 These do not fit my head. They really said, make your head smaller. Sorry, sorry, sorry, I can't. I can't do it. I've tried it, and I failed. What is happening? What it, what is happening? Back to this vlog. So this is the first of quite a few Christmasy themed vlogs. Well, today is going to be the best day ever. I can't do my hands like out of my control. Christmasy themed vlogs that we're going to be doing throughout December. And I'm just so excited, there's so many. You guys, you don't understand all the exciting stuff that we have got coming in December. And this first one, you're only reading the title, you're going to be like, Megan, what the fuck? What? Basically, my family went to the shops and they found these Cluedo crackers. They found these Cluedo Christmas crackers and I just knew I had to make a video out of it. I just knew, like as soon as these were in my possession, I didn't have a choice, excuse me, excuse me. As many of you know, I have TBR Cluedo, which is my TBR game, and so listen. We've got the galleys, we've got Reverend Green, Colonel Masses, Miss Scarlett, Miss Peacock, Professor Bum, Mrs. White. It's all the drama, Mick, I just love it. These are going to be picking what I read in this vlog. Now, this vlog and next week's one involve me picking books off of tenuous prompts. So I don't know how I'm going to do this. I messaged my patrons and I was like, should I cut little holes in these and put like 2021 end of year reading prompts in them? Or should I just open the crackers and have to link what's in the cracker to a book somehow? And they voted for that. So that's what we're going to do. On the back, it says that they can each contain a character, a hat, we're like a Christmas hat, snap, what the hell is that, and motto. So what are those? I don't know, I don't know. We're going to have to just open them and see what happens. But before we get into that, I want to take a moment to thank the sponsor for today's video, which is Literal. So many of you know I did a whole reading vlog with Literal a couple of weeks ago and I absolutely loved it. I've continued using it. I just love the interface of Literal so, so much. I have been using it to track my reading, to find new books to read, to see what everyone else is reading and reviewing. I just love it. So if you haven't checked out Literal yet or if you don't know what it is, it is a kind of reading, tracking, reviewing app. I love the reviewing system on there because you can give half stars, which I really, really love. I feel like having the ability to give half stars, that having to like round up or round down really makes me see them as a more valid choice and really changes the way that I'm thinking about books when I'm reviewing them. There's like a little section for review, which feels a lot less intimidating than other reading, reviewing apps. And I find I actually write something, whereas I never used to do that. Whereas now I am writing stuff for my reviews and they have a feature where when you review a book, it gives you like little word, like description options. You describe the book, which I feel like is a really great way of like, you know, you see the word, you think, oh yeah, the book is that. And it communicates an element of the book to the people who follow you that you wouldn't have necessarily thought to communicate otherwise. For example, someone I follow, Elizabeth, has just rated on a sunbeam 4.5 stars and described it as delightful and sweet. So I just love the descriptions on there. I just really love the interface. I think it's so aesthetically gorgeous. Another one of my favorite features on there is the book club. So you can join the book club or make your own with your friends. It can be like a small group of five people with your friends, or you can join a massive one that hundreds of people are in. I'm really enjoying one at the moment that's actually about writing. So giving writing tips to one another. I really like that aspect of it. You can have shelves to kind of organize your TBI. You can make as many different shelves as you want and like organize your books into them. Another feature I really love is the highlights on there. So like, if you're reading a book as a quote you really like, you can create a highlight for it. And I really love the design of that on the website as well. And something that is super duper exciting is that little are actually running a 25 days of giveaways over on Instagram. Basically every day a winner will receive a $20 gift card for a local bookstore of their choice. It's starting from the first, which has already been, it's currently the fifth when this is going up all the way up to Christmas day, which is just so exciting. So download this rule. I've got a link down below. It's currently invite only, but loads of you have already joined so far from my link. And I am loving the kind of little community that are growing over there. I just think it's such a great app and they're gonna continue to add new features and elements to the app all the time because it's very early on. So there's always new elements that could be added and you could suggest them if you want as well. So come join me over on literal. I absolutely love it so, so much. And yeah, I would really recommend it. I absolutely love the app. It's something I'm using all the time myself. So I'd love to see you over there and don't forget to go onto their Instagram at Literal Club and enter the giveaway. Okay, back to the video. So this time, we're gonna do this either two or three times bending on how long the books I choose are and like how long the vlog is. Are you excited cause I am? I mean, come on. She's an icon. She's a legend. And she is the moment. Now come on now. Let's open this box. I feel like I'm not ready for this. Who am I feeling first? I feel like I'm either drawn to Colonel Mustard or Miss Scarlet first. I think I'm actually gonna go with Miss Scarlet. Here she is, Miss Scarlet. The queen herself. Look at that. Look at the hair. She said, I ain't come to play bitch. I am croffed. I am ready. I probably should have opened one of these crackers to like get a general idea of what's in them. But we're just, we're just going ahead and, okay. That wasn't the best snap, but it wasn't a terrible one. I've had, I truly love the smell. Chris, that is Christmas and a smell. It's getting weird. Let's see what's in it. Okay. First thing is, excuse me. Oh, we've got, we've got two things. Hold up. We've got the hat, orange. We could do something with this. A cover that's orange. May hats. Let's put it on. Let's get into the Christmas spirit. That'll do. Oh, Pluto trivia. Oh, I love a bit of trivia. Anthony Pratt, a solicitous clerk from Birmingham, England invented the game in 1943. Hmm. Okay. So maybe historical set in World War two, perhaps could be an option. Could be an option. I am freaking out. This is a lot. Excuse me. Oh, okay. It's literally just Miss Scarlet. She can stand up if she wants, basically. That's it. What's the snap? The snap? What's that? It's the same. A potential risk because they're overweight. It's claimed that they're more prone to heart attacks. Is that? So we're going either orange or 1943 or a solicitous clerk or Birmingham, England or game, something with a game like invented the game. When is this set? This is big. I don't really want to read this right now. Oh, 1957. No. Oh my God. I mean, an option that I would be very happy with is like just matching Felix ever after to my hat. Hold up. I'm going to go consult my shelves to see what historical fiction I have because I'll be able to see it all there in one place. A few moments later. Okay, besties. I have served high and low. Right. I looked for books set in World War two. The hat is a look. Let's just don't fucking have any. I don't have a single book on my TBR set in World War two. It's on set in Birmingham. Don't think I have any. Something written by a man called Anthony. Don't have any. Something with a game element. Like what? I should have a book with a game element. But I don't. So we're just going to go with the orange hat for this first book. And I actually looked. I have a few books with like orange spines, but not many with orange front covers. So we're going to read Felix ever after by case in the calendar, which I'm actually so excited to read. This book is very orange. Girl, look how orange you fucking little girl. It's like the most orange a book can get. So like, listen, we match perfectly. It's what we're going for. All I know about this is that it's about this guy named Felix who is trans. And another student begins like sending him transphobic messages and like threatening or actually posting images of Felix before he transitioned. And I think it's just about him kind of navigating that situation and navigating high school. This was a really big book when it came out. And I've heard some people say like, Felix can annoy you in the way that he acts. Like the decisions that he makes are a bit like, but I've also heard a lot of people say that it's just beautiful, vibrant story. So I'm actually super excited to be reading this. I haven't read a lot of YA lately and I haven't read a lot of contemporaries lately. So I feel like this is actually a really good choice. So yeah, I'm just going to go ahead and start reading it. Happy December 1st, besties. How are we all? Merry Christmas. Oh my God, I cannot believe it. You cannot believe how excited I am. Hang on, we need to... I've got my advent calendar. This is important. This is like the most important thing when it comes to Christmas. Chocolate. Okay, now we can begin. Happy December 1st. Are we all so excited? I'm very, very excited. I'm so excited not only to make all the Christmas content but to watch all of the Christmas content as well. This is just the best time of year for Booktube. Does anyone else feel like that? This is the elite time of year. It's when everyone pulls out all the stops. You know what I mean? So I'm very, very excited. Today, this whole month is going to be trying to balance all the reading I need to do for the vlogs I'm putting out. That's also balancing all the work I need to do for the other videos I'm putting out. It's a hard balancing act. See you later. Bye. You've been a great out today. That's all right. Thank you. Bye. She hadn't done a shit for the last couple of days. I'm 113 pages into Felix ever after. I'm on chapter nine. Okay. I feel a lot of pressure around this book, right? Because I feel like everyone has given it four to five stars. Like everyone's given it four to five stars. And like right now it's feeling like a 3.5 for me. A lot of people said the problem was like getting annoyed with Felix as a character and like he is annoying me a bit. And like I know that's the point. Here's the thing. I don't have to read about likable characters. I don't, right? But like if a character, if a character isn't likable, not saying Felix isn't likable, but like there's elements of his character that irritate me. I feel like there has to be like recognition of that. Like with consequences. I don't feel like that's happening. However, there is an argument to be made that like as a trans person who faces so much hostility throughout their lives in different ways from their family to their friends to the schoolmates, you know. He has a right to act in a certain kind of way. I think it's a very complex situation. But like I just don't know if I'm loving it. I will say the representation in this is amazing. There's so much representation for different genders and sexualities. Anyway, I just, I'm not in love with it. But I feel like I could get really emotionally invested as we go along and I could love it. Like I'm barely, I barely scratched the surface of this book. Today I need to edit the start of this video and I need to finish sending out all of my personalised videos to my team rawers on my Patreon. I've got about five left to do and they take a little while. And then I need to do some like admin-y prep stuff for some other videos that are coming out later in the month. But then other than that I am gonna try and finish this today. It's not very long. I think times two speed on the audiobook I've got like two and a half hours left. Whoa, why is the sun our nemesis today? It really said you will not succeed. If you can't be my friend, just please don't be my enemy because my life is tough enough as it is. But anyway, I'm gonna go do that work, get all that work out of the way and then hopefully I will have time this afternoon and evening to finish this up. Here's the situation. I am about 230 pages into Felix of Rafter. And like, it's starting to pick up for me. It's starting to pick up for me. But I am just a bit worried that Kasein Callender's writing is just not for me. And like that's sad. This is totally unacceptable. I'm on my way. Like I don't really understand what's happening. I read King and the Dragonflies by Kasein Callender early this year. And I think it was like a 2.53. I could not put my finger on it. Like it's strange. Very rarely can I not put my finger on what I don't like about an author's writing personally. Everyone in the reviews, all of my friends who are usually, I have very similar reading tastes to are like in the reviews of both these books going, oh my God, Kasein Callender has the best writing ever. And I'm like, me too. Like I agree, the fuck. Same, yeah, defo, defo. What is happening? What is happening? What is happening? Genuinely, because there's something about this writing I don't click with. It just feels so, I'm not, it's not giving me anything. If I speak, I am in big trouble. In big trouble. I don't want to say it in this because everyone loves it. Like am I crazy? Do I need to delete my channel? Should I click deactivate right now? Because I don't, okay. I say that as if I'm not enjoying it. I am now enjoying it, but let's just discuss this point first, right? I feel like it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, perhaps. I feel like everyone calls it beautiful, but I feel like it's the opposite. I feel like it's very succinct and to the point and matter of fact. It's not giving me beautifulness, but everyone says it's, oh my God, it's beautiful. But that's always giving me. There's moments where Felix's thoughts and decisions just in certain moments, not all the time, don't make sense to me. Don't make sense to me. I'm like, you wouldn't, you wouldn't think like that. You wouldn't react like that, but sure, let's just pretend. Let's just pretend. However, there are moments I'm starting to enjoy. I'm starting to enjoy the relationships between these characters more. I'm just increasingly appreciating the representation that this book has to offer. Like, oh my God, how amazing is it that this book is published and so widely loved and received and it means it can get into the hands of so many trans and non-binary kids who need to read this stuff. So that element of it, I completely love and I think the representation in it is amazing and there's so much varied representation and also I feel like there's a lot of varied looks at the different beasts that transphobia can manifest itself in and how it can be overt or perhaps more insidious and discreet, I guess. So there's a lot of aspects I'm loving of it. Also, I don't feel like this is a spoiler because it's kind of the cover and I've seen people mention it in reviews but the kind of self-portrait element, we've already had a hint. We've actually had like two pages on that so far, like Felix doing self-portraits and I already want more. Like I'm already like, okay, give me more. So like, here's the thing. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I was when I first picked it up tonight. Like I've grown into the story but like, there is just something about the writing that we're not friends and that's okay. Like you can't be expected to like every author's writing, right? Like that's just never gonna happen but like, why me? Why me is what I wanna know but I'm assigned to enjoy it more and I feel like, I wouldn't be surprised if I cry. I feel like this book is gonna make me cry at some point. So yeah, I'm gonna take my make-up off and go to bed and I'll check in with you in the morning. Morning! I have finished Felix ever after and I'm gonna give this a 3.5 in the end. I really loved the discussions around self-love and like, oh, I got a bit emotional at one point. Like, I don't wanna get upset. Don't get upset, don't worry. Recognizing yourself as being worthy of love, I think that is a topic that so many young people need to hear and it's so helpful to hear and be reminded of, you know, knowing that like, you deserve love, you know, and not shutting yourself off to the possibility of love from whatever avenue because you feel like you don't deserve it and I thought that was so beautiful. It is probably one of my favorite books I've ever read in terms of trans representation. I've got a shit on my lip. Like it's cat fur. There's literally just cat hair in the air in my house all the time. Like, literally, there's a bit. Like, I just feel like Miko just walks into a room and suddenly there's just like, fur balls in the air, anyway. Yeah, I feel like the trans representation in this is so multi-layered and so beautiful and touches on so many different things and I just fucking straight to my chin with the book. I feel very attacked. Relax. It's not going well. But here's the thing, there is just something about Casing Calendars writing that I don't vibe with and I don't know what it is and I don't know if it would be fair of me to pick up Casing Calendars books in the future because I think Casing Calendars books are amazing, right? I feel like looking at both Phoenix Ever After and King and the Dragonflies, they're objectively great books. There's just something about them that I don't love in terms of the writing style, but everyone else seems to and so I just don't know if it would be fair for me, you know, towards the books and the author to keep on reading these and not giving them amazing ratings. You know what I mean? I don't know if that's like morally correct, you know? Sometimes I think you just have to accept an author's writing style is not for you but it's for so many other people and I feel like that is perhaps the situation here. So I enjoyed a lot of aspects of it. I grew so much more warmth towards a lot of the relationships and friendships in this book towards the end and I'm glad I finally read it, but it wasn't 100% for me. Also, I feel like I've seen some critique. It seems like when other people are talking about Felix annoying them in his actions, it was more about him like smoking weed or like missing school or missing deadlines. That never annoyed me, right? I was never upset with that. I don't really understand how anyone can have a problem with that in the book. For me, it was more like it wasn't written in a way that convinced me of Felix's thoughts and behaviors, like what he chose to do in reaction to certain things. Like that I wouldn't have a problem with those things happening if I had been convinced. Writing is a lie. I always say this, like a book's a lie is. What? Right? You have to convince me that that's the truth and I was just very aware at moments I was reading a book if that makes sense. So I'm only gonna read one more book in this vlog. A, because I feel like it's already quite long. I feel like looking at the fish lengths, I've spoken a lot and also make you know I have like a thousand vlogs to complete and I really want to get started on the first episode of Wrapped Up, like tomorrow. So I just want to read something today and that's okay. And also I'm really in the mood, right? For a short book. I want to read a book that's only like 200 pages. I remember in my Reacting to your Controversial Opinions video, someone said how they love books already 200 pages and like how and all that has to write to fit a story, like that detailed into that, you know, that small amount of pages and what a great experience is to read that. And I've just been hankering for a short book ever since. So if we can, you know, apply whatever it is to a short book, we're gonna do it. Also we have to pick it based off the trivia this time. We're not doing it off the hat. Who am I feeling? Hmm, I'm just gonna go on my first instinct. We're going with Colonel Mustard. Are you ready? Oh, that was a very disappointing snap. Can I like, did it even snap? Nope, there we go. I am very uncomfortable with the energy that we've created in the studio today. Okay, let's see what we've got. We have a purple hat. These do not fit my head. They really said make your head smaller. We're just gonna look like that. All right, everyone. Trivia, moment of truth, I feel sick. Cluedo, known as Clue in Canada and the US, is a crime fiction board game originally published by Waddington Games. That gives me nothing other than to read a crime book. Because all I'm gonna do is disappoint me. Like what? What am I supposed to do with that information? Oh, okay, hang on. Let me just go consult my computer to see if the book I'm thinking of fits. But there's a short book I've wanted to read for years and years and years and I would love to read it now. Hold up. So, I am going to read Moon of the Crusted Snow by Will Beachick Rice. It's nice and short. It's only just over 200 pages. All I know about this is that this indigenous community is cut off from power and communication with no foreseeable resolution. Unexpected visits to arrive, escaping the crumbling society to the south, tensions rise and allegiances are divided. The harsh winter months pass slowly and the food supply dwindles as the death toll and panic rise. But the greatest threat to survival of the reserve might come from within the community itself. So, there's gonna be crime. Sure, Jan. Although I think this is more like a blend of thriller, horror, sci-fi from what I've heard. I don't really know how it's gonna be sci-fi, but okay. And we're just gonna go for it. I'm pretty sure this has been on five-star predictions. If I put this on a five-star prediction list, maybe. I've always been so excited to read this book. So I'm just so hyped to just sit down and read this book. I'm very, very excited. I feel like this is gonna be a great way to spend my afternoon. And I'm so glad I'm finally reading this. I don't care if anyone disagrees with my reasoning. I am so happy I'm finally reading this book. Like, I've been wanting to read it for years and years. I've put on so many TBRs. I just feel like I'm gonna love it and no one can disagree with me. So I'm gonna go start it now. Actually, I need to have my advent calendar for the day. That's like the most important thing every day. Have I not done it yet? You know, the crusted snow and besties? I'm loving it. I'm loving it. Like... Sorry, I've just gotta take a moment. This is just amazing. I am absolutely loving this book. It is so good. I have just been drawn in. I'm reading it so fast. I'm barely like checking my phone or anything. Like, I love, I haven't had this recently. Like, I've been reading some shit books and some disappointing books. And I love when I'm just so, like, drawn in and captivated by a book. We're following these characters on this reservation. Basically, all of the power things start going out. So satellite goes. They can't use their phones. Internet goes. TVs, power goes. Heating goes. Everything is going, right? And they managed to get user generators to, like, they have power stores that they can use that aren't connected to, like, I guess, the mains. I don't know, power, electric words. They are not getting any communication from down south in the cities. They are not hearing anything about what is happening. Something that's so interesting is that as soon as the community are told, like, we don't really know what's going on. We need to sit tight, conserve energy. They all rush to the store and buy all the food, which is so funny because this is written in 2018. So before the pandemic, and I'm like, well, big chagrass, you know how humans react. I guess that sums it up. It feels like a very human story about what I guess is gonna be like this apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic situation where the world is ending and our character's on the reservation, like, basically need to survive. The atmosphere and the tension in this is incredible. The way that, like, this feeling of dread and unease and foreboding is building up throughout the book, I don't actually have the words to convey to you how good it is, how good it is at doing what it's doing. If any of you own this book, it's so short. Pick it up in December, maybe January, February when it's cold outside because it's all to do with, you know, the snow being cut off from everyone else. Isolation, we all know, isolation is a top-tier trope. You're thinking the best. Isolation I live for. And I really love the characters. The characters are being so, is it deathly woven? Oh my God, is she a professional reviewer? Who knows? The characters, like, through so many just little, I love it when authors do this. I actually can't get a sense of that, they're here, come on. Let me just start eight different sentences and maybe then you'll understand what I'm saying. They say so little, so little is said about these characters but, like, you know who they are and I can already feel myself becoming so attached with so many of the characters with mainly following a character called Evan and his family, he has a wife and two young children and the way that it's interweaving these kind of tender, heartfelt family moments amongst all the kind of harshness of the landscape and of the situation is beautiful and I already know I'm gonna hate this book for doing that because I don't want anything bad to happen to any of these people because I think that's what you want from a post-apocalyptic book is you want there to be an emphasis on family and love and connections. There's this community who is so connected with each other and then for that to be put under pressure and in danger and it's gonna, in many ways, like, suffer is heartbreaking, you know, the warmth of their little, their home feels so warm and full of love and the fact that that is, you know, in danger is like so scary. I'm like, listen, it says in the snub says, death tolls on the ride and I'm very scared about that. So I am absolutely, just, I'm absolutely just loving it. It's amazingly written. I just, I'm having the best time reading it and I hang on one more point before I go. I know I've been speaking for ages. Sometimes I just can't stop myself and I'm like, what do you want from me? Do you want quick two minute check-ins like some people do? I can't. If you want me to deliver that, I can't. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, I can't. I can't do it. I've tried it, and I failed. This is what I was talking about with wanting to read a small book, right? Because it is so intimate and tightly woven and like close that it's exactly what I wanted. I knew what I wanted when I said I wanted a short book and it's delivering in every sense of the word. So yeah, I'm absolutely loving it. I finished Moon of the Crusted Snow today and I'm giving it five stars. I loved this. I absolutely loved it. I love good news, love good news. I just love good news. Now, it's hard for me to say much more than I already did because it's literally 200 pages and I didn't speak about it quite a lot but I just absolutely loved this book. I just think it's like one of the best like post-apocalyptic books I have ever read. I really loved again the community in this. I think it's one of the first books I've read in recent times where like the community, the sense of community and the obligation and the interconnection that they have with one another is like a completely other character in itself. Like, I feel like there's a lot of names. There's a lot of characters in this book. For some of them, you kind of remember vaguely who they are but in a essence, a lot of them are just part of this wider thriving community that have to come together in this really hard time to kind of look after one another. The just sense again of foreboding. Oh, oh, in the way it rose out of the book was just absolutely incredible. Also, I feel like I, I know this isn't for everyone but I loved like the practicalities and the mundanity, if that's a word, like the mundaneness of the book. It's very much about the day-to-day things that our main character and the wider community have to do in order to survive and I really like that. I like a book that goes into the day-to-days and the mundane and I just absolutely love it. Also, the villain in this, I wasn't expecting there to be a villain. I was expecting maybe for like arguments to happen within the community but I wasn't expecting there to be a villain. I just kind of thought nature and the situation would be the antagonist but the villain is a very interesting one and a very kind of like slowly building and then all suddenly it's like, oh, okay, they're really a villain. I can't say anything because it was a spoiler but like I feel like it said, I had a lot of commentary about it that I really enjoyed and I just like this is such a kind of book. I mainly need to go and look up, you know, has or be should rise or anything else because I absolutely loved this. Again, the snow, the isolation, the survival instinct of this book is what absolutely made it for me. I just love isolation. I think anything with an isolation trope in it, you're gonna like at least get four stars from me. Like I think it's a bit of a struggle to get less than that. If you've got an isolation trope, I just love it. And the Cole, Evan's wife, I love an icon, the kids, I love, I love the family unit. And it was just so good, you guys. I feel like everyone needs to pick this book up. It was absolutely amazing. A great quick read and I just had, I just had so much fun reading it. So that is it for this reading vlog. I hope you enjoyed it. It was interesting actually. It was a stupid idea, but like I feel like it began the Christmas spirit, like getting us into the Christmas mood, using the Christmas crackers to pick what I read. Let me know if you thought of either these books if you've read them, I'd really love to hear your opinions. And if you can think of any, because I feel like I didn't pick very well. So if there's any of them that you thought, Megan, you could have read that book for that cracker. Let me know that as well. Make sure you check out literal again. I'll leave my link down below where you can join the app and you can follow me on now. I'm having the best time using it. I absolutely love it. I actually need to put both of these books through it. I've been so busy. I haven't had a chance to like review or rate any of my books. So I'm going to go do that now. And if you've gotten to the end of the video, comment. It has to be a snowflake emoji. I know we've done that recently, but like Moon of the Cry, or Moon. Moon of Snowflake. Moon of Snowflake emoji if you've gotten to the end. Thank you so much for watching this vlog. I know it has been a long one. I didn't expect it to be. I've only read two books. I don't really know how that happened. And I will see you very soon in another video. Bye.