Meet the Bookstagrammers

Meet the Bookstagrammer: p thisbookishadventure

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHY YOU BOOKSTAGRAM

I am 24 and live with my husband and two boys in South Carolina. I have mostly kept to myself and dont have many friends that I spend time with. I found my love of reading when I was in High School (a little later than most). I grew up Connecticut and moved when I was 13, so to fill that void I just read. I couldn’t stop. I didnt find bookstagram until an ad popped up for the Owlcrate subscription box and I bought it in March of 2017. They have these monthly challanges that I was so excited to participate in. I officially started my bookstagram in October of that year. No one that I know and talk to are interested in books. I do it to be a part of a community that love and support each other and their love of books. I have talked to people all over the world. I have supported many small businesses that I never knew existed before bookstagram. I do it because I love books and sharing my love of them.

#1 TIP FOR BOOKSTAGRAM NEWBIES?

Always be yourself and post pictures that you feel proud of!

WHAT IS YOUR TOP BOOK REC?

I will always recommend Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, but by now it has already been well heard of. A book (really a series) I would recommend that is not wildly know is Blood Jack. This is a nautical based book series with strong gender issues with a female lead and will give even the most timid women courage.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOKISH QUOTE?

We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there too. -Anonymous

WHAT STANDALONE DO YOU WISH WAS A SEQUEL?

Definitely To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo. I enjoyed the characters and their relationships so much that I wished I could see how they continued after the book ended. It left me wanting more. The writing was done very well also.

WHAT IS YOUR FICTIONAL DREAM DESTINATION?

Hogwarts of course! Do you even have to ask? Magic, amazing scenery and mystical creatures! I would really like to be a teacher and not a student so I could go to all restricted areas without getting in trouble.

CHARACTER YOU’D LOVE TO TRADE LIVES WITH FOR A DAY?

Clarissa Fairchild from City of Bones, but in the later books. I would love to become a bad a** warrior woman who slaughters demons. Being around Jace would be a plus too.

CHARACTER YOU’D LOVE TO THROW A DINNER PARTY WITH?

Hmmm? I would probably want to throw a dinner party with Audrey Rose Wadsworth. I know she would be a great conversationalist. We would have someone to make all of the food (that would prevent me from burning anything) and it would be most beautiful.

CHARACTER YOU LOVE BUT WOULD NEVER WANT TO MEET IN REAL LIFE?

I love Will Herondale to death. He will always be my book boyfriend. However, if I met him in real life my poor husband would be all alone because I would not be able to help myself. Plus, he is a lover of books so we would definitely have some things to talk about.

FIVE BOOKSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS SHOULD WE BE FOLLOWING?

@bibliophilebelle Super sweet with a beautiful vintage feed. @talesfortay Gorgeous minimalistic feed. @thehookandtale Gives great advice and wonderful plant mom. @began_in_march Great conversationalist with a beautiful feed. @chacha_reads Sweetest mom with bright and simple feed.

Meet the Bookstagrammer: p beingabookwyrm

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHY YOU BOOKSTAGRAM

I’m a graduate student finishing my second degree in English literature. I love epic fantasy, and for most of undergrad I focused on medieval literature because I knew that a lot of mainstream epic fantasy is based on medieval romance. But when I began to realize I wanted to see my own identity as a black girl represented in fiction, I found that few, if any, sci-fi and fantasy stories in the mainstream offered black girl protagonists. So I decided to change my academic concentration to black girl SFF, looking at the ways race shapes the limits of our imagination. This became the focus of my bookstagram as well. I want to promote and celebrate BIPOC authors, particularly BIPOC fantasy authors, who are creating incredibly rich, culturally and racially specific stories. I also want to get a job in publishing, so bookstagram is a way for me to learn about publishers’ book identities and to keep up with the latest frontlist books.

#1 TIP FOR BOOKSTAGRAM NEWBIES?

Make connections! Reach out to bookstagrammers you admire and tell them you admire them! Finding friends on bookstagram and learning from them is really how I grew my platform. Also you don’t need a fancy camera, just an eye for color coordination and a good phone camera.

WHAT IS YOUR TOP BOOK REC? WHY SHOULD WE READ IT?

Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination by Toni Morrison. This book literally changed my life. It now informs how I read books and my understanding of how books shape the imagination of both personal and national identity. The book is a foundational rewriting of the entire literary canon, but of course Morrison is such an amazing and accessible writer that she does it in less than 100 pages. It should absolutely be required reading in every English class that teaches a “canonical” author.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOKISH QUOTE?

“The vitality of language lies in its ability to limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers. Although its poise is sometimes in displacing experience it is not a substitute for it. It arcs toward the place where meaning may lie. … Be it grand or slender, burrowing, blasting, or refusing to sanctify; whether it laughs out loud or is a cry without an alphabet, the choice word, the chosen silence, unmolested language surges toward knowledge, not its destruction.” -- Toni Morrison, from her 1993 Nobel Laureate lecture

Oh man, I really can’t choose. I follow so many amazing bookstagrammers of color, such as @bowtiesandbooks @lupita.reads @blackgirlthatreads @never_withouta_ book @introvertinterrupted @ifthisisparadise @theartisangeek and @thunderbirdwomanreads. Their posts always inspire and challenge me, and they all deserve all the recognition for the work they’re doing!

WHAT STANDALONE DO YOU WISH WAS A SEQUEL?

It’s not technically a whole novel, but I want to read five novels about the world of N.K. Jemisin’s “Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death” short story in The People’s Future of the United States speculative fiction anthology. A society of black women dragon riders? Tell me everything!!!!

WHAT IS YOUR FICTIONAL DREAM DESTINATION?

No matter how old I get, the answer to that will always be Narnia. The Chronicles of Narnia series was the series that made me realize how much I loved reading, and fantasy specifically. My seven year old self was enthralled by the possibility that a whole other world was waiting just beyond the back of a wardrobe, and I will still check my closets for portals to Narnia. (You never know!)

CHARACTER YOU’D LOVE TO TRADE LIVES WITH FOR A DAY?

I don’t know if I’d trade lives with any of the characters I read; they’re all going through some pretty heavy duty, life or death stuff that I don’t think I could handle. Maybe Alice from L.L. McKinney’s A Blade So Black; I do love the idea of being able to literally fight nightmares. Even so, I think I’m pretty happy with an ordinary life, reading about characters’ extraordinary adventures from the comfort of a cozy armchair.

CHARACTER YOU’D LOVE TO THROW A DINNER PARTY WITH?

Definitely Yeine from N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms! She’s ambitious, always thinking five steps ahead, and is great at navigating tense situations even though she’s passionate and stubborn herself. If she can navigate both the coldly brutal tribe who raised her and the back-stabbing elite who offered her power, she can easily handle dinner party dynamics.

CHARACTER YOU LOVE BUT WOULD NEVER WANT TO MEET IN REAL LIFE?

Wow, this is really hard! I’m going to have to dig deep for this one and say Kahlan Amnell from Terry Goodkind’s The Sword of Truth series. She’s a Confessor, which means she can control a person’s will and desires for the rest of their life just by touching them. She’s a good person, but it’s an easy power to abuse, as we learn in the stories of several of her fellow Confessors. I do kind of want to meet her because she’s such a strong and confident character, but I’d also be a bit nervous around being near that kind of power.

Meet the Bookstagrammer: p thehookandtale

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHY YOU BOOKSTAGRAM

Bookstagram means a couple of things for me. When I first started, it was supposed to be a portfolio for me as I dove deeper into the publishing career. But it’s changed since then. It’s a creative outlet, something that gets me inspired every day. It’s also a way for me to have that community with people who like what I like and feel closeness with others.

Don’t sweat the followers and likes. Prioritize creating relationships and being authentic. And good lighting

What is your top book rec? Why should we read it?

Name of the Wind! Although the series is not finished, it’s one of the more adult fantasy books that just pulls you in and fills you with an impossible possibility that magic could be real.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOKISH QUOTE?

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”- Tolkien

FIVE BOOKSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS SHOULD WE BE FOLLOWING?

Oh there is so many but some of my favorites are: @Literaryhistory @expelliendsey @Theblackveiledone @holdthepage @theladysparks

WHAT STANDALONE DO YOU WISH WAS A SEQUEL?

Naomi Novik’s Uprooted! It’s such a wonderful tale and the characters deliciously wicked- I wish I could get to know them more!

WHAT IS YOUR FICTIONAL DREAM DESTINATION?

Hogsmeade FOREVER! As a Hufflepuff, I crave snowy and historic buildings, a place to sit and drink butterbeer, but most of all, I’d love to meet the kooky wizards and witches of the Wizarding World.

CHARACTER YOU’D LOVE TO TRADE LIVES WITH FOR A DAY?

I would love to trade lives with Lila Bard- I mean who doesn’t want to be a badass female pirate?!

CHARACTER YOU’D LOVE TO THROW A DINNER PARTY WITH?

Oh great question! Either Bilbo Baggins (and naturally everyone from Hobbiton) because he (they) love to party or Fred and George Weasley because then you know there wouldn’t be a single boring moment.

CHARACTER YOU LOVE BUT WOULD NEVER WANT TO MEET IN REAL LIFE?

The Darkling! I love his brooding and mysterious past. His character building was fleshed out so well, but I would never want to be in the same room with him.