How and what I want to read in 2025
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Intentions, goals & projects! How I'm trying to read and think about reading in the new year 🖤
people:
@NerdyNurseReads 's year with Edith Wharton: • Announcing The Reading...
@benreadsgood 's read good challenge: • Read Good Challenge 20...
books:
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905)
La force de l'âge (The Prime of Life) by Simone de Beauvoir (1960)
Les Mandarins (The Mandarins) by Simone de Beauvoir (1954)
La femme rompue (The Woman Destroyed) by Simone de Beauvoir (1967)
Dead Souls / Les âmes mortes by Nikolai Gogol (1842)
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
Virgil (70-19 BCE)
Ovid (43 BCE-ca. 18 CE)
Catullus (ca. 84-ca. 54 BCE)
Homer (8th-c. BCE)
Nizami Ganjavi (ca. 1141-1209)
The Chandelier by Clarice Lispector (1946)
The Apple in the Dark by Clarice Lispector (1961)
Paradise by Toni Morrison (1998)
A Mercy by Toni Morrison (2008)
Home by Toni Morrison (2012)
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison (2015)
We Do Not Part by Han Kang (trans. Emily Yae Won & Paige Aniyah Morris) (out in translation January 2025)
Frantumaglia: A Writer's Journey by Elena Ferrante (2003)
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante (2020)
The Beach at Night by Elena Ferrante (2016)
Annie Ernaux (1940-)
The Undying: Pain, vulnerability, mortality, medicine, art, time, dreams, data, exhaustion, cancer, and care by Anne Boyer (2019)
Aliss at the Fire by Jon Fosse (trans. Damion Searls) (2010)
Une si longue lettre (So Long a Letter) by Mariama Bâ (1980)
socials:
insta: @sdelphis
storygraph: @sdelphis
substack: sophiedelphis....
book club: bibliosophie.s...
Best piece of writing advice I ever received is to actively acknowledge that writing and editing are two entirely different things to be done separate from one another.
@@denotic yes! it’s a hard practice to get into, but an important one
feel you on the write stupidly! i always think that my writing needs to be the most profound, best writing. when in reality, the act of writing is the goal.
@@ebonykenae but it’s a hard thing to learn! (and then you have to have the courage to go back and redo lol)
love the sentiment of doing things imperfectly but at least trying - i think i need to adopt that mindset as well!! love this red hat on you also ❤️🔥
@@casskrug most of us need to adopt - and constantly re-adopt - this, i think. and thank you! it’s new! i’m very pleased with it!
Lovely to hear your thought process behind these goals. When you mentioned noting down referenced books in what you’re reading (which is also something I regularly think of doing and only occasionally actually do) you reminded me of something I did in the past that I called ”follow the path” - to read a book mentioned in a book and then to read one referenced in the second book and so on like a russian doll. It was such a rewarding way to read and exposed me to books I would otherwise never come across.
Love Simone de Beauvoir! I majored in Philosophy and have read all her diaries, they carried me through my 20,s.
@@anamorales3722 yayyy i just pulled out the first volume of het diaries from my shelves last night, so i might (re)start la force de l’âge soon - i am daunted by its length, though
Love what you said about doing things imperfectly. So often we let perfecting process get in the way of doing the thing.
And, of course, very excited to see you considering the Read Good Challenge! But it is a completely low pressure situation so if you fall of the prompt train, that’s fine by me 😅
@@benreadsgood i mean, if i’m going to follow through with my intentions, i should allow myself to follow the challenge imperfectly, right? 😋
For the November prompt, I would recommend La Révolte (or The Revolt) by Clara Dupont-Monod. I’m not much of a reader of historical fiction either, but this one was lovely (and short). I love your approach to new year’s goals, I’m feeling inspired to adopt it for myself. ☺️
thank you for the recommendation, and for commenting about my new year goals attempts ! 🤍
new Sophie, new tabby girl whaaaaa
and ohhh these are GOALS goals!!!
can't wait to hear your thoughts on Han Kang! a nice pairing would be The White Book, a much shorter prose-focussed mediation on snow, which i think will help out with We Do Not Part. and Human Acts bb!!! get to it!
you constantly inspire me!!! going to journal rn to fill up my pages!!! 2025 let's GOOO!!!
@@nathansnook 2025 let’s go! i’m excited to get into han kang finally. you’re definitely one of the people reminding me to read her
i have yet to use a single tab yet, but i guess they’re there for me when i want them…
Write like no one is ever going to read it!!! I love these “goals” for the year, esp. with regards to being imperfect or being ok with imperfection!! (And thank you for the shoutout ❤❤)
@@NerdyNurseReads i can’t go as far as writing like no one is ever going to read it, bc then i have no incentive to write. rather, i’d like to write like my output is part of a process
Really appreciate your sentiment around having planned projects, but being okay with doing them "imperfectly," and sharing them as ideas. I think it's a neat way to "set new year's resolutions" that feels less confining!
Definitely in a similar boat with writing - making it a priority to show up imperfectly / write badly rather than agonizing over things in my head and hardly writing anything 😅
Happy New Year, I look forwards to seeing what you get into this year - take care!
@@paperbackstacksss bc i’m answering comments very late on this video i have the opportunity to ask: have you been writing yet? (ideally i don’t sound nagging)😁
happy new(ish) year to you! 💖
You have exactly described my experience signing up for Ben Read Goods' challenge, LOL! I do NOT do well with challenges. I can't even stay in a book club because I just want to read what I want to read. But Ben's monthly prompts are amazing, and I signed up immediately. Anyway, loved this video and your goals, especially writing stupidly. I'm working on a novel and I am very stuck. I think tomorrow morning I'll open my Word doc and say to myself, just write, stupid. 😆
@@eyesonindie so, have you managed to write stupidly? i applaud you for working on a novel - that seems so impressive to me!
@@bibliosophie yes!! I think I have been writing stupidly LOL! I hope you have too!
@ 🍾🎊 i have!
i really loved the chandelier by clarice lispector! it's her only work i've read so idk how representative it is regarding what you like about her writing but i was so in love with it 💛
@@conversations_with_kara it’ll be my next lispector project, so let’s see how i get on! i’m sure i’ll like it at least somewhat, and quite probably more than that
Love imperfectly vibe for 2025. I think that’s a fabulous one. I might borrow it. Love a beautiful failure too. I have never read any of the Latin or Greek classics, which with a classicist mother seems to be a crime. Hahaha. I’m going to try and do Savidge and Ben’s challenge… let’s see how I go.
@@SavidgeReads perhaps this year you dip into an ancient world classic… eh? 👀
i want to unofficially follow savidge prompts, too - i’m really interested in some of them. but challenges are, well, challenging!
I think this might be the perfect tbr list! I believe a great author to start your historical fiction journey is Philippa Gregory, she's great with her pen and she tends to write about women.
@@TheLinguistsLibrary thank you! i don’t know her at all, so i would never have thought of her (although i recognize some of her titles from movie adaptations)
So incredibly jazzed to see you engaging with Anne Boyer's work. I've been a longtime fan of hers since undergrad (I'm an elder millennial) -- I admire not just her poetry but also her politics/ethics. Garments Against Women remains my fav poetry collection of hers.
@@danamantooth i just finished the undying a few days ago and got a lot out of it. i definitely want to read garments against women, too
So glad I found you this year Sophie, looking forward to continuing to follow;)
@@susangladstone357 thank you for watching, and for commenting (even if it’s taken me ages to reply on this video)- i’m really glad to hear it 🩵🩵
Love this Sophie. Adopting this vibe of giving myself permission to be imperfect or even better, daring to be bad at things. Happy new year! I hope this year is kind to you.
@@BookishAdventuresInWellbeing happy new year! good courage in your own quest for imperfection 💕
I treasure your videos and this one in particular is both fascinating and inspiring. Many of the titles you mention are in my Grandpa's library so that's an added incentive for me this year to follow in your footsteps with my goals. E x
@@theonlyrealproperty2567 🥹 wonderful! actually, just yesterday i took out my grandfather’s copy of horace and started reading bits of it along with his notes. i’d like to do that more
That Ben is always charming people into reading things
@@NerdyNurseReads 🤣 i would argue you also!
love this mindset ! also i use to be such a tab girl but it started to get ridiculous i was putting them on every other page
@@batumanslittleidiot that’s the dangerous allure of tabs - i’m thinking of them as next level annotation/organization. we’ll see how it goes
Ahhh, Edith Wharton. The talk of Wharton is taking me back to last Winter when I read The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. I really enjoyed the experience. ❤❤❤. I’m the same way with challenges. I’m going to give his challenge a look though. I’ve never read any ancient writing. Maybe I’ll dip my toe into Dante to see what it’s all about? You’re influencing me!
@@thelefthandedreader6632 yes, give dante a try! be influenced! 😁
“ I tend to prefer to read russian literatue in French is a great chat-up line ”. Happy new year and all the best:)
@@madisonbear117 oh man, that may be good or embarrassing, or both 😳
hey sophie, i was really intrigued when you said Persian poetry (never read it btw)!! if you do get into that, i would absolutely love some poems recommendations, or maybe an explanation/study on your substack, which i follow religiously haha! wish you the best
eee i’m so glad to read that! depending on whether i get to this goal, and how deeply, i’ll share what i’ve found - thank you for the idea :)
Doing things imperfectly and being okay with doing things imperfectly is my perpetual goal so I will join you by strengthening my resolve this new year :) i love all of these goals, the webbing of the books from your reading to the ancient texts and I can’t wait to hear how your reading year develops. Have you read any Sarah Waters? Something of hers might be a fun choice for your historical fiction prompt…
@@rebareads let me tell you, i’m doing a *very* imperfect job keeping track of book references and connections lol
Combining two recommendation requests: you can read Han Kang's Human Acts for the November prompt. Or the newly translated one. My understandign was that that is also historical fiction. But as someone who is not a book influencer with an early copy, I can't vouch for that one (yet).
If you want to easy into Kang's work I would say start with The White Book. That is the least bizarre. But it is a sad one and discusses grief.
Overall the best ones in my opinion are The Vegetarian and Human Acts. I read them in that order, so that may skew it a bit, but I do think they are equally as good (and bizarre), so either is fine as a first choice.
@@juditkovacse ooh! thank you for this insight!! 🖤
hope its a great year for you, cant wait to see what the forays and collections end up being instead haha. also convinced me to get actual tabs, i've just been tearing strips off sticky notes and can do better..
@@alsopato thank you! we’ll see how things actually shake out, or i guess how i shake them out 👀
btw i have used exactly 3 tabs so far, so it’s not exactly been a revolutionary upheaval
I am going to read Ovid, The Iliad and The Odyssey for Benjamin's Hardcore Literature Bookclub this year. Looking forward to them.
@@HappyKnitter2020 very nice! in translation? if so, which? (i’m both generally curious and scouting out my own options lol)
@bibliosophie I have the penguin special delux editions, they are beautiful
@@HappyKnitter2020 ah, robert fagles! a much beloved translation
The shitload of tabs cracked me up. I also bought a shitload in 2023 and was using them until I wasn’t 😂
I’m reading Simple Passion for Ben’s January prompt. I bit off more buddy reads than I can chew this month so I’m going for a nice, succinct Ernaux.
I have a couple of Whartons to read this year - HoM is one of them. I’m also planning to read Morrison in chronological order. I read The Bluest Eye last year, currently reading Sula, and will hopefully get to more before the year’s end.
The need to create badly and underthink is my mantra this year. It’s nice to know I’m not alone there!
@@jay_poet oh do i know the particular pain/pleasure of overcommitting to specific reads…
good luck creating, badly and not! i’m glad i spoke about this here, bc 1) it resonates with a lot of people, and 2) i hope these people can keep me accountable a little bit!
Great plans as usual, I am looking forward to follow your process. I have never done the prompts, but it sounded like fun, so I decided to alternate Ben's prompts with Savidge ones. I have already read my first Annie Ernaux for Ben's January prompt, for February I selected one from the Savidge prompts - body of water in the title: The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo. I am also not a fan of historical fiction, but if I decide to follow that prompt I may read The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
@@thisisveryannoying historical fiction is my own constraint: ben’s prompt is more broadly a book outside yr comfort zone. it sounds like historical fiction might work for you in that case too!
which annie ernaux did you read?
I want to write for myself more stupidly! love that.
@@benjaminjournal do it do it! let’s talk about the results!
These are great Sophie. I love your intentions and feel inspired to try to reread Homer too in 2025 via Emily Wilson. I'm not sure which Persian poet you’re most interested in but it can get a little tricky with who is the translator. Perhaps a place to start might be Haleh Liza Gafori's translations of Rumi? A modern day Iranian poet I'd recommend (fwiw!) is Garous Abdolmalekian and his collection Lean Against this Late Hour. Happy reading ❤
@@sarahg2671 yes, i’m not sure which translations to seek out (and even into which language), and i know they can make a big difference. thank you for the recommendations! i’ve noted them 🩵
i love a bit of stationary action
@@ladyoflettuce7016 pleased to bring it to you!
I have a suggestion for a historical fiction book. It’s not my favorite genre either, but The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was excellent. It’s set in 1939 Nazi Germany. It’s a somewhat longer read, as most historical fiction I’ve read tends to be. Still, I do recommend it.
@@jenniereece1158 ah yes, i’ve heard of the book thief, but i’ve never read it. thank you for the recommendation!
I really enjoyed reading Montaigne, Sophie. I read him after learning that some scholars see the imprint of influence of Montaigne upon Shakespeare. He was translated into English by John Florio and would have been known in the London literary circles and Greenblat in particular traces the interiority of his essays, the inner explorations, in the soliloquies and elsewhere in his work.
@@zoobee yes, i think he would be actually enjoyable to read, which isn’t always the case with older theoreticians/philosophers. i’ve certainly read parts of his intellectual genealogy, but never really montaigne himself in any length
wow as an azerbaijani subscriber seeing Nizami Ganjavi in your list really surprised and made me happy. he wrote and created in persian but was born in the city of Ganja in Azerbaijan from where his last name comes from. i am really curious about your thoughts, i also have plans to read from him this year, his poems are also required reading in schools in Azerbaijan so i‘m pretty familiar with most of it.
@@fidanjafarovaaa i love to hear this! 🩵
With regard to Homer, a few years ago I read the Robert Fagles translation of “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” and found them both very satisfying. As far as “The Odyssey” goes, I enjoyed the recent film version called “The Return” very much as well. It’s still playing in theatres, and features Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliet Binoche as Penelope.
I understand your reservations about historical fiction. I’ve had the experience over the years of buying a hefty volume about, say, an episode from the Middle Ages, complete with maps, a chronology of events, genealogical tables of the main characters, and a litany of critical praise, only to find that the author hasn’t done his or her homework as far as details of weapons and costume go, or has deliberately falsified the historical record for the sake of a simpler and more coherent storyline.
Nevertheless, I would recommend one writer of historical fiction who tells very well-crafted stories of the ancient world, and that is the late British author, Mary Renault (1905-1983). Perhaps her best-known work is her trilogy on Alexander the Great, which comprises “Fire from Heaven”, “The Persian Boy”, and “Funeral Games”. Then there are her two novels about the mythical hero, Theseus, “The King Must Die” and “The Bull from the Sea”. Another one is “The Praise Singer”. I read these books decades ago and still have fond memories of them.
@@TomBrzezicki the robert fagles translations of homer are the english versions i read as a teenager. i may read these again. i’m also curious about newer translations
@@TomBrzezicki thank you for the recommendation - i don’t mary renault at all!
❤❤❤❤❤
@@NicoleMae 🤗
You have "Mouth Full of Blood: Essays, Speeches, Meditations" by Toni Morrison on your Storygraph to read list. Might be good to pick up after completing Morrison's fiction work. You also have "The Book of Difficult Fruit" by Kate Leto on your list. I highly recommend that book, but read it in summer when you have access to really good fresh fruit because it will make you crave messy, juicy fruit.
@@katekilroy7827 yes, that morrison collection also caught my eye! i actually did begin the book of difficult fruit a little bit ago and fell off, but perhaps i should try again. i agree i should read it in summer, however!
Excited for your 2025. I'm hoping to read Dead Souls myself for the first time, soon. For your historical fiction recommendation request, I would offer Cold Mountain by Chuck Frazier. +1 for doing things badly being good, actually. Not to brag but many people have told me I'm the worst they've ever seen
@@hiverampiveram ha ha ha it’s not about superlatives! you don’t have to be the worst! 😁
thanks for the historical fiction reco!
I'm not particularly fond of historical fiction, but I really enjoyed "Kristin Lavransdatter." Penguin offers it as a single, chunky book, while older editions divide it into three separate novels. One can read just "The Wreath," the first book.
@@taverner. thank you! i have heard very good things about kristin lavransdatter, and i’m glad to learn you enjoyed it despite not being a historical fiction fan :)
As soon as I heard Clarice Lispector and Toni Morrison, I hit subscribed. Speaking of Lispector, I dnf'd The Chandelier. 😬
@@tealorturquoise welcome welcome! 😁 (we’ll see if i’m more successful with the chandelier!)
Sylvia Townsend Warner's novels The Corner that Held Them and The Summer Will Show are technically historical fiction! Have you read them?
@@eyesonindie i’ve never read any of her novels at all! thanks for the idea :)
Three authors of historical fiction that I have read recently and can recommend are Maggie O'Farrell (Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait), Daniel Mason (North Woods and A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth (short stories)) and Michael Ondaadje (In the Skin of a Lion and Coming Through Slaughter (I'm planning to read The English Patient next)). (Please excuse all the parentheses.)
@@RSelcov first of all, i adore parentheses! and thank you for the ideas! i am toying with finally read maggie o’farrell, as so many people love her historical fiction
ah yes! i, too, want to allow myself to create “badly”! i also want to allow myself to consume art, as a designer (especially in a museum setting) i fail to let myself consume art outside of my assigned projects for fear of burn out.
@@bregowego it’s so hard when you reach a certain level of mastery in some things! and YES to consuming art outside of your field. it’s so important, so good for your intellectual ecology, and yet so easy to forget 🙃
Historical novels. What about La Chartreuse de Parme?
@@mddelphis bien sûr 😁
Does NYPL offer Libby/Overdrive or Hoopla? They offer ebooks and audiobooks!
@@mariat.3961 oh definitely. i have both nypl and brooklyn cards on my libby, and get their audiobooks regularly, but there are still limitations in the catalogue + potential waiting
If I'm into pens? (and sketchbooks) Oh don't get me started. And by the way, excelent choice those two. As for imperfection, most of my drawings are done not looking and sometimes also with my other hand. From imperfection comes expression. And the surprise of looking at the end result. Eventually comes the editing and colouring process. And this is my second draft of a comment. The first better one I lost. Let's clic the «comment» thing before this one makes a magic mpve too.
@@pedrorocha9722 yes, that makes sense! that’s the point of unstructured/more aleatoric creation - a new angle beyond the carefully crafted practice
@@pedrorocha9722 (i’m not extremely particular about pens. i just like fine but not tiny felt tips)
I hope you like “ une si Longue lettre” !
i think i will!
Historical Fiction - I, Claudius - Robert Graves
@@moniwicz3381 ah yes, that’s a good idea! i’ve never read it
You got ill or something?
@@bokramubokramu8834 yes, i have cancer
@@bibliosophie oh. which one?
@ a non-hodgkin lymphoma
Oo i just found enter ghost-isabella hammad the other day! Lmk when you get to it! 🐴
@@yenasung i will! i think i picked hammad as a women’s prize nominee/winner? i can’t completely remember what challenge it’s filling lol, but i’ve wanted to read it anyway