Tag: monthly wrap-up

Categories
Index Recommendations

Monthly Recap (Feb-25)

A clock to perhaps remind me that it’s time to get back to the blogging time capsule, cough up at least one post a month. So here I am, with a monthly recap :: some reviews of the hits and misses for February 2025.

Only the Winds

First, music share — I am totally obsessed with this song. If anyone has any listen-alikes, please do share!

Twilight of the Gods

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Animation retelling of Norse mythology, and how the Norse gods came to an end. Only Season 1 is out so far, so fair warning for cliffhanger. (Warning also that this is NOT family friendly.)

This show is absolutely brilliant in plot and execution, the dialogue is tight and spell-binding. Thor is this hammer-wielding, jealous, spoilt, cruel, self-destructive, hateful THING. But his grand time is coming to an end (hopefully) when Sigrid decides to take revenge for the murder of her clan at Thor’s hands. On her wedding, no less.

Can a mortal defeat Thor, especially when all the other gods are rallying behind Thor? The real lynchpin of the show is Loki, Thor’s underestimated, reviled brother, in whose hands rests the fate of the Norse gods. Watch for episode 5, where a bitter Loki describes himself as the ultimate scapegoat for everybody else. This show is so good!

Continue reading “Monthly Recap (Feb-25)”
Categories
Books Watchlist

Mini Reviews / Last Quarter(s) Wrap-Up

Mini Reviews

What’s been cooking for the past few months? Er, past few quarters (since my last mini reviews date back to pre-July)? At least for me, the last 2 months fared way better for my reading than the rest of the year, so I am thankful for that. All in the name of conquering Mount TBR!

Continue reading “Mini Reviews / Last Quarter(s) Wrap-Up”
Categories
Miscellany

Monthly Wrap Up (May-June ’23)

This will probably be the world’s shortest wrap-up. Still, I do need to keep tabs on what I’ve read or watched in the past few months, so here it goes.

A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers. Historical with (possibly) SFF elements as it plays with the question of who is a true psychic and who is just a quack. Heroine is rescued from prison to speak to a client’s dead wife, but is she the real deal? The suspense builds up splendidly but the ending felt needlessly convoluted. Works well overall for a Gothic mood read.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I’ve seen reviews likening this to Hunger Games + Sarah J. Maas. I thought it was a lot like Divergent + Dragonflight, and let’s face it, very very tropey. In any case, it was enjoyable but made me think I’m too old for this.

The Fallen Idol (1948). Old British thriller full of unreliable narrators declaring that “the butler did it” (do you believe them?). There’s this one critical scene that I had to go back and rewatch at least thrice to understand how it changed everything. Seriously, kids say the darnedest things!

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. A neighbor persuaded me into watching this one with her. Despite my I’m-too-old-for-this grumpiness, I managed to laugh my way through this one. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that Wolf is QUITE scary. I particularly loved This is the End song (above).

Also binge-watched a couple of Asian dramas on Netflix: Who Rules the World and Till the End of the Moon. Lots of fantasy martial arts and villainous scheming, a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. If you’re new to Asian dramas, probably not the best place to start. But they’re great for stress-busting.

That’s it for May-June ’23! Pretty bad reading stats for this year so far, but I still have hopes for the rest of the year.

Categories
Miscellany Recommendations Watchlist

First Quarter Wrap-Up +Movie Recs

Well, it’s been more than a quarter, but it’s just easier to sum up that way! I’m still not getting much reading done, but at least I managed to find some really good movies. Here’s a wrap-up for the first quarter.

Continue reading “First Quarter Wrap-Up +Movie Recs”
Categories
Books Miscellany Recommendations Watchlist

Last Quarter 2022 Wrap-Up

Here’s a quick wrap-up of what I read and watched in the last quarter 2022. I found a few great shows even though I read very little. And now we are already gearing up for 2023. How time flies!

Continue reading “Last Quarter 2022 Wrap-Up”
Categories
Books Music & Poetry Recommendations Watchlist

Tri-Monthly Wrap-Up/ Mini Reviews

Is “tri-monthly” the right word? June, July, August — loads of books and shows that I discovered and even liked (wonder of wonders)! Interestingly, in pretty much all of these, I also found that the blurb or the trailer had been misleading. Here’s a (long post) wrap up.

Castle Barebane by Joan Aiken

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

A rather strange and underrated historical fantasy work set in the 1880s involving a “road trip” from New York to Scotland. The journalist heroine sets out to help her odd brother (and also escape her marriage). Then she finds herself embroiled in a blackmail plot and with her young nephew and niece in tow. This book really defies genre and age groupings. The suspense is slow to build-up, the “fantasy” part is very, very subtle. I even thought there was some LGBTQ representation in this 1976 book. Also historically accurate, as can be expected from Aiken.

Why didn’t they ask Evans?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

A very quirky new adaptation of one of Agatha Christie’s more complex mysteries. This cryptic question changes every time: Why didn’t they ask Evans? Why didn’t they ask Evans? Why didn’t they ask Evans? Wait at least till Episode 2 for the show to really get going.

Continue reading “Tri-Monthly Wrap-Up/ Mini Reviews”
Categories
Books Recommendations Watchlist

Mini Reviews & Recs: Feb through April 2022

Work in the past 3 months was like Godzilla. I read very little, and got nowhere on the 10 Million Reading Challenges that I had over-ambitiously planned. But I binged on mystery and detective stuff a lot, and here are a few things that kept me going.

Continue reading “Mini Reviews & Recs: Feb through April 2022”
Categories
Books Recommendations Watchlist

January 2022 Wrap-Up / Mini-Reviews

January saw work at the office pile up, but I still managed to get in a lot more escape reading and watching. Here are some of the books and shows that I like particularly and I hope you’ll give these a shot as well.

Continue reading “January 2022 Wrap-Up / Mini-Reviews”
Categories
Books Recommendations Watchlist

Mini Reviews / October 2021 Monthly Wrap-Up

In the last week of October, I probably read more books than in the past 3 months. So I’m really hoping that my reading/ blogging blues are finally over. There’s a lot to record and catch-up with, all those blogposts that I missed — still need to get up to speed there! In the meantime, here’s a bunch a mini-reviews / reading wrap-up for October 2021.

Continue reading “Mini Reviews / October 2021 Monthly Wrap-Up”
Categories
Books Miscellany Recommendations Watchlist

Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2021 / June 2021

June and July 2021 have been quite cruel in terms of reading and blogging. I have been apartment hunting and it really takes over everything else! I also ended up DNF’ing a lot of books which just added to the reading slump. Hoping all’s well with everyone, and here’s a wrap-up post.

Continue reading “Monthly Wrap-Up: July 2021 / June 2021”