Originally published May 28, 2021
Have you ever walked into a store or restaurant and felt a huge sense of peace, like this is “home” and exactly where you’re meant to be? That’s me whenever I visit a bookstore. I walk right in and immediately feel at home among the many stacks of books, row after row, ranging from nonfiction to fiction to history and beyond.
I’ve been an avid reader since I was a little girl, sitting in the backseat after my weekly trip to the library with my parents, a stack of books taller than me by my side. Over the years, that love for reading never faded, but life got busier. School, and then ultimately work and family ended up taking over and I never quite found the time to read for fun anymore.
Then came the pandemic, and with it, a massive reset. Conversations around mental health took center stage, and I found myself returning to reading like never before (a great way to avoid doomscrolling). Enter “bookstagram.” At the time, bookstagram was just starting to gain mainstream attention—a cozy, colorful corner of Instagram where book lovers shared reviews, reading goals, and visually stunning posts of their current reads.
For years, one of my favorite Instagram personalities, Ashley Spivey, regularly shared her monthly reads as posts on her platform with detailed reviews of each book. As she continued to share her favorites, Ashley gained traction and formed Spivey’s Book Club, an online community on both Facebook and Instagram with book lovers from all around the US and abroad who share their favorite reads and ask for particular recommendations. I regularly seek out her posts for my book suggestions, but it was with the start of her book club that I truly began to peel back the many layers of the bookstagram world. Unfortunately, Spivey’s Book Club isn’t as active anymore, but there are plenty more places to seek recommendations (keep reading!).
What is “bookstagram”?
In May of 2021 (when this blog was initially published), bookstagram could be generally defined as an Instagram account that was solely dedicated to sharing book covers in an artistic fashion with the respective owner’s reviews. The term initially began as a hashtag for book lovers to easily share their most recent favorites, review discussion questions and even display potential book club options. There were more than 60 million posts on Instagram with the hashtag #bookstagram—now, in 2025, that number has nearly doubled to 119 million posts.
Suffice to say the movement has grown significantly, including its sibling community, BookTok (currently standing at 62.2 posts on TikTok). Being a bookstagrammer is now akin to being an influencer, with accounts and book clubs existing for all interests, topics, and subject matters. In fact, bookstagram has become a large educational component of the platform, with many bookstagrammers promoting books on social justice or political issues to help teach and present information in a different light.
Bookstagrammers to follow
Outside of Spivey’s Book Club, there are a few additional bookstagrammers that I’ve gotten excellent recommendations from, and I’d like to share them with you.
First up is Lupita from @lupita.reads. I found her through the perusal of a few other accounts, and chose to follow her bookstagram for her passion to read and highlight authors of color. Her reviews are detailed, insightful, and emotional, and you’ll almost always walk away with a few new books added to your “to read” list.
Next, we have Philly’s very own @byamberburns. While Amber’s bookstagram discusses her latest reads as well as her reviews of each, I also appreciate that she keeps it real with sharing content regarding mental health.
Finally, @blackgirlwithbooks blends personal reflections with powerful book recommendations—focusing on authors of color, women-centered stories, and themes of identity, resistance, and healing.
When it comes to mental health in our current status quo, my usual MO for taking a break is turning on an old episode of something mindless while I grab my phone to scroll haphazardly through Instagram, liking photos and posts that don’t really mean much to me at all. Now, with this new digital world of book lovers, my evenings before bed are spent reading my latest book or scrolling through my bookstagram feeds with intent to read posts made by this online community of passionate, like-minded readers who are sharing their current reads and searching for their next captivating book.
And I’m not alone: A 2024 report by American Library Association noted that 46% of Gen Z and Millennials buying from bookstores now discover their next read primarily through social media, with bookstagram and BookTok leading the charge.
So here’s to the books, the bookstagrammers, and the joy of returning to something that feels like home.
