Bookwyrm Breakdown: August 2022, Where Burnout is Definitely a Thing™

August kind of feels like a dream where I’m just witnessing everything play out. I’m just a casual observer, but I also get myself dragged along in the process, and I’m not left behind to continue life before said dream as much as I pretty much wish it were the case.

So yeah, August. Feels weird, I don’t even know. Also, burnout has decided to knock on my door because of course it does. Rude. And it’s at the worst time possible. Even more rude.

August Musings

• [1 Aug] Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min ★★★★
• [12 Aug] Bookwyrm Breakdown: June and July 2022

Books Hoarded

Just one book? Yeah, I’m kinda surprised as well.

• The Empress of Time by Kylie Lee Baker (eARC) – Despite giving The Keeper of Night roughly 3.5 stars (which is still good in my book), I’m curious how Ren’s story will end.

Books Devoured

August started off strong, friends. And then life kinda happened (tl;dr burnout) and said, “Yeah, you don’t need to read more than maybe 5 minutes.” Maybe I just need a break from reading, or a lot of my books (read: about half) was just meh and my mood was meh, so it just resulted in reading limbo and overall feeling mehness.

I will say finishing four review copies was a huge win, even if I haven’t written the review yet. But we’re going to ignore that part of the sentence and carry on, yes?

• Spy X Family Volumes 5-7 by Tatsuya Endo – Finally caught up!
• Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke – aka Review Copy #1, aka kinda disappointing, but not very disappointing, because for a standalone fantasy novel that most would end up becoming a series, this was pretty solid.
• Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez – aka Review Copy #2, aka also kinda disappointing, but at least I was engaged like the previous one? And also there were dragons. Except dragons get murdered here for sport, and that was actually sad because *gestures at blog* I’m obviously very biased toward dragons.
  • Dragons are considered good luck, and they are majestic creatures. Do not @ me.
• My Ex From Hell by Tellelah Darling – aka Not a Review Copy but It’s Been on the TBR for Hellas, aka disappointing and why did I waste my time with this? Oh, right, the title got me.
• Never Coming Home by Kate M. Williams – aka Not a Review Copy and Thankfully Not Disappointing Like the Others. It wasn’t the greatest book, but it was quick to read, and I was just there for the vibes. Oh, and the murder. Definitely the murder. (Yeah, not ominous at all, Sophia.)
• Dragonfly Eyes by Cao Wenxuan (translated by Helen Wang) – aka Review Copy #3, aka Not Disappointing, But It Took A Long Time For Me to Read Oops. I actually really liked this one a lot, but I will say it’s a very different style than what I normally read and possibly what others read, so definitely walk in with a very open mind and open expectations if you pick this up.
• Pure as Snow by Jessie Cal and Laura Burton – aka Not a Review Copy, but It Was Okay.
• Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan – aka Not a Review Copy, aka Most Disappointing Read of the Month, aka DNF. Look, this was by no means a bad and terrible book, and the writing style was fine, but goddamn, the execution was not it.
  • Buddy Read with Suhani! Whelp, hopefully, our current and future buddy reads won’t go as sour as this one. (Did I jinx us? I think I did. Shit.)
• The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim – aka Review Copy #4, aka Killing Two Birds with One Stone with a Blog Tour, yeah!

Surprisingly watched quite a bit, but also not surprised. Unlike the books I’ve read, I liked pretty much all of the ones I’ve watched in August.

• Pitch Perfect 3 – Awkward moment when you don’t remember if you actually watched Pitch Perfect 2, but some of the songs are on my playlists occasionally so… I must have at some point? Anyways, I liked this in some ways, but it was also what the hell did I watch again?
• Wonder Woman 1984 – Poor Watching Choices™ were made here I have Regrets™.
• Despicable Me – This was fun to watch.
• Searching – Lots of nostalgia (since wow, YouTube and Facebook layouts have definitely truly changed over the years), but it was good.
• Spy X Family – I loved this so much, especially Anya Forger. Kind of regretting binging instead of savoring it, but eh.
• Hana Yori Dango (both seasons and the movie) – I know I said I watched this as a kid on my Meteor Garden 2018 Reboot review, but it’s been so long that I don’t remember much of it. Mostly, I’m watching for nostalgia and living my best childhood life.
  • Holy heck, there aren’t 50 episodes
  • Maybe I’ll start watching more dramas since my mom’s using my Netflix more often, so I’ve run away to Viki.
  • Also there’s a movie too?! Kid me did not know this.

The Breakdown

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

August consisted of quite a bit of stress sleeping because if I don’t stress sleep, my other coping mechanism is to cry. I think I’ll take extra sleep over crying, but either way, I’m a burnt potato, and it’s not burnout over blogging, it’s more burnout from personal stuff, so it ends up leaking into blogging. Fun Times. I’d scream in a pillow probably, but I’m not the type to do so. Also, pretty sure everyone in the house would just think I’m getting murdered (and probably scold me after finding out that I am not, in fact, getting murdered).

I am, however, taking PTO in the middle of September (use it or lose it; don’t forget to take time off, pals), so hopefully, I’ll be in much better shape (mentally) at that point. By the time this post goes up, it’ll only be maybe 2-3 days left and it’ll be a nice reprieve.

Anyways, all that aside, August drifted by, really.

Let’s talk: tell me about your August!