Folded Paper Foxes
‘Sup!
My name is Isabelle and I’m the creator of Folded Paper Foxes. FPF is a place where I can share my love of books and literature, and engage with other readers.
I’m also the creator of #UglyBookClub, a movement celebrating second hand, well read, or just not-so-pretty books on Instagram.
TOP PICKS 2019
The very best of what I read in 2019
THE TESTAMENTS // MARGARET ATWOOD
After thirty years Atwood takes us back to Gilead. We learn more about how it came to be, what went on within the walls, and how it came to fall. Pacey, clever, and so enjoyable
NIGHT WAKING // SARAH MOSS
A wonderful look at the ways in which the expectations put on women wear them down in subtle yet horrifying ways. Moss is the master of creating characters brimming with humanity.
CIRCE // MADELINE MILLER
A sumptuous and deeply evocative novel, breathing life and depth to an archetype who is so often left flat and lifeless. Circe is written with such love, and an ode to anyone looking to discover their own power.
UGLY BOOK CLUB
Celebrating books that are prettier on the inside
The Ugly Book Club was created by me to highlight my love of second hand books, and to encourage people to avoid cover buying.
Instagram is a very trend-led and appearance focused place, with good reason - we communicate through pictures! And while I love Instagram and the bookish community on there, I really don’t like the way it commodifies books and focuses more on how books look, and being seen to have the latest releases, rather than us all sharing our personal reading journeys and buying what we’re actually excited about reading.
I’ve absolutely bought books because they had pretty covers, or because everyone else had them, even though I knew that I probably wouldn’t read them, and so I wanted to start #uglybookclub to encourage us all to create a more conscious and sustainable book-buying practice.
Buying second hand encourages a more circular economy and placing our focus on the content of books rather than appearances means that publishers don’t have to spend so much money (and I promise you it’s costly) fighting to keep up with sprayed edges and foiling just to get their books noticed, which can often mean they take big gambles and lose money.
Beautifully produced books are a wonderful thing, but crinkly, well-loved, simply-made books are wonderful too, and it should always be the inside that counts.
Feel free to use the #uglybookclub hashtag and to tag me in your pictures of your beaten up childhood favourites, second-hand book hauls, and books that you love despite their covers, rather than because of it.
OH HEY, FOR BEST VIEWING, YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR PHONE