The Bookish Bulletin: July ’19 | I’m Back For Real This Time!
Oh my goodness, can you even believe it’s been nearly a year since I last blogged? And it’s August! I made an attempt to start again in February and that failed rather miserably. But I’m back now! I have so much to share about the past year. It’s been a crazy one. Most importantly: I’m back and I’m back for good. No more interruptions because of internships and college, yay!
July Wrap Up
I’ve read 17 books so far this year. Six of them, I’ve read in July. It feels absolutely bonkers! Like… how even?! When I was in college I just really couldn’t find the time to read. I
King of Fools by Amanda Foody. It took me a really long time to finish this one, but man, it was AMAZING?! Like… Ace of Shades is one of my
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Vol. 2 by Akira Himekawa. Now this one only took me a few hours to finish, hehe! Obviously, it’s a manga and it reads much quicker than a novel, but I also flew through it simply because it’s fun. Twilight Princess is one of my all-time
Finale by Stephanie Garber. Oh my gosh, guys! Caraval has actually come to an end! I hold this series so close to my heart because I got to read the Dutch edition way before the original English one even came out and I just fell. in. love. Finale was incredible, and I can’t wait to see what Stephanie writes next.
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. HOLY. MOLY. An Enchantment of Ravens is one of my all-time faves and when I heard Margaret was writing a new book, I just couldn’t wait. I finally got to read it this month and it’s incredible!? I’ve read quite a few negative opinions on this one, but I genuinely love this book with all my heart. It has libraries, monstrous books
The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman. I bought this one so I could read it on holiday but then my holiday got
As She Ascends by Jodi Meadows. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to read this?! Ahhh, and it was SO good! I think I preordered this one last year, and then college happened so I didn’t read it until now. So glad I did, though!
Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson. I’ve literally just finished this one a few minutes ago and maybe technically I should be adding this to my August wrap up, but I’ve listened to most of the audiobook in July, so I’m adding it here, hehe! This one was just so lovely and fun and totally different from the other books I read this month.
Blog Update
I’m so incredibly happy to finally be blogging again! I made a few attempts to get back to it during college, but honestly it felt incredibly impossible. I was just so busy! I decided to relaunch my blog after my holiday, but then my holiday got cancelled, but I still got a week off work. I decided to try and restore my blog, or what was left of it. When I tried to move domains and relaunch back in February, my content was all messed up and I lost all my photos. I would’ve had to manually upload and place them again and I just… wasn’t looking forward to it.
As you can see, though, I still have all my content! How I managed that, you ask? Well, I moved to a new web host! I went from Dreamhost to Lyrical Host and I’m just so excited! They migrated my blog and domain and they’ve just been so incredibly helpful. Even though I didn’t originally ask for them to restore my content (I genuinely didn’t think it’d be possible!) they did when I explained my issue and they did it for free. I nearly cried when it was done. I still have all my content!!! I’m so incredibly grateful and oh my goodness, I’m getting a bit emotional!
You’ve probably noticed the new name as well. Books & Babbles is now ‘Damn Mysterious’! This was my original, first domain, which I used for a lifestyle blog. That blog made me create Books & Babbles but then after a year or two, I kind of wanted to use my ‘old’ one again. I decided to just do it! Doing the move myself caused quite a bit of trouble, but I’m so excited about the name change! Feels a lot more “me”. It’s inspired by a lyric from one of my
Life Update
Friends, I genuinely don’t know where to begin. This is usually kind of like a monthly update on my life but I haven’t blogged in nearly a year! So much has happened. There’s been some really good things, but I’ve also had the worst luck. I’ve struggled a lot in college, but I’ve also made new friends. My dog passed away back in November, and heaven knows what other horrible things I’ve thankfully forgotten (or what I’m just not putting here because it’s kinda irrelevant, ha.) I’m so grateful for my job, though. I got to keep my job at the drugstore as I went back to college and it honestly felt like a light in my life. I got to work at least once or twice a week, sometimes even more. Towards the end of the year I even started working more hours than I probably should have, simply because I love my job and I liked it better than college by a long shot. I’m so incredibly grateful for my coworkers who got me through the year. Whether they know they did or not.
Over the past month, I’ve been readjusting to life post-college and working. I’ve struggled quite a bit with all this free time I have now, so I’m really glad I still had work (and I get to work a lot!) Reading books really felt like a challenge, because my attention span was really back to like… zero? I mainly just watched a lot of Netflix, slept (GOSH, I WAS EXHAUSTED!) and did whatever I felt like. Which felt a bit weird, as I hadn’t been able to do that for nearly a year. I was originally going on holiday for a week, but due to personal reasons I decided not to go. I spend my week at home instead, and moved my second week off work to October. August will be a month of finally, properly, sorting out my life. I’m obviously blogging again, I want to start freelancing, and working on my bookmark shop. I’m hoping to start studying for my scooter driver’s license as well! But most importantly, I think my biggest goal this month is finding a balance between work (as in my job) and blogging/freelancing and free time.
Book Haul
I got a lot of books this month. I seriously think I’ve gotten more in just this past month than I got in the rest of the year so far! First, I ordered The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman and Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. I just had this burst of “omg let’s order some books!” and I did. That felt incredible seeing as I now had the money AND time to read them! Then I got the audiobook for Finale by Stephanie Garber. I decided not to cancel my Audible subscription as I realised I can afford it, and I had some credits left to spend. I was reading the hardback edition and for some reason I decided I wanted to listen to it as well? There’s a specific reason I got the audiobook, I just can’t remember it!
After that, I don’t think I bought any books. And I’m saying “think” because, honestly, how did I keep track of my book purchases before?! Hehe! Last week, I got Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson through Audible. I’ve been struggling a bit with getting audiobooks lately because I want to spend my credits wisely, and there’s so many books I want in physical form so I don’t want to get them in audiobook format yet. I wanted a fun contemporary to get through the heatwave and it was recommended to me a few times, so I decided to just get it. The chapters are really long, but it’s super fun so far!
When I got my salary last week, I decided to treat myself with some books from Amazon! I got Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare, Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan and Descendant of the Crane by Joan He. It felt so exciting yet so weird to get so many books at once! Guys, I have money AND time to read them! Eeeekkk! Unfortunately, Descendant of the Crane arrived at my doorstep damaged (hence why it’s missing its dusk jacket in the photo), but I’m getting a new one tonight (within 24 hours after contacting Amazon!!) And, finally, as I was writing this post and checking my orders on Amazon, King of Scars by Leigh Bargudo was advertised for less than €10 for the hardcover, and obviously I could not resist.
I’m slightly overwhelmed by the amount of books I managed to get this month, haha! It’s gonna be a puzzle to fit them all in my bookshelf. I’m so excited to read all of them, though!
August TBR
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He. This one sounds so incredibly interesting and it’s an actual shame this wasn’t on my TBR before I ordered it. The cover is just so, so beautiful!
Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan. Gods, princes and monstrous secrets? Sign. Me. Up! I’m sure I’m going to love this one!
Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare. I’m not sure yet whether I’m going to read all of the stories in one go, or I’m going to read the stories separately. And, uhh, this is told from Jem’s perspective. NEED I EVEN SAY MORE?! *swoons*
King of Scars by Leigh Bargudo. I once started this one as an audiobook but for some reason, it didn’t really work for me and I exchanged/returned it to get my credit back. I decided to read it instead, so I’m really glad I managed to get it for such a great price.
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. I’m putting this one on here because I got an ARC like a really long time ago, then wasn’t able to review it properly (so I didn’t) and now I feel like I really need to do so, so it’ll be a reread! It’s also time for me to finally get myself a physical copy, so it’s like a win-win situation. I get to buy the book, read it and finally, finally, finally write that review!
I was going to keep my TBR small but I really want to make more time for reading. Even during my week off work, there have been days where I didn’t pick up a book at all. I really want to read for at least half an hour to an hour a day, so that’s what I’m going to try to do this month!
What have you guys been up to this past month? Read anything good? What do you guys think of the name change and the new layout? Let’s chat!
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