And we’re back, after a full month of regular blogging! After a full month of book reviews, too, and sticking to the new posting goals. I’m super happy that I’ve been able to keep up the pace so far.

For anyone who missed last month’s update:

At the end of March, I launched One Book a Week. It’s a new, ongoing series where I read, review, and illustrate one book on a rotating 7-day basis. The project was born as a pandemic passion initiative, and I’m hoping to keep it going for as long as I can.

Metamashina Podcast: New Episodes

For the new updates: In April, Metamashina covered 2018’s Ophelia movie, an adaptation of a YA book by the same name. The film stars Daisy Ridley as the titular Ophelia, and the book it’s based on was an adaptation of the Shakespeare play Hamlet.

While our opinion on the movie was middling, we did have a great conversation about it. I firmly recommend checking out the episode if you’re looking for a nuanced, thoughtful discussion on a fun but flawed story.

For May: We also covered The Princess Bride!

Again, another fantastic, nuanced discussion about a film we have complex feelings over. This one stars Katie (PoeHotDameron) as a guest.

New Articles

As always, I continue to write. Outside of the #1BookAWeek initiative, I’ve had new articles drop for other outlets. Recent articles from Frolic include:

• 5 Amazing Fantasy Romance Series on Webtoons
• 5 Historical Romance Novels That Take Place in a Castle
• 5 Role Reversal Romances You Should Check Out
• Independent Bookstore Day Brings Romance to The Forefront

Once again, content warnings are included with all book recommendations (if the story necessitates it).

What I’ve Been Watching

Seriously, not much—at least, not much that I can talk about just yet!

As mentioned in the last update, I now have a Letterboxd account, which you should follow if you want to see what movies I’ve been enjoying before I speak about them.

I also watched a new Adam Curtis documentary called Can’t Get You Out of My Head.

Although it’s not my favorite Curtis documentary—I feel he rehashes a lot of points he brought up in his previous films, HyperNormalisation and The Century of the Self—I still enjoyed it for what it brought to the table. Definitely check it out if you’re interested in learning about societal patterns that are currently at play.

Upcoming Projects: The Rec Lists

Over the years, I’ve had people request different types of content from me, ranging from new meta to fanfics. The most requested piece of content, however, was not actually content, but a function that was missing from my website.

“Is there a central place where I can find all your recommendations?”

Again and again, I would be asked this, and I had no answer for it. Until now.

Introducing the Rec Lists, a master index of all my media recommendations for all platforms, located in one spot. Each list will:

• Be organized alphabetically by media type.
• Contain basic information like the author’s name, a movie title, or the genre a piece of media falls under.
• Each list will also include links to more information on that media, along with links to where I reviewed it.
• The list(s) will be updated once a month.

Since I have so many recommendations, I’ll only be posting one new list per month. This month’s list was book recommendations.

I was really excited to compile this one, especially since I’ve been on the One Book a Week train. So if you like my book reviews and want to see more, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi account! #1BookAWeek is a passion project, but it’s also a time sink. I’d love to be able to keep this project (and others) up and running long-term.

Next month’s Rec List will include comics, webtoons, and graphic novels. Stay tuned for the drop.