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Nonviolent Delights

Books

ARC Review: Valhalla by L.A. Ashton

December 16, 2018

Valhalla by L.A. Ashton Published by: NineStar Press (coming 12.31.18) Genres: YA, LGBTQ+, Romance, Novella Goodreads  *This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest and fair review. Synopsis Sakuma has served as a Valkyrie for centuries, smoothly escorting thousands …

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Six Popular YA Fantasy Series That I Haven’t Read Yet

December 12, 2018

Happy Holidays everybody!! In honour of the impending changes that January will bring I wanted to take a second to reflect… on a few of the popular YA series that I haven’t read or finished reading yet. This doesn’t encompass ALL of the series that I haven’t read, just a few of the popular ones that …

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November Wrap-Up & December To-Be-Read

November 30, 2018

November Wrap-Up & December To-Be-Read November As per the Instagram, I had four books that I wanted to finish before the end of November: • Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut • What Maisie Knew by Henry James • We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter • The City of Brass by S.A. …

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Hello everyone! My name is May – welcome to my corner of the internet. I’m an avid reader, wanderer, and snacker with a lot of opinions.

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  • Guys I am exhausted. These past two days have been a TRIP so gear up for story time.
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Last night, my train from Boston to New York basically broke down because there was no electricity from New Rochelle to New York. So they made all of us get off in Connecticut of all places and I had a full-blown panic attack. Thankfully everyone on that train was a consultant heading back to NY so I just followed them 😂Ended up getting on some other random train so it ended up okay. Otherwise ya girl was about to take a very expensive uber lol
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I’m so happy the weekend is here and that I get to hang out with all the peoples that I love 💛
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❄️ How have your weeks been?
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#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #weekdaywarriors #storytime #bookishlife #warmandcozy #weekendbrunch #nyclife #becauseofreading #thesimplejoys #cozyvibes #booksbooksbook #bookaddict #booktime #bookaesthetic #readstageam #darlingdaily #pursuepretty #thatsdarling #makemoments #livelittlethings
  • I don’t really have a caption for this photo guys. It’s almost Thanksgiving, but my family doesn’t really celebrate so I’m spending the week relaxing in NYC.
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These days, I have such an appreciation for time off because I never realised how few breaks we get as adults. In college, I used to take weekend trips and explore all the time! Now... I have three weeks total of vacation 😂 .
In honour of that, here’s a photo from my last mini-trip to New Orleans! I had just come back from two weeks of vacation in Greece and Sicily and I wasn’t staffed on a project so I had a few extra says off and ended up in NOLA. Honestly, the vacation that I needed to recover from my post-vacation slump 👑 There was literally a wedding jazz parade going on in the French Quarter when I arrived.
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Qotd: where did you go for your last major or mini vacation?
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#worldofwanderlust #beautifulcities #neworleans #neworleansculture #jazzparade #wearetravelgirls #girlslovetravel #passionpassport #weekendtrip #minivacation #bookstagram #thanksgiving #travelgram #travelphotography #frenchquarter #bookstagrammer #bookishtravels #travelbug #traveltheworld #worldtour #worldtraveler #louisiana #thehappynow #simplethingsmadebeautiful #bookish #magicnbooks
  • Reading update: Not much progress has been made on Jane Eyre because *surprise, surprise*, I get motion sick on trains!! That being said, I’m working from home all week so I should be able to make a major dent. Super ambitious goal: finish the book by Friday 👑
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In other life news, I went to my first wedding as an adult two weeks ago! My best friend’s older brother got married in New York and it was an absolutely beautiful ceremony
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Fun fact: My friend and I nearly missed the ceremony because we were taking mirror selfies in the bathroom. We ended up entering through a side door that didn’t have a handle because we saw that the bride’s procession had already lines up 😂 fortunately, we made it in super discretely
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#readingupdate #janeeyre #bookstagram #classicliterature #veronicabeard #janeausten #weddings #bookaddict #booklover #bookphotography #bookflatlay #bookobsessed #bookish #bookcommunity #lifeupdates #bookaesthetic #booksbooksandmorebooks #bookstagramfeature #bookstagrammer #readinggoals #bookalicious #booklovers #bookblogger
  • Happy Friday everyone! We have made it to the weekend and to Thanksgiving week 🍁
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My family doesn’t really celebrate Thanksgiving but last weekend my friends and I had a Friendsgiving dinner instead! Everyone came over to cook and 80% of the food was made from scratch. It was my first time EVER making a turkey and honestly I’m so proud of us 👑
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Also at some point, @swirlofspice and I started using the table layout to take bookstagram pics because the decor matched our books 😂 We stood up on chairs and everything like the truly ridiculous people that we are
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🍂 qotd: what are your plans for Thanksgiving if you celebrate it?
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#friendsgiving #thanksgiving #simplejoys #bookstagram #bookflatlay #bookstagrammer #aestheticliving #bookaesthetic #magicnbooks #thanksgivingtable #thanksgivingdecor #homedecor #booksbooksbooks #bookaddict #booklover #bookphotography #bookworm #tablesetting #bookaholic #bookish #bookobsessed #booknerd #harukimurakami #fantasybooks
  • Happy Saturday friends! Sorry for being vaguely MIA all the time! Life has gotten super busy recently but I’m trying to be better about posting and whatnot ❄️
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Qotd: What are some fun things you like to do outside of work or school?
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I’ve been fighting to reclaim some semblance of work-life balance so I’m currently taking two writing classes and a French class. The writing classes are online so I can basically do them anytime over the course of a week and the French class meets once a week on Saturdays! I’ve also been trying to bake every weekend and learn to make cocktails because it’s NYC and I’m not paying $20 for a whiskey diet coke 🙄
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#bookstagram #bookflatlay #bookish #bookaesthetic #bookaddict #booklover #barbooks #thehappynow #bookstagrammer #bookphotography #bookaholic #magicnbooks #weekendvibes #bookobsessed #bookstagramunited #booklove #bookcommunity #simplethings #nyc #learnspanish #gothamwriters #writingcommunity #onlineclasses #booksbooksandmorebooks
  • So as you may know, I recently finished reading Little Fires Everywhere for a bookclub that I’m a part of and honestly, this was one of my favourite reads this year. I devoured the whole thing in a two hour binge.
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Ng contrasted women, relationships, and morality in such a complex way. First, there is the comparison in motherhood between Mia and Mrs. Richardson. Neither mother raises there children perfectly, but you get to see the way that their differences affect their children and the traumas they cause as a result. I don’t think that parents ever manage to completely protect their kids, but the different ways that they fail make for a really human narrative.
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On top of the question of how to raise your kid, Ng also explores who deserves to be a parent, specifically within the context of interracial adoption. Before reading this, I read the article « People Want To Hear That I'm Happy I Was Adopted. It's Not That Simple » by Nicole Chung and another article whose name I’m forgetting, but this was such a complicated issue that she wrote about really eloquently. Should a birth mother have the right to reclaim her child after giving her up? Does the state give the child back, knowing that said child will have a materially lower quality of life with the birth mother? How to interracial adopters make sure their children are connected to their cultures? How does not « seeing race » impact these children?
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Overall, my favourite read so far. What’s the last book you binge-read??
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#bookreview #bookthoughts #littlefireseverywhere #fictionreads #celesteng #booklist #bookishfeature #bookfeaturepage #booklover #booknerd #bookish #bookaesthetic #bookstagramer #bookstagram #bookworm #bibliophile #bookaddicts #bookaholic #magicnbooks #beautifulbooks #bookhoarder #readinglist #epicreads #bookcollection #photography #literature #bookishlove #bookflatlay @thebookfeature @bookstagramfeatures @mybookishfeatures @bookstagfeature @themagicofbookstagram
  • Happy Sunday everyone! I haven’t been on in a week or so because I’ve been staffed in Boston for a project but I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween 🎃
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As promised in my last post, I’ve officially started reading Jane Eyre! That seemed to be the popular bookstagram pick based on all of the all-caps comments that I got. I’m not tol far in, but stand by my opinion that I DO NOT LIKE BYRONIC HEROS. 80% of the time they end up being men who use the women in their lives as free emotional labor. Pay for therapy like the rest of us!
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On a lighter note, what did you guys dress up as for Halloween?
I forgot to get a costume so I showed up as Blair Waldorf 👑
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#minireview #bookrant #bookstagram #booklover #bookaddict #bookaholic #byronichero #janeeyre #classicliterature #bookstagrammers #thehappynow #bookstagrammersunite #bookphotography #bookishlove #minirant #literature #littlestoriesofmylife #sundayreading #sundaymood #bookishfeatures #bookstagramfeature
  • This is a kind-of, sort-of TBR post with no real deadline because there are only 3 days left in this month anyway...
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As I write up my review for Little Fires Everywhere between today and tomorrow, I wanted to share two books that I said I was going to read and then never did. A form of self-public shaming 😂
So here they are:
Jane Eyre & La Sombra del Viento
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I will actually read them, I swear lol
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Qotd: what’s a book you never got around to reading?
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Tags: #booklist #bookstagram #tbrlist #janeeyre #classicreads #bookflatlay #literature #bookaddict #bookstagrammer #booklover #bookpile #bookpics #spanishlanguage #bookstoread #bookstagrammersunite #brooklyn #designyourlife #thehappynow #bookaesthetic #unreadshelf
  • Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a good weekend! I spent mine in New Orleans, which is why I was MIA from bookstagram all weekend 🍂
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Are you guys a part of any bookclubs? If so, how do you guys decide to read/what are you currently reading?
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I’m reading Little Fires Everywhere for a bookclub that I’m a part of and I’m really liking it so far! Interestingly enough, my roommate is from Cleveland, OH and grew up in a community super similar to Shaker Heights. She’s also reading the book so I’m curious to see if Ng captures all the intricacies of Ohio accurately.
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Tags: #bookstagram #bookclub #bookclubread #fictionbooks #celesteng #bookstagrammer #currentread #bookaesthetic #bookflatlay #bookworm #bookaddict #bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaholic #bibliophile #weekdayvibes #workfromhome #nycaesthetic
  • ✨What’s a short story collection that you love and recommend?
✨I recently read Men Without Women by Murakami on my commute to work and loved it (semi-review below)!
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As we know, I’m a big Murakami fan. I read 1Q84, After Dark, Kafka on the Shore and several others so I’m familiar with Murakami’s style and (disclaimer!) I already know I enjoy his absurdist style. Part of the magic in his writing is the fact that he can take mundane facets of life and add absurdity to it in a way that makes me uncomfortable. We see this in “Samsa in Love” when the narrator wakes up in another body and has to relearn what it is to physically be human. There’s nothing particularly gore-y or horror-filled about the writing, but the description of the human body and its functions is nightmarish in a way that I would never have considered.
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I loved losing myself in the small glimpses of these men’s lives. Murakami does a particularly good job of building his characters out as real people whose lives exist outside of the bounds of our pages. We never get the full story the way we as readers normally demand. Instead, we get glimpses and bits and pieces in a manner not unlike the way we learn about each other in real life.
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To note: this collection of stories is about men and told from the perspective of men, so while it’s not always the most flattering or even fair depiction of a woman, it is honest. For example, I don’t agree with the way that women were depicted as natural liars in “An Independent Organ”, but I also cannot deny the fact that some men may feel this way.
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Overall, thought it was a fantastic collection of short stories. It made me uncomfortable, it made me sad, it made me think, and it made me feel. I went through the entire spectrum of melancholic emotions through the course of this collection and would ultimately recommend the short stories.
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Tags:
#bookreview #harukimurakami #shortstories #anthology #internationalwriters #japan #homedecor #flatlay #bookblogger #bookcollector #literature #bookaesthetic #jonathanadler #interiordesign #unitedbookstagram #bibliophile #booknerd #bookish #subwayreading
  • Happy Monday everyone! I’m back from my semi-hiatus now! I got so much reading done while I was on vacation so I have a ton of fun reviews lined up for you guys including the one below
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🍁 But first... how has everyone been? Has anything exciting happened while I was gone?
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Mini-Review: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
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The Silence of the Girls is a re-telling of the Illiad from the point of view of Briseis, former wife of the Prince of Lyrnessus who becomes Achille’s slave when her city falls to the Greeks.
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Ultimately, I loved that this was a novel about grit and how emotionally capable we are of survival. Briseis loses her entire family in the Sack of Lyrnessus and then becomes bed-slave to the man behind all the carnage - Achilles. You would expect her to be more rebellious or even despondent, the way female characters are in modern YA, but instead she is crafty. For her, the person that she was before slavehood is a painful reminder but not an ultimate determinant in her course of action. She will do what it takes to reclaim “personhood” and I think that level of grittiness and self-worth is inspiring.
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In addition to being a book about strength of character, Silence of the Girls deals equally with loss. The women in this story have lost everything from their families to their freedom and Barker deals with the concept of legacy beautifully. Despite being close to “worthless” from a political perspective, these women have found ways to reinsert themselves into history in their own way.
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Clearly, I loved this book. It made me emotional and nostalgic and it made me wonder what the women were really like. I feel like this is one of those reads that deserves more attention on the internet.
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Tags:
#bookishfeature #bookfeaturepage #booklover #booknerd #bookish #bookaesthetic #bookstagramer #bookstagram #bookworm #bibliophile #bookaddicts #bookaholic #greekmythology #beautifulbooks  #patbarker #bookhoarder #bookhoarder #readinglist #epicreads #instareads #bookcollection #readinglist #literature #bookster #bookreview #bookishlove #bookflatlay
  • In literary life updates, I’ve decided to read La Sombra del Viento in Spanish as a personal challenge to myself this month, which means a few things:
• It will take forever to read
• I’m probably going to steal Ariel’s English copy for vocab/grammar reference
• I will majorly doubt my Spanish abilities
• If I end up successfully finishing the book, I won’t shut up about it 😂
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Qotd: what are some books you’ve challenged yourself to read either now or in the past?
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A colleague at work actually read War and Peace on his 25 min commute every single day for about 5 months. I honestly admire the tenacity...
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#readingupdate #tbr #challengereads #spanishlanguage #spanishliterature #bookflatlay #beautifulbooks #bookstagram #bookish #beautifulbooks #bookaesthetic #bookstagramfeature  #bookfeaturepage #booklover #bookstagramer #bibliophile #readinglist #epicreads #instareads #bookcollection #literature #bookster #bookdragon #bookishlove #bookflatlay

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