It's not that I haven't been reading; it's just that ao3* is the best website ever
Sometimes I find it hard to believe I was an English Major, especially knowing I now struggle to read as much as I used to. Gone are the days of the middle school and high school versions of me who religiously read books in her free time. My love for reading started as a need to escape the world around me, which later turned into a love for the art of storytelling, wherein I was eager to learn how I could create my own stories.
When one is an English Major, this means constantly reading for an array of assignments, which may be obvious, but what outsiders to the humanities and liberal arts may not immediately realize is that such studies do require analytical and critical thinking skills. You have to be aware of what you're reading. You can't just gloss over the words on the page and think you understood that the woman in the Yellow Wallpaper was the one stuck in the wallpaper, or even that Alice in Wonderland is a story on the weirdness of puberty. There's a mental activeness to reading that can make it fun, and for some who read constantly, borderline exhausting.
This is how I stopped reading regularly. I started to lose the personal excitement for reading by constantly analyzing everything. Don't get me wrong, I loved being an English Major, but I developed this weariness for reading and (creative) writing that I couldn't seem to shake. I was able to put aside these thoughts when I started grad school, throwing myself into my studies as per how I operate as a student. Now that I have finished school I have time to enjoy reading materials of personal interest. Yet when I go to a bookstore and pick out titles, they end up going on my bookshelf, forgotten and sitting there like it was purchased to be decor.
I've now resolved to make reading goals, have a TBR list, and seek out ways to become the bookish person I know I am, whether I am actively reading books or not. The solution for me is weirdly not just picking up a book and forcing myself to read. Because where's the fun in that? Like the social media savvy person I am, I am using various apps to get myself back into the reading mood that I decided I will share with anyone who decided to give this blogpost a read-through.
Goodreads
I can't believe it took me ages to get on Goodreads. But I also can believe it took me this long because I was never keen on sharing what I was reading with others. Growing up, reading felt like this secret double life wherein I didn't want people to know all the worlds I've been. If I were to psychoanalyze the reason, it's probably because I had a soccer coach make fun of me for being super into The Hunger Games (before the movie came out I binge read it all as one does) by only addressing me as Katniss.
ANYWAY, for those who are living under a rock like me: Goodreads is a book review app that enables users to make public reviews on books they've read and build lists of books you are currently reading, want to read, or read. I've not used it to make reviews yet (because I feel I need to write an in-depth, thoughtful review to fit into the Goodreads community), but I have used it to see what books are trending to expand my "Want to Read" list. I also like how I can track my reading progress with books I am currently reading. Goodreads is the quintessential book-reviewing app that I recommend for connecting with a well-established book-reading community.
Likewise
I need more friends and family to get on Likewise. It took me a minute to realize this was a social media app because the main interface I solely interacted with is the daily recommendations. Likewise launched in 2018 and expanded to TV recommendations in 2020. Bill Gates funded the startup in 2021, as Likewise is the brainchild of Larry Cohen, former communications chief at Microsoft and current CEO of Gates Ventures (where he came up with idea for Likewise). Cohen worked on the project with Ian Morris, co-founder and current CEO of Likewise, and Michael Dix. Why did I feel the need to mention the brief history? I find tech start-ups fascinating and am genuinely impressed by my experience on Likewise.
Now that I have started exploring the social media components of the app, I am having a fun time. It's like the Pinterest for movies, books, and podcasts where the user saves what they watch, read, and listen to in lists of all the past, present, and future tenses of these verbs. The profile page (that appears when you click on your profile picture as I should have intuitively known) displays a users likes, creating percentages amongst 'TV & Movies', 'Books', and 'Podcasts'. Scroll down a tad and there are three tabs: (1) 'Latest' for your latest reviews and likes (2) 'Lists' for creating specific lists of content you like, and (3) 'Asks' if you want to send out an ask for recommendations to the greater Likewise community.
I have had a greater 'TV & Movies' focus as of late, but the ask function is great. I recently used it to get horror recommendations and got over 30 recommendations with more than half being of interest. Knowing what tropes I like, or how I want to expand my literary classics, the possibilities of asks I can send out into a highly responsive void make me excited.
Webtoon
Stories like Lore of Olympus and Heartstopper originally started on Webtoon. Reading stories on Webtoon can be like reading manga or graphic novels. Webtoon is based in Korea, but you can calibrate the app to the ten available languages -- English included. I remember I came across Webtoon when I wanted to read Siren's Lament in 2016 and have been using Webtoon from time-to-time ever since.
I will say, it's a bit harder with app updates that have happened in the last few years where you have Daily Passes to read through stories daily rather than binge read. Daily Passes help keep the app funded if readers choose to purchase coins for binge-reading purposes. There are opportunities to earn free coins through special read-a-thons on certain series. On July 13 of this past year, Webtoon has made 'Treasure Hunt' an additional way to earn free coins by completing various quests, which include missions like taking quizzes, signing up for brand accounts, purchasing products, and possibilities for further variety. However, to enable this function, users have to enable App Tracking to receive the free coins.
Essentially, I don't bother with all that hoopla and remain patient as my favorite series post weekly (or even bi-weekly!) updates. Or if there's a completed series that interests me, I'll see if it keeps me engaged to go through the daily passes before deciding if a purchase for coins is worth it, as authors and illustrators deserve the acknowledgment and profits for their work.
TBR - Bookshelf
TBR - Bookshelf enables users to build TBR lists, and then once the user has finished reading a book, said book can be added to the 'Read Shelf.' It's a great visual to make a person feel like an accomplished reader. Goodreads and Likewise are similar in that you can build a 'Read' list, but I appreciate that TBR - Bookshelf creates a digital bookshelf with colorful book spines that can be access when tapping on the 'Goal' tab. The Goal tab is where users can decide their yearly reading goal. The automatic number is 25 and can be as high as 1,000 books.
There are features that users can only access if the premium version is purchased. Some of the main premium features include the flexibility to change certain visuals, stay ad-free, unlock trope filtering, and 'pro-rating' features. The ability to change certain visuals, like adding potted plants to the bookshelf, changing the app cover theme, and app background, is tempting. My recommendation is making something similar on Canva once you complete your goal if you want to share on social media. From what I can discern, most of the locked features can be covered by Goodreads or Likewise in terms of page-tracking and quality rating tools.
TikTok - on the #BookTok side
I didn't start (somewhat) using TikTok until earlier this year. There were two reasons why I decided to start using TikTok: (1) I clearly needed to know how TikTok functioned for PR purposes and (2) I came across online articles on how Barnes & Noble was opening additional storefronts for the first time in a decade because of BookTok. I was inspired by this news to study BookTok for a PR digital innovation project, which is available to read on my research tab.
Through my research, I gained an understanding of how useful BookTok can be to both readers and authors by making recommendations and sharing one's novels a collaborative/ co-creating experience. Rest assured, BookTok does have more to offer than just Colleen Hoover books. Users make countless recommendation lists depending on your interests, and those interests can go beyond genre, such as "books that can get you back into reading" or "fast reads" that help someone like me... who wrote a whole blogpost dedicated to the topic of becoming an engaged reader once again.
* side note from the byline: ao3 is amazing and I still read every now-and-then because of it, and I have no shame in that because I'm a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers, fluff and angst person. The fact that the site has well-written works for free!? A blessing.
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Emma Carroll Hudson has an MS in Public Relations from Syracuse University and a BA in English from the University of Tennessee. She is a fan studies fanatic and loves all things pop culture. If you ever want to get in touch, click onto the contact page and she'll be sure to reach back out. Yes, yes she is writing in third-person.
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