Oscar Sweetman, Book Reviewer:

Wednesday is about books. And writing. Today I hand you over to my son, Oscar. He is also my new favourite book reviewer…

Last Friday night, we sat around the TV watching YouTube clips. A nice, fun end to the week. And then my son told us he’d finished editing his new video and could we all watch it.

There’s a forever-pride to being a parent. And maybe you spot it best in other parents. My brother, a tough nut to crack, thinks absolutely everything his children do is amazing, funny, weird, and wonderful. And it’s a joy to always notice this about him.

I’ve always loved Oscar’s love of “movie-making”, from back when we would parade his toys in front of a laptop and watch it back together. But he’s on a whole other level now. And it’s directly inspired by what he’s watching. He’s not just mindlessly watching YouTube clips. He’s learning.

He’s also turned the corner as a reader in this last year. From starting a couple of Stephen King books, to reading Thomas Harris, and, well, all sorts of stuff. He’s found his groove most recently with a range of YA and adult novelists. And I say all of this as a proud parent of course. There should be no other kind after all. 

But after seeing Friday’s video, I asked Oscar if he wouldn’t mind me sharing it via the newsletter. He’s very keen to get some more subscribers, and comments on his videos. This is the gold the young are mining these days. And it’s a weird world, but hey, it has more purpose than just collecting Garbage Pail Kids cards.

Oscar did me one better than saying it was fine for me to share a clip of him reviewing books. He wrote a full intro and everything. So I hand the newsletter over today, to my 11yo son Oscar. My new favourite book reviewer. Future king of YouTube. And, just to add the requisite layer of embarrassment, my darling boy who I love with all of my heart. Take it away, Osc…

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Hello, my name is Oscar. I own a new book related YouTube channel called “HeHatesNovels” and that name might imply I have negative thoughts against the books that I review, but I usually don’t. In fact, I usually talk about my favourite authors, my favourite books, and my favourite book series’.

I started off the channel by making a video talking about one of, if not my favourite author, Stephen King.

I reckon I will make more Stephen King videos once I read some more of his books, because at the moment, I haven’t been reading so much of his works, instead I’ve been on a MASSIVE modern thriller kick and I recently made a video where I recommended thrillers, and it was really fun to make and it’s my favourite video I’ve done yet.

In that video, I recommended heaps of thrillers by authors like Lucy Foley, author of The Guest List, Alex Michaelides, author of The Silent Patient and Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl. Those are some of my favourite thriller authors. Especially Lucy Foley ;)

I also will be uploading some videos where I rank my favourite book series’ from worst to best. I’ve already done that with the “Percy Jackson” series by author Rick Riordan, a Greek Mythology series. So yes, I also like SOME mythology and historical fiction books.

I’ve also recently gotten into some dystopia, so I may make a video on that. I’ve also discovered an excellent dystopian series called “Shatter Me” by Tahera Mafi, and I plan to make a video talking about that series once I’ve finished it, which might take a long time. 

If any of that stuff sounds interesting, then maybe check my youtube channel out because that is the stuff I will be posting, and if you wanted to, it would be absolutely amazing if you subscribed, and I would love that. Also, if you want to recommend some books, then you can ask me in my video comments, and that would be so fun and great because one of my favourite things about doing YouTube is replying to people in my comments. 

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So that’s my new favourite book reviewer. I’m lucky enough to have him living down the hall from me. Lucky enough to be making him dinner, driving him to his karate lessons, paying for his drum tuition, and, well, you know…being on hand for all the thankless parenting tasks.

But I’m very proud of Oscar every day. And his reading – and writing – has really blossomed this last year. Which has been something very important for both me and his mother. We’re very proud of this development.

No videos from me, but I’ll add a couple of book recommendations to close. Since I last spoke to you about books, I can say that Lucinda Williams’ memoir was every bit as good as I anticipated. Raw, honest, and real. And so many reminders of all of that wonderful music. A must.

And I’ve just finished the new Max Porter book, Shy. Devastating, and miraculous, not least for its efficiency. He’s building a stunning catalogue of these deceptively ‘small’ books. What an amazing writer.

So, see or hear anything you like here. Lots of book recommendations today. Most of them from my new favourite book reviewer: Oscar Sweetman.