The pursuit of reading as a hobby has seen contradictory impulses in the last few years. While we assume that people are reading less because of multiple distractions, facts prove otherwise.
The rise of reading recommendation platforms online and the popularity of book fairs suggest that reading is still considered an aspirational goal.
Most people get suggestions for what to read from online sources and social media. This is the product of the ever-present ‘I agree’ button at the bottom of each webpage that allows user’s information to be shared across different platforms. Whether it is subscription services or social media feeds, applications use algorithmic systems that show patterns of consumer behaviour. This includes previous purchases, ratings given and even reading duration. This is used to offer suggestions and what seems like a personalised recommendation.
Traditionally, books were chosen just by strolling in a book shop or even browsing dusty shops and lanes of second-hand stores. Now, suggestions pop up on our screens, tailored to our taste.
Today, romance and fantasy novels, ‘romantasy’, for short, like Rebecca Yarros’s ‘Fourth Wing’ and Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People’ circulate widely, not because they are new releases, but because algorithms keep bringing them up as for their instant quotable quotes.
This has also taken on wider overtones as algorithms even determine what genre we read. As mental health, wealth, and comfort food gain traction in online conversations, books on these topics also see wider representation.
Books offering emotional comfort, escapism with romance, and hopeful climate fiction are all making a mark in online fiction and non-fiction recommendations, mainly because these trend with top concerns in the world today.
According to Goodreads, one of the most popular reviewing platforms, mega authors like Kristin Hannah and Sarah Maas continue to be popular as cross generational readers find meaning and escape through them. Of course, the death of a popular writer like Sophie Kinsella also brings her books to the top of the reading list, as algorithms toss up her novels as suggestions.
This system of algorithms determining our choices of readings continues to be an engaging debate. Some readers are happy to have choices made for them based on previous readings and preferences. After all, even the ever-present Google and Amazon preserve our choices in a readymade format.
But digital choices also take away from traditional book selection. As writer David Rodeback put it, “When we roam a real bookstore or browse the library stacks, we brush against the larger world and its infinite realities. The algorithms would never think to offer all the perspectives which beckon there, all the voices of the living and the dead, waiting and wanting to go home with us”.
That is not to stubbornly stay in the past, wishing that the cosy bookstores of our past come back. But it is to suggest that reading just based on algorithms limits our knowledge of the world out there. Reaching out to a world beyond such digital limitations may take effort but is worthwhile.
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