Entertainment Forum General Chat Thread • Page 192

The BookTok-ification of literature has seriously damaged my faith in humanity and my own motivation to write the books I want to write. But we must press on.

 

It it because the videos themselves are depressing or companies are making it harder to get published?

 

I don’t watch the videos but really it’s just the cultural shift toward viewing books as mild, brain-off entertainment. It’s very demoralizing as a literary writer

 

I think people reading anything is better than people not reading at all.

 

Why is that the choice?

 

It’s not the only choice but if someone only wants to read “mild brain off entertainment” I think that’s better than them not reading at all. I don’t know how to make that any clearer.

 

For a sheer exercising the literacy muscle I suppose but…I don’t know about much else

 

I don’t want to sound pompous so I’ll just be quiet. This shit hits close to home for me and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

 

I feel like literature has always been populist, Tom Clancy and John Grisham are household names for a reason, but I do think it's important to engage with art because you want to not because it's on a list

 

I don't think Clancy or Grisham are literature. Literature is not primarily entertainment

 

I have no data on any of this, but I wouldn't assume less people reading literary fiction because more people are reading trash,
I would also speculate that the literary readers are less likely to be on tictoc. Im not, your not.

(im using trash in the disposable sense not trying to morally judge people in this post)

 

Its important my coworkers are forced to watch the Godfather so I can get more laugh emotes in the chat for the memes I make on company time

 

There’s a ton of literary readers on tiktok

 

I’d say reading the tiktok books or any sort of pulpy trash literature is good to flex the literacy muscle and also to gain reading stamina to then tackle more challenging things. But I don’t know if there is a tangible benefit to only reading that stuff outside of spending your time in a book rather than on twitter or on a pop punk forum

 

As an English teacher I will say that there is a gigantic gap in literacy levels and achievement in kids who read for leisure, regardless of the kind of book, and kids who don’t.

 

ok then whats the prob?

Jon fix your algo

 

dont like how this makes Grimace look smart and correct

 

That’s base level literacy, adults should have that already. The tiktok books are not doing anything beneficial

 

It isn't about reading trash like The Hunger Games for fun, it's thinking it is the greatest book of all time.

 

I required a lexile of 1100 for their independent reading and they acted like I was assigning Tolstoy.

 

That too

 

I am making my horror class read 50 pages of Clown in a Cornfield outside of class and I am positive 90% will not/can not

 

I teach seniors and I am at an A school and I am confident about 75 percent of my students lack basic reading comprehension skills. We did Frankenstein and I would ask a question every few paragraphs and they couldn't answer some of the most basic plot points. They would stare at me until I moved to the next student.

 

no one on this is site arguing that the hunger games is the greatest book of all time of defending the people that think that

 

"Kids these days" has been a theme among old people for a long time but it was not really true because each generation was showing objective gains in math and reading skills but now you are seeing those scores flatline and even drop despite all of the technological advancements. Taste in art is always a part of that. It does not mean you are stupid if you watch blockbuster movies or read trash novels, but you are not going to find many stupid people watching art films or reading complex literature.