May Recap || Another One Bites the Dust

Posted May 30, 2021 by Sammie in monthly recap / 14 Comments

I can’t believe that yet another month in 2021 bites the dust. 2020 was a decade, but it feels like every time I blink in 2021, we’re down a month.

Is this what it feels like when time tries to right itself? Because I don’t like it. Whoever is currently manipulating spacetime, you need to knock it off, okay?

So here’s what happened with me in the past month:

  • Grad school is officially out for the summer!!! I thought it was never going to end. I realize I need to do this two more times before I get my degree, and that’s more than a little depressing right now, but I’m glad to have gotten the first third of my degree out of the way, at least. I’m going to do a Twitter giveaway to celebrate … soon as I can gather the energy to actually make a graphic and set it up. xD I also maaaay have applied for a summer volunteer research position that I really freaking want, so cross your fingers for me, folks. I can use all the luck I can get.
  • Summer programs at the library are all planned and ready to kick off, and a surprising amount of people have signed up! Considering the way we’ve struggled to get people back in after we reopened since COVID-19, this is such a wonderful thing to see. The one I’m in charge of, Step Into Summer, we figured we’d get maybe 20 people, 30 tops, and we’ve had a whopping 60 people sign up! Our Summer Reading program is similarly pulling in amazing numbers. The programmer and I (who are so similar it’s scary) are ridiculously thrilled about this. We’ve also put together FOUR StoryWalks, the first which will be June 5, so gosh am I hoping that goes well. We’re doing Fitz and Cleo, which is a ridiculously cute book that you all should absolutely check out. The front-end library staff read the book as we were setting up the signs and they all loved it, so there’s some high praise right there.
  • The kittens are just about ready to go to their FUR-ever homes! It’s a little sad for me, because they’re all such adorable little balls of floof and attitude with their individual personalities. Hubby has assured both Minion and I—repeatedly—that we will not be keeping one. I think we can still sway him to keep Mama, though, who has seamlessly assimilated into our household in the time that she’s been inside with the kittens. 😉
  • I registered for Edelweiss’ Bookfest. Why? Because I could. Also, I couldn’t resist the author speakers! I’m off the first day and work the second, but I definitely attempted to make a case for why I obviously had to attend the virtual sessions. xD It helps that they did, in fact, including sessions that are helpful for librarians, so woot woot!
  • I’ll likely be absent from the blog hopping scene for the next few weeks or maybe the next month. My grandfather has taken a turn and we’re not sure how long he’s going to make it. This isn’t something that’s completely unexpected. He’s been sick and received several not-so-great diagnoses in the past couple months, so it hasn’t come out of nowhere. Still, endings are always hard. I may continue posting, as I have time to make posts during this, but I may not have the emotional bandwidth at the end of the day to blog hop. Email and Twitter messages are always the best way to get a hold of me if you need me for something during this time!

I feel like there should be more bookish news from last month, but it doesn’t seem that was the case. Sooo let’s get to the books!



#AmReading Update

Books Read This Month: 19

Willa of the Wood     The Startup Squad: Party Problems     The Age of Dinosaurs     Willa of Dark Hollow     Face the Music     The Startup Squad     Swordheart     Things to Do Before the End of the World     The House of Always     The Firebird Song     Have Sword, Will Travel     Shards of Earth     The Deal of a Lifetime     The Land of Stories: The Ultimate Book Hugger's Guide     This Is How You Lose the Time War     A Unicorn Named Rin     The Library of the Dead     Curse of the Specter Queen     Curse of the Phoenix    

April Reviews



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Blogger Post Love

Here are some great posts this month from other bloggers:

✦ Annemieke @ A Dance With Books shares the difference between paranormal and urban fantasy.

✦ Briana @ Pages Unbound discusses why she thinks teachers should stop asking things like what is the theme of this novel and also reflects on her past 10 years of blogging.

✦ Over on the Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub, there’s a discussion about mental health representation in fantasy as well as a really handy list of acronyms for self-published authors.

✦ Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits gives a list of non-eurocentric sci-fi/fantasy options for your TBR.

✦ Angela @ The Cat With A Book provides a handy list of apps that have helped her anxiety.





Twitter Fun

Not following me on Twitter? Maybe you should.







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How did May treat you all? Any exciting news to share, bookish or otherwise?

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Stay Fierce, Sammie

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14 responses to “May Recap || Another One Bites the Dust”

    • Sammie

      Thank you! I’m fairly certain adorableness is a survival mechanism, because they are little imps that would’ve gotten in so much more trouble had they not been utterly adorable at the same time. xD

      Reply
    • Sammie

      Thanks! It’s a small stepping stone on the way, that’s for sure. 😀 I’ll be so relieved when I’m finally all the way done. xD

      Oh, so you’ve got a couple weeks still! Ours is all of June and July and we’ve got so many things planned. I’m so excited for it. We haven’t really done many programs in a year and a half, so it’s a really nice change.

      Reply
  3. Marion

    Aaaaaw, they are adorable. I think I like the one in the back with the red and dark face best. I hope you’ll find good homes for them. <3
    Oh, yeah. This is about books really, right?
    I have seen the German version of Willa of the Wood on Amazon but I wasn't sure if I should get it. And I saw your rating for the second book was not overwhelmingly good? Didn't you like it?
    Marion recently posted…Wrap-up May// What did I even do this month?My Profile

    Reply
    • Sammie

      You know, almost everyone seems to like that one the best, for some reason? It’s the runt, and it’s absolutely adorable, but the gray one is my favorite. The orange and white is a close second, but that’s just because his attitude. He’s so stinking funny and acts just like his father (who I assume is the other stray hanging around the house who looks just like him haha).

      Pffft, what books? There were books after the kittens? 😛 The second book was better than the first book, I thought. I gave Willa of the Wood 2 stars. It was hard for me to get through, even though Beatty’s writing is absolutely gorgeous. That being said, it was kind of funny because the schools apparently read it at the end of the year and one of the students actually came into the library to ask for the sequel. xD We had just decided whether or not we needed to get the series, and we’d decided against it since I didn’t think it was that good. But I happened to have my copy of Willa of Dark Hollow at the library with me, so I temp loaned her that, and I hope she enjoys it. xD She said she loved the first one. I think I’m really in the minority here on this one.

      Reply
    • Sammie

      They aaaaare, but they’re such a bundle of trouble at the same time lol. I went to check on them today and three of them immediately started climbing me like I was their cat tree. xD

      I thought I was going to love The Library of the Dead, but I kind of … didn’t? It wasn’t bad, but I thought it tried to do too many things all at once so it kind of lost focus and drive. Hopefully you have more luck with it than I did!

      Reply
    • Sammie

      Do you?! My coworker made us all masks when COVID first started. This was the final one she made me, but I’ve also got books and a skull/roses one. xD The Batman seems to get the most comments, though, haha.

      Reply
  8. Annemieke

    I don’t know how you manage to read so much when you are so busy <3
    Hugs for you and your granddad.

    I could not say goodbye to those kitties. Just seeing that picture makes me want to scream I want them all. This is why I could never be a foster momma for the animal shelter for the tiny kitties even though I've thought about it. I would just keep them all
    Annemieke recently posted…Dancing out of May 2021My Profile

    Reply
    • Sammie

      I attribute it to the fact that I am never without something to read. So five minutes while I’m waiting in line somewhere? Whip out my phone to read. Sitting there eating lunch? Reading. I swear that’s the only way I manage to sneak in reading time these days. xD

      Being a foster home for animals is hard, but I feel like we got pretty good at it while we did it. It gets easier to say goodbye knowing that the homes waiting for them will love them as much as you did.

      Reply

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