May // axe throwing + blogversary + home again

This month. I can't even begin to explain what a whirlwind this month has been. I finished my study abroad program, met my family at the Copenhagen Airport, boarded a ship for Norway, cruised around Norway and Scotland, flew home to Chicago, and cleaned out my closet.

Yep, that ending was a little anticlimactic, I know. But it was an epic accomplishment. I haven't done a full closet clean up since maybe seven years ago. But you're not here to hear about my housekeeping glories, are you? (Wait, you're not? You don't want to hear about how many giant bags of clothes I'm donating to Salvation Army? WELL THE ANSWER IS FIVE.) You're just wondering about the post title and how the words "axe throwing" somehow snuck in there.

Well I'll tell you.

On our cruise, we stopped by to the Isle of Skye and (after a 1 hour walk that was supposed to be 20 minutes according to a kind and apparently untrustworthy Scot) ended up at a axe throwing, archery, and rifle shooting place. My mother had done Research and this was apparently The Thing To Do. 

So now I know how to throw axes and shoot rifles (with mediocre accuracy), so you better watch out. This is all, of course, part of my giant plan to become a badass YA heroine which started when I realized I had been born with green eyes.

ALSO THIS MONTH, this baby blog turned three! Did you miss that gloriously glitter-ful post of cake and giveaways (three of them!) and games? Well, you won't want to pass up this opportunity to win lots of books! (One of the giveaways is INT! The other two are US only, unfortunately.) The giveaway was supposed to end tomorrow, but I've extended it for another week! Click here to join the party...

(photos link to instagram)

Over the course of the semester, I ended up having some books (and bookish goodies) sent to my Chicago house while I was in Denmark. Soooo, this haul is going to be a four-month haul, instead of a monthly one. :-)

Uprooted by Naomi Novik - my last #OTSPSecretSister gift from back in January from the lovely XXXX! I just read it this month and ADORED it - review coming soon!

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doehrr - this popped up on my family's bookshelves at some point during my four month absence and no one can explain how it got there. If you sent it, thank you! I have a crappy memory so maybe I entered a giveaway and forgot?

Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen - my Danish host mother gave this to me for my birthday in February! I'm saving it for when I'm feeling nostalgic for my Scandinavian Crime Fiction.

THAT GLORIOUS MUG is from the Society6 shop of the ever-lovely Cait (Paper Fury)! I can't wait to use it :-)

These I picked up at a used book sale in Copenhagen which had an abnormally large collection of English books and a deal of 6 for 500 kroner (not the best deal but books are AWFULLY expensive in Denmark). 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - just finished and loved it!

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie - read earlier this month! review to come!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - read coincidentally at the same time as my sister - maybe she'll pop by the blog to review it with me?

Dracula by Bram Stoker - I've read this one before but I'm about to start a reread!

The Code of the Woosters and Right Ho, Jeeves! by P. G. Wodehouse - I still haven't read any of Wodehouse's books but I really want to!

How was your May? Read anything interesting? I feel like I've been out of the bookworld loop since I've had no wifi for two weeks, so tell me what I missed! And have you entered my giveaways yet? :-)

July // Cake + Crime Scenes

~WELL. July was OVERFLOWING WITH JOY AND FUN.
SUCH a good month for me. I went beaching with friends, ate chocolate cake on my sister's birthday, and made things glow in organic chemistry lab. My sister made her own birthday cake and it was delicious and rich and chocolatey - and it didn't have any wheat or sugar in it! My sister is a magic paleo sorceress who makes good things out of ingredients that shouldn't make good things.

~ALSO this month I met up with Skylar from Life of a Random! I've never met up with a blogging friend in real life, so this was quite exciting. And it wasn't as awkward as we both expected it to be - three cheers for socially-adept introverts!

~As I mentioned above, I did make something glow in chemistry lab. It was a substance called luminol and is used in crime scenes to detect blood. It glows an eerie sort of blue. Here is an image I found on the internet  of a crime scene where someone was obviously murdered in the bathtub:

In our lab, it just looked more like this:

Weirdly enough, when I was in London, my sister and I went to an exhibit on forensics where they talked about luminol as a blood-detector, and I actually made a note about it in my phone. I didn't realize that we would be actually MAKING THE STUFF in organic chem lab until last week when I finally read the procedure. HA. Now I know all about it for future novels. (Obviously I took organic chemistry lab as research just so I can write about magic potions in my novels. And now crime scenes.*)

*It was actually a prerequisite for medical school. But that just sounds boring.

LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS THIS MONTH

First off, I won the June NovlBox, and it arrived this month! Look at all the books I got from it:

The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson

Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood (ARC!)

Those Girls by Lauren Saft

Rules of Summer by Johanna Philbin

Then, my uncle stopped by to drop off Island of the World by Michael D. O'Brien, which is huge and intimidating. My uncle said it's like Tolkien and Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and CS Lewis all wrapped into one, which kind of creates GIGANORMOUS expectations. Just a bit. 

I also went to the library to get Days of Blood and Starlight and Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor because I am an unapologetic binge reader. Yup. 

Click on the photos to go to their instagram versions.

 

 

Katie from Spiral-Bound introduced us to Riley, a character from her current WIP. Basically, because I'm lazy and never got around to writing a Beautiful People post in the last two months, I'm sending you to read hers, because it's awesome and Riley is badass.

Skylar from Life of a Random posted pictures from our meetup this month! Go check them out!

Cait from Paper Fury asked: why do we unfollow blogs? It's sad, but we do. It's a necessary evil.

Meeting Online Friends IN REAL LIFE! 

{Skylar from Life of a Random and I talk about what to expect when you meet up in person with someone you've only known online}

Rook by Sharon Cameron // Swashbuckling Dystopia wheeeeee!

{This review is basically lots of Scarlet Pimpernel gifs}

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recently Acquired Tomes

{This is obviously not up-to-date anymore!}

How was your July? Did you learn any secret spy skills like I did? (If you ever find yourself in need of a blood-stain detector, hit me up.) And which of my new books should I read first?

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recently Acquired Tomes

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by the fantastic people over at The Broke and The Bookish! Covers link to Goodreads.

This week's topic is actually not a "Top" ten, simply the last ten books that came into my possession.

I don't accrue books as quickly as some readers. I don't do a weekly haul post because, frankly, I haul as many books in a month as most people do in a week. So most weeks, there's nothing to share.

I think this is because I very rarely buy books I haven't read yet, and I'm not all up in the ARC game as some other bloggers are. So, mostly, the only books I get are from the library. And as I am in the middle of school (I'm always in the middle of school), I haven't been going to the library as much.

Oh well.

1. Fairest by Marissa Meyer

This one I got at Barnes and Noble, with a loverly gift card that had been sitting unused in my wallet for months. I finished this teensy little book two weeks ago and am DYING for Winter. Thankfully there were three bonus Winter chapters in the hardcover of Fairest, but that might not have helped so much as made me even more excited. My sister is reading Fairest now so I have a fangirling buddy.

2. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

This is from a recent library trip, and I read it two weeks ago as well. It was ethereal and magical and heartwrending and funny and cute and ALL THE THINGS. A review will be coming up eventually, if you wait long enough, because I somehow can't get my reviews on a nice schedule.

3. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Another from the library trip, and one I finished last week. IT WAS SO GOOD. Review to come in an undetermined length of time.

4. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

The third and final acquirement from my library trip. Haven't started it yet, since I've decided I'm going to finish the Daughter of Smoke and Bone books first.


5. Watership Down by Richard Adams

This, the two Madeline L'Engle books below, as well as the Douglas Adams, came from the handy little shelf at my train station, where our local library puts books that they're discarding. And they're FREE FOR THE TAKING. I've found so many excellent (though slightly beat up) classics there. I haven't read Watership Down before, so I'm excited!


6. A Wind in the Door and 7. A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle

These two are sequels to A Wrinkle in Time, and though I've read AWiT and AWitD, it's been a while. I need a reentry into this magical world.

8. Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams  

I confess, I haven't read the Hitchhiker books, but I know I should and I know I will love them! I thought I'd grab it as an incentive to read all the Hitchhiker books that came before it. 


9. Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karlius

I got an ARC of this book, but it was a surprise since I didn't remember requesting it. I now vaguely remember entering an online giveaway - thanks, Swoon Reads! Anyway, I read it last month, and it was okay, but I had some issues with it. You can read about it in my review later this month!

10. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

I won this in an online giveaway and it's SIGNED! It was SUCH a lovely book. I ADORED the characters and the story and will be posting a review eventually.


Have you accrued any exciting books recently? What are you most excited to read?

June // Chemistry + Renaissance Faire + Camp NaNo

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans!

This post is late because I deleted it all by accident right before I was about to post it. Why do these things happen? Argh.

Anyway, I decided that I didn't like my previous monthly recap look, and so I changed it. Yay for fresh looks!

~My favorite book this month was probably A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, though If I Stay by Gayle Foreman was definitely a close second.

~I've decided I'm not going to do Camp NaNo this July because I need to work on the book of my heart, which is VeniceNovel. All my other WIPs, I realized, were more like intellectual puzzles - I didn't have them in my heart, just in my mind. So they were going nowhere at the moment. That's why I've decided to go back to VeniceNovel for the time being, because I know exactly what I want the reader to feel when they read it. And VeniceNovel needs some major rehauls that don't work well with NaNo's quantity-over-quality mentality. So, good luck campers! Maybe I'll join you in November.

~I'm going to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in August! My mom found discount tickets and so my sister and I (and possibly some friends) are heading out. I AM MAJORLY EXCITED. Going to the Ren Faire has literally been a dream of mine since I was an infant and knew such a thing existed. AND NOW IT'S HAPPENING. FINALLY. SO PSYCHED.

~Summer school is in full swing and I am doing lots and lots of organic chemistry lab experiments and writing lots and lots of long reports on them. I don't awfully mind it, but it's making me SUPER grateful that there is such a thing as summer classes and I don't have to take orgo lab with my regular courses this fall. And also I am so happy that my other summer school class is Spanish, which is a joke. The language program at my school is crap, which, though it isn't teaching me much, means it's really easy to get good grades in Spanish without any work.

Watership Down by Richard Adams (from the lovely free book shelf my library set up at our train station)
A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L'Engle (also from the train station book shelf)
Fairest by Marissa Meyer (from a Barnes and Noble trip with friends - I had a gift card and put it to good use! So exited to read this one)
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (library)
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (library)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (library)

Click on the photos to go to their Instagram versions.

 

 

I only posted four times in June, so I don't think it's exactly fair to do a top three... so let's settle for two:

May // The Month of Adventure 
{Last month's recap was basically just pictures of my trip to London and Paris - how excitement!}

My Writing Strengths (and Weaknesses)
{No one's perfect. No, not even me. Shocker, I know.}

Brittany at the Book Addict's Guide posted the latest #OTSPSecretSister sign-up information! If you don't know what this is, you should go check it out. It's lovely and uplifiting and I hope I get to be a part of it!.

Cait at Paper Fury talked about why she always finishes books, and I basically agreed with every single thing she said.

Bennet at My Sky of Paper and Ink gave a pep talk on writing the first draft of a novel. I'm kind of crappy at finishing drafts so I always need this kind of motivation!


How was your month? Read any exciting books? Are you doing Camp NaNo? And if you are - tell me about your novel-project! 

April // The Month Of Friends

~Lots of school. But The End is in sight!

~I didn't write ANYTHING except for papers. No short stories. No novels. No outlines. :-(

~I didn't read much either. I think I only read three books outside of schoolwork.

~But I did have some exciting presentations. One on Les Miserables. One on Phantom of the Opera. And one on Man of La Mancha. (Wow, didn't realize they were all musicals. That was exciting.)
But I was super nervous that during the last one someone would ask me if I had read Don Quixote (it's what MoLM is based on), and I would have to hang my head in shame and say nooooooooo really quietly. The whole class knows I'm a book worm, so it would have been super bad. Thankfully, everyone just assumed I had read the book and I didn't have to face that shameful situation.

~THERE IS ACTUALLY APPROPRIATE SPRING/SUMMER WARMTH. That will probably stay this time.

~Darn. That last point most likely jinxed it and next week we will have snow. Just watch.

~I'm going through a weird emotional time right now. This is the first time in - actually, forever (cue Frozen song) - that I've had to entirely re-make my friend group. Being homeschooled through highschool has provided me with lifelong friends that didn't leave after gradeschool /middleschool/ whatever. I've had one long continuous educational experience, and so my friend group, with some people trickling out and in over time of course, has remained pretty stable.
Now comes college. And last semester, my friend group was still my high school people. Of course, I had friends in college, but they weren't my friend group. Well, now I've made my transition into "college Sophia," and have an entirely new friend group here at school. AND IT IS THE WEIRDEST THING. I'm not used to seeing friends every day, and then having to say, "Goodbye, I'll see you in the fall.". Of course, we're going to plan get-togethers over the summer, but it'll be different. I'M GOING TO MISS THESE PEOPLE SO BADLY.
I didn't realize how close I had gotten with my college friends until I started thinking about how it would be to suddenly not see these people that I literally see every single day. I'm not used to it! In highschool I'd go for days without seeing friends. Now I get a little sad every weekend because that's two more days without them.
Thus, emotional turmoil. But happy emotional turmoil because aww baby Sophia has college frendsies now!

~That was both deeper and longer than I meant it to be. It was just supposed to say: YAY I have friends and BOO I'm going to miss them over the summer!

To make up for last month's lack of Book Hauling, I went to town this month. AND ALL FOR FREE!

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The Sea Wolf by Jack London

The books above I found at my school library, where I discovered a shelf with a sign something along the lines of "Take a book, leave a book, share a book." Of course, I took two.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

This magnificent pile was from my train station. Yes, there are books at my train station. The local library has set up a shelf for books that they are discarding, and people can take whatever they like. Usually, it's full of harlequin romances and messed up scifi/fantasy, but occasionally (a few times a year) I find a classic in there like Great Expectations or one of the Anne of Green Gables books. But this month was a jackpot. I just kept throwing more and more books into my backpack - the other people in the station must have thought I was crazy! But now I have a pile of new-to-me books to read - and for free!

(I do own a Johnny Tremain already, so if anyone wants this mildly beat-up copy, let me know. I thought I might as well take it and pass it on to someone who'd read and love it.)

Wow, I really didn't post much this month. May 8th is the last day of classes for me, so after that - prepare for a barrage of awesome reviews!

Beautiful People #8: Lili and Alicia
{Meet the siblings from my contemporary WIP underfed outline-less plot bunny!}


Am I a good parent to my book babies?
{This month's vlog! Also I rant about highlighter in books.}



How was your April? 

~Sophia