Booktube, like any other niche on the internet, follows the 80/20 principle. 80% of it is annoying, obnoxious, and boring. But 20% of it shows nuance, intellect, flavour, and personality. In the interests of cutting through the noise and sharing the book-related YouTube channels that deserve the most attention, here are 6 Booktubers that every bookworm should follow. These are the ones that do it for me. I’m sure you’ll get a real kick out of them too.
The Still Point
Liv from The Still Point is one of my favourite booktubers. I wish she would upload more often because she hits a curious niche that really excites me. Judging by her almost 7,000-strong subscriber base, her content clearly resonates with a lot of other book lovers too.
The Still Point is great for all things book, film, vinyl, and has a healthy serving of Japanese literature, which keeps otakus like me happy.
More recommended viewing:
- Where to Start With Deadpool
- Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima Book Review
- Bitch Planet vol. 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick Comic Book Review
Better Than Food
Clifford Lee Sargent is my kind of book reviewer. He focuses on making “exclusively positive book reviews”, which I find incredibly refreshing. Nothing depresses me more than seeing a critic bash the shit out of an author. I used to think that was part of the game and came with the territory of being a critic. But now I’m 100% in favour of reviewers who focus solely on the books they actually love.
Clifford is hands down one of the best booktubers out there. He’s also cool as fuck. I’d love to sit down with him, stick a tune on the record player, and share a glass of scotch while we gab about books.
More recommended viewing:
- Cormac McCarthy – Blood Meridian BOOK REVIEW
- Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis BOOK REVIEW
- Michel Houellebecq BOOK REVIEW
Thug Notes
Thug Notes is quite possibly the funniest book reviewer of all time. Thug Notes is the channel I wish I could make.
If you’re struggling in English class or your kid can’t be bothered to pick up a book, I would totally recommend watching a few episodes of Thug Notes. You’d also be pretty surprised to know that many literature geeks studying at Oxford talk about books in more of a Thug Notes style than a dusty old professor style (e.g. “Shakespeare is dope as fuck”).
More recommended viewing:
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
Vlog Brothers
No doubt you’ve already heard of Vlogbrothers. If you’re a book lover and you’ve spent even a cursory amount of time on YouTube, you’ve definitely come into contact with John and Hank Green. But no list of the best booktubers would be complete without mentioning them.
The Vlogbrothers channel is much bigger than just book reviews. The channel has politics, jokes, an awesome segment called ‘Thoughts from Places’, and, of course, you are bound to stumble onto their other awesome channel, Crash Course.
More recommended viewing:
ChapterStackss
Booktubers need to take some notes from Katie of ChapterStackss. She’s totally down-to-earth, easy to listen to, and is brimming with tons of great reading suggestions. Katie doesn’t recommend the same tired YA bestsellers like the majority of booktubers. She consistently promotes exciting gems that you might not have heard of (e.g. I recently picked up Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer and The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder because of her recommendation).
In addition to great book suggestions, Katie also recommends movies, shows, beauty products, and occasionally produces cool travel vlogs.
More recommended viewing:
Jen Campbell
You can tell Jen Campbell has spent her life surrounded by books. She’s the Sunday Times bestselling author of ‘Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops’ and she is also the booktuber you go to when you really want a change of pace.
Jen’s recommendations are the most eclectic, fascinating, and trustworthy that you will find in this sphere. Just a few gems I’ve picked up from Jen include Carol by Patricia Highsmith and The Vegetarian by Han Kang.
More recommended viewing:
There we have it. Those are 6 of the booktube channels that have been doing it for me lately. I’ll likely be recommending some more in the near future and might even foray into booktube myself.