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40+ FREE Bookstagram Templates That Are Aesthetic (2024)

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Looking for bookish story templates? Here’s 40 bookstagram templates that I’ve thoughtfully designed just for you! They’re easy to save/download and upload to your story right away!

Bookstagram story templates are great for engagement (especially if you’re just starting to grow your bookstagram ). This is because you tag other bookstagram friends and they’ll repost your tag – giving you visibility to their audience.

Save these photos and tag me in them if you use them . When you do post them on your story, post a clean template right after it for others to screenshot and use it too!

I’ve included original photos shot and edited by myself in these templates as a personalized touch. I hope you like them!

Top 3 Books Of The Year Story Template

This is a yearly reading wrap up template that highlights your top 3 books.

Yearly Reading Wrap Up Template

Share your yearly reading wrap up on bookstagram by showcasing your top reads for the year.

Bookish Bingo Story Template

Check of this yearly reading wrap-up bookish bingo! A great way to reflect on your year in books.

Book Review Bookstagram Story Template

I created two different book review Instagram story templates. This minimalistic book review story template will help you come up with a quick and easy review.

You can also compile your instagram book review templates on your highlights for easy access!

Books That Made Me (Blank) Story Template

We all have books that have made us feel a certain way, or had open us up to a whole different genre.

If you liked this one, let me know – I can make more! There are just too many ideas and so little space in one template.

Bookstagram Monthly Wrap Up Template

Bookstagram monthly wrap up templates has to be everyone’s favourite instagram story template! It is so satisfying to see the boxes being completed as you progress on your reading!

However, it can be very discouraging when you only see a couple of boxes filled out of the 9 boxes. That is why I created two options – 6 books or 9 books depending on your reading progress.

Go at your own pace, read how many books you want and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Bookstagram Story Monthly Wrap Up (6 Books)

If you don’t read a lot of books per month, you can use this 6 book template.

January Monthly Wrap-Up Template

February Monthly Wrap-Up Template

March Monthly Wrap-Up Template

April Monthly Wrap-Up Template

May Monthly Wrap-Up Template

June Monthly Wrap-Up Template

July Monthly Wrap-Up Template

August Monthly Wrap-Up Template

September Monthly Wrap-Up Template

October Monthly Wrap-Up Template

November Monthly Wrap-Up Template

December Monthly Wrap-Up Template

Bookstagram Monthly Wrap Up: 9 Books

If you tend to read a lot of books, you can use this 9 book template.

Monthly Favourite Book Template

Add one favourite book you’ve read each month to this template.

When the year ends, you’ll have a nice reading tracker to reflect on your favourite reads of the year!

Currently Reading Bookstagram Template

Here’s a bookish template for the books you’re currently reading. Share your reading progress and thoughts on your story.

This or That Bookstagram Template

Are you a fan of the This or That template? Many bookstagrammers seem to love it. Tag your friends and join in on the fun!

TBR Bookstagram Template

If you like posting your TBRs for the month or specifically for kindle/kindle unlimited – these templates will help!

Fill in the blank line with the month you’re on.

How To Make Bookstagram Templates

Making bookstagram templates aren’t all that difficult, but they can be time-consuming.

Which is why i’ve saved you the trouble by creating some for you! But if they aren’t to your liking (or don’t match your aesthetic), you can always create your own!

Step 1: Sign up for Canva

You can use the free Canva version to create story templates, but the elements and photos will be limited to free ones only. Search for the instagram story template to start of with. There are many options to choose from!

Step 2: Generate a colour palette

Choose a colour palette that fits your aesthetic by visiting a colour palette generator.

Step 3: Use elements in Canva

Use elements and select a rectangle to create monthly reading templates. Once you have created one, just duplicate the page and switch out the names of the month.

How To Use Bookstagram Templates

Step 1: Download or save the bookstagram templates from this blog post

Step 2: Open these templates up in insta-story

Step 3: Edit the template with words or stickers (you can select book covers as stickers to put on your monthly reading wrap-ups.

Step 4: Post it and save it in a highlight on your profile.

Step 5: Leave a blank template on your story for others to use!

Wrap Up: Bookstagram Story Templates

I hope you find joy using these free bookstagram templates. Don’t forget to tag your friends for engagement and feel free to tag me too!

All bookstagram story templates will be on my profile. You can have easy access to them – just screenshot and they’re ready to be used!

Which one’s are your favourites? Let me know!

Hi there, i'm Sonia. The founder and author at Brewing Writer, a blog that features detailed book reviews, bookstagram tips, book blogging tips, thoughtfully curated book lists (which my readers love!) and cozy aesthetic photography that’ll make you crave a cup of coffee and a good book.

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How to write book reviews on instagram.

As you might expect, book review posts are pretty much a staple of bookstagram. It's pretty common to see a pretty photo of a book accompanied by the bookstagrammer's review and/or rating in the caption. But writing reviews on Instagram is a little different to writing reviews on Goodreads or elsewhere.

1. Pair your review with a great photo

2. Be aware of the character limit

3. use short paragraphs, 4. be informal.

5. Throw in a few emojis

6. avoid spoilers if at all possible.

31 Bookstagram Post Ideas for Growing Your Account

It can be tricky to come up with Bookstagram post ideas when you’re trying to juggle everything else in your life. We’ve had a Bookstagram account for three years and although the book world provides lots of inspiration, we sometimes still run out of ideas. To help with this, we’ve assembled useful bookstagram prompts and book photo ideas from a variety of popular bookstagrammers in this post. You can either mix and match these, or stick with one theme. Bookstagram seems to favour consistency, but enjoyment has to come first and if you’re a beginner, we would recommend experimenting with lots of styles.

This post contains affiliate links which means that we may receive a small amount of commission at no cost to yourself if you buy a product through this page. Please see our disclosure here .

We update this page with new book photo ideas as we either make them or spot them! The latest update was in January 2022.

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• 5 Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Bookstagram Feed

Book Reviews

Bookstagram wouldn’t be bookstagram without book reviews! This is one place on the internet that you can visit and be sure to find other booklovers and some accounts only post book reviews. Word count can be an issue on Instagram so aim to keep your reviews compact and break up text with emojis. Flatlays work best for these types of posts. You want to ensure that the cover is clearly visible.

If you’re hoping to be sent advance copies then make sure you tag the publishing house. This isn’t a guarantee that you’ll receive books for review, but if you’re consistent, have a nice feed and good engagement, then publicists will start to notice. We’ve expanded on this in our post about Bookstagram influencing .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Jul 13, 2018 at 4:33am PDT

Book Collections

Tying in with the above, book collections are easy to assemble and can look fantastic on your feed. You can go with a co-ordinated flatlay of covers or a stack of spines. Here are some suggestions for how to co-ordinate reading collections on Bookstagram without the use of props.

Publishers, Editions and Book Series

There’s something very satisfying about seeing books with similar designs photographed together. The account Places_and_Books posts classic book collections that are styled by publisher, edition and book series – blending lots of different layouts to create a great effect.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Andy reads a lot (@places_and_books) on Jul 9, 2020 at 11:25am PDT

Author Collections on Instagram

If you love a particular author then it’s very likely that someone else will enjoy their work too and want to collect ALL the titles. If you own a book set then great, but don’t worry too much if your covers don’t match. It’s always interesting to see different designs and interpretations.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Nov 9, 2017 at 10:52pm PST

Display books by colour

A popular and striking way to showcase books on Bookstagram. This kind of book photography is fun to create and means you don’t necessarily need to own entire sets of books (which can be expensive and be tricky to source). You can arrange your books either by spine or cover.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Mar 5, 2018 at 2:15am PST

Photograph books by theme and genre

There are an almost unlimited number of ways to theme books and the_book_bug_ is really great at doing this. Look for tags to prompt you (more on this below)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kathryn (@_the_book_bug_) on Sep 6, 2020 at 10:25am PDT

TBR Piles (to-be-read piles)

Most bookstagrammers will have a TBR pile in some shape or form. We store ours in a book trolley but you can simply stack these or arrange them on a shelf.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Oct 4, 2020 at 9:09am PDT

If you’re short on books we’ve shared tips for building a book collection on a budget . Remember that if it’s open, you can borrow from your local library as well.

Share your Book Nooks on Instagram

On one of our favourite bookstagram post ideas is to show off book nooks! They don’t need to be fancy. There’s a wide range of tastes on Bookstagram so whether you go full rainbow or minimalist, bookstagrammers are bound to enjoy seeing your reading corner. This can be as simple as a bedside table or as a expansive as a home library. If you have photogenic bookshelves you can make this the focus of your entire feed – @wordchild does this to stunning effect.

One tip here would be to make sure that you take out as much artificial light as possible. This shows as a yellow tint on your image. To remove this, use the tint or white balance adjustment button to alter the tone.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by books, travel, movies, music (@wordchild) on Jun 13, 2020 at 1:31pm PDT

Bookstagram Photo Ideas for Book Corners

If you’re still working on creating a special corner for your books then you can still use other places around the house to conjure up that cosy feel.

Books in bed

This is super easy to do and doesn’t need anything other than a book, a bed and a blanket. I’ve found that the best way to do this is just to capture the moment naturally. Of course if you want to include extra items like mugs and cushions then that’s up to you.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Jan 26, 2020 at 1:36am PST

Reading in the bath

Check out the #readinginthebath tag to discover lots of other bath-inspired book photo ideas without revealing too much!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Feb 24, 2018 at 12:08am PST

Travels from an Armchair

Another simple one to capture. It doesn’t even have to be an armchair – just a place where you like to curl up and read.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Jul 5, 2020 at 10:08am PDT

Using Light Patterns in Bookstagram

We tend to post light patterns in stories, but this shot of our home library gives an idea how an unusual slant of sun or shadow can add interest to an image. Keep an eye on light shifts in your house – you might be surprised by what you find!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel | Bookish Adventures (@thebookfamilyrogerson)

Do you need Bookstagram Props?

When we started our account we bought a few bits and pieces, but over time found that we didn’t need these. If you are a bookstagram beginner then you might want to experiment with different themes until you find your voice. What we will say is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money! Don’t feel that you have to collect every Funko or buy special backgrounds.

Look at what already own and try out different shots. Maybe you can display your books creatively or trial a feed that has lots of neutral space (blank space around the object). Blankets and bookish signs can also theme a page, but use them sparingly. Here are two of our most effective ‘props’:

The Vintage Suitcase

We picked up this small vintage suitcase cheaply and it has been great for bookstagram photos, as well as being a lovely feature within the home. You can find similar at car boot sales, flea markets and antique shops. If you don’t have any of these nearby, check out Etsy .

The Book Trolley

I mentioned this earlier, but the book trolley itself deserves to be highlighted as it’s such a useful piece of bookstagram kit. Not only does it provide much-needed storage space, the trolley is a thing of beauty that can be photographed from many angles. You can buy an affordable book cart from Etsy (note this isn’t the one we have, which is no longer on sale).

Bookstagram Selfies

Whether you use your timer or ask a friend to take a photo, there’s no doubt that bookstagrammers love to see who’s behind the camera. There are different ways of doing this- from standard portraits to creative poses. If you’re anxious about taking self-portraits for Bookstagram, I recommend checking out Kutovakika’s Self Portrait Photography tips on YouTube .

IGTV Book Review Video

I recorded this book review on IGTV recently to try something different. It’s less stylised than a reel and was a lot more personal than my usual posts. Basically I just filmed myself speaking on my phone for a couple of minutes then uploaded it. The beauty of this format is that you can remove it for the main grid if you want to!

I plan to make more of these over time – hopefully wearing more literary-inspired clothing .

Find Bookstagrammer clothing on Etsy

If you want to proudly display your Bookstagrammer credentials or buy for a friend then Etsy is a great place to look for t-shirts, caps, bags and sweatshirts. You’ll also be supporting small businesses in the meantime. Make sure you check reviews before you buy though.

Creative Bookstagram Selfie

This one isn’t for the faint-hearted as it took ages to make but I like it because people are going to be looking at the book stacks rather than me!

Pets on Bookstagram

The best bookish combination! Share pics of your animal friends with your books. Anything goes here and pets offer a cute insight into your life. Always have treats on hand when you take the photo (and remember to capture the shots that go wrong for stories as well!)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Apr 10, 2020 at 8:42am PDT

Bookstagram Hashtags as Post Prompts

Everyone is searching for the perfect bookstagram hashtag formula these days. There’s no magic potion, but popular hashtags can be really helpful for framing post content . They also have the added advantage as doubling up as tags which can help to widen your community.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Stacy & Amanda (@thesistersread) on May 20, 2020 at 9:31am PDT

• #meethebookstagrammer – your chance to reveal a little about yourself to your followers.
• #flatlayfriday – a chance to try out new styles and layouts.
• #sundayshelfie – shelfies are always popular on Bookstagram. This can be a quick win for the end of the week.
• #rainbowstacks – stack by colour and change the hashtag accordingly! This is a great one for tagging.
• #tenonmytbr – there are multiple versions of this hashtag. The TBR is a perennial bookstagram feature so everyone understands when you post your tottering book piles. The book post above by @thesistersread has been prompted by the tag #tenonmytbr

These hashtags are also very helpful for prompting Instagram captions. You can find out more in our post about handy Bookstagram Caption Ideas .

Tagging on Bookstagram

Tagging is another great way to discover bookstagram post ideas, especially if you’re new to the platform. When you use a hashtag, you can invite others to join the challenge too by tagging them. Once you start doing this, you should find that others begin to tag you back. If you’re looking to make friends on Bookstagram, I definitely recommend having a go at tagging.

It’s also worth joining in with hashtag challenges created by bookstagrammers as they often share posts in their stories. Our current hashtag is #mybookishreflection so please have a go and tag us!

Bookstagram Adventures

Although there are highly successful Bookstagram accounts that only share photos from the same room or apartment, it’s good to get out and about. This isn’t as easy as it once was due to the pandemic, but there are other options to take bookstagram outside even in these uncertain times.

Again, if you’re visiting somewhere, definitely tag the bookshop, cafe or historic place as they might share your photo in stories or on the main feed.

Taking pictures of books outside offers lots of opportunities for Bookstagram post ideas. You can combine book covers with landscapes, historic places, skies, gardens and murals to achieve striking compositions.

Literary Destinations

Shots of literary destinations are beloved by bookstagrammers and sought after by major travel instagram accounts. If you capture the right angle and light, you may reap lots of shares. We’re still working on this, but this has been one of our most recent successes.

Book covers and places

Want to show off a beautiful cover? Hold it up in front of a related place or somewhere that embodies the spirit of the book. TIP: Make sure you can see the title and author!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Nov 10, 2018 at 8:54am PST

The Open Book Shot

A popular favourite on Bookstagram, the open book shot is extremely versatile and can be used to combine travel and literary posts to brilliant effect. For maximum impact, centre an open book shot in a pathway, road or tree-lined avenue.

Coffee and books (or tea and books)

Cafe culture never goes out of fashion. Take a shot at your favourite table. Bonus points if the cafe has bookshelves! Check out @theguywiththebook for inspiration.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Faroukh | Bookstagram (@theguywiththebook) on Sep 16, 2020 at 6:25am PDT

Bookshop Interiors

If you manage to step inside a bookshop, we advise you take as many shots as you can particularly if the bookstore is characterful. Afterwards use editing software to brighten and reduce the yellow tint of artificial light.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Apr 18, 2020 at 9:07am PDT

Bookshop Exteriors

People love to see photos of bookshop exteriors! This can either be a windowshot or a full building capture. Try to keep lines straight if you can. Generally, you’ll get a better response if the bookshop exterior has a vintage aesthetic.

Creative Bookstagram Posts

This is an area that we’ve dipped our toes in a few times. It’s the most time-consuming form of bookstagram post to create, but encourages you to build new skills. There are countless ways to produce creative Bookstagram post ideas:

Get creative with glass windows

Windows can be great for creative bookstagram posts and this is one of the easiest ways to produce eye-catching shots. Draw a design in condensation, chalk on paint, or stick fallen leaves onto a wet surface to produce startling effects.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson)

Make a bookish window

Another fun idea is to make a bookish window with bookstacks and take a selfie of yourself sitting on the other side. These are easiest to build out of hardback books, but can also use paperbacks.

Photoshopped fantasy scenes

These can look incredible. We tinkered with this a while ago and one bookstagrammer who is still doing this successfully is glindaizabel .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Nov 25, 2018 at 8:29am PST

Giant Book Pictures

These can be made up either of books arranged on the floor and shot from a height to form a huge picture or stacked to create a giant book picture. James Trevino and Elizabeth Sagan are the undisputed royalty here.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Elizabeth Sagan (@elizabeth_sagan) on May 25, 2020 at 7:13am PDT

Perspective Shots

This is where you change the scale of objects so that they appear either smaller or larger than usual. They can be really fun to make and easier than the other types of creative Bookstagram posts.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Oct 27, 2018 at 7:58am PDT

The traditional book face is where you use a book cover to blend with your own body so that the artwork is aligned. Look up #bookface on Instagram to see some truly amazing creations!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mel (@thebookfamilyrogerson) on Apr 26, 2018 at 2:50am PDT

Sharing book photos from other Bookstagram accounts

Some Bookstagram accounts generate 100% of their content by reposting photos taken by other people. The ones with lots of followers can be highly influencial. If they share your content, then there’s a chance that others will follow you. Unfortunately there’s lots of spam accounts out there too.

Generally, it’s better to produce your own content because this is where you’ll grow your skills. However, if you really want to repost then it’s etiquette to ask first, and ALWAYS credit the bookstagrammer .

Instagram Reels for Bookstagram

Instagram reels is new feature for Bookstagram which we’ve only just started to experiment with. You record a 15 or 30 second clip which can then be edited with audio, effects and text. This can then be shared on the main grid or restricted to a Reels gallery.

How to plan Bookstagram posts

Once you’ve made a shortlist of Bookstagram post ideas, it’s a good idea to plan them out. There are various ways to do this but we use the Preview app for this. The basic package is free and allows you to draft out your feed before posting. This enables you to avoid any image clashes and basically to get the best out of your collection. There’s also the facility to save captions so that you can paste these into Instagram.

We don’t use the scheduling feature as there was an issue with third-party apps on Instagram a while back, but it’s worth trialling this if you’re short on time.

If you’re able to pay for packages then Preview offer extra features such as hashtag suggestions, multiple account users and analytics.

Using Presets for Bookstagram

If you want to make give your feed a unique identity, you can apply presets to your images. A preset is basically a blend of edit settings which you can apply to all your photos. You find free presets within Instagram (see filters) and other editing packages. We use Lightroom (£9.98 per month) for our edits. Although this is pricey, it can take your photography to the next level. The package also enables users to upload bespoke presets created by photographers.

To get an idea of the choice available, you can see a range of preset packages on Etsy . Once purchased, you can easily save to Lightroom. You can find out more about applying presets on our Bookstagram feed post .

How often should you post on Bookstagram?

The million dollar question! It really depends what you’re trying to achieve. If you’re looking to build a bibliophile community then aim for 2-3 posts per week. If you’d like to grow quickly then aim for once a day.

The caveat here is fun and quality. It’s better to share less frequently with crisp images, well-researched hashtags and interesting captions than to pump out a bunch of poorly-composed posts. Remember that engagement is all important in so many ways on Bookstagram. Making friends with other booklovers over the world is a true pleasure. To get people talking why not check out our Bookstagram caption ideas for enhancing your posts ?

We hope that this has given you a few Bookstagram post ideas for your account – whether new or old. And remember that it’s OK to change your style whenever you like!

16 Comments

Great post Mel! Even though I’ve been around a while, it is always interesting and useful to get tips from someone else!

I started off with a completely different post but then thought it might be handy to have all the different themes together! I’m glad you liked it!

I’ve still to make it over to Bookstagram!! I know I need to make time for it. Great post.

Thanks so much – really happy you liked it! Bookstagram is lots of fun. Let me know if you decide to join:)

Fabulous ideas and these is really interesting. Thanks for sharing xx

A pleasure Susan! It was lots of fun to put all the different ideas together so I’m chuffed you found it useful xx

Great post! I will need to try out these ideas on Bookstagram 🙂

So pleased you found these useful. Let us know how it goes!

Hey nice post but I think your blog needs some redesigning, when I landed here, I thought it is a Finance blog. I think you can use better colors and be more clear when it comes to the theme of your blog. Thanks Nandita

Thanks for the feedback Nandita. We are super busy on the blog at the moment but may possibly choose a new theme in the future 🙂

I’ve been using my hiatus to think about what I can do going forward to better use my bookish accounts, and I really appreciate this post! It’s making me reconsider how I approach my booksta, and what I can do different in the future.💛

Bookstagram can be a real conundrum, but there are some things which do help (not that I always do them either!) All the best with your account! x

These ideas are really useful. Thank you so much 🙂

A total pleasure! I’m glad these were helpful for you.

I’ve just started my bookstagram this past week and only have 2 posts up so far but everyone has been so nice and welcoming. It’s kind of amazing. Thank you so much for all of the ideas and things in this post, I’m saving it to refer to in the future and I had to give y’all a follow as well. Now I’m off to click all your other links. lol

Welcome to Bookstagram! It’s a lovely community – creative, kind and clever. I’m really pleased that our ideas have given you a few inspirations and hope you enjoy experimenting with bookish photos x

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The Ultimate Guide to Bookstagram for Beginners

By: Author Laura

Posted on Published: 15th September 2023  - Last updated: 3rd May 2024

Categories Book Blogging , Books

Thinking about starting a bookstagram? Here’s all you need to know about how to start a bookstagram from someone who’s been doing it for over a decade!

Have you been wondering what bookstagram is or want to know how to start a bookstagram account?

This comprehensive guide to bookstagram will take you through everything from what bookstagram is to how to create a bookstagram account, how to get bookstagram followers and more!

Over the years I’ve grown my Instagram from 0 to 70,000+ followers and these are some of my bookstagram tips to begin your journey to do the same. By the end of this guide, you will know how to bookstagram like a pro .

If you’re not already following me on Instagram, you can check out my account at @ whatshotblog where I post about books and travel.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Laura | What’s Hot? 🇨🇳🇬🇧 (@whatshotblog)

Now, let’s get started:

What is bookstagram?

Bookstagram, or book Instagram, is a niche corner of the internet for book lovers. Using the hashtag #bookstagram, you’ll find millions and millions of book-related photos posted by people from all over the world.

It’s an online community of bookworms who love to share pictures or videos of what they’re reading, their favourite books, their bookshelves, the libraries and bookshops they’re exploring and more.

All manner of bookish people are on bookstagram including authors, bookworms, booksellers, bookshops, libraries, book prizes and more. So you see there’s no simple answer for what is a bookstagram account!

If you’re an author then I’d suggest heading to my post on bookstagram for indie authors too.

How to Start a Bookstagram

Now let’s get into the nitty gritty of how to start a book instagram account! These simple steps below make creating a bookstagram super quick and easy.

Choose a bookstagram handle

First things first, you need to set up an Instagram account. If you want to properly immerse yourself in bookstagram then I suggest creating a new account dedicated to books, rather than converting an existing, personal account.

In doing so, you’ll have to choose yourself a bookstagram handle. But what to choose?! The possibilities are truly endless.

Think about why you’re starting a bookstagram account for some name inspiration. If you’ve got an existing book blog then obviously using the same name across your social media channels is advisable. If not, then it’s time to get your thinking cap on.

Many popular bookstagram accounts include words such as books, novel, tome, literature, bookworm, bookshelf, library, read, bookish, literary. Alternatively, you might be inspired by a favourite quote, character or place.

Or if you’re going to run a niche account and only focus on a certain kind of literature then you might want to be more specific and include keywords like young adult, thrillers, romance, bookshops, fiction, historical etc.

Have a little brainstorm about what kind of content you’re going to post and the vibe you’re aiming for. A combination of words related to those two themes, or even your name, might help you come with something good!

Make sure to do a quick search on Instagram to check it’s not already taken too.

Write a great bio for bookstagram

Now that you’ve chosen your bookstagram handle, it’s time to fill out your profile and write yourself a little bio to give a little insight into your account.

My bookstagram bio contains four lines in which I explain: what type of blogger I am, my blog’s tag line with my content’s aim, one line about me and a reminder to check out my blog for more content.

This is your chance to help people visiting your profile get to know you a bit better. The problem is, you’ve only got 150 characters to do it. It’s tricky writing something concise here and people take different approaches.

You might include what genres you like to read, the name of their current read or the number of books they’ve read so far that year.

Or you might choose to focus more on your personal traits and share a few things that you love. And throw a few emojis in so people know you’re human.

Mix it up and find what works for you. You can always have a look at the bios of some of your favourite accounts for further bookstagram bio ideas.

I also tend to give mine a little “refresh” every few months or so, don’t feel you have to stick with a particular bio.

Although you have the option to add an email button to your Instagram page, I find that people rarely see this and end up DMing me information and asking for my email.

As a result, lots of people put their blog email addresses in their bios so it’s really clear where people can get in touch.

A lot of PR and marketing assistants will look for bookstagrammers to work with via the desktop version of their Instagram, where the email button doesn’t appear, so I personally advise putting the email directly in the bio.

If you’ve got a blog, make sure to link to it from your Instagram page too. You can now add multiple links to your Instagram bio, which is great as you can link to your blog, your other social media channels, a mailing list, your Goodreads account or other interesting articles.

Some people still prefer to use platforms such as linktr.ee . This is a single link which opens up into a page with a list of more links.

READ MORE: How I got Started on Bookstagram: 0 to 70,000+ followers

Convert your account to a creator account

If you want to grow your bookstagram, I’d highly recommend making the (free) switch from a personal account to a creator account.

This will give you an insight into your Instagram stats including information about where your followers are located and what time they’re usually online.

You’ll be able to see the gender divide of your audience, the age brackets they fall in and your follower growth amongst other things.

This is invaluable information that will help you figure out what time to post, which posts are doing well and more.

If you’re hoping to later monetise your account, this is an important step as brands may well ask for screenshots of this information down the line too.

To do this, simply go to your account settings and select “Account”. At the bottom of the page, there are some links in blue, which should give you the option to switch to either a creator or a business account.

Unless if you’re planning on selling products or opening an online store, I’d go with the creator account.

NB. You may find instead a single option for a “professional” account, which will give you the same insights.

Posting to Bookstagram

Now let’s turn to how to bookstagram.

Bookstagram post ideas

Now your account is all set up, it’s time to get posting! The style and type of content on bookstagram is hugely varied so it’s good to get an idea of what content you might like to create before you first press that publish button.

Some bookstagrammers are all about the caption and post long-form reviews. If you’re here because you want to know how to create a book blog on Instagram or how to be a book blogger on Instagram then you’ll likely post in this style.

Instagram has become a sort of micro-blogging platform and captions can be up to 2,200 characters so there’s plenty of space for mini reviews.

Other bookstagrammers are all about the aesthetics and post beautiful book-related photos and videos. Some only post flatlays, others only post about bookshops. Some never post shots with them in them, others post pictures and videos of themselves reading.

As you can see, “bookstagram” is a very generic term for a huge range of book-related content. I’d say my feed is a mixture of all of the above options so don’t feel the need to pigeonhole yourself. Get posting and you’ll soon find your groove.

It took me years to find mine so don’t worry too much about this and just enjoy posting about books and making new bookstagram friends.

You should also experiment with all the different post types that Instagram has to offer. At the moment, there are 5 different types of content you can create on Instagram: posts, carousels, reels, stories, and lives.

Trying them all out will force you to exercise a little creativity and you’ll figure out what your style is!

Check out this post about my bookstagram evolution to see my very first bookstagram post and how it developed from there. For more inspiration check out these beautiful and creative bookstagram accounts:

RELATED: 20 Beautiful Bookstagram Accounts to Follow Now

Bookstagram props

If you’ve already had a chance to browse through bookstagram and the content on there, you may notice that people love to post book flatlays and book stacks with other props in them.

By bookstagram props, I mean items that aren’t books that go in your photos.

You’ll see that some of the biggest bookstagrammers are constantly buying new props for their accounts and are veritable prop hoarders. But it’s absolutely not necessary to buy props specifically for your bookstagram account.

There are plenty of items around the house that will work very well too.

READ MORE: 24 Bookstagram Props to Use in Your Book Flatlays

An easy one, which you’ll already have in your home, is a mug. Books and coffee go hand in hand, right?

Other things you might have around the house that could be bookstagram props include clothes, slippers, bookmarks, cushions, dry flowers, glasses, bags, newspapers, the list goes on!

If you’ve been tempted by other bookstagrammers, some other popular bookstagram props you could invest in include funko pops (tiny figurines of popular book and film characters), candles, posters, book sleeves, bookish tote bags and more.

READ MORE: Accessories That Every Bookworm Needs

Editing bookstagram photos

If you want your bookstagram feed to have a “theme” or consistent look, then you should think about what kind of edit you want to apply to your images.

Some people apply very minimalist editing whilst others will go for strong filters.

When I started on bookstagram I focussed on bright, white images and then moved to darker desaturated tones. Now, my feed is the opposite and is quite bright with warm, orangy tones.

Picking a consistent theme can help build a brand and image style that your followers instantly come to recognise when it pops up on your feed.

Instagram has its own editing tools inside the app, but in terms of good-quality filters, theirs are rather limited. If you want a great, free app to start off with, I’d recommend VSCO .

They’ve got loads of great filters you can apply and adjust as you please. If you want to upgrade to some of the nicer filters, this will cost you a subscription fee of around £29.99 per year (which works out as less than £2.50 a month!).

I personally use Lightroom to edit my photos and this is part of Adobe’s editing suite. It’s more expensive at £9.99 per month but you can do so much more with your images on this computer programme (the mobile app version is free!).

This is one for the slightly more experienced photographers or those looking to really perfect their images with editing.

You can create or buy your own filters for Lightroom, known as presets, which mean you can apply the same tones to every photo.

I now use my own presets, which are available to purchase from my shop here . If you love the look of the photos and videos on my blog and Instagram then please do purchase my preset pack to give your photos a warm glow with just one click!

These bookstagram presets are used on all my online images and come in three varieties – light, dark and warm. Don’t worry if you’ve never used Lightroom before as there’s a preset installation guide included!

What’s great is that Lightroom recently introduced an update so you can use these presets on videos too!

Edit your photos like me with my presets, available here!

There are free presets that you can download from the internet but, in my experience, none of them are quite as good as those sold by photographers and content creators.

If you’re not ready to make your own presets or invest in some then I think you’d be better off with an editing app on your phone. That’s my experience anyway!

Browse cheap presets on Etsy from small businesses here!

Planning your bookstagram feed

Now you’ve got some images, you’ve edited them and you’re raring to go! But what order do you post them in?

To some people, this will seem like a silly question. But to the perfectionists out there who want to curate a beautiful, consistent feed, this is another important step.

Using planning apps can help you to get a sense of what your Instagram feed will look like ahead of time.

This is useful for seeing whether your most recent set of photos all work well together, as well as for pre-scheduling some photos and captions.

I would recommend starting with the app Planoly , which is free, so it’s a great option for those who don’t want to spend any money on bookstagram.

I currently use Preview App , which is great for scheduling content on both your phone and desktop or if you’re managing multiple accounts.

Using these apps, you can upload all your edited bookstagram photos and then rearrange them as you please. You simply use your finger to drag the images and they’ll move into a new order.

It’s amazing to see what a difference this can make. You can also write your captions for each photo ahead of time and save a bank of hashtags to use .

You can now schedule Instagram posts from within the app, but this is generally a little glitchy so I’d recommend manually posting content in the moment or from your drafts folder.

If you are using an app like Planoly or Preview App, you can set up notifications so they remind you when to post and you can just copy and paste a pre-written caption from the app to Instagram. Easy.

Tip : Be careful to make sure you never log out of or delete your Instagram account if you have lots of draft posts ready to go as these will all disappear!

How do I get followers on bookstagram?

Whilst I don’t think bookstagram should be all about the followers, let’s be honest, everyone wants their account to grow and for their work to be appreciated! Here are tips for getting more engagement and followers on bookstagram.

Post content that is educational, entertaining or inspirational

There are three key types of content on Instagram that you can create to encourage people to follow you.

These are educational content, entertaining content or inspirational content.

In a bookstagram context, this could mean content that is informative (e.g. book reviews, book lists, information on new releases), funny or relatable (e.g. poking fun at bookstagrammer traits like book hoarding) or motivational or inspirational content (e.g. beautiful libraries to visit in the future, beautiful home libraries etc.).

Post a variety of content in different formats

As mentioned above, there are 6 different types of content you can create on Instagram, and posting a variety of them all seems to please the algorithm.

Whilst I wouldn’t advocate becoming a slave to the algorithm, it is inevitably an important aspect of Instagram!

At the moment, Instagram is heavily pushing out video content and so you’ll definitely want to experiment with the reels function, which is a TikTok style of video.

Reels even have their own section of the app which is accessed from the bar at the bottom of the app, proving their importance!

The best way to use reels is to search for trending audio (it will have a little tick next to it) and put your own spin on that sound. Your videos need to be able to hook people in the first few seconds so short, snappy videos tend to do very well.

My top tip to anyone who asks me about how to grow followers on Instagram is to engage with the community you’re in.

You need to like and comment on other people’s photos regularly and start to form connections with similar accounts. If you don’t engage with the community, why should they engage with you?

Doing this is how I’ve made so many good friends via bookstagram, something I never dreamed would happen when I set up my account.

If you take the time to read people’s captions and make meaningful comments, you’ll find that you can start to form connections with people.

Don’t just go down your bookstagram feed and comment “nice pic”. This is not a good form of engagement.

I suppose now would be a good time to talk about engagement pods. An engagement pod or comment pod is a chat group (usually within Instagram but it could be on another platform), where people post their latest photos and ask for other people in the group to comment and like it.

They’re set up to “beat the algorithm” as Instagram has a habit of hiding people’s posts from our feeds if we don’t interact with them much.

I know that so many bookstagrammers participate in these, but I really don’t recommend them. I’ll admit that I was in one of these when I first got started with bookstagram and found it incredibly stressful.

If the group is large, it’s a big commitment to make I think it takes the fun out of posting and making friends organically.

It doesn’t drive genuine engagement and it means you are obligated to comment on content that perhaps doesn’t resonate with you.

These groups also breach the guidelines of most influencer marketing platforms now as they are seen as a form of fake engagement.

If you’re friends with the people in these groups and comment on their feeds regularly, their posts should show up in your feed naturally. It’s much better to grow organically than to try and use tactics like this, in my opinion.

Hashtags are essential to being discovered by more accounts on Instagram. So important in fact that I’ve written an entire article dedicated to book hashtags and how to use them!

If you want some inspiration and examples for which book hashtags to use, then check out this in-depth article:

READ MORE: All You Need to Know About Book Hashtags

Essentially, Instagram will allow you to add up to 30 hashtags to every post and to maximise reach you should be including relevant hashatags on each of your posts.

There are quite a lot of opinions on the “best” number of hashtags to use.

Whilst some still say that you should be going for the maximum of 30, I myself have been on a call with an Instagram representative who said that 7 or so hashtags is ideal.

Personally, I still go for around 30 hashtags, but make sure they are all super relevant to the content you are posting – don’t bother using hashtags that aren’t relevant or needed.

Play around with this and see what works best for you.

There are so many bookstagram hashtags out there and unfortunately using those like #bookstagram #books will not be sufficient.

These hashtags have millions and millions of users and new posts are appearing every second. This means your post will be drowned in a sea of other new photos being uploaded at the same time.

Instead, you should carefully curate some book hashtags that are relevant to your photo and account. If you pick smaller and very relevant hashtags you should be discovered by other like-minded people.

There’s much more detail in my dedicated article on book hashtags so make sure to read that next.

Consistency

Consistency is really important on social media to train the algorithms to know what to expect from you, what time to expect it etc.

When you are just starting out, it can be useful to post content that stems from a similar theme so the algorithm knows what kind of content you post and can push it out to people that it knows like similar content.

You don’t need to confine yourself to too strict a niche, but it can be easier to grow if you post a similar style or type of video on a regular basis. Once your account is a bit larger, it can be easier to branch out into more varied content.

Instagram values those who post engaging content on a regular and consistent basis. Think of Instagram like a hungry bear that needs to be fed at regular intervals, preferably very regular intervals.

Of course, most people are not able to sit on Instagram all day engaging with other accounts and posting their own content. But it is still important to be consistent.

If you can only post three times a week, then try to post on the same three days, at the same time each week. This trains the algorithm to know what to expect from you and will be better than posting one post a day for three days and then disappearing for two weeks.

Whether it’s one post a week or one post a day, consistency is key.

Can I get free books?

Really this question warrants a post of its own, but the short answer is yes .

If you have an engaged following on bookstagram, it’s likely that publishers will be willing to send you review copies of their titles.

The great thing is that you don’t need a huge number of followers to receive review copies and I’ve seen plenty of accounts with under 1000 followers receive gifted books from publishers.

I think that as long as you can show that you can add value with beautiful pictures, informative captions, an engaged audience or, ideally, a mixture of all these and more, then publishers will be open to hearing from you. They may even slide into your DMs themselves.

You might not be able to get a copy of the latest Harry Potter book if you’re still a small account but, publishers are keen to get their new releases out on bookstagram.

READ MORE: Why Influencers Shouldn’t Use the Term “Gifted”

Side note, I don’t really like using the term “free” as I don’t think anything truly comes for free.

In exchange, the publisher will expect you to post about the book on your feed and give the book publicity so it’s a reciprocal, working relationship. Which brings me to…

Can you earn money from bookstagram?

Now we’re in sticky territory. People have a lot of opinions about whether or not bookstagrammers should be paid. Arguments often get quite heated.

My personal opinion is that they absolutely should. I won’t get into the nitty-gritty here as I wrote an entire article here about why I think bookstagrammers should be paid .

I also asked some of the top book influencers what they think about the influencer marketing industry in the book realm and they also agreed that bookstagrammers should be paid. Read their thoughts in full here: book bloggers share what they think of the influencer marketing industry .

Publishers have been slow to adapt but some progress has been made since I published the two articles I just linked.

It is definitely possible to make money from bookstagram, but it often means being willing to promote non-book-related products.

I don’t know any full-time bookstagrammer who only makes money from bookstagram or book blogging and all have diverse income streams.

Funnily enough, publishers seem to be more willing to pay posts on the other platform and there are a lot of quite successful BookTokers.

But, generally, it is a lot harder to earn money if you are in the book niche as compared to, say, fashion or parenting.

How can I earn money from bookstagram?

The two main ways to earn money from Instagram are sponsored posts and affiliate links.

Sponsored posts usually work in one of two ways: either brands come to you or you sign up to an influencer marketing platform. Pitching to brands is also a possibility if you can find out who to get in touch with.

Two popular influencer marketing platforms that I know offer bookish opportunities include Takumi and Tribe . I’ve used both extensively in the past and they’re good platforms to experiment with when starting out with sponsored posts.

As my account has grown, I’ve found it less suited to these apps, whose rates are very (very!) low, but I’d recommend having a look to see if they are hosting opportunities that are right for you.

Of course, just because your account is about books does not mean that should only seek book-related sponsored opportunities.

Depending on your style of photos and how niche your account is, you may find it easy to promote other products like snacks or stationery for example.

There will definitely be more opportunities for these kinds of products than there will be for books or strictly book-related products.

RELATED: How to Disclose Sponsored Posts on Instagram

Instagram allows accounts of all sizes to post links in their stories so anyone can start earning with affiliate links.

You could also add affiliate links to the link in your bio as mentioned above.

I have a whole post dedicated to affiliate links for book bloggers where you can learn more about which platforms to use and what retailers are available.

READ MORE: The Ultimate Guide to Affiliate Marketing for Book Bloggers

That’s it for now! If you’ve been asking yourself “should I start a bookstagram?” then you absolutely should. Out of all the communities on Instagram, bookstagram is one of the friendliest.

Compare bookstagram to the world of fashion or travel influencers or even book twitter, bookstagram has one of the nicest internet communities out there.

Social media can often be a toxic place, but bookstagram has always been a positive space for me.

I hope this guide about how to make a bookstagram has been helpful and will give you the confidence to set up your own bookstagram.

Don’t let worries about how to start bookstagram stop you from actually getting going.

If you’d like any more detail on the above or more tips for starting a book Instagram, please let me know in the comments below or by dropping me a DM on Instagram !

If you’re interested in becoming a book blogger too, then make sure to check out my guide for how to start a book blog too.

If you found this post helpful, please  support me with a small contribution on Ko-Fi . This information was provided free of charge but is invaluable to bloggers and influencers and I’d really appreciate your support!

Pin now, read again later!

If you liked this post, check out these: How I Read Over 75+ Books Per Year How to Start a Book Blog 36 Book Blog Post Ideas My Bookstagram Evolution Book Hashtag Guide Behind the scenes on Instagram

Editor of What’s Hot?

Saturday 30th of September 2023

Could you post a mix of educational, entertaining, and inspirational content? Or would that be too much?

Sunday 18th of July 2021

Is it important that the picture you post on bookstagram should belong to you only??

Wednesday 21st of July 2021

Copyright of an image will always belong to the person who took the original photo. There are lots of repost accounts on Instagram but it is best practice to send a message to the photo owner to double-check they are ok for you to repost their image. When you repost it, you should always tag and credit the image owner clearly.

Wednesday 14th of July 2021

I love this. This has given me some great ideas on becoming apart of this community xx

Sunday 17th of January 2021

I also having some problem with converting it into creators account

If you have the option of converting to a professional account then I would do that. Then you can access insights etc.

Yeisha Beasley

Wednesday 21st of October 2020

My Instagram account says switch to a Professional Account but it doesn't have a Creator Account. Is the Professional Account the same as a Creator Account

In that case, you should convert to the professional account to access insights :) I believe Professional encompasses both Business and Creator though am unsure if you will have the option to later choose Creator specifically.

I believe professional accounts can be either creator accounts or business accounts. Once you click through to turn it into a professional account, I think you’d have the option to specifically make it a creator account. Instagram has more info on their own website that’s worth reading: https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/2358103564437429.

Do-it-yourself book marketing tips, tools, and tactics

Instagram Stories for authors: How to create and use them

Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on them and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission (at no extra charge to you).

I’m intimidated by Instagram Stories.

Whenever I create one on my phone for my personal or Build Book Buzz Instagram account , I spend too much time playing around with options and figuring out which ones might work best.

When the Young People do it, they create something interesting and engaging in just a few minutes. Me? At least 15 minutes. At. Least.

So, with the goal of getting better at this, I went looking for how-to information. I found videos, guides, templates, tools, and author examples.

If they help me, they might help you, right? So here are links to the information I found that was most helpful to me. I hope some of it helps you, too.

Table of Contents

How-to articles

If you like to learn by reading step-by-step instructions, you’ll appreciate these articles.

Instagram Stories: What They Are and How to Make One Like a Pro

HubSpot is one of my go-to sites for marketing information, and the company didn’t disappoint with this step-by-step tutorial. It’s written for a business audience, but don’t let that stop you. Authorship is a business, so this is a good fit for you.

Within the article, Hubspot links to Instagram Story templates you can download after completing the opt-in form. I’ve included that information below, in the “tools” section of this article.

How to create an Instagram Story

Mashable’s instructions are geared to personal, rather than business, Instagram accounts, but the information still applies. If you have two Instagram accounts – personal and author – it’s best to practice with your personal account, anyway.

Instagram Stories 101: Our Guide to Stickers, Effects, Key Settings and More

Don’t let the “Making an Insta Story is a lot like Snapchat” subhead in this CNET article scare you off (because, really, are you a big Snapchat user?). There are some good details in this one.

How-to videos

I usually prefer to learn how to do something by reading an article or a book, but in this case, I get more from video. It helps me to see cause and effect in quasi-real time.

How to Make Instagram Stories – Tips & Tricks

This Techboomers video is broken into two parts. One is for novices, the other is for more experienced Story creators. At the start of the video, the instructor tells you where on the timeline you’ll find advanced instructions for adding more bells and whistles to your Stories.

I like that this one shows the process without a distracting human on screen.

How to Easily Create Attractive Instagram Stories

Speaking of distracting humans, that’s what you’ll find on this video from Social Media Examiner, another excellent source of marketing information.

While I found the presenter’s effervescence a bit overwhelming, she does a great job of walking us through this in a way that’s clear and understandable. And I love the time-saving and mistake-preventing tips in her instruction.

Be sure to watch this one if videos help you.

I love any tool that takes me through a process that’s new or intimidating to me. I found a couple that I think you’ll like as much as I do.

VistaCreate

VistaCreate offers a “point-and-click” design tool. The best news (for me, anyway), is that you can use it on a computer, not just a phone. That’s music to my boomer ears.

Create a free account, then get started. The site walks you through the process step-by-step, starting with selecting a template from its collection. This is the first tool I’m going to use for Build Book Buzz .

Canva’s Instagram Story Creator

If you already use Canva, you know that it starts with a template. In addition to linking to templates, this Canva link gives you an overview of all the options you can use to create Stories there .

I like using Canva, so after I’ve created a few with VistaCreate, I’m going to try Canva, too.

Instagram for Business Kit

I’ve downloaded several free templates for different types of content from Hubspot before, so I wasn’t surprised to see the company offers them for Instagram Stories, too.

It has partnered with Talkwalker (I use its version of Google Alerts) to create an “Instagram for Business Kit” mentioned above. When you download that, the system takes you to another page where you can also download eight Instagram Stories templates and 14 post templates.

Author examples and ideas

How authors use instagram stories to connect with readers.

BookBub lists 16 Story content ideas with examples of each. Ideas include sharing sneak peeks of an upcoming book and asking for reader opinions.

I also recommend subscribing to the BookBub Partners Blog (partners = authors). You’ll receive an email every time there’s a new article.

Instagram Stories for Writers

In addition to sharing visual examples, writer Susan Shiney links to the Instagram accounts of several author Instagram accounts that she admires.

100 Instagram Story Ideas for Authors

Self-publishing services provider Shayla Raquel lists 100 ideas broken down into nine categories. Bookmark this link and you’ll never be at a loss for ideas.

My commitment

In order to get better at creating Instagram Stories, I need to create more of them.

So, I’m committing today to creating at least one Story a week for my Build Book Buzz account . I’ll create some from my phone and I’ll use some of the tools listed here, too.

Want to join me?  

If you want to join me, drop a link to your author account in the comments so I can follow you. Tell us what you’ll commit to.

Like what you’re reading? Get it delivered to your inbox every week by subscribing to the free Build Book Buzz newsletter. You’ll also get my free “Top 5 Free Book Promotion Resources” cheat sheet immediately!

Sandra Beckwith is an author, book marketing coach, freelance writer, and national award-winning former publicist whose Build Book Buzz book marketing blog is ranked 7th among thousands globally and has been honored as a top website for authors and writers seven times.

Thanks for sharing all these valuable resources! Lots of new tools to try. I have heard that there is an appetite for content on divorce and domestic violence on Instagram but, like you, I dislike doing these things from my phone. I also commit to creating Instagram stories! You may follow me at DivorceDilemma.

We can hold each other accountable, Sonia! I just followed you.

I’m following you as well. Storytime!

I love a good story!

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Elaine Howlin

Lost in the pages of books.

Level Up Your Bookstagram: Book Review Templates for Stellar Posts

People still use Bookstagram, right? Not everyone has run off to TikTok?….. It’s not just me here, right?!….

I decided to add even more Bookstagram templates to the fairly sizeable library of templates I’ve already created here. I love this current trend of creating a little infographic instead of a full-blown review on Instagram. It’s great to get the main points and tropes of a book straight away like that cause, let’s be honest, how often do we really read the captions? I’m actually more likely to read the caption for one of these infographic pics than a beautifully artistic photo of a book.

So, I created some more vintage scrapbooky templates for whoever wants to use them. I’ll be sharing them regularly so make sure to follow me to get them all and have a look around my blog for even more templates and bookish stuff.

Visit the Template Gallery for FREE templates and pintables and visit my Etsy shop, ElaineHowlinStudio , and Ko-fi for digital ephemera kits for journals, planners and craft projects. Visit my Patreon for Bookstagram templates.

You Might Also Like: Bookstagram Bingos, Quizzes, and Games

Book Review Instagram Post Templates

This is just a taste of the templates available. There are loads more available on my Patreon with more added each month.  Visit my Patreon here  to get the rest of the templates. There are a few freebies available there as well so be sure to have a look around.

Patreon subscribers receive a full set of 10 square post templates each month along with a full set of 10 story templates so join up today to make sure you don’t miss out.

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How to Write a Great Book Review: 6 Templates and Ideas

This post may contains affiliate links. If you click and buy we may make a commission, at no additional charge to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more details.

Whether you’ve loved or hated your recent reads, writing book reviews can be a fun and satisfying process. It’s a great way to unpack messages and information from a story, and it also helps you remember key elements of a book for much longer than you usually would. Plus, book reviews open up some interesting and exciting debates between readers with different opinions, and they also help others decide which books to read next .

Table of Contents

Where Can You Post Book Reviews?

Back in the old days, book reviews were reserved for leading publications and journals, but now, anyone can create their own book reviews, and they’re popping up almost everywhere.

Social Media

Bookworms have taken over social media, with hashtags like # bookstagram drawing in millions of readers from around the internet to share thoughts, ideas, inspiration, and of course, reviews.

Book blogs are also blowing up right now, and plenty of avid readers are making a solid income by writing and sharing their book reviews this way. You can either create your own from scratch or write guest posts and reviews for already established blogs.

Goodreads is the undisputed online home of books. It’s a great place to find inspiration for your next reads, browse other people’s book reviews, and of course, add your own reviews, too.

If you post a review of a popular book on Goodreads, it’s bound to be seen by a huge audience. Plus, it’s a great way to advertise your blog if you have one, as the Goodreads guidelines allow you to insert a link within the body of your review.

The world’s largest bookstore gets an incredible amount of traffic, so it’s one of the best places to get your reviews seen by the masses. But bear in mind that there are more rules and regulations for Amazon book reviews than on some of the other platforms listed here. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the guidelines first, or your submission could be rejected.

Booktube is a Youtube community dedicated to reviewing, discussing, and recommending books. If you’re comfortable in front of a camera, vlogging your book reviews on Booktube is an excellent alternative to the more traditional written book reviews above. It’s also a great way to get noticed by viewers around the world.

Some Booktube reviewers make their entire income from their channel, so if you’re passionate about reviewing and want to turn it into a living, this is a great avenue to explore.

Get Paid for Your Book Reviews

Some of the platforms I’ve listed above, like Booktube, Instagram, and blogging , allow you to get paid for your book reviews if you generate enough traffic, but getting to that level takes a lot of dedication, time, and patience.

Thankfully, there are plenty of websites that pay reviewers on a freelance basis. Here are three of the most popular:

Remember, each site has strict submission guidelines and requirements that you’ll need to check carefully before writing and submitting a review.

Kirkus Reviews

The Kirkus Reviews magazine, founded in 1933, is one of America’s oldest, most respected book reviewing companies.

They accept reviews around 350 words in length, and once you’re assigned the gig, you have a two-week submission deadline.

Kirkus is always on the lookout for new book reviewers, but you’ll need to prove you have experience and talent before they’ll accept your submissions. The best way to do this is to create a professional-looking portfolio that showcases your previous reviews, both paid and unpaid.

Booklist is a subgroup of the American Library Association. They feature all kinds of book reviews, both fiction and non-fiction, and publish them online and in print.

They pay their reviewers on a freelance, book-by-book basis. Their rates aren’t going to make you rich (around $12- $15 per review), but it’s a great way to gain some professional experience and build your book review portfolio without having to work for free.

Booklist has various publication outlets, such as their quarterly in-print magazine, a reader’s blog, and top book lists. Plus, they also accept pitches for book-related news and author interviews.

Online Book Club

This free-to-access community of bibliophiles has been going for over ten years, with a million active members and counting.

To join their professional freelance team, you’ll first have to submit an unpaid review to help them to determine if you’re worth hiring. If your review makes the cut, then your next submission is paid at a rate varying between $5 and $60, depending on the book’s length, the quality of the review, etc.

One of the major stipulations of Online Book Club is that your reviews are in-depth and honest. If you don’t like the book, never put a positive spin on it for the sake of it. ( The same goes for any book review platform you post on. )

It’s also worth noting that with Online Book Club, you’ll never pay for the books you review. So even if they reject your submission, you’ll still get a free book out of it.

How to Write a Book Review?

Book reviews can range from a simple tweet to a full-length essay or long-form blog post and anything in between.

As I mentioned above, some book review sites and platforms have strict guidelines and parameters to follow. But if you’re writing a book review for social media, your own blog, or any other purpose that lets you take the reins, then the following ideas will give you some help and inspiration to get started.

But before we dive in, let’s take a look at four key elements that a comprehensive book review should contain.

1. Information about the author and the name of the book

You might want to include any accolades that the author has received in the past and mention some of their previous notable works.

Also, consider the publication date; is the book a brand-new release, a few years old, or a classic from another century?

2. A summary of the plot

Writing about the plot takes skill and consideration; if your description is too thorough, you risk ruining the book for your audience with spoilers. But on the other hand, if you’re too vague on the details, your review can lack depth.

Consider your audience carefully, and if you feel like your book review contains even the slightest hint of spoilers, always add a warning at the beginning so people can decide for themselves whether to read on.

3. Your evaluation

This is the part where you get to describe what you feel about the book as a whole and give your opinion on the different elements within it. But, again, don’t be tempted to fall into the trap of positively evaluating books you didn’t actually like; no one wants to read a false review, so if you didn’t like it, explain why.

4. Your reader recommendation

Who might the book appeal to? Is it suitable for all audiences? In your opinion, is it a universal must-read, or should people avoid it?

Keep in mind that the purpose of most book reviews is to help the reader decide whether or not they would like to read it themselves. What works for you might not work for others, so consider this when writing your recommendations.

6 Book Review Templates and Ideas

1. the traditional approach.

Most traditional fiction reviews, like the ones found in newspapers and other popular publications, are based on the following format…

Introduction

The introduction is a paragraph or two which includes:

• Key information that the reader needs to know. For example, the book’s title, the author’s name, the publication date, and any relevant background information about the author and their work.
• A brief one-sentence summary of the plot. This sets the general scene of what the book is about.
• Your overall opinion of the book. Again, keep it brief. (you can delve deeper into what you liked and disliked later in the review).

This is the main body of your book review, where you break down and analyze the work. Some of the key elements you might want to examine are listed below. Approach each element one at a time to help your analysis flow.

• The characters
• The setting
• The structure of the story
• The quality of the writing

What did you notice about each one, what did you enjoy, and what did you dislike? Why?

The conclusion is usually the shortest part of a traditional book review, which usually contains:

• A summary of your thoughts about the book as a whole
• Your reader recommendation

Remember that unless you’re writing a book review for a pre-existing publication, there are no rules that you need to follow. This traditional format can be adapted to suit your own style, the book you are reviewing, and your audience.

Also Read : BEST FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

2. Social Media Book Reviews

Book reviews posted on social media tend to have a more relaxed tone than a traditional book review. Again, there are no set rules, but here are a few guidelines and suggestions for posting reviews on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

• Include an eye-catching image

This is essential on Instagram, but whatever social media platform you’re posting on, including a great photo will draw people in to read your review.

In the Instagram world, photos of books taken directly from above are called ‘flat lays.’ You can keep it simple and just snap the front cover, or you can get creative and shoot your book flat lay against an interesting backdrop or include items related to the story.

• Break up your review into short, bite-sized paragraphs

This rule applies to most web content, but it’s even more important on social media, where everyone competes for your reader’s attention.

Big blocks of text are much harder to follow and a sure-fire way to lose your reader’s attention before they even get started. Instead, stick to short paragraphs of one, two, or three sentences, and include spaces between each one.

• Know your character limit

At just 280 characters, Twitter is by far the stingiest of the major social media platforms when it comes to the length of posts. That’s why most people choose platforms like Instagram or Facebook for book reviews. That being said, you can still use Twitter as a way of linking to them once they go live.

Instagram is considerably more generous with its 2,200-character limit, but if you have a lot to say about the book you’re reviewing, it can still be limiting.

If you want to post a more comprehensive review on social media, Facebook is your best bet; they have an upper limit of 63,206 characters.

Whichever platform you post on, remember to factor any hashtags into your character limit too.

• Keep it succinct

Book reviews on social media perform better when sentences are concise. This helps to combat the character limit issue I mentioned above and gets your point across quickly, without the fluff.

Readers on platforms like Instagram and Facebook flit from post to post, so if you don’t say what you mean in as few words as possible, you’ll risk losing your audience altogether.

• Don’t be afraid of emojis.

Love them or hate them, emojis convey mood and emotion where words can sometimes fail us. They also add an extra visual element to a post, help to break up blocks of text and keep the tone informal.

Of course, there’s no rule that you have to include emojis in your social media book reviews, but if you’re already comfortable using them elsewhere, consider incorporating them here too.

• Add a star rating

Star ratings instantly tell your audience whether you loved the book or not before they read a single word of your post. It’s also another visual element to help draw your audience in to find out more.

• Avoid spoilers

I’ve already touched on spoilers above, but it’s essential to avoid them on social media book reviews. That’s because unsuspecting users are scrolling from post to post on these platforms with no way of knowing what’s coming next. As a result, it’s very easy to read something you can’t unread.

• Consider tagging the author and publisher.

But ONLY do this if you enjoyed the book and your review is favorable. It’s not good online etiquette to tag in the creators if you’re posting a scathing critique; it’s mean-spirited, and it could lead to a social media squabble, which the internet has enough of already.

3. Goodreads and Amazon Book Reviews

Both Goodreads and Amazon allow anyone to upload a review of any book, so they’re great places to get started if you’re new to the reviewing world. Plus, you can post more in-depth and lengthy reviews than you can on social media platforms.

There are endless ways to write reviews for sites like these, but if you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, here’s a good template that will help you to flesh out your ideas.

• Star Rating

Sites like Goodreads and Amazon usually ask for a 1-5 star rating before writing your review. 3 is your baseline which translates to “pretty good.” It can be tempting to rush straight in for a 5 star if you loved a book, but where possible, try to reserve this rating for books that really blow you away.

• A Brief Synopsis

Reviews on these sites appear directly under the book listing, so generally, there’s no need to mention the author, title, or publishing details. Instead, you can dive straight into a quick overview of the plot, using the official publisher’s summary to help you if needed.

Avoid revealing any significant details or spoilers, but include enough to outline the story and give context to the rest of your review.

Talking about how the book made you feel is a good place to start. Did you learn something you didn’t know before? Was it a page-turner or a hard slog? Were there any twists you did or didn’t see coming? Mentioning the existence of a plot twist is usually deemed ok, as long as you don’t reveal what it is.

Next, examine the book’s various elements, including the characters, setting, and plot, using examples. You might even want to include some direct quotes from the book, as long as they don’t give too much away.

Just like the traditional book review format, conclude it with a summary. Are you glad you read it? Who might enjoy this book, and who should avoid it?

4. Listicle Book Reviews

Listicles are articles and blog posts structured like a numbered list. An example from the book review world is “10 reasons why you need to read X by X”.

These types of reviews are particularly well suited to blog posts, as they’re an excellent way to encourage people to click on your link compared with a less attention-grabbing traditional format.

That being said, listicle book reviews tend only to work if your feedback is positive. Using this format to review a book you hated risks alienating your audience and coming across as harsh and judgemental. Less favorable reviews are better presented in a more traditional format that explores a book’s different aspects one by one.

5. An Essay Style Analysis

An essay-style review isn’t technically a review, as it delves much deeper into the work and examines it from multiple angles.

If you’re not limited to a word count and want to dissect an author’s work, then an in-depth essay-style analysis can be a great addition to your blog. Plus, they’re generally written for people who have already read the book, so there’s no need to worry about spoilers.

But when you’re writing more than 500 words about a book, it can be easy to ramble or go off on a tangent. Here’s an example format to keep you on track:

• Include the author’s name, the title of the book, and the date of publication.
• Is the book a standalone novel or part of a series?
• What made you choose this book in the first place? Have you read any of the author’s previous work?
• Describe the cover. Does it draw you in? Is it an appropriate representation of the book as a whole?

Set the Scene

• Include an overview of the plot.
• Did you have any expectations or preconceived ideas about the book before you read it?

Your Review

Discuss the following elements one at a time. Use quotes or direct examples when talking about each one.

• Describe the geographical location, the period in time, and the environment.
• Is the setting based on reality or imagination?
• How does the setting help to add mood and tone to the story?
• Give an overview of the main characters and their backgrounds.
• Discuss the significant plot points in the story in chronological order.
• What are the conflicts, the climaxes, and the resolutions?
• How does the author use literary devices to bring meaning and life to book?
• For example, discuss any elements of foreshadowing, metaphors, symbolism, irony, or imagery.
• What are the overall themes and big ideas in the story? For example, love, death, friendship , war, and coming of age.
• What, if any, are the morals within the story?
• Are there any underlying or less prominent themes that the author is trying to portray?

Your Opinion

• Which elements were successful, and which weren’t?
• Were the characters believable? Did you want them to succeed?
• In the case of plot twists, did you see them coming?
• Are there any memorable scenes or quotes that particularly stood out to you? If so, why?
• How did the book make you feel? Did it evoke any strong emotions?
• Did the book meet your preconceived expectations?
• Were you satisfied by the ending, or did you find it frustrating?
• Summarise the plot and theme in a couple of sentences.
• Give your overall opinion. Was the book a success, a failure, or something in between?
• Include a reader recommendation, for example, “this book is a must-read for anyone with a love of dystopian science fiction.”
• Include a star rating if you wish.

6. Create Your Own Book Review Template

If you plan on becoming a regular book reviewer, it’s a good idea to create your own unique template that you can use for every book you review, whether you’re posting on a blog, website, or social media account.

You can mix and match the various elements of the review styles above to suit your preferences and the types of books you’ll be reviewing.

Creating a template unique to you helps build your authority as an independent reviewer and makes writing future reviews a lot easier.

Writing book reviews is a great way to get even more out of your reading journey. Whether you loved or hated a title, reviewing it will help you remember and process the story, and you’ll also be helping others to decide whether or not it’s worth their time, too.

And who knows, you might fall in love with writing book reviews and decide to pursue it as an additional source of income or even a new career!

Whatever your book reviewing plans and goals are, I hope the templates, tips, and ideas above will help you get started.

Do you have any advice for writing a great book review? Let me know in the comments below!

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Best Book Accounts on Instagram to Follow for When You Want to Reduce the Digital Noise

Arvyn Cerézo

Arvyn Cerézo is an arts and culture writer/reporter with bylines in Book Riot , Publishers Weekly , South China Morning Post , PhilSTAR Life , the Asian Review of Books , and other publications. You can find them on arvyncerezo.com and @ArvynCerezo on Twitter.

View All posts by Arvyn Cerézo

Social media and books usually don’t mesh well. Sometimes, we find ourselves falling down the social media rabbit hole instead of doing what we love more, which is reading books . But what if it proves to be difficult taking time away from social media, especially the irresistible lure of Bookstagram? After all, it has become part of our daily lives, and to some, everyday work.

We can reduce the digital noise by populating our feeds with awesome bookish content. Below are the best book accounts on Instagram to follow for feed curation , self-care, inspiration, ideas, recommendations, and beyond! The list consists of the best Bookstagrammers, authors, literary agencies, cover designers, poets, websites, book clubs, organizations, and the like.

James Trevino (@james_trevino)

Trevino is a Bookstagrammer from Romania, and he has one of the best Bookstagram accounts on the platform. He posts artful arrangements of books whose themes are sometimes based on books themselves. Usually, they are laid out exquisitely on the floor.

Trevino has attracted media attention from the likes of Business Insider , Bored Panda, and the blog of the gay social network Hornet.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by James Trevino (@james_trevino)

Elizabeth Sagan (@elizabeth_sagan)

If you’re looking for a female counterpart to Trevino, there’s his friend Elizabeth Sagan. Sagan also posts curated displays of books, and her feed is very similar to Trevino’s in terms of aesthetics. Most of her photos have fantasy themes.

Sagan’s and Trevino’s massive followings have spurred the creation of the handle @mybookfeatures , which features bookish content from variety of bookworms.

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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Elizabeth Sagan (@elizabeth_sagan)

Jacquelin Firkins (@jfkillsdarlings)

Firkins is a young adult author ( How Not to Fall in Love ) and a costume designer. However, she is not just another designer as she creates dresses based on book covers. In fact, she made this beautiful dress inspired by the cover of Pride and Premeditation by YA author and Book Riot contributing editor Tirzah Price.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jacqueline Firkins (@jfkillsdarlings)

The Last Bookstore (@lastbooktorela)

The Last Bookstore is an independent bookstore in downtown Los Angeles. According to Timeout , it’s the “world’s most-Instagrammed bookstore.” Peeking at their Instagram account, I conclude that the report wasn’t incorrect. Their feed features their beautiful, Instagram-worthy bookshelves. It must be nice working there every day…

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Last Bookstore (@lastbookstorela)

Rupi Kaur (@rupikaur_)

Kaur is a bestselling poet who thrives on Instagram, and her poetry collections Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers are consistent bestsellers. Kaur’s Instagram feed mostly contains her poems, which are accompanied by illustrations, and other posts about her personal life.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by rupi kaur (@rupikaur_)

Kimberly Glyder (@kglyder)

Looking for design inspirations? Glyder is a designer and illustrator, and her Instagram feed is full of gorgeous book covers like these:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kimberly Glyder (@kglyder)

Joan Wong (@jningwong)

Wong is a visual designer for books. Her Instagram feed features stunning book covers and artworks for literary magazines. She is the cover designer of Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joan Wong (@jningwong)

Reese’s Book Club (@reesesbookclub)

Looking for Instagram book clubs to follow? Reese’s Book Club is on the platform as well. Their feed is full of bookish stuff such as giveaways, interviews, playlists inspired by books, etc. If you’re a member of said book club, you should definitely follow them.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Reese’s Book Club (@reesesbookclub)

Book of the Month (@bookofthemonth)

Book of the Month is a book subscription site. On their Instagram profile, they say that you’ll “discover the best new books every month.” Their feed doesn’t disappoint — it features recommendations, bookish memes, and more.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 (@bookofthemonth)

Goodreads (@goodreads)

I usually stay away from the Goodreads website because, um, you know …but for some reason, I love their Instagram feed. It’s so vibrant and colorful. If you’re a Bookstagrammer, they feature contributions with the hashtag #GoodreadsSpotlight and with #GoodreadsWithAView for books and scenic spots.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Goodreads (@goodreads)

Pretty Book Places (@prettybookplaces)

Speaking of scenic spots, this Instagram account features “aesthetic collection of #PrettyBookPlaces.” They usually post photos of bookshelves and bookstores from different places around the world. If you love books and travel, follow them for this kind of content.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Books | Places | Interior (@prettybookplaces)

Kirkus Reviews (@kirkus_reviews)

This book review site is also killing it on Instagram. Kirkus Reviews posts usually include a snippet of a book review, which is also published on their website, and an Instagram-worthy shot. Excellent writing and aesthetically pleasing photos make a good combination indeed.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kirkus Reviews (@kirkus_reviews)

American Booksellers Association (@americanbooksellers)

The Instagram feed of this not-for-profit trade organization highlights beautiful bookshelves of independent bookstores across the U.S. In each photo, they also include a little bit of history of those bookstores. It’s one of the best book accounts on Instagram — a good resource to discover your next bookstore stop.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by American Booksellers Assoc. (@americanbooksellers)

Library Journal (@library_journal)

Library Journal is a book site for librarians. Their Instagram profile is vibrant. They post occasional bookish news and updates that are relevant to librarians. If you’re looking for more book accounts on Instagram that cater to them, here’s a few .

If you’re not a librarian yourself, however, you can still follow them for their author events.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Library Journal (@library_journal)

Liz Alva (@kampvuurverhalen)

Bookstagram is considered an art on the platform, but this independent creator is taking a different approach with Audiobookstagram. Alva’s Instagram feed features dramatic photos of smartphones playing audiobooks on them. Not only that, she also accompanies them with short audiobook reviews.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Liz Alva | Audiobookstagram (@kampvuurverhalen)

Jenny Han (@jennyhan)

YA author Han is known for the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy, which was adapted into films. If you’re a fan of the series, follow Han’s Instagram account for the behind-the-scenes photos from the series and updates from the author’s life.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jenny Han (@jennyhan)

Epic Reads (@epicreads)

Epic Reads is a book site dedicated to promoting YA books. Owned by HarperCollins, they are one of the best YA-focused book accounts on Instagram. Follow them for updates on new YA releases, recommendations, memes, and more.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Epic Reads (@epicreads)

Ice Cream Books (@ice_cream_books)

This Instagram account is taking book pairings to another level by putting together books and ice creams! Their Instagram feed features different types of ice cream on top of or beside books, with some ice creams even dripping on the book covers. If you’re not a fan of “ruining” books in this way, however, please move on to the next one in this list.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ice Cream Books (@ice_cream_books)

The Good Literary Agency (@thegoodagencyuk)

If you’re a bookworm and an aspiring novelist, this literary agency in the UK regularly posts writing and pitching tips from their agents on Instagram. Their “Lessons I’ve Learned While Writing” series, in which their authors share their writing experiences, are also helpful.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Good Literary Agency (@thegoodagencyuk)

Book Riot (@bookriot)

And let’s not forget Book Riot, one of the most diverse and inclusive book sites on the Internet. Book Riot on Instagram posts contributions from its community, giveaways, memes, quotes, and more.

It’s simply one of the best Instagram accounts for readers.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Book Riot (@bookriot)

Do you want more book accounts on Instagram to follow? I know that listing only 20 is not enough, so here’s more:

15 Instagram Poetry Accounts To Follow For Inspiration

25 Fascinating Authors On Instagram to Follow in 2019

23 Book Cover Designers to Follow on Instagram

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Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Friday, Mar 29

17 book review examples to help you write the perfect review.

It’s an exciting time to be a book reviewer. Once confined to print newspapers and journals, reviews now dot many corridors of the Internet — forever helping others discover their next great read. That said, every book reviewer will face a familiar panic: how can you do justice to a great book in just a thousand words?

As you know, the best way to learn how to do something is by immersing yourself in it. Luckily, the Internet (i.e. Goodreads and other review sites , in particular) has made book reviews more accessible than ever — which means that there are a lot of book reviews examples out there for you to view!

In this post, we compiled 17 prototypical book review examples in multiple genres to help you figure out how to write the perfect review . If you want to jump straight to the examples, you can skip the next section. Otherwise, let’s first check out what makes up a good review.

Are you interested in becoming a book reviewer? We recommend you check out Reedsy Discovery , where you can earn money for writing reviews — and are guaranteed people will read your reviews! To register as a book reviewer, sign up here.

Pro-tip : But wait! How are you sure if you should become a book reviewer in the first place? If you're on the fence, or curious about your match with a book reviewing career, take our quick quiz:

Should you become a book reviewer?

Find out the answer. Takes 30 seconds!

What must a book review contain?

Like all works of art, no two book reviews will be identical. But fear not: there are a few guidelines for any aspiring book reviewer to follow. Most book reviews, for instance, are less than 1,500 words long, with the sweet spot hitting somewhere around the 1,000-word mark. (However, this may vary depending on the platform on which you’re writing, as we’ll see later.)

In addition, all reviews share some universal elements, as shown in our book review templates . These include:

• A review will offer a concise plot summary of the book. 
• A book review will offer an evaluation of the work. 
• A book review will offer a recommendation for the audience. 

If these are the basic ingredients that make up a book review, it’s the tone and style with which the book reviewer writes that brings the extra panache. This will differ from platform to platform, of course. A book review on Goodreads, for instance, will be much more informal and personal than a book review on Kirkus Reviews, as it is catering to a different audience. However, at the end of the day, the goal of all book reviews is to give the audience the tools to determine whether or not they’d like to read the book themselves.

Keeping that in mind, let’s proceed to some book review examples to put all of this in action.

How much of a book nerd are you, really?

Find out here, once and for all. Takes 30 seconds!

Book review examples for fiction books

Since story is king in the world of fiction, it probably won’t come as any surprise to learn that a book review for a novel will concentrate on how well the story was told .

That said, book reviews in all genres follow the same basic formula that we discussed earlier. In these examples, you’ll be able to see how book reviewers on different platforms expertly intertwine the plot summary and their personal opinions of the book to produce a clear, informative, and concise review.

Note: Some of the book review examples run very long. If a book review is truncated in this post, we’ve indicated by including a […] at the end, but you can always read the entire review if you click on the link provided.

Examples of literary fiction book reviews

Kirkus Reviews reviews Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man :

An extremely powerful story of a young Southern Negro, from his late high school days through three years of college to his life in Harlem.

His early training prepared him for a life of humility before white men, but through injustices- large and small, he came to realize that he was an "invisible man". People saw in him only a reflection of their preconceived ideas of what he was, denied his individuality, and ultimately did not see him at all. This theme, which has implications far beyond the obvious racial parallel, is skillfully handled. The incidents of the story are wholly absorbing. The boy's dismissal from college because of an innocent mistake, his shocked reaction to the anonymity of the North and to Harlem, his nightmare experiences on a one-day job in a paint factory and in the hospital, his lightning success as the Harlem leader of a communistic organization known as the Brotherhood, his involvement in black versus white and black versus black clashes and his disillusion and understanding of his invisibility- all climax naturally in scenes of violence and riot, followed by a retreat which is both literal and figurative. Parts of this experience may have been told before, but never with such freshness, intensity and power.

This is Ellison's first novel, but he has complete control of his story and his style. Watch it.

Lyndsey reviews George Orwell’s 1984 on Goodreads:

YOU. ARE. THE. DEAD. Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected. Or in Newspeak "Double Plus Good." Let me preface this with an apology. If I sound stunningly inarticulate at times in this review, I can't help it. My mind is completely fried.

This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings, with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully developed language called Newspeak, or rather more of the anti-language, whose purpose is to limit speech and understanding instead of to enhance and expand it. The world-building is so fully fleshed out and spine-tinglingly terrifying that it's almost as if George travelled to such a place, escaped from it, and then just wrote it all down.

I read Fahrenheit 451 over ten years ago in my early teens. At the time, I remember really wanting to read 1984, although I never managed to get my hands on it. I'm almost glad I didn't. Though I would not have admitted it at the time, it would have gone over my head. Or at the very least, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it fully. […]

The New York Times reviews Lisa Halliday’s Asymmetry :

Three-quarters of the way through Lisa Halliday’s debut novel, “Asymmetry,” a British foreign correspondent named Alistair is spending Christmas on a compound outside of Baghdad. His fellow revelers include cameramen, defense contractors, United Nations employees and aid workers. Someone’s mother has FedExed a HoneyBaked ham from Maine; people are smoking by the swimming pool. It is 2003, just days after Saddam Hussein’s capture, and though the mood is optimistic, Alistair is worrying aloud about the ethics of his chosen profession, wondering if reporting on violence doesn’t indirectly abet violence and questioning why he’d rather be in a combat zone than reading a picture book to his son. But every time he returns to London, he begins to “spin out.” He can’t go home. “You observe what people do with their freedom — what they don’t do — and it’s impossible not to judge them for it,” he says.

The line, embedded unceremoniously in the middle of a page-long paragraph, doubles, like so many others in “Asymmetry,” as literary criticism. Halliday’s novel is so strange and startlingly smart that its mere existence seems like commentary on the state of fiction. One finishes “Asymmetry” for the first or second (or like this reader, third) time and is left wondering what other writers are not doing with their freedom — and, like Alistair, judging them for it.

Despite its title, “Asymmetry” comprises two seemingly unrelated sections of equal length, appended by a slim and quietly shocking coda. Halliday’s prose is clean and lean, almost reportorial in the style of W. G. Sebald, and like the murmurings of a shy person at a cocktail party, often comic only in single clauses. It’s a first novel that reads like the work of an author who has published many books over many years. […]

Emily W. Thompson reviews Michael Doane's The Crossing on Reedsy Discovery :

In Doane’s debut novel, a young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery with surprising results.

An unnamed protagonist (The Narrator) is dealing with heartbreak. His love, determined to see the world, sets out for Portland, Oregon. But he’s a small-town boy who hasn’t traveled much. So, the Narrator mourns her loss and hides from life, throwing himself into rehabbing an old motorcycle. Until one day, he takes a leap; he packs his bike and a few belongings and heads out to find the Girl.

Following in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and William Least Heat-Moon, Doane offers a coming of age story about a man finding himself on the backroads of America. Doane’s a gifted writer with fluid prose and insightful observations, using The Narrator’s personal interactions to illuminate the diversity of the United States.

The Narrator initially sticks to the highways, trying to make it to the West Coast as quickly as possible. But a hitchhiker named Duke convinces him to get off the beaten path and enjoy the ride. “There’s not a place that’s like any other,” [39] Dukes contends, and The Narrator realizes he’s right. Suddenly, the trip is about the journey, not just the destination. The Narrator ditches his truck and traverses the deserts and mountains on his bike. He destroys his phone, cutting off ties with his past and living only in the moment.

As he crosses the country, The Narrator connects with several unique personalities whose experiences and views deeply impact his own. Duke, the complicated cowboy and drifter, who opens The Narrator’s eyes to a larger world. Zooey, the waitress in Colorado who opens his heart and reminds him that love can be found in this big world. And Rosie, The Narrator’s sweet landlady in Portland, who helps piece him back together both physically and emotionally.

This supporting cast of characters is excellent. Duke, in particular, is wonderfully nuanced and complicated. He’s a throwback to another time, a man without a cell phone who reads Sartre and sleeps under the stars. Yet he’s also a grifter with a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” attitude that harms those around him. It’s fascinating to watch The Narrator wrestle with Duke’s behavior, trying to determine which to model and which to discard.

Doane creates a relatable protagonist in The Narrator, whose personal growth doesn’t erase his faults. His willingness to hit the road with few resources is admirable, and he’s prescient enough to recognize the jealousy of those who cannot or will not take the leap. His encounters with new foods, places, and people broaden his horizons. Yet his immaturity and selfishness persist. He tells Rosie she’s been a good mother to him but chooses to ignore the continuing concern from his own parents as he effectively disappears from his old life.

Despite his flaws, it’s a pleasure to accompany The Narrator on his physical and emotional journey. The unexpected ending is a fitting denouement to an epic and memorable road trip.

The Book Smugglers review Anissa Gray’s The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls :

I am still dipping my toes into the literally fiction pool, finding what works for me and what doesn’t. Books like The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray are definitely my cup of tea.

Althea and Proctor Cochran had been pillars of their economically disadvantaged community for years – with their local restaurant/small market and their charity drives. Until they are found guilty of fraud for stealing and keeping most of the money they raised and sent to jail. Now disgraced, their entire family is suffering the consequences, specially their twin teenage daughters Baby Vi and Kim.  To complicate matters even more: Kim was actually the one to call the police on her parents after yet another fight with her mother. […]

Examples of children’s and YA fiction book reviews

The Book Hookup reviews Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give :

♥ Quick Thoughts and Rating: 5 stars! I can’t imagine how challenging it would be to tackle the voice of a movement like Black Lives Matter, but I do know that Thomas did it with a finesse only a talented author like herself possibly could. With an unapologetically realistic delivery packed with emotion, The Hate U Give is a crucially important portrayal of the difficulties minorities face in our country every single day. I have no doubt that this book will be met with resistance by some (possibly many) and slapped with a “controversial” label, but if you’ve ever wondered what it was like to walk in a POC’s shoes, then I feel like this is an unflinchingly honest place to start.

In Angie Thomas’s debut novel, Starr Carter bursts on to the YA scene with both heart-wrecking and heartwarming sincerity. This author is definitely one to watch.

♥ Review: The hype around this book has been unquestionable and, admittedly, that made me both eager to get my hands on it and terrified to read it. I mean, what if I was to be the one person that didn’t love it as much as others? (That seems silly now because of how truly mesmerizing THUG was in the most heartbreakingly realistic way.) However, with the relevancy of its summary in regards to the unjust predicaments POC currently face in the US, I knew this one was a must-read, so I was ready to set my fears aside and dive in. That said, I had an altogether more personal, ulterior motive for wanting to read this book. […]

The New York Times reviews Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood :

Alice Crewe (a last name she’s chosen for herself) is a fairy tale legacy: the granddaughter of Althea Proserpine, author of a collection of dark-as-night fairy tales called “Tales From the Hinterland.” The book has a cult following, and though Alice has never met her grandmother, she’s learned a little about her through internet research. She hasn’t read the stories, because her mother, Ella Proserpine, forbids it.

Alice and Ella have moved from place to place in an attempt to avoid the “bad luck” that seems to follow them. Weird things have happened. As a child, Alice was kidnapped by a man who took her on a road trip to find her grandmother; he was stopped by the police before they did so. When at 17 she sees that man again, unchanged despite the years, Alice panics. Then Ella goes missing, and Alice turns to Ellery Finch, a schoolmate who’s an Althea Proserpine superfan, for help in tracking down her mother. Not only has Finch read every fairy tale in the collection, but handily, he remembers them, sharing them with Alice as they journey to the mysterious Hazel Wood, the estate of her now-dead grandmother, where they hope to find Ella.

“The Hazel Wood” starts out strange and gets stranger, in the best way possible. (The fairy stories Finch relays, which Albert includes as their own chapters, are as creepy and evocative as you’d hope.) Albert seamlessly combines contemporary realism with fantasy, blurring the edges in a way that highlights that place where stories and real life convene, where magic contains truth and the world as it appears is false, where just about anything can happen, particularly in the pages of a very good book. It’s a captivating debut. […]

James reviews Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight, Moon on Goodreads:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is one of the books that followers of my blog voted as a must-read for our Children's Book August 2018 Readathon. Come check it out and join the next few weeks!

This picture book was such a delight. I hadn't remembered reading it when I was a child, but it might have been read to me... either way, it was like a whole new experience! It's always so difficult to convince a child to fall asleep at night. I don't have kids, but I do have a 5-month-old puppy who whines for 5 minutes every night when he goes in his cage/crate (hopefully he'll be fully housebroken soon so he can roam around when he wants). I can only imagine! I babysat a lot as a teenager and I have tons of younger cousins, nieces, and nephews, so I've been through it before, too. This was a believable experience, and it really helps show kids how to relax and just let go when it's time to sleep.

The bunny's are adorable. The rhymes are exquisite. I found it pretty fun, but possibly a little dated given many of those things aren't normal routines anymore. But the lessons to take from it are still powerful. Loved it! I want to sample some more books by this fine author and her illustrators.

Publishers Weekly reviews Elizabeth Lilly’s Geraldine :

This funny, thoroughly accomplished debut opens with two words: “I’m moving.” They’re spoken by the title character while she swoons across her family’s ottoman, and because Geraldine is a giraffe, her full-on melancholy mode is quite a spectacle. But while Geraldine may be a drama queen (even her mother says so), it won’t take readers long to warm up to her. The move takes Geraldine from Giraffe City, where everyone is like her, to a new school, where everyone else is human. Suddenly, the former extrovert becomes “That Giraffe Girl,” and all she wants to do is hide, which is pretty much impossible. “Even my voice tries to hide,” she says, in the book’s most poignant moment. “It’s gotten quiet and whispery.” Then she meets Cassie, who, though human, is also an outlier (“I’m that girl who wears glasses and likes MATH and always organizes her food”), and things begin to look up.

Lilly’s watercolor-and-ink drawings are as vividly comic and emotionally astute as her writing; just when readers think there are no more ways for Geraldine to contort her long neck, this highly promising talent comes up with something new.

Examples of genre fiction book reviews

Karlyn P reviews Nora Roberts’ Dark Witch , a paranormal romance novel , on Goodreads:

4 stars. Great world-building, weak romance, but still worth the read.

I hesitate to describe this book as a 'romance' novel simply because the book spent little time actually exploring the romance between Iona and Boyle. Sure, there IS a romance in this novel. Sprinkled throughout the book are a few scenes where Iona and Boyle meet, chat, wink at each, flirt some more, sleep together, have a misunderstanding, make up, and then profess their undying love. Very formulaic stuff, and all woven around the more important parts of this book.

The meat of this book is far more focused on the story of the Dark witch and her magically-gifted descendants living in Ireland. Despite being weak on the romance, I really enjoyed it. I think the book is probably better for it, because the romance itself was pretty lackluster stuff.

I absolutely plan to stick with this series as I enjoyed the world building, loved the Ireland setting, and was intrigued by all of the secondary characters. However, If you read Nora Roberts strictly for the romance scenes, this one might disappoint. But if you enjoy a solid background story with some dark magic and prophesies, you might enjoy it as much as I did.

I listened to this one on audio, and felt the narration was excellent.

Emily May reviews R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy Wars , an epic fantasy novel , on Goodreads:

“But I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.”

Holy hell, what did I just read??

➽ A fantasy military school

➽ A rich world based on modern Chinese history

➽ Shamans and gods

➽ Detailed characterization leading to unforgettable characters

➽ Adorable, opium-smoking mentors

That's a basic list, but this book is all of that and SO MUCH MORE. I know 100% that The Poppy War will be one of my best reads of 2018.

Isn't it just so great when you find one of those books that completely drags you in, makes you fall in love with the characters, and demands that you sit on the edge of your seat for every horrific, nail-biting moment of it? This is one of those books for me. And I must issue a serious content warning: this book explores some very dark themes. Proceed with caution (or not at all) if you are particularly sensitive to scenes of war, drug use and addiction, genocide, racism, sexism, ableism, self-harm, torture, and rape (off-page but extremely horrific).

Because, despite the fairly innocuous first 200 pages, the title speaks the truth: this is a book about war. All of its horrors and atrocities. It is not sugar-coated, and it is often graphic. The "poppy" aspect refers to opium, which is a big part of this book. It is a fantasy, but the book draws inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking.

Crime Fiction Lover reviews Jessica Barry’s Freefall , a crime novel:

In some crime novels, the wrongdoing hits you between the eyes from page one. With others it’s a more subtle process, and that’s OK too. So where does Freefall fit into the sliding scale?

In truth, it’s not clear. This is a novel with a thrilling concept at its core. A woman survives plane crash, then runs for her life. However, it is the subtleties at play that will draw you in like a spider beckoning to an unwitting fly.

Like the heroine in Sharon Bolton’s Dead Woman Walking, Allison is lucky to be alive. She was the only passenger in a private plane, belonging to her fiancé, Ben, who was piloting the expensive aircraft, when it came down in woodlands in the Colorado Rockies. Ally is also the only survivor, but rather than sitting back and waiting for rescue, she is soon pulling together items that may help her survive a little longer – first aid kit, energy bars, warm clothes, trainers – before fleeing the scene. If you’re hearing the faint sound of alarm bells ringing, get used to it. There’s much, much more to learn about Ally before this tale is over.

Kirkus Reviews reviews Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One , a science-fiction novel :

Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles.

The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and it’s free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three.

Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzival’s great strength is that he has absorbed all Halliday’s obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Cline’s narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wade’s trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more ’80s games and movies to gain the other keys; it’s clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate “epic throwdown” fail to stir the blood.

Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.

Book review examples for non-fiction books

Nonfiction books are generally written to inform readers about a certain topic. As such, the focus of a nonfiction book review will be on the clarity and effectiveness of this communication . In carrying this out, a book review may analyze the author’s source materials and assess the thesis in order to determine whether or not the book meets expectations.

Again, we’ve included abbreviated versions of long reviews here, so feel free to click on the link to read the entire piece!

The Washington Post reviews David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon :

The arc of David Grann’s career reminds one of a software whiz-kid or a latest-thing talk-show host — certainly not an investigative reporter, even if he is one of the best in the business. The newly released movie of his first book, “The Lost City of Z,” is generating all kinds of Oscar talk, and now comes the release of his second book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” the film rights to which have already been sold for $5 million in what one industry journal called the “biggest and wildest book rights auction in memory.”

Grann deserves the attention. He’s canny about the stories he chases, he’s willing to go anywhere to chase them, and he’s a maestro in his ability to parcel out information at just the right clip: a hint here, a shading of meaning there, a smartly paced buildup of multiple possibilities followed by an inevitable reversal of readerly expectations or, in some cases, by a thrilling and dislocating pull of the entire narrative rug.

All of these strengths are on display in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Around the turn of the 20th century, oil was discovered underneath Osage lands in the Oklahoma Territory, lands that were soon to become part of the state of Oklahoma. Through foresight and legal maneuvering, the Osage found a way to permanently attach that oil to themselves and shield it from the prying hands of white interlopers; this mechanism was known as “headrights,” which forbade the outright sale of oil rights and granted each full member of the tribe — and, supposedly, no one else — a share in the proceeds from any lease arrangement. For a while, the fail-safes did their job, and the Osage got rich — diamond-ring and chauffeured-car and imported-French-fashion rich — following which quite a large group of white men started to work like devils to separate the Osage from their money. And soon enough, and predictably enough, this work involved murder. Here in Jazz Age America’s most isolated of locales, dozens or even hundreds of Osage in possession of great fortunes — and of the potential for even greater fortunes in the future — were dispatched by poison, by gunshot and by dynamite. […]

Stacked Books reviews Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers :

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Malcolm Gladwell’s writing. Friends and co-workers tell me that his subjects are interesting and his writing style is easy to follow without talking down to the reader. I wasn’t disappointed with Outliers. In it, Gladwell tackles the subject of success – how people obtain it and what contributes to extraordinary success as opposed to everyday success.

The thesis – that our success depends much more on circumstances out of our control than any effort we put forth – isn’t exactly revolutionary. Most of us know it to be true. However, I don’t think I’m lying when I say that most of us also believe that we if we just try that much harder and develop our talent that much further, it will be enough to become wildly successful, despite bad or just mediocre beginnings. Not so, says Gladwell.

Most of the evidence Gladwell gives us is anecdotal, which is my favorite kind to read. I can’t really speak to how scientifically valid it is, but it sure makes for engrossing listening. For example, did you know that successful hockey players are almost all born in January, February, or March? Kids born during these months are older than the others kids when they start playing in the youth leagues, which means they’re already better at the game (because they’re bigger). Thus, they get more play time, which means their skill increases at a faster rate, and it compounds as time goes by. Within a few years, they’re much, much better than the kids born just a few months later in the year. Basically, these kids’ birthdates are a huge factor in their success as adults – and it’s nothing they can do anything about. If anyone could make hockey interesting to a Texan who only grudgingly admits the sport even exists, it’s Gladwell. […]

Quill and Quire reviews Rick Prashaw’s Soar, Adam, Soar :

Ten years ago, I read a book called Almost Perfect. The young-adult novel by Brian Katcher won some awards and was held up as a powerful, nuanced portrayal of a young trans person. But the reality did not live up to the book’s billing. Instead, it turned out to be a one-dimensional and highly fetishized portrait of a trans person’s life, one that was nevertheless repeatedly dubbed “realistic” and “affecting” by non-transgender readers possessing only a vague, mass-market understanding of trans experiences.

In the intervening decade, trans narratives have emerged further into the literary spotlight, but those authored by trans people ourselves – and by trans men in particular – have seemed to fall under the shadow of cisgender sensationalized imaginings. Two current Canadian releases – Soar, Adam, Soar and This One Looks Like a Boy – provide a pointed object lesson into why trans-authored work about transgender experiences remains critical.

To be fair, Soar, Adam, Soar isn’t just a story about a trans man. It’s also a story about epilepsy, the medical establishment, and coming of age as seen through a grieving father’s eyes. Adam, Prashaw’s trans son, died unexpectedly at age 22. Woven through the elder Prashaw’s narrative are excerpts from Adam’s social media posts, giving us glimpses into the young man’s interior life as he traverses his late teens and early 20s. […]

Book Geeks reviews Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love :

WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5

SUBJECT: 4/5

CANDIDNESS: 4.5/5

RELEVANCE: 3.5/5

ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5

“Eat Pray Love” is so popular that it is almost impossible to not read it. Having felt ashamed many times on my not having read this book, I quietly ordered the book (before I saw the movie) from amazon.in and sat down to read it. I don’t remember what I expected it to be – maybe more like a chick lit thing but it turned out quite different. The book is a real story and is a short journal from the time when its writer went travelling to three different countries in pursuit of three different things – Italy (Pleasure), India (Spirituality), Bali (Balance) and this is what corresponds to the book’s name – EAT (in Italy), PRAY (in India) and LOVE (in Bali, Indonesia). These are also the three Is – ITALY, INDIA, INDONESIA.

Though she had everything a middle-aged American woman can aspire for – MONEY, CAREER, FRIENDS, HUSBAND; Elizabeth was not happy in her life, she wasn’t happy in her marriage. Having suffered a terrible divorce and terrible breakup soon after, Elizabeth was shattered. She didn’t know where to go and what to do – all she knew was that she wanted to run away. So she set out on a weird adventure – she will go to three countries in a year and see if she can find out what she was looking for in life. This book is about that life changing journey that she takes for one whole year. […]

Emily May reviews Michelle Obama’s Becoming on Goodreads:

Look, I'm not a happy crier. I might cry at songs about leaving and missing someone; I might cry at books where things don't work out; I might cry at movies where someone dies. I've just never really understood why people get all choked up over happy, inspirational things. But Michelle Obama's kindness and empathy changed that. This book had me in tears for all the right reasons.

This is not really a book about politics, though political experiences obviously do come into it. It's a shame that some will dismiss this book because of a difference in political opinion, when it is really about a woman's life. About growing up poor and black on the South Side of Chicago; about getting married and struggling to maintain that marriage; about motherhood; about being thrown into an amazing and terrifying position.

I hate words like "inspirational" because they've become so overdone and cheesy, but I just have to say it-- Michelle Obama is an inspiration. I had the privilege of seeing her speak at The Forum in Inglewood, and she is one of the warmest, funniest, smartest, down-to-earth people I have ever seen in this world.

And yes, I know we present what we want the world to see, but I truly do think it's genuine. I think she is someone who really cares about people - especially kids - and wants to give them better lives and opportunities.

She's obviously intelligent, but she also doesn't gussy up her words. She talks straight, with an openness and honesty rarely seen. She's been one of the most powerful women in the world, she's been a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, she's had her own successful career, and yet she has remained throughout that same girl - Michelle Robinson - from a working class family in Chicago.

I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't benefit from reading this book.

Hopefully, this post has given you a better idea of how to write a book review. You might be wondering how to put all of this knowledge into action now! Many book reviewers start out by setting up a book blog. If you don’t have time to research the intricacies of HTML, check out Reedsy Discovery — where you can read indie books for free and review them without going through the hassle of creating a blog. To register as a book reviewer , go here .

And if you’d like to see even more book review examples, simply go to this directory of book review blogs and click on any one of them to see a wealth of good book reviews. Beyond that, it's up to you to pick up a book and pen — and start reviewing!

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14 Book Instagrams to Follow if You Love Reading as Much as We Do

FYI, they're called "bookstagrams."

Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.

If you... appreciate an expert opinion:

The New York Times is one of the most trusted authorities on the best and most popular of the literary world. With this account, you get exclusive daily reviews and recommendations from the esteemed publication's skilled book editors—along with revealing quotes from some of your favorite authors. (Think Alice Walker and Malala Yousfazi.)

@StrandBookstore

If you... adore a great indie bookstore:

Known as the largest independent bookshop in New York City, this woman-owned company always manages to feature recommendations that are both culturally aware and relevant. Take their Marie Kondo-inspired reads pictured here—or this collection of novels written by indigenous female authors.

@SubwayBookReview

If you... like book reviews from real people:

From New York City and D.C., to Chile and London, this account features readers from all around the world as they share the books they're reading on their commute.

@WellReadBlackGirl

If you ... love supporting authors of color:

A community dedicated to recognizing the work of women of color, Well Read Black Girl regularly posts book recommendations across various genres and inspiring quotes—all penned by Black female writers.

@BraveLiteraryWorld

If you... appreciate a good Instagram photo as much as you do a good book:

This account has stellar book recommendations, and the relaxing, aesthetically pleasing pictures of organized bookshelves, coffee cups, and charming shops will be a breath of fresh air for your feed.

@ThisGirlHasn0name

If you... have a weakness for fantasy and sci-fi: Not only does "the girl with no name" post flawlessly moody pics of her book collection, but from Game of Thrones to Harry Potter, her whimsical novel suggestions are a dream.

@BookishMadeleine

If you... are looking to find a friend in the bookstagram community:

With a combination of warm, inviting photos and captions with questions like, "What are some of your favorite bookstores?" and "What’s your favorite weather to read in?" Madeleine's comment section is a great place to interact with your fellow bibliophiles.

@ReesesBookClub

If you... would do anything Reese Witherspoon tells you to:

Since 2017, the actress has been sharing her love of literature with fans with monthly top story picks for "Reese's Book Club." Her latest choice? Susan Orlean's The Library Book. She's also highlighted The Last Mrs. Parrish , This Is How It Always Is , and Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows .

@ChronicleBooks

If you... want to brighten up your feed:

The independent San Francisco book publisher, Chronicle Books, consistently posts lively and colorful photos that always manage to brighten your day—and they're not always of books: sometimes they'll come with a side of toast and puppies.

@HotDudesReading

If you... like your books with a little eye candy :

It's clear to see where the priorities lie for Hot Dudes Reading's more than one million followers. Forget pretty pictures and reviews and just take a moment to enjoy the simple allure of an attractive guy glued to a book. And the cheeky captions don't hurt, either.

If you... need inspiration for your own book snaps: This profile's suggestions come with "a side of stuff" to go along with the featured novel's cover and theme, taking each story beyond its pages. (Plus, the geometrically organized layouts are a Type-A reader's dream.)

@elizabeth_sagan

If you... like to get creative with your book collection: Sagan's feed is filled with out-of-this-world imagery, all created with the help of a few hardbacks. From a unicorn to a Christmas tree and a rainbow, her photos transport you to another world—just like any good story could.

@penguinrandomhouse

If you... want to keep up with the publishing world: A part of one of the biggest publishing houses in the world, Penguin Random House has near-daily updates of the latest books added to their impressive lineup. Think Becoming , everything Danielle Steel, and Jodi Picoult's A Spark of Light.

@mybookfeatureaccount

If you ... c an't decide which bookstagram account you like best:

Co-run by Sagan, this account is a hub for all bookstagrammers, with photos from various profiles in the community, reposted for all to see. So if you're not exactly sure who to follow, this is the perfect place to find your favorite bookish pics.

McKenzie Jean-Philippe is the editorial assistant at OprahMag.com covering pop culture, TV, movies, celebrity, and lifestyle. She loves a great Oprah viral moment and all things Netflix—but come summertime, Big Brother has her heart. On a day off you'll find her curled up with a new juicy romance novel.

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25 Bookstagrammers You Should Be Following This Month

Find your new favorite book recommenders!

BuzzFeed Staff Writer

1. Johanna from @johsjournal

About Me: My name is Johanna, an avid reader who was born in the Philippines, raised in the United States , and am currently based in Las Vegas , Nevada. Reading was a huge part of my childhood at home and at school where I studied English Literature for undergrad, but work (I’m in the Legal and Tech industries) had completely dominated my life until last year when I started reading again and started a bookstagram. These days, I prefer my dog Enzo and books over people, and I’m not sorry.

What Followers Can Expect: Followers can expect honest reviews and features of mostly fantasy, science fiction, and magical realism books. I prioritize and highlight books written by BIPOC and authors of other marginalized groups across several genres, including SFF, historical fiction, nonfiction, and literary fiction. I also encourage my followers to read Asian literature. Some of my reading journal spreads from my blackout notebook tend to make an appearance on my Instagram every now and then!

A Recent Book I Loved: So many good books out there! I love everything about Jade City by Fonda Lee. An Asian-inspired urban fantasy with gangster and kung fu film vibes, Jade City tells the story of two rival warrior clans who carry the bloodline of a race with the ability to harness the power of a natural substance unique to Kekon, jade. Focus is on No Peak Clan siblings, the Kauls, who are forced to protect their own as the greed of rival power-hungry Ayt family of the Mountain clan threaten the country’s economic stability. I loved the dynamics between the siblings and other thematic elements woven into this story: loyalty, honor, mythology, and magic (Lee seamlessly entwines the country’s history and the lore behind jade, and I loved the interludes about the Deities). For me, all of it was believable, the fight scenes entertaining, and, for me, the cultural nuances relatable. I can see why the book is going to be developed into a TV series. I’m so excited!

2. Danny from @thebookorder

About Me: My name is Danny! I'm a queer guy from Canada, sharing my love for all things book-related on Instagram.

What Followers Can Expect: People can expect book reviews, unboxings, and tons of photos of pretty books!

A Recent Book I Loved: A recent book I loved was A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth! It's an urban fantasy following four queer characters in the city of Toronto as they try to figure out who is performing ritualistic murders that threaten to expose the Fae realm to the human world.

3. Serena from @bookaquarius

About Me: My name is Rena. I turned 25 this year, and I grew up in California. I’m excited to say I will be graduating from law school in 2021. I love sharing my love of books with the world, taking photos, and attempting to make the perfect frozen margaritas!

What Followers Can Expect: My account is all about reading just for the joy of it and sharing my love of fantasy and speculative fiction. On my account I like to promote the work of underrepresented authors and try help people understand that authors of color are not a deviation from norm. Authors of color are pushing boundaries across genres in really exciting ways and I like to highlight that on my page.

A Recent Book I Loved: I recently read Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark and thought it was brilliant. Ring Shout is a very short book that weaves together a compelling plot, themes of trauma and racism, Black history and folklore, and awesome character work into a beautiful, cohesive story definitely worth a read. I loved it. I cried twice because I’m sensitive (lol) and this book really dug into something deep that I know many Black people will be able to relate to. I think there’s something here for everyone, but I also strongly believe this book will hit different for Black readers, especially those who know intimately the pain and violence wrought by American/Western colonialism and racism.

4. Madi from @madismysteries

About Me: My name is Madi and I live in British Columbia, Canada. I’m currently in my first year of law school and hoping to become a criminal lawyer and pursue a life filled with social justice! I love sarcasm, running, and building things.

What Followers Can Expect: I post a lot of mystery/thriller reviews on my account but have been branching out into other genres as well this year. I’m passionate about activism and I do a biweekly segment called Mondays with Madi where I post about things I’m interested in (wrongful convictions, true crime, mental health, etc.)

A Recent Book I Loved: The first book I read by Backman was Anxious People and it earned the award for “the fiction book I most wish I wrote” so I was super pleased to love A Man Called Ove as well! Reading this book felt like melting chocolate in a pot on the stove and then sinking into it like a hot tub. It wins the award for having me cry the soonest a book has ever made me cry. It was adorable and sad and funny and cute and real. Backman is just such a gifted author — he does such a good job of creating characters with his words in a way that makes you feel like you grew up with them.

5. Asha from @tothineshelfbetrue

About Me: I'm originally from Long Island (complete with the accent and snobbery about bagels) and currently live in DC. I am always down to discuss the Bachelor franchise, and I love Taylor Swift . I was a huge bookworm as a kid — I'd take out seven books at a time and finish them way ahead of their due dates, but I stopped in college. After I finished school and began working full time, I started picking up books again and fell back in love with reading.

What Followers Can Expect: Lots of recommendations and reviews but also "bookalikes" (aka "if you like this, try this") and "starter packs" so that people who might not be immersed in book internet have a good jumping point. My reviews span plenty of genres from nonfiction to fantasy but my favorite genre is romance. Reading diversely is also important to me. I thought that as a South Asian woman and the daughter of immigrants growing up in a multicultural community, I would naturally pick up titles that reflect that but I found that wasn't the case so I'm trying to be purposeful about the voices I'm seeking out and amplifying. Plus, you can expect plenty of (in my opinion) hilarious outtakes because it definitely takes more than one try to get the right shot.

A Recent Book I Loved: My favorite book of 2021 so far has been The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. It absolutely lived up to the hype and just made my heart feel so warm and full. It was a poignant story and really sent the message to look past stereotypes and not just believe what you've been told so that you can see who people really are and what they can be. It really captured how important it is to look for the best in people and to understand that doing something correctly isn’t necessarily the same as doing the right thing. Every character was an absolute cinnamon roll and I want only the best for them.

6. Alejandro from @alejandro.reads

About Me: My name is Alejandro, and I use he, him, his, and el pronouns. I am a 9th grade English Language Arts and English as a Second Language teacher in Houston. As a product of Mexican immigrants, I have witnessed the power of community first hand, so I am passionate about community organizing and advocacy with a specific focus on rethinking school discipline and creating brave spaces for undocumented youth in schools.

What Followers Can Expect: I started @alejandro.reads to find healing and pieces of myself in written words, so most of the books I rave about are books that sparked a strong, personal connection with me or explore topics I am passionate about. I prioritize reading books that center Black, Indigenous, and People of color (BI&POC). Additionally, I read texts that discuss abolition, transformative justice, and liberation, so followers can expect a lot of books that dissect America and examine alternative frameworks for how we respond to everyone who is harmed by our capitalistic, carceral state. Lastly, I host the #DecolonizeDecemberPhotoChallenge every December, which is a challenge that seeks to highlight BIPOC stories and narratives.

A Recent Book I Loved: Most of the books I've read this year have been so amazing. If I had to pick one, I would have to say Infinite Country by Patricia Engel. Infinite Country follows a mixed-status family living in Colombia and New Jersey that has been separated by borders and anti-immigrant policies. This book is special to me because I saw my family in this story, and I know all too well how taxing it is to navigate this country with great precaution because someone you love is deportable. This book holds a special place in my heart because of its incredible depiction of how grounding familial love is — how it can heal and protect in the face of xenophobia and white supremacy.

7. Linzi from @abookishendeavor

About Me: Hi, I'm Linzi! I'm a graphic designer, illustrator, mental health advocate, and aspiring confetti connoisseur. I’m from the Midwest but currently reside in Brooklyn, NY with my husband and two cat children. Reading is a major pillar of my identity, and I simply couldn't live without it.

What Followers Can Expect: I read A LOT (301 books in 2020), and love to explore across different genres; my favorites being fantasy, historical fiction, and speculative short stories. When I love a book, I SCREAM (or cry) about it from the streets of Brooklyn, so followers can expect a lot of very enthusiastic (read: blubbering) reviews and book photos around the city. I also take every opportunity to feature independent bookstores and have a goal to visit every indie bookstore in NYC. Lastly, as a huge proponent of sharing one’s story and destigmatizing mental health, I often get up close and personal about my mental health journey, identity as a Chinese American adoptee, and grief over the loss of my dad at age 20.

A Recent Book I Loved: Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa was so wholesome, lovely, yet heart-wrenching in ways I wasn’t expecting. A 30-year old Japanese man, Sentaro, is barely scraping by in life, indebted and bound to a confectionery shop specializing in dorayaki, a pancake dessert filled with sweet bean paste. His soul-numbing existence is disrupted when an elderly lady, Tokue, steps into his life with the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. So begins their friendship and work together. There is so much more depth to this book than just fluffy pancakes, though. Tokue has secrets from her past as well that have led to a life of suffering, spoiled dreams, and isolation. This book has a slow, flowing nature that is almost meditative, with definite philosophical and spiritual undertones.

8. Helen from @readwithneleh

About Me: Hi, I'm Helen! I'm a Korean-American Angeleno living in San Francisco. Besides being a bookworm, I am a foodie, hiker, dog mom, and a lover of all the shoes.

What Followers Can Expect: Followers can expect reviews focused on books by BIPOC authors that range in genre, but mostly from literary fiction, fantasy, memoirs, and translated fiction. My reviews are often personal because I love sharing how a book moved me and connecting with people based on shared experience. I also post photos of my outfits and/or sneakers that match book covers! You'll also find a lot of food content in my stories.

A Recent Book I Loved: This one is so hard because there have been so many great books! I read Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters earlier this year and I still think about it. As a cis, straight woman, it really opened my eyes about my views on motherhood. I highly recommend it. It's about three women, trans and cis, whose lives become intertwined around an unexpected pregnancy. Reese is a trans woman who desperately wants to be a mother. And Ames, Reese's ex, is a destransitioned trans woman who got her boss, Katrina, pregnant. Longing to make sense of the pregnancy and at a chance of a family, Ames propositions that the three of them raise the baby together.

9. Vicki from @vickisbookshelf

About Me: Hi! My name is Vicki and I’m a 24 year-old Florida native now living in Massachusetts. I’m a mental health therapist by day and a bookworm by night. I often choose books over people but if I do leave the house, catch me with a few books in my bag.

What Followers Can Expect: Followers can expect book recommendations from a wide range of genres — although my favorites are YA, romance, and fantasy! I also love featuring books with Jewish representation as an #OwnVoices advocate. Along with reviews, you can expect to see talk about mental health, a lot of coffee, house plants, and the occasional guest appearance of my pup, Lou!

A Recent Book I Loved: I just recently finished Legendborn by Tracy Deonn and wow, wow, wow! Bree is the brilliant, badass protagonist this world needed. If you haven’t picked this one up yet, what are you waiting for? Holy heck was this book so good. I actually teared up when I read the last page because I was so sad I finished — which is very on brand for me (lmao).

10. Casey from @caseythereader

About Me: Hi! My name is Casey and I'm a 30-something queer woman living in the DC area with my spouse and two cats. By day I'm a digital marketer, but I've had my nose in a book since I was a little kid and I love shouting about books with my fellow bookworms.

What Followers Can Expect: I try to read as broadly and diversely as possible, so hopefully a little bit of everything. My true loves are sci-fi/fantasy or young adult novels featuring queer characters. The past few years have brought us some truly wonderful books featuring people and characters I've never seen on the pages of books before and I want to share them with everyone. You'll also see a lot of my cats Teddy and Marcel, plus plenty of coffee and cocktails.

A Recent Book I Loved: I just devoured Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers in one sitting. Grace wakes up after a night out in Las Vegas to discover she married Yuki, a girl she can't remember. When Grace hits a wall in her professional life, she heads to New York to meet and get to know Yuki. Honey Girl is a beautiful exploration of blood family, queer found family, and learning when to ask for help.

11. Amber from @cvillebooksandwine

About Me: I'm Amber! I am a 29(ish)-year-old lover of all things books and wine! I just love curling up with a good book and a delicious glass of red after a long day. When I'm not reading, I am running a business with my husband of almost nine years and spending time with our beautiful daughter, Brynn.

What Followers Can Expect: My followers can expect to see bright, colorful photos, fun reels, and book recommendations! I especially love to read mysteries and thrillers as well as contemporary romance, so if that's your jam, I have a long list of recs for you! I love meeting new people and through the last year of uncertainty in the world, bookstagram has been my happy place. I love the connections, friendships, and all around love that has blossomed from joining this community. I am so thankful for the joy it has brought me!

A Recent Book I Loved: I recently finished Ties That Tether by Jane Ighano. I had picked it up after seeing a phenomenal review by @hillysreads and I was blown away. I highly recommend this book! I FLEW through this one and enjoyed every minute of it. Love, heartbreak, choices and excellent chemistry — this is easily one of my favorites of 2021!

12. Danielle from @dogmombookworm

About Me: My name is Danielle and I live in Philly with my fiancé and pup. I was adopted from South Korea as a baby and raised Jewish in DC, but I have been living in Philly for the past 10 years.

What Followers Can Expect: I am most drawn to books that have been written by women and BIPOC. Followers can expect honest reviews on a wide variety of genres coupled with photos around the beautiful streets of Philly (only good things happen here!). I buy almost all of my books from an indie, Black, woman-owned bookstore (s/o Harriett's Bookshop !) but let's be honest: books can be expensive, so I have a mix of library books too.

A Recent Book I Loved: Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel Moniz! The book leaves you with a metallic taste of blood, warmth, shame, sadness, and life. It's a collection of short stories surrounding people in various stages of sadness, grief and anger, who try to fill themselves, distract themselves, and outright embrace pain to feel alive. Like The Secret Lives of Church Ladies , the characters in this book are trying to carve out space for themselves to live. Filled with shame and want, the perfect terseness of Moniz's writing style gives us enough to stay on the edge of our seat, yet leave us wanting more, aching for more.

13. CoCo from @coco_chasing_adventures

About Me: My name is Courtney, but my book friends call me CoCo — bringer of the cozy vibes! I’m a working (engineer) mother of a 6-year-old who keeps me young, and I’ve been married to my college sweetheart for nearly thirteen years. I’m a writer and I like to say I’m working on an adult fantasy novel, but I’m much too nervous to share!

What Followers Can Expect: I’m a Black feminist, lover of all things simple, cozy and adventurous. I share books, lifestyle tips, recipes and inclusive brands that align to my principles and way of life. Every morning, I share an inspirational quote, art or person to help you set your intention. Ultimately, the objective is to empower and commune with book lovers.

A Recent Book I Loved: My most anticipated read this year was Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans. I have followed her career and watched videos of her performing poetry on YouTube. I’ve always been enamored with her soothing tone while delivering strong critiques of society. This particular collection is a summoning for Black girls to come home to that place where we eat our Mama’s food and get our hair done. This book is a love letter to Black girls, and I am indeed in love.

14. Olivia from @cant.liv.without.books

About Me: I'm a second grade teacher in the DC area and I love what I do. When I'm not (still) virtual teaching or reading, I'm training for my next marathon, bullet journaling, watching The Bachelor , or applying for rescue dogs. I lived in Vietnam for a year and regularly dream about the next time I'll be able to sip cà phê sữa đa on a crowded, bustling street post-pandemic.

What Followers Can Expect: Followers can expect detailed reviews (with content warnings) both on my instagram page and my blog . My favorite genres are historical fiction and memoir, but I read a wide variety of books from thriller to YA romance to historical biography. My bookstagram is a welcoming and inclusive space for everyone.

A Recent Book I Loved: While I love reading best sellers, I also love to find indie or less-reviewed books and lift them up for others to read. One book I lift up — and have been told this is THE book people associate my account with — is The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. It is a multigenerational tale of the Tran family, from the 1920s Communist Land Reform through the Vietnam War. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai writes with such incredibly lyricism and emotion, and the story uplifts the voices of Vietnamese people, a side of the story Americans do not see in history class. Also, she is hands-down my favorite author friend on bookstagram.

15. Katie from @kikiareyoureading

About Me: My name is Katie and I'm a biracial 33-year-old midwest transplant living in the metro DC area. While reading is one of my absolute favorite past times, I also enjoy describing every book I read in great detail to my husband, obsessing about my perfect cat, watching Disney vloggers talk about theme park food for hours, and sitting outside with a glass of wine.

What Followers Can Expect: I usually describe the books I read as either sad or sexy, and that couldn't be more true. One day you'll see a review for an incredibly heavy, messy and dramatic book and then the next day you'll see me reviewing the most ridiculously great happily-ever-after romance. I also typically read a pretty diverse array of books, whether that be author or experience and I hope anyone can come to my account and see a book that highlights their experience!

A Recent Book I Loved: Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. She's probably my favorite author and this book was so quintessential Tayari Jones, with messy characters that you don't really love but understand where they're coming from. Perfection! Silver Sparrow tells the messy story of two family's in 1980s Atlanta, both connected by one man. One family is a secret and kept in the shadows while the other gets to be publicly connected to him, oblivious to his other life. There are so many themes going on in this book, between what love looks like for all of us and how it can differ as well as the roles that are traditionally given to a family vs. what family can mean outside of those traditional roles. And each of these themes scattering throughout the book played into Jones masterful writing, weaving these themes into an American family, and breaking the molds we all see as "normal."

16. Gabi from @booklanguage

About Me: Even though I wish my career was spent reading books, it's largely spent creating things. I'm a writer and photographer; founder of Well Kept , where I support women in small business who are ready to play big; founder of Literary League , an international book club in 40+ cities around the world; and co-founder of idlewide , where I spend my time creating content and connecting with fellow self-employed women.

What Followers Can Expect: I delve into my lived experiences and how the books I'm reading enrich them. My favorite conversations feature heart-to-hearts about books that make me feel something. Generally, you can expect to see me raving about literary fiction, rom-coms, thrillers, anything set in a small town, and everything that Literary League is reading.

A Recent Book I Loved: Even though I primarily read fiction, I loved reading the poetry collection What Kind of Woman . Kate Baer's writing is true magic. This was the last book I read in 2020. It was the perfect way to seal off the craziest of years and bring hope into this one. I'm new to poems and, wow, I see what I've been missing. Kate Baer's words will stay with me for years to come.

17. Gabby from @bookish_afrolatina

About Me: My name is Gabby and I'm a librarian, archivist, and historian in Massachusetts. I'm dedicated to researching and sharing the stories of those who have been pushed aside throughout history. My main focus is to do this in a way that is relatable and engaging.

What Followers Can Expect: Followers can expect to see posts about books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), disabled folks, LGBTQ+ folks, and more. As much as I admire the bookstagram accounts with gorgeous aesthetics and style, I don't have that on my page. My favorite genres are historical fiction, diverse romances, historical nonfiction, and sometimes young adult novels. As a classic millennial, you will likely find images that include my cats and plants, too. I post everything from relaxing page turning videos to book reviews and librarian jokes.

A Recent Book I Loved: A recent book I enjoyed was How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole. I love most of Cole's books because her characters are funny, relatable, lovable, and smart. Check out my review on my website bookishafrolatina.com .

18. Jordyn from @biblio.jordyn

About Me: My name is Jordyn Walker and I’m a School Social Worker at a special education school in Northeast DC. I love books, brunch, cheese, and wine — and chatting about all of them all of the time. I am a huge extrovert and am always looking to make connections anywhere I go. I have made so many genuine connections here on bookstagram and I’ve loved every second of it!

What Followers Can Expect: From my account you can expect a wide variety of genre recommendations and book features, honest reviews, advocacy for BIPOC and #ownvoices books, and books that have badass women. In a lot of my reviews, my social worker side shines through. I love preventative care and mental health. I also do a lot of polls, engaging with my followers, and Q&As with wine by my side and my family pups sometimes make an appearance in my posts.

A Recent Book I Loved: I recently read The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan that releases on April 6th! There were so many things to love about the book, but the Jewish representation not rooted in trauma was one of my favorite parts, as well as breaking down social expectations of women and having sex positive conversations!

19. Keisha from @bookingforfun

About Me: I’m a southern girl and lover of chill vibes, photography, and books. Reading for me is a form of self-care, so I try to make time for it as often as possible.

What Followers Can Expect: My bookstagram is a reflection of my mood every time I sit down with a good book. Give me a good book, a cozy blanket, and a little jazz music and I’m all set!

A Recent Book I Loved: One book that I’ve read recently that has stuck with me is Early Departures. Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds was an emotional roller coaster (to say the least!) I know that this book is listed as YA/teen fiction, but my goodness this book left me gutted, just a blubbering mess. The story takes the reader on a very emotional journey into how Jamal is faced with unimaginable decisions and grief while still trying to navigate life as a teenager.

20. Anika from @chaptersofmay

About Me: My name is Anika, and I live in a small town in northern England. You’ll usually find me with a camera in one hand, a book in the other, and a cup of tea brewing on the side. When I’m not posting on my blog , I’m a marketing and fundraising administrator for a local charity.

What Followers Can Expect: You can expect plenty of honest book reviews, recommendations, and monthly reading roundups. There’s also 90% chance you’ll spot a cup of tea in my photos. I try to diversify my reading, and my favorite genres are contemporary, romance, and literary fiction. Plus, I’m a huge lover of all things cosy, and aim to live a slow and simple life, so expect plenty of flat lays and warm lifestyle shots on my page too.

A Recent Book I Loved: Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson. It’s a beautifully tender and evocative debut exploring love, racism and masculinity in contemporary South East London. Caleb Azumah Nelson’s writing is full of soul. There’s a vulnerability to the way he has shaped the characters, despite the book being written is second person. It’s art-like, perfectly crafted, and more relevant than ever. Don’t wonder whether to pick this one up, just go for it.

21. Jimalion from @itsabookishworld_

About Me: My name is Jimalion (like a million but Ja-Million. My mom was drinking some major creative juice when she came up with that name.) Most people on the internet call me JP or Milly for short (if my future kids ever say I am not cool, I will refer to my time here on the internet). Born and raised in North Carolina, and I am a southern girl through and through. I like my chicken hot and my tea iced and sweet. I'm the true definition of a Libra, and most people on bookstagram will probably say that I am the world's biggest crier. I work in the field of Emergency Management, and fruit snacks are the best snacks — that's not up for debate.

What Followers Can Expect: What followers can expect from my account is emotion. I frequently cry or passionately discuss my reactions to what I am currently watching and reading. I do live creations in the kitchen which mostly fail but there have been some good recipes and I haven't burned the house down yet. I created books and bonnets which is me in my most natural way, discussing recent reads that have left lasting impressions on me.

A Recent Book I Loved: Hands down it has to be A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir. This series has surprised me in the best way possible, and it had me flipping out from the beginning. I have actually been putting off reading the final book because I am sure that Sabaa is going to rip my heart out, stomp on it, and evil laugh as I drown in my tears.

22. Tatiana from @tatis.bookshelf

About Me: My name is Tatiana, I'm 26-years-old, and I'm from Delaware. I'm a textbook introvert who loves reading books, talking about books, and cuddling with my cat.

What Followers Can Expect: Followers can expect honest book reviews and plenty of recommendations. I read a wide variety of books, but followers will see that I like to amplify stories written by authors from many different backgrounds. I hope to encourage others to diversify their reading.

A Recent Book I Loved: One book that I enjoyed recently was Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall! I learned so much from this book and it's one that I reference often when discussing feminism and feminist issues. It's one that I would consider required reading for anyone that calls themselves a feminist. What Kendall manages to do in this book is introduce the reader to a wider scope of feminist issues. There are so many topics covered in this book that prior to reading I already knew were issues but had never particularly considered to be feminist issues. Kendall guides you as she exposes how varying societal problems (such as hunger, gun violence, housing inequality and more) should be viewed through a feminist framework.

23. Jamie from @whatjamieread

About Me: I'm a twenty-something book lover from St. Louis, MO who lives for a good vanilla latte and an even better glass of wine. I started @whatjamieread as a place to talk about all things books including the books I’ve read, the books I want to read, and the books other people love too. The nicest thing you can say to me is "I'm going to read this book because of you!"

What Followers Can Expect: I prioritize reading and showcasing books written by diverse authors. I believe there is a gap in publishing representation for BIPOC and LGBTQ stories, so I like to be someone readers can rely on to help them diversify their shelves. If you follow me you can expect a lot of discussions around representation and how important it is for us to see ourselves reflected in the books we read.

A Recent Book I Loved: I just finished reading Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado. When I heard about this book, I knew I had to read it based off the cover alone. I mean, look at it. She’s gorgeous in every way. Too often I feel there is a stereotype that being overweight automatically equals being ugly and unstylish but that’s certainly not the case for me personally. Seeing a fat AND pretty girl on a cover of a YA novel is something I don’t think I’ve experienced much until now. Charlie is your average 16-year-old. She has pretty average teenage insecurities that are compounded by her mother’s obsession with her weight and her skinny best friend who she thinks represents perfection. Luckily my mom always supported me as I am, but I remember being an insecure teenager and feeling like I could never stack up to my skinny friends, especially in the eyes of boys. The dynamic between Charlie and Amelia felt so incredibly familiar to me that at certain parts I was wondering if Maldonado had stolen my high school diary. I don't read a TON of YA but this book was truly so fabulous, and I want everyone to read it as soon as possible!

24. Esosa from @dreamingofbookpages

About Me: My name is Esosa and I’m a Nigerian-Canadian based in Toronto. I’ve loved reading for as long as I can remember — as a kid I devoured fictional mysteries (the Nancy Drew series and Famous Five series) and as a teen I was all about that young adult romance. When I’m not reading, I’m either binge watching the newest Netflix show, watching early 2000s rom-coms or classic Disney movies.

What Followers Can Expect: I read and feature a wide genre of books on my account: memoirs, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, romance, fantasy, and more. I pretty much read everything except horror (sorry Stephen King fans!) I post cute, brightly lit bookish photos accompanied by thoughtful reviews and I’d occasionally throw in a smiling selfie every now and then :)

A Recent Book I Loved: At the start of the year I read Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour and I can’t stop raving about it. It’s a fictional story about a young Black man trying to make it in the world of sales. Along the way he deals with a lot of workplace micro-aggressions and targeted racism; he makes some questionable decisions and kind of loses himself in the process. I was completely captivated by this story and was so dumbfounded by the end that I didn’t know how to feel. I love books that can evoke that kind of emotion, you know?

25. Jen from @mrsboomreads

About Me: My name is Jen and I'm a lifelong reader, Little Free Library steward, mom of three young children, and retired clinical social worker. As a book juggler, I have three in progress at all times: physical, ebook, and audio. I started this account as a place to chat with other readers and it has grown into not only my favorite hobby, but a source of amazing friendships and connections with authors!

What Followers Can Expect: My page features a wide range of books I love, along with a myriad of coffee mugs, houseplants, and overshares of my beloved bookshelves. In my stories, I continue to highlight books and also mix in lifestyle elements and some of my favorite places and adventures in and around NY's Hudson Valley.

A Recent Book I Loved: Float Plan by Trish Doller and Meet Me in Paradise by Libby Hubscher. They both are complex romances, combined with loss, humor, and beautiful tropical locations. I love when books surprise me and tug at my emotions, and these stories did just that!

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Briefly Noted

Natural Magic , by Renée Bergland (Princeton) . Although Charles Darwin and Emily Dickinson are not known to have ever crossed paths, this study finds meaning in their shared enchantment with the natural world. In the eighteen-thirties, as “natural philosophy” began to be reframed as “natural science,” emotion and wonder were eclipsed by objectivity and mastery. Darwin and Dickinson resisted this binary: Darwin saw his theory of natural selection as an occasion for humility, relating humans to other species; Dickinson, whose poetry reflects her extensive scientific education and interest in Darwin’s ideas, depicted the natural world with both botanical specificity and attention to its splendors. Bergland links their thinking to an earlier tradition of “natural” (as opposed to supernatural) magic, which emphasized the interconnectedness of life and valued emotion as a form of understanding.

Traces of Enayat , by Iman Mersal (Transit) . Literary obsession and detective work merge in this biography of Enayat al-Zayyat, an Egyptian writer who died by suicide in 1963, at the age of twenty-six, years before the publication of her only novel. Following the threads of al-Zayyat’s life, Mersal depicts the Egypt in which she grew up and the largely vanished Cairo where she lived, while chronicling her search for the forgotten author. “To trace someone,” Mersal writes, “is a dialogue that is perforce one-sided.” Indeed, despite assiduous research and interviews with surviving friends and family, Mersal experiences “despair at the possibility of knowing” the true story of al-Zayyat, whose remnants she embroiders with photographs, speculation, and personal reflections, leaving behind a seductive mystery.

What We’re Reading

Discover notable new fiction and nonfiction.

Whale Fall , by Elizabeth O’Connor (Pantheon) . Manod, the observant narrator of this début novel set on the cusp of the Second World War, lives on a sparsely populated Welsh island where, one night, a whale washes up on the beach and dies shortly thereafter. Soon, two researchers turn up to document the customs of the islanders. Manod agrees to assist them, translating phrases (such as “sheep farmer”) and cultural realities (the people cannot swim). In time, however, misunderstandings arise between researchers and subject, imbuing their relationship with both alienation and tenderness. Stubborn transgressions committed by the interlopers testify to the hazards of anthropology and the delusions of so-called progress.

Cinema Love , by Jiaming Tang (Dutton) . This moving if uneven début novel tracks a handful of characters who emigrate, in the nineteen-eighties, from rural China to Manhattan’s Chinatown. They quickly find that it is one thing to leave home and another to move on from the world that has been left behind. That world includes a ramshackle movie theatre, the Mawei City Workers’ Cinema, a place where gay men go to seek forbidden love—and where their wives go to look for them. Part ghost story, part love story, and part tale of hardscrabble immigrant life, this intricately plotted novel asks whether, in the end, it is better to forgive or to forget.

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‘Butcher’ Tells the (Mostly) True Story of a Very Bad Gynecologist

Through the lens of a 19th-century doctor, Joyce Carol Oates explores gothic medical horror.

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Daphne Merkin’s most recent book is the novel “22 Minutes of Unconditional Love.” She is currently at work on a memoir about psychoanalysis.

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BUTCHER, by Joyce Carol Oates

There are many things one could note about Joyce Carol Oates’s long writing career — including, most strikingly, its legendary prolificness. Gifted with a protean talent, she has shifted with ease from one literary genre to another, be it novels, short stories, memoir, poetry, children’s books, essay collections, plays or librettos.

To the envy, admiration and annoyance of less fluent authors, Oates has clearly never suffered from writers’ block. When she is not writing in longhand, she is busy on X and Substack, airing her opinions on Donald Trump and the events of the day. For a time she also wrote suspense under two different pseudonyms.

Indeed, there is something almost compulsive, verging on the hypergraphic, about her need to write. It seems to come to her as readily as breathing, and leaves one wondering whether she ever stops long enough to brew a cup of tea. (One of her few diversions is running.) Now 85, Oates shows no sign of slowing down: “Butcher” is, by most accounts, her 63rd novel, and the book has the feverish energy, narrative propulsion and descriptive amplitude — sometimes to excess — of much of her earlier work.

Even when Oates isn’t writing in an explicitly Gothic mode, as she did in “Bellefleur” (1980) or “My Heart Laid Bare” (1998), she has always been interested in intimations of the sinister, the way it suddenly hoves into view on an ordinary summer day. “At the periphery of many of my poems and works of fiction, as in the corner of an eye,” she once observed in an essay, “there is often an element of the grotesque or surreal.”

The title of “Butcher,” the very starkness of it, gives a clue to the lurid, bloody tale Oates has in store. Like several previous works (her seminal 1966 short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” and the 1992 Chappaquiddick reimagining “Black Water,” for example), it is inspired in part by real figures who committed real crimes — including, in this case, an undertrained doctor named J. Marion Sims, who in the 1840s began performing experimental surgeries on women recovering from difficult childbirths.

Here, the “Butcher” of the title is now called Silas Aloysius Weir, who for 35 years oversees the New Jersey State Asylum for Female Lunatics, where conditions range from abysmal to horrifying. His medical instruction is minimal, consisting of only four months of training at an inferior school, though he is happy to tell everyone that he comes from a distinguished family (one of his uncles is a renowned astronomer at Harvard, from which two brothers have also graduated; Weir seems to be the bad egg).

Silas becomes heralded and then ultimately detested as a pioneer in the field of gyno-psychiatry, through which misogynistic scrim he views the vagina as “a veritable hell-hole of filth & corruption” and the female genitals as “loathsome in design, function & aesthetics.”

It is a time when the seat of hysteria is thought to be the uterus, and pesky clitorises — “the offensive little organ at the mouth of the vagina … like a miniature male organ, with an obscene fire lit from within” — are held accountable for obstreperous behavior in young women and snipped without a second thought. Various ailments are treated, without aid of anesthetic, by scalpel and sometimes a shoemaker’s awl, and the most frequent cure-all is phlebotomy, or bloodletting (“ When in doubt, bleed ”), even if in many cases it causes death. The arsenal of drugs includes laudanum, foxglove, mercury, belladonna, “small quantities of arsenic” and cocaine drops.

“Butcher” is told by different narrators, all of whom cast alternating lights on Weir and his God-given (or so he believes) commitment to the patients in his care. From the start, we are given a sense of his unease and unattractiveness: “His head was overlarge on his stooped & spindly shoulders; his stiff-tufted hair of no discernible hue … his eyes rather deep-set in their sockets, like a rodent’s eyes, damp & quick-shifting.” (Reading, I wondered whether a rodent’s eyes are, in fact, deep-set; from the little I have spotted of them, their eyes seemed flat against their heads. But that is a quibble.)

When his use of a pair of pliers to reposition a 5-month-old’s cranial plates results in the infant’s death — even though he relieves his guilt by noting her “very poor stock, virtually subhuman” — Weir is forced to leave his community. Shortly thereafter, he is called to the asylum, where, relying on the assistance of an experienced midwife, he delivers a baby for an orphaned albino Irish servant named Brigit, who is also purportedly deaf and mute. (The child, naturally, is immediately taken from her.)

Eventually, Brigit becomes his assistant, and Weir becomes obsessed with her otherworldly beauty — “Those staring eyes! The faintest blue, uncanny” — believing that there is a special unspoken communion between them. One of those men whose ignorance is matched by his arrogance, he hopes to achieve worldwide fame by finding a way to cure madness by literally cutting it out of the body, and as the novel proceeds, his approach becomes only more brazen. He uses a tarnished tablespoon for intimate examinations as well as heated forceps, confident in his knowledge that “the interior of the vagina is known to be insensitive to sensation, like the birth canal. There are no nerve endings in these organs.”

His ambitions seem limited only by what he can achieve in a series of increasingly depraved experiments, conducted in his private laboratory. Finally, though, the inmates revolt, in a scene that Oates delineates with grotesque specificity. “Butcher” is undoubtedly one of her most surreal and gruesome works, sparing no repulsive detail or nefarious impulse.

In the end, though, the purview of the novel is larger than one might think, becoming an empathic and discerning commentary on women’s rights, the abuses of patriarchy and the servitude of the poor and disenfranchised. Oates, as is her wont, succeeds in creating a world that is apart from our own yet familiar, making it impossible to dismiss her observations about twisted natures and random acts of violence.

My prevailing question about Oates is where her imaginative fantasies derive from, which has always seemed a mystery to me. We don’t get a sense of who she is behind her writing the way we do with, say, John Updike, John Cheever or Alice Munro . But this unyielding impersonality may be the way that she wants it: In the same essay collection I quoted from earlier, she offers, “Elsewhere I’ve stated that JCO is not a person, not even a personality, but a process that has resulted in a series of texts.”

We have become so used to the notion of the recognizable auteur blazing through the artifice of fiction and calling attention to his or her self that Oates’s approach — not dissimilar from the novelist Gustave Flaubert’s insistence that “an author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere” — feels like a singularly uncommon one. Long may she run.

BUTCHER | Joyce Carol Oates | Knopf | 352 pp. | $30

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Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

John S. Jacobs was a fugitive, an abolitionist — and the brother of the canonical author Harriet Jacobs. Now, his own fierce autobiography has re-emerged .

Don DeLillo’s fascination with terrorism, cults and mass culture’s weirder turns has given his work a prophetic air. Here are his essential books .

Jenny Erpenbeck’s “ Kairos ,” a novel about a torrid love affair in the final years of East Germany, won the International Booker Prize , the renowned award for fiction translated into English.

Kevin Kwan, the author of “Crazy Rich Asians,” left Singapore’s opulent, status-obsessed, upper crust when he was 11. He’s still writing about it .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

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Interview highlights

Stephen king's new story took him 45 years to write.

Mary Louise Kelly

Courtney Dorning

Stephen King says finishing one of his stories decades after he started it felt like "calling into a canyon of time." Francois Mori/AP hide caption

Stephen King says finishing one of his stories decades after he started it felt like "calling into a canyon of time."

Stephen King is out with a new collection of short stories.

As you might expect from the reigning King of Horror, some are terrifying. Some are creepy. Others are laugh-out-loud funny. And one of them took him 45 years to write.

The book is a collection of 12 stories, called You Like it Darker .

Stephen King's legacy of horror

Over the course of his decades-long career as a writer, King has learned there's no taking a story too far.

"I found out – to sort of my delight and sort of my horror – that you can't really gross out the American public," King told NPR.

He spoke with All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly about the book, destiny and getting older.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Mary Louise Kelly: I want to start by asking you about the story, The Answer Man . You began it when you were 30. You finished it when you were 75. What the heck happened?

Stephen King: Well, I lost it. What happens with me is I will write stories and they don't always get done. And the ones that don't get done go in a drawer and I forget all about them. And about five years ago, these people started to collect all the stuff that was finished and all this stuff that was unfinished and put it in an archive. They were going through everything – desk drawers, wastebaskets underneath the desk, every place. I'm not exactly a very organized person. My nephew John Leonard found this particular story, which was written in the U.N. Plaza Hotel back in the '70s, I think. And he said, "You know, this is pretty good. You really ought to finish this." And I read it and I said, "You know, I think I know how to finish it now." So I did.

Kelly: Well give people a taste. The first six or so pages that you had written back in the hotel, it becomes a 50-page story. What was it that you decided was worth returning to?

King: Well, I like the concept: This young man is driving along, and he's trying to figure out whether or not he should join his parents' white shoe law firm in Boston, or whether he should strike out on his own. And he finds this man on the road who calls himself the Answer Man. And he says, "I will answer three of your questions for $25, and you have 5 minutes to ask these questions." So I thought to myself, I'm going to write this story in three acts. One while the questioner is young, and one when he's middle aged, and one when he's old. The question that I ask myself is: "Do you want to know what happens in the future or not?"

Kelly: This story, like many of your stories, is about destiny – whether some things are meant to happen no matter what we do, no matter what choices we make. Do you believe that's true?

King: The answer is I don't know. When I write stories, I write to find out what I really think. And I don't think there's any real answer to that question.

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'carrie' turns 50 here are the best stephen king novels — chosen by you.

Kelly: You do describe in the afterword of the book that going back in your seventies to complete a story you had begun as a young man gave you, and I'll quote your words, "The oddest sense of calling into a canyon of time." Can you explain what that means?

King: Well, you listen for the echo to come back. When I was a young man, I had a young man's ideas about The Answer Man . But now, as a man who has reached, let us say, a certain age, I'm forced to write from experience and just an idea of what it might be like to be an old man. So yeah, it felt to me like yelling and then waiting for the echo to come back all these years later.

Kelly: Are there subjects you shy away from, where you think about it and think, "You know what, that might be one step too creepy, too weird?"

King: I had one novel called Pet Cemetery that I wrote and put in a drawer because I thought, "Nobody will want to read this. This is just too awful." I wanted to write it to see what would happen, but I didn't think I would publish it. And I got into a contractual bind, and I needed to do a book with my old company. And so I did. And I found out – sort of to my delight and sort of to my horror – that you can't really gross out the American public. You can't go too far.

Kelly: It was a huge bestseller, as I recall.

King: Yeah, it's a bestseller and it was a movie. And yeah, the same thing is true with It , about the killer clown who preys on children

Kelly: Who still haunts my nightmares, I have to tell you. You've written how many books at this point?

King: I don't know.

King: Really? In our recent coverage of you, we've said everything from 50 to 70.

King: I think it's probably around 70, but I don't keep any count. I remember thinking as a kid that it would be a really fine lifetime to be able to write 100 novels.

Kelly: Oh my gosh. Well you sound like you're still having a lot of fun, so I hope you have quite a few more novels for us to come.

King: That'd be good.

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Alone and Unafraid

What can we learn from the life of a hermit.

In Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia , a rich noblewoman named Lady Croom is having the grounds of her estate redone by the 1809 version of a trendy landscape architect. He wants to add all the artificially wild, lonely, and picturesque touches so popular at the time, including, to her exasperation, a hermitage. The architect suggests that Lady Croom hire a hermit (an actual job position in those days) to live in it by taking out an ad in the newspaper. “But surely,” Lady Croom replies, “a hermit who takes a newspaper is not a hermit in whom one can have complete confidence.”

Who is a hermit in whom one can have complete confidence? Even today we maintain the residual belief that voluntary isolation promotes spiritual or moral insight, thanks to the long history of religious ascetics like the early Christian anchorites—who were walled up alive in small cells attached to churches to spend their lives in contemplation. The professional hermits of Lady Croom’s time were expected to renounce creature comforts, dress in druidic garments, and offer wise counsel to the occasional visitor. In one instance, such a hermit was fired by his employer after he was caught drinking in the local pub. We expect our hermits to be unworldly. Otherwise, how can they be expected to advise us on how to get along in the world?

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Ken Smith, an Englishman in his 70s who has lived for 40 years in a cabin he built in a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands, may be the most famous living hermit in Great Britain. The subject of a 2022 BBC documentary and now the co-author of The Way of the Hermit , a winning new autobiography written with journalist Will Millard, Smith presents an conundrum. In many respects he fits the eremitic bill perfectly. He lives off the grid, beside a deep loch, miles from other human habitations. He forages, grows, and fishes most of his food, and his only fuel is the wood he chops himself. Smith does not drive and has never used a computer, let alone the internet. He does not take the newspaper.

The Way of the Hermit: My Incredible 40 Years Living in the Wilderness

By Ken Smith with Will Millard. Hanover Square Press.

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Yet The Way of the Hermit feels qualitatively different from other hermit-related books, whether the canonical—Henry David Thoreau’s Walden , natch—or lesser-known works: Howard Axelrod’s powerful 2015 memoir of two years spent alone in a Vermont farmhouse, The Point of Vanishing , or third-person reportage like Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild , the story of a young man who abandoned all his possessions on a vision quest to live off the land in the Alaskan bush and died there. Firstly, Smith was far more successful at this enterprise than any of those other guys, none of whom even sniffed his 40-year benchmark. He also seems much healthier emotionally.

Above all, reading The Way of the Hermit throws into relief how angry—overtly or tacitly—most eremitical memoirs are. Thoreau and his heirs focus more on what they dislike about and reject in civilized society than Smith does, whether it’s Thoreau deploring our lives of quiet desperation or simply the buzz of other people’s feelings and opinions from which Axelrod sought relief in complete solitude. Smith comes across as remarkably well adjusted and sweet-tempered, with a good sense of humor regarding his own shortcomings and a generous spirit toward his neighbors (if someone living 20 miles away can be called a neighbor). “I quite like most people,” Smith writes, which is a sentiment one does not pick up from Thoreau. “I am no stranger to a pint or two at the pub either,” he adds, evincing a quality that would have disqualified him from one of those ornamental hermit gigs 300 years ago.

Smith has a better case for misanthropy than most of his hermit predecessors. At the age of 26, while walking home from a disco one night, he was jumped and savagely beaten by a gang of skinheads, for reasons unknown. His injuries were so severe he required four brain surgeries and lay in a coma for two weeks. When Smith regained consciousness, he writes, “not only could I not walk or speak, but I’d also lost two-thirds of my memory and could not write.” His recovery was long and grueling, but it also taught him the power of his own self-discipline and focused his attention on what really mattered to him.

One distinction between Smith and his literary-hermit forebears comes down to class. Smith grew up in a poor, working-class family in northern England; his childhood home had no running water. He left school at 15 to work for the forestry service and then in a series of often dangerous construction jobs. On one site, he fell “thirteen feet from a steel post onto a bed of industrial steel spikes”—none of which, fortunately, pierced a vital organ. As he saw it, he could spend his existence in “my predestined place in the lifelong tradition of earning little whilst giving over my body, mind and most of my time to paying rent and bills,” or he could work equally hard to attain near-complete independence, surrounded by nature. A pragmatic decision indeed. Smith so adores the natural world and enjoys surmounting the challenges required to survive in it that the sometimes daunting Scottish winters feel like a reasonable trade-off.

While there’s a bit of philosophizing in The Way of the Hermit , these passages feel out of place and betray the hand of Smith’s co-author. Smith seems most present in rollicking stories about almost colliding with a grizzly bear on a mountain trail in Canada or hooking a 12-pound ferox trout, a sort of mutated brown monster grown to enormous size in the black depths of the loch. (You can imagine these stories killing at the pub.) When Ken Smith wants to impart some wisdom, it’s invariably about a practical matter, like how to lay a fire so that you get the most heat from the least amount of wood, or how to make wine out of birch sap. (Smith has made wine from a dizzying array of foraged materials, ranging from holly to horseradish to pansies, and he has stocked up gallons of the stuff to be served at his funeral.) He wants his readers to know that wild animals are much less of a threat in the bush than simple exhaustion and exposure.

Above all, Smith warns: “If you’ve got somewhere you must be before nightfall, and you are all alone in the wilderness, especially if the weather is bad: DO NOT STOP.” You will quickly become chilled and possibly disoriented. Granted, most of us don’t have to walk 20 miles home from the store or the pub. “I chose a unique way of life,” Smith admits, “which has meant there have been times where I’ve simply had to go out in bad conditions, but that will most likely never be you.” If by some chance, however, that is you, do keep Smith’s preeminent survival tip in mind.

This is probably not the sort of insight that the likes of Lady Croom would have expected from her hermit. And yet Ken Smith is a hermit in whom it is possible to have complete confidence, more so than many others who have picked up a pen (literally, in Smith’s case, since he also doesn’t own a typewriter). Without a doubt, I believe that the primary objects of Smith’s thoughts are matters like how to keep the pine martens from getting at his food stores, whether the roof will hold in the coming storm, and the never-ending task of keeping up his supply of firewood. “Honestly,” he writes, “I think that constant engagement is one of the main attractions for people who choose to live this way.” Cumulatively, these humble doings feel more profound in their fashion than Thoreau’s musings on the Bhagavad Gita and other highfalutin thoughts. They are the basic stuff of existence, the point at which Smith makes daily, intimate contact with the natural world and his own human needs. His ability to appreciate them despite their repetitious quality is worthy of a zen monk.

Given how plainspoken most of the book is, it’s a surprise that Smith’s recounting of a bout with cancer that had him in and out of the hospital before he could finally return home becomes so moving. Smith’s acceptance of his own mortality has an enviable lightness. “Let my body give a good feed to the Highland worms,” he writes. “I have led the life I wanted to live and, no matter what happens now, I can depart this earth a deeply satisfied man.” Few of us can say as much, and it feels like a blessing to have spent this time with someone who can.

10 books to add to your reading list in June

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Critic Bethanne Patrick recommends 10 promising titles, fiction and nonfiction, to consider for your June reading list.

With books tied to historical anniversaries and about two driven women, June offers powerful perspectives on what and how we remember. Novelists engage with societal shunning, the ghosts of ancestors and beachside grief; nonfiction writers with overturned case law, misplaced aspirations and reclaiming the legacy of a brilliant comic.

The Future Was Color: A Novel By Patrick Nathan Counterpoint: 224 pages, $26 (June 4)

Nathan employs the timeless “a stranger comes to town” plot, as a gay Hungarian Jew named George Curtis gets invited to a chic Malibu house for a 1950s Hollywood heyday. However, George’s backstory in Manhattan and future in Paris bookend that bacchanalia and show how dark the shadow of McCarthyism and its “Lavender Scare” loomed over queer society — as other paranoias of the day did over other people, reminding readers that things have not changed enough.

Godwin By Joseph O’Neill Pantheon: 288 pages, $28 (June 4)

From “Netherland” to “The Dog” and now in “Godwin,” O’Neill has evinced strong interests in team sports (cricket, soccer) and colonialism (in Dubai, and Africa broadly). As protagonist Mark Wolfe, recently disgraced at work in Pittsburgh, tries to help his half sibling track down an African soccer star (the titular Godwin), the mordant humor and keen observations of late-stage capitalism give lift to the theme of how and where and when we support each other.

Tiananmen Square: A Novel By Lai Wen Spiegel & Grau: 528 pages, $22 (June 4)

June 4 marks the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The pseudonymous Lai Wen’s fictional account of her upbringing under communism and the friendships she forged as a student offers an important window into what spurred the Chinese student protests that ended in violence. Despite knowing the outcome, readers will be riveted by the author’s thoughtful, moving narrative of coming to political consciousness in a time of danger.

Sandwich: A Novel By Catherine Newman Harper: 240 pages, $27 (June 18)

With the pacing of a thriller, observations akin to poetry and real-life conflict like memoir, Newman’s novel about one family’s week on Cape Cod should find a place in your beach bag, even if your own summer vacation is in Bali. The menopausal Rocky, her husband, their two grown children (along with one’s partner), and her aged parents enjoy time-honored traditions but also have to figure out how to negotiate time’s changes on all of them.

Devil Is Fine: A Novel By John Vercher Celadon Books: 272 pages, $29 (June 18)

Vercher’s second novel provides a startling perspective, even darker than “American Fiction,” on what it means to be a person of color operating within our nation’s book-publishing industry. As the unnamed narrator copes with parenting a teenage son, he receives an unexpected inheritance from his white mother’s family that triggers tragic visions — and allows him to at last untangle his feelings about his own identity.

Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius By Carrie Courogen SMP: 400 pages, $30 (June 4)

The 92-year-old Elaine May does exist, and Carrie Courogen’s biography of May shows her long and vibrant career — and how her particular talent for comedy writing was ignored by too many of her contemporaries. Despite her stellar, groundbreaking work with Mike Nichols, May didn’t experience career liftoff until her 50s, when she became known as a script fixer. Today, her commitment to creative control sounds an important note for women in media.

The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America By Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer Flatiron Books: 448 pages, $33 (June 4)

The subtitle of this new book by New York Times reporters Dias (religion) and Lerer (politics) underscores how the conservative religious faction’s far-reaching and secretive strategy of putting anti-abortion activists in the spotlight changed rights for Americans in June 2022. As the authors warn, if Democrats don’t change their own strategy, we might see an entirely different nation emerge because of a single issue.

Ambition Monster: A Memoir By Jennifer Romolini Atria: 304 pages, $29 (June 4)

Host of the “Everything Is Fine” podcast and author of “Weird in a World That’s Not,” Romolini here focuses on her own difficult upbringing and (at least early on) dysfunctional relationship with achievement and its signals, from corner office to substantial salary. Even after she earned all of those, she wasn’t fulfilled. This highly personal narrative documents how the author detached from her inner fears to find a more authentic path.

When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day By Garrett M. Graff Avid Reader Press: 608 pages, $33 (June 4)

June 4 also marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy, and Graff’s collection of 700 participants’ stories provides a compelling window into the kind of military maneuvers few living Americans can remember. The surprise landing of over 150,000 Allied troops on French beaches led to the eventual defeat of the Axis powers. Reading about survivors’ experiences in their own words proves a solemn practice.

The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir By Griffin Dunne Penguin Press: 400 pages, $30 (June 11)

Griffin Dunne has spent a lifetime surrounded by brilliant writers: his father, Dominick Dunne; his uncle and aunt, John Gregory Dunne and his wife Joan Didion; and his brother, Alex Dunne. Griffin Dunne is also a noted actor/director/producer. Perhaps the literary talent shown in his heartwrenching memoir shouldn’t be a surprise. Still, his deeply felt account of his sister Dominique’s 1982 murder, which opens the book, startles with its honesty, spareness and elegant structure.

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