Inside and Out #1: Lauren from Bookmark Lit

A new feature to admire pretty book covers and bookmarks, shared by YOU!

Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature will include two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. I’ll be kicking off the feature today with my own favorites! (There is still plenty of time to sign up – see the form at the bottom of the post and join in the fun!)

Lauren from Bookmark Lit
Twitter: @bookmarklit  |  Instagram: @bookmark_lit

Tell me a little about yourself:

Well obviously you already know quite a bit about me, since this is my blog and all. But, my name is Lauren and I run Bookmark Lit! I obviously love reading and mostly fill my free time with doing that. When I’m not reading (or sometimes while I’m reading, depending on what teams are playing), I love watching football. The Carolina Panthers are my team and it’s my dream to move to Charlotte, NC. You genuinely don’t want to be around me when they’re playing, win or lose. I honestly don’t have many other hobbies but I do like watching movies, binge-watching Netflix, going out to eat, and becoming obsessed with things for a few months and then losing interest. I’d love to pick up some crafty hobbies but I’m so lazy.

Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.):

I blog about young adult books mostly, with a few adult or new adult titles thrown in every once in a while. I prefer reading young adult because it’s fun to reminisce on the intricacies of being a teenager without having to relive any of the awkwardness. I participate in Top Ten Tuesday every week and sometimes join in Sunday Post. I have my own meme, Five on Fridays, that I made just to talk about more personal things that happen whenever my life is interesting enough to talk about. I have discussion features, monthly wrap-ups, and obviously book reviews. I have Book Buddies once a month, where I read a book at the same time as one of my buddies and we have a discussion-style review.

Favorite genre:

Young adult contemporary is probably my favorite – followed closely by fantasy. My problem is that I’m a mood reader, so it’ll completely change from book to book. I can get sick of genres pretty quickly. I read a lot of fantasy in January and am planning on reading a lot of contemporary in February, so we’ll see how quickly I need to switch things up! My favorite specific topics within books include parallel universes/lives or books where the main character is “stuck” between life and death. Give me a book about one of those things and I will absolutely be reading it!

Three books you recommend most often and why:

This is a tough one. I don’t consider myself to be a HUGE book pusher in general, but there are some tried and trues that I tell people they need to read – especially if they say they’re considering reading them. I’ll push them in the right direction, but I’m not big on recommending books to people unless they ask me. I’d say the biggest one I’ve pushed lately is To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (which is appropriate for me to mention here). Otherwise I always make people read Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins if they haven’t already, and anything by Kasie West. I loved Pivot Point and The Distance Between Us; she’s a really versatile author and is definitely an auto-buy for me!

Anything else to share? Personal plug for something coming up?

This feature is probably the biggest thing, as of right now, I’d like to put in a plug for! There’s more than enough room to sign up and show off your favorite cover and bookmark. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone picks. Otherwise, I’ll give a big advance notice mention to the fact that I’m going to try doing my Goodbye Summer Readathon again this year. I started it up for the end of August/early September, where I read all of the summery books I planned to get to by the end of summer.

What book do we have here?

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han! It’s a young adult contemporary book that I highly recommend to anyone with ears. I absolutely love Jenny Han’s writing style. The characters in this one are amazing too.

Have you read it yet? If so, how was it?

Yes! This book was a perfect five stars for me. As I said, I can’t get enough of her writing. The characters were so fleshed out; I wanted to join their family. It’s about a girl who writes love letters to all of the boys she’s had crushes on in her life. Somehow the letters end up getting sent out to the boys and Lara Jean has to deal with the consequences. It was freaking adorable. The second book is finally coming out in May this year and I absolutely can’t wait for it. The cover for that one is gorgeous too 🙂

What makes this cover a favorite?

Honestly I just can never stop staring at this. I bought it for my Kindle when I initially read it and completely regretted it afterwards. I needed this cute one on my shelf! I ended up finding a signed copy at my B&N so I had to buy it. So worth it! The cover is a favorite because of the layout and the writing. I’m obsessed with the handwritten cursive kind of fonts lately and it’s so cool that this one was written with permanent marker. The cute colors and scene on the front just make me so happy. It totally represents the book and the innocence of the character(s).

What kind/style of covers do you usually pine over (script fonts, bright colors, realistic, etc.)?

I’m obsessed with book covers in general. I keep my favorites on my “cover love” Goodreads shelf, if you’re interested! I enjoy big, fancy, handwritten script fonts. If a book’s title is huge and written in some pretty font you can guarantee I’ll add it to my TBR regardless. Anything with bright, pretty colors is going to catch my eye too. I don’t usually enjoy seeing people’s face on covers because I prefer to imagine the characters in my head, the way I would see them. (I don’t mind with TATBILB though, for some reason…)  Some of my favorite book covers are those for Emery Lord’s, Morgan Matson’s, and Stephanie Perkins’. As long as the cover represents what’s inside the book, that’s good with me!

What bookmark did you chose?

This was not easy. I love my bookmarks. I had to go with this whole set of characters from The Lego Movie! They’re little magnetic bookmarks and it came with a set of five charcters: Emmitt, Wild Style, Bad/Good Cop, Benny, and Batman. So yeah I kind of cheated and picked five bookmarks, but this is my feature so whateva I do what I want.

What makes this one special to you?

I collect Legos with my boyfriend, so buying this set was a no-brainer for me. We loved the movie (and it was completely robbed of an Oscar nomination… don’t even get me started) and the characters were so great. I love these little bookmarks and rotate between them when reading physical books. I’ve been using the Emmitt one as a placeholder in my new Erin Condren planner, so I get to see his adorable face every day.

Where’s it from?

Crafted Van, an Etsy shop, has the cutest bookmarks ever! I also bought a Dancing Groot one when I bought the Lego guys. The quality of the bookmarks is great and they offer different sizes and characters. I’ve been pining over the house from Up, the bubble tea, and the Squirtle bookmarks lately. It’s taken a lot of willpower not to buy everything they have!

What kind of bookmarks do you prefer (paper, magnetic, quotes, etc.)?

I actually usually prefer simple paper bookmarks. The magnetic ones can kind of be harder to use but they’re so cute I don’t even care. I like paper bookmarks because it’s easy to just pop it in to mark your place and be done with it. Ones with quotes about books or reading are some of my favorites, or with characters I like. I bought some cute ones at the Eric Carl Museum and Morgan got me an adorable Adventure Time bookmark for Christmas!

 

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