I made a Tiktok about this exact thing! lmfao. During lockdown! Wow. You can even get more specific and figure out if you are a Cruise or Townsend Lestat girl haha
as a bookseller i am really glad that book influencers are a thing. people don’t realize how much influencers help keeping bookshops alive. i don’t like colleen hoover but the amount of profit we make from her books is insane and i‘ve talked to so many customers about how they used to never read but thanks to booktok they do. reading is something beautiful and no matter what someone is reading we shouldn’t gatekeep something so beautiful
This is an interesting perspective. I think that there’s a significant group of book influencers who post a lot about indie bookshops/ only buy from indies, which is a great thing. That being said, there’s also a lot of Amazon/ book depository haul content which falls more on the consumerism side. So it’s hard to tell which side is winning. But 100% agree that gatekeeping is tacky
I know from talking to my small town local bookshop owner that they make a lot of money from SJ Maas’s books and Colleen Hoover. I personally don’t like either of those authors’ books but I get their appeal.
These kids need to grow up, get a life, stop reading garbage and read Plato, Sophocles, Immanuel Kant, Kafka, Leo Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Iliad, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus.... SLOWLY and not take fucking selfies
One thing I've learnt in my 24 years as a woman is that if a big group of young women find enjoyment or community in a certain thing it's going to be absolutley shat on
There was a booktube guy a few years ago (name rhymes with Sleeve Fawan-a-dew) who was up in arms because women booktubers took pictures and footage at a con, and he felt their wearing makeup and editing their content was proof they weren't real readers.
This 100% same thing happened when women became interested in making clothes, doing make up, and apparently riding bikes. Lets not talk about how being a nurse was a male only job.
I feel like at least reading books is being promoted. To me the opposite is far worse. I prefer to live in a world where *some* social media users/ content creators use books as a persona or aesthetics and most ARE truly readers. That way young people can look up to these book-fluencers and get inspired to read as opposed to loving books & reading being seen as only for “nerds” (by nerds I mean academically inclined or excelling people, not in a derogatory way in the least). I choose to look at the positives. Great video ❤
Yes! So many young people are legitimately finding a love of reading through social media and I think it's amazing. I've had men in my life dismiss bookish content as fluff and non intellectual drivel.....heaven forbid someone enjoys a little smut or a domestic thriller, not everyone gushes over Camus. I really loved this video. Thank you ☺️
@@Las645 there’s nothing wrong with being a nerd.But many people aren’t nerds. And the fact that even people who aren’t the most “academic” or nerdy types are reading it’s great, that’s my point. *Nobody (and especially not me, the original commenter) has mentioned the level of attractiveness or beauty of a nerd or/vs a newcoming reader.* And why are YOU assuming nerds aren’t attractive? Im a nerd, have always loved reading and even academically so, when my friends partied through college my favorite way to spend the weekend was reading books and “nerding”, and I wasn’t popular. I’ve also always been told I’m attractive, but it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m nerdy; they’re two separate factors. I’m a nerd, and I’m also attractive. Just like there are non-nerds that might not be that “attractive”. Who dictates that nerds cannot be or aren’t attractive? Why do we EVEN make it about attractiveness?? How does that factor in when the conversation’s about “it’s great that reading is being promoted more than ever”?? This way of people making it about beauty or attractiveness seems to me more of a personal insecurity, with all due respect. The most important thing is that our younger generations learn the love for books and reading.
My only problem with booktok and the journey of reading becoming popular again is terrible books becoming popular. Terrible books are getting great reviews on goodreads and winning awards that NEVER would have three years ago. I don't think that a book that's easy to read is necessarily a good book; in that same vein, I don't think that books that are hard to read are necessarily good books either. But if anyone recommends books like The Silent Patient as a must-read, I discount all of their bookish opinions. Sorry, but that book was awful! I love that reading is more popular, but many book influencers conflate books that are easy to read with books that are good.
very good point. I also think that a lot of influencers make it known where their tastes fall though, so it's relatively easy to just discount the opinions of people you essentially don't respect. I understand that it's frustrating to keep seeing the same mediocre book on everyone's feed though. been there.
I definitely think some books are overhyped, but everyone has their own taste. I personally realllyyyy enjoyed the silent patient, but its okay if you didnt.
I enjoyed that book but would not call it a mind blowing book lol it was easy to spot the twist. I think we have to keep in mind this book could be mind blowing to them if they have read other books aka younger readers. Unfortunately social media will take their rating as gospel.
Did you mean out of the silent planet by CS Lewis or is there a different book titled the silent patient? (I liked the silent planet but it's definitely a read you need to think on quite a bit. Screwtape letters is higher on my "must read" list) Edit: the silent patient is a completely different book I haven't read lol. Still would recommend out of the silent planet though
@@ElinWinblad i don’t completely agree. I am 13 years old, but could still guess the plot. It was kinda overhyped and i expected it to be better. Still had a good time reading it though
Heaven forbid people, especially young women, derive authentic joy from a hobby and choose to share their joy with the world. Cynical people can't help but try to suck the fun out of things.
"Hobby," lol more like an aesthetic for views. If they do actually read, it's some toxic YA book with the prose of someone who just graduated middle school. It's like people being praised for being film buffs and then you find out all they watch is The Kardashians or The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
As a teacher, I couldn't agree more. We have more kids now reading these books because their influencers are, which is perfect! I don't care how "trashy" the book is, I'm just thrilled they're reading. Even as a very well-read woman, I love a good trashy book occasionally, just for fun!
While I do agree that caring about the aesthetics is not an indicator of how intelligent or well read a person is, it's a fact that too many influencers on booktok and youtube seem more preoccupied with reading as many books as possible rather than actually carefully choosing good books and enjoying them, and i completely agree with that tweet you posted in the beginning, I wish you had spoken more about that. It's the consumerism that actually bothers me, and the fact that now it's so easy to publish a book that a lot of them are actually trash (some are even full of typos). Literature is now being consumed like fast food and fast fashion, and that's honestly the major issue in my opinion, not the pretty pictures
Btw! I mean this with no hate, I agree with you concerning the misogynistic aspect of this discussion. I really love your Instagram page and your videos, and I'm looking forward to hearing more of your opinions 😊
Oh yeah I definitely agree on the consumerist and even growth-obsessed aspect of the community. And in fact, I would like to see more commentary on how book content is too focused on hauls and book collections rather than just having a chat about books. What annoys me is that out of all the valid criticism, people choose “oh well they’re not actually reading, they’re just taking pretty pictures”. Because if the community was exactly as it is, but male rather than female dominated, this wouldn’t be a comment that’d get made. But yeah, thank you sm for watching!! And please don’t worry about stating an opinion different than mine - I love these types of discussions ❤️
I agree with everything said here as a reader, but Im not following trends or anything of the things you shared. I feel sad, bored and overwhelm seeing how things have turned around books!
i agree 100%. i do think many men (and women) make fun of these creators because of misogyny, but there's also absolutely a problem with consumerism, or you wouldn't get all these videos with people having 70+ TBR's etc. i also see a rising concept of "no criticism allowed ever" in the book community when it comes to certain things and i think it's related.
To add on to this, I feel like people who read but not at the “influencer pace” (like maybe 10-40 books a year) are then seen as the actual “fake readers.” I fall in this range and often get imposter syndrome as if since I don’t read as much as others, I’m actually a poser. I’ve definitely seen people who wholeheartedly love books so much so they read hundreds a year, with the same care (probably more) than someone who reads less. But I definitely agree that books are becoming a commodity.
I find it interesting that not too many years ago we were having discussions about ebooks making print obsolete, but then a younger readership came along and pretty definitively choose print. I don't see anyone talking about ebooks as the inevitable winner anymore. And Barnes and Noble, while the Nook never fully took off, is having a renaissance.
Trying to look bookish/adopt a reader aesthetic is as old as libraries lol. This is not new, some of those dark academics were not *pause* actual readers. But being a reader means different things to different people. As someone who studied literature and almost hated it as a result, it's interesting to see so many readers doing the kind of in depth analysis I had to do in grad school. Let them live, and let me continue to use reading for its intended use: A way to avoid socializing. 🤷🏾♀️
I think there is nothing wrong with romanticizing reading, but it worries me how fetishized the book as an object has become. I read primarly on my e-reader because digital books are more accessible to me and time and time again I have people telling me I'm not really reading (??). I swear you can't enter that space for 5 minutes as someone who mostly reads ebooks without someone asking you BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SMELL OF BOOKS???!!! I don't care about the smell of paper, I care about the content of the book. Not to mention the never-ending audiobook debate. Is listening to an audiobook really reading? This community really needs to unclench and understand that some people are disabled or don't have any space in their homes for a rainbow bookshelf with +200 unread books.
The audiobook debate is so silly to me considering how new a technological development printing text on paper is. Like… people used to literally learn stories and poems by heart and recite/sing them and that’s how you “read” something
@@accordingtoalina Scientifically speaking listening to an audio book is not the same as reading written text - but hear me out - does that matter..? It doesn't matter very much when it comes to experiencing a story, I think. I also don't know why someone would be mad at someone else for listening to a book rather than reading it?
I have a bad shoulder and carpal tunnel which is why I started using a kindle. Now I just read on my phone coz then I always have my book I like a physical book but this just works better for me :) Edited to add-just bought i hardback because I wanted to read and couldn’t get on kindle. I’m contrary!
I also read primarly on my Kindle because it's more convenient, the books are cheaper and I can take it everywhere, not to mention having to move several times in a few years made me reconsider buying physical books for my TBR. I dream of a big beautiful personal library but I don't dream of having to pack/carry/unpack 300/400/500+ books every few years knowing I most likely won't read them more than once.
@@mikanchan322 it kind of depends on what you're arguing about. as you said when it comes to experiencing a story, it doesn't matter at all. to be honest, even for reading comprehension it doesn't really matter as long as you can actually read (physically) relatively fluently. you can't replace physical books with audiobooks for a child who is learning to read and write because it's a different skill to be able to translate written symbols into language but once you have that skill, it's much less of a problem and it's more about striking a balance. of course listening to audiobooks isn't going to do much for your spelling but you're still getting most of the linguistic benefits out of it anyway.
As someone who used to read a lot and very fast in school (i used to read multiple books a week) to now barely reading anymore, i love it when slow readers comment on those book-influencers' "how I read 90532805 books this year" posts because after all it's not important how many books youve read but to simply enjoy reading
I’m a slow reader in part because English is not my first language but also because sometimes you just want to take your time you know. Competitive reading is such a bizarre thing to me
Honestly the massive booktok movement is partly responsible for getting me back into reading. I'm not even on tiktok, but seeing so much genuine enthusiasm for books bleed out into the rest of the internet reminded me how much I used to love reading, and inspired me to carve out time to start reading again. It's really nice actually! And it isn't just trendy books, honestly most of what I read is obscure at best, or science non-fiction, but the love of the hobby is infectious. It really does just reek of people being angy young women are enjoying something. You know if some dorky looking guy was posting his giant color coded library other nerds would be talking about how cool it is, but when a woman does it she MUST be vapid and faking her hobby for attention. 🙄
As a retired librarian I am just happy that people are reading and promoting books - especially because I am always horrified when I see statistics that the vast majority of people never even read ONE book per year.
The only thing that truly bothers me is the major FOMO influencers create and hyper consumerism they promote. Videos like "how I read 7 books a week," or "my 15 favorite books from this month," or "how to meet your (ridiculous) reading goals," etc. The people who consume this content feel pressure to "keep up" with the influencer, to consume, consume, move quickly from one book to the next, read absolute garbage but hey it's one book closer to my "reading goal," must keep up with all the trendy books, must not make my own reading choices but rather allow influencers to advertise new releases to me in a constant stream, must take all the joy out of reading for pleasure and turn it into work for the sake of keeping up appearances.
Definitely agree that book content should be different from other influencer content. I think that would benefit influencer and influenced - as I point out in the video, some of the expectations to read as much as possible are unrealistic for the “influencers” bug and small themselves
@@gerardinebetancourt1246 Just read at your own pace. Trying to read as many books as possible in such short periods of time will slowly make you see the act of reading as a hassle rather than an enjoyable hobby.
@@gerardinebetancourt1246 The best thing I've done is learn to not worry about anyone else's goals or stats and really focus on what I want for myself. My friends are in awe of how much I read, and I'm content with it, but there are always going to be people who seemingly effortlessly blow my stats out the water. All that matters is if *I* think I had a good reading year. Doing this is so freeing. I can count a graphic novel, or a middle grade book, and I don't have to argue with anyone if an audiobook is real reading. If I opened myself up to comparisons, I'd enjoy myself less, and perhaps feel like some of my selections were cheating. Who wants or needs that?
"Isn't it strange that we rarely accuse men of being performative... except about feminism." Damn, that's a good one lol I honestly don't care much of BookTok or Book Girls. It's whatever to me, it's cool, the feminine side of book or lit culture tends to be more positive than the masculine side. Meaning, when I see a fellow mate flexing his book reads I tend to roll my eyes. But the other side is cool since I know it's coming from a genuine place of fandom and interest. It's like how in the skateboarding community guys tend to trash on girl skaters and even "posers" for learning of the lifestyle, culture and most importantly just to have fun. Idk just let it be, they enjoy it and reading books is better than other things they can be doing. Great video!
I used to hate reading… I got into booktok one day by accident and now I have read 22 books in 5 months. This is truly something big for someone who couldn’t enjoy and didn’t find the fun in reading. As most social media things I think a lot of them are fake but I’m so glad I got to find my love for books in them.
oohhh I'm so glad you got something positive out of it. The community is certainly not perfect, like everything else on the internet, but there are a lot of people like you being encouraged to try something new, which is great
I agree with everything she said, but I think we should point out the problem of buying books without reading them more. It is crazy, that having 50-200 unread books at home and still buying more is seen as normal nowadays, and even supported by the book community.
I get this, but I also can't judge too much. I definitely see creators spending insane amounts on books, but I live in a glass house. I'm an eclectic mood reader, so I'm incapable of buy a book/read that book/buy another book. And I prefer print books because as I read them, unless they're absolute favorites, they're going to be placed in my Little Free Library. Books are also mementos for me -- souvenirs from my birthday splurge or a book convention, or a present from my husband. Even books I'm excited for and then my tastes change matter to me in the letting go and knowing someone who couldn't afford that book can simply have it.
that's why i don't like book hauls! it's just a pile of nice books... i mean it's cool, but it doesn't tell me anything relevant to the conversation. right now i have around 60 unread books at home but some of them are gifts (so 900+ pages books that i don't quite feel like reading yet) and i bought most of them with a 500 euros gift card that the italian government gives to 18yo, and it has to be finished whitin a year. so i'll finish them and then i will buy new books lol
I realised sometimes that I feel resentment when I watch these people and their hauls because I wish I had the money and the house to store them 😊😁 I read a lot, but it’s all library borrowed ebooks. I put myself on waiting lists regularly and I get to the most books I’d like to read eventually. I recommend books to the library regularly in hopes they’d buy some they don’t have 🤞🏻 Buying books is a rare occasion, maybe 2-3 from 50ish a year. And it’s always second hand or the cheapest paperback I can find 🙈 So my feelings of “this is ridiculous” have a sprinkle of “it must be niiiice” 🙈
I feel like "read on 1.5x speed" and "skim long paragraphs" are horrible advice, but reading audiobooks is really good advice for how to get through more books in a busy day (if you've got a 1 hour each way commute to work you can probably burn a book a week in audiobooks alone). Also reading more novellas and short stories is great advice. Sometimes you don't need 10-20 hours of reading to get an effective story, and it can break up a lot of doldrums if you're in between doorstopper novels to pick up a quick novella.
i think my biggest gripes with "booktok" and the recent cultural shift around reading is how heavily it focuses on consumerism, AND the odd phenomenon of hive mentality combined with so called "moral police" and simultanous decline in actual media literacy. the publishing industry is declining in quality both in terms of the published stories and the physical, technical state of the products. people shame each other for reading "problematic/dark/explicit" books (ive been observing a rise of the opinion that half of booktok has p*rn addiction because they read "spicy" novels) and then turn around to argue for lack of critical reading, discarding context or insist that applying "death of the author" to everything has no negative consequences on the collective understanding and awareness of readers. im very glad that young people and especially young women are readin more (my generation went through the same rise with twilight and the hunger games, after all, no judgement re: whats popular) but i just wish the community was more socially conscious and less focused on materialism. but in the end, these things are also very "typical" for teenagers and young adults, we enjoy the feel of belonging and the aesthetic aspects and having a tangible collection of things that make us happy. hopefully as time goes "booktok" and other communities will shift towards being more conscious and informed, and i already see these discussions happening, and in the end, im just glad that the kids are finding things to be happy about in these difficult times.
I think this kind of way of thinking is simply ingrained in a lot of people. My mother was complaining about young people not reading enough these days. I explained that there is actually a growing community of readers online, who read and discuss books. Her instant response was: “Well obviously they just SAY that they read them!” Like it’s crazy to her that anyone ‘young’ I guess? Can legitimately read books as a hobby.
And the thing is that people have ALWAYS said that. And if it's not "kids today don't read," it's "kids today read trash." Reading might ebb and flow in popularity, but there will always be readers, and that "trash" is still valuable in teaching language skills.
Such a great video! Haters gonna hate. Readers gonna read. As a 45-year-old Gen X white guy who engaged in more than a little book posturing with my (deep sigh) Hemingway and Jean-Paul Sartre books in high school in the 90s, I nevertheless became a lifelong passionate reader of a variety of authors later in life, mostly due to having so many books physically surrounding me in my unread collection. If there had a been a BookTok or BookTube in my youth, I would have had a lot more fun, felt more connected, and read better books. All these people criticizing young readers are total hypocrites who are more than likely just envious of people enjoying themselves.
I’ve been reading for ages and the book community has recommend me some of my fave books and the fact that aesthetics around books have become a thing it’s not inherently bad. I acc quite enjoy the aesthetics, reading being such a lonely hobby it makes it much more enjoyable if you feel like someone is reading along side with you/ there is someone out there who reads similar books. However, The problem I have w the book community is the obsession with numbers and hyper consumption. I’ve left most social media, RUclips being the only one and I’ve realised how dumb it is to obsess w goodreads’ goals or similar things.. It’s dumb, it’s so dumb it makes me angry. Caring about the amount of books you’ve read will never matter, you only want to seem cool. Also, do you really need to buy every single book recommended to you? Will you actually read it? When? Having a 1000 book tbr is not healthy.
Honestly, I can't comment on TikTok or Instagram, since I don't use those forums. But on Booktube, I never really thought that women were "fake readers" or just pretending for the likes. I watch a lot of Booktube channels and most of them are females. And all of them seem to genuinely enjoy reading and are reading the books they're talking about. If not, they might as well be, because they're faking it real good. The only issue I see on Booktube is so many creators fall to the wayside because of burnout. Mostly due to these "reading challenges." A lot of good Booktubers have quit because they tried these insane challenges and just got sick of reading. I mean, fun is fun. But trying to read twenty books in a weekend will burn ANY reader out. I just wish these things would ease off so I would quit losing my favorite channels. Sometimes I think they people that are making those channels are trying to burn out their competition on purpose to keep the herd thinned. Which is a shame. People griping about pics or videos with a book displayed? That goes back to the coffee table book. Having your favorite book on display to me is just a quick way of saying: "This is my favorite book. Says something about me and what I like? Want to know more?" I do it myself. I always have a few favorite books in the open to be seen. It's a conversation piece. No problem with that. As to book haul videos. I also watch a lot of comic book haul videos and I'm usually watching a bunch of dudes take comics out of boxes while I "OOOOO" and "AHHHH" over what they've found. I'm the same way on Booktube. If a Booktuber has a haul video, I'm always excited to see what they found. Kind of a sneak peak to what they might talk about next. I love those videos. No complaints here. I'll say the same thing here that I said when Harry Potter mania was going on and people were hating on it as "books for stupid people." As long as people are reading, I don't care! If they're reading anything, it's good! And if something is sweeping the country and getting people to read...From Harry Potter to Twilight to 50 Shades of Gray....Awesome! As long as people are reading! Because reading is power! And if a woman wants to have books in her pics...Awesome! If she's not a reader, she might be, since she has so many books around. I'm not going to knock it. And, finally, in all honesty, most of the readers I know ARE women. Don't know why some dudes are hating on that? Probably because those dudes don't read?
This is such a nicely nuanced assessment of the online book community. I agree that reading challenges and content fatigue and burnout are sad consequences of how the content economy works. I also love your theory about people trying to get other content creators to burn out hahaha! Evil if true
As a former librarian I am fine with most forms of book promotion, as long as folks are reading books they enjoy or love or maybe even despise. I do enjoy channels where you can sense people actually read the book because they want to, not because of the cover or its current popularity. I’m worried about certain organizations trying to censor what young people read in libraries. These people are trying to control and brainwash people into their narrow minded and fascist ways of thinking. Did you hear about the children’s book written by a writer whose last name was Gay? They wanted to censor it. Had to back out of it. Ha ha. Let people read they want. Read the readers bill of rights. Just celebrate reading because reading is power and we need more of it.😊
The biggest lie modern culture tells us is that we can create a meaningful identity through consuming products (music, clothing, accessories, brands, etc.), rather than the way truly meaningful identity is actually generated. An aesthetic is perfectly fine and can be a lot of fun. But it should not be confused for an identity--even though it often is. The modern craving for meaningful identity in a culture that is typified by disconnection and loneliness is what's behind these trends.
I love this. I'm a professional photographer. Reading has been a hobby of mine since I was 4. Why does my logging what I read in an aesthetic and pretty way in any way negate my reading? Imo creating book content, reading and buying books are three separate hobbies. One doesn't invalidate the other!
Enjoyed this analysis - personally I think that is almost inevitable that when presenting a favorite book or a selection of interesting books there will be attention to aesthetics to a certain extent, especially on mainly visual platforms such as instagram. But looking at the bigger picture is nice to see how this community developed from niche to not-so-niche-anymore, which could only mean that books are being read more! I’m not part of the community but I enjoy seeing your journey and learn from what you have to say ❤️
tbh there's a lot that sucks about booktok (overconsumption, boiling books down to sex scenes, etc) but the fact that they're big on being perceived as readers instead of actually being readers is not really a booktok thing. i'm only 24 so that's not a super long time but it's definitely before booktok was a thing and instagram was still about posting pictures of yourself and your friends to socialize and looking like a reader was a huge thing back then too. even my mom would go out and buy books she never even planned on reading when she was younger and this was before the internet was even invented. i think trying to appear as an intellectual has been a thing for a really long time.
i used to have a bookstagram account and was very active on there. i’ve always been a reader (like since i was 9), but being on social media almost took away my love for reading. being online guided my purchasing habits, dictated what kind of books i consumed, how i read, etc. and it was overwhelming, so i deleted my account and limited even my booktube content. and i feel so much better. i’m reading much more because i want to, and i’m reading what i want. i decided to not do the goodreads challenge this year and i feel great.
As a reader who started reading due to books I found on book tok, I’m so glad I stumbled across booktok. I absolutely adore reading now and I love the “aesthetic” feel of reading too.. there is nothing wrong with romanticising things you love
I've been part of the book community before there was librarything and Goodreads; Through LiveJournal groups and message boards of the early 2000s. Watching how the online book community has grown makes my booklover heart so very happy.
And prior to that we were discussing books via BBS message boards. Gatekeeping was absolutely a thing back then, too, the commonality being "if women like it, then it's silly."
worrying about what people think about my reading habits really really ruined my 20s (I had a blog back in 2010, god I'm old! I was so preoccupied with coming off as smart and intellectual, but was also wrestling with imposter syndrome). I had a slump for 2 or 3 years without any books! Now, in my late 30s, after allowing myself to just read the shit out of genre books, I am having the golden era of reading, and I'm happy. And I know I'm smart and intellectual (but I don't need validation or to prove it). That GQ article sounds like shit, I hope people forget it immediately. (that said, I don't seem to be interested in those books that tiktok seems to be wild about, but to each their own) Great video, I totally subscribed! :D
Late 30s is old? It's sad society makes us think like this. I'm in my late 50s. I actually am old and also out of f**ks to give about what anyone thinks of that.
So I’ve been on booktube (left tiktok before booktok) and the massive hauls and aesthetics really just came over from that. It was already an existing problem. But I’ve also been a big “happy people are reading” type of girl. I think once everyone realizes most “fast readers” are listening to audiobooks, (which is fine I love audiobooks)and that it’s better to take your time and find your genre, then it will be a much happier and fulfilling experience.
As a millennial I remember 2012-2014 very much about the fb, tw or blogs about recommendations of YA novels, and the whole thing about the movie adaptations such as hunger games, maze runner, etc. After that many of us start to read philosophy or universal literature. I do think this is good, because will evolve along the person.
The book community has so much variety in it. I think often the discourse is about the tip of the iceberg, the creators who are so large that you can stumble upon them accidentally.
I love that reading has become popular and that it has become an aesthetic but I also wonder what it does to a normal teenager who feels pressured into reading in order to look smart because of how 'normal' reading has become. I have adhd and it is incredibly hard for me to sit down and read a book. I heavily rely on text to speech in order to even get through my textbooks. But i love audiobooks. At first when I was just getting into reading, I felt this immense pressure to read physical books. Also, I hate how certain books (especially romance books) get overhyped on booktube and booktok and then when I read them, I realise that they have extremely toxic tropes and male characters. I wonder how many creators feel pressured into giving books a good review just because the general discourse around a book is good.
So interesting what you say about the pressure to become “well read”. There’s definitely a lot of “being well read as a status symbol” discourse going on, but I think that it’s linked to articles like the GQ one I talk about in this video. As long as we prescribe what and how people should read there will always be an impostor syndrome around interacting with books.
First of all, people who are not ableist know audiobooks count. However you consume books, whichever books you want, at the speed that is right for you counts. You're a reader! Even if you want to do content, you can always find an image of a cover. There are always, unfortunately, going to be people who take it as a personal insult if you don't like their favorite. But there are also always going to be people who have your back.
@@michellerever3564 yup, I was late to reading as well as audiobooks. I used to listen to so many people on booktube debate if audiobooks are real books. Some would say yes they are real books and some would disagree. I was really influenced by booktube culture. And I honestly forced myself to read because of booktube. I also saw people annotating their books and it looked so interesting! As I grew up, I got out of booktube culture and discovered my own reading interests and preferences but I honestly wonder about the impact that booktok, booktube and social media in general has on teenagers as I myself have felt the impact social media had on me when I was a teen.
A huge bookworm since childhood I'll say that audiobooks are absolutely fantastic. A great narrator can heighten the experience. Dune was boring and mediocre until I got the audio version, and youtube narrators are the reason I got a patreon to support them.
I literally couldn't care less if someone "uses" books and reading as an aesthetic. I'm also sick of seeing people shame women for enjoying literally anything. I really think that this world lacks in "minding your own godamn business" Your reading experience won't be ruined by a stranger taking a picture of their book and posting it. So addressing the writer of the article and anyone sharing his thoughts, grow up, let people be happy, your life won't be ruined by something so harmless and if it is.. well.. that's literally your issue
I'm not disagreeing with you, but the extended use of social media by basically everybody these days is killing the idea of minding your own goddamn business. Posting on social media is basically asking for people to stick their noses *into* your business.
Idk. I just feel like social media amplifies things that have been happening for a long time. People have always read books. To call book reading niche is odd to me even though I can understand why you would say that. As someone who has always been an avid reader, I guess my perspective comes from the fact that because of that, I've always been in community with book readers, so it has always been common to me. You make some great points, and I admit that as a 32 year old reader, (who was on booktube during the huge book era when people were doing MASSIVE hauls) maybe it's a generation thing I'm not getting. It does seem like social media makes everything seem brand new or newly discovered, even though most of this stuff has been a thing for a while. I've also thought that hyper consumerism and over consumption have been an issue, butI like to remind people that anti libraries are a real and valid thing. There's a concept that comes from the Japanese called tsundoku which is essentially having a library of books you haven't read and it not being a negative thing because being surrounded by knowledge and stories is a good thing and while we may not get to everything on our shelves, it doesn't take the value out of owning them. As book lovers and readers, I think I can say confidently that a lot of us just like having books and having them around even if we don't have the time to pick them up and read them. It's a comfort thing to a degree I believe. Lastly I just wanna point out... BOOKS ARE ALSO ENTERTAINMENT. People (pretentious readers and men) need to understand that. A lot of people don't read dense or heavy books. Some people genuinely just want to be entertained by their literature and that's totally OKAY. and as a young reader, I didn't always read the most 'intellectual' stuff. This is all silly and arbitrary and it sucks that it even needs to be addressed.
Omg huge yes to the books as entertainment point!! I had a note about that but ended up cutting it from the video because it needed more elaboration and it could literally be a video in itself. But it’s so funny isn’t it, that 300 years ago men were mocking novels because they were “women’s literature” and now they’re like “aaah the novel - serious stuff”. Like, let people enjoy things ffs
@According to Alina yes its so exhausting watching people take issue with these sorts of things. It's harmless, and when do we as women, especially, get to just have things without having to defend, explain, or feel shame about it? Also, the publishing industry has been hanging on by a thread (in comparison to how theyve done in the past) If you really think about it, its doing numbers now in a lot of ways and we arguably have some of the most diverse stories and writers than we ever have thanks to the internet and people's commitment to creating content around these stories and the pressure we have put on publishers to do better by us as readers. Not to mention, I just can't bring myself to be upset at the folks' self-publishing because the girls really go up for them and enjoy their work, so whatever. At least people are either reading or supporting writers with their dollars and content or all of the above. It's a win all around, imo 🤷🏽♀️ Sorry that this is long winded lmao I'm chatty today, and I liked your video, lol 😅
I do agree with you. I've started reading on 2014, you know when the Hunger Game stuff became popular. And now here we are. Reading is just entertainment (as movies or something similar) is where you find joy, it should not be a job! :)
This isnt bad for readers but this really bad for writers of long form fiction and literature (of which there isnt much of a market anyway). Because it puts an even greater emphasis on brand and marketability rather than merit. Edit: If you're interested, many 21st century writers have covered this, like Jonathan Franzen and David Foster Wallace since the commercialisation of the publishing industry has been a growing concern among freelance or represented writers since the late 90s and 00s, except now book signings and interviews have been replaced by tiktok and RUclips engagement. Honestly I really hope this doesnt become an actual _thing_ . A very similar situation has happened with the music industry, but yeah there is a lot of reasonable criticism towards Booktok, that isnt just misogyny and elitism.
For sure, and as I mention in the video, even within the book community there is very valid criticism. I didn’t go into how the publishing industry has/will be impacted by this, though, because I felt like that would be a separate video altogether
Franzen didn't want Oprah to recommend his book because he didn't want to alienate male readers. 🤨 I get this in the sense of men don't want to read books they perceive as being for women, while women seem to not have the same issue in reverse, but I can get away from the sense that he thinks he's too smart and too literary to be wasted on the ladies. This was at a time where that endorsement really meant a lot, though. It was pre Tik-tok, and her recs had a huge influence. When she picked Anna Karenina, publishers -- it was and is in the public domain -- printed 800,000 more copies.
In my opinion at least it keeping Waterstones open and in business. It’s drawing more people into the hobby and making it more mainstream and more accessible. I like having my hobbies grow into these big things. Like when Pokémon expanded massively after Pokémon go. I didn’t like GO but it expanded the amount of merchandise which i do like.
booktok got me back into reading!! it brings me so much joy and it makes my heart happy to see other women expressing what gives them happiness. my favorite novel i read this year was literally a tiktok recommendation. tiktok is more than just coho and YA romance (no shade to people who like YA romance, i also like YA romance)
Great video❤. In my opinion what bothers me about booktok is the hype of toxic love relationships in fiction books being promoted to teenage girls. And I do love that reading is being promoted but it would be nice to see more nonfiction also being promoted just as YA and fantasy books.
As someone who works at a book store- while BookTok books aren’t always my *personal* tastes and recommendations, but they’re a huge reason physical book stores are still in business. I have no problem at all with the reading aesthetic if it keeps people reading and coming in. People will judge people for not reading, then they’ll judge people’s book tastes. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
Currently I have a book club and yes I haven’t managed to finish a full book this year yet 😢😢😢 I have a full time job and the worst attention span ever but I love learning from others and sharing. I had a blog for about 3 years and I was like might as well build a community around it. It’s pretty new yet but it’s made me so happy to find girls who read in my city even if I’m not a fast reader or can’t keep up I love theses meetings and they keep me going. I think the most important thing is to do whatever you like however you like. I was in previous book clubs where I felt very pressured or shame if I hadn’t read the “must reads” the new realeases etc so I try to make it as optional as possible without any shame or pressure bc I wish I had that space before. Something that I don’t like about book influencers is like a fixed list of must reads and idk everyone is their unique individual and I like random stuff. Old, new, from different countries, authors, etc
I appreciate the time you took to explain things and you actually got me to think about things I hadn't thought about. And you actually swayed my opinion about a lot of things, I really dig it when someone can do that. I've been one of those "BookTube has become more about the algorithm than books" types, but I hadn't thought about the other side of things, including the good parts of aestheticization as much. Part of it is that I've been on RUclips since very early 2006 so maybe a "seen it all" cynicism has clouded my judgement. I feel like a grandpa sometimes, even though I'm nowhere near an old man yet. And I kind of approach RUclips like an old grandpa sometimes. It's cool how you went into a lot of details, I actually find the aesthetics you mentioned really cool and had no idea they were born out of the online book community. Some I didn't know the names for. I'm glad you mentioned stuff about the positive side of the aestheticization that I hadn't thought about. What's your aesthetic called? I really like it a lot! And I'm also glad you mentioned the legitimate criticism and problems of BookTube as well. Another thing I appreciate is that you're part of a genre (maybe it's not a genre, I don't know) that I rarely see these days. I call it the "person talking to a camera" genre. I'm incredibly glad I found your channel today. Thank you for putting time and effort into making this great, I hope your channel ends up being super successful so that lots of people can hear what you have to say!
I’m a guy who enjoys horror and dark fantasy books and sometimes get rude comments that I only read trashy lowbrow garbage instead of real literature. I say screw what those people say and just enjoy whatever you want. Horror and dark fantasy books have a lot of fascinating deep characters, creative plots, explore meaningful and controversial themes, bring comfort to me by showing normal people confronting their greatest fears, etc. I don’t care what other people like, I’m just happy to see them enjoying something. Don’t let others ruin it for you.
My biggest ick is pics of HEAVILY annotated books that when u zoom in to what the person wrote is just dumb phrases trying to be "deep" or sound smart but theyre like extremely surface level, i feel like the point of annotating is to actually ADD to what the author is bringing to the table, reflect, etc 😭 or when they highlight or put like 10 sticky notes per page and the book is a typical "booktok book", theres no way all of that is worth highlighting, its just too much at that point they gotta b just highlighting anyhting for the sake of it idk
great video. like, i love the content of books, i love analyzing literature. but i also looove taking pretty little pictures of my books/annotations and sharing it with the world. exactly what you said-- intellectualism and aestheticism don't have to be mutually exclusive.
Love this last sentence. My feelings exactly. I’ve seen people stage pics based on the salient themes of the book pictured. Personally, that’s way too much effort to do, but how can you say the content is superficial???
Pls I’d rather have reading be an „aesthetic“ than other much more unhealthy things, I think this trend of reading being cool again is introducing way more ppl to not only reading but also genres of books they maybe never knew existed, me for example, I always was a reader but through all of booktok and what not I’ve found so many new books I’m obsessed with
So happy for u! And yes, the bar is on the floor but books are still getting banned out of schools. We need people making a big deal out if them online now more than ever
Thank you for this fantastic video! By impulse, I’m a very insecure reader, due in part by my own sense of mortality. In the past, I’ve allowed that to enable a benign snobbery about literature, where I’ve denied myself access and enjoyment of books deemed less important by authority figures. Having since discarded that mentality, my view of booktok has largely inversed. It is very fair to criticize commercialization and superficiality within anything, especially conversations pertaining to literature. I also agree though that there is a thread of misogynist belittlement running throughout this conversation, as in so many things, which I haven’t realized until now. I’ll be subscribing from now on, and following your Dante book club!
What a refreshing comment! So glad you’re allowing yourself to enjoy things and I agree that it does not by any means do away with critical thinking. Happy to have you here x
A few things that also annoys me, 1) people bragging they can finish a book in 3 hrs. 2) People who says a certain book is a “retell” of a popular story when it wasn’t a re-tell, but more an inspiration of that story - you can tell they didn’t read the book lol 3) I’m a very slow reader, and sometimes I have a difficult time focusing on the story (due to stress mostly), I would annotate to help myself retain informations better, or to make notes so I can easily go back quick if I need a recap or such. And I’ve been looking on RUclips on how literature readers annotate, well, more so on “what” they would annotate to help read literature better. But all I can find are people highlighting what they love, what they hate, … hearts lol A LOT of hearts. 😅
Yeah fast readers are annoying to me too, most probably because I’m jealous lol. And also agree on annotations: I moved to Italy from Romania just before high school and didn’t speak the language properly for the first year or two, so annotations in my books saved my life. But I never had any particular method to it, they just made sense to me and no one else, so I had to go through a lot of trial and error with note-taking.
I don't think there's one way to tab or notate. It depends what you care about, what you want to remember, and if you're going to do anything with the it all. I like to review, so I tend to primary mark passages that will remind me of points I want to make. Or if I can tell I'm going to lose track of characters, to mark someone's first appearance. I think the book I'm reading now -- Lone Women, Victor Lavalle -- is about the toxicity of family secrets, so I'm using a red tab whenever a passage seems to reinforce that. If it makes sense to your brain, and helps you, there's no wrong way to do it, and it's also fine to not do it.
fast reading is practical in academics, but for enjoyment reading *slowing down* is vital for me. i found the only place i can actually do that is in the sauna. it destroys the book 😂 but i get some peace and quiet to read ❤
Christ, this whole 'aesthetic'-thing is stressing me out! I feel like everyone around me has a chosen 'style', a chosen aesthetic if you will, that they express through their clothes, furniture and now freaking books as well! Suddenly I'm aware of what the books on my shelf might be saying about me, and because I have broad taste, it really shines through, that I have no 'one chosen aesthetic' or style in my life. I'm all over the place! I'm 25 and shopping anything is so anxiety-provoking to me, cause I way overthink what box other people will put me in based on this one thing! Anyway... you have some really good points, that, as you can see, really got me (over)thinking. The thought of people choosing and buying books because they look nice on instagram and/or the shelf... god I hate it, it feels like some kind of unappreciative book-abuse where they solely value the book for the outside look of it instead of the potential masterpiece of a story inside. It feels very...relatable in some way
This was such a thoughtful and well-researched analysis. As you said, online book cultures are not immune to criticism, but most of the things people (and the author of the GQ article) complain about wouldn't really an issue if they would just mind their own business.
oh I had one in my class at uni. me and a guy in class were 'readers' but my lawd he was obsessed with Hemingway, and I am so very much not..... the condescention 🙄 they really do equate not liking something with not understanding it👀
I started a bookstagram in early 2023 where I would mainly read books and give my reviews on them both from the perspective of a writer and a reader. I haven't updated since September/October despite having read like 2-3 books since then.
Even huge booktubers like Jack Edwards routinely fakes reading certain books for his videos and there's lots of proof of this. Booktube and booktok is just signalling that there's depth to your character where there is none. Most normal people know that influencer live fairly shallow lives. The trends on booktube and booktok would look different if the viewers and creators actually care about book discussion. You could easily make a week worth of tiktoks on a single average size novel if you just had something to say about it beyond meme type content and paraphrasing the blurb.
this was perfectly well said. i did book content 10 years ago and recently found out about booktok and the resurgence of it, its definitely changed a ton. i think my biggest qualm is how consumerism has taken over in the sense of book hauls and amount of reading per year done compared to how it was in the past.
I've always been a reader since a kid, and I've never relied on reviews until 2 months ago. That lead to find a good book like once or twice a year. I'd go to the bookshop and pick either a classic (because you can tend to rely on those), or pick a random one because it looks interesting (but often disappointed). After youtube started recommending me more booktubers, (I only followed a clockwork reader before, but I seldomly watched her), it only helped me to decide more consciously what I do wanna read. If one reviewer says a book is good, I try to find another one that says otherwise. Then based on those subjective opions, I make mine. So far, no book I chose by doing this let me down. So I am really grateful to the book community!
Very informative. I agree let people be. People always have something to say. There are worse things people could be doing than discussing books. As a minority I appreciate the bookish community for showing me books that have characters that look like me. That is something mainstream has never shown me.
Such an important point!! I don’t think most people realise that publishing houses would never have put out as many diverse books over the past few years if it wasn’t for people online campaigning for diversity
I'm just tired of these narratives and judgements around whatever the girls do. X aesthetics, Y trends..And of course bringing models like Bella or Kendall into it, just to prove how right I'm about my opinion. Let girls do whatever they want to do without judging them. If their contents don't match your interests, don't follow them. It's like we need all life long people to evaluate every single step we take. I don't see it by men, which is a good thing and in my opinion acceptance of every individuals. P.s. it was a peaceful comment.
Criticize can be good when its about helping the other, because why is the reason these women behave like that? Over consume, etc. If nobody tells them anything I dont think its good at all!
@@imnoemit and with men? You will judge them in the same way? For example, when they buy comics or mangas, why they consume these products instead of read a book?
Yeah is not a big deal, Kendall could be doing it for attention (like most of the thing she does) but if so so what? Is not gonna affect us un any way if ppl do stuff for attention and social media points.
I find it interesting that the things I enjoyed, like books and anime for roughly a decade, is now cool or trendy--- it's awesome that I can happily enjoy those things without criticism. Though on the other end, the popularity can lead to over saturation of trying to fit a certain aesthetic, materialism (aka, buying books, having many bookshelves, decorating everything perfectly, buying special additions, having various book boxes/subscriptions, etc), and even a trend in comparing how much you've read over the year, and what books you've read or haven't read. and the rise of the book dragon--- buying many books, keeping books as treasures; which is something not many people can afford, so they feel less than, like maybe they aren't a "true lover" or "not as obsessed" with books as those who do all these things. (I think it's great if you are able to have all these things, though it's not as feesable for everyone, ,and that doesn't make anyone less or more of a book lover: I myself have about 200 books and three bookshelves). I also am curious about the rise of spicy books--- that wasn't something I expect to be so popular on TikTok and other platforms.
I LOVED this video and your elegant and easy to follow ideas on this topic. I think there is something to be said about the criticism we are subject to when we choose to enjoy our hobbies online. Excluding problematic behaviors such as overconsumption, I believe it's safe to assume that even women who ARE members of booktok solely for the community - that is, they enjoy making content around the idea of books or being a "reader" without necessarily enjoying the process of reading or the content of the books themselves - are also not really doing anything inappropriate. The idea of "faking" an aesthetic or not being genuine about what hobbies you enjoy online, while off-putting, is not illegal, and it does not affect anyone else's ability to go through their own lives. There are too many areas to assume incorrectly about the behind the scenes of any creators lives, and I think most of us forget from time to time that we truly only see what this creator intends for us to see. If you disagree with a creator's intention, I believe it's important to recognize that 1) You could be wrong, this creator could be absorbing this content differently than you believe, and 2) You are allowed to walk away from a creator without berating them for not posting content you enjoy viewing the way you enjoy viewing it. I hope that as a society we are able to be more particular about which behaviors are legitimately inappropriate and deserve the public outlash, vs women who have created a community based around a hobby. Also, we as a society need to be reading more anyway. Reading is so nurturing for our brain and can genuinely increase your intelligence, so I am very happy that reading has become more "mainstream" in this sense. When we are all working to become more educated versions of ourselves where we can, all of society is better for it. I hope that reading and the reading community can continue to grow and impact our lives!
I used to run a book-related tiktok account to which I've stopped posting because I started college and hence have had no time to post (ironic since I'm an English student lmaoo) but I certainly fell victim to the idea that what I was posting wasn't enough for the algorithm. My following was only around 600 but I grew quite a comfortable group of people who enjoyed less popular books and classic literature as well as annotating. I mostly shared my annotations which contain the majority of my thoughts on the book, since I write a lot in my books I thought it would be fun to share that with people and try and eliminate the fear of "damaging" your books for some people. While we can criticize many aspects of booktok like overconsumption and the loss of meaning in reading itself, I personally enjoyed the sense of community it built once I found the kind of content that resonated with me most!❤❤ Reading is like a sanctuary for me and I do agree that aestheticizing can take away from a lot of the joy that comes with the hobby itself and not just the presentation (which is why I have backed away from posting book-related content).
You make some good points here, and I’m inclined to agree. However, it’s not true that “we rarely accuse men of being performative.” Listen to what any guy says about another guy who posts a video of himself working out.
Thank you for explaining all this. Culturally and socially, I am about as far away from BookTok as you can imagine. I had no idea what has been going on. As a (much) older, white male author (historical fiction), I won't be having any personal involvement in BookTok (or TikTok). If my (future) readers do, then good for them. I do wonder how many people who are invested in BookTok ask themselves -- is this healthy for me, personally? Is this healthy for my friend network and communities? Is this healthy for society at large? In my world, almost nobody asks these questions about their social media participation and consumption. They get sucked in, then addicted, and then rationalize any toxicity or negative externalities by some superficial personal payoffs. I think about these questions when I study the history of slavery, imperialism, and racist institutions like in the US, 1870 - 1965. Why did so many ordinary people go along with it, and even participate in it (e.g. crowds watching lynchings, building and maintaining ships for the slave trade, etc.)?
When I read a book in public people stop to ask me what I’m reading (it’s usually WWII historical fiction but I read anything that looks interesting) and I can’t tell you how relieved people are when they see it’s not a book that they deem “basic”. Especially men. I seriously don’t understand that mindset. What’s wrong with reading a book or genre that’s popular? It’s popular for a reason. There’s nothing wrong with being “like other girls”. Enjoying a romance novel doesn’t make you unintelligent or any less of a reader. Enjoying historical fiction does not make you inherently intelligent and non-feminine. Ridiculous. You like what you like and that’s fine. Keep reading ❤️
Subscribed! I love hearing your thoughts on bookish news. Thank you for sharing your insights. ..And, huge congrats on two English degrees 😮 - respect!
For me, reading is just another form of media consumption. I grew up being told there is a 'right' way of reading (comics and manga did not count, YA genres did not count unless it was main stream). I think its important to seperate the pressure of how to read that I feel a lot of young people can relate to. The more I allow myself to not be concerned with how and what I read, the more I find myself reading and being able to enjoy the stories.
I love reading it just is an escape from reality and it makes me feel emotions I have never felt before. Reading gives me joy and the best part is, after finishing a book, I can decorate a page in my reading journal. I love writing in my books and underlining my favourite quotes and I love being a woman and no men can ever take my love for reading away from me because no matter what women do, they get hated and made fun of it. Whether it`s reading or showing interests in cars or whatsoever. Btw I loved your video
I'm happy more people are reading and book sales are at all an time high except.. many are seriously forgetting to look in thrift stores regularly [if they're near one] it can stop hundreds of books from going to landfills and get you a $30+ book for $5 to $1 ahhhhhhhhhh but a downside to Booktok was them getting authors like Colleen Hoover popular when we already 'canceled' her awful writing years ago or having books be called "best-sellers" because they went viral on booktok for tropes but they have majority bad reviews and aren't actually popular outside of that niche.
Definitely agree with secondhand book buying. I do it most of the time and it’s so much fun! I think one of the downsides of the online book community is the pressure to keep up with the latest releases. I’m not sure books are meant to be consumed immediately when they come out, it’s not fashion…
I'm on Booksta, and I just got into doing Booktube...and I love it. I love seeing so many young women getting excited about books. I love seeing the variety of genres being shared in my feed. I love having more people to talk about books with. I do read fast, always have since I was in 2nd grade. So I get through a lot, but I read in a variety of genres, and when I love a book, it stays with me for a VERY long time regardless of the reading speed I have with it. My TBR is also large because I just...I read in so many genres that I have a lot I genuinely want to read. Do I own more books than I've read? Yes. But the majority of them aren't brand new or even recent books. They were all picked up over the last 10 years from secondhand shops and my local library's fundraising bookstore. 😅 I love the growing book community and I hope it continues to grow, that it doesn't just die out like other trends do so often. Lots of boys/men and adult women have nothing better to do than trash on young girls' and women's hobbies and fandoms. Kinda just used to it at this point 🙄
I also feel like there has been a shift in what books are 'acceptable' with romance becoming so popular you don't have to read 100 classics and the 15 saddest books ever to be a 'reader' and I think in general a lot of these academic men just can't accept that romance is those trashy books grandma picked up at the store that everyone made fun of (cause aging woman can't do anything without it being diminished or villainized) Also find it interesting while I know there are tons of fandoms alive and well nothing today can really compare to early 2010s fandom (teen wolf, harry potter, supernatural) and as someone who has really begun to run out of longer well written fanfiction I have been reading more books
11:54 That’s always pissed me off for the longest time. I’m sick and tired of whenever women are doing something fun it’s always front and center on the chopping block and on the guillotine ready to be thrown tomatoes at. Women can’t have girl math/girl, dinner, booktok, or Bama rush without everyone come to talk about how stupid it is and how it “sets women back“ and how it’s embarrassing and cringey. Why is it that anytime women indulge in anything completely devoid from men that we have to be shamed and ridiculed? What’s worse is that a lot of the damage is coming from inside of the house, meaning that it’s most likely gatekeeping pick mes that are mad that they spent most of their childhood and teen years being authentically into books, and now being outshone by aesthetically attractive women who are raking in views and sponsorships off of their passions. Why doesn’t anyone ever check on the men? I’m sure they’re out and about doing stupid stuff that calls for just as much disdain.
Reading becoming a hobby would be a good thing if people were changing based on reading. Instead books are changing based on who is reading. Its the taylor swiftification of society. Worse yet, if you arent beautiful and pc, your book will be trashed, even if its a great book.
Girl, this was a great video! You are so concise and eloquent and this was a great summary, subscribed! Can't wait to see more from you, I also appreciate your humor 😂
Wow i just came across your channel two videos ago and i just wanted to watch before dropping a comment here. You have absolutely fantastic insight into these things.
I really like reading books in general. It started when i was luke 8 years old when the brought me a book like 159 pages. Then i bought another one and know i have almost 310 books. I think Booktok is destroying reading a little bit because the book aesthetic defeats the whole point of reading books. Nowadays reading books is mostly about the aesthetic and having a lot of books and not actually enjoying them. I am not trying to tell that booktok is bad, well done to every girl/boy that started reading books and joined the book community, i just think you should enjoy the books, their content and meaning, not the aesthetic Of course booktok is expanding book reading and this is a good think and of course it is VERY good. It is very nice that young people read books and just let them be and do their own thing and not make a bad thing out of anything.😊
I’ve always enjoyed to read, but always found it hard to find the “right ones” for me. This year, the book tok trend finally hit me and I tried a few of the recommendations- I only loved one though, so I gave up. However, because I watched them for a while, my TikTok/reels kept giving me their videos. one thing that bothers me is how fast everyone seems to read and how perfect all the books seem to be, all the time. As a graduate student, it’s freaking hard for me to get my 25 books challenge done (books that aren’t related to my research anyway lol). Then I think “it’s just a number, you don’t need to read 100 books in one year”
Sooo. We have two kinds of book girls: Louis and Lestat.
Lmaoooo pinning this comment
The irony is they're both nightmares, one with lipstick 💄
I made a Tiktok about this exact thing! lmfao. During lockdown! Wow. You can even get more specific and figure out if you are a Cruise or Townsend Lestat girl haha
Omg... love this.
Best comment
as a bookseller i am really glad that book influencers are a thing. people don’t realize how much influencers help keeping bookshops alive. i don’t like colleen hoover but the amount of profit we make from her books is insane and i‘ve talked to so many customers about how they used to never read but thanks to booktok they do. reading is something beautiful and no matter what someone is reading we shouldn’t gatekeep something so beautiful
This is an interesting perspective. I think that there’s a significant group of book influencers who post a lot about indie bookshops/ only buy from indies, which is a great thing. That being said, there’s also a lot of Amazon/ book depository haul content which falls more on the consumerism side. So it’s hard to tell which side is winning. But 100% agree that gatekeeping is tacky
That's a good aspect! There are tons of genuine channels as well, talking about books. And by girls.
As a fellow bookseller I TOTALLY AGREE !!!
I know from talking to my small town local bookshop owner that they make a lot of money from SJ Maas’s books and Colleen Hoover. I personally don’t like either of those authors’ books but I get their appeal.
These kids need to grow up, get a life, stop reading garbage and read Plato, Sophocles, Immanuel Kant, Kafka, Leo Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Iliad, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus.... SLOWLY and not take fucking selfies
One thing I've learnt in my 24 years as a woman is that if a big group of young women find enjoyment or community in a certain thing it's going to be absolutley shat on
Without fail happens every single time
exactly what i was j about to comment 😭 like it’s just BOOKS let the girls live!!!!
There was a booktube guy a few years ago (name rhymes with Sleeve Fawan-a-dew) who was up in arms because women booktubers took pictures and footage at a con, and he felt their wearing makeup and editing their content was proof they weren't real readers.
Looks like misogyny
This 100% same thing happened when women became interested in making clothes, doing make up, and apparently riding bikes. Lets not talk about how being a nurse was a male only job.
''kids don't read enough'' *kids decide to make reading fun in their own way* ''OH MY GOD HOW DARE THEY READ THE WRONG WAY''
😂
What's funny is if you look up the stats the kids read a whole lot more than you'd think ☺️
I feel like at least reading books is being promoted. To me the opposite is far worse. I prefer to live in a world where *some* social media users/ content creators use books as a persona or aesthetics and most ARE truly readers. That way young people can look up to these book-fluencers and get inspired to read as opposed to loving books & reading being seen as only for “nerds” (by nerds I mean academically inclined or excelling people, not in a derogatory way in the least). I choose to look at the positives. Great video ❤
Yes, I mean there will always be people who are just “doing it because it’s cool”, but that goes for everything.
Yes! So many young people are legitimately finding a love of reading through social media and I think it's amazing. I've had men in my life dismiss bookish content as fluff and non intellectual drivel.....heaven forbid someone enjoys a little smut or a domestic thriller, not everyone gushes over Camus. I really loved this video. Thank you ☺️
@@courtgarris1396 thank you for watching!!
That’s the point tho what’s wrong with being a nerd? Why is it only ok when attractive and popular people do it
@@Las645 there’s nothing wrong with being a nerd.But many people aren’t nerds. And the fact that even people who aren’t the most “academic” or nerdy types are reading it’s great, that’s my point. *Nobody (and especially not me, the original commenter) has mentioned the level of attractiveness or beauty of a nerd or/vs a newcoming reader.* And why are YOU assuming nerds aren’t attractive? Im a nerd, have always loved reading and even academically so, when my friends partied through college my favorite way to spend the weekend was reading books and “nerding”, and I wasn’t popular. I’ve also always been told I’m attractive, but it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m nerdy; they’re two separate factors. I’m a nerd, and I’m also attractive. Just like there are non-nerds that might not be that “attractive”. Who dictates that nerds cannot be or aren’t attractive? Why do we EVEN make it about attractiveness?? How does that factor in when the conversation’s about “it’s great that reading is being promoted more than ever”?? This way of people making it about beauty or attractiveness seems to me more of a personal insecurity, with all due respect. The most important thing is that our younger generations learn the love for books and reading.
My only problem with booktok and the journey of reading becoming popular again is terrible books becoming popular. Terrible books are getting great reviews on goodreads and winning awards that NEVER would have three years ago. I don't think that a book that's easy to read is necessarily a good book; in that same vein, I don't think that books that are hard to read are necessarily good books either. But if anyone recommends books like The Silent Patient as a must-read, I discount all of their bookish opinions. Sorry, but that book was awful! I love that reading is more popular, but many book influencers conflate books that are easy to read with books that are good.
very good point. I also think that a lot of influencers make it known where their tastes fall though, so it's relatively easy to just discount the opinions of people you essentially don't respect. I understand that it's frustrating to keep seeing the same mediocre book on everyone's feed though. been there.
I definitely think some books are overhyped, but everyone has their own taste. I personally realllyyyy enjoyed the silent patient, but its okay if you didnt.
I enjoyed that book but would not call it a mind blowing book lol it was easy to spot the twist. I think we have to keep in mind this book could be mind blowing to them if they have read other books aka younger readers. Unfortunately social media will take their rating as gospel.
Did you mean out of the silent planet by CS Lewis or is there a different book titled the silent patient? (I liked the silent planet but it's definitely a read you need to think on quite a bit. Screwtape letters is higher on my "must read" list)
Edit: the silent patient is a completely different book I haven't read lol. Still would recommend out of the silent planet though
@@ElinWinblad i don’t completely agree. I am 13 years old, but could still guess the plot. It was kinda overhyped and i expected it to be better. Still had a good time reading it though
Heaven forbid people, especially young women, derive authentic joy from a hobby and choose to share their joy with the world. Cynical people can't help but try to suck the fun out of things.
Exactly! Let is do our silly book videos ffs
"Hobby," lol more like an aesthetic for views. If they do actually read, it's some toxic YA book with the prose of someone who just graduated middle school. It's like people being praised for being film buffs and then you find out all they watch is The Kardashians or The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
@alb0zfinest it still meets the definition of a hobby. Apparent authenticity and the approval of internet strangers aren't requisites.
Yea but let's pretend like there is no such thing as posers.
@@Laocoon283 there's no reason being a poser can't be a hobby.
You pick up a book. You love the book. Reading is a joy everyone will have. I don't care what gets people to read books
Exactly!
As a teacher, I couldn't agree more. We have more kids now reading these books because their influencers are, which is perfect! I don't care how "trashy" the book is, I'm just thrilled they're reading. Even as a very well-read woman, I love a good trashy book occasionally, just for fun!
While I do agree that caring about the aesthetics is not an indicator of how intelligent or well read a person is, it's a fact that too many influencers on booktok and youtube seem more preoccupied with reading as many books as possible rather than actually carefully choosing good books and enjoying them, and i completely agree with that tweet you posted in the beginning, I wish you had spoken more about that. It's the consumerism that actually bothers me, and the fact that now it's so easy to publish a book that a lot of them are actually trash (some are even full of typos). Literature is now being consumed like fast food and fast fashion, and that's honestly the major issue in my opinion, not the pretty pictures
Btw! I mean this with no hate, I agree with you concerning the misogynistic aspect of this discussion. I really love your Instagram page and your videos, and I'm looking forward to hearing more of your opinions 😊
Oh yeah I definitely agree on the consumerist and even growth-obsessed aspect of the community. And in fact, I would like to see more commentary on how book content is too focused on hauls and book collections rather than just having a chat about books. What annoys me is that out of all the valid criticism, people choose “oh well they’re not actually reading, they’re just taking pretty pictures”. Because if the community was exactly as it is, but male rather than female dominated, this wouldn’t be a comment that’d get made.
But yeah, thank you sm for watching!! And please don’t worry about stating an opinion different than mine - I love these types of discussions ❤️
I agree with everything said here as a reader, but Im not following trends or anything of the things you shared. I feel sad, bored and overwhelm seeing how things have turned around books!
i agree 100%. i do think many men (and women) make fun of these creators because of misogyny, but there's also absolutely a problem with consumerism, or you wouldn't get all these videos with people having 70+ TBR's etc. i also see a rising concept of "no criticism allowed ever" in the book community when it comes to certain things and i think it's related.
To add on to this, I feel like people who read but not at the “influencer pace” (like maybe 10-40 books a year) are then seen as the actual “fake readers.” I fall in this range and often get imposter syndrome as if since I don’t read as much as others, I’m actually a poser.
I’ve definitely seen people who wholeheartedly love books so much so they read hundreds a year, with the same care (probably more) than someone who reads less. But I definitely agree that books are becoming a commodity.
Frankly, I'm very happy to see the younger generation are reading again.
I find it interesting that not too many years ago we were having discussions about ebooks making print obsolete, but then a younger readership came along and pretty definitively choose print. I don't see anyone talking about ebooks as the inevitable winner anymore. And Barnes and Noble, while the Nook never fully took off, is having a renaissance.
Trying to look bookish/adopt a reader aesthetic is as old as libraries lol.
This is not new, some of those dark academics were not *pause* actual readers.
But being a reader means different things to different people.
As someone who studied literature and almost hated it as a result, it's interesting to see so many readers doing the kind of in depth analysis I had to do in grad school.
Let them live, and let me continue to use reading for its intended use: A way to avoid socializing. 🤷🏾♀️
I think there is nothing wrong with romanticizing reading, but it worries me how fetishized the book as an object has become. I read primarly on my e-reader because digital books are more accessible to me and time and time again I have people telling me I'm not really reading (??). I swear you can't enter that space for 5 minutes as someone who mostly reads ebooks without someone asking you BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SMELL OF BOOKS???!!! I don't care about the smell of paper, I care about the content of the book. Not to mention the never-ending audiobook debate. Is listening to an audiobook really reading? This community really needs to unclench and understand that some people are disabled or don't have any space in their homes for a rainbow bookshelf with +200 unread books.
The audiobook debate is so silly to me considering how new a technological development printing text on paper is. Like… people used to literally learn stories and poems by heart and recite/sing them and that’s how you “read” something
@@accordingtoalina Scientifically speaking listening to an audio book is not the same as reading written text - but hear me out - does that matter..?
It doesn't matter very much when it comes to experiencing a story, I think. I also don't know why someone would be mad at someone else for listening to a book rather than reading it?
I have a bad shoulder and carpal tunnel which is why I started using a kindle. Now I just read on my phone coz then I always have my book I like a physical book but this just works better for me :)
Edited to add-just bought i hardback because I wanted to read and couldn’t get on kindle. I’m contrary!
I also read primarly on my Kindle because it's more convenient, the books are cheaper and I can take it everywhere, not to mention having to move several times in a few years made me reconsider buying physical books for my TBR. I dream of a big beautiful personal library but I don't dream of having to pack/carry/unpack 300/400/500+ books every few years knowing I most likely won't read them more than once.
@@mikanchan322 it kind of depends on what you're arguing about. as you said when it comes to experiencing a story, it doesn't matter at all.
to be honest, even for reading comprehension it doesn't really matter as long as you can actually read (physically) relatively fluently. you can't replace physical books with audiobooks for a child who is learning to read and write because it's a different skill to be able to translate written symbols into language but once you have that skill, it's much less of a problem and it's more about striking a balance. of course listening to audiobooks isn't going to do much for your spelling but you're still getting most of the linguistic benefits out of it anyway.
As someone who used to read a lot and very fast in school (i used to read multiple books a week) to now barely reading anymore, i love it when slow readers comment on those book-influencers' "how I read 90532805 books this year" posts because after all it's not important how many books youve read but to simply enjoy reading
I’m a slow reader in part because English is not my first language but also because sometimes you just want to take your time you know. Competitive reading is such a bizarre thing to me
Honestly the massive booktok movement is partly responsible for getting me back into reading. I'm not even on tiktok, but seeing so much genuine enthusiasm for books bleed out into the rest of the internet reminded me how much I used to love reading, and inspired me to carve out time to start reading again. It's really nice actually! And it isn't just trendy books, honestly most of what I read is obscure at best, or science non-fiction, but the love of the hobby is infectious.
It really does just reek of people being angy young women are enjoying something. You know if some dorky looking guy was posting his giant color coded library other nerds would be talking about how cool it is, but when a woman does it she MUST be vapid and faking her hobby for attention.
🙄
“Dorky looking guy” lmao
As a retired librarian I am just happy that people are reading and promoting books - especially because I am always horrified when I see statistics that the vast majority of people never even read ONE book per year.
The only thing that truly bothers me is the major FOMO influencers create and hyper consumerism they promote. Videos like "how I read 7 books a week," or "my 15 favorite books from this month," or "how to meet your (ridiculous) reading goals," etc. The people who consume this content feel pressure to "keep up" with the influencer, to consume, consume, move quickly from one book to the next, read absolute garbage but hey it's one book closer to my "reading goal," must keep up with all the trendy books, must not make my own reading choices but rather allow influencers to advertise new releases to me in a constant stream, must take all the joy out of reading for pleasure and turn it into work for the sake of keeping up appearances.
Definitely agree that book content should be different from other influencer content. I think that would benefit influencer and influenced - as I point out in the video, some of the expectations to read as much as possible are unrealistic for the “influencers” bug and small themselves
I completely agree with this. i feel pressured to keep up all the time 😢. it's a good and bad thing at the same time
@@gerardinebetancourt1246
Just read at your own pace. Trying to read as many books as possible in such short periods of time will slowly make you see the act of reading as a hassle rather than an enjoyable hobby.
@@serena841 thank you so much for the rec
@@gerardinebetancourt1246 The best thing I've done is learn to not worry about anyone else's goals or stats and really focus on what I want for myself. My friends are in awe of how much I read, and I'm content with it, but there are always going to be people who seemingly effortlessly blow my stats out the water. All that matters is if *I* think I had a good reading year.
Doing this is so freeing. I can count a graphic novel, or a middle grade book, and I don't have to argue with anyone if an audiobook is real reading. If I opened myself up to comparisons, I'd enjoy myself less, and perhaps feel like some of my selections were cheating. Who wants or needs that?
"Isn't it strange that we rarely accuse men of being performative... except about feminism." Damn, that's a good one lol I honestly don't care much of BookTok or Book Girls. It's whatever to me, it's cool, the feminine side of book or lit culture tends to be more positive than the masculine side. Meaning, when I see a fellow mate flexing his book reads I tend to roll my eyes. But the other side is cool since I know it's coming from a genuine place of fandom and interest. It's like how in the skateboarding community guys tend to trash on girl skaters and even "posers" for learning of the lifestyle, culture and most importantly just to have fun. Idk just let it be, they enjoy it and reading books is better than other things they can be doing. Great video!
Thank you for watching and for your thoughts!
I used to hate reading… I got into booktok one day by accident and now I have read 22 books in 5 months. This is truly something big for someone who couldn’t enjoy and didn’t find the fun in reading. As most social media things I think a lot of them are fake but I’m so glad I got to find my love for books in them.
oohhh I'm so glad you got something positive out of it. The community is certainly not perfect, like everything else on the internet, but there are a lot of people like you being encouraged to try something new, which is great
I agree with everything she said, but I think we should point out the problem of buying books without reading them more. It is crazy, that having 50-200 unread books at home and still buying more is seen as normal nowadays, and even supported by the book community.
Yeah, I definitely think mindless consumption is the main issue for me, too
I completely agree. Such a waste of money. It's also irresponsible.
I get this, but I also can't judge too much. I definitely see creators spending insane amounts on books, but I live in a glass house. I'm an eclectic mood reader, so I'm incapable of buy a book/read that book/buy another book. And I prefer print books because as I read them, unless they're absolute favorites, they're going to be placed in my Little Free Library. Books are also mementos for me -- souvenirs from my birthday splurge or a book convention, or a present from my husband. Even books I'm excited for and then my tastes change matter to me in the letting go and knowing someone who couldn't afford that book can simply have it.
that's why i don't like book hauls! it's just a pile of nice books... i mean it's cool, but it doesn't tell me anything relevant to the conversation. right now i have around 60 unread books at home but some of them are gifts (so 900+ pages books that i don't quite feel like reading yet) and i bought most of them with a 500 euros gift card that the italian government gives to 18yo, and it has to be finished whitin a year. so i'll finish them and then i will buy new books lol
I realised sometimes that I feel resentment when I watch these people and their hauls because I wish I had the money and the house to store them 😊😁 I read a lot, but it’s all library borrowed ebooks. I put myself on waiting lists regularly and I get to the most books I’d like to read eventually. I recommend books to the library regularly in hopes they’d buy some they don’t have 🤞🏻 Buying books is a rare occasion, maybe 2-3 from 50ish a year. And it’s always second hand or the cheapest paperback I can find 🙈 So my feelings of “this is ridiculous” have a sprinkle of “it must be niiiice” 🙈
I feel like "read on 1.5x speed" and "skim long paragraphs" are horrible advice, but reading audiobooks is really good advice for how to get through more books in a busy day (if you've got a 1 hour each way commute to work you can probably burn a book a week in audiobooks alone). Also reading more novellas and short stories is great advice. Sometimes you don't need 10-20 hours of reading to get an effective story, and it can break up a lot of doldrums if you're in between doorstopper novels to pick up a quick novella.
I’m not an audiobook person but do love a novella!
i think my biggest gripes with "booktok" and the recent cultural shift around reading is how heavily it focuses on consumerism, AND the odd phenomenon of hive mentality combined with so called "moral police" and simultanous decline in actual media literacy. the publishing industry is declining in quality both in terms of the published stories and the physical, technical state of the products. people shame each other for reading "problematic/dark/explicit" books (ive been observing a rise of the opinion that half of booktok has p*rn addiction because they read "spicy" novels) and then turn around to argue for lack of critical reading, discarding context or insist that applying "death of the author" to everything has no negative consequences on the collective understanding and awareness of readers. im very glad that young people and especially young women are readin more (my generation went through the same rise with twilight and the hunger games, after all, no judgement re: whats popular) but i just wish the community was more socially conscious and less focused on materialism. but in the end, these things are also very "typical" for teenagers and young adults, we enjoy the feel of belonging and the aesthetic aspects and having a tangible collection of things that make us happy. hopefully as time goes "booktok" and other communities will shift towards being more conscious and informed, and i already see these discussions happening, and in the end, im just glad that the kids are finding things to be happy about in these difficult times.
I think this kind of way of thinking is simply ingrained in a lot of people.
My mother was complaining about young people not reading enough these days. I explained that there is actually a growing community of readers online, who read and discuss books. Her instant response was: “Well obviously they just SAY that they read them!” Like it’s crazy to her that anyone ‘young’ I guess? Can legitimately read books as a hobby.
Hahahaha classic
And the thing is that people have ALWAYS said that. And if it's not "kids today don't read," it's "kids today read trash." Reading might ebb and flow in popularity, but there will always be readers, and that "trash" is still valuable in teaching language skills.
thanks to the youtube algorithm for bringing me here. I really loved this discussion and the way you structured it!
Oooh thank you so much! I’m glad the algo brought you here ❤️
Such a great video! Haters gonna hate. Readers gonna read. As a 45-year-old Gen X white guy who engaged in more than a little book posturing with my (deep sigh) Hemingway and Jean-Paul Sartre books in high school in the 90s, I nevertheless became a lifelong passionate reader of a variety of authors later in life, mostly due to having so many books physically surrounding me in my unread collection. If there had a been a BookTok or BookTube in my youth, I would have had a lot more fun, felt more connected, and read better books. All these people criticizing young readers are total hypocrites who are more than likely just envious of people enjoying themselves.
Awww I’m so glad you enjoyed it! And thank you for sharing your thoughts, I really appreciate it!
Thays very sweet
I’ve been reading for ages and the book community has recommend me some of my fave books and the fact that aesthetics around books have become a thing it’s not inherently bad. I acc quite enjoy the aesthetics, reading being such a lonely hobby it makes it much more enjoyable if you feel like someone is reading along side with you/ there is someone out there who reads similar books. However, The problem I have w the book community is the obsession with numbers and hyper consumption. I’ve left most social media, RUclips being the only one and I’ve realised how dumb it is to obsess w goodreads’ goals or similar things.. It’s dumb, it’s so dumb it makes me angry. Caring about the amount of books you’ve read will never matter, you only want to seem cool. Also, do you really need to buy every single book recommended to you? Will you actually read it? When? Having a 1000 book tbr is not healthy.
So so true
as a librarian im just glad people read more especially the young generation
Im glad classics like Jane Austen and Dostoevsky books are getting promoted to young girls nowadays through the internet
Oscar Wilde would’ve loved book influencers, to be honest.
💀💀💀 he would have been an instagram poet I promise you
@@accordingtoalinafrr lol
Honestly, it have fitted him like a glove.
Honestly, I can't comment on TikTok or Instagram, since I don't use those forums. But on Booktube, I never really thought that women were "fake readers" or just pretending for the likes. I watch a lot of Booktube channels and most of them are females. And all of them seem to genuinely enjoy reading and are reading the books they're talking about. If not, they might as well be, because they're faking it real good.
The only issue I see on Booktube is so many creators fall to the wayside because of burnout. Mostly due to these "reading challenges." A lot of good Booktubers have quit because they tried these insane challenges and just got sick of reading. I mean, fun is fun. But trying to read twenty books in a weekend will burn ANY reader out. I just wish these things would ease off so I would quit losing my favorite channels. Sometimes I think they people that are making those channels are trying to burn out their competition on purpose to keep the herd thinned. Which is a shame.
People griping about pics or videos with a book displayed? That goes back to the coffee table book. Having your favorite book on display to me is just a quick way of saying: "This is my favorite book. Says something about me and what I like? Want to know more?" I do it myself. I always have a few favorite books in the open to be seen. It's a conversation piece. No problem with that.
As to book haul videos. I also watch a lot of comic book haul videos and I'm usually watching a bunch of dudes take comics out of boxes while I "OOOOO" and "AHHHH" over what they've found. I'm the same way on Booktube. If a Booktuber has a haul video, I'm always excited to see what they found. Kind of a sneak peak to what they might talk about next. I love those videos. No complaints here.
I'll say the same thing here that I said when Harry Potter mania was going on and people were hating on it as "books for stupid people." As long as people are reading, I don't care! If they're reading anything, it's good! And if something is sweeping the country and getting people to read...From Harry Potter to Twilight to 50 Shades of Gray....Awesome! As long as people are reading! Because reading is power! And if a woman wants to have books in her pics...Awesome! If she's not a reader, she might be, since she has so many books around. I'm not going to knock it.
And, finally, in all honesty, most of the readers I know ARE women. Don't know why some dudes are hating on that? Probably because those dudes don't read?
This is such a nicely nuanced assessment of the online book community. I agree that reading challenges and content fatigue and burnout are sad consequences of how the content economy works. I also love your theory about people trying to get other content creators to burn out hahaha! Evil if true
As a former librarian I am fine with most forms of book promotion, as long as folks are reading books they enjoy or love or maybe even despise. I do enjoy channels where you can sense people actually read the book because they want to, not because of the cover or its current popularity. I’m worried about certain organizations trying to censor what young people read in libraries. These people are trying to control and brainwash people into their narrow minded and fascist ways of thinking. Did you hear about the children’s book written by a writer whose last name was Gay? They wanted to censor it. Had to back out of it. Ha ha. Let people read they want. Read the readers bill of rights. Just celebrate reading because reading is power and we need more of it.😊
The biggest lie modern culture tells us is that we can create a meaningful identity through consuming products (music, clothing, accessories, brands, etc.), rather than the way truly meaningful identity is actually generated. An aesthetic is perfectly fine and can be a lot of fun. But it should not be confused for an identity--even though it often is. The modern craving for meaningful identity in a culture that is typified by disconnection and loneliness is what's behind these trends.
This is still better than having the kids spend hours on TikTok rotting their brain. Good for them!
I love this. I'm a professional photographer. Reading has been a hobby of mine since I was 4. Why does my logging what I read in an aesthetic and pretty way in any way negate my reading? Imo creating book content, reading and buying books are three separate hobbies. One doesn't invalidate the other!
They really are different things and people need to grow up. Are you on instagram? If so what’s your @
Enjoyed this analysis - personally I think that is almost inevitable that when presenting a favorite book or a selection of interesting books there will be attention to aesthetics to a certain extent, especially on mainly visual platforms such as instagram. But looking at the bigger picture is nice to see how this community developed from niche to not-so-niche-anymore, which could only mean that books are being read more! I’m not part of the community but I enjoy seeing your journey and learn from what you have to say ❤️
🥹🥹🥹 love you
tbh there's a lot that sucks about booktok (overconsumption, boiling books down to sex scenes, etc) but the fact that they're big on being perceived as readers instead of actually being readers is not really a booktok thing. i'm only 24 so that's not a super long time but it's definitely before booktok was a thing and instagram was still about posting pictures of yourself and your friends to socialize and looking like a reader was a huge thing back then too. even my mom would go out and buy books she never even planned on reading when she was younger and this was before the internet was even invented. i think trying to appear as an intellectual has been a thing for a really long time.
i used to have a bookstagram account and was very active on there. i’ve always been a reader (like since i was 9), but being on social media almost took away my love for reading. being online guided my purchasing habits, dictated what kind of books i consumed, how i read, etc. and it was overwhelming, so i deleted my account and limited even my booktube content. and i feel so much better. i’m reading much more because i want to, and i’m reading what i want. i decided to not do the goodreads challenge this year and i feel great.
As a reader who started reading due to books I found on book tok, I’m so glad I stumbled across booktok. I absolutely adore reading now and I love the “aesthetic” feel of reading too.. there is nothing wrong with romanticising things you love
I've been part of the book community before there was librarything and Goodreads; Through LiveJournal groups and message boards of the early 2000s. Watching how the online book community has grown makes my booklover heart so very happy.
Same here 🥹
2006 is pretty early tbh
There was a message board in like 2000/2001 that had a little book community 😊
And prior to that we were discussing books via BBS message boards. Gatekeeping was absolutely a thing back then, too, the commonality being "if women like it, then it's silly."
worrying about what people think about my reading habits really really ruined my 20s (I had a blog back in 2010, god I'm old! I was so preoccupied with coming off as smart and intellectual, but was also wrestling with imposter syndrome). I had a slump for 2 or 3 years without any books! Now, in my late 30s, after allowing myself to just read the shit out of genre books, I am having the golden era of reading, and I'm happy. And I know I'm smart and intellectual (but I don't need validation or to prove it). That GQ article sounds like shit, I hope people forget it immediately. (that said, I don't seem to be interested in those books that tiktok seems to be wild about, but to each their own)
Great video, I totally subscribed! :D
Aaaaw so happy you’re back into reading whatever you like, good for you!
Late 30s is old? It's sad society makes us think like this. I'm in my late 50s. I actually am old and also out of f**ks to give about what anyone thinks of that.
So I’ve been on booktube (left tiktok before booktok) and the massive hauls and aesthetics really just came over from that. It was already an existing problem. But I’ve also been a big “happy people are reading” type of girl. I think once everyone realizes most “fast readers” are listening to audiobooks, (which is fine I love audiobooks)and that it’s better to take your time and find your genre, then it will be a much happier and fulfilling experience.
As a millennial I remember 2012-2014 very much about the fb, tw or blogs about recommendations of YA novels, and the whole thing about the movie adaptations such as hunger games, maze runner, etc. After that many of us start to read philosophy or universal literature. I do think this is good, because will evolve along the person.
Exactly, you have to start somewhere
The book community has so much variety in it. I think often the discourse is about the tip of the iceberg, the creators who are so large that you can stumble upon them accidentally.
I love that reading has become popular and that it has become an aesthetic but I also wonder what it does to a normal teenager who feels pressured into reading in order to look smart because of how 'normal' reading has become. I have adhd and it is incredibly hard for me to sit down and read a book. I heavily rely on text to speech in order to even get through my textbooks. But i love audiobooks. At first when I was just getting into reading, I felt this immense pressure to read physical books.
Also, I hate how certain books (especially romance books) get overhyped on booktube and booktok and then when I read them, I realise that they have extremely toxic tropes and male characters. I wonder how many creators feel pressured into giving books a good review just because the general discourse around a book is good.
So interesting what you say about the pressure to become “well read”. There’s definitely a lot of “being well read as a status symbol” discourse going on, but I think that it’s linked to articles like the GQ one I talk about in this video. As long as we prescribe what and how people should read there will always be an impostor syndrome around interacting with books.
First of all, people who are not ableist know audiobooks count. However you consume books, whichever books you want, at the speed that is right for you counts. You're a reader! Even if you want to do content, you can always find an image of a cover.
There are always, unfortunately, going to be people who take it as a personal insult if you don't like their favorite. But there are also always going to be people who have your back.
@@michellerever3564 yup, I was late to reading as well as audiobooks. I used to listen to so many people on booktube debate if audiobooks are real books. Some would say yes they are real books and some would disagree. I was really influenced by booktube culture. And I honestly forced myself to read because of booktube. I also saw people annotating their books and it looked so interesting! As I grew up, I got out of booktube culture and discovered my own reading interests and preferences but I honestly wonder about the impact that booktok, booktube and social media in general has on teenagers as I myself have felt the impact social media had on me when I was a teen.
A huge bookworm since childhood I'll say that audiobooks are absolutely fantastic. A great narrator can heighten the experience.
Dune was boring and mediocre until I got the audio version, and youtube narrators are the reason I got a patreon to support them.
I literally couldn't care less if someone "uses" books and reading as an aesthetic. I'm also sick of seeing people shame women for enjoying literally anything. I really think that this world lacks in "minding your own godamn business"
Your reading experience won't be ruined by a stranger taking a picture of their book and posting it. So addressing the writer of the article and anyone sharing his thoughts, grow up, let people be happy, your life won't be ruined by something so harmless and if it is.. well.. that's literally your issue
Minding your business really is underrated
I'm not disagreeing with you, but the extended use of social media by basically everybody these days is killing the idea of minding your own goddamn business. Posting on social media is basically asking for people to stick their noses *into* your business.
> mind your own business
> People post it online making it everyone's business...
Ummm....
Idk. I just feel like social media amplifies things that have been happening for a long time. People have always read books. To call book reading niche is odd to me even though I can understand why you would say that. As someone who has always been an avid reader, I guess my perspective comes from the fact that because of that, I've always been in community with book readers, so it has always been common to me. You make some great points, and I admit that as a 32 year old reader, (who was on booktube during the huge book era when people were doing MASSIVE hauls) maybe it's a generation thing I'm not getting. It does seem like social media makes everything seem brand new or newly discovered, even though most of this stuff has been a thing for a while.
I've also thought that hyper consumerism and over consumption have been an issue, butI like to remind people that anti libraries are a real and valid thing. There's a concept that comes from the Japanese called tsundoku which is essentially having a library of books you haven't read and it not being a negative thing because being surrounded by knowledge and stories is a good thing and while we may not get to everything on our shelves, it doesn't take the value out of owning them. As book lovers and readers, I think I can say confidently that a lot of us just like having books and having them around even if we don't have the time to pick them up and read them. It's a comfort thing to a degree I believe.
Lastly I just wanna point out... BOOKS ARE ALSO ENTERTAINMENT. People (pretentious readers and men) need to understand that. A lot of people don't read dense or heavy books. Some people genuinely just want to be entertained by their literature and that's totally OKAY. and as a young reader, I didn't always read the most 'intellectual' stuff. This is all silly and arbitrary and it sucks that it even needs to be addressed.
Omg huge yes to the books as entertainment point!! I had a note about that but ended up cutting it from the video because it needed more elaboration and it could literally be a video in itself. But it’s so funny isn’t it, that 300 years ago men were mocking novels because they were “women’s literature” and now they’re like “aaah the novel - serious stuff”. Like, let people enjoy things ffs
@According to Alina yes its so exhausting watching people take issue with these sorts of things. It's harmless, and when do we as women, especially, get to just have things without having to defend, explain, or feel shame about it? Also, the publishing industry has been hanging on by a thread (in comparison to how theyve done in the past) If you really think about it, its doing numbers now in a lot of ways and we arguably have some of the most diverse stories and writers than we ever have thanks to the internet and people's commitment to creating content around these stories and the pressure we have put on publishers to do better by us as readers. Not to mention, I just can't bring myself to be upset at the folks' self-publishing because the girls really go up for them and enjoy their work, so whatever. At least people are either reading or supporting writers with their dollars and content or all of the above. It's a win all around, imo 🤷🏽♀️ Sorry that this is long winded lmao I'm chatty today, and I liked your video, lol 😅
Not at all, I’m loving this discussion!!!
I do agree with you. I've started reading on 2014, you know when the Hunger Game stuff became popular. And now here we are. Reading is just entertainment (as movies or something similar) is where you find joy, it should not be a job! :)
This isnt bad for readers but this really bad for writers of long form fiction and literature (of which there isnt much of a market anyway). Because it puts an even greater emphasis on brand and marketability rather than merit.
Edit: If you're interested, many 21st century writers have covered this, like Jonathan Franzen and David Foster Wallace since the commercialisation of the publishing industry has been a growing concern among freelance or represented writers since the late 90s and 00s, except now book signings and interviews have been replaced by tiktok and RUclips engagement. Honestly I really hope this doesnt become an actual _thing_ . A very similar situation has happened with the music industry, but yeah there is a lot of reasonable criticism towards Booktok, that isnt just misogyny and elitism.
For sure, and as I mention in the video, even within the book community there is very valid criticism. I didn’t go into how the publishing industry has/will be impacted by this, though, because I felt like that would be a separate video altogether
Franzen didn't want Oprah to recommend his book because he didn't want to alienate male readers. 🤨 I get this in the sense of men don't want to read books they perceive as being for women, while women seem to not have the same issue in reverse, but I can get away from the sense that he thinks he's too smart and too literary to be wasted on the ladies. This was at a time where that endorsement really meant a lot, though. It was pre Tik-tok, and her recs had a huge influence. When she picked Anna Karenina, publishers -- it was and is in the public domain -- printed 800,000 more copies.
Oh yea. I'm glad that reading is back, but I am afraid of the impact on the publishing industry.
I’m about to start my second attempt to get through DFW’s “Infinite Jest.” 😭 Pray for me, lol.
In my opinion at least it keeping Waterstones open and in business. It’s drawing more people into the hobby and making it more mainstream and more accessible. I like having my hobbies grow into these big things. Like when Pokémon expanded massively after Pokémon go. I didn’t like GO but it expanded the amount of merchandise which i do like.
I think reading has always been mainstream, right now (most influencers) are just romantizicing and showing off instead of just enyoing it as a hobby.
booktok got me back into reading!! it brings me so much joy and it makes my heart happy to see other women expressing what gives them happiness. my favorite novel i read this year was literally a tiktok recommendation. tiktok is more than just coho and YA romance (no shade to people who like YA romance, i also like YA romance)
Great video❤. In my opinion what bothers me about booktok is the hype of toxic love relationships in fiction books being promoted to teenage girls. And I do love that reading is being promoted but it would be nice to see more nonfiction also being promoted just as YA and fantasy books.
Uuuugh I’m contemplating making a video about Coleen Hoover but that would mean reading one of her books 🤢
@@accordingtoalina you don’t need to read a Colleen Hoover book but you can read after by Anna Todd ☹️
As someone who works at a book store- while BookTok books aren’t always my *personal* tastes and recommendations, but they’re a huge reason physical book stores are still in business. I have no problem at all with the reading aesthetic if it keeps people reading and coming in. People will judge people for not reading, then they’ll judge people’s book tastes. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
”We rarely accuse men of being performative” made me immediately think of Dostoevsky and Kerouac fanboys. The Jordan Peterson-core aesthetic.
Currently I have a book club and yes I haven’t managed to finish a full book this year yet 😢😢😢 I have a full time job and the worst attention span ever but I love learning from others and sharing. I had a blog for about 3 years and I was like might as well build a community around it. It’s pretty new yet but it’s made me so happy to find girls who read in my city even if I’m not a fast reader or can’t keep up I love theses meetings and they keep me going. I think the most important thing is to do whatever you like however you like. I was in previous book clubs where I felt very pressured or shame if I hadn’t read the “must reads” the new realeases etc so I try to make it as optional as possible without any shame or pressure bc I wish I had that space before. Something that I don’t like about book influencers is like a fixed list of must reads and idk everyone is their unique individual and I like random stuff. Old, new, from different countries, authors, etc
I appreciate the time you took to explain things and you actually got me to think about things I hadn't thought about. And you actually swayed my opinion about a lot of things, I really dig it when someone can do that. I've been one of those "BookTube has become more about the algorithm than books" types, but I hadn't thought about the other side of things, including the good parts of aestheticization as much. Part of it is that I've been on RUclips since very early 2006 so maybe a "seen it all" cynicism has clouded my judgement. I feel like a grandpa sometimes, even though I'm nowhere near an old man yet. And I kind of approach RUclips like an old grandpa sometimes. It's cool how you went into a lot of details, I actually find the aesthetics you mentioned really cool and had no idea they were born out of the online book community. Some I didn't know the names for. I'm glad you mentioned stuff about the positive side of the aestheticization that I hadn't thought about. What's your aesthetic called? I really like it a lot! And I'm also glad you mentioned the legitimate criticism and problems of BookTube as well. Another thing I appreciate is that you're part of a genre (maybe it's not a genre, I don't know) that I rarely see these days. I call it the "person talking to a camera" genre. I'm incredibly glad I found your channel today. Thank you for putting time and effort into making this great, I hope your channel ends up being super successful so that lots of people can hear what you have to say!
I’m a guy who enjoys horror and dark fantasy books and sometimes get rude comments that I only read trashy lowbrow garbage instead of real literature.
I say screw what those people say and just enjoy whatever you want. Horror and dark fantasy books have a lot of fascinating deep characters, creative plots, explore meaningful and controversial themes, bring comfort to me by showing normal people confronting their greatest fears, etc.
I don’t care what other people like, I’m just happy to see them enjoying something. Don’t let others ruin it for you.
Books are all over my place, basic need, the square meter is too expensive. Thank gosh for libraries
My biggest ick is pics of HEAVILY annotated books that when u zoom in to what the person wrote is just dumb phrases trying to be "deep" or sound smart but theyre like extremely surface level, i feel like the point of annotating is to actually ADD to what the author is bringing to the table, reflect, etc 😭 or when they highlight or put like 10 sticky notes per page and the book is a typical "booktok book", theres no way all of that is worth highlighting, its just too much at that point they gotta b just highlighting anyhting for the sake of it idk
great video. like, i love the content of books, i love analyzing literature. but i also looove taking pretty little pictures of my books/annotations and sharing it with the world. exactly what you said-- intellectualism and aestheticism don't have to be mutually exclusive.
Love this last sentence. My feelings exactly. I’ve seen people stage pics based on the salient themes of the book pictured. Personally, that’s way too much effort to do, but how can you say the content is superficial???
I just discovered your channel, and I subscribed because you are a smart young woman who constructs cogent, addictive videos!
Pls I’d rather have reading be an „aesthetic“ than other much more unhealthy things, I think this trend of reading being cool again is introducing way more ppl to not only reading but also genres of books they maybe never knew existed, me for example, I always was a reader but through all of booktok and what not I’ve found so many new books I’m obsessed with
So happy for u! And yes, the bar is on the floor but books are still getting banned out of schools. We need people making a big deal out if them online now more than ever
Thank you for this fantastic video!
By impulse, I’m a very insecure reader, due in part by my own sense of mortality. In the past, I’ve allowed that to enable a benign snobbery about literature, where I’ve denied myself access and enjoyment of books deemed less important by authority figures. Having since discarded that mentality, my view of booktok has largely inversed. It is very fair to criticize commercialization and superficiality within anything, especially conversations pertaining to literature. I also agree though that there is a thread of misogynist belittlement running throughout this conversation, as in so many things, which I haven’t realized until now.
I’ll be subscribing from now on, and following your Dante book club!
What a refreshing comment! So glad you’re allowing yourself to enjoy things and I agree that it does not by any means do away with critical thinking. Happy to have you here x
A few things that also annoys me,
1) people bragging they can finish a book in 3 hrs.
2) People who says a certain book is a “retell” of a popular story when it wasn’t a re-tell, but more an inspiration of that story - you can tell they didn’t read the book lol
3) I’m a very slow reader, and sometimes I have a difficult time focusing on the story (due to stress mostly), I would annotate to help myself retain informations better, or to make notes so I can easily go back quick if I need a recap or such. And I’ve been looking on RUclips on how literature readers annotate, well, more so on “what” they would annotate to help read literature better. But all I can find are people highlighting what they love, what they hate, … hearts lol A LOT of hearts. 😅
Oh well, at least people are posing and picking up a book. Far better than doing drugs 🤷🏻♀️ 😅
Yeah fast readers are annoying to me too, most probably because I’m jealous lol. And also agree on annotations: I moved to Italy from Romania just before high school and didn’t speak the language properly for the first year or two, so annotations in my books saved my life. But I never had any particular method to it, they just made sense to me and no one else, so I had to go through a lot of trial and error with note-taking.
I don't think there's one way to tab or notate. It depends what you care about, what you want to remember, and if you're going to do anything with the it all. I like to review, so I tend to primary mark passages that will remind me of points I want to make. Or if I can tell I'm going to lose track of characters, to mark someone's first appearance.
I think the book I'm reading now -- Lone Women, Victor Lavalle -- is about the toxicity of family secrets, so I'm using a red tab whenever a passage seems to reinforce that.
If it makes sense to your brain, and helps you, there's no wrong way to do it, and it's also fine to not do it.
The amount of youtube channels out there that are titled "how I read 100 books this year" lmao.
fast reading is practical in academics, but for enjoyment reading *slowing down* is vital for me. i found the only place i can actually do that is in the sauna. it destroys the book 😂 but i get some peace and quiet to read ❤
Christ, this whole 'aesthetic'-thing is stressing me out!
I feel like everyone around me has a chosen 'style', a chosen aesthetic if you will, that they express through their clothes, furniture and now freaking books as well! Suddenly I'm aware of what the books on my shelf might be saying about me, and because I have broad taste, it really shines through, that I have no 'one chosen aesthetic' or style in my life. I'm all over the place! I'm 25 and shopping anything is so anxiety-provoking to me, cause I way overthink what box other people will put me in based on this one thing!
Anyway... you have some really good points, that, as you can see, really got me (over)thinking. The thought of people choosing and buying books because they look nice on instagram and/or the shelf... god I hate it, it feels like some kind of unappreciative book-abuse where they solely value the book for the outside look of it instead of the potential masterpiece of a story inside. It feels very...relatable in some way
I'm from brazil and 2 days ago I read an article about how tiktok is boosting book sales here ❤❤❤
This was such a thoughtful and well-researched analysis. As you said, online book cultures are not immune to criticism, but most of the things people (and the author of the GQ article) complain about wouldn't really an issue if they would just mind their own business.
Girl I feel you about being attacked by basic men for not liking Hemingway... Anyway really interesting video 💘
Lmao we should start a support group
oh I had one in my class at uni. me and a guy in class were 'readers' but my lawd he was obsessed with Hemingway, and I am so very much not..... the condescention 🙄 they really do equate not liking something with not understanding it👀
I really love how you talk it's so calming
I started a bookstagram in early 2023 where I would mainly read books and give my reviews on them both from the perspective of a writer and a reader. I haven't updated since September/October despite having read like 2-3 books since then.
Even huge booktubers like Jack Edwards routinely fakes reading certain books for his videos and there's lots of proof of this. Booktube and booktok is just signalling that there's depth to your character where there is none. Most normal people know that influencer live fairly shallow lives. The trends on booktube and booktok would look different if the viewers and creators actually care about book discussion. You could easily make a week worth of tiktoks on a single average size novel if you just had something to say about it beyond meme type content and paraphrasing the blurb.
That 'i know' caught me off guard lol this is the first time i came across you and instantly subscribed ❤😂
Hahahah thank you so much ❤️
this was perfectly well said. i did book content 10 years ago and recently found out about booktok and the resurgence of it, its definitely changed a ton. i think my biggest qualm is how consumerism has taken over in the sense of book hauls and amount of reading per year done compared to how it was in the past.
Thank you for watching ❤️❤️❤️
I've always been a reader since a kid, and I've never relied on reviews until 2 months ago. That lead to find a good book like once or twice a year.
I'd go to the bookshop and pick either a classic (because you can tend to rely on those), or pick a random one because it looks interesting (but often disappointed).
After youtube started recommending me more booktubers, (I only followed a clockwork reader before, but I seldomly watched her), it only helped me to decide more consciously what I do wanna read. If one reviewer says a book is good, I try to find another one that says otherwise. Then based on those subjective opions, I make mine.
So far, no book I chose by doing this let me down.
So I am really grateful to the book community!
Sincerely there are bad books becoming popular, bad authors as well
If you mean romance, stay tuned for my video after the next!
Very informative. I agree let people be. People always have something to say. There are worse things people could be doing than discussing books. As a minority I appreciate the bookish community for showing me books that have characters that look like me. That is something mainstream has never shown me.
Such an important point!! I don’t think most people realise that publishing houses would never have put out as many diverse books over the past few years if it wasn’t for people online campaigning for diversity
I'm just tired of these narratives and judgements around whatever the girls do. X aesthetics, Y trends..And of course bringing models like Bella or Kendall into it, just to prove how right I'm about my opinion.
Let girls do whatever they want to do without judging them. If their contents don't match your interests, don't follow them.
It's like we need all life long people to evaluate every single step we take. I don't see it by men, which is a good thing and in my opinion acceptance of every individuals.
P.s. it was a peaceful comment.
Agreed! ❤️
Criticize can be good when its about helping the other, because why is the reason these women behave like that? Over consume, etc. If nobody tells them anything I dont think its good at all!
@@imnoemit and with men? You will judge them in the same way? For example, when they buy comics or mangas, why they consume these products instead of read a book?
@@bigbooty279 men have nothing to do with this post and Im a men lover, why blaming men in this case, what did they do?😂
Yeah is not a big deal, Kendall could be doing it for attention (like most of the thing she does) but if so so what? Is not gonna affect us un any way if ppl do stuff for attention and social media points.
I find it interesting that the things I enjoyed, like books and anime for roughly a decade, is now cool or trendy--- it's awesome that I can happily enjoy those things without criticism. Though on the other end, the popularity can lead to over saturation of trying to fit a certain aesthetic, materialism (aka, buying books, having many bookshelves, decorating everything perfectly, buying special additions, having various book boxes/subscriptions, etc), and even a trend in comparing how much you've read over the year, and what books you've read or haven't read. and the rise of the book dragon--- buying many books, keeping books as treasures; which is something not many people can afford, so they feel less than, like maybe they aren't a "true lover" or "not as obsessed" with books as those who do all these things. (I think it's great if you are able to have all these things, though it's not as feesable for everyone, ,and that doesn't make anyone less or more of a book lover: I myself have about 200 books and three bookshelves). I also am curious about the rise of spicy books--- that wasn't something I expect to be so popular on TikTok and other platforms.
I LOVED this video and your elegant and easy to follow ideas on this topic. I think there is something to be said about the criticism we are subject to when we choose to enjoy our hobbies online. Excluding problematic behaviors such as overconsumption, I believe it's safe to assume that even women who ARE members of booktok solely for the community - that is, they enjoy making content around the idea of books or being a "reader" without necessarily enjoying the process of reading or the content of the books themselves - are also not really doing anything inappropriate. The idea of "faking" an aesthetic or not being genuine about what hobbies you enjoy online, while off-putting, is not illegal, and it does not affect anyone else's ability to go through their own lives. There are too many areas to assume incorrectly about the behind the scenes of any creators lives, and I think most of us forget from time to time that we truly only see what this creator intends for us to see. If you disagree with a creator's intention, I believe it's important to recognize that 1) You could be wrong, this creator could be absorbing this content differently than you believe, and 2) You are allowed to walk away from a creator without berating them for not posting content you enjoy viewing the way you enjoy viewing it. I hope that as a society we are able to be more particular about which behaviors are legitimately inappropriate and deserve the public outlash, vs women who have created a community based around a hobby.
Also, we as a society need to be reading more anyway. Reading is so nurturing for our brain and can genuinely increase your intelligence, so I am very happy that reading has become more "mainstream" in this sense. When we are all working to become more educated versions of ourselves where we can, all of society is better for it. I hope that reading and the reading community can continue to grow and impact our lives!
I used to run a book-related tiktok account to which I've stopped posting because I started college and hence have had no time to post (ironic since I'm an English student lmaoo) but I certainly fell victim to the idea that what I was posting wasn't enough for the algorithm. My following was only around 600 but I grew quite a comfortable group of people who enjoyed less popular books and classic literature as well as annotating. I mostly shared my annotations which contain the majority of my thoughts on the book, since I write a lot in my books I thought it would be fun to share that with people and try and eliminate the fear of "damaging" your books for some people. While we can criticize many aspects of booktok like overconsumption and the loss of meaning in reading itself, I personally enjoyed the sense of community it built once I found the kind of content that resonated with me most!❤❤ Reading is like a sanctuary for me and I do agree that aestheticizing can take away from a lot of the joy that comes with the hobby itself and not just the presentation (which is why I have backed away from posting book-related content).
You make some good points here, and I’m inclined to agree. However, it’s not true that “we rarely accuse men of being performative.” Listen to what any guy says about another guy who posts a video of himself working out.
Thank you for explaining all this. Culturally and socially, I am about as far away from BookTok as you can imagine. I had no idea what has been going on.
As a (much) older, white male author (historical fiction), I won't be having any personal involvement in BookTok (or TikTok). If my (future) readers do, then good for them.
I do wonder how many people who are invested in BookTok ask themselves -- is this healthy for me, personally? Is this healthy for my friend network and communities? Is this healthy for society at large?
In my world, almost nobody asks these questions about their social media participation and consumption. They get sucked in, then addicted, and then rationalize any toxicity or negative externalities by some superficial personal payoffs.
I think about these questions when I study the history of slavery, imperialism, and racist institutions like in the US, 1870 - 1965. Why did so many ordinary people go along with it, and even participate in it (e.g. crowds watching lynchings, building and maintaining ships for the slave trade, etc.)?
When I read a book in public people stop to ask me what I’m reading (it’s usually WWII historical fiction but I read anything that looks interesting) and I can’t tell you how relieved people are when they see it’s not a book that they deem “basic”. Especially men. I seriously don’t understand that mindset. What’s wrong with reading a book or genre that’s popular? It’s popular for a reason. There’s nothing wrong with being “like other girls”. Enjoying a romance novel doesn’t make you unintelligent or any less of a reader. Enjoying historical fiction does not make you inherently intelligent and non-feminine. Ridiculous. You like what you like and that’s fine. Keep reading ❤️
Even that we equate intelligence with a lack of femininity is 🤢🤢🤢
Subscribed! I love hearing your thoughts on bookish news. Thank you for sharing your insights. ..And, huge congrats on two English degrees 😮 - respect!
For me, reading is just another form of media consumption. I grew up being told there is a 'right' way of reading (comics and manga did not count, YA genres did not count unless it was main stream). I think its important to seperate the pressure of how to read that I feel a lot of young people can relate to. The more I allow myself to not be concerned with how and what I read, the more I find myself reading and being able to enjoy the stories.
Great video ❤ you look SO much like one of my friends from college. I will continue to enjoy reading books 📖
I love reading it just is an escape from reality and it makes me feel emotions I have never felt before. Reading gives me joy and the best part is, after finishing a book, I can decorate a page in my reading journal. I love writing in my books and underlining my favourite quotes and I love being a woman and no men can ever take my love for reading away from me because no matter what women do, they get hated and made fun of it. Whether it`s reading or showing interests in cars or whatsoever.
Btw I loved your video
oh the second you made that "get a job stay away from her" joke I subscribed so fast
Happy that made someone other than me laugh
librarything gives me FLASHBACKS! I really liked it, and now I use Storygraph
Love your comments! Let people be and have experiences
Thank you for watching ❤️❤️
I'm happy more people are reading and book sales are at all an time high except.. many are seriously forgetting to look in thrift stores regularly [if they're near one] it can stop hundreds of books from going to landfills and get you a $30+ book for $5 to $1 ahhhhhhhhhh but a downside to Booktok was them getting authors like Colleen Hoover popular when we already 'canceled' her awful writing years ago or having books be called "best-sellers" because they went viral on booktok for tropes but they have majority bad reviews and aren't actually popular outside of that niche.
Definitely agree with secondhand book buying. I do it most of the time and it’s so much fun! I think one of the downsides of the online book community is the pressure to keep up with the latest releases. I’m not sure books are meant to be consumed immediately when they come out, it’s not fashion…
I'm on Booksta, and I just got into doing Booktube...and I love it. I love seeing so many young women getting excited about books. I love seeing the variety of genres being shared in my feed. I love having more people to talk about books with. I do read fast, always have since I was in 2nd grade. So I get through a lot, but I read in a variety of genres, and when I love a book, it stays with me for a VERY long time regardless of the reading speed I have with it.
My TBR is also large because I just...I read in so many genres that I have a lot I genuinely want to read. Do I own more books than I've read? Yes. But the majority of them aren't brand new or even recent books. They were all picked up over the last 10 years from secondhand shops and my local library's fundraising bookstore. 😅 I love the growing book community and I hope it continues to grow, that it doesn't just die out like other trends do so often. Lots of boys/men and adult women have nothing better to do than trash on young girls' and women's hobbies and fandoms. Kinda just used to it at this point 🙄
what's your booksta?
@@accordingtoalina royallyreading 🙂
I also feel like there has been a shift in what books are 'acceptable' with romance becoming so popular you don't have to read 100 classics and the 15 saddest books ever to be a 'reader' and I think in general a lot of these academic men just can't accept that romance is those trashy books grandma picked up at the store that everyone made fun of (cause aging woman can't do anything without it being diminished or villainized)
Also find it interesting while I know there are tons of fandoms alive and well nothing today can really compare to early 2010s fandom (teen wolf, harry potter, supernatural) and as someone who has really begun to run out of longer well written fanfiction I have been reading more books
OMG your voice is so smooth. Amazing
Hahaha I’ll take it!
11:54 That’s always pissed me off for the longest time. I’m sick and tired of whenever women are doing something fun it’s always front and center on the chopping block and on the guillotine ready to be thrown tomatoes at.
Women can’t have girl math/girl, dinner, booktok, or Bama rush without everyone come to talk about how stupid it is and how it “sets women back“ and how it’s embarrassing and cringey. Why is it that anytime women indulge in anything completely devoid from men that we have to be shamed and ridiculed? What’s worse is that a lot of the damage is coming from inside of the house, meaning that it’s most likely gatekeeping pick mes that are mad that they spent most of their childhood and teen years being authentically into books, and now being outshone by aesthetically attractive women who are raking in views and sponsorships off of their passions.
Why doesn’t anyone ever check on the men? I’m sure they’re out and about doing stupid stuff that calls for just as much disdain.
Society respects men that’s why. But not women. Never women 🤷🏾♀️
As someone who reads nonfiction, I hope at least there are readers in this genre of books. I’m overwhelmed the preferences in booktok.
Reading becoming a hobby would be a good thing if people were changing based on reading. Instead books are changing based on who is reading. Its the taylor swiftification of society. Worse yet, if you arent beautiful and pc, your book will be trashed, even if its a great book.
This video is sooo well made and engaging!! Love it, glad you covered this topic
Thank you sm for watching ❤️
Girl, this was a great video! You are so concise and eloquent and this was a great summary, subscribed! Can't wait to see more from you, I also appreciate your humor 😂
Aaah thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed, more coming soon ❤️
Not to mention those yellow nails are fucking sweet
Wow i just came across your channel two videos ago and i just wanted to watch before dropping a comment here. You have absolutely fantastic insight into these things.
So glad you found me! It’s nice to have you here
People could be into way worse stuff than reading. At least it’s something productive.
Not to mention harmless. Like, who does it harm that girls online are reading silly books, like leave us alone lmao
I really like reading books in general. It started when i was luke 8 years old when the brought me a book like 159 pages. Then i bought another one and know i have almost 310 books.
I think Booktok is destroying reading a little bit because the book aesthetic defeats the whole point of reading books.
Nowadays reading books is mostly about the aesthetic and having a lot of books and not actually enjoying them.
I am not trying to tell that booktok is bad, well done to every girl/boy that started reading books and joined the book community, i just think you should enjoy the books, their content and meaning, not the aesthetic
Of course booktok is expanding book reading and this is a good think and of course it is VERY good. It is very nice that young people read books and just let them be and do their own thing and not make a bad thing out of anything.😊
i once found a very good quote in a book: “it doesn’t matter what you read, matters what you read”
I’ve always enjoyed to read, but always found it hard to find the “right ones” for me. This year, the book tok trend finally hit me and I tried a few of the recommendations- I only loved one though, so I gave up. However, because I watched them for a while, my TikTok/reels kept giving me their videos. one thing that bothers me is how fast everyone seems to read and how perfect all the books seem to be, all the time.
As a graduate student, it’s freaking hard for me to get my 25 books challenge done (books that aren’t related to my research anyway lol). Then I think “it’s just a number, you don’t need to read 100 books in one year”