Hello everyone and welcome to another dumb youtube
video on my dumb youtube channel. Basically, I have been recently loving the work of Haruki Murakami
so i bought this book which is called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and this
is essentially Murakami's memoir, and in this book Murakami talks about his batshit crazy daily
routine. So, every single day he wakes up at 4am -- A.M.! -- the time i usually go to bed... which in fairness
says more about me than him. But anyway, he then works for five or six hours before running a 10k --
every day -- and then reads, listens to music and goes to bed at 9pm. And this got me thinking, which
is dangerous and something we need to stop from happening -- what if i spent the next week of my life
not only following Murakami's daily routine but also the daily routines of five other very, very
famous authors? So -- this is so stupid -- I'm also going to be following the daily routines of Jane Austen,
Ernest Hemingway, Maya Angelou, Charles Dickens, and W.H. Auden -- did I pick Auden just because
his daily routine involved having cocktails? Yes... but I deserve it and also, because apparently
this wasn't already a big enough act of self-sabotage, I'm also going to be reading a book
by each of these authors each day so you'll get a kind of mini book review as well, so tomorrow's
day one. Tomorrow I follow the daily routine of Haruki Murakami and I am dreading it. [Intro] on tonight's
program ladies and gentlemen we have something that's going to make you sick...... [alarm beeps] Oh, I hate myself.
Oh man. These video concepts always seem like such a good idea when I come up with them. Oh
god, it's so bright, oh man. It literally burns. I've gotta work for five to six hours and --
you
know what? -- that's the last thing I want to do. Okay, I've been working for like six hours now and
it's only 10am. I feel very smug that I've been up since 4am, but equally I feel very, very tired. I also just wanted to quickly let you know that today's video is in partnership with Skillshare,
so thank you so much Skillshare for sponsoring it and we'll talk about them a little bit later
on. Okay, it's now time for the dreaded moment -- I am going to run Haruki Murakami's daily 10 kilometre
run. Am I going to run through Regent's Park just in the hope of seeing some dogs? Yes. Am I saying
that i'm running 10 kilometres instead of 6 miles because 10 is a bigger number? Also yes. And I
think this could be what I talk about when I talk about DYING, and we'll see how that goes. [Music] Okay we're halfway
and my feet feel like they're gonna fall off. So that's good, we are done. There's my route, um, I
appreciate that route makes absolutely no sense and that's basically because I decided that if
I didn't plan then my brain would be so busy working out the route that I just wouldn't think
about the fact that I was running. Did that work? No, and so I ran the 10k or six miles in 47 minutes
and 51 seconds which I'm pretty chuffed with I'm not gonna lie. So I'm currently chugging this water
and the reason I don't look like a complete mess right now -- just an average-sized mess -- is because I
actually finished the run like two hours ago but just as I was walking back to my house, walking
down the street was one of my friends from uni and so we ended up going to the canal and
having a massive catch-up. It was so nice, such a weird coincidence but, um, yeah that was
so lovely. So she saw me in my sweaty, exhausted state so you don't have to! She really took one for
the team. But I am absolutely shattered. Imagine a piece of glass near an opera singer singing their
highest possible note... that's how shattered I am, and I think I might have mentioned this while I
was running but genuinely my feet went completely numb, like I could not feel my feet for about half
of the run and normally I would have just stopped, but because of the pressure of filming I just
carried on for some reason, and I'm glad I did it but, um, oh my gosh -- my feet! It was the weirdest
sensation ever and I would suspect not a good thing. And can I just say I've got to look after
these babies because someone made an account for me on a fetish website. Genuinely, I don't know
if this is something I should be proud of but my feet have a higher average rating than my literal
book -- like the book that I wrote -- so, you know, these feet are my greatest asset apparently. So let's do
a review of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Now, listen, I know this is gonna sound so
stupid because this book literally inspired this whole video, but I did not really enjoy this book ...
at all. I don't want to use the word "pointless" but I am putting it out there. Normally i love Murakami.
I think that he creates these fascinating, bizarre characters in every single one of his books but
this book, for me, was just not it -- just because this really is a collection of short extracts
about Murakami's journey with running from his first ever jog to his first ever marathon. The
experience of reading this book to me was the same as when you go to a house party -- remember house
parties, weren't they fun? Isn't that nostalgic? -- and you would get stuck talking to someone that
you barely know and you'd be in the corner of the room and they're telling you about their hobby
that you really don't care about... that's what this book felt like to me. This felt like I was stuck
in small talk with Haruki Murakami and there are so many things I would love to know about Murakami
but it just-- it wasn't this. And I cannot see myself recommending this to anyone really. Maybe I'm just
bitter that this man made me wake up at 4am today, but following his recommendation I'm going
to spend the evening listening to Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Gorillaz, and Beck and the Beach
Boys, and reading, and then going to bed at 9pm. Honestly today has been pretty terrible
actually, like, I'm just so tired. I don't know, I guess somewhere between waking up at 4am
and then doing a 10k run just wipes me out so Murakami's daily routine is going to be a big fat
no from me. Also I just had a massive nosebleed but I feel like i can't really pin that on Murakami.
I imagine this kind of routine could work for you, but then what happens if you have one late night?
Like, you're screwed! So, I don't want to do this ever again. Thankfully all of the other routines
wake up slightly later than this so I will see you tomorrow. Hello, it is day two! I am very excited
for today's activities mostly because it doesn't involve any running whatsoever. So today we
are following Maya Angelou's daily routine and what Maya Angelou would do is she would rent
a hotel room in her local area. She wouldn't stay the night, she would just go there for the day
and I think the idea behind this is to get a kind of work-life separation and balance, and so I
am going to give it a go, and I've rented a hotel room on this website called Dayuse where you can
basically just use a hotel room for the day, not the evening. I didn't know that this existed until now,
but there really is a website for everything, so that is today's plan! Well look who it is! Okay, so
I've arrived at my hotel now and I've accidentally booked somewhere so bougie! I mean look at these
cabinets... that is nice! I've been here about five minutes and I've already hit my head on this
about 12 times -- ow! So the one thing you will notice is that the room is very, very pink and I cannot
believe how nice it is -- like, look at this bed! This is so beautiful and genuinely this was the second
cheapest place on the website, so then we have this sliding door -- yes, I do feel powerful, thank you for
asking. And look at this little area! I have to say, i probably should have checked that the room I
was staying in had a desk since that's, like, the whole point. But this table will definitely do, and
then we have this little kind of kitchenette which is so nice. Here's my view -- honestly I absolutely
smashed this -- and the downstairs and the lobby and everything was so nice as well. And then finally
the bathroom is blue! The block colors actually are making me feel like I'm in a music video, so here
I am, this is what I look like just in case you, uh, forgot. And then this is the bathroom, of course
I've christened it already. Very swish tap and this of course is a fantastic feature -- look
at this! "Who gives a crap premium toilet paper" -- that's right guys, now that i've hit 400,000 subscribers I only use the premium stuff. But yeah, I can see why Maya Angelou was into
this. So this is Bermonds Lock in Bermondsey and the reason I chose Bermondsey is because my family
are actually from here originally. My grandmother -- so my mum's mum -- actually grew up on a council
estate really close to here before they all kind of moved down to Sussex which is where i grew
up and my great-grandmother -- Nanny Glad -- she used to talk about Bermondsey with such fondness and
she was so proud to be from here and so when I saw Bermondsey on the website I was like "I have to
come and stay here". Obviously it's so different now and so gentrified, but it's really cool to
come to a place where my family is literally from. So I recently listened to Maya Angelou talking on
the BBC World Book Club and I don't know if any of you have ever felt this but have you ever fallen
in love with the way that someone talks? Like, the way that they string a sentence together is just
so elegant and exquisite and beautiful -- that's how I felt about Maya Angelou and instantly I just
wanted to read everything she'd ever written, so I ordered three but this is the first one I've
got around to reading. I just finished it just now in my bougie new apartment. This is Letter to my
Daughter and this book just feels like a warm hug, genuinely. So Maya Angelou has a son but she never
had a daughter and so this is basically a letter to the women of the world who she sort of inherits
as her daughters by giving this wisdom and her advice, and she's lived such a fascinating, complex
life and existence, and it's so interesting to read about. It feels so honest and compassionate and
inviting so I enjoyed this so much and I am now a Maya Angelou stan. So I would recommend, and I also
feel like this is the kind of book that you would read and reread and reread again, and now I cannot
wait to read "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"! Okay, so I was just sitting here doing my work and I
was thinking to myself "who would rent a hotel room just for the day?" and then i realised the
usual kind of clientele for this kind of thing is probably prostitutes, porn stars, or people having
affairs... and now I feel so weird about doing this, especially because I turned up with my camera. And,
now that I think about it, when I checked in the lady at the desk was like "oh, are you expecting
a guest?" and I was like "no, no, just solo today!" So, um, yeah. Now one thing Maya Angelou would
do is she would remove the art from the walls in the hotels that she would stay in, basically
so she had, like, a blank canvas for thinking. We're not going to do that because I will break
it and the trick, I think, in life is to know your own limits, know your own capabilities. And let's -- ow!
What I was going to say is "let's get working!" Listen I was gonna get my money's worth, so I
found that there's a gym -- like a fitness suite -- that I could rent out, and now I have the sole
use of this whole place! How cool! That's right, you've heard of "hot girl summer", now get ready
for "going from a 4 out of 10 to a 6 out of 10 men spring" -- listen it's not quite as catchy but
I'm working on it. I had a great gym session, a wonderful shower, and unfortunately I will not
be sleeping in this bed because Maya Angelou would not have done that. She just stayed in these
hotels for the day, and that is breaking my little heart because that, I imagine, is really comfy.
I haven't even let myself sit on it because I don't want to know if it's comfy. I don't want to
know. I would actually say, though, I have been very productive today in terms of work, and I can
definitely see why Maya Angelou does this, but I do not have the funds for that, so, uh, I'm gonna
go. I am going to pack up my stuff and let's go. I'm home.. I'm not happy about it, but i am home. I'd very
much like to be sleeping in that hotel bed but you know what? It's fine, it's fine, it's fine. This
has been day two, this has been living as Maya Angelou and I will see you tomorrow for day three!
Good morning, today is day three and today -- just to mix it up a little bit -- I'm going to be following the
daily routine of one of my least favourite authors, Sorry, sorry, this is controversial, but that author
is Charles Dickens. One thing I am pleased about is that he wakes up at 7am like a normal human,
so he would get up at seven, he would then work for the day and then, in the afternoon, he would go
for a three-hour walk around London. We're now out of lockdown so everything is opening back up and
there are so many independent bookshops I really want to go to, so that is the plan. Do you want to
come with me? You actually have no choice. Okay, so I've made it to Finsbury Park -- here's some cherry
blossom -- and I'm listening to the audiobook of a Tale of Two Cities because i was finding reading
it kind of boring, not going to lie. So I'm hoping that the audiobook is going to help me finish
this book, but right now I'm in Finsbury Park because i'm looking for this bookshop which is
also a cafe. It's called BookBar and I just think it's the best idea ever -- it's literally combining
the two things that I love the most: books and bars! It's the dream combo -- honestly name a more
iconic crossover. You thought Avengers was good, i'm excited for this. So I'm currently using my DofE
orienteering skills to try to locate this place, so fingers crossed I can find it and
fingers crossed they're open. Oh my god, there she is -- wow thanks a lot. So this
is the store and look how lovely this is. Oh my god you guys, BookBar was everything
I've ever wanted and more. We also had a really good chat with Chrissy who's the owner and she's
recently set it up -- it's only been open for a few weeks -- and, yeah, it was just so cool and I did make
a purchase. In fact, I actually joined the book club that BookBar has and this is the first month's
book. So you know when something is so beautifully wrapped you don't want to destroy it. Independent
bookshops are just the best thing, and I always think that the people who run them are just so
lovely. It's the best experience ever, so get out there and go to an independent bookshop if you get
the chance this week. And this is the book -- this is Small Pleasures by Claire Chambers. Firstly, that
has to be one of my favourite book covers of all time -- that is absolutely stunning! "Long-listed for
the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2021, this is set in 1957 in the suburbs of South-East London" so very
excited to read that, and quite enjoyed my little three-hour excursion -- thanks Charles Dickens! One
thing I unfortunately did not enjoy so much was this book: A Tale of Two Cities. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I honestly had exactly the same response to this as i had to Bleak House and Great Expectations,
like, I can appreciate the sheer talent that Charles Dickens had -- he crafts these really rich
mosaics, there's so many characters and so many different events, so many different story lines,
and this chorus of characters collide -- but I just don't enjoy reading it. I can kind of see why this
was serialised in magazines and newspapers when it was first written, kind of like the victorian
Coronation Street, and I'm glad I've read this book because it is so iconic, like the first line "it was
the best of times, it was the worst of times" is one of the most legendary first lines in any piece
of literature ever. And i've given Charles Dickens so many chances now but I'm- I'm done. I'm breaking
up with Charles Dickens. So, yeah, I'm tapping out. Good morning! Today we are going to be living like
Ernest Hemingway. I say "we" -- I feel like you're not really pulling your weight here. I feel like I'm
kind of doing all the work. Anyway, I am currently reading A Moveable Feast, and this is all about
his time in Paris! It's kind of like a memoir and, um, I've just got to the bit where he meets F.
Scott Fitzgerald and the descriptions are just incredible. I really love this author -- he's my
Ernest Heming-bae -- however I am not so excited for what is yet to come. Also, I am absolutely ecstatic
to let you know that today's video is sponsored by my friends over at Skillshare -- you know I love
Skillshare! This is an awesome platform with hundreds of courses designed for curious and
creative people. There's such a range to choose from but the course that I'm currently taking is
hosted by the icon that is Roxanne Gay -- she's the author of the hugely successful book Bad Feminist
and she talks about crafting personal essays with impact, and honestly it's just so cool getting to
hear this established author talk about how she constructs her writing from the very first draft
all the way to getting published. So, if Skillshare tickles your pickle then you can click the link
in the description down below and the first 1,000 people to click it will get a free Skillshare
premium membership, so get on it! Right now is the perfect time to learn a new skill or get better
at the ones that you already have, in classes designed by experts in those fields. So take this
as your sign to get cracking -- love you Skillshare! So, Ernest Hemingway would work standing up and
so I've kind of constructed this makeshift setup where I've got a cardboard box on top of a cabinet
and then my laptop balancing on that, however I've been doing this for an hour and a half now and
it is killing my back, and i've been having back issues anyway -- my back is sore from carrying
youtube.com -- that's a joke! And so, to be honest, I'm thinking there's no Heming-way that I can carry
on with this, so I'm actually just gonna give up and, also, if you are interested in reading his work I wouldn't necessarily start with A Movable Feast. It's more for, like, the die-hard Hemingway fans. You
know, would I say I'm a die-hard fan? Not quite. It is interesting, but it's mostly autobiographical
so I would recommend his fiction instead. Good morning treacle -- today we are living like W. H.
Auden. Now, here's the thing, Auden would wake up at 6am and I had the intention of waking up at
6am and the alarm went off, I just then snoozed it for several hours. But, minor details, the important
thing is that we're here now and we all have our health. So, apparently, Auden would start each day
by doing a crossword which I assume is to kind of stimulate his brain and get his brain ticking at
the beginning of the day and, normally, my brain does not function until like at least midday.
So I was thinking "where the hell am I going to get a crossword from?" I went downstairs and look
what had come through my door -- this one here says "quick crossword" which is bold of you to assume
that I will do this quickly. Also, you can text five pounds for a clue -- as if I would pay five pounds
when I could just Google it. Listen, work smart not hard. Okay, so I am not the worst at this, but my
attention span is like the length of a TikTok. So I'm getting kind of bored, I think we're gonna
leave it there, so that there are no cross words about the crossword, and also I do need to start
work at some point. Yo be fair, the best thing about this is that the answers aren't in here, so I'll
never know if i am stupid. I'll just assume i'm really clever just for doing the bare minimum -- oh
wait, maybe the answers will be in tomorrow's paper! Yeah, I just won't buy it -- I'm telling you, work
smart. not hard. Okay, so it's quite a lot later on now, and I've basically been working all day in
my publishing job, so now that i finished my day of working with books we are going to do what Auden
would have done at the end of a day of writing books and that is making a cocktail! So I've gone
for a bit of a rogue one but my cocktail of choice is going to be a mango daiquiri. Will it go wrong?
Probably. But there's only one way to find out. Huh, so I've started by chopping up my mango -- mango is
in here -- then I'm going to add lemon juice, some ice, and also the spicy water. Let's just say it rhymes
with "quite dumb" -- I'm not gonna lie I just kind of completely guessed the quantities required for the
lemon juice and the devil liquid because, in the words of Nigella Lawson, "recipes are for wimps" -- she
never said that but, um, let's just pretend she did. Victory! Okay, here we go, let's all just
agree to pretend I'm not sitting here in my apartment alone drinking a cocktail...
cheers! Here goes absolutely nothing. Wow, okay. I might have made it a little strong, but
it's good! Okay so I know that Auden had no role at all in designing this cover because he's -- well --
dead, but this is a thing of beauty! My compliments to the chef. I've just finished the collection,
it's so versatile and inventive, it uses a lot of kind of traditional meters and forms and
Auden is the king of the elegy. This was just a masterclass in poetry writing, honestly there
are so many beautiful lines. "In time, pretending to be blind, and universally unkind might really
send us out of our mind" -- it's so, like, tasty on the tongue. Speaking of tasty -- cheers! This is just a
bit too delicious. You know when it's dangerous how tasty this is? Anyway, I hadn't really read much of
Auden's poetry even though I did my dissertation on Christopher Isherwood who was, like, his best
pal, so I'm pleased to have finally picked this up and this has been my favourite daily routine so
far. Auden was just doing his crosswords, drinking his cocktails and vibing, and that is a routine I
can get behind. So, I'll drink to that! Auden, RIP, you would have loved the Jack Edwards youtube
channel, and I'll see you all in the morning... I hope. Good morning friends -- today we are living
like the queen of English Literature... not Rupi Kaur. It is, of course, the woman on the ten pound
note Jane Austen! So this is Jane Austen's daily routine: "she would wake up early before the other
women were up" -- since I don't live with any women I just took this as I can wake up at whatever
time I want. "She then played the piano" -- don't have one of those, slight technical difficulty.
However one thing I would like to do is: "at 9am she organized the family breakfast, her one major
piece of household work" -- and that, I'm down for. So let's get cooking, good looking! Alright guys, it's
all happening. There we are -- wow, these -- uh -- spot the difference games are getting harder and harder, huh?
Ta-da, "wow", look it's-- it's a candlelit breakfast! By the way, that strange, strange man that you
saw me cooking breakfast for is my housemate Adum -- he's finally back in London and so i'm
not living on my own anymore, which is so, so nice and also he has just released his debut
single on Spotify! It's called "Help Myself" -- you would have heard it throughout this
video, it's an absolute bop! And yes I do have it in my head constantly, so if you want to
stream it and get it stuck in your head as well, head to-- I'll leave the link, uh, down below,
um, and go stream it on Spotify because it's wonderful! Anyways, today's book was this one:
this is Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I really enjoyed reading this because Jane Austen has this
incredible ability to create characters you just despise. So there is this bloke in this novel
called John Thorpe who is just the worst-- the categorical worst. I'm telling you, if he was alive
today he would be Union Jack Twitter. He just is an ar**hole, he's a misogynist, he's a gaslighter. He is the worst and, even though I hated this man so much, I think that is testament to Jane Austen's
ability to create believable characters who you genuinely feel real emotions for. Basically the
story is about a woman called Catherine who is experiencing fashionable society for the first
ever time. I thought it was witty and charming and silly and I really enjoyed it. So that is the
final book, and the final day of this silly little challenge, this silly little video. This turned
into a much bigger commitment than I thought it would be when I first kind of had the idea, but
for some reason i never learn and I keep setting myself these silly challenges so subscribe if
you want to see the next one! I'm also doing a big book giveaway over on my Instagram when i hit
100,000 followers and we're very, very close, so if you'd like to check that out then please
go and give me a follow! And you can enter the competition when it's up in the next few days.
What did i learn from this? Um, I learned that three hour walks around london are lovely in the spring,
cooking breakfast is a way to keep your housemates happy i learned that waking up at 4 am and running
10k and standing up whilst working do not make me happy, and staying in a hotel was really good fun.
So actually it's been quite an eventful week, so thank you so much for watching this video. Thank
you for the continued support on this channel, it's absolutely blowing my little brain, and a huge
shout out to Skillshare for sponsoring this video and making it all happen -- the link will be down
below if you want to be in the first 1000 people to get a free trial of Skillshare premium. As
always you can give this video a big, fat, juicy thumbs up if you enjoyed it -- I love you all to
the moon and back, and I will see you next time! [Outro] On case I don't see you good
afternoon good evening and good night
