I'm so glad I got to read Jane Austen's work of my own accord rather than being forced to read it for school! Instead of Memoirs of a Geisha, I recommend Geisha, A Life. Really good!!
The Count of Monte Cristo was made into a decent movie in the early 2000s! I thought it was really well done and it sticks to the book pretty well. A few minor liberties were taken, but the main plots stay true to the book. If you don't want to read the book but you think the story is still interesting, I'd definitely recommend it. The actors gave great performances, including Henry Cavill as a teenager.
I'm crying at your reasoning for not wanting to read Dune because I've read Dune (I'm on the second book now) and I love it but there is a lot of talk about hot sand and suffering so you're not wrong 😂
The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books. I was about 10 when I read it first time, and I have re-read it several times since then. I suppose you could summarise it "he triumphs and wins the girl" - but that isn't really what it is about. Also, which girl... The way he triumphs is so delicious and satisfying. It also has feminist and anti-colonialist themes. But - life is too short to read all the books in the world, and if you haven't read this or that book, it doesn't really make much difference in anything 😀
In your intro you mention being open to new but also to knowing what you like, and how it can affect you. We should all be mindful but willing to explore. Finding that balance can be tough, I find myself drawn to try popular books but I have had to become more picky. Back before I found book community online, I just read whatever I felt like without much influence of others. But now it's so different for me, and it is fun on here but I need to stick to what I like mostly, but Fear Of Missing Out has never been more real than these days
@@ThoughtCouture If you're looking for a more accesible way to engage the story, I HIGHLY suggest watching Comic Book Girl 19's Dune reading series where she goes through the full 6-book series by Frank Herbert in fantastic detail. She explains everything completely and very thoroughly chapter-by-chapter, and even gets most of name pronunciations correct. I really cannot recommend her Dune series enough - and it's completely free of hot sand (although she does decorate her sets with an extremely faithful Dune motif, even replicating the sietch glow globes). She really gets everything and lays it all out. For me though, the first book is one of the greatest books I've ever read. This is the book that changed the way I see the world. From there, the next two books are a little rough, but essential, however from God Emperor of Dune through to the end (Chapterhouse Dune) the series continues to be groundbreakingly insightful and a cosmic blast of an adventure (save for the odd ending, due to Herbert not being able to finish things; it sort of peters out into an almost Stephen King-esque ending - but I guarantee everything before that is well worth your time).
The Count of Monte Cristo is fantastic. The reason it’s so long is that it was originally published as a series in a newspaper or magazine. Sure, it’s very male and it’s very long… if you want a better very long read (that is very male) try Jerusalem by Alan Moore or The Power Broker by Robert Caro
When it comes to Jane Austen, I always want to point people at Fay Weldon's Letters to Alice. Fay Weldon adapted Pride and Prejudice for the BBC in 1980. Nowadays her adaptation is seen as stagey but is usually acknowledged as more book-accurate than more recent adaptations. Some years after her adaptation, Fay Weldon used her research and experiences of the TV show into Letters to Alice, which is a kind of a pocket biography of Jane Austen as well as a literary appreciation of her work.
Lonesome Dove is a great novel, and the TV adaptation is great too, but if you want substantial women's content, the book is better. What you won't get is an in depth exploration of indigenous people. It's not their story.
I used to look down my nose at westerns, but last year I read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, which is now one of my favourite novels. It is peopled mostly by men, but there are two very sympathetic and well drawn female characters in it. It also seems very realistic and well researched. Genres are not so important to me. If a book has a great plot, sympathetic, multi-dimensional and believable characters, and is well written, then it's a good book irrespective of genre. I'm currently ploughing my way through Dune, but won't be reading any more Frank Herbert; it's very stodgy.
I love Lonesome Dove so much, for me it is the definitive western. Probably not the best rec though, since she said Count of Monte Cristo was too long for a book that didn't call for her. 😅
If a "creator" recommends A Little Life, they should probably never create anything anytime soon. Because that's just straight up straight up encouraging people to read a piece of media that glorifies and encourages s**cide. Yeah, I won't stop hating on Yanagihara until she stops writing words for money and apologizes for all the harm she's done to so many people.
Annie Proulx has written some Western-themed books and stories (Brokeback Mountain ofc being a pretty famous example) that I'd absolutely recommend (The Half-Skinned Steer is also fantastic). Carys Davies wrote West, which is undoubtedly a Western, and also quite good. Don't worry, they're not hardcore genre-- pretty literary stuff. Some speculative fiction I loved was The Stone Gods, by Jeanette Winterson. Thanks for the video! Totally agree on A Little Life 🙂
+1 for the 2000s Count of Monte Cristo movie - it's a good enough summary to tell you if you'll enjoy the book. I can't deny it being a little "male fantasy" but first and foremost I think it is dedicated to a higher calling: "being god's perfect fucked up hater and sacrificing it all to bring your opps down with you".
This was super interesting! I am a Sally Rooney fan, but I do see where you’re coming from. I’ll look into the essay collection you mentioned, thanks for the rec!
Thank you, I think you'll enjoy the collection! Honestly I wish I could be as drawn to Rooney as most readers are, and I probably will try her books at some point in the future :)
These are my favorite kinds of videos, theres something about someone honestly sharing what they dont love or arent interested in that piques my interest more than all the like top 10 lists lol! Like it helps me be more discerning with my own reading as reading for enjoyment is something i am reallllly trying to prioritize
Thanks so much for your comment, I completely agree! I do like a good “top 10” video, but sometimes it feels like more critical opinions are getting hard to find, and differing opinions are what make book discussions interesting! 😊
I actually relate a lot to what you've said about Jane Austen. When I was a teenager and first starting to get into classics (and just, reading on my own in general) I gave Austen a try because of how much love she seems to have from all sorts of people, particularly women of all ages and education levels. The first one I read was Sense and Sensibility and I loved it so much that I read it again within two months, LOL. I would still probably consider it one of my favorite novels; it has a lot of specific elements I connect to a lot, especially the strong bond between our two main sisters Elinor and Marianne. But as I kept reading other Austen books (P&P, Emma, Northanger Abbey), they just kind of ceased to connect with me in the same way, and meanwhile I had gotten into the Bronte sisters, whose works I felt personally closer to. And then-and this, like your own reasons for not feeling connected with Austen, aren't really Austen's fault-as I found myself in more classics blogging spheres, I found so many people who seem to view Austen and the Brontës (or often specifically Charlotte) as opposed (I barely consider them the same genre!), and negatively compare them, almost often denigrating the Brontës and their stories in favor of the prim and proper Austen. Some of this has to do with that quote of Charlotte not liking Austen's work, which she wrote in a private letter to a personal friend who recommended it, but they seem to almost twist this into a narrative of Charlotte not being a girl's girl, rather than the two of them having very different ideas into what makes a good novel. Jane Austen, in these ungenerous comparisons, often comes off as the "respectable" and tasteful nineteenth century female author. I think I personally liked Sense and Sensibility more than Austen's other work because if anything it was the most Brontëan of them. Some Austen fans don't favor it for its melodrama, and are particularly annoyed with the very self-indulgent and immature Marianne, but I really really liked the wild turns of the plot, and I found Marianne incredibly relatable. Austen's books tend to be more full of prim and proper places and characters, upright and tight-lipped passive-aggressive people, whereas Brontë novels tend to be more openly vulnerable and expressive, in both character and setting. It's really not fair to compare these novelists like one has to be objectively superior when they were all very talented but just wrote incredibly differently; and ironically a lot of classics fans don't seem to realize how sexist they're being. We don't compare male authors of such different styles like this. I'm not sure if you're a Brontë fangirl either, but if you are, or just want to see a different side of Austen, I would recommend S&S. Although I would still say I like it a lot, perhaps I'm due for a reread, since I haven't read it since I was a teenager, and I haven't read any Austen in about five years.
I'm in pain over the Count of Monte Cristo and Dune opinions but I respect it... Tbf yes the setting in Dune is "hot sand" but there's just... So much more ... I got Obsessed with the series FAST and that doesn't happen often for me, but I read the first Dune book and it just knocked me out. Completely Dunepilled lmao
I had to read a simplified, shorter version in French of Count of Monte c. I remember enjoying it, but perhaps the slow spots had been removed. It helped me answer a final jeopardy clue when almost no one else got it even though I read it 40 years ago.
Anything that can help you answer final jeopardy is worth it 😅. If I ever do read the book, I’ll likely go with the shorter version as well, so I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Agree with the western genre! Just finished Lonesome dove (often called the best western) and I feeel this so much!! And about a little life… i felt the same about the book as you. Then i read it. Now it’s one of my favorite books ever😭 & as a gay man Yanagihara captures something many gay authors cannot even capture themselves… which is why gay men tend to love the book. Anyway, those are my two cents on that
I was gonna suggest checking out Blood Meridian as a kind of anti-western , confronting the violence and bigotry inherent to westward expansion head on, but I’m pretty sure there’s hot sand in that (also lots of gore and other objectionable content). Loved the video.
Thanks a lot for the suggestion and info! I’ve heard about how gory Blood Meridian is, but I didn’t realize it took an anti-western approach. Very interesting, I’ll have to check it out now! I can handle a little hot sand here and there 😅
@@ThoughtCoutureI’ve read Blood Meridian 4 or 5 times, the last time aloud to my wife. McCarthy is a stylist but one who changes his style across books or sets of books. The language in Blood Meridian is beautiful, but he is describing some truly horrific people committing truly horrific acts. He did base it on an actual series of events. If you are a reader (this my first video of yours) who requires at least one sympathetic character, this is absolutely not a book for you.
I'm with you about Jane Austen - haven't read any of her books, and don't really have an interest in them. I'm glad for people who love her work, it just doesn't call to me. All things are too small sounds super interesting -- I'm adding it to my list, but I find it extremely ironically funny to get a book recommendation from an anti-TBR video 😂 Anyways, I enjoyed your video - that's a fun tag, thanks for tagging me to do it :)
So glad I’m not alone on Austen! I really do want to like her, but might have to accept she’s not for me. I didn’t consider the irony of the recommendation, haha! 😅 Thanks so much, and you’re welcome! 😊
Just found your channel and I like it. If you weren't thrilled with the Austen novels you have read, don't go near Mansfield Park...and I like Austen's a lot! Her other novels were a great read. But MP just wouldn't budge. Dune is a traditional science fiction - adventure novel about the dangers of a charismatic leader. And there is a lot of sand in the story. But don't worry. When you read the first volume, you have covered all you need to in the series!
OMG i hadnt seen your channel b4 but i literally played along and said Sally Rooney seconds before you PS not just you on the Austen also/ I havent read any even when studying English at Uni...I just could not get my head round books that just consist of romance and marrying ppl off
Haha, that’s hilarious! From what I understand about Austen, she included a lot of commentary on class dynamics in her novels…so if I ever read them again, I’ll try to focus on that 😅
@@EdenthelReiHogs wash! I can be against all those things you mentioned and not be woke in fact I can be a critic of woke and still be against racism, ableism ect.
hOt SaNd?!? 🏜 What are some books or authors you have no interest in reading? Do we share any anti-reads? Do share in the comments, I'm so curious!
Animal abuse.....I had to DNF crime and punishment because of it. Now I learned to check before buying.
I refuse to read anything by L Ron Hubbard
Anyone who doesn't read Dune will be doomed forever to follow someone like Paul Atreides ,
I'm so glad I got to read Jane Austen's work of my own accord rather than being forced to read it for school!
Instead of Memoirs of a Geisha, I recommend Geisha, A Life. Really good!!
The Count of Monte Cristo was made into a decent movie in the early 2000s! I thought it was really well done and it sticks to the book pretty well. A few minor liberties were taken, but the main plots stay true to the book. If you don't want to read the book but you think the story is still interesting, I'd definitely recommend it. The actors gave great performances, including Henry Cavill as a teenager.
I'm crying at your reasoning for not wanting to read Dune because I've read Dune (I'm on the second book now) and I love it but there is a lot of talk about hot sand and suffering so you're not wrong 😂
I hope what you choose to read makes you happy.
The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books. I was about 10 when I read it first time, and I have re-read it several times since then. I suppose you could summarise it "he triumphs and wins the girl" - but that isn't really what it is about. Also, which girl...
The way he triumphs is so delicious and satisfying. It also has feminist and anti-colonialist themes. But - life is too short to read all the books in the world, and if you haven't read this or that book, it doesn't really make much difference in anything 😀
In your intro you mention being open to new but also to knowing what you like, and how it can affect you. We should all be mindful but willing to explore. Finding that balance can be tough, I find myself drawn to try popular books but I have had to become more picky. Back before I found book community online, I just read whatever I felt like without much influence of others. But now it's so different for me, and it is fun on here but I need to stick to what I like mostly, but Fear Of Missing Out has never been more real than these days
Oh honey sweetie baby cakes,
You just failed the Gom Jabbar test
I had to look this up…yeah I failed hard😂😂
@@ThoughtCouture If you're looking for a more accesible way to engage the story, I HIGHLY suggest watching Comic Book Girl 19's Dune reading series where she goes through the full 6-book series by Frank Herbert in fantastic detail. She explains everything completely and very thoroughly chapter-by-chapter, and even gets most of name pronunciations correct. I really cannot recommend her Dune series enough - and it's completely free of hot sand (although she does decorate her sets with an extremely faithful Dune motif, even replicating the sietch glow globes). She really gets everything and lays it all out.
For me though, the first book is one of the greatest books I've ever read. This is the book that changed the way I see the world. From there, the next two books are a little rough, but essential, however from God Emperor of Dune through to the end (Chapterhouse Dune) the series continues to be groundbreakingly insightful and a cosmic blast of an adventure (save for the odd ending, due to Herbert not being able to finish things; it sort of peters out into an almost Stephen King-esque ending - but I guarantee everything before that is well worth your time).
The Count of Monte Cristo is fantastic. The reason it’s so long is that it was originally published as a series in a newspaper or magazine. Sure, it’s very male and it’s very long… if you want a better very long read (that is very male) try Jerusalem by Alan Moore or The Power Broker by Robert Caro
That makes sense about the length! Thanks a lot for the recommendations, I’ll definitely check them out 😄
When it comes to Jane Austen, I always want to point people at Fay Weldon's Letters to Alice. Fay Weldon adapted Pride and Prejudice for the BBC in 1980. Nowadays her adaptation is seen as stagey but is usually acknowledged as more book-accurate than more recent adaptations.
Some years after her adaptation, Fay Weldon used her research and experiences of the TV show into Letters to Alice, which is a kind of a pocket biography of Jane Austen as well as a literary appreciation of her work.
Lonesome Dove is a great novel, and the TV adaptation is great too, but if you want substantial women's content, the book is better. What you won't get is an in depth exploration of indigenous people. It's not their story.
How interesting, I hadn’t heard of this! Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll definitely check it out 😊
I used to look down my nose at westerns, but last year I read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, which is now one of my favourite novels. It is peopled mostly by men, but there are two very sympathetic and well drawn female characters in it. It also seems very realistic and well researched. Genres are not so important to me. If a book has a great plot, sympathetic, multi-dimensional and believable characters, and is well written, then it's a good book irrespective of genre. I'm currently ploughing my way through Dune, but won't be reading any more Frank Herbert; it's very stodgy.
I love Lonesome Dove so much, for me it is the definitive western. Probably not the best rec though, since she said Count of Monte Cristo was too long for a book that didn't call for her. 😅
Calling Lonesome Dove a western is like saying Citizen Kane is about a boy who loses his sled.
True Grit is a pretty good western novel with a strong female protagonist
Yes, agree.
Loved the movie, somehow never realised it was based on a book. Added to my wishlist, thanks :)
If a "creator" recommends A Little Life, they should probably never create anything anytime soon. Because that's just straight up straight up encouraging people to read a piece of media that glorifies and encourages s**cide.
Yeah, I won't stop hating on Yanagihara until she stops writing words for money and apologizes for all the harm she's done to so many people.
I just don't see how women can be so hateful to each other.
Why not ? Doesn't that happen all the time in the real world ?
Annie Proulx has written some Western-themed books and stories (Brokeback Mountain ofc being a pretty famous example) that I'd absolutely recommend (The Half-Skinned Steer is also fantastic). Carys Davies wrote West, which is undoubtedly a Western, and also quite good. Don't worry, they're not hardcore genre-- pretty literary stuff. Some speculative fiction I loved was The Stone Gods, by Jeanette Winterson. Thanks for the video! Totally agree on A Little Life 🙂
+1 for the 2000s Count of Monte Cristo movie - it's a good enough summary to tell you if you'll enjoy the book.
I can't deny it being a little "male fantasy" but first and foremost I think it is dedicated to a higher calling: "being god's perfect fucked up hater and sacrificing it all to bring your opps down with you".
The titular count in 8 seconds or less ruclips.net/video/F-8v-ef_H14/видео.html
This was super interesting! I am a Sally Rooney fan, but I do see where you’re coming from. I’ll look into the essay collection you mentioned, thanks for the rec!
Thank you, I think you'll enjoy the collection! Honestly I wish I could be as drawn to Rooney as most readers are, and I probably will try her books at some point in the future :)
A LITTLE LIFE looks unappealing.
These are my favorite kinds of videos, theres something about someone honestly sharing what they dont love or arent interested in that piques my interest more than all the like top 10 lists lol! Like it helps me be more discerning with my own reading as reading for enjoyment is something i am reallllly trying to prioritize
Thanks so much for your comment, I completely agree! I do like a good “top 10” video, but sometimes it feels like more critical opinions are getting hard to find, and differing opinions are what make book discussions interesting! 😊
I actually relate a lot to what you've said about Jane Austen. When I was a teenager and first starting to get into classics (and just, reading on my own in general) I gave Austen a try because of how much love she seems to have from all sorts of people, particularly women of all ages and education levels. The first one I read was Sense and Sensibility and I loved it so much that I read it again within two months, LOL. I would still probably consider it one of my favorite novels; it has a lot of specific elements I connect to a lot, especially the strong bond between our two main sisters Elinor and Marianne. But as I kept reading other Austen books (P&P, Emma, Northanger Abbey), they just kind of ceased to connect with me in the same way, and meanwhile I had gotten into the Bronte sisters, whose works I felt personally closer to.
And then-and this, like your own reasons for not feeling connected with Austen, aren't really Austen's fault-as I found myself in more classics blogging spheres, I found so many people who seem to view Austen and the Brontës (or often specifically Charlotte) as opposed (I barely consider them the same genre!), and negatively compare them, almost often denigrating the Brontës and their stories in favor of the prim and proper Austen. Some of this has to do with that quote of Charlotte not liking Austen's work, which she wrote in a private letter to a personal friend who recommended it, but they seem to almost twist this into a narrative of Charlotte not being a girl's girl, rather than the two of them having very different ideas into what makes a good novel. Jane Austen, in these ungenerous comparisons, often comes off as the "respectable" and tasteful nineteenth century female author.
I think I personally liked Sense and Sensibility more than Austen's other work because if anything it was the most Brontëan of them. Some Austen fans don't favor it for its melodrama, and are particularly annoyed with the very self-indulgent and immature Marianne, but I really really liked the wild turns of the plot, and I found Marianne incredibly relatable. Austen's books tend to be more full of prim and proper places and characters, upright and tight-lipped passive-aggressive people, whereas Brontë novels tend to be more openly vulnerable and expressive, in both character and setting. It's really not fair to compare these novelists like one has to be objectively superior when they were all very talented but just wrote incredibly differently; and ironically a lot of classics fans don't seem to realize how sexist they're being. We don't compare male authors of such different styles like this.
I'm not sure if you're a Brontë fangirl either, but if you are, or just want to see a different side of Austen, I would recommend S&S. Although I would still say I like it a lot, perhaps I'm due for a reread, since I haven't read it since I was a teenager, and I haven't read any Austen in about five years.
Not books but if you watch TV the series Godless is amazing. As is 1883, which I thought I would hate but didn’t. Also Bass Reeves.
I'm in pain over the Count of Monte Cristo and Dune opinions but I respect it... Tbf yes the setting in Dune is "hot sand" but there's just... So much more ... I got Obsessed with the series FAST and that doesn't happen often for me, but I read the first Dune book and it just knocked me out. Completely Dunepilled lmao
I watched to hear you do a breakdown of Dune or critique of the author only to burst out laughing to hear your (valid) reasons.
I had to read a simplified, shorter version in French of Count of Monte c. I remember enjoying it, but perhaps the slow spots had been removed. It helped me answer a final jeopardy clue when almost no one else got it even though I read it 40 years ago.
Anything that can help you answer final jeopardy is worth it 😅. If I ever do read the book, I’ll likely go with the shorter version as well, so I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Agree with the western genre! Just finished Lonesome dove (often called the best western) and I feeel this so much!! And about a little life… i felt the same about the book as you. Then i read it. Now it’s one of my favorite books ever😭 & as a gay man Yanagihara captures something many gay authors cannot even capture themselves… which is why gay men tend to love the book. Anyway, those are my two cents on that
I appreciate you sharing your experience with A Little Life! This has actually made me reconsider reading it. Thanks a lot! 😊
I never looked up anything about Sally Rooney but I did read Normal People 😅 Thankfully it was thrifted but just not an author for me
I don’t know how I can trust someone who doesn’t love Austen. 🙃 (I am also not primarily interested in the romance, nor the screen adaptations.)
Interesting tag... I just came across the memento mori tag (same vibe), and as a reader it is important to be discerning. You look lovely as always.
That's so kind, thank you! I think I've seen the Memento Mori tag as well, and may tackle it some time--sounds awfully thought-provoking! :)
We have complete opposite opinions. Subbed 😎😎😎
Negative opinion videos like this will ALWAYS get you push back but dont stop girl! We need more content like this on booktube!!!
“I don’t like the concept of hot sand” GIRL, HARD SAME hahahaha
I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one who feels this way 😂😂
@@ThoughtCouture I just don't like temperatures above 23°C/73°F
I was gonna suggest checking out Blood Meridian as a kind of anti-western , confronting the violence and bigotry inherent to westward expansion head on, but I’m pretty sure there’s hot sand in that (also lots of gore and other objectionable content). Loved the video.
Thanks a lot for the suggestion and info! I’ve heard about how gory Blood Meridian is, but I didn’t realize it took an anti-western approach. Very interesting, I’ll have to check it out now! I can handle a little hot sand here and there 😅
@@ThoughtCoutureI’ve read Blood Meridian 4 or 5 times, the last time aloud to my wife. McCarthy is a stylist but one who changes his style across books or sets of books. The language in Blood Meridian is beautiful, but he is describing some truly horrific people committing truly horrific acts. He did base it on an actual series of events. If you are a reader (this my first video of yours) who requires at least one sympathetic character, this is absolutely not a book for you.
I'm with you about Jane Austen - haven't read any of her books, and don't really have an interest in them. I'm glad for people who love her work, it just doesn't call to me. All things are too small sounds super interesting -- I'm adding it to my list, but I find it extremely ironically funny to get a book recommendation from an anti-TBR video 😂 Anyways, I enjoyed your video - that's a fun tag, thanks for tagging me to do it :)
So glad I’m not alone on Austen! I really do want to like her, but might have to accept she’s not for me. I didn’t consider the irony of the recommendation, haha! 😅 Thanks so much, and you’re welcome! 😊
L Dune take lol
Just found your channel and I like it.
If you weren't thrilled with the Austen novels you have read, don't go near Mansfield Park...and I like Austen's a lot!
Her other novels were a great read. But MP just wouldn't budge.
Dune is a traditional science fiction - adventure novel about the dangers of a charismatic leader.
And there is a lot of sand in the story.
But don't worry. When you read the first volume, you have covered all you need to in the series!
Thank you so much for your thoughts and the info, I appreciate it!
OMG i hadnt seen your channel b4 but i literally played along and said Sally Rooney seconds before you PS not just you on the Austen also/ I havent read any even when studying English at Uni...I just could not get my head round books that just consist of romance and marrying ppl off
Haha, that’s hilarious! From what I understand about Austen, she included a lot of commentary on class dynamics in her novels…so if I ever read them again, I’ll try to focus on that 😅
Any books selling wokeness are best scrubbed off the list, we should be treated with respect and not as subjects to be indoctrinated.
Wokeness ? You mean being against racism , sexism, ableism? Being respectful of others lives offends you?
@@EdenthelReiHogs wash! I can be against all those things you mentioned and not be woke in fact I can be a critic of woke and still be against racism, ableism ect.
@@EdenthelRei The woke are the biggest sexist’s in existence they actively oppose women’s rights.
Nobody cares.
Clearly you do if you clicked on her video 😂
Over 2k viewers, that’s a lot of nobodies 🤔. I hope you find a video that better suits your interests!