Personally, book hauls are my favourite kind of BookTube videos to watch. I love seeing which books people are buying/reading/reviewing/adding to their collections and I get excited when I see my favourite BookTubers posting new haul videos. It's like I'm vicariously living through their experiences of acquiring new books. It's fun!
This can be a double-edged sword, though, because you could argue that these type of videos promote binge-buying and excess. Which is fine, but I can see why some people would find that problematic. It does seem excessive to haul 20 + books at a time, but it's important to keep in mind that many BookTubers receive books free in exchange for review; and also that they make a bit of money from the videos themselves. They definitely have an advantage that most people don't have when it comes to obtaining new books.
One of the downsides for me watching these videos, unfortunately, is that I have very different tastes in books than most of the BookTubers that I watch. This might be because I'm significantly older than most of them, but it can also be attributed to the fact that I have been reading "adult" fiction since I was about eight or nine years old. I sort of missed the "YA window," so to speak; and while I do enjoy some YA fiction, the majority of it tends to leave something to be desired. I am not saying that in a manner of snobbery, of course, there are plenty of middle-grade and YA books that I absolutely adore (Harry Potter, anyone?) but I have to be careful when watching book hauls because I know my tastes lean slightly away from 'light, easy romance.'
What usually happens when I watch book hauls and reviews is that I hear amazing things about a book, series or author; and I rush to find the books only to discover upon reading that I find the book juvenile or lacking (I'm looking at you, To All the Boys I've Loved Before). Whenever this happens, I feel silly and usually end up donating the books to charity because I know I won't reach for them and I don't like to be reminded of the times I let great reviews cloud my better judgement. I have given away books by Gayle Forman, David Levithan and even Rainbow Rowell because I just didn't enjoy them- Which to most YA lovers probably sounds blasphemous, but I can't jump onto bandwagons and put out great reviews on books I didn't like; and I won't.
I guess what I take away from all this is that I need to trust my own tastes before I listen to anybody else's recommendations and really be more critical with myself about whether or not I am going to like a book. A great way to do this while you're out shopping in a bookshop is to open the book and read the first couple of pages. You can feel out the story, writing style and language before you decide to take the book home with you. You can also borrow the book from your local library, or even read an excerpt from the book on Amazon.
All that aside, I still love book haul videos and I shall continue to binge-watch them because they are lots of fun- just being a touch more discerning.
Rhi xo
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