Alison Talks Books

This is Joshua’s first discussion video. If you have a moment, watch it and let him know if you have any thoughts on what he brings up.

11 hours ago | [YT] | 12

Alison Talks Books

Let’s talk about developing your reading taste/preferences. I’ve decided I’m going to read through all of my unread books I have purchased because I feel like my taste has been slowly changing and I want to see what I still like.

It does seem like many people online read for trends and are always experimenting. I do think that reading outside your comfort zone is a good thing. However, at some point it becomes useful to sort through things and decide what you are actually likely to enjoy before you pick up a book. How have you done this yourself? Did you start by reading popular books until you got a sense of what you uniquely are into? Have you figured out how to like most of the books you read?

If you respond, all or part of your comment might be used in a video.

1 week ago | [YT] | 66

Alison Talks Books

I won’t be posting to this channel for a couple weeks. Let me know if you have any ideas as to what videos I can make once I start posting again.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 53

Alison Talks Books

This was a charming response.

1 month ago | [YT] | 17

Alison Talks Books

Let's talk about slow books. I recently read some Goodreads reviews for various books that all complain about a book being 'too slow'.

Pacing does impact how people experience a story and a book can feel slower or faster than you expect. However, I tend to see more people complain about a book being 'too slow' rather than 'too fast'. Which is not all that surprising as reading is already considered a slow activity and many people read to be entertained.

What I would like to talk about from this is if a book ever SHOULD be slow. Slow usually is seen as a bad thing. At times, I think a slower pace might actually work with a particular book to enhance the message or the story. I'm curious what perspectives you might have on this topic.

If you respond, part or all of your comment may be included in a future video.

1 month ago | [YT] | 48

Alison Talks Books

Let's talk about nonfiction books.

I know, I know -- booktube is all about fiction all the time, but I THINK this will actually make a great topic.

I recently sat down and read what I believed was going to be a biography and it ended up being some sort of narrative biography. It dramatized the truth in order to make the book more enjoyable for the average reader. It felt like a novel. I couldn't tell what was fake and what was real.

I can't lie, it annoyed me for a LONG time until I started to enjoy it for the weird hybrid it was. However, I was still annoyed that there were no historical notes at the end of the chapter or footnotes. I could not read about what was dramatized and what was accurate.

I realized that I have actually read a lot of these nonfiction books that seek to entertain and somehow get a license to mix fact with fiction and not tell you about it. A disclaimer at the front is all you are generally given.

To be fair, this biography was very low stakes as far as misinformation goes. It also did end up being an enjoyable read.

How accurate do you think a nonfiction book needs to be? What do you think about the narrative nonfiction books that seek to turn a topic into a narrative without fully embracing the format of the novel? Is it okay to put entertainment above accuracy if the goal is to engage the reader?

This will have a much quicker turnaround than usual. I thought about doing this topic myself and decided to see if I could read a couple additional perspectives first. As always, if you comment it is possible that all or part of your comment will be in a video.

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 63

Alison Talks Books

I left a long comment on this video (which is of course a necessary complement to the actual video). I'm open to the debate, it's an interesting topic.

Oh and for the record--it is a good video.

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 14

Alison Talks Books

I actually wrote something related to reading on my Substack (in response to a YouTube comment thread). This particular topic works better in writing than in video.
open.substack.com/pub/alisontalksbooks/p/we-need-t…

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 62

Alison Talks Books

This is a great video that recommends short reads with depth. It can be perfect if you are looking to get into reading and don't want to start with massive tomes. Or...you might like it if you just like short fiction.

2 months ago | [YT] | 15

Alison Talks Books

We've had a few discussions about education on my channel. I just wrote an essay about why I think kids need essays. Regardless if you agree or disagree, feel free to come and leave your opinions in the comments.

alisontalksbooks.substack.com/p/kids-need-essays

2 months ago | [YT] | 52