 Hey guys it's Liana and I'm here today with a dark academia vlog. Which of the dark academia books? Well I put six on my TBR and then uh of the three I wanted to maybe tackle this weekend I asked which people wanted me to read most. So the three were The Maidens, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and The Mary Shelley Club. And I kind of expected The Maidens to win by landslide and it did. However for a while there it was like neck and neck with Mary Shelley Club. So this is my top priority this this reading vlog. And then my second priority is Mary Shelley Club and then only then Miss Peregrine's Home. I think maybe possibly I could read all three this weekend. I don't know. I don't know. I did get kind of a late start today because well I went to bed really late last night. I stood up until like two watching a lose of her. And then this morning I had a chat with my patrons about our buddy read. So um yeah the late start. And then yeah tomorrow I do need to film some regular channel videos like my wrap up. The stack for my wrap up is right there and it's just gonna sit there until I film it. So it's like haunting me. But yeah and then um I also really this is not book or dark academia or anything related but Starbucks has a holiday drink that is vegan or can be made vegan. That is to say a lot of the holiday drinks at Starbucks like even if you get it with like soy milk or coconut milk or whatever it can't be made vegan because like the holiday flavor stuff has dairy in it. They have a new one this year that's like apple apple something. And even though it's really like sweets I always want to try it. But if there's like a vegan option for something that's like new I'm like I must try it. So I have some Starbucks gift cards left over from last holiday season and there's a Starbucks within walking distance with me. So I might pop over to Starbucks and we'll see how I'm feeling about vlogging in public. I want to get a coffee tomorrow. But otherwise my plans are just to read. Read these books, film some videos in addition to filming this vlog and get that apple coffee. So welcome. It is also unpardonably sunny this weekend all week during like work week. It was so gloomy and cool. And of course now that I'm filming my dark academia vlog it's again unpardonably sunny. So I've closed my blinds and turned on the AC so that I can wear a sweater and be in darkness. I'm just for you. So yeah. I'm excited. I hope you're excited to dive in. So I'm about 100 pages into The Maidens which I feel like it's a good time to check in. But the main reason I decided to check in is because the book mentioned in passing The Revenger's Tragedy by Middleton. Tom is Middleton? Is that right? I don't want to tell a lie. Yes it is Thomas Middleton. I shouldn't have second guessed myself. And yeah. I didn't know about this until Heather my friend who my friend Heather why did I say the other way around? Oh my god what's wrong with me? When we were doing our live talking about Macbeth and the Tempest and the Hogarth Shakespeare retellings of those plays we got to talking just sort of generally like plays of the time etc. And she mentioned The Revenger's Tragedy and then after she praised it and specifically praised a movie version of it with Christopher Eccleston. I love Christopher Eccleston. And then I found the movie and I watched it. It has Eddie Iserton in it as well. Anyway I've never heard of it before that. I don't think a lot of people have heard of it. It was really really hard to find the movie and it was it was most excellent. So I was just excited to see it mentioned in The Maidens. But The Maidens itself. How is it going? It both is and isn't what I expected. It is they does have an academic setting and there is like sort of this macabre mystery unfolding that is being kind of like slowly but surely pieced together and followed up on by our main character. And you're also getting quick glimpses into the like antagonists. Is it an antagonist into the like crime doers perspective? What is kind of strange is the the chapters are really really short. I'm on part two chapter four and part two. Part two began on page 91. And I'm on chapter four and I'm on page 103. So that gives you an idea of how short the chapters are. Which isn't bad. It depends. Some books like I like they're being short chapters because it keeps things popping. And other times I'm just like I feel jolted and like whiplashed a bit. Yeah it's fine. I don't know probably it's just kind of like surprising. Also because the secret history which what did this cover evokes and what Dark Academia like no conversation about Dark Academia is complete without the secret history. The secret history has really long chapters the exact opposite of this. But yeah so in terms of this not being what I expected it's not really I thought it would be more akin to the secret history. i.e. focused on students and their lives and like a group of students. I mean it's it's more to do with the faculty and like faculty plays a part in the secret history for sure. But yeah I don't know I thought it usually whenever in Dark Academia it's been sort of a close knit group of students that is kind of the central focus for the POV or the main plot surrounds is is surrounding them. And this isn't really like that. It is I mean it is a academic setting because there is yeah the faculty are kind of in question. And students are by necessity like faculty interact with students but like the focus is on the faculty rather than the students. I mean like the main POV character she's a former student she's not a current student either. So yeah that's what I'm finding unexpected and that's what makes it feel slightly less like Dark Academia because I really feel like Dark Academia tends to focus on like this hyper obsessive immersion of the student experiencing university life and becoming like obsessive about their field of study and or obsessed with oh my god can we not becoming obsessed again either with their field of study or and or a charismatic professor. But then again like the focus is on the student and how the student views that professor rather than like the focus being on the professor. So like thinking ninth house secret history if we were villains black chalk all of those I don't necessarily like all those books but they all focus on students either group of students or a student and faculty may or may not be part of that but they're not it's about the student. So that's what surprising to me about this is that it's the faculty or specifically a professor and a former student but it is intriguing it is interesting atmospheric it is a slow creep which is my jam so it is getting somehow sunnier it's coming through the blinds I feel like even you can see that there's like sunlight on my face I have the blinds completely closed it's unacceptable. So yeah um I ordered food I just haven't been arsed it's funny I was kind of planning to and I still am planning to just not as in not as immediately as I originally planned to start a second youtube channel um for vegan food and food related things because I like talking about that but I also know that a lot of people who watch booktube don't really care about that which is fine I totally get that um but because I do sometimes talk about that stuff and people are interested in it when I do I figured I could just make a second channel or I just talked about that there but that said um for the last month or so well the last month August was insanely busy for me like um every single day of August basically I had something on my calendar and then I also had like 16 books on my TBR so August was a lot and so in August I wasn't really cooking very much and I still just cannot be arsed because now September is slightly triller than August there's still like way too much on my calendar in September but it is not the madness that was August I thought that I would feel like oh I have time now to like do you start my second channel and to work on some other projects but like I'm just burned out so I have not been cooking or grocery shopping like at all I just cannot be arsed so for the last two weeks I've just been eating nachos from this Mexican place and then like reheating them because like it's a huge portion if you get nachos and or nacho fries I usually get one of each and it's massive and it's not just like it's a lot of foods like if you look at it but it's also really rich food because it's like I mean chips are fried and fries are fried and then even though it's vegan like there's still like a ton of salt and fat and and protein in the fake meat and the beans so it's just like a lot so I just get two order I get an order of nacho fries and an order of nachos and then I just like slowly work my way through it over the course of like a week so I've just ordered the nachos twice and basically for two weeks I've been living on like oatmeal for breakfast and nachos for lunch and I do have a little leftover some like stew that I made the other night but I don't I ran out of rice to put it over because it's kind of an Indians stew and I don't have any more basmati rice at all even to cook it if I wanted to so since I cannot be arsed to go to the store to get some or really to cook anything else because I have other food that I could cook I just ordered a bunch of Indian food I ordered it for delivery later because you can schedule it ahead so I'm gonna keep reading the maidens and I think by the time I've scheduled my food to arrive I should be done with the maidens and at which point I can move on to reading one of the other two books so that's the plan I'll catch you later this might be a nitpick I mean it is a nitpick I guess but it's driving me insane I am this far through so most most of the way and there's this scene where she's having dinner with this guy and they're having leg of lamb with potatoes and greens I think but anyway the point is the lamb and the lamb is like very very rare you know in terms of like how cooked it is not that it's an unusual lamb and she makes the comment that like there's blood oozing out of the lamb which is putting her off and like if it had just said this once like it already irks me because if you don't know now you know rare meat is not bloody when you see like red juices like in the packaging or red juices when you're eating like a rare steak it's not blood people always say that and that is not correct this is a vegan telling you this but um it's absolutely it's not blood it just is not um it's this other thing it starts with an H what's it called oh no it does not start with an H I lied about that um myoglobin is what it's called it's a protein that makes the juices coming out look red um it's not blood it never was and it isn't and it's just no so her saying that like I mean I get the imagery of that that like this meat is so bloody and that's putting her off if it said it once I'd be like okay it's not blood or whatever but this like whole two pages is just keeps reiterating that there's blood and that it tastes like blood and there's a puddle of blood and that it's oozing blood and I'm just like but it's not no if it literally like it had just said it looks like blood or a reminder of blood or it was like too much putting her in mind of blood and that's why like even though it's not blood it just drives me nuts I guess since it's pretty common for people to think that it's blood I mean I guess this character would think that it's blood but there's a lot of people think that but it's not blood anyway uh just just driving me insane that they're talking about this and I thought you should know okay I am really enjoying it though so people keep telling me all over the place in my DMs and comments and chats and discords that they can't wait to hear my rant about the maidens and like I don't know if it's because like the ending is gonna really like it's gonna be like lost you know we're like and it's all a dream um I can't see being the case but like if it's the ending that is what people are ranting about where they think I'm gonna rant about I mean I can't judge yet but if they think I'm gonna hate the whole thing so far I really like it so I don't know we'll see we'll see when I get to the end I did it I finished the maidens and I really liked it do I think it's perfect absolutely not do I think that it is kind of surface level in terms of a lot of well how well baby kitty would you like to give us your assessment of the maidens can I stand right there in front of the light come here darling you upset you missed out on dinner not time for your dinner yet back to the maidens uh I is not the best written thing I've ever read in terms of a lot of the things that it incorporates references or in fact builds itself upon I get the sense that the author is just just did some googling uh there's you know obviously from the cover and from from the cover and from the premise you can discern that there's going to be greek classics elements which ever since the secret history is apparently required for dark academia but there's a lot of sort of psychoanalysis psychiatry therapy mental illness in addition to greek classics and the study thereof and it I mean I am not an expert in either thing greek classics I took like a couple classes on that in college and it was my least favorite I really don't like greek classics very much and I've never taken any like psychology course at all and even to me it seemed like it was a lay person's surface level approach to a lot of these themes I think it was an in an engrossing read an intriguing read it kept me on the edge of my seat it kept me turning the page I had a good time it is no secret history and I feel like if I did know anything about these things which I don't and even I found it to be lacking a kind of surface level and if I did know anything more about greek tragedies than I do or about psychology than I do I think I would be deeply frustrated by this book so do I recommend it I recommend it if you want like a thriller that you can read in one day oh because maybe kitty just knocked over the camera so no more letting you sit where you want to sit no more okay let's see I recommend the book if you just kind of want to have a good time um and read a thriller in one day wouldn't you say thriller in one day but uh it's not like a favorite of the year it's not terribly deep and I feel like it's a book that if I spend more time thinking about it I'll be annoyed with it because of its handling of things I think it's it's well written in terms of being engrossing page turning in terms of setting a scene setting a mood um you know giving you clues that kind of make you go oh no oh no so it was atmospheric I also don't think that it would I don't think it'd be a fun one to reread yeah I think it's sort of the gimmick like the question of what's going on and what's the answer to this mystery is what keeps you turning the page but it's not the kind of book that like now that you know the answer that you're like dying to go back to the beginning to find out if you can like catch these clues or see it from the beginning now that I know the answer I'm like oh okay cool um so it's not a book that I see myself ever rereading whereas the secret history by Donald Tarr absolutely reread so I don't know what I feel like my initial reaction was that I would give this four stars but I think it's more of a 3.5 which I guess I should round up I usually round up but I think I'll round down to three because it's not deserving of a four but I had a good time I don't regret reading it at all it's one of the most like page turny books that I've read in a long time but so for this evening uh what am I gonna do I'm going to it's uh eight o'clock I'm a little woozy from wine because I haven't really been drinking at all for quite the time now and it wasn't like a conscious um abstention is that a word I'm too woozy from wine I think abstention is a word but I have not been consciously abstaining I just haven't had anything to drink at all time because I wasn't feeling it so I also don't drink wine really ever I literally only drank wine because it felt like a dark academia type of thing to have and I thought it would go well with Indian food which I did I really like Indian food or like Italian food or things like that like saucy rich spiced foods with red wine I don't know if you're supposed to pair those things but I think it works pretty well I'm like my mother but wine is definitely not my drink of choice but I liked this so if you also don't really like wine very much um I buy this brand so that I have wine and uh on hand for when my mom comes over because she pretty much exclusively drink wine um and I have this brand on hand because it is vegan not all wines are vegan more to the wise um but she likes this brand a lot and it's vegan so that's what I have on hand for her she turns she prefers to drink cabsauce I just got like a few different reds um so this was the zinfandel because I know I figured since she likes cab I'd leave the cab that I have for her and do the zin for myself tonight and I quite like this so rabble zinfandel if you don't like wine then I recommend this wine Kaz got shy all of a sudden got some wisdom to share back to my plans for the evening um I guess I'll start the Mary Shelley club that was the plan and honestly after reading something kind of dark like the maven I think I'm vibing something dark like the Mary Shelley club because it's it's dark out and I have wine it doesn't seem like the time to be starting a children's book I mean I know Miss Peregrine's is YA it's not Little Grave but nevertheless Kaz so yeah um I don't know how I don't know how far I'll get on the Mary Shelley club Kaz she's been napping this whole time now that I turn the camera on hopefully with something quieter um yeah so I don't know how far I'll get in Mary Shelley club because it's eight o'clock and I have wine but I want you to know one down two to go so I'll book a day right I can do that so uh I've read through to the end of chapter 15 I am this far through the Mary Shelley club and so far it's fine I think it's about to get um scary or not scary I don't I don't know that this book is gonna is the point of it is to be scary or be disturbing I don't know maybe it will be whatever it's gonna be I think it's about to be that thing um right where I'm stopping so far it's it just feels kind of very juvenile and not not terrible but I just find difficulty relating to it which I don't have that problem when I read like the truly devious books which are also honestly quite juvenile but I just guess I find an easier time relating um or they just there's also the fact that a lot of the dialogue in this is the kind that is um dating itself in a way that like is current and modern now but in a couple years people will be like oh that's so old and I feel like it's always a bad idea for Kaz you've been so quiet must we play with our fish taco right now the references to like TikTok and to horror movies that have come out like very very recently I just feel like I don't know anytime books mention stuff that like so clearly dates them like pop culture and um music and things like that I just always think it's a bad idea and it always kind of takes me out of the story because then I'm thinking about like the fact that they're mentioning this thing rather than the story yeah like if it I don't know if they kept it to I I guess they I appreciate why naming specific horror movies becomes a necessity because this club is kind of all about horror lovers talking about their love for so much like book lovers time of books like books specific books will come up but if there is I feel like it's possible to write this and keep it vague or to make up names of movies which is also a thing that looks like this dude where they just invent like in this universe those are horror movies there's just like a lot of name dropping of specific and known horror movies that's just I just I just don't like that um I'm trying to make it so I get subjectively bad but I just don't like that I'm also just not that interested but I think again I think it's about to get really dark because basically hey Cas can we not knock over the camera no let's not do that so yeah the Mary Shelley club is a club in this elite school that kind of has taken their cue their inspiration from Mary Shelley and um the sort of the evening of the origin of Frankenstein when she and Lord Byron and and Percy Shelley I think was the three of them um it was raining and they couldn't go out and they like challenged each other to tell the scariest ghost story and and Mary Shelley won I just I mean that's the concept for the club and they but what the club does is play pranks on people that are like inspired by a horror the horror genre and the idea is to see if like horror like you see in film can be enacted in real life if it's like the trick of the camera that makes it horrific if it's like the soundtrack and the way it's shot and the lighting that makes it horrific or if recreating these things in real life can inspire real fear and I just it's I feel like the author wanted to name this the Mary Shelley club but then wanted to tell a story about evil pranks and just like the explanation for how those two things are supposed to be connected it's just so thin I'm like you can tell a story about kids calling pranks and with that's their whole project just seeing if you play out horror stuff IRL if it is scary I just don't and then you could separately also write a book about a club that is has taken on like the inspiration and challenge from the example set by Mary Shelley and telling a scary story I just don't see how these things are connected if they were trying to scare each other because that's what Lord Byron Percy Shelley and Mary Shelley were doing we're trying to scare each other uh-uh Kaz we're trying to scare each other that night and she won so if this was a story about this like insular group trying to scare each other and then like it escalates from stories to pranks on each other that would make a little more sense in terms of why you're calling this the Mary Shelley club um so it just kind of irks me that the name kind of feels like it doesn't make any sense it's just what the author wanted to call it but in any case I don't hate it I'm not loving it I don't hate it we'll see I am interested to see I guess how dark it gets because I'm given to believe it gets pretty dark but it is quite late and I'm quite tired because I went to bed really late last night and I've had wine I actually haven't had very much wine but having any at all just like straight to my head so yeah that's my update for you when I will see you tomorrow for more dark academia things and stuff oh and apple coffee tomorrow oh yeah make a brilliant walk over there I'm excited for that good night good morning happy Sunday it is really not morning at all it is coming up at 11 o'clock I woke up about an hour ago because I couldn't sleep last night because of the vicious cycle you know going bed late waking up late going to bed late waking up late so I just couldn't sleep uh so I just wanted to listen to her again also the little was keeping me up she also woke me up this morning so she serves both purposes yeah so while I tidied up dishes and whatnot this morning I listened to some more of the Mary Shelley Club so at this point I am now um a little over halfway um in chapter 28 and it's really boring like I expected this to be something that I found unpleasant or like I mean best-case scenario I love it but worst-case scenario I thought my problem with it would be that it was like too gross or too gnarly or too whatever that is just boring like I think it's trying so hard to like put in all these references to horror movies all these homages that it's not even bothered to really develop develop these characters is it's just like a litany of references and I feel nothing all I feel is like I'm at trivia and I run like oh I've heard of that I haven't seen that I haven't seen that but I know what you're talking about I've definitely heard of that oh yeah I think I know what that is um as opposed to being in a story I feel no suspense no tension they pull the few pranks now at this point and like yeah they're mean but I don't know like I mean yeah like IRL if I heard about kids doing that I'd be like oh that's fucked up but yeah it's definitely not delivering on any vibes whatsoever um but it is a quick read like if you look like there's not a lot of words per page um so I'll definitely be done with this today and then I can move on to my third and final book Miss Peregrine's Home and it's super short too so like realistically I could totally finish both of these today in which case I mean tomorrow I decided this is my my informing you that tomorrow is what I'm gonna film regular channel videos because I'm just like half the day is already gone and I still feel kind of like tired um and I just assumed finish these books and then tomorrow I won't have to worry about finishing books I just filmed videos and which won't take all day but um yeah when I'm done filming before I film and when I'm done filming I might jump into what's my other dark academia oh the ivies maybe because I'm supposed to read never more with fish um later this month so I don't want to start that yet alternatively this is not dark academia but I was buddy reading the inheritance of uh orchidia orchidia I say it wrong every time I'm sure orchidia orchidia is that right of uh inheritance orchidia orchidia divina um by Zoretta Cordova and I haven't gotten very far at all but I'm buddy reading it with um Angela from the literature science alliance and she's way ahead of me like she said she's gonna switch to something else so I can catch up but I think if I finish yeah that's what I'll do if I finish um these two books today then tomorrow I can catch up on this which isn't dark academia but whatever you can deal with it Cas what horrible thing are you doing she's gotten big enough and strong enough to jump onto the kitchen counter now which has been delightful for me we're training her that that's not okay but she doesn't care love that um yeah I still want to get that apple coffee so I'm dressed and oh this is my I don't really have a dark academia wardrobe because I don't really wear the kind of stuff that we associate with dark academia I'm a sweatshirt and sweatpants kind of gal um so the like tweed and cardigans and linens that they wear in all of the mood boards I love it but I just don't have stuff like that because where would I wear it I don't go anywhere and even if I did I probably wouldn't wear it out so um this is my Frankenstein t-shirt which I feel like it's a t-shirt but it's frank so it kind of works right kind of works um that's the plan so yeah now uh it's 11 I haven't had breakfast or tea or coffee or anything so I'm gonna walk over to Starbucks and I'll maybe kind of sort of take you with me I'm back it's really hot outside so excuse me well okay stop it please don't knock it over no it's not for you so yes um coffee is acquired I have not tasted it yet if you're gonna do that on camera it is also blazing hot outside but I got hot coffee because if you can't drink hot coffee on a hot day you are weak and will not survive the apocalypse so let's try this bad boy that I walked in the hot scent to get uh-uh caz not for you uh that's also not for you caz why are you the worst get off get off uh-uh here's the coffee it's not for you baby kitty it's not for you uh-uh it's not for you caz being just the opposite worst okay let's try this it should be cool enough to drink at this point right I really like it it's not too terribly sweet and I didn't ask I just wanted to like the real experience however they mean you to have it so oftentimes I'll ask for like really light and sweetener if I go to Starbucks and get like a fancy drink this is fine the way it is I recommend but it's it's pretty mild it kind of tastes like it tastes like apples in it which is fine I might go back because I have more Starbucks gift cards bless you very possibly can hear you are having a pool party outside of my window today which it's just such perfect timing the last few weeks no one has been out there in the pool I thought finally people were like over it slash summer is coming to an end the weekend did I decide to film a drug academia reading vlog it's the weekend that there's a pool party and it's unpardonably sunny and hot so I finished the Mary Shelley Club time of the it is 5 30 oh I'm gonna order pizza for dinner let me place that order so that it's on so it's like on its way while I talk okay pizza's on its way very excited about that I was thinking about it the whole time when I was reading and I was like I'm gonna order pizza anyway um Mary Shelley Club I ended up actually quite liking it also I haven't updated Goodreads yet um this is officially by the way the hundredth book that I've read this year I have officially as of this moment or as of like five minutes ago completed my Goodreads reading goal for the year so which is why I was like oh my god update Goodreads but I can wait I ended up actually quite liking this it's still like the I still don't love all of the actual references to movies but just in addition to dating it just I just that's just that mean thing I guess um I'm also surprised by uh and it's not to do with the book fight how many of the movies mentioned are movies that I've seen so I don't watch horror movies I don't like horror movies but there's quite a few that they named um the two that come to mind and there was more than two for sure but the two that they named that I was like I've seen that uh were ready or not which spoilers um when Blaz and Bodice reverse is going to do our Halloween um live show in the evening for our for our October read and we're going to dress up again like we did last year last year we did vampires because we read a vampire book this year we're reading The Last Final Girl so we're all dressing as final girls so I already told the ladies that I would be dressing as Grace Ladomas from Ready or Not so stay tuned for that but um yes a Ready or Not and Funny Games um I've seen that too those are two that they definitely mentioned they mentioned Funny Games a lot and there was a few others too that I'm like I've seen that I've seen that too which is like I wasn't expecting because I don't watch horror movies anyway um it turned out to be uh much more thrilling than it seemed at first and it started to get interesting and good when we started to get kind of the so the the fear tests the the pranks which they call fear tests um like last time I think I talked to you they had done one but we had seen it from the perspective of the club of like the main character in the club the marriage league club um but then after that we started seeing them from the perspective of the person being um fear pranked fear tested um the victim which just made it more exciting um and then there began to unfold a larger mystery so like the main character takes on kind of like a detective role um but it has the vibe of like Riverdale when Betty and Jughead are like on the case even though they're like high school students um and I love Riverdale um this isn't as good as Riverdale because part of what makes Riverdale a great are the characters their quirks and their humor and their personalities and I I maintain that the characters in the marriage shelly club are very lacking in personality um it's just that the plot actually ended up being more intriguing as it went on the characters are whatever um but just like them the investigatory in high school because weird shit is going on thing was kind of Riverdale to me um and I love Riverdale so I need to remind me of Riverdale it's instantly going to be higher in my esteem um and yeah and by the end they were like you know it's been this kind of really scary and okay well I guess I was fucked up but it's still not really scary oh this is getting a little more exciting okay and then oh okay there's oh that's quite mysterious and uh oh and oh my goodness and oh no and like it was like slow and then like faster and faster and faster so by the end the like reveals and twists were just like bam bam where I was just like oh no oh what oh no so I had a good time in the end I had a good time I think I'm gonna give it four stars it's like I gave the maidens I gave three and a half and I kind of want to give this three and a half as well but the maidens when I scored it on Glowdry's I rounded it down to three and this one I intend to round up to four um so yeah take from that what you will it's a higher 3.5 than the other one yeah I actually had I had a good time so I do recommend also believe on the maidens um because there were some like reante reviews that I had seen the thumbnail like they popped up on my youtube feed for the maidens and I'd been like oh but I plan to read that so I can't watch that so I looked up a few last night um and then I was also like talking to some people that have read the book and I think the main reason that it worked for me and it what it is that doesn't work for other people um and it's totally valid if like the the reading of it that other people gave that's is valid um but so a lot of it was to do with the stupidity and incompetence of the main character and that's what what people hated and I am the kind of person that would normally be upset by something like that however and again this might just be me projecting onto the book something that is like I'm just being weirdly forgiving but when I was reading it I felt like I mean I agreed that the main character was not very good and what she was doing and making really poor decisions and being really dumb um I don't disagree with that but I don't feel like we were meant to think she was smart like I can't I kept getting the feeling that the book was dissecting her as much as it was dissecting anyone else around her so yeah she was our POV character yeah it was through her eyes that we were seeing this mystery unfold and it was her sleuthing that we were following but the kind of comments made by people in her life to her that she would be like oh well screw them like I just I kept taking those as like indications from the author that we should not trust our POV character that she is an unreliable narrator and not unreliable insofar as she is flying to us not that kind of unreliable narrator but just like she's a faulty witness that like people keep telling her that she's projecting her emotions onto things and that she might not be seeing really what the truth is and she might be having like she might have blocks on things and that like she maybe should examine herself and there were like a few times when characters were saying that to her and um again I just took that all these like indications from the author as like telling me that yeah she's not supposed to be like the sleuth that you're on the same page with that I mean she gave me as much as anxiety as everybody else did because I was like oh but like I mean I don't you might be wrong too because like I'm I'm seeing this through your eyes but your eyes are not trustworthy um so that added to my enjoyment because that's how I was reading it um and if you didn't read it that way I can see why you would feel very frustrated and angry with the book and feel like it was dumb so even though I ended up having quite a few problems with it myself like that weren't to do with that it weren't they weren't to do with the main character being dumb because that wasn't a problem I had I thought other things about the plot didn't make a lot of sense and like the end reveal I was like um I didn't see that coming but like um I don't know if that really makes sense so those would have been and then like the kind of surface level treatment of psychology and Greek tragedy was kind of like like that was not the best um I didn't really have a problem with the main character because I felt like her flaws were intentional um is how I read it so any hoosies that's my take on the maidens and the Mary Shelley Club so on to Miss Peregrine's home which I will eat with my pizza no I will read it with my pizza it's all like I'm gonna read the pizza I need the book so a slight change of plans um my pizza has arrived so that is still happening but um my brother just texted me and um I guess hang on let me get my pizza I'll show you the pizzas real quick okay so here's the tiny one that should have been a calzone it's just not it's not for you baby kitty it's for me and the big pizza that was always supposed to be big it's not for you baby kitty it's for me you can have the sticker you want the sticker I know you like stickers huh you want that yeah you can fuck with that while I open the pizza um and this switch looks I think fine um yeah okay okay back to the change of plans that I was trying to communicate okay I'm gonna take that away from you now Kaz because uh making too much noise yeah my brother texted me that Suicide Squad is leaving HBO as of today um so he's like come over and it's like I'm vlogging and I just ordered pizza and he was like bring the pizza it's like okay so I will I I mean maybe I'll read someone I come home tonight I'm heading to my parent's house um where the four of us will be watching the news Suicide Squad while I eat this pizza that will be cold by the time that I get there no okay so uh yeah I'll catch you later so yeah I thought um we could chat in the car since I'm bailing on you tonight um and I have an iPhone now well I've had an iPhone for a while but last time I tried vlogging in the car it was putting my camera up on a mount in the car which would work terribly um the iPhone camera is pretty pretty red so we're gonna see how this goes and if this goes terribly you'll never take this footage because I'll never make it into the vlog so yeah uh Mary Shelley Club I don't know did I I feel like I said I wouldn't say just kidding I don't have anything to say to you anymore and I explained my position on the maidens that yeah so like I don't know I felt I was actually I was talking to people about the maidens um and um well I made it sound like I only talked to people that didn't like it I talked to somebody who felt exactly the same way that I did um and like we both were like how do you read a book that like you absolutely had a good time reading but you know like you know that it's not good and it's not a situation because like I normally quote Patrick Rosas and say um you know to love something because it's easy but to love something despite to know the flaws and love them too that's rare and pure and perfect and I uh this is not one of those cases this is a situation where I'm like this is the perfect book despite its flaws because no it's like definitely not like I know its flaws um they bothered me uh they just weren't the same flaws that I've heard other people identify which again I already explained but it is a deeply flawed book like I'm I didn't come away from that thinking like oh yeah I could see like well don't like that that was great no like well I was like oh I don't like I don't like that that didn't make any sense but yeah I mean like when I was reading it I was chewing through it I read it so quickly and I was so engrossed in it and I had a good time it got it all away but it's like it's my new favorite thing or I'd say it's like this well it's nothing like this but it's like this um it's like watching Pacific Rim or the Warcraft movie um both of which I enjoyed tremendously um neither much is a good movie but did I enjoy my time yes I did but I think it's well written and I think those are distinctly different things because like I think he's good at pacing it I think he's good at setting the scene and writing in a way that kind of gets you like creeped out and makes you want to turn the page um so it's the writing is good with the plot and a lot of the things in the plot but the actual experience of reading it was tremendously enjoyable so that's why 3.5 stars because I think like it deserves points for the writing itself because you could write this is like the opposite of dune dune also got three stars from me for the opposite prompt dune I think is an incredible book in terms of like what it's attempting to accomplish the world that it is building or has built the philosophical questions it seeks to pose um all those things are fantastic I just feel like as a reading experience it is not well-paced it is not well like told in a way that it's not compellingly written it doesn't keep you turning the page it doesn't make you want to read on um and that's why I got three stars so the opposite reason for the maids the maidens substantively is entirely lacking but the experience of reading it is well constructed um so yeah dune and the maidens didn't think I'd be talking about those two side by side but here we are that's my take on dune and the maidens whereas so Mary Shelley Club I did I don't necessarily think it's a good book or like a like a much much much much better book than the maidens but I think it's a better balance of like a decent story easily well applauded by the end certainly a page turner and yeah it was just I think the writing is better in the maidens but so much else about it was that I had to docket stars whereas Mary Shelley Club was kind of like evenly not as good if that makes sense like the writing wasn't that good the plot isn't reveals the characters aren't that good but none of them individually are like a troche so whereas the maidens is like high at high is meaning the pacing and the writing and lowest lows in terms of the plot not making a lot of sense so whereas like the the conclusion of Mary Shelley Club the like the answer to the mystery uh the answer to the who built who was it doing the doing um what's more satisfying it didn't make me go what it made me go oh okay yeah all right that yeah it checks out um yeah versus the maidens where I was like well I didn't see that coming because that's bananas so uh I'm very much looking forward to Miss Peregrine's home but I've again talked to people who were like oh I hated it and then someone else was like oh I actually like a movie only and I hate the book oh no because in classic me fashion I already ordered books two and three uh that's mainly because it looked to me like hard covers for getting harder to come by and they had good price drops on all three of them so I ordered them and now I have them and they all like the aesthetic of them all is so 100 000 percent my gym that I kind of don't want to read Miss Peregrine's home because what if I hate it then I have to get rid of these books that just look like they're absolutely my jam oh bump in the road coming so if I read it and I hate it then I can't keep I mean Ransom Riggs the author is I believe Mary I don't feel like they know my taste or don't feel like they can accurately my taste and I mean I'm not that awesome wives are the same but I just feel like I had him off me he's another that a lot of people are like oh no and I'm like I like it now and she's married Ransom Riggs and apparently people are about Miss Peregrine's are like oh no like I hope I'll be like well I like it um so here's here's hoping I also didn't love the movie so maybe that's a good sign if people loved the movie and hated the book maybe again maybe that means that they have the opposite taste of me and I will love the book or I'll just not really like either as well as the option well no you don't yeah but so tonight as I mentioned we're watching Suicide Squad and the new Suicide Squad which oh yeah uh I should probably mention I didn't hate the original Suicide Squad and I also didn't hate Jared Leno as the Joker so go ahead cancel me now I have I think that's like one of my most unpopular opinions but because my channel is related to book style movies it hasn't come up but yeah Jared Leno as the Joker was a-okay by me I don't see the problem I mean I heard he was a dick on set which is like a whole different problem I think yeah I mean I definitely like when I heard the speculation about how it was like changed in the edit and how it's more than likely that the Joker was intended to have a bigger part in the movie and how a lot of things that Harley Quinn does um especially in the latter half of the movie really don't make sense for the plot that supposedly we have in the new Suicide Squad like it just doesn't make sense anymore that she would be doing oh a little there uh but like the way she reacts with things and the way that they're reacting to her really only makes sense if the like the Joker was opposed to do things that he just that never actually does because they cut that out um so I would like to have seen what it was the original intention for the plot of Suicide Squad and what how the Joker would be part of that um but I guess well unless we get like like we go on the side or cut um unless we get something like that we'll just never know um but yeah I wanted to say I've heard more positive things about the new Suicide Squad uh and I I liked the first one so I'm it's not a high bar to clear I guess like it was quite satisfied but that's just I mean like I think well okay Suicide Squad the original Suicide Squad I don't know so like that where I'm like I don't disagree with any of your assessments about its flaws except I do disagree I'm on the Joker I think Jared Lennon was just finding the Joker I think it was a unique fresh take on the Joker and people people act like it's not like it's insane for him to be covered in tattoos and have a girl and look like a gangster I'm like wow that's a new version of the Joker we haven't seen him before what's wrong with that looks crazy to me and I thought he and Harley or he and Marco Robbie had chemistry otherwise I mean I do think Suicide Squad the first movie isn't a good movie but I had fun but I went to go see it I mean then people complain about the soundtrack being like non-stop music non-stop licensed music but I'm just gonna give you all my unpopular opinions right here right now I like jukebox musicals and I like licensed music when it's used in TV shows and movies like people complain about um in particular CW shows when they use licensed music and the lyrics for the licensed music is like in painfully on the nose for what's going on in the scene I don't have a problem with that I quite like it in fact so yeah I didn't mind to I guess maybe that's what it was I liked all the licensed music like the music that they chose for Suicide Squad um happened to for the most part be music that I am a fan of just generally has music and so the movie was kind of just like a massive long feature length music video and I like music videos I love watching music videos so yeah it's like a crazy bonkers bananas action packed music video um with Will Smith and I'll watch anything with Will Smith very excited to go Suicide Squad and I'm sure they're gonna use licensed music again there's just no way they're not going to so I'm here for it I'm excited about it but when I give you my assessment of it after I see it you're based on what I've just told you in the car you cannot trust my assessment of it if I say it's good take that the bumpiest part of the road take that with a grain of salt if I say that I like it because I like shitty things apparently I really really don't think I have anything else to say anymore I think that does it excited to eat pizza watch Suicide Squad and come home and start a book I'm really hoping that it don't hate come here darling did you miss me did you miss me that's not twice for kitties nope that's not twice for kitties okay well as you can see I am back um that movie was terrible I none of us liked it um my brother thinks it's slightly better than the first one I think it's worse and and then we googled it and it has a 91% on rotten tomatoes and I just I don't know know anything anymore the movie was horrible and the reason I think it's worse I do think I mean it has a more that the plot makes more sense I guess a bit a bit um then the first one but it was just so boring it was such a slog it wasn't funny it wasn't like wild it wasn't it wasn't anything and the more serious parts they weren't serious enough because I mean like I wasn't invested in these characters at all I didn't care about them so we had these serious moments and I was just like am I supposed to care about this right now and the action parts just weren't that cool or interesting and there was even more licensed music stop it there was even more licensed music in this one or at least the very least the same amount but I think more than in the first one um it was insane and there were so many times that I didn't understand the choice of song like in particular there was a part where they used the kansas song um oh I don't remember what it's called point of no return I think and it just like had nothing to do with the scene it didn't sound like it matched the scene the work lyrics didn't match the scene I was like I really like this song I just don't know what it's doing here right now so while it's it's marginally kind of sort of maybe a better plot it just was no fun and like slight spoilers it's like this big alien monster basically um that's the big bad and like when Idris elbow was facing off against it it was just so boring and I like the thing to myself was you know what the first suicide squad had that this movie seriously needs is will smith because if you have a giant alien monster attacking a city and you're gonna have a dude like break out this wild looking gun to fight it that guy needs to be will smith I love Idris elbow but he was just so boring I'll watch anything with will smith in it I mean that's probably the main reason I like the first one but because I was will smith in it girl do not be do not be doing that with my book so yeah that's my hot take suicide squad the suicide squad garbage I don't know how it has a 91% on rotten tomatoes I truly truly do not know so big old ways in my time I wish I had been at home reading but now I know there's only one way to find out that movie is terrible is by watching it so it's gonna happen sooner or later so yeah um it is quite late which I'm not very sleepy because I went to bed late and I woke up late so I might read a bit tonight and I'll let you know if I do but otherwise catch you later good afternoon um I woke up late and then started planning all my videos and was gonna start filming I took a while to do that and then I started filming and I got through one and a half videos before my camera ran out of battery and I thought my other battery was charging but it was actually unlike it was like and jostled so like the charge thingy wasn't fully in the whatever it's called anyway so it actually wasn't charging so now I have two dead batteries and I'm waiting for them to charge so I can't like break this down because I still have like four videos to film um and it is 115 and also also I was finally going to film the first video for my second channel which was gonna be um it's like the did I mention it in this vlog that I want to start a channel for like vegan food and stuff because I know people don't necessarily care about that on this channel but I like talking about it so I was like now I'll just start a second channel so I was planning to film a taste test of various seasonal fall vegan creamers um because there's a lot actually like a lot of brands are now doing it um making pumpkin spice and other things so I placed a couple orders from stores near me that had these creamers and those were all delivered and the stores were out of several of them so I can't really film my taste test of creamers today either I just have a bunch of creamer in my fridge right now but not enough creamer to do this taste test so I hope I can get my hands on those other creamers but yeah so I had a piece of pizza for breakfast um I'm not really hungry I just want this to be over so I can relax and read Miss Peregrine's home but so I am gonna read Miss Peregrine's home now I wait for my battery to charge um and I did order some coffees as well not just creamers so even though it's one o'clock for 115 you can have a cup of coffee with caffeine and read a bit but while this is also still set up I'll wait and film some more videos it's just not going according to plan just so much noise outside today I was originally hoping I could wake up early so a bunch of videos um and then do vlogging for the rest of the day and then have time in the evening to edit a couple of videos but I got a late start things are not going according to plan um so I doubt I'll be editing any videos tonight because I don't even know if I'll have time to film them all and do a bit of reading so anyway coffee and a bit of Miss Peregrine's is what we're doing because that's not the order of events that I wanted but we just gotta make it work so off we go finished filming videos finally um I didn't film everything that I wanted to film but I'm I'm tired it is most of my day has gone which is simply upsetting also I realized um because I was filming vlog clips in between you know when my camera died and so I was like okay I'll read Miss Peregrine's while I wait for my battery to charge so I filmed some vlog clips so this camera is in frame in everything that I've now filmed after that because um I forgot um to move it so like I put my I put this camera on this bookshelf so it's just like sitting right here behind me in all the videos that I filmed after my camera I'm after my battery was charged so love that um I just like put the footage on my computer to make sure that I was in focus which is like an eternal struggle for me is to be in focus and I am in focus and there's a camera on the bookshelf behind me luckily it's like a dark camera that is sitting in front of some dark books so you're paying attention to me and not your eyes aren't wandering to the shelves behind me then you may not notice but then again I'm also telling you about it right now so you're gonna be on the lookout for it now globally um but whatever not refilming it for that no freaking way so yeah I am hooked I need to put away all of these books that I just filmed videos with my camera my ring light I need to go release baby kitty from solitary confinement I have a bunch of clothes on my bed from all of my costume changes but uh I don't have to do that immediately just chill here for a second I'm so tired also the lighting changed the lighting was honestly perfect this morning when I started filming and since I had to stop filming in the middle of my frame of time video the first half has like the darker lighting the second half is you know afternoon so it's very obvious the time passed oh that is what it is it is what it is I'll get the energy in a second to clear all this up and then then get baby kitty and then need his parents right right because it's raining cool cool cool let's do the thing hokey-doke so I think we are reaching the end of this vlog so I read um a little over 100 pages of Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children and I'm enjoying it um I believe having seen the movie but I saw when it came out which like at this point is eons ago um but I think he's about to stumble upon the school but so far the writing style is kind of that that kind of quirky writing style that you either like or you don't which I'm very pleased to find because I think that's an appropriate writing style for this type of story the secret hidden school for peculiar children and then all these black and white photographs of the peculiar children um I'm really enjoying it it's not really grabbed me uh I'm not like hooked and must continue but I am enjoying it like I'm just sort of like pleasantly going along going hmm I like this so I'm hoping that I get more hooked as it goes on but I mean we're still we haven't even gotten to the school yet we haven't met Miss Peregrine yet so um and I'm excited to picture Ava Green because she was the one that played Miss Peregrine that's like 90% of the reason I went to see the movie in the first place so um yay for that although the picture that we have so far Miss Peregrine this uh does not look like it would be Ava Green material it looks kind of like a very old person but perhaps it's a misdirect I'm all for that so yeah uh so far so good so in summation what has been achieved uh this weekend is I filmed how many videos did I film four just thinking of the number of outfits I wore so four videos I finished two books and read a hundred pages of another one I think that's pretty that's pretty good for one weekend that got derailed a couple of times because of watching Suicide Squad which like I regret and uh then this morning's just today not really getting off to a start so like considering like today was just basically a complete wash I think I did pretty good wouldn't you agree baby kitty she agrees just trust me she does so that does it let me know in the comments down below um if you've read any of the books that I was reading during this vlog um if I've intrigued you if you're planning to pick them up now um anything else like talked about in this vlog whatever you want me to I post videos on saturdays other and sometimes as well nothing saturdays so like and subscribe join my patreon if you're also inclined and I'll see you guys