I love Mansfield Park, no shame! I visited Prague last year and loved it so much, I’m really excited to watch your Czech lit starter kit. I also love the Mucha illustration on your end screen, he’s one of my favorite artists. I added a bunch of your favorites to my tbr, woo! So glad you’re back on booktube, I love hearing you talk about books.
One of the future 85 here! I've been a fan of yours since your Booker review days, and in fact you were the reason I picked up Bloodlands in 2024. Love how thoughtful and thorough all your videos are 😊
Hi Jennifer! I watch all your videos alongside my better half (with a cup of tea), so there are at least 86 people getting to the end of all your videos ;). We've been watching you for years and have always loved your insights and eloquence, that hasn't changed, but I just wanted to pop in here and commend you on the overall quality of these recent videos. They must be quite a bit of work for you, but they're absolutely fantastic!
You are your other half are absolute legends! I can't believe that anyone has actually stuck with me over the years (especially when the videos were NOT polished at all); it's honestly so cool to hear that 😊
I have been slowly reading The Economy of Prestige since you showed it to me way back when-v juicy stuff! Love this faves list so much in all its eclectic glory.
Hi Jennifer, it will likely come as no surprise I intend to be a proud member of The Remaining 85. How I've missed your end-of-year wrap-ups! They always feel like a kind of finale to the reading year. I was so glad to see one in my feed and watching it was a delight. This has nothing to do with anything but I am duly impressed that a book as large and white as Guns of August looks so pristine. I usually avoid white books because, trying to keep the covers clean and neat, the struggle is real. I enjoyed your description of Possession and may have to pick it up someday. But, having taken a quite unexpected turn into non-fiction loving, I am, at the moment, probably most attracted to The Sleepwalkers. It is so good to see you pop right back into TH-cam uploading after your short break. The more Jennifer videos my world contains, the happier I am. Love the sweater. I hope you had a happy holiday. Here's to another year of reading ahead. I just finished my first read-through of The Complete Mause so I'm off to a strong start. Till next Sunday, all the best.
You're an absolute mensch! (No video today because my voice is still recovering from being sick and I'd like it to not be too distracting in the final video, but barring disaster the World War I video will be up next week.) And Maus is an EXCELLENT way to start a reading year
@@InsertLiteraryPunHere Well, thanks, I appreciate that! And as for you, you're an absolute joy of a human. I'm glad the delay is temporary and you're not taking to vanishing again! But I am sorry you've been ill, I hope your recovery continues. Maus was a masterwork and revelatory. Cheers.
I’m so glad you like Mansfield park. I did too. I read it with my family during lockdown, and I spent the majority of our ‘book club’ time defending why I’d picked the book to read and why I liked it 😂
I literally just picked up a copy of “Nada” a week ago! I had never heard of it before so it is so cool to see you mention it here in your favorites video! Can’t wait to read it
I love listening to you talk about books I am not even remotely smart enough to understand, you just have an extremely soothing way of communicating your passion about literature. Go on, you have an audience, never doubt it!
YAY a WW1 video! I've been in a WW1 deep dive for a while so I'll be delighted and eager to see what books you recommend - I'll be one of the glorious 85. I read Alexander Watson's Ring of Steel recently and enjoyed the German and Austro-Hungarian viewpoint. Not to mention it made me realise my lack of knowledge of the eastern front of the war which I hope to remedy soon with Nick Lloyd's work.
I've had my eye on Nick Lloyd's books too! I'm sure I'll be the one who's ultimately asking YOU for recommendations; stay tuned for my next video and we can compare notes on the Clark and the Tuchman to start
So I’m wanging on about This Motherless Land to anyone and everyone I can and as you mentioned Mansfield Park, and it’s a retelling, do give it whirl. It’s ace. That cover of Possession is STUNNING. I have always been scared of it… after being scared of her in real life 😂
Another one of the ‘85 club’ reporting in, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Sleepwalkers, which sounds like the kind of book I would enjoy (though haven’t read it myself). Also looking forward to finding out more about the other plans you teased at the end of the video. Hope you find more books to love in 2025!
I'm so glad to find other people who enjoy this kind of nonfiction. I'd love to hear what your impressions are of the World War I discussion once it's posted
transfigured night sounds like something i would absolutely love! my library only has the facade, so i'll check that one out first. are you planning on reading it?
Hi! I’m a recent subscriber, and really love your channel. I’m a foreigner living in Czech Republic for quite few years, and just recently started reading in Czech. My best book of 2024 was War with the newts as well❤ but I got it in Czech from Rybka publishing with absolutely amazing illustrations of Hans Ticha. Really recommend this edition, a pearl of my book collection. I have “Babička” in my 2025 TBR, definitely due to your previous video. Happy new year!
That Rybia edition sounds amazing! I probably can't afford to travel to the Czech Republic until 2026, so I'll have a looong list of books to buy when I finally go back. Happy 2025-I hope it's a great reading year for you!
Cousins marrying (ugh) is very commonly found in so many Victorian and pre-Victorian British novels. Glad to see you back. Your recommendation for “The Sleepwalkers” is the second one this week. It’s been on my 20th C history book wish list for ages. Every time I saw an interview with Anne Applebaum on YT I immediately wondered whether you were fortunate enough to have attended one of her seminars on Eastern Europe.
I didn't have any classes with Anne Applebaum, but I love her writing and her podcast work! I'm hoping to read her new book on autocracy later this year
I read Mansfield Park this year, too, and I agree about the whole cousin thing! However, I also really liked it. I loved what a big role the setting played in the book and I loved that Fanny felt different from some of Austen's other protagonists!
Reading in a 2nd (or third, fourth) language is no joke!!!!!!!!! I’m confident enough with English but my goal for 2025 is to be able to read a short book or article in Hungarian. A loftier goal is to read a Magda Szabó book in Hungarian but if I ever achieve it, I’ll probably feel as beat up as Rocky at the end of any of his movies 😅 You’ve also got at least one more person interested in Nada, Possession and The Sleepwalkers!
The thought of actually reading a full book in Hungarian is mind-blowing to me. I only studied it for 1 year and never even got through the A1 level! You're a legend
It's such a wonderful book! I didn't do it justice with my description, but I'm really pleased to see that some other people in the comments are also interested in reading it
I recently got The Sleepwalkers because I have been wanting to read it, but I was worrying whether it will be good or not, so I'm glad to hear your positive review. I feel better for having the book now, and I'll read it before this year ends. I have Karel Capek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). I had started it last year, but I ended up putting aside for later because I didn't have enough time for another book. It's on my plans to complete it this year. I have read several of the slave narratives. All painful, but great reads. Frederick Douglas is amazing! If you get the chance, you might also want to read the speech Douglas gave when he was invited to speak on the fourth of July: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Powerful speech...
The Sleepwalkers is great; definitely a positive thing to have waiting for you on your shelf! I'll discuss it in a more general way in my next video too, so hopefully that will also be helpful if you're looking for a reason to pick it up later this year
Oooh, I've been meaning to re-read 'Possession' -- I freaking LOVE scholarly/archival thrillers, and it's truly the best one I've ever read. Right, it's now at the top of the TBR pile! And thanks to your recommendations, I've added 'The Last Goddess,' 'Nada' and 'The Economy of Prestige.' (My ears pricked up when you mentioned Barbara W. Tuchman, since her 'A Distant Mirror' is one of my favourite nonfiction books.)
Hi there, I wrote a longer comment that seems to have gone AWOL, but mostly it said that I was planning to read The Sleepwalkers this year myself, that your channel is great, and that I share your view of Mansfield Park. (Personally I find Thomas Bertram’s business in Antigua far more troubling than a romantic alliance between cousins. I don’t think Austen even glancingly admits that aspect of English life anywhere else.) Anyway, cheers, carry on, and thanks for what you do.
Oh I couldn't agree more about that unsettling flash of colonialism in Mansfield Park-I expect those kinds of plot interjections in the Victorians, but we mostly get to avoid them in Austen. I really appreciate your support of my videos; it's so nice to find other people out there who are interested in a book like The Sleepwalkers!
I have been waiting patiently for this video and am happy it's here. I find it interesting when people have variety in their reading, though that could be because I've been prioritizing reading a variety, but i do have my limits. I love Mansfield Park, but not for the weird romance.
What a great Austen to end with! (Clearly others might disagree 😂 But whatever you end up thinking about Mansfield Park, it's a pretty weird book and will at the very least be interesting)
The timing couldn’t have been better with a cat at the corner of your screen immediately followed by a poem with “half a cat juts threateningly from around the corner”
You could confidently recommend Transfigured Night to me because wow, everything single thing you said got me more and more interested 😬 it’s been a while since I read Ali Smith, but your description of the book reminded me of things I liked about Patrick Modiano’s books, as well as the more contemplative, tangential books I gravitate towards 👀
probably no surprise here, but I will be one of the 85 tuning into your videos, haha. I definitely want to pick up some Byatt after this (never read before) and perhaps also the Stalin book. I’m deeply interested in the USSR and recently finished a book that talked about the uzbeki-kazakhi border, so anything that explores unfamiliar terrain is highly welcome.
What was the book about the Uzbeki-Kazakhi border? There were a few people in my program who focused on Central Asia, and it made me more conscious of just how little I've read from that part of the region
I’d recommend Babel Tower - which now makes me think I should do a reread and see it I still love it as much as I did back in the 90s when I first read it. I loooooved that book.
Speaking of fantastic Czech novels that have only been translated into Polish so far..Get your hands on Pod sněhem by Petra Soukupová if you ever have the chance! Fantastic contemporary litfic. I started last year with that book looking for something light and relaxing but turns out reading about a family with a lot of harbored resentment towards each other trapped in a car together for a few hours is way heavier emotionally than I expected lol. Looking forward to your Czech literature video, I did in fact save it for later as I tend to do with the vids I want to really focus on instead of having them in the bg during chores ❤
This is an even better recommendation than you know, because I loved Soukupová's earlier book Zmizet! She's one of those authors that I really wish would be translated so that my friends could read her too
I've made the casual resolution to read a bit more nonfiction this year and Stalin and the State of Europe as well as The Sleepwalkers sound interesting
I've 'possessions' on my immediate tbr as well. Having watched u fangirl this book, i might as well start it after my current read (which is of course from my fav author Kundera, his first novel The Joke; wanted to start 2025 on a good foot after reading only 8 books last year) ps: most favorite among the 8 was Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend
I dnf'd Possession twice, but still want to read A Children's Book. I'm also on the hunt for a German edition of Transfigured Night by Libuše Moníková now.
Honestly, as much as I loved Possession (and I clearly did), it doesn't surprise me to hear that someone would dnf it. It was a hard book to get into, even as I knew I was enjoying it. But The Children's Book sounds like it will be even more up my alley and I'm really excited about it
Congratulations on reading those books in Czech. I agree that reading fiction in Czech can be painful for English speakers, especially if the books are older. I find it much easier to read novels in German or Dutch. When it comes to reading in Czech, I generally prefer to stick to what I call practical nonfiction, which includes stuff like cookbooks, hiking books, travel materials, Czech websites, Czech emails I get, etc. That stuff is OK to read.
I agree; I don't have huge ambitions to read authors like Kundera and Hrabal and Hašek and Němcová in Czech, at least not for a while. I find contemporary books much easier to read for now. And I'm currently reading a middle grade novel in Czech (which actually has its own kind of difficulty because there are so many idiomatic phrases in kids' books, but that also makes it a useful learning tool!)
The only American classic I would say "you have to read it" is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Oh and maybe read some Dorothy Parker she is a delight.
This is a perfect recommendation for me because Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of the few unread American classics that I own! I've had it on my shelf for years, so this is a great push to pick it up
Great list but I’ve been shamed and have to get to the Chez lit list. I need to add I read The White Mosque a Memoir by Sophia Samatar. A part of Russian history I certainly wasn’t aware of. Hope you check it out
As spanish studying russian and polish in university I totally get you, after trying very hard to read anything in a slavic language and not understanding even 25% of it, reading in english my brain doesn’t have to work and I still get everything so it makes me feel that maybe I’m not stupid after all
I love Mansfield Park, no shame! I visited Prague last year and loved it so much, I’m really excited to watch your Czech lit starter kit. I also love the Mucha illustration on your end screen, he’s one of my favorite artists. I added a bunch of your favorites to my tbr, woo! So glad you’re back on booktube, I love hearing you talk about books.
One of the future 85 here! I've been a fan of yours since your Booker review days, and in fact you were the reason I picked up Bloodlands in 2024. Love how thoughtful and thorough all your videos are 😊
Second that. I'll be part of the 85 group 😊
Also one of the 85!
One 👏🏻 of 👏🏻 us! I seriously love hearing that you read Bloodlands on my recommendation, that makes me so happy ♥️
Hi Jennifer! I watch all your videos alongside my better half (with a cup of tea), so there are at least 86 people getting to the end of all your videos ;). We've been watching you for years and have always loved your insights and eloquence, that hasn't changed, but I just wanted to pop in here and commend you on the overall quality of these recent videos. They must be quite a bit of work for you, but they're absolutely fantastic!
You are your other half are absolute legends! I can't believe that anyone has actually stuck with me over the years (especially when the videos were NOT polished at all); it's honestly so cool to hear that 😊
I have been slowly reading The Economy of Prestige since you showed it to me way back when-v juicy stuff! Love this faves list so much in all its eclectic glory.
Hi Jennifer, it will likely come as no surprise I intend to be a proud member of The Remaining 85. How I've missed your end-of-year wrap-ups! They always feel like a kind of finale to the reading year. I was so glad to see one in my feed and watching it was a delight. This has nothing to do with anything but I am duly impressed that a book as large and white as Guns of August looks so pristine. I usually avoid white books because, trying to keep the covers clean and neat, the struggle is real. I enjoyed your description of Possession and may have to pick it up someday. But, having taken a quite unexpected turn into non-fiction loving, I am, at the moment, probably most attracted to The Sleepwalkers. It is so good to see you pop right back into TH-cam uploading after your short break. The more Jennifer videos my world contains, the happier I am. Love the sweater. I hope you had a happy holiday. Here's to another year of reading ahead. I just finished my first read-through of The Complete Mause so I'm off to a strong start. Till next Sunday, all the best.
You're an absolute mensch! (No video today because my voice is still recovering from being sick and I'd like it to not be too distracting in the final video, but barring disaster the World War I video will be up next week.) And Maus is an EXCELLENT way to start a reading year
@@InsertLiteraryPunHere Well, thanks, I appreciate that! And as for you, you're an absolute joy of a human. I'm glad the delay is temporary and you're not taking to vanishing again! But I am sorry you've been ill, I hope your recovery continues. Maus was a masterwork and revelatory. Cheers.
Thank you for this video. It's interesting hearing about books I'd normally never hear about on Booktube.
Thank you for recommending history books. I will definitely check them.
Great to see you back and with such an interesting selection of books. I absolutely loved Possession.
🥰 Thank you; it's so great to be back!
I’m so glad you like Mansfield park. I did too. I read it with my family during lockdown, and I spent the majority of our ‘book club’ time defending why I’d picked the book to read and why I liked it 😂
People do not judge Jane Austen. Jane Austen judges them.
Okay see I wish you'd had some backup at your book club! We need more hardworking Mansfield Park defenders out there!
I literally just picked up a copy of “Nada” a week ago! I had never heard of it before so it is so cool to see you mention it here in your favorites video! Can’t wait to read it
I love listening to you talk about books I am not even remotely smart enough to understand, you just have an extremely soothing way of communicating your passion about literature. Go on, you have an audience, never doubt it!
This comment made me smile so much! (And I'm confident you're plenty smart enough to read any book you wanted 😉)
Posession has my whole heart. I adore every page, and I'm so glad you loved it!
YAY a WW1 video! I've been in a WW1 deep dive for a while so I'll be delighted and eager to see what books you recommend - I'll be one of the glorious 85. I read Alexander Watson's Ring of Steel recently and enjoyed the German and Austro-Hungarian viewpoint. Not to mention it made me realise my lack of knowledge of the eastern front of the war which I hope to remedy soon with Nick Lloyd's work.
I've had my eye on Nick Lloyd's books too! I'm sure I'll be the one who's ultimately asking YOU for recommendations; stay tuned for my next video and we can compare notes on the Clark and the Tuchman to start
So I’m wanging on about This Motherless Land to anyone and everyone I can and as you mentioned Mansfield Park, and it’s a retelling, do give it whirl. It’s ace. That cover of Possession is STUNNING. I have always been scared of it… after being scared of her in real life 😂
Another one of the ‘85 club’ reporting in, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Sleepwalkers, which sounds like the kind of book I would enjoy (though haven’t read it myself). Also looking forward to finding out more about the other plans you teased at the end of the video. Hope you find more books to love in 2025!
I'm so glad to find other people who enjoy this kind of nonfiction. I'd love to hear what your impressions are of the World War I discussion once it's posted
Omg I literally squealed when I saw this video pop up!! This is EXACTLY what I needed today!
transfigured night sounds like something i would absolutely love! my library only has the facade, so i'll check that one out first. are you planning on reading it?
I hadn't even heard of The Facade until you mentioned it, so thank you! What a bizarre-sounding book, I love it
Hi! I’m a recent subscriber, and really love your channel. I’m a foreigner living in Czech Republic for quite few years, and just recently started reading in Czech. My best book of 2024 was War with the newts as well❤ but I got it in Czech from Rybka publishing with absolutely amazing illustrations of Hans Ticha. Really recommend this edition, a pearl of my book collection.
I have “Babička” in my 2025 TBR, definitely due to your previous video.
Happy new year!
That Rybia edition sounds amazing! I probably can't afford to travel to the Czech Republic until 2026, so I'll have a looong list of books to buy when I finally go back. Happy 2025-I hope it's a great reading year for you!
Cousins marrying (ugh) is very commonly found in so many Victorian and pre-Victorian British novels.
Glad to see you back. Your recommendation for “The Sleepwalkers” is the second one this week. It’s been on my 20th C history book wish list for ages.
Every time I saw an interview with Anne Applebaum on YT I immediately wondered whether you were fortunate enough to have attended one of her seminars on Eastern Europe.
I didn't have any classes with Anne Applebaum, but I love her writing and her podcast work! I'm hoping to read her new book on autocracy later this year
I read Mansfield Park this year, too, and I agree about the whole cousin thing! However, I also really liked it. I loved what a big role the setting played in the book and I loved that Fanny felt different from some of Austen's other protagonists!
I completely agree-one of the best things about Mansfield Park is just how different it feels!
Reading in a 2nd (or third, fourth) language is no joke!!!!!!!!! I’m confident enough with English but my goal for 2025 is to be able to read a short book or article in Hungarian. A loftier goal is to read a Magda Szabó book in Hungarian but if I ever achieve it, I’ll probably feel as beat up as Rocky at the end of any of his movies 😅
You’ve also got at least one more person interested in Nada, Possession and The Sleepwalkers!
The thought of actually reading a full book in Hungarian is mind-blowing to me. I only studied it for 1 year and never even got through the A1 level! You're a legend
I'm so pleased that you liked Nada. It's my favorite book and I've never met anybody who has read it - here in Germany or online.
It's such a wonderful book! I didn't do it justice with my description, but I'm really pleased to see that some other people in the comments are also interested in reading it
I recently got The Sleepwalkers because I have been wanting to read it, but I was worrying whether it will be good or not, so I'm glad to hear your positive review. I feel better for having the book now, and I'll read it before this year ends. I have Karel Capek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). I had started it last year, but I ended up putting aside for later because I didn't have enough time for another book. It's on my plans to complete it this year. I have read several of the slave narratives. All painful, but great reads. Frederick Douglas is amazing! If you get the chance, you might also want to read the speech Douglas gave when he was invited to speak on the fourth of July: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" Powerful speech...
The Sleepwalkers is great; definitely a positive thing to have waiting for you on your shelf! I'll discuss it in a more general way in my next video too, so hopefully that will also be helpful if you're looking for a reason to pick it up later this year
@InsertLiteraryPunHere I started the introduction today and pulled me in. It looks like I will love it. Looking forward to your review.
Oooh, I've been meaning to re-read 'Possession' -- I freaking LOVE scholarly/archival thrillers, and it's truly the best one I've ever read. Right, it's now at the top of the TBR pile! And thanks to your recommendations, I've added 'The Last Goddess,' 'Nada' and 'The Economy of Prestige.'
(My ears pricked up when you mentioned Barbara W. Tuchman, since her 'A Distant Mirror' is one of my favourite nonfiction books.)
This is my first Tuchman, and her writing is genuinely so thrilling!
I've wanted to read The Sleepwalkers for a very long time, I'll have to get to it this year.
And yeah, The Children's Book is AMAZING
I've heard SUCH good things about The Children's Book! I have this feeling that I'll end up liking it even better than Possession
Hi there, I wrote a longer comment that seems to have gone AWOL, but mostly it said that I was planning to read The Sleepwalkers this year myself, that your channel is great, and that I share your view of Mansfield Park. (Personally I find Thomas Bertram’s business in Antigua far more troubling than a romantic alliance between cousins. I don’t think Austen even glancingly admits that aspect of English life anywhere else.) Anyway, cheers, carry on, and thanks for what you do.
Oh I couldn't agree more about that unsettling flash of colonialism in Mansfield Park-I expect those kinds of plot interjections in the Victorians, but we mostly get to avoid them in Austen. I really appreciate your support of my videos; it's so nice to find other people out there who are interested in a book like The Sleepwalkers!
Hoping to check out The Economy of Prestige some time this year. Fortunately my library has a copy.
I have been waiting patiently for this video and am happy it's here. I find it interesting when people have variety in their reading, though that could be because I've been prioritizing reading a variety, but i do have my limits. I love Mansfield Park, but not for the weird romance.
Possession sounds amazing! Mansfield Park is the only Austen book I haven't read. This is my sign that I need to get to it, lol.
What a great Austen to end with! (Clearly others might disagree 😂 But whatever you end up thinking about Mansfield Park, it's a pretty weird book and will at the very least be interesting)
The timing couldn’t have been better with a cat at the corner of your screen immediately followed by a poem with “half a cat juts threateningly from around the corner”
That's actually SO funny and 100% unintentional 😂
You could confidently recommend Transfigured Night to me because wow, everything single thing you said got me more and more interested 😬 it’s been a while since I read Ali Smith, but your description of the book reminded me of things I liked about Patrick Modiano’s books, as well as the more contemplative, tangential books I gravitate towards 👀
It honestly makes me so happy to think I may have found even one other person who wants to read Transfigured Night 🥰
probably no surprise here, but I will be one of the 85 tuning into your videos, haha. I definitely want to pick up some Byatt after this (never read before) and perhaps also the Stalin book. I’m deeply interested in the USSR and recently finished a book that talked about the uzbeki-kazakhi border, so anything that explores unfamiliar terrain is highly welcome.
What was the book about the Uzbeki-Kazakhi border? There were a few people in my program who focused on Central Asia, and it made me more conscious of just how little I've read from that part of the region
I’d recommend Babel Tower - which now makes me think I should do a reread and see it I still love it as much as I did back in the 90s when I first read it. I loooooved that book.
I had never even heard of Babel Tower, and unsurprisingly it looks fantastic, thank you!
Speaking of fantastic Czech novels that have only been translated into Polish so far..Get your hands on Pod sněhem by Petra Soukupová if you ever have the chance! Fantastic contemporary litfic. I started last year with that book looking for something light and relaxing but turns out reading about a family with a lot of harbored resentment towards each other trapped in a car together for a few hours is way heavier emotionally than I expected lol. Looking forward to your Czech literature video, I did in fact save it for later as I tend to do with the vids I want to really focus on instead of having them in the bg during chores ❤
This is an even better recommendation than you know, because I loved Soukupová's earlier book Zmizet! She's one of those authors that I really wish would be translated so that my friends could read her too
I've made the casual resolution to read a bit more nonfiction this year and Stalin and the State of Europe as well as The Sleepwalkers sound interesting
I've 'possessions' on my immediate tbr as well. Having watched u fangirl this book, i might as well start it after my current read (which is of course from my fav author Kundera, his first novel The Joke; wanted to start 2025 on a good foot after reading only 8 books last year) ps: most favorite among the 8 was Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend
Oh also seeing you mention reading in Czech for the first time gives me courage to try with something simple in Polish
Yes Possession revels in the discovery of knowledge and you’re not alone in getting a thrill from that 😀
I dnf'd Possession twice, but still want to read A Children's Book. I'm also on the hunt for a German edition of Transfigured Night by Libuše Moníková now.
Honestly, as much as I loved Possession (and I clearly did), it doesn't surprise me to hear that someone would dnf it. It was a hard book to get into, even as I knew I was enjoying it. But The Children's Book sounds like it will be even more up my alley and I'm really excited about it
Congratulations on reading those books in Czech. I agree that reading fiction in Czech can be painful for English speakers, especially if the books are older. I find it much easier to read novels in German or Dutch. When it comes to reading in Czech, I generally prefer to stick to what I call practical nonfiction, which includes stuff like cookbooks, hiking books, travel materials, Czech websites, Czech emails I get, etc. That stuff is OK to read.
I agree; I don't have huge ambitions to read authors like Kundera and Hrabal and Hašek and Němcová in Czech, at least not for a while. I find contemporary books much easier to read for now. And I'm currently reading a middle grade novel in Czech (which actually has its own kind of difficulty because there are so many idiomatic phrases in kids' books, but that also makes it a useful learning tool!)
The only American classic I would say "you have to read it" is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Oh and maybe read some Dorothy Parker she is a delight.
This is a perfect recommendation for me because Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of the few unread American classics that I own! I've had it on my shelf for years, so this is a great push to pick it up
@@InsertLiteraryPunHere Ahhh hooray!
Great list but I’ve been shamed and have to get to the Chez lit list. I need to add I read The White Mosque a Memoir by Sophia Samatar. A part of Russian history I certainly wasn’t aware of. Hope you check it out
Haha no shame at all! I hope you enjoy the Czech starter kit if ever and whenever you choose to watch :)
I will be one of the 85 enjoying the nonfiction video
Actually, the English pronunciation BarSelona is closer to the Catalan original than the Spanish one.
As spanish studying russian and polish in university I totally get you, after trying very hard to read anything in a slavic language and not understanding even 25% of it, reading in english my brain doesn’t have to work and I still get everything so it makes me feel that maybe I’m not stupid after all
Haha yes, that feeling of "hey maybe I'm not actually super stupid" is so real 😂 Slavic languages, man. They're not good for the ego
Hello there hey there hey Hello