7 great books you NEED to read

hello everyone my name is hannah and today  i have some book recommendations for you so   it's actually been a really really long time  since i have recommended any books actually um   mostly because it's been a really long time  since i've read a lot of books that i've   felt like recommending but recently i read  two really great books that i really loved   and it kind of inspired me to like talk about  them since that's what i used to always do   on my channel so today i have a list of seven  books that i think you need to read because i   think they're exceptional and i think they're the  type of thing that pretty much anyone could enjoy   and i think more people just should read  them some of them are very very popular books   some of them are lesser known books some of them  i've talked about a lot some of them i don't think   i've ever talked about before and i have a pretty  good mix of different genres and categories i have   like a classic and some romance and some fantasy  so i think there's a little bit of something for   everyone but yeah without any further ado here are  seven books that i think you need to read so first   up on my list is a book that i've mentioned a  couple of times in recent videos but i do want to   mention it again because i just it to be in one of  these videos because if you haven't read this yet   i really think you should because it's honestly  that good and it's that worth the hype and that   is red white and royal blue by casey mcquiston red  white and royal blue is a new adult romance novel   that follows the fictional obviously story of the  son of the president of the united states and the   prince of england and the two of them fall in love  with each other and then like have a relationship   which clearly comes with a lot of problems as you  can imagine but it's fantastic i absolutely adored   this book i've talked about it many times like i  mentioned i listened to this on an audiobook with   my friend while we were driving on a road trip  and it was such a fun reading experience and it   was such a good story my favorite thing about this  is that it genuinely feels like a rom-com in book   form which is what i want out of any romance that  i read but also it's genuinely funny and genuinely   heartfelt like i didn't think i would like this  as much as i ended up liking it because i thought   that it would be more like funny and less serious  than it ended up being but it was actually pretty   serious but also lighthearted enough that  it wasn't too heavy and that's what i love   so much about it it has such a perfect balance of  humor and bromance and touching on serious topics   and politics and that combination being so well  balanced makes it such an enjoyable book to read   it's really quick to get through it's addicting  and it's just so enjoyable so i highly highly   recommend trying this book out the concept alone  is just so fun and so out there and i think it's   definitely the type of book that you will enjoy  if you're looking for romance if you're looking   for something to make you laugh if you're looking  for something to make you cry like this has pretty   much anything you could want in a good fictional  story so yeah highly highly recommend checking   this one out if you haven't already again i know  it's super popular but if you haven't read it yet   it's worth the hype the next book on my list is  actually a classic and this is probably what i   would consider my favorite classic that i've read  and that is rebecca by daphne du maurier i know   that this recently had a movie come out on netflix  i believe i haven't watched that yet but i'm not   really sure if that's any good the book however  is phenomenal it follows the story of this young   girl who's about in her 20s and she meets this man  who's significantly older than her i think in his   40s or so and they end up getting married and she  moves in with him only to find out that the house   that she's now moved into his house is kind of  haunted by the ghost of his first wife his late   wife whose name was rebecca and the main character  actually does not have a name we never find out   what her name is and that's one of my favorite  things about this book it's really a story about   identity and kind of figuring out who you are  which is why i'm making the main character   nameless is genius it's really such a good story  i truly truly recommend this if you are not into   classics if you don't really like reading classics  but you kind of want to try out some classics   i highly recommend this one since this was  written in the 40s or like late 30s i believe   i think that it's a lot more accessible than some  of like the earlier classics if you're not into   reading like austin or bronte or anything like  that i definitely recommend giving this one a try   it's a mystery a bit of a ghost story a little bit  of a coming-of-age story as well it kind of has   everything in it it's definitely very haunting and  the imagery in here is really vivid and that's one   of the things i really like about it it's very  much a sensory experience while you're reading   this book i felt like i could imagine everything  as i was reading it and that's why even though i   read this several years ago it's still like very  vivid in my head because i remember it so clearly   i love the writing in here as well it's  not overly flowery it's very concise which   i actually like both flowery and concise writing  but i feel like for the story that this is trying   to tell the way that it's written is absolutely  perfect so i highly recommend trying out rebecca   again i haven't seen the movie so i'm  not sure if the new movie is any good but   i definitely do recommend that you try out reading  the book because the book is absolutely worth your   time next i have a lesser known novel by one of my  favorite authors and i talk about her other books   all the time like they're some of my all-time  favorite books but i don't talk about this one as   much and this is definitely on my list of favorite  books by her definitely one of my favorite books   but i just never talk about it very much so i  felt like it was a good time to mention it here   and that is after i do by taylor jenkins read so  taylor jenkins read as most of you probably know   is the author of daisy jones and the six and the  seven husbands of evelyn hugo which are two of   my favorite books of all time i love those books  with my whole heart i talk about them endlessly   because they're so good and when i first read  evelyn hugo since that one came out before daisy   jones i liked it so much that i was like i need to  read everything else by taylor jenkins read so i   did and i have literally read her entire backlist  and of all of those books of course daisy jones   and evelyn hugo are my favorites but my next  favorite which actually comes not super super   close to them because those are like my god tier  books what comes pretty close though is after i do   because this book is so phenomenal after i do is  about this couple who gets married and then ends   up taking a break from their marriage for about  a year and then lives their lives separately they   feel like their marriage is about to fall apart so  they come up with a plan to basically break up for   a year and live their lives independently to see  how they feel about each other when they come back   together and i don't know how to tell you like  how often i think about this book like i know i   don't talk about it very often but i think about  this a lot because it was really really touching   and i feel like this book is evidence of how good  of a writer and storyteller taylor jenkins read   really is because we talk about evelyn hugo and  daisy jones in the six and just the concept of   those books alone are just so out there and like  larger than life which makes them so much fun to   read because they're about these like fictional  celebrities but this is just a quiet little story   about some random couple who's having marital  problems and i don't know how to explain to you   how touching this was can i relate no i've never  been married nor have i ever gone through marital   problems but something about the way that she  wrote these characters and their humanity and   the feelings and experiences that they are going  through was just so raw and honest that i felt   like i was going through this breakup with them i  felt like i was having my year-long self-discovery   journey spending time away from the person that i  had put my everything into and i felt like i was   trying to find myself along with these characters  and i just think that when an author can take you   outside of your own experience and put you into an  experience that you've never gone through before   but still make you feel all of those emotions  then you know they're really good and that's   how i feel about this book i feel like this is  one of those just like i mentioned quiet stories   that just kind of hides under the radar but it  definitely deserves more attention because this is   one of her best books it's about finding what you  really love finding yourself what you value when   you're on your own and i feel like that alone is  something that almost everyone can relate to even   if you haven't experienced anything else in this  story any of the things the characters go through   just the themes alone i feel like are universal  experiences which again makes it so relatable yeah   i just think that it's absolutely worth your time  if you've wanted to give another taylor jenkins   read book a chance if you've read daisy jones and  evelyn hugo i highly recommend you try this one   read all of her books i love all of them  but this is hands down my favorite one   of her other books it's so good and again so  worth the read alright the next book on my list   is a book that i recently just finished reading  and i absolutely adored this book and that is   this is how you lose the time war this is how you  lose the time war is a sci-fi novella it's a novel   novella it's kind of shorter it's not very  very long at all and which is my actually   only complaint about it my only complaint about  this book is that i wish it was longer so we had   more time to develop everything but besides that  it's pretty perfect the story is about two time   travelers who are on opposite sides of a time war  and they end up falling in love with one another   and then they write letters to each other through  time expressing their love for one another and oh   my god it's so good first of all anything that has  to do with time travel is definitely the type of   thing that i will want to read because i love  time travel stories and i always have so that   sounded fascinating to me and also like being on  opposite sides of a war and like writing letters   to each other through time the concept alone of  this i was just like i'm gonna love this and i'm   so glad i wasn't wrong one of the things that  i really really liked about this besides the   concept alone was the way that it was written as  you all know i like anything that's really magical   fantastical whimsical and kind of just doesn't  make logical sense like i love magical realism   and i like books like ocean at the end of the lane  by neil gaiman stuff like that where you kind of   just have to suspend your disbelief and kind of  go with it so if that's not your type of book   i honestly don't think you'll like this very much  because that is what this book is and if you're   not like paying attention or if you're not into  that type of storytelling i don't think you'll   have a great time reading this but if you are  and if you want to try a book that is like that   i highly highly recommend trying this one out  because it's so so good the romance in here is   heart-wrenching i actually felt something for  once for the first time in a long time i feel   like it takes a lot for me to feel anything when  it comes to romance in books which is why i don't   actually read a lot of romance in general but  with this one i definitely felt the romance i   was rooting for these two for blue and red because  i just wanted them to be happy even though like   the odds were not in their favor and it was  also just so great to see like a queer love   story like this in this type of like fantasy and  sci-fi because i feel like we don't have queer   representation for women in fantasy that often  and seeing these two women like fighting through   time for each other was so great the writing in  here is also beautiful a lot of it is told in   letters but there's also like each character's  perspective as well so it's a good mix of like   everything and it was really poetic and there were  so many quotes and things i loved in it as well   like everything about this was everything i love  so yeah i highly highly recommend checking this   book out if you want something that's short this  is definitely a good one and if you want something   that will tug at your heartstrings and also if you  want a book where the ending makes it even better   highly recommend this one i feel like one of my  favorite things is when a book has a really good   satisfying ending and this is definitely one  of those books for me i feel like the ending   bumped this book up so much for me i loved the  ending of it and i felt like it made the whole   story even better so yeah highly highly recommend  this one as well all right next up on my list of   recommendations is a book that i read years and  years ago and i feel like i used to recommend   this all the time because it's genuinely one of my  favorite wya contemporaries i feel like it's just   been so long since i've talked about it and i was  thinking about it recently and i was like i feel   like i need to reread this and i feel like i need  to talk about it again because i forget how much   i actually like this book because i genuinely love  it so much and that is of course the sun is also a   star by nicole yoon this is another book that had  a movie come out kind of recently-ish within the   last couple of years and i still haven't watched  that movie which i really need to do i've been   meaning to watch it since it came out but the  sun is also a star like i mentioned is one of   my favorite why contemporary novels i think it  is so good it is one of the why contemporaries   that actually got me into reading more why a  contemporary because before this i really didn't   read much at all i did not like why i contemporary  very much only a select few books here and there   but after i read this i was like maybe i'm  missing out on like a whole genre and i was so   i definitely uh was way more open to reading more  why a contemporary after this one because i liked   it so much but still not that many books live  up to this this was so good again this is a very   popular book and it's been out for years and years  but that doesn't mean it's not worth recommending   again for anyone who still hasn't read it so if  you don't know what it's about the sun is also a   star is told in two perspectives that of natasha  and daniel natasha is jamaican-american and her   family is facing the threat of being deported  and daniel is korean-american and he's kind of   just dealing with his family's expectations of him  and the two end up meeting one day on the day that   natasha's family is supposed to be deported and  she's trying to do whatever it takes to prevent   that from happening and they basically end up  spending this whole day together and this book   actually takes place over the span of one day if i  remember correctly i'm pretty sure it's literally   just one day so it's kind of insta-love but at the  same time i don't even care because the story's so   well written and everything about the like themes  of this are so well put together like it's just so   good it's obviously about their relationship and  their feelings that are developing for each other   but it's also about so much more so much of this  book is about identity obviously and they're two   very different identities but how they can  also relate to one another and it's about   their different perspectives on life too they  have very different outlooks on the world and   seeing how they come together and seeing how each  of them changes the other a little bit is just so   beautiful and that's what i like so much about it  this story has a lot of nuance and i feel like you   don't find that in a lot of why contemporaries i'm  not saying that they're not good or that they're   not complicated or not well written because a lot  of them definitely are but there's something about   this one the nuance of this story the way that  she describes their identities the way that she   tackles these subjects with such like precision  and detail that goes into so much more depth than   i feel like you find in a lot of other stories  that try and talk about identity which feel very   surface level to me this one doesn't feel surface  level nothing about the sun is also a star feels   surface level even though the premise of it seems  kind of like out there and a little bit wild   it's one of my favorite fiction books that talks  about identity and race and class and what it's   like to live as an immigrant or the child of  immigrants in the united states besides the fact   that it talks about such important topics with  so much grace i feel like it's also just a fun   story to read and the romance in here i think is  really great as well i actually enjoy the romance   so yeah highly highly recommend this one as well  again i know this is an older book that's been out   for some time now and it's definitely popular but  if you haven't read it before or if you have read   it and you kind of just want to reread pick this  one up again because i feel like it's the type of   book that you could definitely reread and get  something new from next up on my list we have   another book that i've mentioned multiple times in  recent videos but i definitely wanted to recommend   it here as well because this is a book that i  just genuinely like i couldn't make this video   if i didn't include this in here genuinely  i think everyone should read this i don't   think everyone will be in the place to read this  necessarily because it's definitely a much heavier   darker book that's difficult to read but if you  can i definitely think it's worth it and that is   none other than in the dream house i have talked  about this book so many times but i'm gonna keep   talking about it until more people have read  it because you should read it it's so good in   the dream house is actually a memoir so this is  the one nonfiction book i have on this list that   is about carmen marie machado's life in this one  specific relationship that she was in with a woman   and it was a very abusive relationship  um an emotionally abusive relationship so   like i mentioned if that's not something you're  comfortable reading about right now definitely   not necessarily the book for you right now but if  it is something that you can read at the moment   i highly recommend trying it out because oh my  god i've mentioned multiple times as well that   my favorite thing about this book is that while it  is non-fiction and it is a memoir and it's a true   story the way that she writes this book feels like  it is fictional one her writing is just phenomenal   and she can make any prose feel like it's poetry  and two she starts out this book with a prologue   about archival violence which overly simplified  is basically just the way that historically people   of color queer people have been left out of the  archives in history because those archives were   typically written by straight white men and she  talks about the archive and archival violence and   basically trying to reclaim her own archive  and not just reclaim it but create her own   essentially which i found fascinating the prologue  of this book is honestly one of my favorite parts   of this book i read the prologue and i was like  oh my god i would do anything for carmen raymond   and she writes this entire story with that  context in mind so basically she is creating   her own archive doing that through the lens of  creating a fiction for herself if that makes sense   like the story of this is formatted like fiction  even though it is her reality and it's just so   phenomenally well done like i don't know how else  to describe it i have not read anything like this   before and that's why i keep recommending it  and why i want everyone to read it because it's   just some of the best writing i have ever seen  apart from that it's just so heartbreaking and   honest and raw what she writes about in here the  relationship that she was in and how terrible   and awful that it was and the honesty within that  as well i find really really refreshing especially   because she's writing about a queer relationship  and people don't often talk about how abuse isn't   exclusive to heterosexual relationships or isn't  exclusive to men being abusive towards women in   a relationship it can go anyway and she touches  on that a lot obviously and i just respect her   so much for the way that she told this story and  how truthful it was i like i mentioned many many   times before cannot recommend this book enough if  you want to read nonfiction if you want something   that's relatively short if you want something  with beautiful writing if you want anything   honestly except like maybe a good time i'd highly  recommend trying out in the dream house because   you will not be disappointed and finally we  have reached the last book on my list which   is actually the last book i just finished reading  and oh my god i don't even know what to say about   this because i feel like this book got me out of  a reading slump i feel like i might actually be   out of my reading slump because this was the  fastest i have finished a book in months in   literally months i finished it within the span of  24 hours which is incredible for me at this point   granted it's very short but that doesn't matter  because i wanted to keep reading like i just   kept reading i didn't want to put it down i was  up so late last night finishing this book because   oh my god i love it and that is none other than  the house in the cerulean sea i don't know if   i've ever been so pleasantly surprised by a book  i genuinely thought that i would like this when   i first heard about it and based on the people  who recommended it to me but i didn't think i   would like it as much as i did because this was  easily a five star book for me like it was just   so good there was nothing to not like if you don't  know what this book is about the best way that i   can describe it is that it feels like a mix of  a series of unfortunate events and what i wanted   the every heart a doorway series to feel like  it takes place in this like fantasy world where   people can be born as like different fictional  creatures magical creatures or monsters you can   be born like a sprite or pixie or a gnome or a  shapeshifter things like that it follows the story   of this man who's basically a caseworker and then  he's assigned to go to this one specific orphanage   that has some kids there who are considered very  much outside of the norm even within this world   like all the people who are born as like a magical  creature in this society are pretty much like   ostracized and people are definitely prejudiced  against them but this specific orphanage has some   kids who people have considered like especially  dangerous because one of the kids who's there is   like the son of lucifer so our main character has  to go there to investigate this orphanage and i   like i don't even know what to tell you this book  is so delightful it is so delightful like this is   like the epitome of heartwarming it makes me so  happy it's so pure but it's really deep at the   same time because obviously the metaphor of these  people being born as part magical creature or   monster and having to have like registration cards  and being like prejudiced against by society who   doesn't consider them to be normal like clearly  there's a very clear metaphor and theme going on   throughout all of this i love that aspect of it  as well so it's very deep and it means a lot but   it is also just so pure like it's kind of a middle  grade story but it's also not exactly middle grade   either i kind of feel like you can't put it in a  category i'd actually categorize this as adult but   not really just for adults like anyone of any age  can read this book truly and i think it'll mean   something to you at a different point in your life  which is another thing i really like about it but   it's truly just so beautiful i love every single  character i feel like it's been so long since   i've actually cared this much about new characters  not from a series i've already read or characters   i already know i had not felt this attached to  new characters in so long but oh my god i love   these kids so much i love the main characters so  much i love everyone and i truly feel like this   has gotten me out of my reading slump because  now all i want to do is read and it's actually   what inspired me to make this video in the first  place because i finished that book and i was like   oh my god i have to recommend it what else can i  recommend so then i put it on this list and made   this whole list of recommendations because i think  everyone should read the house in the cerulean sea   because it's so good it is so good and you will  not be disappointed oh my god it's whimsical   magical heart-wrenching has characters that you  will absolutely grow to love and be attached to   and there's nothing more you could want i cannot  recommend it enough and you should absolutely   read it and there you all have it that is it for  my list of seven books that you need to read let   me know in the comments down below if you have  read any of the books that i mentioned in this   video what are your thoughts on them and if you  haven't read any of them let me know which ones   you now want to read i'm very curious if there  are any other book recommendation videos that   you would like to see definitely let me know any  of your ideas or suggestions down below i'd love   to make more book recommendation videos i have a  couple more planned but if there's anything like   specific like if you want fantasy or long books  or short books or anything like that definitely   let me know and i will try to make them but again  thank you all so much for watching this video if   you'd like to follow me on any of my social media  all my links are in the description box as always   thank you all so much for watching i hope you  enjoyed and i will see you in my next video bye

Channel: A Clockwork Reader

Views: 385,255

Rating: 4.9634404 out of 5

Keywords: books, booktube, reading, book recommendations, book recs, books to read, reader, a clockwork reader

Id: U7rNWmAL3mY

Length: 22min 13sec (1333 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2021