Please let me know your thoughts about these books in the comments! I'd love to discuss with all of you!! Books Mentioned: 00:42 - The Secret History by Donna Tart 02:42 - The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson 04:30 - The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi 06:08 - Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel 09:13 - The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden 10:17 - Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 12:21 - Normal People by Sally Rooney 14:03 - Yellowface by RF Kuang 16:08 - Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid 18:03 - Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

I was in a reading slump and then I read Normal People, i am still in a reading slump and in a bad one. I had to dnf it even though only 50 pages were left. Terrible book

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Oh nooo!! I also get really angry at books that put me in a slump hahaha

Shruti you had me at "not a lot of my friends read books" 😂 I feel the same most of the times this incessant need to talk about books😊

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Hahaha! That is my main motivation of doing this KZread channel. I just want to discuss books with other book nerds!!!

@chandanashekar5178

Ай бұрын

This!!

@karpaga14

Ай бұрын

Same here, sometimes I just watch your videos just so that I ve someone to discuss about books

Wow, I was thinking of reading Kaikeyi just because of the gorgeous cover, but now I'm having second thoughts. Nothing makes me roll my eyes more than trying to make a character more sympathetic by just making other characters assholes. And the whole idea of ravan being a chill dude and friends with kaikeyi is so weird and random 😂

Fun fact: The first line of "Normal People" encapsulates the entire dynamic between Connell and Marianne. I'd recommend you read "Mr. Salary" by Sally Rooney; it's my third favorite piece of work by her. I hope she writes a full novel on it someday. Really enjoyed the video!

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Ahh! I'll check it out. I'm willing to give Rooney another chance. In fact I bought "Conversation with Friends" so let's see...

I too liked We were villains better than The secret history. But as I have read Secret history first, I quite liked it. These two Books got me interested in dark academia.

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

I also got interested in Dark Academia because of If We Were Villains! After that my fav Dark Academia book has to be Babel by RF Kuang.

The secret history, Yellowface, Henna Artist etc. It needs a alot of courage to speak about books like these 😅

Wrt Kaikeyi I feel a lot of retaking of mythologies these days are doing that. There is a fine line between feminist story telling and role reversal. And it’s kinda lost in the excitement of reinventing the character. Character flaws which make the character real and tangible are lost.

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

I think mythological reimaginings are really hard to get right. Firstly there is so much from old myths and scriptures that can be interpreted in so many different ways. And of course for Hindu mythology there is also the aspect of religion, history and people’s strong emotions attached to them that make it exceptionally hard to write. For me personally I don’t mind if writers take creative liberties (I think Madeline Miller does an extraordinary job at that) but not when it’s done lazily like with Kaikeyi.

I have watched countless youtubers' videos reviewing books but everybody either reads only similar genre or pop cultural books or they go with the flow and rate mid books as masterpieces. Then there is your channel. After encountering a few videos and seeing the book selection, I must say you've got a regular viewer now. Commendable and on point reviews and great book selection not just limited to a single genre.

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Thank you so much!! 😊

Thank you for saying Kaikeyi is overrated. Now i have to think twice before reading that book. Grateful that i havent bought it 😅

I haven't read any of these books😄

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

That's okay! You're not missing much hehe

@athiramanjurajeev6317

Ай бұрын

​​@@fandomnewbie😂👍🏻

I actually liked Housemaid but I saw a lot of it coming. What I liked was the exploration of the narcissistic torture tendencies😂 Agree that it's overhyped though. It was fine not amazing.

When I got the new video alert I was so excited thinking it might be a review of The Farseer Trilogy! 😅 I haven’t read any of these books except Normal People. I read it last year, in one sitting. Many of the passages in the book spoke to me. Somehow it felt like a real life story- messy, but I enjoyed reading it.

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Hahaha..I still haven’t finished the last book 🙈

Even I felt the same about the henna artist. It’s too shallow and annoying at times. The same goes for the yellowface. It could have been more enjoyable if the thriller part was taken off; it was so unnecessary, I felt.

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Yeahh. The writing in both these books is really good in terms of the prose. But there needed to be more substance.

Fourth Wing was such a rip off… It had too many similarities with all the popular fantasies. The resemblance to Divergent (Scribes>Erudite, Riders>Dauntless etc), Hunger Gamesque set up in Hogwartesque school, Dragon choosing riders like in Temeraire, I was unable to read the book without thinking of other books… And the love story was so not there, disappointing.

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

IKR?! I think that's also why a lot of people liked it. There was a strange nostalgia factor where it reminded people of books they loved.

I just couldn’t get through Normal People! The writing style was just not my cup of tea 😢

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Hahaha..I can understand that

i felt the SAME about Rachel Price. The first half or some of the first parts of the book felt boring to me but i got hooked after that, and i already guessed the plot twist😞. after closing the book, i was so confused because i also wanted to like it, and it’s Holly Jackson😭. tbh, i enjoyed Five Survive a tiny bit more than this book.

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Yeah!! I think I was just missing the magic I felt when I read AGGGTM. And I've only read the first book of that series and now I'm a bit afraid to read the other two 🙈

@M.AhmedSamara

Ай бұрын

@@fandomnewbie that series is perfect, you can read them and have a great time!

Had the same thoughts on Kaikeyi . Kaikeyi is such an interesting character with so much potential and frankly I found the strings and dimensions too boring and complicated and not realistic Forest of Enchantments has my heart ❤️ What a beautiful book Palace of illusions set the bar high but this gave a tight run for its money

I went into a terrible reading slump after reading Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. One of the worst books I've ever read. Same goes for The Secret History by Donna Tart, it was so unbelievably boring. It could easily be a 300 page thriller, but there were so many unnecessary characters and side plots. It was just so boring and lengthy.

I really really like The Reappearance of Rachel Price... a 4.5-star read after a loooong time 😄 I wasn't a fan of it in the beginning, and then I too guessed who was responsible for it all. But from the midpoint, the writing became more immersive, the change in Bel's character arc took me by surprise, and I love how the story pans out. With Malibu Rising, I think it was my first TJR book. Plus, a part of Nina's story resonated with me, so I became way too attached to the novel. And yes, the author's writing is beautiful 🙌🏼

Oh my God!! Finally someone who feels the same towards Malibu Rising as i did 😃. For a while, i thought i may have to read the book again after almost every book lover out there raved about it. To me, it was like a soap opera with not much depth. Sorry, just my opinion, without meaning to step on toes.

@fandomnewbie

Ай бұрын

Right?! It just doesn’t have the same development as her other books!!

@canwegetmuchhigher729

Ай бұрын

I loved malibu rising but it's not THAT good that people are raving about it.

I feel people (including me )who don’t like Forest of enchantments is because Palace or illusions have set the bad way too high. Agree with Housemaid review Honestly I liked Malibu Rising

It is not just henna artist, it has been happening since a really long time when nris or kids of nris who generally have little idea of what india is choose to write fiction on india with an extremely point if view. It is honestly sad that often these books get regarded as indian literature in the western countries and the good ones are either popular only in india or are read by a very niche audience.

I always like to watch your videos, but enjoy your vlogs a lot. Please make some reading vlogs ❤️🙏🏻

Oh I didn’t like Normal People one bit! Couldn’t relate to it and I hated the characters 😂 But I disagree with Henna Artists and Housemaid :( I really loved those books especially the Housemaid, i read that it one go. The way that book had a chokehold on me….but as always, love your videos!!