May Wrap Up // contemporaries and conspiracies

CONSPIRACY! I UNCOVERED A CONSPIRACY!

You know when you enter a shopping mall, you just wish to lose yourself in it forever (time? what’s that?) and get all hypnotised with eyes soaking up every store greedily? Be warned my friend, at that very moment a very evil architect will be rubbing his hands and cackling loudly because lots of malls are in fact intentionally designed to be disorienting to confuse customers (YOU) and make them more susceptible to impulse buys.

HA see? I KNEW there was a reason I always keep getting hopelessly lost and then somehow find the exit and pray that the others haven’t already left without m— wait tmi. Ahem.

Ok so I think that my point got lost (lost. get it?? hah i’m so clever) somewhere above so let me put it out clearly. Word fact of the day: That feeling of confusion on entering malls is known as the Gruen Effect. Fancy right?

Welp who knew my quest for word facts would lead me to unraveling such a universal conspiracy? IF I AM MURDERED TODAY BY EVIL PEOPLE WHO PROFIT OFF THIS, I DIE I MARTYR. Enlightening my peoples through word facts in my wrap ups is a very noble cause PLEASE REMEMBER ME FOREVER AND COMPOSE POETRY IN MY HONOUR.

Summer vacations equals contemporary books (and mangoes!) by the bucketful. Like mangoes, some looked good and actually were good while others gave off a fake shine and had me scrubbing the taste out of my tongue. Go metaphors!

May was also AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) month so most of my reads this month were by asian authors! Keep an eye out for them below!

you have a match: summer camps, estranged sisters and best-friends-to-lovers in all it’s awkward glory! what’s not to like? ★★★★½

not here to be liked: yeah girl good for you because i don’t like you one bit. ★★★

a thousand steps into night: idk what’s with me and traci chee’s fantasy books but while being pretty decent, they never really live up to my expectations. ★★★★

pride and prejudice: omg?? talk about pleasant surprises?? i don’t remember my life before this book. ★★★★★

tokyo ever after: the mc was annoying, the romance disgusted me and the enemies-to-lovers was forced into the story like never before. definitely worthy of being compared to rotten mangoes. ★★

dial a for aunties: i. am. obsessed. the asian aunties in this one are straight up icons and the way i nearly died laughing- ★★★★★

fifteen hundred miles from the sun: the singular fault of this book was that i’ve read too many like it already. ★★★

pride and premeditation: aha indulging in my new pride and prejudice obsession led me to this gem! loved how it sticked with the original while also giving everything a fresh perspective! ★★★★½

I tried (and mostly succeeded) in posting every now and then (because otherwise you would forget me and where would that leave us??) and also came up with some fairly decent content!

My first post of the month was a chaotic ensemble of thoughts on the Heartstopper show! We cover everything from tao’s left-handedness to the beach scene.

Next I scream about finally starting a bookstagram! Featuring my walnut-like aesthetic skills!!

On impulse (and because the numbers sound so catchy together) I rank ALL my first 22 reads of 2022 and also divide them into tiers!

It was my second blogging anniversary a while back so that obviously warrants a lot of drama and thank yous!

Finally, I and April bring an end to the wonderful hype-o-meter series with the very last installment – Jade City vs the hypeometer!

I…um… was kind of terrible at blog hopping in may. More specifically, I was terrible at commenting on posts (and replying to comments on mine) like I usually do but i WAS reading most of y’all’s posts ok??

Naemi @A Book Owl Corner’s guessing books based on emojis post is back and tougher than ever! But i did pretty decently if I do say so myself.

April @Booked Till Midnight does her very first blog tour!

Janhavi @Dazed Chronicles shares her plans and tbr for the summer!

Booksy @Booktastically Amazing shares an amazing short story!

Kaya @A Fictional Bookworm reviews the Atlas Six!

Eli @Ace Reader takes quizzes to determine which YA “bird-book” character they are!

📒In contrast to june (which has been a whirlwind of studies and exams. Or a blackhole because boy has it sucked me right in), may was considerably more relaxed academic-wise because SUMMER VACATIONS!!

🍂Found new favourite books like Pride & Prejudice and Dial A For Aunties and made them my entire personality as usual. Elizabeth & Mr. Darcy have become my new OTP and the aunties have become my idols.

📸Hot topic- I STARTED A BOOKSTAGRAM!! Check out my account if you haven’t already, it’s @abookwyrmsparadise,, at the very least the total lack of my aesthetic sense will make you feel better about your own haha!

🔎I discovered I get a tiny dimple on my left cheek when I smile really hard!! Highly exciting, but in my opinion torturing my cheeks for that little hole is not worth it.

🦉My Duolingo streak is going strong at 85 days!! I’ve become pretty decent at basic Spanish if I do say so myself.

Have you read any of these? Is it blazing hot these days on your side of the world?? Let me know in the comments!