Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Get to Know My Taste tag — exploring what shapes my reading life. I share passages from Flaubert, Baldwin, and Damon Galgut, rant about the price of books in South Africa, and celebrate writing that stops me in my tracks.
Tag created by @mynameismarines & @ThoughtsOnTomes
I was tagged by Angelina at Books Do Things To Me. Her tag video is here youtube.com/watch?v=dRe58tpS7Io&ab_channel=BooksDoThingsToMe . Consider yourself tagged and join in!
BOOKS MENTIONED
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Sonny's Blues - James Baldwin
The Promise - Damon Galgut
Determined - Robert Sopolsky
And The Roots of Rhythm Remain (A Journey through Global Music) - Joe Boyd
Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:34 Q1 Rating Books
01:54 Q2 Reviewing Books
04:00 Q3 First Favourite Book
05:01 Q4 Favourite Genres
05:57 Q5 Character-driven or Plot-driven stories
06:29 Q6 A Book You Love
08:22 Q7 Aligning Reading Tastes
09:00 Q8 Trashy Books - GarbAugust
09:33 Q9 Dealbreakers in books
10:17 Q10a Strong Opinion - A Book That Blew My Mind
12:47 Q10b Strong Opinion - The High Cost of Reading in SA
19:15 Q11 What I Look For In Books
19:50 Q12 Deciding What To Read Next
20:56 Q13 Inspiration for BookTube
22:15 Q14 A Book That Should Go Viral
25:25 Q15 BookTubers with Similar Taste
BOOKTUBERS I ADMIRE & WATCH REGULARLY:
@AaronReadABook youtube.com/@AaronReadABook
@anotherbibliophilereads youtube.com/@anotherbibliophilereads
@BookTimewithElvis youtube.com/@BookTimewithElvis
@BookChatWithPat8668 youtube.com/@BookChatWithPat8668
@BookishTexan youtube.com/@BookishTexan
@BooksDoThingsToMe youtube.com/@700poodles
@booksimnotreading youtube.com/@booksimnotreading
@bookssongsandothermagic youtube.com/@bookssongsandothermagic
@ChristopherRussellReads youtube.com/@ChristopherRussellReads
@davidmurphy5142 youtube.com/@davidmurphy5142
@TheProvincialLady youtube.com/@TheProvincialLady
@emreads25 youtube.com/@emreads25
@HannahsBooks youtube.com/@HannahsBooks
@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p youtube.com/@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p
@scallydandlingaboutthebooks youtube.com/@scallydandlingaboutthebooks
@Shellyish youtube.com/@Shellyish
@saintdonoghue youtube.com/@saintdonoghue
@thefoxedpage youtube.com/@thefoxedpage
@tristanandtheclassics6538 youtube.com/@tristanandtheclassics6538
@WillowTalksBooks youtube.com/@WillowTalksBooks
THE TAG QUESTIONS
1) How do you rate books? Give a quick rundown of how you do your star ratings (or if you don’t use star ratings, how you evaluate books). 2) How do you approach reviewing books? What’s your review style? Are you analytical, emotional, casual, or structured?
3) What’s the book that made you a reader? Whether it was your first favorite or the one that got you hooked, what book started it all?
4) Do you have a genre niche? Are there certain genres you gravitate toward? Or do you read widely across genres?
5) Do you generally prefer character-driven or plot-driven stories?
6) What’s a book you love so much that you don’t care if others don’t like it? What’s that one book you love enough for everyone?
7) What’s a book you love so much that if someone doesn’t like it, you know your reading tastes don’t align? The book or books where a difference of opinion is a strong indicator of different reading preferences.
8) What’s in your “trash pocket”? What books, tropes, or themes that you know are bad but you love them anyway?
9) Do you have any dealbreakers in books? Something that, if present, immediately turns you off from a book.
10) What’s a strong opinion you have about a book released within the last year? Whether it’s overrated, underrated, or just a take you need to share.
11) What do you look for in writing? What makes a book stand out to you? Is it prose style, themes, voice, structure, or something else?
12) How do you decide what to read next? Do you plan ahead, mood read, or follow external factors (hype, recommendations, ARCs)?
13) Where do you get inspiration for your BookTube content? What sparks your video ideas—other creators, trends, personal reading experiences?
14) If you could make any book go viral right now, what would it be? A book you think deserves more attention and why.
15) Who are some BookTubers with reading tastes similar to yours?
16) Tag others.
Paul Simon & Miriam Makeba sing Under African Skies. This song gave Joe Boyd the title of his book "And The Roots of Rhythm Remain". Enjoy! youtube.com/watch?v=85rr5SqrCZI&list=RD85rr5SqrCZI&start_radio=1&ab_channel=PaulSimonVEVO
If you enjoy bookish discussions, like, comment, & subscribe for more book chats, reviews, and tags.
The Get to Know My Taste tag — exploring what shapes my reading life. I share passages from Flaubert, Baldwin, and Damon Galgut, rant about the price of books in South Africa, and celebrate writing that stops me in my tracks.
Tag created by @mynameismarines & @ThoughtsOnTomes
I was tagged by Angelina at Books Do Things To Me. Her tag video is here youtube.com/watch?v=dRe58tpS7Io&ab_channel=BooksDoThingsToMe . Consider yourself tagged and join in!
BOOKS MENTIONED
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Sonny's Blues - James Baldwin
The Promise - Damon Galgut
Determined - Robert Sopolsky
And The Roots of Rhythm Remain (A Journey through Global Music) - Joe Boyd
Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:34 Q1 Rating Books
01:54 Q2 Reviewing Books
04:00 Q3 First Favourite Book
05:01 Q4 Favourite Genres
05:57 Q5 Character-driven or Plot-driven stories
06:29 Q6 A Book You Love
08:22 Q7 Aligning Reading Tastes
09:00 Q8 Trashy Books - GarbAugust
09:33 Q9 Dealbreakers in books
10:17 Q10a Strong Opinion - A Book That Blew My Mind
12:47 Q10b Strong Opinion - The High Cost of Reading in SA
19:15 Q11 What I Look For In Books
19:50 Q12 Deciding What To Read Next
20:56 Q13 Inspiration for BookTube
22:15 Q14 A Book That Should Go Viral
25:25 Q15 BookTubers with Similar Taste
BOOKTUBERS I ADMIRE & WATCH REGULARLY:
@AaronReadABook youtube.com/@AaronReadABook
@anotherbibliophilereads youtube.com/@anotherbibliophilereads
@BookTimewithElvis youtube.com/@BookTimewithElvis
@BookChatWithPat8668 youtube.com/@BookChatWithPat8668
@BookishTexan youtube.com/@BookishTexan
@BooksDoThingsToMe youtube.com/@700poodles
@booksimnotreading youtube.com/@booksimnotreading
@bookssongsandothermagic youtube.com/@bookssongsandothermagic
@ChristopherRussellReads youtube.com/@ChristopherRussellReads
@davidmurphy5142 youtube.com/@davidmurphy5142
@TheProvincialLady youtube.com/@TheProvincialLady
@emreads25 youtube.com/@emreads25
@HannahsBooks youtube.com/@HannahsBooks
@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p youtube.com/@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p
@scallydandlingaboutthebooks youtube.com/@scallydandlingaboutthebooks
@Shellyish youtube.com/@Shellyish
@saintdonoghue youtube.com/@saintdonoghue
@thefoxedpage youtube.com/@thefoxedpage
@tristanandtheclassics6538 youtube.com/@tristanandtheclassics6538
@WillowTalksBooks youtube.com/@WillowTalksBooks
THE TAG QUESTIONS
1) How do you rate books? Give a quick rundown of how you do your star ratings (or if you don’t use star ratings, how you evaluate books). 2) How do you approach reviewing books? What’s your review style? Are you analytical, emotional, casual, or structured?
3) What’s the book that made you a reader? Whether it was your first favorite or the one that got you hooked, what book started it all?
4) Do you have a genre niche? Are there certain genres you gravitate toward? Or do you read widely across genres?
5) Do you generally prefer character-driven or plot-driven stories?
6) What’s a book you love so much that you don’t care if others don’t like it? What’s that one book you love enough for everyone?
7) What’s a book you love so much that if someone doesn’t like it, you know your reading tastes don’t align? The book or books where a difference of opinion is a strong indicator of different reading preferences.
8) What’s in your “trash pocket”? What books, tropes, or themes that you know are bad but you love them anyway?
9) Do you have any dealbreakers in books? Something that, if present, immediately turns you off from a book.
10) What’s a strong opinion you have about a book released within the last year? Whether it’s overrated, underrated, or just a take you need to share.
11) What do you look for in writing? What makes a book stand out to you? Is it prose style, themes, voice, structure, or something else?
12) How do you decide what to read next? Do you plan ahead, mood read, or follow external factors (hype, recommendations, ARCs)?
13) Where do you get inspiration for your BookTube content? What sparks your video ideas—other creators, trends, personal reading experiences?
14) If you could make any book go viral right now, what would it be? A book you think deserves more attention and why.
15) Who are some BookTubers with reading tastes similar to yours?
16) Tag others.
Paul Simon & Miriam Makeba sing Under African Skies. This song gave Joe Boyd the title of his book "And The Roots of Rhythm Remain". Enjoy! youtube.com/watch?v=85rr5SqrCZI&list=RD85rr5SqrCZI&start_radio=1&ab_channel=PaulSimonVEVO
If you enjoy bookish discussions, like, comment, & subscribe for more book chats, reviews, and tags.
