Black & White Book Recommendations [ft. Nail Art!]
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Hey Catastrophes!
Today I am going to be recommending some favourite books of mine that have black and white covers. (Okay, admittedly, some have a little red on them too.) As well as that, I’ve paired each recommendation with a nail art design I did for myself, on myself. Hope you enjoy them! In no particular order…
Heartless by Marissa Meyer
About the book: I struggle to find Alice in Wonderland themed reads that I enjoy. This is the first and only one I have found so far! It’s a origin story for the Red Queen and how she came to be who she is. I loved it, and I thought how it was unpredictable while still ending how you expect, was brilliant. The writing was wonderful and I fell in love with Wonderland and the characters.
About the nail art: When I did a nail art design based on a pack of playing cards, I had this book in mind because I’d recently read it! Cards are definitely involved in the book and are quite Alice in Wonderland themed in general. It was a very hard design for me so I was proud with how it turned out.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
About the book: You’ll here more about this one in this month’s wrap up, but wow did it rip my heart into shreads. It’s a very emotional book, but it also has such complexity and depth to it. I thought the storytelling and writing were brilliant, as well as the magical realism that included the monster. Personally, for me, the story meant a lot as well.
About the nail art: This was a simple design for me. A heart beat that concludes with love. If you read the book, you’ll understand why I think the heart beat design works so well with this book.
The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
About the book: Another one that I read this month and you’ll know more about later! But I think this book is a classic Christie novel – an amazing mystery novel where it is hard to predict whodunnit and why. Her novels are always so complex and layered, but simple at the same time. She truly is the queen of crime fiction.
About the nail art: When I did this jigsaw puzzle design I immediately thought of her novels. Christie’s novels and solving the crime is like having puzzle pieces fit into place until you can see and get the big picture. I thought they matched perfectly!
Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
About the book: One of my favourite books of all time, and for good reason! This book is a reversal of racism – instead the black people are the oppressors and white people are the oppressed. It does a good job of showing how discrimmination is discrimmination, and pays attention tot he small details and moments of racism we tend to overlook. It also has a plot which has to do with a forbidden romance, privilege and hate. It was a powerful read for me and one of (if not THE) first time I saw my black culture represented in a book.
About the nail art: I chose this black and white flower design for this book. It shows how black and white actually compliment each other, and can bloom and grow together if it is allowed…
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
About the book: Admittedly, I thought this first book was the best one in the series. It’s also the one where you get to see The Darkling the most and as he is a favourite villain of mine, I was definitely a happy reader. If you read this for nothing but Darkling, that’s okay. Just make sure you do read it 🙂
About the nail art: The Darkling is divine character, and all about wanting the best of the best, the richest of the richest, the most powerful… I feel like a diamond can be a good symbolic representation of the divinty and ultimate power he is looking for. So when I did this diamond themed pattern design, he was on my mind. It’s actually the design currently on my nails!
New Video: 5 Reasons to Read Heartless by Marissa Meyer!
Olivia’s Question: Have you read any of these? What is your favourite book with black or white on the cover?
Olivia-Savannah x
Love these! And I love your nails! Have you read Splintered by AG Howard? That is my favorite Alice in Wonderland series/retelling.
I love all your nail designs in this post! That was a lot of work you put in. BTW, I saw that smiley face one….
I read Heartless and didn’t think much of it. Shadow and Bone was good though. I loved the villain too!
LOVE these nail designs to go with the books!!!
Not only black and white, but also black, white, and red?! Even better! Lol. I love all your nail art, as usual! I know you said the heartbeat was easy, but it’s actually my favorite in this post. I like that it’s kind of minimalist? And it’s just so pretty and visually interesting! I also love how you’ve found a way to pair books and nail art with these posts, and your reasons for why you’re pairing these designs. These books sound great, even though they’re not all my kinda books. I wasn’t planning on reading that Leigh Bardugo series, I was just gonna try Six of Crows, but I’ve heard so much about the characters, especially the Darkling, that I think I’ve been convinced I need to try it lol.
Lovin’ the creativity of your nails Liv! 🙂
These are AMAZING!!!
I loved A Monster Calls. Have you seen the movie version too?
All are so good.
A Monster Calls has been sitting on my shelf since forever, but I haven’t yet gotten around to it. Need to remedy that! I am also yet to read Heartless (LOVE that cover!) and I’m not even sure why I’ve been putting it off for so long, lol. I do so love Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles! Loved this post and love your nail art! <3
I love how fun and unique this post is!! I love the nail art designs you created for the books; my favorite is probably the one you paired with Heartless, although the Shadow and Bone design is a close second. What a disappointment that trilogy was for me (I read it recently), I cannot even describe; it’s just not up to par with SoC imo, and I wish the tv show was solely about SoC.
My favorite covers are black & white with a pop of red. I loved Heartless!
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
Ooo I love your nail art idea for Shadow and Bone!
I love the nail art! Especially the one for Shadow and Bone because it’s the only books from this list that I have read. Also I love the Darkling. I saw Leigh Bardugo call him Darkles on Twitter the other day and it’s still giving me giggles. ^_^
OMG these are all so cool and beautiful! I did something like this with Talon by Julie Kagawa on my old blog last year I think, but it didn’t turn out that well. XD
I got a copy of Heartless for Christmas, so it’s definitely on my TBR for sometime this year! 🙂
I forgot to mention that I really like how you just did a smiley face on your thumb for heartless. XD But the card designs were so good! I don’t think I would have been able to make them look that nice. XD
Such a fun idea. I love your nail art so much! Also I really want to read Heartless, and this is making me want to read it more. Lol.
this is such a cool idea, Olivia! though when you mentioned red, I had to resist the urge to make the “black and white and red / read all over … it’s a newspaper!” joke – oh wait, I just did lol 😜 but for real, black & white & red is the color scheme (both on the cover and in the story) of the night circus, one of my favorite books and fictional settings, so I was totally sold from the beginning.
all these nail art designs are both gorgeous and fitting for (what I know of) the accompanying books!
Heartless has been on my TBR forever, I love well-written villain / antihero backstories; I was also in the elementary school musical of Alice in Wonderland so it forever has a special place in my heart, haha. but the only book on this list that I’ve read is Shadow and Bone, and honestly I disliked it to the point where I didn’t bother finishing the trilogy (though I read SoC first and liked it much more).
All are so fabulous, but I think A Monster Calls is my favorite. I am so impressed by all the small detailing. You have nerves of steel!
Love this! I’m so sad that I didn’t quite enjoy Noughts & Crosses. Boo. I so want to watch the series. Have they started filming yet?
Your nails are amazing! You’re so talented. They’re all nice, but my fave is the puzzle pieces. The YA Noughts and Crosses sounds like a great book. I think it’d be an effective premise for adult fiction, too.
Ugh I love your nail art so much, Olivia! You really are so talented, I wish I could do that to my own nails hahaha But I’m too lazy and low maintenance :X
I absolutely adored Shadow and Bone and the sequels as well. I’m really looking forward to reading King of Scars, though, to be honest I don’t think I’ll enjoy it as much as the series…. But who knows!
Have a lovely week, hon <3
Such a fun post, Olivia! I love all your nail designs, especially the heartbeat one from A Monster Calls. I have read Heartless and Shadow & Bone — especially Heartless was so good!