If you’ve never heard of #bookstagram, you’re missing out on a bibliophile’s paradise right at your fingertips. It’s essentially a corner of Instagram (and more recently, TikTok, though that’s called BookTok) where users dedicate their accounts to post artistically staged photos of books, often with summaries and reviews in the caption. Some bookstagrammers get free advance copies of new books in exchange for promoting and reviewing them on their profile, while others are simply sharing their love of books with the online world.
But there’s another layer to this realm — one that could provide a useful tool for language learners. Bookstagram doesn’t only exist in English. In fact, there are bookstagrammers posting about recommended reads in just about any language you can think of. Sometimes finding them is as simple as attaching the word for “book” in your target language to “stagram” and searching that hashtag. For example, “book” in French is livre, so search #livrestagram and you’ll get over a million hits.
We’ve compiled a list of bookstagrammers who post in several different languages, so whether you’re learning Spanish, French or Turkish, you can test your knowledge by reading the captions and, at some point, reading the books themselves.
11 Bookstragrammers Who Post In Other Languages
@marisbookclub — Spanish
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This account is a great starting point for Spanish learners in the beginner stages because Mari posts in a mixture of English and Spanish. Look for the Spanish-language book posts if you want to practice reading her Spanish captions, which typically include a summary of the novel followed by her review. You’ll also find quite a bit of Spanglish in the comments, which can be a good way to ease yourself into the language.
@eltercermiope — Spanish
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If you’re a Spanish learner who likes the somewhat darker and more supernatural side of the literary world, Antonio is the bookstagrammer for you! He reviews a lot of Stephen King novels, along with some Agatha Christie, George Orwell and more. His captions are pretty long and thorough, but engaging, which makes them the perfect tool for practicing your Spanish comprehension.
@lafantasiadesia — Spanish
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Our final Spanish recommendation is Sia’s account, which is very aesthetically pleasing. She primarily reviews young adult and fantasy books, with a little contemporary adult fiction mixed in. Some books you’ll recognize, like the Harry Potter books, while others might be unfamiliar. Her captions usually provide a synopsis of each book, her thoughts and a rating out of five stars. The beauty of YA books is that they’re usually written in simpler language, so you may want to take one of Sia’s recommendations and try reading it in Spanish.
@labooktillaise — French
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Another aesthetically pleasing page, Elodie-Aude’s account features a combination of books, travel and content related to Black history and racial justice. Many of the books she posts are children’s books, which could be the perfect level of difficulty for beginner French learners. Elodie-Aude is from Martinique, so you’ll see a lot of beautiful photos of the Caribbean mixed in with her other content. In the post embedded above, she highlights an extensive collection of anti-racist books, which is a great resource in any language!
@marine_bookshadows — French
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Another bookstagrammer for French learners to follow is Marine, who reviews books primarily in the fantasy, thriller and dystopian fiction genres. In the captions, she alternates between thorough summaries of novels and doing Q&As so her followers can get to know her and some of her favorite things. Both types of captions are good opportunities for testing your French skills. And you’ll see some familiar books on her feed, like The Hunger Games trilogy — it can make reading the French captions a bit easier when you already know what the book is about.
@elizas_buecherwald — German
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Don’t worry — if you’re learning a language other than Spanish or French, there’s probably a bookstagrammer for you to follow too. For German, Eliza’s account is a solid resource, where you’ll find recommendations and reviews of a variety of novels, especially science fiction and fantasy. Eliza is a big fan of color-coded posts, so you can test yourself on the German words for the colors featured before checking out the captions.
@paola_mazzon_78 — Italian
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Italian learners with a taste for the avant-garde and for books that make you feel something are in luck. Paola’s account, where novels are creatively staged in front of various backdrops, highlights books that are a little less mainstream. Paola provides very poetically written descriptions in the captions, along with the occasional powerful quote from the novel. If you can understand the Italian, prepare to be emotionally destroyed by the content.
@knigagram — Russian
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This one is sort of cheating because the account is run by a Russian bookstore, but the posts are in true bookstagram style and even the name is the Russian word for book, kniga, attached to “gram.” The account features mostly children’s books, which are a great starting point for beginners. However, you’ll need to be able to read the Cyrillic alphabet because the Cyrillic captions are fairly lengthy. They usually include a synopsis of the book pictured and additional details on who the target reader is.
@kitapseverseyyah — Turkish
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Next up is a great account for beginner Turkish learners. It’s a very clean, simple page that showcases a variety of novels — often accompanied by little aesthetic touches like a cup of tea. You’ll recognize some of the authors, like John Steinbeck and Alexandre Dumas, but others are less familiar to the average American reader. The captions are very short, usually consisting of just a quote from the book, making this account ideal for beginners who want to test their basic reading comprehension.
@literama__ — Portuguese
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Caren’s a true bookstagrammer, and her account is complete with nicely staged photos, thorough captions and even some extra goodies like posts defining common literary expressions. Reading the lengthy captions will be a good test for Portuguese learners, as well as a helpful way to learn about the book. Caren includes the title and author, her ranking out of five stars, her review, a quote from the book and the number of pages. She’ll occasionally review films too, if you need a break from books.
@katdomgal — Polish
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Last but not least is Kate’s Polish bookstagram. Her captions are relatively short, and she reviews some books that will be familiar to English speakers, which could help you understand her descriptions (and the books themselves, when you’re ready to take that on). But the best part of Kate’s account? Her very cute cat Parys, who makes regular appearances in her posts.