your excitement regarding all things literature is so adorable, i see the thumbnail with your beaming face and it warms my heart. keep doing what you do, sir!
You're honestly becoming my favorite on TH-camr! You give such sincere and earnest opinions. Your selections inspire me to look beyond my reading comforts.
I am glad I saw some different top books of 2019 from you! I am a little tired of seeing mostly the same books on different TH-camrs' top of the year. Thank you
I am now hooked into your YT book videos. You have a fascinating way of describing your reads especially your favorites. Many thanks fro such a refreshing take on the books you have read. My list based on your recomms keeps getting longer.
I read your recommendations for the Man booker prize 2019. Especially My sister the serial killer. I loved the tone and narrative of that one and Celestial Bodies, the story of Omani women.
@@EricKarlAnderson Hi! Have you read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini? A beautiful book about Afghanistan. I live in India and the book reminds me of the 1980s when we heard so much about Afghanistan before the Taliban era.
Steve Donoghue mentioned your channel during the time of the long list of the Booker prize. I went to your channel and haven't stopped watching. The way you present novels, some of which are in a way are not in the mainstream, makes me, along with others, to want to not know more about the book but also take the time to read. 😊✨
I haven’t heard anything about Constellations, so thank you. As you were mentioning that book, I immediately thought of The Years, which I just read. I also thought it was absolutely beautiful. I will be looking for that and Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl. I’m still in progress with Ducks, and loving it so much that I’m taking it slowly. I am planning on reading Girl, Woman, Other and Underland this week. What a remarkable list.
Yes, I think you'll love Constellations. I'm so eager to read more of Ernaux's writing now. Hope you continue to enjoy and savour Ducks. It's such a joy! 🤗📚
So great to see this video, Eric!! My Life as a Rat is definitely on my tbr. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl has also caught my eye a few times - it sounds fantastic. My favourite books of the year (sorry if you've already seen!) include Normal People by Sally Rooney, The Confession by Jessie Burton, Ask Again Yes by Mary Beth Keane, and City of Brass by S A Charkaborty, a fantasy novel!✨
I agree with many of your picks, and hope to read the few books you suggested thatI haven’t read yet. I would add The Water Dancer and The Memory Police. Both compelling reads, though so different from each other. Happy New Year! I love your channel and look forward to your videos!.
So glad you have Nikel Boys on your favorites. I tried Ducks and Eric I couldn’t get through it. :(. I so wanted to read it but just couldn’t get past her streams of consciousness. I also need your advice regarding reading Virginia Wolf, specifically Waves. Feel very turned off by her streams as well. Maybe I’m not sophisticated enough! LOL.
No worries! I know Ducks isn't a book for everyone. If you've not tried listening to The Waves on audio book I'd recommend that. It might help you get more into it. But it took me a few reads before the voices became individual and distinct for me. Again, I know Woolf's novel isn't an easy read either but I think it's worth the effort as it feels so brilliant to me.
Thank you for sharing your top 10! I have truly enjoyed your videos since I came across your channel, and hence bought a lot of new books too! 😂 Happy New Year and looking forward to more of your videos in 2020!
Some of my favorite books this year; Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin Places left Unfinished at the time of Creation by John Philip Santos Stoner by John Williams The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flannigan The Door by Magda Szabo
This video is another reminder to me to put "Ducks" at the top of my TBR for 2020! (My brother has also been reading it over winter break and is liking it!) Wonderful list - thanks for another great year of reading recommendations, Eric, and here's to more fantastic reads in 2020! :)
After I came across your channel, I found that we read pretty much the same book. Suffice to say, love all the books mentioned in your videos. Thank you for the videos Eric, and keep them coming!
The only two on your list I read were Dicks (on my top 10 list also) and GWO, which I didn't care for... I have the Govinden, Barr and Lawlor books, so will need to bump them up in my TBR! :-)
You’ll be interested to know that Damian Barr was at a local Literature Festival and he was so intelligent and compassionate - and funny. I’ve missed the JCO book but I was and still am a Rat! I’m too old to care now. Thank you for all you do, fun and generous. Happy New Year.
Brilliant list, in quite a few ways aligns with my favourite fiction list. Out of the ones I haven’t read and would want to is You Will Be Safe Here by Barr.
Yes, as usual, we have quite similar tastes which is wonderful to see. I think you'd also really appreciate Constellations if you haven't read that yet.
Great list! I think Girl, Woman, Other will be my first read of 2020. We have some overlap in favorite books of the year, as I mentioned on Twitter today. My top 5 of the year, in order, are: 1. On Chapel Sands by Laura Cummings, 2. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, 3. a very late entry: Stillicide by Cynan Jones, tied for fourth are: You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr and My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay. (The audiobook is essential for Lemn Sissay’s book.) Happy New Year to you as well, Eric!
I actually read Marlon James' novel last year which is why it's not on my list this year and I felt like I talked about it enough at the end of 2018/beginning of 2019. But I still think it's tremendous.
I bought You Will be Safe Here in the summer and haven't gotten to it yet... Will pull it off of my shelves now !! 😉 Lots of brilliant sounding books so thank you for sharing them with us XXX
Love Robert McFarlane! If you liked Underland, I think you would also really like The Old Ways, where he walks ancient paths. I haven't read any of your other favorites, but several are very high up on my list and I hope to get to them in 2019!
Since I usually wait til books come out in paper to buy them most of my favorites are from past years. Milkman was wonderful and funny and poignant. I read some classics which made my top ten: My Antonia - Willa Cather, Howards End. I read two top ten books for me by Edouard Louis, History of Violence and Who Killed My Father, both translated so brilliantly into English. And I finished My Struggle, book 6 by Knausgaard (whew, even the 400 page essay on Hitler.) And I just loved Sense of an Ending, maybe my favorite of the year. Thanks for your video. Maybe I'll get to some of them in paper!
I just got an ad before of this video of a writer giving online workshops and I couldn't come up with her name, until it said her name and it was Joyce Carol Oates! How appropriate 😂
Best books read recently are Mr Loverman by Bernardine Everisto The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy The Nickel Boys is still on my TBR I loved You Will Be Safe Here The Years was poetic but why was it written?
Your top ten books of 2019 offered up some books that I knew you would pick and some others I knew less about. Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann was no surprise as you are such a fan and advocate of the book. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo was another I expected to see on the list and it was. I wish only one book had won the Booker Prize. I think two books winning spoilt the prize totally. No one cared who won in the end it was all about the fact two books won. I want to read Bernadine's book. It sounds amazing. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is another book I expected to be in your top ten. I don't think it's my kind of book but I might be wrong. You obviously love this book and this author. The Years by Annie Ernaux again was expected. I have a copy of this book but I have yet to read it. Did you find the pages were very white and bright? I found this to be the case and as I suffer with migraines this put me off reading it. I tried to get a kindle version but no joy. The two I am keen to read but only because of your reviews are The Brutal House by Niven Govinden and Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl. Both sound fascinating and different. I haven't seen either in my local book shops though. I will investigate kindle versions I think. As ever a good list of books. Thanks for this list.
I was so glad I spied someone carrying barnardine's novel at the airport the other day. It makes me happy to see people reading books I've loved. Sorry to hear you found the pages of Ernaux's book too bright. Does this happen much?
@@EricKarlAnderson I couldn't read Milkman by Anna Burns as the pages of that book seemed way too bright. I tried a few pages but I had to stop. Most books are published on a yellow or cream colour paper but some are on something probably better quality and much lighter almost white. It's that I can't cope with.
At your recommendation I read The Underland. Thank you so much. I have such reverence for this book... Very interested to read Evaristo and Whitehead. Have read the latter's The Underground Railroad and liked his style of writing. Oates of course is an eternal favourite, though I haven't read this one. She never ever disappoints. Will read this one. I just read my first W G Sebald... Why didn't I read him before!
If you liked The Years, you should read The Place by Annie Ernaux. And I am now fully convinced that I should read Ducks, Newburyport and The Nickle Boys.
Cool list. I'm yet to read JCO. My top favs for literary fiction: Ducks, Newburyport; Spring by Ali Smith; Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout; Normal People by Sally Rooney and two older books by Wallace Stegner - Crossing to Safety and The Spectator Bird - I don't understand why Stegner is not more famous, I absolutely adored both books. I enjoyed Girl, Woman, Other but it didn't quite make it to 5-stars for me. The Nickel Boys didn't impress me much, although it should have been highly impactful given its subject matter. Besides Underland, I haven't come across any of the other books mentioned in this video, so more books to add to my TBR.
Strout's novel came very close to making my list. I loved it too! I've never read anything by Stegner. Which of his books do you think it's best to start with?
I loved The Years (originally picked up on your recommendation). It does kind of similar thinhs to Ducks Newburyport, hough without the linguistic flourishes
Eric Karl Anderson I really want to read it but I’ve heard the author in talks and interviews get quite political and I can’t stomach much in the way of heavy-handed politics in my reading. I know he’s confident that climate change is a huge problem and some reviews have said that he was harping on it way too much. The book fascinates me deeply but I am wary of his political opinions being too strong.
I love to see this list. It's my favourite. My list of best books of 2019 : How To Be Both by Ali Smith, Milkman by Anna Burns, The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker and some others.
your excitement regarding all things literature is so adorable, i see the thumbnail with your beaming face and it warms my heart. keep doing what you do, sir!
Thank you! 😊📚
You're honestly becoming my favorite on TH-camr! You give such sincere and earnest opinions. Your selections inspire me to look beyond my reading comforts.
Thank you! That's so lovely to hear! 🤗📚
This is the most wholesome account on TH-cam 😭😭 adopt me
I am glad I saw some different top books of 2019 from you! I am a little tired of seeing mostly the same books on different TH-camrs' top of the year. Thank you
Glad I can give a more diverse selection! 📚
I'm reading Blonde and Ducks, Newburyport based on your recommendations and I am loving both! Thanks so much!
Wonderful! 📚
Orlando is one of my fav books so I will definitely pick up Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl. So many good recommendations!
It contains a lot of explicit sex but it's so well written. Hope you enjoy it!
I am now hooked into your YT book videos. You have a fascinating way of describing your reads especially your favorites. Many thanks fro such a refreshing take on the books you have read. My list based on your recomms keeps getting longer.
Thank you so much! 📚📚📚
I read your recommendations for the Man booker prize 2019. Especially My sister the serial killer. I loved the tone and narrative of that one and Celestial Bodies, the story of Omani women.
So glad you enjoyed those novels! They are great reads!
@@EricKarlAnderson Hi! Have you read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini? A beautiful book about Afghanistan. I live in India and the book reminds me of the 1980s when we heard so much about Afghanistan before the Taliban era.
@@layab22 Hi☺fellow indian reader here😀
Steve Donoghue mentioned your channel during the time of the long list of the Booker prize. I went to your channel and haven't stopped watching.
The way you present novels, some of which are in a way are not in the mainstream, makes me, along with others, to want to not know more about the book but also take the time to read.
😊✨
That's great to hear. Thanks! 📚
I haven’t heard anything about Constellations, so thank you. As you were mentioning that book, I immediately thought of The Years, which I just read. I also thought it was absolutely beautiful. I will be looking for that and Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl.
I’m still in progress with Ducks, and loving it so much that I’m taking it slowly. I am planning on reading Girl, Woman, Other and Underland this week.
What a remarkable list.
Yes, I think you'll love Constellations. I'm so eager to read more of Ernaux's writing now.
Hope you continue to enjoy and savour Ducks. It's such a joy!
🤗📚
So great to see this video, Eric!! My Life as a Rat is definitely on my tbr. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl has also caught my eye a few times - it sounds fantastic. My favourite books of the year (sorry if you've already seen!) include Normal People by Sally Rooney, The Confession by Jessie Burton, Ask Again Yes by Mary Beth Keane, and City of Brass by S A Charkaborty, a fantasy novel!✨
You are a AMAZING person! Great vid! I stayed till the end!
Love the vids! Keep up the good work! 🤗
It’s Sam btw
I comment a lot 🤗
I agree with many of your picks, and hope to read the few books you suggested thatI haven’t read yet. I would add The Water Dancer and The Memory Police. Both compelling reads, though so different from each other. Happy New Year! I love your channel and look forward to your videos!.
The Memory Police was very close to making my list. And I hope to read The Water Dancer soon!
Thank you! 📚 Happy New Year!
So glad you have Nikel Boys on your favorites. I tried Ducks and Eric I couldn’t get through it. :(. I so wanted to read it but just couldn’t get past her streams of consciousness. I also need your advice regarding reading Virginia Wolf, specifically Waves. Feel very turned off by her streams as well. Maybe I’m not sophisticated enough! LOL.
No worries! I know Ducks isn't a book for everyone.
If you've not tried listening to The Waves on audio book I'd recommend that. It might help you get more into it. But it took me a few reads before the voices became individual and distinct for me. Again, I know Woolf's novel isn't an easy read either but I think it's worth the effort as it feels so brilliant to me.
Thank you for sharing your top 10! I have truly enjoyed your videos since I came across your channel, and hence bought a lot of new books too! 😂 Happy New Year and looking forward to more of your videos in 2020!
Thanks so much! Happy New Year, Lawrence! 📚
I’m currently reading The Nickel Boys and finding the subject matter so difficult. I’m also surprised it’s not received any prize buzz yet
The Nickel Boys was fantastic! I loved the audio which is always delightful.
Oh great. I read a physical copy but I've been getting more into audio books.
My favorite books of the year are.
. Jackie and me, Dan Gutman
.The World before beyond 2, jack segal, meh best friend,
.Honus and me, Dan Gutman
Some of my favorite books this year;
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin
Places left Unfinished at the time of Creation by John Philip Santos
Stoner by John Williams
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flannigan
The Door by Magda Szabo
Ah great, I still need to read Berlin Alexanderplatz
This video is another reminder to me to put "Ducks" at the top of my TBR for 2020! (My brother has also been reading it over winter break and is liking it!) Wonderful list - thanks for another great year of reading recommendations, Eric, and here's to more fantastic reads in 2020! :)
That's so great he's reading it. Hope you enjoy it too when you find time. I know it's a big ask to read such a big book!
Happy New Year, Claire!
I’ve never read JCO but that’s going to have to change. My Life as A Rat sounds wonderful. Great selections!
It'd be a good place to start or her novel We Were the Mulvaneys.
After I came across your channel, I found that we read pretty much the same book. Suffice to say, love all the books mentioned in your videos. Thank you for the videos Eric, and keep them coming!
That's great. Thank you! 📚
Another wonderful year of your videos. May there be many more to come. My favourite read his year was 'Natural Order' by Brian Francis.
Thank you! 📚 I'll look up Francis' book.
The only two on your list I read were Dicks (on my top 10 list also) and GWO, which I didn't care for... I have the Govinden, Barr and Lawlor books, so will need to bump them up in my TBR! :-)
Brilliant list, Eric! I’m reading Ducks now and completely agree, and ditto with GWO! It’s been a brilliant year for literature hasn’t it 🥰
Yay! 📚
You’ll be interested to know that Damian Barr was at a local Literature Festival and he was so intelligent and compassionate - and funny. I’ve missed the JCO book but I was and still am a Rat! I’m too old to care now. Thank you for all you do, fun and generous. Happy New Year.
He is so funny and engaging and smart to listen to. I adore him!
And ha, Oates' book is still worth reading though.
Happy New Year!
Brilliant list, in quite a few ways aligns with my favourite fiction list. Out of the ones I haven’t read and would want to is You Will Be Safe Here by Barr.
Yes, as usual, we have quite similar tastes which is wonderful to see. I think you'd also really appreciate Constellations if you haven't read that yet.
Great list! I think Girl, Woman, Other will be my first read of 2020. We have some overlap in favorite books of the year, as I mentioned on Twitter today. My top 5 of the year, in order, are: 1. On Chapel Sands by Laura Cummings, 2. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, 3. a very late entry: Stillicide by Cynan Jones, tied for fourth are: You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr and My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay. (The audiobook is essential for Lemn Sissay’s book.)
Happy New Year to you as well, Eric!
Fab! I still need to get to read Stillicide. And thanks for the tip on Sissay's book. I have been wanting to read it. 📚
Where does Black Leopard Red Wolf land on your list? I’m currently enjoying Ducks from your recommendation.
I actually read Marlon James' novel last year which is why it's not on my list this year and I felt like I talked about it enough at the end of 2018/beginning of 2019. But I still think it's tremendous.
I bought You Will be Safe Here in the summer and haven't gotten to it yet... Will pull it off of my shelves now !! 😉 Lots of brilliant sounding books so thank you for sharing them with us XXX
Wonderful! Hope you enjoy it! 📚
Love Robert McFarlane! If you liked Underland, I think you would also really like The Old Ways, where he walks ancient paths. I haven't read any of your other favorites, but several are very high up on my list and I hope to get to them in 2019!
Since I usually wait til books come out in paper to buy them most of my favorites are from past years. Milkman was wonderful and funny and poignant. I read some classics which made my top ten: My Antonia - Willa Cather, Howards End. I read two top ten books for me by Edouard Louis, History of Violence and Who Killed My Father, both translated so brilliantly into English. And I finished My Struggle, book 6 by Knausgaard (whew, even the 400 page essay on Hitler.) And I just loved Sense of an Ending, maybe my favorite of the year. Thanks for your video. Maybe I'll get to some of them in paper!
Ah great, I've read other books by Willa Cather but not My Antonia yet. And yes, Barnes novel is so fantastic.
Love your opinions! Great books! Happy new year!
Thank you! Happy New Year! 📚
I just love your book lists! Thank you!
📚📚📚
Definitely prioritizing Girl, Woman, Other and The Nickel Boys next year.
Yay! 📚
I just got an ad before of this video of a writer giving online workshops and I couldn't come up with her name, until it said her name and it was Joyce Carol Oates! How appropriate 😂
I get that ad ALL the time. It's very funny. I wonder if JCO herself gets it as she's on Instagram and I'm also frequently shown the ad there.
Thank you so much Eric...
📚
Where do people find the time to read so many books?
Best books read recently are
Mr Loverman by Bernardine Everisto
The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy
The Nickel Boys is still on my TBR
I loved
You Will Be Safe Here
The Years was poetic but why was it written?
Fab! 📚 I think The Years was written to capture both the feeling and experiences of a segment of a particular culture.
Your top ten books of 2019 offered up some books that I knew you would pick and some others I knew less about. Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann was no surprise as you are such a fan and advocate of the book. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo was another I expected to see on the list and it was. I wish only one book had won the Booker Prize. I think two books winning spoilt the prize totally. No one cared who won in the end it was all about the fact two books won. I want to read Bernadine's book. It sounds amazing. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is another book I expected to be in your top ten. I don't think it's my kind of book but I might be wrong. You obviously love this book and this author. The Years by Annie Ernaux again was expected. I have a copy of this book but I have yet to read it. Did you find the pages were very white and bright? I found this to be the case and as I suffer with migraines this put me off reading it. I tried to get a kindle version but no joy. The two I am keen to read but only because of your reviews are The Brutal House by Niven Govinden and Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl. Both sound fascinating and different. I haven't seen either in my local book shops though. I will investigate kindle versions I think. As ever a good list of books. Thanks for this list.
I was so glad I spied someone carrying barnardine's novel at the airport the other day. It makes me happy to see people reading books I've loved.
Sorry to hear you found the pages of Ernaux's book too bright. Does this happen much?
@@EricKarlAnderson I couldn't read Milkman by Anna Burns as the pages of that book seemed way too bright. I tried a few pages but I had to stop. Most books are published on a yellow or cream colour paper but some are on something probably better quality and much lighter almost white. It's that I can't cope with.
I'm really looking forward to the Damian Barr. I've had it for a while, but haven't made time for it yet.
I think you'll really appreciate it!
At your recommendation I read The Underland. Thank you so much. I have such reverence for this book... Very interested to read Evaristo and Whitehead. Have read the latter's The Underground Railroad and liked his style of writing. Oates of course is an eternal favourite, though I haven't read this one. She never ever disappoints. Will read this one. I just read my first W G Sebald... Why didn't I read him before!
That's wonderful to hear! Thank you! 📚 I need to read more by Sebald. I think I've only read The Rings of Saturn.
If you liked The Years, you should read The Place by Annie Ernaux. And I am now fully convinced that I should read Ducks, Newburyport and The Nickle Boys.
Great, thank you. I have been wanting to read more by Ernaux.
Cool list. I'm yet to read JCO. My top favs for literary fiction: Ducks, Newburyport; Spring by Ali Smith; Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout; Normal People by Sally Rooney and two older books by Wallace Stegner - Crossing to Safety and The Spectator Bird - I don't understand why Stegner is not more famous, I absolutely adored both books. I enjoyed Girl, Woman, Other but it didn't quite make it to 5-stars for me. The Nickel Boys didn't impress me much, although it should have been highly impactful given its subject matter. Besides Underland, I haven't come across any of the other books mentioned in this video, so more books to add to my TBR.
Strout's novel came very close to making my list. I loved it too!
I've never read anything by Stegner. Which of his books do you think it's best to start with?
@@EricKarlAnderson Crossing to Safety was the first I read and loved. As far as I'm concerned, it was a perfect novel.
I was surprised that Luiselli's Lost Children Archive isn't on your top ten list.
I am currently reading The Nickel Boys...Its a very good book.
He's an excellent writer. I'm looking forward to exploring more of his back catalogue.
I loved The Years (originally picked up on your recommendation). It does kind of similar thinhs to Ducks Newburyport, hough without the linguistic flourishes
Yeah, interesting. I hadn't thought to make the comparison but I see what you mean.
I love your list! I really want Underland by Robert McFarland. You make me want to read it.
It's so fascinating! Hope you love it too.
Eric Karl Anderson I really want to read it but I’ve heard the author in talks and interviews get quite political and I can’t stomach much in the way of heavy-handed politics in my reading. I know he’s confident that climate change is a huge problem and some reviews have said that he was harping on it way too much. The book fascinates me deeply but I am wary of his political opinions being too strong.
There is much on this list I still need to read! 👀
But you've read half of them already! 📚
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Yes, love that novel. She's tremendous.
Hi! Are you from Sweden or Norway?
great video!
"an injustice this book [nickel boys] hasn't won an award yet" --- not anymore!!!
great list :)
Yep, so glad it won the Pulitzer! 🎉
I've just reserved My Life as a Rat and You Will be Safe Here at my local library, thank you for your recommendations! I've still not finished Ducks 🙈
Hoorah! Hope you enjoy them when your library gets them in.
I love to see this list. It's my favourite. My list of best books of 2019 : How To Be Both by Ali Smith, Milkman by Anna Burns, The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker and some others.
Fab choices! 📚📚📚
The Lacuna is my favorite Kingsolver book.
JCO
JCO
JCO
JCO
I could never. All these books sound as boring as watching paint dry