What I’ve been up to in March 🌷 Semester Break with Complications

Hello fellow bookworms 🌷 March was an unexpected month for me (sadly not in a good way), but sometimes it’s just like that. I’ll go into this more in my Life Stuff section of the wrapup, so I’m keeping this intro a bit shorter than usual. Definitely check out what books I read, what shows I watched, and what I’m planning for April though 👀

Important Resources

• https://globalissuesawareness.carrd.co/
• https://dotherightthing.carrd.co/
• Anti-Asian Violence Resources Carrd
• BLM Resources Spreadsheet
• Help India during its COVID crisis
• HelpPalestine Carrd, Learn about Palestinian history Help Palestine with a Click & Resources Masterlist
• Support the LGBTQ Community in Hungary
• HelpAfghanistan Carrd
• Support Trans Children in Texas: Thread of orgs/groups to follow and gain resources from, Thread of orgs you can donate to & Gender-Affirming Resources for the Transgender Community
• Help the Ukraine: Thread of donation links and organizations, Thread of how to help, Carrd with info & donation links, Ukraine Crisis Media Center & Helpful Timeline

🔁 = Reread 💌 = Library Books ⌛ = Digital Arc

📚 = #TackleYourTBR 📖 = #DevourYourTBR 😊 = Buddy Read 💕 = 12 Book Recs by Friends

I read 14 books in March and I’m happy with that number! I finished my exam in the first week of March and read a lot for the (week-long) Mini Magical Readathon, it was a fun reading week 💕 I read pretty widely this month which kept me engaged and made me discover many great new books! I especially enjoyed listening to nonfiction and poetry audiobooks, both of these work really well for me when they are read to me vs. reading them visually 😄 I never know how to read poetry and with nonfiction, I’m not as intimidated by them in audio form. Nonfiction is a genre I still often don’t get to (especially books that aren’t memoirs), so I’m glad that I could finally tackle some books that have been sitting on my TBR for 2+ years!

I read 10 books out of my comfort zone this month! I have been doing very well with my own reading challenge this year, which makes me proud 🥰 I also added another category this month: poetry! I don’t usually reach for books written in verse, so I thought I could include them here as well. Apart from Poetry (Turtle Under Ice, Forget Me Not, Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You, Punching the Air), I also read some Nonfiction (So You Want to Talk About Race, Stamped), Romance (A Girl Like Her & Damaged Goods), Sci-Fi (Heart of Iron) and Mystery (Greenglass House)!

• So You Want to Talk About Race (Ijeoma Oluo) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5💌📖🎧
• A Girl Like Her (Talia Hibbert) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖
• Damaged Goods (Talia Hibbert) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖
• Greenglass House (Kate Milford) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚
• Turtle Under Ice (Juleah Del Rosario) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧

• Forget Me Not (Ellie Terry) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌🎧
• Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You (Misha Collins) ⭐⭐⭐.5💌
• Punching the Air (Ibi Zoboi, Yusuf Salaam) ⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧
• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism & You (Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi) ⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧
• Heart of Iron (Ashley Poston) ⭐⭐📚

1. Amari and the Night Brothers (B.B. Alston) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖

2. Damaged Goods (Talia Hibbert) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖

3. Greenglass House (Kate Milford) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚

4. Heart of Iron (Ashley Poston) ⭐⭐📚

5. So You Want to Talk About Race (Ijeoma Oluo) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5💌📖🎧

6. A Girl Like Her (Talia Hibbert) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖

7. The Darkest Minds (Alexandra Bracken) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚

 

8. Six Crimson Cranes (Elizabeth Lim) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖 {Recommended by Pauliina}

9. The Promised Neverland Vol 3. (Kaiu Shirai) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖

10. Turtle Under Ice (Juleah Del Rosario) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧

  

11. Forget Me Not (Ellie Terry) 💌🎧

12. Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You (Misha Collins) ⭐⭐⭐.5💌

13. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism & You (Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi) ⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧

14. Punching the Air (Ibi Zoboi, Yusuf Salaam) ⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧

Favorite Books 💕

Pondathon Garden & Achievement Update 🌷

Round 3 Pondathon Garden

Achievements & Badges

• Side Quest (Vegetable Garden with Cuddle) ➽ Read a book by a black author or a woman of color (Vege Buddies badge)
• Side Quest (Planting Trees with Sprout) ➽ Read 2 books by disabled authors (Treemendous Love badge)
• Companion Quest (Judy Lin – Author of A Magic Steeped in Poison) ➽ Tell us about your favorite beverage to drink while reading

For more Infos about the Pondathon visit thequietpond 🌷

 What I’ve been up to in February 💕 Lots of Studying AND Lots of Books 😱 ~ Magical Readathon ~ Orilium ✨ Mini-Readathon TBR & Character Changes 

Review: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney 📝 … In BUZZWORDS 💕 ~ Middle Grade Books I Want to Read ❤️ MG March 

The Longest Books on my TBR 📚 now with #tometopple TBR! ~Magical Readathon ~ Orilium ✨ Spring Equinox TBR

For this section of my wrapup I’m linking up with the Favorite Blog Posts of the Month Meme that has been created by Kristin @ kristinkravesbooks to showcase our favorite blogs of the month! 💗

• The Oldest Books on my TBR List | These books are gathering virtual dust (Abi @ scribblesandstories)
• Book Lists: Favorite 2021 Debut Authors (Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense)
• Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn 2022 TBR (Ashley @ The Infinite Library)
• Spring 2022 TBR (and a look back at my winter progress) & 10 favorite books with star-crossed lovers! [Top 10 Tuesday] (Destiny @ howlinglibraries)
• 12 Adult SFF Books of 2022 By Authors of Colour You Can’t Miss (Fanna @ fannaforbooks)
• Kat’s Weekly TV & Movie Recap #10 & Should YOU Read “The Atlas Six”? (What I learned from my reread!) (Kat @ Life and Other Disasters)
• Celebrating 4th Blogiversary with 3 Bookish Things Tag & Giveaway! (Kal @ readervoracious)
• best & worst: audiobooks (Lais @ thebookishskies)
• My Spring TBR for 2022 | Contemporary, Mystery and Nonfiction (Lay @ bookshelfsoliloquies)
• Book and Video Game Pairings! (Mackenzie @ colourmeread)
• Where to Buy Books as an International Reader (Maria @ The Character Study)
• 20 YA Books About Sisters I Recommend (And Some I’m Excited To Read!) & My Must-Reads YA Contemporary Authors: A Quick Guide To The Ones I Adore & How To Write SEO Optimized Blog Posts: 8 Beginner Best Practices To Try (Marie @ drizzleandhurricanebooks)
• My Reading Experience, Disconnecting from Social Media & My Book Buying Experiences and Habits (May @ foreverandeverly)
• Magical Read-a-thon: Orilium – Gear Up tbr & The Book Thief book review & Tomes on my tbr & Magical Read-a-thon: Orilium – Spring Equinox tbr (Morgan @ morganisreadingagain)
• Best Reads of 2021: My Top 5 ✨ (Pauliina @ thebookaholicdreamer)
• Ranking and Reviewing K.J. Charles’ Novels & More Specific Things I Love in Books & Seasonal Wrap Up: December-February & Podcasts I’ve Listened to Recently, ft. Four New Favorites (Sabrina & Veronika @ wordyandwhimsical)
• new & upcoming releases by Muslim authors (Saima @ storieswithsaima)
• My Most Anticipated Releases of 2022! (Saniya @ sunnysidereviews)
• Catching Up!: My Most Anticipated Books of 2022 🌊 & Catching Up!: Favorite Books of 2021 🌟 (Sofi @ abookathought)
• GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEWS | intergenerational trauma, harley quinn & a space adventure & Reading Heartstopper For The First Time (Sophie @ Me & Ink)
• POC – POC Romance by BIPOC Authors (Zainab @ deadbookishsociety)

A Semester Break with Complications. I had my exam on the 7th and directly went home afterward to spend the semester break with my family! I still haven’t gotten a result, but the exam went well, so I’m not really worried. A couple days after I came back my grandmother got COVID though (luckily, she’s fine) and week after that I got it as well from a family friend. UPDATE: I tested negative again yesterday, so luckily I’m out of isolation and hoping to use the next two weeks to recover before my internship 🙏🏻 [HIGHLIGHT for more info & slight ranting if you want to. CW’s: COVID, politics]My parents luckily didn’t get sick, so I isolated in my room. For me, it started with a mild cold (scratchy throat & a runny nose; but unlike with a cold I kept feeling like there was phlegm in my nose/throat) and I kept testing, but it only showed up as positive 8 days after I last had contact with the person. Luckily my symptoms weren’t so bad (our family friends had fever, cough, and fatigue) but it was still a physical/mental burden. Being sick got me feeling even more hopeless about the current situation (German government planning on lifting restrictions despite cases at an all-time high. Almost everyone I know who got sick, myself included was boostered yet politicians act like the virus isn’t an issue anymore now that we have the vaccine) and angry at the selfishness of some people (People hoping to go out despite having COVID, just so they don’t have to cancel their travel plans. People I had contact with refusing to test themselves because they had an event they wanted to attend. )[/OVER]

💫 Highlights 💫

➽ What I Watched in March ❤ 

 

• The Witcher (S1+2) ~ I’m FINALLY caught up with The Witcher! I stopped after 01×06 and then the second season was released 🙈 Luckily I was able to watch it with my friend, getting to the last two episodes of S1 and watching S2! This is such a well-made show and I had much fun, even though I hadn’t engaged with any other Witcher content before 😄
• Blood & Water (S1) ~ This is a South-African Netflix Original, that sounded interesting, as it’s about the character finding her missing sister who was possibly abducted as a baby and trafficked to another family 👀 I love a dramatic mystery and the first season was only 6 episodes!
• Is It Cake? (S1) ~ I binged this because I needed something mindless and fun. I had seen this new show around and since it’s not your typical baking show, I was intrigued. The idea is interesting but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the host and his humor. The contestants and judges were cool though!

Not sure how to feel about April yet.  There will be a lot going on and I’ll be busy. I still have two weeks of my Semester Break that I end to use to prewrite some posts, read for the Magical Readathon, and relax! It’s also my Birthday on the 16th and I’m fortunate that I get to spend it with my family 🥳 I have to drive back to my University town the next day though as my internship starts on the 19th. I’m still very nervous about it because I’m no longer used to being out of the house all day (I still don’t know what my working week will look like) and my anxiety always acts up as well 🙈 Would appreciate all the well-wishes 🙏🏻

🌷 It’s Magical Readathon Time! Check out my TBR below 🌷

What were you up to in March? What was your favorite book? What’s your favorite historical fiction book? 🌷