1. American Pastoral - Phillip Roth 2. Perfume - Patrick Suskind 3. Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis 4. On The Road - Jack Kerouac 5. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest - Ken Keesey I do read books other than the ones you recommend you just happen to have excellent taste
My five favourite books I read in 2018 (in arbitrary order): Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Under the Net by Iris Murdoch Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima NVSQVAM by Ann Sterzinger Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Just discovered your channel so looking at it retrospectively. Funnily enough, I was living in Brazil when you recorded this video in 2018. Totally agree, Argentinian Literature is a world in itself. Reading Samantha Schweblin at the moment, great found I totally recommend her.
There you go, lads (the order doesn't matter): 1. The Broom of The System by David Foster Wallace 2. The Map and The Territory by Michel Houellebecq 3. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller 4. Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine 5. Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett
As an Argentinian I'm SO glad to see two books (in a Top Five!) from my strange, awesome and complicated country. Even your first ever video was on Borges so thanks for all the kind words Clif :D As I told you in the Nick Cave documentary review (R.I.P.) you're always invited to Buenos Aires. I wish you the best my friend.
My favourites of 2018: 1. Stoner - John Williams 2. East of Eden - John Steinbeck 3. Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky 4. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 5. A Death in the Family - Karl Ove Knausgaard Honorable mentions: Grant - Ron Chernow Red Sky At Sunrise - Laurie Lee The Road to Wigan Pier - George Orwell Butchers Crossing - John Williams Appreciate all you do, Cliff. Cheers.
TheMrBenny123 East of Eden is one of my favorite novels. As a Norwegian it's interesting to see how famous Knausgård is internationally. In Norway he is both celebrated and vilified
@@JonnaaM I can see how his style wouldn't be everyones cup of tea, but I truly loved it. I read the book very quickly because I was so enchanted with the style and the subtle lines of genius in it. As for East of Eden, the nobel prize speaks for itself.
TheMrBenny123 Me too. I think the style and insights is what I like the most about it. I'm reading book number two now. Would be interesting to see how the English translation compares to the original in Norwegian
1. El jardín de las máquinas parlantes (The garden of speaking machines) by Alberto Laiseca 2. The Vorrh by Brian Catling 3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 4. Rashomon and other tales by Ryunosuke Akutagawa 5. The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
Top 5 5. The Stranger - Camus 4. The Sound of Waves - Mishima 3. The Cement Garden - McEwan 2. The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky 1. Tropic of Cancer - Miller
1. Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B. S. Johnson 2. Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson 3. The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa 4. The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard 5. Piano Stories by Felisberto Hernández
Good taste. Havent read any B. S. Johnson, but seeing it featured (its been in my to-read for a while now) above Jesus' Son, has moved it up the stack.
My top five are; 1) Divine Comedy - Dante (Clive James translation) 2) The Western Lands - William Burroughs 3) 1984 - George Orwell 4) Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco 5) The Mad Man - Samuel R Delany
My favourites of 2018: 1. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 2. Metamorphoses by Ovid 3. The Autobiography of Malcolm X 4. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
im an obsessive reader myself, but you still manage to bring me new stuff to read. sure, my fire doesnt need a spark or light, but it needs tons of fuel, such as the stuff you're pointing me to. big thanks for that! i found your channel recently, through googling my favorite book of 2018: georges batailles story of the eye.
Has been a busy year, so i only got around to read 10 books in 2018, and there will be lots of the same author(I was in a author streak) , but here is my top five: 5: Brave New World, by: Aldous Huxley 4: Notes from Underground, by: Fyodor Dostoevsky 3: Crime and Punishment, by: Fyodor Dostoevsky 2: The Brothers Karamazov, by: Fyodor Dostoevsky 1: In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind, by: Eric R. Kandel
Good sounding stuff on that list! My top 5: 05. Cows - Matthew Stokoe 04. The Troop - Nick Cutter 03. The New Church Ladies - Jim Goad 02. Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse 01. I'll Be Gone In The Dark - Michelle McNamara
Mine are: 1. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche 2. The Decline of the West by Spengler 3. The Gay Science by Nietzsche 4. Against Nature by Huysmans 5. Mid-summer Night Dreams by Shakespeare.
@@zach11590 You should read. Naught is compared. One of the finest books i have read. Or you may read some reviews before commence reading. But it is worth a while a read.
Great list, all of these have been on my to-read list for quite a while now (some thanks to you)! Here's mine: 5. Kasamakura - Soseki Natsume 4. Augustus - John Williams 3. Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov 2. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 1. Ulysses - James Joyce And nonfiction: 5. Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky 4. Ghosts of my Life - Mark Fisher 3. Reform or Revolution - Rosa Luxemburg 2. Capitalist Realism - Mark Fisher 1. Ways of Seeing - John Berger And here's to another great year!
Join us this March, reading Dubliners, Big Hard Books & Classics. Pick a story or two and make a vid! ruclips.net/channel/UCBNfvf5Imc7KjiUIf4WC4Mg Loved your #3 Cliff...Schwob's The Book of Monelle, been reading it for a few months on your rec. Thx, man...
1. Wolf Wondratschek: Selbstbild mit russischem Klavier 2. Hans Joachim Schädlich: Felix und Felka 3. William Faulkner: Absalom, Absalom! 4. Thomas Mann: Der Zauberberg 5. Plato: Parmenides
I am late in my posting, but I wished to compose a brief list of some of the best books I have read last year. I heartily recommend each title! 1. "Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West" by Cormac McCarthy 2. "A Scanner Darkly" by Philip K. Dick 3. "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg 4. "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 5. "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner An addendum: 6. "Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders
here are mine: The Process - Frank Kafka Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa American Psycho - Bret Ellis Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges Confenderacy od Dunces - John Toole
I have no idea how I've never heard of The Invention of Morel before, from your description that book couldn't be any further up my alley. I can't wait to read that and An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (there definitely is something in the water in Argentina). My top five this year: 5. Ben Marcus - The Age of Wire and String 4. Thomas Hardy - Tess of the D'Urbevilles 3. Milan Kundera - Life is Elsewhere 2. Yukio Mishima - The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 1. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - The Autumn of the Patriarch
My favorites of 2018; Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami The catcher in the rye - J.D. Salinger 12 rules for life - Jordan Peterson The undiscovered self - Carl Jung Why we sleep - Matthew Walker Ten selected love stories - Haruki Murakami As living in Japan, it is difficult to be surrounded by books(in English) and find ones appealing to me in a bookstore. But your channel's been playing the role of something like the alternative. Also watching your videos makes me like reading books more! An extra treat! Thank you so much for the work, and keep going!!!!
In no particular order, this is my 2018-top 5 100 Years Of Sollitude - Gabriel Garcia Márquez Pedro Páramo - Juan Rulfo Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 1984 - George Orwell Ice- Anna Kavan
Not going to list 5 books since choosing even top 2 was hard enough. Anyways, my favourite book of last year was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward. Masterfully written novel which holds you in it's grip through its whole lenght. Second comes Thomas Bernhard - Loser which I might prefer even over Woodcutters, although it is difficult choice to make.
My top 3 in 2018 are: Michel Houellebecq - Elementary Particles; Paul Bowles - The Sheltering Sky; Oscar Wild - The Portrait of Dorian Grey (also I really enjoyed reading the Patrick Melrose novels by St. Aubyn and The Beautiful Mrs Seidenman by Andrzej Szczypiorski).
What I read and finished in 2018: Demons by Dostoevsky Stoner by John Williams The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline Story of the Eye by George Bataille The Cathedral of Mist by Paul Willems
From Cesar Aira I recommend you How I became a nun (Cómo me hice monja). I also included La invención de Morel in my best of 2018, extraordinary novel!
defs will check out César Aira's book, I'm interested in what "physiognomic totality" entails, like if it means actively seeing the necessary connections of a place, or The Whole, like in a Goethean sense. Top 5 books I read or finished in 2018: Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Celestial Railroad and other stories Michel Houellebecq - The Map And The Territory Giacomo Leopardi - Canti Walker Percy - Moviegoer Giorgio de Chirico - Hebdomeros
I cried so much during the end of The Invention of Morel... I’ve read 2/5 of the books on your list, which is great because I can add them to my to-read list 😁
For something light but terrific, I always recommend 'Colors Insulting To Nature' by Cintra Wilson. If you're in your late 30's or older then you may get a kick out of this. I rarely laugh out loud during fiction reading, but this one was such a tonic. Recommended. Another fun but great one is 'Role Models' by John Waters.
My top 5 1. Pär Lagerkvist - Barabbas 2. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart 3. Hassan Blasim - The Iraqi Christ 4. Adolfo Bioy Casares - The Invention of Morel (I think I bought it the same week as you published your review of it) 5. Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist
thx Thx THX for turning me on to _The Book of Monelle_ among others, last year. I've carried that book around for three months, annotating it, experiencing it, figuring it out, loving it. "Better Than Food," truly.
I'm so happy to see two argentinian authors in your top five, you do them justice with your reviews. Really, it makes me so happy that you appreciate two people that many Argentinians have forgotten. Please read Roberto Arlt, a genius that was mocked by intellectuals during his time and led a very interesting, adventurous life, you won't regret it!!!
Not all of them are books, buuut: 5) Gyo (Junji Ito) 4) Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany (David Sttubs) 3) Documents (George Bataille) 2) The Pale King (David Foster Wallace) 1) Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy) Great Video, Cliff, happy new year!
Hey am a new sub here. Looking at your older videos and now this, i cant help but to send you a greeting. Hope you are still enjoying what you are doing here.
Thank you for all of your wonderful videos, they have opened my eyes to new literature. Have you considered reading any books by William H Gass? Wonderful author and essayist. Thanks for all you do.
just gotta mention this but i loved hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world (haruki), such strange existential surrealist work, i was also thinking of getting other books by kobo abes, dostoevsky,etc havent gotten into them much
Didn't do a ton of reading in 2018, but here are my favorites: 1. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 2. A Girl on the Shore by Inio Asano 3. Solanin by Inio Asano 4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 5. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk I started 2019 with finishing Gravity's Rainbow and A Game of Thrones, so I think it's going to be a good year.
Top five of 2018... in no particular order: -The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin (novel) -No Time to Spare. Thinking About What Matters, by Ursula K. Le Guin (essays) -Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman (kind of a retell of said myths) -A Manual for Cleaning Women, by Lucia Berlin (short stories. I read it translated, tho) -Manos de lumbre [Fire Hands], by Alberto Chimal, a great mexican author (short stories)
Borges brought me to your Channel a few months ago and now I’m a big fan of your recommendations. Since you like so much Latin-American authors I think you should consider learning Spanish; sleep on it! Cheers from Mexico!
My 5 Fav books of 2018 (not ranked) 1. ‘Perfume’ Patrik Suskind. 2. ‘The Circus of Dr Lao’ Charles G Finney. 3. ‘Lonesome Traveller’ Jack Kerouac 4. ‘The Radetzky March’ Joseph Roth 5. ‘The Cone Gatherers’ Robin Jenkins + ‘The Bell Jar’ Sylvia Plath. Because I couldn’t leave it out. All fabulous books.
My favorite books of 2018 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte Capitães da Areia - Jorge Amado Part of my soul - Winnie Mandela Brave New World - Aldous Huxley Animal Farm and 1984 - George Orwell
In no particular order: Gerald Murnane - The Plains Edgardo Cozarinsky - El rufián moldavo (The Moldavian Pimp) Italo Calvino - Le città invisibili (Invisible Cities) Robert Musil - Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man Without Qualities) Thomas Bernhard - Auslöschung (Extinction) All of them are outstanding literary achievements, I reckon.
1. The Lost Scrapbook - Evan Dara 2. Mason & Dixon - Thomas Pynchon 3. Satantango - Lazlo Krasznahorkai 4. Cannonball - Joseph McElroy 5. The Instructions - Adam Levin
I recommend to read "The Overstory" by Richard powers, my favorite book of 2018 and one the best novels I have ever read in my life, so far. It remainded me of "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell and "4321" by Paul Auster. By the way, you must read these ones too. The three are books with stories with many different stories, connected one another in different ways and creating a single one, like fruit in a salad, when you start tasting piece by piece until you can put a sweet spoonful in your mouth. Topics that would make you think for a while; plot that will blow your mind; out of the conventional narrative and very interesting and intriguing storyline. Definitely, books to read before you die!
I love Paul Auster. Just finished Leviathan and thought it was brilliant. Haven't read 4321 yet but will do. I have Overstory on book and on my Kindle. Seems like a mammoth task as it is pretty dense. Did you find it easy to get through?
@@irena7777777 I enjoyed Overstory; each of the main characters have a story told in a different style, but you get in used to the rhythm. By the way, why I liked most about that book was the science fiction topics, it can blow your mind!
Happy new year, mr. Sargent! While I’m writing this comment, I’m looking at my not yet read copy of A invenção de Morel on my shelf - one of my next reads, for sure. I have recently read As cidades invisíveis, by Calvino, and Pedro Paramo, by Rulfo, and both have become absolute favorites. Thank you for the reviews!
OK, no one cares but here's the Top 5 novels I read last year 5. Pierre and Jean - Guy de Maupassant 4. Another Country - James Baldwin 3. Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo 2. The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles 1. Narcissus and Goldmund - Herman Hesse
I didn’t read nearly as much as I hoped I would last year, but....I’ll make a list anyways. I have a much larger list of movies I watched tho. 😅 (I’m pretty lazy) 1 Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy 2 Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry 3 The Book of Moon - George Crowder 4 Tiger lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson 5 This One Summer - Mariko Tamaki (graphic novel but so damn good. Paced very well and resonated with me a lot. Based on the book, I would love to see the author make a screenplay for a film tbh)
No particular order 1. In search of lost time vol. 1 - Proust 2. Wise Blood - O’Connor 3. Hunger - Hamsun 4. The Portable Dorothy Parker - Parker 5. The Case for Animal Rights - Regan
I was shocked that I had read two of the books on this list, The Invention of Morel and An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter. A book I enjoyed from an Argentinian writer was The Sixty-five Years of Washington by Juan Jose Saer. The premise is of two friends walking the streets of a seaside town in Argentina talking about the birthday party held for a friend, Washington, who just turned sixty-five. That's the plot. But, the conversations these two men have as they walk the streets of the two deal with so much more than the birthday party. Are you familiar with this book or the author?
Awesome choices! Read Siddhartha in 2017, very good book. My top 5 for 2018 is 5: Foundation and Empire (Asimov) 4: The Power of Myth (Campbell) 3: The Drawing of Three (King) 2: Circe (Miller) 1: American Gods (Gaiman)
Loved Bioy Casares. I've read "Morel" the 1st time around 1990, and the 2nd time something like 10 years ago. Maybe it is time to read it a third time ... I think my favs of 2018 were (I've read them in German, so no idea how good the translations in other languages are): Queneau: Zazie in the Metro Queneau: A Hard Winter Schwob: The Book of Monelle (thank you for this!) Mathews: Singular Pleasures Topor: Mémoires d’un vieux con (can't find an Engl. transl.) Robbe-Grillet: The Erasers (I am not sure, maybe I prefer La Reprise) Gombrowicz: Possessed (and COSMOS, but I am not sure if I love or hate that book) Nabokov: Despair
read them all but Siddhartha a good list. To add to the books in the video Unknown University Poems Roberto Bolano Indecent Play by Paula Vogel Transcriptions Kate Atkinson Insufferable Gaucho Roberto Bolano
in no particular order To A God Unknown by John Steinbeck The Lonely City by Olivia Laing the First Man by Albert Camus Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe The Tiger by John Vaillant
I don't have a favorite book that I read this year but I have a favorite story. That was Old Halloweens On The Guna Slopes by R.A. Lafferty. But if you track it down in a collection, try to get the earlier version. There was a rewrite that wasn't as good.
I haven't read the invention of Morel. I mean I finished the book but I think I read it in a rush and didn't find the amazement that many people describes. A second chance is needed.
I really appreciate your amazing work, Cliff. Thank you! Here's my top 5: 1. Crime and punishment - Fedor Dostoevsky 2. Demian - Herman Hesse 3. The Cancer Ward - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 4. Memories, Dreams, Reflections - Carl G. Jung 5. 12 Rules for life - Jordan B. Peterson
1) Going Native - Stephen Wright 2) My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh 3) City of Bohane - Kevin Barry 4) The Last Days of Jack Sparks - Jason Arnopp 5) What the Hell Did I Just Read - David Wong
Me india se hu kya aap mujhe aapke pas me jo bhi book ho usme se koisa bhi ek book bata dijiye me abhi struggling chef hu or me book padhne ki suruwat karna chahta hu
5. The Crying of Lot 49 4. Child of God 3. Dubliners 2. The Brothers Karamazov 1. 2666 Thank you for all of these reviews, I look forward to each one. Hope all is well.
Love your passionate and smart summaries of these wild dudes! I've not read Hermann Hesse since I was a teenager (which feels like the perfect age to read him) but I'd really like to revisit him. And I love the absurdism of César Aira. I've only read a few of his huge library, but I think it's best his books are short because his style probably can't sustain itself for a big long novel. I'd love to be proved wrong though. Looking forward to checking out the others on your list. Here's my video about my favourite books from 2018: ruclips.net/video/6gesdz5jMFc/видео.html
Better Than Food: Book Reviews I gotcha, no worries. I remember liking it, but I certainly understand. Was trying to decide if I should read it next. Not many video reviews out there of that particular book. Love and appreciate what you do. Keep it up brother.
since the death of philip roth i went back and read goodbye columbus, a novella from 1959, made into a memorable 69 film with ali macgraw and richard benjamin, (the film was much more popular than the book, a reflection of mid 60s rather than late fifties). there is nothing particularly special about this book, certainly nothing that would resonate with audiences today, the subject of birth control being rather worked out and blasė, and the suburbanification of ghetto jews being a thing of the past, but it’s crammed with symbolism and metaphors, albeit mild, and the sentiment would not be lost on some of your older readers . . . it’s sometimes interesting to read subtle, almost seemingly boring stories, knowing that something is lurking just below the surface yet just out of reach. i would think that most young readers would feel this way about catcher in the rye, a book written in the mid forties yet still considered required reading on many student readers lists.
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1. American Pastoral - Phillip Roth
2. Perfume - Patrick Suskind
3. Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis
4. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
5. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest - Ken Keesey
I do read books other than the ones you recommend you just happen to have excellent taste
My five favourite books I read in 2018 (in arbitrary order):
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
NVSQVAM by Ann Sterzinger
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
I just finished Crime and Punishment the other day. I loved it
Just discovered your channel so looking at it retrospectively. Funnily enough, I was living in Brazil when you recorded this video in 2018. Totally agree, Argentinian Literature is a world in itself. Reading Samantha Schweblin at the moment, great found I totally recommend her.
There you go, lads (the order doesn't matter):
1. The Broom of The System by David Foster Wallace
2. The Map and The Territory by Michel Houellebecq
3. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
4. Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
5. Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett
Your videos are absolutely fantastic, the way you articulate your points and descriptions of things are great and I'm glad i found your channel
As an Argentinian I'm SO glad to see two books (in a Top Five!) from my strange, awesome and complicated country. Even your first ever video was on Borges so thanks for all the kind words Clif :D As I told you in the Nick Cave documentary review (R.I.P.) you're always invited to Buenos Aires. I wish you the best my friend.
Octavio Alonso Un genio Cliff, uno de los pocos que hace buenas reviews en inglés de literatura argenta.
Can you recommend me good argentinian booktubers?
My favourites of 2018:
1. Stoner - John Williams
2. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
3. Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
4. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
5. A Death in the Family - Karl Ove Knausgaard
Honorable mentions:
Grant - Ron Chernow
Red Sky At Sunrise - Laurie Lee
The Road to Wigan Pier - George Orwell
Butchers Crossing - John Williams
Appreciate all you do, Cliff. Cheers.
TheMrBenny123 East of Eden is one of my favorite novels. As a Norwegian it's interesting to see how famous Knausgård is internationally. In Norway he is both celebrated and vilified
@@JonnaaM I can see how his style wouldn't be everyones cup of tea, but I truly loved it. I read the book very quickly because I was so enchanted with the style and the subtle lines of genius in it. As for East of Eden, the nobel prize speaks for itself.
TheMrBenny123 Me too. I think the style and insights is what I like the most about it. I'm reading book number two now. Would be interesting to see how the English translation compares to the original in Norwegian
TheMrBenny123 Stoner touches my soul
1. El jardín de las máquinas parlantes (The garden of speaking machines) by Alberto Laiseca
2. The Vorrh by Brian Catling
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
4. Rashomon and other tales by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
5. The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
Top 5
5. The Stranger - Camus
4. The Sound of Waves - Mishima
3. The Cement Garden - McEwan
2. The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky
1. Tropic of Cancer - Miller
1. Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B. S. Johnson
2. Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
3. The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
4. The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard
5. Piano Stories by Felisberto Hernández
F Hernández is amazing
Good taste. Havent read any B. S. Johnson, but seeing it featured (its been in my to-read for a while now) above Jesus' Son, has moved it up the stack.
My top five are;
1) Divine Comedy - Dante (Clive James translation)
2) The Western Lands - William Burroughs
3) 1984 - George Orwell
4) Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
5) The Mad Man - Samuel R Delany
My favourites of 2018:
1. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
2. Metamorphoses by Ovid
3. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
4. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
I’ve been looking for someone like you and I’m so glad I found you after 20 mins.
im an obsessive reader myself, but you still manage to bring me new stuff to read. sure, my fire doesnt need a spark or light, but it needs tons of fuel, such as the stuff you're pointing me to. big thanks for that! i found your channel recently, through googling my favorite book of 2018: georges batailles story of the eye.
Has been a busy year, so i only got around to read 10 books in 2018, and there will be lots of the same author(I was in a author streak) , but here is my top five:
5: Brave New World, by: Aldous Huxley
4: Notes from Underground, by: Fyodor Dostoevsky
3: Crime and Punishment, by: Fyodor Dostoevsky
2: The Brothers Karamazov, by: Fyodor Dostoevsky
1: In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind, by: Eric R. Kandel
Good sounding stuff on that list!
My top 5:
05. Cows - Matthew Stokoe
04. The Troop - Nick Cutter
03. The New Church Ladies - Jim Goad
02. Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
01. I'll Be Gone In The Dark - Michelle McNamara
Mine are:
1. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche
2. The Decline of the West by Spengler
3. The Gay Science by Nietzsche
4. Against Nature by Huysmans
5. Mid-summer Night Dreams by Shakespeare.
Was zarathrusta a hard read?
@@zach11590 You should read. Naught is compared. One of the finest books i have read. Or you may read some reviews before commence reading. But it is worth a while a read.
Great list, all of these have been on my to-read list for quite a while now (some thanks to you)!
Here's mine:
5. Kasamakura - Soseki Natsume
4. Augustus - John Williams
3. Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov
2. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
1. Ulysses - James Joyce
And nonfiction:
5. Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky
4. Ghosts of my Life - Mark Fisher
3. Reform or Revolution - Rosa Luxemburg
2. Capitalist Realism - Mark Fisher
1. Ways of Seeing - John Berger
And here's to another great year!
Join us this March, reading Dubliners, Big Hard Books & Classics. Pick a story or two and make a vid! ruclips.net/channel/UCBNfvf5Imc7KjiUIf4WC4Mg
Loved your #3 Cliff...Schwob's The Book of Monelle, been reading it for a few months on your rec. Thx, man...
1. Wolf Wondratschek: Selbstbild mit russischem Klavier
2. Hans Joachim Schädlich: Felix und Felka
3. William Faulkner: Absalom, Absalom!
4. Thomas Mann: Der Zauberberg
5. Plato: Parmenides
I am late in my posting, but I wished to compose a brief list of some of the best books I have read last year. I heartily recommend each title!
1. "Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West" by Cormac McCarthy
2. "A Scanner Darkly" by Philip K. Dick
3. "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg
4. "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5. "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner
An addendum:
6. "Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders
here are mine:
The Process - Frank Kafka
Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa
American Psycho - Bret Ellis
Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges
Confenderacy od Dunces - John Toole
I have no idea how I've never heard of The Invention of Morel before, from your description that book couldn't be any further up my alley. I can't wait to read that and An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (there definitely is something in the water in Argentina).
My top five this year:
5. Ben Marcus - The Age of Wire and String
4. Thomas Hardy - Tess of the D'Urbevilles
3. Milan Kundera - Life is Elsewhere
2. Yukio Mishima - The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
1. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - The Autumn of the Patriarch
My favorites of 2018;
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami
The catcher in the rye - J.D. Salinger
12 rules for life - Jordan Peterson
The undiscovered self - Carl Jung
Why we sleep - Matthew Walker
Ten selected love stories - Haruki Murakami
As living in Japan, it is difficult to be surrounded by books(in English) and find ones appealing to me in a bookstore. But your channel's been playing the role of something like the alternative. Also watching your videos makes me like reading books more! An extra treat! Thank you so much for the work, and keep going!!!!
In no particular order, this is my 2018-top 5
100 Years Of Sollitude - Gabriel Garcia Márquez
Pedro Páramo - Juan Rulfo
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
1984 - George Orwell
Ice- Anna Kavan
Not going to list 5 books since choosing even top 2 was hard enough. Anyways, my favourite book of last year was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward. Masterfully written novel which holds you in it's grip through its whole lenght. Second comes Thomas Bernhard - Loser which I might prefer even over Woodcutters, although it is difficult choice to make.
My top 3 in 2018 are: Michel Houellebecq - Elementary Particles; Paul Bowles - The Sheltering Sky; Oscar Wild - The Portrait of Dorian Grey (also I really enjoyed reading the Patrick Melrose novels by St. Aubyn and The Beautiful Mrs Seidenman by Andrzej Szczypiorski).
What I read and finished in 2018:
Demons by Dostoevsky
Stoner by John Williams
The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato
The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche
Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Story of the Eye by George Bataille
The Cathedral of Mist by Paul Willems
From Cesar Aira I recommend you How I became a nun (Cómo me hice monja).
I also included La invención de Morel in my best of 2018, extraordinary novel!
defs will check out César Aira's book, I'm interested in what "physiognomic totality" entails, like if it means actively seeing the necessary connections of a place, or The Whole, like in a Goethean sense.
Top 5 books I read or finished in 2018:
Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Celestial Railroad and other stories
Michel Houellebecq - The Map And The Territory
Giacomo Leopardi - Canti
Walker Percy - Moviegoer
Giorgio de Chirico - Hebdomeros
I cried so much during the end of The Invention of Morel... I’ve read 2/5 of the books on your list, which is great because I can add them to my to-read list 😁
For something light but terrific, I always recommend 'Colors Insulting To Nature' by Cintra Wilson. If you're in your late 30's or older then you may get a kick out of this. I rarely laugh out loud during fiction reading, but this one was such a tonic. Recommended. Another fun but great one is 'Role Models' by John Waters.
My top 5
1. Pär Lagerkvist - Barabbas
2. Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart
3. Hassan Blasim - The Iraqi Christ
4. Adolfo Bioy Casares - The Invention of Morel (I think I bought it the same week as you published your review of it)
5. Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist
thx Thx THX for turning me on to _The Book of Monelle_ among others, last year. I've carried that book around for three months, annotating it, experiencing it, figuring it out, loving it. "Better Than Food," truly.
I'm so happy to see two argentinian authors in your top five, you do them justice with your reviews. Really, it makes me so happy that you appreciate two people that many Argentinians have forgotten. Please read Roberto Arlt, a genius that was mocked by intellectuals during his time and led a very interesting, adventurous life, you won't regret it!!!
Not all of them are books, buuut:
5) Gyo (Junji Ito)
4) Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany (David Sttubs)
3) Documents (George Bataille)
2) The Pale King (David Foster Wallace)
1) Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
Great Video, Cliff, happy new year!
Hey am a new sub here. Looking at your older videos and now this, i cant help but to send you a greeting. Hope you are still enjoying what you are doing here.
Great selection! I've been meaning to read César Aira for quite some time. I might as well start with An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter.
1. Gormenghast, Books 1 & 2 - Mervyn Peake
2. Fossil Capital - Andreas Malm
3. Ada - Vladimir Nabokov
4. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
5. Ice - Anna Kavan
Thank you for all of your wonderful videos, they have opened my eyes to new literature. Have you considered reading any books by William H Gass? Wonderful author and essayist. Thanks for all you do.
Are you gonna review any Dostoevsky or Haruki Murakami books?
just gotta mention this but i loved hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world (haruki), such strange existential surrealist work, i was also thinking of getting other books by kobo abes, dostoevsky,etc havent gotten into them much
@@dppid083wk7 Crime and Punishment is a book which surprises me with insights every 20 pages. Highly recommended.
TheRedBaron I think his M.O. is to review and bring to light lesser known authors and novels.
he reviewed Notes from the Underground
Yes I am.
Didn't do a ton of reading in 2018, but here are my favorites:
1. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
2. A Girl on the Shore by Inio Asano
3. Solanin by Inio Asano
4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
5. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
I started 2019 with finishing Gravity's Rainbow and A Game of Thrones, so I think it's going to be a good year.
Top five of 2018... in no particular order:
-The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin (novel)
-No Time to Spare. Thinking About What Matters, by Ursula K. Le Guin (essays)
-Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman (kind of a retell of said myths)
-A Manual for Cleaning Women, by Lucia Berlin (short stories. I read it translated, tho)
-Manos de lumbre [Fire Hands], by Alberto Chimal, a great mexican author (short stories)
Borges brought me to your Channel a few months ago and now I’m a big fan of your recommendations. Since you like so much Latin-American authors I think you should consider learning Spanish; sleep on it!
Cheers from Mexico!
Love Hesse! Almost all his books. Thanks you for the video.
Great list, Cliff! My favorite book of 2018 was John Steinbeck, East of Eden. I would highly recommend it to you for 2019
I could've sworn he already read it and made a review on it..
My 5 Fav books of 2018 (not ranked)
1. ‘Perfume’
Patrik Suskind.
2. ‘The Circus of Dr Lao’
Charles G Finney.
3. ‘Lonesome Traveller’
Jack Kerouac
4. ‘The Radetzky March’
Joseph Roth
5. ‘The Cone Gatherers’
Robin Jenkins
+ ‘The Bell Jar’
Sylvia Plath.
Because I couldn’t leave it out.
All fabulous books.
If you haven't already read -
The Obscene Bird of Night
by José Donoso
My favorite books of 2018
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Capitães da Areia - Jorge Amado
Part of my soul - Winnie Mandela
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Animal Farm and 1984 - George Orwell
In no particular order:
Gerald Murnane - The Plains
Edgardo Cozarinsky - El rufián moldavo (The Moldavian Pimp)
Italo Calvino - Le città invisibili (Invisible Cities)
Robert Musil - Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (The Man Without Qualities)
Thomas Bernhard - Auslöschung (Extinction)
All of them are outstanding literary achievements, I reckon.
My personal favorites of the year
1. The Myth of Sisyphus
2. The Old Man and the Sea
3. The Metamorphosis
4. Post Office
5. Waiting For Godot
Was the myth of sisyphus a hard read?
1. The Lost Scrapbook - Evan Dara
2. Mason & Dixon - Thomas Pynchon
3. Satantango - Lazlo Krasznahorkai
4. Cannonball - Joseph McElroy
5. The Instructions - Adam Levin
I recommend to read "The Overstory" by Richard powers, my favorite book of 2018 and one the best novels I have ever read in my life, so far. It remainded me of "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell and "4321" by Paul Auster. By the way, you must read these ones too.
The three are books with stories with many different stories, connected one another in different ways and creating a single one, like fruit in a salad, when you start tasting piece by piece until you can put a sweet spoonful in your mouth. Topics that would make you think for a while; plot that will blow your mind; out of the conventional narrative and very interesting and intriguing storyline.
Definitely, books to read before you die!
I love Paul Auster. Just finished Leviathan and thought it was brilliant. Haven't read 4321 yet but will do. I have Overstory on book and on my Kindle. Seems like a mammoth task as it is pretty dense. Did you find it easy to get through?
@@irena7777777 I enjoyed Overstory; each of the main characters have a story told in a different style, but you get in used to the rhythm.
By the way, why I liked most about that book was the science fiction topics, it can blow your mind!
@@sg.r.5071 I'm looking forward to reading this! Thanks
Happy new year, mr. Sargent!
While I’m writing this comment, I’m looking at my not yet read copy of A invenção de Morel on my shelf - one of my next reads, for sure.
I have recently read As cidades invisíveis, by Calvino, and Pedro Paramo, by Rulfo, and both have become absolute favorites. Thank you for the reviews!
Happy New Year, hope you enjoy Casares, thanks for watching!
OK, no one cares but here's the Top 5 novels I read last year
5. Pierre and Jean - Guy de Maupassant
4. Another Country - James Baldwin
3. Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo
2. The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
1. Narcissus and Goldmund - Herman Hesse
I didn’t read nearly as much as I hoped I would last year, but....I’ll make a list anyways. I have a much larger list of movies I watched tho. 😅 (I’m pretty lazy)
1 Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy
2 Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry
3 The Book of Moon - George Crowder
4 Tiger lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson
5 This One Summer - Mariko Tamaki (graphic novel but so damn good. Paced very well and resonated with me a lot. Based on the book, I would love to see the author make a screenplay for a film tbh)
No particular order
1. In search of lost time vol. 1 - Proust
2. Wise Blood - O’Connor
3. Hunger - Hamsun
4. The Portable Dorothy Parker - Parker
5. The Case for Animal Rights - Regan
I was shocked that I had read two of the books on this list, The Invention of Morel and An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter. A book I enjoyed from an Argentinian writer was The Sixty-five Years of Washington by Juan Jose Saer. The premise is of two friends walking the streets of a seaside town in Argentina talking about the birthday party held for a friend, Washington, who just turned sixty-five. That's the plot. But, the conversations these two men have as they walk the streets of the two deal with so much more than the birthday party. Are you familiar with this book or the author?
Awesome choices! Read Siddhartha in 2017, very good book. My top 5 for 2018 is
5: Foundation and Empire (Asimov)
4: The Power of Myth (Campbell)
3: The Drawing of Three (King)
2: Circe (Miller)
1: American Gods (Gaiman)
Loved Bioy Casares. I've read "Morel" the 1st time around 1990, and the 2nd time something like 10 years ago. Maybe it is time to read it a third time ...
I think my favs of 2018 were (I've read them in German, so no idea how good the translations in other languages are):
Queneau: Zazie in the Metro
Queneau: A Hard Winter
Schwob: The Book of Monelle (thank you for this!)
Mathews: Singular Pleasures
Topor: Mémoires d’un vieux con (can't find an Engl. transl.)
Robbe-Grillet: The Erasers (I am not sure, maybe I prefer La Reprise)
Gombrowicz: Possessed (and COSMOS, but I am not sure if I love or hate that book)
Nabokov: Despair
Have you tried Brazilian Lit? What about Clarice Lispector and Lúcio Cardoso? For me, Lúcio is a god-like writer. ♥️
read them all but Siddhartha a good list.
To add to the books in the video
Unknown University Poems Roberto Bolano
Indecent Play by Paula Vogel
Transcriptions Kate Atkinson
Insufferable Gaucho Roberto Bolano
Siddhartha is a gem.
in no particular order
To A God Unknown by John Steinbeck
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
the First Man by Albert Camus
Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
The Tiger by John Vaillant
Review a brief history of 7 killings- Marlon James
I wonder why he stopped posting videos!
I don't have a favorite book that I read this year but I have a favorite story. That was Old Halloweens On The Guna Slopes by R.A. Lafferty. But if you track it down in a collection, try to get the earlier version. There was a rewrite that wasn't as good.
Best read last year: Imperium - Christian Kracht. so good. So is his newer one from 2018: The Dead.
I haven't read the invention of Morel. I mean I finished the book but I think I read it in a rush and didn't find the amazement that many people describes. A second chance is needed.
I really appreciate your amazing work, Cliff. Thank you!
Here's my top 5:
1. Crime and punishment - Fedor Dostoevsky
2. Demian - Herman Hesse
3. The Cancer Ward - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
4. Memories, Dreams, Reflections - Carl G. Jung
5. 12 Rules for life - Jordan B. Peterson
Mork Vandreren...Finally, another person who loved 'Demian' besides me!
1) Going Native - Stephen Wright 2) My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh 3) City of Bohane - Kevin Barry 4) The Last Days of Jack Sparks - Jason Arnopp 5) What the Hell Did I Just Read - David Wong
I like your videos mate, cheers from Turkey 🇹🇷
They are great videos.
Me india se hu kya aap mujhe aapke pas me jo bhi book ho usme se koisa bhi ek book bata dijiye me abhi struggling chef hu or me book padhne ki suruwat karna chahta hu
If you haven't yet, you should read "a common story" by Ivan Gončarov. You're going to love it!
Hi Cliff, happy new year. Have you read any JG Ballard?
Holy hell that first book sounds amazing. Thanks!
You better be reading War and Peace or something because I am anxiously awaiting your next review :)
Taking a coding bootcamp. Back in a little over a month. Thanks for watching. Can't wait to read War and Peace one day.
Que pasa Cliff ? Where have you been?
Just finishing some stuff up, back later this month, thanks for watching.
@@BetterThanFoodBookReviews do some marlon james por favor ! Watching from nicaragua ! Salude !
5. The Crying of Lot 49
4. Child of God
3. Dubliners
2. The Brothers Karamazov
1. 2666
Thank you for all of these reviews, I look forward to each one. Hope all is well.
Love your passionate and smart summaries of these wild dudes!
I've not read Hermann Hesse since I was a teenager (which feels like the perfect age to read him) but I'd really like to revisit him.
And I love the absurdism of César Aira. I've only read a few of his huge library, but I think it's best his books are short because his style probably can't sustain itself for a big long novel. I'd love to be proved wrong though.
Looking forward to checking out the others on your list. Here's my video about my favourite books from 2018: ruclips.net/video/6gesdz5jMFc/видео.html
Great video. Thanks for the list!
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar was my favorite.
Everything okay man?
Yup, back later this month, thanks for checking in.
Glad to hear it. I saw the upload date just a moment ago and began to wonder.
I thought he had review Recognitions by Gaddis in the past, but I can’t seem to find it? Did I make that up or is it out there somewhere?
I took it down, I thought it wasn't very good. Maybe a re-review someday.
Better Than Food: Book Reviews I gotcha, no worries. I remember liking it, but I certainly understand. Was trying to decide if I should read it next. Not many video reviews out there of that particular book.
Love and appreciate what you do. Keep it up brother.
@@kalew37 Thanks so much man, I'll be back to the books in late March. Stay tuned.
Can you review Fanged Noumena?
ztj95 starts good, Land does too much speed, becomes a mad Nazi who tries to use blockchain to solve space-time
Hey does anyone know what’s going on with the channel? Is Cliff doing good?
All good, I'll be back later this month with more reviews. Thanks for watching, and checking in.
I love this channel and your reviews, thank you so much :-)
Have you ever thought of reviewing Hunter S. Thompson?
What a list! Thank you!
since the death of philip roth i went back and read goodbye columbus, a novella from 1959, made into a memorable 69 film with ali macgraw and richard benjamin, (the film was much more popular than the book, a reflection of mid 60s rather than late fifties). there is nothing particularly special about this book, certainly nothing that would resonate with audiences today, the subject of birth control being rather worked out and blasė, and the suburbanification of ghetto jews being a thing of the past, but it’s crammed with symbolism and metaphors, albeit mild, and the sentiment would not be lost on some of your older readers . . . it’s sometimes interesting to read subtle, almost seemingly boring stories, knowing that something is lurking just below the surface yet just out of reach. i would think that most young readers would feel this way about catcher in the rye, a book written in the mid forties yet still considered required reading on many student readers lists.
I have never read Bioy Casares even though he was Borges' best friend.
Have you read the Metro series?
Have you asked this question twice?
unlockthepower just Saw That My Comment got posted twice, 😐
The Businessman by Thomas M. Disch. A dark Bangsian fantasy about revenge, demon halflings, idealism, poetry, and a Jesus that flies a blimp.
You have good taste!
you should read mircea eliade , he s o good
Have you heard the new Daughters record? Melon gave it a 10/10. Absolutely devastating depiction of anxiety and guilt, at least how i see it.
I'm waiting for another episode... Do you even read anymore bra?
Back later this month, thanks for watching.
@@BetterThanFoodBookReviews Cool - thanks for update!
What happened to your Jordan Peterson video?
I didn't like how I came off in it, so I took it down.
@@BetterThanFoodBookReviews That's fair enough. Would you still consider Maps of Meaning to be worth the read?
Wow, such interesting books
Kingdom of Fear- Hunter S Thompson
you do know that Buddha's actual name is Siddharth? Buddha is just a title