Article contributed by Johanna H
When scrolling on Instagram, followers will immediately stop at this account! A cosy environment we want to jump into and spend an afternoon in. Books, tea, a dog, and lovely pastries… What could one more wish for?
We have all wondered who the tea drinking person behind @ab_reads is. Abbie is 25 years old and lives in the North East UK. The cute dog that we get some glimpses of is Mia, a rescue greyhound. Abbie works part time at The StoryGraph and as a freelancer within writing and content creation, which does not come as a shock because of the great text and good-looking Instagram feed!
If you are not one of Abbie’s 80k followers, you ought to be one! You’ll get recommendations of many different types of books, but she is particularly passionate about highlighting translated literature, which we think is awesome!
Firstly, we have to sort an important thing out. How do you make the perfect cup of tea? As a British person and someone who seems to consume quite a few cups a day, you are the perfect person to give us the answer!
Haha I definitely drink too many cups of tea a day! I drink plain old English breakfast tea with a splash of milk. Nothing too fancy!
Why did you start your bookstagram?
I was home for a year from university after deferring my final year for mental health reasons. During my first two years of uni, I barely read anything for pleasure since I was too busy with all the reading for my course. When I went home, I was reunited with all my books and my love of reading was reignited. I had a personal Instagram which I never used, but decided to search the hashtag for the book I was reading at the time, and then stumbled across the bookstagram hashtag. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to start one of my own – it was like I’d found my people!
If someone out there is thinking about creating a bookstagram, what advice would you give them?
Just go for it if it’s something you really want to do! But I think that’s the important part – your heart has to be in it. I used to get a lot of DMs asking how to grow your account, but if you’re just in it for the followers and likes then you’ll get frustrated and bored very quickly. Post about things you love, books you love, and you will find likeminded people to connect with!
You listen to books and read. How do you choose which to listen to, and not read?
I use my library for a lot of audiobooks, so I just browse their selection to find something that takes my fancy! But I do tend to go with either non-fiction or more plot-driven fiction. Non-fiction is great on audio because it makes me feel like I’m back at school and taking in a lecture. My attention often wavers when I read non-fiction in print, I find it easier to concentrate on audio for facts and life stories. Then for the fiction, I don’t really listen to very detailed, character-driven books with beautiful writing because I find it hard to appreciate the writing while listening. I prefer more plot-driven for audio!
When you aren’t reading, what do you do with the rest of your time?
I love baking and have started it again during lockdown! I’ll bake once a week. Then I love cross-stitching too, but actually when I’m cross-stitching I’m still reading because that’s when I listen to audiobooks! Before the pandemic, I used to do powerlifting too, but I haven’t been back since the gyms closed.
If you could bring back three authors from the dead to write one more book each, who would you choose?
Tough question! Most of the authors I enjoy are still alive. I think I’ll go with Toni Morrison, Andrea Levy and Angela Carter.
And lastly, which book is the best book you have read in 2020?
Can I cheat and choose three? Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili, and Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis.
Follow Abbie at @ab_reads for more great book recommendations and tea inspirations!
