Month in Review: March

March FLEW by. I was quite busy during the month which led me to be a bit AWOL on the blog, but I am back to recap the month. I can't promise more consistency until probably May, but at least I have found the time now to write, which I missed. Here's what happened in this busy month: 

What I Read: 

Vote Loki by: Christopher Hastings and Langdon Foss: 5/5 stars 

The Poppy War by: R.F. Kuang: 3/5 stars 

Mine Mine Mine by: Uhuru Portia Phalafala: 5/5 stars 

Love on the Brain by: Ali Hazelwood: 4/5 stars 

Take Us to Your Chief by: Drew Hayden Taylor: 4/5 stars 

The School for Good Mothers by: Jessamine Chan: 5/5 stars 

The Book of Myths by: Amy Cruse: 3/5 stars 

Daisy Jones and the Six by: Taylor Jenkins Reid: 3/5 stars 

Favourite book: I saw Olivia-Savannah mention this book on her Youtube channel and the premise sounded intriguing. So when I saw it at the library I decided to give it a go. I absolutely could not put it down. This book left me frustrated for so many of the characters and I thought it was a great mix of dystopia within a semi present-day setting. However, I know it's gotten mixed reviews and I am curious to hear more from people who had issues with it. 

What I Blogged: 

As mentioned, blogging was scarce in March. I did manage to post a review on Catch and Kill by: Ronan Farrow, and that post sparked some really interesting dialogue. But overall it was difficult to find time in March to dedicate to blogging. 

Favourite Blog Posts of the Month: 

Marie shares a blind-date with an Underrated YA Book 

Cee invites us to remember that The Little Things are There to Enjoy 

Greg reads from Aldebaran 

Life Stuff: 

As mentioned, I was quite busy in March. Mainly my job as a TA took over and I was marking a whole lot of essays. We don't have too big of a turnaround time between when an assignment is due and when the marks need to be released so I was basically marking 24/7. Such is the life of a contract worker! 

Final assignments are due in April too so blogging will probably be inconsistent until May. But I am a bit sad that the semester is coming to a close because I do really enjoy being a TA and I'm upset that this chapter at my university is coming to a close. 

I've been a bit stressed also trying to find a place to live in Ottawa, as I'm moving there for my PhD in the summer. Rent is so expensive everywhere and it's been a struggle to find a location in semi-close proximity to the university without also having to have me take on a full time job. Fingers crossed that something good will become available soon! 

Overall, it wasn't a bad month, just a busy one. I did find the month went by super fast and I am happy that the weather is starting to warm up. 

That was my March. How was yours? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: March

 

CW: this post will discuss COVID-19 and health anxiety 

Happy April everyone! It's pretty rainy here in Canada right now, but we have had some warmer days in March so I am optimistic that things will be looking sunnier very soon. But, this is your friendly reminder that even if the weather is nice, wear your mask, avoid unnecessary outings, and that patio beer isn't really worth it. C'mon people, it's not that hard. Anyways, here's what I got up to in March: 

What I Read: 

The Sword of the Rightful King by: Jane Yolen: 4/5 stars 

Freak the Mighty by: Rodman Philbrick: 2/5 stars 

Sex and Vanity by: Kevin Kwan: 5/5 stars 

The Death of Vivek Oji by: Akwaeke Emezi: 5/5 stars 

Freshwater by: Akwaeke Emezi: 4/5 stars 

Can't Take that Away by: Steven Salvatore: 5/5 stars 

No Friend but the Mountains by: Behrouz Boochani: 5/5 stars 

Favourite book: It was a great reading month for me, with a lot of high ratings. However if I had to pick a favourite, it would go to Sex and Vanity. I have missed Kevin Kwan's writing so much since finishing the Crazy Rich Asians series, and I was so happy to get back into his hilarious footnotes and epic love stories. 

What I Blogged: 

I think I got back into the blogging mood this month, which is good. I wrote a discussion post on If Characters Can be Redeemed, and I got a lot of great feedback on a writing dilemma that I was having. So thank you so much if you offered your help! 

Favourite Blog Posts: 

Cee talks about living Outside of the Norm 

Sabrina shares her Nine Favourite Disney Movies

Marie shares her Thoughts After a Year on Bookstagram 

Roberta discusses Social Media as a part of Tell Me Something Tuesday 

Life Stuff: 

This is the time of year where I get the worst allergies. The problem is, that my health anxiety goes haywire whenever I get a sore throat now and makes me believe it's covid. Of course it's good to be cautious when you experience symptoms, but allergies are so common for me and my mind is now going to the worst care scenario. So that's kind of frustrating. But, I am working on calming myself down, working through my symptoms to analyze if it is truly out of the ordinary, and just trying not to panic. Easier said then done, I know. 

But on another note, I am almost done my undergraduate degree! This coming week is my last week of classes, and then it's preparing for the future. Which I am equally excited/nervous about. 

I have been watching a lot of Survivor this month. If you have followed me on Twitter for a while, you will know that I love that reality show, and I've been working on re-watching the old seasons now. It has brought me such comfort and joy, and it's always nice to seek solace in a tv show. 

For April I will work on final essays, that dreaded short story cycle I was telling y'all about, and just staying healthy. I hope you guys have a great April!

How was your March? 

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: March

How is everyone holding up? This month has been hard. But, I know from personal experience that it is hard to escape any news regarding COVID-19 nowadays. So I'm not going to repeat the same things that pretty much everyone is going through. Let's just focus on the books!

What I Read: 

The Dreamers by: Karen Thompson Walker: 5/5 stars
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself: 3/5 stars
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by: Mildred D. Taylor: 3/5 stars
Rebent Sinner by: Ivan Coyote: 5/5 stars
Call Down the Hawk by: Maggie Stiefvater: 3/5 stars
Two Dark Reigns by: Kendare Blake: 4/5 stars

Favourite book: As you can see, I read a lot this month! My favourite book was The Dreamers, which one of my professors actually let me borrow. It revolves around a pandemic, so proceed with caution, but I found it to be a very hopeful novel.

What I Blogged: 

My favourite blog post this month was the Liebster Award. I did it for a second time, and it was nice to return to book tags. I used to do them a lot in the early days of the blog, and I forgot how fun they are. If you have any other tag recommendations for me to do, please share them!

Favourite Blog Posts: 

Jillian talks about her Continuous Search for More

Roberta asks if you are an Impulsive Book Buyer?

Nicole shares weird Google Searches that Lead to her Blog  

Life Stuff: 

Like I said before, this month has been anything but easy. But, with everything so doom and gloom, I am taking it upon myself to only share positive things that happened to me this month:

My family fired up our old Nintendo Wii! For those of you who had one, it certainly brings back a lot of nostalgia. I have been having a lot of fun playing Mario Kart with my sister, and pretending to work out on Wii Fit. I forgot how fun a Wii is!

I have started watching a new Youtube channel called Yes Theory, and have been really enjoying their videos. They love to travel and they do things that are out of their comfort zone. In fact, their motto is "seek discomfort." Overall I find their videos very heartwarming, and their videos give me a bit of a travel bug!

I made my first recipe from Bon Appetit! For those of you who don't know, Bon Appetit is a youtube cooking channel. The cast is so likable, and I have been watching them for quite a while now. But, I have never made one of their recipes before. Finally my sister and I made pasta with tomatoes and chickpeas. It was delicious! Maybe I have a cooking bug too?

So, that was my month. It was not perfect in any way. There were a lot of struggles. But, I am trying to focus more on the positive. We got this, folks.

What's one positive thing that happened in your month?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: March

April is officially underway and it is my last week of school! I'm so happy to be rid of the absolute HELL that second year was, and hopefully have a relaxing summer. Here's what I got up to in March:

What I Read:

That Time I Loved You by: Carrianne Leung: 5/5 stars
Hecuba by: Euripides: 4/5 stars
Insurgent by: Veronica Roth: 3/5 stars
Medea by: Euripides: 3.5/5 stars
Nervous Conditions by: Tsitsi Dangarembga: 3/5 stars

My reading was once again dominated by books read for school, but I still did enjoy some of them! My favourite was That Time I Loved You by: Carrianne Leung. You can read my review for it here.

What I Blogged:

I put up a post this month that I was quite proud of! It was my discussion, Why I Don't Want to Get Published. This post was really the first time I admitted to myself my true feelings about publishing, and I'm glad I wrote it.

Favourite Blog Posts of the Month:

Noel discusses Beta Readers and Author's Advice 

Clockwork Bibliotheca shares Songs that Tell Incredible Stories 

Lais discusses Sexual Content in YA 

Life Stuff:

Nothing new, really, just work, school, and therapy. Hopefully my summer will be a lot more interesting! This Sunday I am going to see one of my favourite musicals, Dear Evan Hansen, for the first time on stage. To say I am excited, is an understatement.

That was my March! How was yours?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: March

Well this was a busy March! There were definitely some ups and downs, and I also feel like I wasn't as "in" to reading as I have been before, but now I am in my last month of school and exams are coming!!

What I Read: 

The Lady of Shalott by: Alfred Lord Tennyson: 5/5 stars
The Dead by: James Joyce: 3/5 stars
Discoucia by: Nicholas Lovelock: 3/5 stars
Station Eleven by: Emily St. John Mandel: 5/5 stars
Three Dark Crowns by: Kendare Blake: 4/5 stars

I had to re-read Station Eleven to prevent a reading slump so that was obviously my fave of this month, and overall I just read a lot of poetry and stuff for English class.

What I Blogged:

My favourite post of this month was What Being a Writer Means to Me. I thought it was a good time to reflect on writing pressures and the meaning of the word: writer.

Favourite Blog Posts: 

Cee talks about Pressures and Not Feeling "Good Enough." 
Veronika talks about Stuff that Pisses Her Off in Books 
Amy shares What She's Currently Writing 

Life Stuff: 

Well, I failed my driving test for the third time. That wasn't fun. But on a positive note, I did get a job!! I'm actually more nervous than anything to be honest because I have a huge fear of screwing up and this is my first proper job. Hopefully all will go well. Now I'm also into exams as well which will surely take up a lot of my time.

What did you get up to in March?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: March

It's spring! I have missed the sun so much and I hope that I won't have to deal with winter for a long time. Now if only my allergies will hold up *sighs*

What I Read: 

Lullabies for Little Criminals by: Heather O'Neill: 5/5 stars
The Iliad by: Homer: 4/5 stars
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by: Sherman Alexie: 5/5 stars
The Unexpected Everything by: Morgan Matson: 1/5 stars
The Night Circus by: Erin Morgenstern: 4/5 stars

What I Blogged: 

I feel like this was the month of reviews! I have been really behind on reviewing and have been posting reviews of books I read months ago, so I've been busy! I guess I could say my favourite was my review of Station Eleven, because well, you know why by now.

Favourite Blog Posts of the Month: 

Cee explains why The Earth is Blue.
Lais discusses DNF'ed Books. 
Mishma interviews Angie Thomas.
Charlotte shows her Bullet Journal.

Life Stuff of the Month: 

I went to New York!! There were so many amazing things I saw and I think I'm gonna do a whole post on it, because there were a lot of new things I learnt about the city that I think are important for tourists to know, so stay tuned for that!

Other than that, I'm back at school after March Break. Things are starting to pick up and prom is looming, something that my introverted self is just too stressed over.

That's it! How was your month?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: March

Ahhhh spring is finally amongst us! Even though it doesn't feel like it up here in Canada, HOPEFULLY the weather will get warmer soon. Here's what happened in March:

What I Read: 

Yet another successful reading month! Hopefully I can keep this up: 

1. The Love that Split the World by: Emily Henry: 3.5/5 stars 

2. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by: J.K. Rowling: 5/5 stars 

3. The Tales of Beetle and the Bard by: J.K. Rowling: 5/5 stars 

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by: J.K. Rowling: 5/5 stars 

5. An Ember in the Ashes by: Sabaa Tahir: 5/5 stars 

6. Rebel Belle by: Rachel Hawkins: 3/5 stars 

Favourite book of the month: TRULY AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY AN EMBER IN THE ASHES! Expect a caps-lock filled review soon because this book was FREAKING AMAZING! 

What I Blogged: 

10 posts went up this month! My favourite was talking all about My Bookshelf. It was something that I wanted to do for a long time, and I loved reading other people's bookshelf tours. 

Favourite Blog Posts of the Month: 

Cee Arr of Diary of a Reading Addict shares The 10 Stages of Writing a Blogpost

Claire of Cover to Cover explains how Two Books Changed Her Perspective of Non-Fiction 

Geraldine of Corralling Books goes Beyond the Pages and talks about Assisted Suicide. 

Denise of The Bibliolater asks if You Change the Ratings of Your Books 

Blogger of the Month 

I'm awarding this month's featured blogger to Em @ Piplup's Shadow! 

This is because I had the joy of meeting her for the first time, and I was so excited to finally be able to meet a blog buddy. You are so lovely both online and in person, and I hope that we can meet again someday! 

Personally of the Month 

So many great things happened this month! 

Firstly, I had my Spring Break which was so fun! I got to go to Niagara Falls, where I went into a wax museum and saw Harry Potter and the Hunger Games wax figures. I think they turned out pretty good. 

My blog got a bit of a makeover! My lovely cousin Megan @ Megan Inness created a header that I absolutely love! 

March 28, 2016

I'm going to talk about an entire day because it was nothing short of amazing. Not only was I able to attend the Penguin Teen on Tour event and meet many amazing authors, but I got to meet some amazing blog buddies, as well as new friends who convinced me to get a bookstagram! You can follow me over at @PaperbackP if you'd like :)

Also on that day, I was notified that I had won an Indigo giveaway for the first time, after years of trying! I was so excited.

This day was so great because I got to cross off many things on my bookish bucket list: I got to meet an author, get a signed book, meet blog buddies, and win a giveaway. The bookish god's were on my side, and I'm so thankful to all the advice and conversation that happened today. If you want a full recap of the event, click here. 

How was your month?! 

Emily @ Paperback Princess