BookTok’s All-Time Faves

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

Toward a Grand Unified Theory of the BookTok Canon

Alyssa Morris is as close as we’ve got to a scholar of BookTok studies, and her attempt to establish a BookTok canon is a gift to readers and industry professionals alike. Working from a combination of vibes and observations gleaned from deep engagement with the platform, Morris identifies the most popular sub-genres among TikTok users. There’s romance and romantasy, yes, but also “weird girl lit” (Big Swiss, Bunny), “crying books” (The Nightingale, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo), thrillers, New Adult, sci-fi, and fantasy. Morris notes that “the BookTok canon is strikingly white, which has impacted diversity gains in publishing since 2020,” and hopes that illustrating “a broad readership on the platform beyond just romance and romantasy” will help contribute to efforts to increase visibility for work by writers and creators of color. May her efforts succeed.

These Books Could Change Your Life

If a friend or coworker asked you to name a book that changed your life, how would you answer? For staff at The Verge, responses ranged from children’s books to classics to self-help and even to cookbooks. I’m especially delighted to see Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks get a shout-out since it also changed my life.

There’s a Flowchart for That

We’re in the thick of Big Book Season now, and there’s way too much to choose from. Let the good folks at Lit Hub help you choose your next read with a fun vibes-based flowchart. FWIW, the recs it picked me for were already high on my list for fall. The method is sound!

The Book Behind One Battle After Another

Did you know that Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film One Battle After Another, which hits theaters this week, is based on a book? Vineland is one of Thomas Pynchon’s more accessible novels, but this is Pynchon, so meaning of accessible is, let’s say, relative. Jeff and I went brain-on to decode this zany postmodern classic on the latest episode of Zero to Well-Read.