Lately With Lila | February 2020

Hello, friends! It’s that time of month were I once again wrap up my monthly faves!

February came and went in a snap, propelling us forward into March, and I for one am glad to see the soggy month go, especially as it wasn’t terribly eventful for me!

I only managed to actually finish one book this month, though I made it partially through three more books, all of which I hope to finish in the coming month. Most of the blame for me not being able to read too much lies with school, which consumed most and my life and left me exhausted. But what can ya do?

Anyhoo, let’s get to wrapping February up so we can move on to March!

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BLOG NEWS

N/A

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BLOG POSTS

• I wrapped up my January 2020
• I reviewed Skyward by Brandon Sanderson and shared an aesthetic for it, as well as recommendations based on it
• I joined the 2020 Discussion Challenge

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BOOKISH STUFF

READ

I rarely read sci fi and I honestly don’t know why because every time I pick up and finish a sci fi book I love it? Skyward is the perfect example of this phenomenon. It took me forever to finally read it and yet I absolutely adored it? I’d say “Huh, what a coincidence!”, but tbh it’s not.

Anyhoo, if you have yet to read Skyward, I advise you to get on it. It’s got spunky pilots in training, a hilariously sassy AI, a begrudging found family, and space adventure! Basically, what more could you ask for?

If you want more details on why I loved Skyward, check out my review.

TBR

BOUGHT

ARCS ACQUIRED

Thank you to the lovely publishers who granted my Netgalley ARC requests.

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FEBRUARY 2020 FAVORITES

MOVIES/TV

I know I’ve talked about The Witcher for the past two months, but I finally finished the season (in record time for me, mind you)! And the verdict is…I love love loved it!! Especially Yennefer’s storyline and the themes of it. But overall, it is just an incredible show and I highly recommend it!

MUSIC

OTHER

YouTuber (and former BuzzFeed employee) Chris Reinacher has a new series on his channel called Getting Bombed in which he sits down with nuclear experts to discuss everything under the sun regarding nuclear bombs—while getting drunk, of course. It’s kinda like the physics version of Drunk History. As a physics major, I love it, but I genuinely think it’s also a hilarious and informative watch for people who might be otherwise uninterested in physics!

LIFESTYLE

Another favorite I came across was this video investigating if the wellness industry is excploitative made by Cinzia of the YouTube channel The Personal Philosophy Project. I love how Cinzia gently pushed viewers to question certain aspects of the wellness industry, particularly the rampant white washing of the industry, as well as how exclusive and classist it has become. Her video is eloquent and firm, but not at all harsh and I admire Cinzia’s ability to call people to question themselves and others without being offensive. Definitely a must-watch!

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AROUND THE BLOGISHPERE

FOR READERS

• The Orangutan Librarian investigated what literary fiction actually is, and also looked into whether classics are still relevant
• Jean, of the booktube channel Jean Bookishthoughts, shared her thoughts, as an actual Scot, on several highlander romances she read
• Jamie over at Perpetual Page-Turner assessed whether popular book subscription service Book of the Month is worth it or not
• Rilu from Chapter 92 advised on how to smash your Goodreads goal
• In the opening post of her new series, Trending in YA, Amber at YA Indulgences noted the trend of political YA and recommended some
• Meg of the booktube channel, megwithbooks, subjected herself to read and reviewed Kylie and Kendall Jenner’s long-forgotten book, Rebels: City of Indra in a hilarious reading vlog
• The official Twitter account for Netflix’s adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books finally went live and even released a quick video of the cast!

FOR BLOGGERS

• Maha at Sunshine N’ Books dished on what she wishes she knew before she started blogging
• After quite a commotion surrounding the topic was caused in the book blogging community early in January, Briana of Pages Unbound discussed tagging authors in positive reviews on Twitter
• Claire from Clairefy spilled how she writes reviews
• Kelly at Another Book in the Wall talked over how to blog when you haven’t read anything new
• Sofi of A Book. A Though. illuminated the struggles of being an international book blogger

FOR FUN

• Michelle from A Geek Girl’s Guide recommended video games to play based on your Enneagram type
• Alexandra of the blog and the YouTube channel, Twirling Pages, gave us a video on her guide to self love

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FEBRUARY 2020 MEMORIES

In all honesty, February was a giant blur that passed so quickly that I was left blanking as to what I did during the month. Like, for some reason I had to think really hard to remember the month? It was weird.

Regardless, when I did finally remember the month, I realized that nothing much had happened (which was probably why I couldn’t remember the month, seeing as there was nothing really to remember lol). I went to class, I did my homework, rinse, wash, repeat. As you can see, I live a life of excitement and intrigue 😂

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FORWARD THINKING

I’m hoping March will be at least marginally more eventful than February. My college’s spring break falls from March 6 through March 15 for me, so I’m hoping to do some fun activities during that time. There is a writers meetup I’ve signed up to go to that I’m looking forward to. I’ve never been to one before and I’m hoping to get some work done on a short story I want to submit for a writing competition that one of my past professors runs at my college.

Another exciting thing I’ll be attending taking place in March is the annual NOVATeen Book Festival, which is a moderately sized YA book festival that takes place in Northern Virginia, right outside Washington, D.C., each year. I’ve been attending since 2015 and each year the festival seems to get larger and larger and attract more and more well known authors. This year’s keynote speaker is Sabaa Tahir and I’m hyped!

Other than that and school, though, my month is pretty much a blank slate. But hey, that means it’s wide open for adventures, right?

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TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT

• How was your February?
• What are some of your recent favorites?
• Do you have any fun plans for March?
• What’s on your TBR

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