Not many selfies or snuggly cats or TV show-inspired memes will be found in these little squares.

This corner of Instagram is reserved for books. And it’s far from a lonely corner.

Fittingly called “Bookstagram,” the online community celebrating a love for books has turned into an unlikely popular subset of Instagram. A recent search for “#bookstagram” results in 71 million posts.

Some show casual photos of stacks of books on a kitchen table or a hand holding up a book with a snowy backdrop.

Scrolling through the posts would eventually lead to the more eye-catching side of bookstagram. Moody and stylish photos are flowing with typewriters, candles, postcards and blankets all serving as background props for the star: the books.

The profile belongs to Amanda George, a Colorado-based writer, editor and bookstagrammer.

Compared to similar profiles, hers is one for the books.

George started “amanda.the.bookish” in 2017 after noticing the trend starting to take off. It combined her longtime love for books and newfound love of photography.

“It seemed perfect,” she said. “What better way to do that than make friends in the bookish community and take pretty photos of the things I loved?”

When she says she loves books, George means it. Her passion goes beyond her “book worm” coffee mug. For Valentine’s Day each year, she and her husband buy a leatherbound book together instead of going out to dinner. For Christmas, they stacked a bunch of books in the form of a tree. In 2021, she read 155 books. She kicked off 2022 by reading 18 books in one month.

Her love for books comes through the screen.

Using a professional camera and editing equipment, George takes photos inspired by an aesthetic called “dark academia,” which happens to be having a moment on the social media platform TikTok.

Her photoshoots are lit by candles and feature antiques to capture a dark and moody vibe.

One of her go-to props are letters George’s husband’s great-grandfather wrote in the 1800s with a dip pen.

“I’ve always been a fan of old things,” she said.

Her old-fashioned flair includes living in a 1920s lodge atop a mountain near Kremmling. When she’s not reading or posting about reading, George works on the family-owned Latigo Ranch as the dining room’s manager, waitress

and the ranch’s sommelier.

She’s also a fan of something not-so-old-school: social media. At least her corner of the social media world.

On Instagram, George regularly posts about book-related topics, such as recommendations or most-read authors or coolest covers. Her posts, and others like them, have proven to be a powerful tool for promoting new books and literacy overall, she said.

She has also found a tool to better her life.

George’s artsy book photos draw in followers, which now total more than 25,000. Followers then read about George’s dogs, favorite ice cream flavors and real-life problems. Some on the other side of the screen are no longer strangers.

“Many of my best friends are people I would never get to meet in real life but have a deep connection with on this platform,” she said.

Together, they support small bookstores and authors. They send each other Christmas and birthday gifts. They check in on each other on “bad mental health days.”

“Don’t let anyone tell you online friends aren’t real friends,” she said. “There’s so much power in finding people that you have something in common with.”

Here’s one example. When her parents got sick with COVID-19, George says bookstagrammers she had never spoken to were often checking on her and offered to bring food to her parents.

It’s the kind of thing that makes bookstagram “an online community like no other I have ever experienced,” she said.

“It was remarkable,” she said. “And that’s what this community is all about.”