Before I start, I want to say I got this idea from Michelle at Magical Reads! It’s such a wonderful idea Michelle!

Earlier this week I asked people on Bookstagram for some help with this post! I had people give me emojis, and in return I’d give a book rec for each emoji. Here are the resulting book recs! Well okay, this is part one because people sent A LOT of emojis oh my god. So part two will come tomorrow to make it easier to read and not get overwhelmed.

Some emojis are easier to pick books for, so for the harder ones I had to do a little interpretation. I’ll explain my reasoning a little bit so you understand why I chose each book for each emoji! And there will be a sci-fi edition (also in two parts) coming next week. So without further ado, here we go!

Hello and happy #SapphicSeptember! Just in case you weren’t sure what sapphic means, it refers to relationships between women. My friend Landice (@manic_femme on Twitter and @manicfemme on Instagram) is hosting a readathon this month focused on sapphic books. You can see her Twitter post about it here. She has a bunch of different prompts that look really fun!

So I was already thinking about sapphic books, and I had been brainstorming different things to try on Instagram – so I decided to make a book list. Instagram is obviously limited in how much information I can convey, so I’m gonna expand on my recommendations in this post! I hope you find some books that you’re interested in. There are quite a lot of books on this list (38 to be exact) so I’ll try to just post a few sentences about each one, so the post isn’t too long. I’ll also indicate the targeted age range (adult or young adult aka YA).

If you’re on Instagram, feel free to go check out my post! And if you feel so inclined, I would love if you’d share it (or share this blog post).

I love hearing about what my friends are reading! It’s one of the best ways to learn about new books that I might like. That gave me the idea to do a post celebrating my friends and the books that they loved this year. I asked my friends to pick up to 7 of their favorite reads of the year, and say a bit about them if they wanted. I hope you find some great new books to check out from this list, I know I did. Also, this ended up being a lot longer than I expected haha but it’s worth it I promise!

I can’t remember where I saw this prompt – I really should have written it down right when I started drafting this post. Oh well. But anyway it was about listing your favorite authors from A-Z! A lot of my favs have names that begin with the same letter so it was fun to go through the books I’ve read and remember authors that I love but don’t talk about much, or ones whose books I read long ago. I’ll list their names and a little bit about which books of theirs I love!

I’m a very visual person so I’m easily drawn to art and colour. Am I one of those people who’d read and buy a book for its cover? Yes, yes I am. It makes me even happier when the book is as good as the cover because that’s the best of both worlds!

I was fortunate enough to snag eARCs of three graphic novels from NetGalley and I highly recommend checking them out once they’re out in the *wild!

*bookstore

The Little Red Wolf by Amélie Fléchais
Published Oct 3, 2017 by Diamond Book Distributors

The Little Red Wolf is an adorably dark retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. It features a wolf cub instead of a little girl, which adds a nice twist! The artwork is beautiful, the colours are stunning, and the story was captivating. I did find some pages slightly disturbing so older kids may appreciate it more than the younger ones.

Another thing I loved about this book was how it touched on concepts that both kids and adults could relate to. There was more that met the eye and the story left me with mixed feelings. It definitely isn’t a happy-go-lucky book but it packs a punch for a short graphic novel.

Rating: 4/5 stars

How to Be Perfectly Unhappy by Matthew Inman
Expected publication: Oct 31, 2017 by Andrews McMeel Publishing

I loved this book and the message it’s trying to get across.

If you’re not happy by society’s definition of the word, does that make you unhappy? Inman’s graphic novel explores the in-between, because there is so much more to just being ‘happy’. With his humour, his art, and his storytelling, I left more content than I did coming in. Definitely a favourite for me.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert’s Story by Debbie Tung
Expected publication: Nov 30, 2017 by Andrews McMeel Publishing

I think Debbie just illustrated my life. I could relate to her so much that I wish I had a copy of this book for everyone I know. This book will be a favourite among us introverts who have often felt left out and judged for our quiet nature. It’s a book you’ll point to and say “that’s me!” because it accurately captures multiple moments we all know too well and understand. Delightful from start to finish and already one of my treasured favourites this year.

Rating: 4/5 stars

As an added bonus, I also highly recommend my #1 favourite graphic novel of the year: The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill. This little story gave me the warm and fuzzies and it’s the perfect book to cozy up with this season. I reviewed it earlier here and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it!

Will you be reading any of these graphic novels? I’d love to know which one interests you most.