I'm very fascinated to hear about how 2025 goes for you! I feel like a starved person listening to someone talk about the dinner they are going to have; so many wonderful sounding books.
I read Agua Viva last year. Apparently there's a famous Brazilian musician who loved it so much that he read it 111 times, but I struggled to get through it once - even though it's only 80 pages or so. Having said that, there were lots of really beautiful passages, I suddenly felt an urge to underline and annotate, which I never normally do. If you like stream of consciousness then perhaps you'll enjoy it more than I did. I read Lust, Caution last week and really loved it. Definitely need to read more Eileen Chang. I'd like to read an E.M. Forster novel too, Maurice sounds like a good place to start. I recently read a book of his short stories and they were not what I was expecting - eccentric with lots of magical realism, very funny in parts. It's pretty remarkable that he wrote The Machine Stops in 1909. I was wondering about The God of Small Things today, you've just convinced me to put it on my TBR. Hope you have a great 2025!
A wonderful video again Julie, thank you! I had never heard of BRICS, it's inspiring. For South Africa i want to give this recommendation, Cry, the beloved country by Alan Paton. This was the only book i knew until recently by any SA authors and it was one of my favourite books of the 2024 😊 Happy reading!
I love Forster too Julie and think if you love Maurice you will also love the rest of the ones you haven’t read. Don’t be intimidated by A Suitable Boy, the chapters are short and the language is easy and it’s just such an engaging story with the political background played out in these different Muslim and Hindu families. I’m also a big Salman Rushdie fan and love Midnight’s Children but it does seem like you either really like him or don’t get on with his writing 🤔. Funnily enough I just bought the Penguin edition of Golden Age which I knew nothing about but which had a stunning cover, I’m excited to try it. Have a fantastic reading year!
I love your idea of a reading theme of the year! I've never done something like that before--I think mine will be Romanticism. My main goals are to read works by Goethe, and to read works by female writers from the German Romantic movement as well--specifically Elizabeth von Arnim and Karoline von Günderrode!
@@kyungsparkle Romanticism would be an excellent theme, although I’d always thought of Elizabeth von Arnim as an Australian or English but I suppose she did spend most of her writing life in German speaking parts of the world.
@@juliereadsherbookshelf Turns out I had a typo in my comment--I meant Bettina von Arnim! I've been seeing Elizabeth von Arnim books in local bookstores recently so I guess I had her on my mind haha
A Suitable Boy is absolutely marvelous! It’s one of my all time favorites. Am so happy for you that you still haven’t read it and that you have such a wonderful story ahead of you. 😊 Looking forward to follow your reading journey this year.
Lust, Caution sounds like a good start for a Chinese literature neophyte like me. And maybe 2025 is an opportunity to start a new channel? Julie Shoots her Bookshelf, maybe starting with the Nikon behind you and moving onto the Pentaxes!
I love your thoughtful videos. Clarice Lispector is one of three new-to-me authors I want to read this year. I didn't love Midnight’s Children and had to push to finish, but I think I don't get along with Rushdie’s writing. I haven't enjoyed anything I've read from him.
@@TheNovelHoneyShelf-Essie I mean it sold extremely well? It just hits like a fictional self help book for me at least. Don’t let me stop you, it’s a quick read!
I'm currently reading Doctor Zhivago. I'll be interested in your thoughts. It started out with a very choppy feeling to the storyline of each character but smoothed out so I'm enjoying it now more.
Great video Julie. Very inspiring as always! My goal for this year is to slow down my reading and extend the reflection time once the book is read. I am starting a reading journal where I will be writing my thoughts about the books I read. Similar to you, I am a very busy professional that wants to focus on getting as much out of my books as possible.
@@mpustelnik85 I agree on the journal part. It’s helpful to get your thoughts down to make a book more memorable and clarify your feelings about it. I feel like these videos are kinda like a journal for me.
I love EM Forster, I have read most of his books, next up is Where Angels Fear to Tread and I am going to read Aspects of the Novel at the same time. I have not yet read Maurice and the Longest Journey. Also I would recommend The Machine Stops, which might surprise you, it is Science Fiction.
@@BooksandRadioPlays I have aspects of the novel planned after I go through my Forster backlist so I can map his thoughts on the genre onto his actual works to see if they align.
@@juliereadsherbookshelf I have read most of his novels only three to go. (He is one of my favorite writers.) I am very curious about this lecture, so I thought it would be cool to read it.
I need to read The Poisonwood Bible. Thanks for reminding me to pick it up this year. BRICKS sounds fab. And I've made a note of Golden Age, I have Lust, Caution on my 2025 TBR. I'm not sure if for China you'd be interested in a chunky "brick" of a book - in August my Reading the Globe project is reading Old Kiln by Jia Pingwa. Another Chinese born author I want to read more from is Xiaolu Guo, I just recently read her memoir Nine Continents. For South Africa Coetzee is someone I've been curious about too and Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. Loving your 2025 plans.
Thanks; Good luck with your BRICS project! Personally, I tend to avoid translations, and therefore almost all my reading is either English or French. Of course there's the occasional Russian classic but while there are so many excellent unread stories I can read in the original that's my preference. On another note, I'm not sure I'm willing to buy into the idea of victimization of the LGBT community as you described it referring to Forster and his Maurice confession. Those ideas are explored in several works, such as Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and - for example - Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest. When an author is able to craft a happy ending for a desperate character I read it as a job well done, because like it or not real life often isn't completely satisfying and when a person is able to find some little joy in a hard world: Well then good for them, I say!
@@jamesduggan7200 so I think that’s where French fiction diverges from English fiction a little. As I understand, homosexuality was not outright criminalised in France at the time, whereas when Forster was writing Maurice, he was writing in the aftermath of knowing what happened to Oscar Wilde. I can only speculate as to how that might’ve influenced gay literature in the Anglo-literary scene in a way that didn’t hinder for example Proust.
I'm very fascinated to hear about how 2025 goes for you! I feel like a starved person listening to someone talk about the dinner they are going to have; so many wonderful sounding books.
I read Agua Viva last year. Apparently there's a famous Brazilian musician who loved it so much that he read it 111 times, but I struggled to get through it once - even though it's only 80 pages or so. Having said that, there were lots of really beautiful passages, I suddenly felt an urge to underline and annotate, which I never normally do. If you like stream of consciousness then perhaps you'll enjoy it more than I did.
I read Lust, Caution last week and really loved it. Definitely need to read more Eileen Chang. I'd like to read an E.M. Forster novel too, Maurice sounds like a good place to start. I recently read a book of his short stories and they were not what I was expecting - eccentric with lots of magical realism, very funny in parts. It's pretty remarkable that he wrote The Machine Stops in 1909.
I was wondering about The God of Small Things today, you've just convinced me to put it on my TBR. Hope you have a great 2025!
A wonderful video again Julie, thank you! I had never heard of BRICS, it's inspiring. For South Africa i want to give this recommendation, Cry, the beloved country by Alan Paton. This was the only book i knew until recently by any SA authors and it was one of my favourite books of the 2024 😊 Happy reading!
@@katherinevdkirk I will check out Alan Paton. The name did come up when I researched into SA writers.
I love Forster too Julie and think if you love Maurice you will also love the rest of the ones you haven’t read. Don’t be intimidated by A Suitable Boy, the chapters are short and the language is easy and it’s just such an engaging story with the political background played out in these different Muslim and Hindu families. I’m also a big Salman Rushdie fan and love Midnight’s Children but it does seem like you either really like him or don’t get on with his writing 🤔. Funnily enough I just bought the Penguin edition of Golden Age which I knew nothing about but which had a stunning cover, I’m excited to try it. Have a fantastic reading year!
I love your idea of a reading theme of the year! I've never done something like that before--I think mine will be Romanticism. My main goals are to read works by Goethe, and to read works by female writers from the German Romantic movement as well--specifically Elizabeth von Arnim and Karoline von Günderrode!
@@kyungsparkle Romanticism would be an excellent theme, although I’d always thought of Elizabeth von Arnim as an Australian or English but I suppose she did spend most of her writing life in German speaking parts of the world.
@@juliereadsherbookshelf Turns out I had a typo in my comment--I meant Bettina von Arnim! I've been seeing Elizabeth von Arnim books in local bookstores recently so I guess I had her on my mind haha
@ I hadn’t realised there were more than one writer bearing the von Arnim surname!
A Suitable Boy is absolutely marvelous! It’s one of my all time favorites. Am so happy for you that you still haven’t read it and that you have such a wonderful story ahead of you. 😊 Looking forward to follow your reading journey this year.
@@PamReads so much love for A Suitable Boy! I’m bolstered by these responses to tackle this giant book!
Lust, Caution sounds like a good start for a Chinese literature neophyte like me. And maybe 2025 is an opportunity to start a new channel? Julie Shoots her Bookshelf, maybe starting with the Nikon behind you and moving onto the Pentaxes!
@@patternsinsand hahaha your eyesight through the screen is excellent! I am a Pentax girl through and through!
@@juliereadsherbookshelf It's sad that I can spot them just on their shape.
Thank you for letting me discover many books❤️
I love your thoughtful videos. Clarice Lispector is one of three new-to-me authors I want to read this year. I didn't love Midnight’s Children and had to push to finish, but I think I don't get along with Rushdie’s writing. I haven't enjoyed anything I've read from him.
I plan to read the Alchemist this month. It was nice to hear the book mentioned, even if not so flattering.
@@TheNovelHoneyShelf-Essie I mean it sold extremely well? It just hits like a fictional self help book for me at least. Don’t let me stop you, it’s a quick read!
I'm currently reading Doctor Zhivago. I'll be interested in your thoughts. It started out with a very choppy feeling to the storyline of each character but smoothed out so I'm enjoying it now more.
Great video Julie. Very inspiring as always! My goal for this year is to slow down my reading and extend the reflection time once the book is read. I am starting a reading journal where I will be writing my thoughts about the books I read. Similar to you, I am a very busy professional that wants to focus on getting as much out of my books as possible.
@@mpustelnik85 I agree on the journal part. It’s helpful to get your thoughts down to make a book more memorable and clarify your feelings about it. I feel like these videos are kinda like a journal for me.
I love EM Forster, I have read most of his books, next up is Where Angels Fear to Tread and I am going to read Aspects of the Novel at the same time. I have not yet read Maurice and the Longest Journey. Also I would recommend The Machine Stops, which might surprise you, it is Science Fiction.
@@BooksandRadioPlays I have aspects of the novel planned after I go through my Forster backlist so I can map his thoughts on the genre onto his actual works to see if they align.
@@juliereadsherbookshelf I have read most of his novels only three to go. (He is one of my favorite writers.) I am very curious about this lecture, so I thought it would be cool to read it.
I need to read The Poisonwood Bible. Thanks for reminding me to pick it up this year.
BRICKS sounds fab. And I've made a note of Golden Age, I have Lust, Caution on my 2025 TBR.
I'm not sure if for China you'd be interested in a chunky "brick" of a book - in August my Reading the Globe project is reading Old Kiln by Jia Pingwa. Another Chinese born author I want to read more from is Xiaolu Guo, I just recently read her memoir Nine Continents. For South Africa Coetzee is someone I've been curious about too and Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom.
Loving your 2025 plans.
@@PageTurnersWithKatja actually Jia Pingwa is my mum’s favourite author, I hadn’t realised he’s been translated into English. Will look into this!
@@juliereadsherbookshelf that's good to know. Yes, through Sinoist Books the translation's out in May x
One thing I want to do in 2025 is what you do. I want to mostly read books I already have
I've read Disgrace and had a lot of issues with it. So I'm especially curious about your thoughts after you've finished it.
Thanks; Good luck with your BRICS project! Personally, I tend to avoid translations, and therefore almost all my reading is either English or French. Of course there's the occasional Russian classic but while there are so many excellent unread stories I can read in the original that's my preference.
On another note, I'm not sure I'm willing to buy into the idea of victimization of the LGBT community as you described it referring to Forster and his Maurice confession. Those ideas are explored in several works, such as Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and - for example - Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest. When an author is able to craft a happy ending for a desperate character I read it as a job well done, because like it or not real life often isn't completely satisfying and when a person is able to find some little joy in a hard world: Well then good for them, I say!
@@jamesduggan7200 so I think that’s where French fiction diverges from English fiction a little. As I understand, homosexuality was not outright criminalised in France at the time, whereas when Forster was writing Maurice, he was writing in the aftermath of knowing what happened to Oscar Wilde. I can only speculate as to how that might’ve influenced gay literature in the Anglo-literary scene in a way that didn’t hinder for example Proust.
A long walk to freedom is an excellent book
I can recommend "Death and the Dervish" by Mese Selimovic and/or "Hadji Murat" by Leo Tolstoy. Both gems.
@@Abuamina001 definitely interested in the latter, never heard of the former, I will look into it!
"Why read a whole book when a Chinese Proverb will do?"
- Chinese Proverb