Monthly Favourites – July 2018

July hasn’t been a particularly noteworthy month when it comes to my reading accomplishments. Nonetheless, I fortunately still have some genuine favourites to share with you today, including a film, something that hasn’t happened in quite a while.

I’ve only read two books this month, seeing that it took me forever to finish The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson, which was slightly disappointing. So, obviously, my favourite book from July has to be the other one that I read – The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. It may not be a phenomenal book, but I was honestly interested in the expedition that the main characters embarked on to prove the existence of a lost world where dinosaurs were still alive. I also really appreciated the fictional exploration of alternative evolutionary theories.

At the beginning of the month, the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale came to an end, so this is the last time for a while that this TV series will be featured on my monthly favourites. I wasn’t expecting that particular ending. It answered some questions and raised a couple of others more, which obviously left me eager to watch the next season. But what I found exceptionally great about it this year was the character development.

My favourite film of this month is Mary Shelley, directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour. Although it doesn’t have a particularly good rating on IMDb, I decided to watch it anyway and am glad that I did. It focuses on the love affair between Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and the poet Percy Shelley and its influence on the writing of Frankenstein. I thought the acting was quite good and really liked the tangible atmosphere achieved throughout.

Music-wise, I kept listening to the album High as Hope by Florence and The Machine. I listened to it for the first time in June, but it was only this month that it grew on me. There is something spellbinding about Florence Welch’s voice. Hunger is my favourite song from the album.

Last but not least, I really cherished my visit to ‘Casa Fernando Pessoa’ in Lisbon. I kept delaying going there for various reasons, but it was worth the wait. You can read more about it on the post I published at the beginning of the month titled ‘Discovering Fernando Pessoa around Lisbon’.

These are my favourites from July! Which are yours? Tell me in the comments!