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Dried Flowers in New York City

I’ve umm-ed and ah-ed over the recent vogue for pampas grass and dried flowers, because…

March 10, 2020

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I totally missed doing my October reading wrap-up

I totally missed doing my October reading wrap-up as I got sucked into spending 8 hours a day on Twitter constantly hitting refresh due to the election 🥳 so this is a combined October and November haul, and you can see, I read a lot less than usual! There were some really great reads though, so here's the breakdown of the loves, likes and "mehs"... And as always, full reviews are up on www.hester.co (link in bio)!
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Loved 🔥
The Midnight Library
Hamnet
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
Leave the World Behind (note: the rest of Bookstagram seemed to loathe this!!)
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Liked ✨
Ring Shout
Once and Future Witches
The Devil and the Dark Water
Lock Every Door
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Mehs 🥀
Invisible Girl
Sentinel
The Searcher
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#novemberreading #novemberbooks #bestbooks2020 #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #hamnet #midnightlibrary #theinvisiblelifeofaddielarue #leavetheworldbehind

I’m not sure if a home can ever be done, but we’ve been working with the lovely peeps from @thehabitatcollective over the past few months and over the last few days they’ve been adding all the little finishing touches around our house. It looks beautiful and peaceful and we could never have done it by ourselves. I agonize and over-think every single purchase! It’s a little bit bittersweet because we were going to have friends staying for Thanksgiving so that was the goal we were working towards and of course Covid has put the kaibosh on that, but this week we’re so happy and thankful to be safe at home just our little family. We might not be travelling or seeing friends or family, or even having a turkey (chicken is easier this year!) but we’re just going to save it all up and next year’s thanksgiving will just have to be extra epic. ✌🏻

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏: 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒚 𝒌𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏"... So Miranda Hobbes from Sex and the City famously said about Halloween costumes.
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Well, this year and on a particularly dark day in American politics, I'm feeling pretty happy about owning witchiness, especially in the way its portrayed in The Once and Future Witches! 🧙‍♀️🦇🌙
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Set in New Salem in 1893, The Once and Future Witches follows the lives of the three Eastwood sisters, who are determined to fight for their rights (and the rights of other women) by discovering and re-igniting the lost art of witchcraft.
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This is a really satisfyingly long, spooky read, interspersed with dark little fairy tales. I loved the Eastwood sisters as characters, with each sister falling into one of the female archetypes of Maiden, Mother and Crone.
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If you're looking for another world to get totally lost in right now, which still gives you hope for the future of this one (that would be all of us - right?), this would be a good pick. 4/5
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#theonceandfuturewitches #alixeharrow #magicalrealism #witches #spookyreads #octoberreads #booknerdigans #witchreads #fantasybook #hocuspocus #witchybook #witchyvibes #halloweenreads #fallreads #currentlyreading

I'm nearly a week late 🍁but my September readin

I'm nearly a week late 🍁but my September reading recap is finally up on hester.co. This month (well last month but let's not split hairs) I LOVED The Undocumented Americans and think it should be required reading leading up to the election, as well as Transcendent Kingdom, Zadie Smith's essay collection Intimations, and lest you think this is ALL VERY SERIOUS, you should definitely pick up super-scary thriller The Chestnut Man and give your brain a fun break with American Royals which asks "what would happen if George Washington had become America's first king, instead of the first president and had really hot descendants?" 🧐🤨🤔Here's the roundup of the loves, likes and meh's...
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Loved 💕
The Undocumented Americans
Intimations
Transcendent Kingdom
The Chestnut Man
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Liked 👍🏼
Little Secrets
The Year of the Witching
Don't Look for Me
American Royals
Majesty
Grownups
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Meh's 😐
Practical Magic
One by One
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@hester #septemberreading #septemberbookshelfs #septemberbookpicks #booksofinstagram #septemberreads #majesty #americanroyals #theundocumentedamericans #littlesecrets #transcendentkingdom #thechestnutman #intimations #don'tlookforme #badbitchbookclub #literaryleague #bookstagram #bookstagrammer

Driving me batty since 2010🦇. Now that it’s o

Driving me batty since 2010🦇. Now that it’s officially fall I’m going to be doing ALL of Pinterest, in my usual half-arsed way. Bets on how long the bats will stay up before the rain starts knocking them off?

We're all Anxious People right now, so this book f

We're all Anxious People right now, so this book felt like a very on-the-nose read for September. The author, Backman, found fame for A Man Named Ove, and Anxious People has a similar vibe - quirky characters ✔️ charming coincidences ✔️ everyday small town Swedish setting ✔️ etc.
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Swipe for the full prognosis. Unpopular opinion because I know so many Bookstagrammers who have LOVED Anxious People, but for me while there were some beautifully poignant moments and some really clever "oooh" moments (especially around a play on Stockholm/Stockholm Syndrome) it came down just on the wrong side of saccharine for me. I think in these current dark-feeling times, I need either unbridled escapism or grim realism, but a sweet "all people are really wonderful underneath" sentiment feels hollow to me. And this affected my enjoyment of the book and whether I found it believable and meaningful. 3/5
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I'm curious, are you also struggling to separate reality from your reading (or other aspects of your life) at the moment? If so, what's working for you to prevent you from total life disenchantment?
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Trigger warning: Suicide
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#notjustaprettybook #morebookslessalgorithm #readinglife #booktography #morebookslessstress #booksbooksbooks #miamihome #dogsandbooks #dogsbooksandcoffee #miniaturedachshundsofinstagram

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