lately with lila august 2024 | a slow motion month

Hello again, dear friends! I hope all is well for you, and if not, I hope brighter days head your way soon! Once again time has flown by, dragging me behind it through the streets of the universe 😂 I mean, it’s hard for me to believe it’s over halfway through the year! But somehow, someway, we’re here at the start of September, and August has indeed slipped away like a moment in time. So let’s talk about what went down this past August!

what i posted

what i read

Sadly, this last month I didn’t read anything, as I spent the month largely being incredibly fatigued 😭

what i plan on reading

orilium magical readathon: autumn equinox

This year, G (of the booktube channel Book Roast) decided to move the Autumn Equinox segment of her Orilium Magical Readathon event to September, and of course I’ll be taking part again! G’s Orilium Magical Readathon is a fantasy roleplaying based series of readathons that take place throughout each year. She puts so much time, energy, and sheer creativity into each event that I’m constantly in awe! You can find out all about this year’s Orilium Magical Readathon: Autumn Equinox in G’s announcement video here.

the story so far…

Now, to give a bit of a recap on my character…Her name is Nawa and she’s an elf from the land of Darkmeadow, where she was one of the rare, non-Ilterean scholars in the Great Underworld Library. She was able to attain such a position as she was found and adopted as a baby by several Ilterean scholars, who raised her in the library. But as Nawa grew up, she also grew to have many questions about the mysteries surrounding her past and where she could’ve come from. With the goal of finding answers in mind, she embarked on The Novice Path. Upon completion of The Novice Path, she entered Orilium Academy, where she was inducted into House of the Arcane, received the coduit of an orb, was gifted a pocket dimension, and was handed down the guild’s legacy of The Monocle of Vigilance. This semester, Nawa has decided to work towards the calling of Story Weaver. To achieve her aims, this Autumn Equinox, Nawa will need to attain an “O” in Inscription, a “Q” in Psionics & Divination, and a “D” in Lore. So let’s check out the TBR that goes along with this!

my autumn equinox tbr

“O” in Inscription

Art of Decipher: Title has all the letters of your first name

My name has three letters, one of which repeats, those letters obviously being “L,” “I,” and “A.” I decided as long as those three letters were present in a title, it would count for the challenge, and ended up choosing The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi. I’ve heard so many great thing about this book and the series it kicks off, so I’m really excited for it!

“O” in Psionics & Divination

favorite author’s debut book 5 star prediction (10 GRP)

For this challenge, I decided to use 10 Guild Reputation Points to purchase the Scroll of Exchange from the Guild Emporium, which allows me to swap my original prompt for a different prompt that I like. I decided to choose the prompt “a five star prediction” and also selected A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft to fulfill it.

“O” in Lore

Iltyrian History: Vampire Book

I’m so excited forthis prompt because I intend to read This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings to fulfill it! The reason this makes me excited is that This Ravenous Fate was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024!! I’ve been following Hayley since back when she was a booktuber, and so I’ve been hearing her talk about writing this book for years now and am so excited to finally get to read it—plus, it helps that I’ve seen some of my favorite book influencers give This Ravenous Fate absolutely stellar reviews!!! I can’t wait!

“Q” in Psionics & Divination

Significance of Reoccurrence: Same letter is in the title 4+ times

For this challenge I found Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba in my Spotify audiobook library and decided to select it. I haven’t heard anything about this book (which was released earlier this summer), but the cover is beautiful and the synopsis looks really intriguing.

“Q” in Lore

Regional Intrpretations: A Translated Book

The only translated fantasy that I know of that isn’t super literary is A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos, so that’s the book I decided to go with. A Winter’s Promise has been on my TBR for a long time and, though I was hoping to read it in winter, I’m glad the opportunity has appeared now.

“D” in Lore

Tale of the Desert Creeper: Retelling

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare is very, very, very loose retelling of a Charles Dickens book, so I decided to go with it! I enjoyed The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments as a teen but wasn’t a fan of Lady Midnight, so for now I’m skipping the rest of The Dark Artifices and going straight into The Last Hours, since it seems more interesting to me.

autumnathon

As I announced last week, from the start of September through the end of November I’m running a casual, cozy readathon called Autumnathon. Each month has two reading challenges and a cozy activity challenge, as laid out by the bingo board below. So, let’s take a look at my TBR for the September portion of Autumnathon…

dark academia

the temptation of magic by megan scott

My first challenge is to read a dark academia since September is back-to-school season. I decided to go with The Temptation of Magic by Megan Scott, which I also haven’t heard much about but I think it’s supposed be a dark academia romantasy (if I’m remembering correctly).

mystery

death at morning house by maureen johnson

I also find mystery novels perfect when it comes to setting the mood for autumn, so the second September challenge is to read a mystery novel. That said, how could I not choose Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson?! It’s Johnson’s latest mystery novel but it’s set outside of the world of her mystery series Truly Devious (which is one of my favorite series).

what i watched

I’d been hearing great things about Amazon’s adaptation of My Lady Jane, so I decided to see what all the noise was about and—oopsies!—I ended up binge watching the entire series in one day because it was so good! I’ll be honest: I tried reading the original book this series was adapted from several years ago, but found it wasn’t my taste and ended up DNFing it—so consider me shocked when I found myself loving the show! This series is so fresh and fun and cheeky and charming (and plenty steamy too!), and it’s downright addictive. And not only was the plot fun, but the characters were also sooooo lovable (and hateable, in the villain’s case, haha)! I feel like each of the actors really did such a great job with the characters and making them simultaneously believeable and silly. Then there’s also the costuming, set design, and cinematography, all of which were outstanding! I’m really sad because apparently the second season has already been cancelled, but at least the first season wrapped up pretty solidly. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I also finally finished up watching The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 1 and aaaaaaah I loved it so much! I could squeal about this show forever, which is rare seeing as I don’t usually watch or enjoy many contemporary drama series these days! But, despite the odds, I did love The Summer I Turned Pretty so freaking much!! This series gives me perfect summer vibes sprinkled with nostalgia for when I was a teenager (not that my life was even close to as dramatic as Belly’s, lol)! I don’t know what magic substance Jenny Han must put in her stories, but whatever it is I’m drinking the koolaid! As for whether I’m a Conrad or a Jeremiah girly, it remains to be seen as my heart is as split as Belly’s apparently is. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Of course, like what seems to be everyone else in the online bookish community who reads YA, I also watched the BBC/Netflix adaptation of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Aaaand—whaddya know!—I also ended up binging this series in a single day. As is the case with contemporary drama series and period drama series, I also don’t watch many mystery/thrillers these days either (guess I really branched out this month). Still, I used to watch A TON when I was a teenager, so the fact that I enjoyed A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder comes as slightly less of a surprise. Anyhoo, I thought the entire series production was really well done—though I haven’t yet read the source material, so I can’t say how good of an adaptation it was. But as an overall work of entertainment? It was pretty damn good. I was surprised at how emotional certain moments made me—watching it really was a rollercoaster of emotions for me! I think that says a lot about how well acted and directed the series was as a whole. I also loved that the series didn’t feel overproduced. For example, Pip repeated several outfits throughout the series, and it felt very authentic to the actual experience of most teens. So, yeah, I hope the series gets renewed, even though this season wrapped up pretty neatly! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

what i listened to

what i bookmarked

Amanda interviewed Keshe Chow (author of the 2024 YA fantasy debut The Girl with No Reflection) about writing mythology elements in fiction

Destiny investigated the question “is booktok is ruining literature?” (Video)

Beth decided to read or not to read books like Normal People

Kyra Lynne highlighted book club picks that aren’t lame

Liv began the countdown to spooky season by giving horror novel recommendations

Tree shined alight on romance novels they think deserve more hype

Olivia discussed why not to blame dark romance for people romanticizing terrile people irl

Baee guided us through seven Black romance authors creating diverse love stories

Caro shared her non-bookish favorites from the first half of 2024

Kyra gave us tips on how to start reading in your twenties

Clo celebrated her blogiversary by showing off her favorite reads from each year of blogging and continued her astrology recommendations series by exploring books for Leo placements

Benny recommended books for your astrological sign (Video)

Anna explained what makes a book good in her opinion

The reader at Bookishcore gabbed about books that surprised them

Megan highlighted thrillers to cozy up with this fall

Laure talked about her experience listening to audiobooks with aphantasia

Abby shared twenty book quotes that live in her mind rent-free

Charvi recounted the blog posts she’s written over the years that give us the best glimpse of her

what i did in august of 2024

My August was relatively quiet after the whirlwind that was July. That said, I still had some good times despite it being a pretty calm month! First off, I got together with my friends from Physics I to have lunch before the semester started. It was great to see them again and to catch up, plus the food was delicious! Then, another one of my good friends came up to visit me and she also gave me a cute haircut (don’t worry—she has a cosmetology degree and has curly hair herself, so I was in good hands lol). Also, at the tail end of the month the school semester began. I’m only taking my regular Choir class this semester, as I decided I needed a break from the rest of my course load to take care of my mental and physical health. Even with my reduced course load, I’m really happy to return to Choir! It’s nice to see the rest of the choir members and we’re singing some great pieces this semester, so I’m excited! Finally, on the last day of August, my friend, her other friend, and I went to D.C. and took a free improv workshop then went to the National Gallery of Art, which was all a really fun culmination of the month!

what i have planned for september of 2024

In all honesty, I have no plans for September as of yet. It’s still very hot here in terms of the weather, but I’m hoping we’ll still get a nice ease into autumn. My only real plan is to enjoy my Choir class and take care of life as it comes up. We shall have to see…

spill the beans, friends!

How was your August? Did you read anything memorable? Do you have anything you’re looking forward to coming up this September? What’s on your September TBR?