In an attempt to help readers during the monotony of quarantine, I have compiled a list of five fictional cities and their books to get lost in.
Tag: booklovers
Coronavirus Chaos: An Update From Bookstr
We, at Bookstr, wish all of our readers courage, safety, and health amidst the coronavirus pandemic. While we self-isolate (and read more than ever!), we will be focusing on the following:
- Supporting book lovers in helping them find new ways to get through, and keeping their love and passion for reading alive during this uncertain time.
- Supporting the independent businesses that are going to be disproportionately affected like independent bookstores and publishers.
- Creating articles featuring authors and books that will help people in managing their well-being.
- Creating ways for authors and publishers to reach the audience now that there will be a pause on things like book signings.
- Helping maintain community and support through the book loving community.
- Lastly, trying to help create a sense of normalcy by continuing to create fun content.
At a time like this, a lot of people need support, and the book community is no exception.
Below are a couple of businesses that we think you should keep an eye on, and support where you can!
Sausalito Books by The Bay, The Strand, Shakespeare and Co., Silent Book Club (hosting social distancing-friendly meet ups!), Books Upstairs.
Your local bookstore would definitely appreciate an online order, a gift card purchase, or even just words of encouragement!
These are crazy times, and this is an experience wholly unprecedented.Stay safe, stay healthy, stay sane (as much as you can!) and happy reading.
feature image via bookstr
Bookstr is community supported. If you enjoy Bookstr’s articles, quizzes, graphics and videos, please join our Patreon to support our writers and creators or donate to our Paypal and help Bookstr to keep supporting the book loving community.
Become a Patron!
InstaNovels: The New York Public Library Is Bringing Classic Tales to Your Instagram Stories
This must be one of the most brilliant ideas of the last decade. ❤ ❤ ❤
According to Electric Literature, New York Public Library is redefining what a “story” is by making the Instagram stories more “readable” and “storytelling” which a service is called “InstaNovels.” Unlike the common usage of Instagram stories (people sharing their daily lives, dogs, birthdays, selfies, you name it), InstaNovels will bring classic literature to your Instagram stories. From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carol, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, to The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, you will start being able to read these classics on Instagram!
What make them surprisingly accessible is that each classic is GIF-illustrated by well-known artists: Magoz (@magoz) for Alice, Buck (@buck_design) for Wallpaper, and César Pelizer (@cesarpelizer) for Metamorphosis.
Image via electricliterature
From August 22nd, on NYPL’s IG account literature-lovers can check these stories out. Entering the story, first you will see the creative GIF illustration as the book cover; then, you tip the screen as you usually do to get to the next story where the content of the book is; after that, you are officially into the story.
Electric Literature suggests that the font, colors, and design elements of the story are optimized for a better reading experience: a beige background is good for eyes; the Georgia typeface makes the long text reading easier; on the right bottom there’s a place “Thumb here” by which you pause the page and read the text. One cute thing is: with the pages turned further, the “Thumb here” will gradually become a blue tiny cyclops!
Image via electricliterature
Image via NYPL
Image via NYPL
InstaNovels is actually an add-on idea to the original philosophy of Instagram’s story function. Corinna Falusi, the chief creative officer in Mother, the creative agency of this program, said in a press release:
Instagram unknowingly created the perfect bookshelf for this new kind of online novel. From the way you turn the pages, to where you rest your thumb while reading, the experience is already unmistakably like reading a paperback novel…We have to promote the value of reading, especially with today’s threats to American system of education.
Don’t you think this is a fantastically fabulous form of reading classic literature? While writing this article, I checked InstaNovel and was totally amazed by its cute story interface and creative core value. Go check it out and you’ll feel less guilty when you squander hours scrolling through Instagram “stories.”
Featured Image Via NYPL
5 of Your Favorite Bookworm Characters from Literature!
August 9th is Book Lovers Day! As a book-obsessed kid, I often found myself latching on to bookworms within the books themselves. It’s awesome to read a book and find your own passions reflected in a character. Here are a few amazing book lovers we find in our pages (and screens)!
Hermione Granger
(Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling)
Image Via Pintrest
[…] She was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms.
“I never thought to look in here!” she whispered excitedly. “I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading.”
“Light?” said Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet.
Matilda Wormwood
(Matilda by Roald Dahl)
Image Via Stylist
“So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”
Tyrion Lannister
(A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin)
Image Via ThoughtCatalogue
“I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind… and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow.”
Liesel Meminger
(The Book Thief by Markus Zusak)
Image Via Pintrest
“She said it out loud, the words distributed into a room that was full of cold air and books. Books everywhere! Each wall was armed with overcrowded yet immaculate shelving. It was barely possible to see paintwork. There were all different styles and sizes of lettering on the spines of the black, the red, the gray, the every-colored books. It was one of the most beautiful things Liesel Meminger had ever seen.
With wonder, she smiled.
That such a room existed!”
Klaus Baudelaire
(A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket)
Image Via The UPOU Book Club
“Klaus sighed, and opened a book, and as at so many other times when the middle Baudelaire child did not want to think about his circumstances, he began to read.”
Belle
(Beauty and the Beast)
Image Via Oh My Disney
“Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar
I wonder if she’s feeling well
With a dreamy, far-off look
And her nose stuck in a book
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle…”
Featured Image Via Wattpad
15 Book-Themed Instagrams to Enrich Your Feed
You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach as you’re nearing the end of a really good book; that growing sense of excitement to see how it all unfolds, that thrill of feeling so deeply invested in a life other than your own, and that impending, dark-cloud feeling of “oh no, what will I do after?” knowing that your time with these characters is drawing to an end?
I think we grow so close to the characters in the books we read because it’s the only time we are truly invited to enter the world of someone other than ourselves; we see their inner monologue, their every word, thought, and emotion, everything they want to say but choose to keep inside. Books allow us to see people in all of their full, vulnerable humanness. And, when it’s time to say goodbye to the strangers we now know as well as we know ourselves, a sort of mourning begins to take place. It can be tough to leave the worlds we spend so much time in; fiction and all.
However, thanks to social media, the goodbye doesn’t have to be complete; now you can scroll through the photos of your favorite book worlds to your heart’s content!
Check out these fifteen Instagram accounts dedicated to your favorite books and authors!
1. A Little Life @alittlelifebook
2. Pride & Prejudice @pandp2005
3. Harry Potter @thepottercollector
4. Stephen King @jobis89
5. Sylvia Plath @sylviaplathpoetry
6. Agatha Christie @officialagathachristie
7. Paulo Coelho @paulocoelhoquote
8. Virginia Woolf @virginiawoolfblog
9. Jane Austen @janeofausten
10. Edgar Allan Poe @edgar.allan.poe
11. The Brontë Sisters @bronteforever
12. Charles Dickens @dickensmuseum
13. Alice in Wonderland @alice_in_wonderland_books
14. Haruki Murakami @harukimurakamiquotes
15. Infinite Jest @drawinginfinitejest
Featured Image Via Twitter
