this was way too much fun to watch....every pause you took I found myself breathing in and leaning towards my computer like "what will she choose?!!!??!"
When Jen did this I was thinking “hope Mercedes does this too” 👍🏼 Only real shocker for me was that Clay Girl didn’t make it, your emotional video about that one made me read it and it was my #1 that year. That, however, makes an important point; some books impact us at the time, some impact us for a lifetime-and those are the ones we never stop thinking about and deserve to be on our all time favorite lists. Great video 🤓
Watching this video has made me realize how much you have influenced my reading choices over the years! Thanks for putting all of the amazing books that have come into my life because of you! :)
Always enjoy your videos Mercedes and your obvious love of books! Fingersmith I read a good while ago, really liked it. English Animals I read a few months ago, not sure about it! I have Normal People, but yet to read it. My favourite thing about this video is your two cats having a snooze! Best Wishes 💕
I'd already enjoyed Jen's ultimate video, and now yours, as well. I appreciate how difficult this was for you. You've helped with my 2019 nonfiction goal. Placing your 3 on my TBR. Many thanks!
I LOVED this Mercy! Ive followed your channel for a long time. I had so many flashbacks to what I was doing when I watched you review these books years ago. I used your videos a lot for study breaks in college so its been kind of nostalgic. Year into my first job and still watching. Keep it up:)
Love this! It's kind of a kick-in-the-butt to me, though, because I bought some of these books to read when you first talked about them and years later they're still unread! Love your cats in the background!
This is such a brilliant video - I watched Jen’s earlier this week and was so excited to see this. I’m very tempted to do this myself...I have nearly 15 years worth if I count my lists from the blog as well. I think The Essex Serpent and Fingersmith will be on my list too.
This video convinced me to go out and buy several of the books I've been considering for a while. I bought both of Sally Rooney's books and devoured the two of them in one day! Amazing! I was wondering if you would maybe be able to consider doing a 'Recommended Channels' video of other Booktubers you watch and respect for bookish opinions and reviews? I would love to have more people exposing me to other phenomenal fiction in a similar vain to your taste. Thank you for always making quality and worthwhile content!
I adored the ocean at the end of the lane... I think that was my first dip into more magical realism without realising it. This was so much fun! It makes me realise how many of your suggestions I've still yet to read!
Your literary taste is right up my alley...I'll will read all of these, even the ones that missed the final cull. Such a tortuous process for you, but fun to watch!
I love how seriously you debated your best-of list! It was a great video to watch all cozied up with some tea....have you had the chance to read The Tricking of Freya yet? I think you'll really like it!
I love seeing how you’re thinking through some of these out loud! Choosing favorites is always so hard and feels so limiting; I never know what to say when someone asks me because that feels like such a broad word. Sometimes favorites end up being 4 star or 3 star reads that are flawed but the impact they have are just too strong to not consider. Also, really love your shirt!
This was super fun to watch! I think the only one of these I've read is Americanah, which I didn't completely love but I also think I caught it at a weird time on the hype train which impacted my expectations/ experience. Thank you so much for reminding me that I need to get back to Robin Hobb (I read the first Fitz trilogy last winter and LOVED it but never got around to keeping going even though I've heard (from you) that it's all up from there) and get to Sarah Waters in the first place!
I loved this video, it’s so interesting to see your favourite favourites of recent years, thanks for doing this! I was sad Richard Yates and David Mitchell didn’t make it.
This is such a fun video and what a great list! I love Americanah and A Tale for the Time Being. I may have added a few of the others to my own TBR list.
I enjoyed this video a lot more than I thought I would. I really want to read all the ones I haven’t and I loved having seen some of my favourites represented!
So far I have read three books out of your top 13 - and all three of them thanks to your recommandation :D Two more were already on my TBR, and I just made a note to order one more!
I can't explain how fun this was, highlight of the day! I definitely want to read Night Waking, Normal People, Riverine and so many more of this list. I also really enjoyed A Tale for the Time Being!
I loved this! Out of the final list I've only read Americana (which is one of my faves too), but I feel like we have a similar reading taste so I've added most of these to the top of my wishlist
Watching this made me realize how many books I bought because I listened to you talking about them - I've read Just Mercy so far and it was one of my favourites too. Fingersmith, Americanah, The Essex Serpent, Fool's Fate and Normal People (and Revolutionary Road and Tidal Zone) are still on my tbr.
love the video! I have read fingersmith, i gave it five stars but also i found it hard to get into, and wouldnt read it again so wouldnt personally have it as an all time fave! I will have to have a look for some of the others!! some of these had not heard of, so this has been educational!
I read The Inconvenient Indian and Just Mercy based solely on your recommendations, and loved them both! I also read Normal People late last year and loved it, but I can't really say I heard about that one just from your channel haha 😅
Not gonna lie, I was looking at Albus the whole time. Loved hearing your thought process through this. It’s so funny how changeable we are when it comes to things like favorite books, but certain ones just stick
I have Riverine and completely lost the buzz to read it but not anymore 🙂 Loving the amount of soul searching you did for this list, it made it very fun to watch (in the nicest, non-sadistic way possible) x
This was such a fun video to watch! You've inspired me to read A tale for the time being- i bought it ages ago and recently thought about i hauling it, but now i have to give it a chance! I'm currently reading fingersmith, but right now i'm kind of stuck with it. I go through part one and don't feel as interested in the story anymore....we'll see
the cat in the background is me listening to you and noting down all the titles I have to add to me tbr-shelf. Only very few were on tbr before, like Fingersmith or Sarah Moss
It's so interesting how tastes vary between people. I'd read several books on the lists - some that I'd found 3* were ones you'd loved, and the ones that I loved the most didn't make your final cut. So I found it really intriguing to hear different opinions. I love it when I hear about books that weren't on my radar, yet through persistent mentions my different booktubers, they become wishlist & tbr books. Really enjoyable.
Let me just say that I think that this hairstyle really really suits you! It's super edgy and elegant at the same time. Normal People, Essex Serpent and A Tale for the Time Being are three of my favourites of all time, too!
This is exactly the video I needed right now in my life. I feel very similarly about Swamplandia!, I gave it 4 stars but it has stayed in my mind, imprinted forever.
I really loved "The Essex Serpent" and "A Tale for the Time Being" as well. Since my channel is only a year old, I might wait to make my own version of this video...but maybe not! It could be interesting to make one this year and just keep comparing/adding to/editing the list over the years.
mercy, i'm pushing 30 and i really enjoy rereading books i loved in my 20s because they're a safebet. with job and life drama, i do not believe i can waste time reading a book which is "meh" just because it's a new book. so i tend to reread books i loved. some still make a mark on me, some don't. but the list of books i love, though shorter, becomes stronger (connected with me)
I'm SO surprised Revolutionary Road didn't make it. I used to watch all of your videos back when you went through your Richard Yates phase and I've just gotten back into watching booktube and it's crazy to see it not on the list! But obviously you had to make cuts. I've never read any Sarah Moss. Maybe I should after seeing how hard it was for you to choose between them.
I suggest you read all of Betty Smith's lesser-known books. I'm partial but she comes from my neighborhood in Brooklyn and she tells about the women who struggled with poverty and woman's lack of power in that era of the early 20th century. Thank you for suggesting how green was my valley. I think I watch the movie based on it but now I have to read the book now immediately. Aloha
I'm actually nearly finished reading Fool's Fate and I am honestly eternally grateful for your videos talking about Robin Hobb and this series because it's what pushed me to read them and I have just adored the Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogy so much, they are some of my favorite books. I keep wanting to reread the Farseer Trilogy because while I enjoyed the first book and the subsequent installments for the most part I had to force my way through them using audiobooks, but I feel like going back and reading them now I would really appreciate them a lot more, but I also just cannot wait to dive into the rest of the series!I haven't read any of your other top 13 books but I have read and really loved Bastard Out of Carolina and Daughter of the Forest is one of my new favorite books!
Love this video!!!!! You didn’t mention Oryx and Crake which I think was in your 2013 favourites. I’m interested to hear what your thoughts are on it now? X
Oh my god i didn't read any of your faves 13 books (except americanah i forgot i read that one) but i have 10 of them on my tbr and i will get orenda and the tale for the time being for my bday next month, i also plan to read robin hobb this year, i did read english animals tho 😅
Bookaxe is wonderful for this.. it forces you to pick which books you like best, and place them on different shelves according to how much you've liked them. And it forces you to put 50% of the books you've read on the "bottom shelf". Which is really not that bad and hard - compared to choosing which book you pick for the top shelf... for 150 books, it will only allow me 6 "top" shelf picks.. but it's kinda amazing, cuz it does force you to really reconsider which book experience touched you the most
Of course there'd be a Hobb, if you're into fantasy she's a must read. I still maintain she's was the best active fantasy writer until a couple of year ago
My mom just recommended me the movie "How green was my valley" she says I'd love the movie !! I havent seen it yet, do you think I should read the book first ??? I love your videos, always !! Love, from Spain
Loved your favourites video. It is so hard to chose favourites. Books resonate for so many reasons it is hard to make a list of ten. I have a list of my ten favourite fiction books. I have yet to make a list of non-fiction. Being such a fan and reader of historical books about WW1 and WW2 and the war in Afghanistan I think those books would have to form a separate list. Anyway here is my top ten favourite books - note one of my favourite books is also on your list and for similar reasons: Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón The Muse by Jessie Burton On Beauty by Zadie Smith We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine and Lynne Constantine Circe by Madeline Miller A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart Normal People by Sally Rooney
Yes, I've read all her books but I read her other novels about 10 years ago so I don't remember much about them. I know I enjoyed them though so I need to re-read them at some point.
i liked americanah the most out of all her books. i do feel she's compared to zadie. i feel her books are stronger overall than zadie's, but zadie is more popular (at least in europe)
Bastard out of Carolina was such a difficult book to read. Not just because of the abuse, but by the female relatives who tried to pardon the man's actions by saying "Give a man another chance" that shit made me SICK.
Im more interested in books by women because historically and even in the present media has been very male dominated. If you have a problem with that you don't have to watch my channel 👍
@@MercysBookishMusings Well, maybe that is a fair point. Nonetheless ... and I don't want to come across as troll-ish - I simply couldn't help noticing how much more passionate you come across in your vids of 5 years ago (when you were still readiing male writers) then your more recent ones; for instance, your "DNF list". Personally, I don't care about the gender of an author, I only care if the book is any good. The last three novels I have read have all been by female authors (Rose Tremain, Beryl Bainbridge and, yes... that contraversial and IMO ***king AWSOME debut novel by Kate Russel - yeah you know the one I mean: My Dark Vanessa). I just ... dunno... does there seem to be some kind of creative lull in younger female writers (with MDV being the exception that proves the rule) ...???
@@tobymaltby6036 I find it odd when people comment on how I seem to have changed over the years or how I seemed more or less of something in older videos. Guess what - I've grown up and changed. When I started this channel I didn't sign a contract with my viewers to stay the same. I never used to talk about my Dnfs and now I do. I do that because its my channel and I want to talk about them now. Well done you for listing a few books by female authors you've recently read. Maybe the better option would be to not write rude comments on female creators videos about other female creators.
@@MercysBookishMusings As an aspiring author, I'm always interested in why people are motivated to make the reading choices they do. Many of your book apraisals I found quite informative. Your channel came up on my TH-cam suggestions and since I'm usually on TH-cam Autopilot I sat through it ... I realise now that you decided to restrict yourself to female authors around 2016 for ideological reasons. But only by making my snarky Y-chromosome comment was I able to glean this information . It is, AFAIK, millennial females - such as yourself - who buy the most books in the UK, so as a non-millenial male I find your input useful persepective. I have toyed with the idea of using a female nom-de-plume (a kind of Geoge Eliot in reverse) though I doubt that's really feasible today for varoius reasons. Certainly one thing that is becomming very clear to me is that nowadays, writers need to have the skin of a Challenger Tank to cope with the comments and criticism they will inevitably recieve. The literary world is a harsh one...
@@tobymaltby6036 I have no idea what you're talking about. I certainly read more books by women but I definitely don't read books exclusively by women. You seriously need to check your privilege. The fact that you've found a small corner of the internet that celebrates female writers does not make you, as a male writer, marginalised. Not everything has to be centered on you and your experience.
Nina N that isn’t quite what I said. I said I’d had concerns about how the author wrote female characters in his other novels, therefore, I am unsure about the judgement I made in the past.
Love the cat in the background.
I love how you're using every opportunity to talk about Normal People 😂😂😂 that's true love
this was way too much fun to watch....every pause you took I found myself breathing in and leaning towards my computer like "what will she choose?!!!??!"
Watching the cat (Albus?) in the background was very soothing!
HURRAH! * runs to grab a cup of tea * xx
When Jen did this I was thinking “hope Mercedes does this too” 👍🏼 Only real shocker for me was that Clay Girl didn’t make it, your emotional video about that one made me read it and it was my #1 that year. That, however, makes an important point; some books impact us at the time, some impact us for a lifetime-and those are the ones we never stop thinking about and deserve to be on our all time favorite lists. Great video 🤓
Watching this with a notepad and pen to keep a running list of books I need to read!! Such a treat - thank you for doing this!
Watching this video has made me realize how much you have influenced my reading choices over the years! Thanks for putting all of the amazing books that have come into my life because of you! :)
it was a great deal of fun watching the process...and i'm adding "how green was my valley" to my wish list....
Always enjoy your videos Mercedes and your obvious love of books! Fingersmith I read a good while ago, really liked it. English Animals I read a few months ago, not sure about it! I have Normal People, but yet to read it. My favourite thing about this video is your two cats having a snooze! Best Wishes 💕
I was so happy when I saw you did this video! Made my day of studying a lot better! Loooved the video.
I'd already enjoyed Jen's ultimate video, and now yours, as well. I appreciate how difficult this was for you. You've helped with my 2019 nonfiction goal. Placing your 3 on my TBR. Many thanks!
LOVED this video!!! It felt like I was having a book discussion with a friend!! Thank you!! ❤📚
I'm still trying to catch up on videos and this was just DELIGHTFUL. I loved watching you think the choices through. Tons of fun.
I LOVED this Mercy! Ive followed your channel for a long time. I had so many flashbacks to what I was doing when I watched you review these books years ago. I used your videos a lot for study breaks in college so its been kind of nostalgic. Year into my first job and still watching. Keep it up:)
As soon as Jen did it, I was secretly hoping you would! Yayyy! Day made, super interesting, I NEED TO READ THESE!
Love this! It's kind of a kick-in-the-butt to me, though, because I bought some of these books to read when you first talked about them and years later they're still unread! Love your cats in the background!
That was a blast!! Very interesting to see how you see these books now!
This is such a brilliant video - I watched Jen’s earlier this week and was so excited to see this. I’m very tempted to do this myself...I have nearly 15 years worth if I count my lists from the blog as well. I think The Essex Serpent and Fingersmith will be on my list too.
Really loved this video, thanks for all rhe recomendations 😊
This video convinced me to go out and buy several of the books I've been considering for a while. I bought both of Sally Rooney's books and devoured the two of them in one day! Amazing!
I was wondering if you would maybe be able to consider doing a 'Recommended Channels' video of other Booktubers you watch and respect for bookish opinions and reviews? I would love to have more people exposing me to other phenomenal fiction in a similar vain to your taste.
Thank you for always making quality and worthwhile content!
I’ve already read some of these on your recommendation, and I am happy that I have some on my shelves to be read! Fantastic list!
I adored the ocean at the end of the lane... I think that was my first dip into more magical realism without realising it. This was so much fun! It makes me realise how many of your suggestions I've still yet to read!
Your literary taste is right up my alley...I'll will read all of these, even the ones that missed the final cull. Such a tortuous process for you, but fun to watch!
I love how seriously you debated your best-of list! It was a great video to watch all cozied up with some tea....have you had the chance to read The Tricking of Freya yet? I think you'll really like it!
I love seeing how you’re thinking through some of these out loud! Choosing favorites is always so hard and feels so limiting; I never know what to say when someone asks me because that feels like such a broad word. Sometimes favorites end up being 4 star or 3 star reads that are flawed but the impact they have are just too strong to not consider. Also, really love your shirt!
So many great recommendations!!! Thanks!
Loved every minute of this!
This was super fun to watch! I think the only one of these I've read is Americanah, which I didn't completely love but I also think I caught it at a weird time on the hype train which impacted my expectations/ experience. Thank you so much for reminding me that I need to get back to Robin Hobb (I read the first Fitz trilogy last winter and LOVED it but never got around to keeping going even though I've heard (from you) that it's all up from there) and get to Sarah Waters in the first place!
I loved this video, it’s so interesting to see your favourite favourites of recent years, thanks for doing this! I was sad Richard Yates and David Mitchell didn’t make it.
This is such a fun video and what a great list! I love Americanah and A Tale for the Time Being. I may have added a few of the others to my own TBR list.
Such a good list! I've added a load of these to my wishlist but I'll definitely be picking up Riverine and Through Black Spruce ASAP
I enjoyed this video a lot more than I thought I would. I really want to read all the ones I haven’t and I loved having seen some of my favourites represented!
So much fun - lots of new stuff om my tbr now
So far I have read three books out of your top 13 - and all three of them thanks to your recommandation :D
Two more were already on my TBR, and I just made a note to order one more!
Love your angst with choosing and how you explain your choices....it's like choosing between your favourite children :D
This was so much fun!!!
I can't explain how fun this was, highlight of the day! I definitely want to read Night Waking, Normal People, Riverine and so many more of this list. I also really enjoyed A Tale for the Time Being!
I loved this! Out of the final list I've only read Americana (which is one of my faves too), but I feel like we have a similar reading taste so I've added most of these to the top of my wishlist
Ahhh I love that other people are doing this, I loved Jens video. Really made me think about books that I say are my “all time favourite” x
Also I love your shirt!
basically I added all of those to my wishlist 😅
great video 💕
Watching this made me realize how many books I bought because I listened to you talking about them - I've read Just Mercy so far and it was one of my favourites too. Fingersmith, Americanah, The Essex Serpent, Fool's Fate and Normal People (and Revolutionary Road and Tidal Zone) are still on my tbr.
love the video! I have read fingersmith, i gave it five stars but also i found it hard to get into, and wouldnt read it again so wouldnt personally have it as an all time fave! I will have to have a look for some of the others!! some of these had not heard of, so this has been educational!
I read The Inconvenient Indian and Just Mercy based solely on your recommendations, and loved them both! I also read Normal People late last year and loved it, but I can't really say I heard about that one just from your channel haha 😅
Not gonna lie, I was looking at Albus the whole time.
Loved hearing your thought process through this. It’s so funny how changeable we are when it comes to things like favorite books, but certain ones just stick
Just wanted to say that I read "Good Morning, Midnight " (Lily Brooks Dalton) on your recommend & loved it. Thanks so much!
I have Riverine and completely lost the buzz to read it but not anymore 🙂 Loving the amount of soul searching you did for this list, it made it very fun to watch (in the nicest, non-sadistic way possible) x
Amelia East haha, I was very dithery! I really hope you enjoy Riverine, I found it such a beautifully introspective read xx
What a great list! I've read 5 of these + English animals which I loved. Want to read all the rest as all appeal to me :)
This was such a fun video to watch! You've inspired me to read A tale for the time being- i bought it ages ago and recently thought about i hauling it, but now i have to give it a chance! I'm currently reading fingersmith, but right now i'm kind of stuck with it. I go through part one and don't feel as interested in the story anymore....we'll see
I loved this video!!! Amazing
the cat in the background is me listening to you and noting down all the titles I have to add to me tbr-shelf. Only very few were on tbr before, like Fingersmith or Sarah Moss
Awesome selection! Putting them all on my wishlist x x x
I haven't seen your videos in while but I just want to say I love your new hairstyle! It suits you
It's so interesting how tastes vary between people. I'd read several books on the lists - some that I'd found 3* were ones you'd loved, and the ones that I loved the most didn't make your final cut. So I found it really intriguing to hear different opinions.
I love it when I hear about books that weren't on my radar, yet through persistent mentions my different booktubers, they become wishlist & tbr books.
Really enjoyable.
Love that shirt! I feel like I am always complimenting you on your clothes... 😅 (PS we have the same haircut 🙌)
Let me just say that I think that this hairstyle really really suits you! It's super edgy and elegant at the same time. Normal People, Essex Serpent and A Tale for the Time Being are three of my favourites of all time, too!
This is exactly the video I needed right now in my life. I feel very similarly about Swamplandia!, I gave it 4 stars but it has stayed in my mind, imprinted forever.
Fantastic! One of my favorites :)
I loved both yours and Jen's. She was much more decisive though, LOL!
It’s so hard for a book to surprise me with plot twists, but Fingersmith knocked my socks off.
I really loved "The Essex Serpent" and "A Tale for the Time Being" as well. Since my channel is only a year old, I might wait to make my own version of this video...but maybe not! It could be interesting to make one this year and just keep comparing/adding to/editing the list over the years.
mercy, i'm pushing 30 and i really enjoy rereading books i loved in my 20s because they're a safebet. with job and life drama, i do not believe i can waste time reading a book which is "meh" just because it's a new book. so i tend to reread books i loved. some still make a mark on me, some don't. but the list of books i love, though shorter, becomes stronger (connected with me)
I'm SO surprised Revolutionary Road didn't make it. I used to watch all of your videos back when you went through your Richard Yates phase and I've just gotten back into watching booktube and it's crazy to see it not on the list! But obviously you had to make cuts. I've never read any Sarah Moss. Maybe I should after seeing how hard it was for you to choose between them.
This was sooooo interesting!
I suggest you read all of Betty Smith's lesser-known books. I'm partial but she comes from my neighborhood in Brooklyn and she tells about the women who struggled with poverty and woman's lack of power in that era of the early 20th century. Thank you for suggesting how green was my valley. I think I watch the movie based on it but now I have to read the book now immediately. Aloha
What?! No "A Little Life"? I really thought you were going to mention that 😂.
Buzz Selous this cracked me up 😆
I'm actually nearly finished reading Fool's Fate and I am honestly eternally grateful for your videos talking about Robin Hobb and this series because it's what pushed me to read them and I have just adored the Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogy so much, they are some of my favorite books. I keep wanting to reread the Farseer Trilogy because while I enjoyed the first book and the subsequent installments for the most part I had to force my way through them using audiobooks, but I feel like going back and reading them now I would really appreciate them a lot more, but I also just cannot wait to dive into the rest of the series!I haven't read any of your other top 13 books but I have read and really loved Bastard Out of Carolina and Daughter of the Forest is one of my new favorite books!
I can totally relate, because I, too, discovered Robin Hobb thanks to BookTube. Also, Daughter of the Forest is in my wish-list. :-)
Love this video!!!!! You didn’t mention Oryx and Crake which I think was in your 2013 favourites. I’m interested to hear what your thoughts are on it now? X
Loved this so much!! Maybe now we can convince you to do the same but before you started your channel??! 😂
I wish you did a video for each year and talk in more details about each book.
Oh my god i didn't read any of your faves 13 books (except americanah i forgot i read that one) but i have 10 of them on my tbr and i will get orenda and the tale for the time being for my bday next month, i also plan to read robin hobb this year, i did read english animals tho 😅
IMMMMM SOOOO EXCITEDDDD
Omg Julia Elliot was my professor.
Bookaxe is wonderful for this.. it forces you to pick which books you like best, and place them on different shelves according to how much you've liked them. And it forces you to put 50% of the books you've read on the "bottom shelf". Which is really not that bad and hard - compared to choosing which book you pick for the top shelf... for 150 books, it will only allow me 6 "top" shelf picks.. but it's kinda amazing, cuz it does force you to really reconsider which book experience touched you the most
Of course there'd be a Hobb, if you're into fantasy she's a must read. I still maintain she's was the best active fantasy writer until a couple of year ago
My mom just recommended me the movie "How green was my valley" she says I'd love the movie !! I havent seen it yet, do you think I should read the book first ???
I love your videos, always !!
Love, from Spain
Your cat...I'm dying. :)
mercyyyyyyyyyyy
How Green Wad My Valley is a wonder Book...
I read How Green Was My Valley about a decade ago. Being a Welshman, I really wanted to love it but it wasn't true to South Wales. X
Loved your favourites video. It is so hard to chose favourites. Books resonate for so many reasons it is hard to make a list of ten. I have a list of my ten favourite fiction books. I have yet to make a list of non-fiction. Being such a fan and reader of historical books about WW1 and WW2 and the war in Afghanistan I think those books would have to form a separate list. Anyway here is my top ten favourite books - note one of my favourite books is also on your list and for similar reasons:
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
Winter in Madrid by CJ Sansom
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Muse by Jessie Burton
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine and Lynne Constantine
Circe by Madeline Miller
A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart
Normal People by Sally Rooney
I want to read finger Smith
The struggle is real :)
Cute cats both them=)
And have you read Wayward vol.1?
If you liked The Inconvenient Indian, I was wondering if you have read There There? It's a brutal but a clever and enlightening novel.
I’m reading Fools Fate right now I can’t put it down
When I saw your list for 2014 I realised I'd bought many of these based on your ratings and still haven't read them! Do you have a new tattoo?
If you could choose your favourite book of all time, what would you pick?
Was that your cat behind you ? Watching and judging your choices? Are you doing the Book tuber prize ( Barter Hoards) this year?
Hello! I am curious -- Are there any trigger warnings for How Green Was My Valley?
Sorry, its been so long since I read it I don't remember.
mercy have you read any good books about the UK justice system?
Have you read chimamandas other novel's? How does Americans compare to those?
Yes, I've read all her books but I read her other novels about 10 years ago so I don't remember much about them. I know I enjoyed them though so I need to re-read them at some point.
i liked americanah the most out of all her books. i do feel she's compared to zadie. i feel her books are stronger overall than zadie's, but zadie is more popular (at least in europe)
Bastard out of Carolina was such a difficult book to read. Not just because of the abuse, but by the female relatives who tried to pardon the man's actions by saying "Give a man another chance" that shit made me SICK.
YAAAAAYYYYYY66666
Who is Jen ?
Holla if you’ve been here for six years!
You (and a couple of other channels) are such a breath of fresh air in a sea of generic YA booktubers haha
8:10 - " I was so spoilt by choice"....
yeah, helps to not exclude authors with Y chromosomes.
Im more interested in books by women because historically and even in the present media has been very male dominated. If you have a problem with that you don't have to watch my channel 👍
@@MercysBookishMusings Well, maybe that is a fair point.
Nonetheless ... and I don't want to come across as troll-ish - I simply couldn't help noticing how much more passionate you come across in your vids of 5 years ago (when you were still readiing male writers) then your more recent ones; for instance, your "DNF list".
Personally, I don't care about the gender of an author, I only care if the book is any good. The last three novels I have read have all been by female authors (Rose Tremain, Beryl Bainbridge and, yes... that contraversial and IMO ***king AWSOME debut novel by Kate Russel - yeah you know the one I mean: My Dark Vanessa).
I just ... dunno... does there seem to be some kind of creative lull in younger female writers (with MDV being the exception that proves the rule) ...???
@@tobymaltby6036 I find it odd when people comment on how I seem to have changed over the years or how I seemed more or less of something in older videos. Guess what - I've grown up and changed. When I started this channel I didn't sign a contract with my viewers to stay the same. I never used to talk about my Dnfs and now I do. I do that because its my channel and I want to talk about them now.
Well done you for listing a few books by female authors you've recently read. Maybe the better option would be to not write rude comments on female creators videos about other female creators.
@@MercysBookishMusings As an aspiring author, I'm always interested in why people are motivated to make the reading choices they do. Many of your book apraisals I found quite informative. Your channel came up on my TH-cam suggestions and since I'm usually on TH-cam Autopilot I sat through it ... I realise now that you decided to restrict yourself to female authors around 2016 for ideological reasons. But only by making my snarky Y-chromosome comment was I able to glean this information .
It is, AFAIK, millennial females - such as yourself - who buy the most books in the UK, so as a non-millenial male I find your input useful persepective. I have toyed with the idea of using a female nom-de-plume (a kind of Geoge Eliot in reverse) though I doubt that's really feasible today for varoius reasons.
Certainly one thing that is becomming very clear to me is that nowadays, writers need to have the skin of a Challenger Tank to cope with the comments and criticism they will inevitably recieve.
The literary world is a harsh one...
@@tobymaltby6036 I have no idea what you're talking about. I certainly read more books by women but I definitely don't read books exclusively by women.
You seriously need to check your privilege. The fact that you've found a small corner of the internet that celebrates female writers does not make you, as a male writer, marginalised. Not everything has to be centered on you and your experience.
If you like a character, you like them. You don’t have to second guess it just because it’s been written by a man.
Nina N that isn’t quite what I said. I said I’d had concerns about how the author wrote female characters in his other novels, therefore, I am unsure about the judgement I made in the past.