What I’ve been up to in May 🌸 Internship, Thesis & Lots of Books

Hello fellow bookworms 🌸 May felt incredibly long for some reason 😅 When I looked back, I was surprised that some things happened this month and not ages ago! At the same time, my internship is also halfway done and that happened so fast even though May felt really long 😂

I know it’s already June, but I’m planning on doing another Reading Diary for @clearursht and would love to know what books you’re most interested in hearing my thoughts on! If you want please fill out my Google form as I really want to talk about the books you’re most interested in 💕

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 18 books in May and I have no idea how 😂 I mean there were some things that definitely helped me. Once again audiobooks came to the rescue (I listened to 7, probably a personal record) and I also reread 5 graphic novels I loved. When it comes to other books (e-books or physical – 6 books in total), I struggled a bit more to pick them up in the evening when my mind was still stuck on my internship. I’m happy that I could read so many books about Mental Health though, which was my main focus this month 💕 While there were some disappointments, I also found a new 5-star read and generally had some lovely, positive surprises!

I read 4 books out of my comfort zone this month! This is definitely much less compared to the previous months, but I focused on other things this May, so I don’t really mind 😄 I had two hits (Anxious People and My Friend Anna), but also two misses (As Good As Dead and A Brush with Love) – it was a pretty mixed month in terms of enjoyment in this section!

• Anxious People (Fredrik Backman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖🎧💕
• My Friend Anna (Rachel Williams) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖🎧
• As Good As Dead (Holly Jackson) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖🎧
• A Brush with Love (Mazey Eddings) ⭐⭐ 📚📖

1. How to Disappear (Sharon Huss Roat) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚📖

2. Bird Brain (Chuck Mullin) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🔁

3. Anxious People (Fredrik Backman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖🎧💕 {Recommended by Veronika}

 

4. A Quiet Kind of Thunder (Sara Barnard) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 📚📖

5. My Friend Anna (Rachel Williams) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌🎧

6. Heartstopper Vol 1. (Alice Oseman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 🔁

7. Heartstopper Vol 2. (Alice Oseman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 🔁

8. Heartstopper Vol 3. (Alice Oseman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 🔁

9. Heartstopper Vol 4. (Alice Oseman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 🔁

10. Lost in the Never Woods (Aiden Thomas) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌📖🎧

11. When You Get the Chance (Emma Lord) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌🎧

12. Gallant (V.E. Schwab) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚📖

13. 10 Things I Can See From There (Carrie Mac) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚📖

14. As Good As Dead (Holly Jackson) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖🎧

15. The Ghosts We Keep (Holly Jackson) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖🎧

 

16. The Wicker King (K. Ancrum) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖

17. No Filter and Other Lies (Crystal Maldonado) ⭐⭐.5 💌🎧

18. A Brush with Love (Mazey Eddings) ⭐⭐ 📚📖

Favorite Books 💕

Pondathon Garden & Achievement Final Update 🌷

Round 6 Pondathon Garden

Achievements & Badges

• Side Quest (Repotting Plants with Amina) ➽ Read a book by a Latine author (Growing Up badge)

For more Infos about the Pondathon visit thequietpond 🌷

Reading Diary: #magicalreadathon ~ Spring Equinox Semester ✨ ~ 2022 Quarter Year Crisis Tag 📚 Reading Goals, Favorites & more 👀 

Review: My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame ❤️ Grief, Growth & Found Family ~ Books About Mental Health on my TBR 🌸 #mentalhealthawareness 

Review: The Bronzed Beasts by Roshani Chokshi 💘 An emotional finale ~ Joining #ClearUrSht to take down my Owned TBR! 📚 2.5 Mini Readathon

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! 💗

• Three on a Theme | Sarcastic Sci-Fi (Abi @ Scribbles and Stories)
• Top Ten Tuesday: 2020 Books I Was Excited to Get But Haven’t Read (Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense)
• Weekly Check-in: finally getting somewhere again! & ‘Finlay Donovan is Killing It’: the most relatable (and hilarious) bookish mom ever? & 2020 releases I STILL need to read! [Top 10 Tuesday] (Destiny @ howlinglibraries)
• 7 Books to Read for International Workers’ Day (Kal @ readervoracious)
• The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (ARC Review) (Kat @ lifeandotherdisasters)
• Asian Readathon TBR (Kate @ readingthroughinfinity)
• best and worst: illustrated covers (Lais @ thebookishskies)
• 5 Books I Bought Recently | A Book Haul & Weekly Reading Update #6 – May 15, 2022 (Lay @ bookshelfsoliloquies)
• Eurovision Songs as Books (Maria @ The Character Study)
• Why I Blog in English (+ Tips To Know If You Should, Too!) & 8 Hard Truths About Book Blogging (And Easy Tips To Keep On Loving It) & 18 YA Books Like Heartstopper To Read Next (ft. Soft Romances, Great Characters & More!) (Marie @ drizzleandhurricanebooks)
• All the books Isaac reads in Heartstopper (Meeghan @ meeghanreads)
• A tiny post about podcasts & All the unread books I own (Morgan @ morganisreadingagain)
• Books I’ve hauled this year! 📚 (Noura @ The Perks of Being Noura)
• Ten Compelling Opening Lines from Books & Recommending Books That Made Me Feel All Warm and Fuzzy & 10+ Booktubers I Love & Recommending Ten Excellent Audiobooks & 15 Authors I Need To Read More From (Sabrina & Veronika @ wordyandwhimsical)
• dark academia recommendations & Beat the Backlist: To-read list (Saima @ storieswithsaima)
• Spring TBR 2022! (Saniya @ sunnysidereviews)
• My Go-To Young Adult Contemporary Recommendations & 11 Discussion Ideas For Book Bloggers (Sophie @ Me and Ink)
• Why I Rarely Pick Up Sequels of My Favorite Series (Tasya @ theliteraryhuntress)

CW’s: Talk of COVID, Mental Health & some (light) medical stuff

May was SO long and busy 😅 For some reason so much happened that I already forgot half of what happened at the beginning of the month! My internship continues to be good (we have reached the halfway point!), I love my colleagues and the work itself is also interesting 😊 There was some drama about our home office days, as the institution had major communication issues. Some people said it would go from 3 to 2 days of home office, but others insisted we’d have to return the full 5 days even though this isn’t necessary for this type of work 😅 In the end, we now have at least 2 home office days, but it was a stressful back and forth. I’m glad that we still can work from home because ever since my country lifted the mask mandate, I have felt increasingly unsafe and anxious in public. I know I’m not the only person struggling with this, but the ‘pandemic is over’ narrative scares and enrages me in equal measure.

My mental health got a bit worse towards the middle of the month because of the sheer unfairness and hopelessness for the future. As for my EKG results from last month, thankfully there wasn’t anything horrible, just a bit during the night, so I’ll have a follow-up in August. Still, I don’t feel 100% free from it. It didn’t help that none of my friends had any time to meet up this month, so I was left alone with my anxious mind 😔 Then, I also have to apply for my Master thesis and it’ll be stressful as well! I already handed in two applications and they usually want interviews, so I’m pretty nervous. There are enough topics for everyone, but of course I want something that actually interests me. Good vibes appreciated ⭐

💫 What I Watched in May 💫

 

• Heartstopper (S1) ~ Obviously, this was fantastic!! Such a good book to screen adaptation and already one of my favorite shows of the year 💕
• Bridgerton (S2) ~ Like I’ve seen many people say, this was much better than S1! Probably, because I preferred Anthony and Kate as a couple 🥰

• The Adam Project (S2) ~ This is a fun sci-fi/time travel movie I watched with a friend and while it wasn’t anything mind-blowing, it was fun!
• Welcome to Eden (S1) ~ A Spanish Netflix Original about an Island and a cultish community! I feel like this could have been stronger, but I’m curious about the next season 👀

We’re reaching the middle of the year already 😱 I cannot quite believe it! June will be mostly spent with my internship and trying to get a Master thesis for next semester. I only have one more week in July then, before I have some time off! My main source of excitement in June will be the #ClearUrSht Readathon that runs the entire month 🥰 It’s all about reading your unread owned books, so the perfect challenge for me. Most of my physical TBR is here on my university bookshelf, so now is the time to get those books read. Having so many physical books from years ago has increasingly made me unhappy, so I’m working on tackling some books I hauled ages ago as well!

I’m also participating in the Books out of the Blue Bingo, it’s a 2-month-long Discord server challenge with lots of cool bingo boeard and I think it’ll be lots of fun 💕 If you want an invite, it’s best to contact Destiny! Here are some options I have:

📚 #ClearUrSht Readathon 📚

This month I’ll be joining ClearUrSht to tackle my owned books! Check out my post down below 💕 I’ll also read some queer books for Pride Month of course 🌈

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