Hey, guys. I’m back with another monthly favorites post. After this month, I’m just going to do my Monthly Favorites series every two months because it’s easier that way and I can spend more time on other posts, so the next one will be a bind-up of my favorites for November and December.
Last Month’s Favorites – August & September 2018 Favorites (Books, Movies, Music, Etc.)
//Books
October started after I had finished More Happy Than Not and that book broke me. I was so sad and didn’t feel like reading anything super substantial, so this was a rereading month. I also had a lot of exams, so I mainly listened to audiobooks.
Meet Cute (Anthology) – This is a collection of short stories compiled by many popular writers. The three authors I was most excited about were Julie Murphy, who wrote Ramona Blue, Kass Morgan, the author of The 100, and Nicola Yoon, the author of Everything Everything and The Sun Is Also A Star. These short stories were all “Meet Cutes,” where two people would meet their future soul mates for the first time. They were all either a hit or a miss. Some were ideas that obviously couldn’t fill an entire book that were just added in the anthology, while others were really thought out, five-star reads. I loved that it was very inclusive and diverse, I was able to read one short story per day.
The Little Book Of Lykke by Meik Weiking – I read The Little Book Of Hygge, a book about a Danish way of living, earlier this year and really enjoyed it, but there wasn’t as much substance as there was in this book. In The Little Book Of Lykke, Weiking discusses things people do all around the world to live a happy life. He talks about how different nations approach taxes and education and maternity leave. Nonfiction books aren’t my cup of tea, but this book was really interesting and gave me a lot of insight on different factors of happiness. I may write an entire post inspired by this book. I highly recommend it.
Sammy Keyes Series by Wendelin Van Draanen – I’ve continued listening to this series on audiobook because it’s my favorite book series and it’s helped me get out of my reading rut. I’ve been rereading my old blog posts recently and saw that I reread this series at the beginning of my Sophomore year, too. And I’m pretty sure I reread it in Freshman year, as well. I thought that was a funny coincidence. I always get into reading ruts at the beginning of a semester, so I guess reading Sammy Keyes has become a tradition for me. (I’ve gave a summary of this series in last month’s post, so I won’t spew it again)
Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson – This is one of my favorite historical fiction novels, so I was so excited to find the audiobook on Overdrive. Mattie is a fourteen-year-old girl whose life changed during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. The book follows her through that trying time. It doesn’t just focus on the fever outbreak. There is a lot of information about how farmers wouldn’t come into the city and the citizens were basically starving and how people would throw family members out into the streets if they showed any sign of sickness. It’s a really good book and not as depressing as I’m making it sound. The characters are likable and you’ll get invested in their lives very quickly.
Anne Of Avonlea by L.M Montgomery – I don’t start new shows during the school year because I end up binge-watching them and procrastinating. This month, I rewatched Anne With An E. Watching it gave me the itch to reread the book series again. I haven’t read them since middle school and they’re one of the best classic series I’ve ever read. There was a huge waiting list for Anne of Green Gables, (the first book), and since I’ve reread that one so many times, I went straight to the second book. I’d only read the second book once and I had forgotten everything about it. I was worried that I would get bored because classic books are written differently from modern books, but I was happy to see that I could still easily follow along with the language. Anne of Avonlea follows Anne from the ages of 16-18 teaching at a school in order to save money for college, getting into tons of trouble along the way.
Anne Of The Island by L.M. Montgomery – This is my favorite Anne of Green Gables book. When I started Anne of Avonlea, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I wanted to get through it as quickly as possible in order to start the third book. Anne of the Island follows Anne through her four years of university. This is by far the most dramatic novel in the series and I loved every second of it. Normally, I can only listen to audiobooks while doing something like driving or cleaning, but I found myself laying on my bed listening to this story on my phone while staring at the ceiling. Anne is the first woman in Avonlea to get a B.A. and is judged very harshly. While every other woman around her is getting engaged, she is focusing on her studies. Even so, she gets proposed to quite a few times herself. It was interesting to read about how things worked back then and I could understand more reading it this time than I did reading it in middle school. I definitely plan on continuing with the series.
//Movies
Halloween Movies – I didn’t watch as many Halloween movies this year as I did last year, so my list isn’t very long. I only watched Haunted Mansion, Corpse Bride, and Monster House. I saw bits and pieces of a few others, but those were the only three I watched fully. Corpse Bride is my favorite Halloween movie, so I, of course, had to watch it last month. It’s a Tim Burton movie about a man who accidentally marries a corpse (it’s not as creepy as it sounds). The Haunted Mansion was a lot cheesier than I remembered it to be, but it was still a nostalgic rewatch. Monster House is still an amazing movie that doesn’t get enough credit. Full descriptions are in the post linked below.
Related – 10 Fun Halloween Movies For People Who Hate Horror Films
Deadpool 2 – My brother, Zidan, hadn’t watched the movie yet, so we got it from Redbox. It’s just as funny as ever, but I still think the first Deadpool was better. Zidan loved it and we laughed through the whole thing.
//T.V. Shows
Anne With An E – As you could tell from my reading list, I rewatched Anne With An E last month. It’s the Netflix adaptation of the classic book with a darker twist. I absolutely can’t wait until season 3.
Grey’s Anatomy – I’ve been watching most of my favorite fall premiere shows like Blackish and The Goldbergs, but Grey’s Anatomy was the biggest surprise. This season is SO GOOD. I haven’t been invested in this show in years, but I find myself looking forward to next weeks episode every time I watch it. It’s definitely been my favorite fall show these last few weeks.
//Music
(I mostly listened to audiobooks last month)
//Priceless
Cooler Weather – There was this joke going around in Georgia that we just skipped fall and went straight to winter. After months of 70+ degree weather, a cold front finally blew our way, but not in the cool, breezy, autumn-weather way. It was 30-40 degrees most mornings, and that continued on for a few weeks. It was nice to be able to walk to class without sweating and I was able to wear all the sweaters and jackets stored away for the winter months. That was apparently short-lived because it was a rainy 70-degree morning today and I’m pretty sure it’ll be warm for another week. I can’t wait for actual Autumn weather to set in because it’s my favorite season. At least we got a taste of it in October.
Cultivating A Community At My New School – I just transferred schools and am living on campus for the first time. It’s taken a while, but I finally feel like I’m cultivating a community here. There were so many nights in October where I would stay up until 1 AM talking to people in the hallway, and I’ve loved being a 10-minute drive from my best friend. Whenever we meet up, we sit on the couch and talk for hours. It’s been wonderful.
Halloween – This was the first year in a long time where I actually celebrated Halloween. My mom would go all out when I was a kid. She’d throw a party, invite all our family and friends, and we’d go trick-or-treating together. Now, we’re all adults and things like that don’t happen anymore. I was commuting to college for the last two years, so I couldn’t go to any parties because Halloween was on a weekday. Now that I live on campus, I was actually able to celebrate it. I had so much fun in the last week of October. I won’t even bother to describe everything here because there’s too much to say. I also threw a small Halloween party with my best friends from middle school the weekend before and had a blast. (It was Harry Potter themed)
My University Only Being An Hour Away – So I got really sick in October. Like, couldn’t-get-out-of-bed, doctors-thought-I-had-the-flu, sick. It was pretty bad and I spent one miserable day at my dorm before finally going home. When I got there, I was so happy that I don’t go to a university in another state because I wouldn’t have been able to go home, otherwise.
That’s it for now! My next post will be part one of my Bangladesh trip recap, so stay tuned!
Related:
- August & September 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
I’d Appreciate Your Support Of This Blog By Following Me On:
What books did you read last month? What movies and T.V. shows did you watch? What songs were stuck in your head?
Hi ! I met you blog a couple days ago and I like so much ! I love your posts!