Books | #lyypbooks #lyypreads

Technology is great, isn’t it?

Years ago, I used to forget about a book (seemingly) moments after reading it.

Then, Instagram was invented and I developed a GENIUS system wherein I took a picture of every book I read and posted the picture with a unique hashtag. Whenever someone asked me to recommend a book I’d read, I could search that hashtag and all my saved book photos would come up.

Sometimes, I was moved to share a review. My “book review” posts are some of the best performing social media content I’ve created in my whole IG history. (What does that say about me as a photographer who uses social media to support her business? Not gonna worry about that).

I even got fancy at one point and realized that I could make a highlight of all the books I’d read. Then I learned that the max number of photos in a highlight is 100, so I want back to the original, tried and true system.

Well.

Instagram changed the way they do hashtags. I can’t search anymore. I’m annoyed. And frustrated. And I’ve stopped posting about the books I’m reading.

So.

Here’s the new solution. I’ve managed to grab screenshots from instagram of all my old book posts (probably? maybe?) and from now on I’ll be keeping my list here. On my very own blog. Over which I have total control. (Just so you know what’s going on here). (I mean, I suppose I could start using the Goodreads account I abandoned 11 years ago, but what would I do with all these photos?) Note that there is no discernible order to this and that I probably missed some. I also will probably miss more. And updates might be erratic. A need for perfection would crush this new system, is what I’m saying. So yeah, it’s not perfect. But it’s here! Hope you like it.

Have you read any of these? Have any to recommend?

Update January 2026:

I just added ten new photos to my beautiful (I think) gallery of “books I’ve read.” I’ve also added one title to the ‘photo-less’ list below (My Friends by Fredrik Backman) that I forgot to take a photo before making the cute new gallery addition you see above. There were some goodies in this batch – standouts were The Correspondent, The Elements, Klara and the Sun and The Names (which inspired what was possibly our best book club discussion EVER).

I’ve been reading on a kindle a bit more. I still strongly prefer real books, but sometimes the convenience of having multiple books on a little device wins the game.

Speaking of little devices, January 2026 brought a first — I read an entire book on my iphone! I do not recommend this — I only did it because of a frustrating combination of factors that involved a cruise ship, terrible wifi, a canceled flight and a “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” story of getting home after a vacation — but I’ll tell you what: I’ve never enjoyed seven hours in an airport and a four hour drive (in the back seat) to an entirely different airport more.

Thanks for looking,

~Jaye

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