To add context, as someone who had to study the book in school in Spain, Don Quiijote (or Quixote) is also a satire on the nostalgia that the Spanish of the time felt of the good times, when Spain had an empire and were the greatest in the world only to lose it all and fall so deep and so sudden that still today we carry the burden of the loss, the guilt, and the inferiority complex that we had tattooed in our DNAs. It also explains the criticism of the class system because the whole system was supported by the gold and the riches that "came" (as in stolen) from Latin America.
Ulysses is very complex. I never finished it. Moby Dick is not my thing. I am on the negative 50%, super outdated with dragging about the whales. Don Quixote and Crime and Punishment are pillars. For the classics side, you are really going heavy, I have to say! Good reading! I will probably read The Priory of the Orange Tree among your books. Thank you for the video as usual.
A Little Life. Wow. Its one of my favorite books ever. In some of the bad reviews, peoples reasons for hating it are the reasons I love it so I dont take them seriously. I feel so strongly about it that it literally hurts me when people insult it. Good luck getting all these read. I'm sure you can do it. By the way I love your little Nosferatu hanging out on your shelf.
I've tried to read dreamcatcher like 3 times now, always put it down more or less at the same time in the book😅 Guess it really shows that King was a lil out of it while writing (using medication, dealing with his accident)
I loved The Historian. I know it gets a lot of complaints about being slow, but the whole story is about researching the history of Dracula and I found it a breeze to read.
I read Moby-Dick a while back! I was concerned that I would never get through it, as long as it is, so I forced myself to read 15 chapters a day for 9 days and got through it and I'm glad I did! There's a lot of encyclopedic information about whales that made it longer than it should have been, but the main storyline was a fantastic adventure.
Fair play to you for cracking down and getting through Moby-Dick the way you did. Sometimes you do need to have a solid reading plan and just be non-negotiable about certain books 😅
Thank you! I'm thinking of reading one a month and then having another smaller book on the go as well just in case I need a little break. I think with bigger books you need to really strategise how you go about it 😊
Yeah I've read it and it's excellent, it was my favourite read of last year. If you like gothic horror and dysfunctional family dynamics it's really worth the read 🖤
Than you love! It's so hard to stick to them! I find that if I select a few books at the start of each month that I know I'm in the mood for definitely helps getting through the overall TBR I've set for myself... sometimes 😂
I did a year of chunky reads a few years ago. Ulysses and Don Quixote were on my list too. It's nice to let yourself slow down and just sit with longer books for a while.
Absolutely, it's great to have a longer book to look forward to keep going back to for a while. I'm burnt out on short books at the moment, I need a story that I can really get my teeth into 😅
When you get to the “nonfiction” chapters of Moby Dick just treat them like a school assignment where you just need a pass. Unless, that is, you want to nerd out about whales.
Great list. I've had The Historian and A Little Life on my shelves for quite awhile. Maybe I'll pick up The Historian this fall. Looking forward to what you think of A Little Life.
Bloomsday Festival looks really cool! I have not read Ulysses yet. But, reading about the history of the festival might just inspire me. I also have been wanting to read The Priory of the Orange Tree but started reading The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon and quickly DNF so it didn't inspire hope especially as you mentioned the length of Priory. Best of luck in your future reading and hope you are able to get out of a reading slump.
Awesome list! Oh boy,....Don Quixote! I am also currently reading this,...but I have discovered that what works best for me with this book is to take it in segments like short stories. I have been reading this off & on for years. - Lol - It's like a permanent fixture on my bedside table. I'm almost halfway through it. I do love it, there's humor, adventure, pathos, & romance. The writing style takes a bit to get used to, but you fall into the rhythm pretty quickly. --- Dreamcatcher is a fun one, not one of Stephen's best in my opinion, but worth the time. I've been wanting to read the Historian as well! That's quite an impressive list, good luck!!
I thought dream catcher was a fun time! I often take breaks in the middle of chunky books and then come back to it later after reading something shorter I wouldn't worry too much about the bad reviews of that book, if you don't get hooked you can always put it down, but you might end up liking it more than the other reviewers, either way that cover is awesome!
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on A Little Life, it's definitely an emotional one no matter your opinion on its quality as a book. Ulysses was a total slog for me but I'm interested to see a video with all the celebrations you mentioned!
Middlemarch, War And Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, The Count Of Monte Cristo come to mind.. all 10/10. I found Ulysses impenetrable but I remember liking Portrait Of The Artist lol
