Meet the Bookstagrammer: @thelittlethingsandmore

Introducing Deb, from @thelittlethingsandmore!

On starting a bookstagram:

“I had been posting random book stuff on my personal account but I wasn't getting the recommendations I wanted. And I had a few friends from university who had Instagram accounts just dedicated to books and reading, so I just decided to start one in February of 2020. Coincidentally, it was right before the pandemic, so it ended up being kind of good timing on that part. Last year it felt like everyone was on bookstagram.”

On the intersection of reading and social media:

“I think that it's important to remember that my bookstagram is for fun. Now it’s a little different than when I started, because I’m like, “I have a bigger following, I need to keep up with my posts.” But I have to remind myself that the reason I started was just for fun. I love photos, I love photography, and it was an excuse to kind of just fool around with that. Now I think for me, doing bookstagram is about finding the right balance—if it isn’t fun anymore, I’ll take a break.”

“It's also become such an interesting community. I don’t even remember how I got book recommendations before bookstagram — I find them all through there now. Even a lot of my friends in ‘real life’, who don’t have a bookstagram will look at my account for what to read next.”

On the rise of #ownvoices:

“An #OwnVoices review is like if, for example, there’s a book about a Jewish woman and a Jewish reader reviews it. Compared to me, where I’m not Jewish, and if I review that book, my perspective would be very different than someone who has that personal lived experience and is reading the book. It’s more to do with if someone who says they didn’t connect with a certain book. And they’ll say, ‘oh, here’s all the things I didn’t like about it’ — and I think that’s when it gets a little like, ‘well, you don’t understand it because you’re not of that culture.’ If you say you didn’t connect with a book, then it’s just like, ‘well, yeah, because it’s not meant for you.’

“I think it’s maybe even more important to learn about other cultures now. Personally, I love to read books about things I don’t know about. I think authors write it for themselves to put their own experiences into words — on one hand, it’s like wishing the story was there for them when they were younger, but I think it’s also like, ‘here’s another piece of me that someone else can read about.’”

On diversity and social justice on bookstagram:

"This is a long time coming but it’s very positive now. We’re starting to see a lot more people posting about social justice issues. It’s exploded across social media, which has had a great impact on bookstagram and the community as a whole. It’s led to important discussions that people are having on the platform but also in real life.

I also think it's led to a lot of diverse authors getting picked up where they might not have normally. They’re being included on lists, or suggested to people who want to diversify their bookshelves. It's also great how a lot of people are trying to read not just depressive memoirs about horrible things that have happened—but they’re also trying to read a book about diverse characters, or read more diverse authors in general."

On the most rewarding part of being a bookstagramer in 2020:

"Having something to focus on this past year has been wonderful. It’s a little cheesy, but one of the best things are the connections and friendships I’ve made from being on bookstagram. I would gladly take the people I talk to on a daily basis now over having more followers. I had the chance to do a socially distanced meetup with a few local bookstagrammers, and I talk to them about more than just books these days, which is really cool. It's just nice to find people to connect with about things that you’re passionate about."

Some of @thelittlethingsandmore's favourite bookstagram discoveries: