Shadowhunters Review: 3x17 "Heavenly Fire"

Shadowhunters Review: 3x16 "Stay With Me"

Star Trek: Discovery Review: 2x10 "The Red Angel"

Reading Habits Book Tag

This is an older tag that I’ve had sitting in my list of things to do on the blog for years, so here I am finally doing it!

I found this blog through rachaelrexds, but it was started in a YouTube video that no longer seems to be available.

1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

The short answer is no. Up until recently, I was living in Japan in a rather small apartment. I did everything in one place because it was the only place to do anything. I’ll pretty much read wherever I happen to be. I prefer it to be quieter so I can concentrate, but anywhere it’s quiet is fair game.

2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?

I’ve been known to do both in the past. I won’t really buy bookmarks myself, but because everyone knows I’m a reader, I get given them as gifts sometimes. And they’ve come in Life’s Library packages as well, so I try my best to use those as much as I can.

3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/certain amount of pages?

I usually stop at the end of a chapter. It just seems like a natural stopping point, and stopping in the middle of action can confuse my brain once I pick the book back up.

An exception to this is when a chapter is really long and I just can’t finish it before needing to do something else.

4. Do you eat or drink whilst reading?

I will if I’m hungry or thirsty. At times, I’ll read during meal times, but I don’t do that often because I find it difficult to both eat and focus on the page. But it happens sometimes! Eating small snacks while reading is more common for me, but I don’t do that all of the time either.

5. Multitasking: music or TV whilst reading?

Nope! I can’t focus on anything else if music or the TV is on. I know there are people who even write better with music on, and my brain has trouble comprehending how that’s possible. I can’t even read. I’ll get too distracted, even if it’s instrumental music. I need as much quiet as possible.

6. One book at a time or several?

Usually, I’m reading several books at a time. In the past, that was usually because I was reading books for school as well as books I personally wanted to read. Now, it just tends to happen for various reasons. I don’t have trouble keeping track of what’s happening in each book. I read a wide variety, so they’re usually quite different from each other anyway.

7. Reading at home or everywhere?

This question feels a little different in 2021... 

As a kid, I took a book with me everywhere. Now I tend to only read at home. Like I mentioned before, I read best when it’s quiet, and that doesn’t usually happen out and about. I also just get distracted by more things in general if I’m outside or something.

8. Read out loud or silently in your head?

Silently 100%! I would get so tired reading out loud all the time.

9. Do you read ahead or skip pages?

When I was younger and really eager to know what would happen, I would sometimes flip ahead to see if I could catch any hints, and sometimes I did. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m older now, but I tend not to even think about reading ahead anymore.

10. Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

Keeping it like new if at all possible! Honestly, that’s probably the biggest reason why letting people borrow my books makes me nervous.

11. Do you write in your books?

College (I was an English major) made me a lot more receptive to writing in books. It was expected for us to either do that or to at least keep a set of notes with each book.

These days, I don’t write in every book I read, but sometimes, there are books that just give me certain feelings and I end up scribbling notes throughout them. It’s not necessarily about liking them more either; it’s just when I feel like I need to engage with the book in a certain way.

And that’s all for the tag! If anyone else answers the questions, please let me know in the comments. I’d be interested in hearing your answers.

Star Trek: Discovery Review: 2x13 "Such Sweet Sorrow"

These reviews are going to appear a little out of order again. I've filmed a review for episode twelve, but I haven't edited it yet, so you're seeing this one first. I'm also in the process of uploading my review of episode ten, so that will be up later today. Then the video review of twelve will be up tomorrow.

At the start of this episode, Michael touches the time crystal that Pike got in the last episode, and she sees visions of the future where there's a battle. She reacts surprisingly well to the visions, but then, I suppose, she already had a pretty good idea that something like that was going to happen.

A bit later, they realize that they're not going to be able to destroy Discovery like planned because Control is already attached to the ship and is protecting itself. Michael realizes that she's going to have to take Discovery to the future. Since this is the second to last episode of the season, this makes it pretty obvious where the next season is going to go. 

Discovery is evacuated, with the entire crew heading to the Enterprise, which looks just as crowded as it seems like it would be. It's pretty bizarre to see the Discovery crew mingling with the Enterprise crew. The Enterprise has the same aesthetic as in the original series, and those two aesthetics clashing together is a lot to take in. When Georgiou arrives, she makes a disgusting comment about the orange on Enterprise that made me laugh. She does look particularly out of place there in her all black outfit. It's pretty startling.

There are some new signals which take them to the planet where Po, who Tilly previously met, is queen. It's cool to see something that didn't seem largely important to the ongoing story before to come back and be so important. Unfortunately, the queen tells them that when Michael goes to the future, she won't be able to come back to the present time.

I'd already kind of expected that once they brought up time travel, but it was shocking the first time I realized this was where the show was going because it's such a big change and means leaving behind so many characters. It's definitely dramatic for a finale though!

We get one emotional scene with Culber and Stamets where they both talk about their plans once they complete their current mission. Them going in different directions sounds very final, yet it's also clear that neither one of them are actually pretty unsure. It's heartbreaking to watch.

Sarek and Amanda come to say goodbye to Michael, and they have a nice moment between the three of them. I'm glad we could see that before the jump to the future.

Right after that, Michael finds out that most of the Discovery's crew (at least the ones we regularly see on the bridge) are going with her. It's touching and a relief. Otherwise, we would either have a show about the same crew without the main character or a show about Michael with an entirely new cast for the next season.

Spock is part of the group that says they're staying though, which is startling considering we know he is there in the original series which is in the immediate future, not where the Discovery is jumping. Obviously that will be something to discuss when I discuss the next episode. For now, though, I just want to say that it's kind of sad that going would mean that Spock didn't get to say goodbye to his parents like Michael did. I suppose it could have happened off screen, but with the way things played out, it doesn't seem like it did.

Ash is also with the group, but he pulls Michael aside to explain that he can't go. Michael understands, but they're both also upset. I am too. I love their relationship, even when we got a little less of it this season, and it sucks knowing that Ash won't be in the next season. I think that's what left me more disappointed with the time jump more than anything else.

But, right now, Discovery hasn't jumped yet, so I'll save talking about that for the next episode.