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Hi Sara just wanted to say merry Christmas and thanks for all the wonderful books you’ve introduced me to. Hope you and your family have a great holiday,and new year.

I hate reading slumps! I’m so glad you made it past yours!! I’m not a big holiday person either. I think I have one holiday book on my shelves and it’s a novella. 😅

Omg. There’s nothing worst than a smelly book 😭

Yeah, I've definitely had some issues with book conditions being wildly inaccurate from wob 🙃- worth complaining to their customer support, they might be able to send you a replacement or offer you a different book of roughly the same price as compensation

The smelly book story cracked me up😂 I usually love the smell of a book, but that must have been 🤮 to put you in a reading slump! Shame, it's a good novel, hope you don't associate it with the stink for evermore as you'll never be able to read it😂 But I'm glad you enjoyed The Ladies' Paradise Sarah. Your earlier video reminded me how much I loved that novel.

I'm currently reading The Unconsoled and am loving it. ❤️

I am ever impressed by your courage to read so many doorstoppers.

Kazuo Ishiguro is so goooood! (Although I haven't read as many works of his as you have.) I also love Karen Russell's writing but I have one of her books still sitting on my shelf that I haven't read yet!

Sarah, you've given me an overdue kick up the backside here! How about reading some books I already own! 'The Lonely City' and 'To the River' by Olivia Laing have been at my bedside for a few years! Thanks so much for reminding me.

Thanks, Sarah! Added Álvaro Enrigue to my TBR based on this rec 🙏

I’m also interested in reading Gene Wolfe’s series I have it on my TBR might tackle it next year 😊

3:45 minor clarification about One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - the POV/narrator is a Native American character, but the main character would actually be McMurphy, played by Jack Nicholson in the film.

ha ha lincoln in the bardo has just been sitting around waiting for me unloved for years - i’ve kept it thru a series of unhauls but i think maybe i finally pulled it off the shelves a couple of months ago?

I love unhauls! It was interesting to hear your reasons for unhauling.

Hi Sarah,the only Jeanette Winterson I’ve read is Art Objects. It’s a collections of essays on art. A bit about Painting-but mainly literature. One of my favourites. Always enjoy your videos

subscribed!

I would recommend In the Company of Men by Veronique Tadjo. She's from The Ivory Coast, but she's writing about the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia in 2014. It's a stunning piece of writing, though with a few odd chapters from the perspective of trees and animals which may not be for everyone, but I loved all of it.

The English understand wool is on my wish list. Hope you enjoy your week off.

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I really liked The English Understand Wool 😊

Hi Sara,always love your videos. The autobiography of Alice b Toklas, is experimental and was meant to challenge the boundaries of Biography. Alice b Toklas was her friend, but the book is a biography of Stein written by herself. Think that is how it goes .I have never read it.

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Thanks so much for the shout out! Hope you love the book, and love the huge selection in this vlog!

I love your book chat! I have been thinking of re-reading two books by Susanne Jansson, Winter Water and The Forbidden Place. I would love to buddy read these with you if you are interested!

Poor things sounds very intriguing, would love to pick it up. Good luck with the rest of the TBR of this year Sarah.

I love Becky Chambers!! I’m excited to add The Empusium to my future reading!

I quite like Becky Chambers. You’ve gotten me very curious about Olga who I haven’t read from yet. Everyone has been encouraging me to read Bardugo. I’m still unsure.

I would love to connect with you to discuss about your business and youtube channel growth

The filming in winter struggle is real! & I felt a similar way about a Psalm for the Wild-Built

Hi Sarah! Just wanted to say how much I appreciate your tastes and objective approach to books. As a mostly literary fiction person who has been trying to branch into fantasy/genre fiction, I can relate to the season you’re in. I think being quite open and yet having high standards is a challenging line to walk, but there should be no apology for it. Keep up the good work! 🙌

I've only read short stories by Angla Carter but I really enjoyed the collection. I don't participate in book clubs because I don't like being told what book to read and when. 😊 I like to read what I want and when I want and be able to change my mind.

Here's how I approach a themed reading vlog while also being a whim-based reader: I'll have a theme and a set of 5 or so books but I'll read them over the course of like 2 months and then put the footage together later. So I might have a couple reading vlogs in progress concurrently. It's worked out well for me. Wonderful video btw but made me a little afraid of trying to read Orlando ahaha

I've only read one Zola, and it was The Ladies Paradise. I loved it! Cracking story! Too long ago to remember all the details, but I remember the 'feeling' of the department store as a giant Cathedral of shopping where commodities are consumed and worshipped - all very sensual, even erotic at times (in a 19th century way), especially on sales days!

I would highly recommend the Algerian author Mouloud Feraoun, especially his book "Le Fils de Pauvre" / "The Poor Man's Son" You'll feel an attachment to Algerian society during the French colonization period, it's always refreshing to learn about the indigenous point of view... also his writing is brilliant

When I want to find a book to read from a particular country, I search for "contemporary author _name of country_" and usually find a list of popular authors, that I go through and see what sounds interesting and what is available in my apps or the national library. Some recommendations: South Africa: Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor Zimbabwe: The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah Cameroon: Les Impatientes/ The Impatient by Djaïli Amadou Amal.

I so enjoyed your video. I just picked up The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz and am enjoying it thus far. It looks at the lives of an Egyptian family but also the political and societal changes over several generations.

Great video Sara, The only African author I’ve read is Ben Okri, got a booker for “The Famished road”, which I read, but enjoyed Astonishing the Gods much better because of the colourful descriptions,as I am a visual artist. It’s only a short novel,but it’s one of my top favourites and I’ve reread it about 6 times so far. Thanks for your insightful sessions

For Fanon I would recommend that you read first A Dying Colonialism and then Wretched of the Earth. This way you will have a deeper grasp of Algerian society under French occupation. He also speaks of Camus and his lack of support for the Algerian revolution. I have Ngugi Wa Tiongo's book on my shelf but I struggled to pick it up since I read his son's essay, where he wrote about the abuse his mother suffered at the hands of his father. I feel like there is a very big bias in representation of books from different African countries, especially when it comes to what is marketed in specific European states - namely, those that have been pillaging the continent for centuries. In my own country we have some publications but it is, like you said, connected to the language in which the author writes - namely French and English. Beyond that there is no effort to publish authors who write in local indigenous languages.

Great video idea! I've been wanting to explore southeast Asian literature but I also fear lengthening my tbr 😅

Flexibility supplements!!! I'm dying.

Ok. This is so funny. I started a new book this morning, which I absolutely love the start of. It's An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine. It's about a 72 year old, divorced woman living in Beirut. About her musings on literature, philosophy, her career, and her aging body, while memories of her past show up. The thing is: she's a translator, and the book she's considering for her next translation into Arabic is 2666. I've never heard of it before, and now it showed up twice in a couple of hours.

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Omg flexibility supplements had me dying

i wish i read more books

I loved Kirsten Labransdatter! I got the Penguin deluxe version and it’s massive indeed but I listened to the audiobook along with it. 😊 great recommendations here.

I love how sweet you are with books you didn't like. I would recommend you pick up Blood dark by Louis Guilloux. I read it when the pandemic started and I believe it deserves a reread (I say this as a person who rarely rereads books). Would be very curious to hear your thoughts on it as it has a lot of sexism and misogyny but considering the time it was set in I believe it depicts it rather well.

Hi Sara,Love your videos.I like you am a modern meta and classic reader but am reading J.Strange and Mr. Norrell at the moment and am enjoying it( 1/2 way thro). Easy to read but not very challenging. I’d read it again, though I suppose it falls into the fantasy realm, which normally doesn’t resonate with me.I’d give it 4Stars. Want to read Piranesi,which sounds quite dense.Also you mentioned John Fowels’ the collector in one video. His 650pp novel The Magus, is my favourite book of all time,it’s his Masterpiece. It’s a mystery without a murder,really cleverly crafted,novel. It’s recently been elevated to postmodern , although it was written in 1965. It certainly was before it’s time. Intertextual as well referring to Ancient Greek mythology,Shakespeare’s The tempest etc.Also it’s existential. It’s a lot of things and I think would like it.Cheers. Keep up the good work.

I have added Daughter of the Forest to my TBR. Great video. Also, love your hair!

Shame you didn't love Babel too much - have you read Yellowface? Its very different but I loved it. I need to read some Juliet Marillier!

I think when you're trying to get into a genre pulling from the areas of overlap with your current reading makes sense, so looking for fantasy classics or more literary fantasy. For classics, I'd suggest The Hobbit or The Blue Sword. You could argue it's scifi but Kindred would be another. On the literary side, you might like Assassin's Apprentice or Jonathon strange and Mr. Norrell. Or maybe something that's just barely fantasy like The Wall. My recent favorite fantasy author is Naomi Novik, Uprooted might be up your alley.