Thank you! I was happy with it, hoping to do that more often as we go

@@mckennalovescontent as signature enrichment enhancing aspects of the video go, it's a good one

she was an absolute angel - I found her on the freeway and she jumped straight into my car like she had been waiting for me

@@mckennalovescontent 😭

@@ChanelChapters i agree!!

I haven’t watched any of the 4 yet because I’ve been sick and don’t want to deal with even MORE congestion from all the crying I’m likely to do!

2 huge Dune fans uniting! 🏜️ (closest emoji I could find to sand)

Thank you! And it was my honor, she was the sweetest baby ever 💖

Time War was amazing, and I want 4,000 more pages of it. The Doors of Eden is on my TBR! I've heard nothing but amazing things about it.

Oooooh I can’t wait to read Dune Messiah, people are giving me conflicting reviews on it but I can’t imagine I won’t love it

Omg thank you! I hope going forward I can make you proud 💖

I agree!!

Yes it's so refreshing to have you in the BookTube community. Your enthusiasm is genuine and you come across as a seasoned BookTuber.

This is the loveliest thing you could have said to me! I feel extremely lucky to have this kind of support

oh thank you! I'm so happy to have you here. What kinds of books/movies do you like?

@@mckennalovescontent for books, mostly fantasy and sci fi, historical dramas, but many other genres as well. I struggle with poetry, i often find it lacking/boring. For movies, similar to you, although i'm not opposed to mob movies 😅. Anyway, your videos have a good energy so far, keep going 😃

hahaha I KNOW that I’m gonna have to get over my mob movie thing at some point 🙃 thank you!

Saltburn instantly became an all-time favorite movie. Barry Keoghan is everything to me, and the cinematographyyyyy. I love that we’re both concert photographers, what are the chances? I can’t wait to watch all of us strangers and cry myself to sleep omg

tbh I might start doing that now that I finally read them

Oh god idk if “a good time” is the right wording for what I’m about to experience with these movies, but “crying so hard it makes me sick” is probably gonna be accurate, if you had to rank them by favorites, what would the order be? So I know where I should start

@@mckennalovescontent Past Lives my #1 movie of 2023, All of Us Strangers my #3 movie of 2023. Portrait kind of insanely incredible though. Sorry to Aftersun but I still love it. Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Past Lives, All of Us Strangers, Aftersun

Ok I feel like I should watch these in reverse order so I can slowly destroy myself

Wow sounds like an amazing read, I'll check it out! Preemptive 5 stars ⭐️

You’re the sweetest 💖💖💖

omg I'm watching your february wrap-up right now and I kind of feel like we're the same person

ok well now I'm adding fantasticland to my "immediate buy" list

I second that. 🙋🏼‍♀️

Me too BUT I’m very okay with not having it, Seanan McGuire said that Kade’s book will be the very last Wayward Children book, and I never want it to end

Thank you! I was worried I'd regret posting the bloopers but apparently they're a hit

1. Second attempt worked! 2. I can't wait for you to read them, and report back 3. I'm not an audiobook girl, but I'd consider it if it was a book I was re-reading! 4. I'm 1-for-1 so far, loved Nettle and Bone and didn't care for Thornhedge, so I'm interested to see how I feel about her horror 5. Omg!!! I want to see the babies 6. Definitely WAY more comical than The Last of Us 7. I was always team "why not just choose both?" girl hahaha 8. I need to watch soon!!!

I'm so happy to have you here 💖

Your wish is my command, it's coming sooooon :)

YOU’RE awesome!

I agree!!

I’m going to soon! I’ve heard nothing but incredible things about it, I feel like I have to!!

DIEHARD TWIHARDS UNITE 🧛🐺 What is it with boyfriends never having watched She's the Man?? Are they that uncultured? And I AM a musical theatre nerd, my mom taught me well. I have a Phantom of the Opera tattoo 🙃 what's your favorite???

I’m so excited!

You’re not wrong! I own A Study in Drowning so I have to read it at some point, I’m just so not looking forward to it 🙄

Oh wow, not only have I not read it, I hadn't even heard of it (which is rare). I just went and bought the first book off Pango, so I should have it in-hand in about a week! Thank you so much for the rec

omg I could cry, what an honor! hope to make you proud (I also love spider-man - which actor has been your favorite?)

@mckennalovescontent gotta be Andrew Garfield:) but I don't actually mind Tom Holland either I think he's very overhated!

Oh I fully 100% agree, Andrew Garfield is my favorite and at least twice a month I get sad again about the fact that he didn't get his third movie

I too am a Disney/Pixar girl, I haven't watched Elemental yet, but I might tonight... I'm glad I'm not the only one who's watched Triple Frontier and could mostly focus on the cast hahaha

Omg someone else with emetophobia! I was beginning to think it was just me. What’s your favorite book/movie?

@@mckennalovescontentDef not alone!! Movie: Anything by Ari Aster, but mostly Midsommar. Fave Book... is a really hard one! Probably The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett right now. Fantasy murder mystery that just came out, highly recommend!!

Oh they both sound so interesting! I'll add them to my list, thank you so much 💖 And I somehow have never watched Gilmore Girls, but now I feel like I should!

Quite literally, if I’ve convinced even just one person (you) to read wayward children with this video, I am a HAPPY GIRL 💖💖💖 have fun reading the *best series ever*

Awwwww ✨ makes us both happy girls 🥹 THANK YOU for BEING YOU!@@mckennalovescontent

I've had Neverwhere on my kindle for half my life but somehow never read it...although now I'm glad I didn't because I didn't know about the "author's preferred text" situation, but I just ordered it and it'll be on my doorstep next week! I got The Talisman for Christmas so I love to hear an endorsement for it, and I'm definitely adding Imajica to my list. And shockingly (to no one more than me), I read The Night Circus and didn't click with it. Not a clue why, but I have Starless Sea so I'll be trying it out at.....some point haha. Really, really awesome recs, thank you so much!

Omg hi thank you! I love Spain so much (I've mostly seen the south and the islands, and Madrid once, but I'd love to visit the north one day). I'm sorry you've dealt with anxiety/depression also, but we're in this together! I can't wait to read Almond - what's the next book you're reading?

@@mckennalovescontent Currently reading the second one in Before the coffee gets cold series and I'm planning on reading Emma next (finally) but as a mood reader we'll see haha

Oh let me know what you think about Emma, I’ve never read it and classics make me nervous sometimes 🫠

It took me a week to read the first 100 pages and then 2 days to read the last 600 haha

🤣@@mckennalovescontent

Hi, welcome, I’m so happy to have you here! Do you have any non-fantasy/sci-fi recs that will hurt and confuse me? I’m open to alllll of it

@@mckennalovescontent Hey Mckenna! Thanks for responding. Not sure where you stand on modern classics but 'Giovanni's Room' by James Baldwin and 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison were pretty heartbreaking. 'When Breath Becomes Air' by Paul Kalanithi is a non-fiction which I was moved by. And then for confusing...The 'Besieged City' by Clarice Lispector (although I feel mean recommending her ..Her style is like marmite: you will either hate, or love it. I hated it for the first sixty pages but then loved it; I need to read the rest of her books). Haruki Murakami's magical realism can be somewhat ...confusing. 'A Wild Sheep Chase' is one that immediately springs to mind; there are a few other books by him that I personally prefer but are slightly less confusing. But all of these are relatively short so if you find yourself hating them, fingers crossed they did not take long to read! I would love some recommendations for fantasy / sci fi so your videos would hopefully help. I read the first four books of 'Earthsea' by Le Guin and loved them.

Oh I've heard nothing but amazing things about Giovanni's Room, and absolutely anything by Toni Morrison. I definitely want to read Giovanni's Room soon. Ok "the besieged city" even has a dense and confusing synopsis, I'm in. Confuse me, baby! Murakami intimidates me like nothing else. And I've had Earthsea on my kindle since I was 14 and somehow haven't read it, and should probably remedy that soon. Thank you so much for these! My TBR just keeps getting longer and longer and longer hahaha

I read This is How You Lose the Time War more slowly than I usually read, but once I started reading I couldn't stop I'm so happy you're saying this, the "it gets worse" crowd was making me so nervous and I just want to be back on my little sand planet!

The movie is perhaps the greatest film ever made. Cinema at its peak.

Hi new friend! I only have daughters, and they're dogs and cats so I don't think they'll be much help to me here 😅 but I'm trying my best with what I can do!

@@mckennalovescontent your stuff looks great already you grow crazy fast!

It’s been crazy but I’m not gonna question it!

I think I'm gonna watch Elysium tonight, it is time. I read sooo many Ellen Hopkins books in middle school/high school, but it's been so long that I can abrely remember a thing - maybe I'll need to reread them haha!

hell yeah! 💖 (which ones???)

@@mckennalovescontent The Wayward Children series, This is How You Lose the Time War, Thornhedge( I didn’t go in thinking it would be horror), Dune book and movie, She’s the Man, and Thor Ragnarok. Sidenote: I hated Juniper and Thorn. I DNFed it. Other note: If you have not read Lost Boy by Christina Henry, I recommend it.

Wow we have a lot of crossover! What are your thoughts on the Wayward Children series and This is How You Lose the Time War? I'm SO GLAD someone else hated juniper and thorn!!! I felt like I was going crazy reading all the Goodreads reviews from people who loved it. I haven't read Lost Boy but I have the book! So I'll definitely push it higher up on my TBR list

@@mckennalovescontent I seriously just love the Wayward Children series. I love the different types of worlds they go to, how the worlds are labeled between Logic, Nonsense, Wickedness and Virtue, how each character is so unique and how each story has a little mystery, adventure, and some creepy things thrown in. I also love that there are 2 different schools with what seems like polar opposite agendas. Also, the amount of representation in these books is just outstanding. As for This is How You Lose the Time War, I was so lost in the beginning and as it went on I just got more and more invested. The imagery and prose were perfection and I loved the feeling of a slow burn romance in such a short book.

We're totally on the same page, I think the entire Wayward Children series is (no pun intended) just magical. I get such a unique feeling reading them that I don't specifically find anywhere else, and I hope Seanan McGuire keeps writing them forever. I want Kade's book so badly but I hope it doesn't come for a looong long time because Seanan says that'll be the very last book in the series. I had to read the first few pages of TIHYLTTW two or three times to get a grasp on what was even going on, and I thought it was the perfect number of pages, I feel like anything longer and it might have gotten lost in the prose. Although also I wish it was 1,000 pages hahaha

Okay I've never read the Faraway Tree BUT I did find a recipe for the pop biscuits and they look incredible: www.inliterature.net/by-book/the-magic-faraway-tree/2018/07/pop-cakes-the-magic-faraway-tree.html

@@mckennalovescontent oh thank you McKenna. I think you'd enjoy the book.

This makes me sad bc Nettle and Bone was SO good. I have What Moves the Dead (and the sequel) and The Hollow Places - haven't read either yet but I feel it in my bones that you're gonna be right

She climbed right into my car! Yes I have!

I'm also an anti-DNF-er, I feel you! I got into the book after the first 100 or so pages, but the movies are better! Denis and his cinematographers did such a beautiful job with it

Oh it’s pretty high key for me, I’ve watched that one fish tank scene too many times hahaha

@mckennalovescontent YAS!!! Second only to "I meant something like that"... "was it good" "yeah, I saw through space and time a little..."

Wow now I want to rewatch the whole series…

I’ve heard that too! I few friends who don’t read (and one who doesn’t even usually watch sci-fi) have watched it already and I’m itching with fomo but I’m still determined to read the book first hahaha

I'm reading all 3 books before watching the show and I have about 100 pages left. They are definitely some hard sci-fi and I can't imagine the show will go anywhere near as hard. With the show, I'm just hoping it's good on its own if not necessarily faithful because that would be a LOT! LOL

From descriptions I’ve heard - it seems like the show is “simplified” a bit hahaha

Oh wow yeah you really did a whole video dedicated to Messiah (now on my Watch Later list for tomorrow!) which honestly is a sigh of relief, I had someone tell me that they hated Messiah and it got me a little nervous. But I can't wait to be back in the world, for better or worse. Also wow - you're only the second person I've heard of who's read A Short Stay in Hell, but (spoiler alert) I loved it. For The Three Body Problem - is it really as confusing and dense as people say it is, or is everyone just being dramatic? How to Lose the Time War is a gorgeous, gorgeous book and I'm REALLY excited to hear your thoughts on it! It's sci-fi but holy shit it's a romance

Messiah is probably a love it or hate it sort of book :) I think people overstate how complicated the Three Body Problem series is, It's got big ideas to wrap your head around but its very understandable I think.@@mckennalovescontent

Ok that all makes me very happy to hear, and now I'm even more excited to start in on both of those

girl I'm afraid I'll come away from that book looking at my oven in a whole new light 🫠

Have fun watching me update Goodreads every time I read even 3 pages hahaha I've never consciously DNF'd a book, but tbh after Juniper and Thorn I'm thinking I should start...it's self-care, right? I don't have Wolf and the Woodsman but I do have A Study in Drowning (Ava Reid) and I'm hoping maybe I like her YA more than her adult stuff? Or maybe I'm just not an Ava Reid girl and I'll be able to actually unhaul some books for once She's the Man is a modern classic and should be studied in universities!!! Thank you for taking my opinions on this topic seriously!!

@@mckennalovescontent I hated DNF'ing books I used to always commit fully but it was just wasting my time it is TOTALLY self-care! I also am going to give A Study in Drowning a go I have it already on my Kindle... hoping to not be burned a third time lol. I fully agree She's the Man has a place on my syllabus for the fall 2024 semester!

Maybe we read A Study in Drowning at the same time to egg each other on

@@mckennalovescontent I'd love that!

You will have 0 regrets reading Wayward Children even though there are 9 of them out right now, I PROMISE you (and they’re like 160 pages, easy peasy). I can’t believe I found someone else who’s read Rural Diaries! And I bought Dandelion Wine (the book, not the beverage) after reading it, but I want to make some actual wine also. And and, I bought Grimoire Girl hahaha I love her now? I love your love for the greatest showman! I would adore seeing it as a live show. The soundtrack goes so hard, I cry now when I hear “AND WE WILL COME BACK HOME” start to come in.

@@mckennalovescontent You've convinced me! I'll be adding them to my cart....when I get my next paycheck I had no idea there was a Dandelion Wine book, but now I'm intrigued. Right?! She's amazing! Also the fact that she rocks her grey hairs and supports the heck out of her small town. YES!! That part always gets me. Or the part at the beginning of This Is Me "I am not a stranger to the dark "Hide away, " they say "'Cause we don't want your broken parts" I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars "Run away, " they say "No one'll love you as you are" If you haven't watched it, I'd highly suggest looking up when they need a live run through of this song and Hugh Jackman got extremely emotional

She IS amazing, the grey hair, the small town, the candy store, what a dream. Omg I'm adding the live run-through to my Watch Later list right now, I'm gonna cry just from the thumbnail

@@mckennalovescontent TRULY! Plus apparently, her son is doing acting through their local theater. So she's been doing more to support the arts there. Just LOVE hearing when people support their small towns I can't wait to hear what you think!! I needed so many tissues

We can be dummies together hahaha! I’ve been talking so long about reading the book first that now in my brain it’s the only option

@@mckennalovescontent do you recommend reading Dune before watching? I am pretty new to sci-fi and I wonder if the movie will help me understand the book better...

I watched the first movie, then read the book, then watched the second movie - and tbh I liked the way I did it. I’m sure it would be great to read the book before either movie also, but I don’t think the way I did it negatively affected anything at all

Wow this is really good to know, I'll definitely read them back-to-back so I don't get the same whiplash, thank you! Do you think Dune Messiah will translate well, if/when they wind up making the movie?

@@mckennalovescontent I think overall it can translate. The ending of part 2 makes me think they will have a different starting point in the book. Chani's final moments of the film were so different I am thrown how they will integrate it. I get the feeling they are going to show some of the jihad. I think the movie did prep us a little better for the tone of Messiah. I have no idea if they will be able to adapt Children of Dune. It goes to some strange places. I don't want to say any more because I don't want to spoil things.

The ending of the new movie (Chani’s part) threw me too, it really is so different. And I already know one big spoiler from Children of Dune, and I’m almost positive it’s the one you’re talking about, because how the hell would they bring that into a movie…

A lot of weird, repeated things. And nooooo chemistry that would lead to a romance, the whole thing was off

@@mckennalovescontent I was a dumdum and gave it a 4⭐ in my review. I take that back.. it's a 2.5 or 3⭐ LOL

Sometimes we’re too nice to books that don’t deserve it

let me cuss in peace!!!

@@mckennalovescontent free speech 🥳

I've never been an anime watcher, but after 0.5 seconds of my "what is isekai" google search I'm invested. Gimme some titles, what are the best ones?

@@mckennalovescontent Well they are notoriously bad and heavily trope-ridden, so giving you good ones is probably a little self-contradictory, but here goes: 1. Ascendance of a Bookworm. This one is very light and funny and cute 2. The Saga Of Tanya The Evil. This one is extremely dark and may offend some viewers. It is practically the opposite of number one above 3. That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime. This one is again very light. It's much more tropy than the first two. 4. Sword Art Online. This one is a very serious isekai type fantasy. It is solemn while not being too dark, and it takes itself seriously, but that's okay because it's fun for that. However when you're done watching it there is a KZfaq series called SAO Abridged that is so funny it spawned an entire new genre, although debatably the first version of this was a legitimate television show called Sealab 2021. They take an original work, mess with or cut down the animation, and redub all the voices with a completely new and unrelated story. It's hysterical and some of the best stuff on KZfaq. Even if you never watch anime it's still worth watching. Look I'm pretty far from the most knowledgeable person on stuff like this. Please watch the myriad videos on KZfaq of people talking about their top five of all time or last year or whatever. They have much more to contribute than I do. The point is, anime isn't what I expected, and after repeatedly trying it all my life and never enjoying it a few years ago I finally saw One Punch Man and it was like a new part of my brain turned on. It turns out there's a ton of anime out there that's garbage, but there are also diamonds among the coal, and these are well worth sifting, especially when there are so many people online trying to tell you about ones they love. I hope you enjoy them

Screenshotted! Maybe I'll do a little anime taste test and watch the first episode of a bunch of them. I wonder if loving mid movies will translate to me loving "notoriously bad and heavily trope-ridden" anime...

@@mckennalovescontent The thing about anime is that it leans on tropes a lot, but the tropes are different from what we're used to, so for a while it'll seem really original. I remember when I first saw The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I thought it was the most original thing I'd ever seen. It's made up of a bunch of different animations: there's a TV series, which I think is like two seasons or something, and it was really fun and kind of sweet and made me cry a couple of times and was just lovely. Then there's a movie, which is quite different in tone, animated gorgeously so that it almost looks like a studio Ghibli movie, and equally sweet and moving, but then at the end they throw in this kind of little bit that comes out of nowhere about one of the characters and how she's actually terribly isolated and alone. And it doesn't detract from the end, but it is a really touching moment and made me think oh no, I hope she's okay! And then there's a whole spin-off series about that one really minor character, And that spin-off series BREAKS MY FUCKING HEART. Although I understand most fans of the show aren't that into it. Also, during one of the seasons of the original series, there's this eight episode block that a lot of people don't like. Watching it once is enough for them; they don't watch it again. Me, I thought it was a little monotonous, but at the same time you're trying to figure out what the hell is going on and that provides a lot of entertainment. I don't know if it would be as good the second time through. Anyway, good luck

Wow I have so much to learn, this is like a whole new category of media to ingest

and juniper and thorn! two in a row!! cut this shit out

It's ok, I barely read anything in March as I was acclimating to the whole KZfaq thing haha. Also.........watch She's the Man. Your life will be the better for it. I fostered her for 2 weeks, and then I was able to find her a forever home with a vet tech at the place I took her to for her check-ups! She was so early on in her pregnancy, she wouldn't have delivered by now

@@mckennalovescontent Oh! Was her being pregnant a surprise? I assumed she was visibly pregnant! I'm so glad you were able to give her a safe place for a little while and she has a home now!

Total surprise - found her on the freeway, brought her to an emergency vet for a check-up, surprise!

@@mckennalovescontent Wow, kind of a cool experience, at least in hindsight. My family wants to kill me for always trying to rescue animals I find on the side of the road or people bring to me because they know how I feel about the non-human babies who need some love. I took in my second tortoise last fall, and they were so neglected, just looking at them kept making me cry.

My mom has a rescue tortoise! Her name is Natasha, she's extremely chill.