Read a book, join a community

Someone holding a phone and scrolling through TikTok, looking at book-focused videos. CREDIT: GEORGIA NEWMAN
The BookTok community is a fun, inclusive place to find recommendations, ratings, memes and more.

Since August of 2020, readers have thrived in the BookTok community on TikTok. Sharing book recommendations, memes and having discussions.

I honestly can’t say enough good things about BookTok. I think it is a little community where people are able to discuss and joke about their books and find other similar books.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR), a series by Sarah J. Maas, has gained huge momentum on the social media site, with 1.6 million posts under the hashtag “ACOTAR” on TikTok.

The Fanshawe College Student Success and Here For You logos are shown. A young person is shown standing. Young adults are shown sitting in a room. Text states: We believe we can break down barriers and build a college where we all belong.

 

Through the fame, ACOTAR has also managed to claim a song specifically for their fandom. “Luminary,” by Joel Sunny is a cute little violin song that feels so ethereal and really lines up with the themes of the book series.

I think in a world where safe spaces are hard to find, BookTok offers people a place to just talk about a hobby that they love. Don’t get me wrong, BookTok still receives hate, but I think this little community still thrives just due to the sheer volume of participants.

The TikTok hashtag BookTok has a shocking total of 44.5 million posts.

One of the many things I absolutely love about BookTok is the recommendations. I know a few people who got into reading just due to videos they have seen on TikTok, and I am constantly adding things to my “to be read” (TBR) list, every time I open TikTok.

I love the diversity of the recommendations and the funny way people explain and rate the books. I recently just finished the book Quicksilver by Callie Hart, which I first saw in TikTok. While reading the book, a TikTok explaining the plot through memes came up on my For You Page (FYP) and I cannot even explain how excited I was when I finished the book and went back to watch the video. It made me feel like I was in on some inside joke.

Which leads me to my all-time favourite part of BookTok: The memes.

I find them laugh-out-loud hilarious. The jokes about “book boyfriends,” guess the character memes, videos that retell a whole book through memes; I truly can’t get enough.

Again, it really just feels like your part of a cute little community that maybe also wishes they were faeries. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Even if you haven’t read the book, they are still amusing, at least to me.

Reading is a hobby I picked up in Feb. 2023, and since regaining my love of books, I have read 289 books.

At first, I felt judged for reading romance books but have since found a place in BookTok that makes me feel seen and understood.

Reading is a way to disassociate for me and leave this cruel, problematic world for a little while and I cannot express how happy I am that I have found a community which shares those same thoughts. BookTok helps me expand my TBR list but also allows me to joke about the books. It’s just such a fun place to be.


Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.