Welcome to the monthly wrap-up series :))
This is mainly just a way for me to keep an archive of what I did each month so I can look back at this later on, but thought instead of keeping it to myself, it would be fun to share it with others.
Within the monthly wrap-ups, I’ll be mentioning the books I read and their respective ratings, movies and shows watched, new songs and/or artists, live events (i.e. concerts, hockey games, plays/musicals), as well as any highlights.
Let’s dive into January <33
Books
The Atlas Paradox – 4.0 ⭐
The sequel in the Atlas series was pretty good. I loved the first book and the concept, so I was excited to see where the characters would end up after the second book, and I was pleasantly surprised. There were times where I found it a bit confusing to keep up, specifically when Libby is trying to get back to the future, but other than those few bits it was easy to follow along.
I gave this a 4 star rating since I thought it was good, could’ve been better in some areas but still had enough twists for my personal liking. I will definitely be reading it again once I’ve forgotten the plot. The Atlas Complex, the third book in the trilogy, released in paperback earlier this week, so I’ll be reading that once I’m able to get my hands a copy.
Catching Fire – 5.0 ⭐
The second book in The Hunger Games series – a banger. Absolute banger. I had never read the books before so it was interesting to see which bits didn’t make the movie. It definitely explains in more depth why events unfold the way they do compared to the movie.
Gave this a 5 star for the abundance of Everlark content, and will definitely be reading this again when the time comes.
The Song of Achilles – 4.5⭐
A Trojan War retelling that had me shaking in my boots. This was a great book to read after discovering Epic: The Musical earlier in the month (more on that later). My favourite part of this book was the lack of explicit sexual content. I personally prefer my reads to have little to no spice as those scenes make me highly uncomfortable, but love when authors allude to it and allow readers to draw their own conclusions.
I also loved the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, it was so sweet, and I was almost in tears by the end. I have such a bone to pick with Achilles’ son but am so glad that things ended the way they did. It was nice to see Achilles’ mother finally come around.
I gave this a 4.5 for Patrochilles.
Mockingjay – 3.5⭐
The threequel in the original Hunger Games trilogy was alright. It did what it needed to do as a third and final book. I found some parts difficult to follow at times (specifically when Katniss and Gale were leaving Tigris’ shop and headed towards the Capitol) since I had a hard time visualizing what was taking place. On the other hand, I found myself questioning why some moments made it into the movies when others didn’t. I would’ve loved to see the entire final chapter in the movie, however, I’m glad they omitted other parts – which is why I gave this book a 3.5 rating.
Will definitely be reading the entire Hunger Games series again once enough time has passed. I loved the movies and now I love the books. I’m going to be reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes during February and I’m really looking forward to seeing Snow’s perspective on everything.
Movies
I watched most of these movies to compare from the original and/or source material. The only three in which I didn’t compare from source material are Hercules, and both Percy Jackson movies as I’ve never read the books.
Beauty and the Beast
I watched the live action first and then the original. It was interesting to see what they kept and what they cut from the original for the live action. It was the most interesting since the OG Beauty and the Beast is only 1 hour and 27 minutes whereas the live action is 2 hours and 10 minutes.
I love the additions they made to the live action; such as Belle using the book the Beast gives her to travel to Paris and visiting her parents’ old place, and the entire Evermore scene (bring back men who yearn). This might be a hot take, but I think I prefer the live action over the original because of the added scenes and songs. Also because of Ewan McGregor.
Hercules
Absolutely love this movie whenever I watch it, it’s such a great story, although I find it funny how they use the Roman spelling and pronunciation of his name instead of the Greek pronunciation when the movie takes place in Greece (which is Heracles).
Another thing I wanted to point out is when Phil is showing Hercules his belongings, Phil has an Achilles statue – even though Hercules is thought to be born before Achilles. Anyways, I’ll forever love this movie for its soundtrack and the how they used the Muses as narrators.
Percy Jackson
Can you tell I watched a lot of movies about Greek Mythology this month? I watched both Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters, and after watching Sea of Monsters I really wish we had more movies from the book series. I have yet to watch the new series on Disney + (trust me, it’s on my watchlist) but they set up the ending of Sea of Monsters so perfectly for another movie.
I’ve read on Reddit though that the movies aren’t a great adaptation from the books (though to be fair, when do any books get adequately adapted?) so I’m not sure if a third would’ve gone over well with long time fans of the books, but I guess we will never know.
Let me know your thoughts though, I’m curious – did you read the Percy Jackson series and were you a fan of the movies? Would you have liked a third movie?
The Little Mermaid
Same as Beauty and the Beast, I watched both live action and original movies. I loved the new music they decided to add to the live action – I had For the First Time stuck in my head for a few days after watching – and basically every scene between Ariel and Eric. I love that they gave him more of a personality in the live action – he felt like his own person aside from Ariel – as I found he was lacking in that department in the original.
As a lifetime fan of the original Little Mermaid, I think I also prefer the live action over the original. They just do such an amazing job of adding more when needed but then cutting things from the original that didn’t really need to be there; moments that didn’t contribute as much to plot.
I absolutely loved the entire scene between Ariel and Eric when she stumbles into his trinket room and he gives her the green mermaid, it was so cute. It also gave them another foundation to build their relationship on since they both like collecting things, albeit for different reasons – Ariel with sunken treasures and Eric with souvenirs from his travels.
Catching Fire
Easily my favourite movie from the franchise. I love what they did with the arena and how innovative it was compared to the arena in the first film. I will say there are a few scenes from the book that I believe wholeheartedly should’ve made the movie. One that comes to mind is when Plutarch and Katniss are dancing at Snow’s mansion after the Victory Tour and Plutarch says “it starts at midnight”. My god, this would’ve made the arena-being-a-clock-in-disguise reveal scene so much more of a jaw dropping moment in the movie.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
I watched this since I don’t remember ever watching this movie before and I’m now mad at my past self for not watching it sooner. I absolutely loved it. The plot kind of reminded me of Pocahontas – I’m not comparing the two stories or themes whatsoever – but the plot points and flow of the story specifically, I found to be very similar.
Apparently there’s a second movie so I’ll more than likely be watching that during February.
Mockingjay
I watched the first part once I had gotten to part three in the book, then waited until I was completely finished reading to watch the second part.
There were some scenes I wish had made the movie and some that I wish didn’t. I would’ve loved to have seen Katniss creating her memory book, I thought that was such a sweet and thoughtful idea (and inspired me to create my own). It would’ve been nice to see Greasy Sae with Katniss once they return to 12, but it was interesting to see that Greasy Sae never made into the Mockingjay movies considering how often she’s mentioned in the final book.
Something that was made more clear to me after reading was the season in which Katniss and Peeta reunite in the Victor’s Village at the end of the movie. I never really paid close enough attention to the movie to notice that Katniss goes back to District 12 during the winter, and Peeta goes back during early spring.
Music
Epic: The Musical
If you like Greek Mythology, you will love this musical and I urge you to listen to the albums in order. There’s also animatics on YouTube – there’s multiple playlists that have the songs in order already made for you – and highly recommend watching them to get the full visual. As someone who knew of The Odyssey beforehand but didn’t have a full visual of the story, the animatics did a great job of providing that visual aspect and added a whole other layer to the experience.
On that note, a few personal favourites of mine are Warrior of the Mind, Open Arms, Full Speed Ahead, The Challenge, and Suffering. They’re all such great songs, and I would have such a difficult time choosing an absolute singular one favourite song.
Please keep an open mind going into listening though since the creator had to take a few creative liberties in order to adequately adapt the epic poem into the epic musical. While majority of the story and events are true to the story, the entirety of the musical is not 100% accurate. If you’re wanting to get into greek mythology, do not solely rely on the musical for your information.
Steady Hand by Saint Motel
I can’t remember exactly how this song stumbled into my ears, but I’m pretty sure it was in some weekly Spotify playlist of mine and haven’t stopped listening since. I honestly thought Evangeline by Stephen Sanchez would’ve been my top played song for 2025 – since it made the top spot for 2024 – but I genuinely think my beloved Evangeline has some competition this year.
I personally am a huge fan of the songs that are able to say “I love you” without explicitly using those exact words, and this song has set the bar so high for all the love songs future me has yet to listen to. I will forever be comparing those songs to Steady Hand as well as Cool With You by Her’s.
Gemini by TROY
After I found Epic: The Musical, I quickly learned that a lot of the featured artists have songs of their own and decided to give them a listen, when I stumbled upon this number by TROY. I don’t know what he did to this song to make it so catchy but I genuinely had such a hard time not playing this throughout January, I absolutely love it. And definitely recommend everyone to listen to this beauty of a song.
He’s creating a song for each of the zodiac – with his song for Capricorn releasing soon – and has done an amazing job thus far. As a Gemini myself, I love what he’s done with the song and would love to hear your thoughts on your song too – please leave me a comment, I’m so curious! At the time of publishing, TROY has released songs for Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius.
Fleetwood Mac
I’ve been listening to them since high school so this was not my first ever discovery of their music, however, I decided to include them since I was listening to their discography a lot throughout the month. Specific songs that come to mind are Everywhere and Seven Wonders.
When I first bought my bass back during COVID quarantine, Everywhere was one of the first few songs I learned so it will always hold a special place in my heart. And because Christine is the main vocalist. I love Stevie, but Songbird made me cry when I first heard it on vinyl and fell in love with her voice. Every single time Songbird comes on, I have to skip it otherwise I’ll cry.
I had the idea to start this back in December, but it didn’t make sense to me to start then since I would only have documented one month for 2024, so I decided to start them this year.
Did I mention any of your favourite books or movies, or an artist you recognize? Let me know!
See you in the next
– julzy
julzy 
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