The Month of Slumps, Manga and That Kid Wizard // Books I Read in July

I know everyone says this, but HOW is it August? I’m honestly having such a hard time processing this. July was not a good reading month. I felt extra slumpy and started about a dozen different books, but didn’t want to finish any of them. It wasn’t even because the book was bad I was just getting super distracted. It was a really mixed reading month too. I didn’t really read anything that I fell head over heels in love with. I didn’t even feel inspired to write any blog posts or reviews because I just felt so blah. I appreciate you all so much for sticking with me!

July wasn’t the best month in general, but oh well. It happens! I don’t like to talk about myself too much because #boring but I have my first ever psychologist appointment coming up soon and saying I’m terrified is an understatement. Some positive vibes would be appreciated ♥

Anyway, not much else happened in July except for me playing Pokemon Go and surviving for two weeks without Internet. Oh and I watched a TV show for the first time since like January. STRANGER THINGS IS AMAZING. I’m only on episode two, but it’s so good. The 80’s atmosphere is so amazing and I am actually in love with the musical scores.

In 2 days I’ve been blogging for SIX MONTHS, which – what even? I have some things planned but that’s a secret for now 😏.

Books I Read and Reviewed

I managed to read 13 books this month. This sounds like a lot, but half of these were graphic novels, mangas and short-ish books. I took part in The Biannual Bibliphon, The Make Me Read It Readathon and BookTube-A-Thon…  I failed spectacularly at all of them, but hey I still had fun! I read manga for the first time and I really enjoyed it.

My favourite reads of this month were: the princess saves herself in this one, Holding the Man, Saga Vol 1, Replica and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Covers = My Review and/or Goodreads

1-3 Stars

  

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore (writer) & Brian Bolland (illustrator) [★] – In my most controversial graphic novel ratings I gave this 1 star. I’m not a Batman fan, but that didn’t influence my decision. I hate The Joker. It’s not the good hate either. This was misogynistic and used sexual abuse for “shock value”. The only thing this had going for it was the art. Please don’t hate me if you love this comic. It’s just not anything I want a part of.

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn [★★] – Despite hating Gone Girl I went into this with an open mind. It was a short story and sounded really interesting and I just wanted to love a Gillian Flynn book. Unfortunately, this wasn’t it. It basically followed the same plot as Gone Girl with an unlikable main character and a series of plot twists that to me were extremely predictable and pointless. The best thing about this was the fafct that I missed that the MC was a sex worker and the opening line was “I didn’t stop giving handjobs because I wasn’t good at it” and it resulted in my being extremely confused and highly amused. I haven’t given up on Gillian Flynn yet though. I will try Dark Places next. Hopefully that’ll be one I enjoy! I read this for BookTube-A-Thon and completed the challenges of Read a Book After Sunset and Read a Book with Yellow on the Cover.

Love at Fourteen, Vol 1 by Fuka Mizutani [★★★] – This was a manga I found randomly whilst browsing the graphic novel section at my library. It was a contemporary and it was okay. The MCs where supposed to be 14 but acted like they were 18. Not really my thing, but the art was cute and it was a quick and easy read. I don’t think I’ll continue on with the series though.

4 Stars

  

Bodies of Water by V.H. Leslie – Despite being a short read this took me a surprisingly long time to get through. It was extremely different than what I was expecting, but it addressed a lot of important issues about women’s health. There was also WLW, but it didn’t have a happy ending, unfortunately. Trigger warnings for suicide. I read this for BookTube-A-Thon and completed the Read a Book You Discovered from BookTube challenge.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer – I FINALLY READ THIS. I liked it so much more than I was expecting. I loved Cinder and Iko. Levana seems like such an interesting character too I can’t wait to learn more about her. This had a lot of tropes, but I found myself not caring for some reason haha. I’m interested to see where the rest of the series goes! I was supposed to read this for Make Me Read It but that didn’t exactly happen so I read zero books for that readathon. Oops. 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne – You may have heard of this? I don’t know 😝 This is honestly one of the most difficult ratings I’v EVER decided on. If I was reviewing solely on plot it’d be a 3, but reading experience would be 5. I had issues. A lot of issues. However the nostalgia I felt whilst reading this was beyond real. There were parts I REALLY loved. I honestly just want to drown myself in Harry Potter. I compromised and went with 4 stars, but this is at the highest point of 4 stars. If I was one of those reviewers that got super intricate this would be like a 4.95. I just can’t give it a full five stars.

  

Death Note, Vol 1 by Tsugumi Ohba (writer) & Takeshi Obata (illustrator)  – The first manga I ever read! And I really, really enjoyed it! I was not expecting Light to be such an an antagonistic character. He was hilariously dramatic at times in the best way. I’m super excited to continue on with this series and see what develops between Light and “L”. I read this for The Biannual Bibliophon and completed the Read a Book in a Different Format challenge.

Replica by Lauren Oliver – I was so excited when Hachette Australia put this up on Netgalley and even more excited when I got approved. This was my first Lauren Oliver book and I really enjoyed it. I read it by alternating between Lyra and Gemma’s chapters. I preferred Lyra a lot more. This had some things I hate though like girl hate and instalove. The whole concept of the Replicas was super interesting and I can’t remember the last time I read a 500+ book in 3 days. I’ll have a full review up closer to the release date!

VS Aliens by Yu Suzuki – Another library find and I’m really glad I picked it up! It’s definitely not “the best story ever” or anything life changing, but sometimes you just need something fun and easy to read. This helped my reading slump a little. There kind of isn’t much of a plot and what happens is so hilariously ridiculous, but the characters and the relationships are adorable. I really, really loved this and I wish there was more. The art was so cute too.

5 Stars

   

Holding the Man by Timothy Conigrave – Okay, you guys know how I always talk about I cry in like every book I read? Well, when I say this book made me cry I mean IT MADE ME CRY. I think I spent 3/4 of this crying. And I mean CRYING. Like sobbing. Verbally. My face scrunched up with my Kindle out the way because I was scared I was going to water damage it. I was angry and sad and happy. I felt everything. If you want an extremely gritty and personal memoir on being gay in Australia in the 70s-90s with what it’s also like to be HIV positive then I can not recommend this enough. I read this for BookTube-A-Thon half completing the Read a Book and Watch its Movie Adaptation challenge. There was zero way I could put myself through that much emotional distress so close together so I chose not to watch the movie. I will get to it though!

Amulet, Vol 4: The Last Council – I read this to try and help me get out of my slump, it didn’t really work but it was still amazing. This series never fails to impress me. The art is so, so stunning. YOU NEED TO READ THESE GRAPHIC NOVELS.

the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace – Wow. Wow. WOW! GUYS! I was so happy I stumbled upon this poetry book on the Kindle store whilst it was free. I was immediately intrigued by the title because HELL YEAH. It’s super empowering.  This made me cry and the poems were so heartwrenchingly beautiful. I annotated SO much, but one of my favourite lines was: “once upon a time, the princess rose from the ashes, her dragon lovers made of her, & crowned herself the mother-fucking queen of herself – how’s that for a happily ever after?” Seriously. Read this.

Saga, Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan (writer) and Fiona Staples (illustrator) – This was one of the strangest and most beautiful things I’ve EVER read. The art was BREATHTAKING. It was super fast paced and intense and I can not wait to read volume 2.

Upcoming Blog Plans

I should have my Basic Guide to Marvel Comics up soon! Then I plan on doing a post about graphic novels and comics that aren’t about superheroes.

I’m going to try and start fresh with reviews next month. I’ll try and have [fingers crossed] one review up a week. I really want to make my posting more organised so I’m going to try and work out a schedule.

Finally, I’m thinking of starting a Design section on my blog where I’ll make Bookmarks that people can print out as well as things like desktop and phone wallpapers. I was inspired by Esther @ Chapter Adventures to start this up. I made a couple mock bookmarks and posted them on Twitter. I’m not a professional, but I think I’m okay-ish 🙈 If you’d be interested in anything like that, let me know! I mean I’m probably just going to do it anyway 😂 but it’d be even better if people were on board!

 
Lowkey proud of the background on the first because it’s not a photo, I made it with Gradients and Photoshop brushes and I’m actually considering printing out the ADSOM one for myself lmao.

Of course everything will be free. I’m also working on a Design Resource post where I’ll mention all my favourite resources for vectors, fonts and stock images.

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If you made it through this post then you deserve an endless amount of cookies or whatever your preferred dessert is.

I would love to hear any thoughts you have on the books I read this month! Make sure to leave a link to your Wrap Up posts so I can drop by!

I hope you all had a fantastic July and have an even more wonderful August.