#finnfury

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#FinnFury Day 26: “Orchestra of penguins” | black and white books⁣

⁣Caraval was one of those books I bought because of (a) online hype and (b) a beautiful cover. Unfortunately I didn’t love it nearly as much as I’d hoped, but on the plus side, it continues to be beautiful, and that sort of makes up for it. It certainly fits well with a black and white theme! Making this circle was more difficult than I expected, but I like how it came out. I’m also loving this new floor – we’re decorating at the moment, and this is the floor of my new bedroom. It’s actually lino, not real wood, but it looks gorgeous and doesn’t give me splinters, so it’s good enough for me.⁣

This picture was inspired by one by an instagram user called “dropandgivemenerdy” who had made a circle entirely out of different editions of Pride & Prejudice (which, whoa, that’s a lot of editions), and then had that new book ‘Pride’ in the middle. So thanks for the inspo -- I had fun setting this one up!

(For more book photos, posted daily instead of all in one go a month later, follow me on Instagram!)

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#FinnFury Day 31: “Real flowers so beautiful they seemed fake” | cover love⁣

It’s the LAST DAY of the FinnFury photo challenge! 😭😭😭 I’m so sad that it’s over. I’ve had a blast checking out everyone’s photos every day (protip: hosting a bookstagram challenge is great way to see pictures tailored to your specific interests, just saying), discovering a bunch of new accounts to follow, and getting to share my love of books with you all. There have been nearly 2,000 pictures posted in the tag (1,849 when I last checked) which is just incredible! @paperfury and I have had a great time and although we’re not hosting a challenge for November, I think we’re both keen to do this again some time, so keep your eyes peeled. ⁣

A lot of my books are packed up now, and what with NaNoWriMo and a constantly-growing TBR, I imagine November’s pictures are going to be a little bit more minimalist. So let’s go out with a flower-filled bang. I dismantled a flower crown to make this picture, guys. Please admire my sacrifice. ⁣

Anyway, here are some books I picked up partially or solely because they had beautiful covers. Most of them were secondhand, since I tend to deliberate over new books for about four years before buying them, although the Illustrated World of Mortal Engines was sent to me by @scholastic_uk (thank you again, guys!) and comes out TOMORROW three weeks ago because I’m disorganised with cross-posting these pictures. I’m sure you can all agree that it’s gorgeous. I’m looking forward to finally getting around to actually reading it!⁣

(The FinnFury challenge will be returning in future! Keep an eye on my Instagram for updates on that front)

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#FinnFury Day 24: “So sing the dead” | high body count⁣

I don’t think I’ve ever used The Hunger Games books for a bookstagram picture before – mostly because these editions aren’t particularly pretty or photogenic. While I wouldn’t say I’m a die-hard fan of THG and its sequels (especially the ending of Mockingjay), I did enjoy them a lot; I remember absolutely racing through all three books in the space of about a day when I first read them, including at a rehearsal for the string ensemble I was in at the time! And when it comes to a high body count… well, these books have blood to spare. ⁣

Has anyone used that Hunger Games generator you can find online, where you put in whatever names you want and it simulates how everyone will die and who will win? I’ve had some hilarious results from that. One time, a friend and I put in all our own characters to see who would win, so we had the literal king of the dead versus a handful of teenagers. Another time, we filled it full of historical and mythological figures – and SHOSTAKOVICH won, despite being up against Achilles, and Boudicca, and other people you would expect to fare better in the Hunger Games. It was hilarious. Highly recommended if you want a laugh.⁣

(For more book photos, follow me on Instagram!)

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#FinnFury Day 2: “I am unknowable” | ditch that jacket

Okay, I’ve been wanting to do this for AGES, but I was like, no, that’s a ridiculous idea, you can’t take the dust jackets off every single hardback you own just to see what colours they are. It’ll take FOREVER and you’ll have to put them all back on again and what purpose would that even serve, anyway?!

Friends. I took the dustjackets off (virtually) all the hardbacks I own (a couple of non-fiction books escaped). It did indeed take a very long time to put them all back in, though fortunately I had Chuck Wendig’s “Aftermath” on audiobook to keep me entertained while I did it. The mess was… immense. There were some regrets. Turns out, I own more hardbacks than I thought I did.

I knew black would be the most popular, but blue was a surprise runner-up, as I felt sure red would win – and I was surprised there were so few green ones. I didn’t include books with printed hardbacks (such as the Harry Potter series) or any of my more antique books, but I think there were enough of them even without those…

 #QOTD: What’s the most ridiculous and time-consuming thing you’ve done for a picture?

(#FinnFury is a book photo challenge I’m co-hosting on Instagram!)

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#FinnFuryDay 27: “Only red door on campus” | colourful ⁣

⁣This actually wasn’t the picture I was intending to take. I’d set up a whole big chevron thing, highlighting a couple of series that had particularly colourful covers, including Mortal Engines and Harry Potter. But no matter how many photos I took, I just couldn’t get it to look the way I wanted it to. Finally, I was messing around with some different angles to see if I could salvage the layout, and came up with this one. You can just about see how many books I pulled off the shelves to create this, right? Please say it wasn’t for nothing…⁣

⁣Anyway, it’s never a bad time to showcase Mortal Engines. It’s been released under half a dozen different covers (thanks to @scholastic_uk I now have the movie tie-in edition as well) and there’s a recent illustrated set that I like a lot, but… this original art will always have my heart. It’s so vibrant and unusual. ⁣

(Apparently I talk about Mortal Engines a lot on Instagram, so you should follow me there if you’re a fan!)

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#FinnFury Day 8: Isabel & Cole | unlikely couples⁣

I don’t think couples get more unlikely than Hester Shaw and Tom Natsworthy. He’s an apprentice historian; she’s a traumatised would-be assassin. He lives on London and grew up with a moving deck beneath his feet; she grew up with her feet firmly planted on the earth. But sometimes opposites attract. She’s not beautiful and he’s not a hero, but they’re alive, they’re together, and they’re going to be all right. ⁣

If you hadn’t guessed from previous posts, I really like the Mortal Engines quartet. Hester Shaw was a huge formative influence on me and my writing (something I didn’t realise until I reread them last year) and I’m extremely psyched for the film that’s coming out in December. Obviously, I’ve got some concerns (who doesn’t, when a book they love is being turned into a film?), but mostly I’m hyped.⁣

#QOTD: What’s your favourite book-to-film adaptation?⁣

(#FinnFury is a bookstagram challenge I’m hosting with @paperfury)

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#FinnFury Day 30: Joaquin’s radio station | book with music⁣

One of my very first photos after becoming a bookstagram account was of books featuring music, and I was tempted to repost that picture, since it was pretty great and I didn’t have many followers back then. But I decided to try something different instead, although this photo proved Extremely Annoying to take and I regretted my life choices several times.⁣

Anyway, we’ve got a pretty varied selection here – from a historical novel about Shostakovich to a fantasy novel about rock music and more or less everything in between. Plus some Bach partitas because, well, I like Bach. One of these days I’ll take a music photo where the sheet music actually relates to the contents of the books, but it is not this day. For now, you get Bach. ⁣

#QOTD: Do you play any instruments? I played violin for ten years, flute for eight, and piccolo for four, before injuring my wrists when I was seventeen. Now it's difficult for me to play anything much, although I do play the whistle sometimes. ⁣

(For more book pictures, follow me on Instagram!)

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#FinnFury Day 15: November cakes | books & food ⁣

⁣Laini Taylor must get hungry when she writes, because these books are FULL of descriptions of food. There's a lot of cake-craving going on, mostly by people without access to cake. I can relate to that, as a coeliac barred from most delicious things... ⁣

⁣#QOTD: Do you have any food allergies or intolerances? What foods do you miss most?⁣