In recent years, reading has exploded in popularity among teens due to communities like Booktok. Books have become more marketable to a young, female demographic.
One of the reasons for this is the surge in popularity for romance novels. Even fantasy or mystery novels often include a plot-relevant romance as one of the main ways to attract readers. One problem with this rise in popularity is that the romance in these books are not always appropriate, even when the book is marketed towards teens. Librarian Jennifer Sosna has seen this first hand.
“We’re giving it an eye that we shouldn’t be giving it, romanticizing the abuse in it. That’s really difficult for me, as a person who wants to give people books I have to be cognisant of what is in this book,” Sosna said.
Many popular books display themes of romance that might not always be healthy, or even romanticize abuse in some cases. There have always been books about abusive relationships being turned into romance, but it seems now these books are gaining more traction than ever due to the internet.
“If you scroll through your instagram, [it’s] like ‘here look at this book, look at this book!’ My whole feed is a lot of that, just advertisements for books,” said Sosna.
With the community online, book recommendations go around to everyone, including teens who can get ahold of books with explicit content without their parents knowing.
On the other hand, this increase in reading has led to more interest in the hobby, which in the past was considered nerdy and boring.
“Compared to the past, romance books have exploded. And have been turned into movies, and the push down from adult authors to the YA [young adult] scene. I think it’s just grown immensely,” said Sosna.
Reading isn’t always bad. There are books out there that do not include explicit content, and if you look hard enough, you can find communities online that share interest in these harmless books. These stories are also a great way to use escapism to cope with real life problems.
Maybe in the future, this interest in reading will be more positive, adapting the online reading community to be an encouraging space for young people looking for a reading adventure.
