If you are new here and considering joining the HardcoreBook club I strongly encourage youth do so. I am just finishing my first year and it has been a truly transformative process. Benjamin is a brilliant and captivating lecturer who has a passion for literature that is, to use a cliché, truly contagious. The comments from fellow readers are insightful and have taught me a great deal and give me additional perspective. If I have to cut my budget anywhere Hardcore Book Club will be the last to go. I am increasingly concerned about the world around me much of which is out of my control. I truly believe that escaping into literature in the past 12 months has been not just a learning experience but has been positive for my mental and emotional health.
@@christopherw1509It’s David Copperfield. The lectures are (I think!) going to start in the next week or so, so there’s plenty of time to get on board and join in.
Do you know if the book club charge up front (I.e. the moment you first sign up, then again on the first of the next month) or do you make your payment on the first of the next month? This is one question I’ve always had about the book club, but haven’t seen answered anywhere.
One Hundred Years of Solitude Metamorphoses Madame Bovary The Sound and The Fury Canterbury Tales Brave New World/1984 The Iliad/The Odyssey The Three Musketeers Rebecca Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Finnegans Wake Emma Secret Charles Dickens book Some Shakespeare play
In the corner of my current room lies One Hundred Years of Solitude, Kafka Stories, Homer's Odyssey, Jekyll & Hyde, and a bunch of Shakespeare; not because of any list --- just my own thing, I'm working on reading. For the winter season for some reason I want to read Flaubert's Temptation of Saint Anthony, and have my eyes on a beautiful old edition. It screams my name, I do not yet know why.
My college classics professor explained to us that epic, classic literature was a conversation across time: Homer called and Virgil responded.. Dante responded to Virgil, Milton to Dante, Shakespeare to Milton. I always loved that analogy because I understood then that literature, that stories, don’t arise discretely in a vacuum but rather along a timeline, and that they are a dialogue. I’m glad to see people are still reading. I’d like to join you for the upcoming year, if I can. 🙂
I think it was Stephen King that noted that all horror writers are attempting to answer Shelley - while all fantasy are answering Tolkien. In many ways the human condition throws up questions and literature attempts to answer them.
This is a concept Mortimer J Adler called The Great Conversation. There’s a book collection called The Great Books of The Western World that was helped put together by Adler and the collection is based on the idea that much of western thought has developed in this way.
The fantastic thing about the internet is that a person can stumble across this video in a decade, follow the schedule, and watch the review videos of the scheduled selections! 😍
To be honest, your tone, cadence, speaking, use of language are just a few of the hidden reasons why I keep coming back to your channel on top of the obvious ones, books, selections and content. To see and hear Miss Morrison and Marquez listed next to the greats feels and IS as natural as breathing to me. Thank you! Looking forward to the sessions! 100 Years … a bona fide classic or as my professor once told us, will turn you into a true reader. A solid Dutch/South American fan by way of Amsterdam!
I'm in my second year of high school and read as a hobby; this channel is an absolute goldmine! The way you describe books and authors has always floored me and have made me admire you as a central figure in my reading journey. I'm very excited for this years Hardcore Book Club picks and hope to find some amazing recommendations this year coming up.
The algorithm suggested your video to me and I’m SO excited that it did. I recently started my own channel to discuss books, and while I haven’t posted my first video just yet, I have recorded it. I found myself saying that I don’t typically watch a lot of book review videos because I almost never enjoy the “popular” books. For me, they’re often dull and lack depth; not all, of course, but many. I even mentioned “100 Years of Solitude” and had the thought that I’d love to re-read it soon. This video has officially pushed me in the right direction. I’m planning on joining your book club! I haven’t even finished watching this video, but I’m incredibly intrigued and curious. I’m looking forward to a year of classics! Sometimes I love classics and sometimes I struggle. I really do not like Jane Austen at ALL. I have an inkling though that you might convince me to love it. In the end, I’m a perpetual student and lover of learning so, it looks like I’ve found a great corner of the internet to be a part of. To 2025!
I’m making room in my budget to join this year. I’m sick of watching these videos every year wishing I could join. We’re making it happen! Used book store, here I come!
It's just not affordable for me, I wish I could do it but I guess it's gonna have to be whichever free resources I can find for some of these books yet again. Sad times.
These are classic anyone can find at public library in most countries. What I strongly recommend since I do support the idea of public libraries, also as third places which are so rare and which especially younger generations need.
New book club member here! I've been listening and watching your tube videos for a year and have finally decided to join in the fun. Books have been ordered and I'm all set for a year of literary adventures.
Thank you so much, Lisa!! I'm so thrilled you're joining us on this journey through the great books! I can't wait to hear what you make of all these fantastic stories 😊
My dad, who was not a reader until his 60’s, read The Sound and the Fury - twice because he couldn’t understand it at all the first time through. He got the gist of the story the 2nd time and really liked Benji. The only Faulkner I’ve read is Light in August. I think I’ll read S&F this year in dad’s honor.
I discovered this video and received my Spotify Wrapped today! My favorite artist in 2024? Bach! My favorite TH-cam channel? Hard-Core Literature. Thanks for making me smile!
I have added Spotify subscription as well. Now goign to go through all past episodes of this podcast on Shakespeare. Finally some comments to go along with my father's huge collection of his complete works. ;-)
Although I do not have the time to be a part of the hardcore literature bookclub being a full time sixth form student, I do deeply appreciate your podcasts and TH-cam videos. Through secondary school I wasn’t much of a reader but, thanks largely to your podcasts and TH-cam videos, the world of the western cannon has opened up before me and all I can think of now is tackling the greatest works - I’ve already read Ovid’s Metamorphoses and I’m thinking of reading Homer’s Iliad in Alexander Pope translation. I’m looking forward to your literature content for this year! Thanks Ben!
Hi Ben! I’m really excited to join this 2025 book club and so happy to have discovered you. I graduated with my masters in English Literature in 2017. I love Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, and the Brontes very much. I’m also a Tom Hardy fan! Very fond of Return of the Native. Anyways I suffered the past few years from severe sleep apnea so it’s been quite some time since I’ve physically been able to read as I couldn’t stay awake. I recently had throat surgery. This book club is going to be so good for me ,my soul the piece of myself I’ve been missing for quite some time. I’ve already started ordering the books I don’t have and have watched your 2023 and 2024 book club list videos because once I join patreon I’ll be so eager to go back and soak up your lectures. Super excited to be a part of something so special and I thank you for all your efforts. Your passion is infectious. I’m invigorated by all the authors you’ve mentioned and do hope we see some Poe! Thanks again for this it means a lot to me to reconnect and be re-inspired.I know this personal investment for me will be truly invaluable.
I love the show you make of revealing these every year, it makes it so exciting and really brings up the enthusiasm (at a time when I know I need the boost!) for a new year of sublime literature and excellent conversation!
2024 was my first year in the book club and my best reading year by far. Even when you don't particularly enjoy a book, you still get something valuable from it because the lectures and discussions are incredible. Thank you, Benjamin, for transforming lives.
Aw, thank you so much!! You have completely made my day. It has been so wonderful taking this journey through these great books with you this year. It makes me so happy to know you've found it so rewarding! 😊🙏
I was reading 100 Years of Solitude years ago and was about 100 pages in when a rather large scare occurred in my life due to a cancer diagnosis and I felt a need to turn to other authors (Whitman, Dante, Wordsworth, Hopkins) in order to face the fears and griefs and sufferings for a time. Full remission for many years now, and I have never returned to Gabriel Garcia-Marquez as simply seeing the book would bring me back and so, about five years ago, I gave my copy to a local library. Your description of it has me intrigued to read it finally. Are you starting in January then?
i’ve just received an offer from Lancaster Uni to do english lit, i’m so happy and surprised that i received this offer as i studied sport science at college 😭. but i love literature and, especially, your videos. they’ve helped me so much and they’re very comforting to watch to help me sleep. thanks ben!
Man I didn’t expect to watch the whole hour haha. Got captivated by his descriptions of the books. First time hearing about this club, but I’m very intrigued
Delighted to see Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Iliad on the list. Two of my favourite books ever. Finished Melville’s and McCarter’s translations of the Metamorphoses in 2024 and am, at present, attempting to read it in Latin. I anticipate that it will be a lifetime project.
I’ve missed a lot last year here but every time I find myself watching this channel, I recognize what a gem you offer here. I’m beginning this journey this next year. THANK YOU.
When you say bookclub has reputation of getting readers through difficult books, and not just getting through but coming to love them. That reminds me of Nietzsche's Amor Fati: "Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it….but love it".
I'm glued to my seat and jumping out of it at the same time. I'm pulling books off my shelves, throwing things out of the way....found it. 😂😂😂 This!!!! IS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!
🎉 The book club is totally worth the money and is great for those who want to tackle the great books but don’t know where to start or need some assistance. I have not seen another person as in depth and articulate regarding great works of literature as Benjamin. Treat yourself!
Other than having all the videos and extra material from Ben to study and support my reading(reason number one) it makes me feel the urgency to deeply study and finish every book because I am paying monthly for the privilege of high quality literature classes (can't slack off! Now even a bit!). It's a sense of duty, almost. I know I would never have been able to read Infinite Jest or Tales of Genji without his help.
Fantastic reads. In fact, One Hundred Years of Solitude is inspired by a Mexican novel that was written years before, Recollections of Things to Come by Elena Garro. She is an excellent writer,Masterful, I highly recommend it. It's a shame that her books are not translated into English, but she had many problems writing and publishing because her husband, Octavio Paz, forbade her to write. Thanks to her I discovered The Tale of Genji. In an interview she said that she thought it was one of the best books in literature. Her friend Jorge Luis Borges recommended it to her.
Wow, I just stumbled on this channel looking for helpful information about The Brothers Karamazov and boom! Benjamin's energy, insightful brilliant comments about it; but even more so on literature in mass is a discovery I will share with my men's fellowship group++. Benjamin you are a breath of fresh air! Thank you for your diligent exciting work making this fantastic channel!!!
It’s so funny, I knew I liked your videos I just didn’t know why but now it hit me. I actually was ‘failed’/brought down a reading level my first year in American university. After going through that remedial class and passing it, I entered English 1 and ended up with a teacher you remind me of - Professor Ali was his name. In his class we read some books you’ll be reading this year - Brave New World and 1984. In a 16-week term we read those two, a Nietzsche book the title I can’t remember (it had a fallen angel on the cover I think), Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and Don Delillo’s White Noise (White Noise was the hardest for me). He had such a love and joy for reading that has stuck with me. When talking about controversial works like 1984 he had us discuss/argue about an insanely controversial (putting it mildly) piece of art often called ‘Piss Christ’. Those classes/lectures seem to have really stuck with me nearly 16 years later. I was a Communications major and also for my last semester at university, I had to take a semi non-humanities course to fill credits. I took a class on Shakespeare basically reading 1 play per week and we hit some of the classics. This class was one of three required for all English majors at my university, I don’t fully remember the other two, but I feel like it was writers potentially even Milton and Chaucer. I was the ‘glutton for punishment’, all the English majors were looking at the guy who wasn’t and going ‘why are you here?1’ 😂. My love of the Bard did take me and my family on a London vacation to The Globe but not Stratford and very soon (this December month) to the Folger Shakespeare Library here in Washington DC. Best of luck to you Ben!
I just became a bookclub member 😊 I struggled with depression throughout 2024, so I didn't have the concentration to read. But I am finaly free of depression! And looking forward to read again and gave myself a membership to celebrate that fact.
That is so amazing to hear! I'm so happy you've successfully battled through depression! You should be incredibly proud of overcoming that. And what a beautiful way to celebrate! I'm so excited to take this journey through great literature with you and hear what you make of these powerful stories! ☺️
Ben - it's like you peeked in my mind and made this video. Ovid, Flaubert, Faulkner, Chaucer, Finnegan's Wake, more Dickens, and more Shakespeare were all on my short list of 2025 books to read. I can't wait to join with others.
I'll be reading some of the books you chose for next year, but sadly I won't be able to join the book club. Maybe one day in the future when things turn around in the economy I'll have the spare funds. Keep up the good work, it is so wonderful that you are choosing such a great selection of books.
Just joined book club Benjamin. I am very much looking forward to this experience! You made me smile during the Dumas segment. I actually read count of monte Cristo out loud to my two boys with full voice acting 😊 may have to do the same for three musketeers ❤️
Thank God I found this site! It has reignited my love of literature and discussions again. Thank you! It feeds my mind and my soul! You lift my spirits at a very difficult time!!!
Aw, thank you so much. I appreciate you being here and enjoying great literature with me. I'm sorry to hear you're having a very difficult time. I hope it will pass soon for you 🙏
Ben, I am pumped for next year! My mom and I have been reading "The Sound and the Fury." It is quite an interesting masterpiece, which has prompted me to dive into Faulkner. Starting the year off with Gabriel Garcia Marquez is auspicious because I was planning on reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" during the early part of next year. I am looking forward to the conversations next year. I am, however, trepidatious when it comes to "Finnegans Wake." Yet, I shall boldly go forth. Cheers to this wonderful list! I love the new background! It is quite befitting a well-read gentleman such as yourself. Happy reading!
I had to drop out earlier this year because I had too much on and also because Proust has become my main reading project (with so many ancillary texts to read along the Search). I hope I'll be able to join you next year at some point, maybe for a couple of months (life will be even more hectic for various reasons). I look forward to a time when things are settled and I can properly follow the syllabus and read along without the constant feeling of falling behind - which was not good for my anxiety and part of the reason for cancelling. Anyway, thank you for sharing next year's syllabus with everybody - it's great inspiration. Happy reading to you too! PS - you've made me want to read 'Brave New World'.
Thank you so much for renewing my interest in great books. I feel that i have a new flame in personel growth. I have read at least 25 of your 50 most recommended books and many more to go.
I few years ago I read Brave New World, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm and We. We was my favorite of all. I look forward to a new year of reading Benjamin, thank you.
I read OHYoS this past year and absolutely loved it, yet also felt like I was missing out on so much because I'm not as good at reading as I'd like to be. Just joined the club hoping to glean some insight I may have missed the first time through!
Thanks Benjamin for this run down for 2025. I'm not a member but I always enjoy your recommendations and one or two find their way on my tbr list. A reread of Emma is now one of them. Thank you very much for the group, it's one of my favorite escapes to sanity :)
Thank you so much for the reading list. I am super happy, because I will be teaching Brave New World this autumn. I think I will encourage students to make it a double bill, too.
I came across your 2024 version of this video last year but had just gotten back into reading and needed some time to read whatever I felt like… Well, one year and 36 books later I can’t wait to join the club for 2025! I’m ready to get back into reading some hardcore literature 😉
I couldn't resist next year's list and joined! I can't wait to get started, though it's great diving in to the David Copperfield segments, as I read that for the first time earlier this year (and loved it!)
Hi Ben. I have been following your channel for the past year and when you post a video for a new book discussion I really enjoy it. Is evident that you take your time for each video and each one is made with dedication and love for the written word. I am very pleased with your selection of books for 2025. Of all the books I am not familiar with OVID and Daphne de Maurier, I can’t wait for those videos.
What an incredible list! I have so many of these books and haven't read them yet so your timing couldn't be better. Also, I thought you should know that your influence looms large. I live in India and I recently invited a friend home who I hadn't met in a decade. He looked at my bookshelf with Clarissa, Middlemarch, Blood Meridian and he told me, 'You're watching way too much Benjamin Mcevoy...' 😂
Read the book and watch the movie. As for the book, well, the situation described in it was very real at that time for any woman in Russia thinking about the prospects of divorcing her husband. The law in Russia at that time was allowing the husband to take away his children from a divorced wife for a lifetime, so that she could never see them again. So part of this tragic story stems from such legal realities which sadly are not unrelined clearly enough in this book for people unfamiliar with the history of the family law in Russia to a such degree that people can understand the psyche and torment of the main female character. This law has changed a lot after Europe has adopted a novelty at that time which was new family law introduced by the Napolen's Bonaparte Codex and Russia, as proud country as it was, this want to stay behind those French innovative and widely popular ideas.
Clement’s here! This is great! I’m reading One Hundred Years of Solitude because of the Netflix series as you say. I hope I’d be quick enough to read most before 11/12 when the series premiere (it’s Part 1 by the way)…
Many thanks - great choices! I definitely will pick up a few of those. Thanks for mentioning "We" from Y. Zamyatin as well in connection with 1984 and Brave New World. There is the theory that We influenced/inspired Orwell greatly. Happy reading! 📚
So excited to be starting off with 100 yrs of solitude. I read it a few years ago and kept thinking this past year that i really should revisit it again. Can't wait to chat with the community about it! 🎉
Dear Ben, please get out of my head! ;) I already had six of these on my personal to-read list for 2025, I can't believe you chose them also. I'm most excited for Ovid, 100 Years of Solitude and Madame Bovary, as it will be my first time in their company. Here's to a great year of reading for all of us!
I have to say, as i started my journey into reading again, this experience of community is exactly what i was looking for. I'm a serial dipper in and outer, but in the last couple of years I have really finished books and I am so proud of that. I would love to find ppl to chat to about my truly beloved books.
The worst thing that happened to me last year was that my payments to the book club were blocked due to some new regulations on international payments in my country. This list is tantalizing, to say the least. Some of these would have been re-reads for me. Introduced myself to Faulkner not very long ago, with his Light in August. My best wishes to all the members of the book club!
Thank you Ben - you have helped me so much and given me such positivity. Your insightful videos and podcasts are always such a great pleasure to watch and listen to. I have learned so much from you. I am very excited to watch this! I wish you all the very best 😊
I am absolutely thrilled with the selections for this year! So many works I already wanted to dive into, along with second readings of The Sound and The Fury and Brave New World for me. I think this may be my year to join the club!
I think I have read Brave New World ages ago, so barely recall it in detail but have never read The Sound and The Fury , so I will read and share ideas on it with pleasure.
I completely agree that some authors must be read in the totality of their works. My current list of such authors includes William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Isaac Asimov.
This is a stacked year. Definitely hyped for One Hundred Years Of Solitude - it's been sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to pick it up for a while now. And of course, The Canterbury Tales - we did The Miller's Tale for AS level, and I loved it. (And, as a geordie, older English is FASCINATING because of the similarities to our dialect.) Also very excited for Brave New World. Gives me an excuse to buy it 😂.
I am a new subscriber . I am excited to reread books as well as the new especially authors I’ve wanted to read. Thank you for your hard work and Introducing new books and authors to my list.
As an American, we've decided to try to combine Orwell's and Huxley's dystopian visions. Fewer and fewer people are reading challenging books, but they are banning them in schools just in case.
And to most Europeans it's absurd. Makes us think about this "Black Mirror" episode in which a mother uses technology to make her child unable to see cruel or dangerous things and as a result later on a child gets hurt by some of them while not being able to even see incoming danger. In most European countries reading these books is required by public education systems. Just because it's better to discuss atrocities and all kinds of moral dilemmas instead of having to face them in real life without being mentally, morally and intellectualy prepared to do so.
The socialists who control education in the US don’t want an educated class that are capable of thinking for themselves, which is what the great books do. The education system wants people who capable of completing tasks, not capable of independent thought.
Fantastic line up. I am currently reading with my son the Iliad with the Odyssey next and as he wish to write a characters analysis thinking it would be a grand idea if he can join your lectures. And you are so right about Austen, she is my to go to when I want witty and fun escape yet deep and thoughtful. Hope I can join this year.
I read and studied the Sound and he Fury when I was ag university...a long time ago, and you are right in so farcascit is a challenging, disturbing read. (The last adjective being the one that stuck into my mind) yet I think I was not mature enough to get into such a book at the time). I am also loo’ing forward to reading the Canterbury Tales ! Thanks once again !
1:02:05 /2024 Merry Christmas Ben, thank you for your amazing literature insights 😊I am towards the end of reading 'the drowning' by Hazel Barkworth, next up Homer (Illyiad) twinned with the Odyssey (attempting to read later next year)😢
I was waiting for this video! This will decide whether I’ll join or not. I do believe I will. Your videos are really helpful Ben, and you’ve inspired be to chase the great books. I was already planning to join so I can get help with the Proust project (I plan to get the box set of Everyman’s for Christmas) and Blood Meridian. But I definitely believe this video will push me further to join the book club. 17:59 *gulp*
Finding your podcast and youtube channel was a great gift. I truly wish to join the book club and have access to your book reviews on patrion however as a medical student from Turkey there is no way I can afford the price. Still I really appreciate your podcast, thank you for your hard work.
I joined the Book Club on the first day of 2025. Finding you in all your online presences has already bettered my life. I can’t wait to get into this years schedule.
Im so excited for 100 Years of Solitude. It is one of my favorite books, so an in-depth tour of it with your group will be an excellent way to start the year for me. Yay!
Very excited about the selections for the Hardcore Literature Book Club in 2025! This year I will really need to spend a lot of time on another plane. Starting out the 100 Years of Solitude is perfect. If you are thinking of joining, I can highly recommend it. Ben McEvoy's lectures are extraordinary and make for a deep reading experience.
I’m interested in joining. How does it work? Is there one lecture per book? One lecture per chapter? Live discussions? Do we follow the 2025 list as a group in sequence, or do we pick books from this and past years as we wish and go at our own pace? More brass tacks please! I visited the website and couldn’t find a sort of “what to expect.” Thanks!
Well, this schedule could not be more fun. Thank you for all the hard work and love that went into it!! While I grinned each time a new book was announced and am truly excited for the syllabus, I am surprised how melancholy I feel at the idea of coming to the end of The Shakespeare Project. That’s been such a meaningful journey for me. I’ll be forever grateful for the guidance through our friend Will’s cannon.
If I was forced to choose, Madame Bovary may be my favorite novel of all time; an utter masterpiece. What a phenomenal collection of absolute classics for the upcoming new year!
Hello Benjamin. I found you about four months ago and watch your TH-cam videos often. While I cannot afford to join Hardcore Literature at the moment, I've haunted my fave used bookstores and purchased all of the books for 2025 and cannot wait to start. Is it possible to get the Big Read plus list without being a current member? Thank you for always inspiring us to read deeply. At 76 it is a blessing to expand my mind with treasure rather than junk. Blessings.
Wow! Thank you so much, Austin!! It's been so wonderful reading these great books with you this year! I'm so excited to dive into these books and hear what you make of them! 🙏
I've been meaning to do this for the past few years but always seem to fall off a couple months into the year. Going to try and make it one of my main bookish goals in 2025!
I was a contributor at the lowest level last year and was thinking to up my level this year, but suddenly I realized my monthly contribution stopped being charged without explanation and now I cannot find where to inquire about this and sort it out. I love all these TH-cam HCL lectures! Thank you.
I like to read my own books at my pace so I don’t really follow the rhythm of the book club but I’ll definitely be tuning in for some of the lectures this year and adding Garcia Marquez to the “urgent TBR” (seriously I’ve had it since forever I need to get to it).
Your background library is the same of mine, I have a lot of old leather books series and they are my fortune building since I was 18, now I am concentrating to build my English corner books because I don't have much of them due to the expensive pricing, I hope some day I could have more and going to fulfill my dreams to study English Literature in UK even now i am in my 46.
my excitement is so blown, this is just my AP english syllabus from high school. i mean it's beat for beat my syllabus, down to the 1984 and brave new world feature. some of these titles i would love to revisit but it really shot the air out of my sails not to get to fully participate this year.
Hope you can explain that middle quentin section of sound and the fury, because there are plenty of guides to the intial benji section but for some reason the quentin section seems to be assumed by people to be easier to grasp. Well I barely understand I word of it, whereas I felt like I'd have been able to decipher some of the benji section even without the guides.
Really great books on this list Ben! I would join you but I'm working through my own list at the moment. I'll be reading all of these at some point except for Rebecca I believe. Presently I have finished the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. It was very eye opening to pre-Statehood America. I'll be watching y'alls progress and I'll watch your reviews as I read certain books. Thanks for the amazing video and the passion you put in these books. Love and Peace.
If you are new here and considering joining the HardcoreBook club I strongly encourage youth do so. I am just finishing my first year and it has been a truly transformative process. Benjamin is a brilliant and captivating lecturer who has a passion for literature that is, to use a cliché, truly contagious. The comments from fellow readers are insightful and have taught me a great deal and give me additional perspective. If I have to cut my budget anywhere Hardcore Book Club will be the last to go. I am increasingly concerned about the world around me much of which is out of my control. I truly believe that escaping into literature in the past 12 months has been not just a learning experience but has been positive for my mental and emotional health.
@@zissizalana6850 There are a lot of very good quality and affordable second hand book shops on line. I use them a lot.
That is precisely what you will find in this book club, a lot of rewarding exchanges that will make your reading more enriching.
Maybe I’ll join in January. I might now if I knew which Dickens novel they’re reading.
@@christopherw1509It’s David Copperfield. The lectures are (I think!) going to start in the next week or so, so there’s plenty of time to get on board and join in.
Do you know if the book club charge up front (I.e. the moment you first sign up, then again on the first of the next month) or do you make your payment on the first of the next month? This is one question I’ve always had about the book club, but haven’t seen answered anywhere.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Metamorphoses
Madame Bovary
The Sound and The Fury
Canterbury Tales
Brave New World/1984
The Iliad/The Odyssey
The Three Musketeers
Rebecca
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Finnegans Wake
Emma
Secret Charles Dickens book
Some Shakespeare play
Thank you!
Thank you
In the corner of my current room lies One Hundred Years of Solitude, Kafka Stories, Homer's Odyssey, Jekyll & Hyde, and a bunch of Shakespeare; not because of any list --- just my own thing, I'm working on reading. For the winter season for some reason I want to read Flaubert's Temptation of Saint Anthony, and have my eyes on a beautiful old edition. It screams my name, I do not yet know why.
Is this the confirmed order chronologically? thanks!!
_and some Shakespeare play_ 💀
My college classics professor explained to us that epic, classic literature was a conversation across time: Homer called and Virgil responded.. Dante responded to Virgil, Milton to Dante, Shakespeare to Milton. I always loved that analogy because I understood then that literature, that stories, don’t arise discretely in a vacuum but rather along a timeline, and that they are a dialogue. I’m glad to see people are still reading. I’d like to join you for the upcoming year, if I can. 🙂
I think it was Stephen King that noted that all horror writers are attempting to answer Shelley - while all fantasy are answering Tolkien. In many ways the human condition throws up questions and literature attempts to answer them.
I love this so much!
So interesting.
This is a concept Mortimer J Adler called The Great Conversation. There’s a book collection called The Great Books of The Western World that was helped put together by Adler and the collection is based on the idea that much of western thought has developed in this way.
That is such a beautiful and profound thought. Thank you for sharing it.
This is my Mariah Carey "it's tiiiiime" moment of the year.
😂❤
You absolutely killed me with this one 😂😂😂
I don’t understand.
In Europe it's "Going home for Christmas" time ;-) And inPoland it's "Kevin alone at home" season.
IIITTT'SSS TTTTIIIMMMEEE! All I'm hearing is Bruce Buffer, the UFC announcer.
The fantastic thing about the internet is that a person can stumble across this video in a decade, follow the schedule, and watch the review videos of the scheduled selections! 😍
To be honest, your tone, cadence, speaking, use of language are just a few of the hidden reasons why I keep coming back to your channel on top of the obvious ones, books, selections and content. To see and hear Miss Morrison and Marquez listed next to the greats feels and IS as natural as breathing to me. Thank you! Looking forward to the sessions! 100 Years … a bona fide classic or as my professor once told us, will turn you into a true reader. A solid Dutch/South American fan by way of Amsterdam!
I'm in my second year of high school and read as a hobby; this channel is an absolute goldmine! The way you describe books and authors has always floored me and have made me admire you as a central figure in my reading journey. I'm very excited for this years Hardcore Book Club picks and hope to find some amazing recommendations this year coming up.
“Absolute goldmine”❤❤❤
Congratulations for committing yourself to reading great works at such a young age- don’t forget to write your thoughts as you go.❤
@@mrspaulsen1717 ah good idea. And @estranger00: you WILL be rereading in decades later 😀
The algorithm suggested your video to me and I’m SO excited that it did. I recently started my own channel to discuss books, and while I haven’t posted my first video just yet, I have recorded it. I found myself saying that I don’t typically watch a lot of book review videos because I almost never enjoy the “popular” books. For me, they’re often dull and lack depth; not all, of course, but many. I even mentioned “100 Years of Solitude” and had the thought that I’d love to re-read it soon. This video has officially pushed me in the right direction. I’m planning on joining your book club! I haven’t even finished watching this video, but I’m incredibly intrigued and curious. I’m looking forward to a year of classics! Sometimes I love classics and sometimes I struggle. I really do not like Jane Austen at ALL. I have an inkling though that you might convince me to love it. In the end, I’m a perpetual student and lover of learning so, it looks like I’ve found a great corner of the internet to be a part of. To 2025!
Just subscribed. I can't wait to see your video! :)
The very same thing has just happened to me but I'm glad it did. ;-) Happy to join in from the very start.
I’m making room in my budget to join this year. I’m sick of watching these videos every year wishing I could join. We’re making it happen! Used book store, here I come!
Bout to cancel my Xbox subscription for this in 2025 lol
It's just not affordable for me, I wish I could do it but I guess it's gonna have to be whichever free resources I can find for some of these books yet again. Sad times.
Same here...thank God for the library....just missed what I would imagine to be great lectures...
These are classic anyone can find at public library in most countries. What I strongly recommend since I do support the idea of public libraries, also as third places which are so rare and which especially younger generations need.
Bookoutlet is my source for affordable books. In Canada anyways. I've got lucky finding some Nabokov and Vonnegut on there.
New book club member here! I've been listening and watching your tube videos for a year and have finally decided to join in the fun. Books have been ordered and I'm all set for a year of literary adventures.
Thank you so much, Lisa!! I'm so thrilled you're joining us on this journey through the great books! I can't wait to hear what you make of all these fantastic stories 😊
My dad, who was not a reader until his 60’s, read The Sound and the Fury - twice because he couldn’t understand it at all the first time through. He got the gist of the story the 2nd time and really liked Benji. The only Faulkner I’ve read is Light in August. I think I’ll read S&F this year in dad’s honor.
This is my Spotify wrapped
I discovered this video and received my Spotify Wrapped today! My favorite artist in 2024? Bach! My favorite TH-cam channel? Hard-Core Literature. Thanks for making me smile!
I have added Spotify subscription as well. Now goign to go through all past episodes of this podcast on Shakespeare. Finally some comments to go along with my father's huge collection of his complete works. ;-)
Although I do not have the time to be a part of the hardcore literature bookclub being a full time sixth form student, I do deeply appreciate your podcasts and TH-cam videos. Through secondary school I wasn’t much of a reader but, thanks largely to your podcasts and TH-cam videos, the world of the western cannon has opened up before me and all I can think of now is tackling the greatest works - I’ve already read Ovid’s Metamorphoses and I’m thinking of reading Homer’s Iliad in Alexander Pope translation. I’m looking forward to your literature content for this year! Thanks Ben!
Hi Ben! I’m really excited to join this 2025 book club and so happy to have discovered you. I graduated with my masters in English Literature in 2017. I love Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, and the Brontes very much. I’m also a Tom Hardy fan! Very fond of Return of the Native. Anyways I suffered the past few years from severe sleep apnea so it’s been quite some time since I’ve physically been able to read as I couldn’t stay awake. I recently had throat surgery. This book club is going to be so good for me ,my soul the piece of myself I’ve been missing for quite some time. I’ve already started ordering the books I don’t have and have watched your 2023 and 2024 book club list videos because once I join patreon I’ll be so eager to go back and soak up your lectures. Super excited to be a part of something so special and I thank you for all your efforts. Your passion is infectious. I’m invigorated by all the authors you’ve mentioned and do hope we see some Poe! Thanks again for this it means a lot to me to reconnect and be re-inspired.I know this personal investment for me will be truly invaluable.
I love the show you make of revealing these every year, it makes it so exciting and really brings up the enthusiasm (at a time when I know I need the boost!) for a new year of sublime literature and excellent conversation!
Thank you so much!! It makes me so happy to know you enjoy these schedule launches! Here's to another year of great reading, my friend! ☺
Will u ever put la dame aux camellias by Alexandre Dumas Fils and Paul et Virginie by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. @@BenjaminMcEvoy
2024 was my first year in the book club and my best reading year by far. Even when you don't particularly enjoy a book, you still get something valuable from it because the lectures and discussions are incredible. Thank you, Benjamin, for transforming lives.
Aw, thank you so much!! You have completely made my day. It has been so wonderful taking this journey through these great books with you this year. It makes me so happy to know you've found it so rewarding! 😊🙏
I just found you on Spotify- I spent my winter break enjoying your deep and intimate insights on many classics. Thank you for sharing your insights.
You perform a great public service with your spirited advocacy of the great books of literature. Well done, Ben!
Thank you so much, Eric!! I really appreciate that!! :)
I was reading 100 Years of Solitude years ago and was about 100 pages in when a rather large scare occurred in my life due to a cancer diagnosis and I felt a need to turn to other authors (Whitman, Dante, Wordsworth, Hopkins) in order to face the fears and griefs and sufferings for a time.
Full remission for many years now, and I have never returned to Gabriel Garcia-Marquez as simply seeing the book would bring me back and so, about five years ago, I gave my copy to a local library.
Your description of it has me intrigued to read it finally. Are you starting in January then?
Hopkins and Whitman are both great sources of consolation!
i’ve just received an offer from Lancaster Uni to do english lit, i’m so happy and surprised that i received this offer as i studied sport science at college 😭. but i love literature and, especially, your videos. they’ve helped me so much and they’re very comforting to watch to help
me sleep.
thanks ben!
Man I didn’t expect to watch the whole hour haha. Got captivated by his descriptions of the books. First time hearing about this club, but I’m very intrigued
Delighted to see Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Iliad on the list. Two of my favourite books ever. Finished Melville’s and McCarter’s translations of the Metamorphoses in 2024 and am, at present, attempting to read it in Latin. I anticipate that it will be a lifetime project.
I’ve missed a lot last year here but every time I find myself watching this channel, I recognize what a gem you offer here. I’m beginning this journey this next year. THANK YOU.
When you say bookclub has reputation of getting readers through difficult books, and not just getting through but coming to love them. That reminds me of Nietzsche's Amor Fati: "Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it….but love it".
I'm glued to my seat and jumping out of it at the same time. I'm pulling books off my shelves, throwing things out of the way....found it. 😂😂😂 This!!!! IS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!
And checking if the translations are good ones 😊
🎉 The book club is totally worth the money and is great for those who want to tackle the great books but don’t know where to start or need some assistance. I have not seen another person as in depth and articulate regarding great works of literature as Benjamin. Treat yourself!
I wish I had 21 pounds free each month to join.
I agree, it's so worth the money.
Other than having all the videos and extra material from Ben to study and support my reading(reason number one) it makes me feel the urgency to deeply study and finish every book because I am paying monthly for the privilege of high quality literature classes (can't slack off! Now even a bit!). It's a sense of duty, almost. I know I would never have been able to read Infinite Jest or Tales of Genji without his help.
Money? What money 😂
Great comment - I’m intrigued. You say it’s worth the money - is there a cost to join or is it the cost of the novels?
Fantastic reads. In fact, One Hundred Years of Solitude is inspired by a Mexican novel that was written years before, Recollections of Things to Come by Elena Garro. She is an excellent writer,Masterful, I highly recommend it. It's a shame that her books are not translated into English, but she had many problems writing and publishing because her husband, Octavio Paz, forbade her to write.
Thanks to her I discovered The Tale of Genji. In an interview she said that she thought it was one of the best books in literature. Her friend Jorge Luis Borges recommended it to her.
Yay, my favorite video of the year! ❤
Aw, thank you, Anna!! 😊
Wow, I just stumbled on this channel looking for helpful information about The Brothers Karamazov and boom! Benjamin's energy, insightful brilliant comments about it; but even more so on literature in mass is a discovery I will share with my men's fellowship group++. Benjamin you are a breath of fresh air! Thank you for your diligent exciting work making this fantastic channel!!!
It’s so funny, I knew I liked your videos I just didn’t know why but now it hit me. I actually was ‘failed’/brought down a reading level my first year in American university. After going through that remedial class and passing it, I entered English 1 and ended up with a teacher you remind me of - Professor Ali was his name. In his class we read some books you’ll be reading this year - Brave New World and 1984. In a 16-week term we read those two, a Nietzsche book the title I can’t remember (it had a fallen angel on the cover I think), Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and Don Delillo’s White Noise (White Noise was the hardest for me). He had such a love and joy for reading that has stuck with me. When talking about controversial works like 1984 he had us discuss/argue about an insanely controversial (putting it mildly) piece of art often called ‘Piss Christ’. Those classes/lectures seem to have really stuck with me nearly 16 years later.
I was a Communications major and also for my last semester at university, I had to take a semi non-humanities course to fill credits. I took a class on Shakespeare basically reading 1 play per week and we hit some of the classics. This class was one of three required for all English majors at my university, I don’t fully remember the other two, but I feel like it was writers potentially even Milton and Chaucer. I was the ‘glutton for punishment’, all the English majors were looking at the guy who wasn’t and going ‘why are you here?1’ 😂.
My love of the Bard did take me and my family on a London vacation to The Globe but not Stratford and very soon (this December month) to the Folger Shakespeare Library here in Washington DC.
Best of luck to you Ben!
You have no idea how excited I am with this list!!! Some well loved books of mine are here and cannot wait to explore these with you all! ❤
Aw, thank you so much! I'm incredibly excited to journey through these great books with you too! 😊
Amazing choices! I’m so excited to join and luckily 90% of these titles are on my TBR shelf. You’re a true literary treasure. 😊
Yay, thank you so much, Sarah! I really appreciate that! And I'm so excited to dive into these great works with you 😊
Ben, I can’t express how much I have benefited and learned from your channel. Best wishes for 2025!
Aw, thank you so much, Samuel!! I really deeply appreciate that, my friend ☺🙏
I just became a bookclub member 😊 I struggled with depression throughout 2024, so I didn't have the concentration to read. But I am finaly free of depression! And looking forward to read again and gave myself a membership to celebrate that fact.
That is so amazing to hear! I'm so happy you've successfully battled through depression! You should be incredibly proud of overcoming that. And what a beautiful way to celebrate! I'm so excited to take this journey through great literature with you and hear what you make of these powerful stories! ☺️
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you so much for your kind reply! I'm excited too.
Ben - it's like you peeked in my mind and made this video. Ovid, Flaubert, Faulkner, Chaucer, Finnegan's Wake, more Dickens, and more Shakespeare were all on my short list of 2025 books to read. I can't wait to join with others.
I'll be reading some of the books you chose for next year, but sadly I won't be able to join the book club. Maybe one day in the future when things turn around in the economy I'll have the spare funds. Keep up the good work, it is so wonderful that you are choosing such a great selection of books.
Just joined book club Benjamin. I am very much looking forward to this experience! You made me smile during the Dumas segment. I actually read count of monte Cristo out loud to my two boys with full voice acting 😊 may have to do the same for three musketeers ❤️
Thank God I found this site! It has reignited my love of literature and discussions again. Thank you! It feeds my mind and my soul! You lift my spirits at a very difficult time!!!
Aw, thank you so much. I appreciate you being here and enjoying great literature with me. I'm sorry to hear you're having a very difficult time. I hope it will pass soon for you 🙏
Ben, I am pumped for next year! My mom and I have been reading "The Sound and the Fury." It is quite an interesting masterpiece, which has prompted me to dive into Faulkner. Starting the year off with Gabriel Garcia Marquez is auspicious because I was planning on reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude" during the early part of next year. I am looking forward to the conversations next year. I am, however, trepidatious when it comes to "Finnegans Wake." Yet, I shall boldly go forth. Cheers to this wonderful list! I love the new background! It is quite befitting a well-read gentleman such as yourself. Happy reading!
I had to drop out earlier this year because I had too much on and also because Proust has become my main reading project (with so many ancillary texts to read along the Search). I hope I'll be able to join you next year at some point, maybe for a couple of months (life will be even more hectic for various reasons).
I look forward to a time when things are settled and I can properly follow the syllabus and read along without the constant feeling of falling behind - which was not good for my anxiety and part of the reason for cancelling.
Anyway, thank you for sharing next year's syllabus with everybody - it's great inspiration. Happy reading to you too!
PS - you've made me want to read 'Brave New World'.
Thank you so much for renewing my interest in great books. I feel that i have a new flame in personel growth. I have read at least 25 of your 50 most recommended books and many more to go.
Wow!! That makes me so happy to hear, Margaret! You're doing a phenomenal job with your reading!
I few years ago I read Brave New World, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm and We. We was my favorite of all. I look forward to a new year of reading Benjamin, thank you.
I am sad that I have apparently missed four years of this! I am really looking forward to these books.
After years of putting it off I am joining you next year. Looking forward to the challenges and discussion
I have read One Hundred Years of Solitude but very enthusiastic about reading it again with Ben and all of you!!
I read OHYoS this past year and absolutely loved it, yet also felt like I was missing out on so much because I'm not as good at reading as I'd like to be. Just joined the club hoping to glean some insight I may have missed the first time through!
Thanks Benjamin for this run down for 2025. I'm not a member but I always enjoy your recommendations and one or two find their way on my tbr list. A reread of Emma is now one of them. Thank you very much for the group, it's one of my favorite escapes to sanity :)
Wow, first time I’ve encountered a book list where I’ve already read most of them. *feels all edumacated*
Thank you so much for the reading list. I am super happy, because I will be teaching Brave New World this autumn. I think I will encourage students to make it a double bill, too.
So glad I found you and the club Benjamin! I can’t wait! I’m def afraid of The Illiad lol but going all in with confidence and open mind. Cheers!
I came across your 2024 version of this video last year but had just gotten back into reading and needed some time to read whatever I felt like… Well, one year and 36 books later I can’t wait to join the club for 2025! I’m ready to get back into reading some hardcore literature 😉
one hour well spent ...a breath of fresh air you are ....enlightening as always 💌💌💌
I couldn't resist next year's list and joined! I can't wait to get started, though it's great diving in to the David Copperfield segments, as I read that for the first time earlier this year (and loved it!)
Hi Ben. I have been following your channel for the past year and when you post a video for a new book discussion I really enjoy it. Is evident that you take your time for each video and each one is made with dedication and love for the written word. I am very pleased with your selection of books for 2025. Of all the books I am not familiar with OVID and Daphne de Maurier, I can’t wait for those videos.
What an incredible list! I have so many of these books and haven't read them yet so your timing couldn't be better. Also, I thought you should know that your influence looms large. I live in India and I recently invited a friend home who I hadn't met in a decade. He looked at my bookshelf with Clarissa, Middlemarch, Blood Meridian and he told me, 'You're watching way too much Benjamin Mcevoy...' 😂
Wow! Amazing story :).
@qamarqammar7629 Ben's come a long way indeed. Here's to more!
This is going to be my first year joining the Bookclub. I’m starting with Anna Karenina. I’m very excited.
Read the book and watch the movie. As for the book, well, the situation described in it was very real at that time for any woman in Russia thinking about the prospects of divorcing her husband. The law in Russia at that time was allowing the husband to take away his children from a divorced wife for a lifetime, so that she could never see them again. So part of this tragic story stems from such legal realities which sadly are not unrelined clearly enough in this book for people unfamiliar with the history of the family law in Russia to a such degree that people can understand the psyche and torment of the main female character. This law has changed a lot after Europe has adopted a novelty at that time which was new family law introduced by the Napolen's Bonaparte Codex and Russia, as proud country as it was, this want to stay behind those French innovative and widely popular ideas.
Clement’s here! This is great! I’m reading One Hundred Years of Solitude because of the Netflix series as you say. I hope I’d be quick enough to read most before 11/12 when the series premiere (it’s Part 1 by the way)…
Many thanks - great choices!
I definitely will pick up a few of those.
Thanks for mentioning "We" from Y. Zamyatin as well in connection with 1984 and Brave New World. There is the theory that We influenced/inspired Orwell greatly.
Happy reading! 📚
So excited to be starting off with 100 yrs of solitude. I read it a few years ago and kept thinking this past year that i really should revisit it again. Can't wait to chat with the community about it! 🎉
Dear Ben, please get out of my head! ;) I already had six of these on my personal to-read list for 2025, I can't believe you chose them also. I'm most excited for Ovid, 100 Years of Solitude and Madame Bovary, as it will be my first time in their company. Here's to a great year of reading for all of us!
I have to say, as i started my journey into reading again, this experience of community is exactly what i was looking for. I'm a serial dipper in and outer, but in the last couple of years I have really finished books and I am so proud of that. I would love to find ppl to chat to about my truly beloved books.
How exciting. I just listened to your Whitman lecture and was enthralled.
Thank you so much, Ellen!! I really appreciate that 😊
Yay! Been checking constantly for this video to hit. ❤🎉
Yay!! Thank you, Jodie ☺
The worst thing that happened to me last year was that my payments to the book club were blocked due to some new regulations on international payments in my country. This list is tantalizing, to say the least. Some of these would have been re-reads for me. Introduced myself to Faulkner not very long ago, with his Light in August. My best wishes to all the members of the book club!
I'm guessing you're from India. Why don't you try Axis Bank payments? It's been working for me.
Thank you Ben - you have helped me so much and given me such positivity. Your insightful videos and podcasts are always such a great pleasure to watch and listen to. I have learned so much from you. I am very excited to watch this! I wish you all the very best 😊
I am absolutely thrilled with the selections for this year! So many works I already wanted to dive into, along with second readings of The Sound and The Fury and Brave New World for me. I think this may be my year to join the club!
I think I have read Brave New World ages ago, so barely recall it in detail but have never read The Sound and The Fury , so I will read and share ideas on it with pleasure.
I completely agree that some authors must be read in the totality of their works. My current list of such authors includes William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Isaac Asimov.
That's such a beautiful list, Anna!! I completely agree with all of those! 😊
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you! What authors would you add to this list as indispensable?
This is a stacked year. Definitely hyped for One Hundred Years Of Solitude - it's been sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to pick it up for a while now. And of course, The Canterbury Tales - we did The Miller's Tale for AS level, and I loved it. (And, as a geordie, older English is FASCINATING because of the similarities to our dialect.) Also very excited for Brave New World. Gives me an excuse to buy it 😂.
I am a new subscriber . I am excited to reread books as well as the new especially authors I’ve wanted to read. Thank you for your hard work and Introducing new books and authors to my list.
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate you being here, reading these great books, and sharing your love of literature with me! 😊
As an American, we've decided to try to combine Orwell's and Huxley's dystopian visions. Fewer and fewer people are reading challenging books, but they are banning them in schools just in case.
😂
And to most Europeans it's absurd. Makes us think about this "Black Mirror" episode in which a mother uses technology to make her child unable to see cruel or dangerous things and as a result later on a child gets hurt by some of them while not being able to even see incoming danger. In most European countries reading these books is required by public education systems. Just because it's better to discuss atrocities and all kinds of moral dilemmas instead of having to face them in real life without being mentally, morally and intellectualy prepared to do so.
It is scary times in America right now. Perfect time to join a group like this.
@@joyceivan530 one can only imagine how scary to be a Palestinian now.
The socialists who control education in the US don’t want an educated class that are capable of thinking for themselves, which is what the great books do. The education system wants people who capable of completing tasks, not capable of independent thought.
Fantastic line up. I am currently reading with my son the Iliad with the Odyssey next and as he wish to write a characters analysis thinking it would be a grand idea if he can join your lectures. And you are so right about Austen, she is my to go to when I want witty and fun escape yet deep and thoughtful. Hope I can join this year.
I read and studied the Sound and he Fury when I was ag university...a long time ago, and you are right in so farcascit is a challenging, disturbing read. (The last adjective being the one that stuck into my mind) yet I think I was not mature enough to get into such a book at the time). I am also loo’ing forward to reading the Canterbury Tales ! Thanks once again !
1:02:05 /2024
Merry Christmas Ben, thank you for your amazing literature insights 😊I am towards the end of reading 'the drowning' by Hazel Barkworth, next up Homer (Illyiad) twinned with the Odyssey (attempting to read later next year)😢
I was waiting for this video! This will decide whether I’ll join or not. I do believe I will. Your videos are really helpful Ben, and you’ve inspired be to chase the great books. I was already planning to join so I can get help with the Proust project (I plan to get the box set of Everyman’s for Christmas) and Blood Meridian. But I definitely believe this video will push me further to join the book club.
17:59 *gulp*
Faulkner lived in an apartment building very near my house in Hollywood! This is an amazing reading list. Love it!
Finding your podcast and youtube channel was a great gift. I truly wish to join the book club and have access to your book reviews on patrion however as a medical student from Turkey there is no way I can afford the price. Still I really appreciate your podcast, thank you for your hard work.
Can’t afford to join, but I’m going to read along with some of these. Great list!
I’m excited. I’ve read most of next years books, but I’m excited to revisit them. ❤
I joined the Book Club on the first day of 2025. Finding you in all your online presences has already bettered my life. I can’t wait to get into this years schedule.
Im so excited for 100 Years of Solitude. It is one of my favorite books, so an in-depth tour of it with your group will be an excellent way to start the year for me. Yay!
Wonderful. Never waste your mind reading twaddle. The Classics are Classics for a reason!
I last read 1984 IN 1984 as required reading my junior year of high school. I look forward to revisiting it and all the others on this list!
Wow!! That's so cool! I'm very excited to hear what you make of your return to this great work today :)
Very excited about the selections for the Hardcore Literature Book Club in 2025! This year I will really need to spend a lot of time on another plane. Starting out the 100 Years of Solitude is perfect. If you are thinking of joining, I can highly recommend it. Ben McEvoy's lectures are extraordinary and make for a deep reading experience.
I’m interested in joining. How does it work? Is there one lecture per book? One lecture per chapter? Live discussions? Do we follow the 2025 list as a group in sequence, or do we pick books from this and past years as we wish and go at our own pace? More brass tacks please! I visited the website and couldn’t find a sort of “what to expect.” Thanks!
In the description there's a "Contents Page" link. You can see all the content by book with links though you can't watch it unless you become a member
Well, this schedule could not be more fun. Thank you for all the hard work and love that went into it!! While I grinned each time a new book was announced and am truly excited for the syllabus, I am surprised how melancholy I feel at the idea of coming to the end of The Shakespeare Project. That’s been such a meaningful journey for me. I’ll be forever grateful for the guidance through our friend Will’s cannon.
And we all say in unison: “We love you Ben!”
I was just watching your video on the different translation for Homer when suddenly this popped up.
Will come back here later :D
Wow!! That's amazing timing! 😃
If I was forced to choose, Madame Bovary may be my favorite novel of all time; an utter masterpiece. What a phenomenal collection of absolute classics for the upcoming new year!
Thank you so much, Kenny! I really appreciate that! I completely agree. Absolute masterpiece and definitely a perfect novel!
My yearly thanks of gratitude to you Benjamin. Have a great 2025 !!
Thank you so much, Vishweshwer! I appreciate you!! Here's to a great 2025 😊
Hello Benjamin. I found you about four months ago and watch your TH-cam videos often. While I cannot afford to join Hardcore Literature at the moment, I've haunted my fave used bookstores and purchased all of the books for 2025 and cannot wait to start. Is it possible to get the Big Read plus list without being a current member? Thank you for always inspiring us to read deeply. At 76 it is a blessing to expand my mind with treasure rather than junk. Blessings.
So very excited for next year’s lineup. This book club has been the best decision I made in 2024. Thank you man!
Wow! Thank you so much, Austin!! It's been so wonderful reading these great books with you this year! I'm so excited to dive into these books and hear what you make of them! 🙏
Whoopee!! I have been looking forward to the release of the 2025 schedule!!! Sounds like the coming year will be an exciting challenge!!!
Happy New Year to you and all your reading friends.
I've been meaning to do this for the past few years but always seem to fall off a couple months into the year. Going to try and make it one of my main bookish goals in 2025!
I was a contributor at the lowest level last year and was thinking to up my level this year, but suddenly I realized my monthly contribution stopped being charged without explanation and now I cannot find where to inquire about this and sort it out. I love all these TH-cam HCL lectures! Thank you.
“Dystopian Double Bill.” A superb idea. I love it!
I like to read my own books at my pace so I don’t really follow the rhythm of the book club but I’ll definitely be tuning in for some of the lectures this year and adding Garcia Marquez to the “urgent TBR” (seriously I’ve had it since forever I need to get to it).
Your background library is the same of mine, I have a lot of old leather books series and they are my fortune building since I was 18, now I am concentrating to build my English corner books because I don't have much of them due to the expensive pricing, I hope some day I could have more and going to fulfill my dreams to study English Literature in UK even now i am in my 46.
my excitement is so blown, this is just my AP english syllabus from high school. i mean it's beat for beat my syllabus, down to the 1984 and brave new world feature. some of these titles i would love to revisit but it really shot the air out of my sails not to get to fully participate this year.
Hope you can explain that middle quentin section of sound and the fury, because there are plenty of guides to the intial benji section but for some reason the quentin section seems to be assumed by people to be easier to grasp. Well I barely understand I word of it, whereas I felt like I'd have been able to decipher some of the benji section even without the guides.
Really great books on this list Ben!
I would join you but I'm working through my own list at the moment. I'll be reading all of these at some point except for Rebecca I believe. Presently I have finished the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. It was very eye opening to pre-Statehood America.
I'll be watching y'alls progress and I'll watch your reviews as I read certain books.
Thanks for the amazing video and the passion you put in these books.
Love and Peace.