Reading is Inevitable

Can you believe August is already over? I don't know about you, but this month has felt like it never even begun — and yet, somehow, it's over. Wow. But you know what that means, right? You guessed it: another monthly reflection! Basically, my monthly reflections are a way for me to to reflect on what happened for the bookstagram and blog in the past month, allowing me to more easily improve within the next month and giving you guys a wrap-up of what happened. I also write about my goals and plans for the next month, keeping myself on track and giving you all a sneak peek of what's to come! With that, let's begin! (You can look at past monthly reflections here.) Looking Back Into August The Blog Unfortunately, the blog did a bit worse in August by only 4 pageviews, or 1.6 % . So, you could say that the blog did around the same, that pageviews were pretty consistent and that they're fairly steady, which would be a good thing. I also published a post on e...

Hello, fellow bookstagrammers! Today I'm sharing with you yet another installment of the Navigating Bookstagram series, and it's all about using Instagram's business tools for bookstagram! But what exactly are  Instagram business tools? Instagram has been offering tools and insights for businesses to use since 2014, but more useful, updated tools only came out in the spring of 2016. By connecting a Facebook account to the Instagram page, users can now see analytics on each individual post and their posts as a whole, as well as information on the demographic of their followers. Additionally, if they add the feature, users can view insights on their Instagram stories. Setting Up Business Tools First, you'll need to create a Facebook account and/or page. Once you have a Facebook account, you can create a business page by clicking the down arrow at the top of the screen and "Create Page." From there, choose from the options they give you (below). Wha...

Title:  We Are Okay Author:  Nina LaCour Genre:  Realistic Fiction Rating:  5 out of 5 ★★★★★ Reviewer:  Julia A quick yet powerful read, Nina LaCour's We Are Okay  was just what I needed when I was drowning in a reading slump and aching for... something. Was the writing extremely detailed? No, no it wasn't. Was there much action? No, not really. But was it real? Was it raw? Was it beautiful ? Yes, yes, a million times yes. There was a beautiful stillness to it that I loved; pauses in between conversation that I could feel ; a certain realness and attention to human nature that made it so amazing. So: what is this beautiful book about, you ask? We Are Okay 's main character, Marin, has shut herself away, quite literally as well as metaphorically, having chosen to stay alone in a college dormitory during winter break. She's cut out everyone from her old life in a failing attempt to escape what happened. No one even knows what happened those last...

The Glass Castle  movie came out a little over a week ago, and, since I had read and enjoyed the book, I went to see the movie with some of my family on Tuesday. Now, while there was nothing wrong with the book itself, I was a little worried about seeing the movie. Why? Well, it didn't exactly get the best comments and reviews from others, people claiming that it didn't do the memoir justice. But, now it's been almost a week since I've watched it. What do I think of the movie? Well... (Oh, and, uh...spoilers ahead. I think that goes without saying.) Watching the Movie The Beginning I don't know what it was, but something was just telling me that, oh no, this movie is going to be bad . I think it was just the way that they tried to include parts of the book in the movie. When it's in the book, spread out and flowing naturally with the good writing...? It makes sense, it seems real. But just something about the way that they were stringing together di...

Title:  The Nightingale Author:  Kristin Hannah Genre:  Historical Fiction Rating: 5 out of 5 ★★★★★ Reviewer:  Julia If you know anything about books, I'm sure that you've heard of this one, Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale . It was popular on bookstagram around the time of its release and is actually the author's favorite book that she has written. It's so good that there's even going to be a movie adaptation that will be released a few days shy of the book's four-year anniversary. (So it's coming out in 2019. A bit of a wait; drats.) BUT, that does not mean that you should hold off reading this amazing book. Because you shouldn't. You should read it right now. Do you need some more reasons? The Nightingale  tells the story of two sisters in Nazi-occupied France. After a difficult childhood and years of healing and trying to forget, Vianne has to watch as her happy life is uprooted. Her husband leaves to fight in the war. The Nazis invad...

Hey there, everyone. I realized that this series is called "Navigating Bookstagram - Stories  & Tips From a Small(er?) Account", even though I don't often post about my own experiences on bookstagram. Last time I tied in both our story and some helpful information to make a post, but today, I decided to specifically talk about something that is happening to us. The hopeful idea is that, by sharing my story with you, you can maybe learn and avoid some things and we can get to the bottom of this. The bottom of what, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you... So, as you know if you follow our bookstagram or read my last Navigating Bookstagram post, we were previously inactive on bookstagram. For a long...long...long...time. Before starting to post again on the 9th, we were inactive for a month. And before we posted those three pictures in late June to early August, we were inactive for another month before that. So, minus three pictures, we were pretty much inactive...

Title: Jackaby Author: William Ritter Genre: Mystery; Fantasy Rating: 3 out of 5 Reviewer: Julia Jackaby . By the name of the book, you might think that the main character would be the man named Jackaby. And, since I had not actually read the back cover enough to remember it (I got this book in a date with a blind book, mind you), I was pleasantly surprised to find, in the last sentence of the fourth paragraph, that my narrator was a young woman named Abigail Rook. A feminist, to add, even though she’s living in 19th Century America. The story follows her as she, a lost girl on the unfamiliar territory of New Fiddleham, searches for a place to stay and a job that’ll pay for her expenses. As it turns out, she meets the town’s controversial “detective” R. F. Jackaby and gets a job as his assistant. But Jackaby is no ordinary man, and sees supernatural things that others don’t see. As outrageous as it might seem to Abigail, she’ll have to get herself accustomed quickly, as...