In the height of the coronavirus, people in quarantine started getting bored of the same redundant activities such as watching the same shows over and over again, or scrolling through social media. They needed an escape from constant reminders of the pandemic. In comes BookTok. 

BookTok, a book community on TikTok, is all about recommending books to encourage people of all ages and scopes to read. 

“Before quarantine, I was just so constantly busy to read,” sophomore Rin Nese said. “But when we went into lockdown I randomly stumbled on BookTok. I remember reading so many books and just never going bored. Now that we’re getting back into some sort of normalcy I try and make it a priority to read” 

Senior Sherry Hu believes BookTok helped revive something of a dead practice. 

“Before BookTok, like the previous years, reading was kind of dying,” Hu said. “With so many entertainment options, like our technology, it was just not something a lot of people did anymore. But now it’s this whole thing and so many more people are reading, including me.” 

According to school librarian Chelsea Hamilton, an increase in reading has been seen. 

“I myself have cruise on BookTok and get ideas of books to buy and to read,” Hamilton said. “BookTok is a really good place to get recommendations because the creators are really good at giving diverse and thoughtful recommendations. So a lot of the students who come into the library want to check out books that they got recommended from BookTok.” 

BookTok has become a huge community with many sub-communities that can be challenging to navigate.

“Majority of BookTok is either fantasy or romance,” senior Piper Dickson said. “And the people who hate BookTok are just not on the right spectrum of it. You sometimes do have to look for those smaller creators who recommend books like memoirs and non-fiction but once you find it you get some really good recommendations.”

For sophomore Riya Sharma, BookTok has become one of her favorite communities to scroll on TikTok. 

“I’m never bored when I’m on BookTok just cause no creator that I follow ever does the same thing over and over again,” Sharma said. “Some of my favorite authors are also on there which makes it easier to get into their books. There are also never-ending recommendations so I’m set for a good while.”