Bookwyrm Breakdown: Hello October, Here Comes Spoopy Season

LOOK, MA, THE BLOG GOT NEW CLOTHES.

I mean, it’s kind of late and everyone who’s visited since September 16 or saw my rare Tweet and clicked on it already saw it, but that’s not going to stop me from shamelessly announcing it on the monthly wrap up too. After 5+ years of having a similar look, I kind of figured it was time for a change, especially since next year is a full decade (!!!) since this blog started. And well… it’s been a lot of on and off on branding so might as well just go with a complete overhaul. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyways, buckle up friends, we’ve got a (maybe) long breakdown this time because makeover is definitely an excuse to skip blogging (except now I just don’t feel like blogging period).

August Posts

(Because in September I forgot blogging existed after everything went live, even though I planned on posting. Oops.)

• [1 Aug] Bookwyrm Breakdown: Cases Rising and Other Shenanigans
• [6 Aug] XOXO by Axie Oh ★★★★

Books Hoarded

I was a good child and didn’t spend any money on books (unless it was on sale or free) since there’s going to be a special edition set for The Green Bone Saga that I’m definitely eyeballing in October.

• Go the Distance by Jen Calonita
• Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley (First Reads)
• Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee (ARC)
• Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong (ARC)
• The Fairyloot edition of The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa! It’s just as pretty as the rest of my set, and I’m in awe even though my mom is judging hardcore and probably side-eyeing me big time.

I think Fonda Lee and Chloe Gong are going to end me, but at least I’ll know I’m in for a (hopefully) good reading month in October/November when it comes to two books.

Books Devoured

I still don’t know how I’m reading so many a month this far into the year, but here we are. In August I read approximately 20 books and September was very unintentional almost 30 books in 30 days. I think I’m actually going to hit 200 books this year, which 1) I’ve never done (it’s always been 50-130) and 2) what the actual fuck.

You’d also think the amount of reading I’ve done is enough to clear out my ARCs, but I’m truly the biggest of clowns. (But I’m kind of keeping up with the recent ones, so there’s definitely that. Have I posted them, though? No, and I don’t know if that makes me a bigger clown than I already am.)

But here are a few books I’ve read in the past few months:

• Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley
• Idol Gossip by Alexandra Leigh Young (ARC)
• The Gilded Wolves trilogy by Roshani Chokshi
• The Iron Will of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee
• It Ends in Fire by Andrew Shvarts
• How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao

August and September had Netflix, Hulu and I being besties a little more than usual (probably thanks to using PTO that’s expiring). A few movies and TV shows I watched:

• The Addams Family
• Over the Moon
• To All the Boys Parts 2 and 3 – good, but definitely not as good as the first
• The Social Network
• The Bridge Curse – turns out I’m a Baby™ and I don’t do horror movies
• Green Lantern
• Wish Dragon
• Light as a Feather Season 1

In other news, VAMPIRE ACADEMY ANNOUNCED A CAST. I’m not sure how I feel about the cast considering I liked the movie cast much better, but I guess I’ll judge when the show comes out?

And finally, a few music albums and songs that came out in the past two months that have been of interest/good listens:

• Nightmares – The Boyz (personally I’m indifferent to the title song of the album, Thrill Ride, but there are a few b-sides I really enjoyed)
• Moon Walker – BDC
• Close Your Eyes – BZ-Boys
• Hate That – Key ft. Taeyeon
• Not Friends – Loona (sung by Heejin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul and Yves)
• Dive Into You – Seori ft. eaJ
• Human (Deluxe) album – OneRepublic (favorites include Rescue Me and Someday)
• Stereotype – StayC
• Not Easy album – Stray Kids (surprisingly I liked most of this album? A few favorites include Domino and Red Lights)

Also aespa, PIXY and Kingdom are having comebacks sometime in October so Clo might want to note I’m going to be in her DMs (except I’m already in there regularly). She’s yet to get tired of me.

The Breakdown

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

There’s really not much life-wise outside of the usual work, sleep, read, repeat and taking a mini break from working.

• I turned 24! I think I’ve begun the prequel to my quarter life crisis, but it’s starting to feel like Season 24 of Existential Crisis instead.
• Finalizing the new blog look and launched it (except the hard work now begins with replacing images).
• Playing a new game I recently got on Steam (maybe why I abandoned some review writing, oops).

Let’s talk!

How was your August and September?