Bookwyrm Breakdown: Cases Rising and Other Shenanigans

Summer is almost over for most people. Many are going back to class towards the end of next month. Personally, I feel like summer is only just beginning due to the heat wave we’ve had this week in Missouri. The heat and humidity is no joke here. I am dying walking from my the parking lot to the front entrance of my home. Mother nature has not been treating us well lately.

Covid-19 has not been treating us well lately either. The cases are rising and not many are getting vaccinated. They have placed a mask mandate where I live, so I have been seeing more people in stores wearing a mask. Is it enough though? I hope we don’t do a repeat and shut down again. Not many can afford this. We must do better.

This Month’s Posts

• [4 Jul] Bookwyrm Breakdown: Halfway Done With 2021
• [10 Jul] Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim ★★★★
• [14 Jul] Frankly in Love by David Yoon ★★½
• [14 Jul] Don't Read the Comments by Eric Smith ★★★½
• [14 Jul] The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black ★★★★

Books Hoarded

Lupe

I didn’t buy too many books this month considering that I haven’t been reading much.

• Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
• Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
• The Rehearsals by Annette Christie

Sophia

• A Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope (Special Earthsinger Edition) – Free books from reading challenges at the library are cool. Even though I don’t need more books and will probably do some unhauling by next year or the year after. (Depending on how things work out.)
• All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman (ARC) – I almost forgot I requested this months ago until I got an email from Netgalley.

From Overdrive and the occasional freebie/deal I indulge myself in.

• The Fallen Hero by Katie Zhao
• Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson
• Inker and Crown by Megan O’Russell
• Daughter of Hades collection by Dani Hoots

Books Devoured

Lupe

I have actually read something this month and I am currently in the middle of reading something. Isn’t this great?! I call this progress!

• Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson- My manager recommended this to me and it was pretty good! I’m looking into reading Thomas Erikson’s Surrounded by Psychopaths.
• Currently in the middle of reading Make It Sweet by Kristen Callihan

Sophia

Me earlier this year: So, if I keep up at my current pace I’ll catch up with all my ARCs in July.

July: lmao

June was a swing back into mostly rereads, but July was a swing back to maybe two rereads, a few webtoons, some ARCs and just general mood reading.

• The Dragon Warrior by Katie Zhao (reread)
• Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim (ARC)
• A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson (audio)
• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (audio reread)
• XOXO by Axie Oh (ARC)
• Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega
• A Touch of Ruin by Scarlett St. Clair

Fandom Assemble

Media we’ve consumed and enjoyed, or what we’re looking forward to that’s been announced lately.

Lupe

The first season of Loki ended this month and that finale was such a cliffhanger! I need answers! This show was great and I cannot wait to see the direction the MCU is going. There is also so much Marvel content that is coming throughout the rest of the year. Marvel is feeding us very well and I am not complaining.

Continuing with the Marvel content, Black Widow was not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and the ending credits was EVERYTHING. This totally was the first time we get to finally understand how important it is to watch not only the movies, but the shows to fully connect and get the whole picture. Marvel is such a powerhouse.

How could I forget about the Olympics! I am OBSESSED. I normally don’t watch sports. Maybe a few soccer games here and there. Every four years, I become a sports cheerleader. Go sports! It’s really great to see people from all over the globe get together. Honestly, it is really motivating to see these athletes work hard.

To those who don’t know, I am a huge Shatter Me fan. When I heard that Tahereh Mafi will be releasing a novella towards the end of the year… I FREAKED OUT! Bonus, it will also be told by Warner’s point of view! Apart from the Marvel content, Believe Me is the other thing I am looking forward to this year. The cover is so pretty and November can’t come soon enough!

Sophia

July was a little tiring for me, so I honestly haven’t caught up with any newer song releases aside from the beginning of the month.

• History of Kingdom Part II. Chiwoo (Mini Album) by Kingdom
• Sun or Suck by Woodz
• 13IVI by BM (KARD)
• Paint the Town by Loona
• Damage by Just B (Debut)
• Vamos by Omega X (Debut)

The rest of the month was spent listening to whatever Pandora fed me, Demi Lovato, Ailee, remakes of old Taylor Swift songs and a few Ariana Grande, Ed Sheehan and Olivia Rodrigo songs.

I also spent some time on Hulu since I planned on canceling my subscription (I should probably cancel my Netflix since I don’t use it either), but I lost track of the date my subscription ended and forgot to do said cancelling (whoops). Most of July was spent watching the four Step Up movies I haven’t watched (I know they’re repetitive, but I was looking for movies I could just watch), The Villainess and Fashion King (RIP Sulli).

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out. 🧐

Lupe

It’s official. I got promoted! My work load fluctuates, but most days I get home tired as hell. I was told that we will be hiring more and work will get slow. If work does get slow, I might be able to read at work. Wouldn’t that be great?

Not sure if I have shared this, but I am learning how to play the keyboard! I actually had to upgrade my keyboard this month because I was missing a note while I was rehearsing a song for church. I am not part of the worship group at church, but we are in the process of getting a few people together since we don’t have a live band. They have asked me and I have accepted. It’s just hard to work around other people’s schedule to get together and rehearse. So technically, nothing is really official yet. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning how to play the keyboard and has helped with my anxiety tremendously every day after work.

At work, I have joined a group that all women in the organization can be a part of. It’s a women lead group to uplift each other and it’s a safe space for women to come to. I work in a male dominated industry, telecommunication industry, and it is really nice to get to know other women in the organization even if we live thousands of miles apart. They also host monthly book clubs and hold book club meetings once a month during the work day. How awesome is that? The book of the month is called Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Guess I will be reading at least one book this upcoming month!

Sophia

July started with Missouri (gotta love this state, hear my sarcasm) leading the cases with the Delta variant, but ya girl got lucky and just reached that two weeks after the second shot right before things started climbing up again. We’re currently back to make in public areas and my mom is back to hiding at home again, hoping that three months from now America will be behave and cases would go down again.

Spoiler: I told her last year that wouldn’t be the case, so we’ll see who’s right this time around.

Other Things:

• Me shoving things at Clo and somehow influencing her to watch a Chinese drama by the mere power of sharing an OST without ever watching the drama itself.
• Secrets
• It’s hot and humid and I don’t like it.