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laila | @literarylaila

@literarylaila

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can’t stop won’t stop reading 📚
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🌟 top reads of 2025 🌟

have you read and/or enjoyed any of these? by @literarylaila

✨ Meet the bookstagrammer ✨

It’s been a minute since I’ve done one of these so allow to me reintroduce myself:

💫 My name is Laila, I’m 31, and I’m from the east coast (I’ve lived in NY, PA, & VA) but have lived in San Diego for the past almost seven (!!) years
💫 I got married on 9/8/24 💞
💫 I’m a former elementary school teacher and am currently doing sales + recruiting in EdTech
💫 My absolute favorite thing to do is travel, “Money returns, time doesn’t”
💫 Matcha in hand every weekend
💫 I’m half Polish and half Egyptian and do my best to honor both heritages
💫 I’m a huge foodie and am down to try any cuisine
💫 Top read genres according to @the.storygraph are contemporary, literary, and romance but will read any genre and mix it up often as to not get bored

What do we have in common? 👀 by @literarylaila

Happy Arab American Heritage Month 💐

Swipe for Arab American + Arab authored books I recommend. These are all 4 🌟 and above! (Arab authored books include Arab, Arab-Canadian, Arab-Australian, etc.)

The Arab world includes 22 countries and we are ethnically, religiously, and politically diverse but descend from a common linguistic and cultural heritage. FYI the countries include: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudia Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. by @literarylaila

At its core, the Hunger Games is a brilliant, easily consumable piece of media that explain the oppressed vs. the oppressor, the dirt poor vs. the filthy rich, the powerless vs. the powerful. In all five novels, propaganda plays a huge role in manipulating reality and keeping the “districts” firmly under the “Capitol’s” control. Having a POV of the Capital viewing the district as not even human devalues their lives and makes their children’s deaths in the Hunger Games a sport to be watched rather than a despicable spectacle to be avoided. I was lucky enough to be at the perfect age to read the books and watch the movies when these came out (high school/college) but they truly stand the test of time and can be read at any age and even revisited as a reflection of the current state of our country and world.

The Hunger Games

Book: 4 🌟
Movie: 4.5 🌟

The OG!! As a book to movie adaptation, it really doesn’t get much better. I don’t mind how different this movie was stylistically to the rest, but I do love that they became much more cinematic with the rest of the series.

Catching Fire

Book: 4.5 🌟
Movie: 5 🌟

The BEST book and the BEST movie. SOTR is the best written, but this is the best book. I loved how Katniss and Peeta’s relationship deepened throughout the novel. Literally my only complaint of the movie was not getting enough scenes of them together throughout The Victory Tour, but totally understand why it was cut. That scene where Katniss is raised into the arena? Goodbye.

Mockingjay

Book: 4 🌟
Movies: 4 🌟

You know, I didn’t really mind Gale until Mockingjay and then I was like shut the f*ck up Gale. Did the book have to be broken up into two movies? Not necessarily, although I felt like it would have made for a really long movie with everything that happened unless they cut a lot out. The movies were STACKED with incredible actors that I completely forgot about until my rewatch. Hoffman?? Moore?? Ali?? There were some scenes that were changed and added (that FaceTime with Katniss and Snow? lol) but overall a pretty decent job keeping to the book.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Book: 3 🌟
Movie: 3.5 🌟

You know, we really just didn’t nee by @literarylaila

Attended zero panels this year oops but still had fun at my third Comic-Con. I got the last (!!) special edition library card of the day on Saturday. Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse for the ARC of The Calamities and @simonandschuster for the ARC of Cellos’s Gate. by @literarylaila

Ireland!! 🇮🇪 I love you!! I had a 24 hr flight delay and food poisoning but I still love you and I will be back!! The Long Room was one of my most anticipated tourist attractions to visit and it did not disappoint- yes, even with most of the books missing. It was spectacular and a must see.

Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in Galway was a delight. This Is Happiness by Niall Williams was recommended to me by a bookseller when I told her I’m a lit fic girlie. There really is nothing like reading a book set in the setting that you’re visiting. I’m still working my way through it (not in a bad way, I’m savoring it) and it’s a treat to be transported to Ireland every time I pick it up.

Have you visited the Emerald Isle?! by @literarylaila

Happy Monday 🌷 Here to gush over one of my fav romance authors, Rachel Lynn Solomon. I am sooo excited for her next release, Extracurricular, out July 14th. Solomon never fails to write characters with depth and a genuinely interesting plot to make the novel feel like so much more than “just a romance”.

Who are some of your fav romance authors?! 💘 by @literarylaila

If this wasn’t the only physical book that I brought on vacation I would have DNF. It was just ~fine~. A perfectly acceptable beach read. Disappointing because This Time Tomorrow was one of my favorite books I read last year! I am still going to go thru Straub’s backlist as I do really enjoy her style of writing. by @literarylaila

Eyeliner: A Cultural History is so, so fascinating!! Thank you @zahrahankir for my signed copy 💜 I listened to this on audio, which is what I prefer to do with nonfiction, but I loved having the physical on hand for the gorgeous illustrations throughout the book.

Eyeliner takes you on a trip through time and around the globe starting with Nefertiti in Ancient Egypt and ending with modern day eyeliner use influenced by social media trends. There are many different types of what we know as eyeliner and they’re all made of different ingredients, including kohl, kajal, ithmid, etc. Traditionally, before eyeliner was used as a form of beauty enhancement, it was used as eye protection and as a medicinal treatment.

What I most appreciated was Hankir’s narrative of women, men, and non-binary folk of using eyeliner as a form of resistance. If you’re looking for a unique and informative nonfiction, look no further than Eyeliner! by @literarylaila

What a swashbuckling ride these novels were! I was completely swept away by this YA fantasy. The best type of books are ones that take you by surprise and you can’t possibly guess what will happen next.

The supporting characters are so endearing and I really enjoyed their storylines in addition to the main one. The only thing that was meh for me was the romance between the main character and another character, it was unexpected and didn’t seem believable to be honest, I didn’t feel their emotions towards each other. by @literarylaila

It’s Arab American Heritage Month!

I’ve had these four sitting on my shelves for toooo long. I’ve already started Eyeliner on audio and it’s fascinating, highly recommend.

What’re you reading for AAHM?!

The Arab world includes 22 countries and we are ethnically, religiously, and politically diverse but descend from a common linguistic and cultural heritage. FYI the countries include: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudia Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. by @literarylaila

I didn’t intentionally set a goal in the beginning of the year to listen to memoirs on audio, it just so happened that I’ve been wanting to pick them up in this format. Since I’ve listened to one each month thus far, I’m now setting a goal to listen to twelve this year.

Drop some memoir recs below plz! by @literarylaila