Bookwyrm Breakdown: I Almost Read a Book a Day + Other Things that Happened Lately

September is probably one of my favorite months, and it’s not because it’s my birthday month: it’s the month when things finally begin cooling down (at least for me), the humidity starts fading away, and the sun isn’t shining point blank in my eyes every day when I’m driving.

The past few months have been busy, mostly because by now I’ve settled down into a routine of sorts and the “newness” of having two part-time jobs isn’t there anymore. Now I’m back to my usual tired self, though I seem to be reading a lot.

Anyway, let’s chat about August and September, shall we?

August + September Musings

Frankly, I skipped a few posts and broke the weekly routine I was having, but that’s okay. I find sometimes blogging will just be popping with a wrap-up post or occasional review as a proof of life — I think I’ve long accepted this, though.

But hey, it was good while it lasted and it’ll probably come back again at some point in my blogging life. And blogging gave some routine of sorts while I was unemployed.

• [9 Aug] Bookwyrm Breakdown: July 2024
• [13 Aug] Talk Bookish to Me by Kate Bromley ★★½
• [27 Aug] Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu ★★★★

• [13 Sep] Little Witch Academia, Vol. 1 by Yoh Yoshinari ★★★½

Books Hoarded

In August I got a special edition of Repeat After Me by Jessica Warman from Entangled and honestly I didn’t expect to get the special edition with the sprayed edges. It’s so pretty and I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it whenever I get around to it (because I’ll be devastated otherwise since I like special edition books to be books that are special to me*).

*I have a lot of thoughts about sprayed book editions being more common now when they were once just that: special editions. But I think that’s a convo for another day.

In September I got a copy of The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen (as a birthday present for myself as one does), which I’ve been reading lately. It’s not my favorite, but I think at this point I have a certain expectation from Red Tower Books which is mostly just fun reads (sometimes there are surprises like Heavenbreaker but is that one really a surprise when I knew I would like it?).

Books Devoured

August included Spy x Family, The Promised Neverland (which I started in July), and Manga Classics. I was hoping to finish The Promised Neverland throughout the month and while I got fairly close (I’m almost done with Volume 18!), that sadly didn’t happen.

September was a big manga month for me as well: I finished The Promised Neverland, read The Misfit of Demon King Academy (decided not to continue with volume 4), started My Happy Marriage (ongoing). But it was a bigger graphic novel month than a manga month, though.

Looking back at the last two months, I read over 20+ books, which is nearly a book a day. Most of them were manga and comics, but there were a fair amount of novels as well. If I carry at this rate next year I’ll probably end up reading 200+ books — but that sounds like a problem for Future Me to handle next year.

August had one movie watched: Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie. I’d say overall the reboot isn’t my favorite because it felt like a copy and paste of the Sailor Guardian transformations, but I think that comes with no longer being a 5-year-old. But it was good nostalgia, and I still love Sailor Moon either way (and I’m planning on reading the manga at some point).

September had more movies watched: Once Upon a Crime, NiNoKuni, My Happy Marriage, The Super Mario Bros Movie and The Lego Movie. The second season of My Happy Marriage was announced toward the end of the month and I’m super excited to continue it; I recently got volumes 3 and 4 of the manga that I’m planning on continuing in October.

The Breakdown

A breakdown of what the universe had in store for the month (or longer).

I thought six days won’t get to me, but physically these days I just want to be a couch potato. I’m not sure if it’s a sign that I never fully recovered from burning out prior to my layoff, but I think that might play a part. Or maybe it was always there but things have pretty much settled down mostly, so the things that have existed beneath the surface is finally kicking in.

And sometimes I think about how working six days is nice since I have most of the afternoon and evening to myself or doing other things rather than a straight 9 hours that a standard 8-5 has — by then I’m definitely tired and want to sleep the rest of the day and do nothing. But is it something I want to do for the rest of my life? That’s debatable. But I’d like to think I have years ahead of me to figure things out as I go.

August consisted of the Goodreads API partially croaking on me so I’m now stuck copying my reviews just like the olden days, but if the Ultimate Book Blogger plugin adds Storygraph when the API becomes available, I’ll likely jump over to Storygraph officially.

I also almost crashed an interview by a politician at work and felt really bad at first (mostly embarrassed) but then didn’t feel too bad when I found out they support genocide. Maybe I really should have crashed it by accident… (although at the cost of my dignity and I don’t know if I could show my face to work ever again)

September I got my COVID and flu shot, which knocked me out for a couple of days where I spent my time miserably in bed reading (but hey, worth it). I also did some cleanup on my desk since I haven’t been using it as much now that I’m working in person rather than a hybrid or remote role.

My library job has been going pretty well — August was when I did my first display (and kind of ambitious but since it’s not doing a presentation, I’m up for that challenge) and I did a couple in September as well. Displays are probably my favorite part of the job: getting to curate books according to a theme and getting a little creative with the designs/being part of the process from start to finish.

Let’s talk!

Not much to share these days (at least what I’m willing to share out on this great big wide web), hopefully you’re keeping hydrated! Tell me what you’re up to lately in life, books, media, etc.