#oldstagrammer

WAIT. Before you scroll down and think I've really lost my mind or ran out of ideas for posts, let me explain. . For the #grimdragon prompt, Nostalgia: books you have read several times, I actually could not remember when I had time to reread a book purely for comfort. You see, it's not that I don't like rereading books, I just don't have time. I'd love to reread Pride and Prejudice, Mistborn, and/Harry Potter, but several factors are working against me. . First, I'm old. No. It's okay I know I am. (Proof is coming in two weeks, i.e. my birthday.) I'm proud to be an #oldstagrammer and a #bookstamom. But when you come to realize that you might not be able to read ALL THE BOOKS because oh hey, I'm old, you have to prioritize! (KNOW also that I'm jealous with longing at those who have the time to reread said books with leisure.) . Also, in light of previously mentioned reason, my TBR stack can quite literally crush me dead. No joke. . And finally, I have small children. And these small children have total booknerds for parents so of course they're going to love reading too! Yay! And of course they're going to want to reread the stories they love again and again and again and again. And again. 😩 Don't get me wrong. We're totally killing it with our kids' reading fluency and developing a life long love of reading. But for the times I've reread these books pictured here, I could've quite possibly have reread a book of my own liking. (Hmm... Pride and Prejudice or Everyone Poops?) But, you can't really get those times back like when reading We are in a Book! For the first time and Piggy and Gerald become new friends. (Also, that book is so meta!) Or when reading Ninja! and my two year old daughter is like 😳 during the whole story and finds Donatello's eye mask and asks to help put it on because she's a ninja now. . You could say that by reading these now with them, they can look back at these books nostalgically and say, "Remember when mom used to read Everyone Poops and she'd make sound effects too?" (With three boys, it really can't be avoided.) 😆

#sundayshelfie! Wow! Another one? I KNOW. I’m still trying to sort my bookshelves and this part wasn’t too bad. So far my books are organized by genre which I really like. (I can’t handle rainbow books. It would drive me nuts trying to find books that I need! #oldstagrammer #sorrynotsorry) The problem is I’m doubling up on books already and there isn’t any room for displaying bookish items. Sad, but it’s either put away the books to make room for bookish swag, leave books in stacks on the floor, or put away the bookish items for now and let the books fill the shelves. • Oh and hey, I’m really crushing on Em’s @emdawgreads Sunday shelfie today. I love how he stacked his series vertically in groups between the other books that are stacked horizontally. • Anyone have these booknerd problems? How do you guys handle an abundance of books and displaying your bookish swag on your bookshelves at the same time? (Without buying another bookcase!) • Challenge: #julywithcj #shelfiesunday

So, I don’t really post #shelfie pictures because my bookshelves are just a mess. (See #oldstagrammer tag about posting a non-shelfie shelfie). But, for this challenge, I decided to just take the plunge and post one because there is at least one shelf that I am proud of. This is my Jane Austen shelf. Jane Austen is one of my all time favorite authors. Her witty, gorgeous prose is what got me through my first year of teaching and also inspired me to write. (Former Jane Austen fan fiction writer here!) On this shelf, I have multiple editions of Pride and Prejudice from different years and also in different languages. I also have a few souvenirs from the Jane Austen Center in Bath and from her cottage in Hampshire. I will admit that these bird figurines were collected this year as bookstagram props, but I like keeping them on this shelf with Jane Austen because I think she would’ve liked them. • And this is SO late, but my plus one for the Yule Ball would be Mr. Darcy. Always. • Book Challenges: #livelaughbooksjuly “Shelfie” and "Beloved Classic" • #julyfantasychallenge “It’s the Yule Ball. Who’s your plus one?”

I know, not your typical Sunday #shelfie, right? No fairy lights. No hand made banners. Bookish swag poorly displayed. It's a mess! You're probably wondering why I would post such a mess of bookcases and well, books. This is what a study looks like after months of neglect. If you missed my previous post, I just finished my 10 month writing program and I'm finally getting back to doing things like socialize (with real people) and a bit of housework (my husband is awesome at housework, but I really should get back to helping him.) and getting my office back into order. So, I'm posting this as a before picture. I'm hoping by the end of summer to have my office organized and dare I say bookstagramable by then? I'll be posting updates on my progress throughout the summer. **** Do you guys know Jessica @pages4days? I met her through Kori @_livelaughread on one of her intro posts. We were a few of the older people there and we bonded and Jessica created this tag #oldstagrammer. Like this post. Only an #oldstagrammer would post a #shelfie that's not really a shelfie, at least not to bookstagram standards. Then it got me thinking about other oldstagrammer qualities. Like you know you're an oldstagrammer when you sigh wistfully when you see white bookcases and tell yourself if you didn't have small children who would see white bookcases as blank canvases, you could totally do white bookcases OR in The List you have that guarantees you a free pass from cheating, your current bookboyfriend/bookgirlfriend is on The List because it's entirely possible that one day Mr. Darcy WILL take you to Pemberley and your spouse is completely okay with it. (He's not so cool with Colin Firth on The List too because I actually stand a chance with that one.) OR you know you're an oldstagrammer when the young people talk about being done with school and looking forward to break, you freak out because it means your kids will also be on break and holy hells you better stock up on bookstagram shots before summer break because goodbye photo book shoot time. Any #oldstagrammers out there? I'd tag you, but you might be offended, if I did!