Books mentioned: War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy Inferno by Dante The master and margarita by Mikhail Bhulikov The memory police by Yoko Ogawa Moby Dick by Herman Melville The shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón 1984 by George Orwell To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf The house of the Spirits by Isabel Allende The brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky The bluest eye by Toni Morrison Collected fictions by Jorge Luis Borges The books of disquiet by Fernando Pessoa A game of Thrones by George RR Martin The poppy war by RF Kuang Pachinko by Min Jin Lee Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami Aeneid by Virgil (translation) Don Qioxote by Cervantes The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe Macbeth by Shakespeare
I do not understand Virginia Wolf. Maybe I need to try her again. Mrs. Dalloway is the only one I read. I wanted to like it. I loved the Hours movie. I just did not.
You're singlehandedly saving me from losing my shit while I'm cramming my bachelor's thesis. Usually I avoid book "influencers" because I find the quantity over quality culture so stressful, they make me feel so guilty for my years-long uni-induced reading slump and generally give me anxiety with their drama in the space I perceived as safe for so many years. But your videos are really peaceful and I relate to you a lot. You helped me look forward to the time after my deadlines when I can just go to a bookstore, treat myself with as many books as I want and read whatever I'm in the mood for. Thank you 🖤✨
This 💜 can relate so bad, master thesis in my case, but also big reading slump during my bachelor... Emma's channel has really helped me recover the love for reading. It feels so invaluable!
so glad I‘m only 17 and hopefully have a lot of time left. So I‘m thinking: If I read 10 books I always wanted to read per year I can read 700 books until I‘m 87 so thats quite a lot. I‘m still a bit stressed haha
Don’t worry about it too much, there are always ways to make time for more books. My solution was to turn to audiobooks during chores such as cooking, dishes, folding laundry, biking to school/work, etc. I hope this helps :)
some tips that i would give would be to make a daily quota that you follow, bring your book EVERYWHERE so that when you have little pockets of time you can read a couple pages. also ebooks are a good option to read on the go on your phone or on a kindle, good luck 👍🏽
I'm also 17 years old. Don't stress about it too much. You can have fun reads and read the books you've been meaning to read. Don't rush it because sometimes there are books you wish you read at a particular age.
Fun fact in Italy we read La Divina Commedia in the last three years of high school. In the third year we study l' Inferno, in our fourth year il Purgatorio, and in our fifth and final year we study the more complex Paradiso. But honestly one could spend a whole lifetime studying Dante. Good luck
Ok dont die and read Dorian Grey first ples, it's just the most mesmeric fiction; one of those books you never forget, reading you will be astonished by the constantly captivating writing style of Oscar Wilde ✨
Considering Tolstoy and Dickens were paired together, Dostoevsky and Eliot could be paired together. There both lauded for their psychological developments to the novel and for their philosophical expressions within the novel. However, whereas Dostoevsky’s philosophical ideas are more well known, Eliot’s are often marginalized. For example, it often gets lost that she produced the first translation of Spinoza into English, which carries into her work with her treatment of nature, emotion and free will. She also translated Fuerbach into English, and was part of the Victorian movement for a secular Christianity. They were also both writing at approximately the same time which allows contrasts between agrarian Russia and Industrial England etc.
I read Silas Marner at school 50 years ago and it has always stayed with me. Excellent author, who as you say has been marginalised through the years. She hardly gets a mention these days mores the pity. Stay safe.
Books I really want to read but haven't yet because they intimidate me : Bleak House (Charles Dickens), Anna Karenina (Tolstoy), Middlemarch (George Eliot), Lolita (Victor Nabokov), and basically everything by Dostojewski. Authors I really want to get into: Agatha Christie, Thomas Hardy, Daphne du Maurier, Edith Wharton. And I wanna read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Fantasy I want to read: The wheel of time series. But there are SO MANY books in that series. Scary. I have read The Count of Monte Christo and Les Misérables (Victor Hugo) recently and it was so worth it - even though I was so intimidated by it. I've also read all of Shakespeare's work, so that's something I guess
I'm currently reading Anna Karenina and it's a lot less intimidating than it seems. It can be a little slow at times but when I've properly gotten into it, I find it hard to put it down.
I discovered Nabokov when started to read The Defense (it's about defense in playing chess), that I found occasionally in my house. After that I heard about The Invitation to Beheading that I am reading now, and it is so true to life that I sometimes believe the book is like burning my hands... Lolita is also a great book, but you should understand that the story is told by this insane guy, while in reality there is a tragedy of him breaking the girl's life.
You and Carolyn should definitely create a “Russian Literature” themed book club and read more of Dostoyevsky, Bulgakov, Gogol, Pushkin, Lermontov and others. Russian literature has become my favorite and it would be really exciting to read them along with you two🥰🥰
@@SpyderT22 Master and Margarita is my all time favorite book! I hope you enjoy. I’ve absolutely loved Anna Karenina and inspired by the DvT book club, I’m currently reading War and Peace. I can’t wait to dive deeper in the world of Russian literature!
I highly recommend To The Lighthouse! It’s the kind of book I want to read again and again over the course of my life, because I know I’ll understand it better and love it more each time. Woolf’s prose is poetry in its own right! An utter masterpiece.
I am reading it right now. It was kinda hard to read especially in the beginning but then when woland and his entourage was introduced it got interesting again. I'm on ch 13ish.
@@sfuikm yeah it helps to be a nerd for russian culture. A lot of the humor can be sort of opaque. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time through where you can take in more what he was trying to say vs. trying to just follow the plot (which isn't an easy task tbh).
@@jonathandanielson9333 I think the hardest thing is the names for me. I keep having to search them up because each character has like 3 different names but overall it's pretty good so far.
Pachinko is such a touching novel, and brothers karamazov is an achingly beautiful nail-biter. Min Jin Lee also wrote a book similar to pachinko, but set in the modern day US, called Free Food For Millionaires that I'd highly recommend!
The books: 1. War and Peace by Lev Tolstoi 2:30 (already read) 2. Dante's Inferno 3:50 3. The Master and Margarita by Mihail Bulgakov 5:20 4. The Memory Police by Yōko Ogaw 6:17 5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville 8:50 6. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón 10:33 7. 1984 by George Orwell 11:40 8. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 12:50 9. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende 13:15 10. The Brothers Karamazov by Feodor Dostoievski 13:54 11. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 15:23 12. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges 16:01 13. The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa 17:03 14. The Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin18:37 15. The Poppy W by R. F. Kuangar 20:28 16. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee 20:55 17. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez 21:32 18. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami 22:20 19. The Aeneid by Publius Vergilius Maro 23:20 20. Don Quijote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes 23:46 21. The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien 24:13 22. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 24:56 23. Macbeth by William Shakespeare 26:00 I personally really really want to read Shogun by James Cavaliere. It's huge and very intimidating but...one day. And if I like it I'd like to read the whole Asian Saga.
I’m working my way through Quixote now. I’m taking it little by little so I don’t get overwhelmed but so far so good. I feel like it’s definitely one of those that translation makes or breaks it
Virginia Woolf is my favourite author - have a full bookcase of her works, diaries, essays and am slowly collecting all of the biographies of Virginia and Vanessa (Bell - her sister, an artist) and the other members of the Bloomsbury set. Mrs Dalloway and To The Lighthouse are generally considered her easiest novels - I prefer Mrs Dalloway personally, but the language is gorgeous in both :)
How do you feel about 'the waves'?? Its honestly my favourite of her works and one of my very favourites books in general. But I don't hear anyone talk about it and it breaks my heart.
@@JustSarlota I find The Waves beautifully written, one of those books I feel like I could just lose myself in. I agree, it's not one you hear much about in the mainstream, people do tend to favour the two easiest novels (Dalloway and Lighthouse).
@@JustSarlota i also adore the waves! it was the first virginia woolf novel i picked up (probably not the best idea) and i adored it. after reading it i just want to read all her other novels but i’m making myself take a break lol
@@ellietaylor6940 This is a 2 year old comment but I am curious to know why you are referring to these two novels as the easiest from her work when the structure of the novels and the techniques are quite complex. I've never seen them being described as 'the easiest' of her novels so this has me intrigued.
the shadow of the wind is hands down my favourite book of all time. i had to return the copy i was halfway through to my teacher and couldnt find a copy for years before finding it in a secondhand book shop years later. that book is so stunning and SO criminally underrated
The Bluest Eye is so tragic, but such a deep cutting perspective on poverty, misogyny, and being a black girl in America (esp in the 60’s when i believe the book is set?). I really think everyone should read it.
This is on my tbr for this reason.. being black girl in America in this time is hard, i want to understand it from someone whos was living it that time. Ive heard its a tragic read, but I need to read it. And like you said everyone should.
I'm not one to gush usually, but I remember feeling such joy when reading Borges. Amazing ideas and concepts, condensed so neatly. I was genuinely happy that these stories even existed.
I'm turning 21 so this is something I've been thinking about for a while, like, what books would I place at the top of my priorities before I die? It's so intriguing to really sit and think about it, but in reality, knowing I'll have to tackle my messy Goodreads means I'll probably try putting it off 🤣
I always had the same preconceived notions of Melville, thinking, for some reason, it would be very dry, but found that the prose got me from page one; it's heavily existential and poetic. And The Master and Margarita is unbelievably fantastic. When I finished The Brothers Karamazov, it had such an effect on me that I thought I could never enjoy another book in the same way again...then I read The Master and Margarita
So excited for you to read Master and Margarita. So far I've read it in Latvian once and in English twice and to this day it is my absolute favourite book of all time.
It is the BEST! I'm so excited to hear her thoughts on it as well. I was in the middle of this book when my house burned down. The trauma of it all made me avoid all things I was watching, reading, or listening to with this one exception. I loved it so much I had to finish it, and I am so glad I did.
"Master and Maragarita" is great. It has so many themes so everyone can find something they enjoy. The book is deep but also fun. And it is so catching I literally finished it in 2 days. Highly recommend 👍
@Jana That helps thanks. I just had to read the same page like 3 times yesterday to even understand what was going on at that one part with the floating suit that was writing at his desk or something haha.
I really want to read The Lord of the Rings, The Bluest Eye, To The Lighthouse, and 1984 (plus I want to pick up Anne of Green Gables because you rave about it so much)
I finished The Master and Margarita this year. You're going to love it! But, I believe the context of this novel is very, very important to understand because it came out (or to be more precise, was not allowed to come out) at a very politically crucial time in Russia, and knowing that really helped me appreciate the novel.
As I am 73 years of age, I am remembering a life time of reading and am envious of the challenges and joys that you will encounter in your life of books. Understandably, my "bucket list" of books differs from yours as it should. In my library of over 6000 books, I still have over 200 titles on my "tbr" list so I am optimistic. One book that has stayed with me throughout my life since college is The Divine Comedy. I am excited to learn more about your reaction to the book. I have read the Inferno well over a dozen times, Purgatorio at least nine times, and sadly, Paradiso only 2 or 3 times. There are many good translations out there. My favorite for beauty is Ciardi, my favorite for being approachable is Mark Musa. He also includes some good annotations. And that is essential. Even with the Inferno, you will miss a lot without good annotations. For the beginner, I would also recommend A Modern Readers Guide to Dante's The Divine Comedy by Joseph Gallagher. Also, A Beginners guide to Dante's Divine Comedy by Jason Baxter. You just have to have notes to better appreciate what you are reading. Best of success and I will follow your progress with interest! Oh, one more. For a wild and crazy read, try Dante's Inferno by Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders. This is Dante updated to 21th century times.
I love Murakami as well. I’m excited for you to read him for a vlog. I did not read his work in order but started with 1Q84 and the writing is so well done that it draws you into the story immediately. There are plenty of bizarre ideas in the story but it was so good. I could see doing a reread myself. Great list!
The only book from Virginia Woolf I've read is The Waves, and some of the most memorable quotes I know have come from it Not sure if it's the best place to start with her though
I took a class on the Divine Comedy while doing my undergrad and it absolutely blew me away. I think you’re going to love the experience! I would love to do a read along with you; it’s been a while since I’ve revisited Dante.
Young lady, don't be afraid of the white whale. It is one of those books you will never regret having read. Maybe it is a book best read when you are older, though. I read it again at the age of 55 or so and it was much more meaningful with more of the literary canon, and life experience under my belt.
Memory police was the first book I read when I decided to start reading two years ago. I loved it and I'm glad I did because it motivated me to read more.
“don quixote” es by far one of my favorite reads EVER. I studied it when i was in college. Everything is in that book, took me a lot of moths to read it, not because is hard, but because i couldn’t stop studying it. You have so many books that i want to read as well.
Well, at the risk of appearing proud, I've pretty much finished my bucket list, which once included the Bible from cover-to-cover and Joyce's Ulysses with some comprehension. Now the only thing left is Proust's A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, which I downloaded yesterday, and hope to finish this summer.
@@May-bd6dv i'm not ready for my own channel, but we can prolly hi-jack this one a little bit until we figure something out, assuming it's okay with Emmie.
Funny how people generally devide into two teams with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. This may be kind of a debate that decides not who is a better writer but what kind of personality the reader has, judging from the works of both writers 😊
Dostoevsky readers have *better* personalities. But in all seriousness, I've only read Dostoevsky myself but it seems like the sensitive, concerned and socially aware individuals tend to enjoy Tolstoy, and the moderately deranged, philosophically inclined, mad scientist types lean more towards Dostoevsky.
Nice video! A thing I realized though is that a lot of readers with english as their mother tongue don´t read a lot of french or german classics like Flaubert or Goethe. If you´re into magical realism I can highly recommend the tin drum by Günter Grass which is a picaresque novel that plays during the nazi times.
Hi, The shadow of the wind is beautiful . Also Bulgakov is one of my fav and I would recommend also A country doctor's notebook and The heart of a dog. Have a lovely week. Hugs from Atlanta , US
Hi Emma,this is the first time I'm commenting in the comments section of a BookTuber....I am compelled to do so now because ever since I stumbled upon your channel a month ago I've been transported to a whole new world....I was just an on and off reader reading mainly light fiction with no time for anything more...but now I've started reading Anna karenina and I'm a doctor neck-deep in covid duties...I hope that says how much you have influenced my reading.... 😀Wat to say...Thank You... ❤️keep doing the fantastic things you do...God bless.... 😊
The Brothers Karamazov is my all time favorite book. It's so beautiful with characters who almost seem alive. I have read it three times, though I know it's a book you can always find new surprises in. Also provides one of the most honest yet hopeful portrayals of Chrisianity. Best book ever? For my money lol
I read The Memory Police earlier this year in the book club that I’m in. It’s not a book I would’ve picked on my own, but oh my gosh I’m so glad I got the chance to read it! It’s so so good and I still think about the ending to this day! Read it, you definitely won’t regret it!
Jess here from Calgary Canada! The divine comedy changed my life. I’m now starting my masters in Language and Literature (Italian) studies to study it more deeply. My favorite translation is from Sinclair (if you’re interested in reading Purgatorio or Paradiso)
oh I'm also currently reading Dante's Inferno! I have two versions on my phone that I'm wanting to read, to compare the translations. I also have quite a lot of the same books on my own personal tbr, which is very excited!
To the Lighthouse (my favorite novel from one of my favorite writers), The Brothers Karamazov, and The Book of Disquiet are some of my favorite books of all time :) So excited for you to eventually get to them.
How you talked about War & Peace and your excitement of reading something for the first time was such a wonderful framing I want to use from here on out!!
If you feel Borges writes about the topics you like, wait until you witness the mastery of his prose, that not even other great writers can/could dream to match. Your mind is going to be blown, Emma. Enjoy.
The Shadow of the Wind is stunning! It is truly a masterpiece. If you end up enjoying it, I highly recommend reading more books from The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, my favourite one was The Angel's Game.
Don't hesitate on Borges! I did for the longest but once I finally made the leap, I regretted not reading him earlier. "The Circular Ruins" and "Funes the Memorious" are my favorites.
Thank you for all the suggestions. With so many books around, videos like this are needed to help sort the wheat from the (much more plentiful) chaff. I will certainly put some of your books on my list. Here's another one for yours: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, a much overlooked classic and my own favourite book.
also, the master and margarita is AMAZING.... I'm sure you're going to love it. it's such a celebration of magical realism and the absurd... I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this one
I read "The Bluest Eye (and wrote my senior year AP Literature paper on it)," "Love in the Time of Cholera," and Things Fall Apart" in high school; the first two are two of my favorites of all time but I definitely want to read all three again as an adult.
I'm so glad that TH-cam recommended this video to me about a month ago. This was the video that introduced me to your channel and it's already becoming one of my absolute favorites!
Absolutely read 1984. I put it off for over a decade and when I finally read it it was easier than I expected. I thought it'd be exceedingly slow and boring but it was actually pretty okay. I honestly didn't love it as much as most people who gush about it, giving me the impression they have read very few books at all. But it's a good read and as you go through it you can totally see why it's so influencial to this day still. In summary: pick it up, you're likely to get engrossed easier than you expect and it's also really short.
the shadow of the wind !!! i've had iit on my physical tbr for years but haven't read it yet! if you want to read some shorter zafon to begin with his works i highly recommend Marina! it's very gothic and i adored the story! i also wanna read sooo many of these before i die! and i'm currently reading the aeneid and i'm really enjoying it! also i remember recommending the house of the spirits when you read 100 years! allende's writing is as gorgeous as garcia marquez's and i love how her story follows female leads! i studied the book in the last year of high school and i loved getting to analyse it
I am so excited for you to read Bulgakov! The Master and Margarita is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s really a book about writing/creation. You’re going to love it.
Also, I do think To the Lighthouse is the place to start! The Waves is my personal favorite, but that is an incredibly tall task to start with, and To the Lighthouse is (in my opinion) a clear second best, so from a Woolf-head, I approve of you starting there!
I sped read Don Quixote in my sophomore year of high school because I had to do a book report in Spanish class and I was set on reading the unabridged version. Don’t remember any of it other than the windmills, so I’d like to read it again. But I’d be up for doing a group read for several of these.
I can’t believe I haven’t read any of these so far (not even the Pessoa one even though I’m Portuguese) but I’m actually reading brothers Kalamazov right now and I’m really getting into it! I love that your list has authors from all over the world and not only English native speakers (definitely saw Saramago’s book on your shelf and would love to hear your thoughts about that book in particular) Your videos are so lovely and I always end up adding more books to my TBR on goodreads every time!
When covid hit I had a crisis about dying before reading all of Jane Austen’s works so that’s what I did in quarantine 😂
p&p is a banger
My goal is to read all her books this year 😊 I already read Emma, Persuasion and P&P 📚
Same here I fell in love with her again
haha I did the same thing! Persuasion was my fav :)
Same 😂😂
Books mentioned:
War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Inferno by Dante
The master and margarita by Mikhail Bhulikov
The memory police by Yoko Ogawa
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
1984 by George Orwell
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
The house of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
The bluest eye by Toni Morrison
Collected fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
The books of disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
A game of Thrones by George RR Martin
The poppy war by RF Kuang
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Aeneid by Virgil (translation)
Don Qioxote by Cervantes
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein
Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Thank you for your service :D
THANKYOU !!
Thanks for saving time, as she purposefully avoided mentioning them in the description of the video.
jaja you wrote borges' name so incorrectly, godbless
I do not understand Virginia Wolf. Maybe I need to try her again. Mrs. Dalloway is the only one I read. I wanted to like it. I loved the Hours movie. I just did not.
Me- *Has existential crisis*
Me- Reads Oscar Wilde
Me- *Has another existential crisis*
Me- :)
You're singlehandedly saving me from losing my shit while I'm cramming my bachelor's thesis. Usually I avoid book "influencers" because I find the quantity over quality culture so stressful, they make me feel so guilty for my years-long uni-induced reading slump and generally give me anxiety with their drama in the space I perceived as safe for so many years. But your videos are really peaceful and I relate to you a lot. You helped me look forward to the time after my deadlines when I can just go to a bookstore, treat myself with as many books as I want and read whatever I'm in the mood for. Thank you 🖤✨
This 💜 can relate so bad, master thesis in my case, but also big reading slump during my bachelor... Emma's channel has really helped me recover the love for reading. It feels so invaluable!
@@chi6372 all the strength to you ✊🏼💜
Check out Emma Angelina's channel. She's dyslexic, so she reads fewer books and focuses more on classics.
good luck to you both, you got this!!
Oh I feel this! I wish you all the luck and strength in the world 🧡
I guess you could call it a booket list…
I love this
Jack Edwards would be proud of this comment.
@@hikittykittykitty. true true
so glad I‘m only 17 and hopefully have a lot of time left. So I‘m thinking: If I read 10 books I always wanted to read per year I can read 700 books until I‘m 87 so thats quite a lot. I‘m still a bit stressed haha
Don’t worry about it too much, there are always ways to make time for more books. My solution was to turn to audiobooks during chores such as cooking, dishes, folding laundry, biking to school/work, etc. I hope this helps :)
some tips that i would give would be to make a daily quota that you follow, bring your book EVERYWHERE so that when you have little pockets of time you can read a couple pages. also ebooks are a good option to read on the go on your phone or on a kindle, good luck 👍🏽
We're the same age!! Yessss I was thinking too, that's a lot of books! Best of luck to you ♡♡♡
It's the quality and not about quantity...stressing about it only puts you off and prevents you from enjoying each book.
I'm also 17 years old. Don't stress about it too much. You can have fun reads and read the books you've been meaning to read. Don't rush it because sometimes there are books you wish you read at a particular age.
"Dont look at the mess. Look at me the other mess." Please that is relatable and funny 😭🤚🤚
Fun fact in Italy we read La Divina Commedia in the last three years of high school. In the third year we study l' Inferno, in our fourth year il Purgatorio, and in our fifth and final year we study the more complex Paradiso. But honestly one could spend a whole lifetime studying Dante. Good luck
I'm learning Italian and would like to read it in the original someday, it's definitely part of my bucket list
That’s actually so funny. As if you are literally ascending from the layers of high school.
I'm so intimidated but I wish to read it
Like how they read master and margarita in school s in Russia
Hahahaha exactly
okay but i literally had an existential crisis the other month about dying before reading dorian gray, monte cristo, and war and peace lolol
i will pray for you not to DIE before you read them🖤
@@perennial6612 thank you 😂
Read Monte Cristo soooooon. 😊
Ok dont die and read Dorian Grey first ples, it's just the most mesmeric fiction; one of those books you never forget, reading you will be astonished by the constantly captivating writing style of Oscar Wilde ✨
Monte Cristo is GOAT
Considering Tolstoy and Dickens were paired together, Dostoevsky and Eliot could be paired together. There both lauded for their psychological developments to the novel and for their philosophical expressions within the novel. However, whereas Dostoevsky’s philosophical ideas are more well known, Eliot’s are often marginalized. For example, it often gets lost that she produced the first translation of Spinoza into English, which carries into her work with her treatment of nature, emotion and free will. She also translated Fuerbach into English, and was part of the Victorian movement for a secular Christianity. They were also both writing at approximately the same time which allows contrasts between agrarian Russia and Industrial England etc.
This is a great idea, also Victor Hugo could be paired
I read Silas Marner at school 50 years ago and it has always stayed with me. Excellent author, who as you say has been marginalised through the years. She hardly gets a mention these days mores the pity. Stay safe.
Books I really want to read but haven't yet because they intimidate me : Bleak House (Charles Dickens), Anna Karenina (Tolstoy), Middlemarch (George Eliot), Lolita (Victor Nabokov), and basically everything by Dostojewski.
Authors I really want to get into: Agatha Christie, Thomas Hardy, Daphne du Maurier, Edith Wharton. And I wanna read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Fantasy I want to read: The wheel of time series. But there are SO MANY books in that series. Scary.
I have read The Count of Monte Christo and Les Misérables (Victor Hugo) recently and it was so worth it - even though I was so intimidated by it. I've also read all of Shakespeare's work, so that's something I guess
I would recommend you start with Sherlock or Agatha , once you take a sip of their books, you won't stop. Good luck!
I think Lolita isn't Nabokov's best work, but I agree that it's important to familiarize yourself with it. 🙃
I'm currently reading Anna Karenina and it's a lot less intimidating than it seems. It can be a little slow at times but when I've properly gotten into it, I find it hard to put it down.
I discovered Nabokov when started to read The Defense (it's about defense in playing chess), that I found occasionally in my house. After that I heard about The Invitation to Beheading that I am reading now, and it is so true to life that I sometimes believe the book is like burning my hands...
Lolita is also a great book, but you should understand that the story is told by this insane guy, while in reality there is a tragedy of him breaking the girl's life.
@@Skyblockenjoyerrrrrr good to know!! 👍😀
You should add The Count of Monte Cristo in your list, it’s definitely a perfect must-read-before-you-die kind of book.
I read it in middle school I don’t know if o was ready for the commitment 😂
One of my favourite books ever
Aaah being a French person...this book is the rype of thing we read in middle school , but seriously it's GREAT
I’m reading it right now and it’s AMAZING
"Descent into the circles of hell - which just sounds like so much fun"
-emma
😂😂😂
You and Carolyn should definitely create a “Russian Literature” themed book club and read more of Dostoyevsky, Bulgakov, Gogol, Pushkin, Lermontov and others. Russian literature has become my favorite and it would be really exciting to read them along with you two🥰🥰
Best. Suggestion. Ever.
Yes please! I would love to join in as well!
@@SpyderT22 Master and Margarita is my all time favorite book! I hope you enjoy. I’ve absolutely loved Anna Karenina and inspired by the DvT book club, I’m currently reading War and Peace. I can’t wait to dive deeper in the world of Russian literature!
Yes please! I love Russian lit! I'm so happy to know there are others who love it as well
@@laranucifera5624 Master and Margarita is one my favorites too! I love how wild and crazy things get.
I highly recommend To The Lighthouse! It’s the kind of book I want to read again and again over the course of my life, because I know I’ll understand it better and love it more each time. Woolf’s prose is poetry in its own right! An utter masterpiece.
Just read the master and margarita this month! There’s so much symbolism and foreshadowing that I reread it with audible after finishing. 10/10
I am reading it right now. It was kinda hard to read especially in the beginning but then when woland and his entourage was introduced it got interesting again. I'm on ch 13ish.
@@sfuikm yeah it helps to be a nerd for russian culture. A lot of the humor can be sort of opaque. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time through where you can take in more what he was trying to say vs. trying to just follow the plot (which isn't an easy task tbh).
@@jonathandanielson9333 I think the hardest thing is the names for me. I keep having to search them up because each character has like 3 different names but overall it's pretty good so far.
Omg! That's on my list.
The shadow of the wind series is one of my favourite series ever! The writing and story crafting is outstanding
The Master and Margarita is my FAVORITE book of all time. It’s incredible and you’ll love it
Pachinko is such a touching novel, and brothers karamazov is an achingly beautiful nail-biter. Min Jin Lee also wrote a book similar to pachinko, but set in the modern day US, called Free Food For Millionaires that I'd highly recommend!
The opening was so dramatic yet so relatable
The books:
1. War and Peace by Lev Tolstoi 2:30 (already read)
2. Dante's Inferno 3:50
3. The Master and Margarita by Mihail Bulgakov 5:20
4. The Memory Police by Yōko Ogaw 6:17
5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville 8:50
6. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón 10:33
7. 1984 by George Orwell 11:40
8. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 12:50
9. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende 13:15
10. The Brothers Karamazov by Feodor Dostoievski 13:54
11. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 15:23
12. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges 16:01
13. The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa 17:03
14. The Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin18:37
15. The Poppy W by R. F. Kuangar 20:28
16. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee 20:55
17. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez 21:32
18. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami 22:20
19. The Aeneid by Publius Vergilius Maro 23:20
20. Don Quijote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes 23:46
21. The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien 24:13
22. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 24:56
23. Macbeth by William Shakespeare 26:00
I personally really really want to read Shogun by James Cavaliere. It's huge and very intimidating but...one day. And if I like it I'd like to read the whole Asian Saga.
don quixote is quite the chunker, it took me ages to finish both volumes! but it's definitely worth the struggle.
I thought it was an easy and quick read 🤷 so maybe she will breeze through it?!
I agree but MAN is it one of the funniest and sweetest books I’ve ever read - I’ve been changed!
@@AshleyZieman maybe it's a matter of translation for me since i read it in polish, or maybe i'm simply too dumb 😅
I’m working my way through Quixote now. I’m taking it little by little so I don’t get overwhelmed but so far so good. I feel like it’s definitely one of those that translation makes or breaks it
The first 250 pages where very hard for me to get through but after that it got much better for me.
Virginia Woolf is my favourite author - have a full bookcase of her works, diaries, essays and am slowly collecting all of the biographies of Virginia and Vanessa (Bell - her sister, an artist) and the other members of the Bloomsbury set. Mrs Dalloway and To The Lighthouse are generally considered her easiest novels - I prefer Mrs Dalloway personally, but the language is gorgeous in both :)
How do you feel about 'the waves'?? Its honestly my favourite of her works and one of my very favourites books in general. But I don't hear anyone talk about it and it breaks my heart.
@@JustSarlota I find The Waves beautifully written, one of those books I feel like I could just lose myself in. I agree, it's not one you hear much about in the mainstream, people do tend to favour the two easiest novels (Dalloway and Lighthouse).
@@JustSarlota i also adore the waves! it was the first virginia woolf novel i picked up (probably not the best idea) and i adored it. after reading it i just want to read all her other novels but i’m making myself take a break lol
@@ellietaylor6940 This is a 2 year old comment but I am curious to know why you are referring to these two novels as the easiest from her work when the structure of the novels and the techniques are quite complex. I've never seen them being described as 'the easiest' of her novels so this has me intrigued.
@@aamnahere6250 Autistic and my brain finds them to be.
the shadow of the wind is hands down my favourite book of all time. i had to return the copy i was halfway through to my teacher and couldnt find a copy for years before finding it in a secondhand book shop years later. that book is so stunning and SO criminally underrated
The Bluest Eye is so tragic, but such a deep cutting perspective on poverty, misogyny, and being a black girl in America (esp in the 60’s when i believe the book is set?). I really think everyone should read it.
This is on my tbr for this reason.. being black girl in America in this time is hard, i want to understand it from someone whos was living it that time. Ive heard its a tragic read, but I need to read it. And like you said everyone should.
you have such a diverse and stunning taste in books. Constantly inspired by your reading habits
the dark and chaotic opening is so precious ❤️🧘♀️
I've been eyeing Jorges Luis Borges's Collected Fiction and The Book of Disquiet for some time now.
I'm not one to gush usually, but I remember feeling such joy when reading Borges. Amazing ideas and concepts, condensed so neatly. I was genuinely happy that these stories even existed.
Yeah, my Goodreads list is probably already longer than I'll ever be able to read...
I'm turning 21 so this is something I've been thinking about for a while, like, what books would I place at the top of my priorities before I die? It's so intriguing to really sit and think about it, but in reality, knowing I'll have to tackle my messy Goodreads means I'll probably try putting it off 🤣
I always had the same preconceived notions of Melville, thinking, for some reason, it would be very dry, but found that the prose got me from page one; it's heavily existential and poetic. And The Master and Margarita is unbelievably fantastic. When I finished The Brothers Karamazov, it had such an effect on me that I thought I could never enjoy another book in the same way again...then I read The Master and Margarita
Hi, me from the past, this is me from the future...no one cares...no one
@@jojodogface898 I care... (Commenting from your future's future)
@@jojodogface898 Was looking for a pro Melville comment. Haha. I just left one too.
So excited for you to read Master and Margarita. So far I've read it in Latvian once and in English twice and to this day it is my absolute favourite book of all time.
It is the BEST! I'm so excited to hear her thoughts on it as well. I was in the middle of this book when my house burned down. The trauma of it all made me avoid all things I was watching, reading, or listening to with this one exception. I loved it so much I had to finish it, and I am so glad I did.
I’m 20 and just started reading, I hope it’s not too late 😅 my current read is “Silence of the lambs” and next read is the picture of Dorian gray
Never too late
Hey...it's been a whole year...how many did you read by now?🤍
@@riyachoudhary6044 hello! I've read about 35 books all in all, thank you for asking
@@katerina9159 that's amazing love...so happy for ya🤍🦋
"Master and Maragarita" is great. It has so many themes so everyone can find something they enjoy. The book is deep but also fun. And it is so catching I literally finished it in 2 days. Highly recommend 👍
Daamn i started it like 4 months ago. It's good but I'm just bad at reading.
@@sfuikm that's ok take your time
@Jana That helps thanks. I just had to read the same page like 3 times yesterday to even understand what was going on at that one part with the floating suit that was writing at his desk or something haha.
Makes me wonder what book I will leave unfinished on my night stand for the last time. Maybe there will be a nifty book shelf in the afterlife.
I really want to read The Lord of the Rings, The Bluest Eye, To The Lighthouse, and 1984 (plus I want to pick up Anne of Green Gables because you rave about it so much)
I finished The Master and Margarita this year. You're going to love it! But, I believe the context of this novel is very, very important to understand because it came out (or to be more precise, was not allowed to come out) at a very politically crucial time in Russia, and knowing that really helped me appreciate the novel.
Omg if you did a Dostoevsky book read a thon I would die happy
Yes, too.
Master and Margarita is my favorite classic, and in general one of my favorites. Can't wait for reading vlog and commentary! 😊
As I am 73 years of age, I am remembering a life time of reading and am envious of the challenges and joys that you will encounter in your life of books. Understandably, my "bucket list" of books differs from yours as it should. In my library of over 6000 books, I still have over 200 titles on my "tbr" list so I am optimistic. One book that has stayed with me throughout my life since college is The Divine Comedy. I am excited to learn more about your reaction to the book. I have read the Inferno well over a dozen times, Purgatorio at least nine times, and sadly, Paradiso only 2 or 3 times. There are many good translations out there. My favorite for beauty is Ciardi, my favorite for being approachable is Mark Musa. He also includes some good annotations. And that is essential. Even with the Inferno, you will miss a lot without good annotations. For the beginner, I would also recommend A Modern Readers Guide to Dante's The Divine Comedy by Joseph Gallagher. Also, A Beginners guide to Dante's Divine Comedy by Jason Baxter. You just have to have notes to better appreciate what you are reading. Best of success and I will follow your progress with interest! Oh, one more. For a wild and crazy read, try Dante's Inferno by Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders. This is Dante updated to 21th century times.
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17:50
18:30
Don't mind me. It's just to remember my favorite parts of the video
The opening is such a mood
I love Murakami as well. I’m excited for you to read him for a vlog. I did not read his work in order but started with 1Q84 and the writing is so well done that it draws you into the story immediately. There are plenty of bizarre ideas in the story but it was so good. I could see doing a reread myself. Great list!
The only book from Virginia Woolf I've read is The Waves, and some of the most memorable quotes I know have come from it
Not sure if it's the best place to start with her though
So many favorites here. Another big intimidating one is Proust. Absolutely worth your time.
I took a class on the Divine Comedy while doing my undergrad and it absolutely blew me away. I think you’re going to love the experience! I would love to do a read along with you; it’s been a while since I’ve revisited Dante.
Young lady, don't be afraid of the white whale. It is one of those books you will never regret having read. Maybe it is a book best read when you are older, though. I read it again at the age of 55 or so and it was much more meaningful with more of the literary canon, and life experience under my belt.
Memory police was the first book I read when I decided to start reading two years ago. I loved it and I'm glad I did because it motivated me to read more.
“don quixote” es by far one of my favorite reads EVER. I studied it when i was in college. Everything is in that book, took me a lot of moths to read it, not because is hard, but because i couldn’t stop studying it.
You have so many books that i want to read as well.
Well, at the risk of appearing proud, I've pretty much finished my bucket list, which once included the Bible from cover-to-cover and Joyce's Ulysses with some comprehension. Now the only thing left is Proust's A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, which I downloaded yesterday, and hope to finish this summer.
@james duggan You should feel very proud!👍🏻
that's great. keep it up. i am sure there are some great books you can include that you havent found yet.
@@manchro8672 sure, plenty no doubt but none I'd call bucket list books
I wish someone would start a bookclub for proust in search of lost time. I bought all the books but I need encouragement
@@May-bd6dv i'm not ready for my own channel, but we can prolly hi-jack this one a little bit until we figure something out, assuming it's okay with Emmie.
Funny how people generally devide into two teams with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. This may be kind of a debate that decides not who is a better writer but what kind of personality the reader has, judging from the works of both writers 😊
Dostoevsky readers have *better* personalities. But in all seriousness, I've only read Dostoevsky myself but it seems like the sensitive, concerned and socially aware individuals tend to enjoy Tolstoy, and the moderately deranged, philosophically inclined, mad scientist types lean more towards Dostoevsky.
@@etagged what about the socially aware philosophically inclined people?
"We are following the descent into the circles of hell, which just sounds like so much fun" LOL
The Master and Margarita is without a doubt the most creative book I've ever read!! I hope you enjoy it!
Nice video! A thing I realized though is that a lot of readers with english as their mother tongue don´t read a lot of french or german classics like Flaubert or Goethe. If you´re into magical realism I can highly recommend the tin drum by Günter Grass which is a picaresque novel that plays during the nazi times.
As a German and French person, I love this comment! :D
I read Pachinko recently and it's very fast paced. Definitely one you could finish quite quickly.
Hi,
The shadow of the wind is beautiful . Also Bulgakov is one of my fav and I would recommend also A country doctor's notebook and The heart of a dog. Have a lovely week. Hugs from Atlanta , US
What a lovely, morbid start to the video - nice to have a reality check once in a while 😂
On another note.. I was aimlessly wondering what to do with my day so thank you for giving me life.. not death *yet*
Hi Emma,this is the first time I'm commenting in the comments section of a BookTuber....I am compelled to do so now because ever since I stumbled upon your channel a month ago I've been transported to a whole new world....I was just an on and off reader reading mainly light fiction with no time for anything more...but now I've started reading Anna karenina and I'm a doctor neck-deep in covid duties...I hope that says how much you have influenced my reading.... 😀Wat to say...Thank You... ❤️keep doing the fantastic things you do...God bless.... 😊
The Brothers Karamazov is my all time favorite book. It's so beautiful with characters who almost seem alive. I have read it three times, though I know it's a book you can always find new surprises in. Also provides one of the most honest yet hopeful portrayals of Chrisianity. Best book ever? For my money lol
I don't want to die before I read Crime and Punishment and War and Peace but every time I see how thick they are I want to scream.
C and P is very doable!
Read on Kindle and then every book is the same thickness 😉
I read The Memory Police earlier this year in the book club that I’m in. It’s not a book I would’ve picked on my own, but oh my gosh I’m so glad I got the chance to read it! It’s so so good and I still think about the ending to this day! Read it, you definitely won’t regret it!
my first Woolf novel was To The Lighthouse and it was definitely a great place to start!
I recommend reading les misèrables. It’s life changing and sooooo good. Definitely one to tick off before you die
Macbeth is incredible! you'll love it
Jess here from Calgary Canada! The divine comedy changed my life. I’m now starting my masters in Language and Literature (Italian) studies to study it more deeply. My favorite translation is from Sinclair (if you’re interested in reading Purgatorio or Paradiso)
For the Inferno, consider the John Ciardi translation. His commentary is excellent.
oh I'm also currently reading Dante's Inferno! I have two versions on my phone that I'm wanting to read, to compare the translations. I also have quite a lot of the same books on my own personal tbr, which is very excited!
To the Lighthouse (my favorite novel from one of my favorite writers), The Brothers Karamazov, and The Book of Disquiet are some of my favorite books of all time :) So excited for you to eventually get to them.
The Inferno is great! Definitely need to reread.
How you talked about War & Peace and your excitement of reading something for the first time was such a wonderful framing I want to use from here on out!!
If you feel Borges writes about the topics you like, wait until you witness the mastery of his prose, that not even other great writers can/could dream to match. Your mind is going to be blown, Emma. Enjoy.
The Master and Margarita is one of my favourite books! Love it so much ❤️
The Shadow of the Wind is stunning! It is truly a masterpiece. If you end up enjoying it, I highly recommend reading more books from The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, my favourite one was The Angel's Game.
Don't hesitate on Borges! I did for the longest but once I finally made the leap, I regretted not reading him earlier. "The Circular Ruins" and "Funes the Memorious" are my favorites.
Thank you for all the suggestions. With so many books around, videos like this are needed to help sort the wheat from the (much more plentiful) chaff. I will certainly put some of your books on my list. Here's another one for yours: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, a much overlooked classic and my own favourite book.
also, the master and margarita is AMAZING.... I'm sure you're going to love it. it's such a celebration of magical realism and the absurd... I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this one
The master and margarita is one of my all time favorite! Love to have a read along on this one.
I read "The Bluest Eye (and wrote my senior year AP Literature paper on it)," "Love in the Time of Cholera," and Things Fall Apart" in high school; the first two are two of my favorites of all time but I definitely want to read all three again as an adult.
I'm so glad that TH-cam recommended this video to me about a month ago. This was the video that introduced me to your channel and it's already becoming one of my absolute favorites!
I am very excited to hear your thoughts on all of Murakami because I'm torn every time. Thanks for making awesome videos!
Absolutely read 1984. I put it off for over a decade and when I finally read it it was easier than I expected. I thought it'd be exceedingly slow and boring but it was actually pretty okay. I honestly didn't love it as much as most people who gush about it, giving me the impression they have read very few books at all. But it's a good read and as you go through it you can totally see why it's so influencial to this day still.
In summary: pick it up, you're likely to get engrossed easier than you expect and it's also really short.
So happy to see a piece of modern Spanish literature amongst one of the books from this list! The Shadow of The Wind is brilliant.
i love woolf but i would start with Mrs Dalloway- i read it after To the Lighthouse and wish i did it the other way round! x
To the Lighthouse is gorgeous writing!
I’m so game to read The Master and the Margarita with you ✨
Reread Master and Margarita for the second time last week, amazing read!
"The descent into the circles of hell, which just sounds like so much fun"
This could be in one of those out of context compilations hahaha
the shadow of the wind !!! i've had iit on my physical tbr for years but haven't read it yet! if you want to read some shorter zafon to begin with his works i highly recommend Marina! it's very gothic and i adored the story!
i also wanna read sooo many of these before i die!
and i'm currently reading the aeneid and i'm really enjoying it!
also i remember recommending the house of the spirits when you read 100 years! allende's writing is as gorgeous as garcia marquez's and i love how her story follows female leads! i studied the book in the last year of high school and i loved getting to analyse it
I am so excited for you to read Bulgakov! The Master and Margarita is one of my favorite books of all time. It’s really a book about writing/creation. You’re going to love it.
Virginia Woolf is my favorite writer of all time and I continue to believe you will love her work so deeply.
Also, I do think To the Lighthouse is the place to start! The Waves is my personal favorite, but that is an incredibly tall task to start with, and To the Lighthouse is (in my opinion) a clear second best, so from a Woolf-head, I approve of you starting there!
I have read Master, Karamazov and Moby Dick and they are amazing, life-changing experiences. Greetings from Brazil. Love your channel.
The Shadow of the Windows is one of my all time favorite Books, along side War and Peace. I know you will love it.❤️☺️
I sped read Don Quixote in my sophomore year of high school because I had to do a book report in Spanish class and I was set on reading the unabridged version. Don’t remember any of it other than the windmills, so I’d like to read it again. But I’d be up for doing a group read for several of these.
I'm just a third into Pachinko and it's already a 5/5. It's so so beautiful
I just started the Master and Margarita and it is INCREDIBLE! Only two chapters in and already loving it
I am currently half was through The Shadow of the Wind. It's a beautiful book. I love it so far.
I can’t believe I haven’t read any of these so far (not even the Pessoa one even though I’m Portuguese) but I’m actually reading brothers Kalamazov right now and I’m really getting into it! I love that your list has authors from all over the world and not only English native speakers (definitely saw Saramago’s book on your shelf and would love to hear your thoughts about that book in particular)
Your videos are so lovely and I always end up adding more books to my TBR on goodreads every time!
I also wanna read To The Lighthouse,I read Orlando and it was amazing.Also, a read-along of The Brothers Karamazov would be greatly appreciated
I’m currently reading 1984 for school. I love it so far.