5 Years of Leaf by Leaf 

Congratulations Chris, it's been a pleasure to follow you and watch your videos in the past five years. Here is to five, ten, fifty more even! 🍾🍾🍾

The Gravity's Rainbow-shirt. 🥳

Congratulations! You’ve done a fantastic job, and I’ll be here for the next five years!

Congratulations, you’ve helped me discover assorted cross-word puzzles in historical fiction, helped me learn about deeply beautiful novellas, and have ultimately bettered my reading as a twelve year old. Thank you Chris, I admire you to the fullest.

Congratulations, and thank you for being here.

A year of Shakespear sounds great. I've also wanted to make such a commitment.

Congratulations on reaching the half-decade milestone of soul-baring on this platform, Chris! I say that because that is certainly what sharing literature within this coterie of enthusiasts essentially amounts to. Whitman said, "Through me the afflatus surging and surging, through me the current and index." in 'Song of Myself', and though he may have been referring to his own creative stimulation, I see you as a channel for many of our inspirations to run through and be sparked by. I found your channel relatively recently through Cliff Sargent's interview with you, and I must say that I have found you to be such a compelling presence on this website and even more as a person in general. I love how exhaustive and expansive you are in your explications of almost everything while retaining brevity. Whether it be literary analyses, your personal tastes, the variegated interests you have, or even the fervour and gusto you occasionally luminesce with over the beauty of a singular word or sentence. I try to see life and its offerings through a similar prism, and I always appreciate when I see somebody do the same. It's all very inspiring to me, a 21-year-old buffoon working things out. You're fucking awesome, man! I do fear I am going to inundate you with this message, though. Oops. If you do not mind, I have a few questions for you because I believe that you have acquired trusty wisdom and a worthwhile perspective in your time. As Leonardo Da Vinci said, "He who has access to the fountain does not go to the water jar." 1) Do you deal with distractions that derail plans and aspirations, or is there rigidity in your life most of the time? In today's age, distraction is profuse, and I wonder how it interacts with you. 2) Have you listened to the music of Jeff Buckley, Alter Bridge (I also noticed you enjoy Gojira, who the frontman of Alter Bridge is a fan of), and Big Wreck? 3) I am an unwavering agnostic, but I am intrigued by your progression with faith and theology. Have you ever questioned it to the point of disillusionment or even temporary desertion? 4) Have you seen the films of Terrence Malick, Peter Greenaway, Richard Linklater, Claire Denis, and Wim Wenders? 5) How many volumes do you own? And what do you envision as the legacy of your beautiful personal library with regard to passing it on? I pour a libation out for you and apologise if I was voluble. I'm a goddamn steamroller. Keep everything coming, my friend. Congratulations again.

Dude, your floor shelves. 😂 I never noticed until now. Kudos to you for making it work; I have those too. I got as high as turning windowsills into shelves. Happy 5 year anniversary, Chris. It's always a pleasure to watch your videos.

Congratulations and God bless! Thanks for mentioning Vollmann a few times and for bringing out your hardcover edition of Women and Men…. Yes, reading it is an experience worth waiting for!

Glad to see someone living that literary dream out there. Here's to another five, Chris!

congratulations on five years !! happy father's day and a very merry bloomsday to you too!! your channel has been such a wonderful help in nourishing my rebudding love for literature during difficult times!! thank you for your most encouraging presence and endlessly admirable passion for da bookz!! here's to 500 more years of leaf by leaf !!! to infinity and bookyond !!!📕 🍃🚀🎉

OMG, im sipping my coffee too as im watching you. I always diligently add every one of ur recommendations to my tbr list and I have ordered them slowly over last one or two years, as i finished reading one by one... It has been a lovely time, never ever thought id find people like this, before yt and internet became so big, none of my friends were interested in books and i got bullied for being a 'nerd' more often than not. whether it is 12 am or 4pm or lunch break at the office, listening to you is like having a casual conversation in the couch with someone that finally speaks ur native language in a foreign country, that is the kind of comfort i feel, thank you so so so so much for your effort, Most booktok is brainrot, you have proved all of them wrong. Thanks man! Hats off to you! Genuinely wishing you the best for your career, your fam and your lovely daughter. It is a blessing to have such an educated dad. Wishing all of you great happiness and hope all your dreams come true. Havent watched the video yet, Next I am about to read all of Rilke's works and Ben learner Waiting for more and more lovely bookish conversations, A well wisher from India :)

Congratulations Chris! Hard to believe you have been a part of our lives for 5 years, glad for it.

What a journey!! Loved finding your channel in early 2020 and reading Musil along with you. You've come so far!

Congratulations! Huge fan of your channel and a former high school student from Kyoto who detested Tale of Genji being used as part of compulsory curriculum here. The one thing I was deeply struck by was your pronunciation of Japanese language in Tale of Genji video, so I am again awe struck that you are still willing to improve in foreign pronunciations, while I am pretty much used to how much Japanese language can be easily mispronounced. You have given me a reason to revisit one of the world’s oldest literatures and appreciate its beauty for the first time. Looking forward to even more videos on great literatures from all over the world!

Thank you for all the work that you do. Tomorrow I am moving out of my dorm after finishing my first year of my English Literature degree, an interest that you helped solidify for me over the past two or three years. Congratulations on five years! I also can't believe you mentioned 'Melville: A Novel' here! I just read that this past month and found it absolutely stunning. A truly original book, and a great companion to Moby-Dick. And 'Ishmael'! Another fantastic novel that I hold dear to my heart. Ishmael and all of it's sequels are deserving of endless analysis :).

Congratulations! Just discovered this channel in April by searching 'Gaddis reviews' (rabid JR fanatic here) and so glad I found your work! And here's one way to get to Frances Yates' The Art of Memory: Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition was more interesting to me, I read that first b/c interested in the guy, but reading that made me want to read more of Yates.

So grateful to have discovered this channel, your commentary of your readings is refreshing and fun to watch (and listen), most of the times I get this feeling of surprise when I listen to you, cause you bring ideas that I didn't think about... anyway thank you and happy five years to leaf by leaf

Great job, Chris! I cannot praise you highly enough for what is probably the best BookTube channel out there. Thank you for promoting quality literature in an involving way. You're terrific! BTW, The Story of the Stone is great.

Congrats Chris. Thank you for all you’ve done!

I was the English major who hated the classics. I own many, but just didn't read them. I found your channel. The passion you have for them made me want to go back to those books that sat, unread, on my shelves for over 20 years. And I've found that I love many of them. I read all of Shakespeare's plays last year and liked most; loved many. Don Quixote may be my favorite book of all time now. That said, our tastes still don't fully align (which is probably going to be true for any two readers). For example, I finally read Infinite Jest. Good God, I hated that experience.

Thank you Chris for making me encounter new friends through their wonderful books. I discovered your channel through your dialogue with Cliff Sargent a couple of years ago and now I'm a faithful follower of the both of you. Many more years!

Congratulations on sticking with this. All good things come with time! Regarding your bookshelf tour, I would recommend you getting a GoPro head strap or chest rig. Nobody will see how silly you look but it will be able to stabilize and capture a wonderful POV of the shelf

Cheers! That was very entertaining. I love your work, and I'm looking forward to videos on short story collections (maybe even an interview with Garielle Lutz?).

thanks so much for the content you make man. I hope you know that your unwavering enthusiasm about all kinds of good literature is inspiring and infectious. I think I subscribed around 2.5 years ago previous to that I had not read anything properly for about 3 years. I am just turning 18 now and am currently reading runaway horses by mishima. Thankyou for sharing your authentic joy for reading.

Thank you my friend for putting in the effort and creating a great place for book lovers! I wish you the best and look forward to future videos.

Thumbs up!!! and to the next five years!.

Congratulations! Great channel, love it! And thanks for all the fish, I mean - recommendations! 😀

Congratulations! Great video and, as usual, awesome lists! Buenos Aires will be more than happy to have you 😊

5 years!! Congratulations Chris!! 🎉 🥳 🍃 📚

Congratulations! You are doing a great job with the channel.

In my opinion there is no finer “book-tuber.” Thank you for all that you do!

Chris you are awesome! I love your channel. You were talking about pronunciation. I’ve read In Search of Lost Time for many years. I mentioned to a literature professor patient of mine once that I enjoyed reading Pr(owl)st very much. He told me that most people pronounce it Pr(oo)st. I had never discussed the author with anyone before. I appreciate that you can love an author without necessarily knowing how to pronounce his or her name. ❤

Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉🎉 your on the sublime video was how I discovered your channel and I still go to it from time to time. Again congrats 🎉 and thank you so much for 5 years Edit: great way to start this morning

Congratulations! You've got a wonderful channel.

Happy RU-vid Birthday Chris. As a budding book designer, I loved your list on Type notes 🎊 🎉

A Darkwing Duck reference? ...I knew there was reason you and I connect.

Congrats - and I'm glad you started off with Mason & Dixon : the fact of the existence of that video is what introduced me to your channel, of which I've been a fairly constant viewer ever since. And I have to admit listening to your Against the Day video all the way through twice, as an auditory car-driving soundtrack. I also have finally gotten around to reading the Mad Patagonian series on your recommendation, and at about the halfway-through-the-2nd-book point, and it might be one of my top 10 series already. Thanks for everything you do

I loved the last list- and the rest of the video content, as well. I agree on Moby Dick: it must be The greatest of the Great American Novels. My East-Asian wife has been raving about The Story Of The Stone (or Dream Of The Red Chamber, as is known over here) for years- something I'd like to reiterate to you. Carry On The Good Work ! ! ! ! !

What an achievement! Congratulations and thank you for this beacon of literary enlightenment. edit: I'm happily sipping along my filter coffee.

Congratulations Chris! You've built one of the best channels on RU-vid, truly.

Congratulations! Keep up the great work! 🎂🎆📚

Great library. Best wishes to you.

Congratulation to the first lustrum of the channel, Chris! I was flattered to be mentioned as the one suggesting you Blinding and I am always so happy to see that the great Mircea Cartarescu keeps being among your favourite authors (being in 3 of your top 5 lists!). And I’d also like to share with you that The Recognitions was the reason I found your channel: after being blown away by this masterpiece I could not find much about it, so I stumbled upon your video on this book. And it was like discovering an hidden gem in RU-vid (not the first place where I thought I could find high level literary material, honestly). Here are 5 things Leaf by Leaf has given me: 1) the drive to keep reading great literature 2) the happiness to know that high quality, complex, even difficult books are appreciated by many people 3) the disbelief in being the one (I, a isolated reader in an obscure little city in a small country) promoting a great writer like Cartarescu to you and many other readers 4) the uncertainty on taking on serious reading in english and on abandoning translations (I’d love to try Pynchon, Gaddis, DFW, DeLillo, McCarthy in original language, but I am afraid of the task) 5) the feeling of being, after all, not so isolated in appreciating good literature! 5 more years!! (and, than, 20 more!!)

I'd never have been able to read 1-4 of My Struggle in 2 evenings as I just don't read quickly enough, but I can understand how you did it. It's a flood.

Congratulations Chris, I was wondering if you could do a few more videos about the Tale of Genji?

Love your channel and have been here since almost day one! Just wanted to provide some feedback or constructive criticism but my thoughts may be an anomaly so welcome to ignore. I find that I return much more often to your older videos (say, prior to your Infinite Jest video if we want to be precise and draw an arbitrary line). Even though, for instance, the camera was worse back then I just find those videos to be so much more initimate, relaxing and oddly enough more insightful as they come across conversational, informal and free-flowing. It just goes to show that added effort/technology doesn't always necesarily result in added value or enjoyment per se but that's just my two cents. BTW, I loved your first Vollmann video despite the quirks and imperfections. Some of my other favorites - - Marot, Eco, all Murakami reviews (even though you're not a fan), Western Core series (especially Hamlet/Dante/Milton), Longinus, Philosophy-Overview, Bookshelf Tours, Jean Giono, Books for Grazing, Mason-Dixon, Gravity's Rainbow, Genji, etc. Either way, looking forward to your future stuff!

Congratulations on the 5 year milestone Chris! Thank you for all your priceless content, you've introduced to me a lot of new authors and books, and been very inspirational with your literary taste. Here's to 5 more years!

Congratulations!!! Love this channel ❤️

Thanks Chris! You have enriched my reading journey both in your reflections and your recommendations throughout these 5 years. One small thing, Zizek was actually refuting that quote about "an enemy is somebody who's story you have not heard". His point is that attempting to humanize evil figures by viewing them at their innermost level is incorrect. That there is always an immense gap between intimate thoughts and actions. He goes on to say that "the story we tell ourselves about ourselves to justify what we are doing is fundamentally a lie". Although, w.r.t reading I totally understand the initial quote. Just wanted to clarify :)

Congrats Chris! I’ve been here since the beginning! Love your work and can’t wait to see what comes next! Happy 5 years! 🤍

I’m new, but I’m happy to be here. Congratulations on 5 years! 🎊 🎉

Many Congratulations! I am here to again make a request for a Susan Sontag episode …she is my fav writer and I request you to please do an episode on her work 🙌

Many, many congratulations and here's to many more years. Your channel is a treasure trove. Happy reading.

Congratulations on five years Chris. Very impressive! I ordered Surprised by Joy at your recommendation. I look forward to reading it.

So happy for this Chris! You have become my absolute favorite on RU-vid for all things literature. Still excited for your eventual journey into Finnegans Wake, will put down any- and everything once that happens and the video releases.

Thank you for these videos, and congratulations on 5 years. I suspect RU-vid must feel like shouting into the void at times, but I hope you know that even if the echoes don’t come back to you, your thoughts are certainly reverberating with many many people. You are really giving out something which can’t be gotten elsewhere, so thank you!

Congrats! Love the channel!

Congratulations! Thank you for everything you’ve put out thus far.

You're the best!!! Congrats!!

been with you for three years!!!! hopefully hundreds more!!

Monumental! Been w this channel since nearly its inception and I'm so glad seeing what work you've put in!!!

Really loved this video, and love to see your growth. Please read eastern philosophy! I would really enjoy seeing your thoughts and how different it feels from western.

Congrats on the milestone!

Five years? Wow! Where has the time gone? Thanks Chris for so many book recommendations, many I was unaware of, many I was procrastinating to read that you gave a nudge to me with a great review. Thank you fine sir, and I hope we get many more years of great reviews, you are truly a national treasure. It's always a good day when I see a new review/discussion is posted by Leaf by Leaf. Rock on Chris!!!!!!

Congratulations!!!!❤❤❤

Congratulations! Thank you for all the content you share in this channel, the high quality of it is undeniably, and your passion is dangerously contagious. To many more years of fantastic reading!

so glad to have been here for over half of this incredible channel's lifespan. here's to hopefully many more years!

I get more out of Leaf’s vocal cadences and emphases than out of any information or data he gives pertaining to all of his reading. Do you mind if I call you Leaf? It is after all not a bad nickname at all. It resides on the side of nature and this makes it post modern, I guess.

Wonderful channel. Thanks for 5 years of great book content!

Love your content man please keep it up.

Congrats, you have influenced the reading lives of many, including me 🎉

Congratulations! 🎉🎉🎉

Congratulations, Chris, and many happy returns. (Looking forward to your video on _Pale Fire,_ a book I keep going back to. I also have the audible version, which is a wonderful performance.)

Three cheers for Little, Big Fantastic book I never hear people mention

I can’t wait for the Pale Fire video. Judging on the sort of books you usually cover, I thought that Ada would be more of a fit for this channel, as it is Nabokov’s most maximalist piece, but Pale Fire is more of a puzzle (not that Ada is not) so I guess it would be a lot more entertaining as a method to interact with us. Congratulations, God bless you and your family and this channel.

Congratulations! I have read many wonderful books thanks to you 😊

Have you ever, or considered, reading Samuel Richardson's Clarissa?

Here is a list of 5 things that I have experienced after years of browsing this channel under various aliases: 1. The Recognitions, sadly, isn't quite as recognized as the name would imply. 2. The Hungry Caterpillar can eats 0s and 1s. 3. I need friends who are willing to do zoom calls with me to verify my pronunciation is correct. 4. You may try to be clever more often than you should. 5. That there is a literatual embodiment of Michael Silverblatt available to us via (yes) BookTube. Thank you for 5 years of inspiration! Congrats!

Congrats!

I'm a subscriber and a fan. Congrats!

Congratulations, Chris! Its been a long time since I subscribed to your channel, and since then you‘re definitely in the tryptiche of literary commentators on RU-vid for me. Beside Cliff from betterthanfood and Matt from Bookpilled. Vastly different views and interest, but all captives to an overlapping passion, on the search to be found themselves! All the best and many more years of and videos about reading! Leon from Germany!

How about a Year of literary criticism or a year of books about books. I'm reading Spinoza's Ethics by Beth Lord. I was explaining to my son that its a book about another book which is really hard to read. Good books about other books are really valuable.

Happy Birthday 🍃 by 🍃

Brilliant conception

I join you in this celebration, my friend. Don't forget that your Latin American literature "advisor" will always be happy to contribute with what little he can.

Would love to see and hear you do a full episode on Europe Central by Vollmann.

"Surprised by Joy"!

FYI Toscanini is first and foremost a famous conductor: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Toscanini

I'm thrilled you've read "Too Loud a Solitude"! What a great little book. Have you read any other books by Hrabal? A friend of mine and I both admire Hrabal's work, and one other book of his we both love is "Closely Observed Trains." I'm trying to get my friend to read "I Served the King of England," and you as well. You should totally do Verse By Verse, by the way; then we could talk theology and scholarship and such. I know I've asked before, but I cannot remember your answer: have you read "Metamagical Themas" by Hofstadter? That' the book I learned about Hofstadter through when I was a teenager. It is a part of my lifelong obsession with math. Congratulations, by the way. I remember your first video well.

Congrats on five years!

Congratulations Chris! Any interest in Saul Bellow?

🌿🙌

if you ever need someone to ask for name pronunciations in Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Polish, Hungarian, Chinese or Finnish i'm happy to help!

I recommend thomas Ligotti´s the unholy city music album. it is 20 minutes and it is youtube. he also made some collaborations with the neofolk band Current 93 which is great. not many here on youtube have mentioned Eugene thacker, i´ve read his small book; cosmic pessimism and it´s good too. did not know Atsoru Riley, so thanks for that. i had a hard time getting into pale fire, but maybe your upcoming video will help a bit. just read the sound an the fury first time this year - so that video will be great too congrats on the 5 years

Vídeos about House of Leaves and Pale Fire 🙏

What is the longest time you/anyone has been happy?

If an arsonist were to break into your home and set fire to your entire collection of books, what is one book that could get you through the pain of loosing your cherished bound leafs?

Wait, you did do a video on House of Leaves.

What's the name of the poet you mentioned? _______ O'reilly, maybe?