BINGE

Hello everyone! Today's post will be about a book I read recently: Binge by Tyler Oakley.

But first, a little back story. Every year, Malaysian students are entitled to RM250 worth of book vouchers in an attempt to encourage reading and all those educational agendas. Unfortunately, these book vouchers are only available to local students. Like what.

My friend Bella is a total book worm and now that I think about it book vouchers would actually be a good birthday present. Hmm. Anyways, this year she bought her books and she said she had RM100 left. She said that she didn't have anything she wanted to buy at the moment, and I'm not sure if that's really the case or she just really wanted to share her vouchers with me and make me feel loved hahaha. Nonetheless, a huge THANK YOU to Bella! Because of her I got my hands on Tyler Oakley's book Binge which I had been eyeing for quite some time.

For anyone who doesn't know, Tyler Oakley is an American YouTuber. To be honest, I've never really watched a lot of his videos or followed him on any kind of social media (including YouTube), but I had heard of his book from another YouTuber (Miles Jai)'s snaps on snapchat. I read the first chapter while in Borders in KL last year and decided that I wanted the book, but didn't have enough money at the time. The book is a collection of essays on different situations in his life and various topics like gender, eating disorders, love, fangirling and his YouTube career to name a few.

I enjoyed the whole book and connected with him on a level that I wasn't expecting to. In the chapters about his relationship with Adam, I found myself so deeply engrossed that I legit slept at 5am (given that I started reading at about 3am...but you get my point). I was grinning in the funny parts, felt my heart flutter during the sweet parts (that part about the hazel eyes omg) and felt so sad when things fell apart, like legit any more sad stuff and tears were gonna fall. Spoiler alert tho, at the end of that chapter, they ended on good terms and that whole part where Adam asked Tyler if he believed in "The One That Got Away" and Tyler replies that he does and he believes that he is Adam's OTGA got me feeling all sorts of mushy.

Besides his romantic life, I also really enjoyed the parts of his youth when he came out, how he and his family dealt with it and all that good stuff. I'm sure it was more complex than how it was in the book, but I definitely learned a thing or two. Also, the whole theater background was hilarious. I feel kinda jealous because compared to how structured and basic my life has been so far, his youth seemed more filled with risks, chances and experiences that I haven't experienced mainly because I'm too scared or that the worlds we live in are quite different.

I also got inspired to try to be the most authentic version of myself like he is. I feel like although he's successful as an influencer and a creator, he's still himself and doesn't take shit from people who disapprove. I'm also impressed with his dedication and his work ethic. He wouldn't be where he is without working for it, and I plan to take his example and actually start doing something with myself as well instead of just lying around thinking to myself all day.

Overall I really enjoyed the book. I'm hoping that a second one comes out in the future because it was just so witty/entertaining/educational that I need more of it haha. I recommend it to anyone around my age who relates to social media, sexual orientation, poop, love, fangirling and Beyonce, That's most of  what the book's about hahaha.

Some of my favourite quotes from the book are:

(From the chapter The One That Got Away)

I looked up from my Scrabble letters and into his hazel eyes. Hazel is how you describe the color of someone’s brown eyes when you’re in love.

(From the chapter Hopeless Toemantic)

Maybe we all go through life carefully constructing our profiles to say what we're looking for, all while not saying anything that might scare people away...and after a time we start to believe what we're putting out there, Our fear of people's rejecting the things that make us happy limits how much happiness we can actually find. I guess when we're a bit more honest with ourselves an others, we might get more of what we actually desire.

(From the chapter Melancholy Fantasies)

Numbers are infinite, and no milestone or threshold can exhaust them.

I'll be watching more of Tyler's videos once my Internet quota refreshes (one of the serious downsides of living alone). I always knew that he was a cool guy from what I see and hear around social media, like how he's THE YouTuber, but this book has given me a glimpse of who he really is as a person and I find that I really like him and I'd like to know more!

And that was it for this brief 5am post. If you still have your book vouchers with you, I recommend buying his book, Binge! It'll give you things to think about and will probably get a laugh or two out of you as well.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I posted a picture of the book on Instagram and Tyler made by day by liking it! Thanks Tyler! ^^