July 2016 Wrap-Up & Favorites

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Hello! July has ended. It was a good month for me in general. I wasn’t too busy so I spent most of my time reading. What makes me even happier, I finally read The Book Thief! And several other books that have been waiting for me to read. So here are the books I read in July.

Books read in July

	Casablanca: Forget Me Not – Dahlian (★)
	Reading this book was painful. First of all, Laz, the male protagonist is a psycopath. He has a plan to get a revenge on Vanda, a girl who rejected him 11 years ago. He stalks her, then charms her to gain her trust, which later would be used to destroy her. My God, he's scary. There's also a character, whose purpose in the story is not clear. I don't know what Nadia's purpose in the story. Is she there as a proof to justify Laz's action? because she hurts Laz which lead to Laz's hatred toward women. So we have a male character who hates women, vengeful, can be charming if it could help him reach his goal, and a stalker. Then the setting. I was intrigued to read this book because the setting is unusual for me. Sadly, it isn't explored much. The story mostly takes place in the hotel which disappoints me as I would like to read more about the city. Last but not least, the writer referred a certain type of dress as a tubeless dress (pg. 8, pg. 134, pg. 149). I'm not a fashion expert, but I don't think it's something that you can wear. I even googled it. I believe what the writer meant was a strapless or a tube top. It bothered me so much because in my mind, tubeless is a tire. When the writer mentioned that the character wore a tubeless dress, it doesn't make sense to me. Please, please, do research before using a term that you're not used to.
	Monte Carlo: Skenario (★★★)
	Monte Carlo is a part of companion series called “Setiap Tempat Punya Cerita (STPC) 2”. The previous two books in this series disappoint me. So I had no expectation at all when I read this book. Monte Carlo is actually more enjoyable and fun. The reason why I picked this series is because of the setting. Each book set in different cities throughout the world, with the first being Athena and the second is Casablanca. Unfortunately, they don’t explore the setting much. Unlike this book and I really appreciate that.
	Melipat Jarak – Sapardi Djoko Damono (★★★.5)
	I’m not a poetry reader. It’s always been more difficult for me to understand the meaning of a poem that I read. I’m intrigued to read SDD’s poems because I’m familiar with one of his poem that’s commonly used in wedding invitations. I’m serious. Anyway, I ended up liking more of his poems. Although I still don’t get some of the poems in this book, it’s still a nice experience and kind of refreshing.
	The Book Thief – Markus Zusak (★★★★)
	The Book Thief is an amazing book. It was one roller coaster ride of emotion. The Book Thief is my favorite book in July. I recommend this book to everyone. I wrote a full review of this book which will be posted in August.
	Once – Cameron Dokey (★★★)
	Once is a bind-up of three fairy tale retelling. It consists of Before Midnight, which is a retelling of Cinderella, Golden, a retelling of Rapunzel, and Wild Orchid, a retelling of the Ballad of Mulan. They give a new and refreshing take on the fairy tales. It was fun and easy read. I enjoyed reading this bind-up.
	The Grownup – Gillian Flynn (★★★★)
	The Grownup is a short story originally written for George R.R. Martin’s anthology. It’s as messed up as her other works. Despite of its length, it has multiple layers and so intriguing. I’ve written a review of this book which will be posted maybe in August or September.
	Bossypants – Tina Fey (★★★★)
	It’s Tina Fey’s memoir! I mean, it’s Tina Fey. I don’t need to say more. I love Tina Fey. I love her works. I love Mean Girls, 30 Rock, and her newest movie Sisters. I just love her comedy. So yes, I enjoyed reading her book.

Review Posts in July
Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver
Requiem - Lauren Oliver
Sharp Objects – Gillian Flynn

July Favorites

Books

The Book Thief & The Grownup

TV shows

Orphan Black

I can’t believe that I only watch this show recently. It’s a good, oh so good science fiction show. I watched the first, second, and third seasons probably two months ago. I watched the fourth season in July and man, it was so good. The show ends with a huge cliffhanger and the fifth (and the final) is going to come out in 2017! Ugh, that’s a long time to wait. The show focuses on human cloning and the ethical implications of it. It’s action packed and thought provoking. Tatiana Maslany is an amazing actress. She managed to act as several clone characters with different personalities successfully. If you like science fiction, I highly recommend watching Orphan Black.

Podcast

Gilmore Guys

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Gilmore Girls is one of my favorite shows. I still haven’t moved on from the show, especially now after they confirmed that there will be a Gilmore Girls Revival. So of course, when I found out that there’s a podcast about Gilmore Girls, I have to listen to it. Basically in each episode of this podcast, the host, Kevin and Demi dissect the episodes of Gilmore Girls. At the start of every episode discussion, they also include a supercut of every cultural reference made in the episode. The podcast itself is fun to listen. The hosts are funny and entertaining. Sometimes I giggle when I listen to this podcast. Thanks to them, now every time Gavin Degraw’s I Don’t Want to Be playing, I can’t help but laugh.

Music

There are not many songs in July playlist. That’s because I usually listen to music when I’m writing. The past few months, I was busy writing my thesis. While this month, the only time I spent writing was for writing reviews, which wasn’t much based on the amount of books I read. In fact, two of the songs in this playlist are part of Criminal Minds soundtrack. Yep, As It Seems by Lily Kershaw is played during the final episode of season 7, in which two major events happened. Whereas Ashes Like Snow, also by Lily Kershaw, is played during the final episode of season 8. I adore the show so much, I feel attached to the characters. Those songs are beautiful and so heartfelt, they fit the episodes they’re on.

There you have it! My July wrap up! I read a good amount of books and some of them are good books. I finally read The Book Thief and I’m proud to say I survived all those sobs and tears. It was a good reading month. Such a good, good reading month. What about you? Did you have a good reading month? Or a good month in general?