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▪️Do you visit cafes often? . I finally got time today to come out to the cafe and take some pictures 😬 . I usually frequent a few cafes in Jeddah. You guys might recognize Warm and Frosty from my posts. I’ve recently also discovered Cloud 9 cafe, I’d recommend both of these to people in Jeddah. . ▪️Try the Red Velvet Latte at @warmfrosty ▪️And I loved the Cortado I tried at @cloud9coffee_ today! ▫️Both have really good cappuccinos too! . ❗️If you live in Jeddah, tell me some of your favorite cafes I should visit. . #bookstagram

❗️Apart from reading, what brings you joy? . As a child I always loved these snow globes! I still have this one which we got from Dubai. I was born there a long time ago 😊 . #WHPjoyful

Remember that little game we used to play? ‘This or That’? Well, I’m bringing it back today! . In the comments are some this or that style questions. Chose and reply to each one of them. There will be about 10. Comment with any emoji or ‘DONE’ once you’ve answered them. . I will check pages and chose 2 accounts and give them a shoutout tomorrow on my stories. . Ready!!? Let’s the game begin! . #bookstagram

Ultimately, the number of books always exceeds the space they are granted. Alberto Manguel . ❗️What’s the biggest book related problem in your life? No space? No time to read? Not enough books? Anything else? . #bookstagram

Current Read: Theatrical. . All I’ll say is there is 🧀, little tiny slices as of now, but I’m waiting for the mozzarella! . ❗️What’s your current read? How’s it going? . #bookstagram

Here’s a book I received a couple of months ago from @Aaknopf (Thank you!) . I’m trying to figure out how to go about my reading in 2019, I want to structure it better around different genres. I end up not reading any classics so I’m not going to force myself. Meantime I’m reading a YA Romance ‘Theatrical’ which is surprisingly refreshing! And OMG YA’s are such fast reads!! . Also, I’m planning a #BetterReadsChallenge for 2019. Watch this space 😬 . Here’s some info on the book: For more than four decades, Thomas McGuane has been heralded as an unrivaled master of the short story. Now the arc of that achievement appears in one definitive volume. Set in the seedy corners of Key West, the remote shore towns of the Bahamas, and McGuane's hallmark Big Sky country, with its vast and unforgiving landscape, these are stories of people on the fringes of society, whose twisted pasts meddle with their chances for companionship. Moving from the hilarious to the tragic and back again, McGuane writes about familial dysfunction, emotional failure, and American loneliness, celebrating the human ability to persist through life's absurdities. . #bookstagram

We’re almost at the end of 2018 and it’s been a great year! (I think 🤔) . In the last few days of December I will be looking back at some of my highlights from 2018. . We’re going to call it #2018oncemore Use the tag if you want to 😊 . My first highlight this year is from my short trip to India. I met an old friend of mine @itsnivedita and she was an absolute sport and became the perfect hand model for this shot! . ❗️How’s 2018 been for you? . #bookstagram

This is the reason why you just see one hand in my pictures 😋 . This is my favorite style of taking photos and I’ve gotten so much better at them, I don’t need to take multiple shots, earlier I had to take at least a dozen before getting it right. . Thanks @sumaiyya.books for taking the video! . ❗️It’s been a long time since I asked you guys to, tag your Bookstagram partner in crime, wether it’s irl or someone you’ve met online 😊 . #bookstagram

When I started this Bookstagram, I don't think I could even call myself an amateur photographer. I had no clue about how to prop pictures, lighting or editing. . I used a blackberry for probably more than a year for this page. But I used to take pictures almost daily and quickly learnt that lighting is what makes everything work! . I know it might sound obvious but that shows how much of a non photographer I was. . My number one tip now to people is to take pictures in natural lighting. You can search what time 'Golden Hour' is in your city and use the softest natural light available 🙂 . ❗️Is there anything you would suggest newbies on Instagram? Photography or otherwise. . #WHPnaturallight

I'm sick but atleast my Instagram self is having a nice cup of cappuccino and enjoying a book . ❗️How much do you share about your personal life on IG? Why are your thoughts about it? Do you like to share? Or do you share only the good stuff? . Pic taken by @sumaiyya.books

This wasn’t for me. This probably isn’t for a lot of people. This was a big mistake. . #theguywiththebookreview presents Security by Gina Wohlsdorf . So Security is a ‘Slasher Thriller’, basically something like the movie Scream in word form. I don’t want to read Scream, watching it seems like a better idea . A new resort is about to open in a few days and the final preparations are going on in the 20 floor hotel. Security checks, food preparations, hotel room inspections and so on. And people start dying. They are being killed by a pair of masked men, one in the security control room and the other following orders; cornering the victims and gruesomely murdering them. . The other side to the narrative is the relationship between the Hotel Manager and her childhood friend who shows up to meet her after years of not being in touch. Meh. . The writing seemed to purposefully be made more complicated than required. Like there came a point the ‘good’ writing annoyed me. Like when you read an Agatha Christie, you wouldn’t be forced to focus on the language and would be focused on the plot and suspense instead. . There are parts where action sequences are described, something like ‘The Killer attacked her but she moved just in time....’ etc etc. I mean that’s just plain boring to me. . There’s an interesting use of side by side writing where in Gina describes 2-4 different scenes happening simultaneously. It’s actually very smartly written. . But mid way through it just became boring and I couldn’t even be bothered to try and figure out the suspense in the book. When it did unfold on the last pages, I was very much like ‘Yeah ok, thank god this is over’ . #bookstagram

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” ~Georgia O’Keeffe . @pantone just announced Color of the Year 2019 - #LivingCoral . ❗️Also, 1700 posts? Congratulate me!

The best thing about this week was that I made some really good friends here! . I’ve never tried photoshop but the extremely talented @palletesandpaint edited in this beautiful latte art and I was like ‘Magic!! 😱’ . Check her page out for all things Blingy! . I almost forgot this is Bookstagram, I’m starting a YA Romance tonight 😬I’m ready for some 🧀 . #bookstagram

Do you have a favorite getaway near your city? . For me the nearest place Jeddah is a KAEC, it's got a nice seaside view and mainly is just quiet and peaceful. We went there a couple of weeks ago and it's the best change of pace on a weekend from city life. . I usually do not read on these trips, and literally just free my mind of thoughts. I'll probably give 20 minutes to taking pictures and then switch off data on my phone. . Nothing better than switching off from everything and just being.

Got this in the mail from @PenguinUKbooks (Thank You!!) . I didn't read the first book by Marlon James because my wife didn't really like it, but I think this one deserves my attention! . ❗️Read more about it below and tell me what you think? . In the stunning first novel in Marlon James’s Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child. Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: “He has a nose,” people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard. As Tracker follows the boy’s scent–from one ancient city to another; into dense forests and across deep rivers–he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying? Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written a novel unlike anything that’s come before it: a saga of breathtaking adventure that’s also an ambitious, involving read. Defying categorization and full of unforgettable characters, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is both surprising and profound as it explores the fundamentals of truth, the limits of power, and our need to understand them both. . #bookstagram

Faroukh is busy today, caption is in the picture. . Oh no, wait! I’m here and I have a question! . ❗️If you could read one book only for the rest of your life, which would you pick? . #bookstagram

Did someone ask for Layers? . Here’s my favorite type of layers 😃 . ❗️Comment with emojis that best describe you reaction to these! . #WHPLayers

Do you have a blog? Share your blog links below. If you have a wordpress, add mine linked to my bio and I’ll add you back asap. . ❗️I will choose 2 of you whose content I like the most and do IGstories with their swipe up links tomorrow. . I started blogging earlier this year after Lucy @the_litedit motivated me to. She is the Book Blogger of the year and I’ve learnt so much from her. . Why I’m talking about blogging is because I’m close to hitting 15,000 views on it and I don’t have any idea if that’s high or low for a year but it’s time to celebrate! . #bookstagram

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