Step into the delightful world of bibliophiles, where words and phrases take on a unique and charming twist. I have been on bookstagram for over five years now and got accustomed to most of this whimsical and endearing glossary of bookish buzzwords from there. These quirky terms perfectly encapsulate the experiences, habits, and quirks of passionate readers.
This blog post is inspired by Bohemian Bibliophile and when I read hers a few months ago, I knew that I should compile one of my own too.
So, grab your favorite bookmark, settle into a cozy reading nook, and dive into this enchanting lexicon of all things book-related!
Quirky Reading Terms Every Book Lover Must Know
- Audiophile:
An audiophile is a reader who prefers audiobooks over traditional print or e-books. Audiophiles enjoy the experience of listening to books narrated by talented voice actors. - Bibliophile:
A bibliophile is not just a book lover; they are obsessed with books. - BIPOC:
BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. This term is used to highlight and promote literature, including books, novels, essays, and other written works, created by authors who identify in this category.
BIPOC Book Recommendations - Book Nook:
A charming and cozy corner or space in your home dedicated to reading. It’s a haven where you can escape into the pages of a book. I have many such book nooks around my home. - Book Blind Date:
A blind date with a book is where the cover and title are concealed, and readers select a book based on a brief description or genre tag. - Buddy Read:
Reading a book simultaneously with one or more friends or fellow Bookstagrammers, often followed by discussions and reviews. - Comfort Read:
A book you return to time and again for its familiar and comforting embrace. It’s like a literary security blanket during tough times. - Diverse Reads:
A hashtag used to highlight and promote books that feature diverse characters, authors, and perspectives. - Dog-Eared:
Dog earring pages are when you fold down the corner of a page to mark your place in a book. Some readers see it as a charming way to show love for a book, while others (like me) consider it sacrilege. - DNF:
DNF or Did Not Finish is used when a reader just can’t bring themselves to complete a book. It’s a bittersweet acknowledgment that not every book is for everyone. - Endpapers:
The sheets of paper glued to the inside covers of a hardcover book. Endpapers can be plain or decorated and are often an overlooked design element. - Flatlay:
Flatlay is a popular style of bookstagram photography where you take an overhead photograph of books, book-related items, and props arranged on a flat surface.
- Flutterer or Page Flutterer:
is someone who flips through the pages of a book quickly, often due to excitement or impatience to find out what happens next. - Hangover:
A bookish hangover is that groggy, disoriented feeling after staying up all night reading a captivating book. It’s a badge of honor for devoted readers. - Hauls and Unhauls:
Book Hauls are sharing a photo or post about the books you’ve recently acquired, often accompanied by excitement and anticipation. Unhauls are when you want to remove books from your personal collection either for donating, selling, or giving them away. - Mood Reader:
Mood reader is someone who reads according to their mood. Of late, I have become a mood reader and pick up books - Own Voices:
Own Voices refers to books in which the author shares a similar identity or background with the main character or characters, especially when it comes to underrepresented or marginalized communities.
Americanah, The Henna Wars, The Hate U Give are some examples. - Page Whisperer:
A person who can predict a book’s plot twists or endings just by reading a few pages, much to the amazement (or annoyance) of their friends. - Rainbow Bookshelf:
A rainbow bookshelf is when you arrange your bookshelf meticulously by colour, creating a visually stunning and colorful display. Here’s an example:
How to Create a Rainbow Bookshelf
- Readathon
A dedicated period of time during which a reader sets aside all other activities to read as many books as possible. - Reading Slump:
A dreaded period when a reader can’t find the enthusiasm to read. It’s a frustrating state of mind that all bookworms hope to overcome. - Shelfie (or Shelfie Sunday):
Shelfies are photos taken of your bookshelves, showcasing your carefully curated collection. They’re a way for bookworms to proudly display their literary tastes. Shelfie Sunday is a hashtag used on Sundays to share photos of your shelfies. - Shoutout:
Often done on bookstagram, giving a shoutout means featuring a bookstagrammer’s profile or a specific photo in your own post or stories to promote and support one another. - TBR:
TBR or To Be Read is a never-ending list of books you’re itching to read. It’s a source of both excitement and anxiety for bookworms.
- Trope:
A “bookish trope” refers to recurring themes, conventions, or narrative elements that are often used as a storytelling device or plot device.
Popular tropes include love triangles, rags to riches, villain redemption etc.
3 Favourite Romance Tropes and Book Recommendations - Tsundoku:
A wonderful Japanese term for the habit of acquiring books and letting them pile up, unread. Tsundoku is the ultimate testament to a book lover’s optimism and eagerness. - Wrap Up:
is a term commonly used by book bloggers, booktubers, and readers on social media platforms to refer to a recap or summary of the books they have read during a particular period of time.
This post is part of the Bookish League blog hop hosted by Bohemian Bibliophile.
Page whisperer, page flutterer never heard of those, even though I am a bit of each! Such a fun post. I find your clicks so beautiful as also your bookshelf even though arranging by colour isn’t my preferred way of organising books. You have one of the most aesthetic insta feeds.
True, through Ritu’s post and blog name, I got to know that I am close to being a bibiophile. Never knew it until I read it. I am so obsessed that I wouldn’t give away any book though for quite sometime I had no place to display them. they were all stacked up in a box.
Hey Shalini, That’s indeed a wonderful post and I just loved it. Basically it enriched by vocabulary as well as knowledge base about books as many terms you talked about in this post were unknown to me. Thank you so much for such a brilliant post. God bless you.
From this glossary, I can associate with Tsundoku and TBR. My list is endless and my cupboard always has 10 books that I have to read but never have the time, sometimes for decades. But my enthusiasm doesn’t waver, neither does my love and yearning for taking them out. I enjoyed the glossary, now going to search for these hashtags to see what others are doing about their book habits.
Interesting list! I knew most of these but page flutterer and audiophile were new to me. Very happy though that audiophile is an actual term and audiobooks are being embraced more and more everyday 🙂
Bookmarking this! (see what I did there?🤪)
Will be coming back to this one repeatedly
Thanks for this treasure trove, Shalini 😍🤩
Interesting post!
Shalini, thanks to you I just learned that I am that annoying “Page whisperer”!
Also, Trope and Tsundoku were completely new terms for me!
Shalini, this blog post is going to have a permanent place in my bookmarks list. I read bookish terms first from the book by Satabdi Mukherjee and instantly fell in love with the concept of learning more and more bookish terms and enriching my vocabulary. Loved your compilation, too. Yet to read Ritu’s. Thanks for bringing this compilation to us.
Such a lovely post! Book Blind Date sounds interesting. Never tried that. And Page Whisperer is such a beautiful term but I’m glad I’m not one. Kya maza aata books padhne mein? 🙂
So many terms that fit me…page whisperer, tsundoku…my TBR keeps growing all the time, and as I grow older I am becoming more of a mood reader.
P.s. love your rainbow bookshelf is beautiful
What a smart post to share!! I’d have loved to know some of these in then beginning of my blogging journey and I’m so glad I found this now because I still learnt a few words I had been curious about! Also, *clears throat* dog earring is sacrilege in my world too. Annotation is something I found hard to grasp as well until I saw some really beautiful annotations which I would never be able to replicate but can certainly appreciate. Lovely post! thank you for this!
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Wow! So many words I didn’t know about but would have used synonyms for them. A must read for all bibliophiles
I am not familiar with the majority of terms in the list. Among them, one I am familiar with is dog-eared, understood as books having folded corners as a result of a lot of use. I have to make an earnest effort to grasp them.
Oh Flatlay is what its called…yayy thanks to you, I finally got to know! This was such an interesting post to read. And on dog-earring, I am one of those! Maybe I should hide but it is something that I love to do!
Hello to one of my favorite bloggers ever! Such an awesome list; it had me smiling through and through because, of course, each entry resonated big time 😀
Loved reading your post. I am so so behind times and bookish knowledge. I was aghast to know there’s something called Unhauls!
A reading slump right now, I have several books that I have started and DNF. I’ve planned to complete all these unfinished books next year. Loved your post. I learnt many new bookish terms.
An interesting selection of terms! I particularly liked ‘Page Whisperer’!
I love the audiobooks one. This is such a fun post
Tsundoku will do it for me. Thanks for sharing the list.
such an exhaustive list you made. BIPOC is new term for me, will check out more about literature by BIPOC 🙂
I just turned a flutterer today. Couldn’t wait to reach the end of what was my current read.. flipped through the last few pages 😀
Some of these terms were completely new for me, Shalini. Enjoyed reading your post.
Loved your compilation. To know my post inspired this one is indeed a heady feeling. Thank you so much 🙂
I wish I had known these terms when I started book blogging. It was all Greek to me back then apart from the obvious ones. Page whisperer is something new for me. We never stop learning, do we?
Thank you for participating in the blog hop, Shalini.
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