Newsletter 1

15 Rad Bookstagram Accounts to Follow

Ashley Holstrom

Staff Writer

Ashley Holstrom helps make books at Sourcebooks. She lives near Chicago with her cat named after Hemingway and her bookshelves organized by color. Newsletter: Crooked Reads. Twitter: @alholstrom.

Every few months, I find myself scrolling through Instagram, searching for beautiful bookish people to follow, known as the “Bookstagram” network. I end up scrolling for days, screenshotting gorgeous reading nooks to try to emulate in my own home. You know the type — picture-perfect bedrooms with string lights and canopies and vintage teacups.

Some are classic Tumblr bedroom readers. Some have elaborate photoshoots with their books. Some take their books on all their adventures with them. Some are simple and elegant, with white backdrops. All of them are gorgeous.

Here are some of my favorite Bookstagram accounts. Be careful not to double tap on anything too old when you stalk these beauts.

1. ice_cream_books. It’s exactly what it sounds like.

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@drewmagaryfd87's unnerving and absorbing novel The Postmortal skewered by a @paleopassionfoods Strawberry Paleo Passion Pop. Cover by Gregg Kulick. Cover Illustration by @kristianhammerstad.

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2. obviousstate, for calming photos of books.

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This stack of books in neutral autumnal tones is deeply satisfying. #simplepleasures || 🍂 #osfall photo submitted by @mylittlebooktique

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3. bookfence‘s bio says it all: “We believe everyone should be readers.”

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"Music, especially classical music, especially Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor, has kinetic energy. If you listen hard enough, you can hear the violin's bow trembling above the strings, ready to ignite the notes. To set them in motion. And once the notes are in the air they collide against one another. They spark. They burst. I wonder what dying sounds like. If i'll burst like those notes, let out my last cry of pain and go silent forever." My Heart and other Black Holes by Jasmine warga #book #books #bookfence #booklovers #bookstagram #booklover #novel #bestseller #goodreads #epicreads #myheartandotherblackholes #bookworm #booknerd #bookish #jasminewarga #love #poetry #poem #portrait #photooftheday #life #black #heart #lagos #nigeria #africa

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4. subwaybookreview is SO GREAT. Randomly interviewing people about what they’re reading is such a fab idea.

5. catbookclub, for all your cat-eating-book needs. Or, in this case, cat sandwich needs.

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👀🐱

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6. booksugar makes me want to paint all my walls and floors and furniture white. And let only books be colorful.

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"God, but life is loneliness, despite all the opiates, despite the shrill tinsel gaiety of "parties" with no purpose, despite the false grinning faces we all wear. And when at last you find someone to whom you feel you can pour out your soul, you stop in shock at the words you utter – they are so rusty, so ugly, so meaningless and feeble from being kept in the small cramped dark inside you so long. Yes, there is joy, fulfillment and companionship – but the loneliness of the soul in its appalling self-consciousness is horrible and overpowering." –Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 🍂 🍂 "I desire the things that will destroy me in the end." –Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 🍂 🍂 Today is my beloved Sylvia Plath's birthday. She would have been 84. I read The Bell Jar in high school and I've loved her ever since. So in honour of her, I'm sharing my collection of Plath. Are you a Plath fan?

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7. forgottenbookmarks is run by a fellow who sells used and rare books. He shares the wild things he finds in used books.

8. fictiontea is dark and spooky. With dark and spooky reads.

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Yesterday was actually kind of awesome. In the morning I went to the Glasgow @veschwab signing with Christine (@weereader) and we met up with Shauni (@mynovelexperience) there. This signing was unlike one I've been to before, to put it simply. It wasn't very busy, so we got to talk to VE Schwab for a while whilst she signed our books (I totally talked about the Psycho Pass anime with her and she adopted me into the Slytherin house) and then we got a picture. After the signing, we got talking to a few fellow fans and we ended up having cupcakes with VE Schwab for almost two hours whilst we discussed books, what we're reading, if we write, etc. And we got some amazing advice from her about the process of drafting a book and how to go through the different stages of editing etc. And now, I am very inspired to get my butt in gear and start writing. If you want a more in depth post about the advice we were given then you guys should go read Christine's (@weereader) newest blog post. The link is in her bio! Its not everyday you get to sit and have cupcakes and bookish discussions with one of your all time favourite authors. So thank you so much to @veschwab for just being an awesome, inspiring author and for hanging out with us yesterday morning. It was genuinely so great. And it was so wonderful to meet some fellow fans and book lovers there! (@anovelexperience @fallingforbooks) After such an awesome morning, I came home to some wonderful mail that I unboxed on my Snapchat and Instagram Stories for you all to see. And after that, my little sister and I went to see 'Finding Dory'. This was my second time seeing it and I loved it just as much as the first time. Baby Dory is the cutest. • What author would you love to sit and have tea and cupcakes with? And whats everyone's thoughts on Instagram Stories? I think its handy and I will probably use it for that reason. But, everything I post on there, I feel like I should be posting on Snapchat too. • Apologies for the old picture repost. I haven't had time to take new pictures this week!

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9. bookbento, for pleasingly organized photos of books with other items.

10. igreads shares photos from across bookstagram. It’s the bomb.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BI-2mzKhVFG/

11. cosyreads, because you can always use a photo of a bookcase organized by color.

12. reads.crime has a table with book pages painted on it, so I call that a win.

13. booksandbeans feels like Sunday morning every day.

14. sumaiyya.books is beautiful.

15. perpetualpages. Just look at that cozy reading space.

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Good morning everyone! 🌞 (Or night, depending on where you're at in the world! 🌙). How many of you plan on reading The Diabolic by S. J. Kincaid? It was just released yesterday and I am sooo excited to get to it this month! 😁 . "A Diabolic is ruthless. A Diabolic is powerful. A Diabolic has a single task: Kill in order to protect the person you've been created for." Nemesis is a Diabolic. She's a humanoid teenager who was created to protect the senator's daughter, Sidonia. Now, the only way for Nemesis to protect her, is to become her. . This book sounds like it's right up my alley so I'm definitely excited to dive in! Let me know if you plan on reading it! . Huge thanks to @simonteen for this awesome package! ❤️ #TheDiabolic #bookstagram #yascifi #yabooks

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And, of course, your favorite bookish site, bookriot.

Make sure to also peep our roundup of Bookstagram Accounts for Dog Lovers, Our Favorite Instagram Poets, and How to Bookstagram Like a Pro.

Who are your favorites? Let us know in the comments!