Dinosaurs was such a pleasant surprise!! It's so down-to-earth, and despite not being plot-heavy, it was impossible to put down. Reading it felt like people-watching at the park. It also could NOT be further away in tone and subject from her previous novel A Children's Bible haha
Yeah I totally agree - I just wanted to spend time with the characters. Absolutely adored them all, flaws included. Thank you for the heads up on A Children's Bible. I have added to my personal wishlist and I was kind of expecting more of the same 😅
I read The Fraud, which was my first time reading any Zadie Smith. I loved it, but I have to agree with you about the structure. I had no clue what was going on for the first 100 pages, but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did. Congratulations on your one year anniversary.
It's so disorienting! I would have preferred just two timelines each told in chronological order. When we'd jump to 18-something-something I found myself flipping back to the last 3, 4, 5 chapters to see what order things were happening in, because it felt like it mattered 🥲 Glad you enjoyed your first experience of Zadie though, and thanks for the congrats!
I didn’t realize that you were a uTube youngster. I feel that we have been discussing books for much longer than that. Keep up the great work encouraging all to read, and recommending such interesting books.
Congrats on surpassing the one year mark! 🥳 I hope you celebrated somehow bc that’s really sth to be proud of! I am so looking forward to reading Between Dog and Wolf, it sounds like such an interesting read.
Thank you so much! Haha I didn't do any particular celebration, but I am proud to have made it. I expected to make 2 or 3 videos and then let it slowly die away. But I'm still here! It was a really interesting (but at times gut-wrenching) read. The Indigo Press are really giving us hit after hit lately.
@@benreadsgoodit’s a big achievement! 👏🏼 Oh, I can imagine - coming up with video ideas is no joke, honestly. That’s part of the well-deserved praise to keep that part up as well! And yes absolutely, I’m sure the book packs an emotional punch in more ways than one. When it’s done well, wow, what an experience it is
Hi Ben. A great reading month! 📚 I am very much looking forward to reading The Fraud. Although I am going to wait until it comes out in paperback....as I'm a cheapskate 😅 I read some interesting things in October: The Best of Friends by Kamilla Shamsie ...which was a bit of a disappointment after her previous book Home Fire ( which won the womans prize a few years ago)... Prophet Song....which I adored!!! The Blind Mans Garden by Nadim Aslam...which I also loved but broke my heart...as it should ( It is about Pakistan/Afghanistan after 9/11).. and lastly The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker, which is kind of a historical/ fantastical/ fairytale-esque story and it was magnificent...one of my favourite books of the year! ❤ I also had a fantastic reading month !
Ha that is totally understandable - hardback prices these days are getting crazy. I'm seeing more and more that are £20, £22 or even £25! Thanks for sharing your reading, wonderful to hear you had a great reading month. Glad you enjoyed Prophet Song, and you've given me a reminder that I really need to read Home Fire.
Love your balanced book reviews Ben. I listen to them over the weekend as your voice & reflection views are so relaxing. Have shared your instagram, so others can follow up to.
I like short chapters but not like 2-3 pages. I think 10 pages is a good “short” chapter length, anything less than that it is irritating 😂 I have reserved the audio of The Fraud from my library so hopefully that will make it slightly more digestible. Great to hear your thoughts as always.
Definitely agree! I like a short chapter and I think 10-20 pages is the sweet spot. It's too hard to get immersed otherwise, although there are exceptions (I loved All the Light We Cannot See and that had *very* short chapters).
That Stack up intro was satisfying AF…. And whoaaaaa it’s been a year already?! - that flew by, though in my 📕 💚 you feel like an OG staple I’ve been watching for much longer . 📚🪱💚
finally! thank you for your thoughts on Blackouts. the prose was a bit hard to get into at first, and with the many references, it was hard to connect to. but when i finished it, it was a book i couldn't stop thinking about, and i realized it's importance through its structure and matter that made me rethink my rating for it but also how close it feels like a stury spine to the queer experience.
Sounds like we had exactly the same reading experience! It definitely lingered with me afterwards and rose in my estimations. It’s so clever (much cleverer than me… all those references like you say) but has so much to say, and says it so damn elegantly.
Just read Killers of the Flower Moon before seeing the movie - mixed feelings on both. Now reading Autumn by Ali Smith - enjoying it. Love your reviews - congrats on your success!
That's interesting - I've actually just nabbed a copy of the book as I'm thinking about doing a bit of an 'Oscars readalong' early next year. So many great books have been adapted in this year's race for the awards. Thanks so much for your support!
I did do some specifically Halloween creepy reading in October with HOLLY- Stephen King, THE NIGHT HOUSE- Jo Nesbo, SILVER NITRATE- Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW- Stephen Graham Jones. The best book I read in the month though was the non-horror THE COLONY by Audrey Magee.
That sounds like a lot of fun - love a seasonal read, just didn't get to it this year! Heard such great things about The Colony, so glad to hear you enjoyed it. Will definitely need to read it soon.
A couple of my favourite reads in October were Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson very different reads but I throughly enjoyed them both.
I also found the jumping around between timelines in The Fraud a bit off putting. Otherwise it was quite fun. I saw an interview with Zadie Smith where she said that she tried to emulate the serialisation process that writers like Dickens had to write to, so she gave herself two week deadlines to write an 'episode' which she then gave to a couple of readers to see if it held together in that way. Perhaps that partly explains the short chapters. Congrats on the year anniversary.
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one, and thanks for sharing that tidbit. I can see the intent there, but actually serialised Victorian novels don’t even have chapters *that* short. Or did they?! 😅 Either way it sadly just took away from the novel quite a bit.
The Fraud is still on my ever-growing list, as is Blackouts. I'm still chugging through Demon Copperhead, which I'm enjoying but work is so crazy right now I'm not reading as long as I'd like at night. But I love the voice she created for Demon. I feel like I'm in Appalachia among these characters, and that's not an easy reading experience to create. There's so much good stuff out this month - I'm excited about The Glutton by AK Blakemore, The Liberators by E.J. Koh and Same Bed, Different Dreams by Edward Park. And the new Naomi Alderman, too, which I should get Tuesday. Anyway - The Fraud: I think what excites me most about it is the fact that it was described as a skewering of Trumpism and maybe some UK politics too. But now that I woke up this morning and read that Trump, twice impeached and 4 times indicted, is leading Biden in several key states, I'm not sure my nerves can take it. It might be reality soon enough.
Yes! The voice in Demon really made it for me. He’s such an entertaining character and I felt so much empathy with him. Such impressive writing from Kingsolver. I did get some of those undertones from The Fraud, but I didn’t think it particularly skewered Trumpism. There is a poem used as an epigraph for a chapter that releases ‘like a trump’, which must have been put in knowingly, but I think the book was very sympathetic to those movements more than it was critical.
I made it just over halfway through The Fraud before dnfing. I was just too confused. I felt like it was probably a good book but just a bit out of reach for me.
I spent ages making sure the books were in focus in that opening shot, and yet in the final export… thanks cinematic mode 🫠
Dinosaurs was such a pleasant surprise!! It's so down-to-earth, and despite not being plot-heavy, it was impossible to put down. Reading it felt like people-watching at the park.
It also could NOT be further away in tone and subject from her previous novel A Children's Bible haha
Yeah I totally agree - I just wanted to spend time with the characters. Absolutely adored them all, flaws included.
Thank you for the heads up on A Children's Bible. I have added to my personal wishlist and I was kind of expecting more of the same 😅
Thank you for being on RUclips. I love your videos, your voice, your accent and your views.
Thank you so much for watching! ❤️
This is the best review of The Fraud that I've heard or read. Thank you
Thank you for watching - glad you liked it! It was a tricky book to get my head around.
I read The Fraud, which was my first time reading any Zadie Smith. I loved it, but I have to agree with you about the structure. I had no clue what was going on for the first 100 pages, but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did. Congratulations on your one year anniversary.
It's so disorienting! I would have preferred just two timelines each told in chronological order. When we'd jump to 18-something-something I found myself flipping back to the last 3, 4, 5 chapters to see what order things were happening in, because it felt like it mattered 🥲
Glad you enjoyed your first experience of Zadie though, and thanks for the congrats!
I didn’t realize that you were a uTube youngster. I feel that we have been discussing books for much longer than that. Keep up the great work encouraging all to read, and recommending such interesting books.
Thanks so much! 🙌
Perhaps I'm about to enter my rebellious teenage years (in BookTube terms) and I'll start trashing some faves 😂
Forgot to add Happy Booktube-versary. Very pleased you joined our little community. 🤩
Thank you for having me!!! 🙌
Great content.
The Bee Sting. 5 star read . I'm scarred. For life.
Glad you enjoyed it, although not necessarily that you feel scarred! It was quite some ending 😨
Congrats on surpassing the one year mark! 🥳 I hope you celebrated somehow bc that’s really sth to be proud of!
I am so looking forward to reading Between Dog and Wolf, it sounds like such an interesting read.
Thank you so much! Haha I didn't do any particular celebration, but I am proud to have made it. I expected to make 2 or 3 videos and then let it slowly die away. But I'm still here!
It was a really interesting (but at times gut-wrenching) read. The Indigo Press are really giving us hit after hit lately.
@@benreadsgoodit’s a big achievement! 👏🏼 Oh, I can imagine - coming up with video ideas is no joke, honestly. That’s part of the well-deserved praise to keep that part up as well!
And yes absolutely, I’m sure the book packs an emotional punch in more ways than one. When it’s done well, wow, what an experience it is
Hi Ben. A great reading month! 📚
I am very much looking forward to reading The Fraud. Although I am going to wait until it comes out in paperback....as I'm a cheapskate 😅
I read some interesting things in October:
The Best of Friends by Kamilla Shamsie ...which was a bit of a disappointment after her previous book Home Fire ( which won the womans prize a few years ago)...
Prophet Song....which I adored!!!
The Blind Mans Garden by Nadim Aslam...which I also loved but broke my heart...as it should ( It is about Pakistan/Afghanistan after 9/11)..
and lastly The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker, which is kind of a historical/ fantastical/ fairytale-esque story and it was magnificent...one of my favourite books of the year! ❤ I also had a fantastic reading month !
Ha that is totally understandable - hardback prices these days are getting crazy. I'm seeing more and more that are £20, £22 or even £25!
Thanks for sharing your reading, wonderful to hear you had a great reading month. Glad you enjoyed Prophet Song, and you've given me a reminder that I really need to read Home Fire.
Love your balanced book reviews Ben. I listen to them over the weekend as your voice & reflection views are so relaxing. Have shared your instagram, so others can follow up to.
Thanks so much for the kind words! Really appreciate it 🙏
I like short chapters but not like 2-3 pages. I think 10 pages is a good “short” chapter length, anything less than that it is irritating 😂 I have reserved the audio of The Fraud from my library so hopefully that will make it slightly more digestible. Great to hear your thoughts as always.
Definitely agree! I like a short chapter and I think 10-20 pages is the sweet spot. It's too hard to get immersed otherwise, although there are exceptions (I loved All the Light We Cannot See and that had *very* short chapters).
Hi. I just discovered you. I appreciate your discussions and honest reviews. Thank you 😊
Thank you so much for watching, and for the kind words. Great to have you here! 🙌
That Stack up intro was satisfying AF…. And whoaaaaa it’s been a year already?! - that flew by, though in my 📕 💚 you feel like an OG staple I’ve been watching for much longer . 📚🪱💚
It would have been more satisfying if the focus worked correctly 😭😂
finally! thank you for your thoughts on Blackouts. the prose was a bit hard to get into at first, and with the many references, it was hard to connect to. but when i finished it, it was a book i couldn't stop thinking about, and i realized it's importance through its structure and matter that made me rethink my rating for it but also how close it feels like a stury spine to the queer experience.
Sounds like we had exactly the same reading experience! It definitely lingered with me afterwards and rose in my estimations. It’s so clever (much cleverer than me… all those references like you say) but has so much to say, and says it so damn elegantly.
Love the Blackouts cover. 😍
Great, isn’t it! I couldn’t resist using it as inspiration for this vid’s thumbnail 😅
Just read Killers of the Flower Moon before seeing the movie - mixed feelings on both. Now reading Autumn by Ali Smith - enjoying it. Love your reviews - congrats on your success!
That's interesting - I've actually just nabbed a copy of the book as I'm thinking about doing a bit of an 'Oscars readalong' early next year. So many great books have been adapted in this year's race for the awards.
Thanks so much for your support!
I did do some specifically Halloween creepy reading in October with HOLLY- Stephen King, THE NIGHT HOUSE- Jo Nesbo, SILVER NITRATE- Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW- Stephen Graham Jones. The best book I read in the month though was the non-horror THE COLONY by Audrey Magee.
That sounds like a lot of fun - love a seasonal read, just didn't get to it this year!
Heard such great things about The Colony, so glad to hear you enjoyed it. Will definitely need to read it soon.
It does seem like longer than a year. ⏳🏖🌦⛄📚📆🍃 Congrats! 🍾🎉🔛
Thanks so much! Really appreciated your support 🙏
this channel is really fuelling my book addiction
I apologise!!!
I loved, loved, loved Blackouts
It’s so good! I wasn’t sure how much I’d get on with it but it absolutely won me over.
A couple of my favourite reads in October were Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson very different reads but I throughly enjoyed them both.
Sounds great. Love a Blake Crouch thriller, and heard great things about The Shadow Cabinet. Seems like a perfect witchy tale for Halloween.
Great reviews!!!!😊
Thanks so much! It was a good reading month 😊
I also found the jumping around between timelines in The Fraud a bit off putting. Otherwise it was quite fun. I saw an interview with Zadie Smith where she said that she tried to emulate the serialisation process that writers like Dickens had to write to, so she gave herself two week deadlines to write an 'episode' which she then gave to a couple of readers to see if it held together in that way. Perhaps that partly explains the short chapters. Congrats on the year anniversary.
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one, and thanks for sharing that tidbit. I can see the intent there, but actually serialised Victorian novels don’t even have chapters *that* short. Or did they?! 😅 Either way it sadly just took away from the novel quite a bit.
The Fraud is still on my ever-growing list, as is Blackouts. I'm still chugging through Demon Copperhead, which I'm enjoying but work is so crazy right now I'm not reading as long as I'd like at night. But I love the voice she created for Demon. I feel like I'm in Appalachia among these characters, and that's not an easy reading experience to create. There's so much good stuff out this month - I'm excited about The Glutton by AK Blakemore, The Liberators by E.J. Koh and Same Bed, Different Dreams by Edward Park. And the new Naomi Alderman, too, which I should get Tuesday. Anyway - The Fraud: I think what excites me most about it is the fact that it was described as a skewering of Trumpism and maybe some UK politics too. But now that I woke up this morning and read that Trump, twice impeached and 4 times indicted, is leading Biden in several key states, I'm not sure my nerves can take it. It might be reality soon enough.
Yes! The voice in Demon really made it for me. He’s such an entertaining character and I felt so much empathy with him. Such impressive writing from Kingsolver.
I did get some of those undertones from The Fraud, but I didn’t think it particularly skewered Trumpism. There is a poem used as an epigraph for a chapter that releases ‘like a trump’, which must have been put in knowingly, but I think the book was very sympathetic to those movements more than it was critical.
I'm reading End of the Affaire (Graham Greene.)
Hope you’re enjoying it! Thanks for watching 🙏
@@benreadsgood Very much. Full of emotion.
I made it just over halfway through The Fraud before dnfing. I was just too confused. I felt like it was probably a good book but just a bit out of reach for me.
I can sympathise with that. But halfway is quite a long way through this one! 😅
@@benreadsgood I really wanted to like it 🙈
I read my first ever Booker book Prophet Song by Paul Lynch and I couldn’t put it down.
Oooh nice! Hope you enjoyed it. It was my favourite from the longlist.