Hi everyone! So it’s been months since I’ve done an Exploring My Bookshelves post because Victoria, the original creator of the meme at Addlepates and Book Nerds, took a small hiatus while she was overseas. So during her time away, I also took a break from these posts. However, Shannon at For the Love of Words was continuing the meme with her own topics. Now both bloggers co-host this meme, which is really exciting! Anyway, it’s time for me to catch up!
For those of you that aren’t familiar to this feature, Exploring My Bookshelves is a weekly bookish meme for bloggers that want to share what are on their shelves. Here on Xingsings, I’ve adapted it as a monthly meme, in which I post my post on the last Friday of the month instead of weekly. And since I have quite a lot of topics to share this time, I’ve decided to change up the format so that this doesn’t become such a long post. All answers are in bold and all links redirect to Goodreads. Some books I mention aren’t photographed, either because I don’t own the book or I think you’ve already seen it multiple times on my blog already.
And I just wanted to say a quick thank you because I reached a new follower milestone the other day. My birthday and blogoversary is around the corner, so I may do a small giveaway to celebrate this milestone then. But anyway, thank you guys for the continual support and kind words. This journey has been so fun; you all are the best!
So part of the rules of the meme is to include a photo of your current shelf. So here is my reading nook that I’m sure most have you all have already seen sometime or another. But something is different… yes! I tried to create a rainbow shelf. I did this in the beginning of August and was going to share it when I did a Summer Says post but that never got published… so yeah. Anyway, I kind of like it. At first, I had some serious second thoughts when all my series and authors got separated but it’s all good for now. I’m definitely not changing this set up for a long time, since this took me a couple of hours. I kid you not when I say I was sore the next day. LOL.
July
- July 3, 2015: Newest book
I will redirect you guys to this book haul post for this one. However, thanks to Joey I’ve bought more books this month (I’m not complaining, they were such awesome deals), and so I’ll have another book haul post sometime soon to share those newer September buys. - July 10, 2015: Most worn out
My most worn out books happens to be my Harry Potter paperbacks and The Lightning Thief. I’ve had those since elementary school and back then let’s just say I didn’t appreciate the beauty and sanctity of books (that just sounded odd, haha). - July 17, 2015: Movie copies
I really dislike movie copies because the covers usually have cast members on them. And I don’t always approve of them. But I have a movie copy of Divergent and City of Bones (I have multiple copies because I adore TMI and Cassie Clare if you didn’t catch on already). - July 24, 2015: Favorite classic
East of Eden! I don’t own a copy, but I do want to purchase one someday! - July 31, 2015: Favorite non-fiction
It’s a toss between Unbroken and The Glass Castle, both are books I actually read this year and have reviews for. Review links: The Glass Castle, Unbroken
August
- August 7, 2015: Foreign language
I took Latin and I have some photocopies of some Latin poetry but yeah… I don’t own the Iliad or the Odyssey in Latin. What type of Latin student am I, right? - August 14, 2015: Reference books
How funny. This one is related to Latin too. My Latin/English dictionary from high school and a English-Viet dictionary are the most used reference books I own. My Latin one is totally wrecked and could have been my most worn out book, but I don’t usually have this on my bookshelves. It usually rests on another bookcase in my room (can you believe I actually have another shelf, haha). - August 21, 2015: Book buddies
LOL. This is like so sad… so Shannon believes that one should have some little book buddies that safekeeps a bookworm’s books… but well, I don’t have anything on my shelves other than books. I guess I’m just that type of reader. - August 28, 2015: Textbooks
I’m sorry that this is so uninteresting, because some of my textbooks are online ones. Plus, I also tend to take the risk and not buy textbooks for some courses since they are ridiculously expensive. They can run a couple hundred of dollars per book. Anyway, these are a few from this semester. Some orgo, anatomy, etc.
September
- September 4, 2015: A school I want to go to
UMMMMMM. WHY NOT HOGWARTS?? - September 11, 2015: A book you keep for memories
So these books are obviously on my other bookshelf. They’re just random, not really well-known picture/chapter books. (Photographed in the background.) - September 18, 2015: A book I
wrote/want to write fan fiction about
Alrighty, so I don’t really read fanfiction, so I’m not particularly interested in writing some. I’m also not a big writer in general either, haha. But if I would choose I would create one based off of Chihayafuru. I just love how simple but well fleshed the story line is. - September 25, 2015: Book(s) that don’t fit on my shelf
I have an entire shelf for these. Usually they’re textbooks, reference books, and, like I mentioned, old picture/chapter books I’m not able to part with just yet. (Photographed in the background.)
So I hope some of this was somewhat interesting to you guys. Today is my blogging day, so I’m going to catch up on comments and some posts I’ve missed in the blogosphere. Have a lovely weekend, everyone!
Thanks for participating! People like you make my day, going to the effort to catch up on my posts 😀
Basically everyone chose Hogwarts; how could you not?? I think you need to go out and buy yourself a book buddy! As a present for getting more followers 🙂 And I agree about the movie covers, they’re just never as good…
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Thank you for creating such a fantastic meme, Victoria! I really love participating, even if it is only monthly! And thanks for the suggestion. I’m really considering getting one of those cute Pop! Funko little guys as my new book buddy! ^.^
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Now that I think about it more, I really like white bookshelves. I think it makes the books stand out a lot.
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I had a few friends that had dark brown shelves and others with black, so I was pretty adamant about the white shelves to be different. Then again, I think it’s pretty common now. But thanks, I think so too!
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Ah well, I have brown shelves now and I’m kind of sick of it lol
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Actually, I find brown shelves to be classic and therefore harder to get tired of? But, try white if you’re ever given the chance. It really lights up the room and captures natural light well (good for pictures), in my opinion. Black is probably my least favorite of the three, it’s just too dark!
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I think black is very modern but I wouldn’t get it lol. That’s really true! I try taking pics on my brown shelves but it always looks really dim..
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I love how your bookshelf looks, Summer. I’m trying to organize mines as well, but I’m so torn. While I love the idea organizing by color, I don’t like splitting my series. HAHA
And you need to purchase East of Eden! If it’s a favorite it’s a must that you have it on your shelf. I actually enjoyed the book as well. It took me forever to finish it (don’t know why) but it’s definitely one of my favorite classics as well. 🙂
And I can definitely agree with you on book covers that have the cast members from the movie. I always find it so tacky and I definitely don’t want it on my bookshelf. LOL
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Thank you, Erika! And YES! I totally understand what you mean. It hurt my heart knowing my authors and series would have to split up with this arrangement. The logical side of me still is sad about this actually. The only reason why I haven’t changed it back is because it’s too much work. It’s going to be bad when I go back to my usual books by genre set up, haha. XD
And I know! I’m just waiting for a pretty East of Eden cover! And I’m not surprised you loved it too, I think we have pretty similar reading taste for most books. 😉
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Doesn’t it?! But I totally understand. That’s a lot of books to rearrange again. As long as you know where each book is at then you should be fine. HAHA
Well I hope you find one soon so you can finally add one to your collection especially with that nice bookshelf that you have. 😀
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Oh my gosh your bookshelf is practically full! So gorgeous and photogenic! I love your idea of arranging them by colors. I’m a bit fickle-minded as to how I’d arrange mine – by color, by size, by series, etc. This looks like a good idea!
I haven’t heard about Chihayafuru until now. Is it a manga? It has a lovely and interesting cover!
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I know right? it filled up really quickly! Good thing the shelves are pretty deep, so I may have to resolve to doubleshelf-ing soon. And I think arranging by size is very pretty as well. Honestly, I love how this looks right now but I am have some qualms because I hate having my series and authors separated. D: And Chihayafuru is a wonderful manga and anime! I learned a lot about karuta, the Japanese 100 poets game/sport, though the story. I totally recommend it. And thank you, Trisha!
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Your bookshelf is gorgeous, I want the same one, ahah! 🙂
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Thank you, Marie! Haha, be careful for what you wish for. More shelves equates to more book buying, which is pretty bad on the wallet. XD
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Loving your rainbow bookshelf! It looks amazing!!! ❤
Also, I love Chihayafuru!! I haven’t had a chance to pick up the manga yet but I love the anime. I used to be obsessed with karuta so when I discovered Chihayafuru I was like _ And I’m super excited that there’s going to be a live action movie.
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Aww, thanks so much, Jenna! ❤ Omo, I had no idea you love Chihayafuru! I haven’t other watchers/readers that have seen/read it. Isn’t it great? I really wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. And I learned so much about karuta because of it (I didn’t know much about the game/sport before). AND OH MY GOSH, WHAT?! LIVE ACTION MOVIE?? I need to google this….
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I love the characters so much! I still need to watch the second season of the anime. But I was so obsessed with… OMG I CAN’T REMEMBER HIS NAME!! Her friend who introduced her to the game/the one who moved away. I was obsessed with him!
YEAH! THERE’S A LIVE ACTION MOVIE COMING SOON! gasps for air
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LOL. I think his name is Arata! I like Taichi more because I have a soft spot for those suffering from unrequited love (well except for Simon in TMI, he was pretty annoying but that could very well be because of my bias towards Jace).
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Yeah for the first three TMI books I was like SIMON GO AWAY.
I think I liked Arata because he was kind of mysterious and I just wanted to know him. Plus he was so good at karuta! It was awesome to watch. ❤
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Your bookshelf looks amazing! It really takes lot of effort to rearrange them all and you’ve done a marvelous job. 😀
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Thank you so much, Raven! And it did take some time to reorganize everything by color but it was quite fun and worth it. 😀
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I love your bookshelf
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Thank you, Yasmin!
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Omg. This rainbow theme looks so amazing! Always such a pleasure exploring your bookshelves. 😀
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Ahh, thanks so much, Bani! 😀
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A shelfie! I know I should be rolling about in agony from a pun like that but somehow it really works. It made me laugh, anyway. 😀
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Haha, “shelfies” are actually quite popular among bookworms. XD Glad it made you laugh, Bun!
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I got me wondering about other people. I mean, do witches take spellfies or burglars take stealthies? Who knows?
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That’s hilarious, I suppose if they did take photos of themselves working their magic they would. The burglar one is too improbable. Too much evidence. 😛
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Oh, that’s true. I suppose a selfie when wearing a ski mask kind of misses the point of the whole thing.
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Omg, your bookshelf, just OMG! My bookshelf is so ugly, I don’t know how to organize it! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOURS OMG SUMMER WHAT THE HECK HOW DID YOU CREATE SUCH A MASTERPIECE!?!?!?
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I’m sure yours is beautiful, Casey! Because let’s be real, all books on shelves are pretty! But THANK YOU! ❤ It took me so much time and the rainbow still isn’t perfect, but it was the best I could arrange it!
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NO YOURS ARE SO MUCH BETTER! My shelves are so deep that the shadow hides all the books! No problem!
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Actually my shelves are really deep as well, but I pull them all out so they’re at equal distance from the exterior, if that makes sense. 😛
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Love the bookshelf and the color coordination!
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Thank you, Loewe!
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Love how colorful your books are. Mines are so dark, and I made the mistake of getting dark bookshelves. I’m just starting this meme and have decided to do the ones I’ve missed for fun. I like the idea of doing it monthly, since I won’t be able to post every week.
For the July 17th one, don’t like movie copies too, ended up with a couple of them anyway. 😀 Great post!
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Thank you, Genea! I’m really happy with my white shelves, but I also think the darker ones have their own beauty! And doing this meme monthly is pretty awesome; I find it much easier to keep up. Also, I have some qualms about sharing my bookshelf so often. I’m quite embarrassed by the amount of books I buy and dislike appearing as if I’m showing off. Anyway, thanks so much for the comment!
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your bookshelves look so pretty 😍😍😍
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Thank you, Cristina! 😘
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Absolutely gorgeous bookshelves!
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Aww thanks, Anette!
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Your bookshelves are absolutely beautiful, I actually appreciate it’s not a hardcore rainbow, I think the discrepancies are actually very charming and makes it real.
I actually adore seeing books with battered spine because it shows me how loved the book was haha. Nowadays I am so obsessed with keeping the book in mint condition so I can resell or trade them though crafty
I have missed you so much! You are sunshine to my blogging world clings
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The OCD tendencies in me are protesting with how it looks, but thank you! I’m starting to embrace the imperfections in the arrangement (but I’m still having serious qualms having my series and authors separated)! Aww, me too, Aentee! ❤
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That rainbow is AWESOME
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Thanks so much, Ashley! Also, I’ve finally started The Fairy Wren! 😀
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Awesome! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
And I’m jealous of that rainbow, I wish I was game to try it with my own shelves but I think I’m just too lazy!
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Don’t worry, I’m pretty lazy too. This kind of reflects how high my level of procrastination is. XD
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JEALOUS. SO JEALOUS. THOSE BABIES ARE BEAUTIFUL. 😭
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XD Haha, don’t be, Kimaya! I’m seriously running out of shelf space and that’s going to be a major problem soon. But THANK YOU!
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Oh East of Eden!!!! One of my faves. I haven’t seen any hard copy of it though. 🙂
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Strangely, I haven’t either! I read it high school and that was literally the only time I saw a physical copy of it. Surely there are some pretty ones out there. I really want to invest in one!
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I’m jealous. Hands down. I don’t own NEARLY as many books and my bookshelf is black and it is a MESS. I need to devote some time to organizing it. Your book shelf looks so organized and beautiful with the color coding; I just saved the pic on my Macbook :P. I’ll tell my friends: my dream bookshelf.
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I bet your shelf is still beautiful, Vedi! All books are just so pretty wherever and however they’re arranged! And why thank you, disorder kind of makes me go crazy though. I’m really enjoying the colors, but the separation of my series, authors, and genres (I used to organize by genre then author and series) is really bothering me. And aww, I feel honored this has made it to one of your laptop’s folders. My dream bookshelf is the Beauty and the Beast library but that’s so unattainable. 😛
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That bookshelf though!! ❤ I’m proud of you for catching up on all of the Exploring My Bookshelves these past months… I’ve kind of abandoned the meme. Sniffles and looks down at feet shame-faced Great choices!! And again, I can’t stop looking at that shelf… 😉
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Thank you, Analee! I wasn’t sure when I’d catch up, but it certainly felt satisfying. And that’s okay, lol. I kind of noticed a lot of memes are quite redundant and you have quite a few already on your plate. And thank you! ❤
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Check your kakao, girly.
-Love Mo.
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