Oh, Canada! Quebecoise, quite different - true color, passion, unique - my French family caved to the anglo language and ways, betrayal! I too left, returned, left again. Love Isherwood, this review, all of them. Please don't let not-big stop you - quality audience here.
RE Europeans - your experience decades after mine but same same same!!! What a gap in intelligence, not only education. So glad young people still commit themselves to the adventure. I too miss my European life - never believed I'd ever return to North America.
It is so strange to be my age and sitting with today's university students. I guess I was pretty odd when I was 20, but I knew I loved to read, and I was excited to be at university and to discover a lot of new authors. It seems that now English Literature has become the subject for all the kids who don't know what they want to do, so they get a BA in Eng. Lit. and then try to figure out what they are going to do afterwards with this nearly valueless degree. Almost all of them say they want to be teachers.
Thanks Deb! I am happy you liked it! I will have to hire you as my own personal cheerleader and emotional support team! I am glad that I can make videos that you enjoy. Recently it has been really difficult to find the time to make new videos. So it makes me very grateful for your continued encouragement!
😅 I represented Kander and Ed on the show Cabaret. I came across your talk on RUclips today all these years later and found you charming and fascinating. I will certainly look for your work again. I congratulate you on your delightful way of speaking and view. Many interesting thoughts and ideas , congrats Richard Seff 21:45
Hello Richard, thanks for writing! Sorry it has taken so long to reply. Good God! You were in Bering There and Where the Buffalo Roam!! Thank-you so much for writing, I feel like I've come in contact with royalty! I will check out your web-page directly. I really appreciate your writing. Although it really makes me feel I had done a better job with my videos knowing you will be watching them. Thanks again for commenting, I really appreciate you taking the time to say hello!
Dragonbreath I was thinking the same thing! Grant is such a great reviewer and top notch! I watch many booktubers and his style is unique and never boring!!
You are such a class act, Grant. My goodness, I could listen to you talk about books all day long. I get Isherwood and Fallada often mixed up in my mind. One wrote Berlin Stories and the other wrote, Alone in Berlin. I have the Fallada and should get this one as well. Also, hearing you talk about all the experiences you had in your 20’s in Europe always makes me somewhat envious. I was married at 22 and a mom at 23. My life has been all about being a wife and a mom and that’s ok, but I’m ngl, I’ve had thoughts about what could have been. My dream has always been to go to Iceland, Norway, Sweden etc. Find a hovel in the forest with a fireplace, bookshelves and enjoy the scenery and the cold. I love winter and all that that season comes with. As always, thanks for sharing with all of us.
Hello Nikki! Sorry for the late reply. I quite enjoy talking about my old life in Budapest. It really was something that gave me quite a lot. Perhaps I have lived my life in a topsy-turvy kind of way. I really wish I had of gotten the university out of the way when I was 20 rather than 50, but it is interesting to come back to Canada and be so close to young people. I feel like everyone my age complains about young people, at least I feel I am speaking from first-hand experience. Even though Europe is really a lot of fun when you're young, it's still just as good when you are older. And you don't wake up with no money because you didn't do the conversion from Euros to Swiss Francs and you spent all your money on a stupid cheese fondue that wasn't even very nice. (If you go to Switzerland, all I can tell you is do all your shopping in a grocery store and avoid all the restaurants, even McDonalds.)
@@grantlovesbooks you are really an inspiration…you took the harder road, in some ways(doing things topsy-turvey), but dammit, who cares, right? I couldn’t do that, I don’t think, mostly because I’d be eye-rolling all day long at “kids these days”….and esp with all the phones, social media, and that entire world that I don’t care for, not really. I’m proud of you! It takes a certain person to do life as you’ve done it and I admire that because I’m not sure I’d have ever had the guts to do it any other way than what was the “traditional” way. Spending your youth in Europe doing all the things sounds absolutely amazing, I must say.
@@nikkivenable73 Thanks a lot for the support Nikki. It has been a funny kind of a life. I've probably been a lot luckier than I even realize. At university I am usually around the same age as the professors. It is a little disrupting to have me in their class I feel, because some of the stuff they have fun with, that they would usually pass off as "isn't it funny that I'm from an older generation!" but because I am in the room, they then have to share it with me. I have two professors who keep playing strange music videos from the 80's. It is kind of funny, but then they say, "Grant, did you dance to this one?" And then it is really uncomfortable. It really removes me from the rest of the class and places me in a weird position of being like an assistant-teacher, rather than student. I've decided I'm not going to answer any more questions and when they ask, 'Who has read...' I will just pretend like I haven't read everything they mention. I'll be quite happy when I am finished. Hope you are well Nikki. Didn't you move recently to Maine? I hope the new neighbourhood is good to you!
@@grantlovesbooks “Grant, did you dance to this one?” Omg, I’m actually dying of laughter! 😂 This is absolutely hilarious! 🤣 I will never forget this and I have to say thank you for the laugh because I needed one today. And, yes, I’m in Maine. It’s been 4 months but it feels like 4 years lol. It’s absolutely beautiful but it’s been an adjustment and there are days that I’m not sure how I’m doing. I went from living in a city to a tiny town, which is ok because I hate cities and given the state of our politics in America, a small town is preferable these days. Anyway, It’s quiet and Maine is filled with gorgeous trees, mountains, lakes and the ocean and I’m darn close to all of that in Hermon. Life is good, though.
Drinking Moose beer (which I presumed came from Canada) in the very end of the 1990s in a bar in Auckland I thought was the height of sophistication for me. Apart from Canada's contribution of bad beer to the world, Canada has also given us Douglas Coupland, who seems to have given up writing. K.D Lang, Celine Dion a prime minister who likes to dress up and well that's probably about it. I can see how Europe beckons you. On a serious note, I do hope that you will put some of your Budapest experience to further stories in your creative writing. There must be some good material there for a long short story or a novel which I would be happy to read.
Douglas Coupland and KD Lang in the same comment! Jesus Christ, O'Callaghan, you really know how to hit a guy where it hurts! I'll bet you like to give toothbrushes to kids on Halloween. At present I am sitting on two unpublished manuscripts, and thinking of a writing a third. I find the act of rapid typing to be especially soothing. You'll soon see what abilities I have when you get my magazine. I don't know how it gets to your small island, I think they send it pony express through the underground caverns. These days, my constant frustration with university, I spend far too much time daydreaming of my past life in Budapest.
I enjoyed the passages you read quite a lot - especially the first book’s. I’ve never given a thought to Isherwood, but I think I own some kind of nonfiction book by him if that sounds plausible to you (which I’ve never read).
Hello David, thank you. I sometimes wonder if people like the parts where I read from the book. I try to keep it short and add a few pop-ups so that people stay interested. Isherwood wrote many non-fiction books. He got really into some Hindu meditation in California, and wrote many books on the subject. Personally, I will stick with his literary fiction.
Hello Steven, I hope you enjoy Berlin Stories, it really is a fun book, lots of drinking and meeting shady people, even a bit of fooling around with Communism! No snow? So what do you do with your winter tires? Do you just change them in October for fun?
Grant I attended the broadway version of Cabaret at Studio 54 and it was one of the best shows ever. The staging was memorable, sitting at tables in a nightclub.
Wow! Studio 54, that's incredible! I am really curious to see what a performance of something based on these books would look like. I've never even seen Cabaret!
Oh, Canada! Quebecoise, quite different - true color, passion, unique - my French family caved to the anglo language and ways, betrayal! I too left, returned, left again. Love Isherwood, this review, all of them. Please don't let not-big stop you - quality audience here.
RE Europeans - your experience decades after mine but same same same!!! What a gap in intelligence, not only education. So glad young people still commit themselves to the adventure. I too miss my European life - never believed I'd ever return to North America.
Thanks Constance! I'm glad you are happy with the reviews!
It is so strange to be my age and sitting with today's university students. I guess I was pretty odd when I was 20, but I knew I loved to read, and I was excited to be at university and to discover a lot of new authors. It seems that now English Literature has become the subject for all the kids who don't know what they want to do, so they get a BA in Eng. Lit. and then try to figure out what they are going to do afterwards with this nearly valueless degree. Almost all of them say they want to be teachers.
One of my favorite reviews. Thanks again.
Thanks Deb! I am happy you liked it! I will have to hire you as my own personal cheerleader and emotional support team!
I am glad that I can make videos that you enjoy. Recently it has been really difficult to find the time to make new videos. So it makes me very grateful for your continued encouragement!
I'll be watching this again. You're a breath of fresh air.
Thanks Deb, I really enjoyed this book and I hope more people will discover and enjoy Isherwood's books.
😅
I represented Kander and Ed on the show Cabaret. I came across your talk on RUclips today all these years later and found you charming and fascinating. I will certainly look for your work again. I congratulate you on your delightful way of speaking and view. Many interesting thoughts and ideas , congrats Richard Seff 21:45
Hello Richard, thanks for writing! Sorry it has taken so long to reply.
Good God! You were in Bering There and Where the Buffalo Roam!!
Thank-you so much for writing, I feel like I've come in contact with royalty!
I will check out your web-page directly. I really appreciate your writing. Although it really makes me feel I had done a better job with my videos knowing you will be watching them.
Thanks again for commenting, I really appreciate you taking the time to say hello!
I'm ordering this book asap, it sounds great. Thanks for the recommendation.
It's my pleasure Carlos, I hope you enjoy it!
Great work! You do an amazing job at these reviews, keep it up!
Dragonbreath I was thinking the same thing! Grant is such a great reviewer and top notch! I watch many booktubers and his style is unique and never boring!!
Thank you Dragons Breath! I'm glad you enjoy them!
You are such a class act, Grant. My goodness, I could listen to you talk about books all day long. I get Isherwood and Fallada often mixed up in my mind. One wrote Berlin Stories and the other wrote, Alone in Berlin. I have the Fallada and should get this one as well.
Also, hearing you talk about all the experiences you had in your 20’s in Europe always makes me somewhat envious. I was married at 22 and a mom at 23. My life has been all about being a wife and a mom and that’s ok, but I’m ngl, I’ve had thoughts about what could have been. My dream has always been to go to Iceland, Norway, Sweden etc. Find a hovel in the forest with a fireplace, bookshelves and enjoy the scenery and the cold. I love winter and all that that season comes with. As always, thanks for sharing with all of us.
Hello Nikki! Sorry for the late reply. I quite enjoy talking about my old life in Budapest. It really was something that gave me quite a lot. Perhaps I have lived my life in a topsy-turvy kind of way. I really wish I had of gotten the university out of the way when I was 20 rather than 50, but it is interesting to come back to Canada and be so close to young people. I feel like everyone my age complains about young people, at least I feel I am speaking from first-hand experience.
Even though Europe is really a lot of fun when you're young, it's still just as good when you are older. And you don't wake up with no money because you didn't do the conversion from Euros to Swiss Francs and you spent all your money on a stupid cheese fondue that wasn't even very nice. (If you go to Switzerland, all I can tell you is do all your shopping in a grocery store and avoid all the restaurants, even McDonalds.)
@@grantlovesbooks you are really an inspiration…you took the harder road, in some ways(doing things topsy-turvey), but dammit, who cares, right? I couldn’t do that, I don’t think, mostly because I’d be eye-rolling all day long at “kids these days”….and esp with all the phones, social media, and that entire world that I don’t care for, not really. I’m proud of you! It takes a certain person to do life as you’ve done it and I admire that because I’m not sure I’d have ever had the guts to do it any other way than what was the “traditional” way. Spending your youth in Europe doing all the things sounds absolutely amazing, I must say.
@@nikkivenable73 Thanks a lot for the support Nikki. It has been a funny kind of a life. I've probably been a lot luckier than I even realize. At university I am usually around the same age as the professors. It is a little disrupting to have me in their class I feel, because some of the stuff they have fun with, that they would usually pass off as "isn't it funny that I'm from an older generation!" but because I am in the room, they then have to share it with me.
I have two professors who keep playing strange music videos from the 80's. It is kind of funny, but then they say, "Grant, did you dance to this one?" And then it is really uncomfortable. It really removes me from the rest of the class and places me in a weird position of being like an assistant-teacher, rather than student. I've decided I'm not going to answer any more questions and when they ask, 'Who has read...' I will just pretend like I haven't read everything they mention.
I'll be quite happy when I am finished.
Hope you are well Nikki. Didn't you move recently to Maine? I hope the new neighbourhood is good to you!
@@grantlovesbooks “Grant, did you dance to this one?” Omg, I’m actually dying of laughter! 😂 This is absolutely hilarious! 🤣 I will never forget this and I have to say thank you for the laugh because I needed one today. And, yes, I’m in Maine. It’s been 4 months but it feels like 4 years lol. It’s absolutely beautiful but it’s been an adjustment and there are days that I’m not sure how I’m doing. I went from living in a city to a tiny town, which is ok because I hate cities and given the state of our politics in America, a small town is preferable these days. Anyway, It’s quiet and Maine is filled with gorgeous trees, mountains, lakes and the ocean and I’m darn close to all of that in Hermon. Life is good, though.
Enjoy hearing more about Mr Isherwood. Thanks.
My pleasure Deb, thanks for writing!
Drinking Moose beer (which I presumed came from Canada) in the very end of the 1990s in a bar in Auckland I thought was the height of sophistication for me. Apart from Canada's contribution of bad beer to the world, Canada has also given us Douglas Coupland, who seems to have given up writing. K.D Lang, Celine Dion a prime minister who likes to dress up and well that's probably about it. I can see how Europe beckons you. On a serious note, I do hope that you will put some of your Budapest experience to further stories in your creative writing. There must be some good material there for a long short story or a novel which I would be happy to read.
Douglas Coupland and KD Lang in the same comment! Jesus Christ, O'Callaghan, you really know how to hit a guy where it hurts! I'll bet you like to give toothbrushes to kids on Halloween.
At present I am sitting on two unpublished manuscripts, and thinking of a writing a third. I find the act of rapid typing to be especially soothing. You'll soon see what abilities I have when you get my magazine.
I don't know how it gets to your small island, I think they send it pony express through the underground caverns.
These days, my constant frustration with university, I spend far too much time daydreaming of my past life in Budapest.
I enjoyed the passages you read quite a lot - especially the first book’s. I’ve never given a thought to Isherwood, but I think I own some kind of nonfiction book by him if that sounds plausible to you (which I’ve never read).
Hello David, thank you. I sometimes wonder if people like the parts where I read from the book. I try to keep it short and add a few pop-ups so that people stay interested.
Isherwood wrote many non-fiction books. He got really into some Hindu meditation in California, and wrote many books on the subject.
Personally, I will stick with his literary fiction.
Adored A Single Man. Waiting for Goodbye to Berlin to arrive.
I don't think you will be disappointed!
I’m Australian thanks for the shrimp on the barbie reference and it doesn’t snow here and I think I’ll read Berlin stories
Hello Steven, I hope you enjoy Berlin Stories, it really is a fun book, lots of drinking and meeting shady people, even a bit of fooling around with Communism!
No snow? So what do you do with your winter tires? Do you just change them in October for fun?
@@grantlovesbooks same tires all year we have a Mediterranean climate I like books with shady people like Irvine Welsh books
@@steventregilgas5016 Last year I read The Blue Room by Simenon. If you like shady people you should give it a try.
@@grantlovesbooks thanks Grant I will check it out
Grant I attended the broadway version of Cabaret at Studio 54 and it was one of the best shows ever. The staging was memorable, sitting at tables in a nightclub.
Wow! Studio 54, that's incredible! I am really curious to see what a performance of something based on these books would look like. I've never even seen Cabaret!
@@grantlovesbooks put in Alan Cummings Cabaret Ending, on YT only 5 minutes