itself. Stranger is people actually showing up. Stranger is people actually having fun. In fact, standing in that room, in a coffee shop roughly sixty miles from home, I’ve never felt more myself, more at ease with my own skin, amongst people I’ve only either met briefly before or known online. Some even were just introduced that afternoon. But I felt the camaraderie. It was heartwarming. And I’m grateful Dianne, Hazel, Inah, Faye and Aimee all said yes that fortunate day.

Around the Interwebs

Now that I actually have a news feature, aptly called Unmissable Weekly, there will be less items in this section.

• Hazel @ Stay Bookish did a recap of #KMRinPH and you wish you were present too.
• Tam-Tam @ Thoughts and Afterthoughts wondered, “what if bloggers had blurbs?” The result has got to be one of my favorite things in the internet.
• Cait @ Paper Fury highlights ways mentions of food in books matter.
• Shannon @ Awash With Wonder reminds herself—and us—to not mistake loneliness for love. I said this before and I’ll say it again: the day I write as thoughtful and eloquent as this woman is the day I know i’m doing things right.
• Queer teen John Hansen—and a sweetheart at that—launches Coming Out Cards, a collection of downloadable, print-ready e-cards that aim to make someone in your life who has recently come out feel much more comfortable and confident.
• These are the four words Maisie Williams would choose to sum up Games of Thrones.
• You want to read the first 80 pages of Fans of the Impossible Life and now you can!

How was your month? What was the amazing book or film or music or dessert you consumed? Is there a post you think I should check out? Also, HAVE YOU READ Go Set a Watchman? Sound of in the comments below!

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