Hello! It's me, Laurel Ann. I'm here today
with a very special guest. This is my
sister, Louisa. Do you want to just give a
quick introduction? Maybe talk about
your reading taste?
-Yes. I am her younger
sister. I used to read a lot more than I
do now. I think a lot of us can relate to
that.
-Yeah she used to read way more than me when we were younger.
-I mean, I wasn't allowed to use the internet. I didn't have internet privileges,
so I had
to do something.
-She was carrying around
like a huge-ass copy of Les Mis for like
ten years.
-For all the good it did me. I read like 100 pages.
I just finished college with a
bachelor's in accounting, in case you're
hiring. I'm trying to get back into
reading. It used to be a source of a lot
of joy for me, and you've helped be an
inspiration for me. It helps watching
your channel and hear you talk about
interesting books, and me thinking like
"wow, I remember when I used to read
interesting books as well."
=So, I thought to introduce her into the lore of
my channel, we would just do a simple tag
video. So I--you know--I spent some time
this morning trying to pick one where
you wouldn't have to have a lot of
specific knowledge about
different books or like do any
research or anything, and I found one
that I think is perfect for us. So today
we are doing the Mamma Mia book tag.
-Oh, I'm very excited about that.
-Funny enough, this is actually one of two Mamma Mia
tags. I found my people.
This one is created by Emma Tobias. I
just fancied the question in this one a
little bit more. The first question in
the Mamma Mia book tag is "pick your three dads.
So three book characters who you would
want to be your dad.
-I was going to say Arthur Weasley.
But then I thought of other things
regarding Harry Potter.
-It's okay, like Arthur Weasley is not problematic.
That's true.
like I don't think he's a transphobe.
-That's very true. Arthur Weasley. He's just so
passionate and loving, and I feel like he
would be the best to talk about your own
interests with and find out about things
that you perhaps didn't know about. Like
if I were if he were my father,
presumably I would have grown up in a
pureblood family, so I wouldn't know
anything about the muggle world, and I
think I would find it really really
interesting to hear about his, if a
little misinformed, very intriguing
research. Second I'm going to say
Mr. Bennett.
-Okay, why? 
-He's not the most
supportive father, like he's not the kind
of father that you can talk about your
real boy troubles to and he's gonna
comfort you, but life will always be a
lot fun here with him. And my third pick
would be Hans Hubermann from The Book Thief, because I remember when reading it
as a young child, I was always just
really struck with the great care that
he showed the protagonist. There's
an energy that he has--this kind of quiet,
unbothered air. He's the supportive
father that Mr. Bennet is not.
-If I'm not mistaken, I feel like he also plays the accordion. 
-Yes he does!
-We love a musical dad. 
-Yeah! I could learn the accordion from my musical dad.
-Should I also answer the question?
-I don't know!
-For me, just briefly: Matthew Cuthbert from Anne
of Green Gables, because he's a precious baby
angel, and he would support you no
matter what. Like, you could literally
murder someone and he'd just be like "I love
you though." Rubeus Hagrid, for similar
reasons, but also I feel like he would
bring like quite a lot of fun to your life. 
-You would also have as many pets as you want.
-I know! Pets is definitely part of it. And then the third one is the dad--I can't
remember his name--the dad in The
Tidal Zone. 
-Yes! 
-He's just like such a
good dad. He is supportive, but also
knows when to put his foot down. He's
stay-at-home dad. He's smart he like...yeah,
he's caring he's--
-encourages intellectual development in his children.
-Exactly! Yeah, he's the perfect dad. In a perfect book.
The next question is
about Meryl Streep and Cher: pick a book
that can do no wrong. So basically it's
like like a book that you think is like
perfect.
-Honestly, although I've already mentioned it once, The Book Thief. I think it
captures the innocence of childhood so
well, and that's what makes the tragedy
and the heartbreak and the difficulty
that much more poignant, but it never feels
ham-fisted. It never feels contrived. It
always just feels so natural, and the
characters are all just so lovingly
crafted.
-I also remember--it's been so long since I read that book--
but I also remember that the writing is
[UNISON] beautiful!
-Is beautiful!
[BIRDS CHRIPING]
-Those birds are so fucking loud.
For me, it would be Jane
Austen's Emma, just because like...
like, name one mistake in that book. There is none. It's perfect.
-Period.
-And that's on a period!
-The next one is "here I go again:" a book to read over
and over again.
-You know what! You know what, I think for me it would be The Picture of Dorian Gray.
-Oooo! 
-I feel like it really is one that
is going to influence you in different
ways at different points in your life.
-Mm-hmm.
-You're gonna relate to different
characters at different moments, and it's
one that like I have thought about so
many times since the first time I read
it...so many times from so many angles, and
I still don't 100% know who I
specifically think...whose philosophy I
think is the philosophy for me.
-I would have to say Night Flying by Rita Murphy.
I've talked about this so many
times on my channel over the
last couple months, but it's just like,
it's a book that I--probably the book
that I've read and reread more than any
other book. And it's just like short and
sweet, and like so nostalgic for me.
The next one is [CLEARS THROAT]
[SINGING] I was cheated by you, and I
think you know when.
A book/author/character that
you felt cheated by.
-There's the one
answer that's like--
-That's the obvious one. Yeah, okay. 
-Yeah, let's just keep it at that.
[SINGING] You can dance! You can jive! Having the time of your life! Ooo!
[SINGING OF ABBA'S DANCING QUEEN CONTINUES]
-A book that made you want to be a dancing queen,
which I think just means a book
that makes you happy.
-A book that makes me happy. A lot of the books
that I can think of off the top of my
head as like reading in the last few
years especially have been kind of dark.
I'm gonna say something that
is gonna make it seem like I'm just
copying you, but Pride and Prejudice. 
-You did just read it recently.
-Yeah. 
-So why did it make you happy?
-It--well number one because I
remember growing up together watching
like every adaptation there's ever been
of any Jane Austen property and really
enjoying it and like it giving a
specific feeling, but also just it has
like the perfect ending.
The characters all get what their
due. There are moments where you--the
first time you're experiencing the story,
obviously, you might--you think that like
there's not really that much hope, which
just makes the ending all the sweeter.
There's just this glee to the ending. It
just feels like you're basking in joy
with these characters.
-This is the very last question 
-Okay.
-Are you going to sing with me this time?
-Are you going to sing with me this time?
-No.
-Ouch.
[SINGING ABBA'S MAMMA MIA]
-All that is to say,
A book that you think would make great musical. 
-Oooo!
-I've been thinking about it like all day.
-Do you have your answer?
After all that thought?
-When I was in college, I
was in my close friend, Tali's--one
of her first student films, which was about a
theatre company putting on a musical of
Fight Club. She chose Fight Club because
it's like an inherently ridiculous idea.
But ever since then I've been thinking
about it. Every waking hour. I actually
think it would make a great musical,
because I think one of the central
themes of Fight Club is this idea of
like toxic masculinity like...taken
to its logical conclusion, kind of
A musical is something that is
like socially seen as like antithetical
to masculinity, so I think it would make
like a very--done by the right
people, you know. It have to be in very
capable hands, but it think could be
something very interesting. Also, if
West Side Story taught us anything, it's
that dancing fight scenes are the best
thing in the world.
-Something that just springs to
mind is Stargirl.
-Ooo, okay. 
-It's just
so..it has such a fun feeling. The stakes
are relatively low, but the characters
feel like the stakes are so so high, and
I feel like that is the sort of thing
that translates really well to the stage.
This intense passion felt around
things that like maybe don't actually
matter that much.
I feel like Anne of Green Gables would be an interesting--
-Yeah that would be good
because she's
such a dramatic person and everyone
around her is like...
-It would be exactly the
right story to use unconventional
storytelling through diegesis. It would
have to be a really ambitious project
because the set would have to be really good .
-Mm-hmm. 
-because so much of it is about this place.
-Yeah, exactly, like Prince
Edward Island is a character.
Alright. That's the end of the tag. 
Thanks for
joining us. Give Louisa lots of love in the
comments. 
-Yeah, my LinkedIn will be in the bio.
Okay, thanks. Bye!
