Who is she? Why? I don't know. We start with a girl who is being let out of... jail? There's something where they're like running up a hill? Hi everyone. Oh my God, I'm so scared to make this video. Welcome, hi, my name is Cari, thank you for being here. Today we're going to embark - we're going to, I don't want to say embark on a journey - we're going to test myself. We're going to expose myself. And hopefully just have a little conversation about something that I found really interesting. It's something that's kind of been going around the book community recently. I thought the conversations that we had - I posted a real and a Tik Tok of it and the conversations that were had were really interesting and things that I never even thought of came up and and yeah I just think the comment section of this video will be quite fun and eye openening hopefully to people. But just before I dive in, before I forget, I would like to give a shout out - God this is horrible - I would like to give a shout out to the sponsor of this video which is Squarespace. They're a service that allows you to host any kind of online presence so I have a personal blog - I've used them for years. caricakes. net, you can check it out. It's just really wonderful if you're looking to set up any kind of website. They have really great free templates that look incredibly professional and for people who aren't good at tech, so easy to set up. They have analytics, things like email subscription lists, they have comment sections and ways to connect your social media platforms, and they also have monetization features if you are trying to open any kind of shop, Etc. They're really wonderful resource so you can go right now to squarespace.com and set up your website for free, check out the free templates I have mentioned and then when you're ready to launch you can go to squarespace.com/caricanread to get 10% off of your first website or domain. I'm a big fan. All that information will be in the description box, thank you as always to Squarespace for supporting this channel. And on to our video. So the topic that I want to discuss, as you might tell from the title, is memory and specifically remembering plots of books and does how much you remember affect whether or not it counts if you're reading. And so there's just so many elements of this discussion that I think we need to pick apart. So just to be clear, before anyone says that I like get the argument wrong - this has stemmed from social media and other people disbelieving or questioning how certain people can read as much as they claim. Specifically I've seen it brought up of people talking about how much they read but they (and this is not, I'm just the messenger) but they are listening to audiobooks at three times speed so they aren't, they can't really be reading if you aren't absorbing it and stuff like that. So that's really where the argument stems from is people who say that they read like 70 books a month and people have problems with that - whether or not people are lying, like I don't really see what people get out of it and I feel like people interacting with their content and saying "you're a liar" is just giving them more engagement which is what they want. If they're lying, that's the only thing you get out of lying about how many books you read is like people engaging with your content. I guess, I don't know - I don't know what there is to gain by lying about that. So that's basically the context from which this argument stems from, but now it has just kind of morphed into this argument of like if you don't really remember a book it doesn't count and in my Reel where I was talking about it, I brought up a quote from Patti Smith in M Train and I remember - I don't remember what happens in M Train let me be clear. I remember there's a scene where she's sitting on a bench, I think she went to Coney Island or something and she sits in the same cafe a lot. That's my memory of M Train. But I remember her talking about how she doesn't remember the plots of many books - like if she's super absorbed in it, she will close that book plot is gone and I felt really seen by that because I'm kind of the same. I wouldn't say I like close the book and the plot is gone but like main character name? Couldn't tell you. And she is a writer and an artist and someone who loves reading so she's clearly not just like frivolously reading a book and forgetting about it or like reading it too fast and not analyzing it. It's like we all interact with reading in different ways and I think that's kind of the main point I'm interested in is like the definitions of all of these words. So like the definition of reading and what counts as reading. I think differs for everybody. So there were a lot of people in the comments saying like well if you don't remember the plot what's the point? And for me it's so much about the emotional impact of a book or perhaps just the entertainment at the time you know? Like maybe I read a book because I was on a really long train ride and I wanted to be entertained and it did the job and that was a time in my life. If I don't remember exactly what the plot was, that's okay you know? And also what was mentioned in the comments which I didn't think of because I don't have ADHD but a lot of people are saying that sometimes they just read books or they're listening to audiobooks as a distraction to like keep their mind at its best operating level you know? Some people need distractions around, that's still reading. So I think that that's one thing that we aren't all agreeing on is that reading can be so different for so many people. And then another definition that I think we're all a little bit varied on, even the people who are like that that doesn't count as reading, is what is memory? How much do I need to remember? If I don't remember every character name, if I don't remember every plot point, every scene - is that enough? What's the threshold for what you remember cause for example M Train, I remember that she sits in a cafe a lot and I remember that she sat on that bench at the beach and that's about it. Is that enough or do I need to know more and who sets that definition of how much you need to know? Like do I need to write a book report about it? Do I need to summarize it vaguely - but what's too vague? What's not enough for you? And then also how long do you need to remember the book for? There are books that I loved in my childhood, love them so much, and as we will most likely see in this video - I don't know if it's on this list, I haven't looked at the list, I got you guys to on Instagram give me books that you know I have read, go through my storygraph or whatever and ask me what they are and I did see one person put one of my favorite childhood book and...Lord help us. But for example I don't know if it's on the list but Inkheart. I loved Inkheart. What is that about? I think a girl's mom went missing and I think oh... there's a character, I think the evil guy's name is Valentine and I only remember that because I did pick it up a couple years ago and I remember reading it being like oh that's weird his name is Valentine but maybe I'm wrong. His name is Capricorn.... That's it. I think the mom goes missing. So does it count? Does it count that I know that I loved that book and like I would recommend it to anyone because it was just such a great fantasy story that I would love to reread again - and it would be great because I don't remember the plot at all. Does that count if I don't remember it now? You know? So I just think like for me I don't care is my kind of point in this discussion - is like I don't care how you read because reading is so private and literally only happens in your brain and I think that's why we all turn to social media or book clubs etc to share our love of books because it is such a strangely kind of isolating thing. Only you are going to experience the book the way that you experience it. Every single person on this planet is going to read the same sentence, the same paragraph and experience it differently - we all see the books in our head (most of us) see the books in our head like a movie - we're all picturing different things and that's wonderful and whatever you do to like gain entertainment or if you're in there for having your world expanded, if you want new ideas, if you want to learn new things - whatever it is that you want to get out of reading, I hope that happens for you and I don't care how you get there. I don't you know, that's my, that's what I would hope most people would say. And again if people are like lying about how much they read or they aren't reading enough for you, just ask yourself why. I don't know it's just not like a big enough deal. So that's basically - so that's my TED Talk, that's what started this whole video idea is just like how much do I actually remember? And I will say that I remember plots much better now that I am talking about books much more - like pre-2020 and even like the first couple years I was on booktube, I had a really hard time remembering plots. I would have to take notes or I would have to look them up again and be like what actually happened to this book? And then usually it would like jog my memory and the plot would start to come back to me. But cold turkey? No, no I could not just like immediately tell you the plot of any book. And I'm getting much better just through practice. If I was just like a casual reader, reading for myself and enjoying the book, I would probably forget most of the plots and I think that's totally fine. So that's my take on it and there were like a lot of really valid comments talking about dealing with ADHD or different kinds of things that affect your memory. Just consider that everyone absorbs things differently and loves things differently. Unless we decide on a very set definition of what remembering a plot is or what reading is for people, I just don't think it's that big of a deal, you know? So anyway that was my very long intro to this video which is testing myself on how much I remember these books. So I asked you guys on Instagram, like I said, to go in and pick books that you know I have read and I will see how much I remember. I'm going to keep - it's either, I don't know which side it's going to be on but whenever I talk about a book I'm going to put the cover in the corner and when I am nearing spoiler territory, because I do want to see how much I remember, if I will be talking about spoilers I will put a like red alert sign up here and so you can like close your ears and cover the screen if you want to and then I will take that little alarm bell off when it is in safe territory. So that's how I'm going to do it. There will most likely be spoilers but I didn't - it's hard to time stamp you know? So that's how I'm going to be dealing with the spoilers but I haven't looked at these at all - I literally opened the responses and then started to screen record and I just went like this...so I have them saved and we're going to begin. Oh my God I'm already scared, oh my God these are good! I'm just looking at the first ones. Let's start. I have no idea how long this video is going to be. Here we go. And we're starting off so strong. Katie, Katie. Sorcery of Thorns. One of my favorite books. A book that I reread last year because because a novella came out that was kind of like it sequel. Sorcery of Thorns is about - I remember names -Elisabeth...oh no. Elisabeth, Silas, no Nath-Nathaniel? Is that that's wrong, oh no okay so, shaky on the names. It's about a girl named Elisabeth who was raised in a library. It is a library full of spell books - grimores - and the librarian's job is to basically keep the grimores in perfect condition because if they get a little bit dusty, a little bit of book mold or whatever, they will turn into these evil crazy things right? And that's all she wants to do in her life is to work at the library, be a guardian, live a quiet life amongst the books. However there is a murder that takes place in the library and she is the top suspect so she needs to go be taken in front of the court of wizards and the boy who comes to pick her - is it Nathaniel? Okay I'm just going to call him Nathaniel - the boy who comes to pick her up, the wizard, is Nathaniel. And as they are going to her court date, things arise and we see that there is a much bigger plot at play. So spoilers is - there is an evil wizard who is trying to use all of the libraries to make like a [pentagram] somehow and do something evil - I don't remember quite what it is. I'm assuming he wants to like be all powerful or something and she manages to save the day because she was raised by the library, the spell books love her, and she is somehow able to slay the grimoire demon and that's it. That's all I got. And Nathaniel has like a whole background, his like death magic thing, Silas is his little demon friend - I think I did pretty good if I don't say so myself. Ellias is coming in here with the sunglasses emoji cuz he knows what he's doing. The Thief Lord, another one of my all-time favorite books when I was a kid - it changed, it was one of those books that like I was just so obsessed that I would read it over and over and over again. It is the header of my channel, if you go to my channel page, the header behind my profile picture is the cover of the Thief Lord. It had such a huge effect on my life okay? It takes place in Venice. Was the younger brother's name Bo? I think it was. I don't remember the older brother's name...no he had a really good name, what was it? It was like a noun. It wasn't like Temperance, it was, no that's proos...Prosper? Prospero? Anyway okay so we got one name down and essentially we follow this detective who is tasked with finding these two boys, these brothers, who ran away because their mom died and the aunt and uncle were only going to adopt the little brother and the older brother was like hell to the no, you're not taking my little brother away so they run away to Venice because their mom always told them that Venice was a magical place and they end up getting kind of adopted by this thief lord, who's just this other kid and like his little group of kids who are pickpockets and all this stuff. So we follow the detective who's looking for them and then we also follow the boys and as they uncover the secret of the thief lord and the spoiler is, the thief lord is actually just like a rich Venetian kid and so the way that he pulls off all of his heists is that he just goes to parties with his parents at these rich people's houses, cases the place, and then either comes back and steals stuff or just steals stuff at the party. That's all I remember. Ooh and there's a boy who's obsessed with boats and radios and then there's a the girl is named Hornet because she has a a braid that looks like a stinger. I just remember loving every little bit of that book. I love it so much. That's the Thief Lord. So...got it. Oh my God okay strange reads came at me with two back to back that I don't remember at all - the first one is the Memory Police. I believe it takes place in the future - it's it's dystopian and I forget either people are slowly forgetting things or like it's illegal to remember or something and our main character is like protecting a family? I don't remember and the ending...they lose their memory right? Like the ending is just her descent, his or her descent into not remembering anything and being like "life is fine, yeah no memories" I think? I don't know. And then kind of within the same vein is the Decagon House Murders - you picked good ones My God. I don't remember - ooh it is about a house mhm. Where a few people go because I think it's haunted, like I think that they're trying to - it's basically like a Japanese take on And Then There Were None and so there's a group of people who go to this house and I don't remember why but they all die one by one and I think they're on an island? And I don't remember who done it. I don't remember anything. That's it, the Decagon House Murders. Ooh buntcake14 you're hitting it - you went far back in my Goodreads holy [ __ ] okay - Mr Popper's Penguins. A man is a plumber and he somehow comes across a bunch of penguins and he makes a penguin friendly environment in his home using his refrigerator I think? And I think he just goes around showing people the penguins, I think. The next one, okay, the Doom Spell. This is a Trilogy - and this is what I mean by remembering things. Like I have such a strong sense of nostalgia when I see those books, when I think of those books - I remember buying them. Like that's a memory I have of these books. I was in the UK and I bought the first book at a bookstore and I was like in third grade I think and I read the first one and we had to go back to get the other ones or maybe it was even like the next time I went to England I picked up the continuation of the series - so I just distinctly remember loving them, I remember that the author wrote these books for his kids which I thought was so great, and I remember it feeling very similar to The Lion The Witch in the Wardrobe? It had a very similar feeling to that and I just remember it taking place in Winter and there was an evil queen and that's all I got for the Doom Spell but I, God, I should reread those books. And then another one from my childhood that this was a book that like I would just pick it up all the time. I don't know why, like I didn't love it but it was just a book that whenever I I needed to I needed a book, I would just open to any random page and read it. I remember it being very short and this was about - it was kind of like a snow white thing where the girl was becoming more beautiful than her either evil stepmother or evil mother. I think she was sent away or like I don't, I don't, I don't know actually. I don't know but the cover comes to mind immediately that's, Beauty. Again, another one I should read. I should actually just reread all these books that I don't remember at all. Stop! And Then He Ate My Boy Entracers. Oh my goodness the Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging series - read them all, ate them up, thought they were the funniest thing the world has ever seen okay? Love those books. The boy entrancers are her fake eyelashes I'm pretty sure. The series just follows this girl named Georgia - and I feel like I remember this a little bit more because I watch the movie like once a year. But we follow a girl named Georgia and these books are basically her diaries as she is a crazy teenage girl. I don't remember anything other than she does get with her sex god lead singer of the boy band character but then I think that doesn't work out and she has this weird relationship with what's his name "the laugh." Something the Laugh was his name. And that's all I know. She had a crazy cat, she had a crazy little sister. But I love them, I had so much fun and it changed my vocabulary. Like oh I'm having a nervy b. Yeah just fantastic fantastic. Carolz - We Hunt the Flame. I made a full video about how much I love this duology. It is about a world where there is this... there's this magical forest surrounding the this town and we need to stop it from spreading or else it's going to swallow the town. And our main girl has this like prophecy told to her that she can, she's the one who's going to fix it so she goes off on a mission but then on our other POV, we have this King who's sending his son to go also find something and kill anyone that gets in the way and this girl gets in the way - but of course he doesn't kill her. That's it, sorry I'm tapping out. That's all I got. That's all I got yeah that's all I got. I'm so sorry. Ooh okay A Curse So Dark and Lonely. I was actually just thinking about this and I don't remember why. This was a trilogy that should have been a duology, I remember that. It's like a Beauty and the Beast retelling. It's about a girl from Washington DC who witnesses a kidnapping and she saves the girl being kidnapped but instead she gets kidnapped and she gets brought to another realm where there is a king, prince, whatever who, Beauty and the Beast style, needs someone to fall in love with him and everything will be good again I guess? And it's him and his like bodyguard. I know there's something else, I know that she rides a horse and goes and sees the villagers at one point. And then as the story continues - bodyguard gets a romance, her brother is like in trouble with a gang or like the cops or something. Spoilers - I believe that she realizes that there's nothing for her in Washington DC, she also has cerebral palsy I'm pretty sure and there's nothing for her in Washington DC so she decides to stay because they did fall in love but the second book kind of turns him into a Tamlin kind of figure, where he is traumatized by almost losing his love or something something and so he's kind of like overprotective and not nice honestly, cuz we get another POV that makes him very not nice. And I don't remember how anything ends - oh I Do, I Do! The Bodyguard I think is the, is a prince of something else? Like another group of people and so he goes off to meet them and there's a war? More is coming back to me, I actually think that he is the rightful leader but then I think he thinks that the main guy, the Tamlin guy, makes a better King and he doesn't know how to tell him that "hey we're half Brothers" - I think? Let me know. The end. All of you sick people putting Six of Crows. Okay Six of Crows was the reason that I started this channel. I was so shaken and so in love - I needed to talk about books with someone so Six of Crows is the reason why I'm here today talking to you. I remember, I remember Six of Crows cuz I've done rereads, I've also watched the TV show. I will say though that I didn't remember like when people complained about certain things in the TV show like the chronology is off or like oh they mentioned this when like actually this was supposed to happen much later - I noticed some of them but not all of them. So I don't remember details. There's one specific scene in Crooked Kingdom where Inej is up on like the top of something like a grainery or something and she's sword fighting another girl or like, you know, a knife fighting another girl. Who is she? Why? I don't know. But that's a scene that like really stuck with me visually. Six of Crows we follow Kaz Brekker who needs to come up with a crew in order to do this one huge heist that is going to be his last big thing, like he could retire or something afterwards. Not that he would want to but he is hellbent on (another leigh bardugo) - he's hellbent on knocking down his rival. We find out why they are rivals, more than just being the heads of opposing gangs, later in the book and with that money he could totally just like torch this man. He gets a crew of Inej, Jesper, Matthias - well all right let's put him down - Nina...oh my God oh my God! Look at this, look at me not remembering! Jesper and Jesper and - literally one of my favorite characters, he's a redhead in the book, it's I'm just blanking on it right now but if you...I'm so sorry to this man. Wylan! Jesus I had an "N" in there for Nina and I thought I was like Nathan Nathan? No Wylan. I'm so sorry. See? Biggest fan. They head to the prison to steal this thing. While they're there, in order to get Nina to join, they had to promise to help jailbreak this guy named Matthias - I don't know if he's going to be important - out of the prison. So he is the sixth Crow. And they have a little Heist. What are they trying to steal? I don't know. I don't know. What are they trying to steal? In the moment I didn't remember but don't worry I remember the drugs - it's all about this amplifying magic, very addictive, I okay guys I'm not - I'm not that - I do remember. I'm sorry and our little Wylan-lookalike whose name off the top of my head I will never remember. I think they're trying to steal a person? They're trying to steal the person who knows how to make this drug I think? But they do it and spoilers - the end of six of crows, just the first book, Inej gets kidnapped. It's all a trap somehow - I forget exactly how but it's a trap! They kidnap Inej. That's how the book ends! I lost my freaking mind - immediately went and got the second book. Actually my mom bought it for me because I was like freaking out. It was one of the first books, ebooks, I ever purchased in my life. Crooked Kingdom - uh we just try to take down the head of the gang. I do, so I remember like the big points I think but who was that girl fighting Inej? I have no clue. Oh my gosh okay this one's a good one because I'm actually going to be restarting this series because I haven't read the second or third book but this the trilogy has now ended and that is Defy the Night. I remember this because it was such a like unfortunate timing for this book. Defy the Night is about a fantasy world where there is some kind of fever or flu or something going on that's like killing a bunch of people. She wrote this book in 2019 before she knew that the world was going to go through something like that and so we follow our two characters who are trying to steal medicine from the wealthy or the royalty and distribute it to the poor who can't access it. Spoilers, the guy who's helping her steal is the prince okay. And then she has to come, she has to go to the castle and live there for some reason? And I don't remember why and I don't even remember how it ends. Like I think that there's some conspiracy where I think that somebody from another country is like manufacturing the illness because they control the ingredients needed to make the cure or the vaccine or whatever. Something like that but anyway it was just very - the reason I remember it is because I just thought it was so unfortunate that she came up with this idea and wrote a relatively good young adult fantasy and it came out in 2020 or 2021 perhaps, so when I was reading it, it was still like especially here in Korea like we were still totally masking like it was very, you know, I was just starting to become the homebody that I am now because I have to go outside every single day or else I feel really antsy - and so I was still in that like transition of learning how to be inside all the time - so it really affected me and I think that's why I remember it more. But in terms of the actual details, sorry. I will know soon because I'm going to be rereading it. The Prison Healer - there is a girl who works in the prison or she is in prison, she is in jail but she's a good healer so they let her work in the hospital wing and there is a woman that gets delivered - she's going to be a prisoner but she's like really hurt so she needs to be healed first. Either she wakes up or she has a note - somehow a message is passed to our girl saying like you need to guard this person and that's it. And she takes it as a sign of her family coming to rescue her because that's what she's been holding out for, is her family coming to rescue her. But then there's this new guy who shows up in the prison...oh what happens? She has to like do something like the royal family shows up - in order, she's like being made an example of so they like put her through all of these tests like trying to kill her and each time she gets saved so like she never used her powers. That's what it was. I didn't like the book because she was just like there around and everyone else like saved her and then there's a huge twist at the end and it just kind of - I didn't really enjoy it. I don't even really remember...the twist like she, I know that she has magic but like her mom was like the head of the the people fighting the royals or something is that right? I don't remember. A Violet Made of Thorns, good Lord, I don't remember. It's about a girl who has some power - oh it's the prophecy! She can make prophecies and so she has been like hired/adopted/raised by the palace because they hope that she makes good prophecies but she's got nothing - her powers are very weak so she kind of makes up fake prophecies and I think that gets her in trouble a little bit. But there's like this one prophecy about the prince that people are really worried about or like it's controversial, I don't know. The prince and her allegedly hate each other and then they they actually love each other and I didn't like it. I remember liking one of the side characters, the prince's guard or friend - I liked him. And I just remember he was a young boy, the prince was a young boy and he was in a carriage and he either - he like saw her on the road or something. Why do I? And then picked her up? I don't remember I don't remember actually. Just.... Oh my God the Wind Up Bird Chronicle. What, what plot? So it's about... I've probably read the first two chapters a million times. I've probably only finished the book once in my life. It is about a man who is just like a ball of nothing, he's good for nothing - typical Haruki Murakami character all right? He doesn't have a job, he's kind of looking for a job but not really. He's kind of, he's doing okay as like a house husband while his wife goes to work every day. And while she's at work, his one thing that he needs to do is find their [ __ ] cat because their cat ran away and there's like this weird alley behind their house that they think he ran off to. So the man has to go search for the cat every day and there's like a well and that's it - oh and then there's a house, something about the house next to the well. All right that's that. So many six of crows you crazy, you crazy guys. Someone did say Inkheart! Adrianillustration, all right yeah. Inkheart, as I said, I think the mom has been missing for a very long time and they go into another world. People are asking for Crave and Zodiac Academy. No. I do remember those but I think only because I do watch my videos back sometimes and so I remember it through that. If you want to know those plots, watch my videos. Oh okay Enchantment of Ravens is about a girl who is mortal, lives near the fae border. Faires cannot make anything so they can't cook for themselves, they can't make music - they can enjoy everything but they can't make it. And so she is an artist - specifically a portrait artist and fae love her cuz she makes beautiful things and one day she gets a commission from this guy, this fairy. It's like very weird vibes. He comes, I think he has to come a couple times to sit for the portrait. She paints it - again weird vibes. He leaves with the portrait, comes back pissed because the portrait showed emotion that like he wasn't expecting - the fairies were laughing at him because his portrait, he looked sad or whatever it was. And so he demands that she come to his court and explain and like apologize and blah blah blah. So then it becomes a journey of this guy taking her to his court to explain herself and spoiler is he is the Autumn King? He's the king of the Autumn Court or the prince of the Autumn Court or something like that. And what happens after that, I don't know. I remember that there's a banquet and she sees the fae as what they really are which is like creepy people made of sticks but in terms of anything else - why are there ravens? Does he turn into a bird? I don't know, I don't remember anything actually. Ooh Sky in the Deep, Sky in the Deep was inspired by Vikings. It's about two different groups of people, tribes if you will. One worships the sea god, one worships the fire mountain god? And they're always fighting. Oh it's coming back - there's a war, the battle scene at the very beginning. This is only going to spoil like the first chapter. There's a battle scene, they're fighting each other and our main girl is fighting her enemies and realizes her brother that went missing, who she thought the enemy killed, is on the enemy's side fighting for the enemy! And so he takes her, kidnaps her, takes her back to their village or whatever and she has to stay there until like A, they trust her and B, I think wait for the snow to melt or something. And slowly but surely she falls in love with someone who is her enemy and they have to bring peace between the tribes there's something about a river? Sky in the Deep, please read it. It was fine. A Deadly Education - I thought that this was, ugh, this was a book that I loved the concept and then I didn't like the second book so I never actually finished the series. But the first book is taking place in a magical world where magic attracts demons or like demon-like things, evil things. And so when magic people enter basically puberty, once they become teens and their magic starts to develop, they give off a very strong magical aroma and they don't have the skills to protect themselves yet so the magical world has created this little like rift, it's like a half dimension and it's a school where they live completely protected from these demons and they study and study and study until finally their last year they get let out and they have to like fight their way out - like most of the kids don't survive the final fight. And if they did survive it means they're strong enough to live in the world with their magic, having to every once in a while fight off demons. And so the whole book is like they just selfstudy and then vaguely have to either fight each other off or fight off these little demons that get through the cracks. And our main girl is obsessed with trying to figure out what's going to happen to her after you graduate because there's all of these different like, I don't remember what they were called - every city has its kind of club, oh I forget the word, if you join one of them they can kind of like help lend you magic and you lend them magic and it's just like a - it's a good thing to be in one of these groups. And so she is an outcast but she's trying to find a way into one of these groups but then I don't remember anything else. I don't remember what - oh some boy saves her life, I think he like won't leave her alone after that and he's kind of like this good at everything kind of golden retriever goofball and I just remember that their food was always poisoned. Like it was a very difficult time getting food at the cafeteria. And then there's some conspiracy about it because like why would you let everyone go at the same time? That's like a huge burst of magic so of course all the demons are going to like congregate and wait there to catch the students. Like if we had a different way of doing this maybe less people would die. That's all I got: Deadly Education. A lot of people asking about Lightlark - I don't remember - I remember the main girl is supposed to be from like the, she's a wildling. She's supposed to be from the wilds and she's a seductress that her main way of seducing people is she just dresses in basically nothing all the time. And all of the like royalty gets sent to to this island to fight each other to like break a curse but I think it's more like if they just worked together they could solve the curse. And there's the sun guy and the darkness guy and I think there's a love triangle there and that's it. That's all and spoiler --- she's betrayed by her best friend but like miles away - saw that coming from the second that character was introduced, I knew I was like oh she's bad. That's all I got. Oh this is a good one - The Sun Bearer Trials. They just announced the sequel, I think it's a duology, I don't know if it's a trilogy or like a series but they just announced when the second one is coming out so it's on the brain recently. Sunbearer Trials is about a world where there are gods and the demigods, like the children of these gods have to go to these trials to become a sunbearer - no it's more than that. They travel throughout the realms and they have a different battle each place that they go and I think that it - I don't remember why I just remember that our main character is like not expected to survive, not expected to even compete. I remember they're like on a boat going to another realm. I just remember really liking it. I remember liking that all the characters acted like teenagers - they really felt like they acted their age. A lot of great discussions - our characters trans and just a lot of great discussion about that and character description wise was very interesting. I remember there's something - there's something where they're like running up a hill? That's all I got but I remember really enjoying it and wanting to continue so...there's a talking parrot? He has wings! No oh oh oh, our main character has wings but they're kind of like not fully formed or something and it's all about you know, I think it's about like self-acceptance but also talking about body dysmorphia and gender dysmorphia and the wings are kind of a symbolism of that. That is my final detail. I'm so sorry. Okay this one same vein as Six of Crows was a trilogy that I loved and I felt like I wanted to do a reread actually recently and that is Gilded Wolves. This is one of my favorite series. We follow a group of friends who are tasked with - oh okay okay here we go - our main character is used to be a part of one of the ruling families or like the kind of high ranked families that control the magic within this world. He lost his spot as a member of his house and so his whole goal in life is to be reinstated as the head of his house, have a seat at the table kind of thing. And so I believe they go on a kind of like heisty thing to reinstate him. They have to find like certain magical objects. Damn it. There's a lot of scenes that take place in the catacombs, there's a lot of scenes that take place in the Paris World exhibition or whatever that took place in the 1800s - it's kind of like belle epoque kind of Paris if I'm remembering correctly. Yes and there's kind of like a tragic betrayal and a tragic end to the first book. And then the second book they are now in St Petersburg - they are again doing something weird where they have to go to this house and again find something, like find a clue and once again there's a betrayal or like a, you know, a twist. The third one takes place in Venice and I don't remember anything about that book whatsoever except for the ending because I didn't like it. But yeah I just remember loving each of the characters. One character is from the Philippines and talks a lot about colonialism and the effects of even though he's fluent in Spanish even though he's like an incredibly brilliant mind, he's never given a proper seat at the table. There's another girl who I believe is on the autism spectrum, I believe her background she's also Jewish and so we talk about all of those things with her. There's a love interest who has a power...ooh I think she's like, she's like a burlesque dancer I think and I don't remember her power but she has one. And my battery is about to die but that's - I've reached the end. I've reached the end. Oh my gosh. The Vanishing Half. Two sisters, twins perhaps. One of which is so white passing that she lives - this takes place in like the 60s I think maybe earlier I'm not sure - but she lives a life letting people think that she is a white woman. Because of that has a very different life from her sister who is a black woman and they're living in LA but their paths never cross - did they even know that they're sisters? And then something happens where their paths converge and voila The Vanishing Half. Haroun in the Sea of Stories. Yes that is one of my favorites. Someone said "you've read it right?" Yes. Again one of my favorite books that I read over and over and over again. This is about a boy whose mother ran away and whose father is like a traveling storyteller and his father gets hired by various politicians to like tell stories at their events and then you know basically use him for entertainment to get people to come to their rallies and stuff like that. They go somewhere for some political thing and then his father loses the ability to tell stories - like he opens his mouth and the magic is gone and then Haroun has to make that magic come back somehow, he has to find the tap - there's I think there's like a legitimate tap that magic comes out of. A lot of it takes place on a boat, on a house boat. There's a bus ride - very treacherous bus ride through the mountains. That's all I got and that's much more than I remember about LuKa and the Fire of Life because there is a sequel and nothing about that book. But I remember loving it so. Serpent and the Wings of Night. I read this so recently, oh God. It's about a girl a human who was raised by her father who was like the king of the vampires and she has been training her whole life because she wants to prove herself in this kind of Hunger Games esque competition against other vampires - so like she is not on equal footing with the competitors but she wants to prove herself and win and like become... that's who becomes the heir to the throne I guess. During that competition, she meets someone and they become, they like begrudgingly become allies and then we enter spoiler territory...and it turns out I forget what his deal is, he was a human and then he got turned but they fall in love whatever and I think the mystery they're trying to solve is like what happened to her and like her mother or something - the humans, what happened to those humans because she believes that she was... oh it's all coming back! She believes that her father, the king of the vampires, saved her but I think it turns out that he actually just like came in and killed her family for shits and giggles or something like that and took her and then at the end of the battle it's them at the end of the like Hunger Games thing - it's like a Peta Katniss situation where it's the two lovers - she kills him but uses her one wish or something to bring him back to life and then he kills her dad. Yep. To Kill A Kingdom. There is a mermaid siren lady and her - in order to become Queen, her mom needs her to gather like X number of Hearts, Royal Hearts, before this time period and so she goes off to kill a bunch of royalty and this one Prince is like "I see what's unfolding and I don't like this, we're going to kill this siren" and they end up working together for some reason and I remember there's a big battle with her mom. Love books. Again that was a book I thoroughly enjoyed. Oh my God we're only halfway through. I think that a lot of these are repeats now let's see, let's see let's see let's see - oh God Weyward. Wwyward by Amelia Hart ,you're the reason I read it and I absolutely loved it. Carly, I don't remember. There are three points of views or three timelines and we follow basically this family of like the grandma, the mom and the daughter and it's about they are witches... that's all I remember. I'm so sorry. I also remember enjoying it. That's all you're getting. Conversations with Friends, oh jeez. I remember not enjoying it. It's about two friends or are they a couple? Were they roommates? Who meet this woman who is an author that they really admire and they start just like hanging out with her all the time. She's an older woman - one of them starts a relationship with the husband, one of them maybe starts a relationship with the wife? And I just remember it not being good like I just didn't like it - I don't remember why. That's it. Miss Sally Rooney. That's all I got. Graceling - oh another one I enjoyed. This is about a world where babies are born...and then they will, if they are blessed, they will show some signs of having a Grace which is a magical power and it could be something like I can make water boil or I can kill anyone with a single touch. And so if you have a baby with a Grace, you have to show them to the royal family and they will decide whether or not they want to like keep you as something useful to them. Our main girl I think has the death touch - she has some power that is very valuable to the king as like a kind of military power. One day, one day...there's, somebody breaks into the palace? They go on some journey together. Suddenly there's a boy, they go on a journey together and they fall in love. There's a random girl that gets picked up along the way, I believe her name is bitter blue. At one point - spoilers - at one point the main guy goes blind and I think he slowly gets his sight back or maybe he doesn't ever get his sight bac,k I don't remember. That's it I'm so - I have no, I don't remember. I just remember they like live in a castle and they were like - there's somebody running around at night? Maybe she's trying to break in somewhere? I don't remember. Oh I love Project Hail Mary! Project Hail Mary was so good. This was about a man who wakes up and he has no memory of where he is, what he's doing, why he's there. And slowly as his memories come back and he kind of explores his surroundings, we realize that he is in a spaceship. He is a researcher who was sent on a mission to save the world. In English we say like a Hail Mary pass which is basically like last ditch effort, right? This is their last shot at saving the world because the sun is like exploding or something - there's a plan put in place but in order to get to where they're going, they needed to be put into a coma and his fellow researchers did not wake up so he is alone in this spaceship where they don't think he's going to make it back in time and if he fails his mission, which he's not really sure what it is, everyone on Earth will die. He ends up meeting up with - I forget how this occurs but he ends up meeting up with an alien who is also trying to save the world but he can't speak - he has something he either can't speak, he's like a rock. I'm pretty sure is he a rock. Hello? Hello hi. Where are you? At home. Oh this is "talk to your husband afternoon time' Oh I love talk to your husband afternoon time. I'm fine I'm filming a video. No, I can pause the video. Do you want to say hi? Oh sure. Say hi. Hi. Thanks. Okay we're back. Oh my gosh The Likeness, Tana French. I remember this one because I've mentioned it multiple times in videos because I liked it so much. Her other ones, all the other books by Tana French I don't remember whatsoever. This is a thriller, this is about a girl who is missing and or killed - no she's definitely dead because they have her body. And so they know that the detective on the case, the young woman detective is like her exact doppelganger, like identical - creepy. Not related but just perfectly identical. And so in order to interview the people at the house and like find out - cuz she was living with, this girl was living with a bunch of her college friends before she died - in order to like interview them and understand the crime, our detective goes and lives with them because they think she's just missing, they don't know that she's dead. Once she gets found out because of course she does, I think that like her life is a little, a little bit in danger? I don't remember who did it but I remember what sets her off - she eats onions or something, like she eats something that the other that the other girl doesn't. I don't know, I feel like the legality of all of that is in question. Weird little book but I enjoyed it but yeah I don't remember who done it and I love that cuz I could read it again. Dance of Thieves, a duology I loved. Don't remember a damn thing. I think a girl is sent to steal something, the prince stops her...oh that's all. Ooh Of Such a Fun Age! I remember this because it took me by surprise. I thought like based on the title for some reason I thought it was going to take place in like the 20s or something - the 1920s but it doesn't, it's present day. Our main girl is doing night classes or something she has like a plan but currently she is a like part-time kind of babysitter nanny for this family who has a little girl. I don't know what the wife does, I think the wife is like a social media influencer. The husband is a news anchor and I think he says something on air that is racist and the police and the journalists storm their house and so kind of middle of the night, the mom calls our main girl to be like listen I just think my daughter is going to be really scared, she's like four - can you come pick her up and just like take her out of the house for a little bit so we can get this settled or like her dad was getting arrested, I don't even remember. But basically can you just like take her out for a bit? So our main girl was just either going or going to or coming back from a party so she was kind of in a party outfit instead of like typical Nanny outfit so when she picks up the girl and takes her to just like the grocery store - cuz her that little girl really likes going to the grocery store and they're walking around - all of a sudden this woman sees like a Black woman in clubbing attire walking around late at night with this little white baby and of course the woman is like "ah she's a kidnapper" or something. The police are called, it's a whole thing, people are filming, she gets rescued by the dad I guess and so then I believe the mom keeps our main girl around and close in order to basically be able to say like but we have a Black friend so we can't be racist. I don't remember anything more than that but I just remember she was being used in that sense but I remember liking it. I just remember going into it thinking like this is not the 1920s. I thought it was going to be about like Flappers... no. I love how there are so many people who are like I don't remember if you've read this like all of our memories are just [ __ ] anyway, Nine Perfect Strangers - this is a thriller, this is by the author of Big Little Lies. It takes place in Australia, it's like a retreat some kind of like meditation health retreat or whatever and I think someone dies? I think it's again another like And Then There Were None situation maybe or maybe just one person dies, I don't remember. Again, me with the thrillers, man. I can reread a thriller like a week after I've read the book. And finally, Throne of Glass. So I have told people that I have read these books. I've given them a try and I did not enjoy them at all so I think I read four potentially. I read at least half of the series. I know that people are like ah you only read the first one, it gets better...I gave it a try. Not for me. So what I remember of Throne of Glass...we start with a girl who is being let out of jail? Which I think was like a hard labor camp or did she escape? Anyway she's out whether she was let out or she got out. She ends up working for the royal family as an assassin and I think she first falls in love with the bodyguard and then she kind of falls in love with the prince. I remember there's some scene where there's like a, now I can't even remember words like a carriage? And I think there's like a bomb in it? That's all I remember. Yeah and I think we learned that she isn't who - she isn't as like normal like just another assassin, she has a deeper a more important history to her. I continued on and once the witches were introduced I was like what the [ __ ] like where are we? What's going on? That I stopped - but yeah that's my grand summary for Throne of Glass. Everyone asking for my plot summary, there it is. There was a carriage that may or may not have had a bomb in it. So there you go. Let me know what you think of my memory and if it counts. Do those books count? I think I actually did better than I thought I would but let me know which books you think I can't count as having read. Or just what your thoughts are on the argument in general. How do you remember books? Do you remember the feeling? Do you remember certain scenes? Do you count that as reading even if you can't tell me the plot? Would love to know your thoughts respectfully - I think that was my first real big experience of Tik Tok like booktok people are a lot less nice than booktube and bookstagram people so that was, yeah I didn't like that comment section so just be open-minded and kind and please know that everyone sees things differently all right? We're not a monolith or else we'd all be writing the same damn books which would be no fun for anyone! So yeah I will catch you guys later - this was so fun. Thank you so much to everybody who sent their suggestions in - I didn't get to everybody but I appreciate it all the contributions. Once again thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video - link will be in the description box but you can go to squarespace.com/caricanread to get 10% off your first website or domain. Highly recommend and now I've got to go. My voice is gone and I'm going to edit this up for you and I will see you guys later. I think my next video is Japan related because by the time you're watching this I will have been to Tokyo for Lunar New Year, we get a big break here in Korea so we're jettin off going to show Kurt Tokyo for the first time, a city I know and love. So that will be fun and yeah so I will catch you guys later okay? Thank you always bye!