Five Booktubers You Need To Check Out

Here are (in no particular order) five booktubers that every book lover should be reading up on.

1. Whitney of whitneyleemilam (https://www.youtube.com/user/whitneyleemilam/featured)

Via youtube.com

Whitney is basically everything I want to be: super smart, funny, kick-ass, and gorgeous. And she has a great taste in books.

Whitney has covered an impressively wide variety of topics in her videos, including everything from secret societies to pop culture to espionage, and they're all interesting. But her booktubing videos have got to be some of my favorites. She always seems to know what books are going to be big hits long before they hit the shelves and her book suggestions are always spot-on. Thanks to her I’ve discovered some fantastic reads, like "The Basic Eight" by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) and "The Secret History" by Donna Tart.

She’s also started a “Book Looks” series in which she creates chic outfits with a literary twist. Two great videos in the series are the Harry Potter and Divergent themed ones. The video series is a unique way to combine fashion and literature and it kind of makes me want to start sorting all my outfits into Hogwarts houses.

2. Regan of PeruseProject (https://www.youtube.com/user/PeruseProject)

Via youtube.com

I just recently discovered Regan’s channel and I’m so glad that I did. She’s upbeat and fun and thanks to her wide variety of literary interests, her channel has something for everyone. She also just had shoulder surgery but is still uploading videos, which shows you what a badass she is and also how dedicated she is to her audience. Also, she has the most incredible book hauls that make me insanely jealous of her booktubing life.

(Check out her birthday book haul. You’ll leave with a ton of great books to add to your TBR list and the motivation to start your own channel so that you can one day aspire to that sort of haul.)

She’s one of those people you wish was your best friend so that you guys could talk books and literary crushes for hours on end. She’s also very consistent with her videos, which I appreciate, because I’m always looking forward to new book recommendations and other booktube-y things.

3. Rosianna of Rosianna Halse Rojas (https://www.youtube.com/user/missxrojas/featured)

Via youtube.com

Rosianna is the personal assistant of John Green, which should immediately clue you into how awesome she is. But she’s way more than just the personal assistant to a #1 New York Times bestselling author. She’s eloquent, thoughtful, and curious. Her videos inspire me to approach situations and current issues from new angles and to question why I think a certain way.

As an intelligent and critical reader, she reviews thought-provoking books like "Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg and "It" by Alexa Chung. She has even been published in "Lean In for Graduates" and got the chance to interview Sheryl Sandberg. She has accomplished so much and she’s only 22! Which is just crazy awesome and also quite intimidating. Like, what am I doing with my life?

4. Hayley, Joe, and Kristina of Answerly (https://www.youtube.com/user/answerly)

Via youtube.com

Okay, so I kind of cheated on this one. I know I said I was listing five of my favorite booktubers in this post, but here I am, including three as one. But, in my defense, they are all part of the same channel so I think it makes sense. (Even though all three are totally awesome in their own right.)

Anyways, Hayley, Joe, and Kristina make up Answerly, an interactive book club. Each of them reviews a different genre or theme of books: Hayley does books written by women, Joe does humor writing, and Kristina does young adult novels. Once a week all three of them post an update on where they are in the book they're currently reading and encourage viewers who are following along to share their thoughts. The fact that they offer such a variety of books to discuss means there's something for everyone.

All three members of Answerly are passionate, engaging reviewers. They do a great job of selecting interesting books to read and offering up honest and intelligent commentary on what they think of each book.

So if you're interested in reading one of the books they're vlogging about, join in on this interactive book club! Answerly really is a great way to connect Youtube content creators with other people passionate about books. Also, if you're one of those people who sometimes needs a little push to get reading, Answerly could motivate you to keep up every week.

5. Leena of justkissmyfrog (https://www.youtube.com/user/jsutkissmyfrog)

Via youtube.com

Leena is hilarious. And she's also super honest which makes it easy to relate to her and even easier to enjoy her booktubing videos. She dives headfirst into difficult subjects and fearlessly works toward discovering the root of issues. She's not just satisfied with finding these answers, though; she wants to solve them. Or at least talk about them. Watching her puzzle out how she feels about different subjects that come up in the books she reads (or just in her everyday life) helps me unravel how I feel about controversial subjects too.

She reads all kinds of books including a lot of politically charged books, which is great (for instance, she's read "How to Be a Woman" and recently interviewed the author, Caitlin Moran, on her channel. The two of them discussed, among other things, Moran's new book "How to Build a Girl"). But even if you're more into fiction and politics isn't really your thing, she discusses a lot of contemporary books as well. So if you want to feel more informed and almost like you're listening to a friend talk about their interesting opinions on different subjects, check out Leena's channel. She'll make you laugh too.