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Sam

@some_bookish_thoughts

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📚I consume all genres and forms, but literary fiction and kid lit make up most of my diet.
📍Santa Cruz, CA
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✨If you’ve been around for any length of time, you’ll know how much I love the @bookriot_pod so when they took inspiration from Barak Obama’s upcoming book podcast (where he’ll be discussing six books that shaped him) to create their own lists of six books that shaped them as readers, I naturally wanted to do the same! I won’t be listening to the podcast since it’s an Audible exclusive, but I couldn’t resist examining my own reading life in this way. These are my six texts that shaped me as a reader (and generally as a person) and I’d love to know yours! I’ve tagged some friends to share their lists, but if you’re feeling inspired please consider yourself tagged too! These books are listed in chronological order of when I first read them. Swipe for more details on each pick! 1. Henry IV, Part I by William Shakespeare 2. In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce 3. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, translated by Magda Bogin 4. Middlemarch by George Eliot 5. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward 6. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki✨ ✨Henry IV was the first Shakespeare play I ever encountered in Shakespeare Camp as a kid. I played Mistress Quickly and the Earl of Worcester and immediately fell in love. This sparked a love for classic literature and remains one of my biggest passions in life. And I’ll absolutely always go to bat for the history plays in particular!✨ ✨The Song of the Lioness Quartet was one of the first books that felt like it was MINE. My parents read a ton to me as a kid, but these books were ones I found on my own in my middle school library that no one in my family had read before. And I LOVED them. These were stories where girls and women were heroes in a multitude of ways. They were brave, they were clever, they were empathetic, they had agency. They were also sex positive and emphasized consent, the importance of access to birth control, and a woman’s right to bodily autonomy to create the life she wants. To have these topics reinforced in middle school was hugely empowering.✨ ✨This was not the first Isabel Allende that I read, but it was the first one that made me really sit back and work as a reader. As a Bay Area author, I ha
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✨ September Scavenger Hunt! ✨ @sirenbee_readsnthings tagged me for her fun September Scavenger Hunt. I got my summer classroom gnomes assisting with the stack. ☺️ 📚 Book on your fall list: MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar* 🏫 A book set in school: WHY ARE ALL THE BLACK KIDS SITTING TOGETHER IN THE CAFETERIA? by Beverly Tatum Daniel* 📒 A short story collection or novella: THE WEEK OF COLORS by Elena Garero* 🍂 A cover with fall colors: HOMEGOING by Yaa Gyasi 👋🏽 A title or cover with a name or person: TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett* 📖 A title that begins with an S: (The) SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller All * books are on my TBR. I've tagged some friends to do this challenge, but consider all of you tagged if you'd like to do it! 💭 Name a book that fulfills one or more of these prompts. Have you read any of these?
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✨I’ve got a really good one for this #FriendRecFriday thanks to @some_bookish_thoughts - As I was reading The Remembered Soldier, I stumbled upon a new name for a kind of reading experience I cherish… this is a molasses book. It’s slow, it’s sticky, pulling you in to turn one page after the next, it’s got some bitter notes to it, but that only makes it all the sweeter. It reminded me of the reading Middlemarch for the first time and being excited to be reading what happens AFTER happily ever after. Anjet Daaje had me questioning the power of memory versus the power of action, how stories shape our memories and thoughts, how memory and belief are tied together, and where hope fits into all of that. I’m so so so glad to have picked this one up and spent a week with these characters and I can’t wait to sink into The Song of Stork and Dromedary this fall!✨ ID: a hand holds a paperback book up in front of a cone-shaped flower of small blooms #WomenInTranslationMonth #FriendRecFriday #isabelleisabookworm
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TORIE | Fundraiser Update 🫶🏻🥰 Thank you to everyone who contributed to my birthday fundraiser in any and all ways—commenting and sharing to amplify, donating, or engaging in another way! Together, our efforts raised $506 for @madleen._.gaza and her family, but their struggles don’t end just because the fundraiser does. Please keep them in mind when you’re looking for places to lend your support, whether it’s by contributing monetarily, amplifying their posts, or another way. And a million congrats to @some_bookish_thoughts for winning $25 to your bookstore of choice or @bookshop_org! Message me to coordinate! Everyone else: be on the lookout for future giveaway fundraisers!
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✨ Backlist Books ✨ @barbbookedup did a backlist books post earlier in the summer and I’ve been thinking about how many back listers I want to read. Insert caffeine pills Jessie meme here. I did a list of backlist books to try and prioritize this year and I’ve read half so far, but for this post, I did just paperbacks that are from late 2010s to early 2020s that are lingering on my shelves. Wellness and This is Happiness are also on my list to prioritize this year, but I want to read all of these! Some are backlist books from authors I’ve already read but others will be my first experience with the author. How do you prioritize “backlist” versus new release when picking your reads? I absolutely get FOMO with some new books, but then I end up acquiring a new book and not reading it immediately because I’m just not in the mood for that story. If you’re a mood reader, does this happen to you, too? And how do you define backlist? I feel like it’s flexible. 🤪 Tagging a few friends, but no pressure / I just love seeing what treasures are sitting on shelves so I can get excited for people. If you see this - you’re tagged! 🤗
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💍 Wedding Challenge 💍 I was tagged by @midtownmoodreader for this not long ago and couldn't wait to participate. In May 2022, my now husband proposed but he didn't have a ring, so while we were camping and hiking in upstate New York, he proposed a second time on June 1st. 📷 Photographs by @sparrowsongcollective during our elopement at Turkey Run State Park 💍Something old, books I loved as a child: the LITTLE CRITTER, BUGS BOOKS, AMERICAN GIRL, and DEAR AMERICA series 🤍Something new, recent books I've loved: ▫️LAND by Maggie O'Farrell ▫️HOOKED by Asako Yuzuki ▫️KIN by Tayari Jones 💎Something borrowed, books recs from friends I've loved: ▫️BETTY by Tiffany McDaniel ▫️REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier ▫️SUNBURN by Chloe Michelle Howarth 💙Something blue, books that made me cry: ▫️HEART THE LOVER by Lily King ▫️SHARK HEART by Emily Habeck ▫️HAMNET by Maggie O'Farrell Q: What's a book that fits one of these prompts? Or, any fun or special wedding/proposal stories to share? 🏷️ Tagging a couple friends but if you see this, consider yourself tagged! I would love to see your posts 🫶🏽
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✨ Books That... A little late on this trend, but I really wanted to do it. Thanks to @reading2relax and anyone else that tagged me! Almost all of these books I read since I joined Booksta 2+ years ago, and based on the hype surrounding the books. I tagged some of you who I think would do this. Anyone not tagged consider yourself tagged! 💭 Do we agree/disagree on any of these? What book(s) would you pick for any of these categories?
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Indie Bookstore Day AND IRL Booksta Pal Day! Every day is a good day for books, but today I got to hang out with an OG Booksta friend offline, and it was perfection! Sam is a bright light and extremely well-read person, one also wrangling kids while chasing her dreams, and I feel beyond lucky to have gotten a couple of hours with her (just two moms on the loose!). It was the best of times (chatting about life and everything in between), it was the worst of times (good luck finding a public bathroom in San Francisco), but more than anything, it was thrilling to connect with a fellow book lover in the wild. Thanks to Green Apple Books in SF for being a beacon of joy on a grey Saturday. Here’s a peek at the many books I flirted with but did not bring home this time…. #independentbookstoreday #friendsinreallife
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Big thank you to @barbbookedup for the tag in her post yesterday! I absolutely wrote 10 books down in a note immediately. I’ve said this before, but I love hearing if someone didn’t like a book AND WHY they didn’t like it. Not to hate on an author or genre, but to help people with overflowing TBRs (like me!). So here are mine: The Midnight Library - an awesome premise that just didn’t deliver for me. I actually disdain this one. Happy Place - felt phoned in, adults who cannot communicate is my absolute least favorite trope ever The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires - I thought this would be a fun jaunt out of my normal reading but I was annoyed and confused the whole time. Was this satire? Was this a man not writing women well? I know this works well for a lot of people but sadly, I was not one of them. The Guest - sometimes I love an all vibes book, sometimes I love a grifting unreliable narrator, but this book was insufferable for me. House of Leaves - I cared about the house and the family in the house and nothing else. The books I wish I could read for the first time again are all six star books / no notes, perfection. Visceral reactions, still staying with me years later - they’re the bar I judge everything else again. Sorry not sorry! I’ve tagged some friends but no pressure and invite is open to all - I want to see everyone’s 5 books they should have DNF’ed and 5 books they wish they could read again for the first time!
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One of my friends from college brought this to my bachelorette party in October as her book pick to gift me. Little did she know, I had been eyeing this bad boy (I mean look at it)!! I finally read it this month, under cherry blossoms, on the subway, on my couch in hangout mode with every colored pencil I own by my side. It waited patiently. And lemme tell you, it deserved the full freaking treatment. The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy was longlisted for the National Book Award last fall, and I understand why. I also walked away with complicated feelings, and I think that’s exactly the point. Here’s what I can tell you: this book will make you fall in love with a friend group. Fully, completely, no-going-back in love. And then it will put them (and you) directly inside the world we have actually built. NYC to LA. 2009 to 2027. Lost family and chosen family and the specific grief of watching the country shift underneath people you love. Was it my favorite read of the year? Not quite. Was it a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time, pressing into people’s hands, and seething over in the best possible way? Absolutely. The cover alone deserves rights. Drop a 📖 if you’ve read it, or a 👀 if it’s on your list. I am also curious as I continue into some long overdue books this year: do you rate books on enjoyment or on importance? Because this one made me question which one I actually care about more. . . . . . . . . #nationalbookaward #bookrecs #nyc #bookstagram #thewilderness
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𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚃𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚒𝚔𝚞 🌸 Thanks to @abbysgbooks for tagging me in this book spine poetry challenge. I thought it would be fun to limit myself to haiku format, so I put together these three li’l poems. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I know these photos feature covers and not spines (get over it). I tagged a few of you who might want to give this a try, but no pressure! 🏷️ #bookspinepoetry #haiku #poetry #bookstachallenge #booktitlehaiku
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✨ Book Spine Poetry ✨ If you’ve been here a while, you know I love a challenge and when @jcgrenn_reads posted his #2026spinepoemchallenge, I had to give it a shot. I had so much fun with this, I might make it a regular thing. You can read my poem by reading the stack from top to bottom in the photos but if I may, this is how I picture the poem being structured: Light From Uncommon Stars Mostly harmless All the light we cannot see Euphoria Open, Heaven Intimacies Here after Stillborn. I am, I am, I am Vicious Once, there were wolves From dust returned A Woman’s Story. I hope this finds you well, runaway This time tomorrow: Pick a color Drive your plow over the bones of the dead Never let me go This is how you lose the time war — I used all books that I have read and recommend, with the exception of Light From Uncommon Stars, which is my current read for the @transrightsreadathon I tagged a few friends whose book spine poems I would love to see but no pressure as always. If you want to give this a shot, please tag me! I’d love to see what you come up with. Would you read more of these if I made it a regular series? Which booksta challenge is your favorite?
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