I read Lucy Ellman's novel after watching your enthusiastic video abut it and it became my favorite of 2019. I've read and loved three other novels in your list and I shall add the others to my to read list.
@@EricKarlAnderson As an American living in Ireland, I find that it’s a good idea to have the pronunciation of Irish names in your head and then when you open your mouth to speak LOOK AWAY from the spelling! 💚
Ok. Here goes. My 10 favourite 21st Century - well hopefully they were all published this century. Cormac McCarthy - The Road, Ali Smith - How to be both, Hanya Yanagihara - A Little Life, Madeline Miller - The Song of Achilles, Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall, Kamila Shamsie - Home Fire, Bernardine Everisto - Girl, Woman Other, Colm Toibin - The Testament of Mary, Nadeem Aslam - A Wasted Vigil and Tana French - The Secret Place
I liked the contemporary half of the 'How to be both' but had difficulty understanding the historical one. And although I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction, I've adored a few that I've read which I shall list here: A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini *a must read My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk The Course of Love by Alain de Botton All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr Where reasons end by Yiyun Li Three daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
Wooooohooooooo, Ducks, Newburyport!!!! Such a phenomenal book, so happy to see it there. And so many books there I still haven't read, very exciting for me. Happy to see Half of a Yellow Sun too - I just read it a couple of months ago and still haven't been able to put my thoughts to 'paper' about this profound and extraordinary book♥️♥️
Well I'm so glad I found Lonesome Reader. Here I was bingeing TH-cam interviews with JCO, found you among the search results, and what a treasure trove you offer! I now binge your videos and have so far purchased "The Street," "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl," "Artful," and just seconds ago, "Ducks, Newburyport" based on your recs. I would love to see a video about how you structure your reading time, because you seem to make time for quite a bit! Maybe you already have one that I haven't found?
Thanks! Always happy to meet another JCO fan! I hope you enjoy the books you picked up on my suggestions. I talk about managing my reading time in this video if you haven't see it: th-cam.com/video/PEc6AzA7RIw/w-d-xo.html Thank you for watching!
Interesting list. I'm yet to read Colbin and your favourite, JCO. We concur when it comes to Lincoln in the Bardo and Ducks, Newsburyport. Other favourites - The Neapolitan Novels by Ferrante. Milkman by Anna Burns. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, Blue Guitar by John Banville.The Shepard’s Hut by Tim Winton, Tin Man by Sarah Winman, The Gunners by Rebecca Kaufman.
I forgot to mention my favorite book of all time right now. It's called the Miraculous Journeys of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo. It was released in 2006. It's a very easy read (children's book) but what makes it different is that the writing pulls at the heart strings. Here's a quote from the book: "You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next.” “I am done with being loved,” Edward told her. “I’m done with loving. It’s too painful.”
Mine would be: Never Let Me Go; East of Eden; The Frog; The Four Books; The Underground Railroad; The Parcel; 1984; What the Day Owes the Night; Sea of Poppies; Do Not Say We Have Nothing
This is a great list. The only one I've read is Lincoln in the Bardo and I loved it. I'm reading Ducks, Newburyport currently and am enjoying it so far, but it feels exhausting to read or to find a good place to stop for a reading session. My favorite books (at least the top three) are all by Fredrik Backman.
Lovely list. So happy you chose one of Mr. Toibin's works (my favorite is Testament of Mary; this atheist was incredibly moved). Curious about the term "canonical." I think the Saunders novel would qualify. What is your definition of the term? And were there books you might have added as favorites were it not for that restriction?
One of my favorites is Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. I always love watching your videos because I get to see books I really don’t see in other booktube areas.
Just ordered Dinosaurs on Other Planets based on this. It sounds great! I just picked up a new non-fiction on Abraham Lincoln and John Brown (The Zealot and the Emancipator by HW Brands) on Friday. I think I might read it with Lincoln in the Bardo, which I still haven’t gotten around to.
Oh, I meant to thank you for your love of JCO as I just finished The Accursed and it was a great pick for Victober...a few years late but eery, spoky and fun...Im looking forward to reading more of her books.
So excited to see Ducks, Newburyport and Lincoln in the Bardo on this list. Both are masterpieces. I am a big Colm Toibin fan but my favorite is The Blackwater Lightship. I would also include The Luminaries, which I thought was brilliant, the entire seasonal quartet by Ali Smith (hoping that counts as one book) and, potentially controversially, A Little Life.
Shamefully, I've not read The Blackwater Lightship which I know is ridiculous. And yes, I really ought to have included The Luminaries as well - such brilliance!
So interested to see Send Me by Patrick Ryan on this list - I read The Dream Life of Astronauts by him this summer and I loved it! I believe Send Me features some of the characters in TDLOA?
Yes! Some of the stories in that collection are from the Kerrigan family. I wrote about The Dream Life of Astronauts and the connection with Send Me here: lonesomereader.com/blog/2016/6/23/the-dream-life-of-astronauts-by-patrick-ryan
Fiction books that I have read and enjoyed from the 21st century: Dan Brown - origins Dan Brown - inferno Yann Martel - life of pi Khaled Hosseini - the kite Runner Jk Rowling - Harry Potter and the goblet of fire Stephen King - elevation Murakami - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki Fiction books from the 21st century that I am looking forward to reading: Margaret Atwood - testaments Christine Lieunens - caging skies Stephen King - Dr Sleep Stephen King - Dark towers 5 and 6 George RR Martin - game of thrones books 3,4 & 5
I've only read Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and listened to Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders on audiobook and read a portion of Ducks. All brilliant My favourites of the 2000s not including the past couple of years would include Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell The Secret River by Kate Grenville Small Island by Andrea Levy The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones Sorry by Gail Jones Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks West by Carys Davis
Toe-been. Best fiction books? I think I’m reading a book now that will become a firm favourite. The Great Offshore Grounds by Vanessa Veleskia 🤩 I’ve read some great books this year and since I started watching booktube. 1. Ohio by Stephen Markley 2. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart 3. The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne 4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 5. The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue 6. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton 7. Actress by Ann Enright 8. Last Stories by William Trevor 9. The Less Dead by Denise Mina 10. Flames by Robbie Arnott 🌈🦋🙏☕️😷🤗☘️👋📖📚☕️
Nice to see a couple of Australian authors there :D Boy Swallows Universe would probably make my more recent list and maybe Flames. Really have to agree with Shuggie Bain. Quite excellent.
Love the list of your 21st Century favorites Actually "Send Me" deals with four children, not three. I too enjoy novels that are collections of interconnected short stories.
That’s an interesting list Eric - I have read 4 of them and 3 would be in my top ten too: Ducks, Lincoln and How to be Both. I just found Half of a Yellow Sun to be a bit flat really, although obviously important. I would have to include Faber/ Under the Skin, Wyld / After the Fire, Kingsnorrh / the Wake, McBride/ Girl is a half-formed thing, and possibly Haddon / Curious Incident. Can I include works in translation? I want to have Sebald / Austerlitz in my list too which I think leaves one space for Wolf Hall (or is that now part of the canon?!).
Yeah, of course. Somewhat ashamed I don't have any books in translation on my list but I went with my gut instinct on which I picked. And on another day I'd probably put A Girl is a Half-formed Thing on my list too.
I read The Tenth of December before Lincoln in the Bardo and Pastoralia after. Neither collection comes close to being a good as LITB. I love short stories and all things Irish, so ordered Dinosaurs on Other Planets.
Definitely! And yeah, I meant to say, how I've always struggled a bit with reading James though I do love The Portrait of a Lady and The Princess Casamassima. 📚
What a great collection - some wholly expected (JCO and Smith, I’m looking at you...!) and others unexpected, but no less fascinating. I was struck by the proportion of choices which are experimental/boundary-pushing in some way. Would you say you are particularly drawn to fiction that breaks away from literary norms or is this just coincidence?
You and I have no favorites even remotely in common. It is hard for me to conceive of there being no books in translation on your list, given the amount of reading you do.(My list contains five.) But so be it. Here is my list in reverse order, the last being #1. The Seventh Function of Language by Lauren Binet; This Way Slaughter, A Novel of William Barret Travis by Bruce Olds; Grey Souls by Philippe Claudel; The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker; The Vegetarian by Han Kang; Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata; Zone by Mathias Enard; This Is Not a Novel by David Markson; The Last Novel by David Markson; Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.
I read Lucy Ellman's novel after watching your enthusiastic video abut it and it became my favorite of 2019. I've read and loved three other novels in your list and I shall add the others to my to read list.
Yay! 📚
Colm Tóibín = Colm “Toe-been” (native Gaelic Irish speaker). Love your channel.
Thanks! I’ll keep trying to tame my uncooperative American tongue. 😆📚❤️
Colm Toibin , one of the great writer’s of the 21Century
@@EricKarlAnderson As an American living in Ireland, I find that it’s a good idea to have the pronunciation of Irish names in your head and then when you open your mouth to speak LOOK AWAY from the spelling! 💚
@@DebMcDonald That's good advice. Thanks!
Ok. Here goes. My 10 favourite 21st Century - well hopefully they were all published this century.
Cormac McCarthy - The Road, Ali Smith - How to be both, Hanya Yanagihara - A Little Life, Madeline Miller - The Song of Achilles, Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall, Kamila Shamsie - Home Fire, Bernardine Everisto - Girl, Woman Other, Colm Toibin - The Testament of Mary, Nadeem Aslam - A Wasted Vigil and Tana French - The Secret Place
Fantastic list! I came so close to putting Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam on my list. He’s such a brilliant writer!
@@EricKarlAnderson yes I love that one too
I liked the contemporary half of the 'How to be both' but had difficulty understanding the historical one.
And although I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction, I've adored a few that I've read which I shall list here:
A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini *a must read
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr
Where reasons end by Yiyun Li
Three daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak
I love Hosseini.
Wooooohooooooo, Ducks, Newburyport!!!! Such a phenomenal book, so happy to see it there. And so many books there I still haven't read, very exciting for me. Happy to see Half of a Yellow Sun too - I just read it a couple of months ago and still haven't been able to put my thoughts to 'paper' about this profound and extraordinary book♥️♥️
Thanks! Glad you agree. 📚
I fully agree about Half of a Yellow Sun. You should try A Fine Balance by Rhoniton Mistry if you haven't already done so.
Wats06071 I need to re read A Fine Balance. It’s been a long time since I read it.
Well I'm so glad I found Lonesome Reader. Here I was bingeing TH-cam interviews with JCO, found you among the search results, and what a treasure trove you offer! I now binge your videos and have so far purchased "The Street," "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl," "Artful," and just seconds ago, "Ducks, Newburyport" based on your recs. I would love to see a video about how you structure your reading time, because you seem to make time for quite a bit! Maybe you already have one that I haven't found?
Thanks! Always happy to meet another JCO fan! I hope you enjoy the books you picked up on my suggestions. I talk about managing my reading time in this video if you haven't see it: th-cam.com/video/PEc6AzA7RIw/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for watching!
Ducks Newburyport remains on my list. The Master sounds interesting too. Thanks for this great video. 😊
🤗📚
Interesting list. I'm yet to read Colbin and your favourite, JCO. We concur when it comes to Lincoln in the Bardo and Ducks, Newsburyport. Other favourites - The Neapolitan Novels by Ferrante. Milkman by Anna Burns. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, Blue Guitar by John Banville.The Shepard’s Hut by Tim Winton, Tin Man by Sarah Winman, The Gunners by Rebecca Kaufman.
I really need to start a Ferrante project at some point to read her for the first time. So glad you rate Blue Guitar and Tin Man highly as well!
@@EricKarlAnderson you should try Ferrante. Her writing is unique. The HBO series is astounding as well.
I forgot to mention my favorite book of all time right now. It's called the Miraculous Journeys of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo. It was released in 2006. It's a very easy read (children's book) but what makes it different is that the writing pulls at the heart strings.
Here's a quote from the book:
"You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next.” “I am done with being loved,” Edward told her. “I’m done with loving. It’s too painful.”
Mine would be: Never Let Me Go; East of Eden; The Frog; The Four Books; The Underground Railroad; The Parcel; 1984; What the Day Owes the Night; Sea of Poppies; Do Not Say We Have Nothing
This is a great list. The only one I've read is Lincoln in the Bardo and I loved it. I'm reading Ducks, Newburyport currently and am enjoying it so far, but it feels exhausting to read or to find a good place to stop for a reading session. My favorite books (at least the top three) are all by Fredrik Backman.
Ducks does keep a tireless pace! And I've not read anything by Backman. I'll have to look him up.
Lovely list. So happy you chose one of Mr. Toibin's works (my favorite is Testament of Mary; this atheist was incredibly moved). Curious about the term "canonical." I think the Saunders novel would qualify. What is your definition of the term? And were there books you might have added as favorites were it not for that restriction?
I love Lincoln in the Bardo, and just ordered How to Be Both. Looking forward to reading it. Mrs. Engels was just so so for me.
One of my favorites is Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. I always love watching your videos because I get to see books I really don’t see in other booktube areas.
Just ordered Dinosaurs on Other Planets based on this. It sounds great!
I just picked up a new non-fiction on Abraham Lincoln and John Brown (The Zealot and the Emancipator by HW Brands) on Friday. I think I might read it with Lincoln in the Bardo, which I still haven’t gotten around to.
Great! Hope you enjoy it. And it would be interesting to read that book alongside Lincoln in the Bardo.
Always happy to hear Ducks Newburyport praise!
Oh, I meant to thank you for your love of JCO as I just finished The Accursed and it was a great pick for Victober...a few years late but eery, spoky and fun...Im looking forward to reading more of her books.
Oh great! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Yes, such a wild novel.
So excited to see Ducks, Newburyport and Lincoln in the Bardo on this list. Both are masterpieces. I am a big Colm Toibin fan but my favorite is The Blackwater Lightship. I would also include The Luminaries, which I thought was brilliant, the entire seasonal quartet by Ali Smith (hoping that counts as one book) and, potentially controversially, A Little Life.
Shamefully, I've not read The Blackwater Lightship which I know is ridiculous. And yes, I really ought to have included The Luminaries as well - such brilliance!
So interested to see Send Me by Patrick Ryan on this list - I read The Dream Life of Astronauts by him this summer and I loved it! I believe Send Me features some of the characters in TDLOA?
Yes! Some of the stories in that collection are from the Kerrigan family. I wrote about The Dream Life of Astronauts and the connection with Send Me here: lonesomereader.com/blog/2016/6/23/the-dream-life-of-astronauts-by-patrick-ryan
I'll take a look - thanks Eric!
Fiction books that I have read and enjoyed from the 21st century:
Dan Brown - origins
Dan Brown - inferno
Yann Martel - life of pi
Khaled Hosseini - the kite Runner
Jk Rowling - Harry Potter and the goblet of fire
Stephen King - elevation
Murakami - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki
Fiction books from the 21st century that I am looking forward to reading:
Margaret Atwood - testaments
Christine Lieunens - caging skies
Stephen King - Dr Sleep
Stephen King - Dark towers 5 and 6
George RR Martin - game of thrones books 3,4 & 5
ASOIAF is amazing!
Yann Martel - life of pi
Khaled Hosseini - the kite Runner both almost made my list and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
This was great and loved hearing about books i havent heard you mention...my takeaway funnily, is the Story of the Night
Thank you! And it's a great novel! I'd definitely recommend.
I bought Ducks Newburyport on your recommendation and I am currently reading it and it’s fascinating.
Great! Hope you continue to enjoy it.
I've only read Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and listened to Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders on audiobook and read a portion of Ducks. All brilliant
My favourites of the 2000s not including the past couple of years would include
Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
Small Island by Andrea Levy
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Sorry by Gail Jones
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
West by Carys Davis
From all those books I have just read Mrs Engels , after your indication.I love it, it is a fantastic book.Thank you ,
Fantastic! That's so great to hear and I'm glad you loved it too! 📚
Toe-been.
Best fiction books?
I think I’m reading a book now that will become a firm favourite.
The Great Offshore Grounds by Vanessa Veleskia 🤩
I’ve read some great books this year and since I started watching booktube.
1. Ohio by Stephen Markley
2. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
3. The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne
4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
5. The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
6. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
7. Actress by Ann Enright
8. Last Stories by William Trevor
9. The Less Dead by Denise Mina
10. Flames by Robbie Arnott
🌈🦋🙏☕️😷🤗☘️👋📖📚☕️
It's so interesting when a current read feels like it will be a firm favourite, doesn't it? Makes me curious to read Veleskia. Thanks! And great list.
Nice to see a couple of Australian authors there :D
Boy Swallows Universe would probably make my more recent list and maybe Flames. Really have to agree with Shuggie Bain. Quite excellent.
Ali Smith... keep it together Kieran... keep it together
Love the list of your 21st Century favorites Actually "Send Me" deals with four children, not three. I too enjoy novels that are collections of interconnected short stories.
Ah right. Well, I read it in 2006 so made a slip.
That’s an interesting list Eric - I have read 4 of them and 3 would be in my top ten too: Ducks, Lincoln and How to be Both. I just found Half of a Yellow Sun to be a bit flat really, although obviously important. I would have to include Faber/ Under the Skin, Wyld / After the Fire, Kingsnorrh / the Wake, McBride/ Girl is a half-formed thing, and possibly Haddon / Curious Incident. Can I include works in translation? I want to have Sebald / Austerlitz in my list too which I think leaves one space for Wolf Hall (or is that now part of the canon?!).
Yeah, of course. Somewhat ashamed I don't have any books in translation on my list but I went with my gut instinct on which I picked. And on another day I'd probably put A Girl is a Half-formed Thing on my list too.
I read The Tenth of December before Lincoln in the Bardo and Pastoralia after. Neither collection comes close to being a good as LITB. I love short stories and all things Irish, so ordered Dinosaurs on Other Planets.
I suspected as much about Saunders. Hope you enjoy McLaughlin’s stories! 📚
these all sound so wonderful! trust my luck that the only one i've read (Lincoln) i didn't get on with... T.T excited to try the others tho!
Haha! Hope you enjoy the others if you get to them. 📚
There are some pretty emotional moments in The Master. I used it as a springboard to get into Henry James.
Definitely! And yeah, I meant to say, how I've always struggled a bit with reading James though I do love The Portrait of a Lady and The Princess Casamassima. 📚
What a great collection - some wholly expected (JCO and Smith, I’m looking at you...!) and others unexpected, but no less fascinating. I was struck by the proportion of choices which are experimental/boundary-pushing in some way. Would you say you are particularly drawn to fiction that breaks away from literary norms or is this just coincidence?
i loved The Master too. Might read it again.
I have been watching old BBC adaptations of Henry James’ works so keen to read The Master.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it!
The algorithm suggested you. I like what I see so far.
The algorithm has good taste! 😄
for me it is lesser bohemian, silence of the girls, last samurai, wolf hall
Oh great! 📚 I need to get to Last Samurai
@@EricKarlAnderson it is awesome! you are in for a treat
I had an Irish lady in my book club who told us that his name is pronounced Calm (pronounce the "L") Toe bean.
I don't know if it had been reviewed before, but I would like to hear your opinion of The Overstory, by Richard Powers.
It’s such an impressive novel! I wrote about it here: lonesomereader.com/blog/2018/10/2/the-overstory-by-richard-powers
Can you recommend some good New England writers?
And its Toe-bean
Have you read Elizabeth Strout? She’s a favourite of mine. Also, Richard Russo is great.
No, I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the recommendations!
You and I have no favorites even remotely in common. It is hard for me to conceive of there being no books in translation on your list, given the amount of reading you do.(My list contains five.) But so be it. Here is my list in reverse order, the last being #1. The Seventh Function of Language by Lauren Binet; This Way Slaughter, A Novel of William Barret Travis by Bruce Olds; Grey Souls by Philippe Claudel; The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker; The Vegetarian by Han Kang; Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata; Zone by Mathias Enard; This Is Not a Novel by David Markson; The Last Novel by David Markson; Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.
The cover of Fanny: A Fiction is stunning.
Yes it is! *swoons*
You’re American? I thought you were British
Yep, but I've lived in England for over 20 years.
I actually guessed six of the ten books correctly...hahaha....
You get a mega gold star! 🌟📚
Yey!