the best and worst books i've read so far this year 📖✨

it's that time of year friends! time to update you all on the good, the bad, and the REALLY bad books i've read in the first half of the year! and there's no better way to do that than with the mid year book freak out tag 💖

let me know the best and worst books you've read so far this year! 📖

✨ A Clockwork Reader Reading Journal is out now!:

📚 timestamps:
- intro: 0:00
- best book you’ve read so far: 2:02
- worst book you've read so far: 6:11
- best sequel you've read so far: 9:07
- new release you haven't read yet, but want to: 9:57
- most anticipated release for the second half of the year: 10:25
- biggest disappointment: 12:15
- biggest surprise: 13:33
- favorite new author: 16:59
- newest fictional crush/newest favorite character: 17:58
- book that made you cry: 19:08
- book that made you happy: 20:00
- most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received): 20:18
- what books do you need to read by the end of the year: 20:45
- outro: 21:29

📚 books mentioned:
- 5 centimeters per second
- convenience store woman
- before the coffee gets cold
- yona of the dawn
- spy x family
- heartstopper
- the picture of dorian gray
- let us believe in the beginning of the cold season
- my dark vanessa
- sorcery of thorns
- slammed
- the spanish love deception
- from blood and ash
- all my rage
- carrie soto is back
- the ones we burn
- babel
- you've reached sam
- one last stop
- the idiot
- conversations with friends
- the wolf and the woodsman
- chain of iron
- alone with you in the ether

s o c i a l :
☁️ instagram: @clockwork_reads
☁️ tiktok: @clockwork_reads
☁️ twitter: @clockwork_reads​​​​

thank you so much for watching 🌻

[thefriesofLockeLamora]

Please do another rant video for the worst books you've ever read. The public deserves a part 3

[IL-nljn]

I love that Hannah hated A Little Life so much that she just decided to never talk about it again

[underworldsghost]

As you were talking about the Spanish Love Deception I remembered that someone I know was reading it recently and I asked her for her thoughts. She said "I wish I hadn't thought, and I hope I never think about it again", thought you might relate to that sentiment

[mydiary]

Books mentioned

Best books:
2:14: 5 centimeters per second by Yukiko Seiko
2:21 Convenience store woman by Sayaka Murata
2:29 Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 
2:40 Yona of the dawn manga series by Mizuho Kusanagi
2:53 Spy x Family by Tatsuya Endo
3:00 Hearstopper series by Alice Oseman
3:15 Let us believe in the beginning of the cold season: selected poems by Forough Farrokhzad
3:27 The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
3:38 My dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth
4:27 Sorcery of thorns by Margaret Rodgerson

Worst books:
6:30 Slammed by Colleen Hoover
7:07 The spanish love deception by Elena Armas
7:35 From blood and ash by Jennifer L. Armetrout

Best sequel:
9:35 The heartstopper and spy x family sequels

New releases not yet read:
10:01 All my rage by Sabaa Tahir

Most anticipated releases for the second half of the year:
10:36 Carrie Soto is back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
10:51 The ones we burn by Rebecca Mix
11:36 Babel, or the necessity of violence: an arcane history of the Oxford translators' revolution by R.F. Kuang

Biggest disappointments:
12:20 You've reached Sam by Dustin Thao
12:38 One last stop by Casey McQuiston
13:00 The idiot by Elif Batuman

Biggest surprise:
13:39 My dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth
15:12 Conversations with friends by Sally Rooney

Favorite new author:
17:11 The wolf and the woodsman by Ava Reed

Books that made you cry (and happy):
19:22 Volumes 3 & 4 of heart stopper by Alice Oseman

Most beautiful book you've bought this year:
20:23 Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare (waterstones exclusive)

Book you need to read before the end of the year:
20:56 Alone with you in the ether by Olivie Blake

[dvckduckgoose]

I don’t think a recommendation has ever made me want to read a book as much as your rec for Sorcery of Thorns! Sounds literally perfect so i can’t wait to pick it up

[chelsimullen]

Our reading tastes are so different, but I just adore listening to you talk about books! Your videos are so soothing and eloquent. I’m glad you’ve been having a good reading year so far 💕

[rosej]

omg finally someone on youtube put the Spanish love deception on their worst reads, that shit was so atrocious. I literally reconsidered the life choices that led me to the point of reading that book. Aside from misery, it also put me in the biggest reading slump where I was thrown off by reading as a hobby.

[ellieskouros]

starless sea was definitely the book that made me happiest this year -- the gorgeous prose, the underground library, the mystery, the cats...tysm hannah for getting me to read it!!!

[akkae]

When you said Yona of the Dawn jumpstarted your reading for the year that was literally me this year. I started reading Attack on Titan for the Anime, then I started reading more manga and then it just snowballed into reading books. Definitely got me out of my 4+ year reading slump.

[dhivyanagarajan]

Hannah: I don't think I've sobbed reading anything so far this year.
Me thinking about her A little life video : Yes she didn't sob !

[kattsmith]

Even in the midst of finishing my master's program and working full-time, I absolutely tore through both of the Six of Crows books this month because you recommended them so highly <3 I LOVED THEM thank you!!

[duda]

I trust your book recommendations so much <3 my tbr is getting huge after this video lol

[yoonkookie]

An updated "Hannah List" of books you were talking about in the beginning sounds so good 😍 I just know that if I read everything on that list, my life would never be the same again

[VC-cxgf]

you sold me on the ones we burn so fast that i immediately went to my libraries catalogue to look for it only to realize its not even released yet

[sophiex]

the way you present things in your videos is so lovely, its like I'm in a call with a friend or something <3

[aishashaikh]

The multiple mentions of Heartstopper was exactly what my heart needed!!

[christiane]

I also loved „My dark Vanessa“. The writing is so beautiful ❤️ Another favourite of mine this year has been „The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo“. I cried so much at the end 🥺☺️

[theinfernaltales]

I, by some weird happenstance, received the notification for this video as I was filling out what may be a potential all-time favorite in the « A Clockwork Reader » reading journal 😊❤️

[nishkasehgal]

I’ve been in a reading slump this year, and All My Rage saved me. I have never read her fantasy series, An Ember in the Ashes, but now I want to! The way Sabaa writes, the way she made me feel so much?! The characters were so well developed, and the whole story was so well paced. Gosh, I ADORE her now. And even though I’m not Pakistani (I’m Indian), Urdu is very similar to Hindi, and the fact that a language besides English was in the book and that I could read was a whole new experience! I miss the book so much now. 🥹🥹

[mikeysmusing]

your taste is truly just immaculate! i ended sorcery of thorns last year but admittedly didn’t give it a fair chance, and your enjoyment of it in the last vlog led to me picking it up and now i ADORE THIS STORY!! the atmosphere is just so magical - it really does make you feel like you’ve been swept away. thank you for introducing me to a new fav!

yona is also one of my favourite series with one of my most favourite casts ever.

my dark vanessa is one of the most thought-provoking books i’ve ever read; definitely one of my favorites. i read it a year ago and think about it/revisit it often.

i’ve heard the opposite of what you said about sally rooney; that normal people is the better conversations w friends! i’ve never tried a book by her but conversations w friends sounds much more up my alley so if they really are that similar i’ll definitely take your advice.