I loved this video! I love how you talk about your favorite books, and I admire your ability to keep it short. I hate the question about *the* favorite book, because I think it's impossible -and useless- to reduce all that we read to a single title. I also loved the idea of your personal literary canon, do you have a video about it? If not, that would be a great one too ☺
exactly! or even mere thoughts. these books have lives to them, too much life even. i have not done a video about it! this is the first where i’ve scraped the surface! but perhaps maybe sometime in the future 💫 ty for watching ✨🫶🏻
okay regretting selling my copy of lydia davis’s stories to the used bookstore!! but i was intimidated!! lauren elkin mentioned dictee in art monsters and i was so haunted by the story around it. i neeeeeed to get back to the passion according to gh as well!! this was such a beautiful video, i also really struggle to talk about my faves and the thought of choosing one fave?! absolutely no way
no I totally get it! it’s like a mini brick! i think it mostly works as a writer’s book and there’s a lot to learn from. and OOH! need to take a look at the Elkin then! and lol struggle with me! hope you put out a fav books video at some point 😭😭😭
loved how you shared some of your fav books!! most times, i just enjoy hearing why someone loved a book/how it affected them more so than the synopsis. love love loved & congrats on 5k!!! ❤️
i know some of these origin stories when you’ve spoken about/written about books from this list previously, but i love hearing what connects you to these titles. i understand [part of] yr pain in sharing these with others
One of my favourite bookish people talking about their favourite books, what could be more dreamy? I loooooved how you did this, it felt really intimate and personal and I felt I got to know you all the more and it was fab. Thank you!
I could listen to you all day. Thank you for your vulnerable and intelligent discussion of your favorite books. You've inspired me to explore the authors I've yet to read.
I love this video and I love how it made me reflect on the books that have impacted me the most. I think, as of this minute, those would be Stoner, The Wall, Real Estate, Man’s Search for Meaning, The Hour of the Star, Signs Preceeding the End of the World, The Undocumented Americans, and Toni Morrison as her own category. Thank you for sharing your faves with us!
Stoner is something i've been considering adding to my canon list! i can't help but think how beautiful the ending is. i literally gasped in the final few paragraphs. i've yet to do the Levy and Haushofer! and totally agree that Morrison needs her own category! she's one i will never stop thinking about when it comes to the love of literature~
I find it very hard to talk about my favorite books as well because it is almost like a betrayal of my former self, the one who formed such a deep connection with the work, and it feels like talking about it will rupture something in that connection, make the book less "mine". This is of course flawed reasoning but when it comes to something that is so emotional for me, reason is not at the forefront of my mind lol. Anyway, thank you for sharing Nathan
i feel these sentiments so much! reason can’t be at the forefront of the mind when love is involved! we can always get to reason, but it’s so reactionary at first! thank you for watching! ✨🫶🏻
I started this video and then started getting choked up and said BIG NOPE. Emotional avoidance activated 😂 But finally ready so Im back. This was such a special video, Nathan. I feel like a lot of the time because we're capital R readers its easy to become dulled to reading, its just a thing we do a lot of. But this was such a lovely panning out, so lovely to see your reverence, and to be reminded of that for myself, too. Im grateful for this and you ♥️
finished the video and i was like you liar!! not talking about half the books. Rewinded and rewatched the intro and it makes me so giddy how fun and clever the intro is
I’m so glad you did this video . I k ow how hard this could be! I loved hearing your experiences and memories around the books. 🥰🥰🥰I so agree that the not understanding can lead to beautiful places. There’s a few books and authors mentioned here have sparked my memory that I want to try them. Such as Lydia Davis and Lispector.
thank you! would you ever make such a video? would love to hear about your favorite books! every time you talk about books is always such a lovely time! getting to hear your thoughts on books is a beautiful place in itself!
Yes Nate! Lovin it. Franny & Zooey, Lydia Davis’s stories & Lispector all rank highly for me too. Ps. Also love that you dropped some Vietnamese words in there!
love to see another Franny and Zooey lover out there in the world! i feel like it's always underlooked when we look at Salinger's work. i was debating whether or not to mention it actually! also, love how aligned our reading tastes are!
Favorite books are so hard. I notice that for a while there are books that hit the top list and then they fade into the background to being a favorite because they have always been there, but do they still hold up? Aside from me having trouble assigning new favorites I am stuck in the past. With the discworld novels shaping my worldview as I devoured them through my childhood and life everytime a new one came out. Then there are the books I discovered at uni, like Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer and Waterland by Graham Swift, who introduced me to new ways of telling a story (and I am still deeply drawn to non standard writing and storytelling). The latest book I call favorite for writing and content is The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Nowadays favorites are a fleeting short lived thing that draw me in by story or character, but nothing really changes life for me anymore (maybe it's a sign of getting old and it needs more to be wowed). Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
i share this same sentiment! and I’ve noticed also that these so called favorites exist a lot stronger in my early years than anything now (and i’m reading quite a lot! sifting through a lot..) maybe it is a sign of changes in age. or maybe it’s a sign of the literature produced now. i’m going to believe it’s a mix of everything until i do find that new favorite ! hoping the same for you 🫡 *also, i remember there was a shift in the world when Everything is Illuminated came out! it felt like maturity was a quick switch, shifted ideas and movements for me at the time it was published 💫
My favorite book might just be W-3 by Bette Howland. It's this not well known early 70s memoir by a Chicago writer and single mother and her stay in a psych ward following an overdose (in Saul Bellow's apartment!). It wasn't until a magazine editor found a used copy at a Housing Works (in the 1$ bin i might add) that it was rediscovered a few years ago.
A recent book that has changed me in that it has opened up another world is Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Omg. I now have that shared experience with others that have read it.
Congratulations on the 5k subscribers 🎊🎉🎉🎉👏👏👏 you did such a great job talking about your favorite books of all time. My favorite book of all time is the book of disquiet by Fernando Pessoa. I read it during the worst year of my life. Definitely was coping yet reading it felt like finding my soul mate.
thank you! i've been meaning to get to Pessoa! it's always incredible when a text meets you at the perfect time in your life, when you most need it. love that literature was able to help you in that moment
wanted to talk about books that don’t get enough love! Fante is an author that seems to fly under the radar for most. do you have a favorite of his? :)
Love the Sontag intro. Also I found the parts about reading that created understand on the craft of writing (ie the Lydia Davis Part) so interesting! In regards to male LA writers...have you read any John Rechy? In a way he could be a Babitz contemporary (Rechy City of Night book -> lyric in the Doors L.A. Woman - > Eve Babitz book L.A. Woman. Lol) but queerer in content.
just ran to add this to my tbr on goodreads only to find that i had already added it in 2014 😱😱😱 will try to get my hands on it immediately. a queer Babitz?? sign me UP!
that shirt is gorgeous! anyway great video, though I've only read Ask The Dust of the few you mentioned. my personal favorite is The Savage Detectives or 2666, both by Roberto Bolano!
thank you! i wanted to dress up for the big moment! OOH! i eventually want to get to 2666 but it's sheer size scares me! eep! i've only ever done The Third Reich and enjoyed it!
@@nathansnook I'm yet to read that myself but it looks great! being apprehensive about the size of 2666 is very fair but I assure you I never read long books and I got through it super quickly!
Thanks for sharing this with us-- lots of new authors for me. Also, thanks for commenting on other YT videos (Ben Reads Good, The Disco King, et al). It's good to see you around. 𐍈‿𐍈
i tried to choose authors that haven't been talked about on the tube! and my kings!!! i love being part of the community and seeing what everyone else is reading along with sharp thoughts! thanks for being here! your presence matters
deceptive and ironic! both in my tinder profile description! i think i might do a part 2 of this! i just knew that if i had spoken of any more books we would be here for days..haha but tried to choose titles that haven’t gotten enough love on booktube. thank you for watching! ❣️
