Hello, everyone, my name is Olivia, and welcome to a new book haul. I have acquired a couple of
books throughout the months, and I wanted to show you them. I've mentioned a couple of them
in other videos, but I haven't officially hauled them and shown you a collection of all the books
that I recently acquired, so let's get right into it. And let's start with the two books
that I have already read, one I am currently in the middle of and one I have already read
months ago and finally acquired a copy. And that book is The Bass Rock and this was gifted
to me by Vintage, so thank you so much to them. This is a book that I listened to on audiobook
and greatly enjoyed and really wanted a copy to add to my historical fiction collection.
So this follows three different timelines: one woman, named Sarah, is accused of being a witch.
Another is Ruth, who is living in the aftermath of World War II, and she just recently married
a man who has two children, and she's kind of learning the new dynamics of this family.
And then we follow Viv, who is mourning the death of her father and she is going through
Ruth's belongings to try and piece together her history. I loved this novel so much. I actually
read it because I really enjoyed it the cover. I thought the cover was absolutely stunning,
so this was definitely a cover read, and it did not disappoint. It was an amazing audiobook
chronicling these three women's lives, throughout history, and how their time periods are very
different but the anguish and the pain that they all go through is very familiar. So this discusses
a lot of the historical implications of women's pain. It talks about the dynamics of marriage
and societal expectations of women, and it is just such a well-rounded novel. If you are looking for
a gloomy, very atmospheric type of historical fiction to read, I would highly recommend this
one. It was a great time, and it was definitely a book that I wish I had read physically because
I really wanted to highlight all my favorite passages. So I'm very glad that I now have a copy
of it because, if I ever want to reread it, I can annotate this book and really spend my time with
it. The other book that I have recently acquired and I'm currently reading is: Writers and Lovers.
And this is a book that I'm currently reading because of TikTock. I always see this book being
recommended for people in their 20s for people who love sad books, and I'm two of those things,
so I decided to pick it up, also because a couple of my friends have really enjoyed it. And this
follows a woman named Casey, and she just recently moved to Massachusetts. She's trying to pursue her
creative career as a writer but she's very much struggling with that, and she's also dealing with
the fact that her mother recently passed away. So it deals with grief. It deals with creativity, and
it deals with the different aspects of living in a creative world where you have to talk to really
pompous authors and you have to talk to people who think they are mightier than you. I'm only about
70 pages in, but I'm really enjoying the writing style. I've already started annotating this book,
and I'm taking my time with it. And it seems like a book that is going to slowly unfold and
slowly become a new favorite of mine because, I don't know, I love sad books. I love books that
deal with grief because it can be so different in every single book because grief is different
for every person who goes through it. I also love the exploration of a woman pursuing a
creative hobby in an atmosphere where it's very difficult to do so because you have to pay the
bills and pay your rent. So I'm excited to finish this book and hopefully, maybe,
it might be a five-star read for me. Who knows? Who knows? Is this a five-star read prediction?
Maybe. The next thing that I have to show you I actually got in the mail yesterday,
so this is perfect timing because usually I film a book haul and then that day I get something in
the mail, and I'm like, ‘Well, now I can't show it to you all.” So it came a day early, and it
is flower crowns and fearsome things by amanda lovelace. This was given to me by the publisher,
so thank you so much to them, and this is a poetry collection loosely inspired by Persephone.
Persephone is one of my favorite goddesses of all time. I can read hundreds and hundreds
of books and poetry collections and watch movies about Persephone. I think she is so
interesting. There are so many different sides to her story and so many different sides to
her personality, so I'm very much excited to explore this poetry collection and see how Amanda
kind of takes a twist on this tale. And it has beautiful art in it as well, and I'm just
so excited to dive into this. The next book I actually showed in my Vermont vlog.
If you have not seen that, I traveled to Vermont recently, and I did a bunch of bookstore hopping,
and it was such a great time. So this is one of the books that I got in Vermont, and it is Outline
by Rachel Cusk. I found out about Rachel Cusk on my way to Vermont. I was looking at my Kindle app,
and I noticed that there was a section that said, “Based off of your reading,
based off of your Goodreads, here are books that you would like,” and I was finally looking through
that little banner for the first time, and I saw a bunch of Rachel Cusk novels. I actually saw
Second Place first, before Outline, and that one seemed so intriguing. I do not have a copy of it,
but I do really want a copy of it. And then I went to a bookstore in Vermont and then I saw Rachel
Cusk. So I thought that was a very serendipitous moment, so I decided to pick up my first copy of
a Rachel Cusk novel. Rachel Cusk, from what I've heard-- I haven't really read any reviews because
I want to go into her novels without knowing much-- but from what I've heard, she has very
introspective type of writing style. So what made me pick up Outline first was the description where
it said it is, “a novel in 10 conversations, spare and lucid, it follows a novelist teaching a course
in creative writing over an oppressively hot summer in Athens.” I think I mentioned this before
where it kind of reminded me of Bella Figura, which is one of my favorite nonfictions of all
time. That is split into 12 parts for 12 months of the year, and it deals a lot with making friends
with people while traveling and learning about the culture. So I thought to myself, if I really
enjoyed Bella Figura and that type of writing style and that structure, I think I would very
much enjoy Outline. So I haven't read any reviews for Outline. This is like one of the first books
that I have picked up in a while where I haven't read any reviews. I haven't really looked up
if people like the author, if some of my friends really enjoy her writing. I just kind of picked
it up because it seemed like something I would really enjoy, and that's also what happened with
Bella Figura. I saw that in Bookcon, and thought it looked amazing and I thought it
would be the perfect fit for me, so it quickly became a favorite book of mine. So, who knows,
this might become a favorite book of mine. The next novel I have to show you was introduced to
me by the publisher. They reached out and told me that I would be a perfect fit for this story,
so they wanted to introduce it to me and send me a copy and it is The Mad Women's Ball. This
is actually being turned into a film and I'm very excited to compare and contrast the novel to the
film itself. From the film's description it says it's a woman who is unfairly institutionalized
in a Paris asylum and plots to escape with the help of one of its nurses. And it is actually
translated from French by Frank Wynne, which is very exciting because I always want to read more
translated fiction. So this is a great novel to pick up, and I think I also want to read it
around autumn time because it seems very ominous. It seems like it would fit the vibe of autumn,
and it's also a really short read. It's also called a “darkly, delightful gothic treasure.” So
I love gothic novels. I'm very excited to read this. Another novel that I got for my birthday
is Pachinko and this was featured in my autumn TBR video where this is a book that I want to read
around autumn time just because it is a very big novel that I want to take my time with. This is a
Korean historical fiction, and it says, “History is seldom kind, and Min Jin Lee's best-selling,
magisterial epic, four generations of a poor, proud immigrant family fight to control their
destinies, exiled from my homeland they never knew.” Esquire said it's, “an addictive family
saga packed with forbidden love, the search for belonging, and a triumph against all odds.”
One of my favorite tropes that I don't think is utilized often in novels is forbidden love.
That trope is so good because the angst, the longing, the-- the despair is amazing. So I'm
very excited to get through this because I want to diversify my historical fiction shelf. I want to
read more international historical fictions, and I think this is going to be a great fit.
And my lovely friend, Alexandra, over at Twirling Pages actually gifted this to me for my birthday,
so thank you so much to her. I'm very intrigued by this story, and I've heard that it's sad. I've
heard that it'll break your heart, so I hope I can read this soon in autumn time. I think it
would be the perfect read for this season. A book that I also picked up on my birthday is The Need.
This is a book that has a lot of mixed reviews on Goodreads, and that's why I wanted to get it,
along with the fact that I found it for one dollar at BookOff! Such a-- such a steal.
This story follows a woman who is home alone with her two children when she begins to hear
noises in her house, and at first she thinks she's imagining these noises until she comes
face to face with the intruder in her house who knows a bit more about her past than she
actually realized. This one's also very short, and this is also a book on my autumn TBR because
I want some spooky vibes for the season. And I think this is the perfect story for that,
and I think, because it's so short, I might be able to read this in one sitting.
And as for the reviews that I mentioned on Goodreads, people give it usually three stars,
but the synopsis really has me intrigued, so I want to form my own opinions about this book,
and I don't want to just write it off because a couple of people have given it three stars
and it's not everyone's cup of tea. I usually like some weird books, so this might be my cup of tea,
and it might be a new favorite of mine. I'm not going to say it's going to be a five-star read.
I have very low expectations for the story, but I do want to give it a shot to form
my own opinions. One of my friends, Sophie, also gifted me a book from her bookshelf for
my birthday. She was planning to get rid of this book and asked me if I wanted the copy for myself,
and I said yes because I've been wanting to read this book for years upon years, and it is Children
of Blood and Bone. The reason why I want to pick up this fantasy is because people say,
if you ship Zuko and Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender, you will love this book. This is a West
African inspired fantasy, and that's all I know about it because I'm not a big fantasy reader,
as you can tell by my channel. I hardly ever read fantasy, but I've heard so many good things about
Children of Blood and Bone that I wanted to give it a shot, and I think it's going to be a great
read because so many people love it. This is why people tell me it's similar to Zuko and Katara.
So people can summon flames, others can beckon waves, and reapers can summon forth souls,
so I guess there's three different types of people with different powers and they probably fight.
They probably argue because they're like, “You're different. I don't like you.” So that's what I'm
thinking. It seems to be a classic in the YA genre, so I wanted to like include myself in
the conversation, even though the conversation has died down because it's been years since this book
has come out, but I'm still here. I'm trying. I'm trying. So the last two books that I have to show
you were given to me off of my book wish list for my birthday, so I'm so grateful and so honored,
so thank you so much to these two people I'm going to mention. But the first book that I want to show
you is A Thousand Ships. This is a book that I heard about because I love Greek mythology.
So it says it follows the Trojan woman whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks.
It follows the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf. “From Penelope awaiting the
return of Odysseus to the three Goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of
the women whose lives loves and rivalries were forever altered by history's most infamous war.”
Need I say more? Also this cover absolutely stunning. I love anything that has to deal with
the Trojan War. I think it is fascinating. I think that I can never tire from it,
and this is just a different perspective that this author is bringing forth to the table.
It gives me a lot of vibes of The Silence of the Girls, which also deals with the Trojan War, and
it kind of paints Achilles in a villainous light, which I really enjoy because, if you were to look
at the actions of Achilles without looking at his perspective, he's kind of a villain. He's kind of
starting a lot of [ __ ]. I'm excited to see how they'll explore his personality in this book,
along with all these other stories that I haven't really familiarized myself with. This sounds like
a book that I would greatly enjoy and have a lot of fun with, and it also has deckled edges.
I don't really care for deckled edges, just wanted to mention it, but I don't know. How
do you feel about deckled edges? It's like kind of annoying when you use them,
but ~aesthetically~ they look nice. I don't know. I forgot to mention this was gifted to me
by Cassie, so thank you so much to them. I am so honored and so grateful, and this really made my
birthday and it brightened my day. Thank you so much. And the last book that I have to show you
is the cutest book in the history of books, and it is The Tea Dragon Society. This was given to me by
Allison, who is so generous and so kind and their support really means the world to me. And The Tea
Dragon Society is about people who take care of dragons, and that's it, I'm pretty sure. That's it
I'm pretty sure. That's the whole story, but it is so so pretty. The the color palette is gorgeous,
and it has a bunch of cute little dragons, and it gives me like Hobbit vibes, and it just seems
so stinking cute. It just seems like the book that doesn't really have a plot and it's just
vibes. Thank you so much to Allison for giving me a copy of The Tea Dragon Society. Those are all
the books that I have to show you for this book haul. Let me know if you've read any of these
books and if you greatly enjoy them. Let me know which book you are most excited for me to read,
and yeah, I think that's all I have to say. If you want to follow me anywhere else,
all my social media links will be down below. If you want to join my Patreon, I have a lot of fun
over there. You get exclusive content that you won't see here, like, early access to my videos
and Weekly Round-Ups, and it's a great time over there. And if you have made it this far
in this video, leave a stack of books emoji, in honor of this book haul. Thank you so much
for watching this video and spending your time with me, and I hope you had a great time. Bye~