My life was changed by the work of Camus, especially "The Stranger". Also "The Cather in the Rye" and "Clockwork Orange" books read at the right time and had an important influence on the formation of my personality
I've recently read "The Stranger" by Camus but couldn't quite get into it. After finishing it I read a few articles on exsitentialism and absurdism which I found super interesting. The book itself wasn't my cup of tea though. Nevertheless, I'm still interested in reading more of Camus' work. What did you like about "The Stranger"? Would love to hear your opinion
@@LuluST-nc6us thanks for the interest to my comment ! :) I’v read this book twice. And both times it impressed me For the first time it was my introduction to Camus’ works. And it was the first book with such an insensitive hero. I was shocked by everything that was happening, I could not even imagine that such situations as Camus describes are simply possible
@Chloe Winx Oh, I can’t say that “The Stranger” changed my life. But it is one of my favorite book This work shows me that it is normally to be insensitive sometimes (and I really understand the main hero). Bu it also shows that you can’t be insensitive every time - it is dangerous for the society And “The Stranger” helped me ask myself a number of important existential questions
@@Mhaadi19 I read The Outsider after I'd finished Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, and I've gotta say Nausea left me with a far greater impression than The Outsider, so if you like Camus then I'd absolutely recommend Nausea
Godot seems so interesting as you described it and it actually reminded me of a Greek poem , it’s called Ithaka by the poet cavafis and again it basically says that the destination, the milestone you’re trying to reach does not matter , what matters is the way you got there , all the experiences you acquired by trying to reach this milestone (you should read it , it draws inspiration from the odessy as well)
1) Have breakfast, doubt my existence. 2) Melt my brain from all the book recommendations. 3) watch the gorgeous Emma throw in perfect French.. holy shit, I'm still scraping the fondue of what's left of my brain from the floor. I'm buying Montaigne today.
I'm scrolling back through this video and I never got to tell you how much i love "'I'm still scraping the fondue of what's left of my brain from the floor" hahaha excellent
WOW your ideas about waiting for godot have changed the way I view things. when you explained about waiting for something else rather than enjoying current time I really felt it, so I'm going to make a grand attempt to think a little differently, thank you!
I loved how you described Waiting For Godot. I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t really have the words to describe it (which is kind of the point of absurdism, that it makes you feel things you can’t always describe). But you summed it up so brilliantly.
I literally have just spent the week studying Waiting for Godot at university... and this is the first time I’ve heard anyone talk about it on (not) booktube... life is strange, one might even say absurd 🤭
de sade!!! that one lived in my head for MONTHS after i read it. totally agree about the narratives on power dynamics. definitely not something i’d recommend to anyone lol, but it’s so special.
Five books that changed your life? Uff, I'd be hard-pressed to narrow my list down to five, but here goes nothin’: 1) The 1969 World Book Encyclopedia. It’s not a single book, but whatevs. My parents had this set when I was a wee little boy, and I used to spend hours and hours going through it, bouncing from volume to volume (much like surfing the Web today), going wherever my curiosity took me, in effect developing the very capacity for curiosity itself. Bless ‘em, when I was 10 (i.e., the year 1987), my parents got a new set of World Book encyclopedias for me. They weren’t educated people, so I don’t think there’s anything else they did that was more important in furthering my intellectual development. 2) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It’s a clichéd choice for a precociously smart teenage boy, but I was, in fact, a clichéd and precociously smart teenage boy, so there ya go! 3) King Lear by William Shakespeare. It might be more accurate to just say “Shakespeare” since it was the course on “Shakespeare after 1600” my second semester at uni that cemented my intentions of majoring in English, rather than music or philosophy (never mind comp lit!). I single out King Lear because, as an undergrad, I wrote my senior thesis on it and, as a grad student, I ended my doctoral dissertation with a discussion of Peter Brook’s 1962 RSC production of it, so it would be an understatement to say that it’s kinda important to me. The bleakness of it, which I was probably in denial over when I first encountered it, probably crystallizes my personal worldview with respect to the tragic sense of life. 4) A Dollhouse by Henrik Ibsen. It totally blew me away the first time I ever read it and helped cement my interest in modern and contemporary drama and theater, which I love and even teach part-time. I’ve seen several Ibsen plays in outstanding productions, but not this one. Jessica Chastain, whom I jokingly refer to as my third wife, was supposed to do a production in London last year directed by Jaime Lloyd. COVID-19 killed those plans, but she’s said that she’s still committed to doing the play at some point in the future. If the production does actually happen, I’m hopping on a plane! 5) Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. I’ve read it only once, but it’s stayed with me, haunting me. It’s very short but very tough because it asks hard questions about the limits of human reconciliation and it cuts to the core of what love is and does so in the most heart-breaking way. In short, it’s a novel that’s made me a better human being. I’ve recommended it to so many people and even given it as a gift at least a couple of times. It’s extraordinary, and everyone should read it.
The only thing I can say every time I watch your videos is... Σ'αγαπώ!!! (meaning I love you in Greek). Appreciation from a Greek woman with two sons (one of them facing some dyslexia issues).
@@sarcastic_fish I may have just splurged in some charity book shops. 😳📚 Quite few of the Penguin, Oxford, and Vintage editions looked brand new, and for only a forth of the price.
These types of videos are my favourite! I've only really gotten into reading in the past 6 months (largely influenced by your book recommendations!) and I'm just loving it
This video was randomly recommended to me by UA-cam today and it was *exactly* what I needed. I'm in the middle of questioning so many aspects of my life and all this recs hit hard.
BTW, I love Beckett, and I've seen several plays of his in production but, strangely, never Godot. I read Beckett as an undergrad, but he didn't click until very early on in grad school, my first month, when some students put on a production of Endgame and I realized that, ah ha!, he's meant to be funny!
Like, he wrote "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness." That is both profoundly true and absolutely hysterical. And the fact that that isn't a contradiction, but rather, a wry and accurate observation about the absurdity of life and the human condition is at the heart of what makes Beckett Beckett.
Hi Emma! If you want to read something with the same message as Godot I strongly recommend The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati (Italian author). This book changed y perspective on life the same way Godot changed yours. Since you like philosophical novels I have two other recommendations. Firstly, Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse: extremely fascinating reflection on the dichotomy between rationality and feeling, god and passion, art and morality. In case you know what it is, I think you could say it's a discussion on the dichotomy between Nietzsche's Apollonian and Dionysian. Beautiful read, still one of my favourite books. The next one you might have read, but it's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson. Amazing analysis of good and evil, humanity versus monstrosity, what our actions signify about us and how. (Ps: I'm nearly done with my Philosophy degree at uni. I'm desperate for a video on Philosophy by you, lol).
on marriage: ever since I had a seminar on law giving in antiquity and medieval societies and we read, obviously, Platon for it and upon doing some further research into the matter I read in some text about Platons concept of the law that it was (either in Greek antiquity all together or just in Platons thinking i don't remember exactly) recommended to divorce a marriage after a set amount of years if it remained childless cause then clearly it didn't serve it's purpose at all. Also unmarried men above a certain age should pay a fine if they didn't marry so that they wouldn't think a life without family was easier then with a family. And what can I say. Changed my view on marriage and family forever. Not cause I agree with these concepts but because it shows the roots of what we romanticize as a choice when really it's is so deeply drenched in power relations and institutions.
Omg, I wish more people were like you. This was a huge pet peeve of mine for years. For example the tana mongeau and Jake Paul marriage. So, what if it was fake? So, many girls dramatically wrote that they can never watch tana again because she's "mocking something as special as marriage". I'm like bitch, they're getting married for power, that's more traditional and authentic than what you think marriage was created for.
"You never really enjoy your life because you're always looking out at that next hurdle." Okay, I didn't click on a video to be personally attacked but here we are lol
Wow I saw this video at the best time because I was kind of losing hope for humanity and you showed me there are good people especially readers like you that are trying to make people realise things. Also there’s so much hidden truth in books but not many people believe this because they say it’s just fiction (fiction my a** haha). Anyways I’m in love with your energy and your channel please continue to make these type of videos because you truly are inspirational.
the way that I also got taught Waiting for Godot and it changed my life as well..... so much so that I also recently bought that exact same complete works of Samuel Beckett book hAhah !
Not to put pressure on you but I genuinely buy everything you recommend and I've never been disappointed 😂 If you love it, there's a 100% chance I will too 👏
@@yj6118 I only have the copy translated by Allen Mandelbaum, but I still plan on buying the big ones. Good books like Penguin copies are really hard to find here in my country Philippines.
So glad i found you. Your book choice is intriguing. And i fully agree on what you said about friends being most important. Not only when you are young but ar any stage of your life. You got a new follower now.
i loved this!! the wild duck by henrik ibsen and the trial by franz kafka absolutely changed my life!! the wild duck reveled a bunch of truth bombs about how people cope with and survive in ~ society ~. it kept haunting me (in the best way possible, ghosts
Yay to the Defoe love!!! I am OBSESSED with Moll Flanders, which a lot of people around me don’t understand. Like, they can get why Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice might have a big impact on you but Moll Flanders? Really? And it’s like, yes! I didn’t write a dissertation on it, but I wrote a novel for my undergrad senior project and that novel was in many ways a love letter to Moll Flanders. So, I kind of did? Lol
AND, Dangerous Liaisons slaps. Glenn Close and John Malkovich are iconic in that film. And, if you like Glenn Close seriously, you need to watch The Wife and then Glenn Close's Golden Globe speech, it and she are phenomenal.
Wow, you express your thoughts and opinions so well. Everything you had to say was so interesting, especially your take on Waiting for Godot. Gonna go scout out some de Montaigne now! Also, just subscribed :)
A final project in my advanced acting course for my Theatre degree was a scene from "Waiting for Godot." So much fun. Hope you get to see a production of it soon!
Your reading of Marriage, A History might be followed by the best witty novel about a dysfunctional marriage I know: *The Man Who Loved Children* by Christina Stead. Try and get the edition with the intro by Randall Jarrell, a great piece of writing in itself.
Loved this video. I am extremely interested in many of your philosophy picks for this video, and those pinguin great ideas (or something, what was the name?) books seem very interested. I have never really read philosophers work on its own, what would you recommend if I just want to start reading philosophy that is still relevant for today? De Montaigne seems interesting! You showed the entire collection and I am not sure if I am ready for that yet haha.
I remember loving Waiting for Godot as well. And Theater of the Absurd in general. Fun fact: Godot was first performed in Paris and the audience did not care for it much. Years later, in the 60s, it was performed in some jail in San Francisco, USA pretty much because it does not include female characters... And at first the inmates were booing it... And then they stayed and watched and loved it. When asked at the end what Godot meant to them, most were saying things like "freedom" and "acceptance in society". It took a whole different meaning for a whole different audience.
I have just finished 120... I just... 😏 But now I've just spent £40 thanks for the recs. Already read; Les liaisons dangereousus, Justine, philosophy in the boudoir after finding your channel, looking forward to shaking my soul some more! Also just purchased Sade's letters from prison Xxx
@Tanya I found it interesting in terms of it's a good representation of a perpetual corruption of the human soul by undue influence, and the way that it's written in letters which is a tool used to manifest in their reality, that attack which is going on between their ego and soul in their minds - where ego wins. I guess it's like a psychological study in a way, of the individual and society. It's also a tale of those who aim to influence and corrupt, are really corrupting themselves. And I guess it can be applied to the society of today, but the corruption has taken on more sinister and insidious disguise - something to reflect on. I'd say read it, I gained more enlightened understanding by doing so, the plot is also thrilling. Enjoy 💌
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman - It's incredible and really impacted me like Godot did for you! - Just do NOT read the preface before reading the book!
I immediately went looking for the play after reading Beckett. There is a production (2009) with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, surprisingly there is no DVD or digital copy available for sell :(
Often it is said with irony "You live in a story!" or "you're just dreaming". But I don't think that's denigrating. I think it's a fact about our realities. The post-modernists we’re right about how the world we inhabit is for a great deal seen through our interpretation of it; yet there’s still limitations, and good isn’t relative, neither is bad. You have to operate within a certain framework, or structure: this structure is in part biological, psychological, social. It has deep roots, in our shared stories and values. I do not understand marriage; it’s a complex institution, and to reduce it to a mono-causal explanation which reduces all men to oppressors and all women to victims is not the right story. Evil and oppression, as well as being a victim or perpetrator of that, are primarily forces within one’s own soul and heart. Like I started by saying, you live in a story. And the best possible story that will give you the meaning you need to make your life bearable is that you have a struggle inside your own heart between these forces; and although they do manifest themselves in society and nature, there’s no other more powerful place to work on the betterment of the world than in one’s own soul.
Oh if could get an interview with that man, and finally ask him the big question. “Godot, once and for all tell us please tell us, how did this all begin, all of this “ not arriving “ !?
for me there's overlap but my favourite books aren't always the ones that shaped me the most - is it the same for you, i wonder? i've yet to read de Montaigne, de Sade, and Defoe, but thank goodness i have one "de" in the bag with Descartes - then again four "de"s in a row might sound like Beethoven's 5th symphony so maybe all or nothing is a better state to be in...
Love this video, so interesting! I've honestly never thought about some of the books mentioned in the way you've discussed here, it's so fascinating to see how other people can take such different insights from the same works!
Im curious, do you (or commenters whove read it) think Id enjoy Waiting for Godot, even if I already live in the moment? Or is it mostly enjoyable for people who'll like get their mind blown type thing? ^^
Not Emma, but I believe she’s mentioned before that she prefers the Oxford because the font size they use often is good for her dyslexia, and they have annotations that are useful.
"it fucks with u, I love it so much" basically the description of literature
****good literature*****
Zlavoj Zizek says that if you have reasons to love someone, you don't. I feel like this is very much like what Montaigne says
Slavoj! But yes! ^^
Can you say which book this is from please?
But there are always reasons for love
I remember studying Godot at A-Level was really the moment my whole opinion and approach toward literature and philosophy changed forever
My life was changed by the work of Camus, especially "The Stranger". Also "The Cather in the Rye" and "Clockwork Orange" books read at the right time and had an important influence on the formation of my personality
I've recently read "The Stranger" by Camus but couldn't quite get into it. After finishing it I read a few articles on exsitentialism and absurdism which I found super interesting. The book itself wasn't my cup of tea though. Nevertheless, I'm still interested in reading more of Camus' work. What did you like about "The Stranger"? Would love to hear your opinion
@@LuluST-nc6us Kaligula is his best work in my opinion, it’s a short play, RECOMMEND!
@@LuluST-nc6us thanks for the interest to my comment ! :)
I’v read this book twice. And both times it impressed me
For the first time it was my introduction to Camus’ works. And it was the first book with such an insensitive hero. I was shocked by everything that was happening, I could not even imagine that such situations as Camus describes are simply possible
@Chloe Winx Oh, I can’t say that “The Stranger” changed my life. But it is one of my favorite book
This work shows me that it is normally to be insensitive sometimes (and I really understand the main hero). Bu it also shows that you can’t be insensitive every time - it is dangerous for the society
And “The Stranger” helped me ask myself a number of important existential questions
@@Mhaadi19 I read The Outsider after I'd finished Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, and I've gotta say Nausea left me with a far greater impression than The Outsider, so if you like Camus then I'd absolutely recommend Nausea
Godot seems so interesting as you described it and it actually reminded me of a Greek poem , it’s called Ithaka by the poet cavafis and again it basically says that the destination, the milestone you’re trying to reach does not matter , what matters is the way you got there , all the experiences you acquired by trying to reach this milestone (you should read it , it draws inspiration from the odessy as well)
Godoy reminds me of a saying that changed me. Life is not waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain
This is the only UA-cam video about books that satisfied me. Thank you for your upload! I really wanted to read all of them immediately.
I saw Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen do waiting for Godot on Broadway and I’ll never forget it
magneto and professor x boyfriends, say it with me
1) Have breakfast, doubt my existence. 2) Melt my brain from all the book recommendations. 3) watch the gorgeous Emma throw in perfect French.. holy shit, I'm still scraping the fondue of what's left of my brain from the floor. I'm buying Montaigne today.
I'm scrolling back through this video and I never got to tell you how much i love "'I'm still scraping the fondue of what's left of my brain from the floor" hahaha excellent
@@sarcastic_fish it needs to be a line in a tv show
WOW your ideas about waiting for godot have changed the way I view things. when you explained about waiting for something else rather than enjoying current time I really felt it, so I'm going to make a grand attempt to think a little differently, thank you!
I loved how you described Waiting For Godot. I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t really have the words to describe it (which is kind of the point of absurdism, that it makes you feel things you can’t always describe). But you summed it up so brilliantly.
I literally have just spent the week studying Waiting for Godot at university... and this is the first time I’ve heard anyone talk about it on (not) booktube... life is strange, one might even say absurd 🤭
* runs to add them to her Goodreads tbr *
Also a video on philosophy is very very needed
de sade!!! that one lived in my head for MONTHS after i read it. totally agree about the narratives on power dynamics. definitely not something i’d recommend to anyone lol, but it’s so special.
This was such a refreshing video, due to your books and the way you talk about them. I just bought 4 of your recommendations!
Five books that changed your life? Uff, I'd be hard-pressed to narrow my list down to five, but here goes nothin’:
1) The 1969 World Book Encyclopedia. It’s not a single book, but whatevs. My parents had this set when I was a wee little boy, and I used to spend hours and hours going through it, bouncing from volume to volume (much like surfing the Web today), going wherever my curiosity took me, in effect developing the very capacity for curiosity itself. Bless ‘em, when I was 10 (i.e., the year 1987), my parents got a new set of World Book encyclopedias for me. They weren’t educated people, so I don’t think there’s anything else they did that was more important in furthering my intellectual development.
2) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It’s a clichéd choice for a precociously smart teenage boy, but I was, in fact, a clichéd and precociously smart teenage boy, so there ya go!
3) King Lear by William Shakespeare. It might be more accurate to just say “Shakespeare” since it was the course on “Shakespeare after 1600” my second semester at uni that cemented my intentions of majoring in English, rather than music or philosophy (never mind comp lit!). I single out King Lear because, as an undergrad, I wrote my senior thesis on it and, as a grad student, I ended my doctoral dissertation with a discussion of Peter Brook’s 1962 RSC production of it, so it would be an understatement to say that it’s kinda important to me. The bleakness of it, which I was probably in denial over when I first encountered it, probably crystallizes my personal worldview with respect to the tragic sense of life.
4) A Dollhouse by Henrik Ibsen. It totally blew me away the first time I ever read it and helped cement my interest in modern and contemporary drama and theater, which I love and even teach part-time. I’ve seen several Ibsen plays in outstanding productions, but not this one. Jessica Chastain, whom I jokingly refer to as my third wife, was supposed to do a production in London last year directed by Jaime Lloyd. COVID-19 killed those plans, but she’s said that she’s still committed to doing the play at some point in the future. If the production does actually happen, I’m hopping on a plane!
5) Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. I’ve read it only once, but it’s stayed with me, haunting me. It’s very short but very tough because it asks hard questions about the limits of human reconciliation and it cuts to the core of what love is and does so in the most heart-breaking way. In short, it’s a novel that’s made me a better human being. I’ve recommended it to so many people and even given it as a gift at least a couple of times. It’s extraordinary, and everyone should read it.
Roxana is in my TBR for this summer and the way you talk about it makes me SO EXCITED!!!!!!!
I absolutely adore your passion for the books you love. Thank you!
The only thing I can say every time I watch your videos is... Σ'αγαπώ!!! (meaning I love you in Greek).
Appreciation from a Greek woman with two sons (one of them facing some dyslexia issues).
I’m going to have to read Waiting for Godot now...going to have to buy it too...I have brought far too many books in lockdown 😳😂
there are full versions of the play on youtube!! for freeeeeeee
@@sarcastic_fish thanks for letting me know, I’m going to have a browse 😍
@@sarcastic_fish I may have just splurged in some charity book shops. 😳📚 Quite few of the Penguin, Oxford, and Vintage editions looked brand new, and for only a forth of the price.
Lockdown feels like Waiting for Godot, we've been waiting and waiting in the same place all these months.
I had no feelings for the play when I read it years ago at uni but I feel I should reread it now.
These types of videos are my favourite! I've only really gotten into reading in the past 6 months (largely influenced by your book recommendations!) and I'm just loving it
u dont know how much i enjoyed this video, thank u so much for making it
adding all of these to my reading list
This video was randomly recommended to me by UA-cam today and it was *exactly* what I needed. I'm in the middle of questioning so many aspects of my life and all this recs hit hard.
"Which Russian is it?" is one of the funniest things I've ever heard, because there's so many classic Russian writers that could apply to.
BTW, I love Beckett, and I've seen several plays of his in production but, strangely, never Godot. I read Beckett as an undergrad, but he didn't click until very early on in grad school, my first month, when some students put on a production of Endgame and I realized that, ah ha!, he's meant to be funny!
Like, he wrote "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness." That is both profoundly true and absolutely hysterical. And the fact that that isn't a contradiction, but rather, a wry and accurate observation about the absurdity of life and the human condition is at the heart of what makes Beckett Beckett.
Hi Emma! If you want to read something with the same message as Godot I strongly recommend The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati (Italian author). This book changed y perspective on life the same way Godot changed yours.
Since you like philosophical novels I have two other recommendations. Firstly, Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse: extremely fascinating reflection on the dichotomy between rationality and feeling, god and passion, art and morality. In case you know what it is, I think you could say it's a discussion on the dichotomy between Nietzsche's Apollonian and Dionysian. Beautiful read, still one of my favourite books.
The next one you might have read, but it's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson. Amazing analysis of good and evil, humanity versus monstrosity, what our actions signify about us and how.
(Ps: I'm nearly done with my Philosophy degree at uni. I'm desperate for a video on Philosophy by you, lol).
on marriage: ever since I had a seminar on law giving in antiquity and medieval societies and we read, obviously, Platon for it and upon doing some further research into the matter I read in some text about Platons concept of the law that it was (either in Greek antiquity all together or just in Platons thinking i don't remember exactly) recommended to divorce a marriage after a set amount of years if it remained childless cause then clearly it didn't serve it's purpose at all. Also unmarried men above a certain age should pay a fine if they didn't marry so that they wouldn't think a life without family was easier then with a family. And what can I say. Changed my view on marriage and family forever. Not cause I agree with these concepts but because it shows the roots of what we romanticize as a choice when really it's is so deeply drenched in power relations and institutions.
Omg, I wish more people were like you. This was a huge pet peeve of mine for years. For example the tana mongeau and Jake Paul marriage. So, what if it was fake? So, many girls dramatically wrote that they can never watch tana again because she's "mocking something as special as marriage". I'm like bitch, they're getting married for power, that's more traditional and authentic than what you think marriage was created for.
"You never really enjoy your life because you're always looking out at that next hurdle." Okay, I didn't click on a video to be personally attacked but here we are lol
So refreshing to hear an honourable mention of Samuel Beckett…….I love Beckett!
I appreciate how deep you go into the books that I’ve never attempted to read
Wow I saw this video at the best time because I was kind of losing hope for humanity and you showed me there are good people especially readers like you that are trying to make people realise things. Also there’s so much hidden truth in books but not many people believe this because they say it’s just fiction (fiction my a** haha). Anyways I’m in love with your energy and your channel please continue to make these type of videos because you truly are inspirational.
24:51 just melted my brain tho
The best video I have ever watched in my entire life. I enjoyed it so much. Thank you.
If you're interested in philosophy, and you haven't read Plato's Euthyphro, Apology and Crito, I highly recommend them for beginners.
And Aristotle , I’m studying bits of his ethics for school and it’s soo interesting and thought provoking
the way that I also got taught Waiting for Godot and it changed my life as well..... so much so that I also recently bought that exact same complete works of Samuel Beckett book hAhah !
your skin is GLOWING
Not to put pressure on you but I genuinely buy everything you recommend and I've never been disappointed 😂
If you love it, there's a 100% chance I will too 👏
Out of the topic but yeah I now read The Odyssey because of Emma. So so worth to read it you guys.
YES. EXCELLENT. NICO UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT
@@sarcastic_fish YES MA'AM!!!!! 😂
Which translation, if you don’t mind me asking?
@@yj6118 I only have the copy translated by Allen Mandelbaum, but I still plan on buying the big ones. Good books like Penguin copies are really hard to find here in my country Philippines.
So glad i found you. Your book choice is intriguing. And i fully agree on what you said about friends being most important. Not only when you are young but ar any stage of your life. You got a new follower now.
i loved this!! the wild duck by henrik ibsen and the trial by franz kafka absolutely changed my life!! the wild duck reveled a bunch of truth bombs about how people cope with and survive in ~ society ~. it kept haunting me (in the best way possible, ghosts
Emma, this is my first video I watched of yours, thank you for your insight -- glad I found you.
Amazing video! I've only read two of these books (Beckett, Sade) and have yet to read the others! Always love your recommendations! :)
Yay to the Defoe love!!! I am OBSESSED with Moll Flanders, which a lot of people around me don’t understand. Like, they can get why Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice might have a big impact on you but Moll Flanders? Really? And it’s like, yes! I didn’t write a dissertation on it, but I wrote a novel for my undergrad senior project and that novel was in many ways a love letter to Moll Flanders. So, I kind of did? Lol
Girl, I found you now and let me just say this: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHY HASN'T YT RECOMMENDED YOU TO ME EARLIER?!
Your discussion of Waiting For Godot was honestly phenomenal.
And, can I just say, when I get a dog, I'm calling him Godot.
Also, I fucking love Symposium. Aristophanes' speech **chef's kiss**
AND, Dangerous Liaisons slaps. Glenn Close and John Malkovich are iconic in that film. And, if you like Glenn Close seriously, you need to watch The Wife and then Glenn Close's Golden Globe speech, it and she are phenomenal.
Wow, you express your thoughts and opinions so well. Everything you had to say was so interesting, especially your take on Waiting for Godot. Gonna go scout out some de Montaigne now! Also, just subscribed :)
Find you a friend who will put on your armor and scare off your enemies
Your videos never fail to cheer up my day!🥰 and the dress is GORGEOUS! (As are you) where did you get it from??
A final project in my advanced acting course for my Theatre degree was a scene from "Waiting for Godot." So much fun. Hope you get to see a production of it soon!
Watching your videos is like breathing fresh air
Your reading of Marriage, A History might be followed by the best witty novel about a dysfunctional marriage I know:
*The Man Who Loved Children* by Christina Stead. Try and get the edition with the intro by Randall Jarrell, a great piece of writing in itself.
I did not get through that book! I’m sure I would have been enlightened if I did but all the characters were too irritating
Loved this video. I am extremely interested in many of your philosophy picks for this video, and those pinguin great ideas (or something, what was the name?) books seem very interested. I have never really read philosophers work on its own, what would you recommend if I just want to start reading philosophy that is still relevant for today? De Montaigne seems interesting! You showed the entire collection and I am not sure if I am ready for that yet haha.
I remember loving Waiting for Godot as well. And Theater of the Absurd in general.
Fun fact: Godot was first performed in Paris and the audience did not care for it much.
Years later, in the 60s, it was performed in some jail in San Francisco, USA pretty much because it does not include female characters... And at first the inmates were booing it... And then they stayed and watched and loved it. When asked at the end what Godot meant to them, most were saying things like "freedom" and "acceptance in society". It took a whole different meaning for a whole different audience.
Such a great video.. i never heard of any of these but roxana, the essays and the discourse are very interesting 👀
I have just finished 120... I just... 😏 But now I've just spent £40 thanks for the recs. Already read; Les liaisons dangereousus, Justine, philosophy in the boudoir after finding your channel, looking forward to shaking my soul some more! Also just purchased Sade's letters from prison Xxx
@Tanya I found it interesting in terms of it's a good representation of a perpetual corruption of the human soul by undue influence, and the way that it's written in letters which is a tool used to manifest in their reality, that attack which is going on between their ego and soul in their minds - where ego wins. I guess it's like a psychological study in a way, of the individual and society. It's also a tale of those who aim to influence and corrupt, are really corrupting themselves. And I guess it can be applied to the society of today, but the corruption has taken on more sinister and insidious disguise - something to reflect on. I'd say read it, I gained more enlightened understanding by doing so, the plot is also thrilling. Enjoy 💌
I think I read “waiting for Godo” as waiting to “go do.”
Great list! I must confess the only one I haven't read is...Roxana!
So amusing that you fell asleep in Hamlet and you love Godot! 😂 Same theme of characters always deliberating and waiting.
Ugh I love Hamlet. Everyone is so extra.
oml, where has this channel been all my life?
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman - It's incredible and really impacted me like Godot did for you! - Just do NOT read the preface before reading the book!
Where did you get your dress at? I’m in love with it!
Why can't i be surrounded by people with your type of brain....why.
This is the first video I've seen by you and I'm totaly hooked and you made me spend like 150 gpb on classics :'D
Love "Not I" by Beckett!
You are the epitome of what children of academics must look like.
Im making a joke but its also true.
I thought I was pretty well versed in 18th century pornographic novels, but now I think I have more reading to do. Haha
rewatching this video with both a cup of tea and a glass of COLD water... proud of myself not going to lie
Just subscribed, really love this
the queer subtext is giving me so much life
EMMA YOU STILL HAVE THE MUG I BOUGHT YOU also beautiful dress also also I love this
OH COURSE I DO IT'S ONE OF MY FAVES
I immediately went looking for the play after reading Beckett. There is a production (2009) with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, surprisingly there is no DVD or digital copy available for sell :(
This is so interesting, I love your content! 🤍
still not a book channel?
I love your shirt! Where is it from?
Often it is said with irony "You live in a story!" or "you're just dreaming". But I don't think that's denigrating. I think it's a fact about our realities. The post-modernists we’re right about how the world we inhabit is for a great deal seen through our interpretation of it; yet there’s still limitations, and good isn’t relative, neither is bad. You have to operate within a certain framework, or structure: this structure is in part biological, psychological, social. It has deep roots, in our shared stories and values. I do not understand marriage; it’s a complex institution, and to reduce it to a mono-causal explanation which reduces all men to oppressors and all women to victims is not the right story. Evil and oppression, as well as being a victim or perpetrator of that, are primarily forces within one’s own soul and heart. Like I started by saying, you live in a story. And the best possible story that will give you the meaning you need to make your life bearable is that you have a struggle inside your own heart between these forces; and although they do manifest themselves in society and nature, there’s no other more powerful place to work on the betterment of the world than in one’s own soul.
I AM SO GLAD DESCARTES IS ON THE LIST
Oh if could get an interview with that man, and finally ask him the big question. “Godot,
once and for all tell us please tell us, how did this all begin, all of this “ not arriving “ !?
Yes, your dress is beautiful 😻
so simple, but a phrase i have absolutely loved for the same reason you like godot is “After years of waiting, nothing came.”
🥺
well fuck, now i have to pause this video and go buy on friendship by michel de montaigne
The sheer coincidence of it all , I just finished reading Waiting for Godot 😂
You are my favourite person.
for me there's overlap but my favourite books aren't always the ones that shaped me the most - is it the same for you, i wonder? i've yet to read de Montaigne, de Sade, and Defoe, but thank goodness i have one "de" in the bag with Descartes - then again four "de"s in a row might sound like Beethoven's 5th symphony so maybe all or nothing is a better state to be in...
😆 so apt
Love this video, so interesting! I've honestly never thought about some of the books mentioned in the way you've discussed here, it's so fascinating to see how other people can take such different insights from the same works!
Do you like Catherine Breillat movies? Would recommend if you don’t know them.
Hi! In France we don't say "de Montaigne" or "de Sade", we say Montaigne, and Sade :)
In your opinion, who is the best translator of Michel de Montaigne?
I'm gonna need to know where this dress is from please
I read the title as “5 AM (as in time) books that changed who i 5 AM”
Im curious, do you (or commenters whove read it) think Id enjoy Waiting for Godot, even if I already live in the moment? Or is it mostly enjoyable for people who'll like get their mind blown type thing? ^^
Beautiful ☺️
I love this video. We're getting deep and I love it
Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" is really about Game Theory before there was Game Theory.
Which one is your favorite penguin or oxford world classics ?
Not Emma, but I believe she’s mentioned before that she prefers the Oxford because the font size they use often is good for her dyslexia, and they have annotations that are useful.
You look more lovely every day!
Hope against hope
Wittgenstein' póker, the Rousseau dog.
Have you read Salo by De Sade?
Salò is the name of the Pasolini film, silly 😛
@@mirrorsaw yea the film based on the book, silly
Where did you get the dressssssssss