tullycat

July went so fast...

Books

Salt Slow, by Julia Armfield
- I read her full length novel (Our Wives Under the Sea) and enjoyed it, so I wanted to check out her short stories. I...liked the novel better. For most of these I was left waiting for the punch line at the end. The stories mostly left me with the feeling of 'am I missing something or were these not good.' But I think I have less and less patience for stories that are prettily written and say nothing haha.
The Eyes Are the Best Part, by Monika Kim
- After Jiwon's father leaves them for a new woman and her mother starts dating a white man, Jiwon's life feels upside down. She makes some new friends at college (to replace the friends she ~broke up with after high school) and starts to feel cravings for her mother's boyfriend's blue eyes......cravings that she takes out on unsuspecting people. So this is a story that popliar said 'you can predict where it's going and what it's going to say about feminism' except I couldn't, because it didn't even reach that like, basic level of what predictability? The mother's boyfriend is this cartoonishly racist and villainous man, so there's absolutely no nuance or grey area for the reader to grapple with why she would want to kill him. Quite the opposite really - it felt like the book was trying to say 'well here are all these reasons why she's justified in wanting to kill him' just let her be evil!!! None of the characters were fleshed out, but the most egregious was their mother I think :( it made her so pathetic. The writing style felt like YA, which was jarring considering the subject matter dealt with murder and cannibalism. And there were so many moments in the plot where I had to suspend my disbelief - please, watch a single police procedural or episode of Grey's Anatomy!
Crying in HMart, by Michelle Zauner
- I bought this agessss ago and finally read it. I thought the writing style was quite nice even when dealing with a brutal subject matter. There were a few sections where I thought the timeline was a bit jumbled, but it wasn't off putting to me. I'm impressed by the honesty it takes to write about your relationship with your mother and especially her relationship with her now estranged father.
Dept. of Speculation, by Jenny Offill
- Very short, read it in a day. The first half describes a woman's relationship with her husband and (what I interpreted as) her postpartum depression; then at the halfway mark, changes from first person POV to third person when she learns that her husband has been maybe physically but definitely emotionally cheating on her. The author teaches in the MFA program which I think you can kind of tell - it's definitely written in a literary fiction style that kind of feels like a writing exercise at times. The ending could've been stronger to me.
How Far the Light Reaches, by Sabrina Imbler
- This will be an unpopular opinion considering the rating on Goodreads and how much my bookclub loved it, but the structure didn't work for me. It was trying to be both nonfiction biology and personal memoir about being queer and mixed race, and ended up skimming the surface on each end in an unsatisfying way. It was then compounded by the fact that the same structure repeated 10 times...by the third chapter you're like 'okay, I get it.' My bookclub liked that the author didn't hand hold the reader to their conclusions.....but I felt like it was kind of heavy handed. And additionally, I felt like all the conclusions were these broader themes of like 'community survives adversity' and I don't really read memoirs for broad themes. I did think that the author's experiences were valuable and I would've much rather read more of their life. The two stories that stood out the most to me were Pure Life and Beware the Sand Striker. If you were considering reading this, don't let my review stop you from at least trying it, because like I said, my bookclub loved it. I might just be a certified Hater (TM).

Music

Artists
- The Boyz (442)
- A.C.E (85)
- Ateez (54)
- Evnne (48)
- Lorde (45)
Tracks
- Unbreakable Sign, The Boyz (28)
- The next 7 are the rest of the Gibberish album by The Boyz lol....
- Right Here, The Boyz (11)
- Blind, Ateez; Work, Ateez; Badder Love, Evnne (all tied for 10)
Albums
- Gibberish, The Boyz (196)
- Golden Hour : Part.1, Ateez (48)
- Ride or Die, Evnne (47)
- Melodrama, Lorde (40)
- Supernatural Remix vol. 3, A.C.E (35)

Can I just say the Gibberish album came out July 19 lol.

Concerts

A.C.E
- I saw A.C.E again hehe....this show was probably even more enjoyable than the first show, not only because I went with multiple friends but also the energy of the theatre was really good and A.C.E weren't as uhhh emotional this time haha. And my view was a bit better. Otherwise my review from June stands!
The Boyz x2
- I saw them twice and clearly remembered 'oh I am deobi' hence my Spotify looking like this this month (not pictured: the rest of their discography in the next like 20 spots in my album tracking lol). The kept the majority of their setlist from the Seoul concerts, which I don't think any of us expected...it was beneficial since we got to see some really old songs and Japanese songs?? But I was slightly disappointed that we didn't get to see Roar since I love that choreography. The members were charming as ever and Eric was finally able to tour with them, which changed the dynamics from last tour in funny ways (Jacob got to take a step back and let Kevin and Eric do a lot of the MCing, plus Eric is just energy boy). This tour felt a bit more polished than the last one, probably since they kept it so similar to the Seoul set list. Compared to last tour when they just chatted with the crowd while half of them did outfit changes, this pace was much more snappy.I did end up doing high touch with them at the second concert, which is a blur even as you're doing it lol but Sangyeon acknowledged my sign twice so I am content. But yeah idk I am deobi <3 We went through literal hell to get to the second concert and about halfway through the day we were like 'I would not be doing this for like any other group' so consider yourselves special tbz!!!
Viviz
- Charming!! The crowd went wild for Maniac! Whenever I go to girl group concerts I'm always struck by how different the audience's energy is....why were the men silent.....maybe it's because I had my earplugs in but I swear I was only hearing high pitched screams haha. They stopped in the middle to do challenges and I think mentioned they had cut the set list down...knowing they had like 25 stops it makes sense that they would want a break in the middle, but as a fan you're like 'noooo don't cut out the songs, cut out the talking' lol. Even so the concert finished quite briskly and I was home by 9:10 which is always nice.