Where Delphine Be At + Book Aesthetics Tag

Dear fellow Babblers,

I’ve been an awfully terrible blogger these past few months. After the high and excitement went away regarding my new home in France I quickly fell into a long, dreary and dark wave of depression that resulted in nostalgia and ended with complete and utter helplessness. So finding the motivation to blog and even read, which has always picked up my spirits before, has been hard, if not impossible – hence my lack of activity here on wordpress lately. I find it fascinating how we can go from joy to grief in such a short and abrupt amount of time and we often have no idea what triggers this. I mean, I love it here in the Burgundy region. I really do. But it has not wiped away the problems I had back in Los Angeles – it only masked them for a while. And now ? They are all coming back to the surface. I ran away from my problems. I packed my bags and came to France in hopes that I could forget everything that happened a few years ago. Life doesn’t work that way though and now I’m more lost than ever in a place far from everything I’ve ever known. I’m sad. But I’m a hopeful kind of sad. The sort of sad that just takes time. Soon everything will get better, I still have faith… 

That was just a quick life update and me just babbling to anyone out there who cares to read the dreary existence of a pitiful young girl (AKA Delphine). The real purpose of this post is to get myself back into the stream of TAGS!!! And since pretty things and photographs always boost my spirits a bit I thought I would do The Book Aesthetics Tag, as I was recently tagged by Alicia at Grumpy Librarian Reviews. In case any of y’all are wondering Alicia is not at all a grumpy alien. Her reviews and fun, yet beautifully written posts make that clear. If you’re into manga or just looking for some excellent reads please visit her blog!

Rules: (Gawd – I hate writing the rules; it disturbs my flow)

• Thank you Alicia!
• Tag creator: Michelle at The Writing Hufflepuff
  Cut off point for aesthetics ? NONE! (not sure why this is supposed to be a rule…)
• YOUR YOUR YOUR YOUR aesthetics (not sure why this is supposed to be a rule either… I mean, no sh** YOUR aesthetics)

Though I primarily read Young Adult and ocassional mystery and fantasy, a lot of what I read has to do with mental illness. As a result, a greater portion, more like all, of my choices had to do with themes such as suicide, bullying, self-harm, and depression. Hope no one’s day gets too gloomy just from looking at my aesthetics. But none the less enjoy my Pinterest fiesta!

                              Favorite Book of the Year:
Rosie Colored Glasses by Brianna Wolfson (you can read my review here)

   Rosie Colored Glasses is a heart-crippling tale of love, defeat and the perils of addiction. With alternating perspectives and narrative time, I was instantly swept into Rosie’s distorted, sometimes pink, most of the time black world. 

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                              Character You Relate to a Lot: 

Alice from Alice in Wonderland: 

I really never got out of that whole “living in wonderland” stage of my childhood. I spend hours on end each day daydreaming and making up the most bizarre, yet fantastical (im)possibilities in my mind. Probably not the best way to spend my adult time but its really one of the only pass times that keeps me sane. Yes, daydreaming about dancing bears, glittering wings, and talking penguins keeps my head in the right place. At least according to me it does. 

                              A Character You Look Up To:

Charlotte Davis from Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow:

                                                 Charlotte Davis is the girl in pieces. This book starts off in a very dark place in Charlotte’s life and just when the reader thinks nothing worse could possibly befall this damaged girl yet another trauma steps in to break her down further. She fights and fights through until the bitter end to take back the life she always dreamed of – safety. Safety, love, freedom. That is really all Charlotte looks for in life. These things that we often assume to be ours and think nothing of is a battle Charlotte must brutally confront on her own if she is ever to have life. Not just be a surviver, but have a real life with pleasures, laughter and a place to call home.  

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                              An Underrated Gem: 

Sad Girls by Lang Leav (full review found here)
       
 Lang Leav’s poetry is really what got me excited for the publication of her first novel. It was really hard for me to get used to the fact that she actually wrote Sad Girls however. The flow and rhythm is just so different from Lullabies or Memories. Once I stopped trying to compare her poetry with her novel I realized what a masterpiece Sad Girls really is. It’s creepy, entrancing, and reads just like a movie script. The book is exactly as the title denotes: a panorama of sad girls. 

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                         A Character That Deserves More Love: 

Nao from A Tale for the Time Being
 

I wasn’t really sure if “a character that deserves more love” meant more attention from readers or just more love in the storyworld. I took it to mean more love in the storyworld, but I’m almost sure I’m mistaken. Anyway, Nao is a young Japanese girl who is just barely making it through. She is depressed and making plans to kill herself. What is the worst part of this whole disaster ? Her parents don’t even know. She ditches school to sit in a neighborhood cafe and journal write, preparing for the day that she kills herself. All the way across the world on a remote island, a woman and her husband live in as writers and wanderers of the area. They discover Nao’s journal on the shore. Two stories, separate lives come together into a tale of depression and the meaning of family. 

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                         An Underrated OTP:
Ifemelu and Obinze from Americanah

            
The romance between Ifemelu and Obinze is really only the starting point of Americanah. It is so much more than young love and relationships. Immigrating from Nigeria to the United States is a complete culture shock for Ifemelu. Without Obinze or her family to turn to she discovers the dark sides of gender inequality, racial injustice and the power of the global media. The book is told through flashbacks, alternating viewpoints and changing settings. Ifemelu and Obinze both must confront varying struggles but the love that has existed between them back in Nigeria is really what bring them back home to Nigeria and back together in the end. 

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I don’t really think it would be in my best interest to tag anyone given that I haven’t been very active on here lately. I’ll be lucky if I get five viewers for this post. Yes, I may have over 530 followers but I earned those readers back when I was an active blogging and peppy Delphine. Not so sure how this post is going to do so wish it luck!!

Yours Truly,

(Image credits go to Pinterest)