Does BookTok count as literature... I don't think so

Ava Behjat '27

Opinions Page Editor

You’ve likely heard of BookTok, the subcommunity with 200 billion views of TikTokers discussing books–or that’s what it used to be.

Originally, BookTok had a small following, but during the pandemic, it blew up with a younger audience by bringing in their favorite genres: romance and fantasy. Initially, there was a diverse selection of genres, but now, there’s a specific type of book that’s piqued the public’s interest—the BookTok book. These books gained immense popularity, with communities discussing content and aesthetics to live by. The most popular books tend to be young adult romances with elements of stereotypical European fantasy like Arthurian dragons, often making use of tropes like “enemies to lovers.”

One trend portrays BookTok girls demanding all fictional male love interests be tall, dark-haired and morally gray. But, Captain Hook also checks these boxes, and I bet you aren’t going to buy a book about him as a love interest. (Whoops, never mind. There actually is a BookTok book with Captain Hook as the love interest. It’s called Hooked…very clever).

Elyse Ramirez '27 concerned by the content in Book Tok

Meanwhile, another subcommunity called BikeTok claims to “own the BookTok girls.” These men claim to resemble the love interests found in dark romance novels. The issue is that these dark romance novels deal with violent topics. Disturbingly, these creators make posts about doing these things to BookTok girls, even staging videos where masked men on motorcycles leave trails of romance books “to catch BookTok girls.”

But regardless of the morality of these trends, the publishing industry has changed. First is the emergence of the new genre of “Romantasy” (romance and fantasy), which you can immediately spot out with this rule: It’s Romantasy if the title has the words “blood,” “ash,” “bone” or anything royalty-adjacent.

Second, we need to examine books branded with “strong females.” If we look closely, these women are praised for their violence, refusal to express emotion, arrogance and aggression. Authors are taking the very traits we dislike in men and placing it in their women! Not only does this send out the message that women need to act more traditionally masculine to appear strong but it also suggests that emotion reveals weakness.

The third, and possibly the most important, is that there is no deeper meaning in these books. They don’t have us thinking, wondering or questioning. I mean, after you’ve read 500 pages of Twilight, what secret of the universe have you unlocked?

These books are reminiscent of the behaviors portrayed in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury where media became fast-paced and less profound. Just as God sculpted Adam’s face out of clay as an artist would, literature should put up a mirror to the face of humanity and expose the reader to something Divine inside of ourselves.

“I wish I could go to the bookstore and pick out a book I think is interesting without worrying about if it’s a BookTok book. I wish I could just read for myself again, but these [books] are addicting,” said one BookTok influencer, “THE CALVIN BOOKS”.

So maybe instead of reading BookTok books, you’d like to pick up something else:

Cloud Atlas.........................................................................................................................................................David Mitchell

Midnight’s Children.......................................................................................................................................Salman Rushdie

The Bell Jar..............................................................................................................................................................Sylvia Plath

The Master and Margarita..........................................................................................................................Mikhail Bulgakov

American Gods.....................................................................................................................................................Neil Gaiman

Paradise Rot.............................................................................................................................................................Jenny Hval

Cleopatra and Frankenstein..............................................................................................................................Coco Mellors

The Island of Missing Trees....................................................................................................................................Elif Shafak

Martyr!..................................................................................................................................................................Kaveh Akbar

The Kalevala........................................................................................................................................................Elias Lönnrot

Paradise Lost..........................................................................................................................................................John Milton