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⊹˚ Gemma 𖥔 ݁ ˖

@thingsbygemma

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All things bookish, crafty & library-related 🔎

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Mom and I spent a gorgeous morning at the @vandawaterfront today for the Exclusive Books Waterhouse sale 📚⭐️

If you haven’t been yet, make sure to pop by before the 3rd of August and grab some books for only R75 each! (Still can’t believe we got SUCH good quality books 🥹)

#exclusivebooks #booksale #bookhaul #thingstodoincapetown #bookstagram taken in V&A Waterfront by @thingsbygemma

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8

2 months ago

A recap of the first week back at uni! 🐝💻

I feel like all I’ve been hearing is how terrible second semester is going to be, and having gone through three of them already I am no stranger to those blues 😅 HOWEVER, I like to think that as long as I am intentional about making time for fun and breaking down uni work into digestible pieces, I should be fine (👀)

How are you feeling about second semester?

#weekinthelife #uctstudent #unistudent #bookstagram by @thingsbygemma

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2 months ago

And with that, I’ve completed all three necessary weeks of my Work Integrated Learning (WIL) for my studies! (it’s basically just job shadowing if any of y’all don’t know what these words mean lol 💀)

After getting exposure into the inner workings of the academic library at UCT, I wanted to dabble in the public library space (which I regularly make use of anyway 🤭)

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect after being in the academic library space for two thirds of my WIL experience - especially because we weren’t really allowed to do anything practical there. But none of that in the public library - I got put to WERK.

Obviously the shelving took a chunk of my time, but it really is important to ensuring that the needed information of patrons is actually findable!

I was also put behind the circulation desk (soooo much fun speaking to everyone about what they’re reading 💖🙂‍↕️), helped plan and execute a story time, get new books ready to be shelved for the first time, and a whole bunch of other more administrative tasks that you really only learn on the job.

The highlight for me was being able to talk to staff, adult patrons and kids alike. It was really cool being able to immediately help people with whatever they needed - and see that impact live. Runner-up was definitely seeing how many kids picked up the books I put our on display which totally inflated my ego I won’t lie 🤣🤞

#weekinthelife #publiclibrary #librarian #jobshadowing #bookstagram by @thingsbygemma

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22 days ago

We did it! Finally finished my first ever “bookclub” book! 🕺

I am actually quite the non-fiction fan, but haven’t been reading as much of it as I did last year. So not only was Money enjoyable for its content, but also for getting back into excessively long Endnotes and a recommended reading list!!! (Which got major brownie points from me 🙂‍↕️)

Now to anyone who is daunted to read about economics, this is a very newcomer-friendly book. While the author is an economist and professor himself, the novel takes a narrative (and at times, quite descriptive) approach. That can result in some events feeling too “neat” for what it likely was, but you certainly are provided with enough facts to delve deeper into it yourself.

David traces significant milestones in the history of money - from as early as the Ishango Bone found in the Congo basin, to French Revolutionaries and the 2008 Financial Crisis. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about the invention of rubber-wheeled bicycles (see quote on slide two), the absolutely INSANE chapter about ex-bishop and revolutionary agitator, Talleyrand, and the chapter comparing cryptocurrencies to innovations in mobile banking within our own African context. Throughout it all, the human aspect of money is cemented.

What I really enjoyed about Money is that as the chapters progressed, I liked the story more and more. I didn’t realise it until the latter half, but McWilliams actually bookended many moments, which makes for that much more of a satisfying and circular read. He acknowledged many helpful contributors for the early histories, and I felt we really got to see his writing shine during the more contemporary moments.

As I hinted at, sometimes reading this book felt as if certain complexities were dealt with too smoothly. I definitely have also read the words “horizontal”, “vertical”, “top-down” and “bottom-up” one too many times.

But all in all, I really enjoyed it, and it felt exactly like the kind of book that you can seriously dig into with a group of fellow readers. There was always something probing and fascinating to pick out 💰

#bookreview #bookstagram #simonandschuster #bookclub by @thingsbygemma

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a month ago

Raise your hands if your camera roll is also filled with photos of books you want 🙂‍↕️🤚

Shoutout to pookie Jordan for getting me the HARDCOVER version Dungeon Crawler Carl for my birthday! 🥹🌟 Been wanting to read this one for agessss

#dungeoncrawlercarl #tbr #bookstagram #mattdinniman #birthdaybook by @thingsbygemma

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a month ago

Did we read more of our book or did we yap about everything else? 😭

Nearing the end of ‘Money’ - the pace is really picking up as it arrives closer to modern times. Been loving the name drops of Alexander Hamilton, the naughty Talleyrand, connections to Lady Diana, Dante’s Inferno (👀🔥) and the general chaos of the social history of money 💰

Even if you don’t really like reading non-fiction, I’d still recommend reading David McWilliams! His writing is incredibly accessible and also HILARIOUS 💀

(Also how cute is Jordan’s bee bookmark?? 😭🐝)

#bookclub #bookstagram #nonfictionbooks by @thingsbygemma

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2 months ago

Not my typical cover post for a book review - forgot to take a photo of Babel before giving it back to Central Library 🙈 OH WELL!

Babel was what more along the lines of what I was hoping the Secret History by Donna Tart would be. As much as Oxford as an institution was shown to have many(MANY !!!!!) problems, just like Robin, I also became romanticised with this idea of dark academia. That did not happen in the latter book 🫣

But what the Secret History does do better in my opinion is letting the actions of the characters speak for themselves. While I did learn some new things (and greatly appreciated all the footnotes), there were A LOT of monologues. I can see the value of a lecture sometimes. But when that feels like the most common way of pushing the plot point along, I find myself feeling a bit underwhelmed.

But onto the positives! ⭐️

Rebecca sure knows how to keep you on your toes. There were multiple occasions where something MAJOR happens in the middle of the paragraph, making me rush to read the page all over again just to make sure I saw those words correctly.

As mention, I loooooved the setting. The library, the Babel tower itself, the bakeries with mouth-watering descriptions, Canton (won’t say more than that bcos spoilers 👀). Every time there was a new location I was getting just as hyped as the characters themselves.

There was also clearly a large amount of research put into this book. Learning about the linguistic history of words and languages but still maintaining relevancy to the plot was *chefs kiss*. This is like the perfect winter read!

(Also shoutout to the Fanon quote at the beginning of chapter 26. Guys - you’re simply not getting name drops like this in casual fiction 🤷‍♀️)

Overall, I gave Babel 3.75/5 stars.
Almost GREAT, but certainly enjoyable enough to recommend to fellow readers 💕

#rfkuang #bookreview #babel #rfkuangbabel #bookstagram by @thingsbygemma

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2 months ago

Spent such a lovely morning at @thebookerycpt yesterday wrapping books for school libraries in need 📚

As mentioned on the flyer we received, there is a real accessibility and literacy crisis for children in our country. NGOs like The Bookery help alleviate this problem - fostering reading cultures and libraries for under-resourced communities 🧡

Please check out their page for more info on how to support them! Definitely a worthwhile initiative :)

#mandeladay #thebookery #literacymatters taken in The Bookery by @thingsbygemma

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3 months ago

tis the season for hot cups of coffee & having the time of your life crafting and scrapbooking! 📔✂️

Besides reading a good book, I am also a big fan of book-related hobbies that are more actionable, like journaling or colouring in. It helps me limit my screen time, become a lot more aware and intentional about my feelings on anything really, and also makes me feel like I’m taking an ACTUAL break when uni work piles up 😅

(Also if anyone else feels as in love with my sticker collection as I am, make sure to check out the following creators: @wes_leal , @peachyteastore , @jurgens_walt and @drawnbyamber_ 💖)

#craftjournal #scrapbooking #cozyhobbies #bookstagram by @thingsbygemma

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3 months ago

Happy to confirm that sniffing a new book does indeed run in the family!

Thank you SO MUCH to @jonathanballpublishers for helping me give my dad such an awesome Father’s Day gift! 🥹⭐️

With it being rugby season and the FIFA World Cup, I’m not sure which one is getting read first 🤣

#bookstagram #bookgiveaway #fathersdaygift #newbook #jonathanballpublishers by @thingsbygemma

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4

3 months ago

Now that’s we’ve begun the latter half of 2026, it seems fitting to do a mid-year book report! 📚

Im super chuffed with how I’ve managed to read more this year. Last year I read 28 books, and while it was a lot more diversified in genre, I also had long gaps of reading slumps. This year I’ve set goals to try and get a chapter done every day, which ends up with me reading much more than that 🙂‍↕️

The big favourites so far are Hamnet and Cape Fever. They’re both very descriptive and immersive, and coincidentally both have blue covers. One of my favourite books of ALL TIME - ‘Mirage’ by David Viviers - is also blue. Maybe there’s something to be said about blue being best? (Fantastic alliteration, that 💙)

I also now realise that I misspelt ‘Bridgerton’ the three times I’ve typed it out but you will all have to simply deal with that, the way I had to deal with Julia Quinn’s terrible perception of romance. (Except for Queen Charlotte and An Offer From A Gentleman. But you’re on thin ice, Julia 🫠)

#bookstagram #bookreview #readingstats

Do you track your reading stats or do you just read for vibes? 🌼 by @thingsbygemma

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3 months ago

After spending 2/3 weeks doing my WIL at UCT’s Main Library on Upper Campus, I was exposed to soooo many different librarians and their own responsibilities. (Even got to scan in some books and see how Dewy Decimal numbers are assigned 😛)

This helped me answer a question I feel like I’m always being asked, “what do librarians even do?” And beyond the checking in-and-out of books that only some librarians do, I struggled answering it myself until staring recently 🫣

So as a service both to everyone who is nosy, and a testament to what I’ve learnt, here is a little snippet of what types librarians work at an academic library, and the resources available to students through them. I’ll probably make a more in-depth post sometime in the future for very specific aspects of libraries, but I hope the helps in the meantime 🕺🏼

#library #academiclibrary #uct #uctstudent #universitylibrary

The question I’m always asked…

What services & resources do academic libraries offer?(especially UCT)

Plot twist: it’s a load of stuff 🛜🔎

I made this exhibition with fellow WIL students ⭐️

For anyone who has similar reading interests as me, PSA that UCT libraries has a copy of Cape Fever by Nadia David and some Samantha Shannon books! 🐉

Featuring the whimsical brainstorm Maria and I had for spatial planning in the Knowledge Commons 🧃🐸

Learnt so much! Grateful to the time these busy librarians took out of their day to share what they get up to :)

Whether I end up working in an academic library or somewhere else, this experience showed me that there is a LOT more happening behind the scenes of libraries than I ever knew 🙂‍↕️ by @thingsbygemma

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3 months ago