Vol.1, Issue 5 // (Mostly) everything we’ve read, watched, played, and listened to this month

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Whew! June flew by! It was a beautiful month, full of celebrations and hanging out with our people. I’m so thankful for the memories we made. Here’s the stories that created the soundtrack of our lives this month.

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• Reaper’s Gale (A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen #7) by Steven Erikson // Ant is reading this. He’s about a quarter way through the book and says it’s been interesting so far.
• Brisingr (Inheritance Cycle #4) by Christopher Paolini // I really enjoyed this book! More than the first time I read it. Eragon and Saphira are separated not once but twice this book. I can see Eragon’s character growth. I appreciated the handful of chapters from Roran, Nasuada, and Saphira.
• The Shining by Stephen King // I was soooo nervous for this book because the movie was scary. And this book, out of the SK books I’ve read, I consider to be one of his scariest. (Right there with It and Salem’s Lot.) But it was so well-written. I cared about the family in the book way more than the movie.
• Seashells and Other Souvenirs by Rachel Lawrence // This was a reread of this ARC. I finished The Shining the Sunday before the book club discussion and had a cold, so I reread Seashells that Sunday as well. This story is beautiful. Alex and Jude are so relatable, as are the topics of nostalgia, growing up, childhood, etc. It’s also so funny! I ordered my physical copy from Bookshop and it’s backordered! I’m hoping it ships soon *fingers crossed*
• Riley + Sam by Ashley Schaller // This is another ARC for Contemporary YA. The author reached out to me on Instagram due to my reading and interest in Seashells, and I’m so glad I said yes. This is a sweet romance with Christian themes and I loved it. The humor, the love, the characters. It releases in August!
• The Isa Project by Gina R. Briggs // I know this author! She’s my friend! In May, I believe, she announced she was selling out all the inventory for the original cover because she’s redoing it and rereleasing. I’m a sucker for original covers and I love the OG cover of Isa and I guess I’d been itching to buy a new book, so I jumped right on that. The third book in a row this week that I read in 24 hours! I loved this book so much. I am a fangirl of K and Lincoln and F. Scott and Isa for life. This story will stay with me for a long time.
• Under the Dome by Stephen King // Our second novel for SK Summer and the one King thinks is his best book of the 21st Century. So far, I’m enjoying it overall. The good guys are some of his more likeable characters and the bad guys are so bad, but I guess that’s what you get when a small town is stuck under an unknown dome. The good and bad behaviors are amplified. So far, I’m describing it as train wreck that I can’t look away from, albeit a well-written one.
• Job // Ant and I are still working through the Bible chronologically. Historians and biblical scholars aren’t 100% sure when Job’s account happens in the Old Testament. A lot of chronological readings place it after Genesis. It’s a tough book to read, but there’s a sweetness to it.
• 1st Peter and 1st Kings // Sunday morning class and Wednesday night Bible Study respectively. I love that Peter’s two letters were persevered and made it into the Bible. He had quite the journey; I can’t wait to meet him in heaven. We’re sooo close to finishing 1st Kings and will start 2nd Kings in July.

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• Avatar the Last Airbender (2005) // Halfway through Book 2 I believe!
• Fushigi Yugi (1995) // It was okay. In the middle it got kinda weird and focused on the characters’ virginity and attempt to steal it to weaken their life forces.
• Gurren Lagann (2007) // Ant is watching this and thought it was going to be a silly anime, but a dark turn just happened, and it seems to be more serious. It’s also the first sub-titled anime he’s watched in a while, like maybe even a couple years.
• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare and Presented by Take Note Troupe // This always signifies the start of summer to me. This summer and last at least, we’ve seen the shows at the start of summer so maybe that’s why, but there’s nothing like watching a show outside–movie, theater, concert even (probably)–it’s so fun. (“That’s so fun! [laughs]” – TSwift hahaha listen until the end) I highly recommend searching for local theater groups in your area. It definitely fills the “going to shows” bucket when North American Broadway tours can be pricey. Take Note Troupe performed fantastically as usual. I love this troupe.
• Ocean’s Eleven (2001) // Wow this movie! I loved this movie in my childhood. It was one my sister and cousins and I quoted often. Ant had never seen this and I saw that it was leaving Netflix at the end of June, so I picked this to watch on my movie night. It’s brilliant! And Ant really enjoyed it. He was amazed at the end that no one *spoiler* turns on Danny Ocean and that they got away with it. I’m so relieved to say that it stands up the memory of my youth (haha) and it’s still a well-written and funny movie. And it was cool to see a young Matt Damon at kiiinda the start of his career, four years after Goodwill Hunting and one year before The Bourne Identity.
• Paddington (2014) // My friend and favorite candle maker has talked about Paddington 2 being her comfort movie for forever. Our small town’s third summer movie is Paddington in Peru, the third movie in the Paddington series. Claire talked about them on her Instagram Stories again around the time the announcement was finalized and so I used it as a prompt to finally check it out from the library. It’s funny and cozy and heart-warming. The filming and animation was so creative. I plan on watching it again soon.
• Moana 2 (2024) // The first movie showing at our town’s Summer Movie series. My nephew Sawyer enjoyed this movie so much and has been wanting me to watch it since he saw it. The weekend Meadow Vista showed this lined up perfectly on a sports break for Sawyer and a free weekend for Ant and I, so we planned for a sleepover. He loved watching a movie outside and stayed awake the entire time! The best part was watching it with him. Personally, I didn’t need a sequel and the songs weren’t memorable, but there were a handful of funny moments, a funny side character and dialogue, and Pua got more screen time. Though Ant does enjoy the song “Beyond”.
• Ocean’s Twelve (2004) // Fantastic sequel! This one takes Danny Ocean and the crew over to Europe. Julia Roberts’ part in the story was so great and funny. I forgot that Bruce Willis showed up. Catherine Zeta-Jones also stars. Great writing; great humor.
• Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) // What a way to end a series *applause* I loved that it’s come full-circle and the crew is back in Vegas, that Benedict needs to be asked for help, that earthquakes are being created. Again, great writing and so funny. This one was Ant’s second favorite and then the sequel his third favorite. I enjoyed that each movie was unique.

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Note: This is a screenshot from the birthday video we sent Mom for her birthday. I always try to grab one or two from our singing videos because there’s hilarious pictures like this one LOL.

• I really want to include songs that I’ve discovered thanks to my Release Radar, so I figured it would be easier to make a “new discoveries” playlist:

• Dave Barnes’s Playlist in chronological order

• Ellie Holcomb’s All of My Days

• And Canyon from Ellie Holcomb as well

Here’s some songs that Ant has enjoyed this month:

• “Like a Stone” by Audioslave
• “Got My Mind Set On You” by George Harrison // He’s the same George Harrison from The Beatles, from when he was a solo artist after they broke up.
• “Dreams” by The Cranberries

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We didn’t play a ton of games this month. We should remedy that in July!

• Wordle // I lost my 6-day streak on 6/12 due to the word VIXEN. Started over on the 13^th (word was BILGE) and ended the month my streak at 18 (woohoo!) with puzzle number 1,472; the word was BLINK
• Waffle // I lost my streak of 91 (sob!) on 6/27 due to too many careless moves. I ended June with a solid 3-day streak!  
• Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies // We finished the second campaign on a game night early in the month. We were all so surprised. It was a blast!
• Dominion played expansions Allies and Dark Ages together // We got to use Ant’s beautiful new Dominion card mat (thanks Rob and Lauri!). We had the DominGen app pick the 10 Kingdom Cards. There was little to no trashing mechanism in the game and our decks were chonkyyyy haha we love this game
• Octopath Traveler // “It’s been really fun! I love it. It’s just been really long.” – Ant
• PUBG // Ant loves playing this game with his friends.
• The episodes of Disney Dreamlight Valley that we recorded:

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And there we have it! A month’s worth of stories and games in various forms. Your turn! What did you read, play, listen to, or watch in June? Is there something else you enjoy that you do more regularly than one my latelies? Did you knit, bake, sew something or hike somewhere this month?

My hope for these monthly roundups is that you find something—book, game, music, or movie-wise—that piques your interest. If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask!

Share to the extent that you’re comfortable 🙂 I’d love to hear from you!

Happy June, my friends!