May ’20 wrap-up

Good morning bookworms!

2020 has been a time. One of my friends was joking that she and her sister are going to make a tour band style t-shirt for 2020, but instead of concerts, it’s just going to be all the shit that is going on in the world this year against each month. I imagine it’s going to look something like this:

January | Bushfires
February | Floods
March | Global pandemic
April | Isolation
May | Murder hornets

At this point, I can’t tell if June is going to be police brutality, rioting, racism or JK’s transphobia, but regardless it’s shaping up to be a pretty crappy month. However, I hope that good things come from this month. I have been spending a lot of this month reading, listening and learning about racial injustices, and having frank conversations with my family members. And Australia is not exempt from this – the way our indigenous people are treated is just as horrendous, and their health, education and socio-economic statistics are far below those of white people. Even for simple things, like there is a ten year difference in life expectancy if you are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person than if you are white. We have absolutely decimated their culture, and it breaks my heart to see the statistics of how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are still being taken from their families. We also need to step up and do more to ensure that they are being treated fairly, but do it in a way that doesn’t mean they have to assimilate to our western culture. If you’re not in Australia and want to support the Black Lives Matter cause, this is a link to heaps of information, including petitions to sign, places to donate, info for protests, as well as resources that you can read. There are also links to hashtags around the world for more information for your country.

This last week I’ve also been teaching my family about transgender issues and how she-who-shall-not-be-named is hurting people that are my friends with her bigoted comments. I still don’t understand how her being abused by her husband (FYI, family and domestic violence is also something I will stand up against) gives her the right to decide what gender people identify as. And to say something like that during pride month when we should be celebrating the successes of the queer community… I just… I have no more words. (But I will share this link from an old post where I yelled lots about that woman and poor diversity representation… My thoughts haven’t changed.)

Basically, 2020 can go take a long walk off a short plank, into some deep, shark and piranha infested waters.

OK, let’s talk about books. I read some. *grumps* Sorry, let’s try this again…

Hi bookworms! I read eight books last month, which was pretty … average! (Current monthly average is 8.4 books, in case you were wondering…) But most importantly, I finally finished an ARC that I have been reading for THREE months. Huzzah!

Book	Author	Series	Symbols	Rating (/5)	Cover
Him	Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy	Him #1	❤️ ?️‍? ?‍? ?	4
The Switch	Beth O’Leary		⛱ ❤️ ?‍? ? ⏰	5
Aurora Rising	Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff	The Aurora Cycle #1	? ♿️ ?‍♀️ ? ? ?	5
Bookish and the Beast	Ashley Poston	Once Upon a Con #3	⛱ ❤️ ?‍♀️ ? ⏰	4
Of Curses and Kisses	Sandhya Menon	St Rosetta’s #1	⛱ ❤️ ?‍♀️ ? ?	2
Her Royal Highness	Rachel Hawkins	Royals #2	⛱ ❤️ ?️‍? ?‍♀️ ? ?	5
The Night Country	Melissa Albert	The Hazel Wood #2	⚔️ ? ?‍♀️ ? ⏰	3
One Moment Please	Amy Daws	Wait With Me #3	❤️ ?‍? ?	4

Favourite for this month is probably The Switch by Beth O’Leary. It’s definitely the one I have thought about most since finishing it (acknowledging it’s also the only one I’ve written a book review for)!

I also ended up bumping Date Me, Bryson Keller from last month from a 4 to a 5 because I cannot stop thinking about that book. I think I’m going to reread it again soon.

General

I worked. I’m pretty sure that was all I did in May. It certainly felt like it, at any rate…

Gaming

I have kind of slowed playing Animal Crossing… I don’t really have the time to commit to playing it at the moment, so the state of my island is frustrating me. I did go back to Stardew Valley at one stage (because it’s not real time, I feel less judged if I don’t play it for a month…) so that was nice to do that. I’m nearly finished my fourth year in it, and I’ve done almost everything… I probably just need to spend time mining and killing monsters.

D&D

We finished season 1 of our main campaign, so Chuck (our DM) is taking a very well earned break, and we all got to pat ourselves on the back for not dying. YAY!! I finally got into a really good groove with it towards the end as I was grappling with my character’s motivations and how she could help the group, but I totally got there in the end, which was so rewarding.

One of the others has started a Star Wars version that we’re currently playing every second Sunday night. It’s so different from our usual ‘fantasy’ story but I’m enjoying it.

TV and movies

Things I finally watched in May were:

• Hawaii Five-0 season 10 AND NOW IT’S OVER FOREVER and I’m trying not to cry
• The Chilling Adventure of Sabrina season 3, which was fine
• Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn – I’m going to try not to rant about this, but I really did not like it. There were a couple of scenes that I loved, but the one part I hated the most was when they did the Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend and it was like a poor imitation of Moulin Rouge and I’ve never in my life been so mad at Ewan McGregor for agreeing to do that.
• Nancy Drew season 1 – I LOVED Nancy Drew when I was growing up, I read all of them (plus the Hardy Boys mysteries) and despite the new TV series taking a LOT of liberties, I actually really loved it. It’s freaking scary though (I am a total wuss) and Dead Lucy and her bloody jump scares freaked me the f*** out. One of my friends told me to watch it as she had already watched it, so the entire week that it took me to watch 18 episodes I just spam texted her my guesses for plot and thoughts and she rang me at one point and just laughed at me. It was a nice quarantine bonding session.

Music

I’m pretty sure I just listened to 6,000 hours of Taylor Swift, as per usual. I might have added some Fall Out Boy in too…

Oh! And I rediscovered the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack from my teen years. I was surprised by how many songs I still knew the lyrics to.

I barely blogged in May. I can’t tell if I’m slumping, or if I’m just tired from working longer hours than usual (mixed with working from home still, in the room that is usually my reading/blogging sanctuary).

My fave May post was undoubtedly Top 5 Cute Romances though, and I had a lot of fun writing it, which I think showed. It definitely reminded me that I want to get back to writing lists of books that I really loved!!

Guess what?! I caught up on blog-hopping. Technically I did the last 200-ish posts on 1 June, but I’m taking it for a win because that last week in May I smashed through over 1,000 posts. And I had fun doing it (which, let’s be honest, is kind of weird). So, here are a BUNCH of posts that I loved but I had to limit myself I’m #sorrynotsorry for the long list, but please keep in mind this was originally a LOT longer…

• Charvi @ It’s Not Just Fiction talked about why it’s so hard to get people to see your opinions online, which is so relevant at the moment
• Laura @ The Book Corps write a list of FIFTY f/f books, and given that it’s currently #pride month, we should all have a look at these recs
• Kat @ Novels and Waffles is here to up your #bookstagram game without killing your budget with heaps of physical books
• Veronika @ Wordy and Whimsical talked about tips for getting into audiobooks, and did a separate post on how some other bloggers (such as yours truly) fit in time for reading more!
• Sabrina @ Wordy and Whimsical wrote a really funny post on lies you may have heard about reading!
• Meaghan @ Hail and Well Read shared why you should read one book at a time (and I only felt moderately called out!!)
• Lois @ My Midnight Musing wrote a post about board games for beginners, and I am here for this content!!
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane looked at how book blogging has changed in the last 5 years, which was so interesting to me because I’ve only been around for 3 years
  • If you’re looking for a comparison, the Orangutan Librarian also did a post about blogging for 5 years
• Marie also wrote a great list of books with mental health rep
• Ely @ Of Wonderland did some mini reviews for middle grade books
• The Orangutan Librarian did Kal’s ‘what my fave characters would be doing in quarantine’ and tagged me in it (which I have half-drafted…). They have also written so many great discussion posts that I had a hard time choosing which ones to share so I didn’t really choose at all:
  • Are classics relevant?
  • Why I don’t believe in unbiased reviews
  • Reading too much YA isn’t bad
  • Favourite magic systems
  • Struggling to DNF

Also, I want to take a moment to APPRECIATE the number of posts I saw that had suggestions of books to read during quarantine. I wish that I had more time to read while being at home, but I hope some of you took notes on these amazing books:

• Sofii @ A Book. A Thought. wrote a series of recommendations (this is part 2)
• Jayati @ It’s Just a Coffee Addicted Bibliophile had a list of great books
• Kristin @ Kristin Kraves Books specialised comfort books
• Laura @ The Book Corps listed some books to help ease anxiety
• Paige @ Bookish Paige made a list of feel-good books
• The Orangutan Librarian did a list of ‘frothy and fantastical reads‘ which sounds messy, but amazing
• Lili @ Lili’s Blissful Pages has a gorgeous list of fun rom-com books to read
• Priyasha @ Books and Co wrote a list of romance recommendations
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books made a list of cosy and heart-warming stories (and I am dying from this cuteness overload)

I also saw heaps of posts to help with blogging:

• Clo @ Cuppa Clo wrote a post on tips for using Free WordPress, and I wished I had read something like this a long time ago!!
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane shared some tips on how to better interact with the blogging community
• Kat @ Novels and Waffles wrote about writing SEO friendly posts

And, finally, but perhaps MOST IMPORTANTLY, Clo @ Cuppa Clo has started to build the bookworms of the world an island. Honestly, I’d go there right now. Even if it is feeling a little bit ‘Survivor-y’, and I’m pretty sure I’d get voted off quickly…

How was your May?