I was waiting for this! I love vintage classics and their style and design. The red spine is just beautiful aesthetically and not to mention the great essays they provide. Where I live they are as cheap as penguin classics but usually have better paper quality also. My top 10 essentials would probably be: War and Peace Of human Bondage Complete stories AND novels of Kafka Sound and The Fury Our Ancestors Within A Budding Grove(probably my favourite Proust volume) Collected poems of Yeats Gormenghast Gravity's Rainbow The Savage Detectives( I do think that I like Bolaño's 2666 a bit more but I own the picador edition of it) Btw what did you think of Han Kang winning the Nobel today? Have you read anything by her? As an asian I am quite happy that our continent finally got a laureate after ages but... As a reader,I was frankly extremely disappointed and baffled. I have only read The Vegetarian by her and thought it was a feminist thriller with a very memorable plot but it lacked any quality that could win the most prestigious literary prize in world. It looks especially embarrassing after Annie Earnaux and Jon Fosse's win.
Lovely to read your stellar list! I have some of these (but in other editions). Yes I saw the news about Han Kang winning! I was thinking about covering The Vegetarian in my Nobel Prize series! I’m less familiar with her other books. Thanks for watching and sharing, as always. I appreciate your support of the channel and your comments are always stimulating!
Hemingway's A moveable Feast is one of my favourite reads and I've read it multiple times. Such a fantastic read about a great place, time and the characters of our literary and artistic history. Best wishes and happy reading.
Very good selections! I really love all of Dostoyevsky’s works and Tolstoy’s works as well. I am an old 72 year old young, American, who read Mortimor J. Adler’s “How to Read a Book,” many years ago and it’s about the Greatest books ever written and this literally changed my life!!
ohhh love that jump from Faulkner to Carver! I read Carver's Cathedral (also in the Vintage Classics edition) and it's probably one of my all-time favorite short story collections. I could not stop thinking about 'A Small, Good Thing' days after reading it lol. And I've been recently getting into Faulkner, started with Absalom, Absalom then just finished The Sound and The Fury a couple of months ago. challenging read but so rewarding. his prose is unmatched. really enjoyed this video! 😊
Austen is probably our only mutual 'Can't live without' I re-read Northanger Abbey again this year and, as always, was blown away by how well Austen did humanity in all it's facets. Thank you for an enjoyable video, I has made me keen to look out for a couple on this list.
Love your concise commentary and insight that these works have on your literary journey.We always ensure we do not miss your interesting videos Please keep them rolling Bren
Great list! 😊 Some of my favorite Vintage Classics are: * The Count of Monte Cristo - thrilling, packed with adventure, revenge, forgiveness, there's just so much in there, see also the non-fiction book The Black Count about Alexander Dumas's father who was the inspiration for a lot of the Count of Monte Cristo! * Don Quixote - I believe Vintage uses the now en vogue Edith Grossman translation, which is a great translation, though the don Quixote scholar Tom Lathrop also did a recent excellent translation with Alma Classics * The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass - I can't help but be moved by this autobiography, perhaps in part because I'm American and race has been our perennial struggle, Douglass would go on to write two more autobiographies later in life, but this first one remains the point of entry to the rest of his extraordinary life * Northanger Abbey - my favorite Austen novel because it's a straight-up send-up of Gothic tales
A wonderful list! Thank you for sharing! I have the John Rutherford translation of Don Quixote and quite like it. But always interested in various translations of the great works!
@@brenboothjones I actually have 3 different translations of Don Quixote, and each is quite good! Grossman is more serious and brings out the epic grandeur of the story. Rutherford (with Penguin) is the funniest of all the translations in my opinion and really brings out the humor of Don Quixote. And Lathrop is a good balance between the two, I think, with a focus on the most up to date academic scholarship. Of course, all three are quite good, and one can't go wrong with any of the three, and secretly my favorite is Rutherford because I just love the humor! 😊
Great video - just discovered your channel - quite a few new book-related videos to look at! I have the same version of Disgrace - love this book, although it is pretty grim. Apart from Age of Iron, I haven't read any of his other works, but probably should do. I have added A Quiet American to my TBR.
Thank you! And yes Disgrace is definitely grim! His memoir-ish book, Summertime, is surprisingly funny and heartening if you were looking for another way into Coetzee. Thanks for sharing!
Some of her early stuff is very inchoate and tiresome. But there are a few entertaining bits such as Love and Friendship. Her intelligence definitely sparkles through! And yeah reading everything she ever wrote does consolidate and deepen one’s appreciation of her oeuvre.
Hi, just came across your channel! Thanks for sharing your insights. I'm definitely interested in reading more Kafka. Northanger Abbey is also not my favorite Austen (I do feel as though Mansfield Park gets a bad rap but is actually quite good.) I like how you articulate that Austen, while having a small oeuvre and fictional universe, nevertheless created timeless art. It’s interesting to note that Harper Lee read Austen and in response, also wanted to create a novel about human nature through the microcosm of a small town, in writing To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee said her only goal was to create a single story of a small community that reflected larger themes. She wanted to be “the Jane Austen of Alabama.” Desperation is a perfect word to describe what I sense from Hemingway. You had asked us to share our own favorite vintage classics. A few of my favorites: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. “The Far and the Near,” a short story by Thomas Wolfe. The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. The poem “Adlestrop” by Edward Thomas.
Well said! Thanks for sharing. I completely agree with you about Mansfield Park. It’s had some famous criticism from the likes of Edward Said et al. Fair enough. But I love it and I’m not ashamed to say so. Love the connection you draw between Harper Lee and Austen!
Enjoyed Brighton Rock but haven’t got around to TQA yet. Graham has got quite the back catalogue and he was a chief inspiration for one of my favourites, Mr Harry Crews. My favourite vintage would have to be bulgakovs Master and Margarita in a nice lurid yellow if I remember correctly…
Ah mate, you’ve gotta try TQA. Set in Saigon! I thought of you and Manuel when I read it. I’ve heard the name Harry Crews bandied about but not read him yet! Where should I start? I will be covering M&M in a video soon!
Lots of people love his excellent memoir but I prefer The Gospel Singer. Truly demented southern gothic. Harry sets some cruel traps for his characters
Hello! I am new to your channel and I enjoyed very much your video. My favourite Vintage Classics book is Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman. Thank you!
northanger abbey was the first austen novel i read in high school and only bc i wasn't allowed to pick any of her other ones as too many classmates had already chosen her more popular ones. forever grateful for that bc i probably would not have picked it up otherwise. turns out catherine is austen's protagonist i relate to the most ! jane truly did so much for the delulu girlies community with this one 😂 also henry tilney is such an underrated austen man !!!!
Ah that’s a nice anecdote! Stumbling onto a favourite book through happenstance. Yes, Henry Tilney is definitely underrated! I like the pastiche and intertextuality of Northanger Abbey. It’s kinda gently sardonic but heartening at the same time!
A good amount of overlap with things I’ve read - most recently _Disgrace_ which you described very well. (I’ve read several by Greene but not _The Quiet American._ 😢)
Nice one, David! TQA is brilliant. Have you checked out any of Coetzee’s other books? Master of Petersburg is superb and quite different (in terms of setting) than most of his books.
I love Coetzee, I feel like no one on TH-cam ever talks about him. I saw the spine of disgrace in the thumbnail and it got me to click lol. My other favorite of his is waiting for the barbarians. I just love how he does these brutal deconstructions of the morality of man, it’s hard to ignore and they have stayed with me long after I finished reading them. In my opinion he might be our best living writer now that Cormac McCarthy has passed.
Unfortunately, much of the book was savagely edited and published by his wife after Hemmingway’s death. This probably accounts for why she is hardly featured in the book even though she was with him in Paris.
@@cian0079 I actually have Stoner in the Vintage red spine edition…but I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy the novel as much as many other people seem to! Perhaps it’s time for a reread to see if it hits the spot a second time round!
He’s certainly not for everyone-but if you don’t fancy the novels, I can recommend his trilogy of fictionalised memoirs (Boyhood, Youth and Summertime). Very enjoyable and surprisingly hilarious.
I tend to love the covers on Vintage Classics editions a lot of the time, but I just loathe the red spines. They're just so bright and garish and ugh, they ruin the whole design for me haha. I have a couple where there's a continuous design on the spines as well as the covers, like the Gormenghast books or the newer Iris Murdochs, and those are great. Anyway, it was fun hearing about your selection! What's your favourite Austen?
I don’t normally like the colour red per se but I have a soft spot for these red spines! Ooh favourite Austen? It’s a toss up between Persuasion, Mansfield Park and P&P, depending on my mood! What about you?
@@brenboothjones I'd have to go with Persuasion. Generally I think I appreciate her books more than I actually like them (though I haven't read all of them), but Persuasion was the one I actually genuinely loved.
So, just to be clear, if someone broke in your house and night and stole these books, you'd ... die? So sorry to hear about your condition. Lock 'em up good.
I was waiting for this! I love vintage classics and their style and design. The red spine is just beautiful aesthetically and not to mention the great essays they provide. Where I live they are as cheap as penguin classics but usually have better paper quality also.
My top 10 essentials would probably be:
War and Peace
Of human Bondage
Complete stories AND novels of Kafka
Sound and The Fury
Our Ancestors
Within A Budding Grove(probably my favourite Proust volume)
Collected poems of Yeats
Gormenghast
Gravity's Rainbow
The Savage Detectives( I do think that I like Bolaño's 2666 a bit more but I own the picador edition of it)
Btw what did you think of Han Kang winning the Nobel today? Have you read anything by her?
As an asian I am quite happy that our continent finally got a laureate after ages but... As a reader,I was frankly extremely disappointed and baffled. I have only read The Vegetarian by her and thought it was a feminist thriller with a very memorable plot but it lacked any quality that could win the most prestigious literary prize in world. It looks especially embarrassing after Annie Earnaux and Jon Fosse's win.
Lovely to read your stellar list! I have some of these (but in other editions). Yes I saw the news about Han Kang winning! I was thinking about covering The Vegetarian in my Nobel Prize series! I’m less familiar with her other books. Thanks for watching and sharing, as always. I appreciate your support of the channel and your comments are always stimulating!
How do you like Olga Tokarczuk?
@@MarkRigney-d2i1 month late but I really liked Books of Jacob but didn't care for the Flights
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann 1924 - essential, brilliant, outstanding ❤
Classic ✨
Thanks, Bren, for your list of books. So many of them connected/connect with my same sentiments. 😊
Happy to hear that my list resonated with you! Thanks for sharing:)
Hemingway's A moveable Feast is one of my favourite reads and I've read it multiple times. Such a fantastic read about a great place, time and the characters of our literary and artistic history. Best wishes and happy reading.
Absolutely concur with you on A Moveable Feast! Thanks for sharing mate!
Wonderful description of Carver’s power as a writer. Profound but like a fly on the wall of a trailer. Brilliant
Thank you!
I am also a huge fan of Graham Greene - Our Man in Havana is my favourite.....its absurdity and humour 😊
His humour is delicious! Will be covering Our Man in Havana on the channel later this year.
Very good selections! I really love all of Dostoyevsky’s works and Tolstoy’s works as well. I am an old 72 year old young, American, who read Mortimor J. Adler’s “How to Read a Book,” many years ago and it’s about the Greatest books ever written and this literally changed my life!!
Thank you for sharing! Yes Adler’s book is a classic in its own right!
ohhh love that jump from Faulkner to Carver! I read Carver's Cathedral (also in the Vintage Classics edition) and it's probably one of my all-time favorite short story collections. I could not stop thinking about 'A Small, Good Thing' days after reading it lol. And I've been recently getting into Faulkner, started with Absalom, Absalom then just finished The Sound and The Fury a couple of months ago. challenging read but so rewarding. his prose is unmatched. really enjoyed this video! 😊
Thanks so much! The Sound and the Fury is a whirlwind! Cathedral also superb.
Austen is probably our only mutual 'Can't live without' I re-read Northanger Abbey again this year and, as always, was blown away by how well Austen did humanity in all it's facets.
Thank you for an enjoyable video, I has made me keen to look out for a couple on this list.
Nothing better than a rewarding reread! Thank you for sharing.
Love your concise commentary and insight that these works have on your literary journey.We always ensure we do not miss your interesting videos Please keep them rolling Bren
Thank you so much-for everything ❤️
Loved the list and was surprised that i found many of my favorites listed including Carver, Greene, Hemingway ...
Wonderful to hear that. Thanks for sharing!
Great list! 😊 Some of my favorite Vintage Classics are:
* The Count of Monte Cristo - thrilling, packed with adventure, revenge, forgiveness, there's just so much in there, see also the non-fiction book The Black Count about Alexander Dumas's father who was the inspiration for a lot of the Count of Monte Cristo!
* Don Quixote - I believe Vintage uses the now en vogue Edith Grossman translation, which is a great translation, though the don Quixote scholar Tom Lathrop also did a recent excellent translation with Alma Classics
* The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass - I can't help but be moved by this autobiography, perhaps in part because I'm American and race has been our perennial struggle, Douglass would go on to write two more autobiographies later in life, but this first one remains the point of entry to the rest of his extraordinary life
* Northanger Abbey - my favorite Austen novel because it's a straight-up send-up of Gothic tales
A wonderful list! Thank you for sharing! I have the John Rutherford translation of Don Quixote and quite like it. But always interested in various translations of the great works!
@@brenboothjones I actually have 3 different translations of Don Quixote, and each is quite good! Grossman is more serious and brings out the epic grandeur of the story. Rutherford (with Penguin) is the funniest of all the translations in my opinion and really brings out the humor of Don Quixote. And Lathrop is a good balance between the two, I think, with a focus on the most up to date academic scholarship. Of course, all three are quite good, and one can't go wrong with any of the three, and secretly my favorite is Rutherford because I just love the humor! 😊
@@philtheo awesome tips, thank you!
Smart, articulate video. Thank you! I do enjoy Raymond Carver's short stories.
Gosh, thank you!
I am so sorry I only found out today about this channel , great explained and what a cute presenter 🤩
Thank you and welcome to the community!
@@brenboothjones 🙏🏽
Excellent, thoughtful video. Thanks!
Thank you so much! Happy to hear that my video resonated with you.
When I read Brighton Rock, I remember thinking that I needed to read more of his books. I’ve added The Quiet American to my must read list.
Brighton Rock is so good but so bleak! TQA is somehow lusher and more colourful. And it has more historical heft. Thanks for sharing!
Quiet American is excellent, and End of the Affair
Great video - just discovered your channel - quite a few new book-related videos to look at!
I have the same version of Disgrace - love this book, although it is pretty grim. Apart from Age of Iron, I haven't read any of his other works, but probably should do. I have added A Quiet American to my TBR.
Thank you! And yes Disgrace is definitely grim! His memoir-ish book, Summertime, is surprisingly funny and heartening if you were looking for another way into Coetzee. Thanks for sharing!
I haven't read any of Jane Austen's juvenilia, thanks for the recommendation, I agree it adds a lot to her writing journey.
Some of her early stuff is very inchoate and tiresome. But there are a few entertaining bits such as Love and Friendship. Her intelligence definitely sparkles through! And yeah reading everything she ever wrote does consolidate and deepen one’s appreciation of her oeuvre.
Heard about this channel through Strange Lucidity. It's a pleasure to hear you talk about books
Thank you so much! Maria is wonderful-I feel honoured that she gave me a shout-out!
Hi, just came across your channel! Thanks for sharing your insights. I'm definitely interested in reading more Kafka. Northanger Abbey is also not my favorite Austen (I do feel as though Mansfield Park gets a bad rap but is actually quite good.) I like how you articulate that Austen, while having a small oeuvre and fictional universe, nevertheless created timeless art. It’s interesting to note that Harper Lee read Austen and in response, also wanted to create a novel about human nature through the microcosm of a small town, in writing To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee said her only goal was to create a single story of a small community that reflected larger themes. She wanted to be “the Jane Austen of Alabama.” Desperation is a perfect word to describe what I sense from Hemingway. You had asked us to share our own favorite vintage classics. A few of my favorites: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. “The Far and the Near,” a short story by Thomas Wolfe. The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. The poem “Adlestrop” by Edward Thomas.
Well said! Thanks for sharing. I completely agree with you about Mansfield Park. It’s had some famous criticism from the likes of Edward Said et al. Fair enough. But I love it and I’m not ashamed to say so.
Love the connection you draw between Harper Lee and Austen!
Enjoyed Brighton Rock but haven’t got around to TQA yet. Graham has got quite the back catalogue and he was a chief inspiration for one of my favourites, Mr Harry Crews. My favourite vintage would have to be bulgakovs Master and Margarita in a nice lurid yellow if I remember correctly…
Ah mate, you’ve gotta try TQA. Set in Saigon! I thought of you and Manuel when I read it. I’ve heard the name Harry Crews bandied about but not read him yet! Where should I start? I will be covering M&M in a video soon!
Lots of people love his excellent memoir but I prefer The Gospel Singer. Truly demented southern gothic. Harry sets some cruel traps for his characters
@@alexandersinclair8942 sounds like a wild ride mate
Hello! I am new to your channel and I enjoyed very much your video. My favourite Vintage Classics book is Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing and welcome :)
Would love it if you could list the books...I like to screenshot and keep on my TBR list. Thanks.
Thank you for the feedback! Will make sure to catch up on this :)
A good list.
Thank you!
northanger abbey was the first austen novel i read in high school and only bc i wasn't allowed to pick any of her other ones as too many classmates had already chosen her more popular ones. forever grateful for that bc i probably would not have picked it up otherwise. turns out catherine is austen's protagonist i relate to the most ! jane truly did so much for the delulu girlies community with this one 😂 also henry tilney is such an underrated austen man !!!!
Ah that’s a nice anecdote! Stumbling onto a favourite book through happenstance. Yes, Henry Tilney is definitely underrated! I like the pastiche and intertextuality of Northanger Abbey. It’s kinda gently sardonic but heartening at the same time!
A good amount of overlap with things I’ve read - most recently _Disgrace_ which you described very well. (I’ve read several by Greene but not _The Quiet American._ 😢)
Nice one, David! TQA is brilliant. Have you checked out any of Coetzee’s other books? Master of Petersburg is superb and quite different (in terms of setting) than most of his books.
recently picked up a beautiful hardcover of Disgrace for $2 in Tasmania. Keen to get to Michael K too
Far out. Not everything down under is outrageously expensive after all!
I love Coetzee, I feel like no one on TH-cam ever talks about him. I saw the spine of disgrace in the thumbnail and it got me to click lol. My other favorite of his is waiting for the barbarians. I just love how he does these brutal deconstructions of the morality of man, it’s hard to ignore and they have stayed with me long after I finished reading them. In my opinion he might be our best living writer now that Cormac McCarthy has passed.
Very well said! I’m planning to do a deep dive into Coetzee’s oeuvre at some point on the channel. Thanks for sharing!
A professor in college assigned us lots of Coetzee and WG Sebald. Love them both. Sebald's "Rings of Saturn" is fantastic.
I hadn't heard of A Moveable Feast before, Sounds dreamy...
It’s much lusher than most of Hemingway’s other books. Also makes you want to book a one-way ticket to Paris!
Unfortunately, much of the book was savagely edited and published by his wife after Hemmingway’s death. This probably accounts for why she is hardly featured in the book even though she was with him in Paris.
@@sebastiankyte7411 interesting!
@@renee_angelica that’s not to say it isn’t worth reading because it is. I love the description of Wyndham Lewis the English painter and extrovert.
What are your essential Vintage Classics?
I’m fairly certain you gave me a copy of Disgrace in Saigon. Interesting read to say the least
@@alexandersinclair8942 halcyon days, brother.
If you haven’t read Stoner by John Williams, I’d really recommend it. The Vintage Classics version is also beautiful
@@cian0079 I actually have Stoner in the Vintage red spine edition…but I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy the novel as much as many other people seem to! Perhaps it’s time for a reread to see if it hits the spot a second time round!
Hey Brendon, liking the channel. How are you? Quick shoutout to the Writer's Block days. Kind regards, Dorus
Ah what a nice surprise, Dorus! Good times back then running Writer’s Block Magazine together! :D
💌
Expat South African here-just cannot get in to Coetzee…
He’s certainly not for everyone-but if you don’t fancy the novels, I can recommend his trilogy of fictionalised memoirs (Boyhood, Youth and Summertime). Very enjoyable and surprisingly hilarious.
Sooo question back, what do you think/feel about Milan Kundera?🤩
I have many thoughts and feelings about MK! Will be covering him in a video soon! :)
@@brenboothjones looking forward to!
@@Noortjestortelder ❤️
Could you please write a list of the books and put underneath the video?
Certainly! Have a 1 month old baby so kinda running off my feet but I’m aiming to add timestamps and links etc asap. Thanks for your feedback!
I tend to love the covers on Vintage Classics editions a lot of the time, but I just loathe the red spines. They're just so bright and garish and ugh, they ruin the whole design for me haha. I have a couple where there's a continuous design on the spines as well as the covers, like the Gormenghast books or the newer Iris Murdochs, and those are great.
Anyway, it was fun hearing about your selection! What's your favourite Austen?
I don’t normally like the colour red per se but I have a soft spot for these red spines! Ooh favourite Austen? It’s a toss up between Persuasion, Mansfield Park and P&P, depending on my mood! What about you?
@@brenboothjones I'd have to go with Persuasion. Generally I think I appreciate her books more than I actually like them (though I haven't read all of them), but Persuasion was the one I actually genuinely loved.
Thank you for not posting one of those coy thumbnails where we can’t read the spines.
You’re most welcome!
AI titled one section "Immovable feast" instead of "a movable feast". Lost a little in the translation...
Thanks for pointing that out! Will see if I can do them manually.
@@brenboothjones no worries, it just amuses me to spot AI titling errors, it's not a problem with your channel, it's everywhere.
Using “Immoveable” could echo Hemingway’s original peccadillo? 😊
Nice video! One suggestion: please don’t over edit. It’s very choppy and distracting. It’s okay if you make mistakes.
Thanks for the feedback! Will keep working on my inchoate editing skills.
I struggled with A moveable feast..
I think I expected a even more visual picture of Paris and ended up with a too self-centered writing.
It is indeed quite Hemingway-centric now that you mention it! Maybe it helped that I was in Paris at the time I read it.
Aristotle took his life to sea as well i think
So, just to be clear, if someone broke in your house and night and stole these books, you'd ... die? So sorry to hear about your condition. Lock 'em up good.
V wolf .idont know. If she is so so why did she took her life?