Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Bout of Books 35 Wrap-up

Time Devoted to Reading

I read during the whole week.


My Goals

I want to read at least four physical books off of my TBR list!


Books to Read

  • The Girl Who Kept Winter by Giao Chi
  • Spy x Family vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo
  • Spy x Family vol. 2 by Tatsuya Endo
  • Spy x Family vol. 3 by Tatsuya Endo
  • Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 12 by Fujino Omori
  • Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 13 by Fujino Omori
  • Graceling the Graphic Novel by Kristin Cashore & Gareth Hinds
  • Home Body by Rupi Kaur
  • Euphoria by F.S. Yousaf
  • Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda

Updates

Monday
Chapters read today: 44
Currently reading: What Kind of Evil Can an NPC Have? [Unlimited] by 九阶幻方, The Most Popular Comedian by 马户子君
Total number of books read: --
Books finished reading: --

Tuesday
Chapters read today: 26
Currently reading: What Kind of Evil Can an NPC Have? [Unlimited] by 九阶幻方, The Most Popular Comedian by 马户子君
Total number of books read: --
Books finished reading: --

Wednesday
Chapters read today: 79
Currently reading: What Kind of Evil Can an NPC Have? [Unlimited] by 九阶幻方, The Most Popular Comedian by 马户子君
Total number of books read: 1
Books finished reading: What Kind of Evil Can an NPC Have? [Unlimited] by 九阶幻方

Thursday
Chapters read today: 48
Currently reading: Queen of Fishing [Quick Wear] by 余微之
Total number of books read: --
Books finished reading: --

Friday
Chapters read today: 49
Currently reading: Queen of Fishing [Quick Wear] by 余微之
Total number of books read: --
Books finished reading: --

Saturday
Chapters read today: 12
Currently reading: Queen of Fishing [Quick Wear] by 余微之
Total number of books read: --
Books finished reading: --

Sunday
Chapters read today: 32
Currently reading: Queen of Fishing [Quick Wear] by 余微之
Total number of books read: --
Books finished reading: --

Total

Chapters read: 290
Number of books read: 1

Lol I completely bypassed my whole reading list and read webnovels instead. Oops. I'll try to do better next month~

Thursday, August 18, 2022

July: Cookies, Happy Hour, Moving Furniture, Destroying Furniture, Waiting

July was pretty random. There was a lot of moving furniture around the weekends lol.

For the Fourth of July weekend, we decided to stay home and chill because it’s freaking HOT outside. Alec and I made a big batch of Levain chocolate chip and walnut cookies. Shelle and I haven’t made it in a few years, so we wanted to make those giant cookies again. They were a little too round in the first batch though lol. The second batch turned out a lot better!

Lance and Sam came over with baby Evelyn to play in the neighborhood pool before they got too tired and went home before the fireworks started lol. But we had a big cookout beforehand, so that’s all that matters!

I also had my first happy hour at work. We went to Pour Taproom Atlanta and got wristbands with enough credits for at least three drinks. Since I was driving later, I only filled my cups to half-full and tried two beers. They were actually really good! I really liked the Alani Wine-Inspired Sour Ale from Reformation Brewery, and Urban Tree Cidery’s Sweet Heat Haze was surprisingly delicious! I didn’t expect ginger infused with habanero zest would go together so well.

For a while now, Alec has been on the lookout for a new couch because his current one is too small for him. Shelle and Kyle were planning on turning their loft into a playroom for Luna, so they’ve been slowly donating or giving away their bookshelves and other furniture in the room, so they told Alec that he could have their couch and entertainment center if he wanted them. Of course he did lol.

That weekend, Alec and I drove up with a U-haul to pick up the furniture while Brian and his friend Michael also drove up to help. We also had a bunch of stuff to give Brian since he was moving out into an apartment soon, so he helped all four of us unload some stuff lol.

It took some time, but we finally managed to move Alec’s old couch and entertainment center into his garage and moved the new furniture into his living room. Then, we stopped by Cowboy Chicken to try their food, since Shelle’s boss, Monica, has raved about it every time she goes there when she’s in town. The food was okay. Not the greatest, but maybe I’m just salty because I ordered the strawberry salad, and they didn’t tell me until they gave me my bowl that they were out of the strawberry salad dressing lol.

We also found out that they recently opened up a Ding Tea in the area, so we stopped by for drinks and found out that the workers get a chance to make their own drinks and sell them. We ended up ordering all three new drinks lol.

The next day, Alec and I destroyed his old entertainment center. He bought it from Ikea years ago, so it was pretty cheap and already banged up, so he didn’t want to bother trying to sell it. Instead, we took an ax to it, and chopped it up into manageable pieces, and then threw it all away in the trash can lol.

The next weekend, my parents came up to visit because they were going to stay at their friends’ house that weekend and fly out with them to Vegas and the Grand Canyon for a 10 day trip. We went out to lunch with them and hungout with them until Sunday morning when they left for their friends house.

The next weekend, we rented another U-haul van to take Alec’s old couch and some kitchen items to move it to Mikey and Alyssa’s apartment. They live on the third floor, so it was a pain moving the stuff up two flights of stairs.

However, it was good catching up with them. Mikey also ordered some vegan food from Planted Soul for us, and it was SO GOOD. I really liked the Jamaican Me Crazy that I ordered! And they didn’t skimp out on the portions either. Alec was eating off of my plate, too, and it still looked like I only ate a small portion of it by the time we left lol.


The end of the month was spent kind of waiting for the news to happen. Shelle was waiting to hear back from the hospital for her induction date since baby Luna hadn’t decided to come out yet. Every day, our mom and Kyle’s mom would call or text to see if anything had changed yet that it started to annoy both of them. Instead, Shelle and Kyle were trying to relax and do all of their last minute errands and chores before the baby came.

But yeah, July was an odd but eventful month lol.

Monday, August 15, 2022

Bout of Books 35

I've participated in this read-a-thon a couple of times over the years. I did it again last year for the first time in a while, and it motivated me to read more physical books! I want to participate again and hopefully read more books off of my TBR pile! 

Bout of Books

The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 15th and runs through Sunday, August 21st in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 35 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

You can sign up here!

My goal is to read at least four physical books this week!

Here's a list of potential books I'll read this week:
  • The Girl Who Kept Winter by Giao Chi
  • Spy x Family vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo
  • Spy x Family vol. 2 by Tatsuya Endo
  • Spy x Family vol. 3 by Tatsuya Endo
  • Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 12 by Fujino Omori
  • Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 13 by Fujino Omori
  • Graceling the Graphic Novel by Kristin Cashore & Gareth Hinds
  • Home Body by Rupi Kaur
  • Euphoria by F.S. Yousaf
  • Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda

Friday, August 12, 2022

Cover Lover 56

Haven't done one of these in years. That's because blogger's formatting changed, and I can't get the pics to line up side by side anymore. This has been in the drafts since 2019. That's how long ago I did this! Back when I still read physical books lmao.

I just thought I'd post a throwback after seeing so many old posts in my drafts. 

Enjoy~





Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Mini Reviews: Doomsday Lin Man; Mommy Daddy -No Milk's Coming out of My Nipples!-; After Transmigration, I Spit Rainbow Farts and Overturned the Car

Title: Doomsday Lin Man
Author: 西大秦
Chapters: 160 chapters 
Publication: 2018
Summary from JJWXC:

In the seventeenth year of the end of the world, the fields were not harvested, and Lin Man and his mother were struggling to die of starvation and thirst every day, until one day, she got a space.

3.5 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

The beginning was a little boring because it was mainly Lin Man trying to survive with her mom on the mountain with next to nothing. However, the plot starts getting interesting once she leaves the mountain to find other resources. Then, it gets pretty funny with all of her dad's antics lol. 

This novel also had a different spin on just how crazy some people will get to try to maintain their power. Luckily, the novel doesn't focus too much on that aspect and focuses more on Lin Man's gradual reclamation of the mountain and turning it into a peaceful oasis in the south. Overall, a pretty good zombie apocalypses novel.


Title: Mommy Daddy -No Milk's Coming out of My Nipples!-
Author: Emu Soutome
Chapters: 1 chapter
Publication: 2014
Summary from Renta:

Natsuki's first love was his private tutor, Ryogo. Unfortunately, he ended up marrying Natsuki's sister, Yukiho. Years pass by, and all Natsuki had to console himself were dirty fantasies of Ryogo. That is, until Yukiko disappears, leaving Ryogo to take care of their twins. Ryogo asks Natsuki to help with raising them, and so beings their life together under the same roof!

Natsuki becomes overwhelmed by pent up desire and unreciprocated love. A long time of getting off clutching Ryogo's discarded clothes makes a sleepy kiss quickly turn into a heated hip-grinding affair.

2 STARS - IT WAS OKAY

MY REVIEW: 

Even for a oneshot, it still felt pretty rushed. I didn't like how much of a pushover the main guy was, and I really didn't like the husband at all. The only redeeming factor was the kids.


Title: After Transmigration, I Spit Rainbow Farts and Overturned the Car
Author: 恕冬
Chapters: 83 chapters 
Publication: 2019
Summary from Novel Updates:

As a popular variety show artist with a talent for trolling, Lin Luo is on the verge of being beaten up every day, until one day, she suddenly transmigrated as a cannon fodder with the same name as her in an unfinished novel. The system told her that if she wanted to go back, she had no choice but to flatter the male protagonist, and to figure out how good the male protagonist was.

From then on, she she became the little dog-legged secretary of the entertainment industry boss, a beautiful person with a sweet voice who released rainbow farts in a fancy way 24 hours a day at 360 degrees.

And thus, she spent her days praising the cold and stiff big boss into an immortal, while counting the increasing favorability value, impatiently waiting to go home, and cursing the male lead as a stingy dog who valued his favorability points like silver.

However …… she slowly found out that the boss looked at her with a weirder and weirder gaze, and that the favorability, after many ups and downs, finally didn’t rise anymore.

Damn it! No one told her that the boss could read minds, f*ck! Xiao Luoluo overturned the car!

Note: ‘rainbow farts’ mean exaggerated appraise/flatttery, and ‘to overturn the car’ means to fail in doing something

3.5 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

I already knew I would like this book just from the description alone. It sounded hilarious! And I also really enjoyed the author's previous book When I Transmigrated for the Second Time, the Male Leads Got Reborn. 

I knew the female lead would be a sand sculpture character, and I was right! Reading her inner thoughts versus her outer demeanor was hilarious, and I loved reading about her boss's reactions to her thoughts. 

Also really loved how "The Domineering President and His Secretary" became a standard reference novel throughout the book because everyone thought that he was going to act that way with Lin Lou! 

The extras were really sweet and funny. It answered a lot of questions about the transmigration and ended with closure.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Books I Want to Read This Month

I'm joining the Bout of Books read-a-thon next week, so I'm hoping to knock out some of the books on this list! :D

  1. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
  2. Spy x Family vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo
  3. Spy x Family vol. 2 by Tatsuya Endo
  4. Spy x Family vol. 3 by Tatsuya Endo
  5. A Man & His Cat vol. 3 by Umi Sakurai
  6. A Man & His Cat vol. 4 by Umi Sakurai
  7. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 12 by Fujino Omori
  8. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? vol. 13 by Fujino Omori
  9. The Rising of the Shield Hero vol. 1 by Aneko Yusagi
  10. Graceling the Graphic Novel by Kristin Cashore & Gareth Hinds
  11. Love Looks Pretty on You by Lang Leav
  12. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda
  13. The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon
  14. Home Body by Rupi Kaur
  15. The Sun Will Rise & So Will We by Jennae Cecelia

Monday, August 1, 2022

July in Retrospect

Can't believe July is already over! I read a lot of good webnovels and watched a lot of good shows this month! I'm planning on joining a read-a-thon soon, so I'm hoping to read some more books in August! 

I read: 

  • Everyone Loves Heroine by 请叫我山大王
  • I Am Building a Railway in the Last Days by 西大秦
  • Carry the House With You by 西大秦
  • When the Sand Sculptures Wears a Cannon Fodder by 吃鲸路人
  • My Whole Family Has Been Reborn From the End of the World by 藤鹿山
  • What if Bai Yueguang is a Sand Sculpture? by 啊嘞
  • The Female Partner Just Wants to Eat Melon [Quick Wear] by Shumo
  • Full Level Female Supporting Actress Dressed as Abusive Heroine [Quick Wear] by 欢何极
  • Show Off Your Wealth on a Live Show and Become Popular by There is a River Without Thirst
  • I Am the Mother of a Prodigy by 锦橙
  • The Throne of Thorns of the Doomsday Women by 花貂九


I watched: 

  • Spy x Family (2022)
  • The Masked Singer Season 2 (2019)
  • Interceptor (2022)
  • My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising (2019)
  • The Greatest Showman (2017)  [rewatched]
  • Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie (2022)

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Webnovel Review: Custom Temps [Quick Wear] by 西大秦

Title: Custom Temps [Quick Wear]
Author: 西大秦
Chapters: 113 chapters 
Publication: 2018
Summary from JJWXC:

After her death, Rong Ya became an employee of the Lucky Recycling Station. Her job was to solve the predicament she was unwilling to face on behalf of the client and to get through the trough of life. The better the task was completed, the higher the commission she got.

After work -

Rong Ya: The client's life is really colorful, eating a melon is overwhelming!

Fighting for the college entrance examination, the 18th-tier actor, the woman who married into a wealthy family, in the winter of March, the ex - boyfriend and husband have memories of past lives

3.5 STARS - I LIKED IT

MY REVIEW: 

I really liked all of the arcs. Each client had different situations they wanted to get out of, so Rong Ya had to work hard to figure out how to solve the situation. I also loved how realistic the settings were. For example, Rong Ya's first client was a student who needed to pass her high school examination with a relatively high score. Rong Ya thought that it wouldn't be too difficult to pass high school curriculum since she was in college when she passed away. However, as soon as she opened a math textbook, it was like a completely different language for her lmao. She had to come up with a super intense study plan to relearn everything. 

Each world was distinct and interesting. The were a lot of characters and conflict to keep you interested in seeing how Rong Ya would complete each task. I also liked how Rong Ya always had different identities. She was a student, a young adult, a mom, etc. Her interpersonal relationships increasingly became more complicated as she completed her tasks.

I didn't expect there to be a male lead and romance because the short summary didn't mention anything about it. However, it was a nice slow burn. And the male lead's origin was pretty unusual, so I liked that, too. 

I think the author really likes the love interest falls in love first and slowly boiling a frog in warm water trope where the male lead is interested first and slowly gets the female lead used to his companionship and presence first before confessing. It's not a bad trope, but it's definitely the common theme of most, if not all, of the books I've read from this author.

Overall, a really good quick transmigration book!