Hey, guys! I’m back with another monthly favorites post where I talk about all the books, movies, music, and other things I loved in the previous month. Here’s a link to my March Favorites if you haven’t read that. I hope you enjoy.
Disclosure – This post contains affiliate links
//Books
Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy – After reading Ramona Blue, I looked up other books by Julie Murphy and this one came up. It’s a book about a girl named Alice, who has cancer and is unapologetically a terrible person, and her best friend Harvey. The chapters alternate between both characters’ points of view but adds another layer by alternating between the time Alice had cancer and after she went into remission. When Alice was diagnosed, she decided to get back at all the people who wronged her before she died, but those plans changed when she started getting better. This premise could have easily inspired a lot of cliches, but it didn’t. It went completely outside the box with everything and what I love about Julie Murphy is that she portrays all of her characters’ flaws. None of them are played up to be perfect heroes or heroines, which makes her books all the more enticing. I prefer Ramona Blue over this book (this was the first book she ever published), but I still really enjoyed it.
Avatar The Last Airbender: Smoke and Shadow (Graphic Novel) – Avatar the Last Airbender is my favorite show of all time (like my parents got cable specifically because I wanted to watch this show), but I haven’t read all the graphic novels. I read one of them a few years ago, but haven’t finished the series. I can’t talk about the graphic novels without spoiling the show, so all I’ll say is that they are about the aftermath of the events of the last season and the political stuff surrounding that.
A Simplified Life: Tactical Tools For Intentional Living by Emily Ley – This was the only nonfiction/self-help book I read last month. Emilly Ley gives practical advice on how to simply different parts of our daily lives (how to simplify our finances, how to simplify our schedules, how to simplify meal planning, etc.). She gives a lot of good advice and I definitely plan on implementing some of her ideas.
Spiderman vs. Deadpool (Comic Book) – I haven’t read a comic book since elementary school and didn’t plan on reading one again. When I saw this title at the library, I had to get it because it reminded me of my cousin Adit in Bangladesh. My favorite superhero is Spiderman and his favorite superhero is Deadpool, so we had many debates over who is the best superhero. The comic book was hilarious, but I don’t think I’ll read the second one. Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed the banter between Spiderman, a nerd with a PhD. in physics, and Deadpool, a vulgar assassin. The premise is that Deadpool gets hired to kill Peter Parker, but becomes friends with him. The aftermath of that is very funny,, but I won’t spoil it for you.
ATLA: North & South (Graphic Novel) – My brother Zidan and I are in the process of reading all of the Avatar graphic novels and this was one of them.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – This is easily the best book I read in April, which isn’t surprising considering it’s one of the top ten books written in the 20th century. It was an amazing classic book that I cannot recommend enough. I will definitely be adding this book to my library someday. I don’t really know how to summarize it so I’ll copy and paste the Goodreads synopsis, but even that doesn’t do this book justice.
“Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago’s journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.” – Goodreads Summary
Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix by J.K Rowling – I actually managed to finish this audiobook in two weeks. It was a miracle. The box for it was HUGE, unsurprisingly because it’s the longest book in the Harry Potter series. I would bring the box with me instead of only listening to it while I was driving because I had to finish it before it was due at the library. I’m not giving a summary for this because if you don’t know about Harry Potter, you’ve probably been living under a rock. All I’ll say is that Umbridge is an incredibly well-written character because she will cause so much hatred to spew through your veins. I won’t go as far as to say that she’s worse than Voldemort because Voldemort is the equivalent of Wizard Hitler, but she’s pretty aweful.
//Movies
Literally Every Single Marvel Movie From The Last Ten Years – Before watching Avengers: Infinity War, I wanted to rewatch all of the Marvel movies. I made a list of all of them in my bullet journal and crossed them off as I watched them. I even watched the more irrelevant ones like The Incredible Hulk. It was a fun way to anticipate the movie. I didn’t watch Infinity War until May, so you’ll see my review then.
Bend It Like Beckham – I love this movie so much. It’s about an Indian girl in the U.K. who wants to become a soccer player. The movie does such a great job of portraying her life with Indian Parental expectations as well as bias against women in sports. I also like that romance isn’t a central element to the story even though it’s still discussed. I recommend it.
//T.V. Shows
Since I was rewatching all the Marvel movies, I didn’t watch that much T.V.
The 100 – This is my second favorite show and favorite currently running show. Season 5 premiered at the end of last month and I watched it live. This is a science fiction show about the post-apocalyptic future. After the earth became unlivable due to radiation, twelve countries sent ships into space with the last living people. After a hundred years, the space crafts have come together to create an ark with its own government. The ark is running out of oxygen, so the government sends one hundred prisoners back to the earth to test if the planet is liveable again. The rest of the show follows that premise. It’s pretty much a sci-fi version of Lord of the Flies which, if you know me, is my taste to the T.
//Music
Here are the songs that were stuck in my head last month
//Live Shows
Something Rotten – I wasn’t planning on going to any shows in the month of April, but I found tickets to Something Rotten for EIGHT DOLLARS on Seat Geek and I couldn’t pass that up. It was the weekend before finals week, so it was a nice way to treat myself before all the craziness. My friend Kat saw it in New York and recommended it to me, but I had no idea what to expect. It’s a comedy that takes place during the Renaissance about two playwrights living in the shadow of Shakespeare. They set out to write the next big thing. One of them goes to a sear who tells him that in the future, people will be obsessed with musicals, and the whole play makes fun of the genre and references a bunch of popular Broadway shows. It’s hilarious.
(Here’s an affiliate link to get $20 off the first ticket you buy off of Seat Geek)
//Priceless
Finalizing the decision to transfer colleges – It was really great to get this decision off my chest because things have been so up in the air these last two years. I am super excited to have a more typical college experience, but I don’t regret living at home to help my parents with Mysoon or saving so much money on tuition. It was the right decision, but it is time to move on.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
What books did you read last month? What movies did you watch? Did you watch all the Marvel movies in preparation for Infinity War like me?