or more specifically, i hate the way some people try to convince you that you’re not a real reader if you don’t get through a book a day. i saw a reply to someone who wished that they had more time to read saying ‘i get through the amount you read weekly in a day, you should learn to love reading more’ and it irritated me big time
i love reading and i’ve read since i was a child. but i have a very busy schedule which means that i don’t get the time to read more than 30 or so pages on a weekday. i’m fine with that because i prefer to savour books anyway, however just because i take two weeks to finish a book instead of a few days doesn’t mean i’m not a big reader. i just have other things going on in my life
when did reading turn into a competition? maybe it’s just me, but it seems that most book accounts on social media just try to get through as many books as they can. and yes, i completely get that people read for different reasons. but if you’re reading for enjoyment, why read so fast that you can’t even remember the story ..
edit: this is an opinion post. it’s not serious enough to be sending me hate in my dms, please get a life because i will not be answering them
by dumbbratbaby
46 Comments
Remember that tiktok is an algorithm and any interaction with stuff like that will just get more and more pushed your way.
I’ve been on booktok for over a year and haven’t come across any of that. Most of the people I follow are vocal about how you shouldn’t judge whether or not someone is a reader based on how much or how little they read.
There was a post on Booktok stuff a few weeks ago.
I don’t like it. Fortunately, despite being a big reader, I do not use any book-based social media beyond forums. Furthermore I’m not reading to make myself “look” better. I don’t even track how many pages/books I read.
Social media can ruin a lot of other hobbies, too.
It’s not limited to booktok. Other sites and related social media do it, too. Even here there are posts about people worried about not making so many books a year goals that are pushed by them.
I don’t get it, either. Reading is supposed to be enjoyable, not a competition. People who read just to get through so many books are losing out on the true benefits of reading.
Before this year I’d never read 1984. I always wanted to but never had time. As a child I read the hunger games series over a weekend, and the first four and a half Harry potter books over a week long family vacation. I kept picking up the book 1984 and getting so disappointed and dissatisfied in only having the capacity to read a few pages before being “distracted” by work, my son, my hobbies, technology, my health, time constraints, my pets, etc.
Finally I put the book in my backpack and brought it everywhere I went. I started ONLY reading it when I’d be in the car pickup line waiting for my son. About 15 minutes of the car in park before I had to put the book away to move up the line. Only 15 minutes a day, every week day (except holidays or sick days) to read a physical book.
It took me 3 months of 15 minutes a day to finally get back into that groove of reading. Instead of being on my phone during car pickup, I was reading, and this was sort of detoxing me from the dopamine addiction I’d gotten from always being on my phone.
Anyways, by the 3 month point I was able to incorporate reading into other parts of life, like reading while I waited for water to boil, or reading while I sat next to my son taking a bath, or reading while my son was reading… my son was a huge distraction usually lol.
At the end of the journey it took me about 4 months of actively planning to read for me to finish the book. I’d gotten the book for Christmas like three years prior. It’s so hard reading nowadays. Especially with technology.
The point of this story is: I didn’t tell anyone about this until after I’d read the book. I used to be a huge reader who’d read a book in a day… like a BIG book in a day. Now I can barely read a book in a year. I didn’t want to be shamed for that. Why did I think I was going to be shamed for taking up an old hobby again? A HEALTHY hobby? I felt shame for it. I didn’t feel like I was ‘good enough’ at reading – I’d been excellent at it for so long and now I was so much less than excellent.
Idk… I’m glad I read a book this year. It’s been a long time since I read a book ***at all***. I’m happy even though it took me awhile. I may not be as fast as someone else (even myself years ago) but that doesn’t diminish the joy I had while reading *this year*.
why take any notice of strangers on social media (ironic, really, as I’m a stranger to you on social media).
Read how you want to read at a speed you want to read.
book-it made it a competition, I’d read anything for that free personal pizza hut pizza
Who cares what other people think of your reading? If someone claims you are not a “real” reader, well they have just let you know that they are a person you do not need to pay any attention to. Once I was done with school I never let anyone tell me what to read or how to read again.
Competitive reading is the stupidest social media idea I’ve heard in ages. What’s next, the Booktok Slow Reading challenge, where you try to make a sentence last the whole day? “Henry James and Proust are banned.”
I always say that reading is not a competition. There are some people that treat it like it is but I just try to ignore them. I read like you, small bits at a time and it usually takes me 2-3 weeks to finish a 400 or so page book. I feel like I enjoy it more and retain more of the story because I like to stop and think about what I’ve read every couple of chapters. Even if someone is only reading one page a day they’re still reading and I don’t think anyone should ever shame that.
Don’t interact or engage with rage bait.
Reading is NOT a competition. I could give two shits less how many pages I read per day, AND what other people think about what or how much I read. Stop caring!
In what universe should you remotely be affected by this sort of absurdity? That, like ridiculous beauty standards, making sure your home decor is “on trend,” etc falls apart the minute you actually consider it. Most gainfully employed adults who have meaningful ongoing personal relationships with friends and family, partners, kids, etc., couldn’t find the time to read a book a day without neglecting work or family and friends. Which means that the adults who can do that (I did as a teen because I read in classes at school and at home) either aren’t working full time or they live alone without active daily social commitments, which is cool, but if you have work and have commitments, your mileage is going to vary. Why would you care what they do (and why would they foolishly think everyone is like them?)?
Are you asking people not to judge you for not reading 200 pages a day, or are you judging people for reading 200 pages a day?
My life got so much better when, one day, something clicked and I learned to stop caring what assholes online think/say.
Sometimes I rip through a book in 1-3 days, sometimes it takes me weeks. Depends on the book, the size of the book and my schedule. Not sure why anyone should even care about people making outrageous claims like that.
Sometimes I wish I had someone to talk to about my books, but ultimately I’m reading them to enjoy them. For my own, personal enjoyment. Not to prove something to someone, or anyone.
>when did reading turn into a competition?
It actually didn’t so to speak, unless you allow that. I’ll give an example: yesterday I was going through goodread’s profiles. So far I’ve read 15 books and I thought that was great, I enjoyed most of them and felt great. Then most of the profiles I was seeing were people that had already read 45~60 books… I was kind of confused and probably thinking I was doing something wrong.
And then I wasn’t. Because I remembered that I’ve been enjoying reading the books I picked so far. And I really couldn’t care less about the number/quantity. What I care is if I’m enjoying the story being told in the book.
People have other things (sometimes a lot of things) going on in their lifes. They can put effort to dedicate time to reading if that’s something they care or like/love to do. Numbers mean nothing in the end.
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I prefer my local bookstore employee’s recommendations to that of some random attention-seeker who’s literally monetizing their “love” of reading. Also, the old school way of just TALKING about books with people I actually know in real life. We need to foster communities again.
I can read a lot of pages a day but, I usually choose to savor 30-50 pages a session – not really counting. I think – you do you and don’t worry about anyone else as much as possible.
Is pages even a reasonable metric of reading speed even if it was something you valued? Pages aren’t made remotely equal.
With the way I’m reading lately, I’ll be lucky to do 200 pages in two weeks…
A hobby isn’t supposed to be “hustled”. You aren’t required to give x amount of hours to your hobby every day. Anyone that thinks otherwise is toxic as hell, but honestly most social media is toxic so no surprise there!
My husbands boss (millionaire) has this insane idea that If you wake up at 4:30 AM and read 4 chapters of a book you’ll be a successful millionaire, too! Nevermind that he refuses to give raises to his employees regardless of when they wake up and how much they read…. 😂
Booktok?
I mean, I see an easy solution to this…
Tiktok is not the place to take anything seriously . I understand the frustration 🙃 but if you read, you’re a reader period.
Do they not know that people read at different speeds?
Sorry, I don’t do booktok. Too busy reading for fun.
I have an hour, thats what i read, if its ten pages it ten. Reading to show how much you read is just sad
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I read a book a day and this *horrifies* me. I’m a naturally fast reader and I have the time. Other people have other talents that I don’t. Or they don’t have the time. Or they have other super interesting hobbies, too. You’re a reader if you read (and that includes audio books). Period.
reading isn’t a competition
I mean, I like food and I see some people go I CAN EAT 100 BURGERS IN A WEEK!!
Doesn’t make me want to emulate or compete with them.
Go at your own pace.
I don’t at all disparage people’s attempts to find like minded people to converse with re: hobbies and interests. However, in this instance I would remind you that “influencers” and the like are like mini-corporations. They seek profit. Monetarily or socially, they want to exploit their viewers. When engaging in social media always ask 1. Is this useful information, disregarding the person saying it? 2. Is this likely to be truthful? And 3. Why should I care what other people who access this information think of me/ why should I value myself accordingly?
Everything is a rush in your face consummation. Eat, eat to say you’ve eaten just repeat what everyone else says it taste like. I have several hobbies and its nonstop spoiler season. Saving you did it, saw it, read it , have it first and onto the next. That shit is too tiring. I’d rather just take my time with yesterday’s news, I hate feeling rushed.
You should learn to love reading more? I’m sorry, but that individual is a bit on the naïve and pretentious side. Have I read 200+ pages in a single day? Yes. Do I do that often? No. First off, not everyone has time to read that many pages in one sitting. I don’t care if you can only manage 10 pages a day. What matters is that you’re reading at all. It also really depends on the book itself. Sometimes certain books demand to be read at a slower pace.
Get off tik tok, problem solved.
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Every hobby has these people. Read 200 pages, train 2 hours a day, drink all the water, zero waste, self drafted crochet. Hell, they even compete to see whose baby sleeps better. Competers gotta compete.
I used to intern for a charity that ran book groups for disenfranchised people. Their core ethos was centred around the power of high quality literature to enable people to talk about themes that would otherwise be difficult to confront, eg bereavement, poverty, loneliness.
Speaking about these things within the context of the story allowed us to express our feelings about difficult themes whilst being protected by the ‘shield’ of talking about a character or situation in the book – it kept things impersonal enough to be more honest.
Anyway, the big rule was that we had to read out loud the whole time. There were some pretty challenging books (Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, etc), but reading aloud allowed us to take our time and really get to know what the author might have meant.
I guess what I’m saying is that if you read really quickly, you might not be giving yourself the chance to really relate to what you’re reading, especially if it’s a ‘page turner’ kind of book. For example, i really tore through the Kingkiller Chronicle books when i first read them because the plot really gripped me, and it was only upon rereading that i found all this great stuff that id missed and hadnt had time to think about.
Being able to read fast can be useful, especially in a work/study context, but if youre just reading for fun, reading slow is the big dog move.
So… don’t interact with those people?
I never understand these gripe posts. There are endless amounts of social media and other content, so if you find some channel toxic or annoying just move on
PSH, you read books? I mentally infer the entire story solely from the info on the dust cover. I get through 10 books a day, minimum.
As a bookworm of over 35 years, I read as much or as little a day as I want and anyone that tries to tell me otherwise needs to remember I’ve been reading since before they were born. Fuck what they think.
I am a very slow reader. It takes me weeks to read most books. But I set aside 15-30 mins at least a night to read. So as long I do that I feel pretty happy.
My longest reading streak of consecutive days is 323 days. But lately I will skip a night here and there. But I am currently on a 250 week reading streak.
Why in God’s name do you care about what people are saying on TikTok?
I’m pretty sure people be lying. Or they’re like I read 47 books this month! But when they list them out 40 of them were manga. I’m not saying that’s not real reading or not a book. But it’s *significantly* shorter, of course you can read 3-4 of them in the time it takes other to read 1 novel
You need to remember these people are basically kids. I don’t know how old you are, but I don’t know anyone who was that insecure about their intellect once they’d actually, y’know, accomplished something.
Its all clout chasing. I doubt theyve actually read that much tbh, and if they *have* well, Ive had conversations about books with people who “speed read” and frankly theyre the most boring conversations Ive ever had because you can tell they did not actually comprehend what they read. They absorbed at most a few large events.
Its just a weird genre of people that crops up in every hobby. Theyre the powergamers of life, theyre the people who find the leaked file of Tears of the Kingdom and race to put the final boss fight on youtube, theyre the pet-site players who only support a startups kickstarter so they can SELL the one-of-a-kind gifts. They peaked in highschool and their whole life since then has been chasing that high while the rest of us just sit there and ask “Do you even just *enjoy* thing anymore?”