Thanks Leonie for calling out gate keeping when it comes to reading. People should be able to read whatever they want, whenever they want to. And if they don't feel like reading sometimes, they shouldn't have to.
I find it so bizarre how people are gatekeeping this in a world with so few readers. Reading is tragically rare in this day and age. Do we really wanna gatekeep it? :)))
Totally respect and love your opinion on the " easy books" thing. I study engineering... its so difficult. It stopped me from reading for YEARS but I find during study, I'm drawing to " easy books" and during breaks is when I'll read classics, non-fiction etc. Responding to and respecting our brains capacity is healthy, and it's not "lazy". We're just caring for ourselves :')
I’ve read every single Junji Ito story (including the untranslated ones) and I would recommend Uzumaki and Shiver as great starting points :) Lovesickness would be my next rec if you liked the previous two. Tomie also has some gems but because the collection that was published in English is a collection of stories that came out over several years in Japan, they can get quite repetitive if you read them all at once. So I would recommend reading that one in small doses! A personal favourite that seems to be more of a hit or miss with people is Remina, but I think you might like it because of the themes (a scientist discovers a new planet and names it after his daughter, garnering praise and fame. However when it becomes apparent this planet will crash into Earth, superstition takes over and people start blaming the daughter for it. Chaos ensues, it gets really weird :’)) I would also recommend his take on Frankenstein since you read that recently and the art is fantastic ❤️
Cottagegore is my favourite genre name mash-up!! (and also absolutely my vibe) woodsy, but make it thorns and teeth 👻🩸 Also Babel might've been my favourite book this year; it was immaculate! Hope you love it. (Possibly tied with The Bone Orchard currently, I'll probably have to re-read both to decide 😝)
English is my second language too and I also struggled with Jane Eyre the first time I tried to read it, but I gave it a second chance during lockdown (when I had a little more free mental capacity) and absolutely loved it. Perfect for autumn 🍂Happy reading, xx
Jane Eyre is my favourite classic by far! When I read it, I thought that it read very easily and quickly for a classic (my native language is Dutch as well)! I didn't have the feeling that I had to plough through it at all : )
I’m excited to hear what you think of Junji Ito! I’ve only read Uzumaki, but it’s delightfully creepy, not only the imagery but this building sense of dread, you know? Great video as always!
Is it crazy that i'm also reading the secret history AND i also put jane eyre on my tbr for next month? I think you're gonna like we have always lived in the castle, it has a very unique vibe.
Leonie, The Dowry of Blood was not self-published, it was published by an indie press and now I think Oribt is going to re-publish it with a new cover? It's 10/10 (the book), absolutely worth every penny!
Love watching how you organize your reading! Go for Jane Eyre! You'll really enjoy it! ❤️🥰 I made a list with all the books I want to read for the second half of the year in August 😅😅😅 I also read 2 or 3 books a month so I prioritized the books on my TBR because I suddenly realized that I have like 25 books there! I buy faster than I read books, that's for sure!! 😂
I finally read The Secret History this past July and fell down the rabbit hole. Check out the podcast Once Upon a Time…at Bennington if you want your own deep dive. I also recommend These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever. There are two books with this title, so make sure it’s the right author.
Lemme tell u the books on my physical tbr 😭😭😭 39 books 😭 ~ Finding cindrella ~ All your perfects ~ Finding perfect ~ The Alchemist ~ The witch of Portobello ~ The zahir ~ The fifth mountain ~ After the prophet ~ Muhammad ~ The Forty rules of love ~ The bastard of Istanbul ~ Honour ~ Three daughters of eve ~ Dear life ~ The effective executive ~ The power of your subconscious mind ~ Beach read ~People we meet on Vacation ~ This is going to hurt ~ digital fortress ~ Angles and demons ~ The da vinci code ~ The lost symbol ~ Shadow and bone ~ ruin and rising ~ Seige and storm ~ Six of crows ~ Crooked kingdom ~ Kuch or nahi ~ Hawa ke naam ~ Doosra qadam ~ Mere chahre ghar ~ Muhammad a prophet of our time ~ Tales of Shakespeare ~ World order ~ The cat stole my pants ~ The new atkins made easy ~ phir achanak yun huwa ~ Anna and the french kiss
So glad you mentioned how when you‘re studying or working on something mentally challenging it can be difficult to start reading more „complicated“ books. I often buy non-fiction books that I think sound super interesting, but never actually read them. Or I start them, but then they‘re lying around for months on end. I always feel a little guilty about it, but you’re right that there’s nothing wrong with that
Yes this!! I get so much work that non-fiction books (that i would love to read) become so uninspiring and i always feel like im “trying to be intelligent” but im not actually yknow? But leonie makes such a good and comforting point!!
@@EmilyWaddington oh yeah I get that feeling! Like I‘m just pretending to be interested and intelligent when I buy those books and then „my true colours show“ when I never read them or take ages. But life is pretty demanding, so time to shut your brain off/engage with something completely different is not just understandable, but also super important. Just gotta remind ourselves of that XD
I still haven't read the philosophy books i bought fifteen years ago because they looked like an interesting subject at the time (and i was doing a lot of research for a roleplaying character). 😔
It's a joke in the history community where we post a photo of a DK Ancient Egypt book and say, "Admit it, this started your Egyptology phase." For me I never came out of it. I still devour books about Egyptian mythology whenever I find them! As for the ups and downs of reading, totally get it. When I start teaching again, my reading for fun goes down quite a bit so when I set myself challenges I have to make strides during the summer and breaks! Have a good week, Leonie!
I come from a generation of people who ended up in Art History because we all went to see The Treasures of King Tut touring the US in the 1970s when we were children.
For me i got interested in ancient civilizations from watching documentaries on Discovery channel and history channel back before reality tv/ww2 history/aliens took over. 🤣 Also got interested from comics like Nofret and Valhalla as a kid.
I’ve been drawn to “We have always lived in the castle” and mistakenly started reading “I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith. Not a mystery, but highly recommend.
✨ So weird: it’s a very autumnal feeling day and I just finished reading The Book Thief and I was like “maybe I should watch a BookLeo video” (I’m in Australia and it’s currently spring but today has been so cloudy and colddd) and here is a new upload?! Lately I feel like I’ve been watching more BookTube than actually reading which I guess is ok but my TBR keeps growing continuously! 🍂 ✨
Re: mythologies, I was the biggest nerd for both Ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology when I was around 10 and it never really went away 😂 I’m 27 now and appreciating that retellings like Circe are having a moment because I lap them up.
"We Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson was one of my favorite books since my youth. It is a well-crafted read, although I have to admit the reason I checked it out of the library originally was because there was a cat on the cover.
I’m super glad I read The Secret History before it became big - the first time I read it, I legit read it three times back to back, I loved it that much 😅 I’d be a little intimidated by all the hype if I was facing it for the first time ngl. As it is though, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s been a while since I last read it, I may be due for a reread this autumn ❤
If you think you overplan, know that I have already added books to my 2023 TBR Notion board. Also for dark cottagecore, I recommend "The Girl from the Other Side", it's a manga series that was finished last year, so the 11 volumes are out and they're a quick read!
This is the level of planning and organisation that I like to see. Very relatable. Except I plan everything down to the last detail and then don't follow through with the plan...
I love that you mentioned that no one should judge someone based on them reading "easy" books. I have autoimmune diseases that give me horrible brain fog and sometimes I just don't have the ability to read super challenging books, sometimes I do. But there are tons of reasons people might only read "easy" books, and I believe it's better that people are even reading at all! :)
@@TheBookLeo yaaaaaaayyyy! Keep going! I swear! I swear! I come on yt only to check whether you have uploaded a dark academia content. I AM IN LOVE WITH DARK ACADEMIA. I WANT TO CONSUME THEM ALL. Tell us everything the books, movies, playlists, aesthetic, clothes, bags, makeup, behaviour, language, body language. Teach us! I always was attracted to reading and now i wanna know how to. So i can fake it till i make it. Also, i had the pdf of secret history but I bought a physical copy because why not and i have since months found none but you who does it so well. Again, YOU ARE OG OF DARK ACADEMIA. I REALLY WONT MIND (guess all of us!) IF YOU COMPLETELY TURN YOUR CHANNEL INTO DARK ACADEMIA CHANNEL, cuz it will be LEGIT!!!
I agree with you 10000% on the topic of "easy books." I type court transcripts for my day job, so I listen to a lot of horrendous things, and when I sit down to read a book for pleasure, I never ever want to read non fiction or "harder" books with sad or disturbing content, because my day job is literally just listening and typing sad and disturbing content.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle was the last book I read and I would love to hear your thoughts on it! But I recommend going into it without any expectations - there isn't really much mystery there, it's more of a weird and twisted character study :)
honestly the whole thing about not being able to read 'serious' books is so real!! i used to be in STEM and i could barely read anything back then, now im doing a degree in literature and my coursework does prescribe a lot of heavier, dense works yk?? i hardly found time to read things i liked and it made me feel worse because 'its literally your degree' but then i was like ykw fuck that. your videos on the foxhole court made me wanna read it and i did and honestly it was so fun, really did change my whole mind on how i approach reading
If you haven't read The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher I would place it in the category of "dark cottagecore". I have been looking for a word to describe it forever! A fast and exciting read!
Anatomy: A Love Story is an amazing gothic romance novel. It's by the presenter of Noble Blood podcast! You should check both, I think you might like them!
Every time I see your videos lately, I wanna lock away my phone and pc, wrap myself in a warm and cozy blanket, pour me some tea and read books from my evergrowing book pile of shame in the light of some flickering candles while it's pouring outside.
This is soooo annoying when ppl judge the genre of books you like/ read.. Like ? Mind your own business dude! We re all different, we all have different tastes, different reasons to read, why would we read non easy reads if… we don’t want to ? Oh… annoying really.
I knew your channel recently but I'm loving it too much! I think that everything here is beautiful! Thank you for do it with that dedication ♡ ( I'm from Brazil but I can understand and enjoy your content )
I totally understand the sentiment of wanting more challenging readings when you aren’t occupied with school. Finishing up my bachelors in engineering this year and after constantly coding or doing hardcore math problems all day sometimes i just want to escape into a fast paced young adult fantasy book and forget about everything else but still be entertained. Also i recently found your content and i love it
Finally someone else is reading Fortuna Sworn! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts. I really enjoy the series. My advice (if you ever see this, hi I love your videos ❤) is that if you think the first book is just fine stick with it through to the next book because it does get better as is progresses and the character development is done really well. Happy spooky season 🍂✨
8:50 - I don't know why.. but this whole point kinda just reminded me of that stereotype of BDSM submissives being like high-powered business bosses and such, needing a space/ outlet/ where they can just give up being the one who is controlling things, because ordinarily they're so stressed out from always being in charge of everything[ or whatever]. 👀 🙃😅😅🤭🤦♀️ (( ..I really don't know why, but that's just where my brain went. 😁 🤷♀️🤷♀️ Loll )) _I have zero idea how accurate or true to real-life that stereotype actually is or not, myself; but it doesn't seem totally far-fetched that it could happen ? Maybe?. idekk._ Vaguely similar concept, anyway , I guess. ? ^^ ...kinda like chefs, who really hate cooking for themselves once they go home after spending all day cooking for people , maybe; and other situations similar to that, too..I suppose. Now that I'm thinking about it!.
Loving all of these ✨ autumnal vibe ✨ vlogs. Your vibes are immaculate as always. (Dark cottagecore 🍄 is my favorite thing, so cool to see more people diving into it) I see Jade City over there and I can't recommend the series enough!! Such incredible political and family dynamics, with complex flawed characters. Also, for the dark spooky books, I read A Dowry of Blood this year and fell in love immediately. It is so gorgeously written. It's in a perspective where the narrator is telling the story after the fact, but the story is written toward her abuser, who just so happens to be Dracula. It's got a gothic medieval setting and a poly relationship between four people, and is truly a story about domestically abused and gaslit people getting away from their abuser. Such a fantastic read, and it's super short. 🍂
Getting my thoughts onto notes, so I do not have to think about them until necessary is such a relief. Once I'm there, I take the top three each morning and make a daily list. Get through one, cross it out and add another until the original list is finished, or find out I've run out of time and create another master list.
Regarding people who judge people for reading ‘easy’ books: this literally makes no sense! I tend to read nonfiction; going by their logic, I should be judging them. Meanwhile, I feel guilty for not really knowing how to find ‘easy’ fiction that I enjoy. My friend recommended your channel so I can do a little better at discovering fun fiction to read.
2 года назад
Erin Sterling is Rachel Hawkins?! how did I not know this???
'Should I get an e-reader' - I wanted to comment on that before you even asked :D I found many classics quite easy to read and maybe the answer is in my darned Kindle - ye olde victorian english (which is already my second language) is SO much easier to glide through when you go click click to the strange word and the dictionary bubble pops up right there on your book page! I have a super old one, maybe the first model idk. But it's been with meeeeee for many years and I read more because of it!
I liked the storyline in the secret history, but it was so goddam slow my goodnes. the last 300 pages were really stretching it. It reminded me of Bella's depressed period in Twilight.
Wild to me that English is your second language and you're just like...let me go ahead. Every time I pick up Jane Eyre, I say "nah too much" and put it back on my shelf.
Idk if it's gonna be useful because I haven't read many, Uzumaki has great vibes for autumn. And I want to get to Tomie and Shiver soon too because I heard many great things
I'm a hardcore planner! Like I will divide the amount of hours of an audiobook with the amount I have it checked out for. Or will physical books I will make a timeline for pages per day to finish and then ultimately never follow this schedule and read something entirely different!
I think A dowry of blood is getting trad published now, or so I heard. House of Hollow I guess could count as dark cottagecore too. I personally found it underwhelming but I can see the appeal
hey, maybe you'd want to look up folk horror for dark cottage core! not the same thing, but the vibe is close enough that i believe you'll find interesting stuff.
Listen to the 19th century books like Jane Eyre as the language can be challenging even for those of us with English as a first language. As for ebooks: kindle is available as an app on just about any phone these days and the app is free.
If you want to learn more about ancient Egypt in a really easy way I recommend the great courses audiobook lectures on audible! The lecturer is so engaging and it is like hearing history in story form!!
As for Junji Ito I want to read more too! I have the Gyo bundle which contains the very popular ( nd my favourite thus far) The Engima of Amigara Vault". I believe Gyo is a bit shorter than the other bundles so perhaps a good taster?
English is also my second language, so what I found helps a lot with "classic classics" is listening to the audiobook at the same time. I find it would take me an eternity to read certain books otherwise.
