If you’re reading this, you made it through July. Congrats! July is always one of my favorite months because the summer still seems endless, but it’s nice enough out that you can get into a flow of spending days outside in the sunshine. This month was very productive, although I didn’t write quite as many blog posts as I would have hoped.

Books I Read

This month I averaged two whole books a week, which is a pretty impressive pace for me. I happened to be listening to a lot of audiobooks that I had a high investment in, plus I read 2 physical books and 1 ebook. I also decided to link the reviews in this section rather than making a separate review section, since all of the reviews published this month were for books I read this month, so make sure to click the links below to learn more!

• Love Stories, by Robert T. Germaux (3.5 stars)
• What White Parents Should Know About Transracial Adoption, by Melissa Guida-Richards (5 stars)
• Apples Never Fall, by Liane Moriarty (3.5 stars)
• The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave (5 stars)
• Me (Moth), by Amber McBride (4 stars)
• Mistakes Were Made, by Meryl Wilsner (4 stars)
• Queens of Geek, by Jen Wilde (3.5 stars)
• Game Changer, by Michael Solomon and Rishon Blumberg (3 stars)

TV and Movies I Watched

I somehow watched a lot of TV this month, despite being overall busy and reading a lot. I think my podcast intake went down, and as a result my passive TV watching went up.

Shows

• The Dropout
• The Summer I Turned Pretty (Season 1)
• Love Island UK (Season 8)
• The Bachelorette (Season 19)
• Seinfeld (seasons 8-9)
• Only Murders in the Building (Season 1)

Movies

• Fire Island (rewatch)
• Pitch Perfect (rewatch)
• Hustlers (the JLo stripper 2019 one)
• Hustle (the adam sandler basketball 2022 one)
• Not Okay (3 stars)

Posts We Wrote That You Loved

Here are the most Popular Posts of the month! I’ve decided to eliminate any post that was published > 2 months ago from this section, because the repetition was getting a little ridiculous. So, these were the most popular posts published in June or July 2022.

1. “Love Stories” is the Perfect Wholesome Antidote to Hard Times– I wrote a review of a book that I read and loved, and you guys seemed to love this review as well, because it was the most viewed post published this month!
2. A Complete List of all 48 Out Gay Players in the NWSL– Despite the total percentage of players being low, the total number of gay nwsl players is high, and a lot of them are dating their teammates!
3. The Weight We Give to Women’s Stories as Told by The Wilds– The Wilds got cancelled last week, a fact which is truly devastating to me, but I think this article explains part of the reason that it didn’t retain the original audience from the first season
4. Review: “Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before”– my reviews are never the most popular posts that I write, but for some reason this month there were 2 in the top six. This mental health book is my must read self help book of the year
5. 7 Books to Read This Disability Pride Month– July was disability pride month, and so Vania put together this list of 7 books with disabled characters. If you’re looking for more books to read for August, grab one from this list!
6. The Supreme Court Overturned Roe v Wade: What Happens Now?– The third book list Vania put together this month was this one on books to read to educate yourself on the impacts that overturning Roe v Wade will have on Americans, particularly those who are poor, bipoc, or another minority in the US.

My Bookshelf

I got three books this month, only one of which I purchased, I Have Nothing To Say, which is a book of poetry written by a queer person that I know through a series of friends and decided would be worth the read. Pretty Baby was sent to me by Edelweiss, and Full Disclosure I got from one of the little free libraries in my city.

• Full Disclosure, by Camryn Garrett
• Pretty Baby, by Chris Belcher
• I Have Nothing to Say, by T Taumanu

Elsewhere on the Internet

Have you followed us on instagram yet? Well get on it! This month I created an instagram account for this website, since it feels like we’re growing big enough where it would be worth it. I definitely haven’t quite mastered how to run an instagram for a website such as this, since I’ve only done it for literary magazines before, but I’m excited to see where it’s going to go. Follow us!!

Other than that, there doesn’t appear to be much going on that you need to keep track of. Summer is typically a slow month for all things internet since we’re able to go outside and experience the real world a bit more.

Off the Internet

Off the internet I have been BUSY. I started the month off visiting my girlfriend, then spent one weekend in the city where I went for a hike with one of my friends and then was visited by my family, flew to Lake Tahoe to reunite with a group of my college friends for a few days, then went back to visiting my girlfriend before returning back home for 6 days and leaving once again to go back to my parent’s home for my grandmother’s birthday.

Like I said, BUSY!

It’s been a weird month emotionally for sure, with lots of ups and downs. It seems like any time I have a moment alone I start to spiral, which has been difficult, but luckily I’ve been so busy that I’ve rarely had time to sit alone and think! I’m looking forward to August, and I’m hoping that as I have a bit more free time I’ll be able to get ahead on blog posting again. As it is, I’ve been scheduling posts one day before they have to go up, which is a stressful way to live.

How was your July? What did you do this month?