BookTube's Jack Edwards Shares Surprising Book Recs for Reality TV Fans

It turns out Jack Edwards is just like Us when it comes to his love for Normal People.

The social media influencer, who became huge on BookTube for his literary commentary and reviews, reflected on the first bookish video he posted to YouTube on June 9, 2020. In the clip, Edwards discussed reading all of the books the character Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal) read in the TV show Normal People, which was based on the Sally Rooney book of the same name.

“It added so much texture to my reading experience of Normal People, because everything is in there so intentionally, which just made it so interesting,” Edwards exclusively told Us Weekly. “To think, why did Sally Rooney choose for that book to be the one that Connell was reading at that particular time. So, she uses Irish poets like Frank O’Hara and she invokes classic books like Voltaire‘s Candide, but each of them gives you an insight into how Connell is feeling at that moment in time. So, from one literature student to another, it’s kind of a dream.”

Edwards has been the internet’s go-to guy for reading recommendations ever since. He spoke to Us following the annual Made on YouTube event about the unexpected books that reality TV show fans should have on their TBR (to be read) lists.

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Even though we’re in the fall, some of us are already longing for the warmer months — which always bring new episodes of Love Island. Edwards believes One Summer in Miami by Amber Rose Gill, who won Season 5, matches the vibe of the Peacock reality show.

“If you’re trying to get your Love Island fix, maybe get it from a Love Island winner,” Edwards said.

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Fans of The Bachelor franchise will want to read The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, which is all about non-monogamy and the ethics of being in love and the ethics of dating multiple people. “If you want, like, a philosophical read to balance out the kind of brain rot of watching The Bachelor [and] The Bachelorette,” Edwards added.

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Selling Sunset fans should “read L.A. Woman by Eve Babitz, which is so good, and she captures like the energy of LA in the ‘60s,” Edwards said. “She was just like such an It girl, and it’s frivolous and silly and kind of audacious, in a way. Even the opening line just catches you right from the start.”

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And last but not least, fans of The Real Housewives franchise will want to pick up a copy of Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors.

“She has these amazing fight scenes where the characters think of the most heinous, evil, horrible things they could say to one another and say them anyway. And I think it’s about that thing of the human experience in your head where you’re like, ‘Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say, and then you do, and you just have to face percussions of having said something, you know is awful,” Edwards continued. “That’s what those characters do, and their sisters too, so they do really rip into each other in that way. I think that’s what the housewives do.”

Jack Edwards’ Fall Book Recommendations

As for Edwards’ most anticipated future release? It’s Intermezzo by Rooney, which was released on September 24. He also said that a classic novelist might have a huge renaissance this fall.

“So if it was Brat summer, I think it’s [Fyodor] Dostoevsky Fall, I think that we should be reading Dostoevsky, for the tense emotions. I love White Nights,” Edwards added.

“I think something else that captures those really intense emotions, just like White Nights does, is a Turkish book which is called Madonna in a Fur Coat [by Sabahattin Ali], and it’s all about unrequited love and intense emotions and what it is to be human,” Edwards continued. “I think that’s what the autumn or the fall is for: being deep in your emotions and cozying up with a book while the rain is falling. And I think those books are what we need.”

Reporting by Aileen Bergin