I read 18 books last year and except for Harry Potter, all of the other books were recommended by the same very man. 18 is about 10 more than the year before that so thank you, sir!
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="84">1:24</a> An Olive Grove in Ends - Moses McKenzie <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="174">2:54</a> The Bread the Devil Knead - Lisa Allen-Agostini <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="250">4:10</a> Milk Fed - Melissa Broder <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="417">6:57</a> Cleopatra and Frankenstein - Coco Mellors <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="493">8:13</a> Everyone in this Room will Someday Be Dead - Emily Austin <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="542">9:02</a> Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="589">9:49</a> Swimming in the Dark - Tomasz Jedrowski <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="633">10:33</a> At Night all Blood is Black - David Diop <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="686">11:26</a> Elektra - Jennifer Saint <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="719">11:59</a> Lie With Me - Philippe Besson <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="766">12:46</a> Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="825">13:45</a> The Promise - Damon Galgut <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="889">14:49</a> Nightcrawling - Leila Mottley <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="932">15:32</a> Happy Hour - Marlowe Granados <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="977">16:17</a> Elena Knows -Claudia Pineiro <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1037">17:17</a> Panenka - Ronan Hession
182 books seems like a lot to me but I’m a new reader and I’m satisfied with my goal of 23 books in 2023 and I think it’s realistic based on my schedule. And these 4 books went definitely on my TBR so thank you! 😊
Yeah no need to pressure ourselves to read a lot. The fact that you are scheduling reading in your time, considering whatever is going on in your life, is great. Good luck!
It's the one thing that keeps making me want to unsubscribe, so many better booktubers, but sometimes he gets genuinely enthusiastic and drops the façade and talks from the heart. Problem is too much material leads to performative repetition
@@nemadawkins yeah idk how they got “facade” from… humor? like is he not allowed to joke around without being seen as a fraud? what even is the argument here? plus for someone with as big of a platform as jack has, it’s refreshing to see him always reading and recommending a very diverse range of books and he always has very in depth thoughts about each of them and seems genuinely passionate about reading, so i’m also confused about the “performative repetition” part. maybe they’re being sarcastic and i dont get it like u said but yeah, if they’re being serious their comment literally makes no sense lol
god i can’t wait until i’m finally reading a whole book written by jack, just hearing his own blurbs about all the books have a grip on me and i can’t imagine how much of a chokehold i’ll be in with his writing 😭😭
i loved the bread the devil knead SO MUCH, but no-one i know has ever read it so it's nice to see someone else finally giving it the recognition i feel it deserves
Respectfully, I completely disagree with you. The author does not seem to have done any research on victims of abuse. The constant abuse and trauma that the author inflicts on the protagonist would destroy anyone's self-worth and make anyone become severely depressed. Despite the abuse Alethea endures, it does not impact her self-confidence and ability to do her job well, which I thought was completely unrealistic. Also, I don’t understand how this abuse doesn’t impact her relationships with other men. The protagonist is clearly traumatised and any victim of sexual abuse would need lots of time to even trust another person. None of the abuse she endured is shown to negatively impact the protagonist’s feelings about sex. The only reason I continued to read this book was because of the wonderful secondary characters such as her brother, friends and even a police officer who were concerned about her and want to help her but Alethea refuses to accept their help out of pride. This book taught me how not to write a character who is a victim of abuse. Sorry, I know this is a long and unnecessary response but all the reviews I've read seem to ignore everything that is wrong about this book.
@@starlight-ki6fr no, i completely understand your point! i thought that maybe i was being overly sensitive or thinking immaturely, since i'm relatively young and i haven't lived through many things similar to what Alethea had. it is quite unnatural (to me) how she was completely fine with having a sexual affair with her boss, while simultaneously suffering from sexual abuse at home. i do think that if i had to live through even a sliver of the abuse she endured it would absolutely make me spiral.
@@thevelveteentreeline Thanks for understanding. Sorry for the rant. I do think it's a well written book but the parts regarding abuse I thought were not thoroughly researched so it wasn't handled with sensitivity.
@@starlight-ki6fr I just finished and I think she was depressed and had self esteem issues. Maybe not overwhelmingly so, but I think it was present. She accepts abusive relationships because she fears being alone and doesn't think she deserves more. For most of the book she rejected friendships partially because she doesn't understand why anyone would care about her. Her friend needed to convince her that she's smart and experienced enough to help start a business when she's clearly talented. When her friends celebrated her birthday she broke down because she couldn't believe others would do this for her. You see her PTSD as well as her self-loathing in other parts of the book. I also think she was so functional because given her childhood and other abusive relationships this was her normal Abuse is complex and I think it's impossible to display it perfectly so I totally understand if you see it as unrealistic. I think it was done well and this was just my opinion i wanted to add :) although i did have other issues with the book
@@emilyw1340Hi I just wish the book has explored her mental health issues more fully. I felt like more time was given to her abusive relationships than understanding this character and why she acts the way she does. Her relationships with the men in her life, except her brother, seemed superficial and they were one dimensional characters. And I found the inclusion of several sexual assault scenes gratuitous and unnecessary.
Okay so reading , buying books and hearing you talk about books are 3 completely different hobbies . I spend minimum time on the first one😂. Btw the except Ross was so accurate
Molly Ringwald, the actress from the Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Sixteen Candles also TRANSLATES?! I had to look it up to make sure, but wow! The talent!
i absolutely like how bubbly you are when you talk and we can really feel you passion when you share about the books you read! honestly, sometimes I just use you videos as a podcast or as background music coz it makes me feel calm. thank you so much for that.
I can't believe 'The Girl With the Louding Voice' is only included in honourable mentions. I read this book a few years ago and still think about it from time to time. It's such a gorgeous and unique book with a range of incredibly deep and well fleshed out characters. The protagonist will always hold a special place in my heart.
Well you're probably a person with a job. RU-vidrs on the other hand get money for making RU-vid videos, Jack's whole category is books, he does nothing all day but read to produce content and get money from it. Don't get discouraged, 35 books is an amazing achievement
I just finished Swimming in the Dark a couple of weeks ago & it’s probably one of the most beautifully written books I have maybe ever read. So many moments I paused and internally screamed at particular lines, it’ll stick with me forever. Amazing & important.
If you liked Elektra, you should read The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It's the retelling of an Indian epic The Mahabharata but from the perspective of the female character Draupadi who was married to the Pandavas (5 brothers)
Swimming in the dark is literally gorgeous! I read the german version during the summer holidays and shared the book with my 2 travelling companions. We ALL loved it and each read it in a day. Definetely recommend it aswell!
i am so glad to see elena knows so high up on your list, because it is such a beautiful and heartbreaking book. it shattered me to pieces honestly, and it's also one of my favourite books i read! i want to reread it but also i don't think I'm ready yet. and yes, like jack said, it sounds dramatic AND IT IS haha. claudia piñeiro has other really good works also!
Hey Jack! I discovered your channel a little over a year ago, when I was heavily reading fantasy. Because of you, I gave myself the opportunity to read a lot out of my comfort zone and ended up loving them. Keep making such videos I enjoy watching you recommend books with such passion ❤
The Bread The Devil Knead is absolutely stunning, I’m so glad I took your recommendation on it all those months ago and kept looking for it at my local library for over 2 months
I have read swimming in the dark in Polish, and I remember crying while riding to school listening to the audio book , hearing what decisions characters were forced to make, and that it could be me as an qeer person, me as a polish citizen. Its great that these days are over, but at what cost :C
I read 60 books this year and 90% of them were suggested by Jack, I get a real satisfaction seeing the ones i picked up from the store on my own also being ones he suggested too! Heres to more reading this year and blindly following Jack's suggestions lol the man knows what hes doing
your channel helped me fall back in love with reading. i always look forward to your recs and reviews. you feel like a friend! thank you for these incredible books, i will read them all
Reading is not just enough”. Take the action! Put your newfound knowledge to use. I read for a long time but Action made my life changed in no time ( generally and mostly financially:) That’s my two cents on this!!
If you wanna believe me, read "Night in Zagreb" by Adam Medvidović. Thats the next big thing, and we are already hooked up for coming sequel like insane.
I struggle to follow through, especially financially. I earn quite enough but hardly have a saving. Rent, bills, debt, expenses take it all away. It almost feels like I leave paycheck to paycheck
Live below your means, Adjust your lifestyle, be frugal in spending don't buy unnecessary stuff, Budget your spending and your debts, Save, Invest it's a better way to grow wealth, get a financial expert to help you.
I enjoy hearing you talk about books. It gives me such motivation to read more books. I find books so interesting, and I want to invest a lot of my time reading and learning from books. Ahh, the reflection of the authors internal monologue put in a book. I love books. 🖤📖
I read The Island of Missing Trees because of you. It was my favorite book i read in 2022! I still think about it. I also read 24 books total last year because your channel inspired me... Compared to only 4 books the year before.
This is such a refreshing list! I read so many of these throughout 2022 because you recommended them and absolutely adored them. In fact, I just started Lie with Me, and this makes me even more excited to get into it. Thanks for the stellar recommendations!!
Six books that ended up on your all-time favs? So glad to hear that you had a great reading year! Glad to hear you enjoyed ‘Happy Hour,’ as it’s on my TBR list😊
Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for putting Lie with me on my radar! Not only is it the first book I read in French after 15 years (since I had to study French growing up, I figured I should read the original version), but I actually enjoyed a book in a language I usually despise. Also I get why you underlined so many sentences, I did too. It is so hauntingly real, devastating and beautiful at the same time. The last sentence left me balling my eyes out. Thank you so much for the recommendation!
Panenka is so understated and just so human never felt like it was overwriting. As a big book and sports nerd loved seeing a book use a sports moment as such a symbolic focal point!
Just read it 2 weeks ago and loved it so much. Definitely an understated one as you say. It's one of those it's hard to pick out specific parts of it that are particularly special but the whole thing came together so nicely just a special thing in is entirety. As you say its so very human. Nothing super dramatic as is the case in most books and TV but just very real. It doesn't feel like it's trying to get anything out of you to make you connect but more sits alongside and shares with you. One of those things that gives a feeling you can't write describe or capture what it is you enjoyed about it.
Several of these are high on my TBR so I might need to bump them up. Cleopatra and Frankenstein was one I attempted a long time ago but reread it recently and loved it.
I'm happy that swimming in the dark is on that list, fantastic novel, I read it early last year and loved it, for similar reasons as you. As you liked it I would get the book that inspired the film firebird, which has just been translated into English.
I'm pretty sure you ARE okay, and If you weren't, then I want to be not okay, too, and read that much. I've read more books in 2022 than since I started my job which was more than a decade ago. And that was partly because of you. Love your enthusiasm, your taste in books and your humour is the cherry on top. Thanks for your brilliant recommendations!
Swimming in the Dark and Lie With Me are two of my favourites. I really enjoyed Cleopatra and Frankenstein, but Our Wives Under the Sea I wasn't fussed on, was a 3 star read for me. I bought Nightcrawling following one of your other videos and can't wait to read it.
You make me want to read anything and everything you ever talk about. They way you speak so passionately and thoughtfully is incredibly beautiful. Thank you!
I just finished "Lie with Me" and it left me feeling empty. I think I have never felt that towards a book before. It made me recollect memories that weren't even mine to begin with. Thats how strong the words of this book is.
I read 46 books in 2022 and my personal favorites were: Radio Silence by Alice Oseman, just a stunning depiction of queer friendship and I felt so deeply for these characters. Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters, a bunch of incredibly complex characters that you love to hate. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, I read this as an audiobook and it hit me like a truck and I thanked it for it. Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, my personal favorite story was the woman who visits her husband with Alzheimer's. Piranesi by Susanna Clark, just so much empathy for this world she built. My favorite poetry collections were Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, Bluets by Maggie Nelson and Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong. I also started reading the Percy Jackson series, I'm on the 3rd book and I'm loving it.
Thanks for this, I really enjoyed it! I just added a bunch of books to my wish list and I'm probably going to buy On Sun Swallowing today! Do you ever do videos about just memoirs? That is my favorite type of book!
this channel is my happy place. i’m a new nurse and my work life is very heavy, face paced and defeating at times, but I can always come here to get away and clear my head. thank you Jack ❤️
JACK!! I know you’ve been searching for some translated books… if you haven’t read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, you defs should!! You might find yourself another 5⭐️ read within its pages :)
I read both Elena Knows and Panenka after seeing them on your channel. I cried reading them both and they are two of the best books I have read recently. I also loved The Promise when I read it. I hope to pick up more amazing recommendations from your channel in the future. Thank you 😍
Omg! Milk Fed was also my biggest surprise of the year too! After not vibing with The Pisces I was hesitant to pick it up, but I’m so glad I did, it’s so beautiful and powerful yet absurd and funny. She has another book coming out this fall and I can’t wait to read it!
Sorrow and Bliss was excellent. Very hard hitting at times. I definitely want to read Our Wives Under the Sea this year. And I've just added Elena Knows to my TBR. It sounds wonderful ☺
The promise sent me straight into depression but in the best way possible, the narrative was something I’ve never seen before it made the story so fluid
i'm so glad you loved our wives under the sea! have you read her other book, salt slow? also i think you'd love kirsty logan too, her writing is the same beautifully haunting and lyrical style that just makes you want to read it aloud so you can feel the words in your mouth. i recommend things we say in the dark, they're connected short stories and they're excellent. also for something a bit lighter (albeit not by much lol) but still sapphic, kissing the witch by emma donoghue! 🖤
Loved your description of Happy Hour in the midst of all the tearjerkers it gave me an idea for a video you could do!! Books to cheer you up when you’re depressed 😂 When I think about the books I had the most fun reading (namely Taylor Jenkins-Reid), they were still heartbreaking in their own ways. What are some brilliant books that just uplift you?
I can see Empireland on the book trolley in the background. Remember to read it or you’ll have to unhaul it Jack👀 Sorrow and Bliss is also one of my top reads in 2022!
I read Elena Knows and Nightcrawling because of your recommendations, loved one not so much the other. I just started reading The Promise this week. Thank you so much for your recs :)
I’m reading a little life right now and I picked up happy hour to help balance out the emotions of a little life. It genuinely is such a fun and colorful book
I am a new sub of yours not because I love your videos but also because everytime you give some new recommendations, you actually pinpoint what I really need to know about in the book. To be honest, when you said you read 182 books in 2022, I felt really jealous. I'm an avid reader and I'm 15 right now and....I have about 70 books at my home. (I don't have a place to keep them anymore lol) and i remember you made a video on the books RM recommended, i loved it. Also, i think you should add "the midnight Library" to this list of fiction books. I personally think it's one of the most beautiful book ever written, cause the main protagonist of the book is like any other teenage kid today. She thinks she isn't important to people and gives up on life and as she is about to brece death when she falls from her veranda, she is caught in a path between life and death. And she enters a library that provides her with infinite lives she wants to try. So, when she's unable to decide what life she wants, the Library is set on fire. And she has to escape but for that she has to write one line on a blank book. She does escape in the end and choses to embrace the present life that she has. So, i love that book, and people should read it. : )
182 is wild!!!! I read 132 books last year and got a lot more consistent over the course of the year with reading in the evenings…my goal for 2023 is to hit 150.
I have a bit of an unrelated question but could you/have you made a video about your degree, college, etc.? I'm 'degree hunting' and what you did/are doing sounds really fun! I was hoping that your experiences could help me decide what I want to accomplish in life. I love your videos! :)
It’s a treat on a Sunday to watch Jack talk about books. Also, 182 books is 182 books more than what I read lol P.S. We know Jack is unhinged and we love it ❤
Bro wth I love ur channel 😭 I’m so mad I haven’t even heard of u until today. Ur videos and humor are amazing🤌 You should make a video on music reviews plsssss
Excited to see Everyone In This Room Will Someday be Dead mentioned because I don’t think it got enough attention last year. It’s such a relatable depiction of anxiety and depression, but with enough (dark) humor to keep the story fun.
I read Elena knows after your recommendation and let me tell you no book has ever DESTROYED me like this one. I loved it so much and it made me weep so hard and i know i will probably never read it again. Definitely a 5/5
Thank you again for the recommendations! I love seeing someone so passionate and happy about books! I’m kind of sad Shuggie Bain didn’t make this list but I’m so excited for this reading year!
Same! I saw Shuggie in the background and the further he got into the list the more excited I got…then nothing. But I know all these will be wonderful (if sad) books.
@@tracinha6935 I feel like Shuggie Bain should be taught in schools - it’ll become a classic, I hope. The themes, the characters, the writing…argh it’s so good!
