i am so interested in reading this one sky day now because the way you described it is exactly how I'd describe one of my favourite books (the gray house by petrosyan): the world to get lost in, multiple characters pov, magical realism, somewhat weird plot. i heard people describe it both as shallow trash and profound and life-changing so it's clearly not for everyone. the gray house is also the perfect blend of coziness, cheerfulness with melancholy and despair that i can only find in books by authors from post soviet countries. must be something in the water here
Glad you had a good reading month 😊 My faves this month were east of eden and the mountains sing (im doing your reading round the world challenge so thats for vietnam) Least favourite was mona by pola oloixarac. I was going to use my spotify credits on Want by gillian anderson but after hearing your review i think i will listen to Tom Lake instead
You really took the words out of my mouth about The Overstory! Such a disappointment when the cover is that gorgeous. It's a book I would love to display on my shelves and represent my interests but his prose is just so dull :///
Somehow both my favorites from January was non-fiction. I read The State of Africa by Martin Meredith, which is a history of the African continent from independence until about 2011, and it was such a good read. He gave both an overview of political and economic developments and individual stories of dictators and events. I cried during the chapter on the genocide in Rwanda, something I really didn't think would happen, as I have read novels on Rwanda before and am quite familiar with that particular story. The other was A Brief History of Intelligence by Max Solomon Bennett, which guides us through the evolution of brains, how ours functions similar to and different than other animals, and how AI works similar to and different from our brains. Such an interesting book. I haven't finished yet, but one favorite novel read (partially at least) in January in The Bridge Over the Drina. It's Bosnian an chronicles Bosnian history centered around this bridge. It feels almost mythic, but it's incredibly beautiful and also very harsh and dramatic in places, but in a good way.
15 books 😅😅😅 I managed to read 5 (the most I’ve ever read in a month) I had planned to read 7 but didn’t finish 2. I loved all 5, TBH but my absolute favourite was Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. 🙌🏼 The other 4 in no particular order: The Handmaid’s Tales Hex The Picture of Dorian Gray The Words That Remain
I think the Iliad is a text that is meant to be analyzed and studied, not consumed like a modern novel. I read it in conjunction with a lecture series. Getting the background and context to the characters actions and motives, specifically Achilles and Hector, makes a huge difference. I probably wouldn’t recommend unless you’re looking to take that approach to the text
Having read Bel Canto, The Dutch House and Tom Lake…if you liked Tom Lake, I’d say go with The Dutch House next. Bel Canto is quite different (IMO) to her more modern work and is a hit or miss.
Glad you had such a great reading month :) My absolute favourite and my only 5 Star read in January was Blood Over Bright Haven. In short: perfection. My least favourite, that I finished, was (unforunately) Jane Eyre. I gave it 3 stars so it's not that didn't like it. And I do think it's a good book, it just wasn't a good read for me. Awful men are one thing (because it can be fun to hate them) but the religious zeal and mistreatment of marginalised people was too much. Still, I'm glad I finally read it! It'd been on my classics bucket list for ages so being able to tick it off feels great :)
PS: omg I always assumed Tom Lake was a classic that I had simply never heard of! The cover design and even the title seem very old fashioned to me. And I just never looked it up. Oops :D
I feel like I also had a great reading month! So hard to choose a favorite but it would have to the The Hobbit which was a re-read, it's just such a good story. My least favorite was White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, maybe because it was so hyped but it fell flat for me. There was to many monologues and ultimately I found the story underwhelming and lacking any impact. I have to give an honorable mention to The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson though as I've not heard anyone speak about it and I thought it was a unique perspective I've not heard before as I've not read much literature set in Russia of on a commune!
Completely agree about Elektra, I found it so boring. How do you take one of ancient Greeces most famous tragedies and make it dull! With the Iliad, again I agree the story itself isn't that great, unless you're in to war. But as someone that studied it it really is more what it represents historically that make it so great, like a story passed down for thousands of years orally, revised to include new name (those pages of "these ships came from here blah blah blah..." were being added to by other cities/families as the years went by to make their families look more important 😂) - like it was Alexander the Greats favourite book, it's so cool just from a historical perspective but ALSO is unfinished, like there was a whole other part to the story of the amazons coming to join the battle but this has been lost and we only have fragments. So really it's being read nowadays as a multi translated, multi revised, unfinished story. So I do kinda love it for that, even though it's pretty boring 😅
Great video! Lots of ideas for what to try next ❤
My comfort booktuber!❤️ also i have had Clyemnestra on my shelf for ages and i am definitely pushing up higher on my priority lost
I lost many, many books over the years. Thanks to this communty time to jump back in and Book Hunt! 🤓🤓🤓
Wow so many great book recommendation to start the year ❤
Hi, I enjoyed your vlog! My best friend and I enjoyed hearing about the different books. They all sound interesting and the covers look great!
Oh thank you!💚📚
@ We are going to binge watch a few of your other videos and comment
Tom Lake was so good! The Dutch House has more tension, and it’s read by Tom Hanks!
Ooh amazing I’ll probably do the audiobook for that one too!
i am so interested in reading this one sky day now because the way you described it is exactly how I'd describe one of my favourite books (the gray house by petrosyan): the world to get lost in, multiple characters pov, magical realism, somewhat weird plot. i heard people describe it both as shallow trash and profound and life-changing so it's clearly not for everyone. the gray house is also the perfect blend of coziness, cheerfulness with melancholy and despair that i can only find in books by authors from post soviet countries. must be something in the water here
Yes!!! Read The Wall!!!
Glad you had a good reading month 😊
My faves this month were east of eden and the mountains sing (im doing your reading round the world challenge so thats for vietnam)
Least favourite was mona by pola oloixarac.
I was going to use my spotify credits on Want by gillian anderson but after hearing your review i think i will listen to Tom Lake instead
I love east of Eden!! One of my favourites! And I highly recommend Tom Lake, hope you love it!
Wizard of The Crow by the same famous Kenyan author. A huge but funny book with a great female hero. I do recommend
Ooh thanks for the recommendation!
You really took the words out of my mouth about The Overstory! Such a disappointment when the cover is that gorgeous. It's a book I would love to display on my shelves and represent my interests but his prose is just so dull :///
Somehow both my favorites from January was non-fiction. I read The State of Africa by Martin Meredith, which is a history of the African continent from independence until about 2011, and it was such a good read. He gave both an overview of political and economic developments and individual stories of dictators and events. I cried during the chapter on the genocide in Rwanda, something I really didn't think would happen, as I have read novels on Rwanda before and am quite familiar with that particular story.
The other was A Brief History of Intelligence by Max Solomon Bennett, which guides us through the evolution of brains, how ours functions similar to and different than other animals, and how AI works similar to and different from our brains. Such an interesting book.
I haven't finished yet, but one favorite novel read (partially at least) in January in The Bridge Over the Drina. It's Bosnian an chronicles Bosnian history centered around this bridge. It feels almost mythic, but it's incredibly beautiful and also very harsh and dramatic in places, but in a good way.
15 books 😅😅😅
I managed to read 5 (the most I’ve ever read in a month) I had planned to read 7 but didn’t finish 2.
I loved all 5, TBH but my absolute favourite was Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. 🙌🏼
The other 4 in no particular order:
The Handmaid’s Tales
Hex
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Words That Remain
taste off the charts, as per
I think the Iliad is a text that is meant to be analyzed and studied, not consumed like a modern novel. I read it in conjunction with a lecture series. Getting the background and context to the characters actions and motives, specifically Achilles and Hector, makes a huge difference. I probably wouldn’t recommend unless you’re looking to take that approach to the text
Would love to see your favourite Greek mythology books!
Having read Bel Canto, The Dutch House and Tom Lake…if you liked Tom Lake, I’d say go with The Dutch House next. Bel Canto is quite different (IMO) to her more modern work and is a hit or miss.
Glad you had such a great reading month :) My absolute favourite and my only 5 Star read in January was Blood Over Bright Haven. In short: perfection. My least favourite, that I finished, was (unforunately) Jane Eyre. I gave it 3 stars so it's not that didn't like it. And I do think it's a good book, it just wasn't a good read for me. Awful men are one thing (because it can be fun to hate them) but the religious zeal and mistreatment of marginalised people was too much. Still, I'm glad I finally read it! It'd been on my classics bucket list for ages so being able to tick it off feels great :)
PS: omg I always assumed Tom Lake was a classic that I had simply never heard of! The cover design and even the title seem very old fashioned to me. And I just never looked it up. Oops :D
❤📚📚❤️
I feel like I also had a great reading month! So hard to choose a favorite but it would have to the The Hobbit which was a re-read, it's just such a good story. My least favorite was White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, maybe because it was so hyped but it fell flat for me. There was to many monologues and ultimately I found the story underwhelming and lacking any impact. I have to give an honorable mention to The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson though as I've not heard anyone speak about it and I thought it was a unique perspective I've not heard before as I've not read much literature set in Russia of on a commune!
Completely agree about Elektra, I found it so boring. How do you take one of ancient Greeces most famous tragedies and make it dull!
With the Iliad, again I agree the story itself isn't that great, unless you're in to war. But as someone that studied it it really is more what it represents historically that make it so great, like a story passed down for thousands of years orally, revised to include new name (those pages of "these ships came from here blah blah blah..." were being added to by other cities/families as the years went by to make their families look more important 😂) - like it was Alexander the Greats favourite book, it's so cool just from a historical perspective but ALSO is unfinished, like there was a whole other part to the story of the amazons coming to join the battle but this has been lost and we only have fragments. So really it's being read nowadays as a multi translated, multi revised, unfinished story. So I do kinda love it for that, even though it's pretty boring 😅