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Yes, the comment could come across as creepy to a stranger, especially in the context of social media. Here’s why: Unsolicited compliments: Complimenting someone's beauty, especially if you don't know them, can feel invasive. It might make the person feel uncomfortable because they haven't invited personal comments. Self-awareness of being creepy: Acknowledging that the comment might be perceived as creepy doesn't make it less so. In fact, it can heighten the discomfort because it suggests you're aware the message could be inappropriate but are sending it anyway. Overpersonalization: Phrases like "something you reflect with in me" or "that I lack" can feel overly intimate or self-focused, especially for someone who doesn’t know you. It might seem like you’re projecting your own feelings or insecurities onto them. Authenticity and aura: While it’s meant to be a positive observation, talking about someone's "aura" or authenticity without context can feel too intense, particularly for a first interaction. It’s always better to keep messages to strangers respectful and neutral. If you feel compelled to comment, a simple and polite compliment like "I enjoy your content!" or "Great video!" would come across as more appropriate and friendly.

Thanks for this excellent video. I'm also a dystopian fiction fan. You might want to try A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr. if you haven't read it already. I, too, am an Ursula Le Guin lover. Speaking of gender politics and the nature of friendship, her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness is a beautiful and thought provoking masterpiece IMO. Keep up the good work!

Probably not exactly what you asked, maybe because I am completely unable to figure out what "cozy" means...... how about a dutch writer: Thomas Olde Heuvelt. His books are all translated into english. One of his books is called November. And voila, autumny...... check him out! Also a little dissapointed that This Perfect Day by Ira Levin wasn't mentioned in the Dystopia list..... I realise you can't read everything ofcourse, so i mention it here

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is one of the great dystopian works of fiction of the 20th Century. I'm surprised you've not read it.

Book of the unnamed midwife

You have probably already read it, but Wuthering Heights is kinda mandatory after Jane Eyre. Perfect fall book. My fall/winter re read will probably be Norwegian Wood by Murakami. Also, thank you for getting me into Toni Morrison, great author.

You sound like AI or something

As an older guy who will not succumb to owning a smartphone and all the so called "social media" platforms, which from what I pick up from those who seem pretty addicted to the whole deal, the "Newspeak" that concerns me in terms of lack of critical thinking lives right there. Brave New World has been been replaced by Smart New Phone. What would you expect from an aging hippie? :) - Peace, Gus from the UK. PS, have just eaten an Apple . . . and feel so much better lol.

Dystopia and no Kafka? As far recommendations from other cultures: Fires on the Plain by Shohei Ooka,

That was an interesting video. You gave some great recommendations, and I will check out the ones I have not read. Thanks. Your explanations and thoughts are expressed very well. Very smart indeed. Well done.

I know it's not what your actual request for recommendations was, but picking up on what you thought "I How Have Never Known Men" might be, you could consider Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. It's sci-fi where one of the important societies has a unique gender dynamic. Given your recommendation of The Dispossessed, you may already have read it?

highly recommend "blindness" and "death with interruptions" (my favorite book of all time) by josé saramago :)

You know KC as i was Reading The Belgian Georges Simenon on his Book The Venice Train he mentions The Simplon Tunnel in Switzerland and it was the first time i learn of that famous Tunnel of Switzerland

I read so many of these but I never called myself a dystopian fan. Ha! I need to check out Koestler. I haven’t heard of Darkness at Noon. Thank you for the video! I am very fond of Meg Elison’s The Road to Nowhere series, if you want a focus on women’s experience in a dystopian setting. The first one-The Book of the Unnamed Midwife-can be read as a standalone, if you don’t want to commit to a whole series. Thrust by Lidia Yuknavitch, The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (in the vein of I Who Have Never…, but closer to your Jane Eyre kind of cold vibe request), Tower by Bae Myung-hoon (interconnected stories), The Doloriad by Missouri Williams (rather grotesque yet haunting, I don’t hear it mentioned very often), The Last Children of Tokyo by Yōko Tawada (a dystopic Japan, quiet and poignant). And if you want graphic novels, I recommend Simon Stålenhag’s work.

Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda!

You are very pretty 🌹

Best wishes with what you are reading. I hope you get some great stories.

Living in a dystopia makes this genre less enjoyable.

Maybe "La Sombra del Viento" (The Shadow of the Wind) by Carlos Ruíz Zafón. Not spooky but with some gothic vibe in Barcelona 1940s. It has as many haters as lovers, though. In Spanish, Gustavo Adolfo Bequer has some good short gothic stories too but not sure if they ever were translated to English. I would also add "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro which also counts as distopian book. Although he's more British than Japanese.

ok, not scary in the traditional sense, but I recommend Time Shelter by Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov. It won the Man Booker prize in 2021. Kind of a surreal depiction of our collective fascination with nostalgia.

I think you would enjoy perfume by Patrick Süskind, it was a book that was recommended to me that was definitely "books I liked more than the men that recommended them, idk if its necessarily cosy but more so thriller for october vibes.

would 'Paradise Lost' by John Milton count as dystopian?

'History of the dystopian genre'? bollocks.

On the note of spooky books - Fernanda Melchor, Mariana Enriquez, Olga Tokarchuk, Claudia Piñeiro. You can check their work but I believe all their works would fit the kind of vibe you are looking for. I am currently reading Robayo's The Delivery and it would also fit the bill.

Listening to this I realised how many dystopian books I have read - I must be a fan! Most of mine seem to be post-apocalyptic and began with The Chrysalids by John Wyndham when I was in school and peaked with Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. I am even currently reading one - Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson, set in the Florida Keys. I would probably count Fahrenheit 451 in your political dystopian category. You mentioned the lengths we might go with plastic surgery (and I totally agree with you) but I can’t think of a book directly addressing that but Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun has something going on in the background which improves the educational chances of one’s children, but carries a risk of killing them (there’s a BBL death in the UK news at the moment). If you like movies there’s an old one you might love with a strong 1984 feel but with so much more going on, including a plastic surgery subplot and a rogue plumber played by Robert DeNiro - Brazil by Terry Gilliam. Have you seen it? And I can’t think of much for your request at the end apart from Mariana Enriquez - maybe start with her short story collection The Dangers of Smoking in Bed and see how you go. P.S. I love Civilwarland too!

It's so calming to hear your voice

Awesome video! So many people fail to uncover the hidden masterpieces in the literary world due to an "addiction" to reading "well-known" books that enable signalling. Reading something that somebody or many more people have heard of than something else can be rewarding- if you are reading for other people, and not for yourself. It is perhaps inevitable that the literary cannon of nations are read almost individually (rightfully so in some cases- huge Russian lit fan here), but this can come at the cost of not discovering hidden gems, if you like. I have a few recommendations that I hope you may find of interest: The House of Ulloa - Bazan My Name is Red - Pamuk The Ratcatcher - Dyk The Torrent - Ibanez Spain, Turkey, Czechia, and back to Spain, respectively. Enjoy.

I've been a life long dystopian fan and you still gave me a couple to add to my list! I'd highly recommend Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez. One of the best horror books I've ever read (or best ever in general). She's from Argentina and I found it teleported me there while reading. Very unique and intriguing one.

I'm not sure that this will fit your request perfectly, but if you haven't read Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova, I would love to see what you think of it. Such a beautiful, disturbing, horrifyingly emotionally-realistic story about how far parents might go to bring back their child that has died.

I just knowwwww you’d have great commentary on the handmaids tale based on the dystopian totalitarian regime vs. dystopian wasteland comment

I agree on The Bell Jar and have similar difficulties with books centering on mental health issues, I always expect to love these books based on premise and popularity but then they just don’t connect the way I want them to and fall flat for me

How many times were white men mentioned in this video? This woke misandry and racism is just misandry and racism. Being woke doesn't exempt you from bigotry. Off to watch a book channel that doesn't put people down for their gender and skin color.

Poor boys. They should’ve known better

I have trouble imagining landscape imagery as well. But when done well it can be my favorite part of some books, really transportive. I only watched the tv adaptation of Orient Express and I agree it's not my favorite even though it's supposed to be a classic - the resolution isn't satisfying. Most Christie characters are caricatures too, they're not that deep. I would recommend Death on the Nile though. I've been to Colorado twice, hiked and did a short train ride (Royal Gorge), not in shape for extended hikes though. I've thought about taking Amtrak for work but it feels like more of a hassle than buying a plane ticket.

Yeah, I own about 200 pages. When I first got into reading I wanted to own every book I read, but then realized that was just consumerism creeping in. These days I mostly get my books from the library, which, I understand, is a blessing to have. My library participates in a statewide program, so I literally have access to close to thousands of books. Edit: 10:39 that's very helpful advice btw :) I,too, was an English literature student. So, I find it helpful to create my own "syllabi"

I spent 3ish months reading Jane Eyre, I love that book so much, I'm not very well read but it's probably my favorite book ever currently. One of my favorite memories of that time was reading Jane Eyre at the restaurant I work at. I was there for an event on my day off, afterward I decided to dine in and just read. I was listening to the audiobook by Juliet Stevenson also. Generally don't like to read in restaurants because there's just too many distractions, but for some reason Jane Eyre, Juliet Stevenson, and just the background sound of a semi-busy restaurant were insane vibes. Then the lady at the table next to me saw me reading this giant book (my copy is a collection of books by the Brontes so it's kinda chunky), she happened to be the biggest fan of Jane Eyre ever, at least the biggest fan I'll ever meet, I really enjoyed talking to her about it. That was just a good time, your experience reading on the train reminded me of that.

Te veo más humilde..

Welcome back!

😮 You're making your way through Reasons and Persons! Parfit is the nerdiest nerd to nerd out on anything (which I love), and I hope that doesn't become grating. I can't imagine hearing it; my read-through started on a bench in the outer gardens at the Huntington Library (pencil in hand with copious accumulating annotations)-imagine the contrast between the dry, black-and-white philosophical proceedings of the book and the chirping vibrancy across my horizon. Perhaps I should've done like you, closed the covers and peered out for a while. That book can be dry, dry, dry (with periodic payoffs), and I'm sorry for that. Apropos of nothing, the author Kay Redfield Jamison has a fantastic book called An Unquiet Mind, all about her depressive swings and eventual diagnosis. Her work is an extreme example-unlikely to relate directly to either of us-yet as someone myself who rounds the bend of self-reflexivity and hopelessness (a kind of emptying from time to time of aimless tension), she manages to encapsulate the neurotic lingering of despair that at least I myself often feel. She takes this lingering as far as she needs to, especially in her later work, Night Falls Fast, and if you're like me you may find it a relief her mixture of expertise with direct experience with honesty and non-avoidance of depressive temptations. Sorry for the long comment (I've been trying to chill out on these, and yet...). Great video, as always.

I loved East of Eden - I'm a sucker for multi-generational stories, especially where the same motifs repeat themselves in different generations. (Also probably one of the reasons I love Tolkien's Silmarillion so much). As for Christie, I think Murder on the Orient Express was maybe not a great one to start with, because a big part of why it's so famous is the way the revelation subverts the reader's expectations for a murder mystery. I've always kind of wanted to take a long cross-country train ride. Your trip looks like it was beautiful!

Great vid! If you want more Steinbeck, my favorite lesser-known work of his is To A God Unknown. I’ve read about half of his work and it’s the closest to the vibe of East of Eden .

More train books if interested. Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier Night Train to Lisbon follows Raimund Gregorius, a fifty-seven-year-old Classics scholar, on a journey that takes him across Europe. Abandoning his job and his life, and travelling with a dusty old book as his talisman, he heads for Lisbon in search of clues to the life of the book's Portuguese author, Amadeu de Prado. As he gets swept up in his quest, he finds that the journey is also one of self-discovery, as he re-encounters all the decisions he has made - and not made - in his life, and faces the roads not travelled. Stamboul Train - Graham Greene Graham Greene's gripping spy thriller unfolds aboard the majestic Orient Express as it crosses Europe from Ostend to Istanbul. Weaving a web of subterfuge, murder and politics along the way, the novel focuses upon the disturbing relationship between Myatt, the pragmatic Jew, and naive chorus girl Coral Musker as they engage in a desperate, angst-ridden pas-de-deux before a chilling turn of events spells an end to the unlikely interlude. Exploring the many shades of despair and hope, innocence and duplicity, Stamboul Train offers a poignant testimony to Greene's extraordinary powers of insight into the human condition.

i just did the California zephyr from chi to sf a few weeks ago and had the same experience--prepared to read and watch movies but hardly picked them up after getting through Nebraska lol

You have the older paperback editions of LotR with Tolkien's paintings on the covers.... nice!

Very thoughtful reviews. Great video!

You girls are wild like in the film Knock Knock...looking for a good book to read

I enjoyed your thoughts on East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath. These are two stellar novels that I have read many times. The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett is a fantastic short mystery novel. Thanks for the reviews. Well done.

Trains are fun to ride

Murder on the Orient Express was the first Christie novel I ever picked up. I even wrote down character descriptions, trying to play detective a little. Felt a bit let down in the end. It seemed like she went for a dramatic twist rather than a solution that makes sense. I still read her detective stories now and then, though. They're a nice guilty pleasure for in between 'heavier' books if you take them for what they are and ignore the kinda ridiculous setups for the chamber play whodunit to even happen.

Wonderful views from the train! The various mass extinction events certainly do put our problems into perspective, although unfortunately we seem to be the cause of the sixth 😢