On suppositions.

While I'm not new to the world of early book reviews, it was fairly recently that I found out about the world of "booktube." Soon after I fell into and climbed out of that hole, I learned of #bookstagram. I'm not too familiar with that hashtag on Instagram, but I plan to be. Back on YouTube the seemingly wholesome image of people all about leisure reading also comes with some preconceived notions.

On a journey through booktube, you form a notion of the type of content creator you're likely to encounter. A composite based on popular creators in these large niche would likely see a younger, white female as your representative. Of course there are exceptions and niches within the niche for content from diverse sources, but that's image you get. She likes to read popular and trending books, often YA. She might be a fiend for romance novels. She definitely loves magic and fantasy. In every video her background is a wall of bookcases that are never overfilled, rather they are perfectly decorated for her quirky aesthetic. The shelves of her library are filled with a majority of beautiful hardcover books, interspersed with miniature figurines and random geometric objects that are color coded in such a way that any frame of the video is a fun moment.

This is starting to sound like I'm out to be critical of booktube and that's not the case. The point I'm making is that the image of the people in and thereby expectations for those participating in this space is constrained. Again, I'm not that deep with booktube and I'm fairly recent to the videos. I feel as though I'm watching a booktube video almost everyday. But the booktube girl is a lover a fiction.

I've seen a few videos where a booktuber reads a nonfiction books or a book of poetry, generally something outside of the norm. And I'm not here to push reading nonfiction books either. Reading is often an escape, not a reminder of reality. However, in reflecting on my own relationship to readership I find myself asking, myself, if I don't read a lot of fiction, am I actually reading for pleasure?

If I were the type of person to read academic journals and textbooks for pleasure (I am not this person, at least not on the regular) would I find myself alone in these social places? If not alone, how easy would it be for me to push myself as being the same as other, if not the popular voices? Can an academic reader be considered the a leisure reader? What would that look like?

I suppose in a sense the academic reader could do a TBR, but I expect that would boil down to looking forwards to studies and papers published. Maybe even a discussion of new statistical methods. The scandals with certain open-access and traditional journals and respective standards of publication perhaps? I doubt there'd be many haul videos. Or vlogging. 

Maybe in the future, when I read a study or a book in pdf form, maybe I will talk about it. Maybe I will be or become that person. But is that reading for leisure? If I read it because I'm interested, but my interest is partially professional, is it leisure reading? No, I don't think it is. But it is reading nonetheless.