Wow, it has been a hot minute since I was last here! I’m sorry for disappearing for so long. Grad school has been way more consuming than I thought. It hasn’t affected my reading, surprisingly, but the thought of sitting down to craft blog posts was just a little too much for my already stressed and anxious self. I am winding down on the end of my second course, and I am finally feeling like I can come up for air a little bit. I’ll talk more about what’s been going on in our world later in the post, but I just wanted to say up top: I’ve missed all of you! I’ve been so busy! I hope not to go this long without blogging again!

So, without further ado,

Hello everyone! This month, I read a total of 9 books! The past few months I have been hovering around the 9 book range, which I think is pretty good for being busy with grad school and a toddler.

I’m going to try to do things slightly differently this year. I am going to keep y’all updated on how my various book challenges are going in each of my monthly wrap-ups.

Let’s get into it!

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Books I Read:

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (4 Stars) ~ e-book

~Reading Challenges: none

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon (3 Stars) ~ audio

~Reading Challenges: Read Harder Challenge (Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairy tale, or myth by an author of color); A to Z Challenge (O)

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (4.5 Stars) ~ print

~Reading Challenges: PopSugar Challenge (Your favorite prompt from a past PopSugar Reading Challenge (own voices)); A to Z Challenge (D)

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston (4.5 Stars) ~ print

~Reading Challenges: PopSugar Challenge (A book with a made up language); Little Inklings Challenge (A book set in space)

More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn (4.5 Stars) (REVIEW) ~ e-book

~Reading Challenges: none

Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems by Kristine O’Connell George (3.5 Stars) ~ print

~Reading Challenges: none

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (5 Stars) ~ print

~Reading Challenges: Read Harder Challenge (Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own)

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (4 Stars) ~ audio

~Reading Challenges: none

Wilder Girls by Rory Powers (3.5 Stars) ~ audio

~Reading Challenges: PopSugar Challenge (A medical thriller)

 

Format:                                                     Reading Challenges:

Physical Books: 4                                    PopSugar Challenge: 45/50

E-Books: 2                                                Read Harder Challenge: 15/24

Audiobooks: 3                                         When Are You Reading?: 8/12

Non-fiction: 1                                          Modern Mrs. Darcy: 9/10

.                                                                  On the Cover: 10/10

.                                                                  Reading Rainbow: 11/12

.                                                                  Little Inklings Challenge: 38/40

.                                                                  A to Z Challenge: 18/26

.                                                                  Goodreads Challenge: 72/65

 

This month several of my reads were part of the final project I just completed for grad school. I had to create a database of 20 books – many of which I did not count toward my monthly total because a vast majority of them were picture books. I didn’t feel like it was fair to count them in my yearly count (maybe that’s silly of me, but that’s how I felt).

Here is my stack of books that I read for class this month (most of them, there are two missing because they were library books):

Also, since I haven’t posted my monthly wrap-ups for the past couple of months, I wanted to post my progress on my reading challenges. I absolutely love the Always Fully Booked planner from Little Inklings Design. It has helped me keep track of my reading, but it has also helped keep me organized for school for the past few months. Go and check out her store here!

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Things I Posted:

Book Review: More Than Maybe

So, as all of you know, I have not posted anything since April. I had a NetGalley ARC that I was part of a blog tour from this month, which forced me back onto my blog. And really, thank goodness! I think I might have gone even longer without coming back if not for More Than Maybe (which is a great book, btw!)

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Getting Personal:

The past few months have been a whirlwind! I never thought we would be so busy while in quarantine. Here are some of the highlights:

• I started grad school to get my masters in Library and Information Sciences. I am just about finished with my second class, and it has been hard but fun. I’ve had to dust off the school part of my brain, as it has been 10 years since I graduated from undergrad (that doesn’t make me feel old or anything yes it does).
• My daughter has had teletherapy for the past few months. It is not ideal to do all of our therapy virtually, but I am so thankful that she has still had the opportunity to do so. She has definitely been making big strides (though potentially not as many as she would have in person). She is about to start school again next week, and she will be doing virtual classes. I’m a little nervous about how much time it will take each day, but hopefully it won’t be too difficult to balance her classes with my own.
• My parents and my best friend both came to visit (separately, and after intentional quarantining beforehand for everyone). It was so great to get to spend some quality time with all of them. And, since she lives in a different state, this was my best friend’s first time meeting little bit! It was such a lovely change of pace to get to spend time with people again (in a safe environment, mind you).
• We adopted a new dog! Her name is Tuzi, and she is precious! She is so chill, but also loves playing with my daughter, which was such a huge relief and bonus! We love her, and our other dog is finally accepting her into the family a month later haha

 

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My August TBR Pile:

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

The Wrong Mr. Darcy by Evelyn Lozada

Fable by Adrienne Young

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

 

Two of these titles are NetGalley ARCs, so I need to get them read before the end of the month. Be expecting book reviews for these!

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How many books did you read this month? Have you read any of the books I read? Are you participating in any reading challenges? What about the books on my TBR for August? Have you had any struggles to read and/or blog during quarantine?  Let me know down in the comments! 

Interested in my last wrap-up? Check it out here!

 

Love and happy reading,