I'm currently reading Lanny due to your praise (and Lauren Wade)! My favourite books of the year were Circe, Everything Under, East of Eden and The Conviction of Cora Burns
So many books that sound so awesome here. I hope I can get Lanny while it’s still in my Book Outlet cart. Remarkable Creatures also has me intrigued as well as that first Persephone and ...
I always love your videos, Jen! Thank you so much for sharing such a diverse, intelligent list of books. ☺️❤️I only read five books last year (and four of them were rereads), but I’m happy to say I adored every single one: The Collector by John Fowles, Lolita, The Virgin Suicides, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison. Hope to read a lot more in 2020. Thank you for all you do!
New here and loving your channel so much! I have a reading goal for 2020 and was looking for booktubers with solid fiction recommendations to build out my list. Happy to have found you!
Well thank you for adding to my tottering pile of tbrs! I love your videos even though you and I have very different tastes... But you have surprised me with Nicci French and I am now going to get my hands on them ASAP. Also going to pick up Lanny, Tracy Chevalier and Convenience store woman. Thank you for a lovely video and happy new year!
Lanny and Maruta's book I loved last year. Looking forward to more of Maruta's work being translated into English, thanks for the heads up! Really enjoyed hearing you talk about them enhanced my enjoyment even more. American Marriage didn't really grab me as much but it was an approach that was interesting, I compared it to "If Beale Street Could Talk" which was perhaps unfair. I'll definitely try to listen to the audio of Lanny now!
I'm so glad you chose Lanny as your favourite for 2019. I think it's my favourite book of the decade. We have had Max Porter came and read at our University, and he is a great reader/performer.
@@jenvcampbell - thanks so much for posting this. I first can across Max Porter through The White Review interview he did with Alice Oswald. I love both of his books - Lanny seems a natural successor of my all-time favourite novel Ulverton.
I really have to look out Elizabeth’s Lists as I use lists as a coping mechanism far too often! Totally agree about Tracy Chevalier and love seeing her current Instagram posts researching Murano glass. She comes up with such interesting ideas. Thanks for sharing!
So lovely to see this video, Jen!! It's great to see Lullaby on here - Adele is on my list. Ohhh I really want to read Fleche. My next poetry collection purchase! Oh I need to read some Sarah Waters. One of my friends has been bugging me to try her for a while now! Pleased to see An American Marriage here, I also really enjoyed that book. Lanny is also on my best books of the year list, yay! You're right, it's even better than Grief. Such an incredible book. Really enjoyed this, Jen. 😊
What a wonderful list filled with books I haven't heard of, you have particularly piqued my interest in Becoming/Unbecoming the poetry and Mrs Gaskell and Me. The Five is incredible, definitely will be on my books of the year video (whenever I film it). I hope you have a splendid reading year in 2020.
Oh my lord, I was going to buy Remarkable Creatures from the charity shop the other day, and naturally forgot it on my way home. I think you're going to cause a lot more folk to discover Nicci French this year - I still haven't read any of the books, despite the fact they've been around for a while. I'm hoping to finish Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series at some point, so might take a look once I've finished. When I read Ali Smith it is much less about the plot, and much more about the way she writes. There's something within the prose that always feels so energetic. Lanny is also on my list of favourite books of 2019 - it has so many of the things I like in fiction, there's folklore and a village and a chorus with a great structure that just lends itself to storytelling so vividly. Adore it. I think two books from last week I'd like to throw in everyone's direction are On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and Heads of the Colored People - the latter is a short story collection I read early in the year and stuck in my mind for most of the year. Great to hear what books were your favourites of 2019. Hope 2020 brings you many more.
Completely unrelated to books - but I have hat envy.👒 I think this is the third colour I see it in. My favorite so far is the burgundy red one. But they all look good on you. Glad I found your channel in 2019 as I discovered some books I really enjoyed and most likely would not have known about otherwise.😄💕
You are correct; I do have it in three colours, ha. They're great, because it's a little weird wearing woolly hats indoors at this time of year, but my headscarves that I wear in the summer aren't warm enough. So, hurrah for these!
Lanny was my favourite too! I listened to the audio book, which had me smiling in delight the whole way through, and then I bought the book. Then I went on to do the same with Grief is a Thing with Feathers. It is so exciting to find a new author to love.
Becoming and Unbecoming and Remarkable Creatures both sound like books that I would enjoy reading. My favourite books of 2019 were Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend, What You Did by Claire McGawn, Franklins Flying Bookshop and Girl Aquarium by yourself!!! This year I have started with Stephen King, I have read Carrie which i enjoyed and are currently reading The Shining. This year I would like to read more non-fiction as it's something I normally steer from, although I do enjoy when its something I am particularly interested in.
I never cease to find so many books I want to read when I watch your videos! I've heard so many differing opinions on Convenience Store Woman, but after hearing you talk about it here there is no doubt in my mind that it is a book worth picking up. Elizabeth's List is another one that I am considering picking up very very soon!
I'm gonna check all your favorites, they sound amazing! My list: Fried Green Tomatoes - Fannie Flagg O Peso do Pássaro Morto - Aline Bei (Brazilian romance without translation) Unbecoming Una The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith Just Kids - Patti Smith Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay
I read Mrs Gaskell and Me on your recommendation, a book I don't think I would have ever picked up and I loved it! I adored the mix of genres and was a fast paced novel too so thank you so much!!
i live in a rural place many evacuees didn't go home, or their parents or just mother followed, or they came back constantly for the rest of their life, or they were older children and got married and never went home by the end of the war (given marriage at 16 or even 15 did happen)
I managed to read 47 books in 2019. My favorite was also Lanny. It was totally different than what I usually read. I have suggested it to several friends but they don't get it. They can't figure out how to read it. I consider myself special to have gotten it!!!!!
I was just casting about looking for another graphic novel to read, you've pushed Becoming Unbecoming up to the top. I bought it a few years ago now, and have just plucked it off my TBR. I really want to read Convenience Store Woman too. And Lanny. Nicci French seems to be everywhere at the moment. I think I've just found my next audiobook. I'm currently listening to, and loving, Bill Bryson's The Body.
Lovely list! I’ve added both of the Persephone books to my list for the next time I’m in London as I love going there! My top 5 of 2019 were On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, Stillicide by Cynan Jones, You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr,and My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay (must listen to this one). I recommend all of them wholeheartedly!
My favourite favourite book of last year is Educated and I also loved This is going to hurt, Seanan McGuire's series about the Wayward Children and The Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo. But I'll definitely add Nicci French on my TBR and Remarkable creatures. 😊 Hope you're having a lovely evening. 😘
If you've not already read it, I highly recommend The Little Girl on the Ice Floe by Adelaide Bon. It's a non-fiction book in translation from French and it is absolutely stunning. It's very hard to read in parts but I felt like I owed it to the author to read her story. She puts trauma into words in such a way that I didn't think it was even possible. Definitely an underrated book.
happy new year jen to you and yours..thankfully i've read a few of the books on your list as i'd want to read them now based on your comments..."remarkable creatures" is one of my favorite books too.. though i didn't enjoy "the nanny". of the one's i haven't read i'll be making "convenience store woman" a priority. two of my favorite novels of this year and new author to me is "the bastard of istanbul" by elif shafak and "strumpet city" by james plunkett.
I must read becoming unbecoming, sounds really good. Some of my favourites from 2019 were Another Day in the Death of America, After the eclipse, The Five and Feebleminded by Ariana Harwicz
According to Goodreads, my favourites of the year were: Among Others (total childhood nostalgia) No Man of Woman born ( trans rep for the win) And the 7th husband of Evelyn Hugo. (It's so beautiful)
2019 is the year I discovered Sarah Waters as well! I'll definitely continue this year, and I think I'll read Tipping the Velvet next. Thank you for your brief but spot-on review. (ノ^∇^) (also, I've never heard of Lanny, but I'm intrigued so much!)
No. You can see which books I read in my wrap up playlist (just go to ruclips.net/user/jenvcampbell and scroll down). Or check out my Goodreads, linked in the video description.
Darn i was hoping that you have famous English writer ghost in residence that had stayed after a seance. And you were in the process of cowriting/creating the next great contintious published great English novel. Read Spring and Lanny and was god smacked by both.
I loved Lanny! I didn’t love Grief is a Thing with Feathers so was hesitant, but I am so glad I was won over by all the praise Lanny was getting because I thought it was brilliant. I would really like pick An American Marriage soon. My favourite books of this year were Kristin Cashore’s Jane, Unlimited, Maggie O’Farrell’s I Am I Am I Am (thank you for the awesome rec), and This Place: 150 Years Retold a graphic novel short story collection by various Indigenous authors. They all were some of the most unique and interesting books I have ever read. Jane, Unlimited told parallel stories in different genres. I loved the way O’Farrell constructed a whole memoir out of brushes with death. This Place combined history, activism, and stories that just really left me in awe.
Daddy’s Gone A-hunting is now on my TBR! But I've hated An American Marriage so much. This book normalizes abusive relationships and rape, I cannot begin to understand how it has won any prize...
@@jenvcampbell I totally agree. However, this book did not give me the impression that the characters were flawed, but that the book was. In comparison, I didn't get the same impression with A Little Life which was full of rape and abuse and yet, it is one of my all-time favourite books.
Ah, then we are just very different people, as that is one of my least favourite books of all time, ha. Oh well, we can’t all love the same things ☺️ x
Love those original Sarah Waters covers, I've got really fond memories of borrowing a couple of Sarah Waters audiobooks on cassette from the library. Big bulky boxes that I had to lug home, don't know why I didn't just pay the reservation fee and collect it from my local library!
Tipping the Velvet was my first Sarah Waters too!! I didn’t want the book to end so I watched the bbc mini series right after. I think I might read the paying guests next. My favorite books of the year were Things I Don’t Want to Know And The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy. I also read Emily Berry’s Stranger Baby on the very last day of 2019 and it was amazing!
I'm currently reading Lanny due to your praise (and Lauren Wade)!
My favourite books of the year were Circe, Everything Under, East of Eden and The Conviction of Cora Burns
God knows how many books are in my tbr because of you jen!😢❤luv ur videos!
Haha. x
So many books that sound so awesome here. I hope I can get Lanny while it’s still in my Book Outlet cart. Remarkable Creatures also has me intrigued as well as that first Persephone and ...
So many books, so little time! x
I always love your videos, Jen! Thank you so much for sharing such a diverse, intelligent list of books. ☺️❤️I only read five books last year (and four of them were rereads), but I’m happy to say I adored every single one: The Collector by John Fowles, Lolita, The Virgin Suicides, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison. Hope to read a lot more in 2020. Thank you for all you do!
Reading five books that you adored sounds excellent to me. x
Thanks for all your lovely recommendations ❤️
I'm really excited to read and listen to Lanny, because of you mentioning it a couple of times.
New here and loving your channel so much! I have a reading goal for 2020 and was looking for booktubers with solid fiction recommendations to build out my list. Happy to have found you!
Welcome! x
I love top books of the year lists hehe. Great list Jen! x
Well thank you for adding to my tottering pile of tbrs! I love your videos even though you and I have very different tastes... But you have surprised me with Nicci French and I am now going to get my hands on them ASAP. Also going to pick up Lanny, Tracy Chevalier and Convenience store woman. Thank you for a lovely video and happy new year!
Lanny and Maruta's book I loved last year. Looking forward to more of Maruta's work being translated into English, thanks for the heads up! Really enjoyed hearing you talk about them enhanced my enjoyment even more. American Marriage didn't really grab me as much but it was an approach that was interesting, I compared it to "If Beale Street Could Talk" which was perhaps unfair.
I'll definitely try to listen to the audio of Lanny now!
I'm so glad you chose Lanny as your favourite for 2019. I think it's my favourite book of the decade. We have had Max Porter came and read at our University, and he is a great reader/performer.
He's fab. Here's a podcast I recorded with him, if you'd like more of his words: ruclips.net/video/LXNv1hUgW0U/видео.html x
@@jenvcampbell - thanks so much for posting this. I first can across Max Porter through The White Review interview he did with Alice Oswald. I love both of his books - Lanny seems a natural successor of my all-time favourite novel Ulverton.
I really have to look out Elizabeth’s Lists as I use lists as a coping mechanism far too often! Totally agree about Tracy Chevalier and love seeing her current Instagram posts researching Murano glass. She comes up with such interesting ideas. Thanks for sharing!
So lovely to see this video, Jen!! It's great to see Lullaby on here - Adele is on my list. Ohhh I really want to read Fleche. My next poetry collection purchase! Oh I need to read some Sarah Waters. One of my friends has been bugging me to try her for a while now! Pleased to see An American Marriage here, I also really enjoyed that book. Lanny is also on my best books of the year list, yay! You're right, it's even better than Grief. Such an incredible book. Really enjoyed this, Jen. 😊
What a wonderful list filled with books I haven't heard of, you have particularly piqued my interest in Becoming/Unbecoming the poetry and Mrs Gaskell and Me. The Five is incredible, definitely will be on my books of the year video (whenever I film it). I hope you have a splendid reading year in 2020.
I love this. Lots of new books to read, thank you Jen 💖
Mrs Gaskell and Me was so incredible. It stayed me with so much too.
Oh my lord, I was going to buy Remarkable Creatures from the charity shop the other day, and naturally forgot it on my way home. I think you're going to cause a lot more folk to discover Nicci French this year - I still haven't read any of the books, despite the fact they've been around for a while. I'm hoping to finish Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series at some point, so might take a look once I've finished. When I read Ali Smith it is much less about the plot, and much more about the way she writes. There's something within the prose that always feels so energetic. Lanny is also on my list of favourite books of 2019 - it has so many of the things I like in fiction, there's folklore and a village and a chorus with a great structure that just lends itself to storytelling so vividly. Adore it.
I think two books from last week I'd like to throw in everyone's direction are On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and Heads of the Colored People - the latter is a short story collection I read early in the year and stuck in my mind for most of the year.
Great to hear what books were your favourites of 2019. Hope 2020 brings you many more.
I've got both of those on my TBR so hopefully will get to them soon. Particularly excited about Ocean’s novel. :) x
Completely unrelated to books - but I have hat envy.👒 I think this is the third colour I see it in. My favorite so far is the burgundy red one. But they all look good on you.
Glad I found your channel in 2019 as I discovered some books I really enjoyed and most likely would not have known about otherwise.😄💕
You are correct; I do have it in three colours, ha. They're great, because it's a little weird wearing woolly hats indoors at this time of year, but my headscarves that I wear in the summer aren't warm enough. So, hurrah for these!
@@jenvcampbell 👍
Lanny was my favourite too! I listened to the audio book, which had me smiling in delight the whole way through, and then I bought the book. Then I went on to do the same with Grief is a Thing with Feathers. It is so exciting to find a new author to love.
He is fabulous ♥️ if you’d like to listen him read, we recorded a podcast together: www.jen-campbell.co.uk/podcast x
Becoming and Unbecoming and Remarkable Creatures both sound like books that I would enjoy reading. My favourite books of 2019 were Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend, What You Did by Claire McGawn, Franklins Flying Bookshop and Girl Aquarium by yourself!!! This year I have started with Stephen King, I have read Carrie which i enjoyed and are currently reading The Shining. This year I would like to read more non-fiction as it's something I normally steer from, although I do enjoy when its something I am particularly interested in.
I picked up 'Convenience Store Woman' on your recommendation in 2019 and it ended up being my favorite of the year!
Excellent!
Same for me I'm so grateful for her
Lanny was my favourite too! Absolutely magical.
So much magic! Intrigued to see how they will handle the film. x
I'm definitely going to pick a few of these books up this year. Thank you!
I never cease to find so many books I want to read when I watch your videos! I've heard so many differing opinions on Convenience Store Woman, but after hearing you talk about it here there is no doubt in my mind that it is a book worth picking up. Elizabeth's List is another one that I am considering picking up very very soon!
I hope you enjoy both of them. x
Jen Campbell )
I'm gonna check all your favorites, they sound amazing! My list:
Fried Green Tomatoes - Fannie Flagg
O Peso do Pássaro Morto - Aline Bei (Brazilian romance without translation)
Unbecoming Una
The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Just Kids - Patti Smith
Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay
I read Mrs Gaskell and Me on your recommendation, a book I don't think I would have ever picked up and I loved it! I adored the mix of genres and was a fast paced novel too so thank you so much!!
You're welcome! Glad you loved it, too. x
i live in a rural place many evacuees didn't go home, or their parents or just mother followed, or they came back constantly for the rest of their life, or they were older children and got married and never went home by the end of the war (given marriage at 16 or even 15 did happen)
Remarkable Creatures is on my 2020 list! My favourite book of 2019 was Barkskins.
Hope you enjoy Remarkable Creatures x
Finally a mature book reader 🙏🏾
She's the best
I managed to read 47 books in 2019. My favorite was also Lanny. It was totally different than what I usually read. I have suggested it to several friends but they don't get it. They can't figure out how to read it. I consider myself special to have gotten it!!!!!
My fav read of 2019 was This Tender Land!! I also loved Where The Forest Meets The Stars, The Giver Of Stars and The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell.
I was just casting about looking for another graphic novel to read, you've pushed Becoming Unbecoming up to the top. I bought it a few years ago now, and have just plucked it off my TBR. I really want to read Convenience Store Woman too. And Lanny. Nicci French seems to be everywhere at the moment. I think I've just found my next audiobook. I'm currently listening to, and loving, Bill Bryson's The Body.
aaah so many books, so little time! loved this video 💗
What were your favourite books of the year? ☺️
Best books read in 2019
Boy Swallows Universe
The Dutch House
The Overstory
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
A Ladder To The Sky
A Place For Us
Ahhh, A Place for Us
Lovely list! I’ve added both of the Persephone books to my list for the next time I’m in London as I love going there! My top 5 of 2019 were On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, Stillicide by Cynan Jones, You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr,and My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay (must listen to this one). I recommend all of them wholeheartedly!
Heard great things about these! And saw that Lemn Sissay was announced as a Booker Prize judge today. x
Jen Campbell Ooh! That’s exciting!
Adding some of these to my list. Also jealous that you still have Fingersmith ahead of you.
My favourite favourite book of last year is Educated and I also loved This is going to hurt, Seanan McGuire's series about the Wayward Children and The Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo. But I'll definitely add Nicci French on my TBR and Remarkable creatures. 😊 Hope you're having a lovely evening. 😘
Ah, Educated is fab :) Thank you for sharing, and I hope you have a great evening, too. x
If you've not already read it, I highly recommend The Little Girl on the Ice Floe by Adelaide Bon. It's a non-fiction book in translation from French and it is absolutely stunning. It's very hard to read in parts but I felt like I owed it to the author to read her story. She puts trauma into words in such a way that I didn't think it was even possible. Definitely an underrated book.
Thank you for the recommendation x
happy new year jen to you and yours..thankfully i've read a few of the books on your list as i'd want to read them now based on your comments..."remarkable creatures" is one of my favorite books too.. though i didn't enjoy "the nanny". of the one's i haven't read i'll be making "convenience store woman" a priority. two of my favorite novels of this year and new author to me is "the bastard of istanbul" by elif shafak and "strumpet city" by james plunkett.
Lullaby does seem to be one that divides people. Though not as much as Adele (her second book).
I must read becoming unbecoming, sounds really good. Some of my favourites from 2019 were Another Day in the Death of America, After the eclipse, The Five and Feebleminded by Ariana Harwicz
Looking forward to getting to After the Eclipse this year ☺️
That is so surreal I’ve literally just finished Lany. It was a Christmas present. 😊
Thank you! Please please do an updated most read authors video
It probably hasn't changed, to be honest; I feel as though I've read so many new authors, instead.
We need copious amounts more of Max Porter's genius
We do, indeed.
I adored Fleche. I'll definitely check out Not Here.
Hope you like it!
I read both of Nell Stevens's books last year and loved them.
I enjoyed Bleaker House, too, but think her second was so much better.
Tipping the velvet is also a good tv drama! 😎
I tried the TV series but wasn't a fan. Never mind :) x
Read Sixty Days by Hernan Jaen , 5 stars, amazing book
According to Goodreads, my favourites of the year were: Among Others (total childhood nostalgia) No Man of Woman born ( trans rep for the win)
And the 7th husband of Evelyn Hugo. (It's so beautiful)
OMG!! An American Marriage was heartbreaking! I highly recommend it as well.
Do you have a strictly Persephone book recommendation list? I’m daunted by their website!
No but you could start with the two I mentioned here :)
Great list.
2019 is the year I discovered Sarah Waters as well! I'll definitely continue this year, and I think I'll read Tipping the Velvet next. Thank you for your brief but spot-on review. (ノ^∇^) (also, I've never heard of Lanny, but I'm intrigued so much!)
Do you read the comic Lore Olympus? 💙
No. You can see which books I read in my wrap up playlist (just go to ruclips.net/user/jenvcampbell and scroll down). Or check out my Goodreads, linked in the video description.
Darn i was hoping that you have famous English writer ghost in residence that had stayed after a seance. And you were in the process of cowriting/creating the next great contintious published great English novel. Read Spring and Lanny and was god smacked by both.
"Read Spring and Lanny and was god smacked by both." An excellent way to put it! x
Holy hell how did you find the money to buy 150 books in a year
I work in the publishing industry, writing and reviewing books. I am therefore sent review copies as part of my job.
I loved Lanny! I didn’t love Grief is a Thing with Feathers so was hesitant, but I am so glad I was won over by all the praise Lanny was getting because I thought it was brilliant. I would really like pick An American Marriage soon. My favourite books of this year were Kristin Cashore’s Jane, Unlimited, Maggie O’Farrell’s I Am I Am I Am (thank you for the awesome rec), and This Place: 150 Years Retold a graphic novel short story collection by various Indigenous authors. They all were some of the most unique and interesting books I have ever read. Jane, Unlimited told parallel stories in different genres. I loved the way O’Farrell constructed a whole memoir out of brushes with death. This Place combined history, activism, and stories that just really left me in awe.
Thank you for sharing - it sounds like you had a great reading year! x
Daddy’s Gone A-hunting is now on my TBR! But I've hated An American Marriage so much. This book normalizes abusive relationships and rape, I cannot begin to understand how it has won any prize...
I don't think you're supposed to like the characters or agree with what they do.
@@jenvcampbell I totally agree. However, this book did not give me the impression that the characters were flawed, but that the book was. In comparison, I didn't get the same impression with A Little Life which was full of rape and abuse and yet, it is one of my all-time favourite books.
Ah, then we are just very different people, as that is one of my least favourite books of all time, ha. Oh well, we can’t all love the same things ☺️ x
Love those original Sarah Waters covers, I've got really fond memories of borrowing a couple of Sarah Waters audiobooks on cassette from the library. Big bulky boxes that I had to lug home, don't know why I didn't just pay the reservation fee and collect it from my local library!
Did not enjoy Lanny.
ಇಡೀ
Tipping the Velvet was my first Sarah Waters too!! I didn’t want the book to end so I watched the bbc mini series right after. I think I might read the paying guests next. My favorite books of the year were Things I Don’t Want to Know And The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy. I also read Emily Berry’s Stranger Baby on the very last day of 2019 and it was amazing!
Emily Berry is so great x