Fall book recommendations from BookTok with Zoe Jackson
Zoe Jackson reviews books on TikTok @zoes_reads. She's also a reporter at the Star Tribune.
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There’s nothing like curling up on the couch with a good book, especially when the weather starts getting cooler. But there are so many books out there — it’s hard to know where to start.
Zoe Jackson reviews books @zoes_reads.
TikTok
For help, we’re turning to Zoe Jackson. Zoe reviews books on TikTok @zoes_reads, and on Instagram @libraryofzoe. She is also a race and immigration reporter for the Star Tribune.
“I’ll be 24 this year, so I love reading very self-reflective, introspective books,” she told host Cathy Wurzer.
Jackson talked to Wurzer about her thoughts on the “sad book” trend from the summer, book trends she anticipates this fall and what she’s looking forward to reading and her favorite recent reads.
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Books mentioned in the conversation
“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt
“Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
“Sirens and Muses” by Antonia Angress
“Bliss Montage” by Ling Ma
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.
Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: I am glad you're with us here on Minnesota Now. I'm Cathy Wurzer. Now you know there is nothing like curling up on the couch with a good book, especially when the weather starts getting cooler. And it already has. But there are so many books out there, it's hard to know where to start. For some help, we're turning to Zoe Jackson. Zoe reviews books on TikTok at zoes_reads, where she has nearly 30,000 followers. She's also a race and immigration reporter for the Star Tribune. Hey, Zoe. How are you?
ZOE JACKSON: I'm doing well. How are you, Cathy?
CATHY WURZER: Good. Let's start with a little bit about you and your love of reading. Who instilled that in you?
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, definitely grew up reading. My mom would joke that she like read books to me in the womb. So that was always funny. And I was that kid who would check out the max number of books from the library in the summer. And my parents would take me to the now defunct Borders on weekends. RIP. So definitely grew up reading. And college was when I really fell off for a while. And now I'm back, so that's good.
CATHY WURZER: Excellent. Say, why did you decide to start posting reviews on BookTok?
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, I feel like a lot of people, during COVID, I had extra time on my hands. And it was a weird time where I was starting my first job and finishing college. So I was on TikTok looking for books and looking for a hobby. And I was saving so much stuff on there that it was messing up my entire For You page. So I was like, I'll make a whole separate account. And then I can have all that book stuff in one place.
And eventually I was like, I'm going to Mager & Quinn. Why don't I take a couple of video clips on there? And I uploaded that and just started talking about books as I read them.
CATHY WURZER: Let's talk a little bit about what you look for in a good book. What draws you in?
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah. I mean, I love reading books by women and people of color and queer people. So I definitely like to read intentionally fairly diversely. And I'll be 24 this year, so I love reading very self-reflective, introspective books about young women and about how people live their lives. But I'm super open to reading all kinds of stuff.
CATHY WURZER: Because I'm a big nonfiction person. I'll read some fiction, but nonfiction's my thing. I don't know if it's because it's the journalist in me. I don't know.
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, I feel like for nonfiction, I'm more of a memoir person. Like I read Jeanette McCurdy's memoir this summer. Read Crying in H Mart last year when that was blowing up. I love memoir and stories about people. I like Joan Didion. But I feel like a 400 page nonfiction book, I'm like, it's not always dumb. My favorite.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah. Say, did you notice that what I would call sad books, I guess, for want of a better term, were really pretty popular in BookTok this summer? A lot of people rereading the Belle Jour, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Girl Interrupted. What do you think of that trend?
ZOE JACKSON: I mean, I feel like I was definitely a part of it, for better or worse. But I do feel like a lot of people have been struggling with their mental health, especially young people who have seen their whole worldview changed or what they thought they were going to be doing now is completely different than what they were doing pre-COVID.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, I hear that. When you do read those books, you get transported to a point where you can maybe learn from the characters in those books, right?
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, absolutely. And it helps you learn about yourself. It's helped me learn about myself. And I don't know, especially earlier in COVID when so many people are going through such big changes. I just moved here. Didn't know anyone. So it was just a way for me to learn more about myself and who I am as an adult who's not in school anymore, and that kind of thing, so.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, yeah. Say, let's talk about this fall. Obviously we're in October now. But what are you looking forward to reading this fall?
ZOE JACKSON: I am a big dark academia campus novel person. So I read The Secret History a few years ago. But I want to read The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt's other book. It's so long. It's 800 pages. So I feel like it's fun to carry around a big book in the fall that you've been reading for months. And maybe we may try to read-- me and some of my friends may try to read Anna Karenina as well. I also recently read Sirens and Muses by a local author, Antonia Angus. And that one is like, everyone needs to read that for fall. It has very just fall energy. So that's one that I've been recommending to everyone.
CATHY WURZER: This sounds like these are weighty books, you know?
ZOE JACKSON: That one's not as much. But I don't know, it's something about warm to have a heavy book with you in the fall, I feel like, versus summer paperbacks and romance and that kind of thing. At least that's how I read as a as a mood reader, so.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, so you're a mood readers. See, I've never heard that term before.
ZOE JACKSON: Well, some people on book social media are very intentional, like I need to read these 10 books. This one for whatever number it i. I'm like, I cannot do that. I walk up to my bookshelf and I just pick something. I treat my bookshelf like the sword. And I don't necessarily plan out what I'm going to read, except for maybe like, oh I know this book has like is set on a college campus in the fall. I'll read it this fall. That's all I do for like planning. And I guess I take suggestions from people. Can you read this, Zoe? I want you to talk about it.
CATHY WURZER: Any book trends you're anticipating this fall?
ZOE JACKSON: Trends. Yeah, I feel like the Dark Academia thing will be big again. Publishers are reaching out about that kind of book. I also feel like horror, literary horror adjacent books. I just read Bliss Montage, which came out, I think, two weeks ago. It's Ling Ma's short story collection. She wrote Severance, like the very scary book about the pandemic that came out in 2018 that was like about a pandemic, and it was very closely related to ours. It's crazy.
She took no interviews during 2020 because of how similar it was. But she just released a short story collection that has those similar very millennial fear horror adjacent vibes. And I loved it. And I'm not a short story person, but I read it in two sittings. Because it was that good. So I feel like that kind of literary horror in that it's not slasher. It's not scary, scary, but it's eerie will be a Tread.
CATHY WURZER: OK, that sounds interesting. I might have to even take a look at that one.
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah.
CATHY WURZER: Zoe, I appreciate your time. You had some great ideas here. It was fun talking to you, and I hope you join us again.
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. That was Zoe Jackson. Zoe reviews books on TikTok at @zoes_reads. She's also a race and immigration reporter for the STAR TRIBUNE we're going to have all of her suggestions from today plus links to find her on social media on our web site, mprnews.org. By the way, we would love to hear what you're reading this fall. So send us a note. Help me out. I need some suggestions here. As you know I do like nonfiction, so if you got a good nonfiction book, let me know. Minnesota Now at mpr.org.
ZOE JACKSON: I'm doing well. How are you, Cathy?
CATHY WURZER: Good. Let's start with a little bit about you and your love of reading. Who instilled that in you?
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, definitely grew up reading. My mom would joke that she like read books to me in the womb. So that was always funny. And I was that kid who would check out the max number of books from the library in the summer. And my parents would take me to the now defunct Borders on weekends. RIP. So definitely grew up reading. And college was when I really fell off for a while. And now I'm back, so that's good.
CATHY WURZER: Excellent. Say, why did you decide to start posting reviews on BookTok?
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, I feel like a lot of people, during COVID, I had extra time on my hands. And it was a weird time where I was starting my first job and finishing college. So I was on TikTok looking for books and looking for a hobby. And I was saving so much stuff on there that it was messing up my entire For You page. So I was like, I'll make a whole separate account. And then I can have all that book stuff in one place.
And eventually I was like, I'm going to Mager & Quinn. Why don't I take a couple of video clips on there? And I uploaded that and just started talking about books as I read them.
CATHY WURZER: Let's talk a little bit about what you look for in a good book. What draws you in?
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah. I mean, I love reading books by women and people of color and queer people. So I definitely like to read intentionally fairly diversely. And I'll be 24 this year, so I love reading very self-reflective, introspective books about young women and about how people live their lives. But I'm super open to reading all kinds of stuff.
CATHY WURZER: Because I'm a big nonfiction person. I'll read some fiction, but nonfiction's my thing. I don't know if it's because it's the journalist in me. I don't know.
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, I feel like for nonfiction, I'm more of a memoir person. Like I read Jeanette McCurdy's memoir this summer. Read Crying in H Mart last year when that was blowing up. I love memoir and stories about people. I like Joan Didion. But I feel like a 400 page nonfiction book, I'm like, it's not always dumb. My favorite.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah. Say, did you notice that what I would call sad books, I guess, for want of a better term, were really pretty popular in BookTok this summer? A lot of people rereading the Belle Jour, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Girl Interrupted. What do you think of that trend?
ZOE JACKSON: I mean, I feel like I was definitely a part of it, for better or worse. But I do feel like a lot of people have been struggling with their mental health, especially young people who have seen their whole worldview changed or what they thought they were going to be doing now is completely different than what they were doing pre-COVID.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, I hear that. When you do read those books, you get transported to a point where you can maybe learn from the characters in those books, right?
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, absolutely. And it helps you learn about yourself. It's helped me learn about myself. And I don't know, especially earlier in COVID when so many people are going through such big changes. I just moved here. Didn't know anyone. So it was just a way for me to learn more about myself and who I am as an adult who's not in school anymore, and that kind of thing, so.
CATHY WURZER: Yeah, yeah. Say, let's talk about this fall. Obviously we're in October now. But what are you looking forward to reading this fall?
ZOE JACKSON: I am a big dark academia campus novel person. So I read The Secret History a few years ago. But I want to read The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt's other book. It's so long. It's 800 pages. So I feel like it's fun to carry around a big book in the fall that you've been reading for months. And maybe we may try to read-- me and some of my friends may try to read Anna Karenina as well. I also recently read Sirens and Muses by a local author, Antonia Angus. And that one is like, everyone needs to read that for fall. It has very just fall energy. So that's one that I've been recommending to everyone.
CATHY WURZER: This sounds like these are weighty books, you know?
ZOE JACKSON: That one's not as much. But I don't know, it's something about warm to have a heavy book with you in the fall, I feel like, versus summer paperbacks and romance and that kind of thing. At least that's how I read as a as a mood reader, so.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, so you're a mood readers. See, I've never heard that term before.
ZOE JACKSON: Well, some people on book social media are very intentional, like I need to read these 10 books. This one for whatever number it i. I'm like, I cannot do that. I walk up to my bookshelf and I just pick something. I treat my bookshelf like the sword. And I don't necessarily plan out what I'm going to read, except for maybe like, oh I know this book has like is set on a college campus in the fall. I'll read it this fall. That's all I do for like planning. And I guess I take suggestions from people. Can you read this, Zoe? I want you to talk about it.
CATHY WURZER: Any book trends you're anticipating this fall?
ZOE JACKSON: Trends. Yeah, I feel like the Dark Academia thing will be big again. Publishers are reaching out about that kind of book. I also feel like horror, literary horror adjacent books. I just read Bliss Montage, which came out, I think, two weeks ago. It's Ling Ma's short story collection. She wrote Severance, like the very scary book about the pandemic that came out in 2018 that was like about a pandemic, and it was very closely related to ours. It's crazy.
She took no interviews during 2020 because of how similar it was. But she just released a short story collection that has those similar very millennial fear horror adjacent vibes. And I loved it. And I'm not a short story person, but I read it in two sittings. Because it was that good. So I feel like that kind of literary horror in that it's not slasher. It's not scary, scary, but it's eerie will be a Tread.
CATHY WURZER: OK, that sounds interesting. I might have to even take a look at that one.
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah.
CATHY WURZER: Zoe, I appreciate your time. You had some great ideas here. It was fun talking to you, and I hope you join us again.
ZOE JACKSON: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. That was Zoe Jackson. Zoe reviews books on TikTok at @zoes_reads. She's also a race and immigration reporter for the STAR TRIBUNE we're going to have all of her suggestions from today plus links to find her on social media on our web site, mprnews.org. By the way, we would love to hear what you're reading this fall. So send us a note. Help me out. I need some suggestions here. As you know I do like nonfiction, so if you got a good nonfiction book, let me know. Minnesota Now at mpr.org.
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