Books with Sublime Splendors (Philosophy, History, & Literature) 

Thank you for the suggestion to focus on literary beauty! This was a fun little challenge, and I hope the tag takes off and we get to hear of others' beautiful books, too!

What a stellar compliment! Thank you!!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern I was sincere as fuck. Keep up the good work

Thank you for granting this dose of beauty on top of that discussed in the video. Such wondrous musings, Owen.

Such glorious kindness you offer. Thank you! And this tag is perfect for you. Beauty is so various and so rich-Peruse your shelves awhile and let the words cling to you as you pass.

Hey, welcome! This list is of kinds of literary beauty, not strictly visual, though there are a couple with aesthetically beautiful qualities as well. Hope you enjoy!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern Fantastic idea, great video man, I enjoyed it! :)

Coming from you, that really means a lot. Thank you, Hannah!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern ♥️

Oh yeah, huge fan of Woolf! Huge, huge, fan. She feels to me the most return-to-able of authors, brimming with insights line-by-line that resonate differently across a lifetime. Just grabbing her book The Waves off the shelf for a snippet is always a valuable experience.

Thanks so much!

I hope it serves as inspiration to peruse your shelves a while!

I sink beneath the waves of Woolf's prose always. She is one of the absolute greats (an author I should devote more videos to). Thank you for watching, and I hope you feel inspired and that this prompts you to return to your books, to browse a while, and just embrace the lyrical brilliance of them!

Feel free to change anything you want. These tags serve as jumping off points (at least that's how I've used others). With such a vague abstraction as 'beauty,' your selection can be as much about you as the works themselves. Enjoy! 😀

You Bright and Risen Angels is the first book of his I read straight through, though I had sampled some of his later works beforehand. You'll feel his youthful verve in that one, with pockets of brilliance (he never tames the beast, merely takes it out for longer, more complete strides as his career goes on). Consider this tag a suggestion, something you can toy with, turn into your own thing, or start with and then veer off if that feels best. No pressure at all. I love your channel and am selfishly prodding you for more videos. 😀

Oh, wonderful! I look forward to seeing your version!

Excellent! I hope you get a lot out of it! I recommend taking your time with the early chapters, such as with the MIU exercises. He's trying to help you have a 'eureka' moment regarding the relations between systems (especially important to grasp his continuous use of 'isomorphism'). It may take a while. The dialogues are helpful in that they creatively summarize the prior chapters, and the chapter overviews on pgs. viii-xiii are great because they present the author's purpose for each chapter-what he hopes you take away from each-and that's useful to look back on or even prior to reading a chapter to double-check your grasp of key concepts. The early-going might feel a bit like a textbook in parts, but you can consider those chapters scaffolding for the broader concepts and connections he attempts to make later on.

Oh, you're so kind for stopping by and taking the time (apologies for how lengthy my videos are!). That's very wonderful of you. RU-vid did some good by recommending your videos to me. If you ever want to discuss books, or if you ever need advice on this strange BookTube thing, your comments are always welcome. 🙏

@@ToReadersItMayConcern Thanks for the invitation, I will most definitely consider it. And please do not apologise for the length of the video, it was very insightful. 😊

I hesitated regarding some of the Vollmann material, unsure how it would be received and understood. It's not my goal to disturb anyone. Not mentioned in the video, but Butterfly Stories is the most recent of Vollmann's works I had read. Partially my light break from reading his works (I'm just a couple books away from finishing all of them) is in pause prompted by that book. It lacks reprieve from its pains. Yet I found moments, perhaps in their emotional contrast, that were deeply moving, and those moments arise amidst scenes that would seem purely horrible if summarized. He always chooses to write the most beautiful lines amidst great pains, but in Butterfly Stories he takes that artistry to the brink. Not anywhere near his best book-too cruel, lost, and cut short-but it fits the category perfectly, and I'm glad others like you have appreciated my thoughts on it. Thankfully, Vollmann's Seven Dreams series focuses with the same care on the worst of us, yet finds purpose, too, and I hope I spurred some to read them (and then obsess over Vollmann like I have all these years). You may especially appreciate The Dying Grass. It is the greatest distillation of his poetic eye that I know of. You will read and often question if it even counts as prose. The fact that The Dying Grass is one book among many-and not a work that required of him a lifetime-is unbelievable. One should not be allowed to write multiple masterpieces (The Dying Grass, Europe Central, Fathers and Crows) like that. Thank you for sitting through my lengthy reflections. It probably requires dividing up a small chunk of your day, so I greatly appreciate it.

@@ToReadersItMayConcern would love to hear your thoughts on his oeuvre.

Marina, isn't it a shame? This figure Socrates who is otherwise wondrously curious, pondering, a teacher of nudging rather than force, suddenly shifts to someone directed, narrow, assured-curiosity now a guise for certainty. Scholars call this the Socratic Problem: we only know Socrates through his student, Plato. This student in turn wishes to teach his own lessons. Since Socrates had become an influential character, Plato shifted the character over time to a figure less and less open and more rigid in his aims, proclaiming theories (likely Plato's, who starts his own school) rather than just questioning the theories of others. There's a great book-one you should save for when you're deep into your philosophical readings-called The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper that laments this shift. Popper feels that we lose the Socrates that wonders and critiques, becoming instead influenced by a figure who teaches by telling and who claims certainty out of scant evidence. Popper thinks this has led to all sorts of misunderstandings about wisdom; in his view, we have lost the one key frame of wisdom the early Socrates tried so hard to share with us, that "I know only one thing: that I know nothing," and this frame is immensely useful, because it fosters searching, searching, not finding and halting. We could always stop seeking and think we know. We could gather examples, many even, of whatever we like, and then we could stop, construct a frame based on those examples, and think we know the whole of what something is-so often throughout history we do this, and as you mention, this can apply plenty to the church-and this certainty is only certain because we forgot how tenuous a strand knowledge can be. Early Socrates seemed to understand that it's not certainty we should seek; rather, we should seek doubt. By finding the contradictions to our deeply held beliefs, by allowing ourselves to change, always, and to change some more, we learn. Maybe not ever a final lesson, maybe impossible to 'know' and feel guaranteed in that knowing, but at least we can correct our foolish egos; we can rest curved along the humble margins of our question marks, feeling content in the ever-lengthening slope of it; and we can notice the curlicue threads of others' questions, appreciate those differences, start to bask in the joy of being challenged rather than hide in the confines of our hubris. That is so much Captain Ahab's sickness: his hubris; his insistence he could power over something alive and not consume himself in it. We become our devotions. Hence why I love the quote you chose: I wish I had thought of the lesson of Narcissus, to have spoken the phrase "ungraspable phantom"-so haunting and true. Thank you for watching and sharing and reminding me of the past mytho-melodies of our history. [And I am reading both Barthelme and Labatut-a maniac and The Maniac-joyously thanks to you! I can't tell you enough "thank you"s; I feel so fortunate and grateful and happy you're a viewer.] 🙏

You are so welcome!

I've yet to read or see The Hours; surely, I must! And by the mere mention I'm now reminded of Philip Glass. I will be listening to him during my next bout of reading. Thank you for mentioning him! How wonderful that Emily has inspired you to read Clarice Lispector-She's done the same for me! I had read a few of Lispector's stories before but never a complete work. Now I own two-including Lispector's complete collected stories, which seems like a great starting point-and will begin as soon as the time is right. Joyce has moments of utter poetic splendor; however, those moments are often between stretches of highly cerebral, convoluted structure. I have mixed feelings about Joyce. There are memories of passages in his prose that are wonderful to look back upon, scenes that linger long after reading, but there is so much readerly struggle that I remember, too. Sometimes I feel-though of course I love complex text-that I need a healthy balance of simple beauty, just calm and honest and lyrically poignant. Moby Dick has that balance, wherein there are stretches of stiff, heavy material, but it feels to me more thematically purposeful: by the end, I understand, and I feel no word was wasted and the poetic never fades. I recommend starting with Herman Melville's short stories or novellas first. I think the Library of America publisher has some great collections of his writing. The novella Billy Budd is quite strong, so too is Bartleby. They will give you a nice sample of Melville's style and thematic interests. One element that's notable about Melville: he writes delicately; I find myself slowing down a great deal, not out of difficulty, but in order to take in the nuance of his writerly choices. He seems to expect as much, that you as the reader would patiently read and consider every phrase, punctuation, and shift. He rewards that meditative pace. It is truly a joy that you and I both have such incredible reading ahead of us!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern: I've been mad to read 'Moby Dick' since falling in love with the Scottish BBC crime series ('Annika') which riffs off 'Moby Dick' all through the first episode. I must prioritise this.

Oh my, to have both Orlando and Europe Central ahead of you, such a dream. Europe Central is especially perfect as a fictional complement to the history you're well aware of. Vollmann includes an extensive list of sources in the back. Yet he dramatically breaks from history at key moments; the more informed you are of the actual history, the more enticing these poetic diversions. Vollmann makes a point that this is a work of fiction, one that renders "historical situations... with supernatural cobwebs" and that strives to be "accurate in the small details (for instance, 'the sound in our footsteps, which I loved, and love still, despite everything')" as he then offers a footnote explaining where he gets that small detail from. It is a strange, magical, jarring (and painful, searing) book, one I can't push you to read enough. You will joy in it! As for the tag, I completely understand. The last thing I want is to turn any future video into a job. Every once in a while, people take tags and use them as starting points, changing questions, only answering a few, or jumping off into a whole separate tangent. Ultimately, these tags are starts to conversations, not regulations on them. Either way, I love your channel (have been watching prior to creating my own) and look forward to whatever you cover in whatever way you feel is best. Thanks for stopping by!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern Haha, hopefully I take from those two books what you did! :D And yeah, I'm pretty into the history I believe Europe Central covers, and have probably even been to a lot of the places it mentions, so that should help :) That's a good point about breaking up tags to suit my purpose; I know other booktubers have done that but I've only ever gone through entire tags in order. I think you might have helped me come up with something! But I'm gonna wait until I read Herodotus in September since that'll probably be a good book for the 'time' or 'place' category! Thank you for the kind words about my channel! I'll be watching your channel as well. Gotta check out your People's Tragedy review--that's my favourite history book!

Phillip, thank you for always being such a thoughtful and attentive viewer. It is truly wonderful!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern: I love your channel - reassuring & challenging.

Godel, Escher, Bach is a book you can enjoy without grasping all of it. I would recommend reading two chapters at a time (the direct essay-like chapter and the dialogue chapter that reiterates the essay-like chapter). And then pause, think on it a while, read something else, and come back for two more chapters (thankfully, he includes a detailed contents page that nicely summarizes and reminds you of the ideas). It doesn't need to be read straight through; though the concepts build off of each other, the connections transition quickly toward other concepts that feel fresh for each return. The tough parts are sprinkled in between a lot of personal, casual thoughtfulness and curiosity. That said, Le Ton Beau de Marot may be an even better starting point, since it has far more of the personal elements intact and focuses its lessons around literature. I think that book would flow far smoother for you (though that one shouldn't be read in chunks). Riding Toward Everywhere is not a good indication of what he's capable of. Had I read that first, I would have thought he was a fairly standard, albeit odd and meandering, journalist. Please give him a second chance and read Europe Central (so long as you know a decent amount of WW2 history); otherwise, try The Atlas, Fathers and Crows, The Dying Grass, or You Bright and Risen Angels. He is a truly extraordinary writer who happens to churn out some duds every once in a while (you started with what I consider a dud, though others do like that one). Feel free to change anything you want about the tag! It's just a starting point, so you can skip questions or change them or just get started and then veer off in whatever directions strike you as worthwhile. As always, enjoy yourself! And no pressure to do anything if it feels like too much!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern Actually I quite liked Riding Toward Everywhere. Long ago a friend of mine tried to get me to hop a train that passed us as we were walking down the tracks, and I've often wondered what might have happened had we actually done it (of course, adult me realizes we'd have wound up cold, dirty, broke, and lost in a strange city with no one to turn to) and I've been fascinated by hopping trains and the people who do it ever since, so it was right up my alley even if it wasn't his best work. I may get to Hofstader one of these days, and if I do, I'll likely read it as you've suggested, because I've learned my lesson about pushing too hard with difficult books. I wish that I had read The Society of Mind and The Tree of Knowledge at a slower pace, but I raced through them, and it left me a bit burnt out and on top of that I scarcely even understood them, if at all. That was years ago and I'm still not quite over it. I spent some time last night and this morning thinking over the prompts and I'm pretty sure I have my list drawn up and ready to go, so my video should be up either later today or tomorrow if everything goes as planned

That's actually really nice of you (no one's complimented me on that before). Thank you!

Thank you, this is so gratifying to read. I want you to know it really means a lot and serves as a gift for the rest of my day. Thank you! 🙏

Orlando would be a great follow-up to To the Lighthouse. The Waves is complexly structured, similar to Mrs. Dalloway-both require attending to every word, as significant details can be scattered amidst elaborate description. When you feel most comfortable with Woolf's style, you may want to return to Mrs. Dalloway, perhaps years from now. It can be surprising how different it feels at different points in time and after you already know what to expect. Thank you for being so kind and for checking out my video. Glad to have you here!

Haha, thank you. I've been reading regularly for a long, long time. Not sure if you've seen it, but I actually give direct advice on reading in a video called "So You Want to Be a Serious Reader?" Some of the best things I've learned over the years are to have reading (and writing)-even if only a little-be the first thing you do in the day, as it primes you toward a different pace, and give yourself permission to read a small amount at a time. At various moments throughout the day, instead of glancing at your phone, just sit and read a bit, and if you don't want to keep going, then stop, but sometimes you'll find that inner drive, and those moments accumulate. The hardest thing about reading is attention. Our attention is seduced constantly by other things, and it is incredibly hard to resist. But one of the gifts of reading regularly and avoiding electronic distraction is your mind gets quicker at focusing its attention; suddenly you find yourself less scattered in your thinking and in your devotion. So much reading time ends up wasted by wandering thoughts. It takes consistent habit-a kind of training-to get your thoughts to meander less. But it is also really, really nice to finally sit and be able to concentrate instantly on what you read, and that will come, so long as you're consistent, that will come. All the best, Yamina. Hope you have a great day. 😀

@@ToReadersItMayConcern Thank you for such a well thought out response. Again, I am in AWE.

I appreciate your insights, Joel!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern From a subscriber! It was a pleasure

I found myself getting lost in scenes of that film while preparing this video. Exceedingly slow in pace, yet fascinating; atmospherically captures the haunting nature of the book well. I'm glad you allow for my lengthy meanderings, if even separated into chunks.

@@ToReadersItMayConcern The book has been on my shelf a long while; the movie in my mind likewise.

No, I haven't read Infinitesimal, but now it's on my wish list! By description, reminds me of The Great Rift by Michael E. Hobart. You might appreciate that one, though it's a tad bit too academic in moments (but still very worthwhile). I recommend reading Godel, Escher, Bach in two-chapter chunks, to give yourself some room to mull things over, at least for the first half (the first half is the most symbolically dense), then it eases up a bit and coalesces everything together. I actually grew up in Chicago, Illinois and came to California around middle school. Used to have some kind of different accent (according to those around me). Thanks for taking in all my lengthy thoughts and tangents throughout the video!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern oooh, Thank you for the The Great Rift by Michael E. Hobart recommendation. Adding it to my goodreads tbr and I'll search for a copy today. Also, thank you very much for the reading timetable for Godel, Escher, Bach. I also shared this with my son. I used to love Chicago. My husband has family in Winnetka. (very snooty so I've heard). Then one of the cousins moved to L.A. for work in Hollywood. I guess they had connections. LOL I can see how people in Cali would think you had an accent. I went to Texas one time for one week in fifth grade/10 y/o), and came back with an accent and got teased a little in middle school by some girl that had a beef with me. Sometimes it still comes out. Oy, imagine if I moved to Texas! LOL But I love accents. It was my pleasure listening to your video. I did take your recommendation about skipping the Lolita part though.

I have to say, for you in particular, Vollmann should absolutely move up in your reading list. He truly is one of the best for the style of writing you seem to tend toward. Best starting points: Europe Central, The Atlas, and The Dying Grass. He manages to have multiple masterpieces, the sorts of books other authors would spend a lifetime attempting. I'm excited to finish the last of his books I haven't gotten to yet, so then I can do a primer on all his stuff (though maybe I'll do some reviews of specific works first, we'll see). I might take on your idea of expanding the subtopics in this video into something more. That's the benefit and limit of these tags: they offer teases of further analyses.

@@ToReadersItMayConcern We might still have one more Europe Central - I have a vague recollection of it sitting on a pile of History books instead of over in Fiction. But I also just picked up a copy of Don Quixote, which has been on my tbr list for ages (I've read lots of Spanish, Latin/Central American, and Portuguese literature but somehow missed the Top of the Pyramid). I'm starting James Baldwin's IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK in the morning, which if we have it in stock could mean EC on Tuesday.

That's a thought I had while editing the video: I could have been more careful with my word choice in regards to The Stammering Century, as that was focused on the early U.S., and yet I kept saying America. This points to one of the weaknesses of not scripting what I say: I end up slipping into free-associative phrasing. I think I had Whitman in mind with his repeated use of "America" the moment I mentioned him, and it stuck. This is one of those moments when I became lost in the sound. I want to avoid scripts, because it stiffens presentation, but I'll try to be more careful in the future. I appreciate your thoughts!

@@ToReadersItMayConcern Thanks for explaining this. I've run into problems in South America when throwing around the term "American" without defining from which American country. I was told that, after languishing under the boot of US imperialism for 500 years, little things like the US monopolizing the name hurts. Growing up in Canada, I never heard of calling the US America.

I want to briefly add another thank you: you could have latched onto my mistakes and impeached my character, but you instead chose patience, curiosity, and kindness. There is a temptation sometimes to cynically project the worst upon others, to take their mistakes as a wholesale indictment on their character; it speaks highly of you that you did not head in that direction and instead offered me the benefit of the doubt. Thank you so much for allowing my faulty doings not to define me. I truly love that. 🙏

@@ToReadersItMayConcern And, thank you for the appreciation. I shrink at the idea of character assassination. I adopted the approach: 'hard on the problem, not the person' a long time ago. My question to you was sincere because you're impressively smart and thoughtful in your videos. There are so many gaps in my knowledge and understanding, I'm open to the possibility (often probability) I've lost the plot or misinterpreted something. When I lived in the UK, it was endemic to call the US America. It was kind of obvious that having been numero uno in the empire business until the US took over, Brits (not all but most) love US exceptionalism and count themselves 'America's' best friend. So, one doesn't even question the vernacular there. In contacting you, I was exploring a possible different attitude and rationale. We seem to agree on the most accurate name for the US/USA.