September Planning ⌨️ university reads, book clubs, & browsing through my bookshelves 

emma can u perhaps consider making a podcast where you just tell us about books or about your thoughts and reviews about the books you’ve read bc your voice really soothes my anxiety 🥺 i would listen to it all day.

I really appreciate the fact that you read a wide variety of books and not just the ones that are in vogue. It has introduced me to books that I wouldn't normally have come across otherwise.

Borges is my favourite author - my greatest teacher and most loyal friend 🥲 You will return to him time and time again. His humour and humility are his best traits 💖 of course his sagacious mysticism and universal philosophy is godlike and illuminating. Borges highlights the singular in the plural and the plurality in all that is singular. Borges once said that rereading is the best way to read and that a crowd is an illusion 🥲 You can start with “The Zahir”. It was my first Borgesian experience. Or you can start anywhere really! Borges is multifarious - it is always the end and the beginning with Borges. I go back to Borges every time and I still get misty eyed when I think of him. Have fun reading his stories for the first time. I envy you 🙂 Then again, rereading Borges always feels like the first encounter. That is how special he is!

pan’s labyrinth is one of my absolute favourite films! it’s so magical and heartbreaking and brutal. 10/10 would watch to cry

Hi Emma! I'm from Argentina and I'm almost through with my Translation Studies degree. Having dealt with Borges all throughout this year I can't recommend him enough! He is simply the absolute best and I'm sure you'll fall in love with him! I would definitely advise you to begin reading The Aleph, it was the first thing I ever read about him and it blew my mind. Some other stories that are worth reading: Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote; The Circular Ruins; The Garden of Forking Paths; The House of Asterion. Please read his stories, you will not regret it! Edit: sorry, just fixed a typo

these 20 mins long vlogs are not enough to fulfill me i swear 😭❤️

Finishing My Dark Vanessa now; INCREDIBLE. Very accurate and raw look into how complex trauma and grooming affects perception of reality.

So glad to see you pick The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas! I'm currently reading it and I absolutely love it. It's witty and fun and surprisingly so so easy to read. Highly recommend!

This is simply what I need after a long, exhausting day. Thank you for this Emma!

You are such a loyal friend emma you always show up when needed ❤️❤️❤️

Tender is the Flesh is a great option for this season! Quick, thought provoking, and very disturbing.

The iliac crest sounds awesome, thanks for the recommendation. It has a low rating, but so did the last book I read per your recommendation and enjoyed (leave the world behind), so I’m not worried. I loved my dark Vanessa, but you do need to be ready for it. It was more difficult for me to read than many other books with similar content, because the emotional aspect felt more real.

Some of my favourites from borges are: The library of babel Shakespeare's memory Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. Absolutely fascinating concepts behind these stories.

Emma makes me want to read every book she speaks so highly of, they could even be genres I don’t particularly gravitate to. Your reviews are always so informative! but read Tender is the Flesh, you were so excited about it! and please please please watch Pan’s Labyrinth! Beautiful film, one of my favourites for sure!

I picked two literature modules to study for university this year, which includes Utopian fiction and post 1945 European fiction, so I've been looking up any reading lists to prepare, it's been so cosy!

Hi Emma! I've read and loved that same Borges collection and have a few recommendations. I think the best place to start is the collection Fictions (Ficciones). Some of the best and most iconic Borges stories are in there including: The Circular Ruins (Only 5 pages and one of the greatest short stories imo) The Library of Babel (The OG infinite library story; hugely influential and referenced by many later writers) The Lottery in Babylon (Meta-fiction at its best) Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote (arguably the first instance of Postmodernism in literature)(required reading for fans of Don Quixote) The entire volume is big and dense but I read it over the course of a year and found it hugely rewarding! Borges is one of those writers that once you read him you start seeing his influence everywhere :)

Yay I'm early! There's just something so special about Emma's videos 🥺 it feels like a warm and cozy hug on a winter day with a cup of coffee 😩 my favorite feeling in the world!! When I've had a long and exhausting day, I always look forward to Emma's video at the end of a day to rewind and relax, there's nothing better than that ❣️ hope you're having a good day Emma!! Here's a socially distances virtual hug 🤗

Love that you're considering reading Borges -- he's such an amazing and unique writer! Looks like your "Collected Fictions" includes a bunch of his books, so I would recommend starting with some stories from either "Ficciones" (Fictions, in English) or "The Aleph". Some examples of stories that I think you will really like from these two books are "The Library of Babel", "The Garden of Forking Paths", "The House of Asterion", "The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths", and "The Immortal". All of these deal with a lot of the recurrent themes in Borges' literature (infinity, the labyrinth, fate, logic, identity, mirrors, etc.) and are a great representation of his style. Happy reading!

TENDER IS THE FLESH IS AMAZING IT’S DEFINITELY ONE OF MY BEST READS THIS YEAR 😭😭😭 CANT WAIT FOR YOU TO READ IT OMGGGGGG

You can't go wrong with Borges, start wherever you want! My personal favourite is The Aleph but I think you actually appreciate it more after you already read some others

I adore Maurice! I'm so so so happy you're reading it😍

aaah just unwinding from a long day of uni work-so soothing watching this! 🌌

hey, emma. it's so lovely to see you, as always. for borges, i'd suggest to start with ficciones, since most of the stories are sort of thematically connected. i hope you have an amazing reading month

I juast read Beowulf for uni too (german philology) and I loved it, I was very suprised by the complexity of it and by how hooked the events had me (plus, I just loved how many references taken by Tokien I could find, my lotr loving lil being was very happy 💚). Good luck with uni 💚💚

I quite enjoy Borges’s stories. I recommend you start with these mindbenders: “The Library of Babel” “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” “The Secret Miracle” “The Book of Sand”. An infinite library, four elusive pages from volume 46 of a certain encyclopedia, an author’s second chance, and an infinite book. These stories await you.

This is how I want my life to be 😭❤️ ily stay safe and stay sane!!

I’m so excited for you, starting back to uni! Take care of yourself and don’t try to take on too much. Have fun and learn lots! You’ve got this 💪

emma i love your channel so much!! your videos make my day and your voice is so soft and sweet, its soothing and your content is just amazing as well

I just want to say thank you for the good vibes that you give, you are a big inspiration to me. Hope your ok, have a nice day Emma

Thank you so much for the great book recommendations! I absolutely love your videos. Watching your videos is the best way to unwind after an exhausting day at work. I do not have any new projects for September other than trying to read some books I have on my bookshelf. Good luck with University! I hope you have a great semester 💓

Your excitement about going back to school makes me miss my uni days studying literature!

I'm starting my 4 years at university this month to get a teaching degree! I'm nervous but excited. Also I'm so happy I've stumbled upon your channel as it feels so laid back and relaxing. I hope this month goes great for you ^-^

Hi Emma! Oh! Maurice is very good, hope you like it! I vote for Pothumous Memoirs, i'm brazilian and i love Machado.

Emma, I am studying English Literature and my 3rd year classes are beginning from next week. Your video got me really excited for the coming year! Have a lovely year. All the best!🥰

Good luck for this new semester Emma!🍀 I’m starting my Masters Thesis in biomedical research so I won’t have much time to read fiction but I’ve just started One Hundred Years Of Solitude based on your recommendation and I’m really liking it 🥰

tender is the flesh is SO GOOD you should totally read it!!! I'm from Argentina, I read it this year and oh my god it is just amazing

I truly enjoyed Nicholas Nickleby. The characters were all very endearing !

Within Borges’ book, The Library of Babel is a brilliant short story that made me think a lot. I still want to get to all his stories but that one seemed like a great introduction 🌟

Your monthly planning videos are my favorite!

i vote posthumous memoirs!!! the premise is so intriguing and i feel like you always pull it out!!

New to your videos and I like how chill and calming they are. I just read Before the Coffee Gets Cold and I liked it a lot. Looking forward to read the next book in the series. I haven't read any of the other ones but they sound great.

It sounds like you're gonna have a good reading month! I miss reading for pleasure :(( I've been studying for my board exam for the end of the month. I'm just so excited for October! 🎃

u make me want to be so optimistic about uni and i wish i can be too, i'm also on my third year but online art school is so hard for me and i can already feel my mental health deteriorating. but i'm happy to say ur videos help so much, can't wait for uni vlogs

I would absolutely be here for your bullet journal content! Booktube, bullet journaling, minimalism (but not book minimalism, which is blasphemy) and productivity tube is where it's at!

The Illiac Crest sounds so good, but my library doesn't have it 🥲 my TBR this month in Simone de Beauvoir's Second Sex, 100 years of solitude by Garcia Marquez (on your recommendation and loving it by the way, so grateful I'm able to read it in the original Spanish ❤), Matt Haig's The Midnight Library, Aria by Nazanine Hozar, East of Eden and Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, and the Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Murakami😃 wishing you the best on your third year of uni! I'm also on my third year but for a psychology degree 😊

If I were you I would read Seasons of Migration to the North because whenever I truly with all my heart want to sink my teeth into a book, I feel that the longer I wait the more I am expecting out of it and I end up not enjoying it as much as I would like to. Also I read the book summary and it sounds short and sweet but can pack a punch and I feel that with you going back to uni, it could bring you joy without stress

*feels proud as an argentinian every time Borges or Cortázar appear in English speakers' book recommendations*

I started Borges from the first collection he published ("A Universal History of Iniquity") and just went chronologically from there, but the earliest parts of his fiction that I would consider essential are "Ficciones" and "The Aleph", the two collections that come directly after his first one.

I just finished My Dark Vanessa yesterday and let me say at least for me it was quite an emotionally draining and heavy read and I'm still thinking if it was worth it or not reading it. It can make you feel like you're underwater in pressure, that's what I'd describe it. Just wanted to put that out there

your new home has such a beautiful lighting ✨ can't wait to hear your thoughts on all those books 💚

i wanna suggest tender is the flesh for one of my uni bookclubs! it sounds like the perfect dark story for fall! I have Statango on my tbr too! It sounds sooo good!! I'm starting the month with two late-summer reads to finish off the season (to the lighthouse and midsummer's night dream). Next I'll be reading poe's poetry, on the road and the art of war for the Rory Gilmore readathon. And starting next week I'll be reading Nicholas Nickleby and Maurice and maybe whatever my uni professors assign us to read (i go back to uni on the 13th, this time doing to degrees: French and English (language and literatures for both). I used to do just french but my heart was missing English too much I ended up asking to do two degrees at once). I'm also currently reading a spanish book for my uni's bookclub m. The title is "Panza de burro" and it's a coming of age story that's written in a very peculiar and regional writing style. I also wanna read a bunch of other things to get ready for fall but I need to see what I own and then plan my tbr. Good luck with reading all of those and with uni!

You are a gem, lovely video, thank you :-) Wishing you all the best starting Uni and when I watch you I am usually making a new warp for weaving project (and taking biscuit with tea and Emma breaks)

emma, just PICK BORGES! just do it! tbh i think you can start with “ficciones”, but for me, it was helpful to start with his essays, he was a great intellectual and he loved Cervantes, a lot of his work was about studying other authors work…”inquisiciones” is a good place to start imo.

Oh I just came across 'Before the Coffee gets cold' the other day on Amazon and now you're picking it up! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it and if it's good I can also pick it up for a little light reading by the end of the month after I give my entrance exams for University. And I WILL try for sure 'The Iliac Crest' , thank you Emma. I always absolutely trust your recommendations ! 💞

my dark Vanessa is SO GOOD

I am so glad to find you! ☺ you are so sweet and pleasant to watch and listen to. So soothing

I'm so interested in Tender Is The Flesh! Save it for DA Book Club!

I loved Pan's Labyrinth. Glad you mentioned it. I read it last year and I'm rereading it as of the moment! Love from the Phils! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

I loved Before the Coffee Gets Cold so I hope you enjoy it! It’s always exciting to hear your thoughts about books I’ve read too 😄

Seeing your excitement makes me so happy :D I'm just one week away from continuing to study English Lit & History :)

Emma you looked so cute in this video omg. And I love your necklace! I finished reading Normal People today and I really enjoyed it (even though it low key made me feel quite stressed and depressed lol). I'm not in school anymore but I've always wanted to study greek mythology so I'm taking an online course and have been doing lots of reading for it. I just recently finished reading The Odyssey which was a big life accomplishment for me!

Definitely Brás Cubas !! Im fairly certain you’ll love it. I’ve read My Dark Vanessa and I definitely think you need to be in the right state of mind to read this, a lot of it is quite hard to read. That said I’d love to hear your opinion on it so here are my votes !! Have a good day Emma 😄

So soothing ❤ More like an aesthetic watch 🌸🌼

Okay so forgive me if this is kind of dramatic but - thank you Emma. You give me peace despite this very stressful week. 23 minutes of calm is just what I need right now. 😭

I downloaded Maurice to read along with the DA book club. I only recently downloaded it and am not far (yet), but I’m cautiously optimistic to finish by the end of the month 😉 love your book recs and I’ve added so much to my own TBR based on books you’ve mentioned 😊💜

So excited to get your thoughts on some of these! And omg, watching this makes me miss being an English major so bad! I'm doing an Arts and Design degree now with a minor in Museum Studies, so I am taking a lot of cool courses like archaeology and Roman Art though. Hope this semester is good for all of us!

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas is amazing❤️ 🇧🇷

it's my 18th birthday today and your videos have been a massive comfort recently so it's really nice that this was posted today

I don't know how but you keep me alive

good luck with school this year! I'm starting uni in two weeks and studying history !

I'll be interested to see what you think of Before the Coffee Gets Cold - I wasn't the biggest fan of it! I'm so excited for all of your uni reading!!!

Hey Em, glad to see your heading back to uni! I'm moving to Ottawa to start my teachers college in Music and English tomorrow morning so I'm super stressed about moving so far away.

Voting for tender is the flesh and my dark vanessa:)

Curtain bangs suit you so nice! Have you dyed your hair darker? I have exam time in September. I study Psychology. I vote for Dark Vanessa.

I vote for Borges. His is amazing! I love his books.

so glad you're considering reading Borges!

I'm gonna be studying Dutch and English literature this semester, so this video was great for study motivation! (although I was already excited for it)

YAAAAAS, please go for Borges. Its magical If you want to just do one collection of Short stories, i would definitely recommend The Aleph. Everything in this collection is fantastic and enygmatic and probably the best introduction to the Borgian universe. If you want to just read some various stories here are some i think are sensational The library of Babel The circular runes The garden of forking paths Funes the memorious The inmortal The house of Asterion Abenjacan the Bojari dead in his laberynth (THIS) The Aleph The Gospel acording to August 25, 1983

i've recently found your channel, and 'ive been discovering so many amazing books so far, especially from other countries (also, i'm brazilian, so it's really amazing that you're reading machado de assis for fun, since i had to read it for school)

I vividly remember watching Pan’s labyrinth as a kid and it being one of the most terrifying and gruesome things I’d ever seen, and yet I was so fascinated and intrigued by it. I didn’t even know there was a book. I hope you enjoy the book and the movie, and if you do I highly recommend watching “The devil’s backbone”, by the same director, which is also very dark but so beautiful.

The posthumous memoirs of Brás Cubas! :)

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis is so good!!!! He is the best author in Brazil in my opinion, his books are amazing. I read this one a few years ago but I remember that I loved it a lot!

*RESPECTFULLY SLIDES INTO SPOOKY SEASON* 🍁🧡🍄

girl, serpent, thorn is one of my favorite morally grey sapphic fantasy books!!! highly highly recommend, the twists took me by surprise and i had such a fun time reading it

Season of Migration to the North is amazing! One of my favorite books! Highly recommend 👌

So interesting choises of books. Hope you have a wonderful time going back to university!

perfect way to start my morning!

Hi Emma. Love your vid as always. On your last one you were talking about your post concussion syndrome and I just want to suggest maybe getting and amber light bulb book light. I love mine and it really helps me because it's not too bright but you can definitely see what your reading. Just shut out all the lights, attach it too your book and enjoy. It really helps if you suffer with migraines and light sensitivity. Just a thought. Hope you see this and hope it helps! Hugs!! ❤️❤️❤️

I absolutely love these planning videos!

I finished my Masters of English last year and this makes me miss school!!!!! I just moved to Denmark from Canada, so I am for sure doing something TOTALLY new.

Oh gosh good luck with Nicholas Nickelby... I remember vividly having this assigned at Uni many many years ago. I used to fall asleep every single time I picked it up..

Omg I'm from Brazil and I'm so happy to see that you'll read Machado de Assis!! He's amazing, definitely one of the best Brazilian authors, hope you like it

I'm starting my first year of languages and literature: dutch/english and I'm so excited! (You totally inspired me to do this). From the books you mentioned I have read both My Dark Vanessa and Red Queen. My Dark Vanessa is incredible. The writing is so good and the story is so intense. However, you do have to be in the right headspace to read it. It's a story about grooming and it times i felt so claustrophobic reading it. There was so much horror in it and there was no way to escape it. You were immersed in the mind of Vanessa who's been groomed to the point it feels really uncomfortable to read her thoughts. Red Queen I enjoyed a lot, but both times I started that series, I got stuck in the second book. Maybe I should give it another try though. I wouldn't advice you to start that one since it's a series and if you dislike the first book and stop reading, it's only 1/3th of the story and it feels pretty pointless s nothing is resolved/explained. Hope one day you will read All The Sun You Give. It's contemporary and I know you don't like that very much but this book feels pretty other-wordly. It's all about art and feelings that seem to big to fit in this world, both pain/loss/love/sorrow etc. Big hugs!

Hi Emma! Im so glad you enjoyed Cristina Rivera Garza, she is one of the big contemporary writers in MX 💜✨

Studying teaching in Germany(subjects:English and German) and entering the 7th semester next month. I wish I was so excited about it as you are, just finished one term paper yesterday and still have two to go, I’m tired 😴 but you are very inspiring to me and inflict at least some motivation in me to go back into studying English, as there are at least some parallels to you studies apparently

I haven't read it, but the Machado novel should definitely feature on your TBR. Sounds like the one you're most excited for AND I'm also ready to hear your thoughts on it. Would love to read about a sassy ghost 😅ofc I need the Emma seal of approval first

King Lear is my favorite shakespeare, I love the bleakness of it, and of course I love Beowulf as it’s my heritage as a Norwegian :)

I think you seemed most excited about tender is the flesh so that’s my vote

For Borges, “The Aleph” is a great place to start.

There's something Murakamian about Borges (or the other way around) and I think you'll enjoy "Fictions" from any page you choose to start. Best wishes!