If you’ve spent any time on TikTok this month, you may have stumbled across a phrase that feels oddly freeing in its simplicity: 365 buttons. No clear instructions. No tidy explanation. Just a quiet refusal to justify why something matters to you.
The meme began when a TikTok user named Tamara casually mentioned collecting 365 buttons — one for each day of the year — as a way to stay conscious of time. When people pressed her for details (What kind of buttons? What do you do with them?), her response was even simpler: It only has to make sense to me.
And just like that, a life motto was born.
In a world obsessed with productivity hacks, optimization and explain-yourself energy, 365 buttons struck a nerve. It permitted people to hold meaning privately, to create rituals without audience approval, but more importantly to care deeply about something without turning it into a pitch deck.
At BookTrib, we couldn’t help but see ourselves in that impulse — especially when it comes to reading. After all, some of the most powerful books we love don’t always come with a clean elevator pitch. They linger. They unsettle. They resonate for reasons we can’t fully articulate — and shouldn’t have to.
That’s where this list comes in.
Inspired by the spirit of 365 buttons, we decided to share books that only had to make sense to us. Books we loved fiercely, irrationally, or intuitively.
No trends. No algorithms. No justification required.
Just books that matter to us.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Just trust me.
~ Barbara, sales & business development
When the Museum Is Closed by Emi Yagi (translated by Yuki Tejima)
If you get it, you get it.
~ Cammy, social media strategist & visual designer
Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill
Hey, so actually it only has to make sense to me 💓
~ Camryn, social media and digital marketing
I’m Afraid of Men. by Vivek Shraya
Enough said.
~ Kendall, graphic designer and publicist
Bread of Angels by Patti Smith
Patti Smith … need I say more?
~ Lillian, publicist
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Even if I knew why, I don’t have the energy to explain.
~ Monique, assistant editor
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Explaining this would just be another task. I’d rather do nothing.
~ Natalie, publicist & social media star
