By Literary Instagram is one of the kinder corners of the Internet, and one of the most delightful projects that have sprung up on it in recent years is Belletrist. Spearheaded by the indomitable Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss, it has grown so much bigger than a celebrity book club (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), becoming an international community of book lovers whose passion for reading and spreading the literary love transpires every post.
Each month, Roberts and Preiss pick a book club title for the community to discuss, and they highlight an independent bookseller. Their Instagram feed is a cabinet of curiosities stemming from their own wide-ranging tastes (plus great eye candy for book lovers), and their newsletter and Stories are full of treats like interviews and tours around people’s bookshelves (and trust me, the people they have access to are people you’ll be interested in – as an example, here’s a chat with Akwafina).
Plus, let’s face it, they embody the phenomenon of 'cool kids reading' pretty damn well. We’re excited to see where they take the community next. In the meantime, however, we caught up with Emma Roberts and Kara Preiss about the books that changed their lives, the positive power of social media, and their enduring love for Joan Didion.
What's the first book you remember reading and loving?
For Emma it was the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer and for Karah it was From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweilerby E.L. Konigsburg.
What book(s) do you keep going back to again and again?
We always return back to A Field Guide To Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit & Joan Didion’s essay 'On Keeping a Notebook' [part of the collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem].
Who are your favourite literary characters?
To be rigorously honest… Emma loves Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl & Karah wants to grow up to be Lily Vanderwoodsen.
Could you talk about a book that changed you, and how?
The White Album by Joan Didion changed both of our lives significantly. Maybe not even so much the content of the collection, but the fact that one, single book could so radically transform the way we read and see the world.
What's your favourite place to read?
In bed – or on set (for Emma).
What books are you most excited about in 2019?
Well, this is 2020 but it’s January. It’s a book called We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan about a group of three graduate students who take revenge on their professor at a fictional New England college.
After doing Belletrist for a while and connecting with readers all over the world, what have you learned?
Starting Belletrist has made us very hopeful about our generation. The number of independent bookstores in the United States has grown by 35% since 2009 and the sales of physical books have increased every year since 2013.
People are reading physical books and want to bond over their general love of reading. We all spend a lot of time on our phones – specifically Instagram – and #Bookstagram has emerged (in the last couple of years) as a positive corner of Instagram where people can really display this deeper, creative part of themselves that they might not have been able to express before online.
Also! We’ve recognized that people are taking to reading as a form of self-care. The wellness industry is obviously exploding and we want and hope that people will continue to consider reading as a part of this wellness trend. We both read as a form of meditation. A physical book has zero push notifications.
