cheers =) i'm glad you found that interesting! when it comes to ancients i'm fascinated by the differences between translators but sometimes wonder if that's a bit niche on booktube =P stick around this channel and eventually you'll meet them all, because by the feel of things i'm not shutting up about that series anytime soon! ~
i also didnt think about plant horror as like a genre...... i should def look into that ! i do rly like how those evil roots/horror story/anthologies look, with the black covers and then a highlight colour..... 🧡
i've been attracted to creepy plant stories since i was tiny, so glad to learn there are a lot of them out there ~ i haven't seen any others in the series, will keep an eye out 👁
She seemed like a very unique and eccentric soul, I really liked her and thought she was a generous spirit and had the best of intentions with people that was very rare in this world.
The last book I finished was in fact Idol, Burning! I had similar impression as yours at the beginning but the book eventually grew on me and felt punchy. I love characters with obsession and I think obsession is often trivialized (as is the case with idol obsession in Idol, Burning). One favorite of mine is the English professor character in Vladimir by Julia May Jonas.
oh i'm glad it grew on you too! i wouldn't have guessed it was your cup of tea, with all that teenageyness lol yeah honestly i feel really grateful to the book for making me sympathize with how smt like idol fandom could be a life-defining or even life-saving support for some ppl, without glorifying or sugar-coating it either. ~ i'll look up Vladimir now, cheers!
@@apocalypsereading7117 I learning to appreciate the voice of young narrators now! 🤣 I thought the book was able to carry a big idea even with simple language... Oof I guess I gotta record a video now
I have the same feeling about Daphne du Maurier! I've only ever read Rebecca and while I have her other books, I only feel lik I can always read her some other time. I always see her books whenever I browse used bookstores so there's that element of reliability as well
yeah i feel like publishers jsut went wild for her at some point in the last decade or so, unless i was just blind to her bookshelf presence when i was a kid...
I felt this way about the Box Man! I tried for such a long time to find it in stores in the US, but found it in the first store I walked into in Amsterdam🇳🇱!
it's a good feeling, right?? is that the one by Kobo Abe? i guess for some of these older classics they got published in English in either Europe or America decades ago and haven't been revisited since, so the only way to get your hands on them is by A) paying your inheritance to internationally import someone's family heirlooms off ebay or B) travelling across the Atlantic Ocean...
@@apocalypsereading7117 yup Kobo Abe. I didn’t like it as much as Woman in the Dunes, but I also think I just need to reread. I feel I normally let books find me, rather than I find them. If they want me to read them, they’ll seek me out hahaha
there was definitely some stuff i really liked about Ghost wall, i feel like i would've got on with it more if i read it quicker... i had to look up Notes coz the name sounded so familiar, maybe i heard bout the film. would be interested to see how they tackle it!
i hadn't heard that story, but it's true we shouldn't let superfluities interfere with good craft! "committed" is a great word, maybe i should change the title =P
I found her channel just the same time she passed away. It's so unfortunate because i actually appreciate her honest reviews. She's so smart and confident. I still plan to watch all her videos when I can.
Idol, Burning interests me. My Libby only has the audiobook so I'll listen to it soon. Edit: I think the only book I've read recently with a bit of an obsessive character theme was Chrysalis by Anna Metcalf. Some people really hate the book but I loved it a lot
i forgot to mention that i listened to the audiobook of Idol, Burning - hope you end up liking it as much as i did =) had a quick look online and Chrysalis sounds really interesting, though i also saw it compared to The Vegetarian by Han Kang which i had mixed feelings on. thanks for putting it on my radar!
I recently read Nipponia Nippon with an obsessive character. The main character is obsessed with the Japanese Crested Ibis as to way to handle his disappointment with his life/country/etc.
what a nice-looking bird! it's great when characters are obsessed with a specific species instead of just like "birds" in general. would you recommend Nipponia Nippon?
@@apocalypsereading7117 It also added to the obsession, because of the Nipponia Nippon being this symbol of Japan and the main characters anger at Japan… the downfall of the bird reflecting the downfall of the country… If you can get it at the library, I think it is a pretty good quick read. Not life changing but not bad.
@@deadlizardreads1937 oh right, Nipponia Nipon is the scientific name of the bird! haha what a loaded name. hm maybe if the ibis is actually a symbol for Japan i wouldn't like it so much... i dunno i sometimes feel like i'm allergic to metaphors for nations. would def give it a shot tho. i'll keep it in my peripheral vision! 🐦
Interesting thoughts! Form me, the overarching theme of 'The Gathering' is an exploration of motherhood, something you didn't mention, and that is possibly why Enright begins with the scene where Veronica is telling her mother that Liam is dead. Maybe that is also why 'nothing happens' - it is the bringing up of children that is happening throughout all the four generations here.
thanks! =D it's been a while since i read this but i don't think i picked up on motherhood stuff at all, so that's really interesting to hear. maybe i was too focused on trying to figure out how the bits i liked fit together as a book that i ended up skimming over other important parts? altho i think i do like motherhood as a theme, loved it recently in Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima. i remember that opening scene with the mum falling really flat for me, but i think i'm generally not able to connect with grief in novels, and it just felt very alienating for me, like i'd walked into someone else's house at a bad time. thanks for the comment!
I love this video! I have a few of these books/authors on my list… it’s always so encouraging to hear them praised. Also- re Ponti Guardian review- what an awkward thing to hear as a writer. “Yeah your writing sucks because you took a writing class” or something. I’m not informed, so maybe I misunderstand. But that still feels so weird!
i will praise them till the cows come home and then go back to the field again 🐄 the Ponti review was more or less that i think, felt more like the reviewer wanted to rant about how the creative writing degree industrial complex was poisoning literature and thought a book review was a good way to get it all off her chest... awkward lol. espesh coz the reviewer is an author herself 😅
thank you so much! =D Iphigenia at Aulis is such a gem, honestly the greek tragedies are way too good to just be enjoyed by classicists so it makes me happy when i hear ppl wanna read them 🎈
I really liked Paradais, I preferred it even over Hurricane Season, which I also liked. I liked it for all the reasons you were talking about, but also for the writing and the imaginary (e.g. water).
oh, you're the first person i've heard say they like it more than Hurricane Season! must admit i don't remember the water stuff, was it descriptions of the river?
i've only read comet in moominland so far and i did enjoy it..will watch your video on territory of light after i've read the book which is on deck along with ponti, and celestial bodies and i just ordered the justified sinners from thrift books...hope i get to them all sooner rather than later..am currently reading she would be king by wayetu moore which you might like..
I'm glad you enjoyed it - and thrilled that so many of these are on your shelves! No rush, and when you get to them I’d love to hear your thoughts ✨ I’ll look up She Would Be King 👑
"plant sperms plugging up my tear ducts" is the only way that I will be describing pollen allergies from now on. I love these videos that provide a global look at reading. Like metacognition of reading. For me, three things disrupted my reading: getting interested in art/drawing, getting a phone, and school.
had to look up metacognition but that makes sense haha did you find a balance between reading and the disruptions in the end? art sounds like a great thing to be disrupted by tho ~
@@apocalypsereading7117 I haven't found the perfect balance, but what has helped is taking art/paint classes. That way I know I am at least doing some drawing once a week!
You and I have very similar reading journeys 🥹 I loved to read when I was little, as soon as I could read on my own I made a library card and I would check out 4 books a week, it was a tiny town library, I must have read them all 🤣 reading was my number 1 hobby/passion but then university hit and suddenly I was only reading FOR school, as you said, lots of classics and such but not as a hobby anymore.. that’s when I started watching movies and some tv shows as well (which I previously rarely watched). I graduated in 2012 and then 2012-2014 was my Tumblr era, I was 100% obsessed and consumed by the internet, also in 2013 I started working in a very bad and toxic environment which gave me a lot of anxiety (and that pulls me away from reading like nothing else). Then in 2014 I discovered booktube and started reading again, it was absolute joy, until 2016 hit and that year was absolutely awful, was almost depressed and just generally overwhelmed which means that of course I stopped reading. 2017 I sort of picked it up again but then ~kids 🫠 so from then on it’s been a bit of a roller coaster but mostly because of my limited “alone” time and extreme fatigue. This year is looking pretty good though 🤞🏻 having a channel really helped but also I have my issues with being consistent and expectations and all that jazz so I’m just trying to be kind to myself and take it as it is ❤
i'm really surprised by how many ppl in the comments have similar stories (and here's me thinking i was special). that library card story is cute, i was also such a library kid (as i am now). glad to know more of the Mary timeline, sounds like you've had a lot of pull-and-push factors over the years... one of my friends decided from the outset when she had her kid that reading would have to go, at least for a few years, which is kinda sad but i get it, raising a life and all that. glad this year is looking up for you! i also stress about making vids and worry about consistency when it comes to putting out content (maybe we all do?) and frequently have to remind myself that it's only me that's putting pressure on myself, and at the end of the day it's smt i do coz it's fun and rewarding getting to chat to all these good ppl (like yourself) and it generally does make reading (which is basically a solo thing) more fun when it's a bit social and shared, i think. keep being kind to yourself! 🎈
I also stopped reading because of university. The sheer amount of reading scientific articles just ruined reading for me until I was hit by a random desire to read again after a couple of years of only reading a few books per year. I did some experimenting and realized it's all good as long as I stay away from non-fiction. I love reading non-fiction, but the books tend to be too closely related to what I study and I end up getting stressed out that I should be reading for uni instead. Booktube has also been a great inspiration for me, now I just wish I had a book club to discuss books with.
That's interesting, I found I was getting more into non-fiction before I stopped reading, but when I came back to it I also just didn't wanna read non-fic anymore (i've only started dipping my toes back again in lately). i can see what you mean by the books being too close to your degree. when I wasn't doing literature anymore but still reading loads of academic stuff, it was refreshing to dip into some fiction from time to time just to remind myself that I actually liked reading - altho the end result was, like you, just a few non-uni books a year. sounds like you were right to do a bit of experimenting and find a way back in for yourself =) I half-want to join a book club too, but I know I'd be terrible at sticking with it if I wasn't in charge of picking the books myself =P hope you find a good one! and thanks for sharing =D
I read loads as a child then slowed down massively when I went to uni. I studied modern languages which did involve some literature but I think it was mainly being so busy with uni work that stopped my reading. Then gradually over the years since it's built back up again. I also really didn't like English literature at school - something about being told what to read and then analysing it to death.
i'm seeing a common thread in the comments when it comes to uni... kinda ironic, since it's meant to be where we get all enriched and stuff. that's interesting that it was a gradual thing for you, for me when i tried to do it gradually i got nowhere for some reason, and had to take drastic action X] i didn't like doing English lit at school either, maybe connected to the "being told what to read" thing, but also coz i thought everyone, teachers included, were so bad at analysing! =P touch of teenage arrogance, perhaps 😅 cheers for sharing Jennifer!
I stopped reading when I joined university and also didn't read while I started working. This whole period maybe lasted for ten years. After that I only read a couple of books a year. It was only maybe twelve years ago when I got back into reading and since then I'm obsessed with reading again and I think this is never ever going to change. Booktube played a big role in that and I'm very thankful for finding this amazing community.
wow, sounds like we followed a similar pattern then! booktube was also a big part of me getting back into it <3 i have a lot of hobbies so i imagine reading will move up and down the list of how i prioritize them, but i hope it doesn't dry up like it did before, because i'm really enjoying being a born-again reader ~ thanks for sharing, Amelia =)
I think I'm starting to feel the killing of reading by school as you described it. I have not been reading for pleasure as much lately as I did months before. Not sure if you experienced this also, but occasionally I don't read for pleasure because sometimes I feel guilty reading for *pleasure* when I could be reading for *work*... (even so, I usually end up lying in bed instead of reading for work anyway lol). The increasingly ethereal heavenly visual vibe of this video cracks me up XD
ah well, you gotta roll with the punches... school ends eventually, i suppose, unless you try for a career as an academic. for sure back in uni i had that "reading for pleasure" guilt, like i have a reading quota and i'm filling it up with fun instead of Important Life Reading. actually the stuff i read at uni was fun too, in reality, was just sometimes harder to see it that way when there were deadlines to be met! if i'd filmed any longer i would've ascended into the heavens for sure =P☁ 👼☁
Dr!! Say more about your phd! I too stopped reading - this could be my story. I was so exhausted from reading academically, and then went into a career (for a time) where I was reading / reviewing research grants. I tried starting a bookclub in the hopes that I’d catch the bug again, but it didn’t take (I attended for the wine). I picked it back up in earnest around covid times but have learned that I can’t force it. You should start a bookclub!
haha a doctor of mystery... maybe i'll have to do a phd video one day ✨ ah that does sound similar, sounds like we both got back into it at the same time too. these things do ebb and flow, last year i read much less than my new usual, but that was fine too. i've thought about joining a bookclub a few times, but my problem is these days i'm both capricious and particular when it comes to reading, so i'd be bad sticking to a programme unless it was my turn to pick the book 😅
I just finished Absorbed and Im left with more questions than answers 😭 . It took me a while to finish it, too, and I feel the same way about the ending! The book took so many turns. I didn't know where to meet it halfway? It started with the insecure obsessed woman "in love" trope, then when the absorbtion happend I thought it was just an allegory, but it was concrete? and then I figured it was leaning towards horror? then again 😭I said maybe this is psychosis induced by murder? but then her whole adoption and origin story tied with Maggie and Odile i thought it was a coven thing? but it just lost me at the end. I knew it wasn't going to be black or white but still, I'm left confused lol.
i'm glad you feel the same! i thought it was deliberately trying to blur the lines between her psychological issues and actually physically absorbing the dude, which i was mostly fine with, but then it felt like a lot more lines started getting blurred, like, is he possessing her like a ghost? that could've worked i think but then we just got more blurring with other potential plot directions, and that whole Rosemary's Baby strand did absolutely nothing for me, like i kept waiting for it to tie together or give us some kind of reveal at least, but no...👿 i still like it for the main things it combines tho, body horror, millenial fiction, and the "unhinged woman" trope ~ i'd read more of that, maybe by a diff writer tho...
@apocalypsereading7117 rightt!! I recommend "My Husband" by Maud Ventura if u haven't checked it out yet, same disaster girl trope but super elaborate with a satisfying plot twist 🫶🏼
Ah, I didn’t know territory of light was serialized, I have it here on my physical TBR and since I see it starts in spring I think I’m gonna follow your steps and read it one chapter a month ✨ sounds like fun
ooo if u wanna do it then def start this month if you can! i was really happily surprised that it happened to start in April, the same month i started reading it, but looking back it really made the experience sooo much better being completely in sync with the months and seasons as they passed, i feel like i was genuinely blessed by the books gods for that one ~
The weasel infestation 😂 I get you 100% I get really obsessive over covers and just little details about books sometimes. I recently purchased the His Dark Materials trilogy with the covers illustrated by Melissa Castrillon (one of my fave illustrators) and I purchased northern lights THREE times because the first two times they sent me battered copies 🫠
haha, i nearly matched your dedication! but in the end they offered a full refund, and i don't even know if i'll like this book or not, so i took the cash and the dirty weasels... in your case it makes more sense, tho, since you've got more invested than i did. just checked those covers and they look lovely 🔭
Btw loving your long hair ✨ you had a band ?? What did you do ? I was in a band also haha, I’m a singer 🙃 Paradais sounds super interesting , that is going on my TBR straight away
cheers! ✨of my friends, one did piano, one wanted to learn drums, and the other wanted to learn bass, so i figured i had to learn guitar and be the frontman 😋 wow, what kind of singing do you do? i'm so glad you'll never hear my teenage attempts at singing! 🎤🎸🎶 glad Paradais piqued your interest, it's a relatively quick read but leaves a nasty taste in your mouth...
@@apocalypsereading7117 love me a discomforting book ✨👌🏻 I’m going to get the Italian translation since it’s written in Spanish originally . Oh, what makes you think I am any good at singing ? 🤪 I sing everything because it is so much fun (actually it’s been a long time since I did it publicly) I loved country/rock in particular but I was also singing with my sister as a sort of duo and we’ve also been in a musical company (a very small one) I really miss it 🥹
@@booksandpizza that makes sense, Italian and Spanish feel like siblings rather than cousins in the Latin family tree ~ i love how your sister always turns up in your stories!! a musical company, fantastic... i was in a very small dance group back in Japan and miss it lots, maybe we're both performers at heart 🎭
I love this concept of “sacred books.” It’s not the exact same thing for me. Reading non-linearly or just dipping into a book at random is hard for me to do. If I have books I go back to, I tend to reread the whole book. For me this is Slaughterhouse Five, The Phantom Tollbooth, Little Women, and maybe One Hundred Years of Solitude. However, I have begun more and more to dip in and out of books, especially if they’re essays or stories of a writer that I really enjoy. It’s a more long-term relationship with my books I guess, but I read them in order. The concept of books you keep going back to also reminds me of an idea I had which is to create a list of 1001 books I’m glad I read before I died, sort of a counter to “books you have to read before you die” lists. It’s an idea still in infancy. Also, I’ve been putting off reading the Metamorphoses, but I feel like I’ll love it when I pick it up finally. I took Latin in high school and my teacher would tell us the stories from memory. She had such a lovely voice and demeanor that brought them to life. I feel like when I do pick up the book it will be so familiar and cozy feeling. Great video!
i'm a serial dipper lol i watched the Phantom Tollbooth film over and over again as a kid, i guess i should really read the book! it's not one i hear talked about very often at all. ~ the 1001 idea sounds great, you should go for it! sometimes i think making lists is a hobby in and of itself. ~ i'm envious of your Latin classes - I've read over and over again how Ovid is so much better in Latin because he really uses the language like a pro. if i ever learn Latin it will basically be just to read his work, which i love so much <3
For the longest time I’ve considered Watership Down as one of my all time favourite books, I remember it blew my mind when I read it but it’s probably time to revisit it as it was 20 years ago (Jesus, I’m old 🫠) loved this Easter themed video 😁
i hope bunny gets a name soon..and i'm so glad you rescued her/him......i read city & city some time ago and remember enjoying it a lot but i'm a total succor for setting....love having a peruvian mystic on book tube.
i kno... she reminds me of my aunt so maybe something Irish... city &city produced such mixed feelings in me, i was in awe at the setting but i guess i'm more of a characters and story gal =P thank u, i love being here! 📚
i never thought of it like a poem before, but i think i know what you mean ~ i guess all of these books must have a poetic quality since i feel i can get something out of any random section, like every sentence has got some sort of resonance or cleverness to it ~
I like your concept of Sacred Books. I call these books the "me books" which is a less sophisticated name hahah. Pedro Paramo was something my sister got me in my first year of booktubing (it was part of my wishlist lol) but I still haven't gotten to it. I was disoriented when I was a few pages in so I thought it was not the right time for me. Definitely one to get to in the near future.
"me books" is probably more accurate; "sacred" sorta implies other ppl think they're special in the same way but really it's just me X] i remember when you tried those few pages lol it's like a maze for sure, good on your sister tho ~
I really want to read Julius Caesar, I guess that’s be my first Shakespeare.. because I’ve never read a full play of his 🙈 it’s sort of overwhelming, do you think that CAN be my first Shakespeare? Should I go in any order ? It just sounds brilliant and it’s the only work by Shakespeare on my TBR 🙃
i don't think there's a best order for old Shakey, but definitely some are not good starting points, at least not without a guide of some kind, and Hamlet or Macbeth are probably particularly good ways in. Julius Caesar is prob a fine one to begin with! the language can be overwhelming so i think it's good to be ready to not get everything and just let some of it wash over you, unless you're ready to read a version with loads of notes... i guess imagining how scenes could be performed might help too, or watching performance clips online. =) hope you enjoy!
@@apocalypsereading7117 thank you! That was very helpful.. I might start with Macbeth that I sort of read when I was 15 or something, maybe that is an easier way in!
it's funny, of all the books on this list the one that's stayed with me the most is The Fish... well not really stayed, just swims back into my mind from time to time, still shimmering - definitely smt magic going on there ~ i should read more by Laxness!
