I am SO SORRY (but also not that sorry) that my recommendation made you cry like that! As soon as you first started tearing up I said "oh no" out loud lmao. But also I am elated that you loved it as much as I did. I only knew about this book because my partner picked it out at the library on a day I was too ill to go myself, so shoutout to him for making us both cry, I guess. :')
I am a first language Welsh speaker who is trying to read more in Welsh, this is the last place I thought I'd find a recommendation for that side of my reading, I am so excited.
If you were to already have a few good recommendations for originally Welsh books feel free to share. I'm sure many of us non-Welsh speakers (especially me) could broaden our horizon when it comes to that too 😅❤
I know that a book called This House by Sian Northey was recently translated from Welsh! Not sure what the book is about but might be one for you to check out 😊
lmao all these years and i was hoping to know your rating, because it's a rare five star for me, and i get a struggle rating, haha. i still love that you finally read it. thanks to whomever got thru your dms to recommend it!!
I read 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds...back in 2020, and I still think about it. What a devastating yet hopeful novel. I feel like that book has been haunting me (in a good way) for years.
I see the blurred cover of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World in your thumbnail and I’m immediately excited! That one has stuck with me for so long
i really recommend Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Tales from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty! informative memoir about death- the death industry, and people's relationship to death. it's so interesting and really harrowing and touching at times.
Hi Kayla. I totally understand how you feel reading the blue book of nebo, saying it might not be that sad but it made you cry. It's the feeling of relating to the characters that gets you. Love the vlog as always. Wish you a beautiful day.💜
Omg!!!! I skipped to Nebo to hear your thoughts first and will obvi watch the rest now, but I’m so so so glad you enjoyed it. I think it’s such a special and unique little read 💙
Omg Kayla noooo I started tearing up the second you started getting choked up talking about the boy and his mom and I haven’t even read the book nor do I have children. Since you like quiet post-apocalyptic stories, I think you’d enjoy The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold (also has a bit of a focus on parent-child relationships). It’s YA, which I don’t really read anymore, but it is one of my favorite books I’ve read so far this year. It made me really emotional through the whole last 100 or so pages, and it’s beautifully written.
I have a few recs for topical memoirs!! All of these I gave a five star and listened to as an audiobook fyi! First is Crying in H Mart, but I am sureeeee you have probably heard of it before. It is one of my favorite books of all time, less topical than the others I am gonna recommend but still a gorgeously told story of a mother daughter relationship that makes you cry and smile and start to crave Korean food. (this was also my besties book jar rec 🤫) I will say she is technically a “famous person” but she doesn’t talk about fame which I know is something you hate, and more so talks about her love of music which hopefully doesn’t give you the famous people ick. Second The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness. As someone who dealt with chronic illness for a lot of her adolescent this REALLY hit for me, but I think regardless of disability status everyone should read this book. She brilliantly talks about her own life and stats on the modern day medical system and navigating it in this fucked up world. I know this is your favorite layout when it comes to memoirs so this might have the most luck out of the three. Lastly, a book I think about often and desperately want to reread as a physical copy and annotate the hell out of is Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This is the shortest on the list and is a letter from the author to his young Black son on what is means to be black in America. It cuts no corners and does not try to comfort the reader. The writing is gorgeous. I got angry to tears at certain parts. I know reading social commentary non fictions is one of your favs and typically ends up being five stars so hopefully this one can too!
Welsh is such a pretty language. I've never heard of a book that was written in it first and then translated, but I love that. Celtic languages deserve more of the world stage!
The way you described what you like about The Book of Nebo (and The Memory Police earlier this year) makes me want to recommend The Wall by Marlen Haushofer. It's a non-urgent apocalypse, and it actually sits right next to The Memory Police as one of my favorite books of all-time and I think they have a lot in common :)
I would highly recommend The Space Between by Meg Grehan for women's love prevails. Its a story written in verse centering mental health but also about these two women falling in love with each other. It is so gentle and so heartwarming.
I need you to please please please post up your reading sprints! Everytime i want company while reading i have to search all over to find sprints with my fav book girlie
With books like Such Small Hands I often think of it as I didn’t LIKE it but I like how well it presented its message or I like how well it stirred up emotion in me.
You crying over a book has effectively switched on my reader brain and made me excited to pick up a book. Which hasn’t happened much in a while. So, sorry for your pain. But happy for my future, 😂
I didn't totally love it myself, but you might enjoy The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley. It's a retelling of Beowulf with focus on motherhood. There is some nature setting/survival elements, some shared consciousness chapters, a bit of obsession and it's definitely weird. Excited to see you hold up Lanny! I loved that book. Kind of related because I heard about Lanny through her: I'm not sure if you are familiar with Jen Campbell but I feel like you could get some great recommendations from her videos.
I think you would love psalm of the wild built (monk and the robot series). It’s a beautiful and thought provoking. Great representation. It would fit for nature setting or characters dropped in unfamiliar setting. It is simple and beautiful and light sci-fi. It’s a sweet story of figuring out your purpose in life.
I’m reading 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World currently! I have enjoyed it thus far for all the reasons you shared here; I’m looking forward to taking my time with it.
I've recommended this before, but I think you'd like Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda (translated by Sarah Booker)! I think it would fulfill the prompt of obsession. It's a horror novel that's weird and unsettling, while also being a bit mundane. I really enjoyed it and hope you might too! 🤞
I think you’d like And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott, especially since you gave her memoir (? I think that’s what it is, I haven’t read it) five stars
What a successful reading vlog 😍👏 also that’s so interesting you’ve heard We Used to Live Here wouldn’t make a good book club pick? That makes me nervous hahaha I wonder why 👀
If you're looking for a non-fiction, "Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give" by Ada Calhoun might be a good option for the wedding setting. It's a short novel (192 pages) and contains seven essays about marriage.
The End We Start From is also a slow apocalypse book that centers motherhood. I'm not a mother and so it didn't speak to me that much, but you might like it!
coming back after that section: IM SO GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT!! i think you’d really like a lot of her other books because she’s very consistently a really good author and really good at writing human connection. I’d recommend the island of missing trees!
I definitely need to read The Blue Book Of Nebo especially because, from what you've said, it seems something right up my alley. Recently I've read a book that I think you might also enjoy: "Tap, Tap" by David Martin. It's such a weird (and somewhat funny) thriller/horror about a vampire and his childhood friend. Someone on goodreads wrote about it " *If you are like me and are gay and mentally ill this is the book for you* " which I thought it was an insane way to recommend it... But also very true lol
Hi Lala! I wanted to recommend a recent favorite of mine that is quite famous actually and seems to go well in the "quiet apocalypse" genre : The Wall by Marlen Haushofer! About a middle aged woman trapped in a cabin by herself. Very quiet and very powerful in my opinion !!
If you haven't read the short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains", by Ray Bradbury, I think you'd really like it. Technically, it's part of The Martian Chronicles, but, I read it in HS and didn't realize that until I tried to track down a copy.
i am very respectfully asking you put your camera on a stable surface when you vlog on the walking pad !! signed, a motion sick gal who has to close her eyes during those parts
We Used To Live Here. I don't scare easily. Horror is one of my favorite genres and this book scared me so much that I woke my husband up in the middle of the night.
I read "Las Manos Pequeñas" (Such Small hands) recently and for me it was 1,5 stars. I am a native Spanish speaker and the language of the book made me tired of reading it. It tried to hard to be poetic but, to me, the sentnces were empty of substance. It was very repetitive. Nothing happens until it happens and then it has ended. I know ut is only about 95 pages but I feel that this should have been a shorter story. Maybe 20? It feels that many pages are there only to make it longer but ad nothing to the story. Moreover, the behaviour of those "7-year-olds" seemed inappropriate to me. It felt too sexual and gratuitous and it made me uncomfortable. Note: I have also heard that is based on real story. I googled it, looked for information regarding Brazilian orphanages and found nothing that could back that up. Finally, I found aome article that states that it is not true that it is based on a true story
strong recommendation for psalm for the wild built for nature settings! it's so sweet and in my opinion really fits into the slow, not much going on but excellent vibes trope you were describing in this video. it's one of my faves!
Super random question... While you're making your yogurt bowl, you're wearing a really cute headband (??? Or is it?).. Do you have any idea where you got it or if it has a specific name other than a headband? 😂 It looks very pretty on you. ❤️
So, I am 0/2 on book recs for you (Never Let Me Go & Biography of X) but they say third time's the charm! I think you would love The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson, which falls under "informative memoir," and somehow feels like a memoir, text on queer theory, and book of poetry all at once. It's brilliant and I think it would really interest you!
I would love for you to read The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. It’s not nearly as brutal and hard to read as 10 minutes 38 seconds (but still has some sadness and beautiful prose) It’s set in Cyprus and London and some of the book is narrated by a fig tree. It’s so unique. Please read ❤
I highly recommend Penance by Eliza Clark for stories related to death! It’s a dissection/critique of the true crime genre but takes some weird turns - Everyone i know has given it 5 stars or 1 star (5 stars from me!)
Thank you for recommending The Blue Book of Nebo. I just finished it yesterday and I can confidently say that it is my favourite book I have ever read. I can even say life changing. I also cried a lot. I think being a mom really made me feel the feels.
Hi! This is obvi late, sos, a Welsh speaker here who has recommended the blue book of nebo to you in comments before! I read the Welsh version and there are definitely differences from the discussion I've had with my friend who read the English, so I think she did kind of rewrite translate it. From what I've heard about the English, it sounds like there isn't as much emphasis on language in English, Which makes sense because of the contacts of the English language v the Welsh language, I do have the English version I want to read alongside the Welsh. As well. Dylan in the Welsh version is called dwynwyn. Don't know why she changed that!😊
I hope this doesn't come across as a hate comment but would you consider putting your phone/camera on a stand when recording on the treadmill? I love your videos but I physically can't watch those sections bc they make me feel motion sick
I really enjoy your videos. I was however hoping you could recommend a booktuber with similar taste as myself. If anyone wants to suggest as well that would be great. I'll give my personal 5 Star reads from the past 8 months. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi, The Star And The Strange Moon, The House in the Cerulean Sea, and to really throw it off track but not important for this...First Lie Wins Thank You!
Andrés Barba also wrote 'A Luminous Republic' which I think is even better. It's about feral children in the Argentinian jungle and an absolute ride. One of my all time faves!
Have you read Bea Uusma's "The expedition: a love story - solving the mystery of a Polar tragedy"? Your Everest books and like for mixed media made me think you might like it.
I also love non-urgent apocalypse books but I will say Cormac McCarthy's The Road is one of my absolute most hated books of all time 😂 I will be very curious to know what you think about it if you ever read it though!
I do think the absolute best books are the ones that make you feel something and you can't explain why or make sense of it bc the book wasn't supposed to do that. 😅 those always become instant favorites for me. Seeing your reaction gave me so much inspiration to keep trying new titles and genres in case I find that!
I have a recommendation for a mystery/thriller, im not sure that its up your ally but i want you to read it so bad. Its hangman by jack heath. We follow a guy whose working with the fbi and i know you hate detective pov but he's not an agent just working for them. There is a horror element to it, I think some people go into the book knowing what it is but I'm not gonna spoil it if you don't already know.
I don’t know if it’d be a 5 star read for everyone or if it was just the right book for me personally, but for a story related to death I recommend The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel. I had picked it up because the title caught my eye, and the first little bit of the blurb really caught my attention. A remote island in Scotland, and a woman returning home after the death of her father. And creepy bird spirits that arrive on the island every October. I don’t know if you’ve read The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, but it has very similar vibes (just without the races or carnivorous horses). Anyway, I really loved it so I thought I’d throw the rec out there just incase it catches your attention. (I also recommend The Scorpio Races if you haven’t read it.)
It doesn't really fit any of the squares on your board, but I think American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett is something you can enjoy!It's a weird kind of cosmic horror/sci fi with elements of a small town mystery/conspiracy with an underlying theme of handling dysfunctional families/communities. It's pretty long but I really enjoyed it!
SO! Hear me out... I know it is a play and you don't read a lot of plays but because it is a play it will be SO SHORT... I firmly think you should read The Secretaries by The Five Lesbian Brothers. It is fucking weird and I would compare it to Bunny ....
Yay for so many book wins! 🙌I have some recs for you. Books about books - The Plot, Malice House, Who Is Maud Dixon? (this one also has "dropped into unfamiliar circumstances"). Women's love prevails - Camp Damascus. Nature/survival - These Silent Woods, Old Country. Shared consciousness - The Rust Maidens
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley has a fake dating trope and a character dropped into unfamiliar circumstances. Natasha Pulley normally writes magical realism / speculative and maybe her Bedlam Stacks is more for you as the Mars House is her first SciFi book, but the Mars House has so much more going on plot wise and with character development. But then if you want a book where maybe nothing much happens and youre trying to work out the circumstances with the main character, then the Bedlam Stacks probably fits you better.
You should read my husband by Maud Ventura. Translated from French to English. It's a weird story of obsession there is a one week countdown. It's the story of an unhinged woman (not in a mental illness sort of way) who is obsessed with her husband yet looks to be sophisticated and in control on the outside. It gives Amy Dunn from Gone Girl, with a French backdrop!
Lala, i just finished Red Azalea by Anchee Min, and it was so utterly amazing. It is about the author’s experience in Mao’s China and it is queer! I highly recommend, i don’t see other people talking about it, but i would love to know your opinion
I think you would really enjoy Role Playing by Cathy Yardley. There is a wedding although, full disclosure, it's not the main part of the story so maybe it's cheating lol. I just think it's something you would like and that's the best fit I can find for your board!
A Good Year is good, but it’s not *really horror* and it’s better read at Christmas time. It’s about Kalikantzaros, which are sort of little trickster imps who cause chaos, but their appearance in the book is very short and it’s more cultural metaphor than horror. The book’s primary focus is on queer identity and societal pressure and the flip side of the coin, spousal abandonment and the anxieties of motherhood. It’s a good book, slow paced, & culturally atmospheric.
Idk if you've read An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison, but it's a topical memoir that has a focus on her (then called) manic depressive disorder and her life from her childhood to education to her loves she's had. There are many sentences that just made me in love with the way she sees the world
20:56 Same! I love plain yoghurt and cutting fruits into it myself! Can't wait for when I can buy watermelons here - that's best yoghurt in the summer! 🤤
