
July-August 2021 wrap up
Hello bookworms!! It’s time for the July-August 2021 wrap up. Because we are finally catching up on things!! YAAAAAAY!! (Oh, I seriously hope that sentence doesn’t come back to jinx me…)
Unfortunately I actually spoiled August’s big news in the May-June wrap up when I told you that I got a new job… Which is unfortunate since I also stopped recording all the things that I was watching and listening to. So, this could be a very short post. But then again, I did catch up on blog-hopping too!!
So, please keep your fingers crossed that I will continue to achieve a regular posting schedule for the rest of the year. And with that in mind, let’s look at what I did in July-August!!
July-August 2021 wrap up
Unfortunately for my reading goal, the dive I took in June (yes, the grand total of 2 books) continued in both, July and August. Which, after being 11 books ahead of schedule in May now puts me seriously behind. I think I was about 9 books behind schedule at the end of August. You know, which is only mildly terrifying. It’s funny, because out loud I’m always like “It’s ok if I don’t read my goal this year. 2021 has been tough.” But then in my head I’m like “Whyyyyyyyyyyy am I so behind?! How can I let this be the year I don’t read 100 books?!” So you know, there’s no pressure or anything. ๐
What I do need to keep reminding myself is that last year I only read 1 book over 500 pages. And this year I’ve already read 12 over that page count, including one book at 751 pages, and one at 862. But, I’m hoping this will all come out in the comparison tables.
Anyway, to get back on topic, I read 4 books in July, and 3 books in August.
SYMBOLS
Symbol |
Key |
Symbol |
Key |
Symbol |
Key |
โ๏ธ | fantasy | โฑ | contemporary | ๐ | sci-fi |
๐ฐ | historical fiction | โค๏ธ | romance | ๐ | crime / mystery |
๐คก | thriller | ๐ | classic | ๐ | dark academia |
๐บ | paranormal | ๐ | urban fantasy | ๐ | smut |
๐ชด | non-fiction | ๐ฅธ | humour | ๐ | biography / memoir |
๐ค | BIPOC author | ๐ฃ | own voices | ๐ณ๏ธโ๐ | queer rep |
๐ง | mental health rep | โฟ๏ธ | disability rep | ๐ | body positivity |
๐ | dark themes | ๐ฎ | nerd references | ๐ | sport references |
๐งธ | middle grade | ๐งโโ๏ธ | young adult | ๐ฉโ๐ฆณ | new adult / adult |
๐ | hardcover | ๐ | paperback | ๐ฑ | ebook |
๐ฅ | graphic novel | ๐ง | audiobook | ๐ | gift |
๐ฅฐ | friend pick | โฐ | ARC / review copy | ๐จ | Aussie author / #loveozya |
๐ซ | DNF | ๐ฏโโ๏ธ | buddy read | ๐ | reread |
๐ | Beat the Backlist | ๐ญ | PopSugar |
Emoji table for reference
the books
Book |
Author |
Series |
Symbols / Year of publication |
Rating |
Cover |
Tomboy | Avery Flynn | The Hartigans #3 |
โฑ โค๏ธ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฉโ๐ฆณ ๐ฑ
2019 |
โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ | ![]() |
Cruel Prince | Ashley Jade | Royal Hearts Academy #1 |
โฑ โค๏ธ ๐ ๐ ๐ง ๐ ๐ฉโ๐ฆณ ๐ฑ
2019 |
โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ | ![]() |
Ruthless Knight | Ashley Jade | Royal Hearts Academy #2 |
โฑ โค๏ธ ๐ ๐ ๐ง ๐ ๐ ๐ฉโ๐ฆณ ๐ฑ
2019 |
โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ |
![]() |
Crooked Kingdom | Leigh Bardugo | Six of Crows #2 |
โ๏ธ โค๏ธ ๐ณ๏ธโ๐ ๐ง โฟ๏ธ ๐ ๐งโโ๏ธ ๐ ๐
2016 |
๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ | ![]() |
Any Way the Wind Blows | Rainbow Rowell | Simon Snow #3 |
โ๏ธ โค๏ธ ๐ ๐ณ๏ธโ๐ ๐ง ๐งโโ๏ธ ๐ ๐ ๐ช
2021 |
โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ | ![]() |
Misadventures with a Professor | Sierra Simone |
โค๏ธ ๐ ๐ฉโ๐ฆณ ๐ฑ
2018 |
โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ | ![]() |
|
Emerett Has Never Been in Love | Anyta Sunday | Love, Austen #1 |
โค๏ธ ๐ ๐ณ๏ธโ๐ ๐ฉโ๐ฆณ ๐ฑ 2021 |
โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ โญ๏ธ | ![]() |
the faves
Uhhh… it was a pretty ‘light on’ two months, and apart from my reread of Crooked Kingdom (which almost broke me, again), there weren’t really any stand-outs. Of course it was nice to finish the Simon Snow trilogy, and I really liked where Rainbow Rowell took it. But yeah, everything else was just… good.
Uhhh… well. We went back into lockdown (and are still in it), so… not really much happened at all. I feel like it’s just been a lot of staring at walls and watching trash tv. Apart from the new job thing, which happened in August. The new job also meant saying goodbye to my old job. I’d been at my previous workplace for 8 years (and 1 day), which is the longest I have ever worked anywhere. I’d had a few promotions over time, but the last 5 years were split pretty evenly across 2 areas. I was very sad to go โ it’s always the people you get attached to โ and I don’t know that I really got to say goodbye properly because we were in lockdown at the time. But yeah, it was a bittersweet time.
My new job is definitely a different pace though, which means no working until 8pm. Which means, hopefully, more time to catch up on blogging and reading (which I desperately need to do)!!
gaming
The Sims 4 Cottage Living came out in July, and that is all that I have played since. I’ve been having a lot of fun creating the recipes that turn animals different colours, and then having a pink llama walk around my homestead. Plus the new challenge of not being able to buy food, but only to make recipes from what is in my fridge, has been really good. I highly recommend this new expansion!!
We also started a new D&D campaign… which means I have 3 characters on the go at the moment. I have to say, it is getting harder to remember their unique voices and traits. But, I’m still having fun!!
tv and movies
So, I have a small group of friends that I chat to every day. We’ve all been in and out of lockdown over various stages this year. And not everyone (except for me โ and possibly Em) had seen all of the MCU. So, we started watching it together on Disney+ group watch (link if you don’t know what this is or how to use it). Which was really fun. Except when Disney didn’t have the movie, because of reasons. (Also, I believe in including the Edward Norton Hulk film, so that was added complexity.) So, there’s a lot of Marvel below โ all of it rewatches for me. Which, counteracts the amount of P&P you normally see!!
- Iron Man
- The Incredible Hulk
- Iron Man 2
- Thor
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Iron Man 3
- Thor: The Dark World
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Guardians of the Galaxy vol 1
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Captain America: Civil War
- Doctor Strange
- Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Black Panther
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Ant-Man and the Wasp
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: Endgame
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
- WandaVision
We watched more in September, which you’ll see in the next wrap up, but this was pretty good since we watched most of it in a month.
Other things I watched:
- The Kissing Booth (rewatch)
- The Kissing Booth 2 (rewatch)
- and, The Kissing Booth 3 โย Yes, I may have watched these in a marathon
- The White Queen miniseries eps 1-4
- The Matrix (rewatch)
- The Matrix Reloaded (rewatch)
- and, The Matrix Revolutions (rewatch) โ We also watched these in a marathon
- What If…? episodes 1-3
So… I know this is two month’s worth of watching. But, it’s also now very obvious how I only read 7 books during this time. ๐
Top 5 Tuesday for July was all about hyped books!! Topics were top 5 hyped books:
That was pretty much all I posted in July…
August’s Top 5 Tuesday topics were like a cover love scavenger hunt. I had SO MUCH fun with these, that I think I want to make this a regular thing. Topics for August were, top 5 books with:
- food on the cover
- creatures on the cover
- plants on the cover
- buildings or vehicles on the cover
- people on the cover
And again, that was pretty much all I posted in August. I have to say, if I wasn’t hosting Top 5 Tuesday then I probably would have gone on hiatus the last little while. But once you’re on that kind of hiatus, I find it hard to get back into the swing of things. So, I’m really glad that I had this tethering me to the blogging world.
So, I did start to catch up on blog-hopping in August. The below list isn’t super long, but it is a start of all the posts I was catching up on.
Recommendation lists:
- Kaya @ A Fictional Bookworm wrote a list of the best books she’s read every summer for the last 4 years
- Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books gave us 10 YA books with an enemies to lovers romance
- Kal @ Reader Voracious gave us 6 scifi beach reads
- Ash @ Ash’s Infinite Library listed 49 dark academia books
- Nyx @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books wrote about 10 YA back to school stories
- The Orangutan Librarian told us about awesome audiobooks
- Charvi @ Not Just Fiction listed 6 adorable graphic novels
- Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books listed 10 YA books about friendships
Discussion posts:
- Malka @ Paper Procrastinators talked about if blogger burnout is inevitable
- Jayati @ It’s Just a Coffee Addicted Bibliophile spoke about tropes she loves and why she loves them
- Chana @ Paper Procrastinators asked if we must read “must read” classics
Reviews:
- Noura @ The Perks of Being Noura reviewed Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend and I am here for this!!
- Paper Fury reviewed Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating and it was so cute!!
How were your last few months?


10 Comments
Kristina
Aaay we just entered a lockdown too!! Though a cheap one, it doesnโt even make sense ๐คญ you canโt meet with anyone that doesnโt live with you- BUT you can go with other people into places like my work who ask for full vaccination proof?? Also, all schools remaining opens while itโs where most of our cases are.. aswell as daycares.
Iโve been having such a blast with cottage living too!! Im glad I caved- though I especially prefer the barn to the coop? Would be nice to get more farm animals like goats, pigs, or even quails!
(i love how you can tricot them clothes too ๐ฅฐ๐ฅฐ)
meeghan
Ooof. Lockdown is good, and it does minimize cases, but you have to properly lock down, which then kills the economy and small business owners. Which I hate. I hope you guys end yours soon!! (Weโve been I lockdown for 2 months now and I am tired of being at homeโฆ)
Also, yes!! The barn is way better than the coop. Iโve had a cow and a llama now. The llama is definitely more fun though. And I would love to get other animals!! I hope thatโs an expansion pack for later. Like a โfarm animalsโ pack or something. I remember having a horse in one of the earlier gamesโฆ maybe Sims 2? Or 3?
Esther @ BiteIntoBooks
I’m reading a lot of big books too. I think I’m not going to reach my goal, but I’m curious to compare my page count to last years page count!
meeghan
Yeah, Iโm interested in seeing my final page numbers for the year as well. Good luck to you as well ๐๐
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lilisblissfulpages
Waaaah! I want to rewatch all the Marvels films and shows. You will watch Loki as well, right? Hope you enjoy it because so far, it’s my favorite. ๐
meeghan
I had already seen Loki each week when it came out, and then I watched it with the girls at the start of October ๐
tasya @ the literary huntress
Welcome back! Reading this book make me want to watch MCU again or just catch up with the TV shows! I think it’s the perfect time to start on WandaVision…
meeghan
WandaVision is really good!! I e watched it twice now, WHS itโs definitely better to binge ๐๐
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