Welcome back to Book Break! For today's video we have actually drawn
inspiration from our comment section. We are doing a video that was requested by
one of you. So a few weeks ago we posted a video
called 'the most talked about books on booktube so far in 2020'
and I will link to that video below so you can go and check it out, but today we
are following up on a comment from SayisMartinez who asked to see a list of
the books that were still popular, but not quite so much. We were really
inspired by this comment so we went straight back
to our spreadsheet, and looked for the books that were still
really popular, still beloved by booktubers so far this year,
but not quite so hyped that you're already sick of hearing about them.
This is our list of Booktube's hidden gems in 2020.
And what's funny is it's not always the new releases that get all the love on
BookTube. In fact one of the authors who has been
talked about a lot so far this year is Jane Austen. Everyone from Simon
Savidge to Merphy Napier to Olivia's Catastrophe have been
revisiting these books this year, showing they really do
never go out of style. Not exactly a hidden gem,
I'm sure you have heard of Jane Austen before, but it's interesting
that when often we equate booktube with getting
very excited and overwhelmed with all the brand new releases,
it's interesting to see that a lot of booktubers are actually taking a step
back and going back to visit an old favourite.
The next book on this list is The City We Became by N.K Jemisin, and
we saw this one talked about by people like Myonna
reads, Ellias and Reagan from peruseproject. And
interestingly, a slightly older book by N.K. Jemisin
called The Fifth Season was one of the books that did make our list of the
most hyped books so far this year. This book, The City We Became, is her brand new
release. It's about five New Yorkers who have to
team up to defend their city, and it's already hurtling up that list,
I'm sure by next year we will find it's one of
the most talked about books on the whole of the internet.
The next book I saw mentioned in videos from paperbackdreams,
Emma Tobias and more, and that is Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert.
I also saw the second book in the series, which is called Take a Hint, Dani Brown,
mentioned quite a lot as well, and there was a third book in the series coming
next year. So this series is about the Brown sisters. And in this first one we
meet Chloe Brown who is a chronically ill computer geek
with a goal, in fact a seven step plan, to get her a
life. And so it's a really fun book as we follow her
setting out on her mission to tick off all of the seven things on her list. And it
also becomes a really lovely romance along the way too.
Another beloved author on BookTube this year is Elizabeth Acevado.
So her books Clap When You Land and With the Fire on High
were mentioned in videos from people like Leena Norms and
Leanne Rose. Clap When You Land is a novel in verse
about two girls who lose their father in a plane crash. But the twist is
they never knew about each other's existence before. So the book is about
their grief, but also about their growing
relationship with each other. And With the Fire on High is about a
high school student who has a daughter. So she lives with her abuela and she's
raising her daughter and also going to school
and the only place where she feels like she can let go of all of these
responsibilities is the kitchen. She has a real passion
for cooking, so if you love books that are also about
food, this one'll be perfect for you. Watching videos by Lily Eleanor Reads and
Lauren and the Books, I saw a lot of mentions of It's Not
About the Burqa, which is a collection edited by
Mariam Khan. So it's a collection of essays written by
Muslim women all about their experience of their faith and how it fits into
their lives. As the title says, It's Not All About the
Burqa, despite how they are portrayed in the media.
So I absolutely loved this one, I found the essays fascinating,
moving, funny, it's about so many different aspects
of life as a Muslim woman. You won't be surprised to see
Such a Fun Age on this list, by Kiley Reid. This book is now on the Booker long
list and so i'm sure will become even more hyped by the end
of the year, but so far I saw it talked about in videos
from Miranda Mills and Harriet Rosie. This is another book that I have read
and absolutely adored. It's about a young
Black woman who works as a nanny for a very rich white family,
and it's largely about the relationship between our main character
and her boss, and the very complicated dynamics of race there. Her boss Alix is
a white woman who is determined to prove herself as a good white
ally, and this becomes more and more uncomfortable as the book goes on.
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell is a book I saw talked about by
April from Getting Hygge With It and mercy's bookish musings, among others.
This is a very dark and very emotional book.
It's about a woman who back when she was a teenager was abused by a teacher,
and now in present day more girls, more students, are coming forward to say they
had the same experience. But where it gets very complicated and
very upsetting is that our main character Vanessa re-remembers
and reinterprets this experience that she had as a child
to be a lot more consensual than it really ever can have been,
so it's a very complex portrayal of abuse and power dynamics,
but it's very powerful. And then finally, the last book on this list is Red at the
Bone by Jacqueline Woodson. This was longlisted for the women's
prize so I saw it in videos from a lot of the BookTubers who do tend
to review the women's prize list, so everyone from Lauren and the
Books to Lauren Wade to Simon Savidge. This book explores three generations of
Black american history. So in 2001 we meet a 16 year old girl
called Melody who is having a coming-of-age ceremony
wearing this beautiful dress that was actually
designed 16 years earlier for her mother to wear at her own coming of age
ceremony, which never happened. And so we get the history of Melody's
parents and grandparents and explore this family history,
and particularly look at the ways in which young people so often have to make
huge life-changing decisions long before they
even have decided who they are and who they want to be. So I hope you
enjoyed this, it was really fun actually to go back to our mega spreadsheet of
all the books we've seen talked about so far this year on BookTube
and find the ones that didn't quite make that top list but have still been
beloved by a lot of booktubers so far this year. And do leave us a comment if
you have any other video requests you'd like to see from us,
because we're always open to taking your suggestions. I will link to that original
video I mentioned here so you can click through and browse if you missed that
one, and we'll see you soon!