I don't tend to slag off books that often (and hope this wasn't too much of a slagging off because that's never the best look) as I am a DNF'er. I should have DNF'd Brat... but I just couldn't!
I think you’re really good at wrap ups, so please continue doing them as often as you like. Also I’m here for the tangents & rambles whilst you figure out what you enjoyed (or didn’t) about a book it gives me a great sense of who you are as a reader.
Wrap ups for me a perfect way to get (and give) an overview of the books read in a month. It' usually what I look at when discovering new channels, to see what they read and also how they talk about the books in a shorter form than a dedicated longer review.
Yes please to the autumn suggestions video and i love the wrap ups, as they are so natural and feels like its just a few friends sitting down to chat about books so keep doing what your doing!! 😊 always a delight. Yay for autumn 🍂 soon we can get out the cosy jumpers, a hot chocolate and curl up with a good book or two.
The jumpers are already out hahaha. I wore one today. There will be an autumn suggestions video collab with me and mum over on her channel soon! And I’m thrilled this felt like a catch up with a friend. That’s the vibe I am after.
Love seasonal reading, especially going into the cosy months! LOVED You Are Here - when a novel is well written and mixes emotion and humour so brilliantly it’s absolutely my kind of book!
Jade is the moment, well she was, she needs a new single to be the moment again... when the album drops I will be unbearable. You have a treat ahead with Disappearing Earth, it gives winter vibes.
I know what you mean about Irish audiobook readers. I listened to 'Glorious Exploits' and I suspect half the joy was Ferdia Lennon's reading. The accent plus the Greek names! So good! (also: thank you. You are lovely.)
I appreciate your thoughts on Brat, as I've recently taken it off my TBR--feeling more affirmed about that decision now. And thank you for not spoiling Bear! Been waiting a while for my library hold to come in and I'm excited for it, especially since Marian Engel's Bear is one of my faves of the year so far!
The new Eowyn Ivey was going to be called Bear, seems a good title. It’s also what Chris calls me. Anyway… I wouldn’t ever want to put someone off a book they had on their TBR or wanted to read as we all have different tastes. Brat wasn’t to my taste, yet I finished it. So I don’t really know what that says about me or the book!
Didn’t notice any rusty parts, just enjoyed hearing your thoughts as always - and, I love when we get to see the way books can make us (all) feel sth we don’t always have the words for. Or have to dig for to find. I’ve always admired how you explain your experience with a book, and I still do. I think it’s only relatable how a book brings out a feeling more than a complete sentence, lol. Hope you’ll keep doing these wrap-ups 🫶 - Have my eye on Blackwater Lightship or Bad Blood being my first Colm Toibín, pretty confident I’ll enjoy his writing (like everyone else) 😁
I think you’d enjoy Toibin’s writing. It’s beautiful. I’ve not read those two but would assume it would be with those too. Thank you for such kind words about how I chat about books, really lovely to hear!
Hi Simon- To answer your question, what I like about wrap-ups is hearing how a book made the reader feel and what specifically they disliked or liked about it. Then I can decide based on the elements that stood out to the reader if those are elements that I enjoy or try to avoid in a book and therefore make a more informed decision on whether this is something that I might enjoy or not. I finished The Rachel Incident earlier this week. It started strong, then from the first third to the half-way point, I was really wondering where the story was going and why the book was called what it was called, until a little more of the story got revealed and I got into it again. All in all, I really did enjoy reading that book, and I liked the writing. Other August stand-outs: I Hope this Finds You Well, a debut novel from Canadian author Natalie Sue, A Calamity of Souls from David Baldacci, and on the fluffier side, Every Time I go on Vacation, Someone Dies from Catherine Mack and The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians from James Patterson. I'm also half-way through the Rock Paper Scissors audiobook from Alice Feeney and it's a good thriller, I'm really curious to know what will happen next. See you in your next video!
Thanks for your thoughts Cindy. Also thrilled you liked The Rachel Incident, I really enjoyed that book. Sounds like you had a grand August, not that it has finished, my August wrap up will be out in the next week or so hopefully.
Awww thanks. I might do some more unedited videos in general going forward. Just a lot less time consuming whilst also hopefully being like a catch up about books with a friend.
Oooh no. I would never just say that. You gotta have context, nuance etc. I think just I liked it or didn’t like it is a bit, dare I say, basic and vapid. Hahaha.
*Yes* to all the things: wrap-ups, single book reviews, tier lists, author spotlights, subject spotlights, september suggestions, everything/anything ya got! Also, the Highgate Cemetary guide speech -- perfect for October. Maybe a tattoo tour? I also approve of much less editing -- it gives us a little giggle, and we're all human and make mistakes. Also, we need to see much more of your kitties! 😍
Ha, I have a fourth kitty now (possibly temporarily) so maybe I will do something with them... or maybe bring snippets of the month into my wrap ups. I shall give it more thought. I normally don't edit my mistakes, I tend to zoom in on them hahaha, I do tend to cut out my erm's generally though. I am not sure a tattoo tour would be appropriate for the channel, you never know where I might have some hahahahaha.
@SavidgeReads duly noted! 😂🤣😂🤣 Ok, but don't edit out the erms -- this is so much gold to the pitiful Anglophiles over here in the states. I know you are good about leaving them in a lot. Can we have the butt vase back yet? 🤪
Hooray! A wrap-up! Did not notice nerves at all! I absolutely loved You Are Here. Nicholls really does write people you feel you could know. Completely agree that Long Island is not as rich and compelling a novel without the Brooklyn background. I also agree with you about Let Us Descend. Jesmyn Ward is an amazing writer but this one seemed to go wide of the mark somehow. I am thinking about re-reading Orbital because it didn’t grip me the way I was expecting it to and I sense that people either love it or don’t respond to it. Very much looking forward to all things autumn and am planning to usher in the best season of the year with Enlightenment!
At least Orbital would be a quick reread, hahaha. I was a bit sad about Let us Descend, I loved the prose I just wanted to be more invested, it needed to be more epic. I don't know what to start my favourite season with, it's almost more pressure than my first pick of the year. Hahaha.
I know you said you were 'rusty' in this wrap up but I have to say I really enjoyed it. I also prefer unedited videos like this because they feel more conversational which I love. Personally love wrap ups bc it makes me aware of what's out there and what you have enjoyed/recommend. That being said, please don't feel pressure to make wrap ups if it isn't what you want to do, supportive of whatever content you enjoy making!!
I do like a good wrap up, it’s just like anything you get out of the habit of… it’s a bit wobbly when you have a break for a while. Hopefully I’ll be in the swing again by the end of the year and the last few years of wrap up weirdness (it’s been since the pandemic I realised) will be over!
I’m here for the wrap ups! Favourite books of the year so far is probably Chris Whitaker’s all the colours in the dark and Liz Moore’s The god in the woods. About to start Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong bookshop
@@carolewatson2113 I think that Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop and What You Are Looking for is in the Library are the ultimate comfort reads for book lovers!
Ha. It’s just a black and white tshirt of Jade from Little Mix, who is my fav. But I guess it does have a kind of Halloween vibe too 😉 No more cats at this house. We’ve had a new one tonight that got in a fight with Oscar.
Would love Autumn reads. I read in Seasons summer book is nearly finished then looking to somthing darker soon. Thanks for the wrap up I didn't know Colm Toibin had a first book called brooklyn I will give it a go before Long Island 😊
Your wish will be coming true, I will be doing Autumn reading recommendations... with my mother on her channel very soon. Brooklyn isn't Colm Toibin's first book I don't think, but it is the first in that world that is also in Nora Webster (which I haven't read but will be) and Long Island.
I'm keen to read Colm Toibin, as he handed out the degrees at my daughter's graduation ceremony. I have Brooklyn and am now looking forward to getting started. I enjoy your wrap ups as they are honest and I like the tangents!
i keep confusing Long Island with Long Island Compromise, both of which i want to read! felt the same way about In Tongues. all in all, felt like an A24 film with too much film grain that thinks it could make itself matter more! but all there for the sentences and pure vibes alone
Ha. I’m not so fussed on Long Island Compromise. I didn’t get her previous book and DNF’d it, though think it may have been because I read it during the absolute hype peak, which never helps. You’re sooooo right about the A24-ness of In Tongues. Too much grain, yet not awful, glimmers of brilliant.
I finally read Let Us Descend this month and while I really liked parts of it, other parts really didn't work for me. I also loved Sing, Unburied, Sing. I'm excited to get to Bear after your review. I really liked Disappearing Earth.
Bear is very different from Disappearing Earth but, for me, just as brilliant. I hope you enjoy it. I loved Ward's writing again, it felt rushed though, I wanted to be more immersed in the world.
I also felt a bit perplexed by In Tongues. I felt like it was leading up to a Saltburn style story, but it didn't really pan out that way. I can't tell if I liked the way it went or if I was disappointed. If I had to guess, the religious aspect should have more to bear on the meaning of the story. After all, it is called "In Tongues". Still, quite perplexed, but nevertheless an enjoyable story.
Hahaha. I know what you mean. It was all tension… that seemed to fizzle out. I dunno I think I was expecting more, especially seeing as it had been so hyped to me by so many lovely literary folk from across the water. I just thought it was ‘fine’.
Oh I follow a right mixture from UK, Australia, South Korea, the US. I tend to mention them from time to time. I wouldn’t want to list them though as always worry I will miss someone and people will get upset. Ha. Though it was lots of my American mates who are also on bookstagram that I got the recommendations for Tongues from.
I’m trying to catch up with my reading of Elizabeth Strout before her new book is released. In August I read Amy & Isabelle In September I have The Burgess Boys
Your take on Brat is very fair. I tend to appreciate the metafictional devices that Gabriel Smith employs, but such techniques are not to everyone’s taste. I had fun following the narration of a hapless narrator who is a complete f*ckup as a person and an author and who continually gets bested (i.e. beat up) by girls, women, and elderly ladies. Here’s my shelf talker micro-review: “Gabriel Smith’s auto/metafictional gothic horror debut is lithe and literary, irreverent and surreal, hypnotic and weird, and he has my full attention. Our moody, self-medicated protagonist narrates his perplexing predicament in a deadpan delivery of vignettes ranging from sardonic and off-kilter to creepy and cringeworthy. A blur of nested stories explores the nature of stories themselves: how we process trauma and grief, and the cathartic allure of alternate realities. By playing with doubles, mirror opposites, and inversions, Smith’s approach can leave the reader giddy. Literary horror rarely presents so sharp, assured, fantastic, or droll. Daphne du Maurier crossed with Mona Awad.” I might have been a bit generous in my admiration, but it is a debut novel that takes chances, and I want to applaud publisher’s who give young author’s like Smith a chance. They seem to be a dying breed (the young cis white male author) which feels weird to say. Is it just me, or are they mostly writing screenplays and podcasts now? How the world has changed. Maybe the decline in young male readership is related to the dearth of young male authors. Just an observation from a longtime bookseller. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for your thoughts on Brat, really interesting to hear the views of someone who liked it. As someone who loooooooves Daphers Du Maurier I may have done a small shudder at her being compared to this, only a small shudder though hahaha. I agree about Smith taking chances and I am all for authors taking chances on their debut novel or any novel to be fair and the publishers taking the changed on them... but... the book still has to be good and well written and that just was not the case for this book for me. I found it hammy, repetitive and the prose lacking. Oops. You have reminded me that I want to read Mona Awad though, hahaha.
Always say that Brooklyn/Long Island are not the most interesting of Colm Toibin’s books. I’m sticking with that. I’d recommend The Blackwater Lightship or The South, The Story of the Night or The Heather Blazing.
I wonder if that is why I always want to call The Master The Magician, ha. I really enjoyed Brooklyn and Long Island, I didn't say they were the most interesting of his books though, just beautiful books... like all his books to be fair. Well, I didn't love the Jesus and Mary one so much.
Ughhhh same for me regarding Let Us Descend, but I loved Salvage The Bones more than Sing Unburied Sing …. But will still gobble up anything she comes out w next 📕🪱💚
I haven't read any of her earlier books, well before Sing Unburied Sing, so am keen to do so. I know that Salvage the Bones is a much, much loved book.
Yes for autumn suggestions video 🙌🏻👻🎃🍂🍁
I’ll see what I can do 😉
I'm here for the waffle, tangents and high speed rambles. Never change. (Also, surprisingly loved hearing you slag off a book 😂 Savidge gets savage?!)
I don't tend to slag off books that often (and hope this wasn't too much of a slagging off because that's never the best look) as I am a DNF'er. I should have DNF'd Brat... but I just couldn't!
I love the video category of “Wrap ups” the most.. Thank you for doing them! Your mum too is brilliant at her wrap ups!
She is very, very good at them. Too good, might be part of what’s put me off or made me feel inferior 😉
@@SavidgeReads you just have very different styles.. BOTH of you are way way way above average!
Yes, to Autumn Suggestions video. Thanks for the reviews, so yes, I appreciate the wrap ups.😊
Lovely stuff!!! I’ll see what I can do about those autumnal recommendations.
I think you’re really good at wrap ups, so please continue doing them as often as you like. Also I’m here for the tangents & rambles whilst you figure out what you enjoyed (or didn’t) about a book it gives me a great sense of who you are as a reader.
Awww thanks so much for such a lovely comment. That’s brought a big smile to my big face on this delightfully foggy morning.
Noooooo! Love wrap ups. It's how I decide what to read.
No that I’ve done one or no that I joked I might not do one ever again? Lol.
Wrap ups for me a perfect way to get (and give) an overview of the books read in a month. It' usually what I look at when discovering new channels, to see what they read and also how they talk about the books in a shorter form than a dedicated longer review.
Interesting, thank you for your wrap up thoughts!
Yes please to the autumn suggestions video and i love the wrap ups, as they are so natural and feels like its just a few friends sitting down to chat about books so keep doing what your doing!! 😊 always a delight. Yay for autumn 🍂 soon we can get out the cosy jumpers, a hot chocolate and curl up with a good book or two.
The jumpers are already out hahaha. I wore one today. There will be an autumn suggestions video collab with me and mum over on her channel soon! And I’m thrilled this felt like a catch up with a friend. That’s the vibe I am after.
Loved your wrap up-please, continue!! And yes, to autumn suggestions!!
They are back Heather. Lol. Ooh and I’ll be doing autumn recommendations with mum here on her channel. 🍂
Yes!!!! Wrap ups are my ultimate faves! X
Noted 😉
Love seasonal reading, especially going into the cosy months!
LOVED You Are Here - when a novel is well written and mixes emotion and humour so brilliantly it’s absolutely my kind of book!
You Are Here is great isn’t it. And David Nicholls is the loveliest man in all of publishing.
I appreciate your wrap ups more than other videos. You’ve put me onto so many books that I’ve loved. Keep it up
Oh no, my poor other videos, hahaha. Glad you enjoyed the wrap up though.
Absolutely love your wrap up videos, they're my favourite!
Awwww thank you. They’ve been dreadfully infrequent but hopefully they are back now.
I love the full chaos. Keep the wrap-ups coming. Please.
Hahaha, thank you, fingers crossed this is the start of their return.
Love the wrap-ups, long may they continue! ❤
Hopefully there will be another one in less than a week! Imagine!
Okay absolutely slaying with the T-shirt selection 💅
Also Bear sounds so good, I have disappearing earth on my shelf that I still haven’t read yet 🫢
Jade is the moment, well she was, she needs a new single to be the moment again... when the album drops I will be unbearable. You have a treat ahead with Disappearing Earth, it gives winter vibes.
I know what you mean about Irish audiobook readers. I listened to 'Glorious Exploits' and I suspect half the joy was Ferdia Lennon's reading. The accent plus the Greek names! So good! (also: thank you. You are lovely.)
I bet Ferdia read it brilliantly. A brilliant book brilliantly read is a double delight, I’m sure.
I appreciate your thoughts on Brat, as I've recently taken it off my TBR--feeling more affirmed about that decision now. And thank you for not spoiling Bear! Been waiting a while for my library hold to come in and I'm excited for it, especially since Marian Engel's Bear is one of my faves of the year so far!
The new Eowyn Ivey was going to be called Bear, seems a good title. It’s also what Chris calls me. Anyway… I wouldn’t ever want to put someone off a book they had on their TBR or wanted to read as we all have different tastes. Brat wasn’t to my taste, yet I finished it. So I don’t really know what that says about me or the book!
Loved this wrap up. Thank you
A pleasure. Thank you for watching.
Love your wrap ups as they are ! Always lovely !
Ha. They’ve not really been around but hopefully the next few weeks correct that.
Didn’t notice any rusty parts, just enjoyed hearing your thoughts as always - and, I love when we get to see the way books can make us (all) feel sth we don’t always have the words for. Or have to dig for to find. I’ve always admired how you explain your experience with a book, and I still do. I think it’s only relatable how a book brings out a feeling more than a complete sentence, lol. Hope you’ll keep doing these wrap-ups 🫶
- Have my eye on Blackwater Lightship or Bad Blood being my first Colm Toibín, pretty confident I’ll enjoy his writing (like everyone else) 😁
I think you’d enjoy Toibin’s writing. It’s beautiful. I’ve not read those two but would assume it would be with those too. Thank you for such kind words about how I chat about books, really lovely to hear!
@@SavidgeReads ofc!
I'm so glad you've done your wrap-up! I have missed these. I trust your recommendations. ❤ You've convinced me to add "You Are Here" to my TBR.
Hope you enjoy it when you get to it and hope you enjoy the next wrap up which may be ob the channel in less than two weeks, imagine!!!
Thanks, Simon!🌷I thoroughly enjoyed Orbital and… I❤️wrap-up videos!
Hooray, glad you loved Orbital, hope you enjoyed this wrap up!
@@SavidgeReads Hi Simon😊I certainly did!
Yes to autumn recommendations 🎃🍂🍁
I think mum and I might just be doing this over on her channel ;)
@@SavidgeReads look forward to. I’m reading a really strange creepy folk horror book at moment called Lost in the garden by Adam S Leslie.
I keep seeing Bear. Now I might have to pick it up. 😊💙
I would recommend 🐻
Hi Simon-
To answer your question, what I like about wrap-ups is hearing how a book made the reader feel and what specifically they disliked or liked about it. Then I can decide based on the elements that stood out to the reader if those are elements that I enjoy or try to avoid in a book and therefore make a more informed decision on whether this is something that I might enjoy or not.
I finished The Rachel Incident earlier this week. It started strong, then from the first third to the half-way point, I was really wondering where the story was going and why the book was called what it was called, until a little more of the story got revealed and I got into it again. All in all, I really did enjoy reading that book, and I liked the writing.
Other August stand-outs: I Hope this Finds You Well, a debut novel from Canadian author Natalie Sue, A Calamity of Souls from David Baldacci, and on the fluffier side, Every Time I go on Vacation, Someone Dies from Catherine Mack and The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians from James Patterson. I'm also half-way through the Rock Paper Scissors audiobook from Alice Feeney and it's a good thriller, I'm really curious to know what will happen next.
See you in your next video!
Thanks for your thoughts Cindy. Also thrilled you liked The Rachel Incident, I really enjoyed that book. Sounds like you had a grand August, not that it has finished, my August wrap up will be out in the next week or so hopefully.
I personally love the unedited wrap ups.
Awww thanks. I might do some more unedited videos in general going forward. Just a lot less time consuming whilst also hopefully being like a catch up about books with a friend.
Awww the great uncle bit 🥹
😂 she appears 😂
Yes please autumn suggestion video 📕🪱💚
Nora Webster hasn't left, she's still wandering around the house ;)
Yes to Autumn reads . I love your wrap ups. Even if you just say
“ I liked it/I hated it”
Oooh no. I would never just say that. You gotta have context, nuance etc. I think just I liked it or didn’t like it is a bit, dare I say, basic and vapid. Hahaha.
Love autumn reads ❤❤ also I think more people should say they were miffed off when they find a book disappointing
Hahahaha, miffed is such a good word, its kind of a cute angry!
Thanks for the catch up. really enjoyed it. The BEAR sounds intersting.
The Bear is great. I can’t wait for whatever Julia Phillips writes next.
The way you felt about In Tongues, was how I felt after Bored Gay Werewolf
Ooh interesting. I’ve not read that one yet though have it on the shelves. May still give it a whirl this spooky season.
*Yes* to all the things: wrap-ups, single book reviews, tier lists, author spotlights, subject spotlights, september suggestions, everything/anything ya got! Also, the Highgate Cemetary guide speech -- perfect for October. Maybe a tattoo tour? I also approve of much less editing -- it gives us a little giggle, and we're all human and make mistakes. Also, we need to see much more of your kitties! 😍
Ha, I have a fourth kitty now (possibly temporarily) so maybe I will do something with them... or maybe bring snippets of the month into my wrap ups. I shall give it more thought. I normally don't edit my mistakes, I tend to zoom in on them hahaha, I do tend to cut out my erm's generally though. I am not sure a tattoo tour would be appropriate for the channel, you never know where I might have some hahahahaha.
@SavidgeReads duly noted! 😂🤣😂🤣 Ok, but don't edit out the erms -- this is so much gold to the pitiful Anglophiles over here in the states. I know you are good about leaving them in a lot. Can we have the butt vase back yet? 🤪
Hooray! A wrap-up! Did not notice nerves at all! I absolutely loved You Are Here. Nicholls really does write people you feel you could know. Completely agree that Long Island is not as rich and compelling a novel without the Brooklyn background. I also agree with you about Let Us Descend. Jesmyn Ward is an amazing writer but this one seemed to go wide of the mark somehow. I am thinking about re-reading Orbital because it didn’t grip me the way I was expecting it to and I sense that people either love it or don’t respond to it. Very much looking forward to all things autumn and am planning to usher in the best season of the year with Enlightenment!
At least Orbital would be a quick reread, hahaha. I was a bit sad about Let us Descend, I loved the prose I just wanted to be more invested, it needed to be more epic. I don't know what to start my favourite season with, it's almost more pressure than my first pick of the year. Hahaha.
@@SavidgeReads Ha! How about the new Kate Atkinson??
I thought about getting a tattoo, once upon a time! Best wishes and happy reading.
Ha. I see what you did there.
@@SavidgeReads Best I could do sorry!
Don't be nervous - it's just us!
Hahahaha. I loooove this. You’re right.
Simon, David nicholls makes the people in his books are like you know like friends and family members
Yes. This is exactly what I think/was saying. Real people in all of his pages.
@@SavidgeReadsI agree
Simon when will the sky arts book awards be on tv
I know you said you were 'rusty' in this wrap up but I have to say I really enjoyed it. I also prefer unedited videos like this because they feel more conversational which I love. Personally love wrap ups bc it makes me aware of what's out there and what you have enjoyed/recommend. That being said, please don't feel pressure to make wrap ups if it isn't what you want to do, supportive of whatever content you enjoy making!!
I do like a good wrap up, it’s just like anything you get out of the habit of… it’s a bit wobbly when you have a break for a while. Hopefully I’ll be in the swing again by the end of the year and the last few years of wrap up weirdness (it’s been since the pandemic I realised) will be over!
I’m here for the wrap ups! Favourite books of the year so far is probably Chris Whitaker’s all the colours in the dark and Liz Moore’s The god in the woods. About to start Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong bookshop
I’m hearing Chris Whitaker getting soooo many raves I’m intrigued. I don’t have any of his books on the TBR but I do have The God in the Woods.
@@carolewatson2113 I think that Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop and What You Are Looking for is in the Library are the ultimate comfort reads for book lovers!
@@SavidgeReads His first novel, We begin at the end, is also worth a look. I think Louise would love them too.
@@emmavd much needed right now!
Like the “Once Upon a Time” tattoo.
Thank you very much. It’s my oldest but my newest, the roses, have helped make it pop again 🌹
Love the t-shirt and all the dark halloweeny vibes of it. Would go well with that cute little black cat 🐈⬛ that is eyeing you home 😉😄
Ha. It’s just a black and white tshirt of Jade from Little Mix, who is my fav. But I guess it does have a kind of Halloween vibe too 😉 No more cats at this house. We’ve had a new one tonight that got in a fight with Oscar.
Would love Autumn reads. I read in Seasons summer book is nearly finished then looking to somthing darker soon. Thanks for the wrap up I didn't know Colm Toibin had a first book called brooklyn I will give it a go before Long Island 😊
Your wish will be coming true, I will be doing Autumn reading recommendations... with my mother on her channel very soon. Brooklyn isn't Colm Toibin's first book I don't think, but it is the first in that world that is also in Nora Webster (which I haven't read but will be) and Long Island.
I'm keen to read Colm Toibin, as he handed out the degrees at my daughter's graduation ceremony. I have Brooklyn and am now looking forward to getting started. I enjoy your wrap ups as they are honest and I like the tangents!
Brooklyn is great. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. So pleased you enjoyed the tangent filled wrap up.
0.01 seconds in and I have to comment: the t-shirt!!!!! 😍
She is the Angel of my Dreams!
Hi Simon don't fret, allgood.
I don’t understand lol, don’t fret about what?
About not doing wrap ups and feeling u arent doing this one ok. Sorry if my comment was confusing.
I loved the book Brooklyn and the movie
Me too!
Simon I love this book you are here. It’s a wonderful read I also met David nicholls he’s a gentleman so is one day
David Nicholls is the nicest man in publishing, it is a fact!
@@SavidgeReadsI agree with you there 💯
i keep confusing Long Island with Long Island Compromise, both of which i want to read!
felt the same way about In Tongues. all in all, felt like an A24 film with too much film grain that thinks it could make itself matter more! but all there for the sentences and pure vibes alone
Ha. I’m not so fussed on Long Island Compromise. I didn’t get her previous book and DNF’d it, though think it may have been because I read it during the absolute hype peak, which never helps. You’re sooooo right about the A24-ness of In Tongues. Too much grain, yet not awful, glimmers of brilliant.
My favorite Toibin book is The Mastee
Master
That’s what I meant, The Master not The Magician. No idea where I got that from.
I finally read Let Us Descend this month and while I really liked parts of it, other parts really didn't work for me. I also loved Sing, Unburied, Sing. I'm excited to get to Bear after your review. I really liked Disappearing Earth.
Bear is very different from Disappearing Earth but, for me, just as brilliant. I hope you enjoy it. I loved Ward's writing again, it felt rushed though, I wanted to be more immersed in the world.
@@SavidgeReads that's always a good criticism 🙂
I also felt a bit perplexed by In Tongues. I felt like it was leading up to a Saltburn style story, but it didn't really pan out that way. I can't tell if I liked the way it went or if I was disappointed. If I had to guess, the religious aspect should have more to bear on the meaning of the story. After all, it is called "In Tongues". Still, quite perplexed, but nevertheless an enjoyable story.
Hahaha. I know what you mean. It was all tension… that seemed to fizzle out. I dunno I think I was expecting more, especially seeing as it had been so hyped to me by so many lovely literary folk from across the water. I just thought it was ‘fine’.
Which book tubers do you follow? I'm in the states, but seem to be only following Brit booktubers.
Oh I follow a right mixture from UK, Australia, South Korea, the US. I tend to mention them from time to time. I wouldn’t want to list them though as always worry I will miss someone and people will get upset. Ha. Though it was lots of my American mates who are also on bookstagram that I got the recommendations for Tongues from.
I need to read some Colm Tóbín. 📚
Would definitely recommend.
I’m trying to catch up with my reading of Elizabeth Strout before her new book is released. In August I read
Amy & Isabelle
In September I have
The Burgess Boys
I was meant to have a Summer of Strout. I didn’t. Hahaha. Oops.
Have you read
Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin?
You’d love it.
I’ve read quite a few of his other books, that’s not one of them but I do have it on the shelves.
I enjoyed “Orbital” and for anyone in need of a book for Shorty September, it’s about 200 pages.
Oooh great shout. I should have mentioned Short September. Clean forgot.
Your take on Brat is very fair. I tend to appreciate the metafictional devices that Gabriel Smith employs, but such techniques are not to everyone’s taste. I had fun following the narration of a hapless narrator who is a complete f*ckup as a person and an author and who continually gets bested (i.e. beat up) by girls, women, and elderly ladies. Here’s my shelf talker micro-review:
“Gabriel Smith’s auto/metafictional gothic horror debut is lithe and literary, irreverent and surreal, hypnotic and weird, and he has my full attention. Our moody, self-medicated protagonist narrates his perplexing predicament in a deadpan delivery of vignettes ranging from sardonic and off-kilter to creepy and cringeworthy. A blur of nested stories explores the nature of stories themselves: how we process trauma and grief, and the cathartic allure of alternate realities. By playing with doubles, mirror opposites, and inversions, Smith’s approach can leave the reader giddy. Literary horror rarely presents so sharp, assured, fantastic, or droll. Daphne du Maurier crossed with Mona Awad.”
I might have been a bit generous in my admiration, but it is a debut novel that takes chances, and I want to applaud publisher’s who give young author’s like Smith a chance. They seem to be a dying breed (the young cis white male author) which feels weird to say. Is it just me, or are they mostly writing screenplays and podcasts now? How the world has changed. Maybe the decline in young male readership is related to the dearth of young male authors. Just an observation from a longtime bookseller. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for your thoughts on Brat, really interesting to hear the views of someone who liked it. As someone who loooooooves Daphers Du Maurier I may have done a small shudder at her being compared to this, only a small shudder though hahaha.
I agree about Smith taking chances and I am all for authors taking chances on their debut novel or any novel to be fair and the publishers taking the changed on them... but... the book still has to be good and well written and that just was not the case for this book for me. I found it hammy, repetitive and the prose lacking. Oops. You have reminded me that I want to read Mona Awad though, hahaha.
@@SavidgeReads I thought this might give you a shudder! However, I had the playing with doubles/doppelgangers in mind for the DuMaurier comparison.
Always say that Brooklyn/Long Island are not the most interesting of Colm Toibin’s books. I’m sticking with that. I’d recommend The Blackwater Lightship or The South, The Story of the Night or The Heather Blazing.
The Master is related to Henry James and The Magician Thomas Mann. Can you tell I’m a fan?!
I wonder if that is why I always want to call The Master The Magician, ha. I really enjoyed Brooklyn and Long Island, I didn't say they were the most interesting of his books though, just beautiful books... like all his books to be fair. Well, I didn't love the Jesus and Mary one so much.
Ughhhh same for me regarding Let Us Descend, but I loved Salvage The Bones more than Sing Unburied Sing …. But will still gobble up anything she comes out w next 📕🪱💚
I haven't read any of her earlier books, well before Sing Unburied Sing, so am keen to do so. I know that Salvage the Bones is a much, much loved book.
I too loved Orbital and am happy you did too. I put so many post it notes in it 📕🪱💚
I dogearred my proof quite a lot.