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After spending years in school (I did choose to be in the literature lessons to be fair) being told what read and spending hours dissecting 30-page poems, it feels amazing being able to read whatever I want and yes that is fantasy and romance. I've recently started to read properly again for the first time in 5 years, and it's lovely to remember why I love reading. What I'm trying to say in a long-winded way is to read whatever the hell you want, enjoy it, and don't let the book snobs shame you for it.

I love ur henna 😊😅

At least we read at all

So many good books

well how do you call yourself a "real" reader when you can't even differentiate between- "where" and "were"

my problem w booktok is that it feels like a book community for people who dont like to read but want to look like they do. no problem w that, but when you actually enter it as a reader it can feel underwhelming because its always the same trends.

Fantasy is to heal the inner child of us all who wish we could live in a castle away from our problems. Romance helps us have hope that there might be love in the world

As long as you don’t read c*llen h*ver, i can recommend some non-spicy book of any genre!

Girl you are SO pretty!!!

Your so beautiful

I like the book to kill a mockingbird

I mainly read fantasy just because I like it and I have never read a romance book Btw I read other genres too

Book recommendations❤ Twilight The princess bride Coroline The graveyard book The book thief The lion the witch and the wardrobe

That doesnt mean we r not real readers, its our preference >:( (Also, yayyyy strikerrrrr)

i loove fantasy and romance books. I think if I read a books than I'm a reader. doesn't matter what genre

Criticize the books, not the people that enjoy them!

I do not read romance but I respect romance readers cuz that is the normal thing to do .😊

As a writer hoping to be published one day, my biggest issue with BookTok is how desperate they are for books with smut, and how they will automatically DNF a book if it has no spice. Makes it pretty difficult when you're writing a _true_ slowburn, enemies to lovers contemporary fantasy and no one will give you time of day because your characters don't hook up by the midpoint. It's almost like they forgot what these tropes actually mean, and just want porn with plot (but usually without the plot).

your eyes are so pretty!! your glasses rlly bring them out

no one's saying that romance books aren't books but... if you're looking for literally anything that's not romance or smut you're gonna have a hard time. "booktok" implies a wide range of genres but in reality it's not that inviting.

The main problem with Booktok is that most of it is “dark romance” which is just romanticized kidnapping, stalking, murder, ab*se, and r*p3.

Cool

my issue is the fetishization of booktok. can we just read please?

Sameeee😭 if I don’t have my phone, I can get ready in 10 minutes, with my music though….i take about 35😭

Booktok is just smut

all those people read a lot, and they read what they like. I have a really hard time reading because of my dyslexia and adhd that I can hardly ever finish a book. I’ve read a total of 4 books in 2024, I would really like the privilege of being able to read more, and it seems most of the time the only thing that I can read without not understanding the book is fantasy! Let them like what they like people!! 😂

my only problem with booktok is the fact that it’s just romance books (like, enemy to lover etc.) and I’m looking for something my type of genre. And my type of thing is mystery. Booktok doesn’t have much of mystery to offer even other genre’s (i probably spelt that wrong 😅)

Just because they read a certain genre never means they aren't part of the community

Booktok be like 'colleen hoover!' like she's actually a good writer.

Then what are we supposed to read?Junie.B.Jones?

Ngl fantasy is ok, the only thing I've seen people criticize is smut books that romanticize abuse/pedophilia etc

Most of the time its girls who romaticise SA and abuse

The only weird booktok books is colleen hoover..

EXACTLY!!! Romance and fantasy are my favorite genres because I just enjoy them the most. Reading is an ACTION you don’t have to read specific things in order to be considered an avid reader

But fantasy is a genre- Yes, most booktok books are toxic smut. But still THERES many good books without smut on booktook.

Booktok is a very odd place to me but if xou like it, good for you! ^v^

I really dislike the mentality of prestige behind being a “reader” reading is a hobby for everyone and anyone who reads any book is a reader whether is a frequent hobby or not. you can certainly be an avid reader, someone who reads often. but it is inconceivable to me to try and gate-keep such a broad term and I think internet discourse groups like booktok have a real problem with trying to guard against anyone who doesn’t do everything the same as the decided principle. I wish Booktok and online literary spaces were places everyone could discuss books they enjoy but its so toxic and unwelcoming to any criticism which is insane because why the hell wouldnt you criticise books thats how you enjoy the reading experience

I get the romance criticism (even though it's invalid) but FANTASY?! HAVE YOU READ ANY HEAVY WORLDBUILDING HIGH FANTASY

I think romance and fantasy books are fine but if you read smut or especially if you only read smut then I wouldn’t really consider you a real reader. You don’t actually like reading you like reading p0rn.

My only problem with Booktok is it's tendency to reduce books to popular tropes. Things like "morally grey" have literally lost their meaning and reduced to stuff that can be commercialized. I believe we shoudl absolutely talk about indie authors and every single genre that deserves recognition ❤❤

Fantasy books are good i love Narnia or manga's about magic or stuff like that !!

does anyone know where i can get this or what it’s called? <3 that’s such a cool gift!!

No, they just romanticize SA and abuse and most books are basically p0rn

Does anybody have some recommendations like 1984? I read that last year and I wish I could delete my memory just to feel all this anxiety while reading it lol. I’m an avid romance reader, then switched to fantasy and biographies and stories about something that has happened in real life (don’t know how that’s called) and I still struggle with sci fi ( I like movies that are related to space like Prometheus and interstellar are those sci fi?😅) maybe something similar that will catch me. Thrillers are also difficult.

But it's still annoying how booktok/booktube are so foucosed on romance

"real readers" my brother in christ, there are words on the page, is there not

Bonus points if they didn't run bc they secretly liked the killer and knew the killer did too. So while everyones panicking trying to leave the two are just making out in the corner 😂

Honestly, my only problem with booktok is how much of p0rn is there. Like, I get it, it is a market and you can read what you want, but literally every other or nearly every book that's super popular there has to include sex. Fourth Wing, Twisted series, Icebreaker, When the moon hatched, ACOTAR series, etc etc. The only series I got from booktok that I actually enjoyed was the Six of Crows duology...

I personally really like reading a lot of different books like more classic ones (Winneout for example. It's a historical action, drama, and adventure book with a tiny bit of romance sprinkled throughout and I highly recommend it) or more modern stuff. I mainly read action and drama but I'm not against anything in particular with the exception of Dark Romance (and if you like it good for you)

It's basically all gooners dude. Don't try and say otherwise