SoA was such a fantastic read! Beautifully written indeed; it’s not everyday that a book makes me sob like this one did. Madeline Miller is an outstanding writer. I need to pick up Circe soon! I live for Greek mythology retellings.

Booktok has attracted a lot of new readers, including many friends of mine who otherwise would’ve never picked up a book, but it attracted a lot of habitual readers as well. I think the format is compact and highly digestible and a lot of videos present the books in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing, concise and attractive to the casual TikTok scroller. I’ve read a couple of CoHo books at my friends’ recommendation. Our opinions differed greatly; a discussion ensued and we exchanged our reflections; it was fun. It’s not much deeper than it seems honestly. It attracts all types of readers, and it fosters a sense of community among those people.

I’m not on Booktok, but I’m on Booktube, and I love finding booktubers who have a similar taste to mine and I often discover books I wouldn’t have found otherwise. Also, when I read a book that someone else has also read, it’s interesting to hear their thoughts and review of it. Booktok is quite similar, though with shorter length videos. People like whatever books for whatever reason: who cares? What you’re observing here is literally what happens on any popular social platform: people like things and tell other people they might like those things as well, then it becomes a trend and goes full circle. Whether they’re actually good or not is entirely subjective. I’ve liked some books that have trended, and I’ve disliked some others. There’s such a wide range of books trending on the internet that it’s genuinely absurd to lump them under any one category and pigeonhole them as insipid or fatuous. There’s no real correlation between how enjoyable a book is and how popular it is. I also get the feeling you’re being slightly, even if unwittingly, condescending.

There’s a slight dissonance between what you’re expressing and what you claim to believe. Your wording suggests you view “booktok famous books” as inferior, and that more experienced readers would never “obsess” over such second-rate, simplistic writing. Accessibility in literature is only deemed mediocre if you’re being a snob. I get that you’re not trying to be critical or offensive, but you might wanna word things more sensibly when you’re asking for someone else’s opinion.

I’ve never really liked them. The reading experience usually feels unenjoyable to me. Oftentimes, the takes are so glaringly ridiculous that I genuinely can’t believe somebody approved of the book being published at all. A majority of them feel like a bad patchwork of 2013 instagram quotes and arbitrary bullshit, or an unpolished, lazy pep talk about being tough and waking up early. Of course, this is a gross generalization and there are also a lot of well-written, interesting and well-researched ones (absolutely not The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, though). There are a couple that I found to be somewhat helpful, but I still couldn’t finish them. I didn’t finish Atomic Habits by James Clear because I started reading my friend’s copy when I was at his place, and never picked it up again, but I thought it was actually mildly interesting, so I might give it another shot someday.

I totally understand the feeling of dissatisfaction that you evoke. I think it’s mainly associated with the fact that the sense of gratification you were seeking out of reading those books isn’t immediately substantiated by a tangible upgrade in your individual experience, especially since you don’t really get any closure like you would after finishing a novel or a collection of essays for example. You feel like you’ve just come out of a calm cream-curtained yoga mom’s apartment to the middle of a busy roundabout held up by traffic and punctuated by miscellaneous noises, which is understandably overwhelming and confusing. I would much rather explore similar themes through any other piece of well-written media, that doesn’t read like a handbook to life.

Although, I have to say that it’s still not as homespun as this, and this comment is more geared towards the specific branches of self-help that I’ve personally been exposed to, which isn’t a whole lot because I dislike the genre; so take what I said with a grain of salt.

All in all, they’re definitely not for me, but I know people who say to have benefited from them; so I wouldn’t shun them from the realms of literature per se, but I’d prefer to keep them off my bookshelves.

I started this book three years ago, read a few pages and never picked it up again since. I really want to since I know the story’s good, but I keep getting distracted by other books that I’d rather read. I feel you need to get used to the writing with books like that, and quick read the sluggish passages.

I finished it on a Thursday morning after which I proceeded to rant about it for half an hour in a Starbucks, I understand!

I can feel your frustrations through the screen; so much so that you’ve conjured up all the bad memories I have of reading this book. I could not get into it.