July Wrap-Up

July Snapshots

1. They won’t be mind-controlled by the government, but squirrels are another matter. The battle of the sunflowers continues. I’ve used everything in my arsenal to protect my garden, but the squirrels continue to destroy it. I’ve resorted to wrapping chicken wire around each sunflower and covering the chicken wire in tinfoil. Instead of tinfoil hats, my flowers are wearing tinfoil pants. With the addition of pants, we’ve had fewer causalities, but the squirrels are still winning the war. They’ve eaten almost all of my plants.

2. Goodreads is my soulmate. It keeps making me giggle like a maniac with this advertisement.

3. For the night is dark and full of Fox News. Remember when I wrote about my neighbor, his outdoor TV, his insomnia, and his Fox News addiction? Well, he still spends his nights loudly watching the news. Last time he kept me awake, I put Game of Thrones on my TV and cranked it up loud. He blares the news; I blare people dying horrifically. Two can play at the noise game, sir. A girl is not afraid of her TV’s volume button.

4. Point #3 reminded me of a random tangent. Before the new Game of Thrones season started, there were all these Internet quizzes that were like, “Find out what house you’re in!” or “Are you a Stark or a Lannister?” I don’t need a quiz to tell me what I’d be in Westeros. Obviously, I’d be one of those snow zombies. I’m way too squishy to survive in that world.

Probably me.

5. The plague of loud stupidity. My other neighbor is having a midlife crisis. He bought an electric guitar. Do you know the best time to practice your electric guitar? Midnight, apparently. This is all summer’s fault. Why does it have to be so freakin’ hot at night? NO ONE SLEEPS!

6. Nothin’ but incompetence since 2013. My 4^th blogiversary (blogoversary? Blogaversary?) I don’t know how to spell made-up words, people! I struggle enough with real words. Anyway, my blog turns 4 in August. I want to do a giveaway. I’ve never done one before and don’t know how. Also, my best-laid plans always find ways of going belly-up at the last second. That’s why I don’t make promises. So, if I can get my crap together, look for a giveaway sometime around the middle of August.

7. Shameless plug. Do you need more of me in your life? You’re in luck! Occasionally, I write things that aren’t blog posts or tediously academic. You can read my story “We Stayed Silent” on YAmmering right now. It’s short. It’s YA. Some of you super-powered readers can probably finish it in two minutes. I know you’re curious . . .

Books I Read

I read 9 books in July and finished my Mount TBR challenge. #Winning. Early in July, I decided to read all the hyped YA books sitting on my shelf. #Success.

Snow Falling on Cedars – David Guterson

The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton (reread)

The Love Interest – Cale Dietrich

The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas

The Upside of Unrequited – Becky Albertalli

Cold Summer – Gwen Cole

Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo

History is All You Left Me – Adam Silvera

The Serpent King – Jeff Zentner

Best Books Of July

1. The Serpent King – Jeff Zentner

2. Snow Falling on Cedars – David Guterson

3. The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton (reread)

Most-Viewed July Reviews

1. The Library at Mount Char – Scott Hawkins

2. Black Dove, White Raven – Elizabeth Wein

3. The Heart Goes Last – Margaret Atwood

Most-Viewed July Non-Reviews

1. Discussion: Rereading Ruins Everything

2. A “Very Excited” Book Haul

3. This or That Book Tag

All The Things!

All the Things! (AKA number of unread books on my TBR shelf) = 30 books.

I’m currently rereading The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough. I really like that book. It was time for a reread.

What did you do in July?