September’s Monthly Gems | ft. screaming about the Kyoshi Novels

I think I found my favorite series of the year.

More on that later. But in case you couldn’t tell by the title, I’m talking about the Kyoshi Novels.

This month I actually read stuff!! So congrats to me!

Sadly, September is already over and this month actually flew away. This entire year has flown by but at the same time it feels like it’s been an eternity. I can’t believe it’s October- AKA spOokY sEasOn! Wasn’t it just July the other day?

But I’ve finally come to terms that it’s not summer anymore 😦 it’s fall, and while fall isn’t overall bad, it leads up to the winter and I don’t like winter at all, so fall is kind of ruined for me too.

Just writing this is making me sad. >:o I like summer!! I don’t want it to go :((

I’ve had a very busy/productive month so let’s get into the wrap-up! And yes, this is the first wrap-up I’ve done in over six months and I’m only doing it because I wrote it on my Notion and I won’t lie to my Notion.

Books

 

     

I read three books and am currently in the middle of a fourth book that I started in September! It’s not a lot but I haven’t been able to read a lot recently so I’m grateful for whatever I got. I also really enjoyed all the books I read, which is great!

THE RISE OF KYOSHI– ★★★★★

I loved this book! It made me so, so happy to experience new content that is part of the Avatar universe, and this book even built on the existing lore and told us more about previous Avatars. It’s also sapphic (!!) and Kyoshi and Rangi are amazing girlfriends- the yearning and the tension were amazing and exhausting. But even above that, my favorite part of The Rise of Kyoshi was Kyoshi herself! In the shows, we picture Kyoshi as some badass warrior lady who loves murder, but that’s not completely true. (And even if it is true, we get to see her become that way. No, she wasn’t born like that.) I loved Kyoshi’s evolution and her character and she deserves the entire world. The poor thing faced so much pain in her life.

THE SHADOW OF KYOSHI– ★★★★★

Also an amazing book! I honestly enjoyed the first book more than the second, but as you can see, I still loved it enough to rate it 5 stars. This book built the world more than the characters, and it also went more into depth of how Kyoshi got to the point where everyone thinks she loves murder (Which isn’t true. Don’t make up things about my girl like that!). While there was less of Rangi and the Flying Opera Troupe (sadly!), we learned a LOT about Kuruk’s backstory and Kyoshi herself which is obviously very interesting and cool to read. It was an excellent sequel!

THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA– ★★★★★

I’m really glad that I liked all the books I read this month! THCS was a really sweet, feel-good sort of book. It did take me a while to get into it, though. I loved Linus, I loved Arthur, I loved Zoe, I loved all of the kids, and I especially loved Lucy! This book is filled with themes of found family, belonging, and love; not only romantic love but the love of friendship and family. Linus’s arc of learning to trust and not be afraid of the unknown is also so incredibly beautiful. I’m just really touched by this book.

WINNING THE GREEN NEW DEAL

I’m currently reading this book! Winning The GND is written by leaders of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led movement to combat climate change and push for electoral action against it. I’m actually a part of it (subtle plug lol) so obviously, I wanted to read the book that Sunrise published. I’m learning a LOT from it, and this will be super helpful to argue with trolls on the Internet 😉 This book is kind of tough to read because it’s nonfiction and I don’t read a lot of nonfic (whoops) but I’m trying to read a few chapters every day before bed!!

P.S. If you’re not sure what the Green New Deal (GND) is, it’s a proposal/plan of dozens of policies and principles to combat climate change, achieve net-zero emissions by 2030, and create millions of just jobs in the process. The only way we can address the scope of the climate crisis is pushing for bold, sweeping action, and this is the only comprehensive resolution that even comes close. Learn more here!

Shows

SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER

During September I watched She-Ra, which is available on Netflix. It’s an animated cartoon show with tons of representation! I even mentioned it in my post about different diverse animated shows. I absolutely loved it and I really wish I could watch more :(( but all five seasons are over.

I especially adore Adora (get it? adore adora? yes? okay good) and Bow, although I like most of the other characters too. Honestly, though, I couldn’t stand Glimmer in Seasons 3 and 4. But now she’s a better.

Life

I started getting assignments for school in September, which was hard. Last year I didn’t get a lot of schoolwork because my old school wasn’t very good at online learning. But this year it’s a LOT of work 😔😅

I also had a music performance! Not sure if I mentioned it, but my last performance was in late August and before that I didn’t perform for several months, so it was kind of fun to sing again. I did end up crying after my performance because I messed up once, but everyone else said it sounded good so I don’t know.

This summer wasn’t… great on my social life HAHA. Everyone else probably had the same problem, but I didn’t see any of my friends at all. But the past week I got a chance to talk to and hang out with two of my friends and that was really fun 🙂

World

RBG died this month, which makes me incredibly sad. Not only was she a trailblazing woman, but a lot of basic rights here in the USA hinge upon the Supreme Court. If we have a conservative majority, the next 20 to 30 years will be devastating for women’s rights, LGBT+ rights, immigration rights, and basically all marginalized people’s rights.

Also, the presidential debates were a dumpster fire lmao. Enough said about that.

The election here in the USA is in less than thirty days!! This is probably an election that will determine a lot about my life, and I can’t even vote. I’m nervous as heck.

But I still hold out hope, and no matter what the presidential election outcomes are, I will never stop fighting, and I’m proud that there are thousands of young people like me who will also keep fighting.

Here’s to October being a great month! I’m not sure how Halloween is going to go this year, given the obvious circumstances 😅 which sucks, since it’s my favorite American holiday.

How many books did you read this month? Have you watched ATLA or She-Ra? How are you going to celebrate Halloween?

P.S. I got to 500 followers! Thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting me and thank you so so much for sticking around ✨💖