July + August 2015 Recap

Besom font by Krisjanis Mezulis

Hello again, my bookish friends! Yes, I am still here and alive. I will save the "sorry for not blogging" speech and just jump right into talking about the many things that happened in July and August. I am officially back from my big adventure in New York, so I thought I'd share a little update :)

Find more photos on my Instagram, @amarisinwonderland!

1. Finding Neverland
A trip to New York is not a trip without watching a musical! As a big fan of fairytales, I knew the one I had to watch was Finding Neverland. It is "the story of how Peter became Pan," and it was magical. The story started a bit slow (mostly to introduce important characters) but it really was a lovely production. The themes from Peter Pan (the book by J.M. Barrie) were woven into the musical so well and I would highly recommend watching it if you get the chance to.

2. 1989 + Piece by Piece
I don't go to concerts regularly, so I was really lucky to be able to attend two (Taylor Swift's and Kelly Clarkson's) in August. Taylor's was, of course, INCREDIBLE. My two girlfriends and I were pretty far away from the stage so it wasn't exactly a party in our area, but I loved it all the same. It was my second time seeing Taylor in concert (my first one was back in 2011!) and while she has always been a great entertainer, it blows my mind to see how far she's come. Kelly Clarkson was also amazing — that woman can SANG. Her acoustic version of Piece by Piece was beautiful (it tells such a strong story) and when she threw it back to Breakaway/Behind These Hazel Eyes/Since You've Been Gone, everyone went nuts. But the cherry on top? Hearing Pentatonix. The first show my boyfriend and I watched together was The Sing-Off, and we both rooted for them to win so they have a very special place in my heart. They are UNBELIEVABLE singers/vocal artists!

3. Making pizza!
My boyfriend and I don't get a lot of opportunities to see each other (we don't live in the same city anymore) but he came over last week and we made pizzas for my family! It took us a lot longer than expected (two hours for three pizzas) but it was fun and really easy.

Favorites: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Books and pages read in July + August: 7 (and one novella!) // 2,082 pages

Books and pages read in 2015: 31 // 9,219 pages

I've removed the graphic novels and comic books from the stats above so I can compare the count with written novels/novellas. It makes me feel a bit worse because now I can clearly see I've only read 31 books this year (really???) ... but maybe it'll also motivate me to read more!

Favorite: Gotham Academy, Vol. 1 by Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, and Karl Kerschl

Trades/graphic novels and pages read in July + August: 8 // 1,430 pages

Trades/graphic novels and pages read in 2015: 13 // 2,401 pages

Being surrounded by people who love to talk about books as much as I do has inspired me to start making videos again! I also think it's a good opportunity for me to work on expressing my thoughts — I'm crap at describing how I feel so this forces me to review the way I speak (as well as remove overused phrases like "um" and "and so" ...)

As you can probably tell from the video, I became obsessed with comics over the summer. One of my goals is to finish the Marvel NOW! series by the end of 2016. Quite the challenge, but I thought it'd be something fun to work toward :)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (S1/S2)
Obsessed would probably be an understatement if I used it to describe my feelings for this show. Although the plot seemed to be all over the place sometimes, I WAS NOT ABLE TO STOP WATCHING. It jumpstarted my love for all things Marvel (prepare to see me talk about Marvel everywhere), which lead the way to comics. Lots of it. AoS has quickly become one of my favorite television shows — if you haven't started it yet, please do so now!

Three favorites:

• Tori Kelly has always been a favorite of mine so seeing her releasing an album is already pretty cool. But then she goes and collaborates with ED SHEERAN. Yep. I Was Made for Loving You is a beautiful song.
• Neverland is a song from Finding Neverland (the musical I talked about earlier) and the way Zendaya sings it is perfect perfect perfect. I found a video of Jennifer Hudson singing it and while she has an AMAZING voice, Zendaya just has that wipsy sound that is perfect in conveying the tone of the musical.
• And of course I had to add Can't Sleep Love, which will be on Pentatonix's new album! Not sure when it's coming out ... but "#soon" as they say :p

Books I'm looking forward to this month:

• Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling — SUPER excited for this one! I love Mindy Kaling so so much.
• Dumplin' by Julie Murphy — I read this back in June and loved it. I can't wait until more people start talking about it.
• The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman — Just LOOK at that cover! Spoiler alert: IT'S SEE THROUGH. Like tracing paper material! The pages are beeeautiful.
• Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson — I'm currently reading it and am stuck on p. 150 because not much has happened yet. I AM STILL HOPING IT WILL BE GOOD because I have been eagerly anticipating its release.

What are you looking forward to reading in September?

Do you watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and if no, then why not?!)

If you like comics, please tell me your favorites! I'm always looking for new ones!