Don't worry, buddy. I'm 67 and still think about the books i want to read before i die, plus the books i want to reread. Enjoy your life. Live every day to the fullest. Light in August is the "easiest" Faulkner novel.
At 63 I finally read Moby Dick. It took two months (reading 10 pages a day, more on weekends) and inspired me to embrace more Classic literature. So I read House of the Seven Gables, Wuthering Heights, A Farewell to Arms, Jane Eyre (my favorite), The Red Badge of Courage (masterpiece), Two Raymond Chandler books - Farewell My Lovely and The Lady in the Lake. And now currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray along with Crime and Punishment. The above books took me almost five months. This fall and winter I have my sights on War and Peace…and then Anna Karenina. I wish I had begun this literary adventure decades ago…but better late than never.
so glad you're getting back into literature and that you found your way to my channel! how are you liking dorian gray so far? that's one of my absolute favorites
@@CallosumBooks I’m only a third of the way through but it reads like lightning. The dialogue carries the reader like they’re caught in swift flowing current it’s so compelling.
I am 64 and I just read Moby Dick. I am now on part two of Don Quixote. On my bucket list: Anna Karenina, East of Eden, Great Expectations, Mrs. Dalloway, IT, The Grapes of Wrath etc., I have many more! Congratulations on your PH.D!
I've been reading In Search of Lost Time in my few quiet moments for the past two years and yeah.... My man was insane. Probably the most boring person on earth. But it really is like looking at a cathedral -you can only really see it from afar. It has changed my reading habits drastically (went from 60-70 books a year to around 20) and my way of thinking. As an architect I love the way he understands space and how he uses it in whatever way he sees fit for the narrative -I'd say book four is quite space-heavy, one of my favorites, where you can grasp more how his characters are just acting in a play. I just think it's neat that he not only makes universal every human feeling, but he also has something to give to different people. I don't care that much about his narration style, but allowing me to dissect his brain in his understanding of space and architecture? Truly a legend.
hahahaha this comment made me crack up. i can't tell if it makes me want to read it more or not 😂 your comments about tying his work back to architecture is super interesting to me. by space you mean physical space, correct? or like celestial space haha, i'm not sure. either way seems pretty compelling but especially his writing on feelings and emotions are what draws me to his work. i can't wait to get started - i'll probably do something similar to you and do it slowly over a matter of years. thanks so much for your insightful comment!
I read 'War and Peace' last year after also procrastinating it for years and it genuinely was easy to read, I didn't struggle with the length as much as I expected and there was always something going on pulling you in, on all the plot threads. Definitely recommend :)
Great selection of books to read. I have read almost all the books on your list. If it helps any I listened to Ulysses while I read the text ( I had to try something after three starts) the audio was highly entertaining, the text is meant to have a certain gaiety to it and the narrator sings some of the songs. I have yet to read Gravity's Rainbow but I did get the text and the audio to that as well. This is my 75th year and I don't know if I will finish my new books I have been buying this year and have some more on the way but I made it a point to read everything connected to Tolkien this year. I had read the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings about 10 years ago and knew other stories (books) have been published but had no idea how much was available so I've been digging in. I've also included foreign sagas and fairy tales. I hope you have a wonderful time reading your to be read list.
loved this entire video. thanks for sharing - this is my first video of yours & I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts and cadence. good luck on all of these & congrats on walking for your degree! :) (and you're now the second person to recommend east of eden to me, so looks like it'll be added to my list)
I was wondering if you were going to put Gravity's Rainbow on this list. I am going to start it early next year, after the holiday season. Infinite Jest is the only book on your list that I have read, but I think I want to read all of these books too. Infinite Jest is actually a whole lot of fun.
about ~150ish pages into infinite jest and once you get over the adjustment to DFW's writing style it's so much fun haha. it's hilarious and there are so many things going on at once it makes my head spin. and yessss, gravity's rainbow is a white whale for me for sure. will get around to it next year or the year after though
Would love to see a video on ebooks and your thoughts on them/trying a kindle one day if u ever get one! I go back and forth all the time and curious why you read mostly physical!
i read my kindle all the time! mostly when i’m on the road. most stay on physical just because i like the feel of the book and it’s much easier to annotate on. also trying to limit going to amazon for everything haha, but it’s def hard
Im 55. Had almost a decade of not reading, long story, but got back into it this last year. Have already read epics like Don Quixote, Brothers Karamazov, The Count of Monte Cristo, Infinite Jest and Hemingway short stories. Currently half way through Easy of Eden. I can’t imagine not having at least a couple of books on the go, now. Next on my list of must read is War and Peace but always in the back of my mind is the Proust monster.
I highly recommend Absalom, Absalom!, which I'm sure you've already added to one of your lists. I also read Toni Morrison's Jazz this year and I found that to be her most Faulknerian work out of the ones I've read, so I think you'd get a kick out of that as well. I'm in the midst of Light in August and it's gorgeous, but so emotionally draining. Anyway, love this list! Thanks for sharing!
absolutely - absalom, absalom is the next faulkner i'm getting into for sure. i want to get to it ASAP but i also feel it probably deserves some room to breathe and i should wait til i can give it the time it deserves haha. jazz is a great suggestion, it's one of hers i haven't read yet. and as far as her novels, i don't hear many people talk about jazz as much, so its a really good suggestion! thanks so much for your comment
@@CallosumBooks Yeah, Absalom, Absalom!'s one of the more challenging books I've read, if not the most challenging, but like all of Faulkner's work it eventually clicks and becomes a rich and rewarding experience, and you're right, it's one that deserves room to breathe, but I think you'll have a blast diving into it. Jazz is special, and occasionally inscrutable. I'd actually read Absalom, Absalom! before Jazz, because I think Morrison's taking a lot of narrative cues from it. It also pairs nicely with Virginia Woolf's work. Anyway, happy reading!
Moby-Dick is a fabulously written novel, and was my gateway to most of the classics that I have relished over the years. Moreover, Ulysses is my favorite novel. I celebrate Bloomsday annually with friends.
thanks man!! you totally should! whenever i read one i'm like "ah shit, yeah i guess that's a classic for a reason" haha. usually totally worth the time and better than you expect
I am 70 and have read War and Peace five times in my life. I love it so much. Good for you on getting the Briggs translation.Russian literature is so fabulous. Brothers Karamazov is also fabulous, you are holding the best translation. Make sure you have Moby Dick on your list. That novel changed my brain the first time I read it. Mazel tov to your reading ambitions. btw, I love that you have a picture of a brain on your shelf!
started and stopped a couple times. i loved what i read, but quickly made the realization i cannot read any other books at the same time lol. i'm also stuck between reading mason and dixon or inherent vice for the first pynchon i read... mason and dixon is the one that interests me more, but i heard it's not an amazing place to start with him.
Hello from Japan. 😊 ‘War and Peace’ is on my TBR list. I actually had started reading years ago, but I started getting very confused with so many characters at several chapters in. In addition, those names are difficult to pronounce or can’t figure out how to pronounce. 😅 So I decided to come back to the book sometime later, after I read all other books. 📚
Hey, I'm going through war and peace right now (300 pages) and I'm really glad I started writing down characters early on, I recommend you do this as it forces you to read more slowly (and you might want to go slowly, without thinking to finish the book soon) and pay more attention. But overall it's easy to read, I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy it and understand everything :)
@@herbertzilli8669 Hello and thank you for your suggestion! Yes, I remember it wasn't difficult to read, it was just the number of characters. I will write down the characters' info when I'm ready to go back to the book, hopefully soon! Thank you!
30 is great - defending your PHD is ?? hadn’t heard of that - obviously they are questioning something - good luck with your quest for that - hope goes smoothly. Haven’t read Moby Dick - - wow, on War & Peace, my husband read this - amazed me - (Nice version) - My next big book is going to be Anastasia-
that's the plan for right now! though i'm tempted to switch C&P to the end of this year and moving Moby Dick to January, just because Infinite Jest into Moby Dick might be too much for my brain to handle lol. ill keep yall updated
When you're reading Proust, Joyce or Woolf, just remember what they were trying to do was the anti-Shakespeare project. They were trying to see just how much they could escape the grasp of a traditional Shakespearean narrative, which was basically all of literature back then. Take it slow, read one volume of Lost Time and then go back to a Shakespeare play of your choice and compare how differently the narrative is designed. This is the best way to read stream-of consciousness books IMO.
that’s a great tip- thank you! i know a lot of the modernist movement was an attempt to step away from a traditional narrative, yet its also interesting because faulkner in particular uses a lot of stream of consciousness, but was clearly super influenced by shakespeare. but i haven’t read proust or joyce yet, so i think ill try what you’re suggesting. it’s been a while since i’ve read shakespeare anyway, it’ll be a good excuse to go back. thanks for the thoughtful comment!
@@CallosumBooks Yes, Faulkner had influences from Joyce, especially in his Go Down, Moses anthology ("The Bear", specifically), but he mostly didn't like the narrative style Joyce chose instead of Shakespeare, which was the Homeric comic style. That's why Joyce is funnier while Faulkner maintained a more somber tone. Also, Faulkner was a little sh-t when he was younger lol. He bragged about how he could easily write a better Hamlet if he wanted to. As he grew up, this kinda mellowed into his motto of "human heart in conflict with itself" being the only thing worth writing about, which is a very decidedly Shakespearean motto, hence his modernist writing with still Shakespearean themes. This same pattern of thinking was also true for Burgess with his Nothing Like the Sun and Urgent Copy, and various other modernists. Being fully anti-Shakespeare is very difficult as it turns out haha. Sooner or later you'll feel the pull. Joyce, Proust and Woolf might be the only ones who could deny it. Unrelated: I love your channel! I've been thinking of starting my own channel (not on lit, but on film and visual literacy, that kinda stuff) and you've encouraged and inspired me a lot! Keep up the great work.
this comment made my day. i really hope you start your own channel - and if you do please let me know so i can subscribe! also related - i've been listening to podcasts about faulkner's life and you're right he truly was a little shit lmfao. still a complete genius. if your insights on literature are anything like your insights on film, your channel will be amazing and i look forward to it
Fantastic selection. I completetelly gave up on Ulisses, just feels like a bunch of riddles and references maybe because english isnt my native language it dosent seem to worth the challenge. In search of Lost time have been on my list for a while. Memories just isnt my favotite gender. Sorry for bad grammar and misspellings. Great channel.
don't worry - most native english speakers struggle just as much with ulysses haha, it's got a reputation for being difficult for a reason! your english is great btw, thank you for your comment!
The Bros. K, Moby Dick and W&P are my three favorite books. I wouldn't worry about W&P's length. You'll be vacuuming it up. The only problem is the first 40 pages where getting used to the Russian names is difficult, and at least I didn't like any of the characters at first. But many of them became my best friends. BK and MD are cognitively more challenging. I recommend Bert Dreyfus's seminars on each, which are on TH-cam. th-cam.com/video/usxvyf3xqcQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=EXucwghfgtVx7kdU and th-cam.com/video/eq5LDSZDr2E/w-d-xo.htmlsi=7_fFBt4gh68jXr_F After reading MD for the 2nd time I listened to him and saw that I hadn't read the book at all and so read it again. Oh, and maybe we should listen to your Dad's thoughts.
I just found your channel and love this video. You now have a new subscriber. I was curious about your TH-cam name and then saw the print of the sagittal section of the brain behind you. I hope you don’t mind the question, but does that allude to your work IRL? I am 74 and will be retiring in nine weeks (I am a psychiatrist). At my age. I certainly feel ‘time’s winged chariot’ bearing down on me at an ever-increasing pace, and there are still so many books I want to read. I love the thoughtful way in which you are approaching your reading life and I can see that there will be many treasures for you in the years ahead.
thanks so much for subscribing, and congrats on a well deserved retirement! and yes - i’m finishing up my PhD in neuroscience now and am defending my dissertation in july. which books are still big on your list? and thank you for the kind words ☺️
I am in my 60's & it has been on my mind every so often that the clock is ticking when it comes to getting everything read that I want before 💀..... Some of my bucket list books are same as yours, though I think you push yourself more than I do, so some of yours are beyond my interest (or intellect!) Congrats on the degree! Also..you know it would not be a bad thing to turn your plant every few days, unless you enjoy the horizontal stature it has taken! Thanks as always for the video!
hahaha i dunno about intellect but interest is totally fair! which books are also on your list? i'll have to let you know when i start mine and maybe we could read it at the same time! as far of the plants yes im usually pretty good at turning them haha, i was just out of town for the past few days and this guy got to reaching while i was gone 😅 thanks for commenting! always look forward to what you have to say
@@CallosumBooks Among the ones you listed in this video, I want (I think!) to read Moby Dick, War & Peace, and Tale of Two Cities. Also, I have a set of several Toni Morrison books which have been setting on my shelves for years which I would like to get to. I am guessing (perhaps erroneously) that Tale of Two Cities and the Toni Morrison would be the most accessible to me. I get intimidated by mammoth sized books...so W&P is daunting...and I had heard (as you alluded to) that MD was half story/ half non-fiction about the whaling industry, which, on the surface does not sound like "a book I can't put down"...I started to read "East of Eden" to try to catch up to you, but I was making such slow progress, I gave it up....
please please end up reading some toni morrison! you will love her. and me know what you think. i'm biased, but i really recommend song of solomon. also no rush to finish east of eden! i hope you don't end up giving up. you can always return to the videos whenever you finish the corresponding sections haha
Bro I'm actually reading In Search of Lost Time myself right now; just finished the fourth volume. The writing is out of this world, but I hope you like gossip and boring AF dinner parties. XD And Moby Dick...that book is *so* much more than most people think it is. Very sinister books in many respects. Hop you enjoy! :D
thank you!! hahaha always down to read about some gossip, we’ll have to see about the dinner parties, though. 4 volumes in is pretty impressive though! are you enjoying it so far?
@@CallosumBooks I would say it has its hills and valleys. First volume was pretty good, second volume was extremely good, third volume bored me out of my mind, fourth volume was a slight rebound.
@@CallosumBooks Funny story, I was about to write bibliography because I felt like that was the correct but it isn't. A bibliography is not the collective works of an author. Instead, it is a list of sources, including books, articles, and other materials, that are referenced or consulted in the research and writing of a particular work. A bibliography provides details about the sources, such as the authors, titles, publishers, publication dates, and sometimes the pages used. An author's oeuvre encompasses all the works they have produced over their career, including books, articles, essays, and other writings.
I thought Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety was a much more interesting book than A Tale of Two Cities, certainly for modern sentiments, and it deals with the same time in European history. It's much more focused on the big political players in France, rather than the ordinary people, but the characters are way more compelling. I found ATOTC to be awfully maudlin, about women in particular.
And since I'm recommending a Mantel, if you haven't read her yet, I suspect you would get a lot out of her Wolf Hall series. They are an unquestionable masterpiece, in my opinion, and will be considered classics one day.
@@readingintrees thanks for the recommendation - i'll check it out! and yeah haha, dickens and being overly sentimental is kind of the iconic duo, i get that feeling from what i've read from him so far
Such an incredible list! It's so funny because a couple days ago I was feeling so overwhelmed (in a good way) of all the books I want to read in this lifetime. I'm happy that I came across your channel, will be binge watching your videos! Do you have Goodreads or Instagram?
thank you so much! too many books to read haha. i have a goodreads but i haven’t updated it in forever. the star rating on that website drives me crazy 😂
Don't worry, buddy. I'm 67 and still think about the books i want to read before i die, plus the books i want to reread. Enjoy your life. Live every day to the fullest. Light in August is the "easiest" Faulkner novel.
i’ll do my best!! so glad you found your way here and thank you for the nice comment
My plan is not to die!
At 63 I finally read Moby Dick. It took two months (reading 10 pages a day, more on weekends) and inspired me to embrace more Classic literature. So I read House of the Seven Gables, Wuthering Heights, A Farewell to Arms, Jane Eyre (my favorite), The Red Badge of Courage (masterpiece), Two Raymond Chandler books - Farewell My Lovely and The Lady in the Lake. And now currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray along with Crime and Punishment. The above books took me almost five months. This fall and winter I have my sights on War and Peace…and then Anna Karenina. I wish I had begun this literary adventure decades ago…but better late than never.
so glad you're getting back into literature and that you found your way to my channel! how are you liking dorian gray so far? that's one of my absolute favorites
@@CallosumBooks I’m only a third of the way through but it reads like lightning. The dialogue carries the reader like they’re caught in swift flowing current it’s so compelling.
I am 64 and I just read Moby Dick. I am now on part two of Don Quixote.
On my bucket list: Anna Karenina, East of Eden, Great Expectations, Mrs. Dalloway, IT, The Grapes of Wrath etc., I have many more!
Congratulations on your PH.D!
thank you so much ☺️
i love both great expectations and east of eden! happy reading!
I'm eighteen and I've already started semi-consciously putting together one of these Bucket list TBRs. All of Faulkner for sure. Great video
that’s about how old i was when i first read faulkner! read as i lay dying in school and it changed the way i view literature haha.
I've been reading In Search of Lost Time in my few quiet moments for the past two years and yeah.... My man was insane. Probably the most boring person on earth. But it really is like looking at a cathedral -you can only really see it from afar. It has changed my reading habits drastically (went from 60-70 books a year to around 20) and my way of thinking. As an architect I love the way he understands space and how he uses it in whatever way he sees fit for the narrative -I'd say book four is quite space-heavy, one of my favorites, where you can grasp more how his characters are just acting in a play.
I just think it's neat that he not only makes universal every human feeling, but he also has something to give to different people. I don't care that much about his narration style, but allowing me to dissect his brain in his understanding of space and architecture? Truly a legend.
hahahaha this comment made me crack up. i can't tell if it makes me want to read it more or not 😂
your comments about tying his work back to architecture is super interesting to me. by space you mean physical space, correct? or like celestial space haha, i'm not sure. either way seems pretty compelling
but especially his writing on feelings and emotions are what draws me to his work. i can't wait to get started - i'll probably do something similar to you and do it slowly over a matter of years. thanks so much for your insightful comment!
I read 'War and Peace' last year after also procrastinating it for years and it genuinely was easy to read, I didn't struggle with the length as much as I expected and there was always something going on pulling you in, on all the plot threads. Definitely recommend :)
this is what i've heard about tolstoy's writing in general! can't wait to get into it haha.
Great selection of books to read. I have read almost all the books on your list. If it helps any I listened to Ulysses while I read the text ( I had to try something after three starts) the audio was highly entertaining, the text is meant to have a certain gaiety to it and the narrator sings some of the songs. I have yet to read Gravity's Rainbow but I did get the text and the audio to that as well. This is my 75th year and I don't know if I will finish my new books I have been buying this year and have some more on the way but I made it a point to read everything connected to Tolkien this year. I had read the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings about 10 years ago and knew other stories (books) have been published but had no idea how much was available so I've been digging in. I've also included foreign sagas and fairy tales. I hope you have a wonderful time reading your to be read list.
loved this entire video. thanks for sharing - this is my first video of yours & I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts and cadence. good luck on all of these & congrats on walking for your degree! :) (and you're now the second person to recommend east of eden to me, so looks like it'll be added to my list)
thank you so much! I hope you end up enjoying east of eden!
I was wondering if you were going to put Gravity's Rainbow on this list. I am going to start it early next year, after the holiday season.
Infinite Jest is the only book on your list that I have read, but I think I want to read all of these books too. Infinite Jest is actually a whole lot of fun.
about ~150ish pages into infinite jest and once you get over the adjustment to DFW's writing style it's so much fun haha. it's hilarious and there are so many things going on at once it makes my head spin. and yessss, gravity's rainbow is a white whale for me for sure. will get around to it next year or the year after though
Would love to see a video on ebooks and your thoughts on them/trying a kindle one day if u ever get one! I go back and forth all the time and curious why you read mostly physical!
i read my kindle all the time! mostly when i’m on the road. most stay on physical just because i like the feel of the book and it’s much easier to annotate on. also trying to limit going to amazon for everything haha, but it’s def hard
Im 55. Had almost a decade of not reading, long story, but got back into it this last year. Have already read epics like Don Quixote, Brothers Karamazov, The Count of Monte Cristo, Infinite Jest and Hemingway short stories. Currently half way through Easy of Eden. I can’t imagine not having at least a couple of books on the go, now. Next on my list of must read is War and Peace but always in the back of my mind is the Proust monster.
I highly recommend Absalom, Absalom!, which I'm sure you've already added to one of your lists. I also read Toni Morrison's Jazz this year and I found that to be her most Faulknerian work out of the ones I've read, so I think you'd get a kick out of that as well.
I'm in the midst of Light in August and it's gorgeous, but so emotionally draining.
Anyway, love this list! Thanks for sharing!
absolutely - absalom, absalom is the next faulkner i'm getting into for sure. i want to get to it ASAP but i also feel it probably deserves some room to breathe and i should wait til i can give it the time it deserves haha.
jazz is a great suggestion, it's one of hers i haven't read yet. and as far as her novels, i don't hear many people talk about jazz as much, so its a really good suggestion! thanks so much for your comment
@@CallosumBooks Yeah, Absalom, Absalom!'s one of the more challenging books I've read, if not the most challenging, but like all of Faulkner's work it eventually clicks and becomes a rich and rewarding experience, and you're right, it's one that deserves room to breathe, but I think you'll have a blast diving into it.
Jazz is special, and occasionally inscrutable. I'd actually read Absalom, Absalom! before Jazz, because I think Morrison's taking a lot of narrative cues from it. It also pairs nicely with Virginia Woolf's work.
Anyway, happy reading!
Moby-Dick is a fabulously written novel, and was my gateway to most of the classics that I have relished over the years. Moreover, Ulysses is my favorite novel. I celebrate Bloomsday annually with friends.
Congrats Matt on the degree! I feel like I should read some classics of any kind at some point lol, probably my weakest area of reading.
thanks man!! you totally should! whenever i read one i'm like "ah shit, yeah i guess that's a classic for a reason" haha. usually totally worth the time and better than you expect
I have the complete set of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. If you ever want to do a read along, I've been itching to start it in 2025.🎉 🇫🇷
I am 70 and have read War and Peace five times in my life. I love it so much. Good for you on getting the Briggs translation.Russian literature is so fabulous. Brothers Karamazov is also fabulous, you are holding the best translation. Make sure you have Moby Dick on your list. That novel changed my brain the first time I read it. Mazel tov to your reading ambitions. btw, I love that you have a picture of a brain on your shelf!
five times! that is so inspiring! have you read multiple translations?
Im currently finishing in search of lost time and I followed the blog “182 days of Proust” guideline. It’s roughly about 20 pages a day.
oh good luck! to be honest it's hard for me to do more than 5ish pages a day, each page is so densely packed
Have you read any Pynchon before?
started and stopped a couple times. i loved what i read, but quickly made the realization i cannot read any other books at the same time lol. i'm also stuck between reading mason and dixon or inherent vice for the first pynchon i read... mason and dixon is the one that interests me more, but i heard it's not an amazing place to start with him.
Hello from Japan. 😊 ‘War and Peace’ is on my TBR list. I actually had started reading years ago, but I started getting very confused with so many characters at several chapters in. In addition, those names are difficult to pronounce or can’t figure out how to pronounce. 😅 So I decided to come back to the book sometime later, after I read all other books. 📚
hello and thanks for watching! 🇯🇵
i’ve heard there are like 400 characters in war and peace so i don’t blame you!
Hey, I'm going through war and peace right now (300 pages) and I'm really glad I started writing down characters early on, I recommend you do this as it forces you to read more slowly (and you might want to go slowly, without thinking to finish the book soon) and pay more attention. But overall it's easy to read, I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy it and understand everything :)
@@herbertzilli8669 Hello and thank you for your suggestion! Yes, I remember it wasn't difficult to read, it was just the number of characters. I will write down the characters' info when I'm ready to go back to the book, hopefully soon! Thank you!
30 is great - defending your PHD is ?? hadn’t heard of that - obviously they are questioning something - good luck with your quest for that - hope goes smoothly. Haven’t read Moby Dick - - wow, on War & Peace, my husband read this - amazed me - (Nice version) - My next big book is going to be Anastasia-
So we gonna read Crime and Punishment in january? I really liked that scheduled, im in the middle of war and peace, so that's sound great for me haha
that's the plan for right now! though i'm tempted to switch C&P to the end of this year and moving Moby Dick to January, just because Infinite Jest into Moby Dick might be too much for my brain to handle lol. ill keep yall updated
When you're reading Proust, Joyce or Woolf, just remember what they were trying to do was the anti-Shakespeare project. They were trying to see just how much they could escape the grasp of a traditional Shakespearean narrative, which was basically all of literature back then. Take it slow, read one volume of Lost Time and then go back to a Shakespeare play of your choice and compare how differently the narrative is designed. This is the best way to read stream-of consciousness books IMO.
that’s a great tip- thank you! i know a lot of the modernist movement was an attempt to step away from a traditional narrative, yet its also interesting because faulkner in particular uses a lot of stream of consciousness, but was clearly super influenced by shakespeare. but i haven’t read proust or joyce yet, so i think ill try what you’re suggesting. it’s been a while since i’ve read shakespeare anyway, it’ll be a good excuse to go back. thanks for the thoughtful comment!
@@CallosumBooks Yes, Faulkner had influences from Joyce, especially in his Go Down, Moses anthology ("The Bear", specifically), but he mostly didn't like the narrative style Joyce chose instead of Shakespeare, which was the Homeric comic style. That's why Joyce is funnier while Faulkner maintained a more somber tone. Also, Faulkner was a little sh-t when he was younger lol. He bragged about how he could easily write a better Hamlet if he wanted to. As he grew up, this kinda mellowed into his motto of "human heart in conflict with itself" being the only thing worth writing about, which is a very decidedly Shakespearean motto, hence his modernist writing with still Shakespearean themes. This same pattern of thinking was also true for Burgess with his Nothing Like the Sun and Urgent Copy, and various other modernists. Being fully anti-Shakespeare is very difficult as it turns out haha. Sooner or later you'll feel the pull. Joyce, Proust and Woolf might be the only ones who could deny it.
Unrelated: I love your channel! I've been thinking of starting my own channel (not on lit, but on film and visual literacy, that kinda stuff) and you've encouraged and inspired me a lot! Keep up the great work.
this comment made my day. i really hope you start your own channel - and if you do please let me know so i can subscribe!
also related - i've been listening to podcasts about faulkner's life and you're right he truly was a little shit lmfao. still a complete genius. if your insights on literature are anything like your insights on film, your channel will be amazing and i look forward to it
@@CallosumBooks Thanks! Will definitely let you know once I start it! 😊
Song of Solomon is a fantastic book. Masterful magical realism. It was the first book of hers that I read.
I'm rereading In Search of Lost Time-Well worth the time. it's life changing.
Please read Grapes of Wrath and Anna Karenina
Fantastic selection. I completetelly gave up on Ulisses, just feels like a bunch of riddles and references maybe because english isnt my native language it dosent seem to worth the challenge. In search of Lost time have been on my list for a while. Memories just isnt my favotite gender. Sorry for bad grammar and misspellings.
Great channel.
don't worry - most native english speakers struggle just as much with ulysses haha, it's got a reputation for being difficult for a reason! your english is great btw, thank you for your comment!
The Bros. K, Moby Dick and W&P are my three favorite books. I wouldn't worry about W&P's length. You'll be vacuuming it up. The only problem is the first 40 pages where getting used to the Russian names is difficult, and at least I didn't like any of the characters at first. But many of them became my best friends. BK and MD are cognitively more challenging. I recommend Bert Dreyfus's seminars on each, which are on TH-cam. th-cam.com/video/usxvyf3xqcQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=EXucwghfgtVx7kdU and th-cam.com/video/eq5LDSZDr2E/w-d-xo.htmlsi=7_fFBt4gh68jXr_F After reading MD for the 2nd time I listened to him and saw that I hadn't read the book at all and so read it again. Oh, and maybe we should listen to your Dad's thoughts.
I just found your channel and love this video. You now have a new subscriber. I was curious about your TH-cam name and then saw the print of the sagittal section of the brain behind you. I hope you don’t mind the question, but does that allude to your work IRL? I am 74 and will be retiring in nine weeks (I am a psychiatrist). At my age. I certainly feel ‘time’s winged chariot’ bearing down on me at an ever-increasing pace, and there are still so many books I want to read. I love the thoughtful way in which you are approaching your reading life and I can see that there will be many treasures for you in the years ahead.
thanks so much for subscribing, and congrats on a well deserved retirement! and yes - i’m finishing up my PhD in neuroscience now and am defending my dissertation in july.
which books are still big on your list? and thank you for the kind words ☺️
I am in my 60's & it has been on my mind every so often that the clock is ticking when it comes to getting everything read that I want before 💀..... Some of my bucket list books are same as yours, though I think you push yourself more than I do, so some of yours are beyond my interest (or intellect!) Congrats on the degree! Also..you know it would not be a bad thing to turn your plant every few days, unless you enjoy the horizontal stature it has taken! Thanks as always for the video!
hahaha i dunno about intellect but interest is totally fair! which books are also on your list? i'll have to let you know when i start mine and maybe we could read it at the same time!
as far of the plants yes im usually pretty good at turning them haha, i was just out of town for the past few days and this guy got to reaching while i was gone 😅
thanks for commenting! always look forward to what you have to say
@@CallosumBooks Among the ones you listed in this video, I want (I think!) to read Moby Dick, War & Peace, and Tale of Two Cities. Also, I have a set of several Toni Morrison books which have been setting on my shelves for years which I would like to get to. I am guessing (perhaps erroneously) that Tale of Two Cities and the Toni Morrison would be the most accessible to me. I get intimidated by mammoth sized books...so W&P is daunting...and I had heard (as you alluded to) that MD was half story/ half non-fiction about the whaling industry, which, on the surface does not sound like "a book I can't put down"...I started to read "East of Eden" to try to catch up to you, but I was making such slow progress, I gave it up....
please please end up reading some toni morrison! you will love her. and me know what you think. i'm biased, but i really recommend song of solomon.
also no rush to finish east of eden! i hope you don't end up giving up. you can always return to the videos whenever you finish the corresponding sections haha
30? damn gramps don't kick the bucket too soon..
just kidding, nice list
thank u young man 👴🏻
Bro I'm actually reading In Search of Lost Time myself right now; just finished the fourth volume. The writing is out of this world, but I hope you like gossip and boring AF dinner parties. XD And Moby Dick...that book is *so* much more than most people think it is. Very sinister books in many respects. Hop you enjoy! :D
thank you!! hahaha always down to read about some gossip, we’ll have to see about the dinner parties, though. 4 volumes in is pretty impressive though! are you enjoying it so far?
@@CallosumBooks I would say it has its hills and valleys. First volume was pretty good, second volume was extremely good, third volume bored me out of my mind, fourth volume was a slight rebound.
okok, 3/4 is pretty good. are you reading them slowly?
@@CallosumBooks I did the first 3 back to back to back but then burnt myself out and had to take a break. I think I'll read the others spaced out. XD
20:18 oeuvre
i think i was looking for bibliography hahaha but this works too
@@CallosumBooks Funny story, I was about to write bibliography because I felt like that was the correct but it isn't. A bibliography is not the collective works of an author. Instead, it is a list of sources, including books, articles, and other materials, that are referenced or consulted in the research and writing of a particular work. A bibliography provides details about the sources, such as the authors, titles, publishers, publication dates, and sometimes the pages used.
An author's oeuvre encompasses all the works they have produced over their career, including books, articles, essays, and other writings.
Curious if your PhD has something to do with literature?
nope, haha - neuroscience! 🧠
You rock!
I thought Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety was a much more interesting book than A Tale of Two Cities, certainly for modern sentiments, and it deals with the same time in European history. It's much more focused on the big political players in France, rather than the ordinary people, but the characters are way more compelling. I found ATOTC to be awfully maudlin, about women in particular.
And since I'm recommending a Mantel, if you haven't read her yet, I suspect you would get a lot out of her Wolf Hall series. They are an unquestionable masterpiece, in my opinion, and will be considered classics one day.
@@readingintrees thanks for the recommendation - i'll check it out! and yeah haha, dickens and being overly sentimental is kind of the iconic duo, i get that feeling from what i've read from him so far
You should read Isaac Asimov. Trust me.
No zombie books? What’s wrong with you?????
I’ll be 34 very soon. I’m old and want to read more great books. I thought I was literally the only one going through this predicament.
haha there are probably millions of us matts in our 30s who wish we had more time for books!
Such an incredible list! It's so funny because a couple days ago I was feeling so overwhelmed (in a good way) of all the books I want to read in this lifetime. I'm happy that I came across your channel, will be binge watching your videos! Do you have Goodreads or Instagram?
thank you so much! too many books to read haha. i have a goodreads but i haven’t updated it in forever. the star rating on that website drives me crazy 😂