Throughout my entire 13 years of schooling, I was required to read books for homework or for tests. Some students enjoyed it, while others dreaded it.
As a student, I was not very fond of reading. It felt as if books were forced onto me. For example, from elementary to middle school, a part of a student’s overall grade came from the amount of Accelerated Reader points we obtained.
I remember my seventh grade reading teacher would remind me when the deadline was coming up and I was falling behind in my points. I felt stressed, but I realized it had been my own fault for not reading.
Reading was not something I enjoyed, so I had to really motivate myself to do it to maintain an “A.” Once I graduated high school, I was happy that I did not have to do any more required reading.
The summer after my senior year, I spent time hanging out with my friends and endlessly scrolling on the social media app, TikTok. I came across a video of a girl reviewing a few books she had read. She captioned her video, “BookTok, books that you should read.”
I was not interested, so I scrolled onto the next video. Then, more BookTok videos started showing up on my “For You” page the same week.
After this one girl mentioned her favorite thriller books, I became intrigued. I was not a huge fan of reading, but thrillers and science fiction books did catch my attention.
I watched the entirety of the video and I decided I could give this book a chance.
During this time, my younger sister had already been introduced to BookTok. She would open up her Amazon app or go to our local Target to buy the book she had been interested in. Since she was already on BookTok, I was more open to the idea.
I read the book “Behind Closed Doors” by B.A. Paris. The book is well written, and it easily became one of my favorites. Over time, more TikTok creators were uploading their own opinions and thoughts on the books they read.
This became very popular on the app, and people from all over the world were introduced to a variety of books.
A lot of romance and drama books became more popular as they were getting more exposure through TikTok likes, views and comments.
About a year ago, Colleen Hoover books were highly popular and liked. There was a fandom of people on TikTok who commented what they liked so much about her collection.
Colleen Hoover became popular, but so did other authors such as Taylor Jenkins Reid, Emily Henry, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Jenny Han, Riley Sager, Lucey Foley, Karin Slaughter and many more. Not-so-popular authors can and have become known as a result of TikTok.
It is beneficial to both the reader and the author. I believe that TikTok has encouraged more individuals to read. BookTok’s recommendations include drama, romance, science fiction, historical fiction and thrillers.
With so many choices, there’s certainly one that has to catch the eye of someone even if they claim to not like reading.
BookTok has introduced me to some of my favorite books and made me realize I can enjoy reading. A TikTok review can also help me get a sense of what the book is about and whether it’s something I’d like to read. BookTok is so popular it even has its own section at Barnes & Noble.
