Best Books, Worst Books, Most Anticipated | Mid Year Freakout 2024
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- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2024
- As we are half way through 2024, now is a perfect time for a modified booktube tag to discuss some of the books and authors I've read thus far. I'm chatting about a few favorite books, ones that disappointed me, favorite new author to me, and more!
What's been the most surprising book you've read this year (for good or bad)? Let me know in the comments!
Books Mentioned:
Solenoid, Cartarescu - amzn.to/3VUKjgK
And Quiet Flows The Don, Sholokhov - amzn.to/3zfLSNp
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, Dostoevsky - amzn.to/3XDQqY2
Life and Fate, Grossman - amzn.to/3xlu6Ib
1984, Orwell - amzn.to/3zcQPGX
The Master and Margarita,, Bulgakov - amzn.to/45BYRoI
Stoner, Williams - amzn.to/3VUXgY4
Timecodes:
0:00 - Intro
0:36 - Best Book I’ve Read in 2024
3:06 - Best Short Story I’ve Read in 2024
7:19 - Authors I Haven’t Read But Want To
8:00 - Most Anticipated Read in 2024
9:01 - Biggest Surprises (Hot Takes)
14:39 - Favorite New Author
16:19 - Book That Made Me Sad
18:19 - Most Beautiful Book I’ve Bought
19:18 - Books I Need To Read in 2024
Tag Questions:
- Best book you've read so far in 2024
- Best short story you’ve read so far in 2024
- Author you haven’t read yet, but want to
- Most anticipated read for second half of the hear
- Biggest surprise
- Favorite new author (debut or new to you)
- Book that made you sad
- Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)
- What books do you need to read by the end of the year
My Instagram: / brockcovington
My Goodreads: / brock-c
My Substack: brockcovington.substack.com
#booktube #literature 
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Your devotion to reading literature is inspiring.
Finally a super smart man on Book Tube!!! Excellent video. You have excellent taste. I just subscribed!
I respect that you are willing to admit to yourself and to us when you don't understand something. From rumors, Being and Time seems like the kind of book to stump many lol. Something I have quite recently learned from this more academic side of booktube is that it is okay to give up something you don't get and.try again later after you are more familiar with what they are talking about.
I have about 50 pages left of Stoner and I have to agree that it's a sad novel, but It's been incredibly comforting to me in a way that I can't explain.
You nailed it. I feel the same way
The Master and Margarita is one of my favorite novels. I love that book so much. I first read the Ginsburg translation a few years ago, but I plan to read it again but this time I’ll read the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation.
I look forward to re-reading it myself in the future!
If you didn't like 1984 very much, you should totally check out We by Yevgeny Zamyatin; my favorite dystopian novel -- and a precursor to Orwell's landmark piece. Fantastic video!
I agree, I started my dystopian trio with We by Zamyatin, then A Brave New World, then 1984. I agree that 1984 was a bit eh for me. I much prefer a great audiobook of 1984 though.
My favorite read so far this year was Virginia Woolf's Orlando. Evocative prose and truly unique.
Woolf is another author high on my list to read soon! I’m not sure where to start with her or if it even matters
@@TheActiveMind1 To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway are fantastic prose works by Woolf. If you want something a little more like commentary -- and a slightly shorter read -- you should definitely check out A Room of One's Own. It's an essayesque short-novel. Orlando is also a great piece, handling both gender- and class-fluidity -- something very rare for the time of publication.
dope selection brother 🔥
I loved the question changes you made to this tag and appreciated your hot takes! I read Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick for the first time this year and was not disappointed. My heart beams anytime I hear someone speak favorably about Stoner. It’s one of my all time favorite books!
That excites me to read both of them! And also happy to hear you loved Stoner as well 🙌🏼
Brilliant selection (I feel you on Heidegger)!
Great that you got "The Tin Drum" - and let us know, how you liked it. Sure, it will take some time, coz you have so many books on your list. Wish you a good summer reading! Greets from Düsseldorf.
This was so good that I'm going to do a second mid-year freakout tag but call it the "classics edition" and use your adopted questions! Obviously, I'll give you all the credit. This was my first year doing this tag and I also found it difficult to answer the questios and that they didn't all reflect my reading. Thanks for sharing!
Haha perfect! Good to know I wasn't alone in my reading interests. I'll be sure to give yours a watch!
About Winston and Julia, everything you said you had an issue with, just re-listen to everything you say from 10:00-10:50… especially, “they don’t even try!” *that’s the point* 🙃
For an earlier dystopian novel than Orwell's "1984", try Eugene Zemiatin/Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We"
I’ve heard of that one before! Can’t seem to be find it at my local stores but I’ll keep looking or might get it online some time
Dostoyevsky is my favourite author by far. Just finished Insulted and Injured- very moving. Reading Eternal Husband now. P.S. You have some good genes, haha!😅 (Sorry)
Totally with you on Emma. Try Sense and Sensibility next. I think you'll like it.
Blasphemy that some people don't like The Master and Margarita! I loved it so much that I became a Bulgakov completist, and I now have The White Guard (adapted I believe into the play The Days of the Turbins, which was loved by none other than Joseph Stalin), Heart of a Dog, Black Snow, a collection of short stories : The Diabolids, and A Country Doctor's Notebook. If there are any others, I need to know. Some of these titles may now be difficult to get as I acquired them when TMAM was making a big splash.
I'm with you on And Quiet Flows the Don. It's both epic yet intimate and sweeps along like a best seller and maybe that's why it's not so highly rated : people think that Russian literature shouldn't be that easy to read. Apparently its sequel The Don Flows to the Sea is a bit of a let down so I've avoided it.
One more great vídeo!
I highly recommend some Philip Roth.
Human Stain could be a good start.
Keep going!
Also, you should definitely check out a collection of short-stories by Haruki Murakami called "First Person Singular". I've started reading them, and I think they are fantastic, richly filled pieces of fiction that perfectly capture the style and story-telling of Murakami. A popular story in the collection is the story "Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova". Other than that, I totally agree with your Stoner take, I think it's a phenomenally sad piece of literature -- but one that is more sad in the nuance of wanting, rather than the expression of sorrow itself. My last recommendation is (if you wish to read something from the later half of the twentieth century) The World According to Garp by John Irving.
Shoot, I was just at the bookstore and saw a number of books by Irving but I was unfamiliar with him. I'll keep an eye out in the future!
Have you read Animal Farm by George Orwell? If you haven't, you might want to give it a try since you like Russian literature. I loved Fahrenheit 451 as a teenager and loved it. I recently reread it and wondered why I had liked it so much. I too found it disappointing. I love your channel since your focus is primarily classics. In college I took a lot of Comparative Literature courses and one Russian Lit class. I am due for a Master and Margarita reread. Congratulations on your 100 mile achievement!
I have and I found Animal Farm to be a lot better! I think 1984 would've worked better as essay because the ideas, criticism, and warnings are great yet when told through weak characters, it fell flat for me. Definitely give M&M a re-read and thank you very much!
Great to hear you give the thumbs down to some famous classics, such as 1984 and Emma.
I’ve been wanting to read Life and Fate for so long but I was told you’re supposed to read Stalingrad (by Grossman) first to properly understand the story and meet the characters! Also, love this video, finally someone doing a Mid Year Freakout with my type of books 😆
Woohoo! Glad you enjoyed the video. Maybe I'll end up starting with Stalingrad first too....we'll see
Life and Fate was issued here long before Stalingrad, so I've read that first, but I didn't think that I missed anything by not doing it the other way round. I intend to read Stalingrad at some point, however.
@@tonybennett4159 oh that’s good to know! Thank you for sharing that
I understand the criticism of both Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. I would say the main point of both novels is the world which is built rather than the characters within; they emphasize sociological and philosophical aspects of reality, rather than the characters themselves.
I wholeheartedly agree! Both present a creative dystopian world and nuanced elements. But beyond that, I feel they are overrated
And Quietly Flows The Don I read in college; I don’t remember what it’s about, but I do remember not reading all of it: I was a party boy! What I do find interesting is that it’s written a little after Stalin’s death, and I always wonder what criteria the writer had to adhere to in order for it to get published.
It's remarkable what got published despite the mass censorship of the Union of Soviet Writers. Yet literature seemed to thrive in that region of the world regardless!
May I make a suggestion? There are some books on here that I would love to read, and apart from freezing the frames, I cannot really understand what you’re saying, because you’re speaking so quickly about them. May I suggest that you put them below in the comments so that we can look into them?
Yes, my apologies! Sometimes my camera does too good of a job at focusing on me when the books are more important. I will add them to the description now
The book that surprised me or kinda disappoint me was "Franz Kafka's - The trial"
It didn't really disappoint me, it is a brilliant book, but while reading it I realized that I have read this, back when I was in school, like more than a decade ago in my "Urdu Language" class. And it was a surprise for me - so the disappointment factor really came with my experience as I knew what was going to happen next and I just lost the interest - I did complete it anyways and loved it!! But I just wished to have read it for the first time as an adult!!
I enjoyed The Trial more than The Castle - granted TC is unfinished
The Russians really gifted us some amazing literature!
I thought i was the only one who didnt like 1984. Everyone else seems to love it. Its got its merits, especially theses days, but it is booooring. As for Heidegger, you have to llearn an entirely new vocaubulary for his stuff. He invents new terms and uses old ones in new ways with no explanation. Havent completely cracked that one yet myself. You might want to read his introduction to metaphysics first
Haha yeah Heidegger just invents a ton of terms and expects you to follow along for the wild ride
it´s a hot take 😅
If you want to really learn about Soviet culture and daily life you should try The Soviet Century by Karl Schlogel.
I'll check it out!
The Icon and the Axe is another.