May Recap // Ending My Reading Slump, I Forgot How to Blog, & The World is Scary

We made it to the halfway point of 2020, and that in itself is a success.

As much as I wish this year had turned out much differently than it has so far, since we have to work with what we got, I’m very grateful that it’s already June. After this month is over, we will have made it through half of 2020, and I really just want this year to be over!! Preferably like right now but unfortunately that’s not how it works.

I do have to admit that at least for me, months after March have been going by moderately quickly, which is something I’m very grateful for. May passed in a series of walks, bike rides, online school and tests, zoom dance classes, and nights spent up late reading. I can only hope June will pass in the same way.

Despite me neglecting my blog this past month (I know, I’m disappointed in myself too), I still wanted to do a wrap-up post about what I read, what I did while being in quarantine, and the zero that I blogged, because it just seems like the right way to start off a new month!

To start off with some good news, I read books in May!!

I started out the month in somewhat of reading slump that came about both by having a lack of books to read and because I was reading a book that took me forever to get through and made me not want to read. Thankfully, about halfway through the month I discovered that my library started doing curbside pickup, so I was able to get some new books and that ended up ending my slump.

I think my favorites of the month were A Very Large Expanse of Sea and A Quiet Kind of Thunder! This surprises me because I wasn’t feeling the contemporaries this month, but those two are definitely going on the favorites list.

I realize that in last month’s recap, I talked about doing mini reviews of the books I read in April, and yet I never did (due to the fact that I didn’t post at all in May). I’m not making any promises because clearly I can’t stand by them, but I’m hoping to do a collective April-May mini reviews post during June!

How I Did On May’s Reading Goals✨

• Read 10 books ✅
• Read a classic ✅ I started a reread of P&P so I am counting this!!
• Write at least one review on Goodreads ❌
• Finish Anna Karenina ❌ I made zero progress. I disappoint myself.

June’s Reading Goals✨

• Read 15 books
• Read 2 classics
• Start a reread of Harry Potter
• Post 5 times on bookstagram & stay active there

Look at me, abandoning my blog once again. I would say I’m surprised, but I’m more just disappointed in myself. I spent the month in quarantine, yet somehow I didn’t publish a single blog post besides my April recap?

The only thing that makes me a little less mad at myself is that I know my lack of posts was due to a lack of inspiration. I was fairly active on WordPress, or at least I tried to comment on a good amount of posts and stay up to date on comments and my Reader, I just didn’t have the proper inspiration to actually write posts. I started like six but couldn’t finish any of them.

The good thing is, I’m feeling a lot more inspired now!! I’ve been tagged for a few tags that I really want to participate in, I have my mini-reviews that I need to write, a collab I’m looking forward to, and I want to share some book recommendations this month too. Now that I feel like my blogging motivation is back, I hope June can be a lot more productive than May was!

Despite me not being the *most* active, I still bookmarked some posts this month that I loved, so if you’re in need of some amazing reading material, I have you covered.

• May created a Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus book tag and it’s seriously amazing, and the perfect way to celebrate the TV adaptation announcement!! I can’t wait to participate in it myself.
• Ash shared 12 Middle Grade book recommendations and they’re perfect for reading during quarantine, and better yet, they are all by Asian authors!
• Margaret shared all her thoughts about the Percy Jackson adaptation and I couldn’t relate more to everything she said about it
• Chana talked all about why you should read book blogs, and as a book blogger, I absolutely agree with all of it!!
• Marie gave underrated contemporary recommendations based on popular contemporaries, and her recommendations are nothing but golden
• Sophie listed out all the small tropes she loves in books and it made me rethink my whole existence, aka realize I have a love for many of these as well!
• Annie wrote the most insightful post about retrospectiveness that had me thinking rethinking history
• Lila shared fantasy recommendations for people new to the genre, and I got so many amazing recommendations from it!

I slacked off on my blog hopping near the end of the month, and these are definitely not the only amazing posts I read- so if you wrote or read a post you especially loved this month, please don’t hesitate to leave the link in the comments so I can read it!

How I Did on May’s Blogging Goals✨

• Post four times ❌when I didn’t…post even once…
• Keep track of posts I loved ✅
• Work on blogging redesign ❌
• Comment on posts regularly ❌✅
• Respond to comments within a week ❌I tried!!
• Do a tag ❌
• Do a discussion post ❌
• Mini reviews ❌

June’s Blogging Goals✨

• Post at least 6 times
• Establish blogging schedule for summer
• Tags!! (I have two in mind)
• Actually do those mini reviews
• Revamp my friends page
• Interact consistently and keep track of posts I enjoyed

I don’t know how to feel about May. I think a lot of small, positive things happened in my life throughout the month, but there were definitely still difficult things occurring both in my personal life, but especially in the world as a whole.

Not only are we still facing the effects of COVID-19, but protests, police brutality, and riots are happening all over the United States right now. It’s horrifying to see the continued racism in my country and worldwide, and I don’t feel like I have the right words for the situation, but I urge you to do whatever you can- you can sign petitions, text and call, and show your support to protestors. [resource for petitions, numbers to call, and articles to educate yourself with here]

I will be doing what I can to take action, speak out, and call for love, equality, and justice over hate, oppression, and injustice. 🤍

It unsettles me that despite protests erupting in major cities across the United States, despite blatant displays of racism still happening all the time, despite a global pandemic still impacting our lives, I’m sitting here writing a blog post. I write this post, talking about the books I read and things I did during the month, not to ignore or put the horrible things happening right now second to my personal agenda, but rather as a way to hopefully spread positivity and light to someone right now, even if it’s just by the smallest amount. So, in that spirit of spreading positivity, here are a few things that I did in May~

• I had a zoom dance recital! I know, a zoom recital. Who would have thought? Either way, it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. It was fun to wear our costumes and do makeup for it, even if I was dancing to a computer screen in my game room.
• Social distancing walks have been my go-to. We aren’t on lockdown anymore where I live, though social distancing has still been encouraged, so I’ve been going on a lot of walks with my friends as a way to connect. One of us will walk on the sidewalk and the other on the street in our neighborhoods, so that we’re maintaining a distance while still being able to talk.
• I don’t think I ever stop listening to music. I have always loved music, but quarantine has made me even more of a music fanatic. Songs on my playlist for May 2020 include~

🎵I Don’t Wanna Live Forever, Taylor Swift & Zayn  // California Dreamin’, Sia (I want to do a jazz dance to this so bad) // Mean It, Lauv // pink skies, LANY (my song for the summer) // Paris in the Rain, Lauv // Dear Winter, AJR (the lyrics on this one are perfection)🎵

I think I’ve discovered my music taste is soft pop? I’m not sure, because I like a lot of different types of music, but lately that’s what I’ve been going for. Please give me all the song or artist recommendations if you have any, because I’m always up for listening to new music!

• It’s summer now! This doesn’t feel that different than the past two months, but online school is officially over, almost all my AP exams are over (I have to redo one of them that didn’t submit, but other than that, I’m done), and it’s…summer? Since everything is so weird, it’s hard to know what to do with that information, but I’m still excited nonetheless.

That’s the majority of my May- I’m relieved it’s over and to see what June holds. I get to go back into my dance studio starting in June, which is quite possibly the most exciting news I’ve heard in months, and even though it won’t be “normal,” I’m grateful for the safety regulations being put into place and I’m looking forward to being able to dance full-out again, for at least some sense of normalcy.

I hope this next month holds reading, blogging, and most importantly, change for our world. I’m thinking of each one of you and I hope you are all staying as safe as possible. Sending you positivity and love, and thank you for reading this post! xx I hope you have the best June possible.

How was your June? I would love to talk to all of you in the comments about your month.

Photo by Keegan Houser on Unsplash >> credits to the photographer of the image in my featured image