profusely thanking the algorithm for introducing me to my new favorite Booktube channel 🙏 will be binging your videos this weekend, looking forward to keeping up with your reading journeys!
no, its us that are thanking the algorithm for bringing us to you! super happy to have you in our little corner - hope you enjoy the weekend binging time! - jon
@@andtheywerereaders update! : the binge has been bunged hahah. I feel very caught up on the "and they were readers" lore 😆 you both have been reading so many of the books that have been on my TBR forever, so I feel very motivated. you guys are awesome, hope you had a great weekend!
this is my first video from you guys and i instantly had to subscribe!! I love the two different perspectives on books and the different reasonings as why y’all like them. That’s my favorite part of knowing and reading of reviews! And the way you guys describe the books you liked makes me want to read every single one. Love!!!
Welcome! Happy to have you! If you end up reading any of the books we mentioned, feel free to let us know what you think - even if you don't like it. We love hearing from you guys! - jon
As you talked about Foster I was like, "Yes, yes, and yes." I also preferred it to Small Things Like These and I said the same thing to my book club the other day that it felt very akin to Anne of Green Gables.
This was great and actually the first reaction video I've watched! I think I'm gonna print the photos for my bullet journal and work out what I've read, what I own on my tbr and what I'd like to read for both lists 😊 hope you're having a lovely holiday 💛
Love that Caribbean light when you were outdoors, hope you’re having a fabulous vacation you two! I’ve read a quarter of the first list and just over that of the second but mainly from the early part of the century. Lots of prize winners and big names so a little boring, but those are the books most of us have read and there are some great books on here, Wolf Hall, The Vegetarian, etc. Also as it’s an American list it’s obviously U.S heavy, but it’s been fun hearing people talk about it and compare what they’ve read- or haven’t and get excited about books!
And They Were Readers: Vacation Edition, love it! i was hoping you would cover the NYT top 100 books list and the bonus of the readers choice version. The readers choice version was my favorite mainly because it reflected more of the book world I exist in. And okay, okay I surrender. I'll add The Vegetarian to my tbr. (meant jokingly though I really finally added The Vegetarian to my tbr)
Love this video! Lots of thoughts on these lists and books, haha. I didn’t like The Year of Magical Thinking 😬 So, not a Joan Didion girlie, haha. And I’ve read Tomorrow x3 but that’s it from the author’s list, there are several there on my TBR though! Currently reading A Man Called Ove. Tom Lake is not a romance even though it does look like it, haha, and the audiobook was great! I think y’all would like it. Agree that Piranesi should have made it to both lists! I definitely think the reader’s choice list appeals more to me as a reader, I’ve read and heard of more books from that one. I don’t usually gravitate towards nonfiction, literary, and heavier books, haha, but there definitely do seem to be lots of worthwhile reads on both lists!!
Completely agree! The reader's list felt... cozier (idk if that's the right word). It was interesting to see the books that made both lists and I think I'll use the author's list as inspiration for branching out more. - jon
Tom Lake also put me off based on the cover but now I love it because by the end of the book you understand it so much more. A surprising 5 stars for me. Loved the audio by Meryl Streep
Jon, I hope you get to The Road! It would be great to hear your thoughts. I read it only last month but it has made me think more about, and want to seek out more father-son narratives.
I just finished An American Marriage and it deserves the placement. Many different examples of what An American Marriage is, was, could be, and might be. The characters in the book are relatable and “real”. If you listen to audio books at all, the narrators make the book something you don’t want to stop listening too and it isn’t very long.
My thoughts on the list: I think only USA and England would choose about 75% of best books from their own country😅! That was a bit shocking to be fair... Thoughts on authors or books you commented on: Joan Didions Year of Magical thinking was disappointing- too chaotic and I didn't learn much. The premise is horrific, obviously. Ann Patchett's Tom Lake didn't meet my expectations either, though written beautifully with interesting topics, I found it a bit boring. If you are interested in Jesmyn Ward, I would recommend Salvage The Bones. She is one of a few authors who's books I don't give 5☆, but keep coming back to (same as Zadie Smith to you, Sierra). I am happy My Brilliant Friend made it so high on both lists❤, I read the whole Neapoletan Quartet last year and it was one of my top five!!! And yes, Jon, Foster absolutely resonates more with me than Small Things. I was wondering whether the fact that I read Foster first made a difference?!?
Honestly, so true. I was thinking about that as I was looking at the list. Good to know about Didion -- the mid ratings make more sense. I'll have to give Jesmyn Ward a chance!! And I'm excited to get to My Brilliant Friend! And I can't remember which one we read first. We bought them around the same time. But I think we read them in opposite orders and found that Foster was our favorite! -Sierra
I've only read 4 from this list: Hurricane Season, The Friend, Outline and The Road. I DNF 2666. I really want to read Trust by Hernan Diaz. In the Distance by Diaz is an incredible novel, so so moving with gorgeous prose!
You will both enjoy Heaven and Earth. It is historical fiction and follows a Jewish family who owns a grocery store during a time where racism against Jews and black Americans begins to segregate neighborhoods and more. Chicken Hill is the neighborhood and it also brings into the story an asylum where people were sent unjustly. On the James McBride vibe, Good Lord Bird is phenomenal on audio!
Another phenomenal rec - we just bought a ridiculous amount of books so I have to put myself on book-buying probation for a bit, but I am much more excited to read it now!
I've heard some really good things about it, but I'm not sure it's my vibe. I think I'm gonna wait until I'm in the mood for that style of writing! -Sierra
“on vacation 😄😄” friends doing book tube together is my favorite genre of content 🎉
honestly, some of our favorite content to film too... we ended up reading so many of the same books!
-Sierra
profusely thanking the algorithm for introducing me to my new favorite Booktube channel 🙏 will be binging your videos this weekend, looking forward to keeping up with your reading journeys!
no, its us that are thanking the algorithm for bringing us to you! super happy to have you in our little corner - hope you enjoy the weekend binging time!
- jon
@@andtheywerereaders update! : the binge has been bunged hahah. I feel very caught up on the "and they were readers" lore 😆 you both have been reading so many of the books that have been on my TBR forever, so I feel very motivated. you guys are awesome, hope you had a great weekend!
this is my first video from you guys and i instantly had to subscribe!! I love the two different perspectives on books and the different reasonings as why y’all like them. That’s my favorite part of knowing and reading of reviews! And the way you guys describe the books you liked makes me want to read every single one. Love!!!
Welcome! Happy to have you! If you end up reading any of the books we mentioned, feel free to let us know what you think - even if you don't like it. We love hearing from you guys!
- jon
Love seeing your honest reactions/bookish opinions! First time watching and your friendship dynamic is wonderful, thanks for a great video 😊❤️
Aw thanks for joining us! That's what a decade of friendship will do :)
-Sierra
As you talked about Foster I was like, "Yes, yes, and yes." I also preferred it to Small Things Like These and I said the same thing to my book club the other day that it felt very akin to Anne of Green Gables.
omg I feel so seen.
This was great and actually the first reaction video I've watched!
I think I'm gonna print the photos for my bullet journal and work out what I've read, what I own on my tbr and what I'd like to read for both lists 😊 hope you're having a lovely holiday 💛
Oh no way! Well, glad you got our first impressions lol. I'm excited to hear your thoughts!
-Sierra
second the love for “The Friend”! it was one of the books that got me back into reading 5 years ago
another one! good to know. it's getting added to my tbr.
-Sierra
So happy to see Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow on both lists!!
Also, nothing to do with anything, but Sierra you look DANG CUTE in this vid 😍
thanks, girl xoxo
Love that Caribbean light when you were outdoors, hope you’re having a fabulous vacation you two! I’ve read a quarter of the first list and just over that of the second but mainly from the early part of the century. Lots of prize winners and big names so a little boring, but those are the books most of us have read and there are some great books on here, Wolf Hall, The Vegetarian, etc. Also as it’s an American list it’s obviously U.S heavy, but it’s been fun hearing people talk about it and compare what they’ve read- or haven’t and get excited about books!
you are a pro having read so many! we have had a delightful vacation -- thank you!
And They Were Readers: Vacation Edition, love it! i was hoping you would cover the NYT top 100 books list and the bonus of the readers choice version. The readers choice version was my favorite mainly because it reflected more of the book world I exist in. And okay, okay I surrender. I'll add The Vegetarian to my tbr. (meant jokingly though I really finally added The Vegetarian to my tbr)
lol. get ready for an unhinged and interesting read that I do in fact love!
-Sierra
I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts about both lists! Thanks for sharing!
Aw thanks for joining us!
I love station eleven, one of my favourite books of last year 😊
No way!!! I can't wait to get to it!
-Sierra
Love this video! Lots of thoughts on these lists and books, haha. I didn’t like The Year of Magical Thinking 😬 So, not a Joan Didion girlie, haha. And I’ve read Tomorrow x3 but that’s it from the author’s list, there are several there on my TBR though! Currently reading A Man Called Ove. Tom Lake is not a romance even though it does look like it, haha, and the audiobook was great! I think y’all would like it. Agree that Piranesi should have made it to both lists! I definitely think the reader’s choice list appeals more to me as a reader, I’ve read and heard of more books from that one. I don’t usually gravitate towards nonfiction, literary, and heavier books, haha, but there definitely do seem to be lots of worthwhile reads on both lists!!
Completely agree! The reader's list felt... cozier (idk if that's the right word). It was interesting to see the books that made both lists and I think I'll use the author's list as inspiration for branching out more.
- jon
@@andtheywerereaders totally! Cozier and more accessible I think. But yes lots of good ideas for new books and authors to try regardless 😊
I loved Foster sm and am looking forward to reading Small Things Like These! Also, James and My Brilliant Friend
So many good book are coming up! I'm also excited to get to My Brilliant Friend
Thank you for this fun and much-needed distraction from politics.
Happy to help - it's exhausting to constantly live through events that will show up on future history tests
@@andtheywerereaders oh my gosh, yes.
I felt the exact same way about Song of Achilles!
Justice for A Man Called Ove, that book broke me 😂 Finished Braiding Sweetgrass a little bit ago, really looking forward to your thoughts!
lolol we gotta convince Sierra to read Ove for herself to see if she disagrees with me
- Jon
Tom Lake also put me off based on the cover but now I love it because by the end of the book you understand it so much more. A surprising 5 stars for me. Loved the audio by Meryl Streep
Oh good to know! I might actually opt for the audio book!
-Sierra
Jon, I hope you get to The Road! It would be great to hear your thoughts. I read it only last month but it has made me think more about, and want to seek out more father-son narratives.
don't worry -- he got to it, and I was subsequently forced (though gently and kindly) to read it, too. Catch us in the next wrap up!
-Sierra
Love this video. I’m a bit biased 😂😂
I just finished An American Marriage and it deserves the placement. Many different examples of what An American Marriage is, was, could be, and might be. The characters in the book are relatable and “real”. If you listen to audio books at all, the narrators make the book something you don’t want to stop listening too and it isn’t very long.
Wow! This is exactly what I need from a recommendation. Added it to the tbr - sounds great!
- jon
My thoughts on the list: I think only USA and England would choose about 75% of best books from their own country😅! That was a bit shocking to be fair...
Thoughts on authors or books you commented on: Joan Didions Year of Magical thinking was disappointing- too chaotic and I didn't learn much. The premise is horrific, obviously.
Ann Patchett's Tom Lake didn't meet my expectations either, though written beautifully with interesting topics, I found it a bit boring.
If you are interested in Jesmyn Ward, I would recommend Salvage The Bones. She is one of a few authors who's books I don't give 5☆, but keep coming back to (same as Zadie Smith to you, Sierra).
I am happy My Brilliant Friend made it so high on both lists❤, I read the whole Neapoletan Quartet last year and it was one of my top five!!!
And yes, Jon, Foster absolutely resonates more with me than Small Things. I was wondering whether the fact that I read Foster first made a difference?!?
Honestly, so true. I was thinking about that as I was looking at the list. Good to know about Didion -- the mid ratings make more sense. I'll have to give Jesmyn Ward a chance!! And I'm excited to get to My Brilliant Friend!
And I can't remember which one we read first. We bought them around the same time. But I think we read them in opposite orders and found that Foster was our favorite!
-Sierra
2:23 this happens to me more than I would like to admit 😂
yo it's WILD out here.
I've only read 4 from this list: Hurricane Season, The Friend, Outline and The Road. I DNF 2666. I really want to read Trust by Hernan Diaz. In the Distance by Diaz is an incredible novel, so so moving with gorgeous prose!
looks like Trust is moving towards the top of the list!
-Sierra
You will both enjoy Heaven and Earth. It is historical fiction and follows a Jewish family who owns a grocery store during a time where racism against Jews and black Americans begins to segregate neighborhoods and more. Chicken Hill is the neighborhood and it also brings into the story an asylum where people were sent unjustly. On the James McBride vibe, Good Lord Bird is phenomenal on audio!
Another phenomenal rec - we just bought a ridiculous amount of books so I have to put myself on book-buying probation for a bit, but I am much more excited to read it now!
Can second the point about enjoying The Friend but not The Vulnerables !
heard, chef.
-Sierra
I’ve dnf’d My Brilliant Friend twice… I keep trying b/c I want to understand the hype. It could just be a “not the right time” thing.
I've heard some really good things about it, but I'm not sure it's my vibe. I think I'm gonna wait until I'm in the mood for that style of writing!
-Sierra