The appeal is partly the acknowledgement of the weird landscape of social media, where you can be guilty by association by following someone without knowing everything they’ve ever done or said, but also — in this case — in the aha moment of understanding the allusion. As always, if you want the whole history of where this started, you can check out Know Your Meme, along with lots of non-bookish examples. But why slog through general references when you can get this curated list of all bookish ones? The September incarnation of this meme started with a Yu-Gi-Oh! reference: It’s not a bookish Twitter meme without William Carlos Williams. — meaning machine (@EricThurm) September 5, 2021 Fairy tale and mythological characters also got in on the action. — Tea Berry-Blue (@teaberryblue) September 9, 2021 “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe was a popular choice to cancel, and is it a bookish memes list without SparkNotes? — Brona C. Titley (@bronactitley) September 8, 2021 — old tom (@YuckyTom) September 8, 2021 — chunky fila (@chunkyfila) September 8, 2021 — Graham (@blessedorkirst) September 8, 2021 In retrospect, Willy Wonka was definitely problematic. — SparkNotes (@SparkNotes) September 7, 2021 You can’t even enjoy a nice piece of jewelry without being complicit in evil. — josh (@imjoshhbu) September 8, 2021 Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events may be a great actor, but he’s a pretty bad dude. — anna 🏹 (@myelessar) September 8, 2021 How was I supposed to know to be suspicious of someone named Cruella De Vil? — viking (@notviking) September 9, 2021 — eli likes the matrix (@heymisterwallet) September 9, 2021 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde had its moment, too. — the hype (@TheHyyyype) September 8, 2021 You take candy from strangers one time and suddenly you’re betraying your family and also the entire kingdom of Narnia. — Andrew Nadeau (@TheAndrewNadeau) September 8, 2021 I can’t resist a Holes by Louis Sachar joke. — J.R.R. Jokin (@joshcarlosjosh) September 8, 2021 And here’s another middle grade book reference, this time from Coraline by Neil Gaiman. — Vinny Thomas (@vinn_ayy) September 9, 2021 I had to include this two-for-one take on horror classics! — 🍊 (@kassneck) September 9, 2021 The Princess Bride by William Goldman should really come with a warning that it’s a kissing book. — ashia monet 🌙🕯 (@AshiaMonet) September 9, 2021 Can we really trust Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz? — ⚔️ Cate Pearce ✝️🏳️🌈 (@cate_pearce) September 9, 2021 It’s not just manga references: superhero comics get a shoutout with this Batman take. — Amanda (@Pandamoanimum) September 8, 2021 And finally, that awkward moment when you are just celebrating the joy of clowns and it turns out to be Pennywise. — Moon-faced Assassin of Joy (@NomeDaBarbarian) September 9, 2021 Looking for more bookish Twitter round ups? Check out If Romance Novels Have Taught Me Anything (A Tweet Round Up) and Being Vaccinated Does NOT Mean (Bookish Edition). — skáld (@HoratioSkald) September 9, 2021
