Today I’m sharing the 11th installment of my monthly favorites series, where I share books, movies, TV shows, and music I enjoyed along with priceless moments from this month. I hope you enjoy.
Last Month’s Instalment – February 2018 Favorites (Books, Movies, Music, Etc.
Disclosure – This post contains affiliate links.
//Books
The Little Book Of Hygge: Danish Secrets To Happy Living by Meik Wiking – Apparently this book was a huge trend last year, but I was late on the bandwaggon. In this book, Meik Wiking discusses the Danish concept of hygge and how to implement it in your life. Denmark has been named the world’s happiest country, which is why so many people have become interested in this concept recently. The book talks a lot about work-life balance and keeping a cozy home. It’s a quick read and it’s a really cute book.
Make It Happen by Lara Casey – This is the autobiography of Lara Casey. She pretty much wrote out all her mistakes in life for the world to see. She was a perfectionist who put her all into everything, which pretty much ran her to the ground. She talks about things like having an eating disorder while attending Carnegie Mellon University, and starting multiple businesses and prioritizing the wrong things. She talks about how she would work seven days a week on her business, which almost ruined her marriage and how she and her husband saved their marriage after years of sleeping in different beds and rarely talking to each other. The book isn’t just her telling her story, she also gives actionable steps on setting good goals without reaching burnout. I’ve never been one to read autobiographies, but I really enjoyed this one.
Paladin by Sally Slater – This is the first fantasy novel I’ve read this year and it was really good. It’s about a girl named Sam, who sneaks off to join the “Paladin,” the demon slayers. She has to disguise herself as a man to become a recruit. It’s pretty much a more adult version of Mulan (like imagine how Mulan would’ve reacted when the other soldiers had taken her to a brothel. This is an actual scene in the book!). It’s a fun read.
Am I There Yet? The Loop-de-Loop, Zigzagging Journey To Adulthood by Mari Andrew – Mari Andrew is a really popular Instagram artist, but I found that I enjoyed the essays in her book the most. I wasn’t planning on buying the book, but after coming back from Canada, I saw that I had a lot of money left from my budget, so I splurged on it. The book goes through different aspects of adulthood and presents them through illustrations and essays. It’s a very quirky and funny book. Here’s a picture of my favorite illustration from it:
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – I watched the movie for this book on Netflix a few months ago and finally got my hands on it. It’s a quick read (a little under 100 pages). A pilot tells the story of the time his plane crashed in the desert and he was trapped there for a week. There he meets a young boy and learns about his adventures traveling from planet to planet. It’s one of those children’s books for adults that talk about all the ways adults let life pass them by. I recommend both the movie and the book.
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire by J.K Rowling – I finished Prisoner of Azkaban in March and started Goblet of Fire. I just finished it yesterday and I still enjoy it. I’ve noticed that the Harry Potter audiobook I listen to corresponds to the month I finish it. (I finished Sorcerer’s Stone in January and Chamber of Secrets in February, and it looks like I’ll be finishing Order Of The Phoenix in May). I thought that was cool. This is the fourth book of the Harry Potter series. Harry finds himself in another debacle when someone enters him in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, one of the most dangerous tournaments of all time.
//Movies
Leap – This is a really cute animated movie. It’s not Disney/Pixar level, but I really liked it. It’s about an orphan girl, Felicie, who escapes the orphanage with her best friend, Victor, and they sneak on a train to Paris. Felicie dreams of being a dancer and the plot revolves around how she ropes her way into a dance school, while Victor tries to become an inventor. It’s really cute and I think I enjoyed it more so because I watched it with a 10-year-old.
Zombies – I’m gonna be honest, I’ve strongly disliked the Disney Channel Original Movies that have come out the last few years. I thought Descendents was the stupidest movie ever and had never even heard of this zombie movie. (Zombies are my absolute least favorite character genre. I can’t do zombie shows or books because the premise of them doesn’t make any sense. I can deal with fairies and vampires, but I have yet to read a good zombie book). Anyway, a song from this movie came up in my YouTube suggestion box and I really liked it. I quickly realized that this wasn’t as much of a zombie movie as it is about discrimination. Disney could’ve made this movie like The Color Of Friendship and have it take place in the 70s when they were integrating black and white schools. Either way, the movie is good and fantasmagorical enough to be Disney. My brother and I enjoyed it.
Big Fat Liar – This movie was the biggest throwback ever. Did you know that Netflix has different shows and movies in different countries? I sure didn’t, but I enjoyed having How I Met Your Mother in my Netflix app again. Anyway, the movie is about a teenager who’s essay is stolen by a movie producer. The producer turns his essay into a movie and the boy can’t convince anyone of the truth because he’s a compulsive liar. He and his friend then travel to LA to get the producer to admit his lie. I haven’t seen this movie since I was twelve, so it was a nostalgic movie to watch.
Black Panther – This movie totally lived up to the hype. I watched it in Toronto with my cousin and nephew. My nephew said he could watch it ten more times and not get bored of it. This is hands down my favorite Marvel movie. I can’t wait until Infinity War
The Shape Of Water – I watched this on the plane back to Atlanta. It won the Oscar this year and I think that it 100% deserves it. It’s the perfect mix of sci-fi and historical fiction (my two favorite genres) and main character uses sign language the whole time. I loved it.
Love, Simon – I was SO excited about this movie, but it did not meet my expectations. I love the book it’s based on so much and I didn’t like how the movie added so much unnecessary drama to move the plot along. If you didn’t know, the movie is about a high schooler who is gay and gets blackmailed because of it. I watched the movie the day after I got back from Canada because I wasn’t able to watch it the day it came out (due to the fact I was in another country). It wasn’t bad. I give it four-ish stars.
//T.V Shows
Life Sentence – This is the CW’s newest show. A girl who has lived with cancer for the last eight years finds out that she’s cured. Ater living each day like it’s her last for so many years, she has to deal with real life things, like the fact that she married someone she had just met and the financial burden she was to her family. Just watch the trailer below.
Santa Clarita Diet Season 2 – This is also a Zombie-ish show. I watched the first season last year because it stars Drew Barrymore. I thought it was harmlessly silly. I watched the second season over a period of a few days (I didn’t binge watch it) and actually enjoyed it. The way the season ended was honestly the greatest thing ever. You’ll just have to watch it and see. The show is about an average joe family. The mom suddenly dies then comes back to life and the family has to go around killing people to feed her. They make a pact to only kill bad people and the show pretty much runs with it.
A Series Of Unfortunate Events Season 2 – I had been waiting for this season for over a year and it finally came out. This was one of my favorite book series as a kid and the show follows the books really well. Netflix plans on adapting all thirteen books, so the second season covered books 5-9. My top three favorite books from the series were adapted in this season, which is why I was so excited for it. The series is about three orphans who go through a series of unfortunate events because of the secret agency their parents were a part of and the fortune left to them.
//Music
Here are the songs that I listened to most last month:
- Ambulance by Eisley
- Love Like This Won’t Last Forever by Kodaline
- Someday by Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly
- Suitcase by Sia
- Paradise by Coldplay
//Priceless
Seeing my cousin, nephew, and childhood best friend in Canada – You guys probably already know that I went to Canada for spring break last month. I got to see my cousin and nephew after a year and a half and got to visit Niagra Falls with them and my childhood best friend. It was so nice to spend time with all of them and watch old Disney movies each night. I’ll recap the trip in a few weeks after finals are over.
Getting My Second Passport Stamp – My grandparents have traveled to almost fifty countries, but they don’t have many pictures of their travels, so growing up, my grandpa would let me go through his passport to look at all the stamps. Since I traveled to my second country last month, I got more stamps! (I also got stopped for the “random” security check, but that’s another story.)
My 10th Flight – Another milestone last month was that I went on my tenth (and eleventh) flight. I rode a plane for the first time back in November, and now I’m basking in the wonder that I’ve ridden on more than ten planes in four months.
Friend “Dates” – I took the train to visit my friend Cindy for lunch one day. It was a “waste” of forty minutes to get to her university and back, but it was worth it because we haven’t hung out together since November. I also had breakfast with my friend Shormi, who is a senior in high school right now. She caught me up on things like what university she’s going to, prom, etc. It was nice. I need to plan more friend dates this summer.
Well, that’s it for now. I’m glad I was able to put up a post this week because I’ve been so busy. I’m trying to schedule out one post for each week for the rest of the month before finals so I won’t have to worry about them. Stay tuned. I’ll see you next week.
Did you read any new books this month? Have you watched any new movies? What songs were stuck in your head?