Meadowland sounds brilliant, right up my street. I must get a copy. I think I’d have to have Lord of the Rings on my island too. Great answers. Loved this video 😊
Great tag Aaron. I had to look up the longest books I’ve read and it’s A Little Life and Ducks, Newburyport. The first was time well spent and the second was punishment for something awful I did in another life! I haven’t read Middlemarch but it sounds like I’d really like it.
@@BookishAdventuresInWellbeing Ducks Newburyport sounds the worst to me, I hate all post modern gimmicks. A Little Life doesn't seem long at all. Middlemarch is a divider of people, it is a bit slow to get going.
I’m reading Patrick O’Brian slowly right now and your thumbnail delighted me! Really enjoyed your video. “A swimming pool of red flags.” I’ve avoided the books of your mortal enemies and do not feel lesser for it. Someone gave me Babel when it came out but I haven’t felt compelled to read it.
I completely understand that sentiment. I am on HMS Surprise and am just loving the relationship between Jack and Stephen. O’Brian was such a great writer.
When I think about the books I'd bring to a desert island, I've come to the conclusion that it is length that counts, so I would cheat by counting series as one book. I would have my complete Shakespeare, In Search of Lost Time, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes and The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. Of course, then I'd change my mind the next day (but the Shakespeare and Proust would always remain).
I did pick up my complete works of Shakespeare but then I couldn't choose between Middlemarch and Anna Karenina. I think in reality I would have massive works too haha.
I loved hearing you talk about the 5 books you’d bring on an island because I haven’t read any of them so it’s making me look forward to them! I think most of them are on my greatest books of all time list that’s going to take me the next 100 years to finish, so hopefully I will get to them at some point 😂.The Flat Share sounds cute and The Meadowlands sounds right up my alley too. 😊 I didn’t really like Babel either as I felt the characters were flat or oddly held at a distance and I like good character exploration so that didn’t work for me. That’s the only one I’ve read by her and I was going to try The Poppy Wars at some point, but based on your thoughts, maybe not. “It’s horrendous.” 😂 Fun tag!
Now you are past Clarissa you will be wizzing through that list! You are bound to enjoy some of those desert island ones. I don't know why I didn't DNF The Poppy War because it's super long too, the very beginning was okay if you ignore all the terrible writing, and tiktok loves it so I gave it too much of a chance. I was reading the comments on the Babel readalong on discord and no one seemed to be liking it very much, but it still gets good ratings.
@@AaronReadABook I know, I don’t know how people gave Babel 5 stars. Maybe because we’re older with more lived experience and we need the depth of the characters to move us more in some way. If the author waited until she was in her 30s or 40s to write it maybe it would’ve been better!
This was a really good tag and reminded me that I want to read Meadowland. Haha Rebecca Kuang's Babel is brilliant, I loved it. I really liked the time travellers wife when I read it but that was probably about 15y ago. I also did like Addy La Rue too 🙊
Maybe you have a higher tolerance for everyone in the book being awful than I do. I think Kuang is objectively evil though and I will die on that hill.
c!assoc sci fi/fantasy usually gives me a bit of a sensible chuckle over how poor the characterization is, but there is still a lot of imagination there too draw me in. I guess it isn't too surprising a bunch of nerds struggle with understanding or relaying people. Woo for trying saffron, hope it turns/turned out worth the investment. Heh I do think both Kuang is talented and have pretty much 4 or 5 stared em all, but I can so understand not wanting to be with the characters if you need to get along with the person you follow in a book.
@@ReadBecca I think Kuang can write reasonably to some extent, but can't do plot or characters, or couldn't then. I hate the sound of all her other books too, they sound mean spirited. I guess all the books I dislike here are all kind of misery focused and I find that has to be very well done to work.
I saw a group on discord discussing it as a group read and everyone seemed to be hating it but then gave it quite good ratings. I have a sort of irrational hatred for her, all her book plots sound pretentious to me, and her interviews seem insufferable but I might be imaging it.
The imagery of teenagers running around yelling, “Five Stars!!” made my morning!
Meadowland sounds brilliant, right up my street. I must get a copy. I think I’d have to have Lord of the Rings on my island too. Great answers. Loved this video 😊
Yeah do give it a go! I think Lord of the rings would be on a lot of islands.
Great tag Aaron. I had to look up the longest books I’ve read and it’s A Little Life and Ducks, Newburyport. The first was time well spent and the second was punishment for something awful I did in another life! I haven’t read Middlemarch but it sounds like I’d really like it.
@@BookishAdventuresInWellbeing Ducks Newburyport sounds the worst to me, I hate all post modern gimmicks. A Little Life doesn't seem long at all. Middlemarch is a divider of people, it is a bit slow to get going.
I’m reading Patrick O’Brian slowly right now and your thumbnail delighted me! Really enjoyed your video. “A swimming pool of red flags.” I’ve avoided the books of your mortal enemies and do not feel lesser for it. Someone gave me Babel when it came out but I haven’t felt compelled to read it.
I'm going through them slowly too, I have read the first 13 now, I don't want them to end though so I'm rationing them! 😁
I completely understand that sentiment. I am on HMS Surprise and am just loving the relationship between Jack and Stephen. O’Brian was such a great writer.
@@jf8559 That's a great one too.
When I think about the books I'd bring to a desert island, I've come to the conclusion that it is length that counts, so I would cheat by counting series as one book. I would have my complete Shakespeare, In Search of Lost Time, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes and The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper.
Of course, then I'd change my mind the next day (but the Shakespeare and Proust would always remain).
I did pick up my complete works of Shakespeare but then I couldn't choose between Middlemarch and Anna Karenina. I think in reality I would have massive works too haha.
I loved hearing you talk about the 5 books you’d bring on an island because I haven’t read any of them so it’s making me look forward to them! I think most of them are on my greatest books of all time list that’s going to take me the next 100 years to finish, so hopefully I will get to them at some point 😂.The Flat Share sounds cute and The Meadowlands sounds right up my alley too. 😊 I didn’t really like Babel either as I felt the characters were flat or oddly held at a distance and I like good character exploration so that didn’t work for me. That’s the only one I’ve read by her and I was going to try The Poppy Wars at some point, but based on your thoughts, maybe not. “It’s horrendous.” 😂 Fun tag!
Now you are past Clarissa you will be wizzing through that list! You are bound to enjoy some of those desert island ones. I don't know why I didn't DNF The Poppy War because it's super long too, the very beginning was okay if you ignore all the terrible writing, and tiktok loves it so I gave it too much of a chance. I was reading the comments on the Babel readalong on discord and no one seemed to be liking it very much, but it still gets good ratings.
@@AaronReadABook I know, I don’t know how people gave Babel 5 stars. Maybe because we’re older with more lived experience and we need the depth of the characters to move us more in some way. If the author waited until she was in her 30s or 40s to write it maybe it would’ve been better!
@@bookstalgic Or she is evil. Which is my theory.
@@AaronReadABook 😆
This was a really good tag and reminded me that I want to read Meadowland.
Haha Rebecca Kuang's Babel is brilliant, I loved it. I really liked the time travellers wife when I read it but that was probably about 15y ago.
I also did like Addy La Rue too 🙊
Maybe you have a higher tolerance for everyone in the book being awful than I do. I think Kuang is objectively evil though and I will die on that hill.
@@AaronReadABook 😂😂😂😂
c!assoc sci fi/fantasy usually gives me a bit of a sensible chuckle over how poor the characterization is, but there is still a lot of imagination there too draw me in. I guess it isn't too surprising a bunch of nerds struggle with understanding or relaying people.
Woo for trying saffron, hope it turns/turned out worth the investment.
Heh I do think both Kuang is talented and have pretty much 4 or 5 stared em all, but I can so understand not wanting to be with the characters if you need to get along with the person you follow in a book.
@@ReadBecca I think Kuang can write reasonably to some extent, but can't do plot or characters, or couldn't then. I hate the sound of all her other books too, they sound mean spirited. I guess all the books I dislike here are all kind of misery focused and I find that has to be very well done to work.
I did not have anywhere near as good a time with Babel as all the rave reviews suggested I would. I don't fancy trying any more RF Kuang either!
I saw a group on discord discussing it as a group read and everyone seemed to be hating it but then gave it quite good ratings. I have a sort of irrational hatred for her, all her book plots sound pretentious to me, and her interviews seem insufferable but I might be imaging it.
@@AaronReadABook Some people are just bad masseurs. (They rub you the wrong way.)
I also really don’t like The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Good! I need more anti-Time Traveler's Wife allies.