booktok, brainrot, and why it’s okay to be a hater

being a huge nerd means i care SO DEEPLY. about how people read books. but more importantly, i care about having access to those books. regardless of your stance on booktok books, you should be fighting against book bans. every day is an opportunity to think critically about literature, even now. especially now. analysis rocks! love u all! 💌: [email protected] timestamps: 0:00 intro 3:00 we have lost the plot. literally. 14:45 let people hate things! 29:34 a book is a loaded gun register to vote! research your candidates! fight fascist alt-right censorship! https://www.vote.org/ https://www.vote411.org/ballot book ban resources: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks https://ec.ala.org/donation/OIF-0600-BNBKWK https://pen.org/issue/free-the-books/ https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/books-for-all/take-action https://pen.org/how-to-fight-book-bans-a-tip-sheet-for-students/ https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/ book recs from social media: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1olQXjnlVrhiy0gkkKOiN6XZzqbn1CCSovNRqzpkwD5o/edit?usp=sharing articles https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/booktok-tiktok-books-community https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/93647-how-tiktok-has-transformed-romance-publishing.html https://madisonhuizinga.substack.com/p/booktok-is-turning-books-into-commodities https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/books/tiktok-books-booktok.html https://lithub.com/booktok-is-good-actually-on-the-undersung-joys-of-a-vast-and-multifarious-platform/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-27/why-romance-and-romantasy-novels-are-so-popular-on-tiktok/103198518 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/sports/hockey/hockey-romance-booktok-explainer.html https://www.vox.com/culture/23644772/booktok-money-business-sponsored-videos https://www.besthealthmag.ca/article/spicy-booktok/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/booktok-seattle-kraken-alex-wennberg-explainer-1234797832/ https://www.bupipedream.com/opinions/booktoks-trope-ification-of-literature-is-problematic/133023/ https://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/2019/01/25/miscategorizing-adult-books-as-ya-discussion/ https://bookriot.com/sexist-problem-in-fantasy/ https://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/2023/01/29/why-i-believe-its-important-to-clearly-indicate-the-age-category-of-books/ https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/sweetbitter-author-stephanie-danler-booktok-instagram https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/23/reading-is-precious-but-the-cult-of-book-ownership-can-be-smug-and-middle-class https://thebaffler.com/latest/dont-let-people-enjoy-things-wagner https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lie-of-let-people-like-things-stitch-fan-service https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/12/31/18152275/criticism-explained-cultural-writing https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/16/18618425/let-people-enjoy-things-criticism https://www.evilfemale.blog/p/in-defence-of-critique-let-people https://swim-press.co.uk/2023/01/15/anti-intellectualism-and-booktok/ https://melaniestibbard.substack.com/p/its-not-that-deep-and-anti-intellectualism?r=1h4mb7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web https://www.thelance.ca/2022/11/17/the-tiktok-ification-of-literature-exploring-online-anti-intellectualism-discourse/ https://www.fridaythings.com/recent-posts/tiktok-nikita-dumptruck-israel-palestine-2023-girlypop https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/is-anti-intellectualism-ever-good-for-democracy/ https://www.gandbmagazine.com/article/2023/03/leaving-it-to-the-experts-fatima https://hypercultureblog.com/f/the-powerful-but-anti-intellectual-revolution-of-booktok https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/92735-book-sales-continue-to-slow-down-in-first-half-of-2023.html https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/94037-print-book-sales-fell-2-6-in-2023.html https://www.circana.com/intelligence/press-releases/2024/adult-fiction-outperforms-the-u-s-book-market-in-2023-circana-reports/ https://pen.org/report/book-bans-pressure-to-censor/ https://boingboing.net/2021/10/30/texas-lawmakers-considering-a-ban-on-850-books-heres-the-full-list.html https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/franhoepfner/colleen-hoover-it-starts-with-us books: Anti-intellectualism in American Life - Richard Hofstadter Anti-Intellectualism in American Media - Dane Claussen Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media - Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1991.tb00172.x speaker clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2fGBwlOHFw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzAtOyw6ACw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5rLPbjYCY0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCKfvxnljYY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ibCtsHgz3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrS-46e59V4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h73EMGgHink&t=5s p.s. please ask me for book recs i have so many