@@TheUltimateGC Indeed! In the intervening time between my original comment and the present, I've started a review channel of my own. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Totally loved this. I really enjoy seeing people discuss books and why they love them and how it impacts their life, especially when you guys are discussing books outside of young adult novels. There is quite a large book community here on RU-vid, but they are almost all about young adult novels. I’m really excited to see where both of you guys go next!
I just found Cliff's channel this weekend and was binging on all his videos. Most of the "booktubers" only cover mainstream books and YA books, which aren't for me. I'm currently living on an island in Thailand, so I'm starved for intellectual stimulation. Plus, I need book recommendations since there aren't any bookstores here and I need to rely on my kindle to read. Great interview!
Books and reading literally saved my life over the years (the plays of Eugene O'Neill; novels of Knut Hamsun, Celine, Horace McCoy, Sylvia Plath, James M. Cain, Bukowski, Derek Raymond, Nelson Algren; the plays of August Strindberg, et al) too many times to count. As much as I love jazz & the other arts, books remain #1. Am the author of the Edgar "Doc" Holiday thriller series, the Chance "Cash" Register blue-collar working stiff series, among others. Digital versions of some of my titles are either affordably priced--or, in certain cases, are free. I'd be honored to have either Cliff or Justin take a look at one or two of my tomes. Loved the interview.
Thats why I like listening to Cliffs book reviews...like he goes about it in an indirect way not the boring style or approach that a hundred other reviewers do it..
I noticed that the majority of anglophone booktubers always read and talk about anglophone literature. Actually, I find this sort of "english-centric" tendency pretty interesting, for sure there are cultural reasons behind this choice. I really appreciate this booktuber also because he discusses literature all over the world.
I love Cliff, but I just don’t agree with the all encompassing statement that films offer passive consumption. Sure most of them playing in the theatres may do so; but try and be passive while watching a Late career Malick, a Bresson, a Godard, a Tarkovsky etc etc etc and you’ll be lost. Perhaps the argument can be made that most films being produced are easily digestible entertainment, but then much of what is written are as well; and as much as one can watch a demanding film passively and understand nothing, the same can happen to a passive reader tackling a complex work of literature.
Wonderful conversation, thanks for the interview! A little critique: Could you try to enunciate more? At times I found it difficult to follow your train of thought because you mumble and halt your speech a lot.
Books are the intellectual medium, and the movies are the visual medium. Nothing can wax philosophically and delve into the psychology of the human condition more profoundly than literature. Film can't simulate this, because it's such a superficial medium, and it seals you off from the anxieties and musings of the characters. Where film thrives is scenery and action. Film is the superior visual medium. A movie or videogame can choreograph adrenaline pumping car chases and kung fu fights. Try slogging through a light saber fight in a Star Wars book. Wrong medium. A fastpaced fight sequence in a movie, takes a book half an hour to describe poorly. A movie takes a split second to diagram the environment. A book can take several pages.
Right, but only partly. Films can also show you the sublime... They, in a different way than litterature, elevates the moment and also create transformative experience. Just watch in the mood for love and come and see. Two life changing movies. One about love, the other, about war
The dark aspect of books is the same as youtube I guess, someone can use a book to propagate some bad ideas. Peterson for example shoves in some weird shit along with his self help stuff.
Yes I’d say sometimes it’s easy to just go along with an authors viewpoint or perspective without challenging it, or some people might be more easily influenced than others.
One can propagate bad ideas into any art form. It's just another layer of depth and can be a key part of the objective beauty in art. It's up to the consumer to recognise it, and challenge it if chosen to do so.
The comments related to this conversation are among some of the most insipid and fawning I have had the misfortune to read. That Roberto Balano is a Chilean author should be obvious to any committed reader and the only the insightful comment related to what was a glib puff piece between two denizens of this part of the internet in what appears to be a self congratulatory "reading is good" and "sometimes books are made into films" session masquerading as a form of perspicacious analysis.
