The Objects I Cannot Survive Without: Books, Books and MORE BOOKS!!

Who considers themselves a bibliophile? Who loves to shop for nothing but books? Do you ever get excited when there is a new book out, just like when a new movie or music album got released?! Who is a book hoarder?! If you answer yes to all of these questions, I'm sure we can all get along!

When I was in Grade 5, my brother used to say, "you don't have to read every second, you can watch TV". In Grade 5, I was just beginning to enjoy reading novels, so I wanted to do nothing but read! Over time, my brother became more understanding and accepting. Since I was a teenager, I've been considering myself a bibliophile who loves to shop for books, visit libraries, retreat to a quiet spot and read and provide book recommendations on the web. I would buy so many books that I would waste half of my money. The ridiculous amount of books that I possessed also put me at risk of hoarding, which made me impossible for me to clean my room and shelves. I also love reading so much that I've read in class when I shouldn't have, read in the bathroom, read at parties and I always have a habit of taking a book everywhere with me. Just like how a child carries his/her favourite stuffed animal, I have my novel!

Unlike the average teenage girl or young woman, I'm not like those "typical female shoppers" who go crazy for the hottest fashion trends and makeup. I preferred to go crazy over new book sales, the newest released book that I may be interested in (such as The Ickabog by JK Rowling), as opposed to obsessing over the newest outfits to buy for the spring or summer.

As I've mentioned before, my favourite book genres include fantasy, historical fiction, mystery, thriller, fiction, history, spiritual, self-help, multicultural and geography. I tend to read more fiction books, because I read a heap of non-fiction reading material for school and blogging. I hoard both manual and electronic books that I download or buy on my iPad.

When I moved out of my family home in 2018, I've calmed down my excessive spending on books, because I knew that I needed to prioritize my budget. If I bought 4 books every week, I wouldn't be able to afford groceries, toiletries and other essentials that I need to live as best as possible. I also wouldn't be able to do the other things I love doing with my friends and by myself like going to cinemas, visiting multiple tourist attractions like Vaughan Mills closer to where I live, dining-out to restaurants and getting my nails done sometimes. When I have an adequate amount of money left over and I don't want to use it on other things, I buy books at the local thrift store or the bookstore once a week, which is usually during the weekends.

I've been active on social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube since I was a pre-teen. Instagram didn't come until I was 19 years old, during the summer of 2017. That is when I became active on Instagram and started blogging leisurely. Even though there are some downsides to being regularly active on social media, there are definitely some benefits as well- new products to find and purchase, making new friends, sharing your stories with the world, teaching others, following your favourite celebrities, keeping in touch with your communities and earning a living.

Asides from using social media to teach others, keep in touch with my community, communicate with friends and meet other people across the globe, I also believe that social media can also expose me to new products I want to purchase. Books are one of the products that I constantly discover on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. In the spring of 2017, I came across my first favourite YouTuber coffee&makeup who is no longer active on YouTube or Instagram. Even though she does not post things on Instagram or make YouTube vlogs anymore, you can still find a portion of her book hauls to view on YouTube. I've watched quite a few of them, and I found them really entertaining and catchy. The book haul that I linked down below was how I came across amazing books like Grave Heart by Kalayna Price, which I have already downloaded on the OverDrive library app on my iPad. That being said, I'll still add it to my shopping list in case I want to purchase it for whatever reason.

As a matter of fact, she wasn't the only YouTuber that I counted on for book recommendations; I currently watch and follow numerous "BookTubers" and "Bookstagrammers" like Bookish Topics, fablesandwren, skyeslibrary, tinyownuniverse, lucythereader and booksandskittles. Nevertheless, these are only to label a few of my favourite ones.

So far, my top 3 favourite "Bookstagrammers" and "BookTubers" is Bookish Topics, skyeslibrary, fablesandwren and booksandskittles. Occasionally, I get stuck on what books to read in the future, since I'm reluctant to relinquish my love for reading. Thanks to these awesome people I've encountered on social media, I now have a colossal "bibliophiles shopping list" of books to purchase in the future. I'm always down to get recommendations on various YA novels, mystery novels and many exciting stories that I've never discovered or read in my entire life.

Because I have a gigantic list of books to purchase, I refuse to name all of them here. That being said, I have quite a few books on my list that I'm willing to share with all of my friends here on Vocal! I mainly discovered these books from YouTube and Instagram.

For more information on the prices and so on, please feel free to click on the links that I included below.

1. The Mortal Instruments Book Series by Cassandra Clark- @skyeslibrary

1. So Far From The Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins- @Bookish Topics

3. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan- @fablesandwren

4. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi- @Bookish Topics

5. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor- @Bookish Topics

6. Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas - @skyeslibrary

Follow these three accounts for more exciting recommendations on books that you've yet to read and discover. The links to their Instagram accounts will be down below for you to copy and paste!

1. https://www.instagram.com/skyeslibrary/

2. https://www.instagram.com/fablesandwren/

3. https://www.instagram.com/booksandskittles/

Subscribe to Bookish Topics' YouTube channel for lots of fun "book-related" videos to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsy1-VsKWBU7t8odLyOo8Mw