The Cloud Atlas is fantastic! First I had absolutely no clue what was going on and at the end I was speechless how Mitchell was able to bring all these threads together!
The 77 books by the older gentleman came up for me too and I watched it being a 72 year old myself. I am an avid reader and I was surprised that there were so many books mentioned I never even heard of and authors too. His list was particularly eclectic, I think, but still it shows just how many books and tastes there are out there. Lonesome Dove is AMAZING! Also a great short western with a female protagonist is True Grit. Happy reading .
As someone from Turkey, I’d really recommend exploring Turkish literature. Sadly, not all of my favorite books have been translated into English, but a great place to start is Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali or Cold Nights of Childhood by Tezer Özlü. Sabahattin Ali, in particular, holds a special place in my heart, his work was what first made me fall in love with literature back in high school.
rereading i such a fun thing to do, if you have a bad memory even better, you never stop rediscovering books. I have some annotated from years ago, when i read them again it's like having a conversation with past me. And from Chile i recommend my tender matador by Pedro lemebel
For translated works, I recommend Hungarian Magda Szabo (I love Abigail and Katalin Street but all her work is wonderful), French Francoise Sagan, and Austrian Stefan Zweig! I’ve absolutely loved reading a lot of translated fiction in the last year or so so I’ll definitely be taking notes from other comments, particularly for non-European recommendations!
One of my favorite niche genres is women's travel writing from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. If you want to try some, I'd recommend: - The Valley of the Assassins by Freya Stark; - My Journey to Lhasa by Alexandra David-Neel; - No Hurry to Get Home by Emily Hahn; - A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid; - Satan Came to Eden by Dore Strauch; - Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft; and - Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle by Dervla Murphy. And if you want to try some classic sci-fi by women, I'd recommend: - The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin; - The Mummy by Jane Webb; - Ice by Anna Kavan; - and Frankenstein, of course.
Love your goals, they are right up my alley - I'm really looking forward to your next videos.❤ In the name of my egyptian fiance, I would love to recommend the Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfuz, a famous egyptian author, who won the nobel prize for literature and who even survived an attack on his life by extremists. The trilogy constists of three books: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street, and tells the story of a family in Cairo - the father reigning strictly at home while having a secret life in which he acts nothing like the religious man he pretends to be at home. So far I've read the first book and I loved it.
Ursula K Le Guin is a great sci-fi bridge author for people that generally read litfic. I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, but I read the Lathe of Heaven last year and loved it.
mircea eliade- romanian novelist and philosopher. I recommend the story of Maitreyi (or translated title might be 'bengal nights', something along those lines) based on true events from when he travelled to india for work purposes and fell in love with the daughter of the family that housed him and conducted work with. very tender writing. furthermore, Maitreyi became a famous writer herself, and later, decades after, published her own perspective of the affair, titled 'it does not die'. Quite the romance
i wouldve recommended the russian girl by gib mihaescu (as its my favourite romanian literature effort) but upon searching it online i came to the conclusion that an english translation simply doesnt exist.
Hi Anna! Although I'm polish i don"t read a lot of books from my country but I have one recommendation for you. Stanisław Lem was a brilliant hard science fiction author and Solaris is a classic by him that is worth looking into! I personally don't usually read sci-fi but his work is on a whole new level. Wishing you fabulous 2025!
I've seen some people lately decide to implement challenges to finish their own books before buying new ones. While nearly impossible not to leave any book store with a new read, I do see the benefits or forcing (challenging) yourself to only get a new book if you read one you own already. My goals this year are 50 read total (I did 102 last year, but felt like I was rushing more than truly enjoying). Finally tackling The Count of Monte Cristo, 100 Years of Solitude, and Stoner-as I've told you already-. Those three are my only non-negotiables. Some Brasilian classics my family have recommended (that you might want to explore): The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, and The Captains of the Sands. As for sci-fi, I highly recommend Dune, and the books of Isaac Asimov. I've been recommended the Western Hondo, many a time. That gentleman’s 77 books he's enjoyed in his life has also been showing up for me lately.
Love these goals, and loved this video as always, I do the same numerical goal of 52, why stress yourself out and put pressure on those books from day one? Ha. I’ve also been swept up with the Lonesome Dove resurgence. I never think I like a western… always bloody love them when I read them. Never learn. Happy 2025 Ana, hope it’s a book banger for you x
Ooo totally agree with your point about books set in the present day! I’ve also been interested in reading more Irish literature since I read A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, one of the best books I’ve read
I am from Spain so if you want to read books from my country, I highly recommend The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda, The Hive by Camilo José Cela, Nada by Carmen Laforet, The Carnivorous Lamb by Agustín Gómez-Arcos :)
'Takeaway' by Angela Hui, and 'We don't know what we're doing' by Thomas Morris are two books I think you'd really like set in Wales- really heartfelt and grounded. I love Ireland, Irish fiction especially, and think the Welsh share a lot of our sensibilities and humour with the Irish xx
Some other western books I would suggest. The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Von Tilburg Clark. Shane by Jack Schaefer, The Searchers by Alan Le May, The Virginian by Owen Wister. Also, The border trilogy from Cormac McCarthy. I need to read Lonesome Dove as well!
I haven't read it myself but, I'm Vietnamese and The Sympathizer and it's sequel got really popular. The author is from South Vietnam. I haven't heard of any other Vietnamese authors.
I only read 3 nonfiction books last year, so I am wanting to read more this year. I'm currently listening to a nonfiction audiobook, have another nonfiction audiobook on hold through Libby, and have another on hold through the library. I'm already doing good there. Olive from abookolive has done several videos where she does nonfiction and fiction pairings and I want to do that a few times this year. I'm doing one of those pairings now and listening to The Radium Girls while reading Zorrie, which is a novel about a girl who gets a job at a radium factory. Last year, I tried to read more from my own shelves and I'm continuing that this year. I read a lot of fantasy and I definitely want to read more literary fiction, classics, and historic fiction again this year.
I'm from Norway! I would recommend Septology by Jon Fosse A Death in the Family (The first book of his 'My Struggle' or 'Min Kamp' Series) by Karl Ove Knausgaard The Ice Palace *or* The Birds by Tarjei Vesås Hunger or Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
Scallydandling About the Books did a worldwide reading project a couple of years ago and she regularly hits books from far flung locations. She must have some excellent recommendations. Many thanks for your thoughts.
I really like these specific goals! Cloud Atlas is one of my favorites, I hope you'll like it! If you like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and magical realism, Latife Tekin from Turkiye was also writing some magical realism pieces (I had a mini thesis when I was in high school on "Dear Shameless Death") so you can check her out, I saw there are some English translations for her. Another high in demand and most known Turkish writer is Sabahattin Ali, and his most known piece is "Madonna in a Fur Coat" maybe you've already read it? I saw some other booktubers were reading it.
If you’d like to deep into Mexican literature, I highly recommend Fernanda Melchor as a writer with great books; you can start with Hurricane Season, honestly it’s a 10/10. Also recommend Alia Trabucco Terán’s “Clean”, she does a great job picturing classism in Mexico in that novel. 🇲🇽
I'm a speed reader, so I have six 27-gallon storage totes full of books that I'm going through. I usually read 4 books at once, including sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction, and a genre other than sci-fi/fantasy. My goal is to empty those totes.
I have both lonesome dove and east of Eden on my big book list this year. I loved the mini series of lonesome dove as a kid even so I’m excited to see if I can tackle that one. lol
I know it’s not a country, but you should check out Appalachian American & LGBTQ author Silas House this year if you haven’t already. He’s KY’s current poet laureate & a local queer icon. I’d start with Lark Ascending or Southernmost, but you can’t go wrong 😊 There’s other great Appalachian authors like Barbara Kingsolver to explore if you like the vibes!
Hi, Anna. I want to recommend you my favourite writer. She is from Argentina and her name is Leila Guerriero. I recommend you one in specific: Zona de obras (I don’t know which is the name in English). SHE IS AMAZING and she write non-fiction.
I love classics and early 20th century books partly because the characters people don’t have cellphones and the latest tech. It’s nice to escape to a different world. Please make a video with some recommendations for books from the 80s and 90s at some point this year 😊 and if you’re interesting in reading books from other countries, I recommend checking out Charco Press. They translate books from Latin and South America authors into English and there’s such an interesting variety of stories available.
I am french so I can recommend a few french books: Le Horla by Guy de Maupassant Thérèse Raquin by Emile Zola Debout Les Morts by Fred Vargas I mainly read english literature so I have not read a lot of french books but I also have some that I haven’t read yet but want to read: Candide by Voltaire George Perec’s books À l’ami qui ne m’a pas sauvé la vie by Hervé Guibert Amélie Nothomb’s books Betty Blue by Philippe Djian Huis clos by Jean Paul Sartre Bonjour tristesse by Françoise Sagan Thérèse et Isabelle by Violette Leduc La fin des monstres by Tal Madesta
You should check out Claire Messud's "The Emperor's Children." Really good from that time frame. Don't read the reviews, just read it. Edited to say, I've been feeling the same way lately. The stuff published recently just isn't as good as stuff published even twenty years ago. I hate to say it because it sounds elitist, but the new new stuff is hard to sift through for the good stuff.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
The Mists of Avalon. Unforgettable.
The Cloud Atlas is fantastic! First I had absolutely no clue what was going on and at the end I was speechless how Mitchell was able to bring all these threads together!
The 77 books by the older gentleman came up for me too and I watched it being a 72 year old myself. I am an avid reader and I was surprised that there were so many books mentioned I never even heard of and authors too. His list was particularly eclectic, I think, but still it shows just how many books and tastes there are out there. Lonesome Dove is AMAZING! Also a great short western with a female protagonist is True Grit. Happy reading .
As someone from Turkey, I’d really recommend exploring Turkish literature. Sadly, not all of my favorite books have been translated into English, but a great place to start is Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali or Cold Nights of Childhood by Tezer Özlü. Sabahattin Ali, in particular, holds a special place in my heart, his work was what first made me fall in love with literature back in high school.
Thank you for these recs.
Adding to this great list - Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence or Snow
Hi Ana! I'm from Portugal and I would recommend Blindness by José Saramago.
Happy reading!
Yessssssssssss
This is a top 10 all time book for me! I need to reread.
@@kevinburns4420 me too! I think i read it about 15 years ago
yes !! I was looking for this suggestion in the comments ahah love from portugal 🫶🏻
Yes! I also love Saramago's Death at Intervals.
That sweater is epic!
The Oera Linda manuscript is a fun read.
rereading i such a fun thing to do, if you have a bad memory even better, you never stop rediscovering books. I have some annotated from years ago, when i read them again it's like having a conversation with past me. And from Chile i recommend my tender matador by Pedro lemebel
For translated works, I recommend Hungarian Magda Szabo (I love Abigail and Katalin Street but all her work is wonderful), French Francoise Sagan, and Austrian Stefan Zweig! I’ve absolutely loved reading a lot of translated fiction in the last year or so so I’ll definitely be taking notes from other comments, particularly for non-European recommendations!
One of my favorite niche genres is women's travel writing from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. If you want to try some, I'd recommend:
- The Valley of the Assassins by Freya Stark;
- My Journey to Lhasa by Alexandra David-Neel;
- No Hurry to Get Home by Emily Hahn;
- A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid;
- Satan Came to Eden by Dore Strauch;
- Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft; and
- Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle by Dervla Murphy.
And if you want to try some classic sci-fi by women, I'd recommend:
- The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin;
- The Mummy by Jane Webb;
- Ice by Anna Kavan;
- and Frankenstein, of course.
Love your goals, they are right up my alley - I'm really looking forward to your next videos.❤
In the name of my egyptian fiance, I would love to recommend the Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfuz, a famous egyptian author, who won the nobel prize for literature and who even survived an attack on his life by extremists. The trilogy constists of three books: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street, and tells the story of a family in Cairo - the father reigning strictly at home while having a secret life in which he acts nothing like the religious man he pretends to be at home. So far I've read the first book and I loved it.
Ursula K Le Guin is a great sci-fi bridge author for people that generally read litfic. I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, but I read the Lathe of Heaven last year and loved it.
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks is a great book from the mid 1980s, set in Scotland.
mircea eliade- romanian novelist and philosopher. I recommend the story of Maitreyi (or translated title might be 'bengal nights', something along those lines) based on true events from when he travelled to india for work purposes and fell in love with the daughter of the family that housed him and conducted work with. very tender writing. furthermore, Maitreyi became a famous writer herself, and later, decades after, published her own perspective of the affair, titled 'it does not die'. Quite the romance
i wouldve recommended the russian girl by gib mihaescu (as its my favourite romanian literature effort) but upon searching it online i came to the conclusion that an english translation simply doesnt exist.
@@edge.5887yeah not many are translated unfortunately:(
Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy is GREAT. She's so new york and 90s chic so I think you'd appreciate it.
Hi Anna! Although I'm polish i don"t read a lot of books from my country but I have one recommendation for you. Stanisław Lem was a brilliant hard science fiction author and Solaris is a classic by him that is worth looking into! I personally don't usually read sci-fi but his work is on a whole new level. Wishing you fabulous 2025!
Hi Ana, I'm from Italy and I feel like I have to recommend you what I think it is Italo Calvino's best work: If On a Winter's Night a Traveler
East is East by TC Boyle. Basically just about anything by TC Boyle is a great, funny, punk rock author read that goes against the normal boring.
I've seen some people lately decide to implement challenges to finish their own books before buying new ones. While nearly impossible not to leave any book store with a new read, I do see the benefits or forcing (challenging) yourself to only get a new book if you read one you own already.
My goals this year are 50 read total (I did 102 last year, but felt like I was rushing more than truly enjoying). Finally tackling The Count of Monte Cristo, 100 Years of Solitude, and Stoner-as I've told you already-. Those three are my only non-negotiables.
Some Brasilian classics my family have recommended (that you might want to explore): The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, and The Captains of the Sands.
As for sci-fi, I highly recommend Dune, and the books of Isaac Asimov. I've been recommended the Western Hondo, many a time.
That gentleman’s 77 books he's enjoyed in his life has also been showing up for me lately.
I think you will like Lonesome Dove. Loving your bangs! You inspired me to get some curly bangs going again.
get it girl… and I feel ya
if you haven’t already, I would highly recommend reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, another fantastic sci-fi classic. It’s superb
Love these goals, and loved this video as always, I do the same numerical goal of 52, why stress yourself out and put pressure on those books from day one? Ha. I’ve also been swept up with the Lonesome Dove resurgence. I never think I like a western… always bloody love them when I read them. Never learn. Happy 2025 Ana, hope it’s a book banger for you x
Ooo totally agree with your point about books set in the present day! I’ve also been interested in reading more Irish literature since I read A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, one of the best books I’ve read
I am from Spain so if you want to read books from my country, I highly recommend The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda, The Hive by Camilo José Cela, Nada by Carmen Laforet, The Carnivorous Lamb by Agustín Gómez-Arcos :)
Thanks for the rec’s from Spain. I’ve only read one of those.
Shadow of the Wind is a great book!
I'm eager to see you read westerns because you'll have excellent contemplations about specific writers, genre conventions, and film/TV connections.
'Takeaway' by Angela Hui, and 'We don't know what we're doing' by Thomas Morris are two books I think you'd really like set in Wales- really heartfelt and grounded. I love Ireland, Irish fiction especially, and think the Welsh share a lot of our sensibilities and humour with the Irish xx
From Ireland I'd suggest Edna O'Brien, In the Forest.
Some other western books I would suggest. The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Von Tilburg Clark. Shane by Jack Schaefer, The Searchers by Alan Le May, The Virginian by Owen Wister. Also, The border trilogy from Cormac McCarthy. I need to read Lonesome Dove as well!
I haven't read it myself but, I'm Vietnamese and The Sympathizer and it's sequel got really popular. The author is from South Vietnam. I haven't heard of any other Vietnamese authors.
I only read 3 nonfiction books last year, so I am wanting to read more this year. I'm currently listening to a nonfiction audiobook, have another nonfiction audiobook on hold through Libby, and have another on hold through the library. I'm already doing good there. Olive from abookolive has done several videos where she does nonfiction and fiction pairings and I want to do that a few times this year. I'm doing one of those pairings now and listening to The Radium Girls while reading Zorrie, which is a novel about a girl who gets a job at a radium factory. Last year, I tried to read more from my own shelves and I'm continuing that this year. I read a lot of fantasy and I definitely want to read more literary fiction, classics, and historic fiction again this year.
I'm from Norway! I would recommend
Septology by Jon Fosse
A Death in the Family (The first book of his 'My Struggle' or 'Min Kamp' Series) by Karl Ove Knausgaard
The Ice Palace *or* The Birds by Tarjei Vesås
Hunger or Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
NORGE MENTION! NORGE! NORGE! NORGE! NORGE!
Scallydandling About the Books did a worldwide reading project a couple of years ago and she regularly hits books from far flung locations. She must have some excellent recommendations. Many thanks for your thoughts.
I really like these specific goals!
Cloud Atlas is one of my favorites, I hope you'll like it!
If you like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and magical realism, Latife Tekin from Turkiye was also writing some magical realism pieces (I had a mini thesis when I was in high school on "Dear Shameless Death") so you can check her out, I saw there are some English translations for her.
Another high in demand and most known Turkish writer is Sabahattin Ali, and his most known piece is "Madonna in a Fur Coat" maybe you've already read it? I saw some other booktubers were reading it.
De mi país España te recomiendo los libros de Sara Mesa, especialmente Un amor y por otro lado uno que se titula Cara de pan.
If you’d like to deep into Mexican literature, I highly recommend Fernanda Melchor as a writer with great books; you can start with Hurricane Season, honestly it’s a 10/10. Also recommend Alia Trabucco Terán’s “Clean”, she does a great job picturing classism in Mexico in that novel. 🇲🇽
Ana has mentioned Hurricane Season in a few videos 🎯
Post World War II Japanese writers have it on lock. And yeah, you can’t really go wrong with Irish poetry particularly.
From Portugal, _Book of Disquiet_ by Fernando Pessoa. 🤎
I'm a speed reader, so I have six 27-gallon storage totes full of books that I'm going through. I usually read 4 books at once, including sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction, and a genre other than sci-fi/fantasy. My goal is to empty those totes.
Love your hair 😍
I have both lonesome dove and east of Eden on my big book list this year. I loved the mini series of lonesome dove as a kid even so I’m excited to see if I can tackle that one. lol
I know it’s not a country, but you should check out Appalachian American & LGBTQ author Silas House this year if you haven’t already. He’s KY’s current poet laureate & a local queer icon. I’d start with Lark Ascending or Southernmost, but you can’t go wrong 😊 There’s other great Appalachian authors like Barbara Kingsolver to explore if you like the vibes!
Hi, Anna. I want to recommend you my favourite writer. She is from Argentina and her name is Leila Guerriero. I recommend you one in specific: Zona de obras (I don’t know which is the name in English). SHE IS AMAZING and she write non-fiction.
I highly, highly HIGHLY recommend anything by Mexican author Dahlia De La Cerda. Her books are short but man they say so much!
@@michelleromero3425 I don’t see many of hers translated to English
I love classics and early 20th century books partly because the characters people don’t have cellphones and the latest tech. It’s nice to escape to a different world. Please make a video with some recommendations for books from the 80s and 90s at some point this year 😊 and if you’re interesting in reading books from other countries, I recommend checking out Charco Press. They translate books from Latin and South America authors into English and there’s such an interesting variety of stories available.
I am french so I can recommend a few french books:
Le Horla by Guy de Maupassant
Thérèse Raquin by Emile Zola
Debout Les Morts by Fred Vargas
I mainly read english literature so I have not read a lot of french books but I also have some that I haven’t read yet but want to read:
Candide by Voltaire
George Perec’s books
À l’ami qui ne m’a pas sauvé la vie by Hervé Guibert
Amélie Nothomb’s books
Betty Blue by Philippe Djian
Huis clos by Jean Paul Sartre
Bonjour tristesse by Françoise Sagan
Thérèse et Isabelle by Violette Leduc
La fin des monstres by Tal Madesta
Ana, I highly recommend "The head of the saint" by Socorro Acioli. Amazing brazilian author. ❤🇧🇷
u should try some horror or gothic lit i would love to hear ur opinion about this genre
Dear Ana, I think you should read Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante! One of the greatest Italian writers, I think you would love it ❤
Tortilla Flats John Steinbeck
You should check out Claire Messud's "The Emperor's Children." Really good from that time frame. Don't read the reviews, just read it.
Edited to say, I've been feeling the same way lately. The stuff published recently just isn't as good as stuff published even twenty years ago. I hate to say it because it sounds elitist, but the new new stuff is hard to sift through for the good stuff.
Read “The Stories of Ibis” by Hiroshi Yamamoto! (If you want to), love the vids ❤
I think… my goal is to start posting book videos again. I’m tired of being embarrassed for trying
Do you have faith in yourself or faith in your shelf? 🤔
I’m 45 and gave up the obligation feeling during covid. I only read what I want and DNF like a mf if you don’t grab me.
First read of the year for me was Liarmouth by John Waters and i cannot recommend this weird, whacky, and campy book enough.
Liber Lilith by Donald Tyson. You can read the PDF free online. I dare you.
You aren’t obligated to read anything you don’t want to.🤷♂️
Do you have faith in yourself or faith in your shelf? 🤔
Do you have faith in yourself or faith in your shelf? 🤔