My Bookstagram Era

I spent about a year reviewing books on Instagram, from June of 2023 to June of 2024. It was an experiment: I wanted to see if it was possible to do thoughtful criticism on the platform. And I am proud of how many of these reviews turned out!

I ultimately decided, however, that bookstagram is not really for me. The constraints of Meta’s platform are incredibly restrictive and frustrating and, as much as I like aesthetic images of books, I found that I was spending far too much time on the logistics of getting decent photos of the books I wrote about, at the expense of, well, actually writing.

Below, you can find an archive of the reviews I posted during that time, as well as posts from a Substack I set up to supplement it. (This is a work in progress; the archive is currently incomplete.)

I still post my writing on Instagram sometimes, if you want to follow me there: @panthercitybooks

13 Sep 2023

Review: Tinderella (2020)

Not a perfect or revolutionary comic, but one that makes me want to read more of M.S. Harkness.

28 Jul 2023

This is how you squander the multiverse

A critical review of This is How You Lose the Time War.

27 Jul 2023

Review: Abolish the Family (2022)

Family abolition doesn’t mean kicking your kids out into the street.

21 Jul 2023

Review: Ducks (2022)