Johanna Blom, 27, a newly qualified social worker, found her way back to reading thanks to TikTok and a poorly recorded audiobook. As a teenager, she had devoured "Divergent" and "Twilight" but then moved on to other things.
Two years ago, she bought a paperback book by Sarah J Maas and was hooked.
In a short time, she went from zero to 14 books a month and now has a tablet in her bag.
"It's gone very quickly, but now I'm between graduation and a new job. Maybe it won't be as much when I start working full-time," she says.
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Her partner has caught her joy of reading, and together with her grandmother, Johanna Blom recently listened to a reading of "The Cranes Are Flying South". Since this summer, followers and comments have been accumulating on her profile page "nestasbooktok" and right now she is reading her favorite series, Irish author Chloe Walsh's "Boys of Tommen", once again.
She says there is violence in close relationships, abuse and "all client groups" in the social work profession.
"I like romance that deals with real problems."
Come in pairs
When Malin Andersson and Maria Nilsson at Gothenburg City Library organize silent group readings, so-called "deep readings", a striking number of participants are between 20 and 30 years old. Young readers bring their books, sometimes in pairs.
The aim is to find calm for reading through a light constraint, and young participants in particular have said that they want to put aside their mobile phones.
"I think many young people feel that they have been a little cheated," says Maria Nilsson, whose silent in-depth readings have now spread to other libraries.
Every month
Isabella Reinhold Carlsson, 20, found her book club via Booktok. As a recently moved student at JMG in Gothenburg, she was included in an existing book club - they meet in person once a month.
At 16, she rediscovered her childhood passion for reading when Harry Styles was cast in the film adaptation of Bethan Roberts' novel "My Policeman." Isabella Reinhold Carlsson started reading it; the following year she plowed through 100 books. Now she has calmed down, but as the Booktok profile "bellalovesbooks" she herself inspires 7,800 followers.
"I'm so fascinated that we can write fictional stories. It's so cool that a human being sat down and wrote this, and that I can feel all the emotions, get attached to the characters and feel like I'm there."
Erika Josefsson/TT
Facts: Young people's reading
TT
Young adults read less than other age groups - at the same time, 86 percent of them want to read more than they do. This is shown in the Book Barometer 2025, a survey commissioned by the Swedish Publishers Association, based on survey responses from 1,003 people, 181 of whom were in the 18 to 29 age group. The report's authors highlight the importance of strong reading experiences in school.
According to the Swedish Media Authority's report "Youth & Media 2025", the proportion of 17- to 18-year-olds who read newspapers or books daily has decreased from 14 to 11 percent between 2022 and 2024.
But the proportion who think they spend too little time on books and magazines has increased from 56 to 57 percent.
The 2022 PISA survey showed that the reading comprehension of Swedish ninth-graders has dropped to the lowest level in the 21st century. Ireland is the best in Europe in reading comprehension.
