Bookstagrammer of the Week is back! This time, we are interviewing @_penandpapers! She is a classics fan who hosts a book club, does book talks, and keeps it cozy!
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Why did you start your Bookstagram?
3 years ago, I read a book called The Picture of Dorian Gray; it kind of restored my love for reading. After reading it, I decided to share my love for reading books with everyone and thus, created this account. It’s funny that I had no idea about Bookstagram at that time but the moment I made my first post, I was already a part of it.
Where are you from?
I am from Delhi, India.
image via _penandpapers
What do you want your Instagram to bring to the world?
My sole aim was to make readers read and like classics; as you might be already aware of how classics intimidate people. Therefore, I recommended easy classics according to the taste of readers and today, I am known for spreading the love for the genre.
Fun Fact about you?
It’s not really a fun fact for most people, rather weird, that I like reading multiple books simultaneously. I enjoy it and it is actually the only way I can finish books.
image via _penandpapers
Favorite Bookstagrammers?
Many, many! But here are some whose posts I regularly check: @frenchflaps_and_deckleedges, @prideandpaperbacks @clumsy.words @bluestockingbookshelf @sumaiyya.books @ani_elizaveta and more that I can’t recall right now.
Favorite Books and Authors?
Oh, this is going to be a long list!
image via _penandpapers
Favorite books?
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Orlando, Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, The English Patient, A Place for Us, Sula and more.
Favorite Authors?
Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, Toni Morrison, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, F. Scott. Fitzgerald, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka.
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Fictional Crush?
Orlando from Orlando by Virginia Woolf.
TBR List?
Ah, this list can never end but here are some books that are high on my TBR: Catch-22, East of Eden, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Master by Colm Toibin, Great Expectations, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, etc.
image via _penandpapers
What’s Your Special Approach to Content?
I talk about things I am not able to talk about anywhere, I try to connect my daily life with a certain book or author. I love recommending so every now and then, I plunge out with a favorite book I might have read months ago.
Aesthetic / Instagram page theme?
I want people to feel cozy like their home when they visit my profile which is why there’s always a teacup, garden full of plants and books laid on sofa or table and other day-to-day things.
image via _penandpapers
How often do you post?
I post 5-6 days a week.
What does your Bookstagram mean to you?
My safe place, the place I can visit whenever I feel low; I sometimes pick a random bookstagrammer and read their posts to know what other people are reading. It’s a home I have built for myself.
image via _penandpapers
Favorite Bookstore?
Bahrisons Booksellers in Delhi
Who would you have supply you with a lifetime of books?
Vintage Books, Penguin Random House and Bloomsbury.
image via _penandpapers
Author to take a selfie with?
Only if Oscar Wilde was alive! But, Haruki Murakami I guess.
Favorite book cover?
Barnes and Nobles Leatherbound The Picture of Dorian Gray and other works.
image via _penandpapers
Book you have claimed to have read that you didn’t?
Never happened.
When did you know you had made it as a Bookstagrammer?
When people recognized me as ‘the girl who loves Dorian Gray and reads classics’! Also, when Vintage Books asked me to take over their Instagram account for a week and I had barely 3k followers at that time.
image via _penandpapers
Favorite fandoms?
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Advice for aspiring Bookstagrammers?
Be consistent, y’all! Don’t be a Bookstagrammer for others, be one for yourself. Don’t be intimidated by the higher number of following of famous Bookstagrammers, I have seen and loved accounts with 2-3k followers who are as good as many out there.
image via _penandpapers
Additional bookishness?
I was intimidated by big books earlier and now you can see me hosting readathons for them. I love big books and I cannot lie! And oh, I noticed I didn’t talk about how I love reading poems.