Dysfunctional Planner

I love TikTok, it’s not like Instagram which I also love I am learning to navigate social media and all that it offers, the good the informed and the nonsense . It’s fresh, full of information and fast. I love the still images of Instagram and if I am being totally honest I think they should stay opposites rather than trying to be the same. I don’t like home and garden inspiration on tiktok it’s too fast but I love book reviews, cooking, politics, and lots of funny posts too. Anything with an animal rescue has me crying at least twice a day!

There is a lot of drama on there but I don’t like to follow any of it. My top tip, don’t engage with people if you don’t want to go over and over the same thing. It’s not worth it. They hound you, with the same opinion. They are always right and you are always wrong, so don’t engage with comments just like and move on.

The part I love the most is Booktok.

I am obsessed with Booktok, I have so many recommendations that I may need to hibernate this winter with cups of tea, cheese and biscuits, piles of blankets and of course Frank curled up. I could just read a different book every few days and get through my list. This sounds like the most wonderful idea!

I am currently reading My Lovers Lover by Maggie OFarrel ( who wrote my favourite book after you’d gone) Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss ( Top TikTok recommendation) and Girl A by Abigail Dean ( book club read). I like to chop and change what I am reading depending on where I am. If I am commuting then I listen to a podcast or audio book until I get on the central line which is far too hot and noisy. So I switch to a book, either physical or on my phone. I prefer reading a page rather than a screen but sometimes it’s easier.

I joined a book club to challenge me to read different books that I wouldn’t necessarily pick up but booktok has changed things. I now think about the aesthetics of a book, I see so many limited editions and now I want them all. Maybe this is shallow but I also read them and I don’t generally keep books I don’t enjoy.

The three bottom books are from a company called Timeless Classics and I won’t be buying all of them, just my favourite books. I can’t wait for Sense and Sensibility, The Scarlett Letter, Persuasion, Moll Flanders, Tess of the DUrbivilles, Silas Marna, villete, the Professor Agnes Grey but I will have to wait. Next month is Jane Eyre!!! There are 75 books so I definitely do not want them all.

But booktok has introduced me to special editions with fancy spines and coloured pages! So now I would like more books that are beautiful but only if I will read them. I will be visiting Louisa May Alcotts home in October so it was only right that I read Little women for the first time whilst I am there. I have always loved the films.

But the best thing about Booktok is all the conversations about reading especially when you can choose genres and focus on that. It also means I have a few gift ideas for Gavin for Christmas and birthdays an ever expanding list, which you know I love a list. When I am in America if I see a cool limited edition book I will invest in a few pieces.

Booktok recommends that I want to read:

• The Poppy Wars by R. F. Kuang
• If We Were Villians by m.l. rio
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• Babel by Guillermo by Arriaga
• The Ninth House by Leigh Bargedo

I imagine carving out a mini library somewhere in my new house maybe even a reading nook in my mini studio aka the garage. I am already working on a Pinterest board for more inspo. Of course I am!

What are your favourite reads that I should try?