*Ranting warning ahead*
Ok so this has been bugging me for a while and I hope that someone out there can maybe explain it to me as frankly, I am baffled.
Or else, in the process of writing this, I can try and figure it out.
Baths and books.
Books and baths.
One the mortal enemy of the other.
BUT totally a theme designed to induce, seduce and create wonder as a photo-op on bookstagram.
That cheeky flash of leg, the bubbles piled high, maybe a candle, maybe some alcohol, maybe all three!
And there, in the midst, is a book.
The sheer anxiety that a picture like this induces in the humble scroller of instagram!
The nashing of teeth and nibbling of nails for that steam damaged book!
And why?
I will tell you for why-FOLLOWER BAIT!
Look at me, imagine me naked, reading, writhing in bubbles, a book reading mermaid,look AT ME.
Pseudo-erotic nonsense wrapped up in a whole faux-minist rhetoric.
Thank you nope, where is my mute button…
MEN DO NOT DO THIS!!
They do not!
When is the last time you saw a male boosktagrammer in a bath?
If they do, more power to them, but this trope I cannot EVER get behind. A quick glance at my own insta feed shows one ‘bath and a book’ post. I was fully clothed and sat by the bath as it was running and as the pages started to curl, I got out the book out of there. Because I just cannot . Nope not at all.
Some people dog corners, others call them monsters,some have themed accessories, some are badly shot book covers on beaches or in hallways (ahem).
You’d have to be blind not to notice themes as you scroll-the candle and book,the subscription box openings, the pretend matey-ness,the ubiquitous use of succulents or bouquet of the day, ‘Oh look I have been tagged in another challenge,here we go again!’,all designed to bump those followers up.
I am 100% there for the books, could not give two hoots about the fripperies, I am very VERY fed-up of misrepresentation and lack of authenticity. I am a boring bookstagrammer-books, and the dog, dodgy baking and cats. Maybe a bit of knitting. That’s me. It’s a wonky, badly shot life but the authenticity is there.
BUT I am not looking to create jealousy, misrepresent my lifestyle, how I look or what I do. If I got up at 4, that is not boasting it is merely a fact.
I want to connect with people, and recommend books, as well as be recommended books to.
I do not want to be ,nor am aiming to be,an influencer-god I hate that word.
I just want to find like minded, easy going people-is that greedy,to want, I don’t know.
Presently I am angry and fed-up of what you ‘should’ be doing versus what you ‘should’ not.
But I am getting better at picking these accounts out, better at using the filters, narrowing things down to get to ‘know’ people (as well as you can do online where people are able to reinvent themselves at will).
I come for the books. Pull the plug on the bath and books , and what you have left is a soggy novel, dashed expectations and goosebumps.
If you want to chat with me , chat or choose not to, it’s not an emotional issue-numbers simply do not matter. Stats are on the front of the blog so that publicists can see my reach, it’s not a bragging issue at all.
Style is irrelevant.
IMHO,quality of content is king(or queen).
Celebrate the books and the lovely scenery you have around you,the moments in your life and I will 100% be there and thrilled for you.
Become a pod person, a carbon copy of a bigger, better bookstagrammer/Twitter person in the number crunching game and nope.
You do you, just do not count me as a ‘follower’.
If I subscribe to a blog or an account ,it is because it is someone who has something interesting to say,or gets me to look at something in a different way. I am so there for that!
And I think this is what the whole ‘books’n’baths’ issue boils down to.
I don’t want to be an acolyte ,a sycophant,a member of an army or a tribe or whatever the buzzword is.
I want to be a bookish equal that centres the books.
There are mute/unfollow/unsubscribe options on every account,they are there for a reason.
We are not actually f***ing mermaids, so why are we reading in the bath?! It infantilizes a grown ass woman so why do it ,if not for pictorial click bait?
Thank you , no.
Is there anything that is an instant turn-off when you are looking for books/blogs/bookstagrammers?
Drop me a line and let me know!
There is reason images like this died after the 60’s…
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bridgeman.lenny@gmail.com
You’re so spot on there! I can see the temptation to follow “pretty” accounts but personally I’m not big on themes because books are even more individual than the authors who write them, so why douse them with a one-size-fits-all heavily curated filter? And then, there are the captions! The number of times I’ve seen a envy making picture of a new-to-me title and thought “ooh wonder what that book’s about?” Only to read through paragraphs of dross about the posters amazing weekend/ life. Great, but what about the book? That’s right, it doesn’t even get a mention. So I unfollow those “book prop” accounts because I don’t go on Instagram for eye candy but for eye-catching substance. And as for books in the bath?! Have some respect, you philistines… grr…
Omg 100% there for this Bella! Yes ok,well done you BUT WHAT IS THE BOOK ABOUT?!TELL ME PLEASE!! Or when it is out even? Always substance over a pot plant ! I admire the aesthetics but if that is all there is then it’s a hollow feeling
Yes, aesthetics help make a.picture eye catching, but its definitely hollow if there’s no book related insights. Also, top phrase “faux-minist” 👍 hadn’t heard that one before.
Probably not original to me, I just use it as a catchall term for those who go around shouting ‘I am a feminist!’ and you say ‘Ok! What wave/school of thought do you subscribe to?’….crickets..not catching anyone out it just enrages me when people dress their behaviour up as feminist act? When it really is just a band wagon jumping, Trojan horse of rhetoric for gaining followers
I hate baths. I’ll quickly add to this that I shower every day, but I find baths to be incredibly boring. I like the idea of them – the opportunity to sink down in pleasantly smelling, warm water sounds idyllic – but in reality, I just get bored. And I couldn’t read in the bath – I’m far too clumsy for that sort of behaviour, and too worried about the curling pages to risk it! 😀
I realise this isn’t really the point of your post – I don’t get on with Instagram at all, and have come close to deleting my account several times, so I don’t really look at it much either. If I’m there, it’s all for the books!
No no it totally is!! Like a bath is so annoyingly long to run, bad for the environment and meant to be, imho, a relaxing place to switch off? Ia dmit to admiring people’s bathroom pics and colour choices but it is the blatant ‘LOOK AT ME!’ ness that I have been chewing over for weeks..and as if to prove that point, at least 2 people who I don’t even follow on any platform have taken a MASSIVE exception to this blopost. Instagram can be lots of fun but also feels a bit fake? Like no one lives like that? Where are you on there Jo I will follow you! If I was the type of person to be obsessed by followers-another word I personally object to cos it implies leadership not comradeship-I would be thinking I need to ‘up my game’ *sigh*
This is such a brilliant post and I completely agree! 🙂
I’ve seen so many pretty images of books on bookstagram and I can’t help but want to take pictures of my books too, but I can’t be bothered with spending so much time to create the perfect shots. In future I might add a couple of the same accessories (like something strawberry related to go with my blog name) but that would be pretty much it. I get the appeal of following and seeing all those beautiful book pics but wow, books in the bath?! I didn’t know that was a thing and all I can think of is what’s going to happen when the book pages get splashed with water, or worse that book drops into the water! 😮 😮 😮
You’re right, you definitely don’t see men doing the same thing in the bath with their books. I don’t really enjoy anything that remotely looks sexualised when it comes to booktubers, instagramers or bloggers. There’s nothign wrong with doing yourself up nicely with some make up but sometimes it feels like people try so hard to look good in their pictures or to follow a trend that the real person isn’t there, or they don’t have the time to actually read the books because so much of it is spent on making everything look perfect.
100% agree with you!!! Like the whole argument on Twitter that you have to spend A FORTUNE to be a book reviewer/instagrammer . Well no, no you don’t! You don’t *need* props and lightning and such, it’s meant to be fun, not a job, no one is going to pay you for this! I absolutely admore the work that goes into a lot of accounts but they are book centred, not person centred if that makes sense?
And the whole looking for trends like Scrabble letters and such just makes you look like someone latching on to a trend, that you have nothing new to say, you do not stand out!
Which is a VERY long winded way of saying if I follow or subscribe or interact with people online it’s because they have something new, interesting, relevant to say, and I appreciate you! Not that I am an anyone, but I do ! And thank you for the posts which brighten up my inbox!