What’s ‘romantasy’? What’s a cool girl? The internet’s favorite book genres

Calling all bookworms! Welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter.

I’m Meg. I write shut up and read, a book newsletter. I also am known to wade into the waters of BookTok — TikTok parlance for accounts all about the world of literature — and I have also written about the many scandals that plague the subcommunity.

A lie I love to tell myself is that time spent scrolling is not wasted. BookTokers such as Zoe Jackson, Alexandria Juarez, @smallcasualbooktok and Lauren Louise enable that lie thanks to their trustworthy recommendations, reviews and rankings of books old and new. But BookTok is big. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for you, I am deep in its trenches and can offer a primer on how to navigate the unwieldy world of books.

Your BookTok reading list

Works by Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas have helped bookstores thrive and led to a greater number of storefronts centering the romance genre, like the Ripped Bodice in Culver City.

(Jen Yamato / Los Angeles Times)

Romantasy runs the show: You can’t write about BookTok without writing about “Romantasy” (a portmanteau of the genres romance and fantasy). You probably can’t even write about the publishing industry today without referencing the genre that saved bricks-and-mortar bookstores. Rulers of the romantasy space — authors like Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas — owe their meteoric rises, in large part, to the untold number of readers on BookTok. Yarros’ latest installment in her Empyrean series, “Onyx Storm,” was released a mere month ago, and the book’s hashtag has already been featured on more than 221,000 videos on TikTok. And Callie Hart’s originally self-published “Quicksilver” — which Hodderscape, an imprint of Hachette, won the rights to — is already gaining steam, and a Netflix adaptation, despite only being released in December 2024.

Let’s not forget about the romance purists: BookTok gave romance a big boost. In 2020, there were only two romance-specific bookstores in the United States. There are now more than 20. You can’t walk down the romance aisle without running into Ali Hazelwood, Casey McQuiston, Ana Huang, Emily Henry, Jasmine Guillory, Hannah Grace or Tessa Bailey, and you can’t scroll through RomanceTok without encountering #SpicyTok, a rating system that determines how steamy a romance read gets.

Thought daughter: “Hot girls” reign supreme on BookTok. They also go by “cool girls” or “sad girls,” depending on their mood. Sometimes they’re even hot and sad. Or just messy. Hot girls are nothing more than marketing. They’re status symbols for the literary — but they’re also usually conventionally good-looking (read: thin). The hot girls’ syllabus includes books by the patron saint of sad girls, Sally Rooney, and is bolstered by the works of Ottessa Moshfegh, Melissa Broder, Emma Cline and Elif Batuman. The hot girls club’s umbrella is even big enough to cover the works of Eve Babitz and Joan Didion, though surely against their will. To be clear, Babitz and Didion are literary icons — and snobs that would definitely reject being part of a category so commercialized and contrived, despite arguments that their work fits the bill. And for inexplicable reasons, content creators usually include Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels when doing roundups of hot girl reads.

(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)

The Week(s) in Books

Andrew Garfield, left, Percival Everett and Attica Locke are among the finalists for the 45th Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, which will be awarded ahead of the 30th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this April.

(Jay L. Clendenin, Wesley Lapointe and Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The country’s biggest book fest is back, baby! The 30th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is going to be bigger and better than ever with over 600 authors and cultural icons, 300 exhibitors, activities for all ages and more — over a whole weekend this spring.

Speaking of, Andrew Garfield, Percival Everett and Attica Locke are among the 61 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalists. The awards ceremony will take place April 25 at USC’s Bovard Auditorium ahead of the festival.

Bad Bunny’s sixth solo studio album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” was dubbed his “most Puerto Rican album ever.” The record was released with 17 informative visualizers, written by professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, that outlined key moments in Puerto Rican history. Here are 5 essential Puerto Rican reads for those looking to engage more deeply with the island’s history.

From the late two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former Los Angeles Times journalist Kim Christensen, “On My Honor” unpacks the tarnished legacy of the Boy Scouts of America. His reporting documented hundreds of cases in which the organization failed to report accusations to authorities, hid allegations from parents and the public, or urged admitted abusers to quietly resign.

Times columnist Michael Hiltzik provides a comprehensive history of California’s storied past in “Golden State: The Making of California.” Though hard to fathom wrapping one’s arms around such a massive undertaking, in one volume no less, Hiltzik proceeds methodically but vigorously, and with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Bookstore Faves

Jazzi McGilbert, right, is the founder and owner of Reparations Club, a bookstore by and for Black people in L.A. to gather and connect over a shared love of reading.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

This week, we speak to Reparations Club owner Jazzi McGilbert. When the South Central native opened her bookstore in 2019, she envisioned it becoming a space for conversation and community.

“I wanted the space to be accessible to my younger self,” she says. “I wanted a space for us to gather and have conversations, and books were the most natural conduit for that.”

What are the most popular titles at your store lately?

“Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler. I think that’s probably the most popular in all of Los Angeles, if not all bookstores at the moment. That’s a constant. “All About Love” by bell hooks is also a constant. “James” by Percival Everett has been a big one in the last year. “Mutual Aid” and “Love in a F*cked Up World” by Dean Spade.

What are some of the upcoming releases that you’re excited about as a reader?

A Toni Morrison moment is coming. There’s a re-release of “Fish Tales” by Nettie Jones, which Toni Morrison edited. There’s “Toni at Random,” which is about Toni Morrison’s run as an editor at Penguin Random House, which is quite storied.

• “Discomania” by Jennifer Gibbons: One of my colleagues and I are particularly excited about “Discomania” by Jennifer Gibbons. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Silent Twins. They were two identical twins who were selectively mute. They only spoke to each other, and they were both writers. One of their books was published, and the other twin had a book that was lost. It was rediscovered and published and is coming out soon.
• “Everywhere You Are” by Victoria Monét: On the kids side of things, Victoria Monét has a children’s book coming out. I’m hoping we get a lullaby recording with it.
• “Loved One” by Aisha Muharrar: She’s a TV writer that’s really wonderful, and she’s coming out with her debut novel. It’s about a girl whose first love dies and she meets his most recent girlfriend at the funeral, and they both have a history with this person that’s the same but different.
• “Lonely Crowds” by Stephanie Wambugu: Here’s another debut I’m excited about. It sounds like it’s going to be a messy New York art scene story. I lived that for a time, so I will read anything about that era.

What is your favorite reading spot?

I love reading in my car, which might be very L.A. of me. Not while I’m driving, obviously, although I will listen to an audiobook while I drive. I like to pull over on the side of the road at a park, at the beach, pop the trunk and read in my car. That’s something I’ve done as long as I can remember. I like confined spaces, but I also like nature, so that’s my way of being confined but also outside.

See you in the stacks — or on Goodreads!