Reading is important in everyone’s life. Everywhere we go, there are words to read. Some of us enjoy it, while others avoid it like the plague. For those who enjoy reading in their free time, book suggestions are vital to maintaining the hobby. In a subsection of TikTok, readers have created BookTok: a place to upload suggestions and reviews of their most recent reads, post relatable reading content, share reading hacks and post fun content for readers to enjoy. However, is joining BookTok beneficial or is it more effort than it is worth?
A common problem with BookTok suggestions, like most TikTok suggestions, is that they can be heavily over-hyped. Authors that are not as talented as others can be overly praised by an inexperienced reviewer. Overrated authors could also steal the spotlight from more experienced or more talented writers. Colleen Hoover is one of the authors who has been labeled as “overrated” by many BookTok community members. AJ Willingham, a writer for CNN, described Hoover’s books as “problematic” in her article, “Colleen Hoover is the hottest author in America. She also may be the most controversial.” One of her books, It Ends With Us, tells the story of a young woman suffering from an abusive relationship. Following the success of the book, Hoover released a coloring book with images that represented the relationship between the main character and her abuser. Many readers found this to be tone-deaf and glorifying of a dangerous relationship.
Others argue that the platform can give readers a voice about the books they read. They are provided with an outlet to recommend or to help popularize an author simply by posting a short video. Readers can also expand on their reading, finding more books to want to read in the future that they might never have noticed if they were just browsing a bookstore. Also, by having a community of readers on a popular social media app, reading can become more relatable and widespread among the younger generations. Though lots of these books can be called “overrated,” there are also many talented authors who were given a start on their careers thanks to BookTok.
Whether you enjoy BookTok books or believe them to be overrated, there is always a positive and a negative side to everything. I believe that BookTok is simply a modern way of adding to your list of future books to read. Rather than looking for book reviews in magazines or asking a worker at a bookstore, readers now have honest opinions of millions of books at their fingertips. They can find out whether a book is a must-read or a possible waste of their time and money. If you are interested in finding your next book, joining a community of like-minded people, sharing how you feel about your most recent read, or supporting your favorite authors, I highly recommend joining BookTok.