so what is @calliesreads?

Part quarantine passion project and part attempt to study my craft, I started a “bookstagram” in January of 2022 to share with friends and family.

In a little less than 6 months, that account has become what is now @calliesreads– a place where I share reviews and recommendations to a community of about 900 followers.

Though it started as a hobby, it turned into a personal case study of gaining a social media following. Through the account I’ve learned how to use hashtags, stories, and the Instagram algorithm to increase engagement and maintain followers.

For more content and my reviews, I’ve linked my yearly booklists below.

2023 Booklist

Sula by Toni Morrison

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

The Stranger by Albery Camus

The Vagina Monologues by V (formerly Ever Ensler)

Maame by Jessica George

Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

All About Love by bell hooks

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

2022 Booklist

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

Girlhood by Melissa Febos

Beartown (Beartown, #1) by Fredrik Backman

Us Against You (Beartown, #2) by Fredrik Backman

The Mercies by Kiran Hargrave Millwood

The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World by Shelley Puhak

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

2021 Booklist

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal

Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

Whiskey When We’re Dry by John Larison

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

She Would Be King by Wayetu Moore

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

The Arsonist’s City by Hala Alyan

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Circe by Madeline Miller

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