Closing Out My Summer 2021 To-Do List

Labor Day has come and gone, so, although where I live, summer weather lingers through September, I think it's time to look back on my summer to-do list and see what all I checked off.  (Spoiler alert: almost everything!!!)

I've decided to leave little star-ratings after the books and movies in case that's helpful to anyone, especially since I didn't manage to review any of the movies listed here.  Yet!  The book ratings should all match my Goodreads reviews of them.

(All photos are mine from my Instagram)

~ Finish the first draft of my Beauty and the Beast retelling CHECK!  You can read my celebratory post here.  I'm now working on the second draft.

~ Watch 6 movies off my TBW shelves Check!  I watched:

• Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970) (★★★)
• Captain Blood (1935) (★★★★)
• Chicago Deadline (1949) (★★★★)
• The Sea Hawk (1940) (★★★★★)
• The Killers (1946) (★★★★★)
• Jamaica Inn (1939) (★★★)
• The Saint Strikes Back (1939) (★★★)
• season 4 of Leverage (2011-12) (★★★★★)

~ Reread The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas Check!  I loved it all over again, and you can read my review here.

~ Read 2 other books about/by someone who is not white Check!  I also read: 

• Pride by Ibi Zoboi (★★★★)
• Black Frontiers by Lillian Schlissel (★★★★★)

~ Read 2 other books for my latest Classics Club list Check!  I read:

• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (★★)
• Christy by Catherine Marshall (★★★★★)
• Summer by Edith Wharton (★)
• The Alpine Path by L. M. Montgomery (★★★★)

~ Read 9 books off my TBR shelves Check!  I read a whopping SIXTEEN!  They were:

• Three at Wolfe's Door by Rex Stout (★★★★)
• Pride by Ibi Zoboi (★★★★)
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (★★)
• Wait Until Tomorrow by Jenni Sauer (★★★★)
• The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (★★★★)
• Black Frontiers by Lillian Schlissell (★★★★★)
• A Very Bookish 4th of July by Kelsey Bryant, Abigayle Claire, Sarah Holman, and Rebekah A. Morris (★★★★)
• A Royal Masquerade by Allison Tebo (★★★★)
• I'm Your Huckleberry by Val Kilmer (★★★★)
• Plain Jayne by Hillary Manton Lodge (★★★★)
• The Westerns: Creating the Myth for Film and TV by Charlie LeSueur (★)
• These War-Torn Hands by Emily Hayse (★★★★)
• Summer by Edith Wharton (★)
• The Alpine Path by L. M. Montgomery (★★★★)
• On These Black Sands by Vanessa Rasanen (★★★★★)
• Where There's a Will by Rex Stout (★★★★)

~ Make the rainbow popsicles my kids found a recipe for Check!  They were cute and tasty.

~ Have friends over for the 4th of July Check!  We had family members over that we haven't seen for a while, and we shot off a bunch of little fireworks and enjoyed watching larger ones in the distance.  

~ Co-host Legends of Western Cinema Week Check!  It was great fun, as always -- my wrap-up post is here.

~ Drive up into the Shenandoah Valley and breathe the free air Check!  I'm hoping we get up there again this fall, too.

(Taken in Wyoming, not the Shenandoah Valley.)

~ Go camping somewhere new Fail.  But we're hoping/planning to do this next week!

~ Meet my friend Vanessa for the first time in real life Check!  And I met my friend Charity for the first time IRL, too!

All in all, I had a fantastic summer.  We went on adventures, we had adventures at home, I read a lot, I shared many movies with my family, and I finished the first draft of my new book!!!  Huzzah!