My favourite quote from the book: "Was it a sensation or was it a feeling? It was half physical, half emotion. He had an ache in his chest, as though someone had cut it open and removed his heart. It felt hollow, as if it were an empty space which could never be filled except by another heart. These are physiological symptoms of a particular kind which are said to be comprehensible only to those who have been similarly smitten and been struck by that strange lightning bolt called in common parlance: love at first sight. "

'If I am the Phantom, it is because man's hatred has made me so. If I am to be redeemed, it is because your love saves me.'

My English assignment for this term is to write about the benefits of reading (I’m in high school) and your videos are giving me so much inspiration for books I can read and talk about and just really showing how amazing reading is. Thank you

me: :( emmie: *uploads* me: :)

I’ve had Phantom sitting on my shelf for 7 years and you’ve finally inspired me to read it!

phantom of the opera is such a masterpiece

it's so refreshing to always hear you talking about books that are not talked enough about by others! And I love how you always gush about them too!

This book has broken my heart so many times, it's hard to even talk about it. Or should I say that Erik has broken my heart so many times... I've always somehow identified with him and his quest for love. I also love how the reality of human nature is portrayed in this book...it is so true, tragical and true. I could talk about it forever but I feel so limited in doing so, because I just can't find the right words. It would be hard in my native language, it's even harder in english, but just know that there's someone who also loves the phantom deeply. By the way I just picked up Susan Kay's "Phantom", beacause you talked about it. Haven't started to read it, but looking forward to it soon enough! Thank you so much for the recommendation and all of you videos! I enjoy them so much! :)

dude I saw the footage of you reading phantom of the opera and then talking about the worst book you've ever read and I thought you were referring to that. so relieved when you started talking about another book, cause my heart almost shattered

A 40 minute video from Emmie?! What a treat x

I like when he says “it’s phantussy time” and then jumps off the opera roof

I’ve never been a fan of vlogs, but Emma, yours are magic and transporting and having never travelled, your little trips are like virtual travel for me. You have an eye for beautiful and atmospheric film editing and I know I’m being a little extra but I’m writing this while watching the intro of this vlog and feeling so inspired. Your content has been a comfort place for me recently and I just want to thank you so much for sharing a bit of the magic of your world with us. ❤️

emma i'm so sorry i am listening to you talk about phantom of the opera and i am loving it but at the same time the phantom/wap remix is stuck in my head

ahhh!! i had just finished watching your vlog from last week and thought to myself "wow I hope she uploads another one soon" bc your vlogs have been such beautiful and peaceful ways to spend my breaks in between studying...and then a notification for this popped up!! thank u for your constantly supplying me with wholesome book content :,,-)

I never really cared much for classical works, but this makes me genuinely interested in phantom of the opera, I'll give it a read. Thanks for also mentioning thriftbooks, it'll help me save some money.

Your annotation system sounds interesting and inspiring! I have done kinda the same thing with Don Quixote (part 1) and I'll probably do the same thing with The Perfume! 📚

I finished POTO and I wished there was more exploration of Erik's character in it. He has such an interesting personality and I would have loved to read more about him and from his point of view. Maybe I'll have to pick up Phantom now.

This is making me so excited for university :) I love listening to people taking about the books they love

I was just so shocked when you started talking about how the book you're reading is the worst book ever....I was like, "but....it's the Phantom of the Opera....how is....!!!" & then you mentioned the other book. :'D

I need to start tabbing. There are so many beautiful passages that I can never find again.

So excited to start on Phantom! I've never read it before, but I know it has so many things that I love inside it, namely music, ghosts, and anything gothic. This video just made me even more excited to read it, and I kinda feel compelled to pick up a physical version instead of reading the ebook...

i've never been this early! i love your videos emmie and i was really waiting for an annotating one ❤️ thanks!

Phantom of the opera is one of my favorite books and plays. I cried when i saw the play. I’ve loved that book since 4th grade its insane!

Every video of yours is a sunshine to me

probably the best annotating video i've been searching for, for years.

Watching this while finally reading phantom of the opera and omg this book is so good and I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks Raoul is so dramatic

People are always talking about Erik and how everything he does is for the drama but here is Raoul, just simping in his crush's closet :D I can't wait to get to rereading this, I used to be so obsessed with anything related to this story.

Dear Emmie, your video just came out of nowhere, and I spent some beautiful minutes enjoying your calm voice and thoughts upon your favorite book. I used to read it twice during my young-teen years and I fell in love with the story, as well as with the film and the musical. Now I can definitely say that I was in need of such thoughtful, heartwarming reading vlogs like yours - so I can't help but subscribe for more. Thank you! Sorry for the mistakes, for English is not my native language.

Hi Emma. I only just discovered your channel and I love it. Phantom story: Once upon a time my father took me to see his favorite show on earth, Phantom of The Opera, in Minneapolis. I was BLOWN away by the production and I was rendered utterly speechless when the frenzied standing ovation concluded and I remained speechless during the icy long trek back to our car which was frozen many white streets away from the Orpheum. Finally, newly ensconced in the car, I spoke, thanking my parents for taking me to that show and declaring it to be PHENOMENAL, SPECTACULAR, and my FAVORITE THING EVER ON EARTH EVER. Like, ever. I promptly purchased the soundtrack to the original show featuring of course Brightman and Crawford, and I listened to it, beginning to end the next day as I pored over the libretto in time with every note. I was in awe. Then the movie came out not long after and I was prepped to reject it in ways without number but I actually liked it quite well. Then I read the book. It left me somewhat cold. But, I LOVE Phantom, nonetheless. I have books and music boxes and figurines and t shirts and and and.......of Phantom of The Opera. Well, fast forward to my arrival at your channel. And what do I see on your shelf? Why yes Emma. I see Phantom. And then I hear you rave about it and I decide to give it another go, thinking, this girl's smart. Listen to her and try it again. So yesterday I began it anew, and only just finished it and had tears streaming and wrote right there inside the cover: Five Stars!!!!! I guess what had happened was I was high off the extravaganza of the show and then jumped with great zeal and expectation into the book and the contrast left me neutral at the least and disappointed at the most. Well, I'm glad I gave it another try. It's quite wonderful in its own right. So thank you Emma. (Typed smiling.). Thank you. PS. Have you seen the show and what did you think? Did you see the movie? Also, I can't stand the weak, obnoxious Raoul either.

That little bit of apple orchard is everything, thank you for bringing us there, Emma! All the love from the PH! 🥰💕✨

Your voice is literally a masterpiece and I adore your reviews!

Awwww I waited for you to talk about annotating for too long! Thank you so much, am soo happy! Time to set back and enjoy the brilliance I'm about to hear ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

everything about this video gives me so much joy it really is unexplainable. the music, the scenery, the vibes... it's so pure and wholesome 🥰

I discovered you like 5 mins ago and you are already amazig! Your videos are so dreamy and soft💗✨💗✨

40 minutes of reading vlog!!!!!!! omg i love this sooo much, please do more of these longer vlogs

When I hear the word 'korean' on your video honestly I feel so happy as a korean😄

you are genuinely my favorite youtuber, you're enchanting to listen to. gods bless you.

What are your thoughts on Dostoevsky? Would you recommend crime and punishment?

this vlog is soooo aesthetically pleasing, so beautiful!

Every time I get a notification that you upload a new video I get so happy

omg this video is so amazing! I love the scenery part the most. It gives me some call me by your name vibes😆

waking up to a video from you after a night full of anxiety attacks and throwing up is probably the most perfect thing.

I've had Phantom of the Opera on my TBR for like......forever, so hearing you enjoy it a lot is totes exciting!

Can you just read to us all the time??? So calming!

I literally wish there was a way this video was actually happening live because I HAVE SO MUCH TO TALK TO YOU, EMMA!!! I gasped, I laughed aloud, this has to be my favorite video. My mind was yelling from the beginning to end: “Ok, but Emma, do you believe the phantom ACTUALLY existed?” so..... do you??? Also, when you talked about how you despised Raoul I GASPED. I AM team Raoul after all, at least from the musical. But wait, let me finish! I absolutely AGREE with your opinion on book Raoul. Name a bigger drama queen other than him, I’ll wait. Every time he would appear on the book I’d laugh my eyes out. I wasn’t going to participate in the marathon cause uni is killing me slowly, but now I can’t NOT participate, so I’ll be grabbing my copy and I guess I’ll see you on the 31st 🤪

I couldn’t help but order the book right away! Your love is so contagious...

thank you for the life quality improvement. also, your annotation system sounds so interesting. thank you for sharing it with us ♥

You are so easy to listen to. Your whole vibe is very ASMR, very relaxing, but also delightfully intellectual :) I love Phantom of the Opera.

I've never really considered reading phantom before but hearing you talk about it makes me want to give it a try - I remember you also loved the retelling, "phantom" by Susan Kay (was that the author?) If you had to choose only one, which would you pick? I also know exactly how you feel about this book being like home, when I was about 9/10 I read The Railway Children by E. Nesbit for the first time, not that it has insanely gorgeous writing but it's just so lovely and has such a nostalgia factor! And probably if I could only read one book for the rest of my life, that would probably be it - what would be yours? 😀

OMG OMG if you do a series on the worst books ever PLEASE read "The Monitors" by Kieth Laumer. It is the biggest dumpster fire unintelligible book I have ever had the pleasure of inflicting on my eyes.

Having only experienced Phantom music in pit orchestras and in shower concerts (maybe not doing it justice, *hide my face*), definitely gaining a hugely better appreciation stealing through the book. The pacing, the plot, the format, the feels-everything. Out-of-bookedly, it’s like there’s a faint thread going out of the spine on my random edition, glowing when read, connecting everyone else who’s also enjoying. Or a shade flying between readers, looming shyly to see reactions. Or maybe that’s too cheesy. Anyway, this video was wonderfully perfect and you’re perfectly wonderful, and it would be pretty cool if I had a trapdoor in my room altho it would probably just lead to the laundry room below. And if you want some more evidence of your influence, After Dark, Letters, and Dorian partly made up my September reads, and I might need another new bookshelf.

Hey Emmie!!....I'm from India and I'm in high school...I love reading books but till now i did not understand the process of annotation....thank you so much!!!....annotating actually is fun!!!

Emmie thank you for introuducing me to the phantom of the opera it was one of the best reads i had this year

Your vlogs are truly beautiful.

You have inspired me to read this book. I’ve always wanted to see this on stage 🙏📚

I read Tantalize about 10 years ago and it was so bad I gave it one star, which i rarely do! Funny you've read it, i've never heard anyone else mention it haha

I listen to the audiobook of Phantom of the Opera in September just because it was available on libby and because I am the kind of person who will wait for the specific edition that I want on my shelves and I must say: I need to read the physical copy ASAP. I feel like the audiobook didn't allow me to enjoy it fully; I didn't like the narrator's voice and I was hating on everyone (more specifically the diva of Raoul 🤣) so although I was loving the story and the Phantom I couldn't immerse myself in the writing so I can't wait to read it with my own head voices! Ps. I just finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle without knowing anything about it and was surprised to say I loved it! The writing is beautiful, loved the imagery, how isolated it felt and many thing more! Such a short book but with lots to talk about!

In the beginning, the plan for me was a thesis on Shakespeare; in the end, it was on the theory of law in Modern Germany: the more we plan the more fate fiddles with us. For you, well, it's always good to have a long paper when you need one and there isn't enough time (there never is). It was a very successful Broadway musical, and that proves that French Lit. isn't a dry hole. Who could of imagined that Eliot's Book of Practical Cats would become a smash hit before it did? Do what you enjoy, follow your natural aptitude(s), accept that reality is often a compromise.

I’ll be reading Phantom of the Opera for the first time during the DA Halloweenathon and I’m incredibly excited, especially after listening to your insights on the text. Also, you are so wonderful at reading aloud! I could listen to you narrate an entire book.

your videos always make me so happy

Not you hating on my boy, Raoul 😭 He's just a cinnamon roll

Definitely love the longer video content and can't wait to see your annotated vid

Reading poto was such an experience and i had no idea that id love it as much as i did

Gosh you have no idea how good your videos are for my soul lol. It's my bday on Tusday and i'll be in lockdown (again) 😢. So thank you for cheering me up!

Phantom of The Opera is one of my absolute favourites from the year 2014. Good read

I finished read Phantom of the Opera last morning and quite enjoyed it. Great story!

it's the vast sky and country road in the intro for me

I'm reading phantom for the DA Halloween thing ;) I found a cute paperback of it at my local thriftshop and I couldn't believe my luck because the next day the D A bookclub books were announced 😅 and let me tell ya, my town (in Denmark) does NOT donate many classics, and especially not in English (dunno why it feels closer to the original to read Phantom in English, but it does hehe) So that was a great day ^.^

OMG...the shock when I realized I've read part of Tantalize...and that I stubbornly blocked it out until you started describing the plot was unreal! I was like, hang on, that plot sounds like a book I tried reading once....*googles* oh no..smh

i just recently discovered your channel and I'm watching your videos constantly! you have such a beautiful soul 🦋

Okay but Emma could you please please please start a podcast? Your voice makes me calm down and relax and I would listen to your episodes a million times over. And you could talk about literally anything you want I'd still listen. pleaseeeee

Beautiful intro 🥰🥰🥰🥰

17:37

I recently discovered your channel and I’m loving your videos! the way you talk and your gestures really remind me of Lili Reinhart.

I just ordered a copy. Cant wait to read it

Ι recently finished Phantom of the opera and loved it ! ♡

Oh my gosh, now that I understand what the Queen of the Night's part sounds like, I NEED to read Phantom of the Opera! There's a big joke in the opera community that the musical POTO isn't really opera, but the book sounds like it so reveres the sound that it would be really moving to read.

How did I never know that this was a book? I'd loved the movie when I was younger.

I love this. Its so beautiful 🥺❤️

hi emmie! I hope u can make a vid about how to read books critically because up until now, i still don't know how to do that and hopefully the video will clear up some confusion and help reading classical lit more bearable 😭, thanks a bunch ❤️

This was so helpful and informative! Thank you so much, I love your content!

Hi Emma!! I' ve just read phantom of the opera based on your rec. I loved it!!!! Thanks!!❤

It's such a fantastic video !!!

Is the phantom of the opera is easy to read?

I havent read Phantom (yet!) but I have read Frankenstein and your description of Raul just reminds me of Victor and how much he faints and curses the Creature lmao.

I almost never comment, but I need to say that the things you love about The Phantom of the Opera are also to be found in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. Don't know if you've read it :) It's my favourite classic. I also loved The Phantom. ♡

I'm so sad that I actually did not like The Phantom of the Opera, seeing you excited about it is so nice tho

Oh no lol, I remember loving Tantalize in middle school. Don't remember anything about it other than that I enjoyed it 🤣

Yes please do an annotating video!!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Hello Emma, thanks for uploading! Hope you have/had a relaxing weekend:)

a beautiful day! 😍

I got here by Tatiana Feltrin's recomendation, she owns an YT channel.

Who translated your edition of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA?

does anyone know where i can get this exact copy?

I am reading Phantom of the Opera for the DA book club, but also excited to read it anyway! My husbands favorite play too. So I checked it out on overdrive, the Audiobook. I think I’m really missing something. it was produced in 1995, narrated by Alexander Adams. He has a nice voice and all but idk. I still think I’m missing something. I may try to find a copy at the library today actually. But my library is terribly disappointing. Lol anyway I was wondering if you have read it on or listened to it on audiobook or know of a good translation. Or good narrator.

We need moreeeeee videos ❤️❤️🌸🌸🌸

Ugh I wish you were in my literature class this semester. Basically all semester we’ve read, dissected and “discussed” (online) classic short stories and I would love to have at least one person besides the professor to have an in depth discussion on our assigned papers we have to submit. All I’ve been hearing all semester is “good paper” or “that was an interesting paper” without further comment on the actual meat of the topic 😑😑😑

Ahhh I'm watching this vid at 10 am in the Philippines so I know I'm gonna have a good morning. I'm just a little sad that my phantom of the opera book isn't here yet but it's better late than never, right? I love your your videos!!!!

I am so relieved that someone else thinks that Roul is such a huge drama queen 😂😂

Have you ever done a comparison of the book and the 2004 movie? I'd love to know what you think they did well or completely goofed 😁