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@writtenbysimba

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26 • UK • ⚜️🏰🦊🧚🏽‍♀️🪾🍄
— digital diary | writing | reading | life
— studying lit and writing a book ⋆⁺₊˚.⋆𖤓⋆₊˚.⋆
✉️: [email protected]

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autumn book recommendations! 🍂✨

let me know if you’ve ready any of these or if you plan to!

there’s a couple here that I still haven’t read but really looking forward to finally getting to (bury our bones in the midnight soil, ninth house and katabasis I’m looking at you!)

I hope everyone is having a cosy october, comment your current read! a few more books added to my endless tbr won’t hurt 🙂‍↕️

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🎭 If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

- shakespeare drama students
- life imitates art
- morally ambigious characters
- tragedy

🐇The Secret History by Donna Tartt

- classics students
- hubris and the fatal flaw
- inverted mystery
- moral afflicitions
- obsession and ethics

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📜 Babel by R.F. Kuang

- dark academia
- linguistic centred magic
- commentry on colonialism
- set in a victorian oxford
- found family

🗡️The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

- book one in a series
- deadly trials
- rivals and morally grey characters
- superhuman abilities
- everyone fancies everyone

🏛️Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

- academic exploitation
- rivals to allies
- ritualistic magic
- journey to hell

🪶Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

- book one in a series
- secret society
- elitism
- non-linear narrative
- forbidden magic, rare powers

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🌊A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

- rivals to lovers
- folklore
- academic commentry
- gothic setting

📿The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

- set in the time of the spanish incquisiton
- trials, witches and magic
- slow and complicated burn

🫐Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid

- dark gothic fairytale retelling
- old world vs new world
- complex family dynamics
- psychological and body horror

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🥀Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

- dark fantasy
- sapphic, lovers to enemies
- reluctant hero
- non-linear timeline
- feminine rage

🩸Fallen Thorns by Harvey Oliver Baxter
- aro/ace protaganist, further queer rep
- found family
- ominous forces
- academic setting in north england

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🌙Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

- complex family and cultural dynamics
- found family
- trans rep
- paranormal fantasy

🪞Gallant by V.E. Schwab

- haunted house
- secretive family lineage, by @writtenbysimba

happy october and happy launch week to @aardvarkbookclubuk! 💜

can we just take a moment to appreciate this box…

a huge thank you to @aardvarkbookclubuk for gifting me the most me books imaginable! fantasy and historical fiction are just SOME of the genres they have up for grabs this month so join the club now and get to choosing!

(oh and use code LAUNCH to get your first book for just £8.99!)

again, thank you to the team at @aardvarkbookclubuk for including me in the launch and gifting me your first box! I can’t wait to see the clues for next month — here’s hoping I do better at deciphering them 🤭

⋆⁺₊˚.⋆𖤓⋆₊˚.⋆ by @writtenbysimba

august, you were a dream 🤎

the highlight of my month (and life) was seeing leslie odom jr back in all his aaron burr glory. I can’t adequately put into words what being in that room meant to me (but also this particular cast was genuinely the most incredible ensemble I’ve ever seen on any stage, they deserve all the flowers). I truly don’t think anything will ever be able to top this experience!

my month was also filled with little trips away, museums and book stores so it was pretty perfect over all.

in other news,

happy september!! though summer was lovely, I am so excited for autumn. cosy evenings, soup season and moody reads - I was made for it. I’ve also loved seeing everyone’s posts celebrating september, I feel like there must be some correlation between readers and autumn.

what are you most looking forward to this season? 🍂

⋆⁺₊˚.⋆𖤓⋆₊˚.⋆ by @writtenbysimba

Back with yet another book haul! 📚🌻🫐

I think I have to finally admit that I have a problem because I am nowhere near through the long list of books I own and haven’t read and yet — I buy more.

So, here are the consequences to my actions

🐦‍⬛ Six of Crows: A Darker Shore by Leigh Bardugo.
👔 Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse.
📽️ Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven.
🩸 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab.
🖋️ Writers by Barry Gifford.

Have you read any of these? Let me know if they’re any good so that I might justify the lack of space I have on my bookshelves! 😭

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🐦‍⬛ Six of Crows: A Darker Shore by Leigh Bardugo

No explanation needed really. I’ve missed these characters more than I miss loved ones.

Probably my most anticipated book of the year and I’m so happy to to finally have it in my hands!

👔 Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

I fear Jeeves and I have a connection that goes beyond explanation. Mainly because I can’t explain it.

This is one of those books that has quite literally haunted me for the past six or so years. Having never heard of it before, I saw it on the shelf in a bookshop one day. I looked at it (ever so briefly) and since then, I have seen it EVERYWHERE. Every bookshop I have entered since that time, I end up seeing this book (and not intentionally so). I kept taking it as a sign from the universe that I’m meant to read it but I never actually purchased it - until now! There’s a lot riding on this book, but I have faith in Jeeves.

📽️ Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven

This was a complete in the moment purchase. It looked and sounded well fun and so 🛒!

Set in the 1960s, it follows ‘America’s favourite family’ and how even the perfect family isn’t always perfect — and that’s okay. I’ve heard it’s funny and heartwarming so I’m excited!

🩸Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

I have been waiting for the paperback release of this and she’s beautiful! I’m considering waiting to read it until after the heat dies down and autumn rolls around for the perfect reading experience!

🖋️ Writers by Barry Gifford

Another in the moment purchase that somewhat doubles as a souvenir. I by @writtenbysimba

I got lost in portugal for a little while!

In doing so…

— I finally read giovannis room (not over it, it was so beautiful and completely devastating).
— I spent some time writing with the most insane view of a literal moorish castle on a hill.
— I bought several books that i did not need and only partially wanted (but it doesn’t count if it’s on holiday).
— I visited several towns and beaches and cities this time around and it has made coming home even harder than I anticipated.

—

I’ve also been pretty much completely absent on here save for the odd story here and there so if I have missed anything, apologies!

I’m going to attempt to catch up, slowly but surely! In the meantime, I hope everyone is having a lovely summer!

⋆⁺₊˚.⋆𖤓⋆₊˚.⋆ by @writtenbysimba

and I’m a deathly slow reader so emphasis on the ‘hopeful’!

— what is in your july tbr? 👒

the fantasy summer continues!
I’m actually almost finished with the knight and the moth and (I spoke a little bit about it on my story) I’m not lovingggg it. It’s fun and pacy and I love the gargoyle but truthfully, aside from that it’s really lack lustre for me. I had such high hopes as well 😪.

I am however looking forward to progressing with the other books on this list ESPECIALLY six of crows: a darker shore. I cannot believe it’s finally here, it feels like a homecoming but also something so incomprehensibly new, I’m giddy just thinking about it!

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#bookstagram #tbr #bookrecommendations #books #bookedit by @writtenbysimba

👒🌸 some june/july bits n bobs! 🍊☀️

— I hope everyone is enjoying the sun and is reading something amazing!

It has been a quiet month or so for me. I can’t say I did much, however — (!) I did read The Raven Scholar and MY GOD. Waiting until the end of next year for book two should be classed as a form of punishment. This is good, proper fantasy and I can’t tell you how refreshing it is be drunk on a book like I am with this one. That hasn’t happened in a long time. A must read.

(𝗋𝗎𝗄𝗈 𝗏𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗍, 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝖻𝖾𝗁𝗂𝗇𝖽 𝗆𝖾).

Also something must be said about my feelings towards books with bird imagery because I have enjoyed far too many now for it to be a coincidence.

—

I have now just started A Knight and the Moth after everyone and their mother telling me that I should! I’m around 90 pages in and actually really enjoying it so far! Here’s hoping I continue to!

— What are you currently reading?

I’ve decided to have a fantasy summer — so throw me any and all recs!

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#bookstagram #books #reader #theravenscholar #fantasybooks by @writtenbysimba

my bookish sun, moon and rising!

☀️ my favourite book(s)
—— surprise surprise!

🐦‍⬛ six of crows
perfect. perfect. perfect.
🥍 all for the game
perfect. perfect. perfect.

🌙 a book that made me cry
—— in other news, water is wet

🕰️ clockwork princess
no explanation needed.

🏺 the song of achilles
even if you don’t cry at the end, you’ll cry because of how beautifully this is written.

☁️ a book that I always recommend
—— all of the above but in addition:

🗡️ the chronicles of castellane (book three to be released)
if you’re in the market for a masterfully done (more recent) fantasy work, this is it. I think about this series all the time.

🌱 anne of green gables (and the following books)
as an entry to classic literature (and/or in need of something joyful). liked it as a child but love it now.

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— do we have the same sun, moon or rising?!

⋆⁺₊˚.⋆𖤓⋆₊˚.⋆ by @writtenbysimba

a very fantasy book haul! 💫🍄

— I have been itching for good fantasy recently and rather than reading the dozen I already own, I bought five more.

let me know if you’ve read any of these!
what should I pick up next?

books pictured:

🏛️ katabasis by r.f. kuang
🏰 the knight and the moth by rachel gillig
💀 the devils by joe abercrombie
🏺 the will of the many by james islington
🌊 a dark and drowning tide by allison saft

⋆⁺₊˚.⋆𖤓⋆₊˚.⋆ by @writtenbysimba

a book and a view 🪻

— happy monday (and happy pride month!) ☀️💛

so, I’m currently actually reading a book which can only mean one thing: summer! last week I handed in my last uni assignment of the year and FINALLY have time off (a whole four months in fact). honestly I couldn’t be happier. second year was a bitch and a half and I’m so glad to see the back of her. this summer, alongside reading of course, I have a whole writing plan set up - it’s not strict per se but it definitely is intentional and I cannot wait to get back to my world and characters.

———

also in case you were wondering, I’m really enjoying the raven scholar so far so thank you everyone who urged me to finally pick it up - we may be on to a winner 🙂‍↕️

— what are you currently reading? I need some recommendations!

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#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #books #bookish currentlyreading by @writtenbysimba

previously on: life with simba

📝 I have been working on my end of year assignment and it’s only taken all year but I’m finally enjoying writing something for uni!! it’s a short story about a knight and a prince. The word count makes it hard to really explore this idea of mine but I do feel like they’re characters I could come back to at some point - maybe I’ll even post it on here someday!

🎬 this month I have begun my big mcu rewatch in preparation for doomsday at the end of the year. I barely made it out alive the last time I did this (pre iw/endgame) and I can’t say I have much hope for myself this time around either.

☀️ I am counting down the days until summer, I’m calling it the great lock in (wherein I am dedicating all of my spare time to writing OTWS). Jamie and co deserve my undivided attention and three months off from uni is the perfect opportunity to give them just that!

— what have you been up to recently!

⋆⁺₊˚.⋆𖤓⋆₊˚.⋆ by @writtenbysimba

On Thin Ice by Olivia Belle OUT NOW! ⛸️❄️🩵

— it’s officially on thin ice day and I couldn’t be happier!

romance is pretty much uncharted territory for me as I’ve technically only ever read one book in the genre, however there’s really no better way in than @oliviareadsandwrites’ debut novel!

congratulations sweet liv! you are in a league of your own 🩵

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#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookish #books #bookedit by @writtenbysimba