booktok is the next fast fashion? overconsumption, hauls & being a “legitimate” reader 

3 of my favorite bookTubers don’t have physical books. One lives in Korea and doesn’t have the room, she just gets them from Kindle, one always reads library books because her mom is a librarian and the other does buy books sometimes, but mostly reads audiobooks. So all this to say as a reader and consumer of book tube I don’t care if they have a full library or not, I’m just here for the review. I will say, it does bother me to see a huge book haul video only to see them unhaul the book in a few months, but that’s just me 🤷🏻‍♀️

To answer why people are so drawn to book hauls: Me personally, I don’t live in a country where imported/foreign books are accessible; they are too expensive. That’s why when I watch these hauls it’s sort of cathartic, like if I don’t have the luxury to spend all this money on tons of books, at least I can watch someone else do it. It reminds me of the luxury clothing haul mentality and how people watched them not out of jealousy, but of yearning.

here's a cute video idea: library book hauls: what books I got in the library this week/month. followed by reviews of the books before bringing them back: Was the book good enough for me to borrow other books of the series or from the author next? Was it so bad that I wouldn't even recommend borrowing it. Was it too basic to buy or life-changing enough that I had to get a physical copy for my collection? This way content creators could put out the same content with less overconsumption, but also in a unique way, which would make them stand out more amongst other creators.

I feel like the argument that the book community is like fast fashion doesn't really hold up. books take months, even years to be published, so books will never be produced as quickly. that definitely doesn't mean that there's still not massive overconsumption problems though

Me and my girlfriend have hundreds of unread books on our shelves. I like to compare it to people collecting fine wines; I'm saving the books for a time in my life when taking part of their story will suit me best. I also use libraries and shop second hand, and I never buy a book I don't want to read. Mind you, I'm quite the mood reader also haha, and usually read several books at once. But I think something else that very much encouraged people to focus more on buying books rather than reading them, was when we all suddenly heard that it takes a 1000 books to make a library, and since we all want our own library, that became kind of an "excuse" to buy more books.

A legitimate reader is just someone who reads books, that's it. It doesn't matter how many books you read, if you pick up a book sometime and and go "Hey, I like what i'm reading." That's enough. Tiktok ruins EVERYTHING.

I’ve seen a lot of “booktubers” even talk about buying multiple copies of the same book for the mere concept of owning them. Many of the ones I have in mind have even openly admitted they don’t plan on reading any of them

Personally, I wouldn’t mind the amount of special editions being released if the books were actually good lol I’ve read too many books where the cover art and fan art are beautiful but the story inside just doesn’t match it and it’s disappointing. Most of them should’ve gotten more editing and the rest feel like a half baked idea that wasn’t given the proper time to develop and therefore gets published too early imo.

as someone who is guilty of over consumption in general and is trying to get a hold of my spending habits, its so true about book over consumption, sometimes i feel like ill buy a book just to get that buzz of buying a product even though its the exact same as buying clothing, like you are still supporting huge organisations and still funding a system that is fundamentally flawed in the name of capitalism. I love these type of videos, they hold both parties accountable for our ways that we perceive the world

The ‘booktok’ sections in the bookshops now make me sad 😭😭

I can relate to your take on hauls, listening to people just reading out blurbs is kinda boring. Buying books, though, is addictive to me so I have to be careful around bookshops😅

I mean I know most of the guys who say this "only reading for aesthetics" are spiteful idiots. But in connection with overconsumption or this over the top (again I said over the top) annotations it kind of is true. Like instead of reading books bc you want to and enjoying the book or insetad of annotating it while still actually reading and enjoying it, many people buy a lot of books just to have a lot of book. And they read the books not in an enjoying way but more in a competitive way to see how many books you can read in one month or one year

My problem is that I try to read 2-3 books at the same time, out of excitement. But i'm learning to focus on one book at a time now.

the biggest reason that I am okay with book hauls from some creators that I like is being able to see a book and get a synopsis of it without the bias of the creator's own thoughts like in a wrap up. my favorite creators don't do book hauls very often though so it doesn't feel like overconsumption.

Your little Christmas tree made out of books is *adorable*! Good video, as always. Solid analysis of both the situation and some potential solutions.

My personal favorite BookTubers are Jack Edwards, Dakota Warren and Emmie, and I trust their recommendations because they’re literature/english/creative writing students and give opinions that actually tell me something instead of “I got this cuz of booktok” or “it was on sale so I bought it”. I enjoy the technical side of writing and storytelling so watching someone that actually understands it as well feels nice. And I can always tell myself that they have this many books because that HAVE to be surrounded with them for their job/studies, also that I cannot compare my reading goals with theirs. (also specifically Dakota is big on slow fashion and thrifting so i appreciate that:))

I agree with you that book overconsumption is a huge problem! People don't realize how many books are thrown away. If you love buying books, maybe try to buy them used unless you absolutely want to support the author (like in the case they're self published). I have a video coming out soon about how to get cheaper and free books and spoiler--almost all of them are used. It's a great way to start the break the habit of buying books everywhere since they were already purchased, and it doesn't contribute to the overwhelming problem of books being thrown out.

I've read over 50 books this year all from the library. I request ones too. Sometimes I need to wait a couple months but I always have a back log to read

I like to buy my books from local libraries or eBay libraries. The funds usually go to the libraries themselves and the conditions of the books are really good. I am not without flaws of course. I love to buy special editions of my favorite books so I like to even things out 🤣

first i just want to say that you have SUCH a lovely voice, and you're such an eloquent speaker! but i wanted to say that this video is so well made and you explain all of your points so well! thank you for exploring this conversation from so many different perspectives and making this so accessible and informative

All in all, I don't understand why supporting a publisher by buying a new book would be a bad thing :) In addition to the author, there are a bunch of people who make money from creating novels - editors, artists, often translators, etc. - who may have some more stable income from working for the company than from freelancing. Also, not all publishing houses are mega-corporations, especially not in my country. And self-publishing is a great option, but for authors who also want to be businessmen. Anyway, in high school and early college I read a lot and used libraries to keep from going bankrupt. Now I read far less, so I try to always buy my own copy - sometimes I buy something I don't like in the end, but I don't mind. I pay the author for his work, not for my taste :) Besides, I grew up in a home where buying books was considered an "investment" - because books "can always be sold", even if for pennies. Possibly that's why it's easier for me to spend money on a physical copy than an ebook or an audiobook.

I think in case of makeup and skincare hauls it’s different bc these items can expire quickly, but for books, if they’re donated to library or charity shops other people can also enjoy them esp if they can’t afford to buy brand new

As someone who has made some massive book hauls, I definitely has given some books a way that I decided was just not for me, but leaving them in the lil free library I know someone will pick it up and hopefully enjoy, great video , glade I found your channel

my father always said that if we wanted to buy books he'd never deny us, i read sm as a child to my 14th birthday and then stopped reading for some years until 2020 when i bought a kindle. in these years he died and the financial side of the always buy books changed but with a kindle i just got back into reading but never got to the overconsumption part

subscribed!! you speak so perfectly and eloquently i have only nodded the whole time

In my opinion the difference between the overconsumtion of books and other items such as fast fashion clothes eg. Is that books are way more sustainable like no one in the book community would throw a book they unhaul in the trash, but giving them to librarys, friends&family or reselling them. But with fast fashion clothes you may wear/wash them once or twice and After that they are basically unwearable because of the cheep Materials eg. Youre throwing it away. You cant really be sustainable with fast fashion 😅 A similar thing with makeup you have to throw away makeup because it expires. So if you dont use a product often it goes to waste after 1 or 2 years (especially liquid and cream products) but you dont or should be giving it to friends&family or donate it 😅 This is not me saying that I/we booknerds are better in any type of form the problem of overconsuming stays the same but not how the product goes to waste 😅 English is not my first language so please be kind with my spelling and grammatical mistakes ❤

I had booktalk friends and looking at them I began buying MORE books. I would buy books that I read just because I want to have them physical and while it's great to make yourself happy, it's still UNNECESSARY and if you do it too much, it's just... strange to pour so much money into something that you genuinely don't need. There are books that I do want to read physical and will buy (for example, Babel. You know? The vibe is just physical), but 90% books I'd read online. I don't have nearly enough money to buy every single book I read and I'm glad I managed to overcome this influence of booktalk. I'm not criticising, cuz it's sort of collection hobby and sometimes it's people's main hobby, just saying that it's not for everyone and people should really think before trying that concept on themselves

Big booktubers are getting freebies from publishers. Published sending boxes of books so they can get this or that popular booktuber to hold it in front of the camera is a big part of the problem. Who can compete with that? Nobody is going to send me free books. Not that I'm upset about it. I wouldn't want to read the garbage the publishers are sending anyway. 90% of books are crap. Quality should be priority over quantity. Life is too short to read bad books.

I really don't get the apeal of book hauls. I don't need to know which books you bought, I wanna know which books you read and LIKED and why, so maybe I can read them too. When I was younger I loved buying books but many were forgotten and never read, so a few years ago a did a big unhaul and kept only books I loved or still wanted to read, and now I mostly read from Kindle and sometimes from the library, it's way more pratical and convenient.

People who do those reveals of how many of their books they didn't read and it comes out to like 70-80% drive me insane. I just assume they buy everything. I also dislike the format because they are essentially talking about books they know nothing about and could be horrendous.

I read hundreds of books a year but I primarily buy kindle/audio. I rarely buy physical books.

This trend makes it really easy for me to buy second-hand books that are never read. 😂😂😂

I borrow from the library and if I like the book then I buy it. ❤

as someone who has been here from the early days of booktube, talk on book overconsumption is nothing new. i think it only slowed down when booktube slowed down as well (at least for me cuz my fave booktubers were posting less book reviews). i think the conversation only came back up with the rise of booktok. i am guilty of buying more books than i read, and i am currently planning to unhaul really old buys that i know i’m not going to read and donate them to our local library.

the christmas book tree behind you is adorable

honestly imo a lot booktok / booktube creators (especially a lot of the bigger ones) either already have or are two steps away from developing a legitimate shopping addiction. like i've genuinely seen some ppl on tiktok defend their book spending habits by going like "well i just feel so happy when i buy books like it gives me instant sastisfaction so i need to buy more! :-)" like girl... 😬that and the fact that some of them are two steps away from hoarder behavior when it comes to unread books. "it's been sitting on my shelf for years completely untouched and also i keep buying more and doing the same thing to them but i can't get rid of it because i might want it ~someday~" GIRL 😭 and this is coming from someone who HAS a large book collection (not as large as some big book influencers, but certainly larger than anyone i know irl) and DOES frequently buy new books. its just that i make an effort not to buy more than i can reasonably read within the next few months, and i go on a book buying ban AND STICK TO IT whenever it gets too much. also i remember that libraries exist lmao...

I love this video! I might just as well cover this phenomenon in my master's thesis. :) Personally, I found a line which I don't cross (being a broke student surely helps lol). But I do love the feel and smell of a physical book, that's why I wouldn't trade it for a Kindle or anything like that. For me, reading is a way to decompress after a long day. I'd love to be able to just go to a library and borrow the books I want in order to save money, but I want to read them in English and as someone living in a non-English speaking country, I can't find that many good English books in the local libraries. :(

I really enjoyed this video :) I appreciated how you gave such a balanced insight into the topic and offered solutions too without being judgmental. I've just subscribed and was looking through your channel, I can't wait to watch more of your videos!! Happy Christmas and thank you for the informative and calm commentary

I own maybe 100 physical books, one large bookshelf's worth. I also live in a very small, one room, micro apartment. I would love to have the space for more books, but I don't. So my shelf is reserved only for copies of my favorite books, books that don't read well on digital (like house of leaves and tree of codes), special editions, books unavailable digitally (which is a very, very small amount, there's actually only 2 on my shelf for this reason), or books I've been gifted. Otherwise I use my kobo. There's almost 5000 books on it, an amount that would take two rooms, each of my entire apartment just to store. I want to start making book content focusing on dystopian/apocalyptic fiction, since I don't see anyone on booktube or booktok specializing in those genres, but I do worry that nobody will watch the content if I'm just showing my Kobo.

I relate so hard to wanting a nice, big, beautiful library - probably a lot of avid readers would love that. Me, however, I don't have the money nor the space. With the limited living space I have, owning any book is a burden. Libraries are like a luxury to me in that respect - huge collections, and storage and organization is someone else's problem. The ability to choose any book impulsively and not having lost any money if it turns out not to be good is also an enormous freedom. The only real downside is when you want to read new releases or otherwise very popular books - you might have to wait quite some time for your turn. Even then it's worth it since you get to read that hot new book at no cost.

Thank you for this video, I have been thinking much of the same things recently. I really like your non judgmental but honest approach to this topic. :) Book hauls are kind of my least favourite videos, reading vlogs and wrap up videos are way more engaging to me. Also I really like staying longer with a book, especially if it has things to analyse and think about, so constantly buying new books would stress me way more.

I use thriftbooks or used book stores if it’s available there n try the library before I buy new. The state of the book doesn’t effect the content but newer books aren’t always accessible in used stores/online.

I love your book Christmas tree in the background!💗

i'm a super fast reader, novellas are done within an hour or two, and even an average 350-400 page book is done within 6 hours or so (some take me longer if the book is TOO good and i want to savour it), so im constantly buying more books. However, if there's a book i don't like, i donate it to the local charity shop - why waste space on my bookshelf with a book i despise??

Thank you so much for talking about this issue. I felt like I was being a hater and going crazy because I was starting to see booktubers have 30+ hauls almost every two weeks. Plus, most the books would be from Amazon and there was the constant need to every book in a series at once.

This was a solid and fun video to watch, thank you! I don't watch or really enjoy book haul videos, especially with 15 or 30 plus books all the time, but I must admit, if I only had 5 unread books in my tbr, I would stop reading, haha. It's a mental block for me, I wouldn't want to lose my ability to read new and exciting things and when I have so few, I noticed that I can't bring myself to pick one up and enjoy because what if I won't be able to go to the bookshop or the library for a while? What if I lose my internet access for a month or so and I won't be able to read online either? I need to keep those few precious unread books for such occasions! I also love libraries but ever since I was a kid I was a slow reader and sometimes with life getting in the way, I could never finish a book and before I realized, it was time to take them back because someone else wanted it already. But I don't understand the hype around buying all new books or having special editions. I just get them from wherever I can, haha. Used books? Love them. Random box of books next to a trashcan? I'll grab my backpack. One time sale in the library of books they don't need for dirt cheap? (And I really do mean less than a pack of the cheapest gum) Hey-ho, get ready to see me come over and over again for the next couple of days. I like new books as well and it's a treat when I buy something full price and new, but I just want to have books, no matter the condition that I'll more than likely like or something that I've never even thought of reading. Wow, sorry for that wall of text, that line about the 5 books giving you anxiety was just such a weird statement for me! It's hard for me to believe, haha, but you are probably doing it better, so hats off to you!

Over consumption is so easy when you have money. I for the longest time used to buy from thriftbooks online, years ago the books were like 5 dollars max. But then I was buying with barely any money and most books weren’t even a 2 star rating or I dnf them. So then I quit that and start going to my local library which helped so much in saving but also my time with books. Later found out about kobo which is like a kindle and you get to download books directly from your library and it’s easy to read because it’s not the same light like our phones. I only buy books that I rated 5 stars and know I will absolutely re read them. I would love to have my own library one day but only on books I loved.

I agree with you on not really understanding book hauls. Well, I mean, I *understand* them like some of the comments have pointed out. A desire to just look at things you want even if you can't physically have them. I just can't say I've watched enough more than a couple in my entire life, even as I've been a semi-frequent viewer of booktube for years. I especially am not interested in seeing someone unload a dozen or more books, which is I guess what makes it a "haul." But I do find it more interesting to see someone talk about a couple of books they bought and are looking forward to reading and why. But yeah. I don't feel like I fit in the "bookish" community in general, for several reasons. The biggest probably being that I don't read many novels and especially not much contemporary fiction. I read mainly historical nonfiction/biography, poetry, drama, and "classics" as well as comics/graphic novels. And I have no prejudice against reading, like, contemporary novels of any genre; it just doesn't work out that way for me. I find the genres I listed above to be easier to get secondhand, and for cheap; or much of it belongs in the public domain; or they represent more niches I'd like to learn about beyond just the plot of one particular book; etc. While I do interact with the bookish community mainly as a viewer, it's more like I just... enjoy hearing about all the books I probably never will get around to reading. LOL. And as such, I really don't feel like *I* am participating in overconsumption to such a degree. The vast majority of my books are secondhand, which is usually less expensive but is definitely better for the environment. I perhaps have accumulated too much of a collection than can easily fit in my own bookshelf, and thus my room's a mess, but squarely my own problem. I think just the visuals of a lot of typical "bookish" people online, their collections of new novels that they organize and take aesthetic pictures of, I just can't identify with them when my stacks are all faded and falling-apart paperbacks that are older than me and I either got at Savers or Thriftbooks. But that's not to say that they don't have beauty and aesthetic value to me; they very much still do. My collection just has more of a lived-in feel, as opposed to something shiny, new, and TikTok-ready. Sometimes what I do reflect on though, is the extent to which I'm buying online. Online booksellers like Thriftbooks, Abebooks, Better World Books, or hell, even just eBay, those are great in providing me the ability to seek out whatever I want. But I do have to think about the offset of the energy it often takes to deliver it for me. Plus, with Thriftbooks and Better World Books, they often send their secondhand books wrapped in colored plastic. I've thrown away so much unrecyclable plastic because of them. I have to wonder, do I need to do that? I don't personally think I have a bad buying-to-reading ratio, but can't I be buying less, still? And wasting less? Am I letting myself give into temptation because of the cheap and modern convenience? Am I doing good by buying from secondhand, especially smaller-owned businesses around the world? Am I doing something good by keeping older books in circulation? Can't both of these things be true while I can also strive to buy more books locally and lower my carbon footprint?

This is why I uninstalled tiktok, because it makes you think that buying TONS of things is normal. If I watch book related videos it's usually to hear an opinion or a review of the content. Wether it was read from a kindle or a physical book really doesn't matter to me.

I must be in a very small minority because book hauls are the one ‘booktube’ video style I don’t bother watching. No matter who made it. I find them pretty boring 😅 P.s I made this comment just before you gave your, pretty similar take 😂 Plus, I don’t really buy books brand new so they’re also pretty irrelevant to me too.

I have been wanting to buy a couple of books to finish reading a saga and I haven't been able to due to countless reasons and these people buy 10+ books to not read them? *Having a stroke*

This was a good summary and analysis of the issue. I agree, the same issue of buying too many books has been around on every platform and it is in fact baked into these platforms. The fact that it is compared to fast fashion and the criticism is mostly targeted at women is of course connected and as ridiculous as predictable, male bookfluencers do just as many hauls after all. I think one aspect that often gets ignored is that bookhauls are successful because they allow those who can't afford to buy tons of books to experience the excitement vicariously, at least up to a point. I don't have an issue with that but I'm a bit worried that the trend towards more and more expensive special editions may give some viewers the impression that validity as a reader depends on how expensive the copies of books they read are and that would be a real shame. And then of course there's the issue that some people view special editions of books just as investments, hoping to sell them for much more on the secondary market and that of course makes me very angry indeed but goes beyond the scope of this current discourse.

Really enjoyed this video! Book ownership definitely does not equate to being a "legitimate" reader. I read every day, read 150-250 books a year and have my entire life except college, and only buy 1-2 books a year mostly secondhand. While I understand not every country is the same, at least in the US many people have access to a free library- I use mine for literally hundreds of books a year. Do I find aesthetically pleasing bookshelves full of beautiful books enjoyable to look at? Yes. Do I need that in my apartment to be a true reader? No. I'm a reader because I read. HOWEVER on my very tiny youtube book channel, I do notice people like book hauls, so I create library book hauls for content. I love showing off my great finds from my local library! I am very upfront that I am a library reader, and that doesn't make me any less of a reader or my suggestions or opinions or reviews any less valid. Of course I can't control what other people think though.

I have asked this question of some of my favorite booktubers and I think many of those I watch are trying to find the middle ground but it’s tricky with new releases. I know my library for example is great with getting new releases but the hold lines can be months long 😅

Off topic but your voice is so soothing and you speak so clearly, english is not my first language but i was able to understand everything you said

Hey Raya, new subscriber here! These are some really interesting insights, I never thought about booktok being similar to fast fashion, but it kind of is, especially with the book hauls. I love your commentary! Looking forward to watching more of your videos 😃

this was a great video! keep up the good work

the "at least people are reading!" argument falls so flat for me because doesnt overconsumption via buying books imply that you are not actually reading even half the books you're buying every year

I don’t really buy books, I reread my favourite books all the time. The only books I’ve bought recently are the series of unfortunate events as I read them growing up and lost them and a 20 book box set of some penguin great ideas cause I was missing some in the set. I get judged for re reading a lot it makes my book shelves more personal to me cause if you ask me about them I can give you a story of where I first read them and why I love them.

this was very encouraging, thank you so much

so excited for this video!

Are authors, publishers and people working in the working industry working in extremely poor and abusive conditions (modern slavery)? Is the impact on the environment of the production of physical/digital books comparable to the fast fashion industry? Unless the answers to these questions is yes, i think they are not comparable.

The only books I buy physical are classics. I have the chiltern editions and ive recently began trying to find the fancy leather editions.

The best you can do is to stay out of social media and stop buying every book you see and just those you will acc read. I still have a big tbr but nothing to do with these and I acc read them and I only buy a book every so often

I just like documenting my thoughts on what I've read on my channel. I only buy new books if it's a book I know I'm going to revisit down the road. I just read for the enjoyment of reading. I enjoy listening to a readers thoughts on what they read recently. I also enjoy humorous horror vlogs or Stephen King reading vlogs mostly while keeping my video and audio skills sharp. 🙂❤📚

The only popular book recs that got me were the legendborn cycle, ace of spades, and the poppy war trilogy.

your rules for buying books are mine too!! investing in a kindle was one of the best things i could’ve done to my wallet cause now i can read anything that strikes my fancy without having to worry about my bank account haha

I prefer watching book unhauls and reading vlogs ( not wrap ups just because I think they’re way too short imo ). I don’t watch hauls . Unhauls are pretty popular as well , so my reasoning as to why I find them enticing is you’ve considered the story in someway ( whether you’ve read it and not liked it or you think it’s no longer what you like) I never liked hauls because you’re just plain excited for any story just because it’s new , there’s no variation in your feelings because they all do sound interesting and that’s why you bought them. Another thing about unhauls is I like clearing out stuff I don’t need so it’s cathartic watching chunks of new space that wasn’t there before. ( But then to get said “huge” chunks of space I guess you need equally huge amount of hauls ) I personally own hardly 10-15 books mostly from my childhood so I also think I like experiencing that without actually having to buy and get rid of huge stack of books

I used to read physical copies and let me tell you if i wanted to go to the bookstore i just felt like i HAD to buy something, but ever since being gifted an e-reader I've only been reading from it, i can read in the dark and and its small so i cab take it anywhere, and also a lot of books that are banned in my country i can just read on it

Вижу серию "эксклюзивная классика" на фоне - подписываюсь) Loved the video🌹

amazing video, thank you for sharing your thoughts :)

I will sometimes watch them for book ideas. It's a quick list but overall I don't enjoy them. Especially when someone is like yes this is my 8th special edition of X book. I'm all about book collection. I have a Tolkien collection I am quite proud of but it seems it's more of a way for Book Dragons to be aesthetic. The only few times I've bought an absurd amount of books at once was when I was out of town and there was a phenomenal used book store so I used my opportunity to get a lot of my TBR list for less than half the price. But I'm also not gonna buy books now for months.

In The Craft of the Verse, published in 2000, a collection of lectures given by Jorge Luis Borges in the 1960s, there is a paragraph concerning (in a very relatable manner) the overconsumption of books - buying plenty of books never to be read. I guess this is not a new concept whatsoever 😅

I do book hauls mostly because the books I like get ordered overseas and is much cheaper compared to when I get them here in my area. Each order usually takes around 3-4 months and i'm lucky if I get it earlier so I do bulk buy at least 2-3 times a year If I can afford it. 😂 I will admit though some books gets left unread since I either lose interest in them, or I get into a slump and some gets forgotten. 😂

I always liked reading books but "since I'll never read them again," as I grew up, I was not really allowed to buy books (I was broke lol). So I either read through online libraries or getting them from physical libraries. I continue the same now---I don't want to invest my money on something I'll never enjoy, so I typically read the books first from the library and only if they are 4-5 star reads and I know I want to reread it again, want to have it on a shelf, and want to support the authors, will I buy the book. so you can imagine how the concept of 30+ books twice a month is jarring for someone like me to even comprehend 😅

My thought always go: you tell me people can afford spending hundreds of dollars on books they are not reading? I sometimes look out for second-hand books and borrow them, and they are out there flexing with book hauls lol

I also prefer wrap-ups to hauls - I tend to only watch hauls of booktubers I trust or if it’s a category I’m interested in that I struggle to find new suggestions in.

Everyone keeps talking about this mysterious group of men who are constantly accusing women of being interested in reading only for the aesthetic and being generally misogynistic to women in the community, however, no one is ever able to show proof of this. You would think if the issue was this rampant that you felt the need to address it in the first few minutes of your video you would have an ample selection of screenshots to show this happening.

i very much have this problem, i keep buying books more than i can read, and i know its also my own fault but i do think these booktube and booktok videos affect me alot and makes me want to buy even more books. Also it affects in a way that i buy books that might not even interest me that much but i will buy it because its popular in the book community. Which has resulted in me having quite a big book collention that i havent read 85% of and some of them are even books that i most likely wont read 😅 but now i try to do better, buy less books and ones that actually interests me

I have a hard time buying more than one book at a time. I don't think I could ever do hauls.

10 years ago, when Booktube was really poppin, the same issue existed. Half the books I own are ones I bought back then and just haven’t read yet. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of them through the years too. I used to buy soooo much, influenced by the ppl I watched and wanting to have the books they did, the shelves they did. This is NOT a new issue/conversation.

I’ve just started booktube last month, and yes, there’s a two part book haul on my channel, and yes, I have a massive TBR. But most of them come from secondhand bookshop, and due to my disability preventing me from driving, it is rare for me to go to a bookshop. So yeah, I admit I go a little nuts but thid Monty is not reflective of a normal month. Because unlike most, I can’t just jump in a car whenever a feel like to go buy whatever. I need to make the most of the time I have to do book runs. Furthermore, I intend to disclose how much I spent, a, to keep myself in check and b, to be real with my viewers and make them aware of how much it costs. I do acknowledge how materialistic booktube can feel at times and I don’t want to become a part of that. I am just as infuriated as you are to see people unhauling books they never read, especially ones from those STUPID subscription boxes (gods I hate those things, don’t get me started on those). Never will I go on TikTok, though-I don’t trust it, and what you said just made me find it even more icky. I don’t plan to buy nonphysical books because I believe in physical media preservation so strongly. If you buy, say, a kindle book, you didn’t actuwlly buy the book, you bought a LICENSE to access it. Amazon can revoke it at the drop of a hat just cause they can. If for whatever reason kindle stopped being profitable, they’d discontinue it, and you can kiss all “your” kindle books goodbye. This exact thing happened with a book service owned by Microsoft a long time ago, I believe.

I don't like very large book hauls, and never buy fiction books before reading them outside of middle grade/media tie ins/Discworld/Brandon Sanderson but ocassionaly I'll watch a haul, esp it it involves the book store or foreign language editions, because I wish I had the money to go book shopping. Same why I look at the home library tours, I wish I had one.

I like book-hauls when they don't purchase books in copious amounts. Like they would realistically read four books, not fifteen in a month or so. It's unrealistic when I see RU-vidr's or TikTok book accounts buying ten or more books while there to be read pile is ever growing. I personally have a pile of books I have already purchased that I want to read. When I notice my pile is shrinking, I will go to the bookstore and get more. I do agree with what you said about purchasing a book series before reading the first book to see if you'll even like the first one. I felt that way about Caraval. I wanted to purchase the series and absolutely hated the first book, so I am so glad I didn't purchase the whole series.

Great video!

Спасибо, отличное видео:)

The number of people who are just mid level fanfiction authors who have managed to get published I think is linked to this as the number of books just being churned out is ridiculous. Sure a lot of books come out but I used to work in the book industry and was in it for almost 10 years, the change in how YA blew up with twilight and hunger games then switched to fifty shades of grey hell makes me so sad. The hunger games were. Good books but the clones that came after? No. At this point I don’t trust most YA and I find it so exhausting because it used to be a truly amazing genre. But now it’s mostly 40-50 year old women writing about teens having sex and it’s just plain weird. Also at the end of the day people should be getting books from the library. Owning books is really nice, I own a few hundred myself, 90% of them are second hand. But I have slowly been borrowing ebooks and audiobooks from libraries or via audible and Spotify. I just think haul culture is toxic as hell in general

De dechets et du sang... ...brulant... ...tus.... Of offal and of the blood... ...burning... ...still.... it is free with kindle unlimited it is a collection of English/French poems and short stories hope you like something if you read Here is one of the poems it is a poetic interpretation of head of a dead young man painting by theodore gericault Head of a dead young man Beneath a canvas coarse and crass, the head of a young man upon a cushion soft and of care; feminine chin; upon the lower lip the blood of God; fine nose; hair of an infant here...and...down there; upon his front, the sublime illumination, that descends, intimately as though of ivory flame.... ...when, of lavender and of rose, ascending vaguely towards the exegetic darkness, the offal; disclosed thus, profound and grave, an immense lesion, as though of a dolourous ulcer...from where all comes...where all returns....

okay, i hate to say this, but i think what i enjoy about book hauls, whether i like it or not, is probably the overconsumption. I always find myself gravitating towards overconsumption content - kpop photocard hauls, book hauls, fashion hauls, etc. Buying this insane amount of stuff isnt something i necessarily desire (in fact its the opposite - this amount of stuff would stress me out so bad), but I am always drawn to content like this, and I'm not sure why. Also, maybe another reason book hauls are appealing is because they feel shorter to me at least. Shorter summaries, more digestible, easier on the attention span. idk.

Your so beautiful

literally everything i read comes from either my local library or the book giveaways that my uni sometimes does 🧍‍♀️

So well formulated! I started my booksta about a year and a half ago and first I was shocked by the consumption and then it got normalised and I got stressed that I couldn’t afford more books, especially more SE books. I’ve now landed in how I’m gonna do booksta haha, but it’s a struggle. I definitely feel less as a bookstagram smear with a small book collection, no SE and posting pics of my kindle but that’s how I stay true to me and my values. /thebookishswede

buy an ebook. bam. no waste. the library exists too. free books!