straight outta my mind | lately with lila june, july, & august 2023

Hello again, dear friends! I know I took a brief, unannounced hiatus but I’m back now and it’s so nice! I hope you all are doing well, and if not I hope brighter days head your way soon!! I, for one, have been dizzyingly busy this last month and a half! Life just seems to be flying by, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a not-so-pleasant way…but you know, I just keep trying to put one foot in front of the other and to be gentle with myself.

Anyhoo, since I haven’t done a wrap up for three whole months (good grief!), I figured I’d start off by checking one giant three month wrap up off the list. I’ve actually not consumed much media for the last three months given that life has kept me pretty darn busy, but I have watched a few things and listened to some awesome music, so let’s check out what I’ve had going on…

what i posted

Oddly Specific Things That’ll Make Me Pick Up A Fantasy Book + Recommendations

8 #OwnVoices Fantasy Recommendations for Disability Pride Month (And Year Round)

2nd Quarter Check In

what i’m currently reading

🐲Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros I’ve had this audiobook checked out from my library via Libby for, like, four months now but it’s because with everything going on in my life I’ve barely been able to finish listening! That said, I’m about 70% through Fourth Wing and I really am loving it. It’s just such a fun, light fantasy romance read that I can easily pick up and get totally lost in, which is great for when I have breaks during my hectic life.

✨Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones I loved Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (despite its questionable themes) so I was super excited to receive an ALC of S. Jae-Jones’ long awaited upcoming release, Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara. I’m still listening to it because I’ve been crazy busy, but so far I’ve really been enjoying it!

what i plan on reading

In addition to hopefully finishing Fourth Wing and Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara, I’d also love to at least start reading Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer and My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine. I’ve been seeing Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s TikToks all about Assistant for the Villain since the start, and so I’m super curious to see how her published version of the novel pans out. As for My Roommate is a Vampire, well, who doesn’t want a fun, spoopy romcom to open the autumnal season?

what i watched

🦈Nimona (⭐⭐⭐) I read the original graphic novel this movie was adapted from years ago and loved it, so I was excited to see it brought to screen. Unfortunately, this film ended up not being my favorite. I didn’t love the animation style or the story changes and I also felt like the film felt oddly targeted towards middle graders, when the source material was solidly YA.

🌍Cunk on Earth (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) It’s rare for me to find comedies that genuinely get me to literally laugh out loud, so I was shocked that this mockumentary mini series on Netflix was able to do so consistently throughout watching! Cunk on Earth is exactly my kind of humor and kept me laughing the whole way through! This mini series is a mockumentary following Philomena Cunk as she “recounts” a less-than-accurate history of humanity, interviewing some very confused professionals as she goes. 10000/10, highly recommend watching!!!

what i listened to

Lately my music taste has been a wild mixture of songs from Doja Cat’s latest era, Taylor Swift songs, and Olivia Rodrigo’s newest singles, mixed in with some Arabic and Latin music. I’ve been absolutely jammin’ out and music has really been keeping me sane during this hectic period of my life, so I hope you can enjoy these playlists from the last three months too!

what i bookmarked

Lucia explored the topic of the (lack of) general popularity of Black/African/African Diaspora books

Abby gushed about Taylor Swift songs she associates with book couples and recommended 30 more YA books with disability representation

Ritz talked over the problem of diversity, superficiality, and filling quotas

Amanda chatted with Priyanka Taslim (author of The Love Match) about multilingual writing

Cronk really thoughtfully delved into Throne of Glass, gateway fantasy, and genre gatekeeping and reviewed the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas while discussing the role of romantasy (Video)

Sumedha taught us some vlogging tips for beginners

And On She Reads interviewed beloved fantasy author Samantha Shannon

Mel explained how she keeps track of books

EJ reviewed audiobook apps

Rania interviewed Ananya Devarajan, author of the 2023 YA release Kismat Connection

Krysta dared to ask, “does everyone need to have a love of reading?“

Chiara suggested activities for bookworms

Sophie discussed planning and prepping (and panicking about) your novel and listed her bookish turn-offs

DramaRambles attempted following Jane Austen’s writing routine

Louise talked about book things she’s bored of

Gauri recommended 2023 queer book releases by Asian authors

Bianca highlighted sapphic books

Sophie explained why she doen’t like classics

Louise took a closer look at “dead” book genres

Abi recommended their favorite queer sci fi and fantasy books

Maddie shined a light on queer books releasing July through December of 2023

India gabbed about her favorite queer books and books she thought would be five stars but weren’t

Caro gave us some Pride month book recommendations

Marie spotlighted queer books on her TBR

Leonie explored the evolution of fae from Tinkerbell to faerie smut (Video)

Inah showed off the perfect books for travevl adventures

Asha guided us through 11 Agatha Christie books we shouldn’t miss out on reading

Becky thought over consequences in books and why the lack of them frustrates her

Amaya investigated if she still enjoys her favorite reads

Tasya talked about summer book tropes she loves

Ahaana gave us book recommendations based on her favorite movies

Michelle asked us to pick an emoji to get a book recommendation

Sofia wants us to help her figure out if she should read these popular books

Ange spotlighted her favorite LGBT+ horror

Shannen mulled over the question of whether or not self help books are actually helpful

Library of a Viking ranted about the issue of having multiple special editions which each have different extensive bonus chapters (Video)

Sarah tipped us off to six ways to read more affordably

Anna revisited her thoughts on Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

misccellaineous things i’ve been enjoying

During Amazon’s Prime Day sale, Hobonichi Weeks Mega planners were on sale from $30 down to $15, so you can bet your bottom dollar that I snagged one! I got the grass green Mega version, and I’ve been loving using it and have found it so incredibly helpful so far. I’ve also purchased some sticker sheets and stamp sets from some of my favorite small artists, and I adore using them to spruce up my Weeks.

I’ve also discovered the YouTube channel Katherout and have been loving it. As a fellow lonely extroverted girly in her 20s, I relate so much to Katherine’s content and it’s been so nice to find out that I’m not alone in the way I feel! Katherout has definitely become a new comfort channel, and I highly recommend you check it out!

what life’s like lately

Between one semester ending in early August and another beginning in late August, my life has been hella busy! I made it through Summer semester finals with my sanity barely hanging on by a thread, but in the end I managed to pass both my English and my History courses. Then, of course, I had to scramble to sign up for Fall semester courses. I’m taking Choir, another English course, and I’m also retaking my Physics I course. When I think about it, I’m actually now taking all classes that I enjoy and so I’m looking forward to this semster.

In terms of life outside of school, it’s been pretty alright. I hung out in DC with friends a couple of times, including going to a free weekly bachata and salsa dance course that took place outside right on the riverfront in DC at sunset (and I loved it, so I’m definitely going to go again with more friends). I also celebrated one of my dear friend’s birthday and we went out and had some fun with some other friends. But beyond that, not much happened. One of my good friends returned from visiting her family in Egypt, though, so I made her a pen pal letter to come home to, which was really fun to put together! She and I will also be hanging out and doing lots of fun activities this fall so I’m looking forward to that! But beyond that, the rest is up in the air. I’d love to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival and to go apple picking this season, but nothing’s for sure so we’ll have to see!

spill the beans, friends!

• How was late summer 2023 for you?
• Have you read any interesting books lately?
• Are you looking forward to anything coming up this autumn?