so many thoughts!!!! 1.) the internet really makes people act very straggly. re: that pea soup example. I see that all the time and it makes me want to scream. people are no longer satisfied with being the main character of their lives. they want to be the main character of your life too!
alsoooo everyone reading the same books, consuming the same media, going to the same places, getting recommended the same stuff. wanting to have the right taste. ofcourse people are thinking and talking and therefore writing the same things!
I enjoy reading and as someone who didn’t grow much with the habit I constantly judge myself about what I’m reading. I want to be someone smart and read smart books. But I like to consume trash here and there, trash show? Saw it. Trash book? On my tbr. Trash fyp? Don’t worry spent two hours in it. And it just kills me. I feel like I can’t consume anything without someone making it in some manner trendy? When I read your stuff (which really love) and see you mention all this trendy words (connecting one of your thoughts with Taylor swift) and I think, was it necessary? Do we need this trendy to back us up? To make it more relevant? But then I think about the soup, she isn’t writing for me, I shouldn’t judge her and just enjoy the small amount of joy it brings me every day. But at the end, I feel like I’m never critique worthy I’m just a person who want to be this lit girl and should instead grab a English class.
I was reading this with so many hats on (as a book lover - feeling a sudden surge of protectiveness for books and literature!) as a writer (asking myself if I have allowed my own writing to be influenced by trends) and as a teacher (why on earth is Hannah not using apital letters?!)
As all of those things, I love and loathe the lit girl/thought daughter 'aesthetic'. I have young girls who sign up to a-level literature, with 'English lit at uni' aspirations, thinking they can write their entire coursework thesis on Colleen Hoover, who are appalled when I ask them to explore other female writers that explore toxic romances ("Why not try The Doll's House" "Is that like Pretty Little Liars?" - a very real exchange I had with one student). I believe books should be ready and enjoyed and if that books is light froth then so be it. My 7 year old son loves Jamie Smart books and Dav Pilkey's Dogman books. They're a mix between prose and graphic novels; do I wish he was reading Michael Morpurgo books? Maybe sometimes. But he chooses to sit down and read his books in the afternoon and evening rather than playing on his Nintendo switch because he loves them. His reading age is great - the books are doing their job.
I think there is space for the froth and the space for the 'lit-literature'.
I have a sign in my classroom that says 'putting the lit in literature' and I have 'gen-z coded' descriptions of classics and canon books. (See if you can guess!)
"Crazy family drama - girl falls for her abusive adoptive brother who is totally obsessed with her. He could eat Ryle for breakfast. Expect Saltburn levels of grave ick-ery.'
I also run book competitions in my classes - students have to earn points by reading a RANGE of books - so there is space for the Colleen Hoovers and the Icebreakers (for my seniors!) but there is also The Old Man and the Sea, Shirley, The Wasp Factory, Carmilla, The GoldFinch... They love it and by the end of the year they've upped their reading game. It means that fewer students do actually opt in to studying lit at Uni but the ones that do are truly the 'lit girls (and boys)'. The ones who run to me at break time because they've JUST discovered Philip Larkin or hard-related to an angsty Emily Dickinson.
As for me, the reader and the writer - I like range. My reading journal this year includes Tessa Bailey's 'Make ME' and Victoria Gosling's Bliss and Blunder. Non- fiction book 'Eve' and Emily Henry's Beach Read. All are welcome. All feed me something.
As with nutrition - you need a well balanced diet of books.
yours is the first generation to grow up with social media and its only natural that everyone is struggling to find and articulate their place in this culture. Gen x and millennials did it too, just in different ways (mine included a digital camera and lots of photo dumps to Facebook). 🖤
I felt like I was about to talk back to you throughout the piece. Like I had a million opinions and comments on it - it is so much fun and so interesting to read thought provoking pieces about ... well, the fear of the potential lack of those.
I am always in such a weird place when it comes to the internet, booktok, and the general media content/consumption cycle that comes with literature now. The push to complete reading goals even if that means reading 10 books you don't care about but will "complete your challenge".
Like yes, books have many words, like the girl said - but do they matter if we are just going to RUSH through them to show someone else how much we've read?. Did we really read?
It's the limbo between loving what the internet does for us (even right now, reading and commenting on this) but also making a showcase and almost a satire of things we like and love just for the sake of.. honestly? attention. And maybe money.
Thank you for sharing that reading list, can't wait to go through it :).
DID WE REALLY READ? Exactly! Can you tell me what happened in the story, who the characters are, what are their flaws, are there sub-plots? Can you tell me all of this a few weeks from now? Months? Years? If you can, by all means, keep going with whatever style books you like. But if not, maybe take a step back and think, why am I reading???? For who?
I appreciate the critical lens you took while remaining hopeful but also understanding the context that so many are creating/writing within. It’s so common to see people/other creatives bemoaning trends and terms without considering why they’re seeing an uptick in “insert trendy buzzword here”- type content. Funnily enough, the critics also become the people you mentioned early in the article who have seemingly forgotten how to scroll and not engage with that which they don’t agree with/don’t like. Loved this! And I can’t wait to get into the reading list at some point this week :)
Online world vs. reality is such a fascinating topic and one that is more important than ever. There used to be a time where there were no aesthetics that didn’t exist in real life, there were real subcultures of people, a real community that then had a certain aesthetic. But it always was attached to something real. I think I am a bit too old to fully understand the hold the online world has on some people, I still remember life without the internet and navigating by map! But the more essays that I read about this, the more I realize how difficult it must be for younger generations to find themselves in this world.
Soo many thoughtful points!! I find the conversation about the de-intellectualisation of BookTok so relevant especially when it comes to the publishing industry and the future of literature. It’s a direct result of the dopamine addicting nature of TikTok and can make the future seem so bleak. But when you mentioned how writers have always been grouped throughout history, I could see exactly what you were talking about :)
i love this hopeful take!! absolutely love the point on writers grouping together throughout history - this was so refreshing to read and i'll definitely be revisiting this <3
As someone who does not use TikTok (which is crazy, right? Especially knowing TikTok culture is so engrained into everything, it doesn’t even matter if you use it or not you can’t escape any of it) the entire phenomenon of sharing popular books and not actually reading them is…dumb. For those of us who actually enjoy reading, writing, and analyzing, I’m sure it’s a bit sad to watch, and if you want to world build and create novels worth reading (as I am doing, at a snails pace) you feel rushed, like you have to move with the tide.
On a different note, I think people really do want to read these large novels and struggle to because their attention span has become shorter due to fast-paced media, so short-form books with a easy digestible plot has become the norm. It takes time to read through Dostoevsky or Poe or Tolkien without taking breaks, coming back to it later, and really thinking about what you’re consuming. The pace doesn’t match the mainstream media. Of course, their are books in the middle, and I personally don’t read smut -.- but the conversation is worth having, possibly in person, with real people. Like Socratic seminars at a coffee shop or something.
Every young writer like me should read this, it’s not talked enough about how writers with talent don’t reach their full potential because they want to fit into an aesthetic.
I found this so interesting as someone who reads both 'good literature' and recommendations from BookTok. Sometimes it really can feel like a competition, especially as I study English, and that really takes away the joy from reading. I've loved and hated books that were recommended from BookTok and actual academics, but I've also noticed the quality of 'viral' books going downhill more recently.
Also thank you for switching to capitals, I've had such pedantic teachers in the past that it causes me stress seeing that in essays!
this is such a well thought out, brilliant post. you have a way of communicating your thoughts into writing so beautifully. thank you for also listing other posts relating to your topic (will definitely check them out)!!
i love the article but also the way you switch to capitals after acknowledging your use of lowercase - my jaw was on the floor - so good
Came here to say this. Loved that decision.
what i wanted to comment on! its such a statement just by itself
oh my god i didn't even notice until the end!!! genius
so many thoughts!!!! 1.) the internet really makes people act very straggly. re: that pea soup example. I see that all the time and it makes me want to scream. people are no longer satisfied with being the main character of their lives. they want to be the main character of your life too!
alsoooo everyone reading the same books, consuming the same media, going to the same places, getting recommended the same stuff. wanting to have the right taste. ofcourse people are thinking and talking and therefore writing the same things!
I enjoy reading and as someone who didn’t grow much with the habit I constantly judge myself about what I’m reading. I want to be someone smart and read smart books. But I like to consume trash here and there, trash show? Saw it. Trash book? On my tbr. Trash fyp? Don’t worry spent two hours in it. And it just kills me. I feel like I can’t consume anything without someone making it in some manner trendy? When I read your stuff (which really love) and see you mention all this trendy words (connecting one of your thoughts with Taylor swift) and I think, was it necessary? Do we need this trendy to back us up? To make it more relevant? But then I think about the soup, she isn’t writing for me, I shouldn’t judge her and just enjoy the small amount of joy it brings me every day. But at the end, I feel like I’m never critique worthy I’m just a person who want to be this lit girl and should instead grab a English class.
I was reading this with so many hats on (as a book lover - feeling a sudden surge of protectiveness for books and literature!) as a writer (asking myself if I have allowed my own writing to be influenced by trends) and as a teacher (why on earth is Hannah not using apital letters?!)
As all of those things, I love and loathe the lit girl/thought daughter 'aesthetic'. I have young girls who sign up to a-level literature, with 'English lit at uni' aspirations, thinking they can write their entire coursework thesis on Colleen Hoover, who are appalled when I ask them to explore other female writers that explore toxic romances ("Why not try The Doll's House" "Is that like Pretty Little Liars?" - a very real exchange I had with one student). I believe books should be ready and enjoyed and if that books is light froth then so be it. My 7 year old son loves Jamie Smart books and Dav Pilkey's Dogman books. They're a mix between prose and graphic novels; do I wish he was reading Michael Morpurgo books? Maybe sometimes. But he chooses to sit down and read his books in the afternoon and evening rather than playing on his Nintendo switch because he loves them. His reading age is great - the books are doing their job.
I think there is space for the froth and the space for the 'lit-literature'.
I have a sign in my classroom that says 'putting the lit in literature' and I have 'gen-z coded' descriptions of classics and canon books. (See if you can guess!)
"Crazy family drama - girl falls for her abusive adoptive brother who is totally obsessed with her. He could eat Ryle for breakfast. Expect Saltburn levels of grave ick-ery.'
I also run book competitions in my classes - students have to earn points by reading a RANGE of books - so there is space for the Colleen Hoovers and the Icebreakers (for my seniors!) but there is also The Old Man and the Sea, Shirley, The Wasp Factory, Carmilla, The GoldFinch... They love it and by the end of the year they've upped their reading game. It means that fewer students do actually opt in to studying lit at Uni but the ones that do are truly the 'lit girls (and boys)'. The ones who run to me at break time because they've JUST discovered Philip Larkin or hard-related to an angsty Emily Dickinson.
As for me, the reader and the writer - I like range. My reading journal this year includes Tessa Bailey's 'Make ME' and Victoria Gosling's Bliss and Blunder. Non- fiction book 'Eve' and Emily Henry's Beach Read. All are welcome. All feed me something.
As with nutrition - you need a well balanced diet of books.
Oh, I love your “book competitions” thing!! That’s an amazing idea! 💡
yours is the first generation to grow up with social media and its only natural that everyone is struggling to find and articulate their place in this culture. Gen x and millennials did it too, just in different ways (mine included a digital camera and lots of photo dumps to Facebook). 🖤
So.many.thoughs.
I felt like I was about to talk back to you throughout the piece. Like I had a million opinions and comments on it - it is so much fun and so interesting to read thought provoking pieces about ... well, the fear of the potential lack of those.
I am always in such a weird place when it comes to the internet, booktok, and the general media content/consumption cycle that comes with literature now. The push to complete reading goals even if that means reading 10 books you don't care about but will "complete your challenge".
Like yes, books have many words, like the girl said - but do they matter if we are just going to RUSH through them to show someone else how much we've read?. Did we really read?
It's the limbo between loving what the internet does for us (even right now, reading and commenting on this) but also making a showcase and almost a satire of things we like and love just for the sake of.. honestly? attention. And maybe money.
Thank you for sharing that reading list, can't wait to go through it :).
DID WE REALLY READ? Exactly! Can you tell me what happened in the story, who the characters are, what are their flaws, are there sub-plots? Can you tell me all of this a few weeks from now? Months? Years? If you can, by all means, keep going with whatever style books you like. But if not, maybe take a step back and think, why am I reading???? For who?
I appreciate the critical lens you took while remaining hopeful but also understanding the context that so many are creating/writing within. It’s so common to see people/other creatives bemoaning trends and terms without considering why they’re seeing an uptick in “insert trendy buzzword here”- type content. Funnily enough, the critics also become the people you mentioned early in the article who have seemingly forgotten how to scroll and not engage with that which they don’t agree with/don’t like. Loved this! And I can’t wait to get into the reading list at some point this week :)
Online world vs. reality is such a fascinating topic and one that is more important than ever. There used to be a time where there were no aesthetics that didn’t exist in real life, there were real subcultures of people, a real community that then had a certain aesthetic. But it always was attached to something real. I think I am a bit too old to fully understand the hold the online world has on some people, I still remember life without the internet and navigating by map! But the more essays that I read about this, the more I realize how difficult it must be for younger generations to find themselves in this world.
Soo many thoughtful points!! I find the conversation about the de-intellectualisation of BookTok so relevant especially when it comes to the publishing industry and the future of literature. It’s a direct result of the dopamine addicting nature of TikTok and can make the future seem so bleak. But when you mentioned how writers have always been grouped throughout history, I could see exactly what you were talking about :)
i love this hopeful take!! absolutely love the point on writers grouping together throughout history - this was so refreshing to read and i'll definitely be revisiting this <3
As someone who does not use TikTok (which is crazy, right? Especially knowing TikTok culture is so engrained into everything, it doesn’t even matter if you use it or not you can’t escape any of it) the entire phenomenon of sharing popular books and not actually reading them is…dumb. For those of us who actually enjoy reading, writing, and analyzing, I’m sure it’s a bit sad to watch, and if you want to world build and create novels worth reading (as I am doing, at a snails pace) you feel rushed, like you have to move with the tide.
On a different note, I think people really do want to read these large novels and struggle to because their attention span has become shorter due to fast-paced media, so short-form books with a easy digestible plot has become the norm. It takes time to read through Dostoevsky or Poe or Tolkien without taking breaks, coming back to it later, and really thinking about what you’re consuming. The pace doesn’t match the mainstream media. Of course, their are books in the middle, and I personally don’t read smut -.- but the conversation is worth having, possibly in person, with real people. Like Socratic seminars at a coffee shop or something.
Im in awe with this text! I have so many new thoughts about this and feel so understood at the same time!!!
Every young writer like me should read this, it’s not talked enough about how writers with talent don’t reach their full potential because they want to fit into an aesthetic.
oh i love you. thank you for writing this. 🍎🖤
I found this so interesting as someone who reads both 'good literature' and recommendations from BookTok. Sometimes it really can feel like a competition, especially as I study English, and that really takes away the joy from reading. I've loved and hated books that were recommended from BookTok and actual academics, but I've also noticed the quality of 'viral' books going downhill more recently.
Also thank you for switching to capitals, I've had such pedantic teachers in the past that it causes me stress seeing that in essays!
this is such a well thought out, brilliant post. you have a way of communicating your thoughts into writing so beautifully. thank you for also listing other posts relating to your topic (will definitely check them out)!!