4 Month Wrap-up: July, August, September and October

Tags

A Corner of White, A.S. King, Amy Ewing, Aurelia Wills, Barry Jonsberg, Black, Brodi Ashton, Cat Clarke, Crimson Bound, Cruel Beauty, Cynthia Hand, Deborah Biancotti, Eleanor and Park, Em Bailey, Far From You, Fleur Ferris, Francesca Haig, Frayed, Garth Nix, Harry Potter, Here I Stand, Hold Me Like a Breath, It Looks Like This, J.K. Rowling, Jaclyn Moriaty, Jay Kristoff, Jennifer Donnelly, Jodi Meadows, John Flanagan, Justine Larbalestier, Kara Terzis, Lady Renegades, Lauren James, Lauren Oliver, Maggie Stiefvater, Magnus Chase, Margo Lanagan, Megan Miranda, Miss Mayhem, My Lady Jane, My Sister Rosa, Nevernight, Pandora Jones, Paula Garner, Phantom Limbs, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Rachael Craw, Rachel Hawkins, Rafi Mittlefehldt, Rainbow Rowell, Ranger's Apprentice, Rebel Belle, Renee Ahdieh, Replica, Rick Riordan, Rosamund Hodge, Sabriel, Scott Westerfeld, Shield, Someone I Wanted to Be, Soulprint, Spark, Stray, Swarm, Tess Sharpe, The Black Key, The Book That Made Me, The Fire Sermon, The Hammer of Thor, The Last Beginning, The Lost and the Found, The Mirror King, The Raven Boys, The Rose and the Dagger, The Ruins of Gorlan, The Special Ones, The Sword of Summer, These Shallow Graves, Tiffany Schmidt, Zeroes

WOW, it has been a long time since I’ve posted anything.

Such a long time.

So, let’s have a look at what’s been going on in the last four months.

July

In July had my first prac teaching thing, which was a bucket load of fun.

I’m definitely on the right career path, guys.

Books read:

Rebel Belle trilogy, by Rachel Hawkins

Books Bought:

Nevernight, by Jay Kristoff
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (and J.K. Rowling)

August

Nothing exciting really happened in August…that I can remember. It was 3 months ago, guys.

I just finished my prac teaching, went back to uni. There was probably some book event on that I’ve now forgotten about.

Books read:

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (and J.K. Rowling)
The Fire Sermon, by Francesca Haig
Shield, by Rachael Craw
Frayed, by Kara Terzis

Books Bought:

A Corner of White, by Jaclyn Moriaty
The Special Ones, by Em Bailey
The Rose and the Dagger, by Renee Ahdieh
Shield, by Rachael Craw

September

In September we had YAFanFest, which was heaps of fun.

And then we had a Rachael Craw Skype chat at Dymocks which was SO AWESOME!

I also had my uni mid-semester break, which meant I got loads more reading done.

Books read:

Hold Me Like a Breath, by Tiffany Schmidt
Zeroes, Swarm, by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti
Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A.S. King
The Book that Made Me, by various
Pandora Jones trilogy, by Barry Jonsberg
Soulprint, by Megan Miranda
Far From You, by Tess Sharpe
Rangers Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan, by John Flanagan
The Lost and the Found, by Cat Clarke

Books Bought:

Sabriel, by Garth Nix
Swarm, by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti

Books Received:

For review (Thanks Walker!):
The Last Beginning, by Lauren James
The Black Key, by Amy Ewing
My Lady Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Here I Stand, by Amnesty International

From the YAFanFest goodie bag:
These Shallow Graves, by Jennifer Donnelly

October

Books read:

Black, by Fleur Ferris
The Sword of Summer, The Hammer of Thor, by Rick Riordan
Cruel Beauty, by Rosamund Hodge
Crimson Bound, by Rosamund Hodge
The Mirror King, by Jodi Meadows
The Raven Boys (reread), by Maggie Stiefvater
My Sister Rosa, by Justine Larbalestier

Books Bought:

The Hammer of Thor, by Rick Riordan
Replica, by Lauren Oliver
Illustrated Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay

Books Received:

For review (Thanks Walker!):
Phantom Limbs, by Paula Garner
Someone I Wanted to Be, by Aurelia Wills
It Looks Like This, by Rafi Mittlefehldt

April Wrap Up: Being social, Allegiant movie and RAVEN KING

Tags

Allegiant, Amy Zhang, Blue Lily Lily Blue, Elementary, Falling Kingdoms, Half Lost, Lady Renegades, Maggie Stiefvater, Morgan Rhodes, Rachel Hawkins, Sally Green, The Raven Cycle, The Raven King, This is Where the World Ends

WOW April was an exciting month.

First of all, I was so busy that I didn’t get around to posting my March wrap-up until the 18th. That was awkward.

So, of course, to ensure that didn’t happen again, I wrote this post two weeks ago, and then added to it as things happened.

Of course this post is STILL late…because I needed time to take pictures and upload them and that takes time that I do not have, but never mind.

April was the month of me being social apparently

There was a week in April when I hung out with people and didn’t get home until late three times. THREE. In ONE week.

But I got to hang out with people that I don’t get to see very often, so that was awesome.

I hung out with people I met at NextGen

As I mentioned in my January wrap up, I went to a Christian Leadership conference-thingy called NextGen, where they give us heaps of awesome advice on running a youth group.

Anyways, while there, I made friends! And we kept in touch, and decided we should organize meet-ups so that we can still see each other. It was awesome.

My friend got married

When I was in primary school (kindergarten – year 6, for those who are unfamiliar with the Aussie schooling system), I had two best friends. One of them moved away as we started high school.

Anyway, one of those friends got married last August, and the other one (the one who moved away so I rarely get to see anymore) FINALLY got married a few weeks ago (they’d been engaged for almost 3 years).

So that was exciting.

WE GOT A PUPPY

His name is Percy. He is adorable.

I helped run a Circus-themed holiday club

Once a year, my church runs a holiday club for primary-school kids. Usually, this runs in the Easter holidays.

The plan is simple: we spend the Monday setting up, Tuesday-Thursday is the actual thing, and then Friday is packing up.

It. Is. Exhausting.

We had over 50 kids for all three days. I was in charge of teaching circus skills.

Basically, this means that I spent three days teaching kids in groups of 20 how to juggle. (We did other things, too: ‘tightrope’ walking, hula-hooping, limbo…but juggling was their favourite).

By the end of the week, I was literally fit for nothing but curling up in my bed and binging TV shows.

Speaking of which…

CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT HOW AMAZING THE ELEMENTARY TV SHOW IS?

Elementary is a Sherlock Holmes-inspired show in which Sherlock is a recovering drug-addict living in America. Joan Watson starts off as his Sober Companion, but stays on to learn about detective work.

Anyway, this show is approaching the end of season 4, and I swear IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER!

Like, seriously, I’m dying here. This show’s awesomeness has killed me.

I saw Allegiant

Thanks to Kinokuniya, I got to go see Allegiant two weeks before it came out.

You can read my thoughts about the movie here.

Basically, it was made more enjoyable by the people I was with.

THE RAVEN KING IS HERE! IT EXISTS!

I HAVE READ IT AND IT WAS PERFECTION! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CONTINUE WITH MY LIFE??

Also, my sister made me this AWESOME dress!

It took me about 11 hours to read (it’s the sort of book I like to take my time reading) which means I finished it about 8:30am the morning after I got it.

And I would like to thank The Book Depository and the post office people for getting the book to me THE DAY it came out. If it had come any later, I would have had to wait another week to read it (I was determined to read it in one sitting).

Bookish Info

Books Bought:

This is Where the World Ends, by Amy Zhang
Half Lost, by Sally Green
Lady Renegades, by Rachel Hawkins
The Raven King, by Maggie Stiefvater

Books Read:

Falling Kingdoms, by Morgan Rhodes
Blue Lily, Lily Blue, by Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven King, by Maggie Stiefvater

So, only three books this month, but I didn’t want to get into anything else before Raven King, and I’m still in post-Raven King book-hangover mode.

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And that’s that. How was your April?