it's andrew garfield playing spider-man
again yeah oh you almost got me no no no
i'm not i'm not i'm not hello everyone
my name is jack edwards and welcome back
to my celebrity book club now personally
i love these videos they're my favorite
thing to film but
not everyone is a fan specifically
kendall jenner so i made a video on
kendall jenner's reading recommendations
almost a year ago now and imagine my
surprise when i saw that in her most
recent interview with id magazine
kendall jenner called me
out she dragged me for filth and you
know what i think i deserve it she's
basically talking about how nothing that
she ever does in her life is fully
private even the pleasure of reading so
let me just read you this little segment
despite this kendall still thinks of
reading as belonging only to her proving
that perhaps there is something private
about even her most public actions and
when she encountered a youtube video of
someone critiquing her literary taste
that's me is this play about us kendall
says she thought to herself this is
actually none of your business if you
enjoy books that makes me happy but this
is a personal experience for me and i
love them
i am deceased she said mind your damn
business jack edwards and you know what
she's right i should am i going to
no and so with that in mind welcome back
to the celebrity book club today we are
going to be reading every book
recommended by andrew garfield because
after his spectacular appearance in
tictic boom and also his maybe possible
potential appearance in spider-man he's
not even a spoiler at this point like
where have you been to avoid that that's
like telling someone who's reading the
bible for the first time that jesus dies
in it we know this anyway my point is
that after the amazingly successful year
that he has had the internet is
experiencing something of an andrew
garfield renaissance this man is
everywhere and you know what i'm not mad
about it he's my favorite garfield ahead
of even the lasagna loving cat and so
this video has been very very highly
requested however i kind of put off
doing it because the first picture i saw
of andrew garfield with books was this
one this picture sort of floated around
the internet for a bit in which he's
carrying the most intellectual pile of
books
i've ever seen so suddenly everyone's
tagging me like jack you've got to do a
video on andrew garfield i said you know
what he can keep them
i don't want to read those books do i
look do i look like someone who wants to
read economic theory no you can exclude
me from that narrative however i then
did a little bit more research of my own
and i found that actually andrew
garfield over the years has mentioned so
many books in interviews and so here
they are these are the books i'm going
to be reading for this video so
let's dive in but before we jump into
that i wanted to let you know that
today's video is very kindly brought to
you by likewise which is an amazing app
that i think you guys are gonna
absolutely love now you know that i'm
always looking for elaborate ways and
new ways to get book recommendations
that are specific to me and likewise is
essentially tinder for books films and
podcast recommendations so you set up
the app by telling them about genres and
books that you've previously enjoyed for
example i ticked a little life and a
thousand splendid sons then you get
personalized recommendations every
single day of books you might enjoy of
lists that have been compiled of
specific types of books you can even
create your own lists or ask the
community of likewise users for specific
recommendations like if you want a tear
jerker to make you kim kardashian ugly
cry you can find one for example danny
asked the group tearjerker tails for any
books that have you sobbing and someone
recommended everything i never told you
and that is now on my tbr thank you very
much you can save your favorites you can
join groups it is awesome and so if this
tickles your pickle too then you can
head to the link down below to follow me
on likewise and also to join this app i
actually cannot believe that it's free
because this is like premium app store
content it's powered by clever
technology but also real people so head
down below get involved i think you're
gonna love it and thank you so much
likewise for sponsoring this video
[Music]
holy moly
this book primarily known as upstream by
mary oliver but also now known as my
holy scripture because i literally loved
this book especially the first section
it's one of the most special pieces of
literature i've ever encountered and
i've read a lot upstream is a collection
of essays which really emphasizes and
venerates the pastoral and natural world
and this hops back to a tradition in
poetry of poets suggesting that the
natural world is the greatest resource
that we have for our intellectual and
spiritual development and this dates
back to poets like blake and wordsworth
who would really emphasize the
importance of children spending time in
nature so that they can develop and
become great human beings so it is a bit
of a tree-hugging book which really
revels in the pleasures of the great
outdoors and the natural world and the
lessons that we can learn from it there
is one questionable scene where she sort
of
suggests that she's sort of licking a
cat but you know what we're gonna we're
gonna pretend we didn't see that bit
okay no i i don't know what just
happened there now interestingly andrew
garfield described this as one of his
favorite love stories he says it's about
the love of life the love of nature the
love of the world but also a love and
solitude she writes about love in such a
mysterious way that i found very
inspiring to read about how she's in
love with a duck or a fox or a tree or a
blade of grass there's something about
being in love with the world that right
now is really inspiring to me which is
really cool but aside from all that it's
also a great book for creative people to
read like she really breaks down and
dissects that process of an artist's
labor and also the pleasure that she
finds from it the book also really
contemplates solitude being alone and
this book is so lyrical and beautiful
and both grand and intimate at the same
time i was just enthralled by mary
oliver's writing let me read you some
because i feel like you just have to
hear it you know understand from the
first there's certainty butterflies
don't write books neither do lilies or
violets which doesn't mean that they
don't know in their own way what they
are that they don't know they are alive
that they don't feel that action upon
which all consciousness sits lightly or
heavily humility is the prize of the
leaf world vainglory is the bane of us
the humans sometimes the desire to be
lost again as long ago comes over me
like a vapor
she's just incredible she also takes
this huge inspiration from the poets
that have come before her and this
really reminded me of t.s eliot who
spoke about art as a kind of continuum
he kind of suggested that in order to
create the art of tomorrow you've got to
look back at the art of yesterday and so
mary oliver says but first and foremost
i learned from whitman that the poem is
a temple or a green field a place to
enter and in which to feel only in a
secondary way is it an intellectual
thing an artifact a moment of seemingly
and robust wordiness wonderful as that
part of it is
i learned that the poem was made not
just to exist but to speak to be company
it was everything that was needed when
everything was needed
she's amazing this book just has so many
brilliant moments lots of great little
stories there's one about a dog which
just got me it's called robes and i just
loved it and so as a creative artist
himself i can completely understand why
andrew garfield adored this book
especially because he's definitely
someone who i think really thinks about
the process of his craft and i'm so
pleased that i filmed this video because
it led me to this piece of genius it's
so rhythmic and spellbinding and even
though it's kind of a collage of pieces
of her work like essays from various
collections all collated into one piece
it has this real sense of momentum like
an accumulated power in the sense that
it just gets better and better and
stronger and stronger and
i say to say i really liked this book
okay
all i would say is i highly recommend
reading this with a pencil in hand
because you're going to want to
underline so many pages of this book so
that you can return to these brilliant
moments that's certainly what i did so
upstream is a river but i want to sail
down i want to drink that holy water
that might be a bit extreme but um on to
the next book good luck topping this
[Music]
okay so i've just wrapped up a little
live stream that i did i've been doing
these live read-alongs on instagram and
we have raised in two days 3 500 pounds
for the ukraine humanitarian appeal and
i'm just i'm so buzzing because i love
this community infinitely every single
day but
some days i just feel extra proud and
today is one of them so thank you to
everyone who tuned in and donated so
generously
it's gonna make a huge difference so
thank you and i'll leave the donation
link down below as well in case any of
you also want to donate but i've just
finished this book on my livestream and
this is letters to a young poet by rayna
maria relka it's very tiny it's part of
the penguin little black classics uh
collection essentially the concept is
this young fledgling poet sent a bunch
of his work to the established
celebrated austrian poet rilke and
roelka was just an absolute legend and
sent these really heartfelt and
beautiful letters in response and this
is a collection of those letters that he
sent in that exchange the reason this is
so interesting is because it's such an
intimate and thorough insight into his
creative process the advice he gives is
really bloody good i'm gonna be real
with you here and be honest and say that
i've never read any of rilke's poetry
and i think if you have read a bunch of
his work this would be even more
illuminating but honestly i don't think
it's necessary i enjoyed this a lot
without having encountered any of rilke
before except now i'm really looking
forward to reading his poetry because
i've got such an interesting insight
into his influences and his process of
crafting those poems similarly to
upstream a huge theme in this book is
solitude especially as a an artist and
also the deep and complex soul-searching
that is required to create exquisite art
and he tells the young poet look it's
difficult to live in solitude but
overall it's worth it for what you will
create as an end product he says it is
good to be solitary for solitude is
difficult that something is difficult
must be one more reason for us to do it
and he talks about this as a process of
introspection as walking inside yourself
and once again i can completely see why
andrew garfield would be fascinated by
this and fixated on this as something
that gives a real insight into the
creative process it's really making me
appreciate him more as an actor and how
much thought goes into what he does
because it seems like the literature
that he engages with and reads helps him
to uncover more about his own process
and in an interview with the hollywood
reporter he says i've been reading a lot
of poetry recently i've been reading a
lot of relka and letters to a young poet
which is a great thing there's this
amazing tiny little book that you can
read as you're going to sleep every
night and as you wake up to start the
day it's just a beautiful way to frame a
day as a young burgeoning creative
person and it's a kind of textbook of
checking in to make sure that you're
doing what you're meant to be doing with
your life and if you're meant to be the
artist that you think you're meant to be
just gorgeous that is high praise indeed
and i really get where he's coming from
because it is so inspiring to read he
says that good writers would rather die
than be forbidden to write and that if
writing feels like a necessity to you
then you should be doing it i also just
really appreciated the attention that
rilke gave these letters he provides
these really valuable and authentic
responses to this young poet and i can't
even begin to imagine how invaluable
this must have been for that person it
was actually just really heartwarming to
read because of how respectful and
thoughtful he was in his letter writing
so wholesome good vibes again that's so
many sections that i underlined that i
want to return to and think more about
and it made me just really rate wilker
as a bloke i think he's awesome i'd like
to have a pint with him if he wasn't
you know dead and i can't wait to read
more of his work so this was good you
know i also looking forward to getting
into that bed because that live stream
has wiped me out but follow me on
instagram if you wanna make sure you
catch the next one and i'm gonna get
reading for the next book
okay let's talk about the catcher in the
right this is a book which is so iconic
it doesn't even have a blurb like my
copy already said if you get it you get
it if you don't
you don't catcher in the rye is a
coming-of-age story about a boy who has
just been expelled from school but it's
also about the human need for connection
about growing up it's really angsty and
irreverent i'm gonna read you the
opening line just so you can get a feel
um as to the writing style of this book
if you really want to know about it the
first thing you'll probably want to know
is where i was born and what my lousy
childhood was like and how my parents
were occupied and all before they had me
and all that david copperfield kind of
crap but i don't feel like going into it
if you want to know the truth the thing
about the catcher in the rye is that
it's kind of like the marmite of books
some people absolutely adore it and some
people
hate it it's very polarizing it's a book
that has been banned a lot of times for
its use of profanity and sexual themes a
lot of people will also say that it's a
red flag if you like this book that it's
kind of the edgelord manifesto for
serial killers andrew garfield doesn't
necessarily spring to mind and so the
way that i see it is yes the main
character is cynical and self-obsessed
and regularly hypocritical but he's also
like 16 years old and he's been through
a lot of trauma i don't know i think
that i don't need to relate to a
character to want to read their story i
don't need to like a character or feel
that they're unflawed in order to want
to read their perspective but equally i
appreciate that some people do want that
when they read like that's what they
look for when they're picking up a book
and so i see why this is such a divisive
piece of literature what i would say is
that if a book can trigger such extreme
responses on either side of the spectrum
then that's a sign of good writing
because it's provocative i think it's
one of those books that everyone should
read at some point in their life whether
you do end up deciding that you love it
or hate it you gotta read it to decide
if you think it's phony if you get it
you get it andrew garfield has actually
said that he sees peter parker in the
main character holden
which is interesting he said that he
thinks they are related in some way so
that is the catcher in the rye now the
final book that andrew garfield has
recommended is on earth we're briefly
gorgeous by ocean vong i can't find my
copy of this book anywhere which i'm
actually gutted about because it's
exquisite it's a really really wonderful
book and i've actually reviewed it
already in this video right here so if
you want a full review go and check that
one out but let's see what andy g had to
say why did i just call him andy g why
did i think that was okay he said i
think the last book i read was ocean
vong's book on earth but briefly
gorgeous oh my god it's i have a funny
story before i read his book i listened
to his interview on the podcast on being
i was listening and i was just sobbing i
said to myself whoever this person is
one day i'm going to marry this woman
and i had no idea that ocean vong was a
beautiful man because he has this very
sweet high-pitched tone of voice and i
thought that's my future wife brackets
laughs what are the odds that's gonna be
the most bizarre book review i've ever
heard but i do understand where he's
coming from in terms of being completely
and utterly mesmerized by ocean vong the
way he writes is so lyrical and poetic
but so is the way that he speaks it is
so captivating listening to him talk i
can't really fully explain it until you
listen and then you'll understand the
way he articulates his thoughts is so
beautiful like i could never so i'd
highly recommend not only reading his
books but also listening to him talk
about them on podcast because it really
elevates the experience of reading his
work because that man is a genius and a
really really exciting writer who i will
be following very closely i'm really
intrigued to see what he does for the
rest of his career because i think it's
going to be pretty groundbreaking and
his work is frankly masterful so what
have we learned about andrew garfield in
this video i've definitely noticed that
he's more interested in books that have
stunning vivid writing than a really
fast-paced plot-driven book i think he's
definitely more interested in complex
characters than an intense plot which i
definitely relate to he is someone who
thinks deeply about his craft and his
position as an actor and what makes him
an artist and that's probably why he's
nominated for an oscar this year and to
be honest i think he's got a banging
taste in books and literature so i'll be
taking any other recommendation that he
gives and so i think i'm gonna piece of
pocket right here thank you very very
much for watching this video unless
you're kendall jenner in which case mind
your business and a massive shout out to
likewise for sponsoring it sponsors help
me to continue making these videos so it
means the world to me you can subscribe
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shop link outside the box and i think
that's enough self promo to last me a
lifetime so all the best stay in touch
have a wonderful day and i'll catch you
next time bye bye