Hey, guys. I’m back with another monthly favorites post. I skipped writing them for the last few months because I haven’t been posting much anyway and I didn’t want this series dominating my menu, so here are my August and September Favorites.
Previous Favorites Post – May & June 2018 Favorites (Books, Movies, Music, Etc.)
//Books
Sammy Keyes Series by Wendelin Van Draanen – I’ve been very busy the last few months and haven’t had time to read. But I have been driving a lot more, so after listening to the Harry Potter series, I started listening to the Sammy Keyes series while I drove. There are 18 books in the series and I’ve listened to 14 since July, so that gives you an idea of how much I’ve been driving these past few months. Sammy Keyes is one of my favorite book series. I read it in middle school and still love it after all these years. It’s a mystery series about a 13-year-old girl living illegally in a senior highrise building. Tara Sands is the perfect voice actress and tells the story perfectly.
(I used the Overdrive app on my phone to check audiobooks out from my local library for free.)
A Reaper At The Gates by Sabaa Tahir – This is the third book to the Ember In The Ashes series, which is my favorite fantasy series. The third book came out over the summer, but it took me a long time to finish it. There was a lull in the middle, but it picked up near the end. I actually ended up enjoying it more than the second book. I can’t give a synopsis because it’s the third book, so I’ll give a brief intro to the first book. The first book is in the point of views of Laia and Elias. Laia is a spy disguised as a slave and Elias was taken from his family and was forced to become a soldier at the same place Laia was enslaved. I’m not giving away the plot, but it’s an amazing book.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han – I personally enjoyed the movie more than the book, which never happens. I feel like the characters were more likable in the movie, but that makes sense since Netflix treated it as a stand-alone romcom while the book is part of a series. The story is about Lara Jean, who writes love letters to all her crushes in order to get over them. She puts all her feelings into the letters and keeps them in a hat box. All is well until the letters are somehow sent out and she has to deal with the repercussions. It’s a cute story, but I think the movie did a better job telling it.
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera – My brother has been telling me to read this book for months, but I didn’t have time to read it until now. I’m not finished with it yet, but I’ve gotta say that it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a while. Here’s a mini-summary from Goodreads since I haven’t finished the book yet: “Sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto is struggling to find happiness after a family tragedy leaves him reeling. He’s slowly remembering what happiness might feel like this summer with the support of his girlfriend Genevieve, but it’s his new best friend, Thomas, who really gets Aaron to open up about his past and confront his future.” There are some Sci-Fi elements to the book too. I highly recommend you read it. My brother isn’t much of a reader, but he was absolutely gushing about this book.
//Movies
All The Spiderman Movies – Spiderman is my favorite superhero. He’s been my favorite superhero ever since I was a kid and I am completely loyal to the original Tobey Maguire Spiderman movies. For years, I’ve been telling everyone that I will never watch the new Spiderman remakes because they’ll never live up to the original. I remember telling my cousins that the only reason I would ever watch a new Spiderman movie would be if they use Miles Morales (No one knew who I was talking about). They’re making one for him in December, which I am super excited about, but back to the point.
I didn’t watch any of the new Spiderman movies until July. I watched Infinity War without watching Spider-Man: Homecoming and I was completely fine without watching it. In July, Zidan (my brother) kept asking me to get it from Redbox to watch it with him, but I was wary about it. Every time we went to Walmart, he would ask, and after a while, I caved.
The movie was pretty good, but it didn’t feel like a superhero movie. It felt more like a high school movie. It was really funny and Zee and I laughed a ton (and criticized all the things wrong with it, like the fact that the webs didn’t actually come from his wrist. They came from his gloves). After watching it, Zidan and I agreed that the original was better.
After that, I decided to watch the Amazing Spiderman movies (the Andrew Garfield version) because it felt graceless not to watch that one as well after watching Homecoming. I actually ended up enjoying it more than the MCU version because it was a lot darker and Peter Parker was so much more sarcastic and funny in this version. I wish they made a third movie before handing the rights back to Marvel.
Here’s My Ranking:
- Spiderman Trilogy
- The Amazing Spiderman (1&2)
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
I loved all of them, but I think that’s a testament to the fact that I love the superhero, Spiderman, not the movies living up to the original film. It was still fun watching all of them even though I broke a rule that I set for myself in middle school.
Peter Rabbit – It came to Netflix on Korbani Eid. I watched a few minutes of it after my cousin turned it on and it looked interesting, so I watched it on my own a few days later. I really liked it. As far as non-Disney/Pixar kids films go, it’s pretty good. A lot better than Trolls and Sing. If you’re bored and looking for a movie to watch on Netflix, Peter Rabbit is a fun watch.
Cars 3 – I am not a fan of the Cars movies, but my cousin Ayaan is. I know that most young boys are obsessed with cars, but Ayaan takes it to another level. He moved to Bangladesh when he was one, so August was (for all intents and purposes) his first time in America. He would point at random cars and say their name and the year from memory. One of my friends has a red Camaro, and he walked in circles around it staring for at least ten minutes before he rode in it. My point is that he’s obsessed with cars.
When I saw him in Bangladesh last winter, I told him that we would watch Cars 3 together at some point because he hadn’t seen it yet. Little did I know that for the next 9-months, he would refuse to watch the movie. His sister told me that they were able to get the movie for him to watch, but he refused because “He was going to watch it with Triasha Apu.” (Heart eyes)
I mean, how could I refuse that! He was so ridiculously excited. I spent most of the time watching him watch the movie rather than watching the movie myself. He was so happy.
The Cider House Rules – I read this book in high school per a teacher’s recommendation. It’s about an orphan named Homer who couldn’t get adopted. Every time he did, he was sent back because he would never cry or was abused by the adoptive parents. Dr.Larch, the owner of the orphanage and hospital, St.Clouds, took him in. The story takes place in the early 20th century. St.Clouds was a place where unmarried pregnant women could go for medical care. They would either have the baby and leave it in the orphanage or Dr.Larch would illegally provide safe abortions. Homer was trained under him as an OBGYN but decided to leave St. Clouds to work at an Apple Orchard because he had never lived life outside the orphanage and didn’ want to take over for Dr.Larch after he died. That’s basically the premise of the book and movie. It’s on Netflix if the premise sounds interesting to you and you can probably get the book at your library.
Oceans 8 – My friend slept over last weekend and she chose this movie to rent. I was interested in watching it because the premise seemed interesting, but it felt anticlimactic and the twist ending was spoiled in the trailers. I did like the part where Sandra Bullock’s character was choosing people for the heist and told Cate Blanchett (I can’t even remember the characters’ names) that they couldn’t choose men because they would be noticed. They wanted to make sure that the heist wasn’t noticed, which is why they needed an all women team. I thought that was very smart and something to think about when it comes to society today.
//T.V. Shows
X-Men: Evolution – We didn’t have cable when I was younger, so whenever we went to Goodwill, my brothers and I would raid the VHS tape collection to buy movies to watch on our VCR (back when those things weren’t outdated or vintage). This is definitely the reason I am so versed in Disney trivia. We had the biggest collection of 25 cent cassettes around. A bunch of those tapes were X-Men: Evolution. Zidan and I would always scour for cassette tapes of that show because we were obsessed with it.
Over the summer, I found all four seasons on YouTube. I only watched the first two seasons, but I felt nostalgic the whole time. I remember when I was younger, I liked Shadowcat and Nightcrawler more than Jean Grey and Scott because the latter were the responsible ones while the former were the fun, irresponsible kids. I found that I was siding more with Jean and Scott during a lot of the conflicts, which made me feel old.
The show is pretty much about how the X-Men learned to use their powers when they were in high school. I linked the first episode above.
The Dragon Prince – The creators of Avatar The Last Airbender made this Netflix Original. I was kind of wary about it when I saw the trailer, but I ended up really liking it. It reminds me a lot of Avatar The Last Airbender, but it’s not like Legend of Korra where they were continuing the same world. This is very much its own thing. It starts right off the bat when a bunch of assassins are coming to kill the step-Prince’s father and brother. The animation takes time to get used to, but I appreciate how different it is. If you’re looking for a show that you don’t want to binge all at once, this is it. I watched it over the course of a few days and enjoyed it a lot, but I feel like it’ll get better as the seasons go on like ATLA.
Atypical (Season 2) – This is a Netflix original about a special needs family. The main character, Sam, has autism. My dad recommended it to me last year and I could relate to it a lot even though my family’s situation is a bit different from theirs. I liked Season 2 more than the first season because it got deeper into a lot of issues. There was one scene where Sam was walking home and a policeman stopped him because he thought Sam was on drugs, pointed a gun at him, and took him to jail. This is something my family genuinely worries about when it comes to Mysoon on a much deeper level because Mysoon is nonverbal and noncompliant, so he would run away from the police officer, which could result in him getting shot (Being a really tall, Brown man also doesn’t help his case either). I like that the show touches on these issues because most people don’t think about them if they’re not in a similar situation.
Anne With An E (Season 2) – This show is based on the classic book series Anne of Green Gables. It’s one of my all time favorite books and I really like the darker twists in this Netflix adaptation. Season 2 adds a lot more modern plots into the story, like racism and what it was like to be gay in the 1800s, which are things that are never gone into in the books. Anne with an E is about an orphan girl, who was adopted by a brother and sister who live on a farm in Avonlea, Canada. It’s a really good book series and T.V show.
//Music
- Happier by Marshmello ft. Bastille
- Growing Pains by Alessia Cara
- Good Old Days by Macklemore Ft. Kesha
- Shallow by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
//Priceless
There were so many priceless moments this month that I don’t know which ones to talk about. Here are my top 3.
Moving Out – I commuted from home my first 2 years of college and moved into a dorm for the first time in August. It’s been very emotional leaving Mysoon, but it’s a nice to feel like my life is moving forward. I’ll write more about it in a few weeks.
My Childhood Best Friend Moving Back To America – If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen Deya many times. She was my childhood best friend and we were inseparable for the first ten years of our lives. I’m less than one month older than her (I’m a Thanksgiving baby and she’s a Christmas Eve baby), so we did everything together. Her family moved to Bangladesh when we were ten and we didn’t see each other again until a decade later when I went to Bangladesh last December. Thankfully, it wasn’t awkward and we picked up where we left off pretty easily. She moved back to Atlanta in July, so we’ve been spending a lot of time together.
A Bunch Of My Cousins Visited – These last few months have been filled with three things: Family, School, and Living on my own. I barely had time work, let alone blog, but I had a lot of fun. Some of my cousins from New York, Tenessee, and Bangladesh came to Atlanta over the course of two weeks. I drove back and forth between home and campus multiple times a week. It was a lot, but I still managed to go to class (95% of the time) and get enough sleep. It was so much fun, but super exhausting. It was also a holiday month, so I was going to Eid parties multiple times per week. Imagine Christmastime, only you still have to wake up early for class and drive over two hours roundtrip to see your family. Appreciate your privilege folks because a lot of people don’t get time off for their religious/cultural holidays. This isn’t me being salty. I’ve grown up with this and am used to it, but I think a lot of Americans forget about little privileges like that. I certainly do.
That was a weird tangent. Anyway, I got to spend the holidays with my extended family, which doesn’t happen very often, but it’s happened twice this year. That was awesome.
Two posts in one week! That hasn’t happened in a while. Hopefully, I’ll be able to keep it up.
I need some book recommendations. What books have you been reading the last few months?
Related:
- May & June 2018 Favorites (Books, Movies, Music, Etc.)
- How To Start Reading More Books In College
- 14 Shows To Binge Watch On Netflix
- 6 Must-Read Contemporary Books For 2018
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