Let's talk about books! On this channel, I give my thoughts, feelings, and analyses of some of the best (and some of the worst!) literature old and new.
No. You were right to begin with. Wolff is overrated. I read Orlando, and was bored. It was stupid and irritating. So, stupid me, I decided to read To The Lighthouse. What a boring, stupid piece of rubbish. Who cares what this stupid woman thinks about her life and husband and the rest? tedious. I recently read The Count of Monte Cristo. What a contrast. Such an impressive, magnificent work.
I also thought it was so interesting to hear the things you said about Louis' pov regarding Claudia and Lestat's characterization, because I think the show does an amazing job of adapting these sorts of changing perspectives of the characters, and the viewer as well! Also, once you've finished season 2 (which cover the 1st book) it lends itself to rewatches that can recontextualize a lot of character motivation, but I think without that feeling of retconning that you mentioned. The writers of the tv series really paid a lot of attention to the books as well as things that Anne wrote in and outside of the books and are real fans of the book series.
Very interested in more of your thoughts on the IWTV series. Exactly how far into the series are you at this point? I think it's briliiant. Hope you do a video on that later.
I just finished season 2 last night, and I have to say I thought the finale was pretty poor. On the whole I like it, as a new story that borrows names and plot points from the original. I have a few gripes too, and I think as an adaptation of Rice's book it misses the mark. But I'll elaborate on all that in a video soon! :)
Would you be willing to say which adaptation of Henry IV you are watching? I've seen the Hollow Crown version with Tom Hiddleston as Hal, and the 2010 performance at Shakespeare's Globe with Roger Allam as Falstaff that was recorded for Digital Theatre. Both were enjoyable. I assume you were referring to Harold Bloom's book Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human? I do not share his enthusiasm for Falstaff at all (though Roger Allam's performance made him more tolerable) as I have always preferred Hotspur.
The BBC did adaptations of all the Shakespeare plays from I want to say the 70s through to the 80s. I'm watching those adaptations. And yeah, that's the Shakespeare book I'm talking about. I think Falstaff is fantastic and really steals the show of the play! :P
Joan HIckson who played the old dowager sleuth Miss Marple is in the 1960 version of BBC Barnaby Rudge. She shows a completely different personality, is a much younger person, and upstages the other actors a lot.
Essa semana eu terminei de ler "Os Vulneráveis" escrito por Sigrid Nunez. É um livro sobre uma autora durante a pandemia do covid. Mostra as conexões e reflexões que ela faz durante esse tempo. Fazia muito tempo que eu não terminava nenhum livro. Agora comecei Intermezzo da Sally Rooney. É um livro com fluxo de consciência, o que me deixa um pouco perdido.
I love that you went back to interview with a vampire after finishing the series! Good plan. I also attempted to get into the show and tried three times, could not connect with the show. Doesn’t match Anne’s vision in my opinion.
I had the exact same problem you had with Fellowship with the Terry Pratchett novels I'd attempted reading! Then, I went to get the German audiobooks of the witches novels, which are narrated by one of the best actresses we have currently working, and it just clicked for me. The actress does such a phenomenal job, you'd think it was a full cast performance!
I am surprised you didn't talk much about Kathrine being so toxic. She almost comes off as bi-polar with the way her mood swings sometimes even in the same scene. I feel like that significantly colors the interpretation about her possibly being Trans.
Dracula - Carmilla The Monk - Zofloya by Charlotte Dacre The Mysteries of Udolpho - The Italian by Ann Radcliffe The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter - Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell Frankenstein - The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
In my mind, the only adaptation that is close to what you explained is that of 2011 directed by Andrea Arnold. It happens to be my favorite adaptation. It is quite a brutal one, but does not get into the second part of the novel.
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall Kaya Scodelario as Catherine Earnshaw (Shannon Beer as Young Catherine) and James Howson as Heathcliff (Solomon Glave as Young Heathcliff) Check it out when you have the time.
Actually, if we're honest, there are no good people in Wuthering Heights. Throughout the story we are forced to watch in horror as all the characters degenerate more and more, and seeing the truth is an absolute challenge, even more so with such an unreliable narrator as Nelly. Moreover, among all the filth in that place (At least from the older generation, since Cathy and Hareton changed the narrative), I think Edgar Linton remains the last remaining banner of morality. First starting with the obviousness of his constitution as a character, being that he acts fulfilling the role of penitent and martyr. A character who is always at an absolute disadvantage. His body is weak and sickly, he is never taken seriously and his naivety made him easily manipulated (by Hindley when he was a child and Catherine when he became an adult), and thanks to the Victorian context of the time we can see that he never really had his own upbringing that gave him character and principles of worth that made him protect himself, judging by the few lines that his parents had, they were possibly very overprotective, a theory that is reinforced by his languid state of health. When we see things from this perspective, we realize that in the end, Edgar was a man forcibly introduced into a situation for which he was never prepared; on the one hand having as neighbors the evil Hindley, his insidious wife Catherine and finally with Heathcliff returning to seek revenge. And of course, even though he often succumbed to such cowardice and caused different characters to suffer because of it, we see that deeper into his role as a supporting character, Linton tried to do everything the best he could, often overcoming such cowardice and taking charge of the situation in the way he thought was right in such situations. For example, we can see Isabella's dismissal as one of these attempts to keep evil away from his family as much as he could, even more so when he (and miraculously even Catherine) advised and warned her many times that Heathcliff was not the person she thought he was, and finally, Isabella also succumbed to the wickedness of Wuthering Heights. Linton was not perfect at all, and much less a hero, not because he did not have the attributes but because he was too passive to take up the mantle. But he was undoubtedly the only person in Wuthering Heights who lived up to his principles until the very end and fought as hard as he could against the adversities that he and his family faced. Dying with humility and possibly without as many regrets as everyone else. In Wuthering Heights there are no good people, but among all that filth, Edgar is the only piece of tin that still has a little shine.
Comment #3 Thanks for Mo Hayder's name. Loved your thoughtful remarks about George R. R. Martin. I've only read a handful of fantasy, and (though) I really enjoyed them, it is the seeming ubiquity of dragons that prevents me from diving in even more. However, your comments about Martin's series being historical with a focus on politics and intrigue and character thoroughly hooked me, so I'll definitely give the first book a try. Also appreciate your criticism of the authors who do not finish their series or drag them out forever. Finally, really liked your thoughtful answer to the question about favorite novel about masculinity. I read "Maurice" in graduate school, not too long after seeing the marvelous adaptation with James Wilby, Rupert Graves, and Hugh Grant. I've been meaning to go back and read it again and your recent mentioning of it in your reviews of Forster's novels and then again with this video have certainly brought a fresh urgency to that desire. I do find it curious how in Maurice--and in other novels involving gay men--that there is, or seems to be, an intrinsic assumption that men from lower economic stations are predictably more "masculine" while men from higher economic and/or social strata are by default "effete." I cannot help but think there is some intersection here between the social construction of gender and the effects of money and/or education.
Yeah it is worth reading the Song of Ice and Fire books, so long as you can resign yourself to the stories probably not being finished! :P On the Maurice point about class, I would agree that this is a trope that gets used a lot. That said, I think it holds generally in novels about class and masculinity. I think it comes from the fact that working class men typically do "dirty" jobs, often stuff that involves working with ones hands, whether it's building, making, crafting, farming, etc, whereas middle/upper class people occupy more "intellectual" spheres which are by contrast less traditionally masculine. I think there's also the fact that most novel writers are middle/upper class in their backgrounds, and I think a lot of them (at least given the novels they write) seem to have a thing for what we'd call in the uk "a bit of rough!" haha. That's definitely true of Forster I think, and you also find that in Lady Chatterley's lover by Lawrence as well.
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall Yes, I did think after hitting reply that if I start book 1 I better make sure I'm okay with there not being an "ending." Agree wholeheartedly on your observation and supposition about the connection between vocation and degrees of masculinity. Keenly spotted. I'd not considered the class of the writers themselves. I can see that, and I know there is a "tradition" in "gay fiction" for the middle/upper class protagonist's attraction to the lower class, bit of rough, what is referred to here in the U.S. as "rough trade." Maybe what I'm acknowledging is my own attraction to masculine men who exist in the middle/upper classes such that I'd love to read a novel where the protagonist is a lower class boy or man attracted to a masculine middle class boy or man, thereby subverting this trope.
Comment #2 Meant to note that I believe what most attracted me to mystery fiction as a child reader is that one joins someone on a journey, an adventure of sorts, with concrete plot points that propel the narrative forward while continually shaping and refining that journey and its specific direction, thereby creating a non-linear but connected tapestry along the way, at the end of which is a goal to be revealed. As an adult, I'd have to say it is the psychology (I've mentioned I'm a psychologist) that really sustains my interest, specifically the interior landscape of the characters in mysteries, their motivation--that of the perpetrator of the murder, those suspects who are innocent and choose deceit because there is something more threatening to them than to be suspected, and that of the murder victim or victims. For this reason, I generally am not interested in serial killer mysteries: I can more or less correctly hypothesize what is going on: reenactment of trauma. So there you have my long-winded answer. I'm grateful for you posing the question, for I've never attempted to define why mystery is my fave, even though I also read a lot of science fiction, horror, and historical fiction.
3 videos from you in two weeks. And this one is chock-a-block with nuggets worth pursuing and worth response. #1 Mystery/Detective Fiction. This is my most favored. With regard to those Sherlock Holmes awaiting your favor, no, you should not touch them and read them. I finally decided after decades to give Doyle a go and read "A Study In Scarlet." Hated it. Mystery is such a wide genre with many subgenres; I prefer true mysteries over thrillers. Top of the recommended is your fellow countrywoman Minette Walters. Her books are atmospheric, are true mysteries, and are amazingly well-written. Also, though hailing from the U.S., I highly recommend Elizabeth George's series, the first of which is "A Great Deliverance" (the adaptations were weak except for the adaptation of the first novel). These are set in London primarily and throughout the UK. Both of these women have a clear love for language and characters. Three others I rave about to friends are Caleb Carr's "The Alienist," Val McDermid's "A Place Of Execution," and Michel Bussi's "Black Water Lilies." In fact, the conceit at which Mr. Bussi so deftly and brilliantly succeeds in that novel is unlike any other I've ever read. Finally, go nuts with Auntie Agatha. I read all her works in published order, undertaking this feat while in graduate school (as a way to keep my sanity). She is fantastic. One caution, she dabbles in thrillers, and the handful of those are by far her weakest.
Thanks for the many recommendations. I think I still will try Sherlock one day, even if it's just to say I've read it, but you've given me plenty of other things to consider reading first now, thanks!
I’m not a huge fan of murder mysteries in general but I do love Dorothy Sayers’ novels. Also, she was friends with Tolkien and Lewis, and I really enjoy imagining what those conversations must have been like!
If Anne had kept Quinn and Mona, i liked them and Blackwood Farm also, Rowan could have been one of Fareed's researchers. I wonder if as Anne grew older, much of those last books had to do with her wanting to tie up loose ends. Another thing about Anne is that she didn't like her books to be edited very much or at all. I wonder how much better they might have been if she had allowed better editing.
Great video truly agreed with your comment about fantasy. Also, I read Sherlock H but I’m not a big fan however, you should try the hound of the Baskervilles
I'm not sure Cathy had much choice. She marries Edgar Linton because siblings-- even adopted siblings-- could not marry under late 18th century British law. Mr. Earnshaw named Heathcliff after a "𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙙" and referred to him as Cathy's "brother" NOT as his "ward". Had Heathcliff been a ward, he and Catherine Earnshaw 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 have married. But that was not Mr. Earnshaw's wish; he presented and treated Heathcliff as a son. Marriage with Heathcliff was illegal. Patrick Bronte, a curate who baptized, married, buried and visited sick parishioners-- would have known adopted siblings could not marry, as would his daughters. Secondly, Cathy initially plans to marry Edgar to help Heathcliff financially ("I can aid Heathcliff to rise") and escape bondage. She seems either ignorant or dismissive of the sexual responsibilities and constrained freedom marriage will impose. “Who is to separate us, pray?...Every Linton on the face of the earth might melt into nothing before I could consent to forsake Heathcliff."
Catherine Earnshaw (Catherine senior) dreams of becoming Catherine Heathcliff but becomes Catherine Linton. She dies giving birth to a daughter. Catherine Linton (the daughter) briefly becomes Catherine Heathcliff. She is widowed and eventually becomes Catherine Earnshaw. <THE END>
You might enjoy the graphic novel Blacksad by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. It’s more Detective noir rather than straight up mystery, but I think you’d really love it.
Thank you for your very good analysis of Wuthering Heights! I don't believe HeathCliff or Katherine knew how to love because they were never taught, never had good examples, and they didn't seek after or know Christ's love. It's mistaken to think passionate feelings are love which is what some movies want people to believe such as in "The Note Book". Inflicting revenge and trauma is never love ...neither is manipulation, selfishness, unkindness, unforgiveness and a lack of boundaries. Those are all warped views of love. True love is a commitment, and it's also willing to let go of self. HeathCliff & Katherine led a life of misery that lasted generations. I believe Wuthering Heights is a tragedy of warped passion ...a tale of what NOT to become or engage in.
Oh man, I love Camille Paglia's work! She is a phenom. A force of nature. I really like her a lot. Except for that part where she supports the Man/Boy Love Association.... I'll have to settle for separating the art from the artist in this instance.
This book is for all the idealogues who already agree with these views so they can congratulate one another on being so progressive; its for all the white woke to publicly self-flagellate while minorities lionize themselves, for points; it's a place of gathering to collectively insult and berate the nonbelievers and to both preach and prescribe more hatred, racism and violence against the alleged evil majority; and it's a book for the Awards shows so that the topic stays front-and-center in the culture, and it wins to remind the populace that this is the path and that everyone is in agreement- unless theyre racist degenerates, obviously. It is a Manifesto. As it is not a novel, i call it disgusting and reprehensible.
That is the sweetest, saddest little story @8:03 "I understand that daddy's dead, but when is he gonna come home?" I remember the exact moment i realized my daddy was gonna die someday. It was also crushing to have dissolve the fantasy that one day, when i died, i would learn what happened to my missing cat and get to see him again.
Joshua, first, congratulations on finishing the Vampire Chronicles and on the end of an era. Your enthusiasm for this volume leaps from the screen, and it is great to see your enjoyment. I discovered your channel when I was looking for some thoughts about the ending of #5 Memnoch The Devil. I had planned to skip The Vampire Armand and Merrick, jumping to #8 Blood And Gold. However, your reviews of Armand and Merrick changed my mind, and I'm very grateful, for I thoroughly enjoyed them both. I did, however, skip Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle. I had no interest in the witches (I know you might rate The Witching Hour as the best gothic entry and maybe the best overall), so even though you really enjoyed Blackwood Farm, I skipped it. And Blood Canticle: from what you said and from what I've read, I don't regret choosing to allow the end of Blood And Gold be my adieu. (Even you doubt you'll reread it!) I had thought to read the final trilogy, but, again, your review of the first in the cycle caused me to empty my online basket of Prince Lestat. I was not expecting you to like Realms Of Atlantis so much. What has prompted me to write this is the impact this review has had on me. I have listened to it twice today, and as I wrote above, your enthusiasm got my attention. I think I'm going to have to read Blood Communion. And fairly soon. I agree that a couple deaths would have, or could have, raised the narrative stakes and the pathos. Given how well-written are so many of the books, I believe Rice visiting death upon Lestat and ____ would have lent additional weight to the entire series. I'll be very interested in reading your ranking to see how it compares to my own. Cheers. Donnie
Thanks, I'm glad that the videos inspired you to pick up with the final three books. I think they are definitely worth it. It's been fun reviewing them, even if at times I've struggled with some of the books in the middle period. Let me know if you enjoy Blood Communion!
The reason modern films and tv are in decline is because society is losing its sense of morality and the meaning of life. Morality, the meaning of life, and the “hero’s journey” are practically the same things and are exemplified in Lord of the Rings and Casablanca. By contrast, modern tv and films are exemplified in Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad, where we are supposed to be rooting for characters who ultimately disappoint. Modern writers are unable to write heroes because they write themselves into the plot - they can’t face writing about someone better than themselves because one compares oneself to heroes. Tolkien had been a solider in WW1 so he understood the value of showing how a hero should behave. He was motivated.
I agree, though I also think it's because (in the case of adaptations at least) the people who right them think of themselves as better than what came before, and so think they can alter stories to "improve" them, but in fact often make changes that undermine the structure of the story completely, or fail to capture the essence of the story entirely. It is an interesting point about anti-heroes though. I read an article once that made a distinction between the anti-heroes of old, who are bad, but often ultimately do the right thing (think Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, or Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment), and what the author of the paper calls rough-heroes in shows like Breaking Bad, the Sopranos, or Game of Thrones. Rough heroes remain unredeemed, and yet the show/novel etc presents them as if they are good, even though they never redeem themselves and remain despicable. I definitely think modern day stories are littered with these heroes, and I'm starting to find it rather dull to be honest.
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall Yes, I agree. But it’s not just fiction that has this problem, it’s real life too. For example, one true life story is Rabbit Proof Fence. We’re obviously supposed to think that the half Aboriginal girl who runs away from the ‘cultural assimilation camp’ is supposed to be the ‘hero’. However, she’s a bad example of a hero because she runs away for selfish reasons to become an eternal child. So her lack of education going forwards means that she never becomes capable of helping other people in a meaningful way. She raised a family but being a hero is more than that. This attitude in our culture is incredibly damaging. We have a few real life heros like Elon Musk - innovation requires heroism. However, we are no longer producing great works of art or amazing architecture. Those things require heroism too. The first step along that path is understanding what a hero is and modern media is not providing that.
I came across your channel about a month ago while looking for Wuthering Heights analysis. I’ve since gone through many of your videos and love your content and perspectives!
