BookTok, for the uninitiated, is a massive phenomenon — more than just a hashtag with tens of billions of views, it’s a community for book lovers and readers. During the early days of the pandemic, many people found themselves reconnecting with their love of reading, or picking up books for the first time in years, and BookTok was a powerful tool — serving up great recommendations, memes, and community. At a time when we were grappling with isolation, fear, anxiety, mass layoffs, and widespread callouts about racial justice and injustice, BookTok had a significant impact on the book industry. 

Some of the most popular BookTokers are young people of colour, women and queer folks,  and some of the most popular books on TikTok are books that have traditionally been seen as “chick-lit” or “fluff” in an industry oft-known for taking itself too seriously. Now we have TikToks of young, often racialized folks sobbing in front of the camera, screeching unintelligibly, or being horny on main — about the books they read, and the fictional characters they love — and it feels so relatable. These are real people, who really love books, and it’s hard not to feel connected to them and how earnest they are. 

It’s honestly amazing to see these young creatives channel their love of books into something that has shaken up an entire industry. So, I jumped at the chance to highlight some of my favourite Canadian BookTokers, and ask them about BookTok, and some of their favourite books. 

DANIELLE BERNARDIN (@D.J.BOOKS)

Danielle (@d.j.books) is a Canadian book content creator whose love for reading and dry sense of humour has helped her make over 30k new bookish friends online. When she isn’t reading books and cuddling with her cats, you can find Danielle co-hosting her podcast Books on the Brain or attending university! 

What does BookTok mean to you?

BookTok means a sense of belonging and community to me. The BookTok community has helped transform the solitary/independent act of reading into a social and collaborative space, where we can discuss and gush over all things book related with like-minded people. 

What’s a book that has had a strong impact on you? Why?

Beartown by Fredrik Backman is one of the most heartbreakingly gut-wrenching books I’ve read and it’s the book I recommend to others the most often. It’s a story about resiliency and the conscious choice to do the right thing in the face of unthinkable obstacles and uncertainty. Backman’s writing is so beautifully vivid and lyrical that you can’t help but highlight every other line as a new favourite from the book.  

What’s your favourite book that someone on BookTok has recommended to you? 

The entire Brown Sisters Trilogy by Talia Hibbert (Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown) and no, I can’t possibly choose a favourite! Talia Hibbert is a master of romance and their books have such much amazing representation within them (disability representation, bisexual representation, plus size representation, BIPOC representation, and so much more). 

What’s your favourite book to recommend to others right now? — either something you’ve already read, or something that you’re looking forward to reading? 

If you haven’t read Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, go pick it up! It’s a romance book based in Canada by a Canadian author, with a story that chronicles a budding romance over six summers and one weekend ten years later. It is a friends-to-lovers, right person wrong time, second-chance romance that clocks in at around three hundred pages—AKA the perfect beach read! 

KADIJA ARES (@ARESREADS)

Kadija Ares (@aresreads) is an avid reader of fantasy books ever since picking up her first one when she was 13 during recess. Her dream, like most readers, is to live long enough so she can read all the books on her TBR one day. 

What does BookTok mean to you?

BookTok is a fun way for me to interact and engage with people who like and are interested in the same books as I am.

What’s a book that has had a strong impact on you? Why?

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali. It was the first Young Adult Contemporary book with a Muslim as the main character that I’d ever read. My younger self would have loved to read more books with that kind of representation. 

What’s your favourite book that someone on BookTok has recommended to you? 

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson! My first ever viral video was me thanking whoever it was that recommended it to me.

What’s your favourite book to recommend to others right now? — either something you’ve already read, or something that you’re looking forward to reading? 

A few weeks ago, my answer would have been The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang, which is a self-published standalone fantasy book I implore anyone willing to listen to me should read! However, I just recently finished The Wall of Storms, the second book in Ken Liu’s The Dandelion Dynasty, and it’s quickly become my favourite fantasy series of all time.

BRIDGE RAYMUNDO (@BRIDGELIKESBOOKS) 

Bridge Raymundo, also known as @bridgelikesbooks on BookTok, is a recent graduate of both the University of Toronto, and New York University’s Summer Publishing Institute. As a content creator, Bridge uses her platform to talk about her love of books across many genres, with a particular interest in reading about Southeast Asian, diasporic, and queer experiences. She currently lives in Toronto, hidden behind toppling book towers of her own creation, staring at pictures of adoptable cats. 

What does BookTok mean to you?

As someone who joined BookTok in early 2020, my answer to this question has changed almost as much as the platform itself. What started out as a niche community of readers on TikTok making quick videos about their favourite books to quell the boredom of quarantine, has evolved into a much larger and marketable part of the publishing industry. I think most of us, who began making videos as a personal hobby and then circumstantially gained an audience, are still figuring out what BookTok means to us and, in effect, what we mean to the industry. At its best, BookTok represents a sense of personability, and a genuine investment in diverse books and diverse reading. I have met so many amazing people on the app that have become dear friends, and so BookTok has become a source of a lot of joy and light in my life. At the same time, it means undertaking a responsibility to the authors and publishers who have entrusted you with their work, and even more so to the readers who look to you for honest reviews. 

What’s a book that has had a strong impact on you? Why?

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi, or really anything by Akwaeke Emezi (I have the biggest author crush on them)! Aside from being one of the coolest, lyrical forays into magical realism I have ever read, Bitter, the prequel to Pet, really explores the anxiety of protest in its central character and this feeling of powerlessness in a world that is constantly challenging the simple fact of your existence. Emezi’s writing has really made me think about societal versus personal responsibilities and how they play into our every day. I am in love with books like that, the ones that check in with you long after you turn the final page.

What’s your favourite book that someone on BookTok has recommended to you? 

What has since become one of my top 5 favourite books ever was recommended to me by the lovely Selene (@moongirlreads_) on BookTok, and that book is Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. This is a YA historical fiction about a daughter of Chinese immigrants in 1950s San Francisco as she discovers her sexuality through romance books, drag kings, and underground lesbian clubs. It is simultaneously one of the most heartbreaking and heart-healing books I’ve ever read and deserves all the praise! 

What’s your favourite book to recommend to others right now? — either something you’ve already read, or something that you’re looking forward to reading?

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li is my absolute favourite book to scream at people about right now! It is such a thrilling debut about this group of academics who have been tasked by a benefactor from China to pull off five international museum heists, stealing back sculptures that were stolen from their homeland centuries ago. As someone who personally identifies within the Asian diaspora, the way each character in this book was written was so meaningful, and the larger discussions about colonization and the purpose of art really stayed with me. It’s also just a really fun heist novel with a sapphic romance!

MADDI CLARK (@LOVEBOOKSANDTEA97) 

Maddi is a current bookseller at AllisonTheBookman. She lives in Ontario and is a certified Library Technician. When she’s not devouring novels, forgetting cold half-filled tea mugs, with inky fingers from feverishly scribbling her thoughts in journals, she is indecisive on whether to rewatch The Last Airbender or Fullmetal Alchemist for the 80th time. 

What does BookTok mean to you?

BookTok is a platform where I can make funny, delightful and maybe relatable content that focuses on my love for books and literature. I love using it to connect with other book lovers and bookstores too!

What’s a book that has had a strong impact on you? Why?

A book that has had a strong impact on me is Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. Not only is it a cake stuffed full of your favourite fantasy treats (ruthless politics, innovative system of magic, deep friendships, and steamy romance) but it’s a book that introduced me to a community that I am grateful to be part of. 

What’s your favourite book that someone on BookTok has recommended to you? 

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. It just consumed my thoughts and my TikTok For You Page for weeks until I broke down and screamed, ‘Enough! I’ll read it!’ and bought both the US and UK editions. I love it so much. Six Crimson Cranes is a folklore and fairytale-inspired fantasy that is written like a dream upon a page with folkloric dangers, and lovable characters.  

What’s your favourite book to recommend to others right now? — either something you’ve already read, or something that you’re looking forward to reading? 

I have two books I am looking forward to reading. The first one is Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel; an Indigenous historical fiction story that is deeply heartbreaking and powerful. The second one is The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter. An epic revenge fantasy with gritty combat, genius magic systems, and complex and memorable characters.

FAITH DEHGHAN (@YABOOKTOK)

Faith is in her fourth year at the University of Ottawa studying Political Science, and Conflict Studies and Human Rights. She is an Editor and Staff Writer for MENAarts Newsletter, a newsletter focused on highlighting Middle Eastern North African (MENA) artists. Growing up as the daughter of Iranian immigrants, she saw little to no representation of herself in the media she consumed. She has made it her mission to amplify MENA voices in order to ensure that everybody can feel represented in the media they consume. In her free time, you’ll find her creating #BookTok videos (as @Yabooktok), writing for various outlets, or reading a fantasy novel. 

What does BookTok mean to you?

To me, BookTok is a community that loves reading and wants to share that love of reading by connecting with fellow readers online, and by recommending books to both readers and non-readers alike. BookTok is also used as a tool to discuss important issues and advocate for representation within books.

What’s a book that has had a strong impact on you? Why?

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram is a novel that has had an immense impact on me. It was the first novel that truly made me feel represented as the daughter of Iranian immigrants. I was able to see the struggles I faced as a first-generation Canadian, who was stuck between the culture of her ancestors and the western culture she grew up surrounded by, represented in the novel and it truly made me feel seen!

What’s your favourite book that someone on BookTok has recommended to you?

My favourite book that someone on BookTok has recommended to me has to be The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang. It was recommended to me by @lexislibrary and @groovytas on BookTok and their recommendations never let me down! I really enjoyed the book itself and the series that followed, it was a truly brilliant and captivating story.

What’s your favourite book to recommend to others right now? — either something you’ve already read, or something that you’re looking forward to reading? 

My favourite book to recommend to others right now is Better Than The Movies by Lynn Painter. Better Than The Movies is the perfect romance book, it’s cute, it has an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance, fake dating, and it touches on the topic of grief. If you are looking for a feel-good novel, this is the one to pick up!

–

Ameema Saeed (@ameemabackwards) is a storyteller, a Capricorn, an avid bookworm, and a curator of very specific playlists, customized book recommendations, and cool earrings. She’s the cohost of the podcast High Low Brow, and the Books Editor for She Does the City. She enjoys bad puns, good food, dancing, and talking about feelings. She writes about books, unruly bodies, and her lived experiences, and hopes to write your next favourite book one day. When she’s not reading books, she likes to talk about books (especially diverse books, and books by diverse authors) on her bookstagram: @ReadWithMeemz and on TikTok (@ameemabackwards)