Відео

The Five is such a good book! And a bunch of strong books generally! I feel like we have similar tastes which is always great to find! I've never read Evie Wyld and I kept meaning too and you're convincing me to pick up The Echoes!! Piranesi is so hard to describe, just got to get into it for the ride haha I loved it too when I read it!

I agree that the world of Piranesi is amazing - the denoument is perhaps a bit disappointing. Have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell? Because You Should.

Love Piranesi! 🥰 I think it's getting made into a film (or TV series?), not sure how I feel about that but it would definitely make a great videogame. I also really liked Mina's Matchbox, I've not heard many people talk about it. I love Yoko Ogawa's writing. The new Rivers Solomon sounds good, I'll keep an eye out for it. My fave read of 2024 was Drive Your Plow, I loved it so much.

Give Luckenbooth to me!

Best of luck with all your reading goals this year!

Happy Stories, Mostly is great. Very unusual stories, something very different.

I have a few similar goals, especially feeling the one about writing reviews!

I want to read more translated stuff this year too. I do have 20 works in translation on my physical tbr so that's helpful! I did terribly on my reading from my shelves goal however I did a massive try a chapter/unhaul partway through the year which really got the numbers down. Looking forward to seeing your unhaul.

I dispute your categorisation of best and worst hauling months! 😂

Some great stats!! Similar to you, I read a lot of LGBTQIA+-categorized books, though I agree it's not a genre 😅 I also want to prioritize the translated fiction on my shelves this year - I've been acquiring books in translation (or in French, which I try to read 1-2 books in a year for practice) but not reading them at an appropriate pace!

Very enjoyable video. Galloping through books is a problem for me. I've got plans. I haven't decided what they are properly yet. Because January birthday I usually spend Jan 1-19 planning and then actual plans launch on 20th.

I watched a video on your channel about depression. I hope you are feeling better now, may i ask how you got better.

We are so glad you are enjoying Lockwood and Co!

I like the bookshelves. Mine look tidyish but that's coz I got my Dad to build a huge new set for me. The rest of them are glorious chaos. Nice selection of books. I've got The New Life on my potentials list for 2025.

I was actually admiring your bookshelves when you said about them being messy. I like bookshelves that look loved and individual ❤️ (or is that just because I am super messy!)

I was in a college production of A Christmas Carol as a 17 year old and it was the finale. While we were singing, a piece of rebar fell from 30 ft above the stage and hit me in the head. Since it was the finale, they didn’t stop the show.

Didn't I give you Luckenbooth? 🤨

Woodworm sounds great, added it to my endless TBR, thanks for the recommendation.

🍞

I relate SO MUCH with the way you're describing depression. I'm in a depression episode, cannot work, kinda feel like a burnout of myself and my mental issues lol. I used to read only essay, feminism, ecology, archeology everything was okay but I couldn't read fiction for YEARS. And now, strangely, fiction is all I can read. I don't really get it. I hope you're feeling better now 💜

Love your recs! Books I've never heard of that sound like just what I want.

🍞 I’ll get to North Woods soon enough!

When you mention stories about haunted houses, my mind immediately goes to two classics of the genre. One of them is “The Woman in Black” by Susan Hill, published in 1983. Set in early 20th century Britain, the book features all of the ingredients of a traditional English ghost story: an isolated village by the sea; a large empty house, often shrouded in fog; and a young accountant sent to stay alone in that same large empty house to catalogue the personal papers of its late resident. The only reservation I have about “The Woman in Black” is that the author violates one of my own personal rules about ghost and horror stories, which I won’t mention here as it would be a bit of a spoiler. My favourite haunted house story would have to be “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson, published in 1959. The 1963 film adaptation called “The Haunting” is still the most unsettling film of its type I’ve ever seen, mainly because of what we don't see, but only imagine. I tend to like the older generation of English ghost story writers, such as Algernon Blackwood, E.F. Benson, and Montague Rhodes James. Some of the stories of M.R. James are still unnerving, over a century after they were first published. In particular, I think of stories such as “The Mezzotint” and “The Haunted Doll’s House”, which are available on UA-cam as audiobooks and short film versions.

🍞

Interesting selection. Not sure a lot of them are my cup of tea. But you never know.

Great to see a video from you 😊 These all sound great, especially Wood Worm, I'll have to look that up. I've only read Private Rites which I really enjoyed and I have read Sisters by Daisy Johnson which again I enjoyed! If you like haunted house books you should definitely read Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey.

Wasn’t expecting this to come in my feed but seems interesting.

Um um um😂❤

My fav book ever! The plot was written in such a way that I could resonate with Frances ( I am a history major too)

Who else here loved Boulder bit hated Samsa?

Death and taxes comes from at least athe 18th century if not before

I will bequeath you my TBR

VIBE ily

That first question about the number of books you can read is a bit scary to think about! I'm intrigued by Gideon the Ninth but not sure if it'll be for me.

My favourite show stop was in Back to the future. Piece of set came of the upstage rail. They dropped the projection curtain in while they manually brought in the kitchen set and had prepared a "There appears to have been a gap in the space time continuum" graphic. Unfortunately because the curtain was in when they built the kitchen, when they took the curtain out the kitchen table had been placed on top of it and it the curtain flipped it sending props all over the stage. Great piece if improve from the cast as Marty and the dad played the scene while running round picking up props and biff closed the scene with a joke about 'using the money you owe me to buy yourself a new table'

I'm watching this so late...but interestingly it is somehow even more fun to watch, if you know the list already.

'The physics of sorrow' by Georgi Gospodinov is... a masterpiece.

Just discovered your channel while searching for International Booker videos! I really like the ones you’ve highlighted (and how you talked about and described the books too) and am adding several to my TBR now. I bought Pink Slime (and Time Shelter) on a whim last year so this is a good reminder to read them 😅 Edited to say I read A Little Luck last year and liked it but preferred Elena Knows more

Strong list! V intrigued by Ultramarine

ps - i love your sweater!!

pink slime and a little luck are both books that i think could make it as well!

❤❤

I really liked Old God's Time, I must read more by Sebastian Barry at some point. Your edition of The Deep looks beautiful, I'd like to read that, only read Sorrowland so far. Also, I want to read Poor Things, it sounds great!

Lots of these sound excellent! Clearly, revenge is a key theme lol

My Heavenly Favourite has a lovely cover. And I'd really like to read An African History of Africa.

The Other Valley and The Echoes went right to my wishlist.

What a review. Now I want to read it.

Lovely to see how your first half of the year went! I also enjoyed Babel and it gave me feels! You're reminding me I need to pick up Our Wives Under the Sea! I read Yellowface this summer and I had a lot of thoughts - I enjoyed the experience of reading, but there are so many issues with it. Looking forward to getting your thoughts!

I've heard such good things about Kala - I can't wait to read it.

💛💛