“I have plenty of books where the main character does not have a love interest, there is no romance in the books, but it’s still a queer book” going to need that list PLEASE!!!🙂 as a bi/ace human, I would like to read all of them 👍
THANK YOU for the discussion on bisexuality omg. As a bi woman engaged to a straight cis man, I often feel like I'm somehow not "queer enough" or like I don't belong in the LGBTQIA+ community because I'm with a man when that's literally part of being bi lol. I would like to see more bi representation in books, for sure, especially with "hetero facing" relationships with bi characters because I feel like that would validate and reassure people who are in similar situations, like me, that we're still queer even if we're in a straight-passing relationship. Thank you for and yes I think that would make a great video topic, maybe reading/recommending books with bi rep also! 💙💗💜
Do you have recommendations? The only straight-facing bi-led book I read recently was a fantasy book, Saints of Storm and Sorrow. And I think that's also the endgame in Exes & Foes but I haven't read that one.
@@pauieeepau 1. The vampire chronicles series by Anne rice most characters are bisexual 2. Delilah green doesn't care by Ashley herring Blake one of the main characters is bisexual Ashley also wrote two other books with bi characters 3. Silver nitrate by Silvia moreno Garcia
@@pauieeepau The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian; The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau; Let Love Rule by Frances M. Thompson; Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon; Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur; Behooved by M. Stevenson; Maneater by Emily Antoinette; Role Playing by Cathy Yardley
HEAVYYYYYYY on your #2 hot take. Oh my god I’m so sick of authors complaining online about getting negative reviews and whining about people not liking their books. Focus on the people who do like your work, I beg, but you can’t stop or guilt-trip people out of writing negative/critical reviews about your books if that’s how they feel. Writing and publishing a book doesn’t entitle you to anything.
Bi 🤝 Ace solidarity on not being “queer enough” when we’re in a het presenting relationship (or queer enough in general, regardless of relationship status 🙃)
Gosh thank you for mentioning the American individualism and military complex of Fourth Wing! I love me a trashy fantasy romance but I couldn’t even read it exactly because of this
With how much I see the complaints about cartoon covers, I feel like it is a hot take that I still really like those covers, regardless of genre. I think the main reason is that I am not really a visual reader and seeing how the main characters look like immediatly helps me be more invested in their stories.
To me on one hand I think it’s nice that they can be more discreet but in the other hand they can be too misleading abt the amount of spice. Sometimes I like seeing what the characters were imagined to look like and sometimes I don’t. It kinda depends on if the character description is good or not.
a bunch of my series from my teen years are half paperback and half hardcover but now that im an adult with my adult money i personally do like to match the format as much as i can. but i do love the look of different book sizes on the shelves
two things I would add is the underrepresentation of romance between bisexual or straight trans masc/man with a woman (at least that I've seen if you have recs, plssss tell me!) and as far as the dark romance genre goes I just want to say that any book including what dark romance enjoyers say is bdsm/kink/etc and there's no consent than that is NOT bdsm/kink/etc! because at the unnegotiable center of bdsm/kink/etc is ✨CONSENT✨
I came here to say EXACTLY that about transman/woman relationships. Every single book I've read about a transman, he's gay. Not even bi. It's great rep and all, but I'd like to see myself in a book at least once. It also means the whole 'being attracted to a body that looks like mine' subject is never discussed, which is a huge missed opportunity.
I just hear Nathalie from WeirdoBookClub say "it’s not a kink, it’s a crime!" You can do and participate in any kink/BDSM as long as there is communication, trust, and consent from both parties. That’s my main issue with a lot of dark romance
Re your dark romance take - I highly recommend watching Contrapoints’s and Princess Weeks’s respective videos about Twilight (get ready for a Marvel movie and a half’s length of nuance but incredibly articulated and entertaining) Those videos genuinely added so much depth to my perspective on the romance genre
❤📚😂 I thrift a majority of my books, and if they're like new for a dollar, I don't care if they are hardback or paperback! I, too, enjoy the aesthetic.
Also also also people who call every wlw romance book sapphic but mlm romances gay… like the word achillean is right there for you. It really rubs me the wrong way, especially when the men are bisexual
It's hard to get over the idea that physical books are precious and should be preserved forever--my partner still has trouble with it! People insisting that *other people* have bookshelves that match some social media standard can safely be ignored. At some point on that spectrum of opinion I feel cover esthetics has overcome the idea that the inside of the book is where the real art is happening.
I gave a new author's book a 3 or 4 star rating on GR with a thoughtful review and they messaged me for more details to justify the rating. This was a while ago and their debut book, so I assume they didn't know how to take criticism yet. But can we understand that readers don't owe 5 stars AND that 3/4 stars is pretty good for a book?!
I'm so glad other people read SJM books and hated them and can articulate why they hated them because I feel like I'd be just filled with rage and I can't force myself to actually read one to test that theory. In advance, welcome the your 30s aka the age when we're too old to give a fuck^^
Take 3: there is a difference between this book is bad and this book was not what I wanted. The second is a reader's problem. But Bride doesn't have a cartoon cover, it has an ANIME cover. It is completely different. Personally the book was EXACTLY what I imagined when I saw the cover, not the least because there are at least 2 anime in the past 10 years with a similar plot and a similar art style. 14:13 I dont read dark romance a lot but I will answer. We are tired. We have lives, we struggle, and we read FOR FUN. A silly little fantasy is what we do for fun. And we do not owe anyone a research paper of what we do in the 2 hours we have between soul crushing work and sleep.
I've seen it described as: The author did what they wanted to do and I liked it. The author did what they wanted to do and I didn't like it. The author did not do what they wanted to do. Knowing the difference is very important.
I always buy hardcovers if I can because I am one of the dont break the spine girlies, but if the softcover is prettier or if it's the only one I can find ata reasonable price, I go with that. My one hot take is, books should have standardized sizes. ALL hardcovers and ALL softcovers published in a country should be the same height.
I'm a spinebreaker and annotates so THANK YOU. And thank you for finally calling out the song lyric titles. It's what they deserve. Sarah J Maas is also a zionist so... I got rid of my entire ACOTAR season after finding that out lol. Discovery of Witches is an excellent romantasy that came before ACOTAR. As a fellow bisexual, I would very much like that video. Excellent hot takes, snaps for your hot takes lol
I just listened to Role Playing by Cathy Yardly and adored it for a lot of reasons, but namely bc the mmc is an openly bisexual man and the mfc supoorts him and stands up for him against homophobic family
I've seen people online before say stuff like "you deserve jail time if you mix hardcovers and softcovers" and I just... don't get it? I think varied shelves look way more appealing.
In my real life, I agree, I don't know enough men who read, except for another trans man I know who's half my age and only reads fantasy. On booktube I've found a lot of middle age white gay men who read more contemp lit, (more of what I read) but other demographics are poorly represented.
Great video, and great takes! Though I do like beautifully illustrated covers, but I don't reckon those are the ones you're talking about. And though I do agree that a book in itself isn't sacred, and I love finding small scribbles in the margins of books I've gotten second hand, seeing people dog-earing a book hurts my heart a little bit, though I think it's because it's (often) a permanent mark you've made in a book for a temporary problem which is just as easily solved by using any piece of paper as a bookmark.. And personally, for me when it comes to book blurbs, or that thing.. My own take is that I never know if the book is for me from it. I often get more of an insight by reading a bit of the first page, or listening to an excerpt of it for a few minutes to get a feeling for the author's writing style (and if I'd enjoy reading a few hundred pages of it), though other than that I'm not that picky and can often find enough to love in a book that interests me to (eventually) read it all the way to the end. (I've been reading Ivanhoe for the past weeks between other books. It's a fascinating read, but a slow one for me..) Oh, and while my comment is already very long, I fully agree with you on the whole bi characters-deal, and I'd absolutely watch a longer video from you on that topic! And, when it comes to dark romance.. yeah, I'm personally staying far away from that sub-genre. I enjoy both romance and darker themes in the books I read, and the stories I write, but I don't know.. I'm a sucker for clear and concise romances where the characters are so emotionally mature that their romance is not *the* problem. But then again, I do also love deeply emotionally rich and complex characters who also are static characters, but basically reliably good people. So I guess that's why I love those types of romances too, then put a lot of complex themes, problems to solve, other complex characters and scenarios around that, and it's absolutely *chef's kiss* Btw, I know it's a TV-show and not a series of books, but have you seen/watched Black Sails? The queer pirate show? It's hearth wrenching all the way through, but it's really really good. Anyhow, I hope you have a good new year moving forward, cheers!
I dog-ear my books! Some of my books, I've had since I was a little kid and I just love seeing all the places I stopped before. Did I wait until the end of the chapter? Did I stop in the middle of it?
Yes PLEASE do a video essay about bisexuality in books, as a bi person in a cis-appearing relationship, it's SO FRUSTRATING!! even my adult kid attempted to bi-erase me once because I'm 'not queer' like wtf. It's why I add female lovers into my reverse harem books now. HELLO SHE IS INTO ALL THE PEOPLE, thank you. Love your hot takes btw
I've found that book collecting and book reading are two separate hobbies until I tell people I don't collect books and will only buy physical copies of books I've already read and would want to reread. Suddenly my preference for ebooks becomes a problem to be solved instead of just accepting that collecting books is not my hobby. And, really, I only buy the physical copies I do because I don't trust that my digital copies won't just disappear overnight. Edit: Thought of my hot take and that's peopke should just not read Harry Potter anymore. There are other books. I understand that they carry emotional significance to a lot of peoole, but JK is actively hurting people and that's more important. There is a book that quite literally changed the way i view the world and made me a better person. But the author is trash and still financially benefits from the sale of their books so that book doesn't get talked about. You buy an Eddings and, from my understanding, the money goes to a non-profit. Also they're dead so you dont have to worry about supporting child abusers. You buy Harry Potter and the money goes directly to the person financially backing all of the anti-trans crap in the UK. They are not the same situation.
@@amaresuify hard agree with your HP take. Reading it keeps the author relevant, even if you don’t financially support her. Her being relevant is dangerous because she uses her notoriety to hurt people
These takes were so hot I think you warmed up my leftovers. Thanks for the assist. GIVE US YOUR BISEXUAL ESSAY. I have a version of one myself, though it relates to video games with romance where every companion character is defacto bisexual and while I can obviously live with it given how many hours i have in some of them... I low-key hate it with the fiery passion of a properly formatted essay.
i think as long as you aren’t planning to give books away you can do whatever you want to them even if it “ruins” their condition. i try to keep my books as pristine as possible because i dislike keeping them as clutter in my house so i donate them to my local library and don’t want people to have to deal with my annotations and stuff. if you aren’t doing that or something similar you could burn the book for all i care
I dont know you personally, but from my impression of you it dosnt suprise me you have a mix of books. It would drive me crazy on my own self, but i think people should have there shelfs as they like, it kinda shows parts of there personality and thats why i love seeing other peoples self. Also i love fouth wing and it dosnt bother me if people hate or joke about it, but i often like book that people say are easy to read books and that might be cuz its my second language 😅
I've been buying books since Waldenbooks was still around and you got gift CERTIFICATES (not cards), and the kids' books were $4.99 for a mass-market paperback 😂 so yeah, I have pretty mismatched shelves. And some of those older books do in fact look like a river monster took a nibble. But they're all loved and read (and read, and read, and read...). It gives my living room character, I think.
5:00 My boyfriend broke his leg on Halloween and one of the first things he wants to do once he can put a decent amount of weight on it is to go to a city that has a Raising Canes and Half Priced Books and Savers across the street. Even though he is in a no-buy year 16:00 From personal experience, my dad and boyfriend LOVE reading, but they don't go on the internet like others do. They have full time jobs so they're tired to make book content and book events are at bad times. My dad reads mostly nonfiction and my boyfriend reads pretty much only mystery books. I wonder if there's a reason why book clubs are stereotypically mostly women's spaces
3:06 I think important to note: This Does NOT apply to fanfiction. You didn't pay for it, someone wrote this thing for the fun of it and decided to graciously share it with the hyperfixation gremlins of the world. If you can't say something nice, shut the f-train up. Signed, someone who has never written a word of fanfic but loves all fanfic writers so so much ❤
Oh my god the first person synopses! I used to catalog books for my library and I cannot tell you how many self-pub motorcycle club romance synopses I’ve have to type that are split into a 2pov first person rabble of HER: “I’m in trouble and there’s only one place to turn! So I run into his bar and faint at his feet!” HIM: “she’s not the same little girl as when I knew her brother. She’s sexy and in danger. I want her to have my babies.”
My hot take: rainbow shelves are not only pretty to look at, but they're also a perfectly logical way of shelving books in a personal collection. They wouldn't work in a bookstore for obvious reasons, but individuals rarely have thousands upon thousands of books at home, and therefore they don't need an alphabetical order to find the book they're looking for. Most of the times, "oh right, the spine was red" is plenty enough.
Regarding HP, it confuses me how someone who is aware of all the discourse could still find any enjoyment in it. I don't think I could. But that's probably easy for me to say - I never read HP
I understand being disappointed when you expected a sapphic romance and there is none because the female bi character ends up with a man, but unless it was advertised as a sapphic romance, that was probably your own bias that you assumed that in the first place. The only thing I have a problem with is if the only queer character is a bi character in a m/f relationship who doesn't have any queer friends and isn't connected to queer culture (aka the character started out as straight and the author changed them to bisexual later to increase diversity) or their sexuality comes up as a conflict (like their love interest worrying they won't be satisfied or cheat on them).
I do regret buying the Harry Potter books new but to be fair, I didn't know she was a horrible person when I bought them. I wish I could have bought them used. I wouldn't say Harry Potter is a big part of my personality, but the movies were a big part of my childhood and I hate how Rowling has tainted those wonderful memories for me. Especially since I find myself becoming more nostalgic as I age.
I completely agree with everything said! But, since we are talking about hot takes, I would like to throw out a hot take that I've had for a long time. I absolutely despise deckled edges. I think they're ugly and unnecessarily inconvenient. As a reader, I should not have to use two hands to flip one page. And I think the excuse that it makes books look more ancient is a terrible excuse. Yellow pages make books look more ancient, but you don't see people saying they like the look yellow pages!
SAME, instant turnoff for me and I won't buy if it has deckled edges. It's definitely a sensory ick but I also think they just always look messy rather than aged
Here’s a hot take: Men ARE reading. They just aren’t showing up to reading social events because they’re too busy working. Either that, or they are at home recovering because they just worked an ungodly number of hours and do not have the energy for that sort of thing very often. Every man that I know, from parents to brothers, to good friends is out there doing the grind to support themselves and the people they love. And, I’m sorry. Most men don’t like sappy romance novels. Let them read their epic fantasy, their crime books, and stuff. They aren’t suffering under “the patriarchy”. They are reading what they enjoy.
This is such a prime example of anti-intellectualism and lazy argumentation. First, men not reading (especially widely within fiction) is a well-documented, uncontroversial phenomenon. We know because publishers make it their business to know who is buying and reading books. Second, your personal experience is not universal nor does it determine statistical reality. You also seem to assume that women who read and engage in these social circles don't work, which is not true. Third, by dismissing romance and saying "let men read their two genres," you are reaffirming the point in the video: that men do not read widely. Simultaneously, you don't even entertain the question of why reading widely has value or why men might only enjoy such a narrow scope of literature. You simply state their preference as inate fact without an ounce of curiosity or consideration to the point being made in a video.
How is she supporting women? I haven't seen this anywhere but I have seen JK Rowling publishing multiple transphobic posts on X and telling that she is proud to be transphobic. I have also seen JK Rowling sharing a link to online shop which sells homophonic, transphobic, biphobic etc. items and highly recommend people to buy these products. She also have made some questionable remarks towards people of color but this isn't surprising because JK Rowling did make the Indian girl character in Harry Potter to be "crazy" /toxic girlfriend towards Ron 🙄
Ooh 🫖 I like a pretty bookshelf, but when it comes to forms and sizes, mine's a mess 😂 I buy a lot 2nd hand, so my books will always be mismatched. Admittedly though, if I really like a book and have an ugly edition, I might upgrade it to a prettier version. Not sure if I have any hot takes to add, since I agreed with pretty much everything you said. Maybe that I don't understand collecting 30 editions of your favourite book, especially in languages you don't even speak? Obviously ppl are free to collect whatever they like, it's their money and shelf space.
“I have plenty of books where the main character does not have a love interest, there is no romance in the books, but it’s still a queer book” going to need that list PLEASE!!!🙂 as a bi/ace human, I would like to read all of them 👍
THANK YOU for the discussion on bisexuality omg. As a bi woman engaged to a straight cis man, I often feel like I'm somehow not "queer enough" or like I don't belong in the LGBTQIA+ community because I'm with a man when that's literally part of being bi lol. I would like to see more bi representation in books, for sure, especially with "hetero facing" relationships with bi characters because I feel like that would validate and reassure people who are in similar situations, like me, that we're still queer even if we're in a straight-passing relationship. Thank you for and yes I think that would make a great video topic, maybe reading/recommending books with bi rep also! 💙💗💜
Do you have recommendations? The only straight-facing bi-led book I read recently was a fantasy book, Saints of Storm and Sorrow. And I think that's also the endgame in Exes & Foes but I haven't read that one.
This is why I'm currently writing a queer fantasy book with bi representation! There needs to be more bi rep in fantasy.
@@pauieeepau
1. The vampire chronicles series by Anne rice most characters are bisexual
2. Delilah green doesn't care by Ashley herring Blake one of the main characters is bisexual Ashley also wrote two other books with bi characters
3. Silver nitrate by Silvia moreno Garcia
@@pauieeepau The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian; The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau; Let Love Rule by Frances M. Thompson; Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon; Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur; Behooved by M. Stevenson; Maneater by Emily Antoinette; Role Playing by Cathy Yardley
HEAVYYYYYYY on your #2 hot take. Oh my god I’m so sick of authors complaining online about getting negative reviews and whining about people not liking their books. Focus on the people who do like your work, I beg, but you can’t stop or guilt-trip people out of writing negative/critical reviews about your books if that’s how they feel. Writing and publishing a book doesn’t entitle you to anything.
Bi 🤝 Ace solidarity on not being “queer enough” when we’re in a het presenting relationship (or queer enough in general, regardless of relationship status 🙃)
Gosh thank you for mentioning the American individualism and military complex of Fourth Wing! I love me a trashy fantasy romance but I couldn’t even read it exactly because of this
With how much I see the complaints about cartoon covers, I feel like it is a hot take that I still really like those covers, regardless of genre. I think the main reason is that I am not really a visual reader and seeing how the main characters look like immediatly helps me be more invested in their stories.
To me on one hand I think it’s nice that they can be more discreet but in the other hand they can be too misleading abt the amount of spice. Sometimes I like seeing what the characters were imagined to look like and sometimes I don’t. It kinda depends on if the character description is good or not.
I love them too!
I’ve been yelling “YEEESS, GIRRRLLLLLL” at the screen this entire video. You’re a real one.
I totally agree with all of these! And I would love a video essay on the representation of bi characters : ) !!
As a bisexual who reads a lot, I'd love to hear your longer thoughts on how we're represented!
You really cooked with those ACOTAR/FW and Dark Romance takes whew. 🥵
Finally! Somebody else who disdains first person synopses- Even worse when they are written in present tense. 😁
a bunch of my series from my teen years are half paperback and half hardcover but now that im an adult with my adult money i personally do like to match the format as much as i can. but i do love the look of different book sizes on the shelves
two things I would add is the underrepresentation of romance between bisexual or straight trans masc/man with a woman (at least that I've seen if you have recs, plssss tell me!) and as far as the dark romance genre goes I just want to say that any book including what dark romance enjoyers say is bdsm/kink/etc and there's no consent than that is NOT bdsm/kink/etc! because at the unnegotiable center of bdsm/kink/etc is ✨CONSENT✨
Thank you for articulating this!!!
I came here to say EXACTLY that about transman/woman relationships. Every single book I've read about a transman, he's gay. Not even bi.
It's great rep and all, but I'd like to see myself in a book at least once.
It also means the whole 'being attracted to a body that looks like mine' subject is never discussed, which is a huge missed opportunity.
I just hear Nathalie from WeirdoBookClub say "it’s not a kink, it’s a crime!" You can do and participate in any kink/BDSM as long as there is communication, trust, and consent from both parties. That’s my main issue with a lot of dark romance
Re your dark romance take - I highly recommend watching Contrapoints’s and Princess Weeks’s respective videos about Twilight (get ready for a Marvel movie and a half’s length of nuance but incredibly articulated and entertaining)
Those videos genuinely added so much depth to my perspective on the romance genre
❤📚😂
I thrift a majority of my books, and if they're like new for a dollar, I don't care if they are hardback or paperback! I, too, enjoy the aesthetic.
I prefer paperback because they are comfier to curl up and read. It's lucky that I don't care about the million special editions that are hardback
Please make that video about bisexuality!! I need it haha. Thank you for all your hot takes, totally agree!
Oh girl, YOU WENT THERE! Lol 😂
Loved it though!!! 🎉🎉
Also also also people who call every wlw romance book sapphic but mlm romances gay… like the word achillean is right there for you. It really rubs me the wrong way, especially when the men are bisexual
It's hard to get over the idea that physical books are precious and should be preserved forever--my partner still has trouble with it!
People insisting that *other people* have bookshelves that match some social media standard can safely be ignored. At some point on that spectrum of opinion I feel cover esthetics has overcome the idea that the inside of the book is where the real art is happening.
@5:18 I totally agree with you on this. The only exception being those Disney novels are a twist on the movie.
majority of cartoon covers look middle grade even though lots are clearly NOT
I gave a new author's book a 3 or 4 star rating on GR with a thoughtful review and they messaged me for more details to justify the rating. This was a while ago and their debut book, so I assume they didn't know how to take criticism yet. But can we understand that readers don't owe 5 stars AND that 3/4 stars is pretty good for a book?!
Oooooh the tea is sizzling 👏🏼
I'm so glad other people read SJM books and hated them and can articulate why they hated them because I feel like I'd be just filled with rage and I can't force myself to actually read one to test that theory.
In advance, welcome the your 30s aka the age when we're too old to give a fuck^^
YES to everything you said re: bi-erasure and queerness
Take 3: there is a difference between this book is bad and this book was not what I wanted. The second is a reader's problem.
But Bride doesn't have a cartoon cover, it has an ANIME cover. It is completely different. Personally the book was EXACTLY what I imagined when I saw the cover, not the least because there are at least 2 anime in the past 10 years with a similar plot and a similar art style.
14:13 I dont read dark romance a lot but I will answer. We are tired. We have lives, we struggle, and we read FOR FUN. A silly little fantasy is what we do for fun. And we do not owe anyone a research paper of what we do in the 2 hours we have between soul crushing work and sleep.
I've seen it described as:
The author did what they wanted to do and I liked it.
The author did what they wanted to do and I didn't like it.
The author did not do what they wanted to do.
Knowing the difference is very important.
I think the first person synopsis’s can sometimes work for mysteries and thrillers. I don’t see that working for other genres
Love the mismatched book shelf, when people buy all the same for looks it feels too forced, your shelf is great.
Book dragons unite 🐉 📚
I always buy hardcovers if I can because I am one of the dont break the spine girlies, but if the softcover is prettier or if it's the only one I can find ata reasonable price, I go with that.
My one hot take is, books should have standardized sizes. ALL hardcovers and ALL softcovers published in a country should be the same height.
I'm a spinebreaker and annotates so THANK YOU. And thank you for finally calling out the song lyric titles. It's what they deserve. Sarah J Maas is also a zionist so... I got rid of my entire ACOTAR season after finding that out lol. Discovery of Witches is an excellent romantasy that came before ACOTAR. As a fellow bisexual, I would very much like that video. Excellent hot takes, snaps for your hot takes lol
I just listened to Role Playing by Cathy Yardly and adored it for a lot of reasons, but namely bc the mmc is an openly bisexual man and the mfc supoorts him and stands up for him against homophobic family
I love that book. One of the favorite books I read this year
Omgggg yes 11:18 I’m bi and LIVING for everything you’re saying here❤
I've seen people online before say stuff like "you deserve jail time if you mix hardcovers and softcovers" and I just... don't get it? I think varied shelves look way more appealing.
People are so weird about their opinions sometimes 😂 I also love mixed shelves
I'd prefer not to mix them, but it can't be helped. So I don't judge people for their shelves.
In my real life, I agree, I don't know enough men who read, except for another trans man I know who's half my age and only reads fantasy. On booktube I've found a lot of middle age white gay men who read more contemp lit, (more of what I read) but other demographics are poorly represented.
Great video, and great takes! Though I do like beautifully illustrated covers, but I don't reckon those are the ones you're talking about. And though I do agree that a book in itself isn't sacred, and I love finding small scribbles in the margins of books I've gotten second hand, seeing people dog-earing a book hurts my heart a little bit, though I think it's because it's (often) a permanent mark you've made in a book for a temporary problem which is just as easily solved by using any piece of paper as a bookmark..
And personally, for me when it comes to book blurbs, or that thing.. My own take is that I never know if the book is for me from it. I often get more of an insight by reading a bit of the first page, or listening to an excerpt of it for a few minutes to get a feeling for the author's writing style (and if I'd enjoy reading a few hundred pages of it), though other than that I'm not that picky and can often find enough to love in a book that interests me to (eventually) read it all the way to the end. (I've been reading Ivanhoe for the past weeks between other books. It's a fascinating read, but a slow one for me..)
Oh, and while my comment is already very long, I fully agree with you on the whole bi characters-deal, and I'd absolutely watch a longer video from you on that topic! And, when it comes to dark romance.. yeah, I'm personally staying far away from that sub-genre. I enjoy both romance and darker themes in the books I read, and the stories I write, but I don't know.. I'm a sucker for clear and concise romances where the characters are so emotionally mature that their romance is not *the* problem. But then again, I do also love deeply emotionally rich and complex characters who also are static characters, but basically reliably good people. So I guess that's why I love those types of romances too, then put a lot of complex themes, problems to solve, other complex characters and scenarios around that, and it's absolutely *chef's kiss*
Btw, I know it's a TV-show and not a series of books, but have you seen/watched Black Sails? The queer pirate show? It's hearth wrenching all the way through, but it's really really good.
Anyhow, I hope you have a good new year moving forward, cheers!
10:54 Yes please!!! I'd watch a video essay on that topic!!! Absolutely!!!
Agreed to all of this!!
I dog-ear my books! Some of my books, I've had since I was a little kid and I just love seeing all the places I stopped before. Did I wait until the end of the chapter? Did I stop in the middle of it?
Great video!! I enjoyed it a lot!!
Yes PLEASE do a video essay about bisexuality in books, as a bi person in a cis-appearing relationship, it's SO FRUSTRATING!! even my adult kid attempted to bi-erase me once because I'm 'not queer' like wtf. It's why I add female lovers into my reverse harem books now. HELLO SHE IS INTO ALL THE PEOPLE, thank you.
Love your hot takes btw
I've found that book collecting and book reading are two separate hobbies until I tell people I don't collect books and will only buy physical copies of books I've already read and would want to reread. Suddenly my preference for ebooks becomes a problem to be solved instead of just accepting that collecting books is not my hobby.
And, really, I only buy the physical copies I do because I don't trust that my digital copies won't just disappear overnight.
Edit: Thought of my hot take and that's peopke should just not read Harry Potter anymore. There are other books. I understand that they carry emotional significance to a lot of peoole, but JK is actively hurting people and that's more important. There is a book that quite literally changed the way i view the world and made me a better person. But the author is trash and still financially benefits from the sale of their books so that book doesn't get talked about.
You buy an Eddings and, from my understanding, the money goes to a non-profit. Also they're dead so you dont have to worry about supporting child abusers. You buy Harry Potter and the money goes directly to the person financially backing all of the anti-trans crap in the UK. They are not the same situation.
@@amaresuify hard agree with your HP take. Reading it keeps the author relevant, even if you don’t financially support her. Her being relevant is dangerous because she uses her notoriety to hurt people
These takes were so hot I think you warmed up my leftovers. Thanks for the assist.
GIVE US YOUR BISEXUAL ESSAY.
I have a version of one myself, though it relates to video games with romance where every companion character is defacto bisexual and while I can obviously live with it given how many hours i have in some of them... I low-key hate it with the fiery passion of a properly formatted essay.
I'm new to your channel, but I would love a video essay on bisexuality in books. Yes!
i think as long as you aren’t planning to give books away you can do whatever you want to them even if it “ruins” their condition. i try to keep my books as pristine as possible because i dislike keeping them as clutter in my house so i donate them to my local library and don’t want people to have to deal with my annotations and stuff. if you aren’t doing that or something similar you could burn the book for all i care
I dont know you personally, but from my impression of you it dosnt suprise me you have a mix of books. It would drive me crazy on my own self, but i think people should have there shelfs as they like, it kinda shows parts of there personality and thats why i love seeing other peoples self.
Also i love fouth wing and it dosnt bother me if people hate or joke about it, but i often like book that people say are easy to read books and that might be cuz its my second language 😅
Like who? 9:09 ❤❤😢 Share the authors or books
Omg, I thought I was the only one who hates first person synopses! Can't stand them! 😂
15:25 Absolutely!!! Clearly, they're not aware of how destructive the behaviour is. And those books sound to me like portrayals of Stockholm syndrome😀
I agree with most of u said really!!
Yes,please,do the essay!
I've been buying books since Waldenbooks was still around and you got gift CERTIFICATES (not cards), and the kids' books were $4.99 for a mass-market paperback 😂 so yeah, I have pretty mismatched shelves. And some of those older books do in fact look like a river monster took a nibble. But they're all loved and read (and read, and read, and read...). It gives my living room character, I think.
Do the bisexuality video essay!
1st person & ACOTAR haha YES.
5:00 My boyfriend broke his leg on Halloween and one of the first things he wants to do once he can put a decent amount of weight on it is to go to a city that has a Raising Canes and Half Priced Books and Savers across the street. Even though he is in a no-buy year
16:00 From personal experience, my dad and boyfriend LOVE reading, but they don't go on the internet like others do. They have full time jobs so they're tired to make book content and book events are at bad times. My dad reads mostly nonfiction and my boyfriend reads pretty much only mystery books. I wonder if there's a reason why book clubs are stereotypically mostly women's spaces
3:06 I think important to note: This Does NOT apply to fanfiction. You didn't pay for it, someone wrote this thing for the fun of it and decided to graciously share it with the hyperfixation gremlins of the world. If you can't say something nice, shut the f-train up.
Signed, someone who has never written a word of fanfic but loves all fanfic writers so so much ❤
Please do the video essay!!
It doesn't bother me if a book is hardcover or paperback as long as it's not expensive i would buy it
Loved this!
Yoooo… we’re meeting at A&W?! Count me in💕✨
Oh my god the first person synopses! I used to catalog books for my library and I cannot tell you how many self-pub motorcycle club romance synopses I’ve have to type that are split into a 2pov first person rabble of HER: “I’m in trouble and there’s only one place to turn! So I run into his bar and faint at his feet!”
HIM: “she’s not the same little girl as when I knew her brother. She’s sexy and in danger. I want her to have my babies.”
My hot take: rainbow shelves are not only pretty to look at, but they're also a perfectly logical way of shelving books in a personal collection. They wouldn't work in a bookstore for obvious reasons, but individuals rarely have thousands upon thousands of books at home, and therefore they don't need an alphabetical order to find the book they're looking for. Most of the times, "oh right, the spine was red" is plenty enough.
My bother reads but only fantasy by white men, also you're 1000% right about Bi rep and it sucks.
Regarding HP, it confuses me how someone who is aware of all the discourse could still find any enjoyment in it. I don't think I could. But that's probably easy for me to say - I never read HP
I understand being disappointed when you expected a sapphic romance and there is none because the female bi character ends up with a man, but unless it was advertised as a sapphic romance, that was probably your own bias that you assumed that in the first place. The only thing I have a problem with is if the only queer character is a bi character in a m/f relationship who doesn't have any queer friends and isn't connected to queer culture (aka the character started out as straight and the author changed them to bisexual later to increase diversity) or their sexuality comes up as a conflict (like their love interest worrying they won't be satisfied or cheat on them).
I do regret buying the Harry Potter books new but to be fair, I didn't know she was a horrible person when I bought them. I wish I could have bought them used. I wouldn't say Harry Potter is a big part of my personality, but the movies were a big part of my childhood and I hate how Rowling has tainted those wonderful memories for me. Especially since I find myself becoming more nostalgic as I age.
I completely agree with everything said! But, since we are talking about hot takes, I would like to throw out a hot take that I've had for a long time. I absolutely despise deckled edges. I think they're ugly and unnecessarily inconvenient. As a reader, I should not have to use two hands to flip one page. And I think the excuse that it makes books look more ancient is a terrible excuse. Yellow pages make books look more ancient, but you don't see people saying they like the look yellow pages!
SAME, instant turnoff for me and I won't buy if it has deckled edges. It's definitely a sensory ick but I also think they just always look messy rather than aged
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Here’s a hot take:
Men ARE reading. They just aren’t showing up to reading social events because they’re too busy working. Either that, or they are at home recovering because they just worked an ungodly number of hours and do not have the energy for that sort of thing very often.
Every man that I know, from parents to brothers, to good friends is out there doing the grind to support themselves and the people they love.
And, I’m sorry. Most men don’t like sappy romance novels. Let them read their epic fantasy, their crime books, and stuff. They aren’t suffering under “the patriarchy”. They are reading what they enjoy.
This is such a prime example of anti-intellectualism and lazy argumentation. First, men not reading (especially widely within fiction) is a well-documented, uncontroversial phenomenon. We know because publishers make it their business to know who is buying and reading books. Second, your personal experience is not universal nor does it determine statistical reality. You also seem to assume that women who read and engage in these social circles don't work, which is not true. Third, by dismissing romance and saying "let men read their two genres," you are reaffirming the point in the video: that men do not read widely. Simultaneously, you don't even entertain the question of why reading widely has value or why men might only enjoy such a narrow scope of literature. You simply state their preference as inate fact without an ounce of curiosity or consideration to the point being made in a video.
JK Rowling isn’t doing any harm, she is supporting women. This “hot take” is stupid and needs to be gone.
How is she supporting women? I haven't seen this anywhere but I have seen JK Rowling publishing multiple transphobic posts on X and telling that she is proud to be transphobic. I have also seen JK Rowling sharing a link to online shop which sells homophonic, transphobic, biphobic etc. items and highly recommend people to buy these products. She also have made some questionable remarks towards people of color but this isn't surprising because JK Rowling did make the Indian girl character in Harry Potter to be "crazy" /toxic girlfriend towards Ron 🙄
Ooh 🫖 I like a pretty bookshelf, but when it comes to forms and sizes, mine's a mess 😂 I buy a lot 2nd hand, so my books will always be mismatched. Admittedly though, if I really like a book and have an ugly edition, I might upgrade it to a prettier version.
Not sure if I have any hot takes to add, since I agreed with pretty much everything you said. Maybe that I don't understand collecting 30 editions of your favourite book, especially in languages you don't even speak? Obviously ppl are free to collect whatever they like, it's their money and shelf space.