So happy to see you back after a little break in the winter :) I adore your videos ;) keep them coming! Would be awesome to see your runner-ups or “books that make you feel better” video! Much love from Berlin ❤
Also, I adore all of your book choices! Might have had Frankenstein on there, myself and I haven’t read Ducks… but the rest of absolutely winners! Love Sappho and Middlemarch, especially!
I really enjoyed this. Happy to see Jane Eyre. I only read this book THIS yr and was blown away by it. The Secret History remains one of my all time favorites. The quality of the writing, the reading experience. It’s all there. I’m going to get to Ducks. Your experience of it and your feedback here have really encouraged me.
Great list, Ben! Great editing as always too. I enjoyed The Waves. I have 100 years of Solitude and The Secret History on my TBR. I will be reading Beloved next month with AJ. Hoping to like it more than Tar Baby. Ducks Newburyport also remains unread on my shelf. I will get to it. Yes, I will. Interesting about it being out of print. 😊💙
6:57 lol i NEED to get my eyeballs on middlemarch!! Always a pleasure watching your videos, Ben ❤ did i mention in your last vid how much i love the new card additions on your bookshelf? And ofc your fresh cut 😍 i love that pretty much all your fav books are full of heartache, longing, and thicccccc af 🙆🏻♀️
Thank you so much. I loved your list. I just finished The Brothers K and loved it. I’m gearing up to go back to Beloved. Looking forward to all your vids. 😃
Plenty of favorite books in common, how fascinating!!! As for Ducks, Newburyport, I bought the book and didn't even try reading it before I thrifted it. But you've somehow convinced me to give it a go, so I'll start the audiobook (didn't know there was one). Great recommendations by the way :):) Have yet to buy If Not, Winter by Sappho.
Because of this video, I finally decided to pick up Beloved after years of being a bit intimidated by it, and I absolutely loved it ❤️❤️ I might actually pick another book off this list for one of my next reads 😄 Thanks, Ben!
We have two “favorite books ever” in common: One hundred years of solitude and The song of Achilles. I heard you say you haven’t read other Garcia Marquez books so I will suggest his short stories which are ver good, with amazing titles such as “A very old man with huge wings” and “The incredible and sad story of candid Erendira and her soulless grandmother” (I’m paraphrasing). Erendira also appears in OHYOS. And from Madeline Miller “Circe” is also very very good. Thanks for the video!
Thanks, Ben!🌷I’ve read half of your favourites (Sappho’s poetry!❤), have two, still unread, on my shelves (The Waves and The Song of Achilles), tried to read Dostoyevsky a couple of times many years ago (and miserably failed), am totally scared by Toni Morrison and all novels dealing with slavery (I’ll have to do something about it at some point, but not just now). That leaves Ducks, of which I’ve just downloaded a sample on my kindle just to see whether the style agrees with me😊
Interesting choices, Ben! It appears Ducks, Newburyport is still in print here in the States. Although maybe we just have many copies because everyone was too daunted to pick up such an enormous book.
I don’t think I’ve heard any other Booktube describe Ducks... as a favorite. For a long time, I have been curious about reading it. Before undertaking that I will wait for your 2024 opinion as to whether it holds up (amazing, it’s approx. 5 yrs since it was released). I enjoyed The Goldfinch more for all the allusions and metaphors than the characters. Hope to read The Secret History in the near future. Can’t help but think Charlotte Bronte was working through her Unrequited love for her real life married Belgian professor when she wrote Jane Eyre and Villette. (It makes the stories more interesting to me.) I’m glad to hear you are so positive about Middlemarch and The Waves, I have each book and look forward to reading them. Happy Spring 🌱🌷🌱
I haven't read many of these books, but Song of Achilles is def one of my all-time favorites! I've now read it in two languages lol (the original and translation into my native tongue) and I don't do that often, but I was just very curious about how they handled the translation (turns out: pretty well). I feel like I might want to re-read the original soon, since it's been a couple years since I read it in translation.
I also love George Eliot more than Jane Austen oops. I just find that her novels have so much emotion and the character feel so REAL!! Really recommend Adam Bede from Eliot if you haven’t read it, I enjoyed it even more than Middlemarch :) also Jane Eyre is in my top three list of fav books, you’ve got great taste!
I'm now wondering if I should reread The Waves. Like you I read it as a young man and I was utterly bewildered by it. I've read other books by her since and loved them so it's due another look. I haven't ever compiled a list of favourites but I think top of it would be The Crow Road. I Recommend it if you haven't read it. Trainspotting too. Oh now I am compiling a list. I'll stop there. 😊
Interesting that most of your recommendations here are by women writers. I thought the Tartt book outstayed its welcome. On the other hand I have read Jane Eyre three times and found something new in it each time. Thanks for posting. It’s always intesresting to hear about people’s favourite books.
So happy you loved Ducks! Thank you for mentioning payoff ending. So sick of hearing people say nothing happens in Ducks. Interesting question about whether or not it will become a forgotten book. So sad out of print. Glad I have my copy, then! 😉
I’m actually reading, finally, Tartt’s The Little Friend. It too starts off in the first sentence announcing a murder and then we’re off to the races. The voice of the young Harriet is so endearing. I’m loving it. Have you read it?
I knew Song of Achilles would be there ! I love it too. I desperately want to read A Secret History very soon but you haven't sold me on Ducks Newbury I'm afraid . Sorry . Love Jane Eyre too by the way .
I have read 7 of those and several would definitely be in my all time favourites list (Marquez, Morrison and Ducks), the others not far off. Haven’t read Sappho, Middlemarch 😱or Song of Achilles yet but obviously must! Even the final sentence of Ducks is brilliant and it is still the only book I have ever finished and found myself missing the narrator and wanting to start it again just to be back with her. Garcia Marquez has at least 4 other books which come close to 100 years (Autumn of the Patriarch, Chronicle of a death foretold, General in his Labyrinth and Love in time of Cholera) but they are all very different books.
You DO need to do a sequel to this one. I'm not sure that having '10 books That Make Me Happy' wouldn't be a better sell and make you rich (by RU-vid standards, anyway) but a sequel of some sort is a good idea. Also, if you liked the Tartt (pun intended), try one of Lev Raphael's murder mysteries, a series about a gay couple teaching literature at a fairly toxic Midwest University. ("The Edith Wharton Murders" includes a hilarious description of warring factions of scholars during a weekend seminar, each with their own agenda.)
i've read and loved most of the books on the list...song of achilles waits patiently for me but i did love circe...don't want to read ducks, newburyport. and really enjoyed secret history on my first read many years ago but on a re-read in the last few years it had lost it's magic and felt just ugly.
My favorite one here is Jane Eyre by a mile followed by Middlemarch and Beloved. Unpopular opinion: I loved The Little Friend and The Goldfinch but didn't care for The Secret History. It was fun to hear why you loved all of these books.
i have read lots and worked in a big bookstore for 10 years. my #1 Ever.. is Travels, by Michael Crichton. non-fiction. episodes from his life. very smart, profound, funny, and his curiosity about himself and his willingness to change are remarkable.
I don't know about Jane Eyre. I still have some trust issues with it. I'm yet to read some of these, there is no end to the number of books on my tbr list. My next giant classic to read is The Count of Monte Cristo. How are you going with it so far?
Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, The Brothers Karamazov,Song of Achilles, yes, they're surely in my top. Gabriel Garcia Marquez ' The love in the Time of Cholera is too (not 100 years!). I love another russian even more Life and Fate by Vassili Grossman, I love Mario Vargas Llosa's The war at the end of the world, Virginia's Orlando. I 'll stop here, too many books for the last two spots 😅
Interesting group of books. I’ve read Jane Eyre ❤️, Song of Achilles💔, Beloved ❤️🩹, One Hundred Years of Solitude🙇🏻♀️, The Waves🙇🏻♀️🙇🏻♀️🙇🏻♀️, and The Secret History 📜. What I really wonder, do you miss your man-bun?
Loved this video but will need to be a bossy grandmother and tell you to get some Eye drops for itchy eyes. It is allergy season here in NE US and i was just about to scratch my one eye out. Do they have Visine brand there? Happy spring reading!🤦♀️📕📚
We were getting so much along until you mentioned The secret history I don't get the hype, I detest it. I love middlemarch, Jane Eyre and the brothers Karamazov all favourites of mine.
Secondly: I love you for loving Jane Eyre 🖤 My favorite book of all time together with Frankenstein Once one reads 100 years of solitude they have two options: favorite book of all time or masterpiece
Oh no! I’m one of the other Sappho people. The kind unlike you. 🫣 Jane Eyre is amazing. I love Middlemarch and Beloved! I just finished The Secret History. Great list.
