If you had told me a few years ago that soon I would be spending more time watching videos on YouTube than streaming Netflix, I would have called you crazy. While I observed YouTube’s incredible popularity, I always thought it was more for kids with short attention spans watching pranks, unboxings, or their friends playing video games (I had not known that Twitch was a distinct service for that last purpose). However, more recently I have discovered that not only is YouTube a platform with a lot of secondary material (reviews, previews, and commentary) on mainstream media, it’s also quite the nerd paradise (and I use the term “nerd” extremely loosely). It takes only a few quick searches to discover that a person with any type of niche interest (who I’m now calling a “nerd”) can easily find a video (probably even an entire channel or maybe even a community of channels) for them. If you’re interested in workouts, health tips, cooking techniques, or maintenance how-to’s, that’s the easy stuff — there are tons of those videos and channels for whatever you need (I easily found a dozen videos specifically showing how to change the headlight bulb on my 2011 Ford Fusion).

My own exploration (with the assistance of YouTube’s insidious algorithms) has led me to videos for all my pop cultural interests (i.e., The MCU, Pokemon Go, Star Trek, Netflix, etc.) but surprisingly I’ve also found videos covering topics that interest me which I thought were a lot more fringe: astrophysics (Why faster than light travel is possible), world mythology (What they get wrong in Disney movies), oddities of history (The most inbred people of all time) and bizarre science (How to get venom from the world’s deadliest spider). There’s even a huge genre of people reacting to videos about other things, including one of my favourites: Americans reacting to facts about Canada (apparently it’s not strange for Americans to put ketchup on french fries, but our Canadian ketchup-flavoured potato chips are “repulsive”!). The intriguingly bizarre list is so endless (and I’m guessing that even if you had more deviant interests than I do, you might find videos to your tastes as well).

One of my recent finds that has occupied the lion’s share of my YouTube viewing has been “BookTube”. As the nickname clearly suggests, BookTube is that expanding corner of YouTube which is devoted to books, readers, and people interested in reading. There are probably thousands (if not more) of content creators who have joined BookTube to put out videos sharing their own bookish interests and reading experiences with an ever-widening audience. BookTube covers pretty much any genre of books that people are reading and want to talk about, but I have focused on where my interests lie: fantasy and (to a lesser degree) science fiction. I discovered this whole BookTube world accidentally last year when I was looking for some videos about Amazon Prime Video’s Wheel of Time series. I found one channel (which I later learned was the work of a fellow Canadian) named Captured in Words. The creator of that channel not only did episode by episode reviews of the show, but also other videos about various popular fantasy book series. I have had a fondness for the fantasy fiction genre since I was a young teenager, but now I was hearing from this “secret” community of people on YouTube all about these books and which ones are good to read and why.

Watching and subscribing to a few more BookTube channels, it was easy for me to see that it’s very much a subculture with its own conventions and jargon. Most BookTubers talk about what they are reading, and what they’ve read; and most of them read at an astoundingly fast pace. They talk often about their “TBR” (list of books To Be Read). When they don’t really enjoy a book and decide not to complete it, they say that they “DNF” (i.e. “did not finish”) that book. Each month when they buy or receive books (from their TBR) they celebrate by making videos about their “book haul”, which they may “unhaul” by giving books away or selling some of them (after first making an unhaul video) when they don’t need them anymore. Other typical videos might be counting-down or talking about the top books of a certain category. They may tier-rank books, characters, or themes from a certain category. Another common video is the “book tag” where someone (likely another BookTuber) has come up with a series of questions about books/reading based on a particular theme (e.g. middle of the year, or guilty pleasures, etc.) and the BookTuber will respond to each of those topics in their video (e.g. Favourite book series that you’re ashamed to admit liking). After they’ve answered all the questions, they may tag another BookTuber, triggering that person to make their own similar video and so on (I kind of enjoy the book tag videos).

So what’s the appeal of BookTube? If you like reading, it really adds a strong community aspect to it. Even if you don’t actually interact with the BookTubers through comments or discussions, there is still a sense of camaraderie and sharing to know that you’ve read something that someone else has also read, or that you choose to read something that someone else really loves. It’s fun to think about whether you would agree with another person’s comments about a book or character. Since BookTube is really like a traditional book club writ large, it’s a great way to connect (actually or virtually) over certain shared bookish interests. It’s also a great place to get recommendations. Followers of BookTube often leave comments about how a batch of new recommendations causes them to add even more books to their TBR because every book in the video sounds so enticing. A large part of BookTube (like any media involving reviews) is around recommendations, and it seems clear that most BookTubers feel a duty or mandate to provide their recommendations as a service to viewers. I love the reviews and recommendations. I love hearing what the best books are about and many of the recommended books are much more appealing when described by a BookTube review than just reading a publisher’s summary on the back cover. BookTubers are often very sincere and enthusiastic when providing their recommendations. They have also mastered the art of giving meaningful reviews while avoiding spoilers. Thirdly, I really like the commentary and discussion about fantasy books. Many of the BookTubers in this area talk about themes and tropes; about world-building, character arcs, and sub-genres. For a fan of reading and books, these topics are fun and fascinating. After hearing BookTubers talk about these topics with regard to many of the books I’ve already read, I feel like I want to read them again to capture some of those nuances and flavours that have been commented on.

Finally, with so many BookTube channels out there, even if you want to start watching them, it’s hard to know which ones to spend time on. Even more than which books they discuss, or whether you share the hosts’ tastes, I found it’s really important to choose BookTubers whose personalities are a good fit with yours and you enjoy watching them discuss books. There have been a number of very polished, popular channels that I just don’t really love (despite YouTube’s algorithm repeatedly trying to put their videos in front of me). While I have no illusions that my little blog post here will do much to expand the viewership of these BookTubers’ channels, in the spirit of recommendation and the style of a top 10 list, let me share my current favourite BookTube channels (in no particular sequence):

I know this has been a brutally long post, but I just wanted to share my new love of BookTube with anyone who might be interested. To steal from Cam Wolfe the Story Nomad: if you have made it all the way to the end, you’re my favourite. If I’ve persuaded you to give BookTube a try, I hope you enjoy all the great hosts and their channels, and that it helps awaken your love of reading.