Hello, beautiful people!
I have to say... I am so sad that April is over, because it was one of the best months of the year for me and I was my best self most of the time, I think. April was made of lots of studying, writing my last assignments for uni, attending my last classes, writing so much of my master's thesis (I still have quite a way to go, but still), participating in a 24 hour readathon, figuring out a big piece of myself that had been missing and talking about it, watching Avengers: Infinity War, visiting my boyfriend in Sweden after almost four months of not seeing each other and wandering in Copenhagen and Stockholm together. Oh April, why do you have to go?
W H A T I R E A D
I had a great reading month, but if we're being honest, it's mostly due to the 24 hour readathon I participated in, I managed to either read entirely/finish/start four books. Once again, I read from so many different genres and enjoyed all the books that I read, so yay! In total, I also did four buddy reads this month (I'm including my buddy read of Middlemarch in that, even though we're not done yet) and I've been enjoying it more and more.
- Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux, 3/5 stars
- Portrait of a Murderer (e-ARC) by Anne Meredith, 3/5 stars
- The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty, 5/5 stars
- Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young (e-ARC), 3/5 stars
- The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo, 4.5/5 stars
- To Be Read at Dusk by Charles Dickens, 3.5/5 stars
- Odd & True by Cat Winters, 4/5 stars
- Warcross by Marie Lu, 4/5 stars
- Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie 4/5 stars
- Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli, 4/5 stars
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 4/5 stars
My favourite book of the month was, of course, The City of Brass, which is such an amazing start to a fantasy trilogy. I also adored Leigh Bardugo's The Language of Thorns, it felt so good to be back in the Grishaverse after all this time and her tales were so amazing. For the rest, special mention to Leah on the Offbeat for being the book I needed to read this month and to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for being such a "me" book: I can't wait to watch the adaptation, even though it'll only come out in June here!
F A V O U R I T E B L O G P O S T S
Cait
@ Paper
Fury talked about autism rep and recommended books with good representation.
Kelly
@ Another
Book in the Wall explained why she believed sequels are
typically rated higher than their predecessors.
Elise
@ The
Bookish Actress talked about why she always likes the middle
books more.
Sayantani
Dasgupta, author of The Serpent's Secret, guest posted @ Chasing
Faerytales about folktales and myths.
Marie
@ Drizzle
& Hurricane Books asked how the hell do you review a
book and it was so relatable. She also wrote an amazing review
about To
Kill a Kingdom by
Alexandra Christo and
I so want to read this book!!
Resh
Susan @ The
Book Satchel reviewed both The
Song of Achilles and Circe by
Madeline Miller, it was hands down my favourite review I read this
month and I'm so motivated to binge-read the both of them as soon as
I get my hands on them!
Me in Nyhavn, Copenhagen
F A V O U R I T E S
TRAVEL // Copenhagen, Denmark
Ten days ago, I was in Copenhagen and completely fell in love with this city. I was with my boyfriend and we walked everywhere, visited the city, castles, museums, ate a lot, it was so amazing. From the very first moments we were there, I started feeling that it was the type of city I could live in. Even though it's a capital, it's not as overwhelming than capitals like Paris or London (I love those cities too, though), it's so peaceful, maybe it's due to the way of living in Denmark, I'm not sure. But it's a city near the sea, when I've always been a sea kind of girl, it's a city where you can actually breathe as there are enough parks and let's be real, it's quite stunning. *sigh* I already miss it so much.
Ten days ago, I was in Copenhagen and completely fell in love with this city. I was with my boyfriend and we walked everywhere, visited the city, castles, museums, ate a lot, it was so amazing. From the very first moments we were there, I started feeling that it was the type of city I could live in. Even though it's a capital, it's not as overwhelming than capitals like Paris or London (I love those cities too, though), it's so peaceful, maybe it's due to the way of living in Denmark, I'm not sure. But it's a city near the sea, when I've always been a sea kind of girl, it's a city where you can actually breathe as there are enough parks and let's be real, it's quite stunning. *sigh* I already miss it so much.
MUSIC // The Phantom of the Opera
The first book I read in April was Gaston Leroux's novel, which inspired the musical and while I definitely wasn't impressed by the novel (the narration wasn't great, but the story amazing), I knew I would fall in love with the musical adaptation... and that's definitely what happened. I know some people don't like it, but I watched the 2004 movie and adored it, and am planning to try to watch the musical on stage next time I'll go to London (it might be a long shot, but still). Depending on the time of the day, I have a different song stuck inside my mind*, even though The Music of the Night is my favourite (it is such a Kylo Ren song, by the way). Falling in love with musicals inspired by French novels is quite a trend with me, I don't mind it for one bit.
*if you caught the reference, here are phantom cookies for you!
Camp NaNoWriMo
I'm in the second year of my master's degree, which means I have to write... A master's thesis! To be more precise, it's my second one because we already had to write one last year. *cue intense crying* I'm not going to lie, it's pretty hard, especially considering how much we're supposed to write, so I decided that to motivate myself to write a huge part of it in April, I would do Camp NaNoWriMo. It was such an amazing experience, as you set your own writing goals and while I couldn't write every day because of my last assignments... or life in general, it was a huge success for me, because I love stats and competing with myself. While I'm not anywhere near done, I wrote so much of it that I know I'm on the right path. I got this. If you're in the middle of exams/big assignments/a master's thesis/anything stressful, you got this too.
PS: I won't talk numbers, because I know that seeing people talking about a number of pages stresses me out and it's probably the case for other persons haha.
*if you caught the reference, here are phantom cookies for you!
Camp NaNoWriMo
I'm in the second year of my master's degree, which means I have to write... A master's thesis! To be more precise, it's my second one because we already had to write one last year. *cue intense crying* I'm not going to lie, it's pretty hard, especially considering how much we're supposed to write, so I decided that to motivate myself to write a huge part of it in April, I would do Camp NaNoWriMo. It was such an amazing experience, as you set your own writing goals and while I couldn't write every day because of my last assignments... or life in general, it was a huge success for me, because I love stats and competing with myself. While I'm not anywhere near done, I wrote so much of it that I know I'm on the right path. I got this. If you're in the middle of exams/big assignments/a master's thesis/anything stressful, you got this too.
PS: I won't talk numbers, because I know that seeing people talking about a number of pages stresses me out and it's probably the case for other persons haha.
Now, let's move on to TV shows, I put them all together,
because once again, I watched a lot of TV shows!
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)
Finally, after more of a year of waiting, A Series of Unfortunate Events, adapted from Lemony Snicket's series, which was my favourite as a child (I named one of my family's cats after Violet Baudelaire, after all), returned with its second season. I have to confess that I watch it in French (gasp!), because I watch it with my family and it makes the experience all the better, especially when my 10 y.o. brother starts screaming that Sunny wasn't supposed to walk that early (he's so precious). In any case, once again, Netflix did a stellar job at adapting the novels, I was still as scared as I used to be during The Hostile Hospital, they so captured the aesthetic of the series, it makes me feel so nostalgic. I am eagerly waiting for season 3 next year, because The Carnivorous Carnival ends on such a cliffhanger (I knew it, but still) and I need more.
Finally, after more of a year of waiting, A Series of Unfortunate Events, adapted from Lemony Snicket's series, which was my favourite as a child (I named one of my family's cats after Violet Baudelaire, after all), returned with its second season. I have to confess that I watch it in French (gasp!), because I watch it with my family and it makes the experience all the better, especially when my 10 y.o. brother starts screaming that Sunny wasn't supposed to walk that early (he's so precious). In any case, once again, Netflix did a stellar job at adapting the novels, I was still as scared as I used to be during The Hostile Hospital, they so captured the aesthetic of the series, it makes me feel so nostalgic. I am eagerly waiting for season 3 next year, because The Carnivorous Carnival ends on such a cliffhanger (I knew it, but still) and I need more.
Everything Sucks! (Netflix)
I screamed a lot about it two weeks ago on social media, because I'm still not okay with the fact that Netlix decided to not renew it for a second season when it's been out for... TWO MONTHS. Everything Sucks! is set in 1996 in the town of Boring, it follows high school life, with all its ups and mostly its downs, it has lots of pop culture references, one of the most diverse cast of characters and the representation is amazing. I wrote an entire blog post about it that will describe it so much better, but I watched the entire thing in one evening because I couldn't stop.
Black Lightning (CW and it's on Netflix)
A few months ago, one of my friends recommended me Black Lightning and I finally got around to watch it (I think I finished it before she did in the end, haha). This show airs on the CW and is based on a DC comics character, but hear me out, for once you don't have to be all caught up with four different shows because there is no crossover (so far), FINALLY (I'm so done with their stupid technique to make me watch their superhero shows, I dropped out of half of them at this point lmao). Anyway, Black Lightning follows Jefferson Pierce, who stopped being the vigilante Black Lightning nine years ago, after seeing the effects it had on his family. However, he is forced to become a vigilante once again when a local gang leads to increased crime and corruption in his community of Freeland.
In many ways, Black Lightning reminds me of Netflix's Daredevil that I adore too. BUT, one of the things that make Black Lightning particularly amazing is the diversity. Not only are all the main characters black, but it's set in a black community (only two significant characters are white, but they're secondary) and has an openly lesbian character*, Anissa Pierce, which is the best character of the show. It also has amazing family dynamics, the plot is brilliant and we binge-watched the entire thing in three days with my boyfriend, when we've barely watched any TV shows for the past year. It's so good.
*I'm highlighting this even more considering Everything Sucks! had a lesbian character too, but got cancelled and there is so little representation that I needed to point this out even more, okay I'm done ranting.
The second season of Legion (FOX) is currently airing and if you've been following me for a while, you know that I adore this show (and here is why), which was my favourite of 2017. Sadly, I only had time to watch the first two episodes (which means I'm two episodes behind already, I hate life), but I adore it so far and I can't wait to catch up and continue as it airs for the next few weeks! I'm only half-including it in this because I literally watched two episodes, that's so little, but I LOVE IT ANYWAY. Bye.
I screamed a lot about it two weeks ago on social media, because I'm still not okay with the fact that Netlix decided to not renew it for a second season when it's been out for... TWO MONTHS. Everything Sucks! is set in 1996 in the town of Boring, it follows high school life, with all its ups and mostly its downs, it has lots of pop culture references, one of the most diverse cast of characters and the representation is amazing. I wrote an entire blog post about it that will describe it so much better, but I watched the entire thing in one evening because I couldn't stop.
Black Lightning (CW and it's on Netflix)
A few months ago, one of my friends recommended me Black Lightning and I finally got around to watch it (I think I finished it before she did in the end, haha). This show airs on the CW and is based on a DC comics character, but hear me out, for once you don't have to be all caught up with four different shows because there is no crossover (so far), FINALLY (I'm so done with their stupid technique to make me watch their superhero shows, I dropped out of half of them at this point lmao). Anyway, Black Lightning follows Jefferson Pierce, who stopped being the vigilante Black Lightning nine years ago, after seeing the effects it had on his family. However, he is forced to become a vigilante once again when a local gang leads to increased crime and corruption in his community of Freeland.
In many ways, Black Lightning reminds me of Netflix's Daredevil that I adore too. BUT, one of the things that make Black Lightning particularly amazing is the diversity. Not only are all the main characters black, but it's set in a black community (only two significant characters are white, but they're secondary) and has an openly lesbian character*, Anissa Pierce, which is the best character of the show. It also has amazing family dynamics, the plot is brilliant and we binge-watched the entire thing in three days with my boyfriend, when we've barely watched any TV shows for the past year. It's so good.
*I'm highlighting this even more considering Everything Sucks! had a lesbian character too, but got cancelled and there is so little representation that I needed to point this out even more, okay I'm done ranting.
Last but not least,
The second season of Legion (FOX) is currently airing and if you've been following me for a while, you know that I adore this show (and here is why), which was my favourite of 2017. Sadly, I only had time to watch the first two episodes (which means I'm two episodes behind already, I hate life), but I adore it so far and I can't wait to catch up and continue as it airs for the next few weeks! I'm only half-including it in this because I literally watched two episodes, that's so little, but I LOVE IT ANYWAY. Bye.
L O O K I N G A H E A D
A new category, to focus on what I'm looking forward to for the next month. Not much in my life, because I'll just be writing my master's thesis, but I will need distractions (and reasons to procrastinate it) at times.
> There are two movies I'm particularly excited about for May, the first one being The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, because Adam Driver is in it and it will be released in France the day it premieres at the Cannes festival (aka May 19th). Solo: a Star Wars story is also coming out this May and I have a complicated relationship with it, because I am terrified I will be disappointed by it, but I'm starting to form hopes... As it's the only Star Wars content I'll get for a while. Oh Episode IX, come faster, you're already driving me crazy.
> For TV shows, I'm just excited about the second season of Dear White People, which will be released on Netflix this Friday! The first season was so amazing, I hope it'll also be the case for the second one. I am in the mood to start so many TV shows though, it's not great for productivity.
> For books, there aren't a lot I'm specifically looking forward to, but We Are Young by Cat Clarke is coming out this week, I adored Girlhood that I read last year by her, so I want more. As I also need to feed my Star Wars addiction, Most Wanted by Rae Carson, a Solo novel by a YA author, is quite an anticipated release for me. It follows Han and Qi'ra and that's all I know. See, that's what I was talking about, I'm starting to have hopes for Solo, it's not good. *cries*
> There are two movies I'm particularly excited about for May, the first one being The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, because Adam Driver is in it and it will be released in France the day it premieres at the Cannes festival (aka May 19th). Solo: a Star Wars story is also coming out this May and I have a complicated relationship with it, because I am terrified I will be disappointed by it, but I'm starting to form hopes... As it's the only Star Wars content I'll get for a while. Oh Episode IX, come faster, you're already driving me crazy.
> For TV shows, I'm just excited about the second season of Dear White People, which will be released on Netflix this Friday! The first season was so amazing, I hope it'll also be the case for the second one. I am in the mood to start so many TV shows though, it's not great for productivity.
> For books, there aren't a lot I'm specifically looking forward to, but We Are Young by Cat Clarke is coming out this week, I adored Girlhood that I read last year by her, so I want more. As I also need to feed my Star Wars addiction, Most Wanted by Rae Carson, a Solo novel by a YA author, is quite an anticipated release for me. It follows Han and Qi'ra and that's all I know. See, that's what I was talking about, I'm starting to have hopes for Solo, it's not good. *cries*
How did April treat you? What were your favourite books of the month?
Any new favourite things in general?
Lots of love,
Lucie
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