Why are all these institutions so susceptible to bring led by so few people? Can't they figure out what books to get without being told?
World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
51–60 of 60 posts
Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#52Why are all these institutions so susceptible to bring led by so few people? Can't they figure out what books to get without being told?
> Can't they figure out what books to get without being told?
Probably not? People are not "being told" what to read, they are given some opinionated advice which they can then decide to follow or not.
According to Wikipedia, 275,000 books are published each year in the US alone [0]. Most people (even excluding the many that don't read) will read well under 0.01% of that. Deciding which books to read without taking advice from someone more informed would not be optimal.
Sometimes it makes a lot more sense to rely of expert advice than to just make all decisions on your own.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_published_per_country_pe...
Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#53Sort of an aside, but what's next now that Tiktok is deeply into end-stage enshittification? It'd dead now, a formerly fun app morphed into grotesque eyeball milking system owned by one of the worst people on the planet. I deleted the app this week after the feed ramped ad content up to being an ad every other video, frequently with ads back to back to back. It's cooked.
What's next is Sora and Sora-likes. The same thing but 100% created by AI. Tik Tok will probably move to that model eventually, kinda like Instagram pivoted to Stories.
Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#54Why are all these institutions so susceptible to bring led by so few people? Can't they figure out what books to get without being told?
> Can't they figure out what books to get without being told? Probably not? People are not "being told" what to read, they are given some opinionated advice which they can then decide to follow or not. According to Wikipedia, 275,000 books are published each year in the US alone [0]. Most people (even excluding the many that don't read) will read well under 0.01% of that. Deciding which books to read without taking a…
The very fact people think they need to read (fiction) books released this year more than ones released before is baffling.
Much like film you could say, but the backlog of books spread across millennia, not a century.
Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Echoing another commenter: poignant? Reading the article, for me it was poignant, only mildly, in the archaic sense of the word (sorry! But seriously—dystopian is the first word I'd use.) I'm interested in your interpretation and what you took away from reading that. Can you elaborate?
For me it was poignant as the story of a young man who has for his entire life been keen on reading, writing, and communicating, who has in a way achieved what he was looking to achieve, and unknowingly created a set of shackles from his own success/fame that he's struggling to reason with and untangle. I can't imagine the pressure of loving to critique books, but then being slapped with labels like “#1 most read on…
I read what you're saying. I don't want to go into detail about all the things in the article that rubbed me the wrong way, although saying that makes me feel like I owe that, so, sorry about that.
I will say: I don't know who _you_ are, but I feel like _the average Joe_ would love to be this guy and would love to have his problems instead of Joe's.
Succumbing to the pressure of knowing "an honest negative critique could tank an author's career" sounds like a skill issue, as the young folk say. If that's your worry, you are not this Joe's reviewer! I want an _honest_ critique! That that's a lot to ask of my number one TikTok bookfluencer is dystopian!
Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Can't they figure out what books to get without being told? Probably not? People are not "being told" what to read, they are given some opinionated advice which they can then decide to follow or not. According to Wikipedia, 275,000 books are published each year in the US alone [0]. Most people (even excluding the many that don't read) will read well under 0.01% of that. Deciding which books to read without taking a…
The very fact people think they need to read (fiction) books released this year more than ones released before is baffling. Much like film you could say, but the backlog of books spread across millennia, not a century.
> The very fact people think they need to read (fiction) books released this year more than ones released before is baffling.
Do they really?
I was comparing rates of production vs consumption. It doesn't follow that what is being consumed on a given year is this year's production.
My guess is that most of the books written are read by hardly anyone. A few authors have a faithful following that will read their books as soon as it's out (which isn't too baffling). Reviewers and critics may indeed be more likely to review new books, which might impact people's decisions (again, not necessarily baffling). Book shops also put new books forward, but all those books tend to be the ones by trendy authors.
Other than the few fashionable books that come out each year you'll find reviewers like the one described in the article who don't seem to focus on new books (e.g. they talk about Dostoïevski), so it is not obvious that people feel that compelled to read new books.
> the backlog of books spread across millennia, not a century.
How much I agree with this! Plus, time does such a great job at filtering out the good from the bad (or the exceptional from the mundane). That's where lists of books entering the public domain, like this one [0], are important. Or the reviews [1].
Ultimately, the fact that there is more available to read than is possible even to the most voracious of readers means that most people will rely on guidance on what to read.
Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
For me it was poignant as the story of a young man who has for his entire life been keen on reading, writing, and communicating, who has in a way achieved what he was looking to achieve, and unknowingly created a set of shackles from his own success/fame that he's struggling to reason with and untangle. I can't imagine the pressure of loving to critique books, but then being slapped with labels like “#1 most read on…
I read what you're saying. I don't want to go into detail about all the things in the article that rubbed me the wrong way, although saying that makes me feel like I owe that, so, sorry about that. I will say: I don't know who _you_ are, but I feel like _the average Joe_ would love to be this guy and would love to have his problems instead of Joe's. Succumbing to the pressure of knowing "an honest negative critique c…
While observing the benefits of his position, I also empathize with the struggles that must come with unexpected widespread fame. And I never said he is/should succumb to the pressure, but again I empathize that navigating that pressure is an added stress of his position. A stress which I'm grateful isn't part of my life, and not one I would trade any of my average Joe problems for. I'm personally not convinced by your argument, and still struggle to see how the word dystopian made it into the conversation.
And although of course you do not owe an explanation for your opinion, I do find it a bit ironic that you were the one asking of others to defend/expand on theirs, but are yourself unwilling to do the same. But I understand it, it can be difficult and time consuming to reflect on one's opinions and come up with a clear and concise write-up of those thoughts that others can enjoy and benefit from. That's why I respect it when people are able to do that -- people like Jack Edwards, perhaps? ;)
Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#58Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#59If you’re not on TikTok yet, and are curious, just don’t. Your life will be so much better if you just stay away.
I dont understand what people see in that site. Every clip i've seen has either been funny but pointless or peaks my interest but is to short to actually convey anything useful or sounds interesting but is completely factually incorrect.
Re: World’s most powerful literary critic is on TikTok
#60I went and looked at the Tiktoks. As far as I can see from the few videos I've watched it's not so much "criticism" as "plot overview, small background details, and what I liked about it". It's kind of weird it's being framed as a tiktok sensation when there's nothing to really differenciate him from other booktokers? Other than perhaps more subscribers than usual. Also, per the article: > Edwards champions BookTok a…
The most important influencer in social media, by far, is Dua Lipa. She absolutely mogs this guy.