Hello lovelies! February has come and gone, so it’s time for another post in which I relentlessly gush about the wonderful books I read this month, the shows I watched, and the music I devoured. Hey ho, let’s go!

I Read…

A non-fiction book! It’s called YOU ARE A BADASS: HOW TO STOP DOUBTING YOUR GREATNESS AND START LIVING AN AWESOME LIFE, written by the hilarious Jen Sincero. 

I don’t usually care much about self-help books. I also don’t believe this book is going to change my life. Still, it’s a very entertaining and quick read, and it will make you feel good: it has tons of quirky, funny anecdotes, great quotes, and a boat load of cheekiness that will brighten your day. 

Sooo, if you’re feeling down on yourself, or imposter syndrome has kicked into high gear, or you just need a good-old-fashioned inspirational talkin’ to: pick up this book!

I Watched…

BONES: a dramatic series about a word-renowned female forensic anthropologist who solves crimes with the help of a cocky FBI agent, a bug and slime specialist with three doctorates, a free-spirited artist, their badass female boss, a cinnamon-role shrink, and a sassy prosecutor.

The series has a perfect mix of fun characters, snappy dialogue, murder mystery, disgusting-but-can’t-look-away forensics, and sooo much chemistry between the actors! The show also has some seriously dark villains: from Gormogon in season three (a secret society cannibal serial killer, need I say more? *smirks*) to evil genius Christopher Pelant (that dude seriously gives me the creeps). 

I’ve watched my way through seven seasons, which means I still have five seasons to go! YAY!

I Listened to…

The legendary Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Lorenzo Viotti, performing Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. 

Mahler’s Sixth is also called “the tragic one” (one of Mahler’s friends found the piece too dark to conduct, since it “ends in hopelessness and the dark night of the soul”). It’s a work that is dangerously, prophetically autobiographical, ending with a mind-altering finale filled with nightmarish emotional destruction.

The piece’s final movement is punctuated by two or three hammer blows (the number depends on the conductor’s interpretation), considered to be the mighty blows of fate befallen by the hero. It’s assumed that these blows correspond to three dramatic events in Mahler’s life: the death of his eldest daughter Maria Anna Mahler, the diagnosis of an eventually fatal heart condition, and his forced resignation from the Vienna Opera and his subsequent departure from Vienna. 

I’m still emotionally recovering from this performance…