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25 More Bookish Tumblrs

Amanda Diehl

Staff Writer

Amanda Diehl escaped to Boston to get her MA in Publishing & Writing. Though she loves her new home in the Northeast, she will forever mourn the loss of Publix and sweet tea. As for Amanda’s voracious love of reading, she got it from her mama, though her favorite genres are romance, horror, and the occasional memoir. She reviews romance novels for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and when she’s able to scrounge together some free time, you can find her napping in front of the TV with the latest trashy reality show or scarfing down brunch-related foods. Twitter: _ImAnAdult

In the past, we’ve featured some amazing book industry Tumblr accounts. I’m talking publishers, bookstores, and authors. We also had a great list of YA Tumblrs to follow. But one thing I’ve learned is that there are always more and more people killing it on social media, so I’ve compiled a short list of accounts for when you’re in the mood for side-splitting laughs, you’re trying to get your write on, you’re in love with language, or for maybe when you just want to add a few more book-centric Tumblrs to your dashboard.

 

General

Book Porn: The title is pretty self-explanatory. All sorts of neat bookish things can show up here – photos of bookstores, old book covers, literary quotes. Everything a book lover could ever hope for!

Fuck Yeah, Book Arts: If you happen to like Rioter Nikki’s “Book Art is Awesome” feature, then you’ll love this one. It has everything from gorgeous cover designs to book sculptures to gifs of cute little flip books.

Pretty Books: For those thinking the name is an obvious indicator of the content, they’d be wrong. This has more than just pretty books. There are plenty of shelfies, illustrated quotes and graphics, and of course, pretty books.

Go Book Yourself: Every reader has lamented over the dreaded question of what do they read next. Not only does the account make a few recommendations based on a book, but it even adds in a short one-sentence description of why you might like it. Pretty handy if you’re going through a reading slump.

Fuck Yeah, Reading: With a title like that, you can expect bookish posts 24/7 and lots of them. Lots of photos of quaint book store windows and book stacks worth coveting.

CoverSpy: I will fully admit to spying on people while they’re reading, especially if I’m sitting next to them. CoverSpy has “spies” in major U.S. cities and in some Canada locations. Each entry contains the book cover, a description of the reader, and where they were spotted. If you’re looking for something more along the lines of Humans of New York, try Underground New York Public Library.

 

Quotes & Words

Words n Quotes: I would say their content is 80% book quotes that they stylize and make for the purpose of the site. And they’re also amazingly good with tagging their posts with author names and book titles, when applicable.

Underwhelming Book Quotes: A bit of a parody to your standard book quote Tumblrs, Underwhelming Book Quotes often takes quotes from well-known books and makes them well…underwhelming. Or just downright hilarious.

Quoted Books: Simply, a collection of quotes from books. Whoever happens to run this Tumblr also responds to recommendation questions in their ask box, usually answering with a list of five books that suits the asker’s reading needs.

Wrdbnr: I’m assuming this is supposed to be titled Word Boner, but I don’t want to jump to any conclusions. If you happen to like a bit of design work with your words, Wrdbnr is right up your alley. And if you don’t but happen to know someone who does, most of their design prints are available for purchase.

Other Wordly: Other Wordly reminds of those Word-a-Day calendars. You know the ones you always forget to tear and then next thing you know, you still have words from March sitting at the top. Many of their words are also from foreign languages, so you can dazzle your friends and family members this holiday season.

The Word Made Flesh: Tattooing literary quotes is a pretty big deal Rioter Jaime wrote about it in early December and a handful of the Book Riot staff has a bit of ink as well. If you’re looking to see the breadth of what the literary tattooed world has to offer, The Word Made Flesh has an extensive collection of images. Maybe it’ll even spawn your own tattoo idea!

 

For Writers & Writing

Yeah Write: Not only is Yeah Write aesthetically pleasing, it’s also one of the most comprehensive writing Tumblrs I’ve come across. It has prompts if you’re feeling uninspired and some great gifs and quotes for when you need a break. They also offer a stable of workshoppers if you want some feedback on anything you’ve written.

The Writing Cafe: For resources and advice from things like world building to character naming, The Writing Cafe has a well-organized tag system for accessing whatever questions you need answering. They also have a long list of other writing blogs that writers may find to be helpful.

Writing Prompts: Some writers operate best when they have a set subject and some like to use prompts as a bit of a palate cleanser when they’ve been working on something for a long time, but regardless of why you need a prompt, this Tumblr has nearly two hundred to sift through and try.

References for Writers: With over two hundred pages, References for Writers have everything from how to increase one’s writing vocabulary to what happens to a person’s body when it undergoes different types of death scenarios. You know, in case you don’t want that in your search history.

Shit My Students Write: For those with a job in the wonderful world of academia, you know that students can be an unintentional source of humor. And for those who struggled through Freshman Composition, we all know you wrote some pretty questionable stuff after two in the morning.

Writing with Color: Sometimes writing involves creating a narrative who may differ greatly from the actual writer in terms of race, class, and other areas. Writing with Color is a worthy resource for writers who are wary of appropriating aspects of certain cultures and how to include more diversity in stories while trying to avoid being problematic.

Title to Come: The actual title of this Tumblr has little to do with the content. Title to Come is nothing but reaction gifs for those experiencing various writing pains. The saying that misery loves company is so apt, especially when writing.

 

Humor & Parody

Literary Starbucks: If the name sounds familiar, it’s because it was featured as a part of Book Riot’s “Sites We Like” back in October. In it, authors or literary characters place their Starbucks orders and I’m constantly in awe at how perfect every representation is.

Lousy Book Covers: We’ve all seen those horribly made covers lurking in the depths of Amazon and, though some of these seem like they should be fake, they aren’t. Unfortunately.

WTF Bad Romance Covers: And if you like your awful covers a little steamier, look no further. The site happily claims it’s the home of “Objectified Scotsman Thursdays!”

Slaughterhouse 90210: What happens when books meet television? Well then you have Slaughterhouse 90210. Creator, Maris Kreizman, pairs up quotes from literature with screengrabs of recognizable television shows. In an interview, she said the idea stemmed from wanting to do “a mashup of high and low culture.”

Classic Texts: In the same vein as Mallory Ortberg’s Text from Jane Eyre, Classic Texts imagines what would happen if literary characters knew the beauty of text messaging. The site has also expanded to include characters from movies, musical theater, and Disney.

Pop Sonnet: I remember covering Shakespeare in high school and having to try writing sonnets. I hated it. It was a dark time for everyone involved, so I have a lot of respect for the creator of Pop Sonnet and his/her ability to turn pop music into the frustrating, fourteen-line format.

 

The internet is a large place and I know I’ve neglected a few mentions. I’m always looking for more Tumblrs to follow, so tell me some of your favorites!

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