Calling all book lovers – the BookTube community has exciting news to share.
PEOPLE can exclusively reveal “BookTube’s Ultimate Reading List Through the Years,” a list of some of the most popular titles featured in book-related YouTube videos since 2012. The list includes a range of novels and memoirs, from John Green’s Fate is a lousy traitor to current favorites such as The disappearing half by Brit Bennett and Spare part by Prince Harry.
For years, book lovers have been sharing their opinions on YouTube about what they’re reading and what’s going on in the literary world. That community — known as BookTube — has since grown into one of the social platform’s longest-running communities. According to a statement from YouTube obtained by PEOPLE, videos with “BookTube” in the title have been viewed more than 350 million times by early 2024.
“BookTubers have really filled a gap that maybe we didn’t even know was there, which is a more personal connection to learning how to decide what to read,” says Madeline Buxton, culture and trends manager at YouTube. She says the company created the Ultimate Reading List to better understand which books are most discussed on the platform.
In an exclusive video shared with PEOPLE, two BookTube content creators, Cindy Pham (@withcindy) and Jack Edwards (@jack_edwards), revealed the titles and provided insight into the evolution of the BookTube community.
Edwards originally started his YouTube channel to document his life as a first-year college student. He tells PEOPLE that he wanted to talk about the books he didn’t read for his literature degree and incorporated those videos into his channel.
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“Now online writers can be somewhere between a book fan and a book reviewer, which kind of democratizes it,” he says. Edwards is now known online for his niche content on BookTube, such as reviewing all the books Lisa Simpson has on The Simpsons and classifying them as appropriate for an eight-year-old, or reading decorative books purchased from Etsy (where Edwards subsequently found a new favorite book).
“I think the crazier the better,” he says. His YouTube channel, which currently has over 1.3 million subscribers, has earned him the nickname “Internet’s Resident Librarian” and landed him opportunities such as interviewing Dua Lipa, herself an avid reader, and hosting the livestream for the prestigious Booker Prize.
“Being a digital creator and having access to these spaces… I feel so lucky to be able to do this because I’m not a book journalist and I don’t have any training in that,” says Edwards. “It’s just pure passion that I share online.”
Pham started her YouTube channel in 2018. After reading Melissa Meyer’s young adult science fiction series The Lunar ChroniclesPham wanted a place where she could share her thoughts. YouTube, she says, became a platform for her not only to review her reading but also to connect with a larger book community.
“I really liked how all kinds of people were super creative with the type of videos they were making, whether it was book reviews or other genres of BookTube videos,” she says. Pham’s channel has also evolved with her interests, offering everything from vlogs to her thoughts on book adaptations and longer videos about scandals in the publishing industry. Through the online book community, she was invited to Netflix’s writers’ room to pitch marketing ideas for the film adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadows and Bones series, interviewed David Sedaris and even met her girlfriend.
“That was a big deal for me,” Pham says. “I wasn’t even aware of queerness until I joined the book community because they’re so socially conscious and progressive.” BookTube as a whole, she adds, is in a new era where authors are becoming more intentional and inclusive with their content.
“I have a feeling we’re going to continue in that direction,” she says, adding, “Today, people are much more conscious of who creates the works we read and who we choose to distribute and promote them.”
Although the BookTube reading list ends in 2023, there are already new types of BookTube content on the rise. Silent book reviews, where readers share their thoughts on books with only their emotions, and more personalized reading recommendations are popular, says Buxton. The creators also tie book recommendations to pop culture moments, like the Charli xcx-inspired “Brat Summer” trend.
“I think we’re seeing BookTubers reading a wider variety of books than ever before,” says Buxton. “It may have its origins in young adult literature, but today you can find pretty much anything and so many targeted videos that are really tailored to specific interests.”
“The beauty of books is that there are always new books to read and new books always coming out,” says Edwards. “So there’s always something new to create content about.”
And for anyone who is curious and wants to start their own BookTube channel, Pham has some advice.
“At the end of the day, you still have to do it because you love books so much, not because you want to make money from it or gain sponsorship,” she says. “Because if that were the case, there are so many more opportunities you could pursue… It’s primarily driven by the passion for books.”
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Below you will find BookTube’s ultimate reading list over the years:
2012
dusk by Stephenie Meyer
The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2013
Fate is a lousy traitor by John Green
2014
The short, wondrous life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
2015
The Curious World of Christopher Boone by Mark Haddon
2016
A courtyard of thorns and roses by Sarah J. Maas
2018
Fun Home: A family tragicomedy by Alison Bechdel
2019
American by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
she said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
2021
The disappearing half by Brit Bennett
Normal people by Sally Rooney
Half of a yellow sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2023
Spare part by Prince Harry
Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks
Source: YouTube data, worldwide, 2012–2014