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I loved The Kitchen House, The Personal Librarian, I Must Betray You, The Lion Women of Teheran

I get recommended Into the Wilderness a lot. Your experience with the book is good to know - I love outlander so it might work well for me.

Cutting for Stone was the first one I read on my Kindle when I got it and I was just blown away! That title means more than one thing, if you think about it enough. That was clever!

The Nightingale made me "ugly cry". My husband asked me what was wrong--ha! I agree with Winter Garden being more soap opera-ish, especially near the end of the book. It was, however, a harrowing story, I felt.

A bad narrator can really ruin a book for me.

Daniel Mason is a great writer, I loved “The piano tuner “ but just liked “A far country”

I'd like to suggest a series that begins with The Seven Sisters about a man who adopts babies from all over the world and raises them in Switzerland. The story begins when he dies and leaves each of them hints about where they came from. Then each sister gets a book and each story goes back in history to explain who her family was and where she came from. The author is Lucinda Riley who has died. I was captivated by these stories.

JACKDAWS is a good entry point for Ken Follett if you like WWII stories with some action. It's about a group of women recruited to do a secret mission in occupied France. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is older but a favorite of mine. Quick read. I had to DNF The Nightengale after a dozen pages. Didn't get on w the writing. Everyone else seems to love it tho. lol

100% right on your take of mental health during the 1960s. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Depressed? Buy a new lipstick.

Ooh, Clear! I thought it was fascinating, structurally especially 💖

Why did ten of millions of men go to their deaths to serve their God and Country. You need to look deeper into the process of war rather than that part you find personally pleasing.

My TBR is no more. 😢 I was keeping it as a list on my library’s website and they went and updated their site and deleted all that info without any warning. So, I need to start from scratch. I liked keeping it there because you could order the book right from the list. I mostly read library books. Oh well, it was getting too long anyway, lol. That audiobook narrator you described sounds like AI to me. Yuck! I didn’t read becoming Mrs. Lewis but I loved the movie Shadowlands with Anthony Hopkins which told that story.

Thanks for the great selection. Historical fiction is my favourite genre.❤

The winter soldier sounds interesting

I've read all but one of these books, some more than once, the most recent a reread (47 years in-between - yikes!) of "The Thorn Birds," and loved them all. The one book I didn't read, "Tale of Two Cities," I tried to work through as a teenager and just couldn't do it. It remains on my TBR list but it probably won't be anytime soon. The changes I'd make to the list would be: "Shogun" was excellent but I liked "Tai-Pan" better, probably because I'd recently been to Hong Kong when I read it. " Pillars of the Earth," also excellent but I preferred the similarly themed "Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd. I liked "The Girl With the Pearl Earring" well enough but I don't think it is a good fit for the "10 best of all-time" category. I think I'd add historical classics such as "Chesapeake" or "Centennial" by James Michener and "Trinity" or "Exodus" by Leon Uris. I smiled at your observation that you prefer books that give you hope. I'm thinking historical fiction seldom qualifies as HEA escapist fiction.

Several in my book club have read this and I see it metioned often in recommended book lists. I just got my copy from the library today (12-20-24) and will read it before I come back to see your review. See you soon!

Gone with the Wind is my all time favorite, next to that is Shogun.

100 books in a year. Wow! That’s a lot. My top number of books read in one year was 25 and some of these books were 500 plus pages.

This was terrific, but I wished you had included the list of the books, as several sounded great, and you went quickly through them.

I'm late to this video, but I would like to add my voice. We did this book in my book club, and I had the same concerns as you, but the rest of the group thought it was great. The voices were way too modern, especially Martha's. You're so right - this was Puritan New England. They had a very strict view of sex before marriage or outside of one's marriage - Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter) anyone? Their punishments were severe, and they had their reasons and philosophies. So instead of studying these and putting them in her book, she took the easy way out and put it in modern sensibilities. The characters were one-dimensional, and while the midwifery part was interesting, it wasn't entirely accurate either. If she helped in 1,000 births and never lost a mother, she had to have some knowledge of cleanliness counts. Did she melt snow and boil the water? Did she wash her hands or not do internal exams? There were too few explanations here for it to be a great book for me.

Just finished The Count of Monte Cristo for the 5th time. My favorite read.

I like the WW2 books written by WW2 veterans: The Thin Red Line by James Jones The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

You have a great mix here!

prince of tides is fabulous!!!!

hellooooo love your channel 😊❤😊

I thought about doing this challenge too for myself...but that would be 60 before I turn 60! I don't know maybe I will think about coming up with a list. You have a good list. I should try reading a WW1 book. I always gravitate towards WW2 books. Also love that your dad read Lord of The Rings to you and that you are carrying on that tradition. I have never read the book so that would be on my list as well.

My next milestone birthday is 30. Just turned 25 this year, so i think I can pull off 30 before 30 in five years (if grad school lends me the time 🤪). Thanks for the idea!

I suffered “East of Eden”, I also didn’t care about any of the characters and found it unnecessarily long and boring. I loved “Roots”

Well, there is no way I'm going to read 50 special, must read books before I'm 50 😅, but there are some big reads I'd like to be sure to get to this year. A reread of The Count of Monte Cristo, The Pickwick Papers, Latro in the Mist, the last three Ishiguro books I've yet to read, and maybe some Dostoyevsky.

My next milestone birthday is, gulp, 75, and it’s coming up pretty soon. I recently read The Heart’s Invisible Furies and loved it and followed it up with another John Boyne book called A History of Loneliness - loved it too. He’s a very prolific writer and my goal is to read all his novels. Have you read any of his books?

The Life We Bury is good. Legends and Lattes is a cozy fantasy-easy to read in my opinion.

For such a short video I could comment on just about everything you talked about. I would have guessed you at 35, and it is surprising to me how similar our reading tastes are, i.e. thumbs down on fantasy, short stories, East of Eden overrated, etc. I'm afraid you'll find Olive Kitteridge the same... I did. The closest I've come to fantasy is the Susanna Kearsley books, starting with her Scottish series. They aren't fantasy; but can have a little element of something mytical or unexplained. I love her books and this reminds me that it is time for a re-read! So highly recommended. There are actually two additional Zafon books after The Angel's Game - The Labyrinth and The Prisoner of Heaven (both still on my TBR list). Like you, SotW is one of my all-time favorite books. If you haven't watched it, the BBC has an excellent 26-video WW1 series on You Tube. There are many others of course, and the channel Timeline has some good ones. Finally, and most importantly, if you want to know about what happens after we die, I highly recommend the Dr. Michael Newton books - Journey of Souls, Destiny of Souls, etc. He is able to put people under deeply enough that they remember their time between lives and the books are his interviews with them. It is fascinating, and having read several near-death experience books, the details shared by Newton's people are corroborated. I hope you have a wonderful holiday. All the best, Donna

❤📚📚❤️ So many good books! I have Shadow of the Wind. I need to read! Murder on the Orient Express is my favorite Agatha Christie.

I didn’t love the women, it was decent and a time period I hadn’t read yet, but not my favorite of hers. I’m currently reading beneath a scarlet sky.

LOVING your videos and recommendations, but that subscribe button looks more like a danger button. 🚨🚨🚨🤣

I’m currently reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and it’s definitely a page turner !

Great picks!❤

I have read all of these books, except Shogun, but I have read other books by James Clavell and they are long, but page turners. Book Thief and Girl with Pearl Earring were good, but do not belong on this list. As a history buff I hated The Other Boleyn Girl, while entertaining, the portrait of Anne is historically incorrect. A Tale of Two Cities is a must-read; so many quotes abound from a short book. Memoirs of a Geisha is a good book, and the movie was equally good, so you can skip the book. Same for Thorn Birds - the TV mini-series was excellent. Gone with the Wind is an excellent book; if you find it difficult, watch the movie first, but you will find the book very satisfying. he Pillars of the Earth was outstanding, and while the mini-series was entertaining, the book is so much better. What you get in reading is the protagonist's thoughts and feelings which cannot be conveyed in a visual medium; that's why I love reading! This was an interesting video, and I have subscribed.

I have to admit those big, fat classics intimidate me. I’m 74 and have so many books I want to read, and my eyes, unlike wine, are not improving with age.😂 Prince of Tides is my favorite book - reread it just this year.

Really enjoy your content. My reading tastes are similar to yours. Roots changed my life. Not an exaggeration. Read it in my 20’s (after college). Have always been interested in learning about/developing my understanding of all cultures, religions, life experiences, etc. - but Roots exposed me to the impacts of slavery at a whole new level. On my list of Top 5 books I’ve ever read, for sure. Hope you enjoy it!

Love most of these books. One rarely mentioned but one I reread regularly is Along the Broken Bay which deals with Manila and an American woman that joins the underground resistance as she tries to find we soldier husband that was likely captured. Fabulous.

I am making a plan for reading this year. In addition to the 11 books my book club will select. I want to include some classics and will add The Last of the Mohicans from your selections because my father (born in 1919) always said this was his favorite. I may also reread Black Beauty because that was a favorite of my mother's when when was young. I think I read it , but I was never crazy about horses, so I have no memory of it if I did. I plan to read The Count of Monte Cristo or The Three Musketeers as well. Thinking of reading Emma as well. Thanks for sharing your planned reads!

I just found your channel. I’d like to comment that the pace of your narratives for each book in this and other videos is perfect for me. A quick opinion and short synopsis without droning on. You are like a quick reference tool!

❤📚📚❤️ Great collection of literature! I own three on your list. I still need to read!

I recommend The River by Heller to anyone who loves adventure.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was a very good book…. 📕 So was All the Light We Cannot See.. ❤Eileen

I love Kristin Hannah. The Nightingale is by far her best book.. ❤ Eileen

Loved The Cold Millions by Jess Walter. Corruption and the labor movement in the early 20th century. Characters are two brothers trying to survive in this time of social unrest in California and other locations. He also wrote “Beautiful Ruins,” a very popular novel as well.

I just put down “Black Butterflies” by Priscilla Morris. It’s beautifully written, but the misery of the Sarajevo siege in the early nineties is a lot.

I also enjoyed Fates and Traitors about John Wilkes Booth by Jennifer Chiaverni. It's about his life through the women who lived him