Weekend Wrap-Up: 03/07/2021
The Weekend Wrap-Up offers a little look at what I’m reading, the new books that came my way, and anything else I may have gotten up to this past week. I will be linking up to Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and hopping around your blogs a little to see what the community has to share too!
My Week
On Sunday I ran my bi-weekly Sunday Dungeons & Dragons game. This group is running through Lost Mines of Phandelvar in the Sword Coast and I think this week saw a turning point for me. The entire module is written with things to kill around every corner but that’s not exactly how I like to run my games. I prefer to offer player choices. Yes, these guys may try to kill you, but you could also talk to them, leave them be, trick them… there are so many things you can do with D&D and roleplay and I want to provide the opportunity to create neat stories! So I’m looking at the module and what I can tear up and change now because that’s what I do, apparently.
The rest of the week has been more fatigue and terrible sleep. I’m veering towards nocturnal again which is frustrating but it is what it is.
I also started with my Buffyverse Project this week. I put in an order for some second hand Buffy books I want to read, my dad sent over a few of my old books he still has back at home, and I rewatched the Buffy movie. It’s as bad and as campy as I remember it being and I have a post in the works talking about how the lore changed between the movie and the series which I think should be interesting.
I also rewatched Princess Mononoke with some friends via Discord last night. That was really nice, I haven’t watched that film since I was probably 17 years old so it’s probably been about 15 years and it is just a work of art. Then yesterday I started watching Sweet Tooth on Netflix which seems really nice, and Drag Race All Stars is back on Netflix this season so I’ve caught up with that as well.
As for what I’ve been reading, I sunk my teeth into City of Glass, book 3 of Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series. I’m almost finished with it as I write this post and I’m ready to give the series a break, for sure. Apparently I can’t read a whole series in one sitting anymore which is good to know. I’m enjoying it though. As predictable as some parts of the story are, there are some twists I didn’t see. I may actually have a review for this one, I didn’t have a whole lot to say about City of Ashes.
Oh and I quietly published my review policy. Not going out of my way to open myself up to that world just yet, but it doesn’t hurt to have a policy in place.
On the Blog
This week’s blog posts. I haven’t had the energy to go into much else but I do have a lot in the pipeline!
Incoming
For ebooks this week it was Amazon First Reads time. I wasn’t 100% sure what to choose this time around but eventually settled on The Magic of Found Objects by Maddie Dawson which sounds like it could be a very sweet read.
The physical pile is a little bigger, but these should be the last ones in for a little while, at least. Artifact Space was another Twitter giveaway winning from Nils of The Fantasy Hive courtesy of Gollancz. Thank you again! And I bought the Buffy books on the top line second hand from ABE Books. Frustratingly the two collections are slightly different sizes and Summer Vacation has an odd smell to it but those are the risks we take, eh? 😂 The bottom three are from my teenage collection (unread, of course, because they belonged to me).
Next Week
I’m not yet sure what I’ll be reading next, if I’ll start Good Omens (see my Yet to Read post from this week), one of the Buffy books, or perhaps some epic fantasy/space opera. I have 5 books plus my Kindle stacked up on the table beside my armchair for options.
D&D should return Friday and Sunday of next week (both of my games run bi-weekly) and I have some serious prep work to do for both games!
On the blog, I will hopefully get out a couple posts outside of Yet to Read and Weekend Wrap-Up, we’ll see where my energy levels are but look out for those.
How have your weeks been? Reading anything good? Got up to anything interesting? Let’s encourage each other in the comments! I’d love to hear what you’re all getting up to!
0 thoughts on “Weekend Wrap-Up: 03/07/2021”
My week has been preparing and testing some stuff for a D&D one-shot that I am about to DM for my group in… about 30 minutes. Wish me luck! I will need it. XD
I hope your upcoming D&D sessions go well!
I also remember the original Buffy movie and it was indeed very cringey. Never really got into the series proper though, but from what random episodes I caught on TV it wasn’t bad, at all. Hope you have fun with this project too! 🙂
Good luck, you’ll be great!
I hope you feel better soon. I loved watching the Buffy series but didn’t think much of the movie. It’s pretty good that they took a bad movie and made such a great series from it.
It is! And it did have its moments even but I could not tell you why certain things were happening or what went on during the middle part.
I can see why you want to change up the D&D module. Having choices makes it more interesting–and fun, I would think. I was eyeing Magic of Found Objects as a possible Amazon Prime pick. I tend to always wait until the end of the month to make a decision. I have no good reason. I haven’t read the Buffy books, but I do love the show. I should try the books. I hope you have a week and enjoy your new books!
For sure, and I have a lot of issues with how combat heavy and black/white a lot of the official modules tend to be written. As much as I wanted to see how it is just to run a pre-written campaign… I have to do things my own way for the fun of it.
Nah that’s valid! I had 4 choices and I went through meticulously reading the blurbs, checking the preview for writing style, before deciding which one I might enjoy most. But I certainly changed my mind by the end of last month!
I remember them being fun little reads but we shall see. I sometimes have issues with media tie-ins feeling a little flat.
Thanks, you too!
Princess Mononoke is a great movie, but I probably prefer the earlier Miyazaki like My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service. Haha, now you got me wanting to do a Studio Ghibli marathon 😀
I love those too! And Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away… I think it’s impossible to choose a favourite Ghibli when there are SO MANY masterpieces.
DO IT!
It irritates the living crud out of me to have two different sizes or even different formats for a series. I will re-purchase books just so that they match up. Maybe that’s one reason I have so many duplicates (yea, we’ll go with that 🙂 ). Looks like you had a great week, though! Congrats on winning the giveaway!!
-Megan @ Bookstacks & Golden Moms
Hahah, yes! I bought them second hand. Turns out one is the UK edition, the other is the US edition. 🙃 Oh well, lol. Thanks!
I wouldn’t mind reading some of those Buffy spin-off novels but I’m not sure where to start. I had no idea there were so many. I’ll have to do a bit of research on it.
I’m increasingly curious about the Mortal Instruments books, too. I’m right at the end of the third season of the Shadowhunters adaptation and what I thought was going to be a pretty fluffy, light teen fantasy romp has turned into one of the bleakest, darkest shows I’ve watched for a while. It reminds me very much of the way Buffy changed from a monster-of-the-week comedy-drama into a descending spiral into misery, loss and nihilism. It’s surprising (or maybe it isn’t) how often that seems to happen. It’s almost like a bait&switch.
Anyway, it’s compelling viewing although I’m not convinced all of the many radical plot twists stand up to close examination. I will have to read the books sometime to see how much comes directly from there.
I could maybe do a post on them, I did a bunch of research for how I wanted to go about it, and it would fit into the project.
Oh yeah, it really took a turn in the books too. I want to check the show out, just need to check which books it covers because I’m taking a break from the books for a bit and still have 3 more!
As a fellow Buffy fan, I’m excited to see your thoughts on the Buffyverse!
I got that same book for my Amazon First read! I loved the original Buffy movie, so when the tv series came out I wasn’t sure I’d like it too. But I ended up loving it and becoming obsesses with it even more! I have read and own those Buffy books you have in the picture. I should do a rewatch of that series too. But I just started a rewatch of Supernatural, which I haven’t watched the first season of that probably since it first aired! Dean and Sam are so young. Have a great week!
Lisa Loves Literature
High five! 😀
Yeah I was definitely obsessed, haha. I wanna rewatch Supernatural some time too, I haven’t watched the last few series.
I hope you feel better and get more sleep. Have a great week!
Ooo I am excited about your Buffy post! I loved that show so much. I should really rewatch it.
Yes! Join meeee. 😀
I’m the same way with D&D, I get bored after a while with constant combat, I’d rather tell an interactive story with the players and mix role playing in with the action stuff. I’ve been running a group through Tomb of Annihilation (what a module!!) but I’ve been changing it up and adding/ changing things- it’s been a blast! 🙂
Good luck with your games!
I actually really love running combat but I can tell the players get bored after a while, which in turn makes me enjoy it less. So yeah!! Tomb of Annihilation was one I almost picked up but it didn’t seem to fit naturally enough after LMoP. In the end, decided we’d go down the Tyranny of Dragons route once we’re done in Phandalin. Long may she reign. 😉 I’d been worried it might be a bit stale, being so old, now I’m just excited to make it my own!!
Thanks, you too. 😀
Customizing and making the adventures your own is one of the best parts. 🙂 I tweaked Annihilation quite a bit since I didn’t want to run just out of the book- and Dungeon of the Mad Mage is fun too. Lots of things you can do with the different levels to customize it.
A friend of mine is running Tyranny as well…
Hope your campaigns go great. 🙂
I’m glad you are feeling a little better and are doing more. Thanks for the reminder about the Amazon First Reads. I picked the same one you did.
High five!