Answers With: Bookstagrammer @shelf_discovery
"And when pain is written about beautifully, it takes me to the most exquisite intersection of the human experience: that life is unfair and brutal and hard but it can also be beautiful."
Answers With is a monthly series featuring the best kind of people, book people! I’ll be talking with readers I admire, from authors to booksellers and bookstagrammers, all about where they find answers — in the pages, a movie, song, comfort watch, or dessert. This series is free for now, but if you like, consider pledging a subscription — and supporting the interviewees work!
It’s rarer and rarer these days, but it’s still possible to find and build connections and community online. Bookstagram has offered a way for readers to connect—sharing recommendations, reviews, bookstores, reading nooks—really a bibliophile’s dream. Because there’s really not much I want to do more than talk about books, it’s my kind of corner of the internet. @shelf_discovery is one of my most-trusted accounts for reviews and recommendations. Addie, the reader behind the account, has an affinity for sad-girl lit—one of my favorite subgenres—and she’s incredibly creative with her posts:
Read on to get to know Addie a bit more, how she became a reader after college, her reading routine, the iconic theme for her baby shower, and get ready to update your TBR:
Where do you turn to most for answers? Books, travel, early 2000s TV?
You said it!!! All of these. I truly think reading is where you can find yourself and that’s why I don’t understand fast readers. So much of the reading experience for me is in between the words - moments where you pause and remember things about your past or dream about your future or ask yourself what this reminds you of or what you would do in the situation. You don’t get answers in reading if you read fast - or at least I don’t. And probably above it all - I get my answers on a good walk, preferably alone, preferably in the sunshine. I truly believe reading, walking and traveling have made me who I am today (and Gilmore Girls).
What’s your go-to comfort watch?
I would be truly embarrassed to know how many times I’ve watched all of the seasons of Friends, Gilmore Girls, Sex and the City and The O.C..
As a new mom, are there any books you're excited to share with your little one?
I think the part of motherhood I am most looking forward to is sharing in the world of books. So many gems from my childhood: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Martha Speaks, Is Your Mama a Llama?, (the haunting, I’ll-never-forgive-my-mother-for-reading-this-to-me) Possum Come-A-Knockin’. Discovering new books through baby shower gifts has been my favorite. Moon! The Pout Pout Fish!, The Day the Crayons Quit! I’m truly so excited to discover books with my little boy.
You've shared that you weren't always a reader, can you share a little bit about how you found your way back to reading and any advice for someone hoping to do the same?
*Never* considered myself a reader until after college, even though I was an English major. My main love was always writing, but post-grad, when I wasn’t weighed down by required reading, I finally got curious. I wanted to be the type of person who read so I finally gave it a real try. I really think finding reliable recommendation sources is THE biggest game changer. I loved having my mom vet books for me and tell me what she loved. For a few years I then took to a lot of lists of what I *should* be reading: (Books To Read Before You Die, Best Book Club Books etc). I’m really glad I did this even though I didn’t enjoy a lot of these but it helped me find what I *did* like. Joining bookstagram was the biggest game changer for me in terms of finding out my true taste. When you read *good* books, you’re way more likely to want to continue reading. I suggest trying a bunch of different stuff, discovering what you love and then finding reliable recommendation sources on bookstagram/books that are similar to what you just read. Also, audiobooks and short books are a great way to get momentum!
What’s your reading routine or some of your reading habits?
I feel like most people are surprised to know that I don’t often read for more than 15-25 minutes at a time (until the book gets GOOD and I’m hooked). I’m a big morning reader (nothing better than a book and a chai latte) but then I read in little pockets of my day. I read before bed too but I’m not going to lie, I don’t often last very long anymore with a newborn. In new mom life, I’m finding lots of reading time during contact naps and it’s glorious.
I know we both love sad girl lit, what is it about that genre for you?
My husband makes so much fun of me for loving a sad book. Like I said above, I read to feel introspection, to experience things between the sentences, and sad books get this out of me. Romances and feel-good books often seem corny to me (Don’t get me wrong: I love romances and feel-good TV). But there’s nothing corny in pain. And when pain is written about beautifully, it takes me to the most exquisite intersection of the human experience: that life is unfair and brutal and hard but it can also be beautiful. You can take something awful and make it pretty. You can move someone with your story to want to be better or see the world differently or be grateful for their own life. Sadness makes you feel really alive. And of course happiness does this too but I just don’t seem to feel characters' happiness off the page the way I feel their sadness. I’m far more empathetic for someone who is struggling. And I’m a crazy person who just actually enjoys being melancholy from time to time: scream-singing ballads, reveling in Lana Del Rey, crying watching movies on planes. The book “Bittersweet” by Susan Cain talks about this enjoyment in sadness. Sad girl lit certainly is not for everyone, but give me a book that breaks my heart and I will love it far more than when the cranky old man finally makes a friend or the long lost lovers finally get together.
What’s the book you recommend the most?
Probably “Daisy Jones and the Six.” The most recommended book needs to be something commercial that appeals to the masses (and my sad girl lit recs probably won’t appeal to everyone). Daisy Jones has something for everyone: it’s good on audio, it’s good in print. It’s good for people who have short attention spans since it’s written in an oral history format. It’s good for older generations who lived through seventies rock; it’s good for younger generations who know the feeling of idolizing musicians. It’s fun but not all fluff. Loved it!
What was your favorite book last year? Or, so far this year?
So hard to pick just one but They’re Going to Love You, I Could Live Here Forever and Green Dot were unbelievable reads from 2024. (All sad girl lit, though Green Dot is also funny and filled with pop culture references).
What’s your dream theme party? The food? The decorations? The costumes?
LOVE a theme. My baby shower was “Iconic Mom” themed and you came dressed up as a famous mom (Kris Jenner, Mother Goose, Princess Diana, etc.). It was hilarious. Give your party a theme, any theme, and I’m way more likely to want to attend (but also, have chocolate chip cookies).
Addie is a book lover who lives in Richmond, Virginia. She enjoys nothing more than sitting in the sunshine with a good book, a chai latte and her two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.
Connect with Addie: Follow her on Instagram.
I hope you enjoyed this interview and a big thank you to Addie for sharing her answers!
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Thank you for putting into words exactly how I feel about sad girl lit. How did I not know this was a genre?