Hello, everyone, my name is Olivia, and today I wanted to do a very casual, chit-chat type of
video while I drink a cup of coffee, and it is iced coffee because your coffee can't get cold
if you already put ice in it. I have no particular idea as to what I'm going to do in this video. I
have been in a filming rut for a while now, so I just wanted to get on here and talk to you about
three different things. And it's kind of like Scrooge, so it's like the books of my past,
the books of my present, and the books of my future.
If you have not seen A Christmas Carol, it's fine you're not missing out on anything. But basically,
I want to tell you about books I recently read, a book that I'm currently reading, and two books
that I plan on reading and just catch you up on my reading because I don't really have any
filming ideas currently, so I wanted to do this. And this is loosely inspired by CJ Reads. I know
that she has done this before and she was just very chatty and very casual about it and talking
about the books that she has recently consumed, and I really loved that idea. I just really loved
how personable it was, so I wanted to do that for myself. So let's talk about the books that I
recently read and then we'll get into everything else. Now I have to go on to Goodreads to check
what I recently read because I hold no thoughts in my head... only internal screaming. So, the past
month has been a mixed bag in terms of reading. I have read some one-star reads and I have read
some 4.5-star reads. I'm gonna talk about three books because I don't want this to become a Books
and Brews. Some of them might be mentioned in a future Books and Brews, others I probably will
never mention again, so let's talk about Neon Gods by Katee Robert. Neon Gods is an adult
romance centered around Hades and Persephone. They kind of live in a modern world where all
of these gods are actually elected, so Hades was elected to be Hades and Persephone is getting into
a sticky situation because she is being forced to marry Zeus and she does not like Zeus. He is
famous for killing off his previous wives and she thinks she's going to be his next victim,
so she decides to run away and she ends up in Hades's underworld. So I am a sucker for Hades and
Persephone retellings. I can never read enough of them. It's one of my favorite things to pick up,
so I was very excited to read this because so many people on BookTok were hyping up this book and
were like really gushing and raving about it. And, I really liked it too. I thought it was enjoyable.
I thought the romance was great. I loved the way that Katee just brought these characters to life,
in a very unique way, where it didn't have, like, a fantastical world. I do have to say it didn't
completely blow me away. For Hades and Persephone retellings, I never seem to give one five stars
because they're just never what I'm looking for in a Hades and Persephone retelling. And don't
ask me what I'm looking for because I don't know until I find it. But I just think that this one
was convoluted towards the end, in terms of the plot with Zeus. I did not care about him at all,
and I just kind of only cared about the romance between Hades and Persephone.
I would have been so much happier if it was just a romance between Hades and Persephone.
You don't have to give me a plot I would have been happier without one. If you have any Hades and
Persephone retellings that you have to recommend to me that you think I would really enjoy,
please put them down below. But I do want to say that I am going to continue reading Katee
Robert’s books. I know she has an entire series about the Disney villains as love interests,
and I am so excited to read those because I know she has another Hades novel following
the Hades from Hercules, the Disney movie. So I'm excited to see what she does with him.
Maybe I'll like that one a little bit more. Maybe the plot will be a little bit more engaging.
The next book that I am so mad I spent hours upon hours listening to was The Silent Patient.
So many people either love The Silent Patient or hate The Silent Patient. The Silent Patient is a
thriller, mystery-- I wouldn't really call it a thriller because I was not thrilled,
I did not find it to be thrilling whatsoever-- so I'm going to call it a mystery. The Silent Patient
follows a woman named Alicia, and she is found by the police in front of her husband who was shot in
the face multiple times and the police arrest her and she was put into a mental institution
and she does not speak. Nobody knows why she did this, so then we follow Theo, who is a therapist,
and he eventually gets to work with Alicia and try and figure out why she did this crime. My
Goodreads review literally just says, “This was a waste of my [ __ ] time,” because let me tell you,
I am so annoyed that I just did not Google the end of this book and DNF'd it. I don't
call this a thriller because it's so BORING. I feel like this novel could have been easily a
hundred pages. I did not care about their life. I did not care about their motives and their, like,
backstories and who they were in a relationship with. It was just such a boring story and then
when the plot twist hit, I was so annoyed with the story I was like, “Sure, that happened,” like
that could have happened. And I feel like if you are interested in it, but you have similar taste
to me and you think you won't enjoy it, literally just Google what the plot twist is and that's how
the book goes. You don't have to read the book. It was a waste of time, and I'm so mad about it. But
I think it's interesting that I so aggressively hate The Silent Patient, but I absolutely loved
The Maidens, which is this author's sophomore novel. I loved The Maidens. I thought it was so
good. I thought the intrigue was there. I loved the mystery. I was hooked onto every single
chapter that we had in the story, and I loved the plot twist for that as well. So it's a very
different type of review for this author. I will either hate his work or love his work. so I think
it's very interesting and when he comes out with a third novel, I will gladly pick it up to see if it
falls under The Maidens category with greatness or a complete waste of my [ __ ] time. And another
book that I recently read was Harbor by Rebeckah Weatherspoon. This is the third novel in the
trilogy and the Beards and Bondage series that I have been loving. That is the first trilogy that
introduced me to Rebeckah Weatherspoon, and I just think she is such a phenomenal romance writer.
If you are looking for some authentic, engaging romance to read, that's very quick to go through,
Rebeckah Weatherspoon's novels are amazing. The way that she writes their banter is something that
I just always compare other romance writers to because I just love the way that she brings these
characters to life. I really enjoyed Harbor. I did not enjoy it as much as Sanctuary and
Haven, which is the first novel in the trilogy, but it was still very enjoyable, and I just
really enjoyed following these characters. And it also follows a polyamorous relationship,
so I thought that was really cool because I've never read about that before. So I just thought
it was a really good romance. It didn't completely blow me away, the way Sanctuary and Haven did,
but I still really enjoyed it. So if you have not checked out Rebeckah Weatherspoon,
you simply must because her romances are amazing and they're so much better than the mainstream
romances I see people reading because I've tried those and they're not as good as indie romances.
Like, you have to give indie romances a try because they are golden. It's like a gold mine
of amazing romances that people just don't try. Give indie romances a try because they
are amazing. As for the book that I am currently reading, I am only eight percent through it and
it is an audiobook and it's a 15-hour audiobook and it is The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry. I am
only reading this book because, one, a friend recommended it to me on Instagram, and, two,
Tom Hiddleston has such a grip on my heart that he can star in any book to movie adaptation, and
I will immediately either watch it or pick up the book. So I found out that Tom Hiddleston is going
to be in the TV adaptation for The Essex Serpent. It's going to be a mini series and the moment that
I found that out I was, like, I have to read The Essex Serpent because I want to know what
the book is about before I see the show because anything that Tom Hiddleston is going to star in
I'm going to watch because he owns my mind body and soul. So here I am reading The Essex Serpent.
Do I know what The Essex Serpent is about? No! I just know that Tom Hiddleston is starring in the
TV show, and I'm here. I'm reading it. I'm here for him. I'm always here to support
him. Let me read you the synopsis because I clearly cannot summarize it for you other
than saying Tom Hiddleston is going to star in the adaptation. So it says, “An exquisitely talented,
young British author makes her American debut with this rapturously acclaimed, historical
novel set in late 19th century England about an intellectually minded young widow, a pious vicar,
and a rumored mythical serpent that explores questions about science, religion, skepticism,
and faith, independence, and love.” I'm finding it very hard to get into, so far,
but it is 15 hours so clearly, it's going to be a pretty high curve that I have to get over to get
into the story. So I think, once I hit around 10% or maybe even like 15%, I think my intrigue will
peak a little bit more. In case you didn't know, Tom Hiddleston is going to star in the TV show.
Have I mentioned that before? I don't think I've mentioned that before. Before we move on,
can we talk about the fact that my Fiddle Leaf Fig, Humphrey Bogart, grew two new leaves.
Here they are. Can you see me wiggling them? I'm so proud because Humphrey Bogart did not grow
for, I think, a year. I think I've had him for a year, and I was like,
“Are you okay? Are you secretly a fake plant? Let me know.” And I started watering him a little bit
more, and I think that's what he needed to like really kick start his growth. And I'm just--
I'm just so proud of Humphrey Bogart, you know? Like, I thought he didn't like being in that
spot and he was going to die, but turns out he likes that spot, so there we go. But that aside,
let me tell you about two books that I am planning on reading because I'm not reading
anything physically, so I think what I'm going to do is read the first chapter of each novel
and figure out which one intrigues me a little bit more, and then I will read the rest of the novel.
That's a long-winded way of saying: here are two books that I want to read. Let's start with the
first one that is more appropriate for the time, and it is Ali Smith's Summer. I have not read an
Ali Smith novel before, but I have heard a lot of good things about her novels, and I've also
seen her covers everywhere because they're very iconic and uniform. And she has written
four novels following each season throughout the year. So we have Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall,
and I will be honest I have no idea what Summer is about. I just knew I wanted to read it, you know?
You ever just look at a book-- *laughs*
I swear this video is getting more unhinged the more I go on
because I don't know what I'm talking about, but you ever just look-- *laughs*
You ever just look at a book--
I hate myself. You ever look at a book and you're like, “I don't know what you're about, but I want
to read you.” Why is this making me crack up. You ever just look at a book and you look at the cover
and you think, “I want to read you/ I really don't care what you're about. Your cover is beautiful.
Let me buy you.” That was me with Ali Smith’s Summer. I just thought it was beautiful. I'm
born during the Summer, sadly, and I thought this was a good place to start with her novels.
So let me read you a piece of the synopsis because I clearly don't know what I'm talking about,
and I think the synopsis would do a better job for me, so it says, “This is a story about people on
the brink of change. They're family, but they think they're strangers. So where does family
begin and what do people who think they've got nothing in common have in common? Summer.” So
this follows multiple points of views and people are saying it's political, it's explosive, it's
beautifully written, and I didn't know that this author was Scottish, so I thought that was really
cool to mention, as well. And, I don't know, I'm really excited to read it. It has big font,
and like I said, you ever just look at a novel and think, “I want to read you.” I should write
a novel. That's how poetic I am. And the other book that I wanted to read that has really piqued
my interest that I got on a whim when I went to Vermont-- I will link my Vermont vlog down
below because I went to a bunch of different bookstores. It was essentially like bookstore
hopping throughout the whole entire weekend that I was there, and it was amazing and beautiful
and Vermont has such beautiful bookstores. And this is a book that I got at the Crow Bookshop,
and it is Outline by Rachel Cusk, and I have seen Rachel Cusk's novel all over Instagram because her
covers are beautiful and very uniform, as well as Ali Smith's. And I recently saw Rachel Cusk's
novels get recommended to me on my Kindle. There's like a part of your Kindle app where it says,
like, based off of your reading, you would like these books, and they showed me one of her novels,
not this one because they didn't have that one in the store, and I started looking at her novels and
I thought they were really cool and like poetic. People said they're very introspective, it's like
a long-form internal monologue, and I love those types of stories. I just love a meandering type of
read and this is a novel following 10 different conversations, and it follows a woman who is in
Athens, and I think she is a novelist. Yes, she is a novelist teaching a creative writing course
over the hot summer in Athens. And this novel kind of chronicles this protagonist’s life in
Athens during the time that she is there, and it reminded me a lot of one of my favorite reads,
Bella Figura, which is a non-fiction about a woman who moves from England to Italy for the year and
she just chronicles her life her adventures and the people that she meets in Italy. That's one
of my favorite pieces of writing of all time, and I thought it was so well written and so
beautiful with not a lot going on because it's literally just a woman's life in Italy. So this
is about a woman's life in Athens and the people that she meets the conversations that she sparks,
and I think I'm going to love it. I know a lot of people said and they found it hard to follow
along with, but I think I'll really enjoy it, and if it reminds me of Bella Figura, I think I will
very much enjoy the writing style. This is a book that has really caught my eye in the past
few weeks, so I'm going to try a chapter of each of these books and then see which one will win.
I don't know which one will win. Let me know in the comments which one you think will win. Maybe
I'll do a reading vlog for the novel that I end up picking. I think that would be really cool,
but these are two books that have really caught my eye, have been on my TBR for maybe like a month or
two, and I really want to read, but I don't know which one to start first. So that, my friends,
is the end of my very chaotic, coffee, chit-chat type of video where I tell you about the books of
my past, the books of my present, and the books of my future. Let me know if you enjoy these types of
casual conversations where I don't really have anything specific planned, but I just want to
chat with you all. I think it's really fun. I think it's very casual conversational and lifts
a weight off of my shoulders because I can't just continually recommend books all the time because
I only read so many books in a year, so I have to do something a little bit more unique, and I
hope you enjoyed this type of video because it's a little bit different. It's a little bit more
me, you know? Because you're catching me off guard. I don't have anything planned out.
I don't have a bullet list to follow, so here we are drinking coffee, being chaotic, and we
can't even blame the coffee because it's decaf. This is just my personality. You're welcome.
Speaking of personalities, if you want to follow me anywhere else to see more of me in the future,
you can follow me on my Instagram, TikTok, anything else. All that will be linked down below
again. If you have any video ideas for me to film in the future, please put them down below. I love
taking your video ideas into account. Thank you so much for spending your time with me, and if you
made it to the end of this video, leave a coffee emoji down below, of course, to commemorate this
wonderful video that I just created for you. I will see you in another video very soon.
Bye~