artsy musings of a bibliophile

Monthly Recap: September

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September was pretty eventful. I came to Lahore in mid-September to finish my thesis and I’m still working on it. I’m staying at my sister’s and everyday I pray for nicer, less humid weather. It hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully, it’ll be over soon and I can go back to my cave (read: bedroom at home) to read books and watch all the fall TV shows.

LIST OF NEWSWORTHY

Cue the awesomeness (and the un-awesomeness)!
Recaptain-ed!
Y’know the awesome website by Judith and Amber where all the cool people post recaps of series so that we remember stuff before we pick up the next book in the series? I’m one of those cool people now. So is Maggie Stiefvater ’cause she wrote the recap of The Raven Boys herself. Still freaking out here!

Do yourself a favor and read Vampire Academy
I’ve been contemplating reading Vampire Academy series for a few years now and I finally did. I just didn’t know that it’d wreak an emotional havoc on me. Vampire Academy thrilled me, Frostbite stunned me and Shadow Kiss ruined me. I may never recover. But oh, the last three books in the series say otherwise.

Le Horror October
A little (fun?) fact about me: I cannot watch horror movies. My imagination goes into overdrive and it takes me weeks to finally stop thinking about all that gore, creepy stuff that happening to me. I mean I jumped in fright watching Final Destination (I was thirteen). Then I watched Paranormal Activity and kept imagining that I’d be dragged away at night by something invisible (I was nineteen). But give me a good creepy, horror-inducing book and I’ll be up reading it all night. Thanks to Leanne from Literary Excursion, this will be possible next month which is tomorrow. Woot!

Goodreads gone bad
First someone, in a desperate need for attention, declared that negative reviews are bullying which spurred a lot of drama. Then Goodreads took author behavior way too seriously and it went downhill from there. I wasn’t personally affected but it appalls me to no end. It’s just not done. But it is changing the blogging world which is so sad. I do not support this decision at all, Goodreads.

80s Music Will Save Your Life
I totally decided to listen to some of the songs mentioned in This Song Will Save Your Life while reading it because I was a stranger to the 80s music (I’m aware that I seriously suck sometimes). Dancing in the Dark, Blue Monday, Wonderwall and so much more awesomeness!

New Harry Potter Movie!
The Potterhead inside me is still overjoyed at the news. I admit I’ve yet to read the book because I want to delay my farewell to the world of Harry Potter and then the actual world delayed it itself. Awesome, isn’t it? If you were living under a rock you might’ve missed the big news, but I’m sure you haven’t. And oh, there’s also going to be The Casual Vacancy TV show next year.

City of Bones
I went to watch City of Bones with my BFF and I don’t know what I think about it. I enjoyed it but it wasn’t awesome. It wasn’t bad either. I need more time think about it.

Gayle Forman and T-shirts
Seriously, look at all the prettiness. Now say thank you.

The End of (93) Days of Summer
At the beginning of summer, I challenged myself to read as many books as I can from my (93) days of summer list. It officially ended on 21st September and I read 14 out of the 36 books. It’s quite an accomplishment for me.

TV WATCH

I caught up to all the episodes of Suits and it’s all going so, so good.
I watched Jane by Design because some ship was driving Debby insane with all the feels. So while Nick Roux is the best thing that ever happened to that show, the rest of it was pretty much meh.
New Girl is definitely my favorite show at the moment because I love each and every character on the show and that is very rare. Also, someone please steal Ferguson for me.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a perfect show for me. Cue the ridiculousness and laughter.
Sleepy Hollow is a show that I’m willing to watch in hopes it’ll get better with each new episode.
As much as it makes me sad that it’s the last season of How I Met Your Mother, the first two episodes definitely made up for that fact.
The Big Bang Theory premiered and everything was alright in the world again. “Who died and made you king of moments?” *hugs Raj*
I’ve been anticipating the premiere of Revenge for so long now. It’s finally here and it’s so good i can’t even.

MOVIE WATCH

Mulan (thumbs up) – This was my first time watching it (shocking, I know) and I was so glad that it was unexpectedly so good.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (thumbs not decided) – Yeah, about that…

LIST OF READS

I read 9 books this month, that’s two up from August. I also realized that there’s no way I’d be able to read 110 books this year (who was I kidding) so I brought it down to 75 books. I’m still 10 books behind on my schedule but  I know I’d be reading a lot ahead due to Le October Horror and Sci-Fi November. 
Golden by Jessi Kirby
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
In Honor by Jessi Kirby
Frostbite by Richelle Mead
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles
Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

LIST OF BLOGPOSTS

I’ve been a bad blogger this month but I am working on my thesis so I didn’t post as much as I normally do. 
I posted my review of Golden by Jessi Kirby. Such a beautiful, beautiful book.
I waited on The Here and Now by Ann Brashares. The cover is mesmerizing.
I posted Top Ten Tuesday lists of TV shows set in a perfect world and my fall to-read list.
I posted my review of My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick and discovered that I’m not the only one who wasn’t that impressed by it.
I posted my review of Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles. As much as I was anticipating the title, it didn’t turn out to be as good.
I participated in the blog tour by posting my review of Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader. Definitely a very exciting and unique debut. 

LIST OF BOOK BUYS

Well, half of my books arrived today so I’ve been jumping around mentally. So excited! 
Golden by Jessi Kirby
In Honor by Jessi Kirby
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

PLAYLIST

Most played tunes in September. Pretty unique but my taste is music is always evolving so…

How was your September?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cool is kind of relative, but YESSSSS. One of us, one of us *chants*

    I neeeeed to do a Final Destination rewatch this year. I keep meaning to marathon all of them, but never get around to it. It shall be done.

    You. Didn't. Know. Wonderwall. O____O who ARE you

    Right, how can I convince you to watch Spartacus? Do you know of it? It's the best TV show I have ever seen, and the first few episodes are a bit gory and ridiculous but the showrunner cooled it down after a while. You would also be the first Recaptain that has agreed to it, so you'd get a… a ship. Yes, a ship.

    Your first time watching Mulan? YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK. Is Mulan not the most badass? She makes me cry.

  2. OMG, you're bookish recap is so awesome, and well arranged. I'm not saying I'm envious, but yes, yes I am.

    First thing first, you're one of the Recaptains?! How did I miss that?! Huh?! Anyway, I'm sure you'll be fabulously awesome!

    City of Bones.. hmm, I watched like the first 20 minutes, and there was a lot of cringing on my part. Lilly Collins was okay, and even though I have a ginormous crush on Jamie Campbell Bower, from what I've seen, he wasn't as good as I'd expected. He delivered the punchlines with detachment, and it just wasn't Jace-funny, you know? But I'm probably being too judgmental here. I need to watch the entire movie first.

  4. Congrats on being a new Recaptain! I have to admit, I was jealous when I found out because you guys seem to have WAY too much fun on Twitter together! I thought about joining since I've contributed quite a few recaps myself, but didn't know if I had the time to do so and didn't want to commit only to pull out shortly. I'll just have to be your #1 fan instead 😉

    And I'm still not convinced that I should read the Vampire Academy. I don't know why. I just… vampires? Really? Meh. You'll have to work harder to convince me 😉

  5. Oh my goodness, Ferguson! I love that cat sooo much. And yay for Mulan because that is my favourite Disney movie ever. It's so unintentionally funny, I absolutely love it.

    Also, congrats on being the latest member of the Recaptains! You're going to be amazing! 🙂

  6. It's so cool that you are a Recaptain!

    I also don't really know what to think of The City of Bones Movie. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it was also a little cheesy.

  7. What an excellent month summary! I know what you mean about The City of Bones movie… hard to say exactly how I felt about it. Not great, but not bad, yup. And I just read Vampire Academy recently myself – can't wait to get to the next ones myself! Congratulations on the Re-Captain-ship!!

  8. Heeeeee, recommending VA, huh? You want to ruin everyone else, don't you? Don't worry, your heart will be un-broken soon! 😀

    I watched the first two episodes of Jane by Design last year and I didn't like it… I've been thinking about watching New Girl, though. Sleepy Hollow is great, though! I love the sexy Ichabod 😀 And YAY for TBBT and HIMYM! I was waiting for these two like crazy, especially the first one. I love Sheldon <3

    Hm. I still haven't watched City of Bones and not sure I will anytime sooner.

    Heeeeeeeey, I'll be reading Golden and Throne of Glass soon! Only Golden needs to arrive. Someday. ;D

  9. I keep listening to Pompeii on repeat. Such a good song. And yes to VA! That series rocks. Okay, so I may be living under a rock, but I had no idea about Recaptains. But I am so glad I that you brought the website to my knowledge (and excited that you're apart of it!) There are so many series that I need refreshed on before the sequel. You guys should recap Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, especially Evolution, the sequel, because I'm going for forget everything in that book by the time the third one is released next year. A recap would save my life 😀

    On another note, I am so excited about the HP movie spin-off thingy! I'll take anything in the Wizarding World.

  10. Maggie is just proving to be cooler and cooler with everything that she does! First the Recaptains, and then the book signing where she let her readers spray-paint her car. How awesome is that?! I hope I get to meet her at least once and do something absolutely crazy. And thanks for sharing all those links! I checked out the new line of Gayle Forman t-shirts, and I have to say: I am in LOVE. Even though I've never read any of her books, I do plan to, and I love the designs on these shirts! I'm quite keen to buy them, though they're kind of pricey.

    About THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE: I thought I was the only one who didn't recognize any of the music or bands in there! Now I'm feeling guilty because I was too lazy to go search up some of the songs. I'm glad that you're digging them, though. 😀 Makes me feel like going through the book again to pick out some songs to Google up.

    I'm not sure if you've reviewed ALL OUR YESTERDAYS yet, but if you haven't, then I'm looking forward it. I adored the book, and it was one rare instance where the strong romance worked in the book's favor. So, definitely not going to be forgetting the story anytime soon! And YAY for THRONE OF GLASS and CROWN OF MIDNIGHT! I've only read the first one, and I loved it. Everyone's saying the sequel is loads better, though, so I'm practically shivering in anticipation. Can't wait to hear what you think!

    My September was pretty hectic, what with school and blogging and trying to find a balance between the two. I'm getting there, though, so hopefully October will be loads better for the both of us. *fingers crossed*

  11. That's so cool that Maggie Steifvater recapped her own book! And Gayle Forman's T-shirts – LOVE. I wish I had enough money to buy one >.<

    I think everyone I know really loved VA; I'm definitely going to have to read the series ASAP. And I've heard such wonderful things about GOLDEN, and really enjoyed IN HONOR and VALKYRIE RISING. Enjoy your books 😀

    Oh, and Mulan! YES. WASN'T IT AMAZING?

    Chri @ Fathomless