Greetings, my blogging friends! It’s the end of July, which means it’s time for another monthly recap. By the time you’re reading this I’ll be in sunny Malta for a two week holiday with a few of my best friends. I’ve all been looking forward to this holiday for about two months and now it’s almost here! You can imagine my excitement, I’m sure. For the past week or so I’ve been preparing – shopping for some last few items of summer-y clothes, gathering stuff to pack in my suitcase, and of course writing blog posts for the time I’m gone! I feel so productive and organised, it’s amazing.

July was pretty cool, too! At the beginning of the month I got my grade for my thesis, and it was a 9, so that pretty much made my month. I now officially have my Bachelor’s degree and I will start my MA in September. For now, though, I’m enjoying every minute of my holiday, I love not having to worry about deadlines and stuff!

Read this Month

This was a good month for reading! I didn’t read a whole lot (even while having nothing to do I’ve been quite busy – strange how that works) but I very much enjoyed all the books I did read.

I finished reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe on the first of July and absolutely adored it. It might very well turn out to be my favourite book of the year! After that I read To Kill a Mockingbird, which you’ll see a review of next week. Spoiler alert: I was very impressed by it. Afterwards I did feel like a more light and fluffy read, though, so I read Sheer Mischief by Jill Mansell. I don’t know what it is about her books, but I just love ’em all. And last but not least I read Us by David Nicholls. For some reason it took me quite some time to read it, but I did really like it a lot. There’s just something about Nicholls’ writing style that gets me every time.

Books I’m Reading on Holiday

Since I just finished reading Us today and have been busy with holiday preparations, I’ve not got a new current read yet, so I figured I’d share with you the book I plan to read while on holiday. I’m bringing my eReader which means I’ve got a whole lot of books to choose from, but these are the ones on my Holiday TBR:

Summer on the Cold War Planet by Paula Buck
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
Playing for the Ashes by Elizabeth George
Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl

And I’m also bringing the first three Harry Potter books on my iPod, so I can listen to them on the plane and relax a little (I do not like flying…).

Reviewed this Month

I read Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan and while I did like it for the most part, I was kind of disappointed by a few aspects of the story.
Next up was The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion, which I had some pretty big issues with. Is the magic of Don Tillman lost forever?
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamine Alire Sáenz saves the day for the ratings this month, because I absolutely adored it!

Baked this Month

Early this month I got very excited about the science behind cookies and put together these deliciously chewy M&M cookies.
This blondie recipe combines some mouthwatering flavours: Oreos, marshmallows and chocolate chips!