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stonewylde

Discussion

A Book Lover’s Nightmare: Damaging Books

 

I have a secret. A big secret. One I’m scared to admit. Ready? Deep breath in. I’ve started damaging books.

Before you begin to imagine me with fifty billion books burning on a bonfire or cutting up books in some kind of weird ritual, let me clarify: I’ve stopped being so precious about the condition my books are kept in.

I used to keep all of my books in pristine condition. No creases on the spine, no bent covers, and definitely no dog-eared pages. I used to say that cracking a book spine was like cracking a human spine: it couldn’t be done without inflicting severe pain (on both the book and the reader).

Now, though? I really can’t be bothered to be that precious about it.

There’s something almost magical about reading a book and finding a page or quotation you love, folding down the page with adoration so that you can remember where to find it again, and moving on until you find another section that you fall for. It’s not just an emotional experience; it’s a physical one. The action of folding the page down, as you move to get the crease just right so that it doesn’t cover any of the text, as you quickly press it down so that it stays in position, feels exhilarating to me.

Wear and tear also shows deep love for a book. The original editions of my Stonewylde books are so battered now that I have to be careful that they don’t fall apart in my hands as I read them. I’ve read them so many times, turned the pages so often, that the spines are ripped and teared; tiny fingerprint ink stains litter the margins.

And then there’s my edition of Emily Brontë’s poetry, which I take everywhere with me, so of course the glue is unsticking and I long ago accepted that the dust-jacket is destined never to again touch the book. I bought it secondhand, but I can’t imagine myself parting with it now because even though it has only a plain green binding and looks just like any other book, the memories contained within are pure magic.

I still can’t bear to hear the crack of a spine breaking and I have been known to hesitate before dog-earing a page, but I’m getting better.


How do you like to keep your books: in pristine condition or are you more relaxed, like I’m becoming?

Discussion

A 2015 Year In Review

2015 has been an incredible, whirlwind year. I can’t believe we’re now going into 2016! I thought that it would be nice to look back on the year that has passed and share some of my favourite moments!

Starting Book Pigs!

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At the start of the year, I started a blog on Tumblr called Book Pigs, where I share pictures of some of my guinea pigs with books. It’s taken me by surprise just how much people have fallen in love with my piggies and it’s also made me try and up my photography game. It’s one of the best jobs, although there have been some funny moments, like when one guinea pig ran around under my bed for ten minutes!

UKYABA Prize

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It came as a total shock to me when I won Champion of YA in the UK Young Adult Blogger Awards earlier in 2015. It means the *absolute world* to me to be recognised for something I love doing so much and I still can’t believe it, really!!

Visiting the Harry Potter Studio Tour

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It was SO amazing to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tours for the opening of the Hogwarts Express with Holly, C.J. and Josh (and my dad!). It’s so weird, but so great, to feel as if you’re walking around parts of Hogwarts and living in the world of Harry Potter. It’s such a memorable experience because I don’t think there’s anything quite like walking through the doors of the Great Hall for the first time, a place that has inhabited your imagination for years and also a place you’ve seen so many times on your TV screens.

Stonewylde Gathering

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I have discussed my favourite book series many times on my blog, and this year I got to go to the annual Stonewylde Gathering. It was so much fun and lovely to see Kit again. There was also a quiz later on that I’m sure I got very competitive at… It was nice to test my own knowledge on the books (because I’ve read them so many times!) but it also reminded me how you can read a book a million times and return the next time and find tiny details that you didn’t pick up the first million times. And…. I won! I’m pretty sure that is going on my CV now. LIFE HIGHLIGHT!

UKYA Events!

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One of the best things about being a blogger is getting out and meeting like-minded people, and this year I’ve had the pleasure of attending quite a few events – publishing ones, book festivals, and others like the UKYA Extravaganza in Birmingham and the Young Adult Literature Convention. The above picture was taken at the UKYA Extravaganza (full post on it here) and it’s been amazing to see this event flourish this year, especially as it is author run. Emma Pass and Kerry Drewery have put a lot of work in it, so to see it doing so well is a credit to them.

#ukyachat

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Running #ukyachat on Twitter is always the highlight of my week and this year I’ve been lucky to watch it turn from my baby into my child. Being able to talk to such wonderful people, and making lifelong friends out of it, is one of the best parts and I’m looking forward to a year of chats in 2016!

I’d like to take this moment to thank each and every person who has participated and supported #ukyachat in the past year – the authors, bloggers, and passionate readers who take part and have championed it. Thank you!!! You always put a massive smile on my face.

2015 has been one of the best blogging years and I’m looking forward to watching how it develops in the year ahead. THANK YOU to all of you who have made it extra special!

What are your bookish highlights of 2015?

Recommendations

5 Books That Changed My Life

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Some books you can read and forget about after a few months, but there are others that stay with you for a long time afterwards. There are also those books that will always stick with you, no matter what, and have affected your life in some way. Here are a few of mine:

Jessie Hearts NYC by Keris Stainton

I love books for a wide range of reasons, but one of the main ones is because they’re always there when I need them most. When I was 12, a few months before I started my blog, my granddad died and it was something that affected me hugely, us being so close and me being so young. During the months after, I turned to books to help me through and one of these books was Jessie Hearts NYC. For this reason, it’s a book I’ve recommended a lot and Keris’s books, like Jessie Hearts NYC and Emma Hearts LA, are a great place to start for readers who are starting to read YA.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Books and Influence

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If I were to have a long list of every single book I’ve ever read, I’d like to think that each one has changed me in some way. Personally, I see reading as an experience. I want to be shaped by the books I’ve read and when I’ve finished I want to feel as if I’ve changed in some way.

Perhaps the books that have shaped me the most are the Stonewylde series by Kit Berry, which I return to again and again. I first read them when I was eleven years old and, unlike many of you, I never had Harry Potter to read growing up (I read them much later on!), so these books were my own version. Stonewylde is my safe haven, the place I go when I want to escape.

The first YA books I ever read were the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot and, alongside Carmen Reid’s St. Judes books, they taught me what it was like to grow up as a teenage girl. I learnt so much from them, and I love revisiting them once in a while to rediscover just why I fell in love.

Other notable mentions are the Ashbury-Brookfield books by Jaclyn Moriarty, which taught me a lot about Australian culture and also gave me hours worth of laughs. I love these books!

I think books are a bit like horcruxes. Opposite horcruxes, though. With each one I read, a tiny part of the book’s soul joins with my soul, and I honestly believe that each part changes me. I’m a better person for reading, for experiencing life through the eyes of so many others. This is why I love reading. I wouldn’t be who I am today without books.

Uncategorized

Sunday Diary | #1

Sunday Diary is a new feature I’d like to start on the blog, where I chat about all the things that have happened since the past Sunday. It’s a chance for me to ramble away and hopefully you’ll learn a bit about me at the same time.

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Last Sunday was the Autumn Equinox, and a very special day that means a lot to me. The day before I made lots of cakes, and it was nice to feel so spiritual and at one with the earth. It was also my best friend’s birthday so I spent the day in the woods at a local park, taking pictures while a group of my friend’s did a treetop explorer course. It was way too high for my liking so I decided to sit out but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

Then we spent way too much time trying to make a human pyramid, ensuing in my shoulder aching for days afterwards and, more positively, lots of laughs.

Monday

On Monday, my grandmother passed away, which explains the total silence on the blog over the past few weeks. It’s been a stressful time, with hospital visits and now coming to terms with the fact that I will never speak to her again. That a life can end so easily. It makes me feel extremely mortal.

Weekend

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The weekend was a bit of a relief, as was my complete abuse of eyeliner. Sometimes I can go way overboard, but it does ground me. I don’t feel the same without eyeliner on!

This week I’ve really enjoyed talking to Cat, who never fails to make me laugh. Although she has turned me into a little bit of a stalker.

Blogs I’m loving this week:

On Serpentine Shores is such a gorgeous blog and I quickly devour every single post. Every single post gives me all the warm, cuddly feels and I can’t wait to read even more posts this autumn.

I discovered Loose and Leafy a few years ago, but rediscovered it recently. I particularly love the idea of Tree Following, which is something I’d like to do in the future. 

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Currently Reading:

Finally, after two whole years, I am marathoning the Stonewylde series by Kit Berry. I’m finding out again just why I fell in love with the series in the first place, and it’s incredible. I decided to read them because it’s two years since the last book was released, so it’s a bit of an anniversary present to myself! Although I’ve been on the verge of tears many times, I adore Stonewylde with every ounce of my body.

How was your week? What are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments!

UKYA Uncategorized

Obsessed With… Stonewylde!

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Obsessed With… is a new feature where I discuss something (usually a book series) that I can’t stop obsessing over and the story behind it. 

Today I’m going to be talking about the book series I am most obsessed with. If you know me well enough, you can probably guess what it is! I’ve done various posts on the Stonewylde series before but I want to go into a bit more detail this time and really talk about my personal experiences and what they mean to me, because they mean an awful lot.

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Above is my Stonewylde shelf – yes, an entire dedicated shelf! I was incredibly pleased when I managed to fit them all perfectly in to the section they’re in. I first read the series when I was around 11. My mum had seen them at the library while I was browsing and thought it sounded good so handed them to me. They sat on my pile whilst I read a few other books, and then I started reading Magus of Stonewylde. It’s safe to say that my life changed forever when I started reading, and that’s not an exaggeration. I can remember being away on a school trip and being sad because I didn’t have enough time to read the second book (yes, I read the first three in quick succession!). I can also remember staying up late to finish the third book and being hooked right from the start. Continue Reading

Where to Start

The Multiple Copy Obsession

I’m a sucker for gorgeous books, I really am. There’s obviously not a problem with this; I do tend to judge books by their covers before I read them, but sometimes something overcomes me and I need to buy more and more copies of books. One is never enough!

If you’ve watched any of my YouTube videos, or seen pictures of my bookcase, you may have noticed some of the multiple copies on my shelves. A question I’m frequently asked is: ‘Why do you have three copies of The Fault in Our Stars?’ That is a very good question indeed. My answer? I have no idea! I just can’t help myself. My first copy was the one I originally read, and I then found another copy in a charity shop for a very good price. I just couldn’t resist! And my final copy was my Grandma’s, which she no longer needed after reading it. I have a best copy, one to lend out, and one I shall be doing something with, which I will tell you all about in a future post.

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Recently I also picked up two more of John Green’s books, which I have already read and loved. In my defence, they have been re-jacketed and the new editions are so beautiful and hug-worthy.

The Paper Towns on the left is the older edition, the right the latest. The differences between the two are striking, but I love them both. The earlier version incorporates the idea of the ‘paper towns’ on the maps, whereas I like the paper elements of the latest cover. Both really capture a core part of the book.

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The older version of Looking for Alaska is on the left, the latest on the right. I prefer the latest because of it’s simplicity but also because it stands out so well. It’s also very shiny. I do really like the older version, but there’s just something about it that stops me from loving it unconditionally.

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A problem I had when I got my new bookcase was if I would be able to fit all of my Stonewylde series into one ‘pod.’ Luckily, they all fit perfectly! This is the series I have the most copies of: in total I have –

3 copies of Magus of Stonewylde

2 copies of Moondance of Stonewylde

2 copies of Solstice at Stonewylde

2 copies of Shadows at Stonewylde

2 copies of Shaman of Stonewylde

The books are my favourite series and have a very special place in my heart. The first three books were originally self-published so have different covers and the content is a little different. I borrowed the first three from the library originally and then bought them when they were published by Orion afterwards, and then I found the first self-published book by chance and was gifted the second and third. The fourth book was originally published in hardback and I also bought it when it came out in paperback, and I have a best of the fifth, and another copy just because it’s my favourite. I’ve met the author, Kit Berry, twice now and so quite a few of my copies are signed, and I must re-read them all soon!

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Finally we have the victims to my obsession… Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell!

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I originally read an e-ARC in spring 2013 and it immediately became one of my favourite books, and then ordered the US hardback in November because I just couldn’t say no to myself. The US hardback is amazing, and I think I slightly prefer it to the UK paperback, although the paperback contains graphics from Noelle Stevenson, or Gingerhaze, who is behind the cover, and an interview with Rainbow Rowell and bonus Simon Snow content. The paperback is decoration, whereas I know I’ll definitely be re-reading from the hardback, or my e-ARC where I have colour coded everything.

Do you collect multiple copies of books? Let me know your collection below! If you don’t, why not?

Book Haul Uncategorized

Stacking the Shelves (15)- The Review Book Edition

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Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! It is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.

I didn’t post a book haul last week so this is my haul for the past fortnight.

Bought:

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The Elites by Natasha Ngan- I pre-ordered this one months ago and am so happy to finally receive it! The cover is gorgeous and it looks great alongside my other UKYA books.

Review Books

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The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher- I received a gorgeous finished copy of this so now I have an ARC and this one. Thank you, Chicken House!

United We Spy by Ally Carter- I was so pleased to receive this one and you can read my review here. Thank you, Orchard!

Memory by Christoph Marzi- This one sounds a lot different to anything I’ve read before and I’m really intrigued. Thank you, Orchard!

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake- I love Greek mythology so think this is the book for me. Thank you, Orchard!

Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones- I can’t wait to read this one. It looks so good! Thank you, Orchard!

Cross My Heart by Carmen Reid- I am a HUGE fan of Carmen Reid’s books so can’t wait to start this one. Thank you, Random House!

Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve- Squee! Squee! Squee! I am SO excited to read this and will be doing so as soon as possible. Thank you, Hot Key!

Won

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Every Day by David Levithan- This one sounds amazing and I love the idea. I’m hoping to read it very soon. Thank you, Egmont!

Gifted:

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After I posted my book addict post last week, Fiona from Eventide Reads tweeted me to say she had found these two in a charity shop and I had the biggest freak out ever. It’s my favourite series and I’m collecting all the editions so I’ve got nearly all of them now. Thank you, Fiona!

What did you get this week?