Author: sumaya ali

This statement alone is contradictory as I am an English Literature student, but with the ‘TikTokification’ of reading and overall books have been leading me into a downward spiral of not reading. I don’t remember the last time I picked up a book and felt satisfaction after finishing it, and to me, that is a reflection of the state of books and writing right now. We live in a world where the mass production of tropes and ghost writing have taken over the methodical work that goes into creating a book, and I know that there are amazing writers out there that this does not apply to, but in the age sphere I live in, I hear nothing BUT ‘enemies to lovers’ or ‘golden retriever boyfriend and black cat girlfriend’.

The thing is, I am not a romance hater. When written well, romance is one of my favourite genres to indulge in because it takes me out of a realistic world and helps create this notion of love that not everyone has felt before. My favourite examples of love is through the poetry of the Romantic era, where they don’t particularly speak about a lover but their love for nature and its beauty. The best example I have for this is:

What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock, 
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, 
Their colours and their forms, were then to me 
An appetite; a feeling and a love, 
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, not any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.-That time is past, 
And all its aching joys are now no more, 
And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this
Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts 
Have followed; for such loss, I would believe
Abundant recompense. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still sad music of humanity, 
Nor harsh nor grating, though the ample power
To chasten and subdue.- and I have felt 

When reading this small section of Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth, I feel this great sense of love and awe for nature. He is able to wish his aches away by looking onto nature for hope it provides wisdom and comfort to him that he is not the only one going through something.

This way of expressing emotions that are unable to be expressed in real life makes books like these feel like the author has sat down and actually thought about it. They are able to convey their thoughts with such beautiful words, I sometimes lose myself when reading it because it doesn’t just become words on a page, it brings it to life.

The opposite can be said when you read modern books that cater towards an audience with a significantly decreased attention span and literacy, all because of the art of ‘doomscrolling’ and spending hours indulging on shortform content. Daily reading rates have dropped by 20% since 2005 and this could be blamed by apps like Instagram and Tiktok that have gained popularity for their addictive scrolling methods. Books no longer cater towards thinkers, but people who wish to gain quick pleasure rather than spend an entire week reading and analysing a book. An argument against this is that people are busier with jobs and thus do not have time for long forms of media but simultaneously have 7-20 hours on fast paced apps. So, in my opinion, being busy is not an excuse to not read or learn something new.

Thus, publishing companies have begun selling stories that are aimed towards smaller attention spans, by using shorter sentences that use less difficult language so that it is understandable quickly. To me, this defeats the whole purpose of reading, as my whole life studying Literature was spent on analysing difficult phrasings and metaphors and by the end of the book/play, I used to feel a great sense of pride for understanding what the author meant, but now, without having to do the thinking myself, I feel lazy and incapable of creating a thought. By telling and not showing, this has created a steady decline in media literacy, as many people who do indulge heavily in shortform content wouldn’t be able to deconstruct a metaphor and understand the meaning behind it. This is not me ridiculing anyone, but just simply pointing out the dramatic effects shortform content has had on media in general, especially when I see it on a day-to-day bases when studying Literature.

An example of this would be:

Madison pulls his suitcase out the back of his Mercedes Benz G-Wagon, my newest purchase, before shrugging on his suit jacket.

-Liz Tomforde, Mile High

The sentence itself probably does not seem like an issue to some, but to me it describes the acts that are occurring instead of letting people infer. Did we need to know that it was their “newest purchase”? NO, we did not need to know that, but instead it’s the author telling us that Zanders had wealth and does not let the reader infer it.

Another example is from a book I have read recently:

This is a marriage of convenience.

-Tessa Dare, The Duchess Deal (Girl Meets Duke #1)

This sentence alone was repeated 7 times and I think it was repeated that way to reiterate the trope that is on display. But did it really need to be repeated that many times, especially past the first chapter where the reader is already coming to an understanding that the marriage is contractual? I think it was not needed after the first 5 chapters but that is my opinion.

The whole reason for this rant/blog is to express my exasperation when it comes to the state of books and writers because I have been unable to read a singular good book that is written in the last 20 years. But maybe it is because I have limited myself into not reading modern books that it has warped my perception of them and has made me think they are all TikTok trash when some could actually be good and hold substance. But when I do read a good book that has been created recently, maybe my perception will change with time and I won’t be so naïve. As for right now though, I personally believe we as a society should step away from the AI generated slop, decentralise greed and money, move from the conventional tropes and genres and create something that feels truly authentic and real, even when it is a nonsensical fantasy book that is set not in this time or any other for that matter. It does not even need to be a completely new idea, I just want a piece of art that gives that characters so much depth and nuance that I feel like I have been transported into their world and genuinely step into their shoes. I want a book that personally changes me, makes me think about myself in a new light and admire the incredible writing of the author without having modern day slang thrown around and used within the book.

Anyway, I know that I am not the only one that thinks this and it’s sad to see that people have become so disinterested in reading but we can help each other by dropping recommendations that do not live in this bubble of mass-produced books.

My current to-read list that I have heard great things about consists of:

Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

East Of Eden by John Steinbeck

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Hopefully we can all read them and have an intellectual discussion about them too! My StoryGraph is @whosumaya

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