Week Notes #9: Updates + Currently Reading

Photo taken from my personal Instagram, @amarisinwonderland 😌

QUICK UPDATES (TL;DR VERSION)

• Still working on my masters program (I'm currently in the middle of my third semester and will be graduating in May 2020!!!)
• Still working as a part-time aide at a public library—it's a lot of shelving, but I enjoy it.
• Can't say I'm back (because when am I ever, lol) but I am going to try and make time to pop in every so often! I miss blogging and I wish I could leave a comment for every single one of you.
• After destroying my blog's layout, I just decided to buy one instead of wasting my time fixing it. I'd much rather support someone who is good at designing! I love the way Rachel from Hello, Chelly's blog looks, so this is from the same creator.
• I started up my YouTube channel again!!! SHE'S ALIVE. I'm going to work on writing a text version of some videos to share on here, but please watch if you want to and let me know what you think :)
• Started *HARDCORE* stanning BTS back in April but we'll talk about that another time 😂

CURRENTLY READING

Many of the books I'm reading now (and will be reading in the next two months) are for my "Materials in Young Adult" class, so you'll be seeing much of that on all my social networking sites! Basically, I have a big assignment due at the end of the semester that requires me to review 30 different items. If you have any recommendations for young adult books, movies, music—please tell me! I'm still working on putting together a final list.

Actually, Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is for an assignment due this Wednesday and I'm still working on the audiobook 😅 This is my second time reading it, but it's such a different experience hearing it out loud by voice actors. There are sound effects and background noises that set the atmosphere, and it really feels like I'm transported to space? I mentioned that Illuminae is one of my favorite sci-fi novels in one of my YouTube videos (!!!)—not that I've read very many—so I will be finishing this up very soon and then moving on to its sequel, Gemina! Probably not for a few months though ... 😬

I know I don't have time to read books that can't work for my assignments, but I am so interested in Know My Name by Chanel Miller. I haven't been following her case that closely, but I am aware of what happened and am really proud of her that she is opening up and sharing her story. Not that she owes it to anyone, of course. But I think people who have gone through the same situation will be able to read this and feel understood. And that is a big big deal. It really reminds me of A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti—different circumstances, but perhaps the same mentality in some way? I'll have to revisit this thought when I finish Know My Name. I'm only one chapter in, but I love her voice already.

I had no idea what The 57 Bus by Dashka Slayer was about before starting it (yes, for the school assignment 🤪) but I knew it was going to deal with some serious topics. It's about two teenagers who live in different parts of the same city and how one set the other on fire while riding a bus. There's a big focus on gender identity and the influences of growing up surrounded by crime and poverty, and it's discussed in a non-biased way, I think. So far, I'd say it's written really well for teens to understand. And interesting enough to keep their attention!

🖤🖤🖤

I'd love to hear from you—what are some good things that happened in October?
I can't believe November is in a week!!!