15 Bookish Terms You Need to Know When Joining The Book Community
When I first started to get involved with the book community, there were bookish terms people used that I had never heard of before, even as a life long reader. Such as TBR, DNF, ARC and more. Now I use these terms all the time and forget that my family and friends have no idea what I’m talking about. That’s why I’ve put together this helpful guide (in alphabetical order) to help you understand phrases you may come across so that you can feel confident joining the book community.
ARC/ALC (photo: ereader/book/headphones)
An ARC stand for Advanced Readers Copy and an ALC stand for Advanced Listeners Copy. The ALC is for audiobooks and the ARC is for ebooks or physical books. These terms are used to describe an early copy of a book from the author given to a reviewer who will read/listen and review the book early.
Backlist
A backlist is an author’s book list that does not include their newest release. When I discover a new author I love, its so much fun to go back and read through their backlist. I also enjoy reading through an author’s backlist in anticipation of an upcoming new release, particularly when it’s part of a series.
BookTube/Bookstagram/BookTok
These are book community spaces on social media. BookTube is bookish YouTube content creators. Bookstagram is Instagram. BookTok is TikTok. You get the point.
Buddy Read/Readalong (photo: friends reading)
Buddy reads are so much fun! This is when you and a friend pick a book to read together and then talk about it! You can do this with in real life friends or with online friends.
Readalongs often involve a few more people and it’s when you decide to read a specific series or author each month (like a book club but not random books each month).
CW/TW
CW means Content Warning and TW means Trigger Warning. These are often used interchangeably to describe heavier content in a book that may be hard for some readers to read. They can deal with mental health issues like depression, sexual assault, or physical issues like body image and weight.
Readers will include these warnings in their reviews to give other readers the chance to decide if a book will be a good fit for them. It’s all about helping each other read what we are comfortable with.
DNF (soft vs. Hard)
Another phrase you will come across a lot is DNF which stands for Did Not Finish. It is often said as “I DNFed that book” meaning I stopped reading it. Not every book will work for every reader, so it’s totally okay to stop reading a book if you aren’t enjoying it. I’m not the best at this but I am trying to get better.
There are two types of DNFs: soft and hard. A soft DNF would be putting the book down for now but intending to come back to it later. This could be because you just aren’t in the mood or perhaps it doesn’t fit with your life circumstances at that moment. For example, reading a long book or a book with harder language when you don’t have the mental capacity.
A hard DNF is when you stop reading the book and do not intend to come back to it or give it another chance. This is often because you do not like the plot, genre, characters, etc. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, but that it’s just not for you. After all, there are so many books you might as well read one you enjoy.
Hauls and Unhauls (photo: bag of books)
A book haul refers to new books that a person as gotten. This could be books they have bought for themselves, received as gifts, or even books a person got from a library (a library book haul).
On the flip side, an unhaul is when a person gets rid of their books. Often people will get rid of books they don’t want to read or don’t like very much in order to make room for new books. A creative twist is a library unhaul which is returning a large pile of books back to the library after you’ve read them.
Mood Reader
A mood reader is someone who will decide what book to read next based on their mood. They won’t make (or stick to) any lists for themselves. They don’t follow a TBR list and find them restricting.
Reading Slump
This is one that no reader wants to go through but it’s inevitable. A reading slump is when you fall into not reading much or at all and have no desire to pick up the book you were reading or to start something new. It is often caused by reading a book you don’t like or not knowing what to pick up next.
Reading Sprints
Reading sprints are common on YouTube and they became my favourite thing once I discovered them. A YouTuber will go live on their channel and you can join in the chat. There will be some time to talk and then time set aside where everyone reads. Whatever they want. Together. Doesn’t it sound nice?! Afterwards, you come back and talk about what everyone was reading. And then maybe do it again!
Shelfie (photo: picture of bookshelf)
This is a picture taken of your bookshelf/bookshelves. There are so many ways to organize books that it’s always fun to see what other people’s look like.
TBR (Photo: stack of books)
A TBR stands for To Be Read. It refers to the books someone is planning to read. This could be in general like marking a book on Goodreads as Want to Read, or could be more specific like a monthly or weekly collection of books you want to read.
There are many ways to track your To Be Read list. Some just need a list on Goodreads or a list in a notebook/reading journal. For readers who read a lot, they will often talk about a TBR Pile or Cart. You can pile a few books on your nightstand or add some to a wheeled cart. Collect the books you want to read in a month or for a specific season. You can pick from that stack when it’s time to choose a new book. You can read all the books or just some. It’s totally up to you!
Trope
A trope is a plot element or theme that is used. These are common and recognizable to a reader. They can be genre specific or occur across multiple genres. They help readers decide if they would like a certain book. Examples include: found family, enemies-to-lovers, love triangle, the chosen one, ametuer sleuth, detective story, etc.
Wrap ups
When start following your book friends and content creators, you’ll see them post their wrap ups. This is the collection of books they have read, typically over a month, but sometimes over a week too if they read a lot of books. Wrap ups often come in the form of YouTube videos or Instagram story graphics.
Conclusion
I hope this list helped you learn something new. There are so many bookish terms out there that I’ve only scratched the surface. The more you get involved the more you will learn. What are some of your favourite bookish terms or ones you want to know about?
