may = be me reading books! and then some! :D
merry happy birthmonth to me!! :D
while i’m celebrating with an ELF-tastic breakfast pile o’ carbs and creating my own stories, i’m also posting every monday morning’s weekly reading book review for you— complete with a list of titles mentioned + their links to bookshop.org where you can learn more on my “affiliate page” (and of course collect the ones that sound good for YOU) about each title! woohoo!!
all my maple*syrup best,
*hallie :D
✨📖 weekly reading book review may 2026: episode one!! 📖✨
💜 here’s what we read this week:
🌟 A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by deborah harkness
🔑 THE MYSTERY OF LOCKED ROOMS by lindsay currie
💚 LIZARD BOY 2: THE MOST PERFECT SUMMER EVER by jonathan hill
first book (although you can still enjoy this one out of order if you have to!) available here: TALES OF A SEVENTH GRADE LIZARD BOY :)
🥳 watched (again again again again):
🎬 ASTEROID CITY (wes andersson, 2023)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14230388/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
👉🏽 convinced scarlett’s lipstick is NUKE ORANGE a lá soman chainani‘s YOUNG WORLD that comes out ToMorrOW!!! 😆❤️🔥🧡🩷❤️🔥🧡🩷❤️🔥
📚 currently reading:
🖤 THE HONJIN MURDERS by seishi yokomizo (1973)
📚 mmmmiiiiiight read &/or paint from next:
💚 NO BILLBOARD GOSPEL by emma galloway stephens
❤️ A LOVER’S COMPLAINT by wm shakespeare
👻 THIN PLACES by kay chronister
💜 THE SECRET LIBRARY by kekla magoon
🧡 MYSTERY ON MACAW MOUNTAIN by maria josé fitzgerald
💕 THE NOTES by catherine con morse
what stories are you loving right now?!
🥰🌟🥳📖🖋️🎤🎬🎨🎭🎹💘
off to ink & paint & mail some birthday month #happymail to the crayon box!!
💖xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review may 2026: episode two!! 📖✨
🎀 here’s what i read this week:
❤️🩹 THE HONJIN MURDERS by seishi yokomizo
💔 A LOVER’S COMPLAINT by wm shakespeare
💜 THE SECRET LIBRARY by kekla magoon
🖤 THE MAIDENS by alex michaeledes
📚 watched:
🎬 YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967; screenplay by roald dahl!!)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062512/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
📚 currently reading:
🍑 JAMES & THE GIANT PEACH by roald dahl
📚 potential next reads:
🎭 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW by wm shakespeare
💜 TEMPLE OF SWOON by jo segura
❤️🔥 YOUNG WORLD by soman chainani (!! + a re*read, this time in paper form of his DIARY OF A NOVEL substack entries!! ❤️📝)
diary of a novel substack: https://somanchainani.substack.com
📺 watching & hope to:
💙 BATMAN THE MOVIE (1966)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060153/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
🩶 SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
what stories are you loving right now?!
🥰🎀🎬📚📝📺💘🎧
(throw in a graphic novel or a childhood fave for a re*read if you’re in a slump, is my advice!)
& don’t forget!
south carolina play fest & south carolina children’s theatre season auditions are this weekend!! break legs!!
https://www.southcarolinanewplayfestival.org/auditions
https://scchildrenstheatre.org/auditions/
🎨🥳🎭🌟
with all my comic book cheese love,
💖xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review may 2026: episode three!! 📖✨
🧁 this week i read:
🐞 JAMES & THE GIANT PEACH by roald dahl (& finished allllll the wonderful podcast episodes of the secret world of roald dahl!! 🙌🏽 )
💜 THIS STORY MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE by tiffany crum (TW: domestic abuse & miscarriage)
my botm copy (join for $5 with my referal link!): https://www.mybotm.com/4fk6zo9eig4
🎭 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW by wm shakespeare
🥳 started & paused midway:
🫤 LAST NIGHT IN BROOKLYN by xochitl gonzalez
starTed instead:
💙 THE PRINCESS SWAP: SNOW WHITE AND THE DRAGON / SLEEPING BEAUTY AND THE SEVEN DWARFS by kim bussing loooove this series!!)
🥰 watched:
👠 THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 (in a sold*out theatre!)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33612209/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
📺 THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (at home for the 90,000th splendid time!)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458352/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
📚 perchance to be reading next:
🎭 THE TEMPEST by wm shakespeare
🌿 LANNY by max porter
👻 GRANDPERE’S GHOST SWAMP by rachel m. marsh
💖 THE GRAMMAR OF FANTASY by giovanni rodari
what stories are you loving right now?!?
😎🎂🥳💜💙📚🎭👻📖🙌🏽🎬🎨🎧
🎟️
i’m bday week celebrating with LOTS of stories to come, still sending may’s CRAYON BOX bonus goodies to new patrons, & shall be sending my monthly marker re*cap newsletter this week, too!! 🥰🥳🍩
https://www.patreon.com/halthegal
https://halthegalstoryart.substack.com
🍫 with all my bookish luv,
💜xo,
*hallie 🤓
✨📖 weekly reading book review may 2026: episode four!! 📖✨
🎉 i managed to finish two books in the midst of last week’s chaos & celebrations:
👑 THE PRINCESS SWAP: SNOW WHITE AND THE DRAGON / SLEEPING BEAUTY AND THE SEVEN DWARFS by kim bussing
🎭 LAURENCE OLIVIER ON ACTING (pub. 1986)
🎬 saw on the BIG Screen(!!):
🥐 AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
☔️ SINGING IN THE RAIN (1952)
👠👠 THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 (2026)
📺 and nearly two seasons of PROJECT RUNWAY ALL STARS on the small screen on disney+!! 🪡🧵👗
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2076610/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
📚 currently reading:
🐊 GRANDPERE’S GHOST SWAMP by rachel m. marsh
👻 gonna start for book club:
🍃LANNY by max porter
📚 & then, maybe…
🎭 THE TEMPEST by wm. shakespeare
💜 THE WITCHES & THE TWITS by roald dahl
what stories are you loving right now?!
😎🎨🩰🎤🎹🎬🎭🎧📝📚📺🥰
here for the homebound rainy day in the studio,
💖xo,
*hallie 🤓
a wild, celebratory month managed to bring me a few joys in stories, too, of course!
here are the titles i happened to enjoy reading the most this merry month of may:
LIZARD BOY 2: THE MOST PERFECT SUMMER EVER, by jonathan hill
a middle grade graphic novel sequel that was just as great as the first! finding out you're not the only cryptid in town? a treehouse where you can all be your true selves? underground town hall meetings in an abandoned theatre? it was thought-provoking and just enough silly to keep the emotional weight at the perfect level.
GRANDPERE'S GHOST SWAMP, by rachel m. marsh
what do new orleans and ghosts have in common? well, a lot. but this one was another deep dive into familial expectations, shifting friendships, tourists' cultural ignorance/insensitivities, and protecting the land. even when it feels too late. an informative, empathetic (and TOTALLY haunted FUN!) exploration of cajun and creole and the swamplands and the kitchen... loved it. oh, and it's middle grade, of course.
LAURENCE OLIVIER ON ACTING
(out of print, found mine at local used bookstore)
all art is a time capsule. and all art is built on its predecessors. to improve. to discard. and an artist's work is nevere done, but certainly carried on into further generations. conversations about his most famous roles as well as dipping his toe into hollywood and directing and acting for tv.
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, by roald dahl.
fueled by my recent podcast binge of THE SECRET WORLD OF , i picked up my oft-read childhood copy of this surrealist, silly, macabre classic. what's not to love?
(i’ve heard that the publisher has, um, “censored” (taken out words like “fat,” and “white” and “black” ?!) the texts on more recent printings. mine was the original. hmpf and blargh.)
BABEL, by r.f. kuang
the first book i ever read of kuang's was YELLOWFACE, and like a few other authors i could name, has done a bang-up sturdy-great job of just writing WhatEVER she wants to! i'm only 34% of the way through this tome, but it's great. so i had to include it in the stack. it's oxford. and translation is magic. it's about british colonization, as well as linguistics and lexiconography and culture and rebellion and identity...? but all in a compulsively readable semi-fantastical alternate historical speculative dark academia page-turner.
what stories did you fall in love with this month?
happy reading, my cozy potato hippos of story magic!
here’s to more favourites to discover in june! :D
xo,
*hallie :)