One of my favorite (fairly current) fiction books is Piranesi by Susanna Clarke! It came out in 2020 & I bought it and left it on my shelf for years before I picked it up last month!! Can’t believe I waited so long to read it!! HIGHLY recommend it
PORTUGUESE WILDCARD PICK: “Baltasar & Blimunda” by José Saramago, unquestionably one of the most important novels in Portugal’s canon, drenched in historical magic realism. Can’t recommend it enough (and I don’t believe you’ve covered Portuguese authors before, maybe besides Fernando Pessoa!).
Thanks for the hours of insight and fun Chris, my vote is for 'Warlock' by Oakley Hall (Originally was 'The Tunnel' but I had a pleasant surprise as you were talking about your reading plans).
Roberto Arlt! Yes! The Mad Toy was...unsettling; I read it when I was too young, you know, required school reading. Love your picks for this year; I'm a bit too much like you and haven't gotten in touch with contemporary fiction. I checked out some Latin American and Spaniard books from the library, I have so far Por mi gran culpa by Raúl Ariza and the newest by Héctor Abad Faciolince. I meant to check out more contemporaries, but of course, I failed. I came out with Camilo José Cela, Saramago (my spirit animal), Sándor Márai, Roberto Bolaño, Alejo Carpentier and Mario Benedetti (Uruguay is a country everyone should add to their list of amazing discoveries). I accumulated 3 stacks of both library and purchased books that only contain 2 contemporaries. That's 2 more than I had before so I'm not doing too poorly. Too late in the year for this, but happy new year to you too and a toast to 2024's great reads and discoveries.
For the wildcard pick: I'd love to see you talk about Divine Days, by Leon Forrest, if only because I just got it and am planning on reading it soon, and would love to see your take.
Enjoy it - it’s a feast! If you are able to find a copy of The Bloodworth Orphans, read it first. Dozens of characters and storylines are established there.
@LeafbyLeaf Oh cool. I'm planning on reading the other Forrest County books before tackling the big one. Since you're familiar, is that the right tack?
I was actually looking for your opinion on Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, I wouldn't recommend it (I gave it one star on Goodreads) but I was curious it seems that not many have read it or made a review here. If you aren't the most handsome book tuber in the land of Internet. I wish you success in your reading endeavors for 2024.
Hey there! Thanks so much for all your kind words and compliments! It looks like I've got two more of HM's books to get to before I get to that one. Yours is the first word I've ever heard about it. Luckily, I've got no deadlines. Who knows when (or if) I'll ever get to it. :)
Thanks Chris, and Happy New Year! If you are looking for modern fiction - I recommend the magical Jon Fosse novella "A Shining" My Wildcard pick: The Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel. I would really like to hear your take on this short story collection.
Great video! When you go to Paris, I highly recommend carving out an hour or two to go to the Rodin Museum. It was easily the most intellectually impactful experience I had in Paris, but the museum is also just stunning (I mean, The Thinker and The Gates of Hell and the Monument to Balzac are just chilling out in the gardens). My wild pick is 'Forces In Motion: Anthony Braxton and the Meta-Reality of Creative Music'. Can't wait to see what 2024 has in store for this channel!
I will absolutely be going to the Rodin museum! The title of your pick is intriguing enough to make me just read it without it winning the selection! 🙏🙏🙏
I'm super late to this but what were the bookstores you visited in Cincy? I live in the Cincy suburbs and am not always hip to the cool stores likes that and would love to go check those out. I wrote down Conveyor Belt Books I'm definitely going there next time I'm down around Covington.
Conveyor Belt had an outstanding selection! The Ohio Bookstore was incredible. Other than those two, I got over to Joy and Matt's Bookstore after eating dinner at the superb Pepp & Dolores, and I visited the charming Wheatberry Books in fun-to-say Chillicothe, Ohio!
Chris, re: reading requests...I get a lot of them. I tell them that I am just another asshole and that while I will be honest, I am not to be taken very seriously...but most importantly I limit the pages severely. I can't let that make me feel bad. Go easy on yourself.
You mean, you limit the number of pages of each of the books you read by request? I want to please everyone, which gets me into trouble when I get outnumbered. Thanks for the advice, Rick!
Happy new year Chris! My wildcard pick has got to be Absalom, Absalom! by Faulkner. My absolute favorite book, really hits close to home being raised in the south.
Hi Chris, thank you for all the fantastic content, finally getting around to reading Solenoid. I hope you enjoy Paris! I was there for the holidays and I was amazed at the many English bookstores, of course, Shakespeare and Co. but many other less known ones, maybe plan an extra suitcase. My wildcard pick: News from the Empire, by Fernando del Paso.
@@LeafbyLeaf When I first read it years ago, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had with a book. Rereading it now, it feels very elusive, something that asks the reader to keep a critical eye on everything and every idea happening in the story.
I’ve been reading DBH’s essays and his New Testament translation-and he has changed my perspective in several ways, too. Can’t wait to start getting into his books. 🙏
Congratulatioms! I just turned 40 a few years ago. It's somethinng you know will happen, but is still a bit unreal when it does. If I had one rec for the new year it would be "The House of Breath", by William Goyen. Don't know if you've read it or not, but It's beautiful, modernist, and, to the great relief of your reading list, is short--only 180 pages, or so--but packed with language.
@@LeafbyLeaf Fantastic! I’m re-reading it right now, and it would be a treat to see you talk about it, especially considering how underrated it seems to be. Hopefully it gets some new attention with the recent Dalkey Archive edition
Concerning Graeber's The Dawn of Everything: before starting the book I would very much recommend looking into its critical reception by the scientific community. In my view it helps to frame the text against the established understanding on the development of human societies.
Great video and a great year as always! Wildcard pick: The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro. Might be too long and is a biography but it is truly a feast.
Wildcard - The Last Samurai by Helen Dewitt. Just finished the delightfully fun The English Understand Wool. I need to finally read this one which has been on my shelf for 10+ years
@@LeafbyLeaf I live in Argentina, and I can't really understand it. There are endless talented writers. Every other week I find new gems, and forgotten brilliance. You should really read Sear, I think you will love his works.
@@LeafbyLeaf Haven't read that one. Heard interesting things. Have you read it? One more hidden gem I must read. I've been delving deep into Juan Rodolfo Wilcock, one of Borges's friends, and his work is remarkable. He is like an acid and darker, more bizarre and surreal Borges. Deeply recommend: The temple of iconoclasts by him.
Happy New Year! Been enjoying your book discussions for a long time, looking forward to many more. For Wildcard Pick, I am going to nominate a book that I loved- The Seven Moons of Maali Almeidaa by Shehan Karunatilaka.
Chris, thanks so much for spreading these great book (and bookstore!) recommendations to the masses. I believe Hind's Kidnap is Ben from Bookshore's recommendation for the first McElroy to start with. Would be very interested in a video of whichever you choose though.
Thanks for the great work you've been doing with this channel. My biggest literary discovery this year was Arno Schmidt. So my wildcard pick would be "Nobodaddy's Children".
Chris, even physical malaise can’t hold you back! All I request you look at in 2024 is the very short but powerful The Burnout Society by the German Korean philosopher Byang-chul Han AND anything by Bernardo Kastrup…..both obviously non fiction but I believe they both have quietly revolutionary and incisive analysis of the wider society in which all the novels have their seed in. Thank you again for your boddhisatva like commitment to helping everyone rediscover the world of reading in a distracted world. Turning forty is a great time to bring together all the different lines of creativity into something approaching a synthesis. Paris is the most amazing place in the world. And I too will be reading much much more selectively: that is, books that help me clarify my sense of meaning. That way I can help more of my patients as possible. Hopefully u can do something similar for ur readers. Thank you Chris !
Hey man, I've read all of Kastrup's books! Wonderful philosophy expressed so beautifully that it not only resonates with me, but I feel now as though I've borrowed much of it as a mental framework for conceptualizing reality.
Thanks (once again), Kieran! I ordered Burnout Society immediately. This looks very much like something I want to read. I will read this this year. Thank you. I love the idea of starting to think about my videos as ways of helping people discover more than just exciting books. I wish you the absolute best in your noble profession this year! 🙏
Happy New Year, Chris! Nice to hear about your upcoming travels and plans. To my knowledge you haven't done any videos on John Banville. I offer his superb 1997 novel The Untouchable for the Wildcard.
Some contemporary picks I'd recommend would be Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park, Pay As You Go by Eskor David Johnson, and Troll by David Fitzgerald
I'd like to recommend to you Lina Wolff as an author, and The Polyglot Lovers as a novel. I love her novels and Saskia Vogel is a talented translator. Looking forward to The Devil's Grip translation that will be published after Eastern. She is on of Sweden's Finest, living in Spain (I think).
love your content so much Chris, super excited for the fifth anniversary! my wildcard pick would be Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me by Richard Farina. I feel Farina's work so needs more attention, and I think you'd have a blast with this one.
I didn’t even know that this book « Ha! » existed, but I really, really think you should read « Next Episode » by Hubert Aquin. I can send you a copy in French!
That is an exceedingly kind offer! I actually ordered an English translation of the Aquin yesterday because so many people said to get it. Even though I probably _should_ read it in French (I am a decent French reader), I think I'll do the English this time so it doesn't take me forever. Then I can get to _HA!_ and make a video on both!
My Subscriber Wildcard Pick: 'Soul Mountain' by Gao Xingjian (trans. Mabel Lee) Thank you for the new recommendations as always! Love how you have awards for different categories as well. Have an incredible 2024, in reading and in living and all in between!
hi chris! i've loved your channel for years, the video you did on beckett has motivated me to read through his work the first half of this year. anyway, my wildcard pick is profane friendship by harold brodkey. brodkey isn't for everyone, but i think he was greatly misunderstood while he was alive, and i'd love to hear what you think of it. happy new year!
I finally signed up in RU-vid to be able to sign up for your channel. I’ve been watching you for over two years. Congrats on turning 40 (late forties here already). Please keep this channel going- it’s fantastic!
My wildcard pick has to be 'Buddenbrooks' by Thomas Mann. I've been wanting to read this for a long time and finally started after visiting Lübeck (The hometown of Thomas Mann) last fall. Buddenbrooks is one of the greatest German novels and deserves much more attention in the English-speaking world.
How awesome! I’ve been wanting to read that, too. Of Mann, I’ve only read Magic Mountain and Death in Venice. (I actually have Joseph and His Brothers as one of my secret picks for this year. Don’t tell anyone.)
@@LeafbyLeaf As with many, Death in Venice was my introduction to Thomas Mann and The Magic Mountain is on my ever-growing list of books I want to read. I hope you get round to reading Joseph and His Brothers! And if you do, a video on it would be fantastic.
Thank you for sharing another year of excellent videos and insights! Brysons ‘Short History’ is one of my favorite books of all time. Bryson has a sharp lens for detailing human nature in all its absurd glory, and his exploration of the most brilliant, eccentric minds the race has produced (our great scientists) is so phenomenally entertaining and funny. There is actually an illustrated edition which is great as well and I’d recommend the audiobook narrated by Richard Matthews as his English delivery makes it doubly funny, in my opinion.
Congratulations, @hmmrage ! You won the 2024 LxL Subscriber Wildcard Pick! I will be reading and doing a video on _Suttree_ this year. Thanks so much for participating!
The literary shirts are 💯. An intellectually honest substantial reflection video. Your recommendation of Bookworm by Michael Silverblatt was very enjoyable. All the best in 2024
I'd like to submit KIBOGO by Scholastique Mukasonga for your wild card...bonus fact, she's Rwandan, lives in Paris, and writes in French. My own six-stars-of-five read for 2022.
Alright, I have a very enjoyable suggestion: A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Anyone can enjoy this book but I do think it helps if you have been, like me, raised in the American South.
Well, I’ve got a leg up there: I was raised in Virginia! I think I said this on the channel at some point, but I think this book gets the award for the book I’ve been on the cusp of reading and then went for another book the most. Not sure why. Perhaps this is the year!
I wish all “awards ceremonies” could be like this. It’s really valuable to have such thoughtful curation. Thank you for a brilliant year of videos, cant wait for what’s up ahead.
Thanks so much for your affirmation and encouragement! I have a lot of fun doing it. Part of me thinks I should say more about each book, but I figure people can seek out the full videos of they’re interested.
My favorite content creator! Discovering you and your channel has felt like having a compassionate friend by one’s side. Love your award videos. from Texas
Highly anticipating your read and listen of Gass and Vollmann. In honor of your trip to France and request for some recent fiction , The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellbecq. Much more focussed and far less vulgar than his earlier works it won the Prix Goncourt in 2010. His current perhaps final novel runs about 700 pages but hasn’t appeared yet in English translation
I’ve actually read all of Houellebecq’s work in English. I reviewed Serotonin for Rain Taxi and it came out. Le carte et le territoire I bought in 2012 when I was in Lyon and struggled through it on the flight. Ended up reading it in English. 😁 I’m looking forward to his latest!
Wildcard: Butcher's Crossing by John Williams. I read this one right after reading Blood Meridian and I have to say, I resonated with and enjoyed Butcher's Crossing more than I did Blood Meridian. Not that it's a direct comparison, but there are certain similar themes in both.
Chris this was great! Your plans for 2024 look fabulous. Young, Sims, 7 Dreams!!👏🏻👊 And, not sure if it’s already been mentioned, but The Deluge has been a game changer for me. 1/2 through. Would love to hear your take!
My wildcard pick is the astonishing masterpiece of Argentinian surrealism Kalpa Imperial by Angélica Goródischer. It is a fantastical, dreamlike book that blends simple fable with sprawling political satire, and the Ursula K. Le Guin translation is excellent.
Amazing video! Philip Glass’s memoir is an excellent read. I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying his music. My Wildcard Pick: “Still No Word From You: Notes in the Margin” by Peter Orner.
If you do decide to go with Lookout Cartridge I highly recommend you try and find a copy The Review of Contemporary Fiction Vol. 10, No. 1: Joseph McElroy. There are excellent essays in there that are a great companion to that work.
I might have to ask Steven Moore to scan ‘em for me-can’t find a copy anywhere! I loved that periodical. Thanks for tip! I’ve used RCF essays in several videos.
Against the Day was the first novel I ever studied. I went through it line-by-line when I discovered it over a decade ago. Good contemporary writers include Ali Smith, Rachel Cusk, Kathleen Rooney. Also, pay attention to small literary presses. You've mentioned Two Dollar Radio. They are one example. But small literary presses have always been where a lot of the more interesting, exciting and formally explorative writing gets published. You are going to love Hind's Kidnap, by the way.
Ohhh, I like the line-by-line analysis! You know, I should have made clearer what I meant by ignorance of contemporary work. I tend to read way more new fiction from the small presses because, as you said, they put out the much better stuff in general. Where I am out of touch is the bigger house stuff. Thanks so much for the trio of recommendations! And here’s to McElroy!
Happy 40th birthday this year Chris1 If you think 40 is sordid, wait till you reach 60 which I do in 7 days time. On the plus side, I find myself writing about death more and more! Congrats on the 5th anniversary for the channel too. Bests.
In terms of more contemporary fiction, I would recommend Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary if you haven’t come across it already. Even as an indie bookseller, I struggle to keep up with contemporary fiction, but that’s one well worth the read. Another that is a bit out of left field - Poor People With Money by Dominic Hoey. Not sure how available it is to order overseas, but it’s a fantastic piece of fiction from Aotearoa so if you can get your hands on it I’d highly recommend! The blurb really doesn’t do it justice, I will say that much.
Thank you so much! I should’ve been clearer in the video: I stay on top of a lot of indie new release. What I’m out of touch with is the new fiction from bigger houses.
I used to spend my free Saturdays reading infinite jest in my room while listening to music and singing sometimes along. Few books have the ability of allowing the reader such a free flow of reading. I know many people have said it. And I know it has his critics. But infinite jest is my number one book.
It really is an incredible book, unfortunately freighted with a human-all-too-human author (which actually makes the book all the more potent for me). I am really wanting to do a long in-depth video where I comb through IJ page by page (leaf by leaf) and just focus on why I love reading it.
