The most important books to me 

I’m a youngish reader I’m 16 and I think I read books that will progress my knowledge. I’ve been reading murakami and stoner and brave new world but I also have a “guilty pleasure” books which is reading Star Wars books as I am a big Star Wars fan ik this isn’t the best thing to read to progress my knowledge and myself so I try to only read 1 for every 3 “real” books should I stop reading these and only read more prestige books?

Stoner is extraordinary. In such a slim novel, he was able to contain the enormity of one person’s life. I remember thinking when I was reading it , that if a picture is worth a thousand words, these sentences are worth a thousand pictures.

crime and punishment changed me. Thank you for this video! No better way to relax from a busy friday than listening to people talk about their impactful lit

“I don’t know what my life would be if I didn’t stop to grab that book” I have this exact sentiment about East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I was leaving a friends house when I was 18 (I’m 30 now) and his parents had a huge stack of boxes in the hallway with a couple books scattered around and on top of it was this gorgeous penguin edition of East of Eden and idk what came over me but I grabbed for it and asked him if I could borrow it. Wow it changed my life reading it… It took me years to read and I never ended up returning it >.

For me, Alexander Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo" is undoubtfully the most important one. This book tells the story of an unjustly incarcerated man who escapes finding revenge. It is filled with lots of philosophical thoughts, and it completely changed my mind. It is probably the book that made me who I am now.

The Great Gatsby was pretty much one of the most important books I have read in my life. That is because it was the book that got me into reading more classic literature. I'm from Brazil and during high school we naturally had to read a bunch of classics of our literature but they were so hard to understand and I raised this reluctance with these books that required more attention and had more depth. Then, I decided to read Gatsby because I loved the movie and I saw that it was short so I bought it to give it a try. And I fell in love with it. With every word, every sentence. It truly made me realize how important books are for our souls. I made a promise to myself that when I feel ready, and I know one day I'll feel it, I'm gonna give another chance to my country's literature because i know how magic it is and I owe it to brazilian culture, my culture. I recently discovered your channel and you quickly became my favorite creator on booktube! Your content is pure gold and the way you put your thoughts into words is magnificent. Amazing video! Love from Brasil! (sorry if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, english is not my first language :D)

Even though this book is wildly popular, I loved The Bell Jar because it was so groundbreaking for its time. It was rare to see women represented with any sort of mental disorder until very recently. This showed that women suffer from actually mental disorders rather than simply "hysteria." Sylvia Plath did an amazing job of putting how depression actually feels into words which meant a lot to me because it can be so difficult to do so.

Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, Got me into reading

A few of the books that mean the most to me - The Pearl by John Steinbeck - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscal Wilde - I'll Give you the Sun by Jandy Nelson - Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney A lot of these are from childhood, or signal leaps in my reading life/characters that I have really resonated with.

Perhaps it will be "the little prince" for me, to be honest i didn't really understand the metaphor used but after i finished reading it i cried and i feel so many things. After seeing the interpretation that it might be about inner child it makes sense and become important for me

I love how passionate you are about literature! I could listen to you talking for hours. I'll definitely check out some of the books mentioned. Thank you for the video! ❤

Definitely Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse! Easily the most gorgeous novel I've ever read.

Not a book but the essay Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson pretty much changed my life

Watching you talk so passionately about these books made me really happy. This year I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck and I have never felt this way about a book before. It has consumed my mind ever since reading it and I just believe it's a masterpiece. While reading the book I really felt like Steinbeck was reading my mind.

Once again a fantastic video! Thank you for sharing this with us! I personally was deeply influenced by „How To Read A Book“ and „Of Mice And Men“. These two books helped understand that reading can actually be a delight and a great opportunity to grow as a person, when done „the right way“.

You are such an inspiration for me! I’m a German student and I love English literature and what to study something in this direction. You motivate me to keep reading books that are above my language and understanding level to expand my horizon. And you are an eloquent speaker!

Just found your channel yesterday and I am devouring your videos. I think the most important books for me were: - L'Odyssée by Homère, it was the first greek mythology I read when I was 10, re-read it several times after that, it's the book that got me into reading, it triggered my thirst for knowledge and research. It led me to read every book I could find about greek mythology. - Le Petit Prince by Saint Exupéry, a short book that was so poetic it led me to read actual poetry afterward such as Les Fleurs du Mal by Baudelaire, Alcools by Apollinaire. - Bel Ami by Maupassant, the first french classic I enjoyed and read several times, such great writing, such a compelling story. - Le Choeur des femmes by Martin Winckler, the book that confirmed I wanted to be a doctor. - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, the first book I read in English literature, led to many others. Keeping in mind that I am french and most of these books I discovered while in school were part of our curriculum. Their recommendations were spot on might I add.

You've completely convinced me to read Stoner! In terms of the most important books that I've ever read, I can say that Catcher in the Rye, 1984, Elle by Douglas Glover, and Thomas King's The Truth about Stories are some of the ones that, to me, had such a huge impact on me as a reader. If I had to pick one to recommend to you, I'd tell you to try out Thomas King. He's a Canadian Indigenous author, and the way he writes about the meaning of stories and the impact of fiction/storytelling is absolutely mesmerizing and inspiring.

Yes man! Stoner and Wuthering Heights are on my list big time too! I'm going to be doing Colorless soon and cannot wait! I'd love to have a chat with you someday!

My most important books are 1984 and Bible. Many other books I read had huge impact but these two had the biggest.

Great video, as always!! I read Little Women for the first time last year, and like so many of my favorite books it's definitely something that brings me back to where I was at in life when I first read it. I’ve been thinking about the book constantly ever since. I just finished Moby Dick and I already know it’s going to be a book I’m still thinking about years later. It’s such a great feeling to find a book you know will stick with you!

You get a big thumbs up from me for being such a Willa Cather fan! I see parallels between her "The Professor's House" and "Stoner", both filled with a palpable sense of yearning and loss, and both exquisitely written. I could list many important books, but I'll mention just one, as it needs a bit of explanation. This is going back many years, as I am now retired. I trained to be a junior teacher and one of our lecturers mentioned some classic books (not text books) which gave a great insight into a child's psychology. At the time, I thought anything with "classic" attached would be very boring. Shortly after graduating, however, while browsing in a book store, I came across one of the recommended titles. It was "My Childhood" by Maxim Gorky. On a whim I bought it and devoured it, it was that good. So classics could be good! Who knew? After that I not only read more Russian literature, but also began listening to classical music, which felt like somebody was inflating my brain. Then I got into an Ingmar Bergman kick (maybe I'm an optimistic nihilist too), so one book started me on a path that has enriched many facets of my life. I re-read it last year and it's just as good.

Just found your channel. I like it! Three contemporary classics: "My Name is Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok, "Bless Me Ultima" by Rudolpho Anaya, and "84 Charing Cross Road" by Helene Hanf. Feels like the last one is on every booktuber's list, but there is a reason for it.

I love: A walk to remember by Nicolas Sparks The color of water by James Mcbride

I know its a controversial book, but call me by your name was SUCH an important book for me, it helped me come to terms with my sexuality, and the gorgeous portrayal of absolute yearning for somebody who you cannot have was so instrumental in figuring out who i was. It was the first time i felt like the author could see inside my head and was writing exactly what i felt, its the first (and one of the only) times i felt truly understood by a book, and it’ll always be special to me for that

One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, it was the first classic I ever read and I fell in love with it. As a fun fact, disney’s encanto has so many references to this book, although the magic on the book unlike encanto is a common experience between the entire town, not only in one specific family and also this magic has no reverse, if it happened, it can’t get back. Thanks for the video!

I've seen many people read and praise The Stoner. It's on my list. Appreciated this list and that there were no spoilers. You are without a doubt one of my favorite booktubers.

I feel so impressed after watching your video, especially your last serval words. And I am into Stoner too, I bought stoner in Spanish version lately, I feel both languages are so beautiful and vivid to describe the moment when Stoner lost his parents and his love of his life, Katherine. I always put Stoner on my desk where I could easily see it, as if Stoner is accompanying with me all time. Thanks for sharing!!!!!! You are great!!!

I hardly know what books to pick, that have stayed with me ever since reading (there are many) but some that come to mind are Jane Eyre, Hans Christian Andersen's Classic Fairytales, The neverending story, Little Women, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Fahrenheit 451, Oranges are not the only fruit, Mythos by Stephen Fry, The Great Gatsby, Upstream:selected essays by Mary Oliver. Most I read in childhood and in my teenage years but after that I still come back to them time and again.

Colorless Tsukuru and Wuthering heights are in my summer read list i'm excited ^^

Really happy I happened upon this video. It really resonated with me, especially the bit about the Catcher in the Rye. Except that I hate that book, haha, but I love your perspective on it. I feel that way about One Hundred Years of Solitude though.

Excellent. Loved Catcher!!!!!!

This is my first video of yours s/o to youtube for recommending your channel. Not sure if you have read it but for me it would be Moby Dick! I had to read it my last semester of college. It was the first classic that completely blew me away and made me think "now this is a book that deserves to be called a classic." I re-read it every summer! It's hilarious (which no one ever talks about) and poignant and honestly not as much whale stuff as one would expect. Another book, Middlemarch which I hope to re-read soon. Great video! Happy to hear about Stoner, I have had it on my tbr for years, I think it's time I finally pick it up

Just discovered you fella, love your enthusiasm/attitude. G. (over here in Ireland.)

Here are my three most important (& favorite) books I've read: 1. Alice in Wonderland - Brought me to a wonderful world of nonsense, where nothing is as it seems. Solid, good humor, great characters, & excellent adventure tale for young, curious kids. 2. The Lord of the Rings - Deeped my fascination in Fantasy - inspires me to be a fantasy author and illustrator. Also, love my Dwarves, Elves, & Hobbits! 3. Harry Potter - Once again deepens my fascination in Fantasy, love the world of Hogwarts & its mysteries! Also, I'm a Gryffindor! These three inspire me to become a fantasy writer & artist. With Fantasy, anything is possible when you escape in anywhere, from Wonderland to Oz, to Middle-Earth to Narnia, & from Sleeping Beauty's castle to Hogwarts.

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. I had to read it for my German class and it's unlike anything I've ever read!

Borges is indeed a very special author great video, man!

For me, Orlando by Virginia Woolf is super important. It’s partly a love letter to Woolf’s actual female lover, but it’s also a love letter to language and storytelling. Also reading The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides when I was 16 really shaped me as a reader and made me realize that stories can also be slow, contemplative, atmospheric, and hypnotically lethargic. And it made me realize that weird thrill of not knowing how to explain why I love a book. Milkman by Anna Burns was what made me love a slog, and appreciate the effort of piecing together a complicated yet devastating book.

Great video! All the way up to 7th grade, I would always start books but never finish them. Then I read Catcher in The Rye, and it ended up being the first ever adult novel that I finished by myself. After that, I got really into reading. I’m 16 now, just finished grade 10, and am really interested in the beat authors of the 1950s, like William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. If you’ve read any of their stuff, I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on their work, and also the beatnik literary movement as a whole. Also, I would love to hear any book recommendations from that time period, if you have any.

I had the same exact experience with Wuthering Heights. It really got me into classic literature.

the first book that i really remember being OBSESSED with is Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. my copy is so destroyed from the amount of times i read it when i was a kid, and it is a book about books so i feel that it really set me on the path im currently going on (obsessed with reading constantly). the two books that i find had the most impact on me in recent years are The Idiot by Elif Batuman and Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. the idiot because it is so earthshatteringly relatable and i feel like has somehow changed the trajectory of my life since i first read it 6 months ago. and pale fire because it really pushes the limits of what a book actually is. the unreliable narrator and layers of meaning really took me in, and challenged the notions i previously had about both nabokov as an author and literature as a whole. on another note, i just found your channel and my faith in the world is being restored a little knowing you are a high school english teacher. i'm in my senior year right now and my english class has been depressingly devoid of literature analysis, so it makes me happy to see that there are english teachers out there with a real passion for reading and helping kids see the value in literature.

I just watched this video on Saturday, got a copy of Stoner in ny hands on Sunday, and finished reading it on Monday. Then I lied in bed staring at the ceiling and feeling attacked and victimized by that book. Loved it. Thank you!

During a period of depersonalization and hardships in my relationships, Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment and Notes from Underground (especially the first half) really helped me a lot. I have heard that you should proceed with caution reading these if you are in a difficult time in life mentally, and perhaps there is some truth to that, as I certainly found myself torturing over endless introspection, trying to psychoanalyze myself, but it ended up helping me a lot so those are some of my favorites of all time

Mrs Dalloway and The English Patient!

I had a similar experience with Catcher in the Rye at that age. I don’t even remember why I picked it up but I hadn’t voluntarily read a book in forever and it really reignited a passion for reading that I lost throughout middle and high school. I may reread it soon and see what I think now.

reading on the road right now and it’s got heavy catcher in the rye vibes.. but more raw

I'm a Portuguese/English Literature teacher and we always read theses book on classes. The book that changed the way I consumed and understood literature was Anna Karenina and the one that changed everything for me was Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis. It's a Brazilian book by one the greatest writers in Portuguese. I believe there is an English translation.

As a kid I've never been much of a read, so I kind of started a bit late in life. I haven't read most of the classics so I'm really grateful for your videos. The most touching books for me have definitely been "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, "Norwegian Wood" by Murakami, "Siddartha" by Hermann Hesse, "Die Verwandlung" by Franz Kafka and the book that started my love for reading "The Buried Giant" by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I'm new to your channel. It's one of the best! Please please read "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and "Until I Find You" by John Irving. They will become among your new favorites. I wish I would have had you as one of my English Lit teachers. I'm 63, an avid reader since 1st grade and I want to thank you for making the world a better place.

The very first book that had a deep impact on me, the one that shook me to the bone was Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse. We read it in German class (I’m German) and there are this three words “Nur für Ver-rückte”. The literal translation means “only for crazy people” but that’s not all. Verrücken is also a verb and it means that you move something from one place to another. Heavy stuff leaves imprints on the floor. And sometimes you can’t move it back to its original place. It’s the motif, the theme of the book. The narrator is someone who feels disconnected from society. And just like that, teenage me with all of my teenage angst felt understood. Apparently someone had written a book about my feelings. I was one of those Ver-rückte. The narrator meets people who help him understand what’s missing in his life. I adore this book. It gave me so much hope. It’s been the starting point of my journey into reading modern classics. The second one is Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. We had an excerpt in our book from English class and I was mesmerized. I bought the German translation and loved following the author’s journey through the US in a van with his dog. It was what made me learn more about the US, it’s nature, history, art, literature, the people and politics. Meanwhile I’ve also read it in English and many more books by Steinbeck. Number 3: The Three Penny Opera, a play by Bertolt Brecht. I saw it in a high school performance and couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. I was fangirling hard and saw it three times in one week. It sparked my love for the theater and for reading plays. Number 4: Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s fun. It’s adventure. It’s friendship. It’s Scotland and its history. No need to say more. Read it and enjoy.

Morvern Callar and Noone Belongs Here More Than You were these books for me. After 3 years of a literature degree, reading was work, not pleasure. I was far from home, depressed, and my traditional source of joy - reading - left me cold. But I went down to the library, probably just out of habit, picked these carelessly off the shelf, and they were like a slap in the face. They jolted me out of my slump, revived my love of reading, and were the catalyst for me to make some proper changes in my life.

It's hard for me to list my most important books so I will just say that I have two authors whose work is the most important to me. Willa Cather and Wallace Stegner. I actually like every single thing they've written and I could never choose which of their works is my favorite. Both authors mean so much to me and I feel like the luckiest human being to be alive when their books are in print. That said, I think Stoner has to be somewhere on my list of favorite books. I FINALLY read it in 2021 and fell in love! OMG. Just stunning from page 1 to that heartbreaking ending; I never wanted it to end.

Oh yes ! I read STONER in Audible. It was quiet, like nothing happened, and still ALL was happening. A life. I loved the book and interestingly he loved literature almost out of an accident, an accident in his life and an intentional accident I guess for the writer. Yes, a great piece of literature, simplicity at its best imbedded in the complexity of existence. I am glad to have found your channel, THKS and helloes from Mexico City.

gonna check out each of these I haven’t yet read, but I think you should read the novel Big Fish if you haven’t yet

Reading ulysses now. Not as hard as I feared, but its good to have a guide along for the ride. Patrick Hastings' reader guide has been super helpful for me. Also there's a guy (Chris Reich, I think) who has a RU-vid series called "reading Ulysses for fun" that has also been incredibly helpful for the denser passages.

I feel you. Everything you said makes sense and nothing is hyperbolic! I read for life as well. It's the only thing (for now) that makes life worth living for me. I feel like nothing makes sense without reading for me.

Johnny Got his Gun taught me that you don’t have to say anything just let your actions say it. A great war novel!!!

There is always one book that comes to mind when I think about the most important book I've read, and that is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It was shocking and so foretelling for where we are as a society today (especially in relation to literature).

The most important book to me is The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa. I read it about a year into the pandemic, on the tail-end of a pretty intense depressive episode. Ogawa captured a sense of existential anguish and fear in a way that was so strangely serene that I felt oddly comforted by it - even as it made me cry really intensely at the end because it was just so painful to me (in a good way?) It was so atmospheric and I was fully enveloped by it not only while reading it but also after I was done. I became obsessed with it, still am. After Dark by Haruki Murakami is also really important to me because it was super influential on my taste in reading. It helped me figure out what kind of adult lit I was into and also triggered my obsession with Japanese literature (which ultimately led me to The Memory Police... How about that!) The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is def my most important short story... All I can say is I can relate to Gregor Samsa, I'll let people interpret that however they want.

I think putting a comment helps the algorithm recommend your videos to others, so I'm just putting a comment here so others can enjoy this content.

The Catcher in the Rye is my favourite book.

In the same sense that you mentioned here about more contemporary books that will be classics in the future I think one book that completely changed my perspective on life, literature and art overall is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It's just marvelous and it awakened in me the craving for reading more and more

The short stories/novellas of Salinger have been very important to me. Especially "Zooey" and "Raise high the roof beam, carpenters" are so so incredible

The single book that influenced me the most was Jesse Stuart's The Thread That Runs So True, a slightly fictionalized memoir of his career as a schoolteacher, principal, and school superintendent. I read a short excerpt in Cobblestone, the children's history magazine, when I was 10 or 11, and probably read the book at 12 or 13. It made me want to be a teacher. Other major books for me as a young person were Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, about the Titanic, and Catherine Drinker Bowen's Miracle at Philadelphia, a narrative history of the Constitutional Convention. These definitely made me a history person and want to explore and talk about the past. I love literature, too, but history is the central focus of my life. I'll add that I was 10/11 in 1980/1981, and I remember hearing that Mark David Chapman and John Hinkley referenced Catcher in the Rye. I think my reaction was, What kind of wacko book is that? and never read it. I did read Wuthering Heights with great pleasure.

You should definitely read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari . I used to read alot back in school but i stopped for some 4-5 years , then last year sapiens ignited the fire of reading in me again . What's special about sapiens is how it opens your mind to so many different ways of thinking and looking at the world around you , it makes you question everything. Sapiens was such a cerebral read , i felt like i learned so much and at the same time i became aware of how little i know . Also thank you for mentioning the books in your description this time 😊 have a great day .

Don Quixote will forever be my most important book as i feel it most accurately portrays my relationship with literature. However i feel some children’s literature is criminally overlooked due to the fact its children’s lit. The never ending story and the little prince have a special place in my heart and will continually influence how i see the world.

Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov, it comprises of a poem and it’s commentary, both written by fictional characters, I literally adore it because there’s so much to pull from it and analyse

My Top Ten: 1. Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West (Cormac McCarthy) 2. Sun & Steel (Yukio Mishima) 3. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Patrick Süskind) 4. 1984 (George Orwell) 5. Kolyma Tales (Varlam Shalamov) & This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (Tadeusz Borowski) 6. Eumeswil (Ernst Jünger) 7. The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy (Georges Bataille) 8. The Trouble with Being Born (Emil Cioran) 9. Life & Fate (Vasily Grossman)

The Grapes of Wrath and the Worst Hard Time. Both show how the human spirit can endure and even when we are left with nothing we still can find something to give to others in a worse off place than us.

Stoner absolutely knocked my socks off. It was recommended by a close friend and so I bought it, but it just sort of sat on my shelf for a while. I read other things in the meanwhile but I was always curious about it. Then boom, it hit me, I read it in one sitting, not finishing until the wee hours of the next morning. I absolutely loved it, but for a while I couldnt even begin to explain why. Both of my parents, now professors of psychology, went to the University of Missouri at Columbia and so the campus is something with which I am familiar. Both of them were raised poor and discovered academics, becoming not only the first in their families to go to college, but also the first to get their doctorates. But more than any personal connection I have to the book, the writing itself is also divine. Observed from afar, reading this book is like living another life, the reader really feels like they are on the ground with Stoner from the moment of his birth in 1891 to (spoiler) the point of his death in the 1950s and all throughout they can feel his hopes, dreams, fears, and emotions. This book really summarizes that popular George R.R. Martin quote that "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once." So, as someone who is admittedly only an armchair lover of literature, if you havent read this book please do, it is really magical and I was really glad to see him gush on it in this video.

The first one that comes to mind is Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. it's a tiny little novella I read recently on recommendation from my roommate and I sat down and spent the whole afternoon with it cover to cover. It's about how life continues after tragedy and I think it perfectly sums up my outlook on life in a way I didn't totally know how to put into words before reading it. Even in the face of your life collapsing, you can find love and happiness and it's just one of the sweetest stories I've ever read. I also just absolutely love Japanese contemporary lit and how these authors take the most mundane scenarios and give them so much meaning and nuance-- it's so magical to me. I study linguistics so part of it is definitely the question of if there's a linguistic aspect to how storytelling works in the Japanese language, but I also connect with finding magic and meaning in the everyday so, so much.

stoner has a truly special place in my heart. I don't think I'll ever forget how Dave Masters compared stoner to Don Quixote , and how he'd described him in that monologue. that'll always stay with me

Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson started me into loving reading like I did when I was a kid, when the world had many worlds and anything was possible. My cousin suggested it to me during quarantine as he had found it in a garage sale. It feels like my piece of the universe

War and Peace completely changed me. I read it at a time where I felt quite lost, and it was such a comfort to me that it became my life within the month I read it. After finishing it, I started waking up earlier and going out into nature because I genuinely wanted to be alive. It transformed how I view war, the world, other people, and even myself.To this day, whenever I look at the sky I think of the quote “All is vanity, all falsehood, except that infinite sky”. I will always be grateful for it, and can’t wait to eventually reread.

For me the Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Black Boy/American Hunger by Richard Wright! Completely different, books that humbled me as a writer! Me and a friend speak frequently about the brothers Karamazov and although you are a nihilist, I feel it has something for everyone! It's a challenge, my only bit of advice would be take your time to really take it all in and do a bit of background reading on the authors before hand! Also your content is great! I love that you're not pretentious about literature and have a genuine love for books! Keep going and good luck!

The most important book that I read is Pale Fire, because, boy, every sentence is breathtaking!

Ok, so here's my top 5 most important: 5. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 4. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius 3. Poetic Anthology - Olavo Bilac 2. Baltazar and Blimunda - José Saramago 1. Death with intermissions - José Saramago

I’m new to reading, I only truly started this year. But I was forever changed by “Open Water” by Caleb Azumah Nelson And “ If We Were Villains” by M.L. Rio I’m constantly searching for more contemporary literature that touches my soul, and would love recommendations along those lines. The one and only classic I’ve read is “ The Metamorphosis “

I'm relatively a new reader (I've read one hundred and something books, mostly romance and Agatha Christie's books), and I'm still trying to figure out what I like. But I read this classic novella from Tolstoi, and I really, really loved. It's called 'The death of Ivan Ilitch'. As the name says, it talks about death, but mostly the days that precede the death itself. This book rented a building in my mind since I've read in 2021.

Some of my most important books: -Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke: I've been reading all my life but this series really made fall in love with reading when I first read around age 10 -Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: one of the first Gaiman books I've read, got me throu some Tough Times -Watership Down by Richard Adams: got me reading in English. When I managed to read that I decided I could read anything! -The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North: my current favorite book. Introduced me to Claire North

My most important books are Unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera, Catcher in the rye by J D Salinger and now Hard Boiled Wonderland and the end of the world. The ones that marked me so much and made me who I am today. I just finished Wonderland, but I've been so down these last few months and this book really spoke to me. I really wanna read Stoner, probably one of my next reads.

probably my favorite book of all time is “one hundred years of solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I just loved it. But the book that picked me as a reader and no viceversa is “the shadow of the wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. That’s my most treasured book.

Wonderful video! It was good to see those books that mean a lot to you, thanks for sharing them with us. ☺️ In my experience, I have a couple of novels which are really meaningful to me and even after so much time I still remember reading them, and also those feelings that made me feel are with me yet: - Moby Dick by Herman Melville (my favorite book of my life) - One Hundred Years of Solitude by García Márquez - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - L’Assommoir by Émile Zola - Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert - The Red and the Black by Stendhal As you can see, French classics are definitely my cup of tea, haha. 😅 Finally, and I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t like Stoner at all; I know it has a powerful meaning, but I hated the protagonist and many of his decisions/mistakes. It’s a shame because I know many of my friends like this book, however, I couldn’t see that magic which was supposed to be superb. 😥 Keep doing videos like this by the way, it is always a pleasure to hear your thoughts on many authors and their oeuvre. Cheers! 👋

I was 16 and read the Catcher, it has been my favorite book and my most important piece of literature, it just reminds me of who I am and to try to remain an innocent mind to some extend, like Holden wanted to keep the children from falling off the cliff. I’ve read all of Salinger and am waiting for the rest of his works promised by his son…hope to see them before I die.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The count of Monte Christo, The Idiot by Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky and Fictions by Borges.

I never write comments and maybe this will get buried. But unlike you and maybe majority of people who watch your channel(I'm not sure) I actually graduated high school last May. I started getting into books as soon as school ended and I have been on this journey to finding books that i wouldn't have touched when I was in school. The idea of classics hasn't always been a good one but the more i read the more i realize i actually enjoy what classics have to offer. So I'm glad your channel exists, and that you are an english teacher, and actually try to get your students to be interested into some of the same books that made you want to pursue the career you have. It makes me feel a bit better about being a relatively "new" reader plus I seriously wish i had you as a teacher maybe i wouldn't of been as bored with books in general.

I definitely share a lot of your tastes. I read one of your comments where you said you didn't like "Secret History. " So many people love it but I couldn't stand it.

I just bought Wuthering Heights as well as a bunch of other books by the Bronte sisters after being completely enthralled with Jane Eyre

The Bell Jar - someone already mentioned this, but it sometimes feels like a feminine equivalent to Catcher in the Rye in the sense that there is some stigma against those who identify with the protagonist so much. There are some elements of that novel that so clearly mimic my own personal life experiences, worded in such a way that feels so familiar and modern, and it just took my breath away. Felt like Plath had heard my own thoughts. East of Eden - I read this at 15 and it was the first time I felt like I had read a true piece of literature or art. Steinbeck's way with words and his sympathy for the human experience has genuinely made me a better person, and it kinda set me on the path to being such a voracious reader. A Game of Thrones - a little cheesy and generic maybe, but it marked my transition into more mature subject material. It also was the first fantasy I had ever read, which kinda opened my eyes to what fiction can be, of course in terms of magic and worldbuilding, but mostly in terms of characters. I never knew before that I could care so intensely for people that didn't actually exist and be emotionally manipulated from just words on page. Was pretty mindblowing for my little teen brain.

for some reason stigmatised books just make me want to read the literature more 😅

In my life (so far) some of the books would be: Charlotte's Web - sparked my love of storytelling (my 3rd grade teacher read it to our class so for me it was listening to a story rather than reading) A Room With A View - first classic I ever read that I actually enjoyed which led me to read more classics Song of Solomon - book I "had" to read as a naive freshman in college which made me recognize that I could dislike a book but still appreciate that it was a good or great piece of literature.

I know I am super late, but some of the books that shaped who I am has to be The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the Bell Jar, and It's Kind of a Funny Story. These books are incredible to me, the way they tackle mental illness, being socially anxious, and insecure. They show how difficult life can really be. These are absolutely influential books that I will always recommend.

Best wuthering heights parody is monty python: wuthering heights in semaphore

You should read The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Talking about my most important books, rather than my favourite, I land on about five. First, The Stand by Stephen King. Seeing Stephen King's name in my parent's bookshelf and looking him up is what made me want to start reading. I read a number of his books - started with Desperation, oddly, then Salem's Lot and Pet Sematary - but The Stand was my first "favourite" book, just because it's length made it seem like a Herculean task and finishing it - despite not honestly remembering much of it - was a formative accolade for me as a child. Then, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, which is the book that really sold me on "the sorts of books they make you read in school". I was a horror kid and I was expanding from that as I grew so I didn't want any of these stuffy classics getting in the way of something more contemporary and disturbing, but my grade 11 class had each student pick an ISU book from a set list and it seemed like the most interesting option. It was maybe the first book for me where the real draw wound up being entirely on the characters, and I loved it. Honourable mention to To Kill a Mockingbird, another classic that I had read before Cuckoo's Nest, but only came to really enjoy upon rereading afterward. Third, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. When at their peak, mysteries are my favourite, and Shutter Island was one of the first to really give me one that felt satisfying and engaging in the way the best mysteries are. It (shortly following the last book I'll mention) also helped kickstart my post-school reading habit, spotty as it has been. I have Mystic River sitting in my room and I really should get on that. Fourth, and maybe most oddly, Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. A couple years ago, reading was something I did at a rate of about two books a year, and it was all stuff that was very serious and important and, for lack of a better word, literary. I liked that stuff, mind you, but sometimes it took a while to get into the right mood for it when I could be watching movies instead. I was reluctant to start Red Dragon because I was worried it'd be pulpy schlock with nothing to latch onto. Instead what it did was reinforce to me that sometimes a book can just be fun without having to ponder too hard on any universal truths or whatever. Read it and Silence of the Lambs in quick succession, about as fast as I have read any books, because they were just really entertaining. And lastly, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This book saved reading, for me. I had loved to read as a child and it felt like school had driven much of that out of me, but late in high school I decided to give it a shot and it spoke to me like almost nothing else has. Elements of it spoke to every part of me - the part that first got into reading by searching for gore and horror found it here, the part that learned that the heart of any story lies actually in it's characters was driven to tears by them here, the burgeoning writer in me read prose that remains unmatched in how it affects me and completely changed the way I wrote. I think it even found parts of me I hadn't known yet - something that lately has become integral to my being is the idea of always looking for the positive side, or at least keeping a positive mindset. It may be a cliche of sorts but it really has helped me break a personal cycle of hopelessness and when I look back or reread The Road I find it there as strongly as I've seen it anywhere else, and I wonder if it spoke to me then even as a horribly depressed teen who'd have thought any speech about hope and wonder shallow and saccharine. I've read it four times now - it doesn't seem like much, but I'm not sure I've read anything else twice of my own accord.

I studied literature at uni so I have read so many books that I wanted to and DIDN'T want to. My most important books are Wuthering Heights - the drama, the prose and the intensity got me into reading. Sons & Lovers by DH Lawrence - I went through a DHL phase at Uni and again, his intensity cemented my love of reading. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - my favourite novel of all time, made me see I love novels that tie things together thematically and are character based. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton - made me realise how much I love novels that acknowledge the crappy parts of humanity but have HOPE. Call me by your Name by Andre Aciman - cemented my love of intensity, that's for sure. Anna Karenina - Tolstoy - a revelation.

The Catcher in the Rye is my favourite book. It is the most humane book I have ever read. A lot of people miss the tenderness and compassion in the book. Take Holden’s interaction with his sister and his remembrance of his younger brother. And where he talks about the girl buying clothes. If you read it carefully you understand that Holden Caulfield is one of the most empathetic characters in literature. Even his hatred for people actually shows his understanding of people. P.S. Stoner is my second favourite book but everyone loves it so nothing much to say there except that I haven’t seen anyone discuss about Edith and Lomax and how impactful as antagonists they are

For me is Open by Andre Agassi and more recently Jeff Rovin.

Sirens of Titan helped me from being a deeply unhappy nihilist to that optimistic nihilist that you too also mention being. It changed my whole philosophy and helped me find the humour and excitement to the meaninglessness of existence. Could not recommend it more, and it makes Stoner seem endlessly appealing!!

The first book on my list is The Hobbit. I don’t even remember how I ended up owning the book, but I was about 9 or 10 years old (I’m now 49 so I’ve had it awhile) but it was the first book I remember reading for myself, it wasn’t a little kid book or an Enid Blyton book (which I also loved as a kid) it was a book that older people read. I didn’t know any other kid that was reading it back then, although I didn’t know any other kid that was into reading either. I still have that copy. It’s been read multiple times, there are pages falling out of it and I will never give it up! My second book is, Into This River I Drown by TJ Klune. It’s about the love between a father and son mainly. But there is so much more to it, unexpected turns. With small town lives, grief, guardian angels, religion, friends, drugs, other worldly beings, and a love story. It has a sadness and quietness that draws me in but ends up bursting with action. It’s an LGBTQ+ book that’s just a fantastic story that just happens to have a gay character and it made me think about gay literature differently. My third is, Letters to a Young Man by Rainer Marie Rilke. I don’t think I’ve ever read writing as beautiful as this. Rilke writes like everything is a love letter. Just stunning insights and thinking by Rilke. I will forever think differently about how I look at the world and all it’s creativity. My fourth, is The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I read this fairly recently and I could see (sorry, I’m about to get political) how the lies that were told in the Salam witch trials worked, especially when repeated and backed up by others and how these same tricks are being used by a certain political party and its leader (he, who shall not be named) Its such a great retelling and I just sobbed my heart out at the end because of how those lies changed people, how they created a mob mentality so easily and how people jumped on that band wagon for their own gains. Just the ease of how it started or anything so destructive can start and change everything, regardless of facts. Frightening!