However, a few months ago I discovered #bookstagram and the various other hashtags (#igbooks, #igreads, etc, etc,) that led me down a rabbit hole and into the world of artistic book pictures on Instagram. I've always followed some of my favorite book bloggers on Instagram, so I was familiar with the idea of people who post pictures of their current reads, but these hashtags introduced me to a set of accounts that take bookstagramming to the level of an art form.
We are talking about straight up book porn, people.
I do not follow these people because I have the same taste as them, or because I'm interested in the books they read (for the most part). I follow them because they make books look so dang PRETTY!
Remember when I discovered that I like pretty books? Well, these Instagram feeds do nothing to discourage my book lust, judging on no other criteria than how beautiful these covers are. I want them all. I want my shelves to be this pretty. I want to make beautiful book pictures with my expensive color-coded cloth bound matching editions of all the classics. (Some people get envious of other people's perfect lives on Instagram, I just get jealous of other people's books.)
There are myriad motifs in this bookstagram world. The background is important. Of course, the all white poster board background gives that clean aesthetic that's so in right now, but I also like the drapey material or wood table backdrops that are fairly common. My favorite pictures always have a cup of something, usually tea or coffee in some pretty tea cup or mug (although I don't drink tea or coffee, I still appreciate the aesthetic value of a good tea cup). And there are usually flowers. Books, tea cups, and flowers on a pretty backdrop. That's the trifecta.
My own Instagram account is certainly NOT an artfully curated space with carefully considered and edited pictures of beautiful books. But, should I ever build up a collection of books that pretty, you better believe I'll be 'gramming them.
Is it weird to like artistic pictures of books almost as much as I like the books themselves? Obviously I'm drawn to the bookish ones, but what artsy Instagram accounts do you follow? Any I should know about?
*All photos in this post belong to the accounts in the links listed.
@bookmusings is one of my favorite accounts too. Her bookshelves! So jealous. One of my other favorite accounts is @readtome. She often photographs her books with gorgeous flowers.
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