There's lots of reasons to enjoy LotR really. For me, the main reason is the way Tolkien treats the world itself. Most novels try to put your in the character's heads. You experience their thoughts, feelings, motivations... their inner lives.

Tolkien doesn't try to put you in the character's heads so much as their world. He lavishes the landscape with descriptions of landmarks, weather, scents and sounds. He places you right there with the fellowship walking under oppressively dark forest canopies or freezing mountain tops fearing to be hit by a giant's boulder toss.

And virtually no setting can rival Tolkien's world for sheer world building. A place that has a comprehensive set of stories from the creation of the world all the way up to the events that nearly end it. With fully fledged languages and bloodlines that go back ages. A lot of people love Tolkien because you can trace details through centuries or aeons of fictional history.

And sure, it's not like warhammer or the witcher. Those franchises tend to have gimmicks exactly because they needed to reach for something to differentiate themselves from what you call 'generic fantasy'.

I love those franchises on their own just fine. But for me the difference is that something like warhammer is like a carnival ride. Loud, flashy, fast, a need to find some new whiz bang to keep your attention. Tolkien is more like a David Attenborough documentary meets a historical document. It takes you by the hand as you wander this beautiful and harsh world with little need to wow you with flashy effects.

I get where you're coming from because no one likes judgey folks. However I think the OP posed a fair question: they really didn't enjoy something that appears to be popular, so they want to gain better insight of why it clicked with other readers. I took this to be a examination of other people's thought processes, not a slight against them.

BookTok is a big place. While there are books that get mentioned over and over on BookTok, there are also TikTok accounts that recommends books beyond the Colleen Hoovers and Taylor Jenkins Reids of the world. I would actually spend some time looking for TikTok accounts that focuses on books that align more with your own tastes. BookTok has some good recommendations but you might need to dig a little deeper to find them.

Honestly listen to the audiobook by Phil Dragash. It has music and sound effects… I laughed, I cried, I made my commute a lot more bearable

Booktok has attracted a lot of new readers, including many friends of mine who otherwise would’ve never picked up a book, but it attracted a lot of habitual readers as well. I think the format is compact and highly digestible and a lot of videos present the books in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing, concise and attractive to the casual TikTok scroller. I’ve read a couple of CoHo books at my friends’ recommendation. Our opinions differed greatly; a discussion ensued and we exchanged our reflections; it was fun. It’s not much deeper than it seems honestly. It attracts all types of readers, and it fosters a sense of community among those people.

I’m not on Booktok, but I’m on Booktube, and I love finding booktubers who have a similar taste to mine and I often discover books I wouldn’t have found otherwise. Also, when I read a book that someone else has also read, it’s interesting to hear their thoughts and review of it. Booktok is quite similar, though with shorter length videos. People like whatever books for whatever reason: who cares? What you’re observing here is literally what happens on any popular social platform: people like things and tell other people they might like those things as well, then it becomes a trend and goes full circle. Whether they’re actually good or not is entirely subjective. I’ve liked some books that have trended, and I’ve disliked some others. There’s such a wide range of books trending on the internet that it’s genuinely absurd to lump them under any one category and pigeonhole them as insipid or fatuous. There’s no real correlation between how enjoyable a book is and how popular it is. I also get the feeling you’re being slightly, even if unwittingly, condescending.

There’s a slight dissonance between what you’re expressing and what you claim to believe. Your wording suggests you view “booktok famous books” as inferior, and that more experienced readers would never “obsess” over such second-rate, simplistic writing. Accessibility in literature is only deemed mediocre if you’re being a snob. I get that you’re not trying to be critical or offensive, but you might wanna word things more sensibly when you’re asking for someone else’s opinion.

Please post 'Should I read X book''What do I need to know before I read X' questions, in our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

You can get good recommendations anywhere, that wasn't really my point.

I was just enjoying the irony of pumping up daytime television versus TikTok like they aren't both segmented dripfeeds of current pop culture and criticized in their day for it.

The people who mocked daytime TV originally in turn were probably mocked by people that got their recommendations from the Reader's Digest and National Enquirer, and they're mocked as young'uns by readers of literary magazines, and those whippersnappers are getting drek when they could be getting their family bible hand printed by the local monastery.

The books are very dull. I made it half way through the first and said "No More!"

This sub has always been more of a place to feel better than others rather than a place to discuss books. Whether that be non-readers, people with different tastes, people with reading goals, people without reading goals, and so on.

How can you know that you find a book dull if you've made no attempts to engage with it? Just seems like you want to dislike it just for the sake of it

Tolkien is a cup of tea.

If you don't like tea, you won't like Tolkien.

*3 hour

Sometimes people want to read purely for entertainment and escapism. Why is that a hard concept to understand?

Oprah’s book club brought a lot of great literature to the forefront of American contemporary culture in a way that no other outlet really has. Morrison, Whitehead, McCarthy, Franzen, JCO, Mistry, Tolstoy, Faulkner, GGM, McCullers, Robinson etc

Comparing that to the rape fantasy garbage that gets pushed on tik tok is ridiculous.

- Being part of a community by reading something lots of people are reading

- Being a new reader that hasn't really developed a sense of taste yet, so you read what's popular

- These books are literally marketed to certain groups of people (themes, cover design, ...) and people are easy victims

- They want books they can identify with

- They want to read something they don't really have to think about in a deep, philosophical way

- If you don't have lots of time to try out new books, it's easy to pick something that "most people like", so as not to waste time on a "bad book"

That's probably it.

"they've gone viral"

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>Why ppl are so obsessed with Coho's novels or any other books that are in trend cause of booktok or other platforms like that. What is in it? And yep I've read one of her books 'it ends with us cause my roommate had it and for me it was a total waste of time. So why ppl are so interested in it? Is this because they are new readers? Or because the language is easy? Or maybe because everyone's commenting on it? Either the comments are positive or negative

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it's not necessary to follow the herd on books.

do you try to do every viral trick out there?
why not?

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_crate_challenge

The milk crate challenge, also known as the crate challenge, is a video challenge that became viral online in August 2021. The challenge involves stacking milk crates into a structure that resembles a podium, with both sides of the structure functioning as stairs.[1] The participant is expected to climb up to the top of the crates and climb back down without destroying the structure or falling, risking injury.[2][3] The activity has faced criticism by health professionals for its unnecessary risk to personal health.[4] Social media platform TikTok that helped popularize the trend said it would eliminate search results for "milk crate challenge" citing its policy that "prohibits content that promotes or glorifies dangerous acts."[5]

maybe a certain type of person reads these books.. the same type who feel it's necessary to record every minute of their lives.

​

what kind of books appeal to the people who do that?

if you're not that type of person, maybe the books will not appeal to you.

​

BookTok is a subcommunity on the app TikTok, focused on books and literature. Creators make videos reviewing, discussing, and joking about the books they read. These books range in genre, but many creators tend to focus on young adult fiction, young adult fantasy, and romance.[1] The community is cited with impacting the publishing industry and book sales.[2] The creators in this community are also known as BookTokers.[3]

It is like with these crappy soaps people watched in HS so you could talk about it with others. I only watched them so I am not an outsider.

The world is just soo believable. Reading it sometimes felt like reading a history/based on real life book or something

Right? Like just because one person disliked a book doesn’t mean other people can’t like it. I see these posts on here a lot, almost like they’re trying to bash people for what they like to read

Some people forget that everyone can like different things

Tolkien is the OG, and praised so highly, for a reason. His prose is pregnant with meaning, and flows across the page like poetry. Despite its verboseness, I find an astounding level of clarity in Tolkien’s writing. The man was a scholar of words and languages, and that love translates to darn near every passage in every book. Paragraph to paragraph, sentence to sentence, the books are beautiful works of art and clearly labors of love.

With that said, if the books you mentioned are just your taste, then you may find Middle Earth a bit bland. Not that you shouldn’t read it! But I’m seeing a lot of “read it and find out,” which isn’t very helpful…

The Hobbit is a fairy tale, where the Lord of the Rings is an epic. Tolkien was heavily inspired by ancient Anglo-Saxon stories, and it shines through. In both, you’ll find Shakespearean dialogue (conversations that read a little too awkwardly for modern sensibilities), and over the top acts of courage and valor on the scale of Norse gods and Greek heroes. Maybe less so in the Hobbit, as compared to it’s counterpart.

If you approach the Lord of the Rings as if you are reading an ancient manuscript found in the tomb of some long lost king, it will blow your mind. If you approach it as another fantasy adventure, well, you’ve probably been so conditioned by modern authors that, like myself, you’ll have a hard time getting into it.

As a writer, I can appreciate the prose. As an avid reader, I can understand why so many people pass on Tolkien. I don’t think it’s aged out for people, because it wasn’t written for its age in the first place. Tolkien wanted to write an epic—a saga—and he did. And it’s brilliant.

Where GoT goes into excruciating detail about relationships, political intrigue, and the interconnectedness of the geopolitical landscape, LotR goes into excruciating detail of the world the characters inhabit. There’s a ton of depth through lore, mythology, and geography, but the living world itself is fairly barren in terms of politics. There’s certainly more going on than the movies display, but Tolkien was clearly less concerned with politicking and more concerned with people banning together to fight the abhorrent evils of Sauron. There’s hints of a world at large, but you will follow the main cast of characters on their adventures, while the politics are kept on the periphery.

Now, speaking of the living world, this is where Tolkien really shines for me. I have never seen a world so clearly through the lens of narration. Its as if you’ve stepped into a whole other world, one that was meticulously put together. The names of trees, geological and geographical features, the moving and migrations of peoples and species. The natural world is alive and well and so, so, very beautiful. I wish Tolkien could write descriptions for every book. His prose and ability to paint a picture is unparalleled. Every forest, mountain, and valley has a personality. Every ruin, city, and society has a story. And the way he coneys them is through the most beautiful writing I have ever read. No author can compare—period.

Well, I’m tired of rambling on, now. Hopefully, you have a better idea of what you’re getting yourself into by reading it, or not. 🤷‍♂️

Like any other type of media people often try things that others in the peer group try. Reading the same book as your peers can give you something to talk about and share.

I ask the same question about tv shows like Friends and Real Housewives. They are wildly popular and I don't understand their appeal.

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I wouldn't bother - it's all expository wordiness

Dude, you owe it to yourself to read them. Just do it. It’s so strange to ask a book sub if you should read certain books, especially if you’re already into their respective genre.

I guess it depends on what you are looking for.

Tolkien is best appreciated (in my opinion, at least) as art and not just as literature.

The prose may feel dry and it doesn't have a lot of action scenes. So if you are looking for edge of the seat, heart stopping adventure . . . It's probably not going to be there.

But, let's talk about the fact that to make these stories one man (not a team) came up with a language, genealogies, mythologies, and maps to explain how this all fits together.

If you can't look at it in terms of the artistic detail that went into it and appreciate the level of work involved then, no, you are not going to like it. That's like asking what's the big deal about a grandfather clock when it is just a big wooden box with a face when viewed from the outside.

Now, that's not to say you are a shallow or something is wrong with you because you don't like it. Not all media is meant for you and art is not appreciated the same across all groups. Liking paintings more than sculpture is fine. Liking sculptures and paintings and not being wowed by the intricacies of the Antikythera Mechanism is also fine. But if you see someone geeking out over this ancient computer and you say you don't get it, expect a lot of talk about the construction and implications. If that sort of thing bores you, then you aren't going to like digging into it.

Makes sense?