Let’s Talk Bookish:  Book Hype | 7/11/25

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme originally created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits, where every Friday, bloggers write discussion posts based on a weekly prompt and Dini @ dinipandareads has cohosted since the beginning of 2025.

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This week’s topic is:

July 11: Book Hype (Melanie @ Melanie’s Book Blog)

Prompts: Has the hype ever ruined a book for you? Has the hype ever made a book better for you? Do you like lesser-known reads, and finding a gem of a book that no one’s heard of? Or do you prefer to read the more popular, mainstream books? Where are the majority of the books you read, in terms of popularity? 

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Has the hype ever ruined a book for you? Has the hype ever made a book better for you?

Yes hype has ruined a book for me AND made a book better. At the end of the day, if I like a book, I like it. If I don’t because the writing just isn’t something I vibe with then I just don’t. Hype can be fun though! I think Fourth Wing was one book where the hype was crazy and I jumped early into the hype and loved it – unfortunately as a series I’m not loving it as much I did as when I read the first book but I’m hoping things change. There are a few books on booktok, which has soooo much hype though, and they have fallen short of my expectations. I definitely am the type of person who will try a book out because of the hype though.

Do you like lesser-known reads, and finding a gem of a book that no one’s heard of?

I do like lesser-known reads because then you don’t quite have the hardcore fandom hyping it up or people coming hard for it because they are not in the fandom. 😅 I can like or not like a book in peace.

Or do you prefer to read the more popular, mainstream books?

I love it all, popular mainstream and lesser-known reads!

Where are the majority of the books you read, in terms of popularity? 

Majority of books I read are popular I’d say but maybe I’d say 60% popular – 40% lesser known reads. At least that’s what I think.

July Topics:

July 4: Duologies vs. Trilogies

  Prompts: Do you prefer duologies or trilogies, and why? What are the pros and cons of having two books vs. three books in a series? What are some of your favourite duologies and/or trilogies? Do you think there are benefits to these shorter series, compared to ones with 4+ books, or are fewer books limiting?

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July 11: Book Hype (Melanie @ Melanie’s Book Blog)

  Prompts: Has the hype ever ruined a book for you? Has the hype ever made a book better for you? Do you like lesser-known reads, and finding a gem of a book that no one’s heard of? Or do you prefer to read the more popular, mainstream books? Where are the majority of the books you read, in terms of popularity? 

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July 18: Reading Beyond Books

  Prompts: What do you read other than books? Do you like non-novel forms of literature, like poetry and plays? Do you read a lot of news articles, op-eds, or essays? Do novels make up most of your reading, or is it a mix of those other kinds of writing? Do you ever listen to podcasts in place of audiobooks?

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July 25: The Elusive 5-star Read

  Prompts: What makes a book a 5-star read for you? Do you give books 5 stars easily, or are you more selective with them? What are your all-time favourite “can’t-live-can’t-breathe-without-them” 5-star reads? Is there anything that makes a book automatically 5 stars for you? Or the opposite — what makes you drop to 4 stars?