Lately With Lila November 2020 | A Farewell To Autumn

Hey, friends! How’s everyone hangin’ in there? Hopefully good and if not, hopefully brighter days are on the way soon enough. We’ve finally reached the end of this god awful year, it seems., and thank god for that! I’m still kind of shocked that we’ve made it through December without the entire world literally imploding, lol! But never mind that doom and gloom; we’ve made it here and that’s a blessing. And now that we can check surviving November off the list, you know what that means: it’s time to wrap the month up! Without any further ado…let’s dive in!

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WHAT I POSTED

• Lately With Lila October 2020
• Where To Start With Poetry + Recommendations
• Celebrating My Birthday By Sharing The Library Of My Life

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WHAT I READ

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• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (★★★★★) Aaaaaaaaaah my newest favorite book/series!! I loved everything about this book so much! From the story to the characters to the Black American representation—I loved all of it!

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WHAT I BOUGHT

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WHAT I ACQUIRED FROM PUBLISHERS

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Thank you to the publishers who kindly allowed me access to these ARCs.

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WHAT I PLAN ON READING

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• Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco I read 75% of this book in November and I was loving it, so I can’t wait to see how it ends!
• Lightbringer by Claire Legrand This is one of my all-time favorite series and I’m both excited and sad to finally be getting to the finale.
• A Sky beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir Another ending to another all time favorite series and, what can I say other than “parting is such sweet sorrow”?

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WHAT I WATCHED

LEGACIES

I watched the first few episodes of Season 1 of Legacies and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it! I was afan of the early seasons of The Vampire Diaries but never watched the final seasons, nor have I seen the other spin-off of the show, The Originals. I do know the gist of the final seasons of The Vampire Diaries, as well as of how The Originals goes, though, and that definitely came in handy. Anyhoo, so far I’ve really enjoyed Legacies. I

DASH & LILY

I also watched the first few episodes of Netflix’s adaptation of Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares and I’m happy to say that I found it super cute and plan on finishing the mini series in December! I went in pretty skeptical as I read Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares a few years ago and found it pretty bland and forgettable, but, luckily, by the end of the second episode I was pretty into the show. I can’t wait to finish it up and get all the holiday feels from it!

BLOOD OF ZEUS

And, lastly, I watched the first episode of Blood of Zeus and was…mildly intrigued? Tbh the story is intriguing but the animation style gives me flashbacks to the biblical cartoons I had to watch in elementary and middle school when I attended a Catholic school 😂😂😂 But other than that it was fun and I’m thinking I’ll slowly continue watching!

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WHAT I LISTENED TO

HIGH NOTES

• “prom dress” by mxmtoon What a mood. What a bop.
• “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish I don’t know a woman who doesn’t feel this exact way, tbh.
• “F2020 (Remix)” by Avenue Beat and Jessie Reyez Is there anyone who doesn’t relate to this song at this point?
• “Pray For Me” by ABIR ABIR is a Moroccan American singer whose work I’ve always loved and this song definitely isn’t the exception to the rule!

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WHAT I BOOKMARKED

FOR READERS

• Steph of Steph Huddleston shared what she learned reading The Lord of the Rings in 2020
• Priyasha at Books & Co. gave us tips on five ways to read if you can’t afford to buy books
• Author Adiba Jaigirdar wrote a guest post for Chaesing Faerytales on the rise of Bangladeshi YA
• Carol from Reading Ladies Book Club asked, “What type of reader are you?“
• Briana at Pages JUnbound explained why she loves classics
• Heather from This Library of Mine recommended books based on your Netflix show preferences
• Young Creative Press shared their favorite book-to-TV adaptations
• Bertie of Luminosity Library showed off books by trans and non-binary authors in celebration of Transgender Awareness Week
• Mary from Mary and the Words made the case for New Adult
• Cat at This Is One for the Books told us all about the Dewey Decimal System
• Veronika of Wordy and Whimsical gave us a holiday gift guide for book lovers
• Vicky from Vicky Again challenged us to pick our bookish poison
• Annemieke of A Dance With Books listed six things she’s thankful for in sci fi books
• Krysta at Pages Unbound explained why we shouldn’t let school shape our understanding of the classics
• Naemi at A Book Owl’s Corner talked about stuff that happens in books that never happens in real life
• Finn from Evidently Bookish discussed the issues with Penguin Random House’s recent acquisition of Simon & Schuster
• The Orangutan Librarian wondered, “What even is a ‘relatable book’?“
• Caitlin of Caitlin Althea interviewed Xiran Jay Zhao, the debut author of the upcoming Iron Widow
• Kate at Reading Through Infinity reflected on which books the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards made her want to read
• Alison of Antari Reads also recommended some gifts for book lovers
• Mari from Tirilu shared a few things that books made her curious about
• Shealea created a guide to reading diversely and gave starter recommendations

FOR BLOGGERS

• Cielo from Bellerose Reads shared how you can help the bookish community
• Marie of Drizzle and Hurricane Books made the case for why she feels book bloggers should be paid

FOR FUN

• Marie at Drizzle and Hurricane Books had some advice for newbie writers
• Mehek of The Critiques of a Fangirl taught us about the basics of bullet journaling

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WHAT I DID IN NOVEMBER 2020

November was a weirdly hectic month for what feels like the first time in forever! All of my classes ramped up the number of intense assignments as we geared up for finals season, plus my mom and I got a bunch of new shelves for multiple rooms in my house (including new bookshelves for my bedroom) and we spent a good week and a half moving those in and setting them up, and—on top of that—it was my birthday on the 28^th! Add in a bumpy election week, and November was sheer madness! All in all, I can say I’m thoroughly exhausted and I still have my finals coming up soon! Nevertheless, though tiring, it was mostly a good month so I can’t complain too much.

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WHAT I’VE GOT PLANNED FOR DECEMBER 2020

December brings both finals season and the holiday season, so I feel like it’s kind of a mixed bag? This year’s holiday season is gonna be so different for obvious reasons and I don’t really know what to expect anymore. After such a rough year, I’m cautious about looking forward to 2021 too much. But I wouldn’t be a true Sagittarius if I wasn’t an eternal optimist and so I do have some hope that next year will be better than this year was. Let’s keep our fingers crossed just in case, though.

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SPILL THE BEANS, FRIENDS!

• How was your November?
• Anything special/interesting/fun coming up in December for you?
• What books are you excited to read this December?