I started bookstagramming in September 2016. It has almost been a daily affair since then: sharing one book post a day. I always carry a few books along whenever I step out, even within the city. Our house is full of books. It is a fairly eclectic collection, with titles from different genres. However, I am personally biased towards fiction, though I’m fond of great non-fiction.
Swing Time (Penguin Random House India, 2016), Zadie Smith's fifth novel, is the story of two brown girls who dream of being dancers. But there is a catch: only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either. Moving from North West London to West Africa, it uses its extraordinary breadth and its syncopated structure to turn the issues of race and class in every direction, according to Ron Charles of The Washington Post. Zadie‘s other novels include White Teeth (2006, winner of Orange Prize for Fiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award), The Autograph Man, On Beauty and NW. Changing My Mind, her collection of essays, was published in 2009. . . . . . . . . . . . . #swingtime #zadiesmith #whiteteeth #novel #fiction #bibliophile #bookcollector #booklover #bookrecommendation #ilovebooks #bookstagram #bookstagramindia #readersofinstagram #dancers #orangeprize #writersofinstagram #bookpost #bookclub #literature #britlit #britishauthor #bookstagramindiafeature #bookphoto #bookphotography #tbt #indianauthors #penguinindia
A post shared by Shireen Quadri (@shireenquadri) on Jan 6, 2017 at 5:36am PST
Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar (Penguin Books, 2012) is a fable of loss, and an often troubling meditation on fathers and sons. In Egypt, Nuri, a teenage boy, falls in love with Mona, the woman his father will marry. Consumed with longing, Nuri wants to get his father out of the way, to take his place in Mona's heart. But when his father disappears, Nuri regrets what he wished for. Alone, he and Mona search desperately for the man they both love. Only for Nuri to discover a silence he cannot break and unimaginable secrets his father never wanted him to know. Matar's debut novel, In the Country of Men, was published in 29 languages. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award. Matar's third book, The Return, published by Penguin in 2016, is a universal and an intensely personal tale of loss. It is an exquisite meditation on history, politics and art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #anatomyofadisappearance #hishammatar #egypt #relationship #family #debutnovel #thereturn #bookrecommendation #ilovebooks #bookstagram #storyofloss #fiction #manbookerprizeshortlist #bookstagramindia #bookstagrammers #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #bookpost #bookclub #bookstagramindiafeature #bookphoto #bookphotography #tbt #pulitzerprize #penguinindia
A post shared by Shireen Quadri (@shireenquadri) on Apr 9, 2017 at 6:26am PDT
While photographing books, I try to match the title, theme, colour or just create an ambience for book reading and then take a shot. I mostly use my cellphone. My sister and brother are really fascinated by my insta posts and my sister recently gifted me an iphone7 just for these photographs.
Whenever I travel, I carry an extra load of books to create memories of places with books, and also shoot them in beautiful locations. The overriding thought behind these photos is the attempt to convey how these wonderful titles are a part of our life through different moods, seasons and travel sojourns.
Arzee The Dwarf (HarperCollins, 2012) by Chandrahas Choudhury, is a bittersweet story of the strange beauty of human dreaming. Shuffling between hope and dread, between the yearnings of body and soul, it follows Arzee through day and night, slow time and fast time, agitation and reverie, beautifully setting off the inner world of Arzee's jagged ruminations against the beating and pulsing of the great city around him — Bombay. Arzee thinks that the worst of his troubles are behind him, and that he can marry and settle down now. But not for the first time, Arzee has it all wrong! Choudhury is also the editor of the anthology of Indian fiction, India: A Traveller's Literary Companion published by HarperCollins. . . . . . . . . . . . . #arzeethedwarf #chandrahaschoudhury #bookcollector #hindinovelist #booklover #anthologyofindianfiction #bookrecommendation #ilovebooks #bookstagram #bookstagramindia #bookstagrammers #traveller #literarycompanion #travelenthusiasts #travelstories #readersofinstagram #fiction #writersofinstagram #bookpost #bookclub #literature #bookstagramindiafeature #bookphoto #bookphotography #tbt #harpercollinsindia
A post shared by Shireen Quadri (@shireenquadri) on Jan 19, 2017 at 7:18am PST
Istanbul: Memories and the City (Faber and Faber, 2003), a deeply melancholic, intimate and panoramic memoir by Orhan Pamuk which talks about the vast cultural change that has rocked Turkey — the unending battle between the modern and the receding past. Pamuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in 2006, was born in Istanbul, in the family apartment building where his mother first held him in her arms. His portrait of his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory and the melancholy that comes of living amid the ruins of a lost Ottoman Empire. Like the Dublin of Joyce and Jan Morris' Venice, Pamuk's Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of place and sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving. Pamuk's novels include The White Castle, The Black Book,The New Life, My Name Is Red, Snow, The Museum of Innocence and A Strangeness in My Mind. Pamuk is the first Turkish Nobel laureate. My Name Is Red won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (2002), Premio Grinzane Cavour (2002) and International Dublin Literary Award (2003). . . . . . . . . . . . . #orhanpamuk #istanbulmemoriesandthecity #istanbul #bibliophile #bookcollector #booklover #bookworm #istanbulmemories #nobelprize #nobellaureate #mynameisred #internationaldublinliteraryaward #bookrecommendation #ilovebooks #bookstagram #bookstagramindia #writersofinstagram #bookpost #bookclub #memoir #literature #turkishliterature #bookstagramindiafeature ##turkishauthors#thelalitmangar #tbt #penguinindia
A post shared by Shireen Quadri (@shireenquadri) on Dec 28, 2016 at 4:39am PST
I mostly shoot books that I liked reading and want others to read. Many of them have the ability to not just affect us emotionally, but also to transform us and sometimes transport us to another imaginary or real world.
Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak (Penguin Random House, 2017) is the story of Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife, who is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground — an old Polaroid of three young women and their university professor. A relic from a past — and a love — Peri had tried desperately to forget. The photograph takes Peri back to Oxford University, as an eighteen-year-old sent abroad for the first time: to her dazzling, rebellious professor and his life-changing course on God, to her home with her two best friends, Shirin and Mona and their arguments about Islam and femininity and, finally, to the scandal that tore them all apart. Shafak is the acclaimed author of ten novels, including The Architect's Apprentice and The Bastard of Istanbul. Her work has been translated into over 40 languages and she has been awarded the prestigious Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. She is also a public speaker, a women's and LGBT rights activist and a commentator. She has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, the Baileys Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award and shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Ondaatje Prize. . . . . . . . . . . . . #threedaughtersofeve #elifshafak #booklover #bookrecommendation #ilovebooks #bookstagram #bookstagramindia #turkishlife #istanbultourism #turkishwriting #bookstagrammers #readersofinstagram #lgbtrightsactivist #oxforduniversity #turkishauthor #writersofinstagram #bookpost #bookclub #thebastardofistanbul #bookstagramindiafeature #bookphoto #bookphotography #tbt #penguinindia
A post shared by Shireen Quadri (@shireenquadri) on Mar 2, 2017 at 6:16am PST
This is also a way to create a recommendation list for booklovers and fellow bookstagrammers, blending art, literature and aesthetics as I try to compose a frame, taking inspiration from my day-to-day life. While indoors, it needs a set-up, but it’s mostly about the place, location and setting when I shoot outdoors.
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Penguin Random House, 2017) is the tremendously poignant, intimate and inventive story of two young people who meet in a country on the brink of civil war: Fiercely independent Nadia and gentle and restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, they begin to hear whispers about doors — doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. Soon, leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through... Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Hamid's other books include Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and Discontent and its Civilizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #exitwest #mohsinhamid #booklover #bookrecommendation #ilovebooks #bookstagram #pakistanisuthor #civilwar #southasianstories #bookstagramindia #americanwriters #bookstagrammers #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #bookpost #bookclub #mothsmoke #reluctantfundamentalist #howtogetfilthyrichinrisingasia #bookstagramindiafeature #bookphoto #bookphotography #tbt #penguinindia
A post shared by Shireen Quadri (@shireenquadri) on Mar 30, 2017 at 7:36am PDT
At times, bookstagramming can be therapeutic.
The Book of Gold Leaves by Mirza Waheed (Penguin Books, 2015) is the story of two lovers who are destined to meet in the city of Srinagar. Roohi, beautiful and spirited, is haunted by dreams of a mysterious man she believes is her true love. Faiz, a dazzling young papier-mâché artist, is on the cusp of painting his masterpiece. When fate conspires to bring them together one windswept evening, both fall irrevocably in love. But in a time simmering with political strife and rebellion, the city they call home erupts in violence, threatening everything that the two lovers hold dear. Waheed's debut novel, The Collaborator (2012), was an international bestseller, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Shakti Bhatt Prize, and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #thebookofgoldleaves #mirzawaheed #lovestory #srinagarcity #kashmir #thecollaborator #bookrecommendation #ilovebooks #bookstagram #bookstagramindia #bookstagrammers #readersofinstagram #writersofinstagram #bookpost #bookclub #bookstagramindiafeature #bookphoto #bookphotography #tbt #penguinindia
A post shared by Shireen Quadri (@shireenquadri) on Apr 13, 2017 at 5:55am PDT
The Golden Gate (1986) is Vikram Seth's first novel, written in verse. Composed of 590 Onegin stanzas (sonnets written in iambic tetrameter, with the rhyme scheme following the ababccddeffegg pattern of Eugene Onegin), it was inspired by Charles Johnston's translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. Set in the nostalgic era of 1980s, The Golden Gate trails the story of a group of youth living in San Francisco, who embark on a journey of interpreting life, in search of adventure, trying to understand the meaning of love. The novel won the 1988 Sahitya Akademi Award. Seth has won several awards, including Padma Shri, WH Smith Literary Award and Crossword Book Award. In 2013, Seth was listed in the 25 Greatest Global Living Legends In India. Seth's A Suitable Boy (1993) is one of the longest (1,349 pages) novels ever published. A Suitable Girl, a sequel to A Suitable Boy, is due for publication. Seth's other books include An Equal Music (1999), All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990), Summer Requiem: A Book of Poems (2012) and Two Lives (2005). . . . . . . . . . . . . #vikramseth #thegoldengate #sanfrancisco #padmashriaward #sahityaakademiaward #indianauthor ##bibliophile #bookcollector #booklover #bookworm #asuitableboy #bookrecommendation #ilovebooks #bookstagram #bookstagramindia #writersofinstagram #bookpost #bookclub #bookstagramindiafeature #bookphoto #bookphotography #tbt #penguinindia
A post shared by Shireen Quadri (@shireenquadri) on Dec 7, 2016 at 4:26am PST
