Two words: Olivia Rodrigo. That's the theme of today's video but also probably the theme of the
2022 Grammys and also, let's be realistic, probably quite prevalent in my Spotify Wrapped this year
because 'SOUR' has me in a chokehold. Literally, Olivia Rodrigo has achieved more in the last
six months than I will in my entire lifetime and i'm okay with that. However, as you know,
I like to judge celebrities based on their taste in literature because -- do you know what --
it is brutal out here. And, fun fact, I discovered whilst researching for this video that Olivia actually
started her career playing a book-lover in New Girl on TV and so I just feel like it would be
rude not to make this video. And a bunch of you tagged me on Instagram in this post by @readbybeth
where she breaks down all of the books that Olivia Rodrigo has recommended and posed with.
So, we have Helium, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and The Marvels and can we just
collectively take a second to appreciate how beautiful this edition is? So this week I'm
going to be reading all three of these books and letting you know whether they're "good 4 u"
or left me feeling SOUR -- the puns have started, someone stopped this man!
Okay, now you may get "deja vu" because I freaking love working with this brand, but I'm so excited
to let you know that today's video is kindly sponsored by Karma which is an app and Chrome
extension that ensures you never miss a price-drop or a coupon-code. It has literally saved me
hundreds of pounds since I started using it -- including on this hefty boy -- I got 25%
off... which, like, 25% of this would just be a normal book! So, I was buzzing with that. All you need to do
is click the link down below to download Karma and then when you're shopping on your favourite
online stores, you can save the items using the Karma button. You'll then get a notification when
the item goes on sale, has a relevant coupon code, or comes back into stock, and you can
then organise your items into lists and shop mindfully. Here is my Olivia Rodrigo list -- this
is making my shopping experience... "happier". It's a -- it's an Olivia Rodrigo song... anyway, carrying on!
and on the Chrome extension Karma will even scan the internet to find relevant coupon codes just
for you. You can even get cashback from a range of retailers (which is lovely) and Karma is completely
free to download, so click the link down below and get yourself some good Karma. Anyways, let Rodri-go
and read the books! So, I am currently balls deep in The Marvels by Brian Selznick and this is the longest
book I've read so far this year, it's like 800 pages I think. And, trust me, that's a lot for me
because I have big book fear. This terrifies me, but it's very fast-paced so it's fine. You know
what was not fine? The fact that --basically today is the hottest day of the year in London so far -- so I
was sitting by the canal, I was sitting outside, y'know, the main character energy was flowing. However,
these gold sprayed edges are very reflective, it turns out, and so while I was sitting there these
were reflecting the light into people's faces and literally blinding them... so I would just
like to take this opportunity to apologise to all of the people i terrorised today at Regent's Canal,
but I'm enjoying this so far. Okay, so I've just finished up reading The Marvels by Brian Selznick
and, holy hell, this was exquisite. Genuinely, I might need to take three to five working days
just to recover from this and not just because I've got back-ache from carrying this around with
me. So basically the first 400-pages are a graphic novel and it's all about a fictional shipwreck
and the birth of a London theatre and a family of thespians and the illustrations are frankly
stunning, like I was literally spellbound --although that's an ugly baby, right? And then after that
there's a story written in prose and it's about a boy who basically escapes from his boarding
school and goes to visit his uncle in London to discover more about his family heritage and the
graphic novel at the beginning basically unlocks everything he needs to know... it's genius. I don't
know if you can tell but I honestly thought this was a masterpiece, and I'm so glad that
this video encouraged me to read another graphic novel, because it's not something I necessarily
gravitate towards and Brian Selznick builds this really rich cast of characters and the
descriptions are so visual and vivid even in the text part, like you just feel like you're being
transported to another place. And the prose part basically takes place in a house in London which
is like stepping back in time because the boy's uncle has collected and curated this incredible
collection of family heirlooms and artifacts and, for me, the coolest part was that this is a real place
in London -- it's called the Dennis Severs house, which was created as a sort of time-capsule
and this is kind of what it looks like -- how cool is that? Now, the only reason I didn't give this a
perfect five-star review is because I found that the middle of the text section gets a little bit
repetitive and it kind of killed the momentum a little bit for me, especially because the graphic
novel is so gripping and fast-paced but, aside from that, overall this is something special.
Oh, and the only other thing I'm mad at is how beautiful that cover is and then the spine just
looks like that... like Brian, come on! You could have continued that beautiful design onto the spine as
well. That is the definition of "one-step forward, three steps back" and now onto the next book.
When Olivia Rodrigo said "I'm so sick of seventeen, where's my [ __ ] teenage dream?"
I felt that and I'm 22. This is the next book that I read, this is Helium by Rudy Francisco.
This is his debut collection and it's a real mix of personal and political poetry. It discusses
love and relationships but also the author's experience with growing up black in America
and so it's really introspective, but also a cultural critique about race, gender, and class.
And to give you a little taster, to whet your appetite, I thought I would just read one of the poems so
this is called 'Skin II'. "When you are the only black man in the whole neighborhood, your skin
is that one friend who meets everyone before you do. It wears a wife beater and house shoes,
it knocks over the neighbor's mailbox, it cusses in front of the kids, and plays the music too
loud. But you don't actually do any of these things, it's 7pm, it's Wednesday, and you are just
walking home." Wow, right? Wow! He also speaks about discrimination at the hands of the police as
well as other institutions and, basically, how the experience of being a black boy underpins
his entire existence. I loved this collection, I thought it was so raw and candid and honest.
The only way I can describe it is as if Rudy Francisco recognizes himself as this complicated
piece of origami, but he allows himself to unfold and appreciate each layer and dissect and analyse
and understand each of those individual components that make up a whole human being. So, for example, he
thinks about toxic masculinity, he thinks about his personal attitudes towards women, and the
culture that he's grown up in and so much more than that. He also explores, like, self-forgiveness
and I thought that was so interesting, you know? Like once you're stripped bare and you've unpacked
all of your flaws, how do you then build yourself back up again and learn to forgive yourself, and
appreciate yourself, as well as recognizing the flaws of the systems that you inhabit and the
privileges he does and doesn't have? How do you choose to still love yourself and your life even
after kind of going through that soul-searching? I don't know, I feel like you can just feel Rudy
Francisco's heart-beating through every single page and as a debut collection I thought it was
so strong. The one thing I would say is that this is packed with metaphors, like if you're not into
metaphors you may find it excessive. Last night, actually, I attended a talk which was hosted by
Chanel Miller in Ocean Voung, and Ocean Voung said the most interesting and relevant thing to
this collection because he was speaking about how often metaphors are used to describe and dissect
trauma, and that is because metaphors can be used to capture your feelings and sentiments
without opening the wounds all over again. And I think that really rings true for this
particular collection so, yeah, to conclude this was a really strong collection and one that I
think I will be revisiting time and time again, and for years to come, so great recommendation!
So, I'm working my way through the final book that Olivia Rodrigo has recommended -- this is actually a
reread for me because I read it a few years ago.
And I've just been thinking, y'know, about the best bridges in the world. So you've got Tower Bridge, you've got Sydney Harbour Bridge,
the Golden Gate Bridge... Olivia Rodrigo's bridge in "driver's license". This girl went through a break-up
and took the phrase "build a bridge and get over it" very literally and wrote the best bridges of all time.
Anyways, I'm gonna carry on reading. Okay, that is the final book done and dusted. Did I read
it all in one sitting? Maybe. I'm just gonna go out there and say it: this is one of the best books of
all time. This is a book about a neurodivergent boy and it's called The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night Time -- the central protagonist's name is Christopher and he views the world in a
very logical way, and so when he discovers a dead dog lying in his neighbour's garden he decides to
set out and solve the mystery. Because his brain is so logical, he's really good at maths and science
because he can walk through those processes step- by-step, however human beings kind of complicate
that, and he often struggles to read situations and social interactions. He follows in the footsteps
of his hero which is Sherlock Holmes and in the process of solving the murder of the dog he kind
of uncovers some deep-rooted family secrets and some hard-hitting truths. I read this book a few
years ago and it's just one of those books that you never ever forget reading because it's so
original and it captures Christopher's voice so authentically. I also think that spending a whole
book with a character from their first-person perspective teaches you so much empathy because
it gives you such a better understanding of why they come to these conclusions and what their
thought process actually is and this is all about how people with autism experience the world and, of
course, it can't be representative of absolutely everyone because obviously every autistic person
has a unique experience so it'd be foolish to suggest that this represents everyone, but I think that it
represents this particular experience incredibly well. Like, painstaking effort has been put into
making this book a piece of art, down to the fact that all of the chapters are prime numbers
because he's really into maths and there's also these little diagrams and charts that help us
understand his thought process, and it's just charming and witty and endearing and heartfelt
and i love this. I truly think it's a book that everyone should read, so I understand why Olivia
Rodrigo said this is her favourite ever book of all time and -- side-note, I actually saw the stage
version of this, and it was so impressive, like, they basically used lighting and props and staging
to represent what's going on in Christopher's mind, and it was phenomenal. Totally and utterly
mesmerising. Cannot recommend this enough. Thanks Olivia. So, let's grab all the books -- to conclude,
I think that Olivia Rodrigo's taste in literature is *chef kiss*, immaculate. Genuinely, I think this is
the highest average rating I've ever given any of our celebrity book recommendations, so that's
a win. Yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed all three of these books -- is there anything this girl cannot do? And
if you are looking for something new to read, hot book summer is coming and, next time I see Olivia
Rodrigo recommending a book, best believe I'm going to be reading it because this girl has taste! Also,
we had prose, we had poetry, we had a graphic novel... it's the range for me. And now, if you'll excuse
me, I am going to go into stream SOUR for the billionth time this year. Of course a massive shout
out to Karma for their continued support on my silly little channel, I appreciate you so much, and
the link to the perfect virtual shopping assistant (which is completely free) will be down below so go
check it out! And, while you're down there -- sounds quite weird -- you can give this video a naughty
little thumbs up, and you can subscribe if you're new because 70% of people who watch my videos
aren't subscribed. That's outrageous. So, if you don't subscribe you are, in fact... a traitor. Cheers
for watching the video, all the best, stay in touch, have a lovely day, and i'll catch you soon -- bye!