Operation TikTok: My Attempt to Read Popular Books
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Turning on the news can be such a dumpster fire these days. Rarely do I see a good or positive story, when I do it comes nearly at the end of the broadcast. The daily loss of life. High taxes. High grocery prices. Student loan debt. The never-ending saga of the 45th president and his civil and criminal trials. With so many pressing issues, the U.S. Congress and current U.S. president could be focusing on I don’t understand how forcing a company, ByteDance, to either sell its social media app, TikTok, or face a ban from the Appstore is so high on the agenda.
There are a flood of news articles and talking heads out there debating the controversy with TikTok, so I won’t go down that rabbit hole. I’m not a social media expert, and some of the nuances surrounding TikTok are out of my wheelhouse. I’d rather look at it from the perspective of a consumer of TikTok content.
I don’t have a TikTok account, but on occasion, I do look at videos online for book and recipe ideas. Like potato chips it’s hard to consume just one TikTok video, one leads to another and another and another. There’s a corner of TikTok that just focuses on recipes with lemon—many of them are dessert recipes. Lemon desserts are my kryptonite. I was drooling watching a video about lemon rolls (think cinnamon rolls but with lemon). The addictive quality is why I’ve chosen not to have a personal TikTok account. I think I would spend more time there than I need to.
But whenever I feel like I’m in a reading rut, I will search for popular books on TikTok. Not all of the trending authors on TikTok are my cup of tea; Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, and Hanya Yanagihara just to name a few. That popularity of that last one baffles me a little bit. Yanagihara wrote A Little Life, I know many hail this as a great read. I humbly disagree, in my opinion this book was pure tragedy porn. No book must have a happy ending, but 700+ pages of human suffering, including graphic depictions of death, sexual abuse, and suicide, was just too much for me. Enough with my rant, there are plenty of popular authors on TikTok who are more my speed: Jennette McCurdy (author of I’m Glad My Mom Died), Madeline Miller (author of Circe), and Taylor Jenkins Reid (Netflix please don’t screw up the movie for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo).
From a discovery and community aspect, I see the value of TikTok. You can find people with similar styles and tastes. That sense of community is a big part of the app’s popularity, especially during the pandemic when we were all in our own bubbles. Hearing someone else’s perspective on a book always piques my interest, especially when they challenge my assumptions. So, I’m partaking in a yearlong project, reading popular books from TikTok. Some I’ve wanted to read or reread for a while, like Book Lovers by Emily Henry. Some I want to read because I want to understand why they’re popular, like the Throne of Glass series and Fourth Wing. Plus, there's the added motivation of needing to tackle the books already gathering dust on my shelves before adding more to my collection. Any popular books on your reading list? Drop a comment below and let’s discuss.
Popular TikTok books/authors I want to read (I also own many of these)
Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas: I bought this series because I saw them in a YouTube video years ago. A series about a teenage assassin sounded intriguing. I bought most of the books as they came out. I don’t have the last two, Tower of Dawn and Kingdom of Ash, and will not buy them until I get through the first five books. Learning from my mistakes with other series.
Iron Wing by Rebecca Yarros: The book world seems to have a love/hate relationship with this book. A training school with dragons? I’m not sure what’s to hate about that. I’m currently reading this, and I can see the appeal. The first few chapters have held my interest.
Circe by Madeline Miller: It’s been a looooonnnnnngggg time since I read anything having to do with Greek mythology, and the cover is gorgeous. Of course, I’m in.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry: A book about bookish people will always be up my alley.
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas: I haven’t read a romance in a while. The setup, convincing a stranger to be your date at your sister’s wedding seems like a stretch but I’m willing to give it a try.
Popular TikTok books I’ve read and recommend
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab: A woman makes a deal to live forever, but everyone will forget her. This one was addicting.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: A famous actress is finally spilling the beans on her life and the glory days of her acting life. I won’t give it away, but I don’t see the book as being about her seven husbands. Read it if you want to know what I mean!
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy: The title grabbed my attention.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah: Always a sucker for WWII fiction. I have this on my TBR because I want to read it again.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: Book one in a young adult fantasy set in Africa. A young girl is trying to bring magic back to the kingdom of Orisha. Book three is finally coming out this summer.
Popular TikTok books I’ve read and I’m indifferent about
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara: I’ve already said my peace earlier and will say no more.
Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: The son of the U.S. president and the prince of England embark on a secret romance. In theory, this should be interesting, but I was bored. The first hundred pages or are cute, but overall, I was underwhelmed.
Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score: A woman ends up in a small town to clean up her twin sister’s mess and run away from her wedding. Along the way, she falls for the perceived town bad boy. Standard romance formula and there’s nothing wrong with that. It was just tooooo long and by the third act was stretching the bounds of believability.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: Caseworker for magical youth spends some time at an orphanage to monitor those who have been labeled as dangerous. The world-building didn’t work for me.
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson: A murder mystery set at a private school. Intriguing concept. But I wasn’t interested enough to continue the series even though this ended on a cliffhanger.
These Violent Delights + Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong: A retelling of Romeo and Juliet, set in 1920s Shanghai and there’s a literal monster endangering the city. Again great concept, but the execution was not. The pacing felt slow and the payoff in the end was not satisfying.
Upcoming posts
Thursday: Lost ReWatch for episodes eleven and twelve
Monday: Pages of Potential: The Start of My Notebook Business