You Don't Need To Read All The Classics - And New Book
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- Опубликовано: 19 июл 2019
- how to avoid the problem of "Double Think" in finding books you like. Also, an important announcement about the new book.
The Learned Disguise (My First Book)
www.amazon.com/Learned-Disgui...
This is So Good! A lesson I learned last summer is to not let my inner Literary Snob stop me from reading a book just because it's on a bestseller list. In Norway (where I'm from) there's this conviction that any book on the bestseller list is Bad Literature... But then I stumbled across "Where the Crawdads Sing", I was seriously intrigued by the summary, and so I caved in and started reading. Then I had to force myself to take breaks, because it was So Good (for me) that I dreaded being finished with it. I wanted to crawl into that book and live it. Hadn't had that experience in years. So: If something peaks your interest, don't dismiss it just because every "non-literary" casual reader happens to love it.
My co-worker recommended that book to me! Definitely going to read it now...
I read it ! A masterpiece. Felt like reading a long piece of poetry
By the way: same thing with music. I automatically hated EVERYTHING that played in the charts. I still dislike most of it, but some of the artists are popular because they’re, just that good
Reinforcing that point...how much prestigious music today started out in the whorehouse? Similarly, a lot of today's classics were at one point popular entertainment. But if you're reading Judith Krantz...
Niconoclastic Neoc yep, definitely. had to read him in norwegian class. him and ibsen.
Abandoning a book is not a failure. It's a favor to yourself in finding a better experience.
Well said
Thanks for this! I always have this fear of FOMO when I know I’m losing interest like what if it gets better? haha
@@user-ux7fq4ur6d My friend does this because to her, the ending is more important than anything else in the book. If that works for her, sure, but I'm not going to finish a book for a chance to get rewarded. More often that not, you are probably going to be disappointed.
thank you! i’ve always felt guilty about abandoning a book but if i don’t enjoy then what’s the point...?
No, I think it is a failure in many cases.
The whole point of reading a book is not finishing it, is taking something out of it
@Queen V thanks!
Sometimes you cannot do that until you finish it.
Teresa
Wise words indeed, however I know that some people (sometimes I do this) simply HAVE TO finish a book - whether they hate or love it.. I guess it’s totally a personal thing
Thanks, It feels like you've taken some burden out of my soul. If I read this comment when I was in university, I would've accomplished so much more... such as not finishing books
I'd say, sometimes, it's not even about taking something out of it. Rather, It could be about being taken away by it.
To quote Fran Lebowitz here, "A book is not supposed to be a mirror, it's supposed to be a door".
Sometimes we finish a book. Sometimes we don't. Other times we come back to a book left unfinished and start to see things left unseen the first time we picked it up. Sometimes we take something from a book. Sometimes we might not. Other times, it takes years to realise that we have, in fact, preserved the essence of a story we read years ago, in the core of our being, pulsating somewhere inside our chest on its own. Some books change us, some don't, while others, only eventually. A good book (for you) will.
But we read and it offers us a journey of a different leaf of a different branch of this tree called existence. And perhaps, that, is enough.
I am continually amazed at this Zoomer generation. At 62, I still have a lot to learn, and these are the minds I look to for inspiration and direction. Eighteen? Dear gawd. Perhaps there is hope for the future.
There’s definitely hope for the future, gen Z is full of many many extremely bright young minds, it’s actually quite impressive.
also remember that we are only able to figure these things out faster bc we choose to look back on what we can learn from the mistakes of older generations. So the generations that came before us has still played a role in our development and in that sense we are grateful for them as well. I guess the main difference is that we are more willing to seek those things out and learn from them.
Same age as you. Agree totally .
it took you 62 years to figure out you should read books you read?
books you like*
You're 18 years old? Well I'm in my 30s and I'm learning a good deal from you. Kudos.
I thought he was in his 20´s!!
@Kelly This video was posted a little over a year ago just to let you know*😂 so yes he’s about to be 20 tho
I'm 15 and I think that he's super mature for his age , I want to be this mature too!
@@The_Study_Bug same I am also 15
he's the same age as me but i feel like a 10 years old listening to a university professor
He makes me feel the same way but he's younger than me, by more than a decade.
Y O U ' R E 1 8 ? !
this guy is so underrated for his humor, guys. Does reading books make you more articulate?
Yes, I would say so; learning by imitation, I guess.
I would hope so
How would it not?
Yes. It expands your language skills and vocabulary.
Yes it actually does.
“You are your own champion of thought.” -R C Waldun
This video is perfect. "Pedestal mentality". When I was majoring in Literature, everyone kept talking about The Odyssey in such an elitist, academic, pedantic way that it was literally the last thing I wanted to read. One year after I graduated I decided to pick it up for myself and I loved it. When you peel off all that "snobbish" foolishness, and actually enjoy it and experience it for yourself, everything makes sense. You are allowed not to like classics, you are allowed to think Sophocles is boring. Do your thing, give every book a chance and be honest about what you like.
There is a time in your life when a book is right, and often we pick up a book we're "supposed" to read too early in our life and it becomes a chore. For example, when I finally read Moby Dick, I was stuck at home, recuperating from surgery. I couldn't do anything much except read. And so I began Melville's classic. And I got into it and really enjoyed it. I was ready. I was in my 30s at the time.
And then there are books you read twice at different ages and you take away completely different experiences. In college I read Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. Really liked it! Hesse was the man! I read all his books then. Now I'm 61 and a year or so ago I read Steppenwolf again. It was a completely different book for me, still great, but my perspective had greatly changed (it is after all about an older man facing questions about his life, questions I wasn't asking myself in my 20s, but was asking now). So I re-read Demian. Loved it in college. But reading now that I'm older, I thought, what a stupid and dull book. And then I re-read the Glass Bead Game. The first time I read it, I felt it was important, but didn't quite grasp it. But now that I'm 61, I found the story magnificent and so revealing, particularly about education forms, as you were alluding to in your video.
I ignore most book recommendations, although I make a lot of recommendations to others. Lately, I've been reading a lot of biographies, African American history and Asian history. I've paced myself with Nietzsche, and have enjoyed his material and perspective even though I think he was bat-shit crazy. Books are like music. What someone else likes, you may find irritating. What others view as hugely serious and meaningful, you might find comical.
But music and literature and art are the pillars of life.
Well said
When I was around 20 years old I made a list of about 100 or so classic books that I felt I had to read as soon as possible in order to put myself on the same footing as well-known academics whom I admired. I ended up not really absorbing much because I was always so frantic to move on to the next book. It's easy to become familiar with all the worlds famous paintings, because you can see them at a glance, but with literature it's just something that takes years.
I'm 18 years old and doing the same thing now lol
Yep, but I think the more you read the more experienced you become on picking up the important stuff.
It's clear that when I find something that bores me, I'll skim it through, but
if a book captures my attention, I'll devour it and slow down on the parts that I think are important to me (how do I know what paragraphs or quotes are important? I don't know, but I reflect on the passages that resonate with who I am and what I am living).
Also, I'd say, not every book we read has that life-changing thing that will blow up your life :/ so it's okay not to feel "smarter" or more """intellectually advanced" after a book
The best thing is to take notes of the book while reading it. Then revisit your notes and comment on your notes, to better understand it. Highlight lines of prose that really resonate with you, highlight key ideas from the texts. It makes it worth it as opposed to just reading it without note taking!
I have about 300 books I have on my list. Mostly classics in philosophy (east and west), literature, poetry
I was feeling guilty for not being intrigued about Ulysses, Edgar Allan Poe, War and Peace, Kurt Vonnegut and Virginia Woolf, among others, and this video as such was quite liberating for me. Best of luck with your writing projects.
@@actuallicensedteacher1846 Hey Teacher, I think most canons of literature are overrated, mainly dominated by patriarchy. I choose to chart out my own canon by being inclusive of authors considered to be a part of the marginal and regional literature whilst also following my interests. To each one his/her own 🤗
@@elroyrebello1712 who are some of those authors for you?
I feel so happy that this came up randomly on RUclips. This indeed was a eye opener man. Just found out how much clouded my mind was with the suggestions and the best books list of all time. Atlast understood the importance of finding our own taste in books. So clearly articulated. Thanks a lot.
I had an English teacher who adored talking about books, the same as me. One time I was talking to her about how I wanted to buy a classic--I don't know if it was "Jane Eyre" or "Huckleberry Finn," I can't recall--and she told me: "Why do you only read classics?" I told her that I liked reading classical literature, that there was something so intriguing and fascinating about them and their writers that always caught my eye. To that, she answered: "Reading only classics is such an elitist mentality. You need to read everything." Although I could understand her point of view, I simply couldn't believe she, of all people, would say that. I never told it to her then, but I wanted to tell her that she was wrong. There is no such thing as elitist literature. Never has been. Tell me, where's the elitism in reading "Huckleberry Finn," "Don Quixote," "War & Peace," "Jane Eyre," "One Hundred Years of Solitude," "Moby Dick," "Brave New World," "Beloved," etc. In all of the previously mentioned books, there is not a single drop of elitist mentality; on the contrary, these books attack the very idea of elitism. There is no such thing as elitist literature, there are only elitist people. The same people who flatter themselves on the idea of having read an "old book." In conclusion, it isn't bad to read a classic if you are looking for wisdom and guidance; however, it turns bad when you start boasting about having read a classic to make yourself seem superior to others.
she was right....she was not wrong, you need to read everything, you are missing out on future classics, and also new genres. or even history
@@runthomas people should read whatever they like.
I’d say she was right and wrong. Wrong to fraze it like that but right to try to encourage you to read various things. I wouldn’t say that classics are elitist but people reading them might look elitist to others that don’t read at all or are reading other genres.
Trying different genres is a good thing tho. It’ll broaden your horizons and maybe you’ll find books that you might love but wouldn’t go for normally.
@@runthomas nah people need to read what they want to read
What she probably meant is that, by “reading anything” you may develop unique and individual insights that might be lost in a classical education. I happen to believe that those unique insights are achievable also by reading classics alone with a critical eye. Classics are such for a reason. They weren’t all hits in their day, but they stood the test of time because they excelled either at capturing some truth either about the human condition or about a past society.
No one person has ever read the same book, and no one person can read the same book, twice. The experience of absorbing and experiencing a book is unique to who the reader is at that point in time when they read a book. So read what you like, and if it’s a classic, you’re probably in for an excellent journey.
I found your youtube channel yesterday and the more videos I see, the more I begin to have a hunger for literature. During this period I have a lot to read for college and I can say that you made my days easier and more pleasant so thank you.
Elitism is a human but completely ridiculous concept/practice.
I am severely dyslexic and when the school system destroyed my self-worth and left me to drown because I couldn't read all this WWII books they tossed at us kids, and ridiculed me when I took to fantasy books. I found self fulfillment and joy in these worlds and bit by bit I tampered my disability on my own. I became a reader in spite of elitism beating me over the head every day. Fantasy opened the door to other books that I wouldn't have had the skills for. This is not to say fantasy is 'easy/simple to read, just that it enticed me to keep trying and work through my dyslexia. If they want to tell me that 'fantasy is basic/not real literature' they can eat my hairy ass.
But with all that said, I'm looking to expand my reading and I'm completely open to suggestions and putting in the time and effort to give that book a try. The key word here being 'suggest', not 'must'. I'm far too old and done with that whole superiority complex for any art form.
I’m really looking forward to watching you grow . I discovered your channel 3 days ago and have been watching your videos nonstop. I’m a freshman in high school haha. You’re actually the most intellectual and intelligent person I’ve ever come across on here. Btw We’re reading the odyssey in my English class !
Wish I found your channel a year or two ago
Your advice about going for the most impactful book resonated a lot with me, I'm reading Carl Jung now and it's wonderful.
I’m a middle aged high school English teacher, and I love your videos! You are so inspiring and wise. 🌸
I really love classics and want to read as much as I can. I just finished Jude the Obscure last night and now I'm starting Tess of the D'urbervilles and annotating while reading makes me feel like my book and I are spiritually connected.
I am consuming your videos like a tv series and I love it. This is such an inspiring content! I'm just 16 and I'm learning a lot, thank you for doing this!
You have a really captivating way of speaking, I like your videos. In my opinion, the books we don't enjoy are as important as the ones we love: they help us define our tastes and understand why we like what we like.
This popped up on my recommendations and I'm so glad I clicked. It's almost midnight, I could feel insomnia coming in, and now his voice has calmed and motivated me to go grab a book.
This is really refreshing. Most of book tube I've seen always recommend must read books and it's quite frustrating. This is my first time on this channel and I'm intrigued to see more. :)
Have a nice day. 🍀
This is fascinating. The tangents are so insightful? and it was all in one take if im not mistaken, it feels more like a class or lecture (in a good way!) and watching the thought processes as they come to you and watching as you explain them in depth is so cool! excellent job
I can’t imagine being this articulate and thoughtful as an 18 year old, I don’t want this to come off as patronizing kudos to you man I hope you realize it
Thank you, youtube, for recommending me this guy.
I found your account recently and I really enjoy listening to you. ☺️
I agree that we shouldn’t beat ourselves up for not finishing books and shouldn’t reach for volumes just because they’re ‘classics’. I gave up on Ulisses after about 60 pages (I was reading it in English which is not my first language so the struggle was real 😅) and felt a bit guilty. However, it was pointless to read for the sake of reading without enjoying it.
There are so many books out there that everyone can find something for themselves. And it doesn’t have to be lengthy, daunting classic! 😊
thank you. you are changing my life with every single video. i owe you.
I'd never thought of book recommendations that way. Really intriguing!
Please never stop making your videos.
I really live your videos !!
You see, I love history. I absolutely love history and have always had this longing to go back in time somehow.With this in mind, I actually really love Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, The Brontë Sisters, Thomas Hardy, etc. I love their books. They are my little time machine, and they take me right into the times and places that I’ve always dreamed of seeing and experiencing.
When I was in High School I made the mistake you spoke about and tried to get into books like Brave New World, 1984, and even fantasy books like The Hobbit just because of the bragging rights. I found myself avoiding my books. I really didn’t enjoy reading them, and I felt this heaviness every time I read them that made me almost sick to my stomach. They bored me, but I still felt this bizarre need to pretend to love them.
Then one day what you just spoke about occurred to me. I wanted to read for me. I wanted to read because I enjoyed the world the books I read took me to and not because I was trying to get through someone else’s “must read” list.
Ever since that day I’ve never picked up a book that didn’t draw me in or excite me, and it has allowed me to never feel that my love for reading gets old or passes away.
It’s also taken me to other kinds of reading material that I never thought I would like, but really, really enjoy.
Reading should be the most enjoyable form of learning, and if it feels like a chore, it won’t do you any good.
18 yo???? God i feel old (she said, 24 years of age herself)
i'm 17 and when he said he was 18, my jaw dropped. i thought he would be in his twenties.
@@sami6998 its the glasses and the sweaters, I'm telling ya ( and like, you know, the INTELLIGENCE)
34 over here and learning so much from these young'uns :)
No shame in that. I was unlucky not to be exposed on such learning materials when I was young. In fact, I was way behind my peers who are scholars way before kindergaden. Sometimes, I feel dumb conversing with them but that doesnt stop me from trying since I am more in control compared when I was a child.
She's 24???? God I feel horny (he said, 69 years of age himself)
You're so introspective and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness here! New sub
Man that was a table full good advice, I'm catching up on my reading, can't wait for your book to come out. I'll be on the look out.
you were brutally honest and i respect your advice. thank you so much.
I can’t thank you enough for this video. I’ve always felt like there was something wrong with me because I don’t really like classics although I’m still trying to discover more classic books (after all, I might find a book or an author whose work I really enjoy). I feel like these books are always placed on a pedestal-the best books in literature, the smart books, the ones that just make me feel dumb because I sometimes have no clue what’s going on in the story due to the way the book was written and the difficult language. I mean, I still have to read classics because I’m taking a Literature class and our teacher always emphasizes the importance of ‘wider reading’, but I’m going to focus on finding books I actually enjoy to read in my spare time, regardless of whether or not they’re considered ‘smart books’. Anyways, sorry about my long ramble of a comment. I’m really enjoying your videos and I’m looking forward to watching your future content!
thank you for your channel. you are verbalising the ideas i have been unable to.
I kind of new to this channel and I find value in every video I've watched here. I wanted to start reading back in 2021 during the pandemic and I kept doing it wrong all the way until I saw this video.
From now on I'll stop listening to book suggestions and try to figure out what really interests me.
Thank you for this video 👍
Wonderful! So right about the snobbery mindset.
Recently came across your channel, and I've got to say I've never been across such person who advised to develop one's own taste.
Happily subscribed. Cheers!
Your channel is like simultaneously aesthetically pleasing but also genuinely interesting
just, everything you said in this. all of it. as someone who loves to read, who works in a bookstore and plans to open one someday, it can be so difficult to not just let other people decide your favorites for you. i am a slow reader. i give up on books easily and it takes me forever to get through them, even when i love them. this is very reassuring to hear from someone else - the book reading community CAN get snobby. easily. it’s exhausting.
THIS..... This is what I needed to hear. Glad I'm here♥
Amen and amen to your recommendation to read slowly. The worst decision I ever made was to take speed reading when I was 12. I've been paying for it ever since.
I so agree with you on not forcing yourself to read a classic when it just isn't saying anything to you. I got stuck on "The Iliad" that same way. I kept with it just long enough to remember the basic style and plot in case my tastes changed and it could jog my memory to come back to it later. But life is too short to read all the wonderful literature that is out there anyway, so why bother with something you don't like.
As for "Fahrenheit 451" - true love!❤
@Niconoclastic Neoc That really was good, wasn't it? I really enjoyed it and have felt horrible that I never was able to read the companion book. Maybe I will make another effort to get back to it now that you've given me your opinion of it.
@Niconoclastic Neoc I never finished the Iliad, but enjoyed the Odyssey that you liked. Maybe I should give the Iliad another try. I'm up too late to make sense, so probably misspelled everything.😊
you open up my mind to so many new perspectives, wow.
wow i played this video and tabbed out at first because i thought it was an ad, i literally thought his voice was the dude you hear in ads!! im sorry this is my first vid, i just wanna know does he have a podcast? because I could listen to him all day. He is very articulate and has a soothing voice, it really shows that he reads a lot of books with the way he explains trivial things by adding a mini story within a story with some hints of analogies. R.C. Waldun, you got yourself a new subscriber (and your first follower if ever you start a podcast).
Loved your sense of humor and ideas 💡
Just discovered your channel.
I just love you for the first time i see you. This is my first time discovering your channel . I really like it and i wish you all the best
1984 is amazing! I like what you say about finding your own tribe of writers. Thanks for the insights.
this was a brilliant argument and true.! so great!!
You make some really great points in this video. I was not a big reader in the past. Even today I can't really name any books I've truly spent the time reading except for one. Everything I've read was recommended to me by a teacher or someone notable. I wanted to be smart or cool like them so I tried to read all of those things that they recommended, but I could never remember what I read after finishing the book. I took nothing from it and it didn't impact me in any way except it made me feel like reading was a chore. Yeah, I felt like I could brag about reading it. But thank god I never did. I was more afraid of being embarrassed to start a conversation about something I had no input on. One day I decided I would give reading a shot again. I took a recommendation again, but this time from someone I looked up to. I started it 4 months ago, and I'm still reading it. But each time I pick the book up again, I'm actually absorbing most of the content. Each time I put the book down, I look forward to the next time I will pick the book up again. I guess I got lucky with that one. I feel like reading more, but only after I finish this one. Give me another 4 months. Love your content by the way!! I'm new here, but I find that your wise words mixed with the style of your videos makes for a great watching experience~
This video puts into words what I've just experienced. I have been trying to get into classics, with little success. Then I picked up Crime and Punishment and loved it! Afterwards, I heard Master and Margarita was great, and it was also a Russian classic, so I picked it up. I'm currently 80% through and having no fun. It feels like a chore to read right now. But I told myself I would finish it because of the great reviews.
Classics are like everything else; you need to find something that appeals to your taste. I love "Crime and Punishment", too, and then moved onto Gogol with "Dead Souls" and Turgenev with "Fathers and Sons". These are three very different books in different genres (though all Russian), but they all appealed to me. On the other hand, Tolstoy writes about things that interest me most of the time, but I could never get into his work. Like Melville with "Moby Dick", his writing is excellent, but the frequent 20-page tangents make it hard to stay invested in the story.
I am 60 years old, graduated in german Literature and I have read The illiad, paradise Lost, Moby Dick, in my thirties...it was a torture and I feel not ashamed to say that.They are great books, just not for me. Many other classics gave me tough the feeling of opening the door to a new world. Thank you for making possible for me to learn so much from an young person.
Finally, a book guy on RUclips who isn't pushing his opinions or saying stuff like "you have the right to think that, but you're still wrong". Thanks man, was looking for channel like this! Thank you! (I think I said "thank you" one time to much)
Often value of classics not only in the book itself, but in the fact that it is probably referenced in many-many other literary (and other) works. Even if you didn't enjoy that book itself, you will have the ability to see the references and understand them. And there are a lot more of them, than you think.
18 y o for bloody hell u r amazing like i am literally getting alot of information from u and I am 23 well I think there's a hope in the next generation
I only discovered this young guy today. I think he is a bloody superstar. The kind of English teacher we all needed in Year 12 maybe or 1st year of University.
What he is saying is so true for me. We need to get past snobbery. It's like the first step. Choose books we like. Don't read books as if they are bitter medicine.
Reading is as you say about EXPOSURE to different styles, genres and forms of writing. Being open to try is the main thing. And sampling or having "appetizers" from different authors gives the reader a broader base of learning. If I start a bk I will FINISH. No matter how much I suffer. Lol. I call it "slugging". I may DNFY (yet) but I will finish. But that's just me. I don't like admitting defeat. I was SUPPOSED to read "Moby Dick" in school- but didn't. I used Cliff notes. And had seen the movie. Recently a friend suggested I go back & try again. He loved it! And I hope to get to it this year, though I doubt I will like it any better. But- I love reading so much that I never stop the quest for the next great 📚! LUV YR CHANNEL. ❤️
When he said "do I give a damn about Trojan war" n I was reminded of the time when I read Gone with the wind n everybody around me loved it n I was like " Civil war isn't something I am interested in reading".Judge me all you want. But I felt that.
Also. I love your content, been binge watching since I found you. Its such a breath of fresh air:)
You are right !!!. Neither did I like Dubliners. I read it because it was a recommendation. 🤷
Love your videos.
I agree with your thoughts and perspective. 👍🏻
Great video. I couldn't agree more with your opinion, a person just accept a book as being "good" just because some other people said they like it doesn't make any sense. Everyone should build their on preferences, and be honest about it. I also love the classics like the 1984 by Orwell or The Lusiads by Camões (ins't a classic in the Anglosphere but here on the Lusosphere is indeed a classic). Of course, it's always great to have at least a clue about the classics, to better know how our cultures, languages, and societies changed through time and influences but isn't actually mandatory. Keep with the good work my man
Different books, different people.
don't conform to what's "popular/renowned/etc." You can try it out, like trying out exquisite food; if you don't like them, don't force reading down your throat. Because at the end of the day, the books you remember are the ones that you remember and had a thrill out of them.
This! I do love the classics, but I recently tried to read Great Expectations (I know you loved it) and it put me in such a bad mood because I didn't enjoy reading it. When I finally realized I was just trying to get through it, maybe to brag about it, I decided to stop reading - and what a weight off my shoulders that was! Later that year I read A Christmas Carol and really enjoyed it, so I haven't given up Dickens yet. Anyway, I find it very freeing to be able to stop reading books and go on to something enjoyable.
Another thing I've realized is to read a few reviews on Goodreads if I'm not sure whether I should try to read a book. Like, Clarissa has a low rating, but when I read the reviews I realized that the things people dislike about it, might be things that I enjoy myself.
“You are your own champion of thought!” When can we get the T-shirt? Excellent channel! Just subscribed.
Wow. This inspired me. Thank you.
Thanks for this! Exactly what im feeling right now, im new to reading still finding my taste but have read many recommendations until i decided not to read cuz everybody says it sucks.
Nice advice! Thank you!
I quite like the point of this video. Even different authors have different favorites from the Canon, and have certain styles they gravitate to. My only objection is with the Iliad and the Odyssey. It seems silly to object only on the subject of those two, but they are so foundational to Western literature that they are alluded to over and over again, and have shaped our entire literary culture.
I had to give this long talk to my friends after they saw me rate "classics" like "the catcher in the rye" 2 stars on goodreads . I kept explaining that not all of us have the same taste or will finish a book with the same lessons learned . I had the Illiad on a shelf for 3 years now because the language is too complicated and that is FINE !
From now on i'll just send them the link of this vid 🤣 THANK YOU ❤
this video reminded me of a quote from one of my favorite books, the starless sea by erin morgenstern: "Not all stories speak to all listeners, but all listeners can find a story that does, somewhere, sometime. In one form or another."
Outstanding video. I've been thinking of the same problem for a long. I have the theory that the double thinking kicks in because of our need to belong, in this case, to some sort of imaginary "well read" community of readers. I tried Odyssey twice and just couldn't with it. I left Jane Austen's Persuasion in the middle because altough I was in with the story, I wasn't just engaged with the style. I loved Anna Karenina 1984. Thanks for putting into words many ideas some of us have.
I’m glad someone has finally discussed this! I went far too long feeling guilty for not reading all the classics. On a separate note, I really like that sweater that you’re wearing in this video. Where can I find a similar one?
this guy should make a podcast
I've been following you since last year and i just realized that we have the same age. I really enjoy your videos, you're like my dream friend i can never have 😂
As a University English Literature student (whatever that really means) I can say the world, indeed the world of literature, needs your mind. Your pure love of literature and Literature with a capital 'L' is really inspiring to me. Not enough people read and those that do are the people you get on Social Media who post about the list of books they've been reading and how its dramatically changed their lives or their perspective, while this could be true of some, it's usually, as you say, just so they can brag. There's a certain prestige associated with reading capital 'L' Literature that I think does more harm than good. People allow themselves to be defined by what people believe a good Literature student, or reader in general, to be. This pressure or expectation is completely damaging. It takes away from the wealth of pleasure you can get from reading a book for the simple pleasure of reading or the lift you get when you connect with an author or their characters. You illustrate this issue beautifully and I'm glad you have brought it to light.
Greetings, I recently subscribed to your channel and I thoroughly enjoy your content. I don't want to 'recommend' a book but I have to suggest We by Zamyatin (1924) due to your love for dystopian. I look forward to your coming videos 🙏🏽
I just discovered you, R.C, and appreciate your views.
I'm an old man who enjoys RUclips because there's so much good stuff, I find.
You mentioned your fondness for dystopian lit. and keen desire to write- Bravo, young man. I wish you well R. C.
Curious if you have read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley?
And if you're aware of a debate on IQ Squared between Will Self v. Adam Gopnik (Brave New World v. 1984)
Thanks very much for your thoughts and your love of learning.
Wishing you good fortune,
Mike Misch
Brilliant. I really liked your video🪴
Thank you so much for this
I love this, I always get odd looks when I say I dislike Fahrenheit 451 and Paradise lost. Those particular classics aren’t my favorite, but I love Homers works and I loved of mice and men. I like seeing when people accept that others can have diverse reading perspectives.
Your local library is your best friend people... So many books you can try out for free and if you don't like em you just take em back and get another one! A great place to discover your own taste in books.
This is sooooo true!! This also goes for movies, series, games and practically any form of art. I see a lot of people committing to a classic and obviously not liking it, but still saying it's fantastic because they want to seem cultured or for whatever reasons. People also say the same things about classics or even mainstream stories that they haven't even read/watched/played, just because of the reputation of that story. Basically, read what you want to read and don't feel ashamed by it. Don't get the impression that you have to read something.
Bahaha. A lot of your videos feel like you talking to your past self. And omg. Second book! Hell yeah!
Studying literature at university changed my perspectives on classics, because I soon discovered there were classics I loved (Iliad/Odyssey, Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, Heart of Darkness, Richard III) and then classics that bored me to tears (Romeo+Juliet, Great Expectations, Mill on the Floss - ESPECIALLY Mill on the Floss). And writing on the classics that didn't interest me at all I found to be more laborious - the solution was to be honest about my opinions on them in my writing, and then the product came across as more convicted and authentic. I've learned to judge a 'classic' in much the same way as I would anything else, and not to be embarrassed if I think it's dull.
Sometimes reading is hard and you have to push yourself, but you make a good point. I think it is about the motive, are you reading for completion or bragging rights then stop, but if you are reading to be apart of the great conversation than continue reading even if it is hard.
You make some brilliant points for such a young guy.
Him: “I loVe Walden but it’s a long and dry book about a guy who lives in the woods”
Me: glances nervously at Walden sitting on my desk
I'm reading my first paperback book, "The Power of Habits" by Charles Duhigg. I love paperback and psychology books like this.
You're so adorable! I'm late to your channel, but I really enjoyed this video. I try not to GAF about books that aren't enjoyable to read (especially if i'm reading it through critical writer lens). Also, I feel that books are like people; sometimes you're just not ready to experience a book in that moment.
"I don't like Science Fiction"...says he loved 1984 and Fahrenheit (two Science fiction novels) in the very next sentence... ;-D But seriously, this is a wonderful video, thank you. ❤
I was thinking the same thing. I wonder what other science fiction he has tried to read, I have a feeling he might enjoy the Foundation Trilogy.
these are anticipation novels, a particular kind of scifi, it's not space opera or alien nd robots like some people might think scifi is about. It's more relatable to reality and i think it's the reason this particular genre sticks to non scifi lovers.
@@blendermen1070 It's a huge subgenre of SF. It's okay to just correctly say "I really like this SF subgenre, but not necessarily all the other subgenres, instead of arbitrarily claiming that all the SF you like cannot be SF because you're not the kind of person who likes SF.The latter is just a dick move trying to put down geeks. Near-future, dystopian and alt-history SF has always been a large part of the genre, published in its anthologies, and condemned by mainstream literary types for decades. Now suddenly those same guys are claiming these for themselves, while still maintaining their "better than you" attitudes by simply re-defining them to no longer be SF, even though they were published as such, won SF awards, etc. So tired of this attitude.
Those booths are more dystopian in nature, however with sci-fi elements. I think most likely what he is referring to is hard science fiction, much I the realm of Orson Card or Philip K. Dick. Although ironically those authors also have dystopian elements in their work as well lol.
SUN WARRIOR Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep and Ubik by Philip K Dick is so good
i really like this video. i can apply it to any media i consume. be it eastern or western animation, books, music, theatrical pieces, movies and series. in the end if i don't enjoy something, i'll drop it. maybe i'll come back to it later. but i won't force myself to consume something i don't enjoy
The hidden gem of RUclips!
Your voice is so soothing
I will be reading your book when it comes out
That is super nice video, thank you!
But at the same time without recommendations how do we know what to pick? There are so many books and not so much time. I think you should give it a taste (in that imaginary buffet)...and see what suits your current mood, setting, need etc.
Also great advice to try the same book several years later.
All that said I remember when I was reading Kafka's Process and suffering through it, thinking to quit...but then there was that chapter in the church, I think, which changed my perception of the whole book. Suddenly all that suffering was worth it. Therefore on some occasions you have to continue :)
per aspera ad astra
For me it's Beckett, Dostoyevsky, Proust, and a few years ago I binged and loved Woolf. And a lot of drama. It's so true, if you don't love it, you don't have to bother.
I've been reading crime and punishment, It's really good.
I love Woolf as a person, but I’ve been struggling to read her, as I’m only now getting into classics and sheMs incredibly complex. I read The Lady in the Looking Glass for school and I feel analyzing her in class has helped me understand her writing better, and I could actually understand Mrs. Dalloway this tima around and not put it down. Do you have any tips for reading Woolf? Thanks :)
im really proud to find this yt channels in english about books...