Hi friends, I can’t believe today is the last day of July, yet here we are! Today I’m going to be wrapping up the month of July, a decently better month than June.

If you missed June’s wrap up, catch it here!

Currently Reading:

I’m 84% of the way through The Stand. Am I enjoying it? After getting through the hump that was the middle of this novel, yes I’m back to enjoying it. Now that I’m on to the third act the plot is faster paced which is making it easier to fly through. I’m hoping by my August wrap up that this will be in the ‘what I read this month’ section!

I’m also reading To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. This book is just so sweet and pure and I’m loving every second of it. I’m glad there are still 2 more books for me to gobble up!

Lastly I’m reading A Sorrow Fierce and Falling by: Jessica Cluess… that cover is beautiful… I wish I had the physical book of this… alas. I’m not very far in this, and this has started like the second book did, kinda slow but I have hopes it will pack a punch.

What I read this month:

I read a total of 8 books this month. I have to say, that’s more books than I thought I’d read. 😅 As for my Instagram game… there is no game. I posted once this month because inspiration was hard to find for me. I make no promises for August.

The Conference of the Birds (Miss Peregrine’s #5) by: Ransom Riggs
The Umbrella Academy, Vol 3: Hotel Oblivion by: Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba
Extras (Uglies #4) by: Scott Westerfeld
The Poet X by: Elizabeth Acevedo
The Black Flamingo by: Dean Atta
Felix Ever After by: Kacen Callender
A Poison Dark and Drowning (Kingdom on Fire #2) by: Jessica Cluess
Just Mercy by: Bryan Stevenson

Book Reviews this month:

Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) by: Cassandra Clare
Emma by: Jane Austen
Anger is a Gift by: Mark Oshiro
The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1) by: Samantha Shannon
Almost Adults by: Ali Pantony
Specials (Uglies #3) by: Scott Westerfeld
The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2) by: Samantha Shannon
Ambush + Manhunt (Michael Bennett #10.5 & 11) by: James Patterson

Currently Watching:

You know, since I watched all 4 previous seasons of Fuller House it wouldn’t be right of me to not watch the last season. Why it’s 18 episodes is beyond me… but I’ll be happy to talk all about it one last time.

I’ve started from the beginning… Gilmore Girls is such a comfort show for me and I’ve definitely needed some comfort recently… I’m loving this rewatch!

What I Watched this month:

I finished what was a really long season of Heroes. Season 3 felt like it was 2 seasons in one. The first half had a different plot than the second half did, and the two didn’t really exactly correlate with one another. But that aside, I enjoyed this season we got to see new sides of characters and the plots were interesting. Very interested to see where season 4 goes.

I finally finished season 3 of The Great Canadian Baking Show… it only took me almost all month, but I did it. Like I mentioned last month, this season had two new hosts, in which they tried to be funny, and it showed. It felt forced more than anything else… but I still wanted to watch the baking so I sucked it up!

I also watched Self Made on Netflix. I thought it was a really interesting story and I was definitely intrigued and left wanting to know all about who Madame C.J. Walker was. I’ll talk more in my write up that will be hopefully going up next month, but I think this miniseries was more dramatic than what really happened and they flared it up for more watchability.

I watched a few movies again this month:

Pulp Fiction has been on my Netflix list for months and so I decided July was going to be the month I start to actually watch things on my list… I don’t even know what I watched 😅 this film was such a crazy, and very graphic ride, but I did still enjoy it.
Dope was a recent add to my Netflix list… I thought it was going to be more of a queer story, but the story that is told was good and it really brought a different lens to racism. Malcolm is just a kid who likes skateboarding, video games and getting good grades, but to the bad boys of the school, that’s seen as trying to be white. This was definitely something I’ve never really thought about and I thought it was well talked about in such a fast-paced story.

I honestly don’t know what possessed me to watch See No Evil, Hear No Evil because it was a trash of a movie. The two main characters have a disability, one is deaf, while the other is blind and they witness a murder. They are thought to be the murderers all while trying to prove they aren’t. It was just dumb joke after dumb joke where they landed with bad taste.
My friends and I watched Legally Blond together (or well, we started it together… I finished it at home, ha!). This was such a movie of its time and even though there were so many dumb moments, they were actually funny. This was such a comfort movie.

American Son hit so hard; it was such an important film and it hit on all of it. For a film that took place in one setting it was all in the dialogue and this film delivered. This hit on racism in so many ways, and there were so many important conversations that happen. Not only between the mom and the white police officer, or the mom and black detective, but between the mom and dad because mom is Black, dad is white they don’t see things the same way. And that ending, as much as I had a feeling that was how it would end, it still didn’t stop me from gasping out loud, it was truly devastating to watch.
Eat, Pray, Love was an alright movie. It didn’t do anything for me, sure it had these great mottos about life, which were good, and I can see how people liked this, but I found it kinda boring. I was hoping to like it a little more than I did, oh well.

I decided to watch Bad Boys since the new movie came out last year and I was looking for a good action flick. This delivered. Even though this was released in 1995, this still holds up today. There were some really good scenes, a lot of action and it had some elements of comedy that really tied it all together.
Bad Boys II was just as much fun as the first film, if not more so. The same two guys, different situations, still lots of fun. I’m glad I decided to watch these films because they were ridiculous, yet funny. I need to watch the third film soon!

I thought The Dilemma was an alright film. I had expected it to be more of an action movie, but it was still pretty enjoyable. What do you do when you think you know someone and you trust them, and they betray that trust? And what do you do if you find out information that could hurt your best friend? It was definitely a thought provoking film, but of course it was filled with a lot of humour as well to come across as not so serious.
I usually enjoy Jim Carrey films but Fun With Dick and Jane was just alright for me. When Dick tells his wife to quit her job because he thinks he’s going to get a promotion… only to lose his job, they begin to lose money fast. They feel they’ve tried everything so they turn to a life of crime. Some parts of the movie were funny, some parts were just plain dumb. This was something I can say I’ve seen and don’t need to see again.

I highly recommend Netflix’s special Trevor Noah: Son of Patrica. Trevor Noah is hilarious; I know people have known that for years, but I’ve recently just started watching his stuff, and he is so funny! His taco story had me in tears I was laughing so hard. This was definitely something I needed to watch after a long week of work.
I also watched Wanda Sykes: Not Normal Netflix special… this was hilarious… not only is she funny with her words, her actions are just as hilarious. Watching her pretend to be on a moped was great. She had a lot great jokes, but she also had a lot of good takes on racism. Would totally recommend this!

The Incredible Jessica Jones was funny, smart and she was super badass. When her longtime boyfriend breaks up with her, Jessica finds joys in the small things in her life… like trying to be the best playwright there is. I loved all the elements of this film, I loved that she loved her job so much, I loved how dedicated she was to her young aspiring writers, I love the weird guy who she learns to become really good friends with, possibly more with. It was raw and awesome all at the same time.
The Weekend was good; it was really slow-paced and the acting was kinda clunky, but the message was so good! Zadie is trying to make it as a comedian, when her weekend plans get ruined because her ex invites her and his new girlfriend away for the weekend; talk about awkward… I truly did like this, and that ending, I know it doesn’t matter who she ends up with, but uh! The way they leave it so open ended! I want to know!!

I was looking for something light and fluffy to watch and Yours, Mine & Ours kept coming up on Netflix so I thought I’d give it a go. My first thought was what was up with the early 2000s obsession with big families, or sorry, overtly huge families? This screamed Cheaper by the Dozen to me… only not as successful? I don’t really remember this one as a kid, but Cheaper by the Dozen was HUGE! Anyways, this was cute, a little strange that the two main characters thought ‘gee let’s get married since we’re high school sweetheart… but haven’t seen each other since high school’. Like, who thought that was a good idea? But I liked watching the kids come together despite their differences to try and break their parents up, only to see that actually do get along, that was cute.

TV Tuesday Posts:

Let’s Talk About… Riverdale Season Four
Let’s Talk About… Thirteen Reasons Why Season Four

Posts from the Month

WWW Wednesday #26 🇨🇦
WWW Wednesday #27 🍋
WWW Wednesday #28 🍉
WWW Wednesday #29 🍓
WWW Wednesday #30 🍒

Vincent Ehindro Award
Summer Vibes Book Tag

Bony’s 2020 Bookish & Personals Goals Mid-Year Check In

I’m still working at home, which as I mentioned last month, will probably be for the long hull. We got a notice that 10% of workers who have to be in the office to do their job, or need to be at the office will be going back August 3. For everyone else they’re going to be deactivating our passes so we can’t get in the building. It’s kinda sad because even though I haven’t gone to the office since March, knowing I don’t have the ability anymore makes me feel even more stuck at home.
That’s probably a selfish thought, I’m just trying to get by. I had a really bad week at work where it got to the point I honestly thought about quitting because I don’t get paid enough to do everyone’s job for them. It was an awful week, but I made it through!

Besides that my friends and I have tried to see each other once a week to just decompress; plus it feels good to get out of the house, even if it’s just to one of their houses.

My one friend had a birthday and we spent a whole week celebrating; we surprised her with an ice cream cake on the actual day (it was SO good), the following Friday we went to a patio to grab a drink, which was the first time I’ve been out besides going to a store. It was an alright experience, I’d probably do it again. Then the Sunday a few us got together to have a little party which was nice.

I’ve been trying to work on my self-love; guys it’s hard! Some days I truly feel ok and think I have my shit together… other days I’m at a total loss of my self, my purpose.

Taylor Swift just dropped an album at the end of the month… but who doesn’t know that? 😅 I figured after becoming a stan of hers when she released Lover last year that I should check this out. folklore has been an experience for me. No I’m not all head over heels for it like I was for Lover but this new album comes to me at a time that I think I needed it more than I thought I did. I tweeted when it was released that where Lover was there for me when someone new came into my life and everything was exciting and new, folklore is there for me to set them free and it’s just felt really liberating and cathartic. I don’t really know how to put it into words.

I hope everyone had a good July and are looking forward to August!