Wednesday 8 July 2015

THE BOOKSHELF TAG!


I was tagged by the super cool Cait over at Paper Fury to do the bookshelf tag, which of course is just an opportunity for me to show off the cute little reading corner in my bedroom and ALL  MY PRETTY BOOKS YAY. Sometimes people suggest I sell some of my books, but if I sold my books HOW WOULD I EVER HAVE ENOUGH BOOKS TO MAKE A HOME LIBRARY. HOW. 

Also I'm super excited to write this post (as you can probably tell from my already excessive use of capital letters). 

I tried to answer all the questions but a few overlapped so I left them out, and there were some that I just couldn't answer...so these are what I was left with! (Still a lot of questions I swear.) 

1) Describe your bookshelf and where you got it from:

My parents bought this bookcase from IKEA about five years ago? I'm not too sure (shall probably have to check my diaries but ain't nobody got time for that right now). And omg I remember how excited I was when they brought it home! I must've been around 14/15 and had quite a few books, which were all stacked in a big white box. Organising all my books onto the shelves gave me so much satisfaction :') 

2) Do you have any special or different way of organising your books?

Ok so all the books that are actually shelved properly (not the books that are piled up) are still sorted in the way I organised them back when I first got the bookcase! (With a few extra additions here and there) The top shelf is dedicated mainly to my classics/books based on the classics, and almost all in height order. The second shelf is pretty much all contemporary, a mixture of action/romance/dystopian. And the third shelf is just a mixture of odd books that I can't fit into my loosely organised shelves!

The stacked books are either too big to be shelved or all my recent purchases from the past year that cannot possibly be squeezed next to the others.

Seriously guys I've still got two more years of university, and a million more books to buy. Every spare piece of wall shall be adorned with bookshelves soon muhahahahaha.

3) What's the thickest book on your shelf? 



This big beast of a book by Leo Tolstoy is a whopping 1300 pages long. I bought it quite a few years ago but the sheer size of it always stops me from dedicating myself to it!

4) What's the thinnest book on your shelf?




Ok so I'm kind of cheating a little bit by sharing more than one book but I couldn't resist! The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories is around 70 pages long, and so is Earth and Ashes, whereas By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept is more along the 100 page line (have yet to read the latter cause it sounds heartbreaking and I don't think I can deal with that right now... I've been saying that for the past year tbh!) :')

5) Is there a book you received as a birthday gift?



Many. But I'll just share one for now. The Song of Achilles is a good one my friends. 'tis a good one.

6) What's the smallest book on your shelf?



Again... cheating. The Little Black Classics are definitely the smallest books I own but I couldn't resist showing you guys my beautiful copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard because it makes me SO HAPPY AND SPARKS UP MY INNER HP FANGIRL FEELS.

7) What's the biggest (height and width) book on your shelf?



I probably should have placed something next to this book to give you guys a sense of scale but how GORGEOUS is my copy of The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson?! I bought it from Borders when I was about twelve, and to this day I love stroking its gold pages and reading a little story here and there. Can't wait to share it with my kids one day (God willing).

8) Most expensive book?



I think this cost me around £18? I bought it years ago from... Borders (surprise surprise, you can imagine my dismay when it closed down </3) AND IT'S JUST SOOO PRETTY WITH IVORY PAGES LINED WITH GOLD KEHFWFHALKVJA. I LOVE.

9) The last book you read?



A reimagining of Pride and Prejudice from the servants point of view! Expect a review soon ;)

10) Of all the books on your shelf, which was the first you read?



Of course, this isn't the first book I ever read (don't even remember what that was!) But of all the books on my shelf, I'm pretty sure this is my earliest read.

11) Do you have more than one copy of a book?



A beautifully illustrated edition of one of my favourite books, and only £5?! Come on now. How could I have possibly resisted.

12) Do you have the complete series of any book series?



Pffft. Did you even have to ask?

13) What's the latest addition to your shelf?



How much do we love the little rainbow halo in this picture?! So pretty :') I read this book a few weeks ago, you can check out my review here.  Red Queen is not only the latest addition to my shelf (although I have just ordered The Infernal Devices and am impatiently waiting for them to arrive) it is also the most recently published book on my shelf too! Two birds, one stone.

14) The oldest publication on your shelf?


This perfectly crisp edition of a classic was published in 1904! My uncle lent it to me a few years ago (indefinitely...?) but I have yet to finish reading it... (Sorry Mamuji!) I definitely will finish it one day though. I swear.

15) Most beat up book?



THE ERAGON SERIES IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS IN THE WORLD AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY IT GETS SO MUCH HATE BECAUSE I LOVE IT SO MUCH AND ONE DAY I WILL MAKE A WHOLE BLOG POST TELLING YOU GUYS WHY. The same uncle mentioned above bought this book for me when I was 12, all the way from Pakistan! I find that paperbacks from Pakistan tend to be a little more fragile, hence why this looks so battered. But it has a well loved feel to it, which it most certainly is. 

16) A book from your childhood?



Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I'm about to start sounding super repetitive BUT. Once again my wonderful uncle bought this book for me when I was about 8 years old. My sister wouldn't let me read her Harry Potter books so one day when we were out shopping my uncle ran into a bookshop, picked up the first HP book he saw, and bought it for me. And that was how I ended up reading the Goblet of Fire before any of the others LOL. But it's so precious to me. Thank you, again, Mamuji.

17) A book with a special/different colour?



Leather bound Shakespeare's for less than a fiver from Southbank book market! Yas.

18) A book that is your favourite colour?


Lilac and pastel yellow! Cheating again but who says you can only have one favourite colour ;) (I love egg blue as well but couldn't find a book for that... until next time)

19) A book that's been on your shelf the longest and you still haven't read it?



I've had this book since I was like 10, and have never had any motivation to read it. Have any of you guys read it? If so, is it worth reading?


ANNDDD THAT'S A WRAP! I definitely didn't answer all the questions but how long can one blog post possibly be?! I hope you guys enjoyed this little insight into my bookshelves, and for those of you who took the time to read to the end, first of all thank you! You da best. And I tag you to have a go at this yourself! Enjoy :) 
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8 comments

  1. Loved reading this! You could tell how excited you were just to talk about books. And who isn't collecting to make a home library?! And you have so many re-tellings of pride and prejudice; I don't know if I can trust others to write about my fav characters although I've read 'death comes to pemberly'. Can't wait to do this although I have 3 separate bookshelves in my room! I was telling my dad just yesterday that I have two more years of uni and my bookshelves are full!

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    1. Thanks girl! I'm not a huge fan of P&P re-tellings, aside from Mr Darcy's Diary, but omg Longbourn is AMAAZING!! And I know right, our rooms are going to be piled with books by the time we're done with uni InshaAllah :')

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  2. Oh, your reading corner looks so cozy! And your special editions make me SO JEALOUS!!! Second hand bookstores are always fun to shop at, aren't they? I arrange my books by height too. I'm all about symmetry, so that just makes sense to me, even if it tends to separate some series (like the Inheritance Cycle, WHICH I LOVE TOO!).

    Ooh Longbourn sounds interesingo! I haven't really read any P&P retellings, except for one fanfiction a really long time ago. I've just never believed in improving on perfection, so I never saw the point. But Longbourn's perspective sounds interesting. I'm going to keep an eye out for your review :)

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    1. OMG you love the Inheritance Cycle?! AAAGHH THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY WE SHOULD BE BEST FRIENDS LIKE RIGHT NOW SHFKSGKZ

      Longbourn is DEFINITELY worth a read, although it's far more focused on the life of the servants than the characters we're so familiar with, review shall be up soon :)

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  3. lol your bookshelf is as stuffed as mine! The Song of Achilles though, that's exactly what I give people for gifts, from everything to Eid to birthdays. I once acidentally gave one of my cousins the book twice *dies as i remember the embarassment* heh I just want everyone to read it! All those precious books are so beautiful and although I don't have 2 copies of it, I had to get a shiny leatherbound copy of Pride & Prejudice because perfection.

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    1. OMG you gave the same book twice! That's hilarious :') but just goes to show how much you love it! Ugh a shiny leather bound copy of P&P?! Sounds perf <3

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  4. OH YAY I'M SO GLAD YOU DID THIS!!! IKEA bookshelves ftw, I say. ;-) And ohhh, yes you need to do a post on why the Eragon series is so awesome, because I NEED TO READ THAT SERIES. I mean, I call myself a bookworm but yet haven't read it?! What what what. So much fail. xD
    Omg, your old book is very very old...but in a lot better condition than my 1938 mice eaten Hornblower books, hah.
    And I'm LOVING the photography here. Omg, the light! SO PERFECT. <3

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    1. Akagkjsfsbs thank you so much! Sunlight was definitely my friend that day! And I probably had more fun putting this post together than I should have... oh well. and yes. Fear not. The Inheritance Cycle mega blog post will surely make itself known one day and I will change everyone's negative opinions about those beautiful books. In a fun, light way of course :D

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