I hadn't realised Jack has a thread! I'm absolutely baffled by his approach to booktube. All these challenges and lists - why not just read stuff you like and talk about it? Emmie, one of my favourite booktubers, just reads whatever she wants (and uni stuff) and then talks about it. Sometimes she loves it, sometimes she doesn't, but her reading is organic. Also she's early 20s but also mature and sensible and generally not a complete fuckup like all the UK studytubers lmao. Only being able to read (if he actually is reading it lol) stuff sent to you by publishers or that you saw some B-list celebrity reading just reeks of him not having enough of a brain to decide for himself what he actually likes and dislikes. I can't think of once having heard him talk about reading reviews or literary magazines, going to talks at bookstores, generally engaging with the literary world. Given he's so proud of how much contemporary lit he reads I'd have thought that would be an obvious thing to do. Even though I think it's absolutely fine he doesn't read YA - I don't, doesn't mean I'm not well-read - it's blatantly obvious that the reason he doesn't want to make a video about it is because then he'd have to actually seek out and evaluate information for himself, rather than have it spoon fed to him. He really doesn't have to do anything particularly innovative or creative, just read stuff he's genuinely interested in and then talk about it in more depth. Oh wait...
Jack Edwards #2
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It is because it's all about surface and pretending. Just like Ruby Granger, they have this persona based on studying and LOVING literature that they imprisoned themselves into. Don't get me wrong, I believe they do enjoy literature and reading to some extent but not as much as they make it seem. There's no passion when they talk about what they read, it almost feel like they are forced to do so. Just take any movie or video game enthusiast channel and compare their videos to Jack's ones. He has based his entire personality around being a bookworm and I feel like now he's just over it but can't just stop. Of course this is a personal opinion, but that's truly how I feel about both of them and why we don't see them engaging more with the literary world. I wish he would just switch the focus of his channel and start uploading more vlogs in France ang language learning content.
I'm pretty sure he just straight up stole that idea from uncarley and cari can read because he saw them being successful with this format. Now with Youtube it's hard to say who exactly came up with a specific idea, but let's look at the facts.
Nov 20, 2020 - uncarley's first video, she reads Harry Styles' favourite books
Dec 28, 2020 - Jack reads Harry Styles' favourite books (his first 'celebrity book club' video)
Aug 2020 - cari can read reads books recommended by BTS' Namjoon
Feb 2021 - Jack reads Namjoon's book recommendations (his second 'celebrity book club' video)
March 31, 2021 - uncarley reads Taylor Swift's favourite books
April 10, 2021 - Jack reads Taylor Swift's favourite books (his third 'celebrity book club' video)
There's more overlap between the celebrities Jack and Carley have made videos on, and they collaborated on a Lorde reading challenge, but this one still stood out to me:
Feb 2021 - uncarley reads Camille Rowe's favourite books
Feb 2021 - uncarley reads Kaia Gerber's favourite books
Oct 2021 - Jack reads book recommendations by supermodels, inter alia, you guessed it, Camille Rowe and Kaia Gerber
Literally the 'copy my homework but don't make it obvious meme'. Hell, Jack even has a playlist on his channel called celebrity book club which is the name of Carley's series!
I won't subject myself to listen to Jack talk, so idk if he credits Cari and Carley. He didn't link their videos in the infobox, so I guess not. Obviously content creators hop on trends all the time but I think it's very telling of Jack's character that as a male with a huge platform (his sub count was 239k at the time of the Harry Styles video) he took video ideas from much smaller female content creators without even giving credit.
Also funny little detail, Carley usually reads three books per celebrity, while Jack claims to read every book said celebrity has recommended. Classic.
You know who would have good advice for someone wanting books to read in the YA world? Bookish Realm. She's a good booktuber, and also a real librarian to boot!
John Fish's video 'I Read Every Book Joe from You Recommended' predates all of them - January 5th 2020. It was one of the most successful videos on his channel by a massive margin (getting over 3 million views) so it'd be easy for anyone to see how popular the 'I read the favourite books of fictional characters/celebrities' format would be and run with it.
I don't know if it was smart or stupid of John not to use the idea as an ongoing series himself, but props to him for not running it into the ground and just making new content instead. uncarley even made the exact same 'Joe from You' video a year and a half later with no credit.
In July 16 2020, Jack uploaded 'I read every book Marianne recommends in Normal People'. Same format, almost the exact same title layout. He obviously thought he might get caught doing the exact same video but wasn't overly concerned about doing exactly that with much smaller creators when he started ripping off uncarley's content full-force.
But whoever did it first, Jack did it last every time and there's way too many red flags that he's just lazily stealing all his ideas. I can't wait to see how much he plagiarised for his book, if he ever finishes it.
Oh totally. Although to be fair to Carley, she actually read the books mentioned by the female characters in You, not Joe. So while her videos definitely seem inspired by John's original video (it's pretty much exactly the same format - read a couple of books and then reflect), she is at least creative with it (still think everyone should give credit where credit is due ofc). Jack has just completely ripped off his videos from others. I mean... let me ask the audience:
(Yes, Jack reads exactly the two books that Carley has read in her videos. And yes, that's almost the exact same thumbnail.)
The refusal to give credit is so weird. I watch a lot of ASMR and often an ASMRtist will make a video saying 'I saw xyz channel doing this and thought I'd do my own version', and link the original channel in the description. Two people making videos with the same concept or theme will inevitably be different, especially when it comes to books because assuming they both have critical thinking skills (ok big assumption I know) they will end up having different opinions about whatever they've read. It's literally just an image thing I guess - he's desperate to be seen as being unique or creative, when he really does not need to be. He already has an audience and a following, it would not be that hard for him to say 'this video is inspired by xyz, go check out their version to compare our responses'. He's very unlikely to lose loads of followers because of a lack of originality. It would even make a really easy way of doing regular collabs - 'we both read books read by <insert B-list celebrity here>, here's how we each responded'. I get that he wants to seem 
different (though anyone who knows anything about lit already knows he's incapable of producing a half-way original take on literature), but I really don't think anyone actually cares about how original his video concepts are.
different (though anyone who knows anything about lit already knows he's incapable of producing a half-way original take on literature), but I really don't think anyone actually cares about how original his video concepts are.Not the jobless 23 year old giving out advice about your twenties.
To add to the copying conversation, the idea was possibly taken from Leena norms twenties tool kit series? lol
To add to the copying conversation, the idea was possibly taken from Leena norms twenties tool kit series? lol
Im so sure he only started calling the series celebrity book club after uncarley did too !!!
Big fan of the fact that the books he chose for his 'books to read in your 20s' are mostly just some recently hyped releases - Sally Rooney, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, Assembly, Pure Colour etc. If he didn't read it in the last 3 months it doesn't exist lmao. Also did he pronounce Sheila 'Shy-la'? Or did I imagine that? Ruby's pronunciation issues are spreading 
Seriously, are there even book tubers that just read what they like regardless of when it was released or how hyped it is? I'm sick of hearing the same titles over and overBig fan of the fact that the books he chose for his 'books to read in your 20s' are mostly just some recently hyped releases - Sally Rooney, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, Assembly, Pure Colour etc. If he didn't read it in the last 3 months it doesn't exist lmao. Also did he pronounce Sheila 'Shy-la'? Or did I imagine that? Ruby's pronunciation issues are spreading
I tried watching it but he's just excruciating to listen to. One minute in and he's dropped multiple terrible puns and dug up old meme one-liners.Big fan of the fact that the books he chose for his 'books to read in your 20s' are mostly just some recently hyped releases - Sally Rooney, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, Assembly, Pure Colour etc. If he didn't read it in the last 3 months it doesn't exist lmao. Also did he pronounce Sheila 'Shy-la'? Or did I imagine that? Ruby's pronunciation issues are spreading
I made it through the Cleopatra and Frankenstein discussion. It's a book about two characters who impulsively get married for green card purposes - one of those very relatable situations that everyone finds themselves in during their twenties. Also there are other characters who have problems and have different financial situations. Mental health is explored and sex is had.
All of this information is mentioned in the official plot blurb. Jack offers no further details beyond that and doesn't remotely explore why it's an essential book to read in your twenties. Is this just "Some More Books I Didn't Read: A Jack Edwards Video" again?
And then he shoehorns another predictable reminder that he lives in Paris and I bailed immediately. They need to start a Razzie Awards equivalent for YouTubers because good lord is he insufferable.
Yeah it's almost like he decided which books to put in the video and then read them (or pretended to). And the choices are definitely too trendy, especially considering that type of video is supposed to have some longevity. It's not "books you should read if you're early/mid twenties in 2022"! His video will be outdated in a year (at the latest).
I also feel like it's kinda pretentious for him to make this when he's only 23? It'd make more sense for someone in their late 20s/early 30s?
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yes I watch quite a few lit fic types who do just that...not the name brand booktubers per se.. i don't watch most of those as they read YA or fantasy or romance... other genres that are not my tasteSeriously, are there even book tubers that just read what they like regardless of when it was released or how hyped it is? I'm sick of hearing the same titles over and over
hasn't Leena Norms done this??
That's what I thought but I had a look on her yt and couldn't find a 'books in your 20s' video? But yeah, her 20s toolkit series is what I had in mind when I said that, it makes sense for her to make 20s advice videos because she's 31 (?) and had normal real-life experiences in her 20s
This format is popular on booktok rn (not sure who started it though) but as per usual, he doesn't give credit
Jack's reasons for not wanting to read a book:
Jack's reasons for not wanting to read a book:
- don't like the cover
- don't know how to pronounce the title
Deeee YEW ne..
don't get me started about I just don't like the covers.. how many ppl (not me) hate the Neopolitan Quartet by Ferrante covers?
there's a million reasons not to read To Paradise.. it's rit would be much better reason than the cover
Also Richard Osman's books are not aimed at Millenials... they are cosy murder mysteries so of course the likes of the Kardashians havent read them
HUGE on Tiktok is not an indication of a books literary merit..
don't get me started about I just don't like the covers.. how many ppl (not me) hate the Neopolitan Quartet by Ferrante covers?
there's a million reasons not to read To Paradise.. it's rit would be much better reason than the cover
Also Richard Osman's books are not aimed at Millenials... they are cosy murder mysteries so of course the likes of the Kardashians havent read them
HUGE on Tiktok is not an indication of a books literary merit..
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In the video about books in your 20s he also copies Dakota's annoying way of describing things. I swear I heard her say "punctured my soul" or some weird tit like that before. Jack not only copies video ideas but also the way he speaks. Maybe he is an 
after all?
after all?Na, he's not an alien. Just a pretentious cockwomble.In the video about books in your 20s he also copies Dakota's annoying way of describing things. I swear I heard her say "punctured my soul" or some weird tit like that before. Jack not only copies video ideas but also the way he speaks. Maybe he is an
I vote this for his next thread!Na, he's not an alien. Just a pretentious cockwomble.
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