OMG I LITERALLY SCREAMED WHEN YOU SAID VILLETTE. I knew this would be a solid list. I LOVE books with longing and I've searched for them for a long time. Thank you for this!❤
Great list! Thanks for sharing it. Fiction-wise, Beloved was the first novel that came to mind in terms of longing -- so many different desires explored and piled on top of each other, from longing for a future, for love, freedom/bodily autonomy, for community and companionship, for life, for joy and peace, etc. etc. etc.
yes! i almost put beloved on this list! and then i also thought of love, or jazz, or the bluest eye… and then i just got too much in my head about it all. but i think beloved is the best choice. ghosts are a most perfect representation of longing
Oh I do need to get to Villette. I’m So glad to be reminded of it. When I saw the video is about longing, I immediately thought about the book I just finished, and one you mention here, Giovanni’s Room. Omg. I relived how I felt while reading IsMother Dead when you mentioned it here. How powerful the emotion of longing was in that book. I’m re-reading Bluets too and some of the blurbs stood out more than the first time. I love how we have to fill in the blanks .
@@thelefthandedreader6632 i think you’d get on well with vilette! i thought it was a little long (but that’s a stylistic/era thing, i think), but definitely worth a read when did you previously read bluets? i did only 3 years ago, so i think i had a similar experience in this reread, even though i’m in a far less desperate/longing place mentally. i can’t entirely compare bc i read an ebook this time, rather than the copy i’d previously highlighted.
I read it about a year and a half ago. The re-read is more clear because I understand the premise and style and subject matter already. And then parts of it are a surprise!
The Journey by Moon light! It’s one of my favourite books and you are the first person who mentioned it after having been listening to the book tubers for years!! I literally had this acute feeling of being less lonely. Reading and writing can be a very closed place if you make it your life.
Suuuuch a good list, loved is mother dead! Would add the lonely city by Olivia Laing, A Sunday In Ville-d'Avray - Dominique Barbéris (longing for escape), salt water by Jessica Andrews (grief and longing to outgrow your life) and little plum by Laura McPhee-Browne (grief, longing for connection and acceptance)
ooh yes, wonderful additions! i thought about the lonely city as well to the river and the trip to echo spring by laing i haven’t read the three others, but all of them have been vaguely on my tbr for a while, so thanks for reminding me of them! (actually, maybe i’ll buy the barbéris while i’m still in france)
this is such a great list & loved hearing your thoughts on why you think it covers longing. so many on here i read that i was like wow you are so right!! also you’ve fully made me want to give bluets a try! it’s one i wasn’t sure how i’d like it but all the things you mentioned that get covered in it, are all themes im intrigued by!!
ya, once i started playing a little bit more fast and loose, i started reading longing in all sorts of directions! the good news about bluets is that it’s 1) very short overall and 2) made up of tiny vignettes, so you can always skip over bits that don’t speak to you as much :)
we love a book about longing!!! A recommendation I just read is Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth which is a queer coming of age story. Beautiful book and so much yearning!
Such a great list! Villette is one of my absolute favourite books. I once read that Kincaid's Lucy was actually inspired by Lucy Snowe from Villette (I don't know if that's true but I'm very much intrigued by that, I need to get to reading Lucy). I'd add E.M Forster's Maurice to the list
re lucy snowe/kincaid’s lucy : i’m pretty sure i’ve read that too. and it certainly would make sense. i’d forgotten the connection, but now i’m glad i put both books on my list :)
Great list. Love Is Mother Dead and Giovanni's Room. Could add Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer, Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Demons by Dostoyevsky (or any Dostoyevsky for that matter), Roses a Credit by Elsa Triolet
ha! anna karenina never even crossed my mind, and that’s a major oversight. the longing in dostoyevsky is a peculiar shade that i wouldn’t have thought of, so this is a very interesting suggestion to me. i’ve never read roses à credit or the pumpkin eater! should i?
That was a great list. As you say, there are plenty more. _The Invention of Morel_ by Adolfo Bioy Casares is a book that explores longing in a surreal way. Of course another book where longing is key, is the famous one where a certain someone looks across the water longingly at the green light on Daisy’s dock. 😀
@@mediumjohnsilver ah of course great gatsby is drenched in longing - i hadn’t even thought of it, i admit. i don’t know the invention of morel. thanks for mentioning it!
Having watched a number of your videos now something I’ve come to appreciate is your lack of aggressive editing. It’s common for many RUclipsrs to edit out every um or ah or pause which may produce a video that’s auditorily seamless but which is visually jumpy, disjointed and distracting. Whether your videos are scripted and rehearsed or completely spontaneous-it doesn’t matter. It’s just refreshing not to see an edit every 10 seconds!
@@NeilBruder i appreciate this comment! it’s partially laziness on my part, but i also don’t feel like making super catchy content (my vlogs do have more quick cuts as i show snippets of my days). these videos are unscripted, and i’m a just human talking :)
OMG I LITERALLY SCREAMED WHEN YOU SAID VILLETTE. I knew this would be a solid list. I LOVE books with longing and I've searched for them for a long time. Thank you for this!❤
our girl lucy somatized her longing and loneliness into an actual infection!! that’s *commitment*
@@bibliosophie I related so much to Lucy but I'm beginning to realize it might not be a good thing lol
@@_samaa i think it’s a good, if potentially painful, thing! it means you identify with big feelings 🖤
@@bibliosophie That's a wonderful perspective! Made me feel so much better🥰
Great list! Thanks for sharing it. Fiction-wise, Beloved was the first novel that came to mind in terms of longing -- so many different desires explored and piled on top of each other, from longing for a future, for love, freedom/bodily autonomy, for community and companionship, for life, for joy and peace, etc. etc. etc.
yes! i almost put beloved on this list! and then i also thought of love, or jazz, or the bluest eye… and then i just got too much in my head about it all. but i think beloved is the best choice. ghosts are a most perfect representation of longing
Oh I do need to get to Villette. I’m So glad to be reminded of it. When I saw the video is about longing, I immediately thought about the book I just finished, and one you mention here, Giovanni’s Room. Omg.
I relived how I felt while reading IsMother Dead when you mentioned it here. How powerful the emotion of longing was in that book. I’m re-reading Bluets too and some of the blurbs stood out more than the first time. I love how we have to fill in the blanks .
@@thelefthandedreader6632 i think you’d get on well with vilette! i thought it was a little long (but that’s a stylistic/era thing, i think), but definitely worth a read
when did you previously read bluets? i did only 3 years ago, so i think i had a similar experience in this reread, even though i’m in a far less desperate/longing place mentally. i can’t entirely compare bc i read an ebook this time, rather than the copy i’d previously highlighted.
I read it about a year and a half ago. The re-read is more clear because I understand the premise and style and subject matter already. And then parts of it are a surprise!
@@thelefthandedreader6632 ah, i see. that is some of the magic of rereading!
love this concept and love how succinctly you’re able to describe all of these!!!
thank you! when this theme was requested from me i thought, “ooh yes, i can do this” ha ha
hi thank u for the list!! was waiting for it
thanks for yr patience! it was fun to come up with, and i still feel like i could add so many more books!
@@bibliosophie a lover's discourse by Barthes also could fit in it I guess
@@blueriver6751 absolutely! and, on the theme of dead mothers, his mourning diary
The Journey by Moon light! It’s one of my favourite books and you are the first person who mentioned it after having been listening to the book tubers for years!! I literally had this acute feeling of being less lonely. Reading and writing can be a very closed place if you make it your life.
it’s a book that left me with a weird sort of pensive, sweet melancholy 🤍
Good video and i wish you good luck in all your life
thank you!
Suuuuch a good list, loved is mother dead! Would add the lonely city by Olivia Laing, A Sunday In Ville-d'Avray - Dominique Barbéris (longing for escape), salt water by Jessica Andrews (grief and longing to outgrow your life) and little plum by Laura McPhee-Browne (grief, longing for connection and acceptance)
ooh yes, wonderful additions! i thought about the lonely city as well to the river and the trip to echo spring by laing
i haven’t read the three others, but all of them have been vaguely on my tbr for a while, so thanks for reminding me of them! (actually, maybe i’ll buy the barbéris while i’m still in france)
I just discovered your channel and god is your taste so good!!! Thanks for the recs!
aww thank you!
all bret easton ellis being about longing might be the best succinct summation of them ive heard
i meannnn
Hope you have a great reading summer Sophie.
thank you! you too!
reasons why i love you and your lists so much: rich in variety and facets. you truly covered it all! 💗
@@nathansnook 🤗 there are so many more though! my longing ass can read sehnsucht into almost any text lol
@@bibliosophie all these writers really do be out here longing huh
@@nathansnook what do you think pushes people to write?! it ain’t a life lived neutrally…
this is such a great list & loved hearing your thoughts on why you think it covers longing. so many on here i read that i was like wow you are so right!! also you’ve fully made me want to give bluets a try! it’s one i wasn’t sure how i’d like it but all the things you mentioned that get covered in it, are all themes im intrigued by!!
ya, once i started playing a little bit more fast and loose, i started reading longing in all sorts of directions!
the good news about bluets is that it’s 1) very short overall and 2) made up of tiny vignettes, so you can always skip over bits that don’t speak to you as much :)
Oh this is my jammmn, will be checking all of these out thank you sophie!
love to hear it! 🤗
we love a book about longing!!! A recommendation I just read is Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth which is a queer coming of age story. Beautiful book and so much yearning!
sunburn’s caught my eye recently bc a number of people are really liking it! glad to get another recommendation for it!
Such a great list! Villette is one of my absolute favourite books. I once read that Kincaid's Lucy was actually inspired by Lucy Snowe from Villette (I don't know if that's true but I'm very much intrigued by that, I need to get to reading Lucy).
I'd add E.M Forster's Maurice to the list
yes! maurice is such a good classic to add - definitely one i’m kicking myself not to have thought of
re lucy snowe/kincaid’s lucy : i’m pretty sure i’ve read that too. and it certainly would make sense. i’d forgotten the connection, but now i’m glad i put both books on my list :)
needed!
wahoo!
Great list. Love Is Mother Dead and Giovanni's Room. Could add Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer, Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Demons by Dostoyevsky (or any Dostoyevsky for that matter), Roses a Credit by Elsa Triolet
ha! anna karenina never even crossed my mind, and that’s a major oversight. the longing in dostoyevsky is a peculiar shade that i wouldn’t have thought of, so this is a very interesting suggestion to me. i’ve never read roses à credit or the pumpkin eater! should i?
Pumpkin Eater most definitely! It’s a gem. There’s also a movie.
@@thisisveryannoying i’ve seen it around insta/yt regularly, so i know it’s a bit of a darling - i should read it! didn’t know there was a movie tho
That was a great list. As you say, there are plenty more.
_The Invention of Morel_ by Adolfo Bioy Casares is a book that explores longing in a surreal way.
Of course another book where longing is key, is the famous one where a certain someone looks across the water longingly at the green light on Daisy’s dock. 😀
@@mediumjohnsilver ah of course great gatsby is drenched in longing - i hadn’t even thought of it, i admit.
i don’t know the invention of morel. thanks for mentioning it!
I would add "The year of the death of Ricardo Reis" by Jose Saramago, "On heroes and tombs" and "The tunnel" by Ernesto Sabato.
@@Slothreadersclub i’ve read none of them, so your additions are outside my scope and most welcome for that!
@@bibliosophie I highly recommend them. I think you would enjoy all three, especially Saramago's novel.
@@Slothreadersclub added to the list! (it’s a very long and not always linear list, however)
@@bibliosophie Whenever you manage to read it would be happy to hear your thoughts. ❤️
@@Slothreadersclub completely unrelated, but i see you have a channel now! 👀 🎉
Nice ❤
:)
Having watched a number of your videos now something I’ve come to appreciate is your lack of aggressive editing. It’s common for many RUclipsrs to edit out every um or ah or pause which may produce a video that’s auditorily seamless but which is visually jumpy, disjointed and distracting. Whether your videos are scripted and rehearsed or completely spontaneous-it doesn’t matter. It’s just refreshing not to see an edit every 10 seconds!
@@NeilBruder i appreciate this comment! it’s partially laziness on my part, but i also don’t feel like making super catchy content (my vlogs do have more quick cuts as i show snippets of my days). these videos are unscripted, and i’m a just human talking :)
@@bibliosophie There’s a great name for a RUclips channel: Just a Human Talking (about books) 😁
@@NeilBruder yes!