jack!! my parents are the first publishers of girl is a half-formed thing - i'm so glad you're reading it!! they run a small publishing company called galley beggar press :)) i also chose what colour (red) to do the font on the original covers i'm pretty sure when i was little haha i love your videos and i hope you like the book
Despite the hard topic it covers, My Dark Vanessa is a new favourite of mine. I think it handled the topic well and really made you feel sooo many emotions while reading it. I cried my eyes out when she finally started to realise what he had done to her and how manipulative he really was throughout their “relationship”.
My Dark Vanessa! Yess, that one was so good! Favourite of last year! Great books here. I'll start following Dakota, sounds like her library's full of literary gems yet to be discovered. :)
I read My Dark Vanessa at Dakota's recommendation, and it really is a book that makes you stare at the wall for a long time. It is a harrowing book that really made me squirm at some points, but I'm all the more... informed after reading it. 5 stars all around, and a new favourite.
Really been loving these one-take videos lately. This one and the other video on your main channel where you review 10 books in 10 minutes with a timer... god that was good.
I CANNOT wait for your review of My Dark Vanessa! One of my fave reads from last year. I ugly cried my way through it. Definitely an emotional and moving read.
I am officially an emotional mess after watching Tobie Donovan’s last day of being on the set of ‘HEARTSTOPPER’ and now Jack has a new video out. I’m going to be a puddle till the next day.
Super excited to check these out, already landed on my StoryGraph☺️ I am going to continue to recommend Greenglass House to you now, even though it’s still summer, but it is the cosiest, most fitting book to read on a dark winter night and I would hate for you to miss out on that atmosphere🙈
Totally agree with My Dark Vanessa recommendation. I wanted to read it a couple years ago but put it off and finally read it this year and I still think about it all the time. Love Carmilla too, I wrote about it in my dissertation
OMG! Didn't know I needed this video but my heart ❤️ I just yesterday discovered her Channel and watched so much videos and she inspired me to read so many books I have know on my tbr. So this video today just made my day!
it's so strange to me that you guys are friend but i absolutely love it! I've been watching both of you for a while now and the fact you guys are interacting somehow is strange but it is one of the greatest things to have happened this year
oh god i love my dark vanessa!!! it was such a tough read but so so worth it. the way kate elizabeth russell writes is absolutely beautiful and the way she depicts such awful things in still such a heartfelt and heartbreaking way was such an experience to read!!! love love love that book
oh my goodness, that copy of carmilla is stunning. i personally own the illustrated edition that carmen maria machado wrote the introduction for (i believe noelle gallagher has that specific edition) but now i want this one. it's one of my favourite books, very formative and influential for me.
I love so much that you and Dakota are friends. I adore her channel. Carmilla is one of my favorite books of all time and I have My Dark Vanessa sitting on my shelf as a result of Dakota's recommendation.
I recognized “a girl os a half-formed thing” by its cover when you picked up the books and that’s when i started being super excited about this video. Wrote my dissertation on that book and never met anyone who read it. Lol.
I still have the book "In a Glass Darkly" which contains the five short stories by the author of which Carmilla is the last. It was one of the books selected for a literature course I took during the '80's. I wouldn't say it is a long book either. I still can't get my head around the stories being broken up and this now considered a novella. It seems publishers are binding a lot of author's grouped stories separately now. Maybe people like saying they've read 5 books instead of one, even if that is equally as much reading. So profit can be made selling small separate selections. In this case I think reading all 5 short stories is still better as the mood is set with the author's prior stories and makes this last that little bit better a reading experience and great finale.
I have on multiple occasions read a book or more a day (one if my favourite times: 3 900-page books over a weekend), and it’s weirdly… very satisfying? I have faith that you’ll manage!
Carmilla isn’t the first vampire story. The first one is The Vampyre by John Polidori. It was written when Mary Shelley was staying with him, her husband and Lord Byron in a house for the summer in Austria. They decided to have a ghost-writing contest which resulted in both Frankenstein and The Vampyre.
Oh 😳 my ...the reviews for Indelicacy are so Exquisite!! I think it might leave me feeling ecstatic, I love dracula too and his graceful looking brides. This video was so exciting
if you’re planning a book everyday for july, i have a few shorter pieces of lit to recommend which would be easily read in a day: i remember abby buy azad madonna in a fur coat by ali a dolls house by ibsen chronicle of a death foretold by marquez i hope you see this - most are about 150 or so pages :)
this collection of books is reminding me of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet (beginning with My Brilliant Friend). Not sure if you've read the quarter, or even just the first one, but I think it's something you'd like Jack (and anyone who likes books like the ones in this vid). It also hits on your goal to read more translated novels since the originals were written in Italian.
Ooh I've heard McBride's novel is very harrowing but gorgeously written. So random to see two fab booktubers that always lived in different corners of my brain connect!
I know everyone is saying it already but my dark Vanessa is so good. So good. It presents such a nuanced way of looking at things and it's heartbreaking and it's just fantastic. Can't wait for you to read it!!!!
oh my god... i didn't expect My Dark Vanessa... I read it early this year... nd I just paused the vdo so i could write that I felt exactly the same reading this book... like i was carrying this book with me everywhere I went without even carrying it physically??? if that makes sense. I was left feeling so heavy nd full of emotions i can't describe...Nd the writing Oh gosh...it's beyond threshold tho i don't usually recommend this book bc of the tws...but this is THE book for me. So I'm really liking her taste I'll definitely read the rest she told for sure.
If you've been following Dakota for a while seeing Carmilla on this list is not a surprise lol. I also read that book bc of her rec and I love it! Gay vampires forever!!!!
This is so funny as one of my friends just told me about Carmilla YESTERDAY and I also had no idea it existed. So I screamed when I saw the cover you were holding up and had to text her immediately. Also excited to read it especially being about a female vampire
If you're trying to read 30 books for July, may I recommend you poetry? Since it's shorter, you might find it best to balance longer books with it! Personal faves are T.S Eliot's Collected Poems (the newest hardcover edition from 2009 by Faber&Faber is gorgeous) or either one of Richard Siken's collections: 'Crush' or 'War of the foxes'. I really think Siken's poetry is best read in one sitting (or very close in time) since he has the habit of relating and interweaving poems of a same collection in kind of a plot-like manner. So very fitting if you're trying to get it done in one day!
Last year I actually managed to read 31 books in July! I didn’t plan it at first, but I just listened to A LOT of audio books when I was working. Would probably never manage it with only physical books
Hi Jack! I have actually read Carmilla before and enjoyed it. I ended up giving it 3 out of 5 stars in my review on Goodreads. There is another Vampire book out that I believe was written before Carmilla even, and that is The Vampyre by John William Polidori, although that one was way too short for my liking. If I understood the dates they were written, in order from earliest to latest, it would be The Vampyre, followed by Carmilla, and then Bram Stoker's Dracula. Another good vampire novel I loved was Dracul by Dacre Stoker. I hope you enjoy Carmilla and that's such a beautiful copy of that book as well!
My Dark Vanessa is an incredible book, but be prepared to be deeply disgusted and disturbed… It’s truly dark. Thanks for the recs! I’ll be adding all those books to my TBR (Carmilla’s cover is GORGEOUS 😍)
30 books in 30 days in july..... I don't know if you forgot there's 31 days in july or if you just gave yourself a free day but damn rooting for you king
So excited to see what you think of Carmilla! Also, don't worry about being a parody of yourself- i work in a bookstore coffee shop, and on my days off my go to things to do are- go to a bookstore. and a coffee shop. You're in good company!
So excited for you to read My Dark Vanessa! It covers such a hard and difficult topic but it does it actually well. My favorite book I've read this year, tied with Upstream. Pro tip : when you're reading My Dark Vanessa, (if you can listen to music while reading or listen to music to set the mood before reading) , listen to All Too Well 10 minute version. The book embodies the song in every way.
yes Carmilla !! i studied it in college this year and it's such a good short novel (liked it especially bc i'm a lesbian lmao), can't wait to see what you think about it :))
Wow.. I already read 'A girl is a half formed thing' and 'My dark Vanessa'.. Both are good.. If you love complication,pain,flood of emotion,Vanessa is your on the go..
Love Dakota and her recommendations but I controversially thought My Dark Vanessa fell short of what it could have been. I'll keep an eye out for the others though :)
my dark vanessa is soooo good! it's disturbing but thought-provoking. after i finished the book my head hurts and i just have lots of thoughts in my mind so i just went and write them down and i cant stop writing bc there was so many thoughts, mostly about victimhood. it's an absolute 5 stars from me :D i hope you'll like it as well
I would absolutely loose my mind if u made a video reading all the books mentioned in Jane the virgin, including snow falling (the one that jane wrote)
I read My Dark Vanessa on Merphy Napier’s recommendation and really liked it. I didn’t have such a strong reaction that it seems to give a lot of its readers, but I am dead inside so… Also, I discovered Dakota last week and immediately subscribed to her. And now everywhere I go I keep hearing about Carmilla. What is this sorcery?
jack!! my parents are the first publishers of girl is a half-formed thing - i'm so glad you're reading it!! they run a small publishing company called galley beggar press :))
i also chose what colour (red) to do the font on the original covers i'm pretty sure when i was little haha
i love your videos and i hope you like the book
WOAH!!!! that is so cool! can't wait to sink my teeth into this one!!
Shut your actual face Polly he replied
@@jack_in_the_books yess! i hope you like it
Cough cough just saying they published my dads book soo
OMG HEYY
Chaos Level 1000: Jack making a video before he has to leave the house in 12 minutes and also maybe not charging his camera battery.
Despite the hard topic it covers, My Dark Vanessa is a new favourite of mine. I think it handled the topic well and really made you feel sooo many emotions while reading it. I cried my eyes out when she finally started to realise what he had done to her and how manipulative he really was throughout their “relationship”.
I read My Dark Vanessa a couple years ago and I still think about it frequently today. It really is a book that will stay with you forever.
dakota and jack 's interactions >>>
and you won't ever change my mind
the lesbians invented dracula and vampires confirmed. i'm so proud of us
My Dark Vanessa! Yess, that one was so good! Favourite of last year! Great books here. I'll start following Dakota, sounds like her library's full of literary gems yet to be discovered. :)
She's incredible! I think I follow her for a year now, she's my role model in life
My Dark Vanessa - get ready to literally sob! That book broke my heart but is also some of the best writing I've ever seen.
I read My Dark Vanessa at Dakota's recommendation, and it really is a book that makes you stare at the wall for a long time. It is a harrowing book that really made me squirm at some points, but I'm all the more... informed after reading it. 5 stars all around, and a new favourite.
Really been loving these one-take videos lately. This one and the other video on your main channel where you review 10 books in 10 minutes with a timer... god that was good.
‘Indelicacy’ by Amina Cain sounds like a brilliant book. The description has all of us in the palm of the author’s hand.
you bring the readings and reviews to life - makes me so excited to read, thanks
I CANNOT wait for your review of My Dark Vanessa! One of my fave reads from last year. I ugly cried my way through it. Definitely an emotional and moving read.
I am officially an emotional mess after watching Tobie Donovan’s last day of being on the set of ‘HEARTSTOPPER’ and now Jack has a new video out. I’m going to be a puddle till the next day.
I love how the book spines literally match the artwork on your walls!
Super excited to check these out, already landed on my StoryGraph☺️ I am going to continue to recommend Greenglass House to you now, even though it’s still summer, but it is the cosiest, most fitting book to read on a dark winter night and I would hate for you to miss out on that atmosphere🙈
Totally agree with My Dark Vanessa recommendation. I wanted to read it a couple years ago but put it off and finally read it this year and I still think about it all the time. Love Carmilla too, I wrote about it in my dissertation
had a rly bad depression day today nd ur videos always make me smile. perfect timing
OMG! Didn't know I needed this video but my heart ❤️ I just yesterday discovered her Channel and watched so much videos and she inspired me to read so many books I have know on my tbr. So this video today just made my day!
“A girl is a half formed thing.”, said Greek Philosophers and Incels unironically at some point.
The collab I never knew I needed
Loveeee them both!
dakota and jack are such a dynamic duo that i fully trust with book reccomendations
it's so strange to me that you guys are friend but i absolutely love it!
I've been watching both of you for a while now and the fact you guys are interacting somehow is strange but it is one of the greatest things to have happened this year
i loved carmilla !! such a light read and made my little wlw heart so happy
haven’t heard of dakota before, but just subscribed to her, and she’s managed to hit 100k since you posted this! massive congrats to her :)
oh god i love my dark vanessa!!! it was such a tough read but so so worth it. the way kate elizabeth russell writes is absolutely beautiful and the way she depicts such awful things in still such a heartfelt and heartbreaking way was such an experience to read!!! love love love that book
You and Dakota are the two people I never saw being friends even though you both have beautiful taste in books?!!
I love you guys both soo muchhh
I’m so happy you’re reading Indelicacy! That book got me back into writing💛
Uff yess!! have fun reading these they are amazing
Idk why but i find something bout your voice so calming ...free therapy right there
oh my goodness, that copy of carmilla is stunning. i personally own the illustrated edition that carmen maria machado wrote the introduction for (i believe noelle gallagher has that specific edition) but now i want this one. it's one of my favourite books, very formative and influential for me.
Omg i was expecting this thanks I love bout of you, Dakota and Jack are some of my favorite booktubers
I love so much that you and Dakota are friends. I adore her channel. Carmilla is one of my favorite books of all time and I have My Dark Vanessa sitting on my shelf as a result of Dakota's recommendation.
Thank you for allowing me to start my day with this 💌
My dark Vanessa is so heartbreaking but so beautifully written. I’m curious to see your review for it!
Amazing!!! Love Jack and Dakota 💖 lol super cool in edited fun bookish video
So excited for you to read my dark Vanessa- hardest but most brilliant book I’ve read this year!
Highly recommend A girl is half-formed thing. It's written from the point of view from the main character's internal monologue. So good
I recognized “a girl os a half-formed thing” by its cover when you picked up the books and that’s when i started being super excited about this video. Wrote my dissertation on that book and never met anyone who read it. Lol.
Good luck with My Dark Vanessa, that book destroyed me I literally couldn’t even finish it 😭
I love Javks content, it makes me feel calm! I dont know what i would watch if it wasnt for his chanel
I still have the book "In a Glass Darkly" which contains the five short stories by the author of which Carmilla is the last. It was one of the books selected for a literature course I took during the '80's. I wouldn't say it is a long book either. I still can't get my head around the stories being broken up and this now considered a novella.
It seems publishers are binding a lot of author's grouped stories separately now. Maybe people like saying they've read 5 books instead of one, even if that is equally as much reading. So profit can be made selling small separate selections.
In this case I think reading all 5 short stories is still better as the mood is set with the author's prior stories and makes this last that little bit better a reading experience and great finale.
I have on multiple occasions read a book or more a day (one if my favourite times: 3 900-page books over a weekend), and it’s weirdly… very satisfying? I have faith that you’ll manage!
The outside time and place aspect of Indelicacy was such a mind bender, I loved it.
Already excited for that video of 30 books in July!!
Carmilla isn’t the first vampire story. The first one is The Vampyre by John Polidori. It was written when Mary Shelley was staying with him, her husband and Lord Byron in a house for the summer in Austria. They decided to have a ghost-writing contest which resulted in both Frankenstein and The Vampyre.
ur videos make my day, i try to read every book you recommend
NO BECAUSE THIS WAS THE COLLAB WE ALL DESPERATELY NEEDED AAAAAAAAAAAAA IM JUST SOBBING PURE TEARS OF JOY
Oh 😳 my ...the reviews for Indelicacy are so Exquisite!!
I think it might leave me feeling ecstatic, I love dracula too and his graceful looking brides.
This video was so exciting
omg carmilla was made into a webseries on youtube a couple of years ago, and i read it after seeing the series, can highly recommend!!!
my dark vanessa is soooo good!! page turner!! literally had a book hangover couldn’t stop thinking about it
my two favorite book tubers know each other! what a small world
if you’re planning a book everyday for july, i have a few shorter pieces of lit to recommend which would be easily read in a day:
i remember abby buy azad
madonna in a fur coat by ali
a dolls house by ibsen
chronicle of a death foretold by marquez
i hope you see this - most are about 150 or so pages :)
this collection of books is reminding me of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet (beginning with My Brilliant Friend). Not sure if you've read the quarter, or even just the first one, but I think it's something you'd like Jack (and anyone who likes books like the ones in this vid). It also hits on your goal to read more translated novels since the originals were written in Italian.
loved my dark Vanessa! so well written
Ooh I've heard McBride's novel is very harrowing but gorgeously written. So random to see two fab booktubers that always lived in different corners of my brain connect!
I know everyone is saying it already but my dark Vanessa is so good. So good. It presents such a nuanced way of looking at things and it's heartbreaking and it's just fantastic. Can't wait for you to read it!!!!
i am literally so in love with the both of you
oh my god... i didn't expect My Dark Vanessa... I read it early this year... nd I just paused the vdo so i could write that I felt exactly the same reading this book... like i was carrying this book with me everywhere I went without even carrying it physically??? if that makes sense. I was left feeling so heavy nd full of emotions i can't describe...Nd the writing Oh gosh...it's beyond threshold tho i don't usually recommend this book bc of the tws...but this is THE book for me.
So I'm really liking her taste I'll definitely read the rest she told for sure.
If you've been following Dakota for a while seeing Carmilla on this list is not a surprise lol. I also read that book bc of her rec and I love it! Gay vampires forever!!!!
My Dark Vanessa is my new all time fave. I even wrote an essay on it for uni.
This is so funny as one of my friends just told me about Carmilla YESTERDAY and I also had no idea it existed. So I screamed when I saw the cover you were holding up and had to text her immediately. Also excited to read it especially being about a female vampire
I read My Dark Vanessa last year and absolutly loved it. So heartbreaking but so worth it
dakota and jack are my favourite youtubers and this video is gold 💕
This week's videos - with the 10-minute challenge and this one - are giving "running a race against time and looking good while doing it"
If you're trying to read 30 books for July, may I recommend you poetry? Since it's shorter, you might find it best to balance longer books with it! Personal faves are T.S Eliot's Collected Poems (the newest hardcover edition from 2009 by Faber&Faber is gorgeous) or either one of Richard Siken's collections: 'Crush' or 'War of the foxes'. I really think Siken's poetry is best read in one sitting (or very close in time) since he has the habit of relating and interweaving poems of a same collection in kind of a plot-like manner. So very fitting if you're trying to get it done in one day!
Last year I actually managed to read 31 books in July! I didn’t plan it at first, but I just listened to A LOT of audio books when I was working. Would probably never manage it with only physical books
I’ve never heard of Indelicacy until now and I’ll definitely have to add it to my TBR
I am watching this on the 26th of June but I will absolutely join you on the madness that is 30 books in 30 days in July.
Hi Jack! I have actually read Carmilla before and enjoyed it. I ended up giving it 3 out of 5 stars in my review on Goodreads. There is another Vampire book out that I believe was written before Carmilla even, and that is The Vampyre by John William Polidori, although that one was way too short for my liking. If I understood the dates they were written, in order from earliest to latest, it would be The Vampyre, followed by Carmilla, and then Bram Stoker's Dracula. Another good vampire novel I loved was Dracul by Dacre Stoker. I hope you enjoy Carmilla and that's such a beautiful copy of that book as well!
Adding all of this to my already long tbr
I watch both of you, but didn't know you were good friends! That's so nice.
Can we talk about the cover of Carmilla??? It’s stunning!
I added carmilla to my tbr when Dakota talked about it - maybe July is finally the month to read it!
My Dark Vanessa is an incredible book, but be prepared to be deeply disgusted and disturbed… It’s truly dark.
Thanks for the recs! I’ll be adding all those books to my TBR (Carmilla’s cover is GORGEOUS 😍)
30 books in 30 days in july..... I don't know if you forgot there's 31 days in july or if you just gave yourself a free day but damn rooting for you king
Jack is a One-Take Wonder and we love to see it haha
So excited to see what you think of Carmilla!
Also, don't worry about being a parody of yourself- i work in a bookstore coffee shop, and on my days off my go to things to do are- go to a bookstore. and a coffee shop. You're in good company!
So excited for you to read My Dark Vanessa! It covers such a hard and difficult topic but it does it actually well. My favorite book I've read this year, tied with Upstream.
Pro tip : when you're reading My Dark Vanessa, (if you can listen to music while reading or listen to music to set the mood before reading) , listen to All Too Well 10 minute version. The book embodies the song in every way.
My Dark Vanessa is incredible. It's a book that I still think about. A tough read, but an important one.
Out of Context Jack Edwards: “Who is writing these descriptions and why am I in the palm of their hands?”
yes Carmilla !! i studied it in college this year and it's such a good short novel (liked it especially bc i'm a lesbian lmao), can't wait to see what you think about it :))
Loved My Dark Vanessa so so much💞
Yall are besties???? Holy cow~
Wow..
I already read 'A girl is a half formed thing' and 'My dark Vanessa'..
Both are good..
If you love complication,pain,flood of emotion,Vanessa is your on the go..
I've already read My Dark Vanessa. And oh my lord. I've read it a while ago and still.... I cannot talk about it. Literally broke me
yasssss my fave duo!!!
Carmilla my beloved ❤️ there's a TH-cam series based on it you should check out when you're done!
Love Dakota and her recommendations but I controversially thought My Dark Vanessa fell short of what it could have been. I'll keep an eye out for the others though :)
Carmilla absolutely surprised me in the best way.
Yay!! So excited 😍
my dark vanessa is soooo good! it's disturbing but thought-provoking. after i finished the book my head hurts and i just have lots of thoughts in my mind so i just went and write them down and i cant stop writing bc there was so many thoughts, mostly about victimhood. it's an absolute 5 stars from me :D i hope you'll like it as well
@Trinity M i didnt know that before, thank you so much for the correction and insight! :)
A Girl is a Half Formed thing is chefs kiss!
Dark Vanessa was so hard to read but it really makes you feel intense emotions
My dark Vanessa sounds so interesting!
Let's do a bookclub in Paris! :)
I would absolutely loose my mind if u made a video reading all the books mentioned in Jane the virgin, including snow falling (the one that jane wrote)
I read My Dark Vanessa on Merphy Napier’s recommendation and really liked it. I didn’t have such a strong reaction that it seems to give a lot of its readers, but I am dead inside so…
Also, I discovered Dakota last week and immediately subscribed to her. And now everywhere I go I keep hearing about Carmilla. What is this sorcery?
Oh I was looking for another youtuber with tastes like this and I think I found it with your friend :) thanks
Cool book recs
My Dark Vanessa still haunts me almost 6 months later, can’t wait to see what you think of it!