Ben I am so excited. Having now read 6 books you've reviewed and watching how your reviews of them so closely reflect my own thoughts, I think I have officially discovered a booktuber with the same taste as me. Like I just finished The Bee Sting after watching your booker review, and it completely lived up to your description and hype. I am very excited to read more of your recommendations, now with a pretty high confidence I'll love them as well.
Glad you loved The Bee Sting. It’s so good! Fun that our tastes align, although I now dread the day I’m going to let you down by recommending a stinker 😂
It is definitely interesting to see how the marketing can try to reframe works to help it find an audience… but then sometimes it ends up backfiring and finding the wrong audience. Any particular examples that have tricked you recently?
I loved This is How You Lose the Time War -- I'm sorry to hear it wasn't a complete hit for you. One of the authors answered your question about the writing process on Goodreads, and said there that one of them wrote Red and the other wrote Blue. I have to say that I'm surprised at how coherent the writing felt in spite of that! Red and Blue do have slightly different voices, but the 'feel' of the writing doesn't really change, in my opinion. A really great collaboration. Great video again, Ben! Always a pleasure to listen to you!
Thank you so much for watching 🙏 Can definitely see why people love Time War, I think I just went into it with completely the wrong expectations. Super interesting about the writing process though - definitely makes me appreciate the craft more.
Glad you enjoyed it too. I thought Otsuka did such a great job with making it a highly emotional read while still being very playful with voice and form.
Ben, thank you for another book review video. I saved The Swimmers portion as I'm reading that this week. It's nice to move past the Booker and the Women's Prize books. As much as I enjoyed both discussions, it's nice to go back to choosing books because I want to read them rather than because someone else chose them.
Thanks Chris - hope you enjoy The Swimmers. Definitely nice to choose books more freely, although I’m now in a position of having a big ol’ backlog of books from publishers I need to get through. It’s nice problem to have but it does limit my choices 😅
I love the idea of The Swimmers but books that play with memory often end intimidate me as they are so anxiety inducing. Great to hear your thoughts on these as always ❤
Yeah it’s definitely not NOT anxiety-inducing. But I think it’s a story told with a lot of heart and warmth and humour. Still scary though. Thanks for watching! 🙏
Going backward through your videos. Lovely smart reviews. Really wanting to read The Swimmers. I've had it out on audio but then though the print might be a better way to go. Hoping to see more books in translation as it is something I hope to pursue more this year. Great channel. thanks for taking the time and letting us hear about your reading.
Looks like Mohtar and Gladstone have done a couple interviews in which they talk about the writing process. The one I glanced at was on Civilian Reader. I won't spoil it for you, but a gazebo was involved. I ran into Crudo the other day; can't remember the details, but it sounded good. Open Throat sounds a little Pod-ish. 🐬
Thanks for the tip - I’ll seek out that interview! Interesting that Open Throat sounded similar to Pod - I actually don’t see them as similar at all! It didn’t even occur to me to compare them. Don’t let that put you off 😅
I loved The Swimmers so much so that I read another Julie Otsuka book, The Emperor was Divine. She packs a punch! I will also be reading The Buddha In The Attic (after I read your other recommendations in this video, of course!)
It was such an unexpected treat of a book. I don’t know if you’re in the UK or have a Kindle, but I actually just picked up The Buddha in the Attic because it’s 99p today!
Great video, Ben. Hype made me read How to lose the time war, and I was disappointed. I enjoyed The Swimmers though! It reminds me of Breasts and Eggs, structure wise and how the book got conceived. Definitely two different short stories made to look related with a one or two common recurring characters.
Good to hear I’m not alone in the Time War disappointment. I wanted so much to love it. Haven’t read Breasts and Eggs yet, but if it’s like The Swimmers it sounds like I’ll love it. Thanks for the recommendation 🙌
Idol Burning was like a little insight into why and how people fall into fandoms. I lack interest in celebrities outside of their product, so not really made for an obsessive fan but fascinated by the culture around it.
Yeah I totally agree - it was really interesting to get an authentic-feeling peek into that mindset. I’m still not convinced it’s a particularly healthy part of our culture, but I have a bit more empathy after reading the book.
I enjoyed This is How You Lose the Time War. I honestly can't remember how it came into my orbit, but I suspect it was during my era of self-realization a few years ago. I loved it initially, but to be honest I got confused by the world-building and still don't entirely know what the hell happened at the end. But the letters were so sweet. I melted when Blue started a letter, "Dear Red Sky at Morning . . .." Then I sat there wondering if it was a warning of bad things to come, as it would be in the world of mariners. Anyway, I think I gave it 4 stars.
Time War: 5 copies in New Jersey. 1 (checked out) 4 (in transit). Much too much influence! Hopefully I'll get The Bee Sting (3rd in line) before 2025. Great content.
Haha well maybe my review will make people return a few of those copies sooner. I am actually not sure it’s worth the wait! The Bee Sting though… hope you’ll love it as much as I did!
Ben I am so excited. Having now read 6 books you've reviewed and watching how your reviews of them so closely reflect my own thoughts, I think I have officially discovered a booktuber with the same taste as me. Like I just finished The Bee Sting after watching your booker review, and it completely lived up to your description and hype. I am very excited to read more of your recommendations, now with a pretty high confidence I'll love them as well.
Glad you loved The Bee Sting. It’s so good! Fun that our tastes align, although I now dread the day I’m going to let you down by recommending a stinker 😂
I find that publishers' blurbs are generally missing the mark recently. They often have nothing to do with the actual content of the book.
It is definitely interesting to see how the marketing can try to reframe works to help it find an audience… but then sometimes it ends up backfiring and finding the wrong audience.
Any particular examples that have tricked you recently?
I loved This is How You Lose the Time War -- I'm sorry to hear it wasn't a complete hit for you. One of the authors answered your question about the writing process on Goodreads, and said there that one of them wrote Red and the other wrote Blue. I have to say that I'm surprised at how coherent the writing felt in spite of that! Red and Blue do have slightly different voices, but the 'feel' of the writing doesn't really change, in my opinion. A really great collaboration. Great video again, Ben! Always a pleasure to listen to you!
Thank you so much for watching 🙏
Can definitely see why people love Time War, I think I just went into it with completely the wrong expectations. Super interesting about the writing process though - definitely makes me appreciate the craft more.
I really connected with The Swimmers and sobbed my way through the last section. Really enjoy hearing your thoughts about your reads.
Glad you enjoyed it too. I thought Otsuka did such a great job with making it a highly emotional read while still being very playful with voice and form.
I've heard a few other people rave about The Swimmers and your review was the final push I needed! I've got it on hold from the library right now.
It’s so good!!! I’m certain you’ll have a good time with it. Definitely planning to read some more Otsuka.
Ben, thank you for another book review video. I saved The Swimmers portion as I'm reading that this week. It's nice to move past the Booker and the Women's Prize books. As much as I enjoyed both discussions, it's nice to go back to choosing books because I want to read them rather than because someone else chose them.
Thanks Chris - hope you enjoy The Swimmers.
Definitely nice to choose books more freely, although I’m now in a position of having a big ol’ backlog of books from publishers I need to get through. It’s nice problem to have but it does limit my choices 😅
I love the idea of The Swimmers but books that play with memory often end intimidate me as they are so anxiety inducing. Great to hear your thoughts on these as always ❤
Yeah it’s definitely not NOT anxiety-inducing. But I think it’s a story told with a lot of heart and warmth and humour. Still scary though.
Thanks for watching! 🙏
Going backward through your videos. Lovely smart reviews. Really wanting to read The Swimmers. I've had it out on audio but then though the print might be a better way to go. Hoping to see more books in translation as it is something I hope to pursue more this year. Great channel. thanks for taking the time and letting us hear about your reading.
Thank you so much, this is such a kind comment. Thank you for taking the time to watch some of my videos!
I'm adding The Swimmers to my TBR. Thanks for the recommendations. 😊
It's a wonderful, emotional little novel. Hope you enjoy it 🙏
Looks like Mohtar and Gladstone have done a couple interviews in which they talk about the writing process. The one I glanced at was on Civilian Reader. I won't spoil it for you, but a gazebo was involved. I ran into Crudo the other day; can't remember the details, but it sounded good. Open Throat sounds a little Pod-ish. 🐬
Thanks for the tip - I’ll seek out that interview!
Interesting that Open Throat sounded similar to Pod - I actually don’t see them as similar at all! It didn’t even occur to me to compare them. Don’t let that put you off 😅
@@benreadsgood Second time I watched your review I didn't get POD vibes anymore. Just a mental leap that my brain is no longer making.
I loved The Swimmers so much so that I read another Julie Otsuka book, The Emperor was Divine. She packs a punch! I will also be reading The Buddha In The Attic (after I read your other recommendations in this video, of course!)
It was such an unexpected treat of a book. I don’t know if you’re in the UK or have a Kindle, but I actually just picked up The Buddha in the Attic because it’s 99p today!
I agree with you on This Is How You Loose The Time War. It didn't balance the world vs the story well enough, but was enjoyable imo.
I wanted more of the sci-fi world building for sure!
Great video, Ben. Hype made me read How to lose the time war, and I was disappointed. I enjoyed The Swimmers though! It reminds me of Breasts and Eggs, structure wise and how the book got conceived. Definitely two different short stories made to look related with a one or two common recurring characters.
Good to hear I’m not alone in the Time War disappointment. I wanted so much to love it.
Haven’t read Breasts and Eggs yet, but if it’s like The Swimmers it sounds like I’ll love it. Thanks for the recommendation 🙌
Idol Burning was like a little insight into why and how people fall into fandoms. I lack interest in celebrities outside of their product, so not really made for an obsessive fan but fascinated by the culture around it.
Yeah I totally agree - it was really interesting to get an authentic-feeling peek into that mindset.
I’m still not convinced it’s a particularly healthy part of our culture, but I have a bit more empathy after reading the book.
I enjoyed This is How You Lose the Time War. I honestly can't remember how it came into my orbit, but I suspect it was during my era of self-realization a few years ago. I loved it initially, but to be honest I got confused by the world-building and still don't entirely know what the hell happened at the end. But the letters were so sweet. I melted when Blue started a letter, "Dear Red Sky at Morning . . .." Then I sat there wondering if it was a warning of bad things to come, as it would be in the world of mariners. Anyway, I think I gave it 4 stars.
Interesting! I think we were drawn to different parts of the book. I wanted more of the sci-fi and world building, and less of the romance!
Time War: 5 copies in New Jersey. 1 (checked out) 4 (in transit). Much too much influence!
Hopefully I'll get The Bee Sting (3rd in line) before 2025.
Great content.
Haha well maybe my review will make people return a few of those copies sooner. I am actually not sure it’s worth the wait!
The Bee Sting though… hope you’ll love it as much as I did!
Best book read so far this month is
The Unseen World by Liz Moore
Now reading
Heft by Liz Moore
❤
Heft is amazing. I enjoy everything Liz Moore does, but Heft is my favorite.
I haven’t heard of Liz Moore. Sounds like I need to check her out!
📖 🪱 💚