- Hi!
Welcome to my YouTube channel,
which has been highly requested.
Yes, there are going to be
subtitles on every single video,
but I want to make these
as inclusive as possible.
Today I'm gonna start off
with a good old book review,
because why not start with this?
Why not just go in,
what I originally started
the TikTok channel with.
It's not what my claim to fame is,
but don't worry, we'll get there, too.
So, today, I want to review "By the Book"
by Amanda Sellet.
I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.
It follows a
fresh,
sophomore Mary Malcolm-
Porter.
I almost said Mary Malcolm-Dixon.
That's not a- Is that a thing?
Mary Malcolm-Porter, she's
a sophomore in high school,
and this is her first time at
like, a public high school.
And she has this very literate family-
Literate?
That implies that everyone
else is illiterate.
Her family loves literature,
and they all have classics that they like,
you know, and everything.
She basically befriends
these lovely girls,
and they use her knowledge of, like,
men and women,
people,
in classical literature to kind of analyze
the high school field.
It's slightly "Emma"-esque.
They just, like, pick guys,
like, "Oh! They're this character!"
But, of course, what happens
is Mary writes off this one guy
as this arrogant,
Casanova
type,
and all of the girls
in the group were like,
"Yeah," like, "We support you!"
You know, and everything,
and they go about this lovely journey.
Arden, one of her friends,
creates like a season for her,
which, a season in classical
literature back in-
Back in the day!
I say back in the day
because I just don't know the dates, okay?
So, I just-
I hope I still sound smart
as I say back in the day.
But, anyways-
Oh!
I am burping!
A season is basically, like,
when
a lady is eligible now for
a significant other,
so there's a season of, like,
meeting people, going to
balls, you know what I mean,
to get married,
because you're an asset,
and marriage is financial
and nothing more than that
usually back in the day.
Any who, so they aim to
have a season for Mary.
And Mary is
very intelligent,
but when it comes to
like, the dating realm,
things just kind of like
go right over her head.
They went over my head
for a little bit, too,
I'm gonna be honest.
When I picked up this book,
I honestly thought the protagonist
was gonna be in like,
college or something.
I was wrong.
And that was- That was
fine, that was fine.
So, it was interesting
because I go from reading, like,
YA Fantasy, and like,
adult contemporary romance,
and then I get to, like,
high school.
And it's this like,
beautifully
naive
and young,
and
innocent love,
and it honestly made me
reminisce about, like,
my high school experience with people.
And it just- It gave me
those like, butterflies.
And- I mean, like, nothing
saucy happens, guys.
'Cause she's a sophomore,
and she's never dated before,
so we're not gonna see, like-
You know, like, all the time.
It was a nice reprieve from the-
The saucy books. The really-
I mean, I just read "A Court
of Frost and Starlight,"
which was like, a slice
of life for ACOTAR.
The amount of times that Rhysand
talks about wanting to
have sex with Feyre.
God damn, this guy is, like,
that's all he's thinking about.
Like, when he was like,
like, "I took her in the sky."
What?
This dude is so horny! Anyways-
It was really nice to read this,
because it was less about sex
as it was more about, like,
first time dating when you're young,
and she has, like, this big family,
and it's nice to see the
dynamic between the family,
and what not.
Ugh!
I think if you love
classical literature, too,
this is definitely a plus,
because then you'll get way
more references than I got.
I mean, I got some! I
got some, I'm not gonna-
I got some references.
I did not get all of them.
And that's okay.
'Cause when I really
started diving into reading,
it was Sci-Fi at first,
and I don't see Mary Malcolm-Porter,
you know,
quoting-
I'm now blanking on every Sci-Fi author.
Edgar Rice Burroughs?
He's one, right?
Isaac Asimov! There we go.
There we go.
Mary Mal- Mary-
Mary Porter-Malcolm!
(Ethel screeches)
I've been mispronouncing-
I'm the CEO of mispronouncing names,
and like, mixing up-
Oh my gosh.
Mary
Porter-Malcolm.
Okay, that's it.
Ugh.
The love interest?
Blond.
And, if you've seen my TikTok on ACOTAR,
you know that
I'm partial
to
other hair colors.
According to the illustration,
the protagonist is like an ashy blonde
with like, curly hair.
But he was written in a way
that made me fall in love with him.
Um, as each chapter went.
And he was written in
a way where, at first,
I was like, "I agree with Mary,
he's
a Casanova piece of scumbag."
That was harsh. That was harsh.
But, I was like, "I
agree! I agree with Mary."
And then, as time went on,
I was like, "Now, wait."
"Now wait just a minute here."
Like,
something-
Something's a little off, in a good way.
Just like, the innocence of like,
young dating where it wasn't-
It wasn't necessarily about like,
"Can I get in your pants?"
See, now I'm reminiscing,
and now I'm just smiling.
Like a dork.
But that's what this
book made me feel like.
Mary
does not speak like a
sophomore in high school.
She speaks like a sophomore in college.
Because of
her background
and her family,
and both her parents, I
believe, are professors.
So she speaks
maturely,
which is juxtaposed to like,
her lack of experience
in the dating realm.
And so it's-
It's so beautiful to see this naivety-
Naivety? Is that how you say it?
I don't know,
I'm trying to sound very
intelligent right now.
Her like, super intelligent brain
when it comes to literature,
and so,
it's-
It's very interesting. I like that.
We stan multifaceted
female characters!
There's not many non-white
people in this book.
That's, uh-
But, uh-
The family is
white,
and the love interest is white.
(Ethel clears throat)
And, I mean,
most of the friends are white.
I think- I think that's
like a good topic, though,
to bring up,
especially with like,
classical literature,
because
it wasn't till I got to high school
junior year
that there was classical literature
not written by a white person
that I was told to read.
And so, it-
I-
That's an issue,
because how do we,
as a Eurocentric society
choose what's classic.
(Ethel clears throat)
Welcome to my YouTube channel!
Um,
and,
I hope to see you back here soon!
And, in the meantime,
go check out my TikTok!
How about that?
Mm-hm.
Mm-kay.
Next up, I'll be reviewing
the ACOTAR series,
which is going to be
probably very, very salty.
I will be reviewing
the "Folk of Air Fair"-
"The Folk of Fair Air"-
The Holly Black series,
"The Cruel Prince,"
"The Wicked King,"
and "The Queen of Nothing,"
you know what I'm talking about!
You know what I'm saying!
Um, I'll be reviewing that, "Well Met."
But, I have books written
by people of color
that I need to get to
before I go any further into
the white authors realm.
So, I will be-
I'll be reading those, too,
so that'll be fun to share with you guys.
And buy from independent bookstores
when you can, please!
Thank you for everything.
Toodaloo, now I'm gonna go to TikTok.
Now I gotta record that separately
because this camera's
not being a team player!
Bye!
(classical music)
