 So, a lot of you all know that Courtney Summers is one of my favourite authors. Author of Sadie. I didn't grab these in a good way. Sadie the project. I'm the girl. Cracked up to be. Listen, I love Courtney Summers. And recently, we got talking on Instagram through a series of events. And I said, what do you ever want to do a video where you pick what I read? And Courtney said yes, so that's what we're doing today. One of my favourite authors. Let's be honest. I talk about Courtney Summers all the time. One of my favourite authors is going to pick what I read. How exciting. So we're going to find out some of Courtney's favourite books that she wants me to read. I cannot believe this is reality. I am so excited. I hope you guys are too. And yeah, we'll also have an interview with Courtney throughout this. And very excitingly, we're going to be doing a giveaway. So check the link down below. So yeah, shall we just get into the video? I can't believe this is reality. Let's go. Okay, it's time to find out. It's time to find out what books Courtney has recommended to me. It has chosen for me to read. I feel sick. I actually feel, hmm, horrific. Get that fire ricksector. I'm off. I have no idea what books. Like I don't even know what kind of books Courtney reads. I don't know what we're in for here. I am so nervous, so nervous, so nervous. But I don't have anything else to say to you. I need to find out what these books are. We're not talking anymore. We're getting... We're getting this video up and we're going to watch it. Oh my gosh. I can't even tell you predictions because it's not like a booktuber who I watch and watch review books. Like I have no idea. Anyways, let's find out. I feel sick. I'm going to try and not scream too much so that you can actually hear what Courtney is saying. I'm going to try and just, you know, facial expression to react because usually I talk over these things too much. Okay. Hi, Meg. Thank you so much for inviting me on your channel to put my taste in books on trial. I'm very excited to be here today to recommend three books that I really enjoyed and that I hope you like, if not love. And if not love, I am going to answer and report this video to YouTube. Hello to your subscribers. I count myself among them. You have shaped my TBR on more than one occasion. And something I really enjoy about your approach to reading is that you're willing to meet a book where it is. And by that I mean you'll often decide whether or not it's achieved what it set out to do on its own terms. And you'll also weigh that against whether it was successful in achieving that on your terms as a reader. And I find that makes for a really balanced and thoughtful and nuanced recommendation. And that's what I'm looking for as a reader. So thank you for that. As an author it's been very cool to see my books pop up on your channel from time to time. I discovered it through your review of the project. A friend of mine saw it and sent it to me. They're like, you're going to get such a kick out of this. And your reaction was just, it was so much fun to watch. But more than that you really dug into the text and the writing in a way that was really gratifying. And you did the same most recently for I'm the Girl, which I really appreciated. You gave it a very thoughtful and sensitive read. And it's very specifically for the readers that it is for. And those are survivors and victims of sexual violence who want to be seen and heard and believed in the books that they read. And I think the way that you approach Georgia's story will give those readers the opportunity to find it for themselves. It's very gratifying when I get that kind of read and that kind of consideration. So thank you so much for that too. You're very consistently thoughtful in the way that you approach books. And you just do a really great job. So, good job. Okay, wait, pause for a second. So, wasn't expecting that. They did a very good job of reacting. I'm going to cry. A, I'm trying not to say anything so that you can actually hear what Courtney is saying. But, um, that was... Wow. Let me, I can't be vulnerable. No, that was one of the kind of stuff that's ever been said to me. Wow. That's like, Courtney, listen. I feel like as a booktuber, I have never had someone speak to me about my videos like that before. Whoa, okay. And for me to be one of my favourite authors, I don't even know how to react. That's very kind. Courtney's the best author I've ever had interactions with, kindest, so lovely. And I'm just so excited to be doing this video together. So, um, wow. Okay, I don't know how to react to that. Let's find out what the books are. Okay. So when it came time to pick books for you, I had sort of like two requirements. I wanted to pick books that sort of sat opposite of the emotional damage that my intent applies and might help heal someone. Appreciate it. And also to give you stories that really gave you something to dig into. So, I guess that's better to do. I feel sick. Let me show you these books. So this is one of my most cherished books, No Pressure. I end my reading year by starting it and I start my new reading year by finishing it. I love its optimism about our present because so much of it is looking back on our current moment from the future. I love how it shows how far reaching the unexpected impact of a single life can be. And I think there's a lot about the language and the structure and the interwoven narratives that you'll appreciate. And that's why my first pick for you is Station 11 by Emily St. John. Okay, I'm excited for that. I didn't notice the absence of this author on your Goodreads who I think is brilliant through and through. And I think it's time you got acquainted. He has this wonderful knack of taking these strange concepts and writing them in such a way they feel entirely real. His writing's tonality is just wonderful. You said something really cool about the project, something really nice about the project, about the sort of unexpected ways I'd string a sentence together. And that's what I hope you like about this author. On a sentence level, he's just putting words together in the most wonderful and surprising way. And that author is Kevin Wilson. The book is Nothing to See Here, which is probably the sweetest and funniest and most big-hearted story about emotionally damaged children who spontaneously combust into flames and the emotionally damaged young woman who has to name them. I read over 100 books in 2022, which is pretty epic for me. And when I challenged myself to pick just one to recommend to everyone, I immediately thought of this one. And this is one of the most wildly inventive and unique reading experiences that I've ever had. It's surprisingly heartfelt, but it's very, very funny. And your own sense of humor and your sense of timing with the funny little video inserts you put in your vlogs makes me think you might appreciate the humor that's on display in this book, which is Several People Are Typing by Calvin Castile. This is a story told entirely through a workplace's Slack chat. And one of the principal characters' consciousness gets sucked into the Slack, and the Slack bot takes over his body on the outside. It's something really extraordinary, special, and just, again, wholly unique. I hope you love it. Oh, my God. There's your rex. I hope, you know, like, let's get reading. Good luck. I don't know if that book is for me or for you, but maybe we both need it. So, good luck to us. Okay. So, thank you so much, Courtney, again for that video. I can't... I'm gonna be watching that every day for the rest of my life. Okay. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. Okay. I was shocked. I was shocked. Station 11, I own. Very excited. I've read one, Emily St. John Mandel, and I've always wanted to read Station 11. I feel like it's one of the big books I've missed out on, appeared when I wasn't really reading. So, very excited to see that there. And the other two I know nothing about. Like, I think I've seen nothing to see here about a bit. And maybe I think I've seen that a few times recently, but I don't know. So, these are like, I'm going in blind. I don't know what to expect. I guess we will start with Station 11, because that is the one that I already own. And we're gonna have an interview with Courtney, interspersed throughout this video as well. So, let's hear it from Courtney. Let's hear more from Courtney. And get reading on Station 11. Oh my God. Okay. So, I thought it'd be fun to chat about first, because obviously you've given me book recommendations for this video. Yeah. I was wondering if you could just like sum up your reading taste. What kind of genres, tropes, styles do you think you're drawn to most? Oh my God. Well, see, I used to think that I was like one type of reader where I was like, it's got to be miserable. It's got to make me keep running happy. Well, I was like, yeah, like I'm a thriller, grizzly, ugly stories kind of person. And then I got an e-reader in 2020. And when you don't have to put books on, you just look at your bookshelves and I'm like, oh my God, that's so much upkeep. Yeah. You don't know how you do it. And then I saw you do the unhaul and I was like, oh my God, this is giving me anxiety. So, as soon as I got an e-reader, I was like, these aren't physical. I can get whatever I want. Like, because you'd start, do you do that? Like, you really weigh what you put on your shelves. Yeah. Like, okay, this is taking up space so it better like be my whole personality. That's the same fabric. Yeah. So, I thought I actually, my reading taste since I got an e-reader expanded and I like these like, heartwarming books about the human experience that make you feel good. Like, I think I recommended quite a few of them to you. Yeah. Like, the three of them are somewhat affirming. So, I was like, oh, so that's who I am. Still, like, you're doing stuff though. Yeah. Miserable stuff. Yeah. But yeah. Listen, a mix of both. You gotta have both. Well balanced. I believe in balance. And what would you say are the biggest influences on your writing? That's a big question, I know. Oh, gosh. But I'd be intrigued to know. I loved, like, have you ever read Robert Cormier? No. Well, he wrote The Chocolate War. Oh, okay. Yeah. And that book was, I actually read that in my like early, very, very early 20s. I would not even say that I was still a teenager because 20 is like so young. It's like right in the 1920s. Still a baby. Yeah. So in that book, it's like about a chocolate bar sale, which is like, okay, I know in a Catholic school and it's an all boys school and someone refuses to sell chocolates and it like ruins his entire life. And in the end of the book, it's like, none of this was worth anything. This was the worst experience of my life. I learned nothing. People are inherently terrible. And I was like, yes. You know, like that's, that's, that was the, he was such a, such a huge influence because he's like, I don't have to give you a happy ending. I don't have to make you feel good at the end of this book. And I was like, that's what I want to do. I want to hurt people. So he was the biggest. Oh my gosh. And how would you say like day to day you're reading, impact your writing? I'd be intrigued to know. I think, oh my God, there was like a discourse recently on the internet. The internet. Where it's like, I think someone said, if you want to be a good writer, you have to read. And then everyone's like, well, that's not true for everyone. But I found that it's like, it's certainly true for me. I think my writing is always, you know, you pick up a book and you're challenged by what you read or you want to, you want to prove you can either do it better or you're like, I can't do it better than that. So I should try to be as good as I can. Like I can't imagine a scenario where reading doesn't fit into my writing life. It's there to push me. It's there to make me think bigger. It's like you're having a conversation with yourself when you read and that's how you grow. Yeah. Amy Smith had a really good quote about reading. She was like, you know, I wish I had it on hand because it was so good. You've got to find it. But it's about how like reading teaches you to be human. I agree with that. Like it's a whole thing. You develop your empathy through the experiences of others and you can find them in a book. You can safely explore a terrible thing. Like, I mean, not like, you know, not, I don't mean like you, I've always wondered what it would be like to be a murderer. So I'm going to read, not like that, but you know what I mean? No, yeah. Like the same space to like find, you know, to learn about people and, you know, hopefully, hopefully you're not reading the terrible books that teach you to go out to be a murderer. I don't know anything about those books. Oh, gosh, something I'm always really interested in is do you find that when you're working on a book, do you read books and consume media that's like a similar vibe or topic to that book? Or do you kind of stay away from books that are similar for fear that it will kind of like, that book will bleed too much into your current project? I don't know. I just read what I want to read. You know? Oh, yeah. If it's similar, like... Yeah. There's so many books where like, if you just read the summary and be like, oh, no, you know, they're all the same. Yeah. But then you get like, but the voice part, that's the part that can't be replicated. That's the thing that's going to be different every time. So I'm not as concerned about that. I remember when I like, wrote All The Rage and it took like, it took something like six drafts or maybe four or five or six drafts. That's three different numbers, but it wasn't one of them. And at the same time that I wrote it, someone else came out with an idea that like, superficially, it sold in publishers marketplace. It was like the same concept superficially, two entirely different books. It's the point in worrying about something like that. Everyone's always writing the same thing, but it's different again. Yeah. Yeah. Because I hear some authors talk about like, when they're writing like, I don't know, I'm trying to give an example, like a witchy book. They'll only read other witch books. And I'm like, I feel like that would, for me, I don't know if that would work because I'd be worried that other people's ideas would bleed into mine too much. But I wouldn't necessarily feel the same way with consuming like other media that was like films or whatever. That's true. You don't want to be like, it's good to know what you're writing. If you're entering like the marketplace, you want to know what's similar or what everyone's doing. By the time I'm writing a book, I've already probably read and been interested in the things that have brought me to that point. So it's like after that, except for the project, that I just read cult things like 24 seven. But that was just sort of keeping me grounded in the topic because with cult books, it's like, it's so easy to forget the people involved and just like the whole spectacle of it. So I just wanted to, I kept reading books about junk. That's probably the only time that I've done something like that. Yeah, because I felt like that when reading the project, because I think sometimes with cult books, like you said it's like the spectacle and like, oh, rather than actually like thinking of the people who have been in those situations themselves when writing it. But I'd love to know also how like that initial spark of inspiration for your books come. And do you have any examples of like when we had a moment that where a book, the spark that the book grew from came, I guess. God, I guess like with Sadie, I was like, why can't a book be a podcast? It sort of went from there and cereal had just come out and everyone was responding to this show with such fervor. And I was like, my God, that's got to have some kind of emotional consequence to everyone involved, no matter what side of the conversation that they're on that has to take in a moment. I was like, that sounds traumatic. And I like to write about dramatic things. Everything starts with the seed of trauma. I really, yeah. You know, like that I'm the girl is the Epstein case devastating. And then actually it's anger. It's always anger. It's not trauma. I'm just always angry about something. And now it's the entire back catalog of my book. Just an exercise and being angry. But it's a good way to, when you're angry about something to, I guess sometimes I feel like in, especially with social media, we're constantly given all this like awful information of awful things that are having word. And you feel kind of like hopeless, like what can I do about that? But by writing a book from that anger, you're able to kind of like work through those feelings and give someone who may be experiencing something similar like a way to work through it as well. Or while just getting angrier in a different way. That's true. Social media, my God, through the Trump years, that was just a complete inundation of one terrible thing after the other. It was very bleak for a while. It still is bleak in many ways. And I think, I don't know, you can give into hopelessness or you can try to channel it into something. I think there's really something powerful and healing less alone. I mean, I don't know if it always crystallizes into action. But actually reading a book is, you're connecting in a very personal way to something. It's what you do next that's going to matter more than sitting there flipping the pages. But it's nice to know that something could potentially inspire someone to use their anger in a productive way. Yeah. Okay. I am like 100 pages, 110 pages into Station 11. And I have thoughts. I have thoughts. Okay. Whenever you're ready. I'm ready. Okay. I'm ready. Whenever you're ready. I'm ready. The story of Station 11 is kind of dual timeline, I guess. I don't even know how to say dual. It's like hopping around in time. And the kind of central event is that there is a pandemic that wipes out about 99% of the Earth's population. The first, like, I think 30-ish pages of the book is like the beginning of the pandemic, like kind of the night or the days in which it first all unfolds. And then we're kind of in 20 years into the pandemic following some characters. And then we've just jumped back in time and followed some other characters for a period of time. And I am surprised by how similar this is to the other Emily St. John Mandel I've read, which was The Glass Hotel. Because when I read The Glass Hotel, I thought, oh, Station 11 must be really different to this because I can't picture this book being as mainstream-y, five stars. Everyone loves it as Station 11 is. But they're so similar. And the part of what I'm having the most fun about reading this is seeing the similarities between them. The way that Emily St. John Mandel weaves all these narratives and these storylines, and we're only at the beginning, but these people together is so interesting. And there's something about her writing. Oh, this is so difficult to describe, but it's very unique. It feels so intimate with the characters. Because we get this information that is simultaneously, like, needed and, like, required. And, oh, my head. And, like, we're needed for the story, but it's the kind of information, like, in a book that another author would not include. Do you know what I mean? I'm nodding like I understand, but I'm not so sure I do. Like, we just had a section, particularly following Miranda, who's a character in the past. And just the stuff that we were learning about her and the feelings that were mentioned of her. And, like, I don't know. Just all the information we were getting. It felt so intimate because it felt like we were bearing witness to parts of her that if, like, another author had written this, we wouldn't. Does that make any kind of sense? I really don't know. But I'm loving that aspect of it. And there's a lot about Shakespeare in the future and the pandemic. We're following a travelling company who perform Shakespeare to kind of small communities that have kind of sprung up. I guess it does kind of feel like the characters are on a stage. There's that kind of distance. But I don't know, there's something so intimate about it as well. So I'm really enjoying that reading experience of it. And there's something about, I feel like, a running theme in her books is, like, the cyclical nature of people or items. Like, already we're having people or items, like objects, reoccurring throughout the book and popping up here and popping up there. And it's just, it's a very interesting way of storytelling. And I'm interested to see what the effect of that is going to be throughout the book as the book goes on and kind of what that means. And yeah, I'm interested to see where the story's going to go. It feels like not much has happened because we've kind of been jumping about in storylines and parts of the book. So I'm interested to read a bigger chunk next and get kind of into the meat of the story and see where it goes. Because I don't really have any thoughts on what it's trying to say yet or what it's trying to do. I'm just finding certain, like, technical things that she's doing interesting. So I want to try and read most of this today. I'm looking to lie to you. I'm hoping to get through most of it. So I will read, how long is this book? When I've read like a hundred pages, I like to then split what I've got left to read into like two and then check in with you halfway. The book is 333 pages long and I'm up to page 110. So I'll check in something around 220. This is different than what I expected because I didn't know we'd be jumping around in narrative and time so much. I thought it was just pandemic, 20 years on. We're there. But very interesting, very unexpected. I'm excited to see where it's going to go next. It's much later. Can we tell? I have got up to that point in page 11. So I've got about 100 pages to the end. Okay. I don't have many more thoughts than when I last checked in with you. Something that I've been enjoying in the last few pages. This is a book that makes you think, right? It's making me think. I feel like a running theme, of course, is the overt theme of art with the company, the travelling company performing Shakespeare and plays for people in this world where the world has basically ended and there still being that desire for performance. But I feel like not only that, there's a running theme, there's these comic books that one of the characters got near the end of the world. And the attachment that she has to them is very interesting. And we follow the author of those comic books throughout as well. And it just got me thinking about like the, not necessarily just the importance of art, but like once you put art out into the world, whatever form it's in, or a creative work, I don't want to say it. Why don't you put any creative art work out into the world? How it's like, it's no longer yours? You know, this is, I mean, my videos, I'm not saying that art, but it's a creative piece, right? Kind of, I guess. I don't know, it's a form of entertainment, essentially, any form of entertainment. My videos, like once I put them out into the world, how they're received is separate from me, the creator. And I never get to know necessarily how they're received unless, you know, I read your comments. And I just think that's interesting, like seeing art from the reaction to art, truly, from that other person's perspective. And like, no, I'm not going to talk about my videos, but like how a book, right, can have, once an author puts that out into the world, kind of the reaction on what happens is like, not dependent on their emits, the person's experience with that art, and how like a book, or like in this case a comic book, or whatever, can hold such gravitas and like, be almost a form of identity for a person without the creator of that knowing and their whole experience with the piece being their creation of it. I don't know how I'm explaining this, but I just think it's an interesting element that the book is examining and the need for all this in a world that, you know, we don't have cars, we don't have planes, we don't have, you know, everything we know about life has gone. So I think that's interesting. I don't know, I'm liking this making me think. However, there has been a few moments where I've been a bit bored. You better f***ing take that back right now. You better f***ing stop. Stop right now. I feel like that's sacrilegious. I'm just thinking of Caughty being like, that's my favourite book ever. Shit. But I think, you know, the more I think about it, this is a book that demands a lot of you, it demands your attention, it demands your focus, because it's not like, you know, a thriller where it's like, oh, here is what happened. Do you know what I mean? There's meaning and there's layers that are a lot unsaid behind everything. And I have just basically been reading this book all day and I've been reading it slowly. I haven't wanted to rush through this. I've read basically 200 pages state. That's all I've done. I haven't done anything else. I'm going to, it's like half eight now. I'm going to take a make-up off, do some yoga, move a bit, and then try and read a bit more tonight. But yeah, I think it's been moments where I haven't been giving it the kind of like thought process-ness that it deserves. But I am enjoying it. I don't think it's going to be a five star, but I really enjoy reading Emily St. John Moundell's book. So it's something very unique. I don't think I've read anything. I don't think I've read an author with the same kind of writing style like her. So I'm enjoying it. But yeah, okay. I'm going to say something and no one's allowed to be mad at me. I'm going to give it a 3.5. That's not bad! Okay, a 3.5 isn't bad. It's a 3.5. There's a 3.5 for me. Okay. I feel like the whole vlog, I've been pretty positive about this because from like a theoretical analytical technical standpoint I can really appreciate what this does. But in terms of my enjoyment, I got to the end and I was like, okay. I was talking to my mum about this because she really doesn't like unresolved endings, right? And this ending is kind of just like, it just ends, you know what I mean? And usually in books I don't mind that. I like unresolved open endings. But this, I just kind of ended it and I was like, it's the truth. I didn't, I wasn't like, oh yeah, I just read a good book. I read a great book. Like from a theoretical, what this is doing, what this is saying, oh yeah, I love it. But, oh my God, Courtney, I'm so sorry. It feels so bad. This feels terrible. I feel horrific. I also think your reading experience of this is going to be very different whether you read it for the first time before the pandemic or after. Not saying like either of those is worse or better than the other. I just think living through what we've lived through affects how you would have read this versus if you'd read it when it first came out, right? And I think maybe I would have had a different reaction to it if I'd read it when it first came out. Do you know what I mean? I'm not saying you're going to like it less if you read it for the first time now or you're going to like it more. I'm just saying it's going to be a different reaction. And I just, I was kind of bored sometimes. I don't know. It was a strange book for me because I could read it and be like, oh, I love what this is doing and I love what this is doing. And it was weird because when I was reading it I was kind of bored. But then whenever I put it down I wanted to pick it straight back up again. I don't know. I've rounded up to a four. It's maybe more like a 3.75 if I'm being honest but I don't really do quarter decimal points rating. So I'm just giving it a 3.5. It was good. I can understand why people love it but I just didn't get that feeling that I feel like when I read the reviews so many people have had that oh my god this is incredible my favorite book ever. Like I don't know. I think I preferred The Glass Hotel. So I don't know. Anyways, I am going to start next. Several people are typing and I'm going to try and read this this morning. It's like 10 o'clock, half 10. And I'm just going to try and read the whole thing. It's just told through a Workplaces Slack channel and so it's all just like chat and I think it will be like I'll think I'll read this in like an hour or two essentially. So I'm just going to go ahead and sit down and start making my way through this and I'll check in with you when I'm halfway but first let's hear a bit more of my entry with Courtney. And something I really wanted to ask about this because it's a thought I had whilst reading Station 11 one of the books you chose. I love that book. I think I said in my video I watched that one and I watched it and I read it once a year it's like one of the most important books in my life and I put it in your hands. Okay. Anyways, my question is not saying anything. Something I really took from that is like when a person is creating art, be that a book or a film or whatever the relationship that they they have a relationship with their art and then it goes out into the world and the audience has a relationship with their art and they're so completely separate from each other and I just wondered what your experience with that has kind of been. It's been interesting. I really I think you're when you were reading on The Girl it was a really good example of like I didn't enjoy this at all but I see the mirror in it. That's important to me because I can't write a book that's going to please everyone. So I'm like can I at least write a book that you know I've tried to bring a lot of integrity into its process that's meaningful if it can't be meaningful to everyone I want it to be meaningful to the people that it's for but like once it's out there it's like and then after a book like well after a book like Sadie the one thing that I'm getting used to hearing is that every book that has followed is not Sadie. It's like I don't know that. It's a different book of course it's a different book but it was it was the book that really it broke me out it's very strange to have a mid-career breakout because people are coming in there and they don't know what you've done before and then everything after is measured against this thing you've been doing in the middle so you're like I've been doing but everyone's coming at your work from a different place and so absorbing all those reactions it's very it's wild it's not a bad thing it's just it's like wow yeah intense yeah it is it can be intense yeah yeah but I've never wanted to make people happy so that helps I still remember so Sadie was the first book I read from you and it was one of the first audiobooks I ever listened to and I remember I I listened to a few before and I'd always listened to them whilst doing stuff but I remember for the end of Sadie I just sat down on my bed and I just listened to the ending like this and I was like what? I'm working into my muscles I'm like you can't believe I just read I was like walking up and down the hall like oh my god I love this visual it makes me happy it pleases my heart a lot of people were like that's not the ending I want I someone got can we do spoilers? yeah yeah it's been like five years someone I've never been upset about that ending I was like that's gotta be the ending then someone on Twitter like I just stayed haunted me forever she goes I hope that Sadie died I don't know I wonder if Sadie died thinking she'd failed I was like oh that's hard it's like you didn't know she killed the guy I was like ouch halfway through several people are typing it took me about 35 minutes I want to say it could have been half an hour if I didn't get a little bit distracted by my phone to read half so it's definitely a very quick read and basically one of our characters is working on a spreadsheet and he accidentally uploads his consciousness to the Slack channel he's like stuck he's like body is still out there but he is stuck in the Slack channel basically his consciousness all of his ideas whatever everyone thinks it's like a bit funny but that's basically what it is and I am enjoying it so it's all just told through like text messages bit of mixed media you know or Slack messages I should say do we use Slack in the UK I don't know anyone who uses it but I assume we do people I know who work in kind of like teams based jobs all use Microsoft teams in UK it's like a thing anyway I understand what it is in theory so yeah it's all these messages from each other and I think there's a lot that's interesting to be said about work culture about like work life balance that I think is really interesting but there's also been a lot of chat about like the internet as a whole and it's got me thinking like it's talking a lot about how we're all constantly performing and like putting there's constant ideas out there and constantly putting ourselves out there and we're all performers and audience at the same time and it's something I think about a lot because I don't really tweet anymore I don't really upload to Instagram much because I feel like I get all of my like I feel like we are instinctively especially if you're around my age like we've been bred almost to want to be these performers to want to share to want to be on stage to want to be seen online I feel like I get all of that out in my videos like I don't feel the need to tweet or Instagram anymore because I've got this I don't know I think I've gotten good at switching off from social media but sometimes that's not good for like my videos and social media like if I go out for dinner I don't want to take a picture of what I'm eating I don't want to like think about everything I do being perceived by the internet but then sometimes I have to so I don't know it's just an interesting balance and I think now that this is like my job I think a lot about the personal divide between online and in person and I just think it's interesting and I'm enjoying the conversations that are being brought up about it here I love deleting my Twitter and Instagram like I love deleting not like off the face of the earth but off my phone but I can only ever do it for a short period of time so like right I have to get it back now so I can see what's happening so I can see what's going on even if I'm not posting like being tuned in to the consciousness is interesting and there's also been stuff about the algorithm in this like how you are constantly getting the opinions of people who are exactly like you think exactly like you and it's all perfectly attuned like I've been seeing so much with YouTube shorts Instagram reels I don't have TikTok because I don't want to get and down the rabbit hole but like when you when you stay on one kind of video for a certain amount of time everything becomes that so like it's suddenly all reading reels or all that girl girl reels or all weightlifting reels like everything becomes that you are suddenly this person because you've shown a certain amount of interest in something I don't know it's really interesting I'm enjoying it I think I've got five star but I feel like it could be it's a very I don't know interesting way of telling the story that I'm enjoying but I also I'm about to go make lunch but I also did just get a parcel and I think I know what it is and I'm very very very very excited wow this is big holy shit that's what you said so this is a proof of Reach for the Stars by Michael Craig which is a non-fiction book for the wing 1996 2006 like British pop I can't believe I didn't realise this would be this big it's 500 pages to be fair the font is really big but I love you know naughty's pop like looking into the culture like sugar babes like S Club 7 do you know what I mean I'm so interested to find out about this it seems like a lot of interviews oh my god busted or interviewed get the fuck out thank you so much to nine eight books for sending this to me I cannot wait to read it I'm very excited this is like my kind of thing oh I'm excited oh yeah I'm gonna go make some lunch and I'll check back in with you once I've read the other half of this another book finished and it's another 3.5 there's the thing 3.5 is a good rating you know it exceeded expectations a three is met expectations if you think about it logically I enjoyed this it just wasn't when I think of what I've been giving a four star lately in terms of my enjoyment it didn't quite reach that I think a part of the problem is like I've never worked in an office and had this kind of like work chat I just don't know what it's like so I think perhaps some of the humor was lost on me but I love the blend of like sci-fi horror that this is I had a great time listen it took me I don't know an hour and a half max to read it's a very quick read it is one of the weirdest things I've probably read in a while I haven't been reading enough weird stuff lately according to said I'm gonna rectify that yeah it's one of the weirdest strangest books I've read in a long time there was a few plot twists I didn't expect oh god why where it was kind of blurring the lines between reality and I still don't know the answers to a lot of what happened I had a good time reading this but I don't know how far in the future I'm gonna remember it or think about it you know what I mean I'm glad I've read it like it's so absurd and ridiculous like so imaginative and different anything else I've read but it just didn't feel like a fall so I'm so sorry my gosh I don't know what to say that's another thing I often find with like horror cause this is horror I would say horror that's like trying to be different and trying to have hidden meanings and have like ooh this is what I'm trying to say I find that doesn't work for me as well as I like camp horror I like you know Grady Hendrix like ridiculous campy or aesthetic spooky witchy vibe horror they're the two options that I think I prefer for horror so I just don't think this is my kind of thing you know it's the kind of horror that's being clever and I just don't know if I'm the target audience for that so anyways final book nothing to see here I decided this is going to be five stars I believe it believe it it's going to be it's going to be five stars um I am going to take a break from reading for a little bit about four or five hours I have got some reading sprints with my patrons so I will start reading this then and listen I've just read some reviews people talking about her heart warming this is found family I'm excited I believe in my soul this is going to be five stars and then my last question can we do a fun one if you could recommend one of your favourite books to one or we can do more of your characters what would you recommend them oh my god the question anyone's asked me they're all miserable so they should have something that they look forward to like um I don't know probably like um let's just say for the zombie book Sloan she could read something like fun about going to prom morning goo's throwback which is coming out this April 11th I think it is it's really good I think you'd love it it's like a it's a teenage girl goes back in time to help her mother win homecoming queen but it's like it's like very in 90s 90s in the 90s it's very funny very very vibrant right it's hysterical yeah that sounds so good what else Kara Thomas any of these gloomy protagonists could totally dig into a Kara Thomas book she also has a book coming out out of the ashes an adult novel about a girl that goes back to her hometown and to find out what happened to her parents and her sister who all burned alive in a fire whoa very uplifting this is really good you're like here have more gloom there you go I probably I actually probably wouldn't recommend them any of the books that I recommended to you wow interesting that's interesting yeah I mean well I'm a reader so when I'm looking for like recommendations there's like there are certain things that I'm looking for like I'm looking for it's and there's no wrong way to read a review book not any other booktuber that's watching I'm not criticizing you I'm just favoring me you know like what I noticed and this is why I subscribed it wasn't just because you like the project I'm like that's cool I really like that she does you look at the book it's like okay here's what the book's trying to accomplish didn't accomplish that and then that's a separate thing of did I like what it accomplished I think these are two distinct things and I think not like I think it's important to weigh the experience and the expectation against what the book is doing I mean you can still rate it however you want you can rate it based on how it may be usually everyone does and they should but it's just it's a really well-rounded recommendation and I think that's I didn't like it but she's telling me why I would that's a talent I think that's a talent oh did you ever read like Roger Ebert's review he was kind of like he used to always have to defend like why would you give this really ridiculous movie two thumbs up and you gave I don't know Citizen Kane two thumbs up like how can you compare those two things and it's like well you don't it's two different kinds of thumbs up I do realize I don't necessarily consciously do that but I guess it's because you've got to meet the book where it is and like go from there you know not everyone has I mean you don't have to not everyone has it's a personal thing I don't know it's good it's good I mean that's why I watch I'm like okay what am I going to read now what did Meg tell me I should read like I've got Babel on my list oh it's Babel right I don't know everyone I say one and everyone tells me it's the other one so now I just say both when I talk about it because I don't know I think I think I get confused wait Babel so British people say Babel Americans say Babel yeah that's what it is so I'm Canadian so I can say either you can say either yeah I have great news I am loving this I'm loving it I'm so happy so in this we are following our protagonist who had this kind of best friend when she was younger a series of events meant that her friend has gone on to kind of this rich posh expensive life and she's kind of been stuck at home working at a supermarket feeling very dead end and her friend asks her to come take care of her friend's husband's children who are now coming to live with them the only catch is they spontaneously combust that's all I think you need to know going into this and I am just loving it it's simultaneously as funny has like this kind of dark humour to it the way that this is written is so interesting because there's times where it kind of like I don't want to say blur's reality but like some of our characters just think in a way in a kind of thought pattern that you're like okay we've now at the point I'm at I'm halfway through we have met the children and our protagonist what is her name Lillian is taking care of them and just like it's just a story about kids who have been through trauma and like trying to help them and trying to heal them when no one up till now has wanted to and it's just beautiful and I can already tell I'm going to love it I just think it's written like it's so it's funny it's heartwarming yet it's like got a serious element to it I'm just I'm loving it I'm loving it I couldn't stop reading it last night you know I think the way that our character sometimes think is really interesting I love a book that kind of like describe it where just characters think and act in a way that you wouldn't necessarily expect them to but it makes for such an interesting book and I just I'm just loving it and you just get the sense that like relationships are going to grow over the course of this book and you just want everyone to be okay it's really short but I'm just having like I'm having the best time reading it I'm having the best time reading it and you've got like good antagonists like their dad we don't really like him they kind of like hiding her in this like guest house down at the end of the garden and just I don't know the commentary on like wealth and image and appearance is very interesting as well so listen I'm feeling good I'm feeling really good about this one you've just got to try and have a PMA the folks at PMA positive mental attitudes get fucked I think the kids spontaneously combusting when they feel anxious is such an interesting I don't know visible metaphor for like what can be going on inside kids and then not being able to articulate when they're younger and are going through stuff so listen I'm just loving it I'm going to go ahead and finish it it's feeling like a five star I feel like we're finally going to get a five star this is why I love doing a video like this because I would have never probably read this otherwise like I'd never heard of it if Courtney hadn't put it on my on my radar I probably never would have read it so I'm loving it I'm loving it so I just finished nothing to see here five stars we got a five star hey success we're going to get five stars I am so happy so happy I loved this book oh my god I could not wait to read more from this author honestly I wasn't expecting this to be the one I gave five stars but I just loved it I can't get over what a heartwarming book this is about what it means to be a family and being loved and being recognized and being listened to for the first time in your life and like what that means to a child I don't know it was so gorgeous and I really loved our main perspective our kind of narrative voice Lillian I thought she was just so interesting right there was just little elements to all of these characters but particularly Lillian in Madison even though we didn't see Madison a ton really towards the letter parts of the book there's just something so interesting about their characters and just little elements of them that really makes the book come alive it's a difficult book to pitch because it's funny in elements it's heartwarming but it's like really a story of like child neglect and like there's also these characters in this that you kind of hate I don't know I just loved the experience of reading it I absolutely did I am so thankful to Courtney for making me read this book because I don't think I would have ever read it otherwise and it's a book that I feel like I can recommend to a lot of people certain books I love and read and I'm like okay that was just something I loved I don't feel like it's wildly recommendable but this is something I can see like my mum or like Tom's mum or it's only people in my life reading I feel like it's really accessible to a lot of people I loved the writing I think was this the book that Courtney said there's something about the way he uses words that is really interesting in this I feel like it was and if it was I agree if it wasn't the language was was structured and the sentence was structured I just found it very interesting also I thought in my last check and I mentioned how I was raising my station 11 rate into a 4 from a 3.5 I just couldn't stop thinking about it right and I think I felt it's a glass hotel I think I initially gave it not a low rating but a lower rating than what I ended up giving it because I just can't stop thinking about it there's something about her books that I just can't stop thinking about they kind of get in my head and rattle around in there and so I've been thinking about this a lot so I decided to give it a 4 so we had at the end a 3.5 that I still did enjoy a 4 and a 5 I felt pretty good so that's right so I hope you guys enjoyed this vlog it was so much fun having one of my favourite authors pick what I read I just want to say a massive thank you again to Courtney for participating in this video and doing it with me doing the interview with me it was so much fun and I had so much fun reading these books books that apart from station 11 I don't think I ever would have read these sorry Freddie's upset Freddie they're doing around times they're doing work in the garden so he's shy in here with me and he's not happy about but anyways I will go but I'll say thank you guys so much for watching this video I hope you enjoyed it also don't forget to check out the giveaway down below it's for copies signed copies of I'm the Girl and Sadie so if you're interested in that which I don't know why you wouldn't be go check out there's a Google form for you guys to fill in down below go check that out thank you so much for watching I hope you enjoyed the video and I'll see you next time