Bits of Books: More YouTuber Memoirs!

We're midway through summer, and the days are flying by... as are the books on my Goodreads Challenge! In the interest of speeding things up a little bit, I decided to compress two recent reads down into one review... because really, how many blog posts do I need to make about YouTubers?

Here are two memoirs, based on the lives of two very different Internet personalities: LGBT advocate and teen magnet Tyler Oakley, and beauty guru from across the Pond, Estee Lalonde!

bloom: navigating life and style, estee lalonde

Estee Lalonde has been one of my consistent YouTube subscriptions, since my early college years. Her conversational style and life advice is down-to-earth and very chill, which is somewhat at odds as to the current status of a fashion and beauty influencer, and her life is highly affected by the fact that she lives in what I personally think is one of the most interesting cities in the world (London!).

Her book, Bloom, showcases a lot of her signature, laid-back and stream-of-conciousness thinking. It's very conversational and accessible, and despite the physical book's relative thickness, pretty short. Organized into bite-sized portions like "Life," "Home," "Fashion," and "Food," she breezes through each with various degrees of personal inflection, touching on things like her anxiety and depression, disordered eating, and the emotional toll of moving to a new country, without allowing the writing itself to get overly affected or dark.

The style of the book's formatting and layout was just as much of a factor in its construction as the actual word content, and I think it's actually one of my favorite parts of it. It is filled with photographs that are carefully stylized, without losing any sense of personal belonging or intimacy, and they illustrate Estee's sense of organization and colorful personality perfectly.

The fact that the composition of the book itself was so stylized, was both an asset and a detraction. It highlighted Estee's style and fit with her brand, but also felt somewhat disconnected from the highly personal stories she was telling. It was almost as if she was letting the reader get closer to her life, but not that close, holding them at an arm's length away courtesy of colorful blocking, text changes, and perfectly aligned photos.

It also didn't help that her life has changed considerably after the publication of this book last year: while she talks quite a bit about her boyfriend - the Internet best friend, who eventually wooed her to move across to England from Canada in the first place, and who she has been with since the launch of her channel - it stings somewhat, due to the fact that they have recently broken up, and are no longer together.

Regardless, I enjoyed reading it, though I can't say that it was one of my favorite YouTuber memoirs. I wish more attention had been paid to the words, as much as the formatting, and that Estee had gone a little deeper than just surface level attributes. I can listen to her talk for hours at a time on YouTube and on her podcasts; I wish that she had spent as much attention to her storytelling here.

binge, tyler oakley

YouTuber Tyler Oakley is highly notable in his particular job market, due to his compassion and activism, high energy, outrageous sense of humor, and equally boisterous laugh. In a realm packed to bursting with big personalities, he has proven himself as a force to be reckoned with, after parlaying his fame into not just greater career opportunities, but significant ways to give back, which is why I'm such a fan.

Binge is a collection of bits and pieces of Tyler's life, likes, and history. Scattershot and short, he discusses more serious topics - like exploring his sexuality, his experiences with homophobia and heartbreak, and a childhood eating disorder - alongside the kind of topics he gleefully dishes on best, like details of late night partying gone awry, tales of hookups past, and his experiences in the fangirl lifestyle. The tones are disparate, but evenly weighed throughout the book, giving both the highs and the lows equal measure, each balanced out with his irreverent, conversational tone.

I do think there are elements of it that surprised me; namely, how raunchy it can get in various sections, especially due to the fact that I consider his fanbase to be rather young. I checked my thinking of, "Is he really okay with kids reading this?" when I put myself in their shoes, and realized that it was exactly the kind of thing I would have loved to read when I was younger (even though my parents would definitely not have approved).

Beyond the somewhat inappropriate nature of quite a few of the stories, there was enough heart to go along with it to recognize that Tyler wasn't blowing these stories up to exaggerate or hyperbolize his life, but because he is a storyteller at heart, who wants to share both the best and worst parts of his life with his fans.

While I think it started to lose a little steam towards the end, that deliberate sense of sharing was something that really set the tone for the book, and makes me think that no matter the medium, Tyler Oakley excels when he has a great story to tell.

What are some of your recent reads this past summer? Have you read any YouTuber books? Let me know, in the comments below!