Haha I get your skepticism, but in this case both things are completely true - I'm an extremely slow reader, and my work life this year has meant I've been pretty isolated and have spent all my free time reading
Ugh just the description of No Exit gave me (hot) chills. I read The Lesser Bohemians last Autumn and it put me in an almost year-long novel slump. I read The Red Parts this year too, 2/3rds of it in one sitting and I sat in such a stew of anger for the rest of the afternoon. Great list!
My goodness, you'll always be my favourite. I've bought a couple of these now, and I'll start to read another when I get home. Thank you for your rich insight - just your brain, honestly. You're an absolute gift. You excite me to read books and I think that's the best thing you could do for anyone here. Thank you, thank you!
Woolf and Eliot, a woman after my own heart! They are stunning and I was lost (still am) in many of their superbly constructed works this year. Woolf writes so stunningly that my heart pounds in my ears and I feel fierce myself. I can't wait till you read To The Lighthouse, it was like she echoed things Sartre and particularly Beauvoir would write LATER on -- such an amazing philosopher she is as well. x
Middlemarch and Jane Eyre will be my main Spring reads. I ordered Lincoln In The Bardo and The Red Parts, I am open to Hobb and Woolf and Margaret is upping its way in my TBR! So excited for a new reading year!
What a fantastic reading year! Middlemarch was also one of my favorite reads of this year (and one of those rare books that I truly believe made me a better person). I also just got A Room of One's Own for Christmas and can't wait to get to it. I so appreciate all the work and thought you put into your channel - you are one of my favorite people to watch, so thank you for all that you do! I can't wait to see what books you pick up in 2018 :)
That's a great list you got there! Some of the books you mention (Dutton; Saunders, Smith) made it on my favourites' list of 2017 and you made me remember Sartre! I really need to dust of my copy of No Exit pronto.
I will be using this video as my new year book binge shopping list. 😊 i can’t believe I haven’t read Margaret the First yet. It’s wonderful when a book has that kind of staying power over the course of a year. Lincoln in the Bardo has also been a favourite of mine. And Middlemarch, oh Middlemarch. I have read it twice and have been left completely stunned both times. It’s up there in the pantheon for me.
I just finished Margaret The First and I LOVED it. I just can’t believe how incredibly wonderful it was/is in such a slim volume. I recently bought a copy of No Exit but I’ll have to make sure to get to it sooner. Middlemarch is one my nightstand and I am determined that 2018 is the year that I read it!
As a new viewer to your channel, I loved this video. I've been watching your discussions of the women's prize books, and while your descriptions and critiques are intelligent and engaging I really enjoyed the change up of your excitement over these books (that is in no way meant to discourage your videos where you didn't like the book, intelligent critique is important and we should always support each other even if our views differ, because how can you grow if you only immerse yourself in people who agree with you). I recently discovered Robin Hobb and am hoping to start that trilogy soon so I'm glad you loved it. There are so many of these already on my TBR, but I'm really excited about "When My Brother Was an Aztec" that sounds like an extremely interesting poetry collection that I have never heard of and now hope to pick up soon. Thank you for making beautifully articulate and stunningly intellectual videos, I can't wait to watch more of your content!
I appreciate the soothing feeling of being smart when I'm listening to you talk, buddy ^^ Me: "Hmmm... I understand all these words. I might've used most of them before. I'm good." Do I have something to add? Nope. Christmas gift: No weird meandering. Oh, I would've forgotten! Congratulations on becoming an editor for Open Letter Reviews. I smiled really widely when I saw your name in the sidebar on the new website. I hope it'll make the dream of having a career in book world easier to achieve
But I love your weird meandering! And thanks for your support about the new version of Open Letters, I'm really excited for it. Happy new year to you, lovely :)
Such an interesting and inspiring collection of books. I haven't read most of them, but you always make we want to read everything you've loved. I really hope to read The Red Parts, since Maggie Nelson is one of the authors that has impressed me and interests me the most. I also have Middlemarch, which I hope to tackle despite it's massive size. And I NEED to get to Lincoln in the Bardo.
I really really want to get into Autumn/ Winter next year. Sounds you like had a great reading year... I had no idea you enjoyed Margaret The First so! And I think you were the person that finally turned me on to try Lincoln in the Bardo this year.
Fantastic video. I am loving all the end of year favorites videos. I am so glad you loved he Liveship Traders as well. I am just finishing Hobb’s Elderlings series now and am emotionally preparing to not have anymore to devour. You and a few other booktubers have convinced me to pick up Lincoln In the Bardo. I read a short story collection from Saunders and really didn’t enjoy it. But am hoping his novel will grip me in a way his short fiction didn’t. It sounds like you had a great 2017! Here’s to an even better 2018! 😊
Hi Jen. I found your channel this year and I hope I will get to enjoy it for a LONG time to come. Thoroughly enjoyed your favourites of 2017 and I'm adding Margaret the First, Winter and The Lowland to the TBR; Middlemarch, Lincoln and the Bardo and the Live Ship traders trilogy were already on it. The Lie Tree was one of my 2017s favourites as well. I wish I just had a smidge of your eloquency, when critiquing or raving about a book/an author's writing, it's truly something else. Happy holidays and btw, I love your hair like this haha. :-)
Hahahahaha that made me laugh about ranking your future kids. I can’t believe I’ve not read any Lahiri. I’ll be heading to The Red Parts early this year, I loved The Argonauts and Bluets so much. I must read Winter while it’s still winter. I must read Margaret the First. I must. I loved the way you described all of these books. Great video and wonderful selection.
"Which will be a problem if I ever have children, but for now it's ok." LOL. The Mad Ship was in my top reads of 2017! I can't wait to get to Ship of Destiny this month. I read A Room of One's Own this year, and I enjoyed it but wasn't quite as blown away.
You are just so tremendously articulate. If I could describe how I feel about anything with even a fraction of the eloquence you demonstrate when talking about books, I would be so happy. I love the variety of works you've highlighted here and I'm very excited to give many of them a try, especially the more experimental ones. I also saw A Room of One's Own at the library just the other day and considered borrowing it. Now I'll pick it up for sure.
I appreciate this comment so much, thank you. I'm guessing just from your commenting style that you're quite articulate yourself :) Happy 2018 reading to you
Oh I have so many thoughts, haha! Your typical reaction to poetry is also me! That made me lol. I read The Argonauts earlier this year and can't wait to get on to more Maggie Nelson, I've heard nothing but good things. Just finished Winter and LOVED it also! I really couldn't get into The Assassin's Apprentice and so kind of gave up on Robin Hobb but I think I should perhaps put that trilogy aside and try some of the later books as everyone seems to love them so much. Margaret the First is completely brilliant and I stupidly forgot to include it in my top books of the year video! I think you're right, we have very similar tastes 😂 I'm off to add all of the books I haven't read yet to my TBR...brilliant video! xx
I love the way you talk about books, so thoughtfully and with such insight. I wish I had loved A Room of Ones Own as much as you did, but I did love Middlemarch tremendously!
Congratulations on a fantastic year of reading! As always, your commentary is brief but compelling and your diverse and complex taste is utterly fascinating to me. I genuinely get so excited to click on your videos just to see what new and interesting books you have picked up! This year I picked up Margaret the First per your recommendation (and an extra nudge from Jen Campbell) and thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm quite sure I wouldn't have read it without your video - so thank you for at least one gem in my reading year! Your favorites list has bumped up a couple books on my TBR! I recently was given a copy of Woolf's A Room of One's Own by my grandmother and I will definitely be picking that up soon! So cheers to you and all my best wishes for 2018!
I enjoy ranking things too and definitely, will do that this year as well with books. Love this list, most of the books I either read and liked or thinking about reading. Surprised with Ship of Destiny, read it and I admit it's good, but it still it hasn't convinced me to continue with the genre or the series itself. Clapping for Lincoln and Middlemarch. Need to pick up Margaret the First.
Thankyou so much you are impeccable with your info on each book. I have so many of them but I haven't read them as I just got them I've been reading his dark materials by Pullman, also under the never sky, and the half yellow sun by chimamanda adichie. Happy new year and happy reading
I was lucky enough to experience No Exit in theatre the first time I heard about it and thought it was genius. I was not familar with the plot going into it but years later I still remember being enthralled by it. I hope you will also get to it it performed. This is very eclectic list of books and I have added a few to my TBR. I hope that you will have many other favourites in 2018
No Exit is also one of my favorite books!! I read it some years ago, and I still think about it now! I'm currently reading Winter by Ali Smith! Wish you good reads! xx
Thank you for honouring Margaret the First. I was heart broken not to find it on the Booker list - long or short - and not on any other list really, except for the cover design, which is superb. I am reading the book for the third time, this time your laudatory comments echoing in my head. Good health and good reading in 2018!
It's ridiculous to me that Margaret the First didn't get any prize attention (especially as someone who went through the whole Baileys longlist - it's LEAGUES better than most of the books they chose). Glad to find other readers who love it!
This is my second time watching this one, because I enjoy watching your videos and hearing your thoughts on books. I recently bought MiddleMarch from the used bookstore, so its not in perfect condition, but I started it this weekend.
Loved your thoughts on these - thank you! I didn’t expect to come out of watching this video wanting to read a poetry collection or fantasy series.I saw a college production of No Exit once where the director made the unfortunate choice of turning the heat up in the theatre to simulate the feeling of hell and half the audience fell asleep.Many years ago I started a Yahoo group to discuss the books of George Eliot and my favourite email I received this year was a man berating me for having abandoned moderating this defunct group which is now full of spam.I’m going to a Waterstones reading group discussion on Margaret the First in Jan and I wish you could be there!
That No Exit description made me laugh so much. Jealous that you'll be discussing Margaret the First in a non-electronic way - hope you have a great time. Happy new year! xx
No exit (Huis clos) is also one of my favorite books of 2017. I read it in July and was so touched by it that I translated into my native tongue (after finding out that it has not yet been translated). I didn't expect to find it in your video since my taste and yours are generally quite different but what a nice surprise! Merry Christmas by the way!
Margaret the First beats out Lincoln in the Bardo (which I am currently reading)! Definitely picking that up, along with the Sartre. Interesting & eloquent video, as always.
Really interesting and varied list. I’ve only read Ship of Destiny off that list (which I agree is a great book), but I’m about to start Lincoln in the Bardo, and a couple of others are on my ‘I want to read that book one day’ list. My 2017 favourites were ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ (historical fiction, focussing on a Russian nobleman given house arrest in a hotel following the Russian Revolution) and ‘Skyfaring’ (nonfiction; thoughts on travel and flying by an airline pilot; appropriately enough I bought it at an airport).
I loved hearing your favorite books of the year! Some of which I predicted (Middlemarch - I read it with you back in March but at a MUCH slower pace), but most I didn't. I tried to listen to Lincoln in the Bardo earlier this year on audiobook because I'd heard it had a full cast of impressive voice talent. It was the wrong choice. I didn't make it very far because I couldn't keep straight what was happening and who was talking. Part of that is, I think, my own fault; I'm coming to realize that I just can't listen to audiobooks when it's fiction (oddly, I do much better with nonfiction), my attention wanders and then I get lost. I'm going to revisit LitB in physical format - and perhaps read it side by side with the audiobook and see how I do then. Also, I'm currently reading Ship of Destiny. I have loved the entire trilogy so much! I really hope I can finish it before the end of the year so that it can legitimately go on my own favorites of 2017.
I get really lost with audiobooks, so Lincoln in the Bardo would've been impossible for me that way! I also got lost a lot in the beginning with the written version and couldn't keep a lot of the characters straight, but I think part of the experience is accepting that and sort of letting it wash over you. And I just finished the first book in The Tawny Man trilogy and it's so great, I hope you love it!
I love your channel! Thanks for the recommendations and I am looking forward to updating as I go along - Lincoln in the Bardo was my favorite this past year and I did like Exit West - not terrifically but enough to be lost in thought for a few days after. Am reading Picture of Dorian Gray and Mill on the Floss on my list this year. Have you read Cutting for Stone - a bit like The Lowland but I liked better. (Maybe because am in medicine?) Your videos and reviews are remarkable...you should write!
I have been watching a lot of book recommendations and I have really struggled to find someone I can relate too and likes similar books to myself... found ya! thanks!
Thanks for sharing! Added at least 4 of them to my to read for 2018 :) I'll follow you on goodreads to stalk your reviews there too :)) Happy Holidays!
I'm so excited to see that your favourite read of this year is Margaret the First as this is also one of my favourites of 2017! Above all I liked Dutton's use of dense lyrical language which unfolds not only Margaret's inner world but also that of the 17th century and makes this relatively short book so "large". I also got intrigued by the depiction of this really interesting time in history where the "modern world" and natural sciences are emerging (it must have felt like a mind-blowing eruption really) and at the same time people were still deeply rooted in medieval thinking (the descriptions of the different measures the couple took to produce offspring is really repulsive but also heartrendering). I was (and still am) not really sure, why Dutton chose to change the perspective in the second part from first person to third (Sophie Carlon also mused on that aspect), maybe to broaden the perspective on Margaret and sliding into a more "objective" biographical narrative when it comes to dealing with Margaret's works of art!? Anyway, I did not find it disturbing at all. I will read the biography by K. Whitaker "Mad Madge" in 2018, that's for sure!! At the moment I'm reading "Autumn" - this book is so English (and I love it for that). I like your channel a lot, it's one of my favourites so I am looking forward to following you in 2018! I wish you happy reading and all the best for 2018!
Thank you! I interpreted the tense shift in Margaret the First as her shifting perspective on herself - only experiencing life as the central "I" when she's a young woman, and then starting to see herself in third person as she becomes a notorious figure in the eyes of other people. Almost as though she couldn't exist just for herself anymore, and couldn't live with the singular "I" without thinking of other people's reactions. I don't remember perfectly (I think the perspective shifted more than once? maybe?), but that was my take on it at the time. Anyway, I love the way you described the historical context of this book and completely agree! Happy 2018 xx
Thank you for your interesting ideas on why there is this change in the narrative in the middle of the novel!! Suddenly being in the focus of attention and being judged by others as a result of having published "weird" fiction can probably detach a writer from him- or herself...
I think we may be reading twins! Margaret the First was a favorite this year, Middlemarch is a favorite, Maggie Nelson can do no wrong, and Virginia Woolf is my spirit animal.
Thanks! And yeah, in college when my friends and I took the same classes it would take me hours to read something that took them thirty minutes. My poor brain just can't process things fast. Nice to not be alone! On booktube I sometimes feel like a tortoise amongst all the hares ;)
Awesome ! I was wondering which book would make it ! And 12, I'm writing for my blog my best books of the year and thought that 12 was "too many" but you did it, and you ranked them but it makes sense to me :-) I've started to read Winter so I just played that part of your vid a little faster but I'm glad it made it to the top. I also got for Christmas Lincoln in the Bardo and flipped through the pages and I'm looking forward to reading it (thanks to you!). I have also bought Middlemarch because of you ! and I just booked The Red Parts at my local library ;-) and finally, I wrote down "When My Brother Was an Aztec" by Natalie Diaz on a list (my sister lives in the US and is going to bring me some books back home) - so thanks Jen for being responsible of all that ! LOL - I had forgotten about the book you love the most - The Oustide Lands by Hannah Kohler / Do not say we have nothing / Let me die in his footsteps by Lori Roy / The young girl and the war by Sara Novic / Dog Run Moon : Stories by Callan Wink / Half Wild stories by Robin MacArthur ... and The night of the Gun by David Carr / Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann/ Men we reaped by Jesmyn Ward / Soeurs volées by Emmanuelle Walter (an essay about the unsolved killings of Native women in Canada) and I smiled when I saw J.P Sartre's book "Huis Clos" in your list .. "L'enfer c'est les autres..." (Hell is other people) ! Great video and I love how you enjoy speaking about your favorite books, I do too feel that way !
Sounds like you had a great reading year! Happy 2018, and thank you for being such a wonderful commenter, you're one of my favorites to see pop up in my notifications xx
Jhumpa Lahiri, right? She hurts you but it's so good? And you can't really explain it. (But I think you articulated very well nonetheless!) My favourite book of the year was a book I also read in January and it was Out by Natsuo Kirino. It's a Japanese feminist thriller and has so much depth and introspection of society and the heroine of the novel is one of the most well-crafted female characters I have ever read. I love how widely you read and your favourite books of 2017 is a video that really encapsulates that. c:
I was part of a presentation about Mill on the Floss at university this semester, and I'd love to see why you love that book :'D Even studying and analyzing and thinking about it, I could not enjoy it
I talk about it a little at the end of this video: ruclips.net/video/uU6XuvZtz6w/видео.html I loved The Mill on the Floss for two main reasons (although as you can imagine I have a ton of others). One was that I react to George Eliot's word choice on a visceral level. Her writing for me reaches heights that few other realist novelists reach. And then I adored the way Maggie and Tom's relationship was portrayed, and haven't found its like in any other book. Tom Tulliver isn't the kind of character you often see in literature (and Eliot manages to paint his worldview in a way that's both clearsighted and compassionate). And it's rare to find an author who can juggle so many emotional truths at once (the fact that Maggie and Tom love each other, but that Maggie loves Tom more, and that, paradoxically, Tom NEEDS love less). So for me it's an emotional and artistic tour de force :)
I love Jhumpa Lahiri, she writes beautifully but I was disappointed by Lowland. Have you read any other of her works? My favorite is "The Namesake" although her short stories are amazing, too.
I read some heavy hitters this year, making it nigh on impossible to rank them. If I made a shortlist of 10, they'd be: (order in which I read them) 'The Unseen World' by Liz Moore 'Sweetland' by Michael Crummey 'Jane Eyre' - Charlotte Bronte 'Fingersmith' - Sarah Waters 'Flight' - Sherman Alexie 'The Clay Girl' - Heather Tucker 'Sugar' - Bernice L McFadden 'Monkey Beach' - Eden Robinson 'Like a River From Its Course' - Kelli Stuart 'The Hummingbird's Daughter' - Luis Alberto Urrea And I'm leaving out others I gave 5 stars to.
One year of college French! I'm usually okay anglicizing most names, but Sartre's name just sounds dreadful in a Northeast American accent. And yes, Middlemarch is a must in my opinion!
"I'm a slow reader."
"I read around 130 books this year."
Me: 😂😂😂
Haha I get your skepticism, but in this case both things are completely true - I'm an extremely slow reader, and my work life this year has meant I've been pretty isolated and have spent all my free time reading
You make me read everything, amazingly eloquent.
Thank you, this is so kind!
Your descriptions are are spoken like poetry. Happy to have found an “adult” reading channel.
Ugh just the description of No Exit gave me (hot) chills. I read The Lesser Bohemians last Autumn and it put me in an almost year-long novel slump. I read The Red Parts this year too, 2/3rds of it in one sitting and I sat in such a stew of anger for the rest of the afternoon. Great list!
My goodness, you'll always be my favourite. I've bought a couple of these now, and I'll start to read another when I get home. Thank you for your rich insight - just your brain, honestly. You're an absolute gift. You excite me to read books and I think that's the best thing you could do for anyone here. Thank you, thank you!
Woolf and Eliot, a woman after my own heart! They are stunning and I was lost (still am) in many of their superbly constructed works this year. Woolf writes so stunningly that my heart pounds in my ears and I feel fierce myself. I can't wait till you read To The Lighthouse, it was like she echoed things Sartre and particularly Beauvoir would write LATER on -- such an amazing philosopher she is as well. x
Middlemarch and Jane Eyre will be my main Spring reads. I ordered Lincoln In The Bardo and The Red Parts, I am open to Hobb and Woolf and Margaret is upping its way in my TBR! So excited for a new reading year!
What a fantastic reading year! Middlemarch was also one of my favorite reads of this year (and one of those rare books that I truly believe made me a better person). I also just got A Room of One's Own for Christmas and can't wait to get to it. I so appreciate all the work and thought you put into your channel - you are one of my favorite people to watch, so thank you for all that you do! I can't wait to see what books you pick up in 2018 :)
Thank you Claire! Love your channel, can't wait to follow your reading journey in 2018 xxx
That's a great list you got there! Some of the books you mention (Dutton; Saunders, Smith) made it on my favourites' list of 2017 and you made me remember Sartre! I really need to dust of my copy of No Exit pronto.
I will be using this video as my new year book binge shopping list. 😊 i can’t believe I haven’t read Margaret the First yet. It’s wonderful when a book has that kind of staying power over the course of a year. Lincoln in the Bardo has also been a favourite of mine. And Middlemarch, oh Middlemarch. I have read it twice and have been left completely stunned both times. It’s up there in the pantheon for me.
I just finished Margaret The First and I LOVED it. I just can’t believe how incredibly wonderful it was/is in such a slim volume.
I recently bought a copy of No Exit but I’ll have to make sure to get to it sooner. Middlemarch is one my nightstand and I am determined that 2018 is the year that I read it!
Yay, so happy to hear that! Happy 2018 reading :)
As a new viewer to your channel, I loved this video. I've been watching your discussions of the women's prize books, and while your descriptions and critiques are intelligent and engaging I really enjoyed the change up of your excitement over these books (that is in no way meant to discourage your videos where you didn't like the book, intelligent critique is important and we should always support each other even if our views differ, because how can you grow if you only immerse yourself in people who agree with you). I recently discovered Robin Hobb and am hoping to start that trilogy soon so I'm glad you loved it. There are so many of these already on my TBR, but I'm really excited about "When My Brother Was an Aztec" that sounds like an extremely interesting poetry collection that I have never heard of and now hope to pick up soon. Thank you for making beautifully articulate and stunningly intellectual videos, I can't wait to watch more of your content!
I appreciate the soothing feeling of being smart when I'm listening to you talk, buddy ^^ Me: "Hmmm... I understand all these words. I might've used most of them before. I'm good."
Do I have something to add?
Nope.
Christmas gift: No weird meandering.
Oh, I would've forgotten! Congratulations on becoming an editor for Open Letter Reviews. I smiled really widely when I saw your name in the sidebar on the new website. I hope it'll make the dream of having a career in book world easier to achieve
But I love your weird meandering! And thanks for your support about the new version of Open Letters, I'm really excited for it. Happy new year to you, lovely :)
Such an interesting and inspiring collection of books. I haven't read most of them, but you always make we want to read everything you've loved. I really hope to read The Red Parts, since Maggie Nelson is one of the authors that has impressed me and interests me the most. I also have Middlemarch, which I hope to tackle despite it's massive size. And I NEED to get to Lincoln in the Bardo.
I bought Lincoln in the Bardo earlier today. And you make me want to read every book you mentioned here!
I really really want to get into Autumn/ Winter next year. Sounds you like had a great reading year... I had no idea you enjoyed Margaret The First so! And I think you were the person that finally turned me on to try Lincoln in the Bardo this year.
Fantastic video. I am loving all the end of year favorites videos. I am so glad you loved he Liveship Traders as well. I am just finishing Hobb’s Elderlings series now and am emotionally preparing to not have anymore to devour. You and a few other booktubers have convinced me to pick up Lincoln In the Bardo. I read a short story collection from Saunders and really didn’t enjoy it. But am hoping his novel will grip me in a way his short fiction didn’t. It sounds like you had a great 2017! Here’s to an even better 2018! 😊
I'm in the middle of the Tawny Man trilogy and I'm already like, "I don't want these books to end..."
Happy 2018!
Amazing video as always, also I like the new haircut. It really suit you. Happy new year!
Hi Jen. I found your channel this year and I hope I will get to enjoy it for a LONG time to come. Thoroughly enjoyed your favourites of 2017 and I'm adding Margaret the First, Winter and The Lowland to the TBR; Middlemarch, Lincoln and the Bardo and the Live Ship traders trilogy were already on it. The Lie Tree was one of my 2017s favourites as well.
I wish I just had a smidge of your eloquency, when critiquing or raving about a book/an author's writing, it's truly something else. Happy holidays and btw, I love your hair like this haha. :-)
This comment made me smile so much! Happy 2018, wishing you a beautiful year (for reading and everything else) xx
Hahahahaha that made me laugh about ranking your future kids. I can’t believe I’ve not read any Lahiri. I’ll be heading to The Red Parts early this year, I loved The Argonauts and Bluets so much. I must read Winter while it’s still winter. I must read Margaret the First. I must. I loved the way you described all of these books. Great video and wonderful selection.
"Which will be a problem if I ever have children, but for now it's ok." LOL. The Mad Ship was in my top reads of 2017! I can't wait to get to Ship of Destiny this month. I read A Room of One's Own this year, and I enjoyed it but wasn't quite as blown away.
You are just so tremendously articulate. If I could describe how I feel about anything with even a fraction of the eloquence you demonstrate when talking about books, I would be so happy. I love the variety of works you've highlighted here and I'm very excited to give many of them a try, especially the more experimental ones. I also saw A Room of One's Own at the library just the other day and considered borrowing it. Now I'll pick it up for sure.
I appreciate this comment so much, thank you. I'm guessing just from your commenting style that you're quite articulate yourself :) Happy 2018 reading to you
Oh I have so many thoughts, haha! Your typical reaction to poetry is also me! That made me lol. I read The Argonauts earlier this year and can't wait to get on to more Maggie Nelson, I've heard nothing but good things. Just finished Winter and LOVED it also!
I really couldn't get into The Assassin's Apprentice and so kind of gave up on Robin Hobb but I think I should perhaps put that trilogy aside and try some of the later books as everyone seems to love them so much. Margaret the First is completely brilliant and I stupidly forgot to include it in my top books of the year video! I think you're right, we have very similar tastes 😂 I'm off to add all of the books I haven't read yet to my TBR...brilliant video! xx
I love the way you talk about books, so thoughtfully and with such insight. I wish I had loved A Room of Ones Own as much as you did, but I did love Middlemarch tremendously!
Happy to hear that - what a wonderful book. Can't wait to read more Eliot in 2018
Congratulations on a fantastic year of reading! As always, your commentary is brief but compelling and your diverse and complex taste is utterly fascinating to me. I genuinely get so excited to click on your videos just to see what new and interesting books you have picked up! This year I picked up Margaret the First per your recommendation (and an extra nudge from Jen Campbell) and thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm quite sure I wouldn't have read it without your video - so thank you for at least one gem in my reading year! Your favorites list has bumped up a couple books on my TBR! I recently was given a copy of Woolf's A Room of One's Own by my grandmother and I will definitely be picking that up soon! So cheers to you and all my best wishes for 2018!
Thank you for such a kind comment! Hope you end A Room of One's Own (your grandmother has good taste ;) ). Happy 2018!
I enjoy ranking things too and definitely, will do that this year as well with books. Love this list, most of the books I either read and liked or thinking about reading. Surprised with Ship of Destiny, read it and I admit it's good, but it still it hasn't convinced me to continue with the genre or the series itself. Clapping for Lincoln and Middlemarch. Need to pick up Margaret the First.
Thanks Kamil, looking forward to your fiction list!
Thankyou so much you are impeccable with your info on each book. I have so many of them but I haven't read them as I just got them I've been reading his dark materials by Pullman, also under the never sky, and the half yellow sun by chimamanda adichie. Happy new year and happy reading
I was lucky enough to experience No Exit in theatre the first time I heard about it and thought it was genius. I was not familar with the plot going into it but years later I still remember being enthralled by it. I hope you will also get to it it performed.
This is very eclectic list of books and I have added a few to my TBR.
I hope that you will have many other favourites in 2018
No Exit is also one of my favorite books!! I read it some years ago, and I still think about it now! I'm currently reading Winter by Ali Smith! Wish you good reads! xx
Thank you for honouring Margaret the First. I was heart broken not to find it on the Booker list - long or short - and not on any other list really, except for the cover design, which is superb. I am reading the book for the third time, this time your laudatory comments echoing in my head. Good health and good reading in 2018!
It's ridiculous to me that Margaret the First didn't get any prize attention (especially as someone who went through the whole Baileys longlist - it's LEAGUES better than most of the books they chose). Glad to find other readers who love it!
Wow! You talk about those books so beautiful!!! Now I wanna read them all!!! Thanks for that feelings!!!
Thank you! :)
Great recommendations, thank you ! 😊
This is my second time watching this one, because I enjoy watching your videos and hearing your thoughts on books. I recently bought MiddleMarch from the used bookstore, so its not in perfect condition, but I started it this weekend.
Yay, I hope you enjoy it! Definitely an investment, but there are so many fun and beautiful bits to explore in that book :)
Loved your thoughts on these - thank you! I didn’t expect to come out of watching this video wanting to read a poetry collection or fantasy series.I saw a college production of No Exit once where the director made the unfortunate choice of turning the heat up in the theatre to simulate the feeling of hell and half the audience fell asleep.Many years ago I started a Yahoo group to discuss the books of George Eliot and my favourite email I received this year was a man berating me for having abandoned moderating this defunct group which is now full of spam.I’m going to a Waterstones reading group discussion on Margaret the First in Jan and I wish you could be there!
That No Exit description made me laugh so much. Jealous that you'll be discussing Margaret the First in a non-electronic way - hope you have a great time. Happy new year! xx
No exit (Huis clos) is also one of my favorite books of 2017. I read it in July and was so touched by it that I translated into my native tongue (after finding out that it has not yet been translated). I didn't expect to find it in your video since my taste and yours are generally quite different but what a nice surprise! Merry Christmas by the way!
Happy new year! Interesting - what's your native language?
I love the way you explain books!
Thank you, I'm so glad! xx
Margaret the First beats out Lincoln in the Bardo (which I am currently reading)! Definitely picking that up, along with the Sartre.
Interesting & eloquent video, as always.
Really interesting and varied list. I’ve only read Ship of Destiny off that list (which I agree is a great book), but I’m about to start Lincoln in the Bardo, and a couple of others are on my ‘I want to read that book one day’ list. My 2017 favourites were ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ (historical fiction, focussing on a Russian nobleman given house arrest in a hotel following the Russian Revolution) and ‘Skyfaring’ (nonfiction; thoughts on travel and flying by an airline pilot; appropriately enough I bought it at an airport).
I loved hearing your favorite books of the year! Some of which I predicted (Middlemarch - I read it with you back in March but at a MUCH slower pace), but most I didn't. I tried to listen to Lincoln in the Bardo earlier this year on audiobook because I'd heard it had a full cast of impressive voice talent. It was the wrong choice. I didn't make it very far because I couldn't keep straight what was happening and who was talking. Part of that is, I think, my own fault; I'm coming to realize that I just can't listen to audiobooks when it's fiction (oddly, I do much better with nonfiction), my attention wanders and then I get lost. I'm going to revisit LitB in physical format - and perhaps read it side by side with the audiobook and see how I do then. Also, I'm currently reading Ship of Destiny. I have loved the entire trilogy so much! I really hope I can finish it before the end of the year so that it can legitimately go on my own favorites of 2017.
I get really lost with audiobooks, so Lincoln in the Bardo would've been impossible for me that way! I also got lost a lot in the beginning with the written version and couldn't keep a lot of the characters straight, but I think part of the experience is accepting that and sort of letting it wash over you. And I just finished the first book in The Tawny Man trilogy and it's so great, I hope you love it!
I love your channel! Thanks for the recommendations and I am looking forward to updating as I go along - Lincoln in the Bardo was my favorite this past year and I did like Exit West - not terrifically but enough to be lost in thought for a few days after. Am reading Picture of Dorian Gray and Mill on the Floss on my list this year. Have you read Cutting for Stone - a bit like The Lowland but I liked better. (Maybe because am in medicine?) Your videos and reviews are remarkable...you should write!
Thank you for such a kind comment! Haven't read Cutting for Stone but I've heard interesting things about it. Happy 2018 reading!
Loved this! Also, your make-up and hair is gorgeous :)
Thank you! Best wishes for 2018 xx
I have been watching a lot of book recommendations and I have really struggled to find someone I can relate too and likes similar books to myself... found ya! thanks!
Very very happy you found your way here! Happy 2018 reading xx
Your videos always make me want to immediately stop watching RUclips and pick up a book!
Thanks for sharing! Added at least 4 of them to my to read for 2018 :)
I'll follow you on goodreads to stalk your reviews there too :))
Happy Holidays!
Thank you, and happy holidays to you!
I'm so excited to see that your favourite read of this year is Margaret the First as this is also one of my favourites of 2017! Above all I liked Dutton's use of dense lyrical language which unfolds not only Margaret's inner world but also that of the 17th century and makes this relatively short book so "large". I also got intrigued by the depiction of this really interesting time in history where the "modern world" and natural sciences are emerging (it must have felt like a mind-blowing eruption really) and at the same time people were still deeply rooted in medieval thinking (the descriptions of the different measures the couple took to produce offspring is really repulsive but also heartrendering). I was (and still am) not really sure, why Dutton chose to change the perspective in the second part from first person to third (Sophie Carlon also mused on that aspect), maybe to broaden the perspective on Margaret and sliding into a more "objective" biographical narrative when it comes to dealing with Margaret's works of art!? Anyway, I did not find it disturbing at all.
I will read the biography by K. Whitaker "Mad Madge" in 2018, that's for sure!!
At the moment I'm reading "Autumn" - this book is so English (and I love it for that).
I like your channel a lot, it's one of my favourites so I am looking forward to following you in 2018!
I wish you happy reading and all the best for 2018!
Thank you! I interpreted the tense shift in Margaret the First as her shifting perspective on herself - only experiencing life as the central "I" when she's a young woman, and then starting to see herself in third person as she becomes a notorious figure in the eyes of other people. Almost as though she couldn't exist just for herself anymore, and couldn't live with the singular "I" without thinking of other people's reactions. I don't remember perfectly (I think the perspective shifted more than once? maybe?), but that was my take on it at the time. Anyway, I love the way you described the historical context of this book and completely agree! Happy 2018 xx
Thank you for your interesting ideas on why there is this change in the narrative in the middle of the novel!! Suddenly being in the focus of attention and being judged by others as a result of having published "weird" fiction can probably detach a writer from him- or herself...
Yes to The Lesser Bohemians. Very much a polarising book, I’m definitely sitting on the positive end of that magnet.
Exactly, I know it's not most people's cup of tea but I just loved it
I think we may be reading twins! Margaret the First was a favorite this year, Middlemarch is a favorite, Maggie Nelson can do no wrong, and Virginia Woolf is my spirit animal.
Yay for reading twins! xx
Great video. So good to relate to someone else that is a slow reader. 😊 No Exit looks like an interesting read.
Thanks! And yeah, in college when my friends and I took the same classes it would take me hours to read something that took them thirty minutes. My poor brain just can't process things fast. Nice to not be alone! On booktube I sometimes feel like a tortoise amongst all the hares ;)
Insert Literary Pun Here Yes! It makes me feel so inadequate.
Awesome ! I was wondering which book would make it ! And 12, I'm writing for my blog my best books of the year and thought that 12 was "too many" but you did it, and you ranked them but it makes sense to me :-) I've started to read Winter so I just played that part of your vid a little faster but I'm glad it made it to the top. I also got for Christmas Lincoln in the Bardo and flipped through the pages and I'm looking forward to reading it (thanks to you!). I have also bought Middlemarch because of you ! and I just booked The Red Parts at my local library ;-) and finally, I wrote down "When My Brother Was an Aztec" by Natalie Diaz on a list (my sister lives in the US and is going to bring me some books back home) - so thanks Jen for being responsible of all that ! LOL - I had forgotten about the book you love the most - The Oustide Lands by Hannah Kohler / Do not say we have nothing / Let me die in his footsteps by Lori Roy / The young girl and the war by Sara Novic / Dog Run Moon : Stories by Callan Wink / Half Wild stories by Robin MacArthur ... and The night of the Gun by David Carr / Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann/ Men we reaped by Jesmyn Ward / Soeurs volées by Emmanuelle Walter (an essay about the unsolved killings of Native women in Canada) and I smiled when I saw J.P Sartre's book "Huis Clos" in your list .. "L'enfer c'est les autres..." (Hell is other people) ! Great video and I love how you enjoy speaking about your favorite books, I do too feel that way !
Sounds like you had a great reading year! Happy 2018, and thank you for being such a wonderful commenter, you're one of my favorites to see pop up in my notifications xx
thanks ! ... and I missed the hair - I love your haircut ! Bonne année !
Just found your channel - Really enjoying it - Xx
Thank you, glad you found your way here :)
It is nice to find a channel that you can relate to the Booktuber - and enjoy the reviews in a light, personable and refreshing way!
I was able to get some of the Robin hobb books recently. I'm going to start the first trilogy soon.
Hope you enjoy! The first trilogy can be a bit of a slog at times but so far the next two have been fantastic for me
Jhumpa Lahiri, right? She hurts you but it's so good? And you can't really explain it. (But I think you articulated very well nonetheless!)
My favourite book of the year was a book I also read in January and it was Out by Natsuo Kirino. It's a Japanese feminist thriller and has so much depth and introspection of society and the heroine of the novel is one of the most well-crafted female characters I have ever read.
I love how widely you read and your favourite books of 2017 is a video that really encapsulates that. c:
Out sounds interesting. Thank you for all your kind comments this year!
Do you script your videos? You're incredibly articulate.
Thank you! Yes, I script - I write much better than I speak ;)
I was part of a presentation about Mill on the Floss at university this semester, and I'd love to see why you love that book :'D Even studying and analyzing and thinking about it, I could not enjoy it
I talk about it a little at the end of this video: ruclips.net/video/uU6XuvZtz6w/видео.html
I loved The Mill on the Floss for two main reasons (although as you can imagine I have a ton of others). One was that I react to George Eliot's word choice on a visceral level. Her writing for me reaches heights that few other realist novelists reach. And then I adored the way Maggie and Tom's relationship was portrayed, and haven't found its like in any other book. Tom Tulliver isn't the kind of character you often see in literature (and Eliot manages to paint his worldview in a way that's both clearsighted and compassionate). And it's rare to find an author who can juggle so many emotional truths at once (the fact that Maggie and Tom love each other, but that Maggie loves Tom more, and that, paradoxically, Tom NEEDS love less). So for me it's an emotional and artistic tour de force :)
I love Jhumpa Lahiri, she writes beautifully but I was disappointed by Lowland. Have you read any other of her works? My favorite is "The Namesake" although her short stories are amazing, too.
Only her nonfiction book In Other Words, but I'm looking to read some of her short stories later this year
New subbie here. Great to find you here on YT. I have not read any of those books. Would be glad to include some in my TBR list 😉
Great, glad you found your way here! :)
Middlemarch made it to the first position in my list of favorite books of 2017.
Excellent taste :)
I read some heavy hitters this year, making it nigh on impossible to rank them. If I made a shortlist of 10, they'd be:
(order in which I read them)
'The Unseen World' by Liz Moore
'Sweetland' by Michael Crummey
'Jane Eyre' - Charlotte Bronte
'Fingersmith' - Sarah Waters
'Flight' - Sherman Alexie
'The Clay Girl' - Heather Tucker
'Sugar' - Bernice L McFadden
'Monkey Beach' - Eden Robinson
'Like a River From Its Course' - Kelli Stuart
'The Hummingbird's Daughter' - Luis Alberto Urrea
And I'm leaving out others I gave 5 stars to.
Interesting list! Sarah Waters is an author I want to start reading in 2018
Fingersmith is the only one I've read of hers and it's a brilliant read. I know you love Jane Eyre as I do, and I loved Fingersmith just as much.
Did you study French? Your pronunciation of Sartre’s name was perfect :) I really need to read Middlemarch.
One year of college French! I'm usually okay anglicizing most names, but Sartre's name just sounds dreadful in a Northeast American accent. And yes, Middlemarch is a must in my opinion!