There’s something very comforting to me about book recommendation videos that feel a little messy in the best possible way. Not perfectly curated, not hyper-aesthetic, not trying to convince you that every single book is a life-changing masterpiece. Just someone sitting down and talking about stories they connected with, books they finished at 1 a.m., characters they still think about months later, and the occasional read that completely missed the mark but somehow still became part of the experience of being a reader.
This video is a compilation of two different book recommendation videos from my YouTube channel, which is why the mix of genres is honestly a little chaotic. There’s contemporary fiction, thrillers, celebrity memoir-adjacent nonfiction, royal family deep dives, literary fiction, mysteries, and books that made me emotional for reasons I still can’t fully explain. Some of these became all-time favorites for me. Others were simply entertaining weekend reads. And a couple of them frustrated me so much that I apparently still need to talk about them years later.
But I think that’s kind of the beauty of reading. Not every book has to become part of your personality forever. Sometimes a book just keeps you company during a difficult week, a long subway ride, a rainy Sunday, or a season of life where you need to escape into someone else’s story for a while.
If you prefer watching rather than reading, you can also watch the full video version here:
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — Gabrielle Zevin
This was easily one of the most emotional reading experiences I’ve had in recent years. I went into it convinced that a book centered around video game creators probably wasn’t for me, and somehow ended up ugly crying by the end of it while very pregnant on our honeymoon.
At its core, the novel is about friendship, ambition, creativity, and the strange ways people can love each other without always knowing how to communicate that love properly. The story follows Sam and Sadie, two friends who reconnect later in life and begin creating video games together, alongside their friend Marx. Even if you know absolutely nothing about gaming culture, the emotional depth of the relationships carries the entire book.
What stayed with me most wasn’t even the plot itself, but the atmosphere of the book and how deeply human the characters felt. It’s one of those novels where you finish the final page and immediately understand why so many people become emotionally attached to it.
Luckiest Girl Alive — Jessica Knoll
I originally picked this one up because everyone was talking about the Netflix adaptation, and I’m always the person who wants to read the book before watching the movie or series.
The story follows Ani FaNelli, a polished magazine writer living what appears to be the perfect New York life, but underneath that carefully curated exterior there’s a lot of unresolved trauma and darkness. The book slowly reveals what happened to her as a teenager, and I thought the structure worked much better than the adaptation because it maintains that tension and mystery for much longer.
It’s definitely a heavy read and deals with topics that may be difficult for some readers, but I appreciated how sharp and unsettling the narration felt. It’s one of those books where the main character’s inner monologue tells a completely different story from the life everyone around her sees.
Friends Like These — Kimberly McCreight
This is the definition of a “great while you’re reading it” thriller. A group of college friends reunites at a house upstate, everyone has secrets, someone ends up dead, and old tensions start resurfacing in increasingly dramatic ways.
Did this become one of my favorite books ever? No. But was it entertaining and incredibly easy to fly through over a weekend? Absolutely.
I actually think there’s something underrated about books that are simply fun to read. Not every novel needs to emotionally destroy you or fundamentally alter your worldview. Sometimes you just want a fast-paced mystery with complicated friendships and enough twists to keep you invested until the end.
Carrie Soto Is Back — Taylor Jenkins Reid
I will read basically anything Taylor Jenkins Reid writes at this point. She has this ability to create fictional characters who somehow feel culturally real, like they existed alongside actual celebrities and public figures.
This novel follows Carrie Soto, a retired tennis champion who decides to come back to professional tennis to reclaim her record after another player ties her Grand Slam count. On paper, it sounds like a sports novel, but for me it ended up being much more about ambition, aging, identity, and the complicated relationship between parents and children.
I’ll admit this isn’t my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid book. That title still belongs to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. But by the end, Carrie Soto completely won me over emotionally. The father-daughter relationship in particular really stayed with me.
Also, as an Argentine woman, I loved the little Argentine representation woven into the story.
The Perfect Marriage — Jeneva Rose
This might be controversial, but I really did not enjoy this one.
The premise is honestly fantastic: a high-powered lawyer discovers her husband has been arrested for murdering his mistress, and then decides to defend him herself. That setup immediately sounds like the perfect psychological thriller.
Unfortunately, for me, the execution never fully delivered. I kept waiting for a smarter twist or a reveal that would make everything click into place, and it never quite happened. But at the same time, this book became wildly popular online, which just proves that reading taste is incredibly personal.
So if you loved it, I fully respect that. I just spent most of the book waiting for it to become something it ultimately wasn’t for me.
Vanderbilt — Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe
This was one of my favorite nonfiction reads in years.
I’ve always been fascinated by New York history, old money dynasties, and the way certain families shaped entire eras of the city. What makes this book particularly interesting is that Anderson Cooper is writing about his own family history, tracing the rise and fall of the Vanderbilt dynasty through generations of wealth, ambition, excess, and eventual decline.
The book feels especially immersive if you live in New York or spend a lot of time here because so many buildings, neighborhoods, and institutions are tied to these families and their legacy. Reading it honestly made me see parts of the city differently.
It’s also surprisingly emotional at times, especially when Cooper reflects on inheritance, identity, and what remains after enormous fortunes disappear.
My Friend Anna — Rachel DeLoache Williams
Like many people, I first became interested in this story after watching Inventing Anna on Netflix.
This memoir comes from Rachel DeLoache Williams, who was one of the people drawn into Anna Delvey’s world while she was pretending to be a wealthy German heiress in New York. The book dives into their friendship, the manipulation involved, and the now infamous Morocco trip where everything began unraveling.
What I found most interesting wasn’t necessarily the scam itself, but the way the story captures a very specific version of aspirational New York culture. The networking, the curated lifestyles, the desire to belong in elite spaces, the performance of wealth — all of it felt very tied to a certain era of downtown Manhattan and social media culture.
The Palace Papers — Tina Brown
This book is basically a deep dive into the modern British royal family, focusing heavily on women like Camilla, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle, and Queen Elizabeth II.
I should clarify something important: I’m deeply fascinated by the British monarchy from a historical and cultural perspective, but that doesn’t mean I support monarchy as an institution. I think those are two separate things. You can find something historically interesting while still disagreeing with it politically.
What Tina Brown does particularly well is make the royal family feel less like distant historical figures and more like people constantly navigating public image, media narratives, institutional pressure, and personal ambition.
It’s long, detailed, and occasionally overwhelming, but if you’re someone who has ever fallen into a royal family documentary rabbit hole at midnight, you’ll probably enjoy it.
The Diana Chronicles — Tina Brown
If The Palace Papers focuses on the modern monarchy overall, this one is much more centered on Princess Diana and the massive cultural impact she had both during her life and after her death.
The book explores her childhood, marriage to Charles, relationship with the press, motherhood, and the way the monarchy struggled to respond after her death in 1997.
Even decades later, Diana remains one of those figures people feel intensely emotional about, and reading this reminded me how much she changed the public perception of the royal family forever.
Spare — Prince Harry
This was one of the most talked-about memoirs in recent years, and I honestly understand why.
What makes Spare compelling isn’t necessarily the royal gossip everyone focused on online. For me, the most interesting parts were actually the quieter memories about childhood, grief, military service, family dynamics, and growing up under constant media attention.
There’s something very strange and fascinating about reading someone describe experiences that are simultaneously deeply human and completely unimaginable to most people.
The first part felt a bit slow for me, but once the story moved into adulthood, relationships, and his departure from royal life, I became much more invested.
Why Reading Became So Important to Me Again
One of the things I talked about in the original videos — and something I still think about often — is how reading disappeared from my life for a while after university.
As a kid and teenager, I read constantly. My mom loved books and encouraged both me and my sister to read from a really young age, which I’m incredibly grateful for now. But then university happened, and suddenly reading became associated with assignments, deadlines, exams, and pressure instead of enjoyment.
After graduating, I realized I had almost stopped reading for pleasure altogether.
Ironically, one of the few positive things that came out of 2020 for me was rediscovering books. I got a library card through the New York Public Library, started borrowing ebooks, eventually bought a Kindle, and slowly rebuilt the habit. Since then, reading has become part of my everyday life again in a way that feels grounding and comforting, especially during difficult or overwhelming seasons.
And honestly, I think that’s part of why I love making these videos and blog posts so much. Not because I think my taste is universally correct, but because books are one of the few things that consistently create connection between people online in a way that still feels thoughtful and personal.
Final Thoughts
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from years of reading and talking about books online, it’s that the “perfect” reading list doesn’t really exist. Sometimes your favorite book of the year is a literary masterpiece that leaves you emotionally devastated, and other times it’s a random thriller you picked up because the cover looked interesting at Target.
Both experiences count.
I also think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to read in a productive or intellectual way, especially online where every hobby eventually becomes content. But reading can simply be fun. It can be escapism, comfort, curiosity, nostalgia, entertainment, or a way to reconnect with yourself after a long day.
So if you’ve been trying to get back into reading, maybe this is your sign to stop overthinking it and just pick the book that sounds interesting to you, even if it’s messy or dramatic or completely outside your usual genre.
And if you’ve read any of these books already, I would genuinely love to know your thoughts because arguing about fictional characters and ranking Taylor Jenkins Reid novels is honestly one of my favorite internet activities.
See you on the next one!
