Hello, everyone. My name is Olivia and today I want to show you some of my
favorite books that I own. So these are not necessarily my favorite books of all time,
although a lot of them kind of are, but I'm not going into why they are my favorites. I'm mostly
going into the sentimental value that all of these books hold, so these are the books that mean the
most to me in my whole entire collection. These are the books that, if there was a fire, I would
grab them all up put them in a box, and run out of the house with because they all have some very
specific memories attached to them that I just hold dearly to my heart and they just mean the
world to me. And this was completely inspired by Chloe who did the same exact video. She showed you
her favorite books that she owns in her collection and all the memories that are attached to it, so
I wanted to do the same because I think it's a very cool thing to show and to talk about the
memories that certain books hold. So I'll be sure to link her video down below for you to watch. I'm
sure you've watched it already, but let's get into it so I can tell you all about the books that mean
the most to me. This is in no particular order, by the way, these are just books that are, like,
piled onto my bed, so there's no like order of importance. I'm just gonna go based off
of what I'm going to grab first, so one book that holds a lot of memories for me is my copy of The
Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. This book is so beaten and battered. I had to tape up the spine
because it was falling apart and if you open up certain pages it's, like, about to crumble. And,
I remember rereading this book so often in, I think, middle school. I was getting it deep into
Greek mythology and just mythology, in general, and I read this entire series, finished it,
and then read it from the beginning all over again because that's what I did when I was younger.
If I was very much attached to a series, it was all I thought about and all I wanted to read. So,
I ended up taping the spine to hold it all together, and I just love when a book is
so beaten and battered and well loved because it really shows you how much a person loved a
book and how often they reread it and that's what I always think of when I think of this
copy of The Lightning Thief. Another beaten and battered and you're-gonna-yell-when-you-see-this
book that I did not do anything to is my copy of Lauren Bacall’s memoir By Myself.
I got this, I think, on Thrift Books, and the book said that it was in good condition...
and it came like this. It came like this d a m p. SO damp you would have thought that this person
packed up the book while it was raining put it into the package slip and shipped it to my house.
It was so damp and so battered, and I just have a very strong argument that this is NOT in good
condition. But I got this memoir because I think I mentioned all the time that Lauren Bacall is
one of my favorite actresses from Old Hollywood, and once I found out that she had her own memoir,
I wanted to get a copy for myself and I didn't realize that she has two versions of her memoir.
She has By Myself and then By Myself and Then Some and that's the more updated version of her memoir.
This is the original version of her memoir and then she added on to it afterwards. So,
I wanted to get by myself because I thought that was the first book that I had to read and then
I had to read By Myself and Then Some. I didn't realize that I could have just gotten the newer
version. Lo and behold, I got this book and it is so tattered and I kind of love it for that.
I kind of love how the spine is broken. I love how this piece is just missing and the fact that I had
to tape the corners to save the rest of them from falling apart. I just love how yellowed
it is and how loved it is. It just looks like it has so much character to it. It looks like
I reread this memoir over and over again, and I really didn't. I read it on audiobook and I just
wanted a copy for my collection, but I highly recommend the memoir, nonetheless. because I
thought it was fantastic. I just love this book because it looks like it's been on a journey.
It looks like it's been places. I know a lot of people would scream if they saw this book and
they would have returned it or something, but I greatly enjoy it, even though I'm a little pissed
off that they said this was in good condition and it came like this and I had to literally put it
over my radiator for days upon days for it to dry because, like I said, it was so mysteriously damp,
like, it was probably in someone's basement for years upon years, they were waiting to sell it,
lied said it was in good condition, and I walk along and I'm the sucker who got it,
but I love it nonetheless. Another book that means the absolute world to me is my copy of The Heist
Society by Ally Carter. When I first read this, I think in seventh grade-- maybe eighth grade,
I read this, put this book down, and thought, “I want to write a book like this. I want to become a
writer.” This was the book that really got me into writing, and while my feelings of wanting to be an
author has faded away, and I think of writing more as a hobby than a future career of mine,
this book was just such an inspiration to me and this book just really changed me as a person,
in middle school, and it just meant the world to me. And I also was able to meet Ally Carter
later on in high school and she signed it and that just holds so much value to me because
she was just such a big inspiration and she just really made me open up a whole new
part of my life, in terms of writing and being creative, and I'm just so grateful for The Heist
Society for sparking my love for writing and my need to want to write my own stories, and it is
just a book that I will never get rid of because it just changed my life for the better. I also
think this is a really underrated YA series that I think a lot of people would enjoy. I haven't read
it recently. The only time I read it was in middle school, so I don't know if it holds up, but it was
just such a cool concept where these teenagers would go into museums and steal famous pieces of
art to sell them listen. It is such an underrated trilogy that I want more people to read and maybe
I should reread it. Maybe I should reread the trilogy and make a reading vlog about it because
I think that would be really cool because I never hear people talking about this, even though,
I know it came out in middle school, but, like, still read it. While all these other books hold
sentimental value and have, like, years upon years of memories attached to them, this book I'm just
glad that I got at Bookcon and it just makes me so happy that I have an ARC of it. And, it is Sheets
by Brenna Thummler. Sheets is one of my favorite graphic novels in the world, and I got an ARC copy
of it, so it has a bunch of swag attached to it. It has these cute little tickets. It has a Sheets
bookmark and it has a little laundry list because this book is centered around a laundromat. And, I
just love the swag attached to this ARC and I just will hold this ARC dear to me forever, and I am so
glad that I was able to pick up an ARC at Bookcon and fall in love with this story. It took me
completely by surprise. It wasn't a graphic novel that I was highly anticipating. I just saw the
cover of it and thought, “Oh my god, that looks so cute. Let me grab a copy.” And it ended up being
one of my favorite graphic novels in the world, so I'm really happy that I have an ARC version
and I have all this cute swag attached to it, as well. Speaking of ARCS, I want to just share
one ARC that means so much to me because I won it in an art contest. I did fan art for the series
and submitted it, thinking I wouldn't win, and I ended up winning the competition
and getting an ARC of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I feel like this is a very rare ARC
to have. I don't know a lot of people who have it, and I am so happy that I do have this copy because
Six of Crows is one of my favorite duologies of all time, and I just can't believe that I entered
this contest to win this book and actually won it. And, I completely forgot about it in the process
of that and they were like, “Hey, you won.” And I was like, “Oh my god, really?” And I also really
love my copy of Crooked Kingdom because I decided to customize it or, like, deface the copy of it.
So i drew a bunch of different items that reminded me of the series, that reminded me
of the main characters, and I'm really proud of how this came out. I think I did this randomly
during college, one time, one night I was bored and I was like, “I keep on seeing people deface
things on Tumblr,” so I wanted to have my own spin at it, so I decided to deface my copy of Crooked
Kingdom because Six of Crows is a black hardcover copy, so I wasn't able to draw on it because
the drawings wouldn't show up. So, I decided to do it on my cover of Crooked Kingdom, and I
think it looks really cool and it's really unique and it's a one-of-a-kind copy of Crooked Kingdom.
So this is a copy that I will never get rid of. Another ARC that means the absolute world to me
is Next Year in Havana. I entered this Goodreads giveaway on a whim, as I do all the time,
and I ~never~ win giveaways. I'm so bad at winning them, but I actually won this one and I was like,
“You know what? I 100% deserve this because this is a Cuban book. I’m Cuban,
and I feel like this is a match made in heaven.” And this ended up being the first book where I
genuinely saw Cuban representation, and I am just so happy that I have an ARC version of it. And,
I don't know, for some reason having ARC versions of your favorite novels holds so much value,
and I can't describe why. It just feels so special because not everyone has this version of the book,
and it's just such a special thing to own, especially if it's one of your favorite
novels of all time, so being able to have the ARC version of Next Year in Havana just holds
so much value to me. One of the oldest books on my shelves that feels like a piece from a museum
is my copy of Julius Caesar, which my best friend Sarah got for me in Shakespeare and
Company in Paris. This is a beaten-up battered leather edition of Julius Caesar that is so tiny
and annotated by someone in the 30s. This is from 1930. This is the oldest book in my collection,
and I actually keep it in a ziploc because it just seems so fragile and so important. It's
like a piece of history that my friend got for me from Paris, so I keep it in a ziploc to keep it
airtight. I don't want dust to get on it. I don't want anyone touching it. I never let anyone touch
this copy, and it just means so much to me. It was printed in Great Britain and it is just such
a beautiful edition of Julius Caesar, which is one of my favorite plays by William Shakespeare and
this copy and this piece of history will always be near and dear to me because it just feels like it
belongs in a museum. I'm sure it's a pretty common piece and it doesn't hold any value, but it holds
a lot of value to me. So I'm going to put it back in a ziploc because I am afraid to harm it in any
way. Another beaten-up book is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I actually found this
in my library sale. I go to my library sale so often whenever they hold one, so I was wondering
at the stacks and stacks of books that they had, and I came across this book and I've heard a lot
about it, but I didn't really know what the plot was. And, I decided to get it and I just love how
beaten up and well-loved this book is. You can really tell that someone spent a long time reading
this book because the spine is broken. It is just weathered around the corners and it just seems
so well-loved. And, if you have read The Shadow of the Wind, you would know that the main character
goes to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books and picks up a copy of The Shadow of the Wind, on a whim,
and it changes his life for the better. And I feel like that's what I did. I feel like I went to my
library sale, which is not as cool as The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, but I came across this book,
on a whim, and decided to pick it up and it quickly became one of my favorite novels of
all time. So that is just a very Shadow of the Wind moment that I will never forget
and it just makes me feel so cool because it makes me feel connected to the story in a way. I just
love well-worn novels and the more battered it is the more I love it because it just feels like it
has a lot of history has a lot of love attached to it, and I don't know why the person decided to
get rid of it. Maybe they were moving. Maybe they had multiple copies. Maybe they hated the book,
but either way, coming across this book in such a serendipitous way was very Shadow of the Wind,
for me. I also have another beautiful edition of The Shadow of the Wind and this is the Penguin
Drop Cap edition, so they have one book for every single letter in the alphabet so this
is Z for Zafon, and it is just such a stunning addition. The red sprayed pages really sold me on
getting a copy of it, and I just think it is such a beautiful addition that I will never crack open
because this is much more of a display piece, for me, rather than a book that I would read,
but whenever I fall in love with a story, I want to get multiple editions of it because every
new edition that I find that is so beautiful, I just wanted to add to my collection and this is
a book that I just could not pass up because it is absolutely beautiful. Another book that I am
afraid to touch, but I am going to hold it up for you is Ex Machina, and this is the beautiful
physical screenplay edition from A24 that my best friend, Sarah, got for me for my birthday.
Ex Machina is one of my favorite movies of all time, and when I saw that A24 was selling
hardcover editions of the screenplay, I was aching to get it. I wanted it so badly and Sarah decided
to get it for me, and it is just such a beautiful edition, and, I think it is one of the prettiest
books that I own and it is a book that I am afraid to actually sit down and read because I’m afraid
to stain it in some way. So, I’m going to put it down because I don't want to have my grubby
fingerprints on it. It is too beautiful for anyone to hold. Another beautiful copy of a book that
I own is The Starless Sea. This is the British version and it is just one of the most beautifully
designed books that I have ever laid my eyes upon. The cover is absolutely gorgeous and it has a bee
on it, which is one of my favorite things in the world. The spine: stunning. The back of it:
beautiful. The pages: I can't get enough of it and on the inside is a beautiful illustration.
It is just such a well-thought-out addition that I had to get, even though it was pretty expensive,
but I just could not pass up the opportunity and the American edition just pales in comparison to
this copy. It just really sums up the aesthetic and the beauty of the inside of the story and
I think this is one of the prettiest books that anyone has ever designed, and I wish more books
were designed like this because I would go out of my way to purchase beautiful editions of novels,
simply to display on my shelf. A book that holds so many memories for me is my edition of Twilight.
Twilight is a book that I reread, I think, seven times in a row. Like I told you before when I
was young, if I loved a series, it's the only thing that I would read. I would just re-read it
over and over again and that's what I did with Twilight. And this is also a book that I lent out
to all my friends in sixth grade and we just all read it and even my sixth-grade teacher read it
and I have a post-it note in this paperback of her saying, “Olivia, thank you. I loved it,” signed
my teacher. I just have so many memories attached to Twilight and rereading it over and over again,
sharing it with my friends, just gushing about the series with them, and making it, like, 99% of our
personality in sixth grade. this book is in really good condition. I thought it would be a little bit
more beated up and battered than it was, but I think younger me took better care of her novels,
but now I don't really care. But this book... it just holds so many memories of, like, sixth
grade and, like, growing up and this is one of the books that really got me into young adult and just
reading avidly, in general. It really changed my life, as a reader. And, last but not least, is my
customized edition of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. If you want to see me deface this book
and really customize it to the aesthetic of the novel, I have an entire video sharing the process,
sharing me drawing onto this novel, and making it something so unique that nobody else has.
So I will be sure to put that in the description because it's a video that I’m really proud of,
that not a lot of people saw. So I love my edition of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
I've been thinking of defacing this book for the longest amount of time, but I didn't have
a white marker to deface it, because this is a darker hardcover than Crooked Kingdom. But,
I finally got a white Sharpie to draw with, and I think this is probably one of my favorite copies
in my entire collection because it is one of a kind and it has so many different aspects of the
novel that are on this cover to display it in, like, an aesthetic form. I’m just really proud
of it, in general, so this is a copy that nobody else has in the world, and I’m so happy with that
fact because, even though I don't have an ARC of Evelyn Hugo, even though I ~really~ want it,
I do have this beautiful edition that nobody else in the world has. So, those are all of my favorite
books that I own in my collection. Those are all the books that mean the absolute world to me,
and I have so many different memories attached to them and so many different values attached
to them, as well. Some mean more than others and some have so many more memories attached to them
than others. Let me know what are some of your favorite books in your collection and why they
mean so much to you and why you would never ever get rid of them. If you want to connect with me
elsewhere, all my links will be down below for Instagram, TikTock, Goodreads, etc. And,
i hope you enjoyed this video, and thank you so much to Chloe for coming up with this idea because
it really inspired me and it really helped me walk down memory lane, as a reader. And, be sure
to subscribe, if you have not done so already to help support me and see more videos from me in the
future. I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I will see you in another video very soon
bye~