My Favourite Bookish YouTubers

Good morning/afternoon/evening, gentle readers! I hope that this post finds you all well. 

While some of you might be expecting, based on my last post, for this blog instalment to focus on the From and About Asia reading project, you might have guessed from the title that this is not actually the case. If so, you would be correct. Today's post is on a different topic, since I haven't actually finished any of my books for the reading project yet. Instead, we're going to be looking at a different side of internet-related bookishness: booktube. 

For those who haven't heard the term before, "booktube" refers to the side of YouTube where people talk about books. I am interpreting this word quite broadly here and not limiting it just to those who describe themselves as "booktubers". Rather, I am including YouTubers who frequently talk about books, even if that is not necessarily the primary or sole focus of their channel. 

Booktube is something I only got into in the last few years or so. Considering that popular booktubers such as Rosianna Halse Rojas and booksandquills's Sanne have been uploading book-related content for over a decade, I am a relative newcomer to the scene. I think for some years I was put off because booktube seemed dominated by videos about YA books, a genre which I don't read much of. However, this is not really the case, as booktubers make videos about a wide variety of books, from fiction to non-fiction, from YA to literary novels. After becoming aware of this, I was introduced to dozens of booktubers who were not only fun and informative to watch, but who also focused on books which were actually of interest to me.

In this post, I'd like to share some of my favourite booktubers (or, more broadly, bookish YouTubers). They range from lesbian fiction reviewers to rapper-historians who also recommend books, but what they all have in common is that I have watched and enjoyed all of them - and found out about some good books along the way.

(Also a quick note on pronouns and gender: for all of the people mentioned on this list, I have attempted to find out their pronouns. I will obviously use the correct pronouns for those who have specified them in any of the sources I can find, but for the others I will be using they/them. If anyone notices that I have been using the incorrect pronouns, please do let me know and I will change them ASAP!)

The Bookish Land

The first YouTuber I wanted to talk about is one I have mentioned before, as both my favourite booktuber and the creator of the From and About Asia Project: The Bookish Land. I believe that this is the name of their channel and the creator actually goes by Meonicorn online, although I am happy to be corrected on this if anyone knows for sure! Anyway, their channel is a full "booktube" one, as it focuses almost entirely on books. They review books, recommend books, make videos about their TBRs, and even do vlogs where they visit bookshops all around the world. There are two things that I especially like about their videos: they always have international, diverse reading choices, and they always give well thought-out, insightful opinions. They seem to approach their reading and reviewing with a sensitivity and compassion that I greatly admire.

 

Jess Owens

The second YouTuber I'm excited to mention is someone who I only discovered recently, in comparison to the others on this list, but I have been enjoying their videos so much that I had to include them: Jess Owens. While Jess Owens does make a variety of bookish videos, including reviews and reading wrap-ups, what I would most like to draw attention to is their Book CommuniTEA series, where they break down all the latest drama in the bookish community. I think this series is brilliant because it perfectly fills a niche and I haven't seen anyone else of YouTube make videos about book drama quite as well as Jess Owens does. They do a great job of digging through complex social media drama (where most of these things take place, naturally) and presenting it in a digestible way. Their Book CommuniTEA series is clearly well-researched and provides a mostly-neutral perspective on recent events, although I also appreciate when Jess Owens offers their own opinions as well. Jess Owens's videos are smart, thought-provoking, and present controversial topics in a way that is balanced and compassionate. On top of all this, they also have an absolutely adorable dog named Nigel, who features in their videos! 

Akala

While Akala is perhaps not a booktuber in the strictest sense of the term - being a writer and hip hop artist primarily - he is still someone whose thoughts on books I value very highly. His series Akala's Great Reads shows him going into detail about the books he considers to be important or influential, ranging from non-fiction works like A Dying Colonialism to sci-fi novels like Dune. Each video is short, only a couple of minutes long, and focuses on a single book. For every book, he introduces it, gives a short explanation of its topic, and then explains why he believes it's worth reading. While I don't necessarily agree with Akala on every book he recommends (the same being true for every booktuber, I suppose), his reasoning behind each suggestion is always profound and grounded in how the books affected him personally. Even for books I absolutely do not enjoy, like Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, hearing Akala praise them has made me reconsider the books and whether they might have value which I didn't initially see. It probably helps that, in my opinion, Akala is one of the greatest public intellectuals around at the moment, and he is a talented author in his own right (I highly recommend his non-fiction book Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire, and his new novel The Dark Lady is coming out soon). He also posts spoken excerpts of Natives on his YouTube channel, alongside his music, behind the scenes conversations, and short lectures expressing his thoughts on a variety of topics. 

Danika Leigh Ellis

Danika Leigh Ellis, Book Riot contributor and creator of the wonderful Lesbrary website, has been posting about queer women's literature online for longer than I have been out. She is, in my mind, one of the biggest icons of WLW book reviews on the internet. While the Lesbrary focuses exclusively on LGBT+ books (primarily of the bisexual and lesbian variety), Danika Leigh Ellis's YouTube channel is somewhat broader. Her videos are often on queer books, but sometimes they are on non-LGBT books too. I have so much respect for Danika Leigh Ellis for bringing queer women's books to wider recognition and for carving out a section of the internet by and for people like us. Back when I was a baby gay and first beginning to look for queer books, I remember coming across the Lesbrary and Danika Leigh Ellis and feeling like I'd found the holy grail of queer women's literature. They continue to review and promote bi and lesbian books now on both their own YouTube channel and Book Riot's, and I really appreciate how they show the true breadth of gay women's literature - it's not all tragic, Well of Loneliness-type novels! If you are interested in books by and about queer women, you need to check out Danika Leigh Ellis's work. 

A Sunny Book Nook

Speaking of people who talk a lot about sapphic books, I think it's time to introduce you to the fifth booktuber of the post: A Sunny Book Nook. First of all, how cute is that channel name? It's so catchy and makes me happy just saying it. The brains behind this channel is in fact a creator called Sunny, who makes book videos including (but not limited to) those about queer women and non-binary people! I love that she recommends a diverse range of books, from graphic novels to political polemics. Politics-wise, Sunny is quite openly a leftist and often analyses books through a socialist and anti-capitalist lens. On top of all this, they are also amazing at makeup and sometimes create looks based on book covers. Just look at her makeup in this Instagram post! If you want a YouTube channel that is intellectually, aesthetically, and bookishly stimulating, look no further than A Sunny Book Nook.

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With that, dear readers, we have reached the end of this list. I hope that you enjoyed reading about my favourite booktubers (or bookish YouTubers) and perhaps found a new channel to explore - or perhaps you already knew of these amazing creators, in which case I must say you have excellent taste. 

Please feel free to let me know if there are any particular bookish YouTube people that you would recommend, as I'd love to watch some more. Also, please tell me if you enjoyed this post and/or would like to hear about more YouTube creators I like, because I definitely have more that I haven't mentioned here! I'd be happy to do a part two to this post if that's something people would be interested in. 

In the meantime, happy reading and happy watching!

From and About Asia Reading Project

This week, I'm very excited to announce that I have decided to take part in a new reading challenge: the From and About Asia project. The project was started by my favourite booktuber, The Bookish Land. You can hear more about the project and their inspiration for it in the video announcement below and the relevant website page, but I will also try to explain it here.

Essentially, the project chooses a different country from Asia each month, starting in May (Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States). For each country, those participating need to read two books, one for each of the categories below:

Category I: a book by an author from that country

Category II: a book about the culture of the subregion where the country is from

For example, the country chosen for May is North Korea, so the book for category one needs to be written by an author from North Korea. The book for the second category just needs to connected to the culture of North Korea's subregion, Eastern Asia, so it could potentially be a book from or about countries like China, South Korea, or Japan.

I absolutely love this idea and the way it is presented, because it has a clear focus but also allows enough flexibility that everyone can read books appealing to their specific interests. It's always important to read diverse books and books from different countries too. I am also happy to have the opportunity to support and celebrate Asian authors, especially given the recent rise in hate crimes against Asian people worldwide. In short, it's a great project and I'm really excited to be participating.

So, which books will I be reading for the first month? I was a little torn for the first category, since there are several North Korean books I have been wanting to read for a while now, but I think I have finally settled on The Accusation by Bandi. This is a collection of short stories written pseudonymously by a North Korean author still living in the country. I am particularly interested in this book because it was written by someone who continues to live in North Korea, rather than a defector, as the authors of the most popular books about the country (such as Park Yeon-mi and Lee Hyeon-seo) often are. Although both have some appeal, I slightly prefer the idea of reading fiction to a memoir as well. 

I will admit I'm struggling a little bit more with the second category, probably because it's significantly broader. Since I'm anxious to choose a book which doesn't violate the rules of the category, I am considering reading one of the books mentioned specifically in The Bookish Land's video about their North Korea and East Asia book choices: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. On one hand, I already have a digital copy of this book (unread of course) and have previously enjoyed Ng's work. On the other hand, I feel this is a slight cop-out. Would it be better to read a book by a new author I haven't previously explored? I am still thinking about this. I will most likely read the book about North Korea first and then come back to this one, but I will be sure to mention my final decision in a later post!

At this point, you might be thinking, "Wow, this sounds so cool! How can I join in?". Well, you can explore The Bookish Land's videos that I embedded above, as well as the page on their website which includes all the details about the challenge. I believe they have also set up a Discord for participants, linked in the descriptions of their videos, but I think that joining that is optional. 

Even if you won't personally be participating, I hope you have enjoyed reading about the project so far and will continue to read my upcoming posts about my progress with it. Once again, I'm so excited to take part in this and learn about new Asian authors. 

Finally, for any Americans reading this: Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!