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Hello, everyone, my name is Olivia...
and today I'm going to do the 20 Questions Book Tag.
I saw my friend, Jesse, do it over on their channel.
And I will be sure to link their video down below.
And I just... am a sucker for book tags.
So, let's get right into it so we can talk all things books
and you can get to know me better, as a reader.
I have the questions on my phonee
Let me find it....
Question #1: How many books is too many books in a series?
And I was thinking about this question, and I thought,
Three... three books.
I just never seem to enjoy a trilogy in its entirety.
For some reason, there's always one book in that trilogy that I
just do not enjoy.
And I definitely think that you can wrap the story up quicker in two books rather than
three books.
And if you know me and you've watched my channel for a while, you know that I don't really
read series.
I can't commit to it.
I usually don't finish them.
I think the series that I finished, that was pretty long, was The Diviners series that
I'm looking at right now.
I feel like that's the only series that I've read that's more than three books because
I'm just not a fan of series and I tend to avoid them a lot.
Question #2 is: How do you feel about cliffhangers?
I don't know because I feel like this has to also has to do with series, and I don't
read series that often.
But I do think it's fun if the series is already complete and you're marathoning the series
and you're reading the books one after the other and you're not waiting for the sequel.
But I think if you're waiting a year for the next book to come out, a cliffhanger can be
so annoying because you're just wondering what's going to happen next.
Maybe one of your favorite characters is on the brink of dying or surviving, and you don't
know what's going to happen.
And I think that that can really get to you.
But, like I said, I feel like that happens a lot more with series.
There wouldn't be a stand-alone that ends with a cliffhanger, so I don't really mind
cliffhangers.
The next question is: hardcovers or paperbacks?
I think I like paperbacks more, but hardcovers tend to be like those special, limited-edition
types of books that have really pretty sprayed edges and really pretty designs.
And I think I aesthetically like hardcovers more, but I prefer paperbacks to read on because
they're floppy.
They're easy to put into your bag.
They don't weigh a lot.
And I think they're just more comfortable to carry around and read.
Question #4 is: Favorite book?
And if you have been watching my channel for a while, you will know that the Next Year
in Havana by Chanel Cleeton is one of my favorite books of all time.
It is the first book I read where I saw genuine, authentic Cuban representation.
And I just fell absolutely in love with the story and felt myself seen in the story.
And it's a book that has lived in my heart and will live in my heart probably for the
rest of my life.
Question #5 is: what is your least favorite book?
*exhales* I don't really think about my least favorite books because, like, they're just
so bad, I just don't really give them the time of day.
But I do have to say that The Catcher in the Rye is like the book that I was most passionately
against in high school.
I just hated that book so much.
I thought that Holden was just such a mean character, was just such a snob, and thought
that he was so much better than everyone else.
And I just didn't understand why people enjoyed that book.
In high school I was just like, "I just don't understand why we're reading this book."
I don't really think it had a lot of value to it.
And I don't really understand why it's a classic.
So there you go.
That's one of my least favorite books of all time.
I don't really give it the time of day because I read it so many years ago.
I think I read it in, like, 9th or 10th grade.
So I was about... maybe 14 or 15.
So it's been a decade.
And another least favorite book of mine is Looking for Alaska because I feel like that
is Catcher in the Rye but if you were to make Holden Alaska.
Same vibe, same vibe.
Question # 6: love triangles, yes or no?
I don't really give love triangles a lot of thought because if I read about it in a synopsis,
I will probably avoid the book because I just don't really enjoy the drama of it all.
I just don't really enjoy that type of trope.
But!
The thing is when I do read about love triangles and I have read about them in the past, the
person that I ship the main character with is always the winner.
So I'm never disappointed with love triangles because I just have, like, an intuition of
who the main character should end up with.
But they're just annoying because, like, the flip-flopping back and forth, the ~angst~,
the drama.
It's just-- It's too much for me.
I just can't handle it.
Question #7: The most recent book you just couldn’t finish?
Let me see...
I don't know.
It was Case Histories by Kate Atkinson.
This is a book that I was reading for my vlog where I was reading Erin Morgenstern's favorite
novels of all time.
And I tried reading this novel and I just really did not enjoy it.
I did not enjoy the writing style and I just did not want to spend my time on it, so I
just DNFed it and moved on with my life.
"What is a book that you're currently reading?"
And I am currently reading Counting Down with You.
Counting Down with You is a YA romance that I'm just enjoying so much.
I'm not that far into it.
Question #9 is: what is the last book that you recommended to someone?
The last book that I recommended to everyone was on my Instagram stories earlier this morning.
And it was One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston.
I just finished it this morning and I really enjoyed it.
It was such a wonderful, New Adult romance that I just fell absolutely in love with,
and I recommended to everyone on my Instagram because I always post about the books that
I have that week, on a Friday, to wrap up my week and tell my followers what I am currently
reading, what I finished reading, my thoughts on it.
So I shared that onto my Instagram stories to recommend the book to everyone.
Question #10: What is the oldest book you’ve read?
And I had to Google this because I had no idea when this book came out, but I'm pretty
sure it's the oldest book that I've ever read.
And it is Beowulf.
And it apparently came out between 700 to 1000 AD.
So it's a very old book.
It is written in Old English, and it is a book that we read in high school.
And I think that is probably the oldest book that I've ever read.
Or, technically... isn't it a poem?
Isn't it just a long poem?
It's "an Old English epic poem."
But like, it's bound into a book...
So I'm going to say that's the oldest book that I've ever read, but I do remember it's
like a long-form poem.
We're just going to say it's a novel in verse.
That's what we're going to say, and we're gonna call it a day and move onto the next
question.
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Thank you so much to Skillshare for sponsoring me yet again, and now back to the tag video.
So the next question is, what's the newest book that you've read?
And I'm going to once again say One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston because this came out this
month, in June, and I think that's the newest book that I've picked up.
Question #12 is: what is your favorite author?
And I always tell people this.
I don't have a favorite author because, for me, my qualifications for a favorite author
is a person who has written a decent amount of books and I have read almost all of them,
and I have given each book 5 stars.
And I don't think that's ever happened.
I think the closest I've come to finding a favorite author is Elizabeth Acevedo.
I think I gave one of her books 4 stars, so they're not all 5 star reads to me.
But I do have, like, auto-buy authors.
Like, authors that I really enjoy that I will read all their works of.
So those are like technically favorite authors, but my high standard for a favorite author
is an author that I've given every single book of theirs five stars.
And I think that's very rare to find.
So if you have an author who has written a ton of books and you have given each of them
five stars, please let me know in the comments because I would love to know because I have
yet to find an author who has done that for me.
Question #13: Buying books or borrowing books?
If you had asked High School Olivia, I think she would have said buying books, but Current
Olivia says borrowing books.
Because, in high school, I really loved buying every single book that I read to add to my
collection, to create my own personal library.
I was really big into consumerism, and now I've gotten very picky with the books that
I have in my room.
I only keep true favorites in my room, or just books that have a lot of sentimental
value to me because I read them in high school and I have a lot of memories attached to them.
But now, I love using my library.
I use Libby all the time to read audiobooks.
I use Libro.fm to listen to audiobooks.
And I only, truly buy books if they are 5-star reads and I have to add them to my collection
because I really loved the story and I wanted to have a copy of it for myself.
Question 14: A book you dislike that everyone else seems to love?
I wish I had grabbed these books to like show you... but... here we are.
You're gonna have to get the digital version.
And I'm going to have to say The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Ninth House.
And the covers match, which is really cool.
But I really, really, really disliked both of these books.
I gave them both 2 stars, and I did not enjoy them but everyone and their mother seems to
enjoy them, so take my opinion with a grain of salt because I feel like I'm the outlier
for both of these books.
"Bookmarks or dog-ears?"
I will dog-ear a page, if I don't have a bookmark, if I got a book at an airport or on vacation
and I didn't bring a bookmark with me and I am currently reading it on that trip.
But I will always use a bookmark.
I will use, like, a receipt.
I will use a paint swatch from HomeDepot.
I will truly use anything, and I don't really buy bookmarks because I think it's kinda a
waste of money to spend money on something that's just going to tell you the page of
your book.
So I tend to get bookmarks from indie bookstores because they have them by their cash registers.
I use paint swatches, like I said before.
Or I use bookmarks that have come with ARCs that have been mailed to me.
The next question is: A book that you can always reread.
And I think I'm going to have to go with Sheets by Brenna Thummler.
This is a graphic novel that I am always thinking about because I love the art style.
I love pastel colors.
I love the story.
I think it is such a cute and melancholic read.
It's one of my first graphic novels that I've ever read, and I just love it so much and
I always want to reread it.
And I think I've reread it twice already now.
So, that is a book that I always want to reread, but I don't tend to reread books a lot because
I always think, "I can be reading something new."
And I always want to read a new story to dive into a new world and find a new author.
So I don't tend to reread a lot because every time I'm rereading a book, I'm always thinking,
"I could be reading something new.
I could be reading a brand new story that could become a new favorite of mine."
So I don't tend to reread a lot.
"Can you read while hearing music?"
I could read in public.
I could read while people are watching TV.
I could read while people are watching a baseball game.
I can read while people are playing music.
I can read in pretty much any setting because, in high school, I used to read during study
hall.
People were shouting, people were playing games.
People were just being REALLY loud.
And the whole time I was just sitting there, reading my book, and I can just tune out the
noise around me.
So, that's one of my super powers, I guess.
One point of view or multiple point of views.
I have to say this depends on the book and the genre.
I think for romance, I like it to be one point of view because you get to feel all the angst
and you don't really know what the other person is feeling.
And I think that hint of mystery is always really fun because you don't know if they
like the main character as much as the main character likes them.
But I think for fantasies and mysteries, I think it's fun to have multiple points of
views because you get to get a full story.
It's well-rounded.
You get to see different sides of the conflict or the mystery, and I think that adds a lot
of depth to the story and it's better than seeing it just from one view point.
So I think it depends on the type of story.
It depends on the author as well because some authors are really good at doing multiple
points of views and other authors are terrible at it because they don't have distinguished
voices.
So I think it all depends.
"Do you read a book in one sitting or over multiple days?"
I don't think I've read a book in one sitting in YEARS.
I do not have the attention span for that.
I- I simply cannot anymore.
And that's totally fine.
I just am too scatter brained.
I get very distracted, and I just cannot finish a book in one sitting anymore.
I wish could, but I truly cannot.
Even if it's only 100 pages, I can't finish a book in one sitting because I get distracted
by my phone.
I get distracted by my family.
And I just-- I can't do it anymore.
But if you asked High School Me, she could have done that so easily.
She used to read like 500 pages in one day, and I just cannot begin to imagine doing that
right now because I just don't have the attention span for that anymore.
And question #20 is, "Who do I tag?"
I'm going to tag: Allie from AllieWithBooks, Alyxandria, Jananie from ThisStoryAintOver,
and Ashsley from A Dash of Ash.
I would love to hear their answers to all these questions and I had such a fun time
filming this video, and I hope you enjoyed it as well.
If you want to connect with me anywhere else on social media, all my links will be down
below.
And, if you have not subscribed so already, be sure to do so to see more videos from me
in the future.
If you have made it this far, let's do a fun emoji challenge.
And let's leave an orange heart emoji in the comments to see who stays for the longest
time in this video.
Thank you so much for watching, and I hope you have a wonderful day.
~bye!