May Wrap-Up

That was a lot of reading done in May. I think it helped that I’ve also been listening to audiobooks on top of reading regularly. Also, some of them were shorter reads, and I’ve been skimping out on going out lately. You know, to save on budget…because I splurge on books way too much. Yep.

I’m sorta kinda behind on the review writing, though admittedly some of the books I’d read this month I really didn’t feel like reviewing. I’ll probably condense a bunch of them as mini-reviews. I’m also slowly revamping little things on my blog, starting with review graphics and thensome. Since I may have quite a bit of time this summer, I might even try to revamp the layout of my blog as well. It’s only been like this practically forever.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (3.5 out of 5 cookies)
Fairest by Marissa Meyer (4 out of 5 cookies)
Deadman Wonderland Vol. 1 by Jinsei Kataoka (3 out of 5 cookies)
The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh (4 out of 5 cookies)
Risuko by David Kudler (3.5 out of 5 cookies)
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs (5 out of 5 cookies)
Magi Vol. 1 by Shinobu Ohtaka (1 out of 5 cookies)
Nobody’s Princess by Esther Friesner (2 out of 5 cookies)
Perfect Shadow by Brent Weeks (4 out of 5 cookies)
Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins (3 out of 5 cookies)
Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs (5 out of 5 cookies)
Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs (4 out of 5 cookies)

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart
The Rose & the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I may have stopped keeping track of what I’ve written on a particular day, though I am quickly running out of room on my second notebook. Some of the few things I did get done in May include:

– Children’s science fiction short story taking place in my steampunk sandbox
– Prologue chapters of a fanfic I really shouldn’t be doing amidst everything else
– A 25-page edit of an urban fantasy short I’ve been working on, though technically the length of it at the moment is novella-size…
– A couple scenes in my steampunk novel (around 3000 words, so it’s a slow-going process, sigh)

Also on a random writing note, the Czech version of The SEA is Ours looks fabulous. There’s even an awesome map of the world based on the anthology stories!

My fellow anthologists and I also got a positively fantabulous review at Strange Horizons in May. So um, excuse me for squeeing loudly again. Because this is a SFF big deal. I mean, come on, realistically, what are the chances this’ll happen to me again?!

Go figure my reading voraciously led to the severe lack of movie-watching. Or maybe it’s the video games. Yeah, it’s probably the video games.

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence – No cyberbrain for me, thanks. Those things are clearly too hackable for my taste.

Bring It On – Because I’m sexy, I’m cute, I’m popular to boot.

Fantastic Mr. Fox – This is such a Wes Anderson film. I’m only surprised that I’d never read this Roald Dahl work. Then again, the only Roald Dahl book I’ve actually read is Matilda.

Gossip Girl – It’s amazing how quickly I’ve sped through the last three seasons of this show. Chair is still my OTP. Serena and Dan also deserve each other, as they’re practically the most despicable characters ever in this show.

Outlander – I’ve mostly slowed down because I have three episodes left and I KNOW at least one of them is a lot of butt-hurt. Metaphorically and literally…

Game of Thrones – Speaking of butt-hurt…GOD HOW DEPRESSING. But um, at least GIRL POWER YAY?!

Life Is Strange – I don’t know. Had the characters been in any way shape or form been more likeable, the Final Choice would have been quite the dilemma. As is, I hated the majority of the characters, so my choice practically reflected on whether or not I was more than willing to sacrifice the most annoying character ever or to inflict damage on the most people as possible. Honestly, either way I didn’t care.

Dragon Age Inquisition – My elven mage broke up with my other elven mage. Lots of emotions running rampant here, guys. But at least I can consider myself QUEEN DRAGONSLAYER.

Oreo Matcha Cake – Graduation cake for my brother.

And while I don’t necessarily have any plans to blog about the above foods, I figure I’ll put them up anyway! I tried a mustard vinaigrette the other day, which came out well with broccoli, even though I’d planned to use it on asparagus. Also, I decided I’d make some blackberry jam. Which led me to making roll-up pancakes (or crepes) which then got decorated with blackberry jam. Yum.

I’m trying to do a bit more knitting, because it’s one of the best things to be doing while I watch TV. Now with summer coming up, I can actually work on geeky-ish things. I did a couple of Outlander-inspired things (which I cannot seem to find pictures of), but so far my favorite work was an improvised shawl.

Heisenberg in a Philip K. Dick series – I am so looking forward to this, to be honest.

The Girl Leaps Through Time Once More – I’m not sure if this live-action is going to be a straight-up re-adaptation of the animated movie, or if it’s going to be actually an adaptation of the book itself (since I don’t think that’s happened yet). I’d watch it, though.

Beauty and the Beast trailer – If I hadn’t known what trailer I was looking at and the iconic theme tune wasn’t in the background, I’d have sworn that castle looked like Hogwarts. Hermione all growed up! XD

CW Lineup – Supergirl goes to CW, which makes sense. I really need to catch up to all my shows…

Fullmetal Alchemist gets a live-action movie, too. Well. I find it amusing somewhat that this anime gets an all-Japanese cast. But if you look at the anime itself…the characters are not all necessarily Asian. The casting for these things, I swear. Shoulda switched this cast to Ghost in the Shell…