6 books you should read this summer
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- Опубликовано: 15 июн 2024
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I got tired of talking about booktok so here is a vlog discussing books a.k.a book recommendations that no one asked for! I love watching unusual book recommendation videos or videos from people talking about books that changed them, got them into reading or just simply books you don't see that often. Anything that isn't a haul of 20+ latest releases, basically.
Since I've never done a video like this before, I chose a mix between a couple contemporary books I've read over the past few years and some (modern) classics that I was obsessed with at some point growing up - and which I think have fallen to the underrated novel pile recently.
Feel free to leave weird book recommendations, obscure novel recommendations or just generally books worth my time in the comments xx
timestamps:
00:45 - Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley
03:26 - The Collector by John Fowles
05:55 - Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez (+ everything else she has ever done because I love her)
08:30 - A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe
11:05 - I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
13:11 - We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
P.s. soz about the camera going in and out of focus - I didn't realise until it was too late! 
Развлечения
Sorry for the weird focus issue kids! I’ll fix it for the next one xxx
"We" is an outstanding novel that doesn't seem to get as much credit as 1984 or Brave New World - but totally deserves it!
Truly, justice for We
I am currently reading Nuestra parte de noche (our share of night) and I left out a mini gasp when I saw that beautiful edition. As a Spanish speaker one of the things that I am really enjoying is how well she reflects the different Argentinian accents in her characters. You can really tell who comes from money and who doesn't.
Aaaah I wish my Spanish was good enough to read it in the original language 😭
Delighted to hear you mention I, Robot. It's an all time favourite of mine. Great fun and so engaging too. Each story is almost like a little detective fiction, as we and the characters try to chart towards a philosophical and logical solution to the conundrum at hand.
Yes! And the odd recurring character or setting really gives the distinct feeling that it’s all happening in the same universe, which is just icing on the cake
'We' is just getting a new edition in Hungary after being out of print for 10+ years. This was my sign to invest my birthday book money
How exciting!! Love it when my faves get hype again
A lot of new reads. Excited to get into some of these. Enjoy this video Alina!
I liked 1984 and Brave New World better than We, but it sort of paved the way for them if that makes sense. It's a pretty simple story structure-wise, so the next works could develop its themes more.
I always love hearing your thoughts and opinions, so I will definitely try to read all of these books this summer.
I just started Ava Reid’s, A Study in Drowning and I’m not very far into it, but it’s already so beautifully haunting, and the atmosphere is so perfectly described.
I hope you have a good day/night, and thank you for always posting such insightful content!
Ooooh I love a haunting atmosphere
And now I want more recs from you ❤
A part 2?
@@accordingtoalina would love it!!!!❤❤❤❤
I enjoyed this, you should do these recommendations videos often!
I was very surprised to learn recently that Isaac Asimov has an invaluable 2 volume guide to Shakespeare.
Whaaaat? I had no idea
Our share of night was Amazing! I finally understood the term of book hangover after I finished it
same here, it took me a couple of weeks to get over
I liked “We” as one of your suggestions at the end. I didn’t know Orwell wasn’t one of the first to depict a controlled society and instead Yevgeny Zamyatin had before. How different is it from 84? Given how you say it’s not any better, maybe I’ll go after We instead since that’s the original concept. It’s easy to end up being a critical channel only, so a positive video about recommendations is a fresh change of pace and I hope you keep doing them Alina!
I had to read and compare We, Brave New World and 1984 for a class I did at undergrad and I think they are sufficiently different that there’s value in reading all of them. But if I had to rank the order would be We, 1984, Brave New World
@@accordingtoalina I see. That helps narrow things for me. I am desperately trying to keep my TBR list under control so this keeps it within that organized scope. Thanks!
Brave New World and 1984 were very impactful for me, so to hear there is an "original" is amazing. Moving "We" to the top of my list.
Oh the pressure is ON. Hope you enjoy it ❤️
Omg you have that cool arc of Our Share of Night 😍. When I saw it online I was very jealous. I loved the book. I can't wait for her new collection this fall
I read Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and it's a true classic.
Granta gave me that as a reward for yapping about this woman for 2 years straight I suspect
I want to know what you said about Rory Gillmore. My daughter and I watched the Gillmore girls and it used to make us so mad, but we couldn't stop watching😂
Hahaha same here!! I have such a love-hate relationship with that show. There’s a video about it in my channel
I loved Things fall apart too!!!!
Also, what lipstick are you wearing it looks so pretty on you!!!
thank you! it's a lip liner from Barry M in the shade "rose" and I just put lip balm (just a basic one from Neutrogena) over it.
Well, I was just planning to have a cackle along with Nancy Mitford to be honest. Always pleased to hear a shout out for Zamyatin, who made a big impression on me a long, long time ago. Orwell cheerfully admitted his debt whereas Huxley did not, confirming me in my estimation of their relative merits.
Ok I did not know this bit of gossip but it tracks with my perception of Huxley as a massive diva
@@accordingtoalina I probably first heard this from reading Martin Seymour-Smith. That dates me!
Thanks for the recommendations! I liked I, Robot as well and my current read is a short story collection/anthology book from Isaac Asimov called "Nightfall and Other Stories" which contains stories of how life forms from other planets possibly live on their own planets, interact with humans on Earth, there are depictions of intergalactic relationships, etc. Isaac Asimov in general I think is probably one of the best in sci-fi
he definitely paved the way for a lot of sci-fi that's super popular today! I haven't read Nightfall, is it good?
@accordingtoalina It is good! It definitely left a big impression on me. I would say the main topic is the general idea of the universe in religious and scientific perspectives. Nightfall, I think, also depicts the human reaction to mysterious events pretty well. Another short story called "Hostess" (included in this book) also left an impression on me. I am not yet done reading the book though but so far I am enjoying it :) I think you will too!
i’m listening Grief is for People right now!! truly a great book, but then again i’m partial to both memoirs and books on grief
Have you read Grief is the thing with feathers?
@@accordingtoalina i’ve only heard about it by this point, but your comment made me go and read the synopsis. sounds interesting!
It’s structured like a sort of narrative poem, so a bit more experimental in form and not quite a memoir but definitely heavy on the grief aspect
@@accordingtoalina wow. i don’t think i’ve ever read anything quite like it, so thanks for the rec!
and for the video, too. your promise to return to criticizing soon reminded me of a good essay i watched titled “the power of being a hater” by alisha not alisha. it’s a good analysis & i genuinely recommend it as a refresher from the dislike of any sort of criticism that seemed to have developed in the book community
I actually mentioned that video in the video I posted before this one!!
the fact that I didn’t hate Frederick the way that I should’ve had was mind blowing for me after reading Miranda’s pov. the narrative techniques in The Collector stunned me, it was quite unique yet horrifying experience for me, and I can say, this book became one of my favourites.
and you mentioning We makes my heart sing! I love this book, and even though I’ve read Brave new world and 1984, I still prefer We above any other dystopian book.
thank you for your recommendations🤍 (cannot wait to hear any of your complaints in the next video)
Have you read Kallocain by Karin Boye? If not I hope you do. It's from 1940 by a swedish author and is compared to We, Brave new world and 1984 and I think is a very thought provoking book.
I have not, but I love a dystopian novel so will definitely check it out!
"We" sounds like such a cool book! Maybe I'll read it in the future. But I do have to say, I've read so many of the "in the future, controlled by the government, revolution, questioning authority" type books, that I can't stand to read any of those. I do blame that on the education system though. They had us read those every year in middle school. I'm still in my teens, so hopefully my interest in these book will be re-ignited at some point in the future, but right now I can't stand them. The ones i remember off the top of my head are "The Giver" and "City of Ember". But considering the fact that "We" was written such a long time ago and like you said, it was the predecessor to the other popular books, it would be interesting to get a different perspective on the story. And I love your complaining content, please make more
that's interesting! I wasn't in an English-speaking country during primary and secondary school so the dystopian novels I read for school were the classics - Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies etc. But I guess that if you grew up during the teen dystopian boom it's normal to be sick of them lmao. would still recommend We and a bunch of other 20th century novels in the genre though.
the first one sounds like a great beach read and I plan to pick it up immediately. As for joan didion I've only read two of her books and I thought they were just ok though I guess when something horrible happens to u being able to write about can be good therapy. I liked the collector but liked the french lieutenant's woman even more. The best I can say about corbin is now that ant-semitism has become popular again among intellectuals he looks slightly ahead of his time. Yes know orwell ripped off we for 1984 but still prefer the latter book. Never heard of the latina writer u mentioned but then I'm not into haunted houses and human sacrifice.⚛😀
As a matter of fact, I am just about to start reading "Ulysses." I am making the plunge without any support of annotations or supplementary books; wish me luck. Happy Bloomsday! 🎉
I respect your ambition
there's also a case to be made that We is the first feminist dystopian story of the three big giants. Where Brave New World and 1984 showed their women as a toil of a love interest to their male lead, in We we see women characters as literally the revolution. But as you also mentioned there's heavy theology theme implied inhow everything is theologically controlled
that's so interesting, thank you for adding to the discussion! Orwell definitely didn't spend time fleshing out female characters, let's be real but I hadn't considered the comparison before
i had no idea that the will smith irobot movie was based off a book series lol
Very loosely based on it. they took the title and a couple of plot points from some of the stories but overall the screenplay is original - I think, don’t quote me on this!
Thank you for the recommendations, will definitely check out Sloane Crosley and Mariana Enriquez! Although I have to say recommending russian books makes me sad as a Ukrainian, as every, literary every piece of Russian culture is a genocide culture, and I wish that less people were into reading these 'great intelectual russian novels' and call them out for what they are.
Zamyatin was one of the first Soviet dissidents and was imprisoned and beaten many times before finally being exiled - this book is by no means pro-Russian. It speaks against groupthink and totalitarian regimes.
@@accordingtoalina He was actually never imprisoned, rather arrested a couple of times and forced to leave in the province on far north. Let's not make him a sufferer for justice, which he wasn't,
And yes, fair enough, as a Ukrainian I am biased, and probably every major western country can be blamed in colonising and genocidal practices, but I sincerely think the less platform the Russian culture gets, the better for all of us. They've been in the spotlight for long enough
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i love the complaining, the recs and any other type of videos you'll end up doing
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I have tried reading all of Joan Didion's books and...I don't get the hype, her writing feels oddly cold, like, it gave me no feelings, just like you said, I didn't care
relieved I'm not the only one
We >>>>>>
I love your channel 👍🏻 keep going 🫶🏻
Thank u sm ❤️❤️❤️
You said "contamined" and thats not a word. Its contaminated.
*takes notes* 📝
that spoiler for the collector was so unnecessary icl y u doing book reccomendations and then spoiling it