Even if this is just rage bait, a lot of the comments are agreeing with her about how they dont actually really read books and skim and skip and only read dialogue, and thats devastating. Even if this video is rage bait I do believe that it is highlighting a much larger problem now with attention span and social media and instant gratification. It's saddening to see all of these people freely admitting and joking about not even reading these books. It's really unfortunate.
I just read a non-fiction book about a pulp writer of westerns in the 1920s who discovered one of his readers did exactly the same thing. He read it, but he didn't know what he was reading. He was just going through the motion. So this has always happened. We're just find out how common it is now due to social media.
That was a rage bait! She wants to drive up her revenue in comments! That’s what’s easy. You love books. You love talking about books. She wanted chaos.
Even if it is rage bait, there are so many people who do actually do these things, as evidenced by her comments on the video, so I still think we need to talk about it :)
I’ve watched enough of that creator’s content and book reviews, and I honestly don’t think it was rage bait…. It tracks with a number of “critiques” she’s given books before.
Creators like this are why people are looking down on Book accounts now, because they think we are all “playing” at being readers. It makes me so sad that it is basically being used as another string to influencers bows because it’s popular to be a reader at the moment. I can only hope these types of creators move on to the next popular thing soon. What really irks me is these people will also be rating on amazon etc and hurting the authors ratings and they hardly even read the book! I could go on 😂 this is why I’m not on TikTok. Great video 💕
Booksandmoe.... you are absolutely right. For those of us who WANT to build relationships with book influencers, we are highly reluctant to work with any booktoker because yeah.... the ones who say, "I've read 300 books this year" ... and it's december 2nd btw....tells us writers, you didn't read shit, except maybe the back blurb, the first page, a middle page, and the last page.... then just regurgitated the back blurb for your review. This is why booktokers and many book influencers are not trusted by writers. Period. Speaking from experience.
@ladyjatheist2763 This is so sad to hear, but I completely understand... As I said in the video, it's not fair to the writer, the book, and not fair to the readers as well 😕
I feel like we are raising a generation of lazy kids, honestly. This is an effect of instant gratification. They want someone else to do the work for them so they don’t have to discipline themselves to take the time and do the work it takes to comprehend and understand a story. It makes me sad. I’m so thankful my two kids love to read and take hours to sit and read their books without other distractions.
Skimming and skipping long chapters/paragraphs, only reading dialogue lol 😂 How do these people have any followers in the book community? I confess, for full transparency, that I skip spicy scenes. I don’t skip the entire chapter, just the acts. These explicit acts/ scenes don’t add to the story overall, in my humble opinion. 16:23
@Vicky-xz1nu Completely understand when you don't enjoy spice but are intrigued by the synopsis, you can totally read the book anyway and understand everything no problem
I can agree with this. I read it when I was 13. The one scene (iykyk) in the book that is controversial, was blocked by my mom. I didn't read that chapter for at least another year or so. No book was harmed. Lol
I think part of the problem is that in today's social media system, engagement is engagement, regardless if it's positive or negative. And some people are using that fact to make content that they know will get people to engage because what they say is so wild. I think this is also part of how we also now have so many influential people who are just "trolls" because we have allowed them to become big by negative engagement. I think we should start ignoring these people completely. If they are putting out content consistently to rile people up, you're not hooking me in, not interested.
When I start skimming stuff, it's a sign that I don't enjoy the book and I will abandon it shortly after that, without ever finishing it. I don't get how you can "read" a book and skim or skip whole paragraphs. You'll miss so much, not just the words themselves, but also that feeling of immersion.
Sometime i get excited when reading and cant help but skip a paragraph bit tuen i force myself to go back and read both. Often multipul times jus5 to make sure i understood everything
Yeah I’ve been reading since I was 14 (now 30) and I remember old booktube days and when it was a very small community. I enjoyed that books became popular but now .. I kinda hate it because most of the time it feels like a trend and fake sadly
The only thing that I can agree on with that TikToker is that in some books, it really does feel likes the words are so small. Like they (publishers likely) wanted to cram in as much as they could to cut corners on page count. I have books printed in the 80s/90s and when I go to compare them with modern books, I definitely notice a production difference. However her complaint about the *amount* of words?! She's on her own idk, she clearly never built her reading stamina and jumped right in to a book larger than her attention span could handle. Or she's only hopping on a trend and not reading a book that has truly captured her or fits her reading style. edit: You made those points too oh my god, I gotta learn to slow down too I'm a hypocrite
Great discussion! I’m just as passionate about this subject as you are! I have a friend that skim reads if she’s not enjoying the book… and I’m like HOW?!?!?! 🤷🏻♀️ I’m definitely reading the story from cover to cover!!!! 😍
@ChrislynReadsWithPugs Absolutely! And if I am not enjoying it, there are 2 options: i either continue to give my review and explain why i didn't like it. Or i dnf and also explain why. But either way i am reading it 🥸
The only time i felt tempted to skip a whole chapter (and i don't even skip a paragraph) was The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. He has a whole chapter dedicated to where everything is in Paris at the time. Is like GPS but in written form. The whole chapter. It was so boring and gave me nothing for the story. But i still read it and took me forever.
Same for me, not Hunch back but Les Mis. There is a whole 50 or so pages just about the battle of Waterloo all to find out Thenardier is an ass… which you already know by that time… not to mention the dreaded Paris sewer system chapter (which I haven’t gotten to yet). And no matter how many times I wanted to skip it, but I didn’t… I read it and finished that part and got a mini endorphins boost after!
I don’t watch TikTok and I’m not on instagram as much so I had no idea! Wow, I definitely agree with all the points you touched! It’s unbelievable that so many people are skimming or reading just the dialogue, especially if they’re content creators! I totally agree that it’s impossible to truly enjoy a story without all the information in between the dialogue. That’s where we we can see the plot develop, characters portray their inner feeling and thoughts, we discover plot twists, we’re immersed in the beautiful settings, it can set the tone for the book such as being whimsical, and so much more. I agree that it’s pretty concerning if that’s the growing mindset because it seems like people are just reading because it’s trendy and not because they true love it or are immersed in the story. If I just preferred dialogue, I would choose to just watch a movie or show instead. That’s the whole reason why I love reading books, because there’s no experience that can compare with being fully immersed into a different world and becoming attached to certain stories, characters, or settings! I can understand if someone prefers bigger fonts, but it’s unbelievable to expect there not to be words on the page when reading a book! I can understand if she were holding a graphic novel, or manga since they contain less words. But it’s unbelievable to expect a traditional novel to not be full of words! To me, that’s like expecting night time to be full of daylight or vice versa. 😢
If I’m very disappointed with the book and it’s really boring I can skip whole chapters (usually reading beginning and ending of the chapter) if I’m still curious about ending of this book. I do not take this book seriously obviously anymore
So I agree with a lot of your points. There are some booktokers that are here because it's trendy, and they'll eventually move on to the next thing. Big fonts are also really helpful! I like using my phone as a kindle for larger books because I can also use the opendyslexic font, and change the background color as needed for my eyes. :) However, there's a couple of points you made that didn't hit quite right for me. RE: you have to finish the whole book to be able to review it. I disagree with this completely. There are plenty of valid reasons to DNF a book, and posting those reviews can be helpful to others. For example, I recently saw a tik tok about someone DNFing the Nightmare Before Kissmass, because they did not feel like the summary & pitch properly represented the content of the book. They explained why, and it actually made me MORE inclined to read the book, because the content they disliked, was interesting to me. I think DNF conversations are important to the book community, and we should have more of them. RE: Skimming books. I agree that the skimming that was being described wasn't super helpful for reviewing purposes. However, sometimes, it's necessary to finish a book. Example: I recently finished a book that I did not enjoy. The premise was interesting, and there were scenes that showed potential. But in between the scenes was a mess. I was stuck reading the same paragraphs over and over trying to find the actual connective tissue between those scenes. There were plot developments that literally came out of nowhere, with no actual buildup. About halfway through, I got to the point that I just wanted to finish the book and move on. In order to do that, I had to skim through some of the connecting scenes, because they weren't making sense when I read them anyways. I still feel like I read the book. I may not have fully understood what the author intended, but I don't know that what they intended was conveyed in a way that I -could- understand.
@kaylaboss8096 100% agree about the DNF if people explain why. Skimming in the case you described is fine, because as you said it felt like reading the same paragraphs, they were only there to fill the gaps.
😂😂😂 That's so weird, she came up on my algorithm for a normal wrap up before I ever found out about the drama. She seemed fine, if not as discerning and logical as other booktubers. And she actually alluded to the drama, it seems she got a lot of hell for it. I'll go ahead and assume she meant formatting too, but what a reason to dislike a BOOK 😐
I think as some people mentioned in the comments, maybe she did for the views and to get more engagement from viewers on her channel. And that's even more worrying because what that means is that this person would do anything for views, so I can't trust anything they say.
I genuinely hope that it is a real minority that feels like books have to many words, that they won't read long descriptions or plot building. I fear that it will cause a wider spread problem of author's not writing the epic stories as often, or even at all in the future. One thing I adore about reading is that (no matter the genre), you are getting a snapshot of what the world looks like at the time it was written. You are getting knowledge of how people spoke, how people acted in social situations, the struggles that people were fighting against and also the really amazing things that happened during each of those times. We risk losing that knowledge because today's people don't want to take the time to read/understand it. We would also be in danger of losing the immersive nature of a story. I love getting lost in the world the author created and the only way to do that is with those words, those long paragraphs, the non-dialogue situations. Dialogue does not hold worth if you don't understand why they are saying it. You need their history, their situation, their world described for it to hold weight. It's just a sad trend for me to witness. I've been reading novels since I was 4 years old and I don't want to lose the magic of reading because a minority of readers don't actually like reading.
You go glen coco!! I totally agree. And it also kind of makes other readers feel like crap if they read slower than everyone else, but in reality, these book tokkers are skipping entire paragraphs and that’s why they read like 20 books a month lol 😂
The thing is, for a lot of booktokers/tubers nowadays it's another trend rather than real love for reading. They don't really care, all they want is to brag about the beauty of the covers on their shelves. It's purely superficial. Once you get that you also get why so many books are overrated on dedicated sites. The "book lovers" are just fangirls of the books' covers. It's basically their new Chanel bags... They probbaly like the fact that making reviews of books makes them look smarter than they actually are. But if you really listen to what they have to say about the books you realize that they don't say much actually.
Thank you for speaking about this..I have seen the 1st clip in full, and I follow her, as she is entertaining, but all of the books she hates are books that I personally love & adore and when she posted this video, it aggravated me so so much. For me personally, a book is an instant DNF if I start skimming it.
@CoffeeAndTales If I don't feel curious and I don't care about what happens to the plot for characters, then I question myself: Is it worth reading. The fact that these people call themselves influencers and read book this way makes me inwardly cringe.. what are you trying to portray? An influencer is supposed to make you want to read more and love it more, not hop around the book with lengthy Paragraphs or "too many words". It is called a book for a reason in case they don't know 2ndly this year I discovered Audiobooks and my world is changed you are right try different formats if it feels jarring.
I didn’t know anything about this, but when I watched the clip you showed it seems to me she’s complaining about the small print and little spacing which creates a lot of words per page and makes it difficult to read and enjoy the content. 1:27
@Vicky-xz1nu That's why I said I am giving her the benefit of the doubt. But she has another video saying: "why the f*** everything i read is a flash back, i don't give a f*** about your previous life, i want to read action action action, i don't care what you did as a child"....And for me this is alarming...
the first girls video always takes me out 🤣🤣 wdym too many words 😭. but imo if you’re skimming a bunch and have the urge to skip paragraphs, you might not like the book. maybe choose another????
I kinda hope the virality of that video made more people aware of Six of Crows and gained it more readers, that would be the only silver lining for that rage bait.
Thankfully this was the first time I've seen this one.... Sadly.... now... I've seen this video😓 ...I agree I also like the BIG FONTS!! Everything after... Ugh...I mean I can kinda understand if she was like intimidated by the size of the book? Like the Empire of The Vampire series whew lots of pages for those books I could sorta of understand she being like oh this book is really big it's definitely gonna be a committent or w/e but (LOL I was typing this comment as a I was watching the first part of your video and it seems our minds went to the same book haha kinda funny) .... ugh... I agree I love Six of Crows! I feel like it's also a really bad example for her to use because it's such an easy read? (maybe I'm bias👀)... It has to be rage-baiting no? Like for people to comment on her video and stitch her video to comment for attention/view... Are these the people that say listening to audio books is not reading? Skipping paragraphs are you serious? What's the point then? I guess they'll reach their 500 book goal on goodreads easily.
@Muxl LOVE that you also thought of Empire of The Vampire 😂!! Maybe it's rage-baiting, but then I am affraid that people who are new to this community would miss out on phenomenal reads just because of the formatting or word count. Don't get me started on skipping paragraphs and reading only dialogue...🤦♀️
I've seen a few videos on this and other really questionable takes from TT - it really shows and supports the claim of anti intellectualism growing. These people don't seem to want to actually read, they like action action action and a lot of dialogue, so basically a movie on paper. They may as well just watch a movie or show. And I personally see nothing wrong with low brain power books, I read them too and I pretty much every genre and different levels of writing style (hope this makes sense, English is not my first language). But seeing people not want to actually read a story and be uninterested in a character's back story, character arc, political ties, world building etc. is wild and also makes me worried for people's ability to feel empathy and to think critically. Fiction especially is supposed to let a reader be in a character's pov, feel empathy and depending on the book sort of grow and learn with them. Reading is supposed to be fun yes, but also challenge people's way of thinking and make them try to look beyond the words, simply engage with the work of fiction they're reading (which also obviously depends on the book/genre).
this is beyond crazy and kinda sad as a true book lover i honestly dislike books that don't go into detail and don't give me some kind of story building and slow pacing. They are just not real readers to me.
Even I can undestand maybe if she said "It's not my type of book because I prefer books written in third-person" because that's happends to me a lot and I think six of croows is first person. But just something to a real critique.
@@CoffeeAndTales OHHHH, I was skipping Six of Crows because I thought it was written in first person like the 99% of book YA nowadays. It's gonna be NEXT BOOK thanks to you ❤❤❤ Sometimes I don't mind reading first person, like two books a month, but if every book is first person like I see in every book, I'm sooooo tired of it.
@Space.Panda1805 I don't mind it personally depending on the writing but I get it because it's a personal preference. You should totally give a try, it's phenomenal 👏 😍
I read mostly fantasy these days because life is so difficult, and the joy of reading for me is submerging myself in a different world. I can't do that with only dialogue. Yes, it's instrumental to the story of course--but the things these people ignore or find boring are in fact, more important and fundamental. Skipping it feels disrespectful to the author who put time into crafting every element of their story. These 'readers' are not getting the characters or situations or world at the best it can be. There are layers to storytelling, and a lot of it is done in the background with descriptions and prose. In those little nuanced things...that's when an author can really shine and show you who they are.
I'm sure it's rage-bait, which is scummy on its own, but the fact people genuinely admit to mostly skimming books appalls me. It's a book. It's supposed to have words. Like you talked about, there are alternatives for people who might struggle with smaller font (or even specific font types). I think people who skim don't do it because page count or don't size; they're just trying to be apart of a trend without having to do anything. I've seen this with people who "review" books and all they do in their review is rehash the blurb on the back without giving their own personal thoughts. Red flag they never even touched the book. I don't think there's a decline. Booktok just brought out a bunch of people who wanted to hop on a hype train and now they're showing their real intentions, it looks like less -- but it's not. We're just weeding out the people who never were big on reading books but attempted to act like they were.
well I can understand the rant about tiny and many words on a site because some are just typeset awfully D: most extreme case was 1/4 inch margins with 7pt font. It ... worked (actually quiet impressive how well) But complaining about many words? I'd just complain about it because it makes books heavy and hard to read on a train with no space to sit XD I took a lot of time to read a 300 page book that was harder to read, but SoC? Mine had about 550 pages and I flew through it! It's not about the size XD
I'm an author and a reader aaans I totaly get the skip a chapter part. I've done so on multiple occasions. Reason? If I don't care for a character or a plotline at all why read it? I did it reading Lord of thr Rings and Wheel of Time for example. Both authors are great. But Tolkien is an overdescriber and I was bored by the nothing that happend and Jordan had to many characters I just didn't care for. My point people are allowed to not enjoy something. In this day and age a wall of text is overwhelming.
@mercycunningham2813 I read Lord of The Rings, and I agree that there are long passages of description that I personally enjoyed. It's his style. But I understand that for some people it can be too much and once you get used to his writing you can see them coming and skip accordingly. It's the reader's choice. But that's talking about classic dense books. I don't see it happen as much with modern fantasy. And I am 100% with you if they don't enjoy it then pick up another book it's totally fine.
Totally get you. As ilustrator for young people I do much as possible to fall of the story I work for. My job is to help the writter in case if people can't read or not want... So with ilustration you also can get the point what's the story is about. There isn't right or wrong way how you read
That second one is just ridiculous. All these guys just didn't like the book at all and 'read' it to say they did because it's popular. I'm sure no skimming or whatever would happen if they were reading something they liked. Also it sounded like some of them are used to reading only comics 😂 (and I love manga, no shade here)
You’re ranting about people who took up reading just because it’s a new popular trend, it’s not the people who loved it back in the day, and I’m sure the books they are reading can be easily understood even if you skip paragraphs , skim read or whatever. So I wouldn’t take it that seriously and wouldn’t be talking about “the decline”. They have always been kids who were forced to read at school and skipped passages , now they are adults and do it for clout. There are others who find it enjoyable , though
@Алена-д5ж7ю What worries me is not their personal choices, it's when you go on a platform with a lot of people who look up to you and spread this. In that case, a movie would be a better choice, I think.
I’ve only seen one person with this perspective of skimming a book to review it. Is it really worth freaking out about? Why not just laugh at this person and their lack of integrity? I understand the points made, but one person hardly feels like an epidemic.
There are others too, not only the ones mentioned in this video. Plus, if you count all the people commenting, agreeing to this, I believe it's enough to talk about. And, as you can see in the video, I laughed because it's laughable, but also, it's something worth mentioning and commenting on, in my opinion 😊
They belong to the most popular booktokers and they have huge following and comment number that agree with them. Which is fine but when we look at the point of anti intellectualism and decline in attention span it makes sense and we are allowed to feel sad about it. Because it effects us all in the end look at the president of america right now, it affects the whole world now. The reason he won is anti intellectualism and failed education system of the majority of the voters
Also lets not forget they are adults and they review ya books or easily written published wattpad books, its not tolstoy. We are not demanding a thesis or wanting to laught at them. But they influence so many teens
Don't. Reading is basic we learn between 5 to 7... Let's say should be common thing people do. Judge people because they don't read certain things isn't necessary think we should do.
@@CoffeeAndTalesdidn't say you judging. I thought about all of us. This particular TikTok post you spoak about got already to much attention around the internet... And as they say "bad market is better then no marketing". We failing constantly about this, and this is the problem. ❤
this is truly beyond my comprehension. how can you even enjoy "reading" doing it like this? it seems so pointless and a waste of time. do these people feel like they’re being timed or something and have to rush through books by taking in the least amount of content possible? it's just not something i can even fathom. obviously some of it is rage bait/for engagement (also dumb) but when people are being truthful i just.. i like, don't get it. books are to enjoy, how is it even enjoyable if you're taking so little of the book in and going out of your way to skip so much? and it takes away SO much from the hard working creators who are actually putting the time, effort, and energy in to read books and create proper reviews for them. it totally negates that. god I feel like i'm going to have trust issues now when i watch creators i'm not familiar with lol anyway, speaking of six of crows, i've been putting it off because i haven't read shadow & bone. but every time you speak about it, i'm like wow i really need to get to that book! great content and discussion !!
Thank you so much for your input💜. 100% agree, and I also feel like I am going to develop trust issues... No wonder people read 20+ books each month (no shade to the ones who can actually read that fast). About Six of Crows, I read it without reading Shadow and Bone and understood everything that happened in the story and the magic system, so don't feel like you have to read Shadow and Bone first 😉
The "too many words on a page" gal, is an influencer type reviewer. Don't get me wrong, I actually like her "real" reviews and find her funnier than heck, but she drops more F bombs than a sailor!! Reminds me a little of my mother, which is probably why I like her. But I do think she did that video entirely for clicks! But overall she's a fun person to watch.
Yeah, people would pretty much do anything for views nowadays. I am not hating, ☺️I am commenting on what i saw and just trying to spread awareness. It's fine to watch knowing that this is not how we judge books, but for people who are just getting back into reading, this is not the best message out there.
@@CoffeeAndTales Oh please don't think I thought you were being nasty at all ... I clicked on this because I know you are one of the sweetest people on the internet LOL And I do agree that it isn't the best way to "critique" and a bit jarring for perhaps the new reader. I thought you approached your feelings on it well!! 🥰
I like the points made in this video but I also ask myself whats the purpose...at the end of the day a person is to decide if it wants to read a book or a comic or a manga or news papers or nothing at all. Are we humans as individuum, excuse my expresion, so dumm that a stanger is going to tell us if the book is good, bad or HAS TO MANY WORD?🤨 Or having an opinion based on own experience, aka read the book youself, is too difficul nowdays? You mentioned someone thinking bassed on THOSE videos the book IS TO DIFFICULT because it has "to many word" or "to little dialogs" and be discoraged to even try...Is it maybe because booktuber with 10 K followers is seen as expert because why else do they have people watching, they must know something...😮💨 ....While The Goblin Emperor is perfection and years ago it took me a week to read LotR trilogy... I just read a romantasy up to 23% and than skimmed the hell out of it because I wanted to see if I was right: generic plot, lots and lots of tropes, scenes that are lazy writting or there to make book 20-160 pages longer....I will still review that book will full discloser about skimming...I am angry I didn't just hard DNFed it as skimming was wast of my time.... Yes I go trought all kind of phases.
@miyayume_eclectic_dream hahaha you made me laugh so hard with your last comment 🤣 I've also read J. R. R. Tolkien and I know how heavy the descriptions can be. And I also think once you've made up your mind that a book is probabgoing to be a dnf for you, you can go through it quickly since you have already made up your mind.
Even if this is just rage bait, a lot of the comments are agreeing with her about how they dont actually really read books and skim and skip and only read dialogue, and thats devastating. Even if this video is rage bait I do believe that it is highlighting a much larger problem now with attention span and social media and instant gratification. It's saddening to see all of these people freely admitting and joking about not even reading these books. It's really unfortunate.
Exactly! 🤦♀️
I just read a non-fiction book about a pulp writer of westerns in the 1920s who discovered one of his readers did exactly the same thing. He read it, but he didn't know what he was reading. He was just going through the motion. So this has always happened. We're just find out how common it is now due to social media.
That was a rage bait! She wants to drive up her revenue in comments! That’s what’s easy. You love books. You love talking about books. She wanted chaos.
Ohhhhh!! The lenghts people will go to go viral... so sad honestly...
i mean even if her post was rage bait , her comments were filled with people who admit they don't read the books they're reading so ...
Even if it is rage bait, there are so many people who do actually do these things, as evidenced by her comments on the video, so I still think we need to talk about it :)
I’ve watched enough of that creator’s content and book reviews, and I honestly don’t think it was rage bait…. It tracks with a number of “critiques” she’s given books before.
Creators like this are why people are looking down on Book accounts now, because they think we are all “playing” at being readers. It makes me so sad that it is basically being used as another string to influencers bows because it’s popular to be a reader at the moment. I can only hope these types of creators move on to the next popular thing soon. What really irks me is these people will also be rating on amazon etc and hurting the authors ratings and they hardly even read the book! I could go on 😂 this is why I’m not on TikTok. Great video 💕
@@Booksandmoe Exactly! 🤦♀️
Booksandmoe.... you are absolutely right. For those of us who WANT to build relationships with book influencers, we are highly reluctant to work with any booktoker because yeah.... the ones who say, "I've read 300 books this year" ... and it's december 2nd btw....tells us writers, you didn't read shit, except maybe the back blurb, the first page, a middle page, and the last page.... then just regurgitated the back blurb for your review. This is why booktokers and many book influencers are not trusted by writers. Period. Speaking from experience.
@ladyjatheist2763 This is so sad to hear, but I completely understand... As I said in the video, it's not fair to the writer, the book, and not fair to the readers as well 😕
I'm a horror reader and if there's a scene that's too intense even for me i might skim it a little- but to skip a WHOLE chapter!??? Huh??? What???
@@Rozilla I can understand when it comes to gory scenes, I personally avoid horror because of that 🙈
@Rozilla recommend me the scariest book you have read in your life. I need some kick in my life😅
I feel like we are raising a generation of lazy kids, honestly. This is an effect of instant gratification. They want someone else to do the work for them so they don’t have to discipline themselves to take the time and do the work it takes to comprehend and understand a story. It makes me sad. I’m so thankful my two kids love to read and take hours to sit and read their books without other distractions.
Skimming and skipping long chapters/paragraphs, only reading dialogue lol 😂 How do these people have any followers in the book community? I confess, for full transparency, that I skip spicy scenes. I don’t skip the entire chapter, just the acts. These explicit acts/ scenes don’t add to the story overall, in my humble opinion. 16:23
@Vicky-xz1nu Completely understand when you don't enjoy spice but are intrigued by the synopsis, you can totally read the book anyway and understand everything no problem
I can agree with this. I read it when I was 13. The one scene (iykyk) in the book that is controversial, was blocked by my mom. I didn't read that chapter for at least another year or so. No book was harmed. Lol
I think part of the problem is that in today's social media system, engagement is engagement, regardless if it's positive or negative. And some people are using that fact to make content that they know will get people to engage because what they say is so wild. I think this is also part of how we also now have so many influential people who are just "trolls" because we have allowed them to become big by negative engagement.
I think we should start ignoring these people completely. If they are putting out content consistently to rile people up, you're not hooking me in, not interested.
True and well said 👏
When I start skimming stuff, it's a sign that I don't enjoy the book and I will abandon it shortly after that, without ever finishing it. I don't get how you can "read" a book and skim or skip whole paragraphs. You'll miss so much, not just the words themselves, but also that feeling of immersion.
Exactly 👏
Sometime i get excited when reading and cant help but skip a paragraph bit tuen i force myself to go back and read both. Often multipul times jus5 to make sure i understood everything
I feel like people that make these comments are only reading bc it’s something that is suddenly cool or trendy. 😬😬
@kindleafterdark Sadly, in a lot of cases, yes...
Yeah I’ve been reading since I was 14 (now 30) and I remember old booktube days and when it was a very small community. I enjoyed that books became popular but now .. I kinda hate it because most of the time it feels like a trend and fake sadly
The only thing that I can agree on with that TikToker is that in some books, it really does feel likes the words are so small. Like they (publishers likely) wanted to cram in as much as they could to cut corners on page count. I have books printed in the 80s/90s and when I go to compare them with modern books, I definitely notice a production difference.
However her complaint about the *amount* of words?! She's on her own idk, she clearly never built her reading stamina and jumped right in to a book larger than her attention span could handle. Or she's only hopping on a trend and not reading a book that has truly captured her or fits her reading style.
edit: You made those points too oh my god, I gotta learn to slow down too I'm a hypocrite
@flaamingeaux 😁 love that we thought of the same thing!
Great discussion! I’m just as passionate about this subject as you are! I have a friend that skim reads if she’s not enjoying the book… and I’m like HOW?!?!?! 🤷🏻♀️ I’m definitely reading the story from cover to cover!!!! 😍
@ChrislynReadsWithPugs Absolutely! And if I am not enjoying it, there are 2 options: i either continue to give my review and explain why i didn't like it. Or i dnf and also explain why. But either way i am reading it 🥸
The only time i felt tempted to skip a whole chapter (and i don't even skip a paragraph) was The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. He has a whole chapter dedicated to where everything is in Paris at the time. Is like GPS but in written form. The whole chapter. It was so boring and gave me nothing for the story. But i still read it and took me forever.
Same for me, not Hunch back but Les Mis. There is a whole 50 or so pages just about the battle of Waterloo all to find out Thenardier is an ass… which you already know by that time… not to mention the dreaded Paris sewer system chapter (which I haven’t gotten to yet). And no matter how many times I wanted to skip it, but I didn’t… I read it and finished that part and got a mini endorphins boost after!
I don’t watch TikTok and I’m not on instagram as much so I had no idea! Wow, I definitely agree with all the points you touched! It’s unbelievable that so many people are skimming or reading just the dialogue, especially if they’re content creators! I totally agree that it’s impossible to truly enjoy a story without all the information in between the dialogue. That’s where we we can see the plot develop, characters portray their inner feeling and thoughts, we discover plot twists, we’re immersed in the beautiful settings, it can set the tone for the book such as being whimsical, and so much more. I agree that it’s pretty concerning if that’s the growing mindset because it seems like people are just reading because it’s trendy and not because they true love it or are immersed in the story. If I just preferred dialogue, I would choose to just watch a movie or show instead. That’s the whole reason why I love reading books, because there’s no experience that can compare with being fully immersed into a different world and becoming attached to certain stories, characters, or settings! I can understand if someone prefers bigger fonts, but it’s unbelievable to expect there not to be words on the page when reading a book! I can understand if she were holding a graphic novel, or manga since they contain less words. But it’s unbelievable to expect a traditional novel to not be full of words! To me, that’s like expecting night time to be full of daylight or vice versa. 😢
@@daisyl8 well said and wholeheartedly agree 💕
If I’m very disappointed with the book and it’s really boring I can skip whole chapters (usually reading beginning and ending of the chapter) if I’m still curious about ending of this book. I do not take this book seriously obviously anymore
@mariiakonoreva9752 yeah totally understand in this case and that should be mentioned in the review too 😊
So I agree with a lot of your points. There are some booktokers that are here because it's trendy, and they'll eventually move on to the next thing. Big fonts are also really helpful! I like using my phone as a kindle for larger books because I can also use the opendyslexic font, and change the background color as needed for my eyes. :)
However, there's a couple of points you made that didn't hit quite right for me.
RE: you have to finish the whole book to be able to review it. I disagree with this completely. There are plenty of valid reasons to DNF a book, and posting those reviews can be helpful to others. For example, I recently saw a tik tok about someone DNFing the Nightmare Before Kissmass, because they did not feel like the summary & pitch properly represented the content of the book. They explained why, and it actually made me MORE inclined to read the book, because the content they disliked, was interesting to me. I think DNF conversations are important to the book community, and we should have more of them.
RE: Skimming books. I agree that the skimming that was being described wasn't super helpful for reviewing purposes. However, sometimes, it's necessary to finish a book. Example: I recently finished a book that I did not enjoy. The premise was interesting, and there were scenes that showed potential. But in between the scenes was a mess. I was stuck reading the same paragraphs over and over trying to find the actual connective tissue between those scenes. There were plot developments that literally came out of nowhere, with no actual buildup. About halfway through, I got to the point that I just wanted to finish the book and move on. In order to do that, I had to skim through some of the connecting scenes, because they weren't making sense when I read them anyways. I still feel like I read the book. I may not have fully understood what the author intended, but I don't know that what they intended was conveyed in a way that I -could- understand.
@kaylaboss8096 100% agree about the DNF if people explain why. Skimming in the case you described is fine, because as you said it felt like reading the same paragraphs, they were only there to fill the gaps.
😂😂😂 That's so weird, she came up on my algorithm for a normal wrap up before I ever found out about the drama. She seemed fine, if not as discerning and logical as other booktubers. And she actually alluded to the drama, it seems she got a lot of hell for it. I'll go ahead and assume she meant formatting too, but what a reason to dislike a BOOK 😐
I think as some people mentioned in the comments, maybe she did for the views and to get more engagement from viewers on her channel. And that's even more worrying because what that means is that this person would do anything for views, so I can't trust anything they say.
I genuinely hope that it is a real minority that feels like books have to many words, that they won't read long descriptions or plot building. I fear that it will cause a wider spread problem of author's not writing the epic stories as often, or even at all in the future. One thing I adore about reading is that (no matter the genre), you are getting a snapshot of what the world looks like at the time it was written. You are getting knowledge of how people spoke, how people acted in social situations, the struggles that people were fighting against and also the really amazing things that happened during each of those times. We risk losing that knowledge because today's people don't want to take the time to read/understand it. We would also be in danger of losing the immersive nature of a story. I love getting lost in the world the author created and the only way to do that is with those words, those long paragraphs, the non-dialogue situations. Dialogue does not hold worth if you don't understand why they are saying it. You need their history, their situation, their world described for it to hold weight. It's just a sad trend for me to witness. I've been reading novels since I was 4 years old and I don't want to lose the magic of reading because a minority of readers don't actually like reading.
You go glen coco!! I totally agree. And it also kind of makes other readers feel like crap if they read slower than everyone else, but in reality, these book tokkers are skipping entire paragraphs and that’s why they read like 20 books a month lol 😂
@ReadWithChelseyXO Omg!! Totally forgot to mention this! Hahaha thank you so much for leaving this comment! 🫶
The thing is, for a lot of booktokers/tubers nowadays it's another trend rather than real love for reading.
They don't really care, all they want is to brag about the beauty of the covers on their shelves.
It's purely superficial. Once you get that you also get why so many books are overrated on dedicated sites.
The "book lovers" are just fangirls of the books' covers.
It's basically their new Chanel bags... They probbaly like the fact that making reviews of books makes them look smarter than they actually are. But if you really listen to what they have to say about the books you realize that they don't say much actually.
@@piropiro1882 100% agree!
Thank you for speaking about this..I have seen the 1st clip in full, and I follow her, as she is entertaining, but all of the books she hates are books that I personally love & adore
and when she posted this video, it aggravated me so so much. For me personally, a book is an instant DNF if I start skimming it.
@DhanakNMalik Absolutely! Like why are you wasting your time on a book that you're not enjoying?!😮💨
@CoffeeAndTales If I don't feel curious and I don't care about what happens to the plot for characters, then I question myself: Is it worth reading.
The fact that these people call themselves influencers and read book this way makes me inwardly cringe.. what are you trying to portray? An influencer is supposed to make you want to read more and love it more, not hop around the book with lengthy Paragraphs or "too many words". It is called a book for a reason in case they don't know
2ndly this year I discovered Audiobooks and my world is changed
you are right try different formats if it feels jarring.
@DhanakNMalik I am a huge audiobook consumer too!! I love them! 💗
Thanks for sharing this video. Not enough info out there explaining click bait and the agenda behind influencers videos.
It's absolutely mind-boggling how people would post anything to get more views without taking a minute to consider the repercussions...
Even screenplays and play scripts have more than just dialogue.
@@WilliamsLibrary Right?!! It's so disappointing and sad to see this kind of mentality, and to top it all off, they're spreading it 🤦♀️
I didn’t know anything about this, but when I watched the clip you showed it seems to me she’s complaining about the small print and little spacing which creates a lot of words per page and makes it difficult to read and enjoy the content. 1:27
@Vicky-xz1nu That's why I said I am giving her the benefit of the doubt. But she has another video saying: "why the f*** everything i read is a flash back, i don't give a f*** about your previous life, i want to read action action action, i don't care what you did as a child"....And for me this is alarming...
@@CoffeeAndTalesoh goodness yes. She’s definitely not a true reader.
Attention seeking. Let's just ignore these people.
the first girls video always takes me out 🤣🤣 wdym too many words 😭. but imo if you’re skimming a bunch and have the urge to skip paragraphs, you might not like the book. maybe choose another????
Exactly! 🙌
I kinda hope the virality of that video made more people aware of Six of Crows and gained it more readers, that would be the only silver lining for that rage bait.
@justwonder1404 Yessss omg this!!👏 I hope so too 🙏😃
Interesting and important discussion! Those were astonishing clips!
My mind was blown!😮💨
Thankfully this was the first time I've seen this one.... Sadly.... now... I've seen this video😓 ...I agree I also like the BIG FONTS!! Everything after... Ugh...I mean I can kinda understand if she was like intimidated by the size of the book? Like the Empire of The Vampire series whew lots of pages for those books I could sorta of understand she being like oh this book is really big it's definitely gonna be a committent or w/e but (LOL I was typing this comment as a I was watching the first part of your video and it seems our minds went to the same book haha kinda funny) .... ugh... I agree I love Six of Crows! I feel like it's also a really bad example for her to use because it's such an easy read? (maybe I'm bias👀)... It has to be rage-baiting no? Like for people to comment on her video and stitch her video to comment for attention/view... Are these the people that say listening to audio books is not reading? Skipping paragraphs are you serious? What's the point then? I guess they'll reach their 500 book goal on goodreads easily.
@Muxl LOVE that you also thought of Empire of The Vampire 😂!! Maybe it's rage-baiting, but then I am affraid that people who are new to this community would miss out on phenomenal reads just because of the formatting or word count. Don't get me started on skipping paragraphs and reading only dialogue...🤦♀️
I agree with what you said. Thank you for making a video on this topic. 📚📖
You're so welcome! I truly appreciate your continuous support💕 Thank you 🤗
I've seen a few videos on this and other really questionable takes from TT - it really shows and supports the claim of anti intellectualism growing. These people don't seem to want to actually read, they like action action action and a lot of dialogue, so basically a movie on paper. They may as well just watch a movie or show. And I personally see nothing wrong with low brain power books, I read them too and I pretty much every genre and different levels of writing style (hope this makes sense, English is not my first language). But seeing people not want to actually read a story and be uninterested in a character's back story, character arc, political ties, world building etc. is wild and also makes me worried for people's ability to feel empathy and to think critically. Fiction especially is supposed to let a reader be in a character's pov, feel empathy and depending on the book sort of grow and learn with them. Reading is supposed to be fun yes, but also challenge people's way of thinking and make them try to look beyond the words, simply engage with the work of fiction they're reading (which also obviously depends on the book/genre).
Wholeheartedly agree! And well said! 🙏
Someone recommend me the scariest book available. I need some kick in my life 😅 it's too dull right now.
Sorry can't help you there, I don't read a lot of horror 🙈
@@CoffeeAndTales it's alright 😊
this is beyond crazy and kinda sad as a true book lover i honestly dislike books that don't go into detail and don't give me some kind of story building and slow pacing. They are just not real readers to me.
@@witchitaevergreen8876 it's very unfortunate 😔
Even I can undestand maybe if she said "It's not my type of book because I prefer books written in third-person" because that's happends to me a lot and I think six of croows is first person. But just something to a real critique.
@Space.Panda1805 yup, totally agree. (Six of Crows is written in 3rd person btw 😁)
@@CoffeeAndTales OHHHH, I was skipping Six of Crows because I thought it was written in first person like the 99% of book YA nowadays. It's gonna be NEXT BOOK thanks to you ❤❤❤
Sometimes I don't mind reading first person, like two books a month, but if every book is first person like I see in every book, I'm sooooo tired of it.
@Space.Panda1805 I don't mind it personally depending on the writing but I get it because it's a personal preference. You should totally give a try, it's phenomenal 👏 😍
I read mostly fantasy these days because life is so difficult, and the joy of reading for me is submerging myself in a different world. I can't do that with only dialogue. Yes, it's instrumental to the story of course--but the things these people ignore or find boring are in fact, more important and fundamental. Skipping it feels disrespectful to the author who put time into crafting every element of their story. These 'readers' are not getting the characters or situations or world at the best it can be. There are layers to storytelling, and a lot of it is done in the background with descriptions and prose. In those little nuanced things...that's when an author can really shine and show you who they are.
Well said, and I 100% agree 🙌
if she thinks six of crows has a ton of words, just wait til she starts Rebecca or the ship of magic series by robin hobb
I'm sure it's rage-bait, which is scummy on its own, but the fact people genuinely admit to mostly skimming books appalls me. It's a book. It's supposed to have words. Like you talked about, there are alternatives for people who might struggle with smaller font (or even specific font types).
I think people who skim don't do it because page count or don't size; they're just trying to be apart of a trend without having to do anything. I've seen this with people who "review" books and all they do in their review is rehash the blurb on the back without giving their own personal thoughts. Red flag they never even touched the book.
I don't think there's a decline. Booktok just brought out a bunch of people who wanted to hop on a hype train and now they're showing their real intentions, it looks like less -- but it's not. We're just weeding out the people who never were big on reading books but attempted to act like they were.
I'm glad I don't use TikTok. Don't think it is the format for me and seems to be lazy somehow. I prefer UA-cam anytime.
Agree!
Honestly the formatting of that book is really bad so I agree with her on that point
well I can understand the rant about tiny and many words on a site because some are just typeset awfully D: most extreme case was 1/4 inch margins with 7pt font. It ... worked (actually quiet impressive how well)
But complaining about many words? I'd just complain about it because it makes books heavy and hard to read on a train with no space to sit XD I took a lot of time to read a 300 page book that was harder to read, but SoC? Mine had about 550 pages and I flew through it! It's not about the size XD
@@lennoxwilliamsart7387 Right??! 500 pages with good writing and a heist plot! Candy for my brain🍬
I'm an author and a reader aaans I totaly get the skip a chapter part. I've done so on multiple occasions. Reason? If I don't care for a character or a plotline at all why read it?
I did it reading Lord of thr Rings and Wheel of Time for example. Both authors are great. But Tolkien is an overdescriber and I was bored by the nothing that happend and Jordan had to many characters I just didn't care for.
My point people are allowed to not enjoy something.
In this day and age a wall of text is overwhelming.
@mercycunningham2813 I read Lord of The Rings, and I agree that there are long passages of description that I personally enjoyed. It's his style. But I understand that for some people it can be too much and once you get used to his writing you can see them coming and skip accordingly. It's the reader's choice. But that's talking about classic dense books. I don't see it happen as much with modern fantasy. And I am 100% with you if they don't enjoy it then pick up another book it's totally fine.
Totally get you. As ilustrator for young people I do much as possible to fall of the story I work for. My job is to help the writter in case if people can't read or not want... So with ilustration you also can get the point what's the story is about.
There isn't right or wrong way how you read
I definitely agree about ereaders and audible!!!
@@Vicky-xz1nu I can't imagine my life without them 😍
@ definitely! Me either!!
Also, she chose a well loved book on purpose!
Yeah!! I was SHOCKED to say the least!
That second one is just ridiculous. All these guys just didn't like the book at all and 'read' it to say they did because it's popular. I'm sure no skimming or whatever would happen if they were reading something they liked. Also it sounded like some of them are used to reading only comics 😂 (and I love manga, no shade here)
@daad8264 I love manga and graphic novels too!! , i pick up a book because of the hype, i would read every single word to see if it's worth it 😅
Seems like these people should just read the summary and they are good to go :D
@@MsSonorus hahah😄 Absolutely! Or watch a movie...
You’re ranting about people who took up reading just because it’s a new popular trend, it’s not the people who loved it back in the day, and I’m sure the books they are reading can be easily understood even if you skip paragraphs , skim read or whatever. So I wouldn’t take it that seriously and wouldn’t be talking about “the decline”. They have always been kids who were forced to read at school and skipped passages , now they are adults and do it for clout. There are others who find it enjoyable , though
@Алена-д5ж7ю What worries me is not their personal choices, it's when you go on a platform with a lot of people who look up to you and spread this. In that case, a movie would be a better choice, I think.
Even if you don't read you know books are filled with words 😂😂😂
@aleksandra1650 Right?!! Hahahah 😅 mind-blowing! LOL
I’ve only seen one person with this perspective of skimming a book to review it. Is it really worth freaking out about? Why not just laugh at this person and their lack of integrity? I understand the points made, but one person hardly feels like an epidemic.
There are others too, not only the ones mentioned in this video. Plus, if you count all the people commenting, agreeing to this, I believe it's enough to talk about. And, as you can see in the video, I laughed because it's laughable, but also, it's something worth mentioning and commenting on, in my opinion 😊
They belong to the most popular booktokers and they have huge following and comment number that agree with them. Which is fine but when we look at the point of anti intellectualism and decline in attention span it makes sense and we are allowed to feel sad about it. Because it effects us all in the end look at the president of america right now, it affects the whole world now. The reason he won is anti intellectualism and failed education system of the majority of the voters
Also lets not forget they are adults and they review ya books or easily written published wattpad books, its not tolstoy. We are not demanding a thesis or wanting to laught at them. But they influence so many teens
Don't. Reading is basic we learn between 5 to 7... Let's say should be common thing people do.
Judge people because they don't read certain things isn't necessary think we should do.
I am not judging, I am commenting on things they're saying and spreading.
@@CoffeeAndTalesdidn't say you judging. I thought about all of us.
This particular TikTok post you spoak about got already to much attention around the internet... And as they say "bad market is better then no marketing".
We failing constantly about this, and this is the problem.
❤
@katkatykatrin1018 yes, I see what you mean and agree. At the same time, if no one speaks up. Then people would think that this is normal. 💕
@@CoffeeAndTalestrue. Internet is strange place to be.
But also amazing with creators like you are🤗😘
@katkatykatrin1018 Thank you so much for your kind words 🤗 I truly appreciate it 💗
this is truly beyond my comprehension. how can you even enjoy "reading" doing it like this? it seems so pointless and a waste of time. do these people feel like they’re being timed or something and have to rush through books by taking in the least amount of content possible? it's just not something i can even fathom. obviously some of it is rage bait/for engagement (also dumb) but when people are being truthful i just.. i like, don't get it. books are to enjoy, how is it even enjoyable if you're taking so little of the book in and going out of your way to skip so much? and it takes away SO much from the hard working creators who are actually putting the time, effort, and energy in to read books and create proper reviews for them. it totally negates that. god I feel like i'm going to have trust issues now when i watch creators i'm not familiar with lol
anyway, speaking of six of crows, i've been putting it off because i haven't read shadow & bone. but every time you speak about it, i'm like wow i really need to get to that book!
great content and discussion !!
Thank you so much for your input💜. 100% agree, and I also feel like I am going to develop trust issues... No wonder people read 20+ books each month (no shade to the ones who can actually read that fast). About Six of Crows, I read it without reading Shadow and Bone and understood everything that happened in the story and the magic system, so don't feel like you have to read Shadow and Bone first 😉
The "too many words on a page" gal, is an influencer type reviewer. Don't get me wrong, I actually like her "real" reviews and find her funnier than heck, but she drops more F bombs than a sailor!! Reminds me a little of my mother, which is probably why I like her. But I do think she did that video entirely for clicks! But overall she's a fun person to watch.
Yeah, people would pretty much do anything for views nowadays. I am not hating, ☺️I am commenting on what i saw and just trying to spread awareness. It's fine to watch knowing that this is not how we judge books, but for people who are just getting back into reading, this is not the best message out there.
@@CoffeeAndTales Oh please don't think I thought you were being nasty at all ... I clicked on this because I know you are one of the sweetest people on the internet LOL And I do agree that it isn't the best way to "critique" and a bit jarring for perhaps the new reader. I thought you approached your feelings on it well!! 🥰
@coffee_cookies_books Ohh no I didn't think that at all 😅. Thank you so much for your kind words, it truly means a lot to me 🥹🥰
I like the points made in this video but I also ask myself whats the purpose...at the end of the day a person is to decide if it wants to read a book or a comic or a manga or news papers or nothing at all.
Are we humans as individuum, excuse my expresion, so dumm that a stanger is going to tell us if the book is good, bad or HAS TO MANY WORD?🤨
Or having an opinion based on own experience, aka read the book youself, is too difficul nowdays?
You mentioned someone thinking bassed on THOSE videos the book IS TO DIFFICULT because it has "to many word" or "to little dialogs" and be discoraged to even try...Is it maybe because booktuber with 10 K followers is seen as expert because why else do they have people watching, they must know something...😮💨
....While The Goblin Emperor is perfection and years ago it took me a week to read LotR trilogy... I just read a romantasy up to 23% and than skimmed the hell out of it because I wanted to see if I was right: generic plot, lots and lots of tropes, scenes that are lazy writting or there to make book 20-160 pages longer....I will still review that book will full discloser about skimming...I am angry I didn't just hard DNFed it as skimming was wast of my time....
Yes I go trought all kind of phases.
@miyayume_eclectic_dream hahaha you made me laugh so hard with your last comment 🤣 I've also read J. R. R. Tolkien and I know how heavy the descriptions can be. And I also think once you've made up your mind that a book is probabgoing to be a dnf for you, you can go through it quickly since you have already made up your mind.