I feel like I haven’t properly blogged in ages and so it’s no surprise that I failed to write my June roundup last month. Lazy me tried to convince my Inner Monk that it’s okay to miss out one monthly recap but as you can see in this post’s headline, lazy me eventually lost – thanks, slacker!

Despite all the extra work combining June and July for one joint recap had one advantage: The number of books I’ve read doesn’t look as embarrassing as if I had just listed the books from one month because only 8 books in 2 whole months is actually really shocking XD

But I have the best excuse for ignoring my books for so long since Maraia came all the way from America to visit first Crini and then me for a total of six and a half weeks and it was the best time ever since we did so many fun things and had such an amazing time!

Books & Audiobooks

So here are the few books I actually managed to read last month 😀

• The Last Star – Rick Yancey: What can I say, I can’t hide a certain disappointment. Overall it was an okay read but the ending felt rushed and not satisfying at all.
• A Head Full of Ghosts – Paul Tremblay: Definitely not a boring read but it felt like every other possession story and couldn’t live up to my expectations due to a lack of any kind of new ideas.
• Feed: Viruszone – Mira Grant: Exactly the kind of zombie story I like – not just dumb nonstop action and pointless splatter but an interesting plot, believable worldbuilding and relatable characters.
• Die Känguru-Offenbarung – Marc-Uwe Kling: Just as hilarious as the first two books, the only thing I didn’t like was that things got a bit silly towards the end but even then the audiobook still made me laugh 😀
• Mörderische Angst (The Dead Will Tell) – Linda Castillo: Another Kate Burkholder thriller, another Amish murder mystery. I’ve accepted the fact that Castillo’s books don’t offer any surprises anymore but I keep enjoying her crime novels every once in a while.
• Der Code (Chain of Evens) – Fredrik T. Olsson: This one was a reread because I’m going to read the sequel soon and it was just as mind-blowing as the first time!
• Die Blutlinie (Shadow Man) – Cody McFadyen: I’m glad I decided to reread the whole Smoky Barrett series before the new book comes out in September because these books are so freaking good – and so damn painful.
• Der Todeskünstler (The Face of Death) – Cody McFadyen: I liked it a little less than the first book but it still had me on the edge of my seat until the shocking conclusion.

Movies

I might not have read a lot of books, but boy did it had two amazing movie months! Once again Maraia is to blame because I made her watch all my favorite movies – well, maybe not all of them, but quite a lot 😀

      

• THE CONJURING: Re-watched this one for the second (or third?) time already since to prepare myself for the sequel which  came out in June I was relieved to see that it’s still one of my favorite horror movies!
• THE CONJURING 2: To be honest I liked this one even more than the first one because I found the story more interesting and surprising and also liked the emotional touch – now I just need to watch it again without obnoxious people talking loudly as fuck in the movie theater…
• GRAVITY: Of course we also had to watch Gravity which is probably one of the best space movies ever. I love every second of it but I’m also always impatiently waiting for the epic landing scene 😀
• NATIONAL TREASURE 1 & 2: I seriously can’t believe those movies are already 12 and 9 years old and it’s kinda sad that these are still the last good movies Nicolas Cage did XD I’ve lost count of how often I’ve watched them already but they just never get old. I really hope National Treasure 3 is still a thing…
• BASTILLE DAY: To be honest the main reason I wanted to see this movie was Idris Elba and he once more proved that he’s the coolest guy ever. I would cut off my arm to see him as the next Bond 😀 Besides the movie was surprisingly good and I really enjoyed the fast-paced story that had quite a few good twists.

    

• INDEPENDENCE DAY: Talking about old movies… I watched this one actually on July 4th and it’s another one of those movies that I could just watch over and over again.
• INDEPENDENCE DAY 2: I also enjoyed the sequel a lot and was happy to see to many characters from the first movie but it couldn’t live up to the „classic“ which wasn’t really a surprise for me. Still a good summer blockbuster though.
• THE FORCE AWAKENS: What can I say, it’s Star Wars and Jar Jar Binks isn’t in it, so of course it was awesome (again) 😀
• COLDPLAY LIVE 2012: I was still under the influence of the Coldplay concert in my hometown which took place in June, so of course I had to watch the DVD of the 2012 tour again – including a great singalong with Maraia xD
• JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR: While the Coldplay singalong was already pretty great it was just nothing compared to our JCS superstar singalong which was just EPIC. I’m a bit surprised my neighbor didn’t show up at my door and begged us to stop singing XD

    

• JURASSIC PARK I-IV: No „favorite movies“ marathon without the best movie ever, Steven Spielbergs „Jurassic Park“, because DINOSAURS ROCK. And since nothing beats dinosaurs we also had to watch the three sequels 😀
• HUSH: I found this movie by chance on Netflix and didn’t have any high expectations but „Hush“ turned out to be a pretty good horror movie. It’s about a deaf woman who (of course lives alone in the woods and) gets stalked by a killer and her handicap not only brought a fresh twist to this genre but I actually find the idea of being haunted by a brutal killer at home and not being able to hear him pretty terrifying.

TV shows

    

• FIREFLY: I’m trying so hard to love this series just as much as everyone else does but I can’t help finding it just okay. I like the characters but am not really interested in most of the stories.
• THE NIGHT MANAGER: I’m really glad I watched this show and didn’t let myself get scared away by negative reviews because I really liked it a lot and I’m sad there were only 8 episodes.
• THE BIG BANG THEORY: OMG I seriously can’t believe that THAT happened even though I had already seen spoilers about IT before watching it myself. Season 9 had some pretty good episodes already with quite a few epic moments (like Sheldon getting drunk and singing karaoke xD)
• GAME OF THRONES: I still haven’t finished season 6… oops. I’m definitely enjoying this season more than the last one but I’m just not as hooked on GoT as I was two years ago…
• PRISON BREAK: I made Maraia and Crini watch this show with me and even though I’ve watched the first season for the third time now I still find this show as thrilling and addictive as ever – I can’t wait for the new episodes next year!

    

• COUPLING: I finally continued my Couplings re-watch and I think it’s still my favorite comedy show. I love the characters and always almost wet myself when Jeff talks himself into the most awkward situations XD
• PUSHING DAISIES: It’s been 7 years already since this show got canceled after just 2 seasons and I’m still not over it – how I wish that the „Pie Hole“ was real and I could hang out with all these great characters, eat lots of pie and solve weird murder mysteries.
• TWIN PEAKS: Another re-watch in preparation of the 2017 reboot and even though the first episodes still were a bit slow I’m definitely enjoying it so far – and things haven’t even gotten REALLY weird yet^^
• STRANGER THINGS: I had high expectations for this 80s style mystery/horror show since it came with such high praise and all the raving reviews didn’t promise too much: I loved season 1, especially the characters and the dark atmosphere and can’t wait for the next season.
• ZOO: I started watching this show last summer and paused for almost a year for no apparent reason until I suddenly felt like continuing it a few days ago. It’s not extraordinary but still makes for some good summer entertainment and I’m glad it got renewed for another season.

Reviews

   

Other blog posts

• [Bookish Scene: Project 52] LGBTQ
• [Bookish Scene: Project 52] Poetry
• [Bookish Scene: Project 52] Aspirations
• [Bookish Scene: Project 52] Travel
• [Leserunde] Startschuss zum großen #SmokyIsBack-Marathon
• [Leserunde] #SmokyIsBack – Diskussion zum 1. Teil von „Die Blutlinie“
• [Leserunde] #SmokyIsBack – Diskussion zum 2. Teil von „Die Blutlinie“
• [Leserunde] #SmokyIsBack – Diskussion zum 3. Teil von „Die Blutlinie“
• [Leserunde] #SmokyIsBack – Diskussion zum letzten Teil von „Die Blutlinie“ und Startschuss für „Der Todeskünstler“
• [Leserunde] #SmokyIsBack – Diskussion zu Teil 1-3 von „Der Todeskünstler“
• [New books on the shelves] May 2016
• [Roundup] May 2016
• [Das Jahr des Taschenbuchs] Meine Bücher für Juni & Juli