Meet The Bookstagrammer: @whatsallyreadnext

Article contributed by Johanna H

Behind the lovely bookstagram @whatsallyreadnext you will find 30-year-old Sally who lives in London. An account filled with beautiful book covers, a great mix of books that gives a strong reading desire, and of course, Sally’s two cute cats.

Sally really loves bookstagram and so much that she has hosted close to 10 bookstagram meet-ups in London over the past couple of years, and have met many wonderful bookstagrammers as a result. It’s not only Sally who loves bookstagram, but bookstagram loves Sally because in 2020 she won ‘Bookstagrammer of the Year’ at @londonbookfair!

Firstly, we love your cute cats, Loki and Gatsby! We are guessing you are a fan of The Great Gatsby?

Aww, thank you, my cats do appear on my bookstagram quite often! The Great Gatsby is fantastic, beautifully written and I love the 1920s era that the book takes place in. I read it quite a long time ago now so it’s probably due a reread soon.

Why did you start your book Instagram?

I started it on a whim over three years ago whilst on holiday as I wanted a platform to visually document what I was reading. I had followed a couple of bookstagrammers on my personal Instagram but didn’t realise just how big the bookstagram community was until I joined it! It really is one of the friendliest and most welcoming communities on Instagram.

When buying new books, what are you looking for?

I would say that recommendations from bookstagram definitely draws me to pick up a book. The incredible variety of recommendations has helped me to branch out my reading into genres and authors that I hadn’t really explored before. I always have so many recommendations to look out for when book shopping. That’s one of the best things about bookstagram – I will never run out of book suggestions!

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When you aren’t reading, what do you spend your time doing?

I love the theatre so usually I would be seeing a musical in London’s West End (fingers crossed that they will reopen again this year!). I’m also part of a choir based in London called West End Musical Choir and have performed with them live on TV a couple of times as well as charity performances around the city. I’ve made some wonderful friends from choir and we have still managed to rehearse virtually despite the pandemic!

If you could invite any five authors or characters (dead or alive) to a dinner party, who would you invite and why?

Ooh, how I wish that I could have all of these people in a room together! It would have to be Min Jin Lee, Haruki Murakami, Khaled Hosseini, Michelle Obama and Jung Chang. I find them all so inspirational and I’ve loved their books!

And lastly, which book is the best book you read in 2020?

I would have to say Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens which I’ve been recommending to everyone, including my boyfriend, who also loved it! The descriptions are so vivid that I felt like I was there in the North Carolina marshes and I loved the characterisation of the protagonist Kya. The mystery surrounding her character definitely kept me gripped throughout the book.

Don’t forget to follow Sally at Instagram @whatsallyreadnext