The popularity of Sarah j maas and Colleen Hoover with young girls makes me reeeeally concerned for women who will believe that they write romance with decent men. They’re all being set up to accept abusive, mediocre men.
This! Especially the popularity of Colleen Hoover deeply disturbes me. She writes toxic romance exclusively and I'm very concerned about what it is doing to young minds. :(
Exactly! I really hate them & I find these girls so damn obsessed with them & just reading them for smut coz that's what matters to them at the end of the day! Its just typical wattpad stuff which doesn't have any class at all. And I cant figure out why such standards have been set for a good famous book... But these two authors have really just been spreading some toxic traits.
Idk on booktok everyone is in agreement that they only like the characters actions because it’s a book…I feel a lot of people know that it’s toxic in the real world. But it’s a book so we don’t mind it.
While I agree that CH's writing is not worth the hype (can't say anything about SJM, never read her stuff), fear not my darling. Bookish women know that romance in books are not things we want/deserve/expect in romance with real people in real life. We compartmentalize. Wait until you discover how much people love dark romances, alien romances, monster romances. Surely you wouldn't assume we want such things IRL, would you? Simply put, we ain't stupid bby so don't worry but thank you for your concern that's rather adorable of you 💙💙💙
Libraries have saved me from this before! That way if I am not happy, I can DNF without guilt, lol. Ah, the joys of being poor! And I absolutely refuse to read The Cursed Child or acknowledge it in any way. Have a great week, Emma!
It took me years to realize that marketing people are good writers, too; they're very persuasive writers and that's their job: to sell books. So when they persuade us to drop a few $20s on a book, their writing has succeeded. I finally got over that. Then I had to get over the podcast hype...long story short, I use the library a LOT more now.
Can I just say that I absolutely loved the sentence "You're only alive for so long and then you kick the bucket; but you want to be able to kick a bucket full of good books." Yes. Quite so.
i still have no idea how throne of glass is so highly regarded and how so many people like it literally from the first page i was like "oh...this is not good" 😭
I actually like it but I think it is bad ahah. To me reading Throne of Glass is like watching reality TV shows. It's bad and stupid but funny and enjoyable. It's fun once in a while. It doesn't make any sense I know 😂
I don't know why, but I absolutely love hearing people talk about books that they hated. I would love to hear recommendations for good books that you would describe as being "sad books". I love a good sad book.
a few good sad books i've read: Sing, Unburied, Sing / anything by Kazuo Ishiguro / The God of Small Things / The Bluest Eye / The Year of Magical Thinking / A Monster Calls
"But you want to be able to kick a bucket full of good books, and none of these books are making it in the bucket" is the funniest sentence I've heard all week 😂 I have in fact driven through Saskatchewan and it is indeed shockingly flat. I adore Good Omens with my entire heart but to each their own 🤷♂️ Also I like the Iceland shirt.
I live in Saskatchewan. The major highway people drive on through Sask. goes through the flatest part of it! Northern and Southern sask. are completely different and beautiful
I am English myself, and a fantasy and horror reader. I just have never got Neil Gaiman. I feel his grasp of what constitutes horror has always been pedestrian and his use of language mediocre. But then I have also always felt the same about Stephen King's writing. So whatever.
It’s great to see Emmie back. We all have books we regret buying. I tend to hoard a lot of books, and personally, I wish I knew how to budget properly back then. Thanks for sharing the problems you’re facing. We are all humans and we are all prone to committing mistakes.
I received The Cursed Child as a Christmas/going away gift from my friend and I remember being so excited about it. I read a few pages on 23rd December 2016 and then put it away, because it iust read like a bad fan fiction. 4 years later, I decided to reread the HP series and after the 7th book, I decided to give the play another go, because it bothered me that I had left it unfinished, and oh my god, it was awful. My first one star. I'm keeping the book, because it was a really thoughtful gift that reminds me of my friend, but I wish I'd never read it, because it just made me angry xD
Owning classics or buying books I want to reread makes sense to me, but I use the library (or maybe Audible credits) for popular fiction and nonfiction. It’s too expensive to just buy every book I might or might not like.
I will add that you can usually find pdf versions of a lot of books online even with newer books. That’s what I do when I’m on the fence about a book or really don’t want to spend the money.
Same, where I live books are just far too expensive to just take chances on. I'm not about to spend 35 dollars on a paperback that I might not like just because it's popular. Also this might sound shallow but I really do care about what covers look like. I have limited space and my surroundings really affect me so if I'm buying a physical book that 1. is expensive, 2. takes up space and 3. I will have to look at every day, I want it to be both a nice object and something I will read more than once in my lifetime. Classics are good for this since a lot of them are timeless and I plan to reread at different stages of my life. They also have lots of different editions to choose from. A lot of contemporary novels I am interested in I will just get from the library because a lot of them have really trendy graphic design that dates itself quickly and sometimes the stories themselves don't really stand the test of time.
We usually have such similar reading tastes but the difference I LOVE Neil Gaiman, Good Omens specifically is my favorite book 😅 (I had the same feelings as you about the ocean at the end of the lane tho) so sad to hear his writing doesn’t speak to you but it is interesting so to see where our tastes are similar and where they’re different! ❤
Re Sanderson, I tried Mistborn a while ago and found it dull: mostly workmanlike writing with flat characters BUT this year I gave him another chance with the Way of Kings and it is great. So from my limited experience of him, I'd say you're giving him his best chance if you try the Stormlight Archive series.
I read Skyward recently too, after reading most of his major books, and it definitely was very different, and less well done than his other work. His writing can be debatably hard to get into, and it definitely is more slow-paced than a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, but the worlds are so thought out, so complex, and he explores mental health a little disability, and puts a lot of work into making everything feel real and complete.
I don't know.. I see everybody saying that his books take a while to get going and some parts are really boring but so far I find The Final Empire not boring at all.
@@mikanchan322 Yeah I did find Mistborn to be pretty fast-paced and easy to get into to, it depends on what you’re used to reading and a lot of fantasy readers are not used to his pace
I love the goldfinch. I’ll argue (as someone who lost both his parents, and one at a relatively young age) that the goldfinch is about the pointlessness of life, when lensed through the eyes of grief. It’s shockingly good. But I didn’t love the way it resolved and dragged. But it resolved and dragged as life does, a boring mystery and a bit of a nightmare. Forgive my nihilism, it’s been a rough decade or two. And in the wake of losing my parents, my north stars, much of my adult life feels like I’m driving through an endless Saskatchewan, in the rain.
I love so much that you're so objective and respectful of books that you hate. I feeeeel the pain of having spent money on mediocre reads but then I donate them to the local library because I know most of these books will be loved by someone else and I feel a little bit better. Still very heartbroken, but not soul-crushingly devastated 😂
Books in Argentina are really expensive. So, since I read mostly classics I listen to them first here on youtube or if there are new releses on a pre paid plataform. I buy the ones that rank 4 stars. Is a way to save money and space on my shelves. If, because of my anxiety, I buy something that I don't like, I sell them and get credit on a second hand library in my town. 🤗❤ PS. Do not read The cursed child!!!
Reading classics is the best you can do, you'll never be disappointed (bad books tend to be forgotten, and classics are literally the BEST books of each period of time) I also live in a country in which foreign books are not THAT affordable, so I'd rather spend my money on a good classic then to speculate on something that might be pure literary trash.
Finally, someone who also didn't enjoy the Goldfinch. I was considering reading it again because everyone just loves it, but I've satisfied my curiosity!
The intro! 😂 🙌🏽 OMG, I so agree on the “Before the coffee gets cold”! I am so glad I didn’t spend money on it because I listened it on Audible but I lost a credit though… 😅
after reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold i couldn't help thinking it would make a better stage play than book...turns out the book was originally a play!
Emma, I'm the same as you. I hated and dnfed multiple penelope douglas' bully romances but her very first book that I tried was called Birthday Girl. This one is an age-gap and surprisingly so, so much better than all her bully romances! Honestly if you're still willing, I really wanna see you give PD your last chance with Birthday Girl.
Sanderson's writing isn't good in general, I'm a fan but I like his books for other things but it makes sense why someone wouldn't like his books because of writing. His the way of king series people say is the best of his ( I assume the writing would be better too) so you should check that one if you want to read something by him in future
I have read ebooks only for about the last 10 years (ran out of space for real books). One of the benefits of using a Barnes & Noble or Amazon ebook reader is you can download a sample of the book (generally first chapter and sometimes 2nd chapter). Time enough to determine if you want to read the entire book or delete it.
That feeling when your favorite series is on the list. I will say this, Skyward is foundational. The scofo doesn't really kick in until the second book. But I don't think it would be different enough.
before the coffee gets cold didn’t do it for me too, i kept seeing tiktoks of people sobbing when finishing the book but i found it quite underwhelming tbh
Ok so I kind of agree with you on Six of Crows, I was a little let down given how popular it is but I liked it enough to read Crooked Kingdom and the characters wormed their way into my heart. The writing mediocre and don't get me started on the heist or politics because they make no sense and we all know it, but I just can't help but love these books.
15:43 I did not think it was a waste of time but neither was it earth-shattering. I did enjoy the exploration of the characters specifically Theo. And I think there were several beautiful lines like this: “not just the predictable vastness of time, and space, but the impassable distances between people even when they were within arm’s reach of each other”
I basically only buy classics and books that Im confident will be at least 4 stars. If I wanna read Ya or a popular books I just get them at my library. I also read Throne of Glass this year, hated it, and was sooo glad that i just got it from my library and didnt spend a single cent on it. Buying used books is also a great way to save money- i just got three of the Game of Thrones books for 22 instead of 45 € lol- I think the only book I kinda regret buying this year was the Acotar series, i read Crescent City and loved it and thought i should give her other series a try, the book Set was only 25€ on Amazon so I thoughg "why not?". While i still gave them 3-4 stars each, I shouldve just gotten them from my library instead lol. I dont have enough shelf space to keep 3 star books
What i always like to do is rent a book from the library or a friend and if i liked or loved it, ill go online and buy it so i can read it over again if i want to in the future or let friends barrow it. I love your book recommendations thankyou!
harry potter and the cursed child was so unnecessary imo i finished it and it was not worth my time at all, i felt like if it was a book and not a play it would be better
The Cursed Child i still maintain is just like terrible fanfic for HP…not worth a read at all in my opinion. I read it in a day and was supremely underwhelmed and mad about how they handled the story. It was like, “wow, I’ve read fanfiction that deals with these themes 100 times better than this play did”
Me first meet with Brandon Sanderson this year was mistborn: the final empire and its chief kiss in fantasy world, I believe it's young adult too not sure if the rest of the series is.
Ok, so.. once, after I've head a streak of bad luck with books,I established the habit of spending long amounts of time at bookstores. I wandered around, took all the books that caught my interest, and sat down with my pile of books in some free cozy spot in the store. Then I read the first few pages of every book. Some I sorted out quite fast, others where my style in general, but didn't speak to me at that moment. In the end, I only bought those that made me want to read on from the few first pages I've read, not taking into account the actual content, the cover, the genre or the opinions I've heard of said books. I've done that maybe two or three times, and I've never before enjoyed so many reads in a row.
as someone who also struggles with Neil Gaiman's books may I recommend his short stories? I really enjoyed all the ones I have read so far and find that his style and his ideas are very well suited for a 20 page story rather than a 250+ page book :)
Ugh, The Goldfinch. I loved it at first but slogging through drug/alcohol addiction bores me if there's no insight or even the tiniest bit of redemption. After pages and pages and pages of dwelling on Theo's gratuitous descent into substance abuse, with no end in sight, I put the book away forever.
I agree with you about The Ninth House - it was awful. Babel is another shocker - so hyped and yet so, so bad. Fortunately that was a library book. When I see books hyped on social media I cynically think that the publishers know they're bad and have to get as many people as possible to buy them before word gets around. Lots of good books are published without that level of hype.
I LOVED Coraline SO MUCH (book & movie) that I went and bought quite a few Neil Gaiman books and when I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I hated it so much that I got scared of reading anything else of his…it’s been 3+ years and I still haven’t touched that stack of books I bought! LMAO
As someone who lives in Saskatchewan, I can tell you that your assessment of driving through is not wrong. Some joke that Sask is so flat you can see the back of your head, and that you can see your dog running away from you forever.
I'm so glad I'm too old for the tik tok.. 😂 I'm bonding with you over Before the Coffee Gets Cold, but I had a Scribd sub trial and listened to it and didn't lose any money, thank goodness. I always live for your sense of humor. 😅
I am right there with you on Neil Gaiman! I was so convinced I would/should like him after reading a couple of the middle grade ones and some interviews, but I have rarely had to struggle for so long to slog through a book I despised than with Neverwhere or American Gods. I read so many things by him looking for another one that I would vibe with to the point where now he's my most-read author and I genuinely hate MOST of his books, lol
I read "Throne of Glass" and loved it at the time. But now I look back at that time and the books I used to love, and I think: "What the hell?! What was I thinking?!" Most likely, this is the result of me reading a LOT in the last couple of years, increasingly diverse. I question certain tropes a lot more nowadays, especially the toxic love in many novels.
I grew up not being much of a reader but I always wandered the book stores with the same hang-up, that I couldn't risk spending *that* much money on something I didn't like. And I wasn't on Booktube either, to know anything about it but I remember seeing Throne of Glass ALL over the fantasy section and thinking... it must be good. I'm glad I didn't waste my money/time, and I'm sorry you did 😅
Wonderful. I regreted "The Alchemist", "101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think," and "Barry Lyndon." I'm very glad no Dickens books made your regrets list. :)
Wow, you have some crazy book prizes, even before inflation and paper crisis ... I'm really thankful for fixed book prizes in Europe. The hyped book I recently listened to and stopped after less than half of it because I couldn't any more was The Atlas Six. The negative reviews on Goodreads talk about the exact things that bothered me about it.
Yes! I agree before the coffee gets cold was just trying too hard to be an emotional book, it just did not work for me! So happy I’m not the only one. I’ve only heard rave reviews about it.
Emma, I find your take on Penelope Douglas curious as it pertains to fictional character depiction in general. While I've never read Douglas, it seems as if you take issue with her use of misogynist/racist language to portray misogynist/racist characters. But how else exactly is one supposed to depict these characters and their attitudes, especially if the goal is critique? For writers of fiction, such language is one tool in the toolbox, and I feel it's a valid one. There are misogynist and racist people in the wider world, and thus there will be misogynist and racist people in fiction. Are we simply supposed to pretend that they don't exist? Perhaps I've misconstrued you, but I'd be curious to hear your take on this...
haha yeah, I didn't get the hype behind Before the Coffee Gets Cold either. I like emotional reads and I do cry during books frequently enough but that one fell so flat and I don't plan on reading anything else by that author. It would be so funny if my mom read English and could give me her feedback on the books I love- I wonder what it would reveal! Thanks for another great video! :)
I didn't enjoy Before The Coffee Gets Cold either. The rules seemed silly, and the things around the rules, like the ghost getting up to go to the toilet (why would a ghost need to do that?) The writing itself was also just really, really bad. Fortunately I borrowed it from the library, so I didn't waste money, and fortunately it was a quick read so I didn't waste *too* much time on it.
Honestly, Cursed Child is a very interesting read. It’s atrocious but it’s super fun watching an author just completely misinterpret their own characters.
Tbh Emma I would expect you not to like quite a bit of the popular fiction books liked on Booktube. You’re fairly intellectual and better educated than many. I love that you have a broad range of interests however. And I love your beautiful videos.
Hey Emmie!! just wanted to say you're currently my favorite youtuber as well as booktuber. I absolutely love reading and found and interesting novel that I'm currently reading and really like. It is called how to stop time by matt haig and it's basically about this man, Tom who has a rare condition where he only ages once in every 15 years so he's 450 years old. It travels along with his past life and love, with really interesting relationships with really big people who are currently famous in history. There's a society that protects people with his condition and the only rule for these rare unaging people is that they're not supposed to fall in love. Tom is tired of life and becomes a history teacher modern day. It's super good and based on some of the other books you talk about I think you'd like a lot about this book, if not the plot at least the writing style.
Oh Emmie, I feel seen. I agree with all of your authors and books. I've tried them all. Luckily, half were library books but I did also purchase The Cursed Child with such high hopes. And don't get me started on Six of Crows.
Cursed Child was exactly that - cursed - but one thing I did appreciate were the children-of-HP characters. Albus and Scorpius in particular, though I also enjoyed how (spoiler alert, maybe) utterly evil Delphini was. Some interactions between grown-up Harry and Draco were interesting too, and I liked how we got to see how these characters that we loved and grew up with weren't perfect people as adults, weren't perfect parents, but were still the same people. Harry was shitty in it, but what made it interesting was how plausible it was. The different perspective on all those characters was what made it worth it, for me, is what I'm trying to say.
I also read it when it came out when I was 11, though, so some of my judgements might not be the same if I'd read it today. This is just what I remember it as - my brain's personal glamorising summary, if you will.
Buyer's remorse with books hurts so much. It's not just the money that's gone, it's the time you spent reading it! I really hope you do give Brandon Sanderson another shot, though! Mistborn is SO good.
1Q84 by Murakami. From Pedophilia, graphic description of child abuse, undertones of incest to morbid sexualization of women, nothing seems to be missing. I'm not sure how some call it their favourite book, inspite of all these highly problematic points. Neither the book summary nor the online reviews that hype the book, seems to mention any of this. Its often marketed as an intelligent science fiction, yet it felt quite the opposite. Its the worst and most disturbing book I've ever read.
Run away from cursed child! I saw the show a few months ago and wasnt blown away. The effects are awesome and really fun to witness but the story doesnt make sense. They did a great job of transforming the theatre so even just walking into the building adds to the experience. I was late to the HP hype and quickly got stuck in but just as quickly felt happy to move on to other things.
I have been trying to get back into reading and I made the mistake of picking up Neon Gods and Electric Idols. It did take me trying to read Electric Idols to realize I did not like the books. I refuse to read the cursed child lol. Great video
"what did my 22 dollars get me? mediocre smut" a tragedy in less than 10 words 😭
💔
Oh I get that coz its so relatable like I can't even 😭
The popularity of Sarah j maas and Colleen Hoover with young girls makes me reeeeally concerned for women who will believe that they write romance with decent men. They’re all being set up to accept abusive, mediocre men.
This! Especially the popularity of Colleen Hoover deeply disturbes me. She writes toxic romance exclusively and I'm very concerned about what it is doing to young minds. :(
Exactly! I really hate them & I find these girls so damn obsessed with them & just reading them for smut coz that's what matters to them at the end of the day! Its just typical wattpad stuff which doesn't have any class at all. And I cant figure out why such standards have been set for a good famous book... But these two authors have really just been spreading some toxic traits.
Idk on booktok everyone is in agreement that they only like the characters actions because it’s a book…I feel a lot of people know that it’s toxic in the real world. But it’s a book so we don’t mind it.
While I agree that CH's writing is not worth the hype (can't say anything about SJM, never read her stuff), fear not my darling. Bookish women know that romance in books are not things we want/deserve/expect in romance with real people in real life. We compartmentalize. Wait until you discover how much people love dark romances, alien romances, monster romances. Surely you wouldn't assume we want such things IRL, would you? Simply put, we ain't stupid bby so don't worry but thank you for your concern that's rather adorable of you 💙💙💙
to be fair, they're meant to be read by adult women, not young girls
"the bandwagon was banned for me" is a sentence I will be using regularly for all the colleen hoover books I do not like
Libraries have saved me from this before! That way if I am not happy, I can DNF without guilt, lol. Ah, the joys of being poor! And I absolutely refuse to read The Cursed Child or acknowledge it in any way. Have a great week, Emma!
I agree. It’s not canon to me given that someone else wrote it and the plot seems stupid.
Agree. I just use the library
Not canon! I do not speak it's name haha
I straight up tore my copy of cursed child because what the fuck is that book.
Did I waste a lot of money? yes.
Do I regret it? no.
It took me years to realize that marketing people are good writers, too; they're very persuasive writers and that's their job: to sell books. So when they persuade us to drop a few $20s on a book, their writing has succeeded. I finally got over that. Then I had to get over the podcast hype...long story short, I use the library a LOT more now.
I have to say that previews of books on Kindle and Google Books have helped me dodge quite a few literary bullets.
Can I just say that I absolutely loved the sentence "You're only alive for so long and then you kick the bucket; but you want to be able to kick a bucket full of good books." Yes. Quite so.
But you're completely wrong about Good Omens, sorry :)
i still have no idea how throne of glass is so highly regarded and how so many people like it literally from the first page i was like "oh...this is not good" 😭
It's fun if you're 14 but after that....
I actually like it but I think it is bad ahah. To me reading Throne of Glass is like watching reality TV shows. It's bad and stupid but funny and enjoyable. It's fun once in a while. It doesn't make any sense I know 😂
@@chloedile9769 I agree! I know it’s bad… when I read it it’s not good but I loved it 😂
@@writeandscribbles9680 Exactly!
Heir of Fire is where you meet Manon aka when the books actually become exciting
I don't know why, but I absolutely love hearing people talk about books that they hated. I would love to hear recommendations for good books that you would describe as being "sad books". I love a good sad book.
Les Miserables. The best sad book I know.
Seriously, it's amazing.
@@elizabethmac1475 I second that
Same
a few good sad books i've read: Sing, Unburied, Sing / anything by Kazuo Ishiguro / The God of Small Things / The Bluest Eye / The Year of Magical Thinking / A Monster Calls
i love how respectful you are, even about books you hate haha
"But you want to be able to kick a bucket full of good books, and none of these books are making it in the bucket" is the funniest sentence I've heard all week 😂
I have in fact driven through Saskatchewan and it is indeed shockingly flat.
I adore Good Omens with my entire heart but to each their own 🤷♂️
Also I like the Iceland shirt.
I liked the Good Omens show but that may be because of David Tennant
I live in Saskatchewan. The major highway people drive on through Sask. goes through the flatest part of it! Northern and Southern sask. are completely different and beautiful
@@gpeterpete870 Yes I enjoyed it a great deal as well
@@bigbadbarbra Ah that would explain it
I am English myself, and a fantasy and horror reader. I just have never got Neil Gaiman. I feel his grasp of what constitutes horror has always been pedestrian and his use of language mediocre.
But then I have also always felt the same about Stephen King's writing. So whatever.
It’s great to see Emmie back. We all have books we regret buying. I tend to hoard a lot of books, and personally, I wish I knew how to budget properly back then. Thanks for sharing the problems you’re facing. We are all humans and we are all prone to committing mistakes.
The goldfinch is one of my favourite books and my soul is crying when you are talking about it😭😭😭
'Daisy Jones & The Six', 'Henry and June', 'The Sex Lives of African Women'...crying😭. I shall never recover the time
I received The Cursed Child as a Christmas/going away gift from my friend and I remember being so excited about it. I read a few pages on 23rd December 2016 and then put it away, because it iust read like a bad fan fiction. 4 years later, I decided to reread the HP series and after the 7th book, I decided to give the play another go, because it bothered me that I had left it unfinished, and oh my god, it was awful. My first one star. I'm keeping the book, because it was a really thoughtful gift that reminds me of my friend, but I wish I'd never read it, because it just made me angry xD
The fact that the Cursed Child is considered canon. God, there are well written HP fanfics better than Cursed Child.
@@MikoAsuke That's so true.
Owning classics or buying books I want to reread makes sense to me, but I use the library (or maybe Audible credits) for popular fiction and nonfiction. It’s too expensive to just buy every book I might or might not like.
I'm same way! I like to own the classics, or my favorites. I just borrow the new fiction that I am taking a chance on lol.
I will add that you can usually find pdf versions of a lot of books online even with newer books. That’s what I do when I’m on the fence about a book or really don’t want to spend the money.
Same, where I live books are just far too expensive to just take chances on. I'm not about to spend 35 dollars on a paperback that I might not like just because it's popular.
Also this might sound shallow but I really do care about what covers look like. I have limited space and my surroundings really affect me so if I'm buying a physical book that 1. is expensive, 2. takes up space and 3. I will have to look at every day, I want it to be both a nice object and something I will read more than once in my lifetime.
Classics are good for this since a lot of them are timeless and I plan to reread at different
stages of my life. They also have lots of different editions to choose from. A lot of contemporary novels I am interested in I will just get from the library because a lot of them have really trendy graphic design that dates itself quickly and sometimes the stories themselves don't really stand the test of time.
We usually have such similar reading tastes but the difference I LOVE Neil Gaiman, Good Omens specifically is my favorite book 😅 (I had the same feelings as you about the ocean at the end of the lane tho) so sad to hear his writing doesn’t speak to you but it is interesting so to see where our tastes are similar and where they’re different! ❤
I like Gaiman's short stories much more than the novels. Interesting ideas without having to read a bloated novel.
Just my opinion...
I love coraline and have never read anything else of his
@@angelacanedit Coraline is quite wonderful & is just long enough to tell the story properly.🙂🎃
Do consider running to the opposite end of a bookshop the moment you glimpse a Penelope Douglass book. Trust me on this one.
Re Sanderson, I tried Mistborn a while ago and found it dull: mostly workmanlike writing with flat characters BUT this year I gave him another chance with the Way of Kings and it is great. So from my limited experience of him, I'd say you're giving him his best chance if you try the Stormlight Archive series.
I read Skyward recently too, after reading most of his major books, and it definitely was very different, and less well done than his other work. His writing can be debatably hard to get into, and it definitely is more slow-paced than a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, but the worlds are so thought out, so complex, and he explores mental health a little disability, and puts a lot of work into making everything feel real and complete.
I don't know.. I see everybody saying that his books take a while to get going and some parts are really boring but so far I find The Final Empire not boring at all.
@@mikanchan322 Yeah I did find Mistborn to be pretty fast-paced and easy to get into to, it depends on what you’re used to reading and a lot of fantasy readers are not used to his pace
Omg. The Goldfinch sent me into a 12-month reading slump! I'm still confused why it is so highly praised 🤭
That’s one of the reasons I love the library! You can try new authors without any money lost if you turn out to dislike them.
I love the goldfinch. I’ll argue (as someone who lost both his parents, and one at a relatively young age) that the goldfinch is about the pointlessness of life, when lensed through the eyes of grief. It’s shockingly good. But I didn’t love the way it resolved and dragged. But it resolved and dragged as life does, a boring mystery and a bit of a nightmare. Forgive my nihilism, it’s been a rough decade or two. And in the wake of losing my parents, my north stars, much of my adult life feels like I’m driving through an endless Saskatchewan, in the rain.
I love so much that you're so objective and respectful of books that you hate. I feeeeel the pain of having spent money on mediocre reads but then I donate them to the local library because I know most of these books will be loved by someone else and I feel a little bit better. Still very heartbroken, but not soul-crushingly devastated 😂
Burn "The Cursed child", burn it! Don't read it. I wish I could go back in time and unread it. 😢
Agh the Neil Gaiman take is such an odd one. You would expect such a beloved fantasy author to be right up your alley. A genius of a gentleman
Books in Argentina are really expensive. So, since I read mostly classics I listen to them first here on youtube or if there are new releses on a pre paid plataform. I buy the ones that rank 4 stars. Is a way to save money and space on my shelves. If, because of my anxiety, I buy something that I don't like, I sell them and get credit on a second hand library in my town. 🤗❤
PS. Do not read The cursed child!!!
same in chile 💔 i just read ebooks on my kindle or on the national library app
Reading classics is the best you can do, you'll never be disappointed (bad books tend to be forgotten, and classics are literally the BEST books of each period of time)
I also live in a country in which foreign books are not THAT affordable, so I'd rather spend my money on a good classic then to speculate on something that might be pure literary trash.
😄 you're right--it IS spooky spending money on bad books 😑 I feel your pain. Been there, done that, using the library a LOT more.
Finally, someone who also didn't enjoy the Goldfinch. I was considering reading it again because everyone just loves it, but I've satisfied my curiosity!
the goldfinch was the last book i pulled an all nighter for, not worth it lol
I remember you showing the Never After book series in your library tour.. did you read it or unhauled it..??
The intro! 😂 🙌🏽
OMG, I so agree on the “Before the coffee gets cold”! I am so glad I didn’t spend money on it because I listened it on Audible but I lost a credit though… 😅
There are a LOT of mediocre books out there...at 64YO, I just don't have time anymore. I say cut your losses and get out early.
I feel the categorization 'dark academia' is being misused and abused about as much as fantasy books/series were being called 'the next Harry Potter'.
There's something so awkward about Good Omens and I always feel so alone in not loving it lol.
after reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold i couldn't help thinking it would make a better stage play than book...turns out the book was originally a play!
SAME with Before the Coffee gets cold!!!! FINALLY SOMEONE, preach Emma🫶🏼
My God, sometimes I regret downloading some ebooks wasting my Megabytes
Oof. I feel this. I bought a popular fantasy book and I hated the main character so much lol
Oooh what book? I love hearing about books people didn't like haha
girl spill !! which book??
Emma, I'm the same as you. I hated and dnfed multiple penelope douglas' bully romances but her very first book that I tried was called Birthday Girl. This one is an age-gap and surprisingly so, so much better than all her bully romances! Honestly if you're still willing, I really wanna see you give PD your last chance with Birthday Girl.
Sanderson's writing isn't good in general, I'm a fan but I like his books for other things but it makes sense why someone wouldn't like his books because of writing. His the way of king series people say is the best of his ( I assume the writing would be better too) so you should check that one if you want to read something by him in future
I have read ebooks only for about the last 10 years (ran out of space for real books). One of the benefits of using a Barnes & Noble or Amazon ebook reader is you can download a sample of the book (generally first chapter and sometimes 2nd chapter). Time enough to determine if you want to read the entire book or delete it.
That feeling when your favorite series is on the list. I will say this, Skyward is foundational. The scofo doesn't really kick in until the second book. But I don't think it would be different enough.
before the coffee gets cold didn’t do it for me too, i kept seeing tiktoks of people sobbing when finishing the book but i found it quite underwhelming tbh
Ok so I kind of agree with you on Six of Crows, I was a little let down given how popular it is but I liked it enough to read Crooked Kingdom and the characters wormed their way into my heart. The writing mediocre and don't get me started on the heist or politics because they make no sense and we all know it, but I just can't help but love these books.
"...you wanna be able to kick a bucket full of good books..." Best thing I've heard in while 😅
15:43 I did not think it was a waste of time but neither was it earth-shattering. I did enjoy the exploration of the characters specifically Theo. And I think there were several beautiful lines like this: “not just the predictable vastness of time, and space, but the impassable distances between people even when they were within arm’s reach of each other”
I basically only buy classics and books that Im confident will be at least 4 stars. If I wanna read Ya or a popular books I just get them at my library. I also read Throne of Glass this year, hated it, and was sooo glad that i just got it from my library and didnt spend a single cent on it. Buying used books is also a great way to save money- i just got three of the Game of Thrones books for 22 instead of 45 € lol-
I think the only book I kinda regret buying this year was the Acotar series, i read Crescent City and loved it and thought i should give her other series a try, the book Set was only 25€ on Amazon so I thoughg "why not?". While i still gave them 3-4 stars each, I shouldve just gotten them from my library instead lol. I dont have enough shelf space to keep 3 star books
What i always like to do is rent a book from the library or a friend and if i liked or loved it, ill go online and buy it so i can read it over again if i want to in the future or let friends barrow it. I love your book recommendations thankyou!
harry potter and the cursed child was so unnecessary imo i finished it and it was not worth my time at all, i felt like if it was a book and not a play it would be better
I recommend Brandon Sanderson's novella "The Emperor's Soul"! It's concise and mindblowing. I've sadly failed to get into any of his longer work.
The Cursed Child i still maintain is just like terrible fanfic for HP…not worth a read at all in my opinion. I read it in a day and was supremely underwhelmed and mad about how they handled the story. It was like, “wow, I’ve read fanfiction that deals with these themes 100 times better than this play did”
3 videos in a week? We are being FED
I LOVED Before the Coffee Gets Cold :)
“I don’t even have proof she can slice bread efficiently “ I’M DEAD 😂💀
thank you for speaking on Before the Coffee Gets Cold!
I really can't understand the hype over Before the Coffee Gets Cold. I was expecting so much and got so little.
Me first meet with Brandon Sanderson this year was mistborn: the final empire and its chief kiss in fantasy world, I believe it's young adult too not sure if the rest of the series is.
It’s like younger adult? Hahahahahah, like a book that works as a bridge, but that’s just my opinion.
Okay but my toxic trait is wanting to see a reading vlog of the cursed child …
Ok, so.. once, after I've head a streak of bad luck with books,I established the habit of spending long amounts of time at bookstores. I wandered around, took all the books that caught my interest, and sat down with my pile of books in some free cozy spot in the store. Then I read the first few pages of every book. Some I sorted out quite fast, others where my style in general, but didn't speak to me at that moment. In the end, I only bought those that made me want to read on from the few first pages I've read, not taking into account the actual content, the cover, the genre or the opinions I've heard of said books. I've done that maybe two or three times, and I've never before enjoyed so many reads in a row.
as someone who also struggles with Neil Gaiman's books may I recommend his short stories? I really enjoyed all the ones I have read so far and find that his style and his ideas are very well suited for a 20 page story rather than a 250+ page book :)
obsessed with your bgm choises🥰
Ugh, The Goldfinch. I loved it at first but slogging through drug/alcohol addiction bores me if there's no insight or even the tiniest bit of redemption. After pages and pages and pages of dwelling on Theo's gratuitous descent into substance abuse, with no end in sight, I put the book away forever.
I agree with you about The Ninth House - it was awful. Babel is another shocker - so hyped and yet so, so bad. Fortunately that was a library book. When I see books hyped on social media I cynically think that the publishers know they're bad and have to get as many people as possible to buy them before word gets around. Lots of good books are published without that level of hype.
You did recommend "Ninth house" last year. What changed? (Also try buying used or electronics)
Wow what a relief to find someone else who didn’t love the Gold Finch !!!!
I LOVED Coraline SO MUCH (book & movie) that I went and bought quite a few Neil Gaiman books and when I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I hated it so much that I got scared of reading anything else of his…it’s been 3+ years and I still haven’t touched that stack of books I bought! LMAO
This is why I've learned to DNF when a book fails me. Life's too short to read bad books.
18:30 "dark academia fantasy" -- A.S. Byatt's "Possession" is the best book about academia ever written.
I loved it. So moody.
As someone who lives in Saskatchewan, I can tell you that your assessment of driving through is not wrong.
Some joke that Sask is so flat you can see the back of your head, and that you can see your dog running away from you forever.
I'm so glad I'm too old for the tik tok.. 😂 I'm bonding with you over Before the Coffee Gets Cold, but I had a Scribd sub trial and listened to it and didn't lose any money, thank goodness. I always live for your sense of humor. 😅
I am right there with you on Neil Gaiman! I was so convinced I would/should like him after reading a couple of the middle grade ones and some interviews, but I have rarely had to struggle for so long to slog through a book I despised than with Neverwhere or American Gods. I read so many things by him looking for another one that I would vibe with to the point where now he's my most-read author and I genuinely hate MOST of his books, lol
James Tullos made an hour long video tearing into Throne of Glass and all of its stupidity i highly recommend it 😂😂
I read "Throne of Glass" and loved it at the time. But now I look back at that time and the books I used to love, and I think: "What the hell?! What was I thinking?!" Most likely, this is the result of me reading a LOT in the last couple of years, increasingly diverse. I question certain tropes a lot more nowadays, especially the toxic love in many novels.
I grew up not being much of a reader but I always wandered the book stores with the same hang-up, that I couldn't risk spending *that* much money on something I didn't like. And I wasn't on Booktube either, to know anything about it but I remember seeing Throne of Glass ALL over the fantasy section and thinking... it must be good. I'm glad I didn't waste my money/time, and I'm sorry you did 😅
Madeline miller is working on a retelling of hades/persephone and im so excited!!!
19:14 So sad to hear about your thoughts on Six of Crows, and kind of scared to read Ninth House but I’ll probably like it 😅
emmie have you review shatter me series?
Wonderful. I regreted "The Alchemist", "101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think," and "Barry Lyndon." I'm very glad no Dickens books made your regrets list. :)
so glad I never bought The Alchemist, listening to the audiobook was hard enough haha and nah I don't think I'll ever regret buying Dickens
Wow, you have some crazy book prizes, even before inflation and paper crisis ... I'm really thankful for fixed book prizes in Europe.
The hyped book I recently listened to and stopped after less than half of it because I couldn't any more was The Atlas Six. The negative reviews on Goodreads talk about the exact things that bothered me about it.
Yes! I agree before the coffee gets cold was just trying too hard to be an emotional book, it just did not work for me! So happy I’m not the only one. I’ve only heard rave reviews about it.
i actually thought it was just plain old silly
If you going to read Sanderson please read Stormlight Archive instead of mistborn.
emmie you gotta read "these violent delights" by micah nemerever, it's my fave dark academia book!!! highly recommend
Emma, I find your take on Penelope Douglas curious as it pertains to fictional character depiction in general. While I've never read Douglas, it seems as if you take issue with her use of misogynist/racist language to portray misogynist/racist characters. But how else exactly is one supposed to depict these characters and their attitudes, especially if the goal is critique? For writers of fiction, such language is one tool in the toolbox, and I feel it's a valid one. There are misogynist and racist people in the wider world, and thus there will be misogynist and racist people in fiction. Are we simply supposed to pretend that they don't exist? Perhaps I've misconstrued you, but I'd be curious to hear your take on this...
Agree on the Gaiman verdict. Coraline is a certified classic but I'm thankful for Libby to say the least in regards to the rest I've read.
I felt exactly the same about Six of Crows. I don’t understand how it’s so beloved because it bored me senseless.
Yes!!! And the writing was not good
haha yeah, I didn't get the hype behind Before the Coffee Gets Cold either. I like emotional reads and I do cry during books frequently enough but that one fell so flat and I don't plan on reading anything else by that author. It would be so funny if my mom read English and could give me her feedback on the books I love- I wonder what it would reveal! Thanks for another great video! :)
I didn't enjoy Before The Coffee Gets Cold either. The rules seemed silly, and the things around the rules, like the ghost getting up to go to the toilet (why would a ghost need to do that?) The writing itself was also just really, really bad. Fortunately I borrowed it from the library, so I didn't waste money, and fortunately it was a quick read so I didn't waste *too* much time on it.
Honestly, Cursed Child is a very interesting read. It’s atrocious but it’s super fun watching an author just completely misinterpret their own characters.
Tbh Emma I would expect you not to like quite a bit of the popular fiction books liked on Booktube. You’re fairly intellectual and better educated than many. I love that you have a broad range of interests however. And I love your beautiful videos.
I find Gaiman's middle grade reads more ineteresting as well, you're not alone ^^
Hey Emmie!! just wanted to say you're currently my favorite youtuber as well as booktuber. I absolutely love reading and found and interesting novel that I'm currently reading and really like. It is called how to stop time by matt haig and it's basically about this man, Tom who has a rare condition where he only ages once in every 15 years so he's 450 years old. It travels along with his past life and love, with really interesting relationships with really big people who are currently famous in history. There's a society that protects people with his condition and the only rule for these rare unaging people is that they're not supposed to fall in love. Tom is tired of life and becomes a history teacher modern day. It's super good and based on some of the other books you talk about I think you'd like a lot about this book, if not the plot at least the writing style.
Oh Emmie, I feel seen. I agree with all of your authors and books. I've tried them all. Luckily, half were library books but I did also purchase The Cursed Child with such high hopes. And don't get me started on Six of Crows.
Cursed Child was exactly that - cursed - but one thing I did appreciate were the children-of-HP characters. Albus and Scorpius in particular, though I also enjoyed how (spoiler alert, maybe) utterly evil Delphini was. Some interactions between grown-up Harry and Draco were interesting too, and I liked how we got to see how these characters that we loved and grew up with weren't perfect people as adults, weren't perfect parents, but were still the same people. Harry was shitty in it, but what made it interesting was how plausible it was. The different perspective on all those characters was what made it worth it, for me, is what I'm trying to say.
I also read it when it came out when I was 11, though, so some of my judgements might not be the same if I'd read it today. This is just what I remember it as - my brain's personal glamorising summary, if you will.
Buyer's remorse with books hurts so much. It's not just the money that's gone, it's the time you spent reading it! I really hope you do give Brandon Sanderson another shot, though! Mistborn is SO good.
It is. Also "Elantris" is very good.
1Q84 by Murakami. From Pedophilia, graphic description of child abuse, undertones of incest to morbid sexualization of women, nothing seems to be missing.
I'm not sure how some call it their favourite book, inspite of all these highly problematic points.
Neither the book summary nor the online reviews that hype the book, seems to mention any of this.
Its often marketed as an intelligent science fiction, yet it felt quite the opposite.
Its the worst and most disturbing book I've ever read.
Run away from cursed child! I saw the show a few months ago and wasnt blown away. The effects are awesome and really fun to witness but the story doesnt make sense. They did a great job of transforming the theatre so even just walking into the building adds to the experience. I was late to the HP hype and quickly got stuck in but just as quickly felt happy to move on to other things.
Which video about Neil Gaiman is she referencing here? I can’t seem to find it and I would like to hear more of her thoughts
Love your Icelandic shirts lately💜
I have been trying to get back into reading and I made the mistake of picking up Neon Gods and Electric Idols. It did take me trying to read Electric Idols to realize I did not like the books. I refuse to read the cursed child lol. Great video
I 100% agree about Before The Coffee Gets Cold. It left me cold 🤷🏻♀️