According to market researcher Circana, Romantasy is now one of the fastest-growing genres, increasing by 42% from 2022 to 2023. Not only that, it absolutely dominates TikTok with it being a massive focus of the largest community on the platform, with over 243bn views under #booktok. In fact, Lovehoney has reported that searches for 'smut books' have increased by a whopping 78% in the past year alone. 

The future we imagine is getting bleaker by the second. Especially the looming threat of climate change offers a menacing backdrop for dreams of a world filled with even more gadgets and consumerism. Can speculative fiction help us here? Enter our possible hero: Cli-fi, or climate fiction. Books, film and media where climate and the effects of climate change form the plot, background or conflict we’re presented with.

When looking for an answer, and the answer is that there is no right one, it either results in reassurance or complete over-thinking. How To Be Everything frequently made the point that you don’t have to pick one thing. And yet, here I was trying to pick to be one thing – to be a multipotentialite – even if that one thing meant that I could be lots of different things.

Perhaps the most common response I get when I tell people what my degree is revolves around how I must really enjoy reading. A dual degree in English Literature and History is extremely heavy on reading … This being said, I have seriously struggled to read for my own enjoyment for the last four years.

Jorge Luis Borges, the celebrated writer, poet, and essayist (also one of the literature’s most influential non-Nobel-Prize-winners), had a whimsical take on young poets. The anecdote goes that during a meeting of the Argentine Society of Writers, the topic of up-and-coming talent came up. ‘What can we do for young poets?’ he was asked. ‘We can dissuade them,’ Borges replied.

Reading Cleopatra and Frankenstein made me question whether it is more cathartic or more harmful to read about your exact experience, but depicted by characters more colourful and winning than those that populate your own universe. If what happened to me was worthy of a fictional novel, had all my decisions been ridiculous?

Do you mostly read books from similar genres? If so, you’re not alone. Most of us prefer what we know we’ll enjoy and are reluctant to foray into unknown territory. But are you in control of that decision? Parallel to our personal preferences, there’s often a much darker companion lurking in the shadows.

I think you can read festive books outside the festive period because there is never a specific time that you should read certain books. If you want to read a certain book, just read it, (no one judged you when you were reading 50 Shades of Grey on the tube, so no one is judging you for reading a Christmassy book on a 50,000-degree Central Line in the middle of July)!

Interest in Greek mythology has seen a huge rise in popularity in recent years. Podcasts such as Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! and Ancient History Fangirl have been leading the way, along with an ever-growing number of novels offering a new interpretation of these classic stories.

Many bookstores, both physical and online, now have BookTok sections and covers marked “TikTok made me buy it”. Readers from all around the world are picking their next reads from BookTok reviews, but should you?