Get to Know Some Bookstagrammers
Some of my favorite bookstagram accounts
Hi readers,
I’m a late adopter of new technology and new things on the internet. I knew about Instagram because I saw my oldest granddaughter scrolling through it on her phone. When I asked her what it was, she told me that people post pictures with captions. It didn’t make much sense to me; I didn’t understand why that would be interesting. That is until I discovered Bookstagram.
I read a blog post a few years ago that told about people posting pictures of books on Instagram, and that did interest me. I clicked on a link in the post, and I was hooked. I love the creativity of the pictures; I love the book recommendations; I love most everything about Bookstagram.
What makes a great Bookstagram account? Is it the pictures, a similar theme throughout, the book recommendations, or the artistry? Who knows, and I don’t intend to define what a “great” Bookstagram account is. I want to introduce you to a few accounts that I follow and tell you why I think you might like them too.
The first post of Jamie’s I saw was a picture of her orange Tabby (Ms. Taco) posing with books. I also have an orange Tabby, so I was instantly drawn to the picture. I don’t know if her photos are edited or if Ms. Taco is that willing to go along with posing, but my Tabby sure wouldn’t. I love her staging and photography; you can tell she puts a lot of time into her account and making it lovely. Jamie and I have a lot of the same reading tastes, so her short recaps of the books tell me if I would enjoy the book or if I should pass on it.
I read an article about Jordan Mobolo before I found his Bookstagram account. I also listened to The Stacks podcast episode where he talks about his life, career, and curating his Bookstagram account to celebrate the books he loves. His aesthetic is “post” based; he lets the cover of the book dictate the overall color scheme of each post. His posts don’t use a lot of props, and he lets the books do the talking. I enjoy reading his Tuesday pub day posts which is also a contest post. Jordy and his husband have the cutest daughter, Charlotte, who occasionally makes appearances in his posts.
Claudia’s Bookstagram account is overflowing with pictures of older, beautiful buildings in New York City, coffee shops (she’s a coffee lover), and books staged in breakfast/brunch pictures. Books are not featured as prominently as the other accounts I’ve highlighted here, but I sure do love the photos of the buildings and coffee shops. I love NYC; what can I say.
Kimberlee’s Bookstagram account shows books featured prominently in beautiful outdoor settings. Her staging is minimalistic and designed to highlight the book, and the props make sense for the book she is featuring. She writes brief, thoughtful book reviews, just enough to make you want to read the books. How do I choose just one picture to feature in the post? They are all so good. She also has another IG account, @wanderwomancaptues, that is all outdoors, beautiful photography, and lots of blue skies and brilliant colors.
I’ve fangirled about Mel and Dave before here and here; I just can’t say enough good things about their platform and all the ways they highlight books with a strong sense of place. Their website is a wealth of information about places all over the world and the books set in those places. Their Bookstagram account brings the podcast to life with gorgeous pictures of the places and things featured in the podcast episodes. They are some of the best creators at highlighting their entire platform and all the bookish goodness it provides.
Stephanie is a baker that combines her love of baking with her love of books, and no one does it better than her. Most of her posts feature a book and a pie decorated to resemble the book cover, along with her thoughts and impressions on the book itself. I just can’t get over her level of talent, so incredible. If I thought I had had a problem so far in choosing just one Bookstagram post to feature, this is near impossible. I spent at least 30 minutes looking through all of them, and I did choose just one, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.
I introduced you to Lauren in one of my first posts after I started my newsletter, and I said then that I was excited for her to get back to her Literary Dates; I can tell you now that she has. She lives in New York City and takes herself on “literary” dates based on books she reads that are set in NY City. Her most recent post is about the book Everywhere, Always. She takes her readers to a couple of amusement parks, a bakery, Central Park, Roosevelt Island, and many more places mentioned in the book. I save her blog posts to read later when I have time to spend going down rabbit holes about all the places she mentions, and then I spend time perusing her Bookstagram for the posts I’ve missed since I last viewed it.
I follow so many other Bookstagram creators. I could have included dozens more, but I chose the ones above because of the variety and their meaning to me, my book tastes, and the aesthetics that I love in a Bookstagram account.
I had so much fun putting this newsletter together and sharing some of my favorite Bookstagram accounts; I hope you have enjoyed this look at a few of them. I used to go down rabbit holes on Pinterest about all kinds of things, but now my guilty pleasure is Bookstagram, and I feel NO guilt whatsoever. Bookstagram is such a wonderful community sharing their love of books with others; my TBR overflows with their recommendations. Happy reading!
What a great post! I am amongst the subset of folks who made a break from facebook many years ago fully realizing I would also be missing out on some good content but just didn't want the tradeoff. Having depended on GoodReads I must admit that many of these look fantastic. Thank you.
Even though I use Instagram minimally, this is a great post for people looking for recommendations. I'll check them out myself. Love the writing and your recap of the accounts. Lots of work to put that together.👍