I am a huge Tolkien fan and agree 100% that 'The Hobbit' is his best book. I love the rest of his stuff, too, but 'The Hobbit' is his best crafted story.
Great list, have read most of them but yes, I am in the majority who cannot understand how The Hobbit is there instead of the LOTR!! It's still a great list, and Kafka On the Shore is also my favourite Murakami. Like you, I'm in the minority that prefers War and Peace to Anna Karenina, which is usually placed ahead of it. Will need to check up on Barney's Version, never heard of the author before. This is why these lists are fun and useful.
@@feanorian21maglor38I agree with you about LOTR and War and Peace (even though I would be surprised if what you said is true about most people preferring Anna Karenina to War and Peace).. as for Murakami I feel like I will never be able to rank his books but my top in no particular order would be Killing Commendatore, Kafka on the Shore, the wind up bird chronicles, 1Q84, Dance Dance Dance and Pinball,1973
I love "best" lists, particularly personal lists. Some of mine self-selected when I asked which books I've read more than once. Thanks for your contributions.
@@ADudeWhoReads, MY TOP TWELVE BOOKS 0) "The Holy Bible: King James Version" copyright 1967 1) "Verbal Behavior" by Dr. B. F. Skinner 2) "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy 3) "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 4) "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev 5) Myth Adventures - series by Robert Asprin 6) The Chronicles of Narnia - series by C. S. Lewis 7) "Vilette" by Charlotte Brontë 8) "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy 9) "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 10) "Smoke" by Ivan Turgenev 11) "Chesapeake" by James A. Michener 12) "Poland" by James A. Michener
@@ReligionOfSacrifice Definitely some excellent reads on that list, and not one, but two Michener books! As well as a few I've never heard of. Thank you so much for sharing!
@@ADudeWhoReads TOP 40 BOOKS 0) "The Holy Bible: King James Version" copyright 1967 1) "Verbal Behavior" by Dr. B. F. Skinner 2) "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy 3) "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 4) "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev 5) Myth Adventures - series by Robert Asprin 6) The Chronicles of Narnia - series by C. S. Lewis 7) "Vilette" by Charlotte Brontë 8) "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy 9) "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 10) "Smoke" by Ivan Turgenev 11) "Chesapeake" by James A. Michener 12) "Poland" by James A. Michener 13) "Roots" by Alex Haley 14) The Silmarillion - The Hobbit, or there and back again - The Lord of the Rings - Middle Earth stories by J. R. R. Tolkien 15) Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov 16) "Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin 17) "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 18) "Paris 1919: six months that changed the world" by Margaret MacMillian 19) "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Brontë 20) "Virgin Soil" by Ivan Turgenev 21) "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen 22) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn - by Mark Twain 23) Old Mother West Wind series - wildlife series by Thornton Burgess 24) "Microbe Hunters" by Paul de Kruif 25) "Cancer Ward" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 26) "Teacher Man" by Frank McCourt 27) "Kon Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl 28) "From Beirut to Jerusalem" by Thomas Friedman 29) "The Berdine Un-Theory of Evolution: and Other Scientific Studies Including Hunting, Fishing, and Sex" by William C. Berdine 30) "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair 31) "Caribbean" by James A. Michener 32) "Hawaii" by James A. Michener 33) "The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosiński 34) "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice 35) "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee 36) "Torrents of Spring" by Ivan Turgenev 37) "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis 38) "Emma" by Jane Austen 39) "In the First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Another way to evaluate is FAVORITE AUTHORS 1st) Ivan Turgenev (Fathers and Sons) seven more books in the top 200 not shown here 4) "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev 10) "Smoke" by Ivan Turgenev 20) "Virgin Soil" by Ivan Turgenev 36) "Torrents of Spring" by Ivan Turgenev 59) "First Love" by Ivan Turgenev 2nd) James A. Michener (Chesapeake) 11) "Chesapeake" by James A. Michener 12) "Poland" by James A. Michener 31) "Caribbean" by James A. Michener 32) "Hawaii" by James A. Michener 3rd) Leo Tolstoy (Resurrection) 2) "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy 8) "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy 57) "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy 84) "A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy 4th) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich) 9) "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 25) "Cancer Ward" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 39) "In the First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 72) "The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: an Experiment in Literary Investigation" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 5th) Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Idiot) 3) "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 17) "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 108) "Poor Folk" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 135) "The Gambler" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 142) "White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoevsky 6th) C. S. Lewis (The Magician's Nephew) 6) The Chronicles of Narnia - series by C. S. Lewis 37) "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis 165) "Out of the Silent Planet" by C.S. Lewis 176) "Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life" by C.S. Lewis 7th) Charlotte Brontë (Vilette) 7) "Vilette" by Charlotte Brontë 67) "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë 138) "The Professor” by Charlotte Brontë 162) "Shirley" by Charlotte Brontë
@@ReligionOfSacrifice Bible yes. Idiot is good, and sad, but Brothers Karamazov is better. Narnia Yes. Tolstoy is a jerk. Poland by Michener was a great book.
Your selections introduced me to some exciting new authors and reminded me to reread some of the oldies again. Please hold your book up longer, especially when you are introducing it to us. I write down your recommendations and often I struggled to actually know the names to facilitate writing them down. (author's names were difficult to write down when rushed)
Nice variety and happy you included Mazzuchelli's book. It's interesting how his style has radically changed from his Frank Miller Daredevil books like "Born Again" and "Batman Year One."
Thanks! I’m not sure that Mazzuchelli’s style changed so much as he adapted his style to the story he wanted to tell. The style he used in Year One wouldn’t have worked for Asterios Polyp and vice versa. Regardless, the man is incredibly talented as both an artist and a writer! Thanks for watching and commenting. :)
I really like it and it makes me happy that a person like you values The Hobbit as much as I do. Disguised as a children's story, in reality a very serious novel, a map of internal paths, a route of mythical wisdom, a rounded and perfect narrative.
I was so skeptical when I saw the title of this video, but I respect it. Old Man AND Kitchen Confidential?! Hell yeah! Excellent breadth and depth here.
Hah! Nothing like someone declaring that they're going to give you the top 10 books of all time to make you a little suspicious, eh? Thanks for the comment!
There is nothing NOTHING like War and Peace!! I’m 84 and I didn’t particularly like Tolstoy and I didn’t like war so I had no plans to read the book. Tolstoy’s ’ “virtue” was shouted from the rooftops all my life; yet, he never considered his wife when he decided to be celibate and he made her lie next to him to test his celibacy. His wife wasn’t happy with this. (Gandhi did the same-I don’t know if he was influenced by Tolstoy) Given his personal life, I was amazed when I finally read the book a year or two ago and saw the breadth and depth of his human observation and the actual aspects of war not the glory of the thing that I grew up with post WWII. I’m glad I read it late in life when I could bring more to it. A hint to new readers: the book begins with a lot of characters all at once with their multiple names and titles which can be confusing and discouraging. You can google a list of characters to keep at hand. After firmly getting into the book, I found it interesting to go back and see their introduction in the first chapters. This is the best book ever! …..well, there’s Moby Dick which I’ve read 5 times, 2 of them aloud.
I agree with everything you wrote here and especially with your hint to new readers. At some point I’ll probably do a video specifically about War and Peace and how to approach reading it. With regards to Moby Dick, I haven’t tackled that whale, yet. It’s probably going to be sometime next year, but I’m looking forward to it!
This was excellent. Thank you! I haven’t read all of these and will be adding them to my list. I LOVE Bourdain. I have read all his books. Hitchhikers guide are also fantastic and I can’t wait to read them to my kids one day. Reading a chapter of war and peace per day sounds totally doable! Currently reading the Iliad then the odyssey, then Tom Sawyer (with my kids for school). Looking for some books for myself. This list is a great inspiration.
I *just* finished re-reading the Iliad! I'm saving my re-read of the Odyssey to read alongside Ulysses (it's going to take a while...). Happy I was able to provide some inspiration. Thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
I think the biggest difference between the two are the themes that Tolstoy is tackling. While there's a lot of personal focus in War and Peace (which is impressive considering how many characters there are), there's also a large part of the book that's devoted to broader discussions on things like the role of historians. I hope you enjoy both, and if you can, let me know what you think once you've had a chance to read both. Thanks for watching!
Dostoevsky is a much better writer. Tolstoy is great at describing how things really occur in life. "Tolstoy has a fundamentally accurate perception of events" - Nabokov. However, Tolstoy is a moral hypocrite and a philosophical idiot. If you think I'm kidding, then read about his life, and you will see that is true. Eg. Paul Johnson on Tolstoy. Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov addresses the actual issues of how to live, and shows the path of Alyosha is best. I would choose to try to be smart like Ivan, but kind like Alyosha. Audiobook version makes it easier to get thru it fast, then selectively read the best parts like the grand inquisitor.
@@PeterRogersMDDefinitely agree! Dostoevsky is the greater writer overall. I think Tolstoy is better than Dostoevsky in terms of literary style, whereas Dostoevsky wasn't a master stylist like Tolstoy. Dostoevsky often wrote in a hurry if not frenzy and his style can be quite jagged and chaotic. It's as if a madman grabbed you by the arm as you're walking down the street, shouting at you, yet what he says is utterly riveting and intelligent and meaningful. However, with regard to far more fundamental matters like the existence of God, good and evil, the meaning of life, and such questions, Dostoevsky is greater than Tolstoy. And indeed Tolstoy was an immoral person in real life, though Dostoevsky also had his issues (e.g. gambling addiction, possible affair, anti-Semitism). But, unlike Tolstoy, it seems Dostoevsky hated himself for his sins and he seemed to have tried to turn away from most of them as he matured. The exception is perhaps the anti-Semitism. It's no more excusable than, say, the Founding Fathers owning slaves, but it is at least explainable in the sense that it was commonplace in his time and place. Both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy should be read in good translations to best appreciate them. Especially Dostoevsky for the reason I've given above about his style. I'd recommend Michael Katz for any of Dostoevsky's major works except for The Idiot since Katz hasn't done a translation for The Idiot yet, though Katz had told me he's working on it now. Alternatively, Oliver Ready is great for Crime and Punishment. The Garnett translation that's updated by Susan McReynolds Oddo is great for The Brothers Karamazov, likewise Ignat Avsey for The Brothers Karamazov though he plays a bit fast and loose here and there, and McDuff is decent for the same but I don't like McDuff as much as the previous two. Robert Maguire did a great translation of The Demons. Notes from Underground I like Ronald Wilks, but Kirsten Lodge pretty good too. I don't care for Tolstoy as much. However, the Maudes's War and Peace updated by Amy Mandelker is good. Anthony Briggs for The Death of Ivan Ilyich which in my view is actually the best book Tolstoy wrote. And Rosamund Bartlett for Anna Karenina. But again I don't really like Tolstoy Regarding the very popular Pevear and Volokhonsky translations in general. See articles like: "The Pevearization of Russian Literature" (Gary Morson); "The Pevear/Volokhonsky Hype Machine and How It Could Have Been Stopped or At Least Slowed Down" (Helen Andrews): "Socks" (Janet Malcolm); and "Pevear and Volokhonsky Are Indeed Overrated" (John McWhorter).
@@pattube You certainly know a tremendous amount about Russian literature. I partially went through several different translations of Brothers Karamazov, and found Constance Garnett to be the best; because hers was the most religious. Dostoevsky was trying to figure out "how does a person live a good life; a life that helps others, and makes them happy; and how can Russia be saved from serfdom, atheism, tyranny & cruelty?" Modernists try to take the religion out of Dostoevsky. The fact remains: you can't have Christianity without Christ. He's the reason for everything; for all the great stuff like great painting, literature, music and improved behavior.
@@PeterRogersMD Yes, amen! I'm a conservative Christian so I'd agree with you. I also like Garnett, though the issue(s) with her translations is that she often simply elided passages in Dostoevsky she didn't quite understand, not to mention the textual basis for some of her translations isn't always the best, and she is known to have smoothed out passages in order to make Dostoevsky sound better than he does in the original Russian. This latter point about making Dostoevsky sound better than he does is a matter for fair debate and I could see a good case made either way, though contemporary translators tend to think it best to leave Dostoevsky as is and let his own voice come through. In any case, I think Garnett (as well as the husband-wife team of the Maudes) did the English speaking world a tremendous service in translating so much great Russian literature, and Garnett mostly holds up, but I'd prefer to recommend a revised or updated version of Garnett's work. For The Brothers Karamazov, I love the Garnett translation that's been revised by Susan McReynolds Oddo. If I recall, I believe this is published in the Norton Critical Edition. The modern revisions fix all the problematic issues in Garnett without losing Garnett. May the Lord bless you and keep you!
I have recently begun a project of reading classic novels that have somehow escaped me. I'm reading the Count of Monte Cristo at the moment (having just read Great Expectations), but I have many, many more to go. I quite enjoy fiction, but there are some nonfiction works that are tremendous as well - The Devil in the White City or The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, for example.
'Kafka on the Shore' good choice. Love Murakami and would probably pick 'Dance, Dance, Dance.' Tolstoy is a miraculous writer but Dostoevsky's 'Brothers Karamazov' is the ultimate for me.
Love Dance, Dance, Dance and Wild Sheep Chase (they have somehow become one book in my memory). At this point, Brothers Karamazov is probably the first or second most recommended book by people who watch this channel. I think I need to get to it sooner rather than later. Thanks for watching and for the recommendations!
For war and peace, print out a list of all the characters to refer to as you read. Necessary because characters go by several names (eg nickname, and family name).
Good tip! Many editions, including the Oxford Classics edition I show in the video, also have a list of characters at the front or back of the book (including nicknames), so a sticky note on that page can also work.
nice to see a (my home town) Montreal based story make a top 10 list! Mordecai Richler is greatly underrated on the international front! Thank you for taking the time to describe each book; I've now added a few to my TBR list!
It should probably come as no surprise, then, that I'm clearly biased, being a Montrealer myself. ;) Happy to hear you were able to find some books to add to your TBR. Thanks for watching and commenting!
As you can tell from the comments, haters are gonna hate. I hope you don't let the negative get to you. Your favorites are your favorites. The way you talk about books is very intelligent. Let them get out there and start a channel if they want to be so critical.
Haha! I don’t think you can express an opinion on the internet without expecting some degree of push back and discussion. And frankly, that’s fine. It’s all in good fun! Really appreciate you watching and commenting!
As soon as you brought up kitchen confidential I subscribed. I was not expecting that, and you perfectly described exactly how I felt about him and his passing. Well done 👍🏻
Here are some of my favorite books, in no certain order: 1. The Chosen by Chaim Potok 2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 3. A Seperate Peace by John Knowles 4. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger 5. Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji 6. A Painted House by John Grisham 7. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton 8. King Of The Hill by A.E. Hotchner 9. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles 10. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 11. Sphere by Michael Crichton 12. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. 13. Alas Babylon by Pat Frank 14. Street Boys by Lorenzo Carcaterra 15. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. Enjoy!
Sorry last comment - I have not read Bourdain but I did read Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson and found it really interesting and a fascinating look at what goes on behind the kitchen doors.
I think the point you raise at the end is so important for anyone trying to put together a list of the best books of all time: how a book affects us is as much driven by our familiarity with literature as it is what we are experiencing when we read a particular work. I know, for example, that Atlas Shrugged, Huckleberry Finn, the Foundation and Robot series, and all of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books are at the top of my list. This is not necessarily because they are in a top ten list. Instead, I rank them highly because they had such a profound a d joyful impact on me each time I read them.
'm so glad I stumbled upon your video! there are a lot of new authors I have never read. Sometimes it just gets overwhelming! Because I'm not in the loop to begin with I am interested in reading a number of the ones that you mentioned and it's always great to have, a personal recommendation, especially when a book has made, someone laugh or cry... I'm impressed that you could narrow it to 10. I would have such a difficult time with books, films, and music, all of which seem to have saved my life, especially during my younger years. If I were to make a spontaneous list that I didn't have to suffer to narrow down and analyze, that might be a very good exercise for me. So here goes! 1. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien 2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 3. Charlotte's Web by EB White 4. Persuasion by Jane Austen 5. To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 6. A Tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 7. My Antonia by Willa Cather 8. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery 9. Random Harvest by James Hilton 10. The Object of my Affection by Stephen McCauley
My #1 book is Godel, Esher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Brsid by Douglas Hoffsteader. A story about art, beauty, and self-referential philosophy--deep! It is stunning how the author mimics the points being made in the structure of the writing itself.
I too am somewhat obsessed with the 50s 60s Americana era. I'm always looking for books that take place in this time. James Elroy is definitely on my tbr list now ,thanks to you. I would love to hear of more that you've discovered from this era. Maybe another list?
This is a great question (and not a bad idea for a future video, either...)! If you like Kerouac, then reading any of the Beats (Ginsberg, Burroughs, Cassady) is probably a no-brainer. Also, one of my favourite writers is James Baldwin, and his work is set in this era (thematically VERY different from Kerouac or Ellroy). Finally, this is not a book, and not quite in the right time period, but if you have a similar obsession to mine, you'll want to check out the film Vanishing Point (1971): it's a knight-errant quest story, but instead of horses and medieval landscapes, it's muscle cars and Route 66.
Appreciate the variety of your choices, like serving delicatessens for sampling, satisfying my taste buds for the "unexpected" . Also impressed by your personal response to each comment, like "my Dinner with Andre", conversing with a friend cozily over good food n wine!
thanks for this - i loved many of the books you listed and never read #1 so just bought it! and maybe one day i'll muster up the courage to attempt War & Peace
Awesome. Let me know if you end up reading it what you think. As for W&P, I JUST released a video today about how to read it, so maybe that can help you out. :) Thanks for watching!
I personally took like 8 months to read it. I read other books concurrently and even took a short break halfway through because it is broken up into 4 parts. It’s amazing though and WELL worth it!
Nice varied selection of books in your top 10 list covering a wide choice of Genre's and writing styles. In no particular order here are my current 10 favourite books i've read. The Stand - Extended Edition - I was so engrossed in this lengthy novel with so many characters (both good and evil) going on their travels that i was completely immersed in the story. This easily gets into my top 10 list. His Dark Materials - This fascinating tale felt completely fresh and took me on a grand adventure in different Worlds with so many types of characters coming together to fight for what is right against seemingly impossible odds. The Godfather - The classic crime family story is wonderfuly told with great drama and events that are compelling throughout. The Great & Secret Show - An abstract battle between nightmares and good dreamt heroes that is both horrifyingly strange and wonderfuly beautiful. Treasure Island - The classic adventure story was so much better than i expected it to be, i heartily enjoyed this tale. The Three Body Problem - This Sci-Fi Alien invasion (sort of) story was very smart and technical with it's attention to scientific detail told over the course of Centuries in three novels is wonderful. Dune - Fantastic space opera with feuding aristocracies for control of a mining operation on a hostile Planet is brilliantly told, and is easily one of my favourite stories. Robots And Empire - The fate of the future of Humanity and Planet Earth is in the hands of two robots. I loved this story. I Am Legend - Possibly my favourite novel mixing Sci-Fi and Horror. A morality tale of finding out who are the real monsters, us or them? Great story. 1984 - The pinnacle of totalitarian novels in my opinion, equal parts frightening as it is fascinating. Thanks for making this video. Cheers.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve actually read most of your top 10, so we must have pretty similar taste. My thoughts on a few of your selections: It took me three tries to read The Stand and when I finally got through it I realized the problem. I liked the characters and the slice of life stuff so much better than the main plot! Seriously, that book could have just been about how the protagonists got along in post apocalyptic America without any of the “evil horror” stuff and I probably would have enjoyed it even more! I agree with you that the Godfather is a fantastic book but most people I talk to about it claim that it’s that rare exception where the book is inferior to the adaptation… never quite understood why the book gets ragged on so hard when the movies are such a close adaptation. The Three Body Problem is on my TBR and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve heard so many good things! Overall, love your list. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@ADudeWhoReads Thanks for replying. I get your point about The Stand, it may well have been more compelling without concentrating on the evil ones, an interesting thought. The Godfather movie adaptation is really close to the novel, there are a few events and characters that fill out the World a little more, they compliment each other really well though. I'm sure you'll really enjoy the Three Body Problem, once you begin the series you may find yourself drawn to complete the trilogy to see how the story plays out. Cheers.
@@JD.78 Part of my issue with books like the Three Body Problem is that I hesitate to start them, because I know that there's a good chance I'll want to read the whole series, and therefore need to set aside that much more time! :)
@@JD.78 I'm definitely not opposed to audiobooks for certain types of books. I'll probably read the first book in print and depending on how much I like it, will choose whether to read, listen or ignore the last two :)
I enjoyed this video very much because I too am a dude who reads. The only book on your list that is on mine was for years my #1. It is On The Road by Jack Kerouac. I started reading it exactly 60 years ago as of Sept 2023. I was seventeen and in love with the idea of just getting into a car and going. All these years later it has slipped down to #5. My number 4 is: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway #3 The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque #2. More Than Conqueror by Grace Livingston Hill and #1 is (drum roll) The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. That book literally changed my life. And my trajectory toward eternity. I recommend it to all people. Thank you.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us! I understand that impulse from reading On the Road. I will check out Lindsey’s book as I’ve never heard about it before right now. Thanks again!
@@ADudeWhoReads You're welcome. And I'm going to check out many of the books on your list, especially #1. At this late hour of my life and since I'm retired I really should read War and Peace. I did read part of a book by Tolstoy about The Cossacks, etc. First time I ever saw the word etc in a title except maybe e e cummings. Saroyan was one of my favorite authors growing up. Especially his short stories.
Books are so subjective and personal..im so varied in my reading but here are some of my favourites. 1. Jayne eyre by Charlotte Brontë 2. Anne Frank's diary 3. Weave world, Clive Barker 4. Kingdom for sale sold, Remond E feist. 5. Bridges of Madison county yes my romantic one lol 6. Godnight Mr Tom, Michelle Magorian. 7. Danny champion of the world, Roald dahl. 8. Little women and little men by louisa may Alcott..i read these to my kids every night. 9. Memoirs of a geisha, Arthur holden. 10. Screwtape letters..C.S. Lewis
Very cool list, with several entries I’d never heard of, including “Little Men.” I had no idea there was not one, but multiple sequels to Little Women!
I like that you read all sorts of genres. I also read classics, modern fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, non-fiction. I notice some Star Wars on your shelf as well - not ashamed to say I read Star Wars fiction on the regular as well! Mostly Canon, but the original Thrawn trilogy is excellent. Very interesting top 10 books, look forward to more on your channel! Subbed!
@tazzypumpkin I bought the Thrawn Trilogy as a boxed set because it was one of my two favourite Star Wars stories back in the day (we're talking before there was a prequel movie trilogy). I've tried a couple of the newer Canon books, but not many, and was left lukewarm (which is better than my feelings on episodes 7, 8 and 9, but still...). Any recommendations for the Canon books to check out? Part of the challenge with Star Wars novels is that there's just so much to pick from, and quality is up and down.
@@ADudeWhoReads Yeah for sure, the quality is very uneven. I think some of my favorites from canon are Lost Stars, Rebel Rising, Dark Disciple (if you are a Clone Wars fan, it feels like a story arc straight from the show), the Rogue One novelization, and the first Thrawn trilogy.
Enjoyed that. I'd struggle to pick a top ten. Hitchhiker's probably would but not On the Road. Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita and Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth would make it. James Hoggs private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner would have to be in there.
Very cool! Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth seems to be a very popular pick, which is really cool considering that prior to this video, I hadn't heard anything about it. Thanks for watching and sharing.
@@ADudeWhoReads He is such an interesting writer. For years he produced good, but not always brilliant thrillers of average length. Then he wrote The Pillars of the Earth. He openly talked about how he changed his writing style with that doorstep of a book, giving more focus on character. He said prior to that, he wrote almost as if he was imagining an action film. Since, he has written many more big books in a no nonsense style that he's become a master of. Pillars is the first in a series of five, his Kingsbridge series. The latest, The Armour of Light came out just 3 days ago. I'm reading it now. I can't recommend them highly enough. Since watching your video I've been recalling books I'd have in my top ten. It's almost impossible to settle on.
Agree with you on War and Peace and The Old Man and the Sea and your opinion as to Hemingways lesser works. I would also add Anna Karenina to the Tolstoy list. Thomas Mann The Magic Mountain is one of my favourites and no one who makes favourites lists seems to mention him, yet he won the Nobel Prize. His short story Life and Death in Venice too. For W&P what remains with me is when PA died, it took like 100 pages to kill him off, and when the little boy Count inherited all that land and serfs and people just stared at him.
I confess to having never read Mann, but The Magic Mountain is on my to-read list. As for PA's 100-page death in W&P, to me that's the perfect example of Tolstoy's genius; it would have been tedious written by anyone else, but Tolstoy makes it seem completely natural. Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
So cool finally seeing someone else appreciating asterios polyp. Mazzuchelli’s changing style throughout the book is awesome. Have you read his adaptation of city of glass?
It's always fun to hear someone discussing books they enjoyed. I have read almost all the books you mentioned and was particularly pleased you mentioned Anthony Bourdain. I really enjoyed his book and him as a chef. Glad you threw in some foreign authors. As a child of the 50s you are quite right about those decades, the 50s,60s and 70s ', an awesome time to have lived through .
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I miss Bourdain. No one's been able to replace him, and those who've tried don't even come close in my mind (thinking of people like David Chang).
Great list. It’s nice to see another reader that enjoys a variety of genres and is open to new authors. I will be checking out some of these books on your list. Cheers
Love it! Nothing feels better than introducing someone to something that they might potentially love. Once you've had a chance to read any, let me know how you feel about them..
Well, it was definitely in my top 10… maybe 2 is a bit high, but Adams opened my eyes to a whole new style of writing, and it’s one of the few books that I can read over and over again and never get tired of :). Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great list. Since everyone is listing theirs, I think you missed out on PKD's "Ubik", Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking", and Kafka's "The Castle".
Ok so I watched this video for a 3rd time because I just finished a monumental book Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry. Out of curiosity I discovered that my local backwoods library carried Asterios Polyp so I checked that out. Sure it’s one of the larger graphic novels I’ve read but it can be finished in just a couple of hours. The story is pretty good, very human, I’m glad I read it, but it comes nowhere near the radius of my personal top 10 favorite books. Still, thanks for the recommendation. I wouldn’t have read it if not for your channel. Cheers
First off, I don't even think I've watched this video 3 times, so thank you! As for Asterios Polyp, being good, but maybe not top 10 good, I think that's completely fair. One of my goals with this list was to try and give as broad a cross-section as possible of my favourite books across different genres so that hopefully I introduced people to new things, and as a result, I think a comment like this was inevitable. Still, the fact that you checked it out means that my mission was accomplished!
Both are on my radar! It's funny, I had never heard of Stoner until about 6 months ago, and now, you're probably the fifth or sixth person I've seen recommend it. Either Stoner is undergoing a revival, or I just wasn't paying attention before. Thank you so much for the recommendations!
James Ellroy is one of my favorite writers, the LA quartet is great. Joan Didion “The White Album” & “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”. Truman Capote “In Cold Blood”. Always loved “Catcher in the Rye”. Philip Roth, William Faulkner, Kurt Vonnegut, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, so many writers change your life
In a few sentences you named so many of the authors I struggled so hard with excluding from this list: Didion, Salinger, Faulkner, Roth, Vonnegut… fantastic selection.
Very interesting list. It doesn’t follow a usual trend and for that it gave me exposure to some works that are new to me. Thanks for putting it together, I hope to comment once I have gone through some of those less common picks
Thank you so much. This is precisely why I did this! If you like some of the things on my list and have never heard of some of the others, then maybe you’ll want to check them out, and if I can help someone discover a new favourite, then that makes me happy! I’d love to hear from you once you’ve had a chance to check some of these out! Thanks again for watching and commenting!
Lists like this are fun. On my list, I would include Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway and Lady Murasaki's Tale of Gengi. I also really liked War and Peace, like you.
You've given me some wonderful material to enjoy in the coming months. I'll be looking forward to your reviews and judgments for 2024. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Love your top 10 because your favorite books are so varied! You are certainly not stuff in a rut. I agree with you about W&P (also just read it last year) but I hated On the Road (may be more appealing to younger males than retired women). Love that you included Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the same list as W&P. Thanks for introducing me to Mordecai Richler. It's going to be so interesting to see how you react to these cherished books in about 20 years. I enjoy re-reading my favorites every so often, but it's as though I never read the same book twice since, as I get older, the books seem different. Oh wait. I'm different!! 🙂PS A favorite classic of mine is The Count of Monte Cristo. You may enjoy it, too.
Thanks for the comment, Susan. You're right that this may be the only top 10 list that puts the Hitchhiker's Guide next to War and Peace. Hah! And you're absolutely right that the way you respond to a book changes with you, which is why I'm such a fan of re-reading. As for On the Road, I actually did first read it 20 years ago, and re-read it recently, and it still held up (for me)! I can definitely see how it would appeal more to a younger male audience, but I think what I love about the book is more the energy of the writing and the atmosphere it creates than the themes and story itself. The Count of Monte Cristo is on my list to read, and my goal is to read it in the original French, so it might take me a while. Thanks again!
Well, this was an interesting and useful video. As is the case with you, I was introduced to Murakami through Kafka on the Shore and like you, I went on a Murakami binge. Kafka on the Shore remains my favorite of his books, although The Windup Bird Chronicle is close, and Murakami is my favorite living author. And, while Anthony Bourdain was neither a great writer nor, I think, particularly insightful, I too loved Kitchen Confidential. It was in its day, a cultural bomb at least in the New York restaurant-goer world, of which I was a part at the time. It made you wonder if he was talking about the place where you were eating. Bourdain also tried to write some mystery novels, and they are awful. Also, because of your video, I just ordered Barney's Version, which I had not heard of. So many books, so little time. Your list is interesting and, of course, such a list is intensely personal. My favorite novel is Kipling's Kim, and nobody I know agrees with me on that. The Hobbit is fun and I enjoyed it, but it's a children's book and not in a league with The Wind in the Willows and numerous others; On the Road was great when I was a seventeen-year-old college freshman trying to figure out the world and what I wanted from it, and was impressed by the beats and bebop musicians, but sixty years later it is unreadable. Truman Capote famously said of the book, "That's not writing, that's typing," and I think in retrospect that he was right. Ellroy is, in my view, a second-rank crime/noir writer, way below Hammett or Graham Greene in his Brighton Rock mode. (Unlike you and to my discredit, I have over the past 65 years read a trainload of mystery/crime/thriller/spy novels, quite literally thousands, and I read L.A. Confidential on someone's recommendation, and decided to not read any of Ellroy's other novels.) The Old Man and the Sea is Hemingway long past his prime, and not up to his best stuff, such as The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and the Nick Adams stories. I always thought of it as a minuscule homage to Moby Dick, and I emphasize the minuscule. I suppose it's hard to quibble with War and Peace, but I have never gotten through it, though I have tried several times. As Woody Allen once said, "It's about Russia." I don't read, if that is the proper verb, graphic novels, which tend to strike me as pretentious comic books, and while I thought Douglas Adams was a funny man - I loved his line, "Let us now eff the ineffable" - the Hitchhiker's Guide is hardly a great book. So, I have read six of the books on your list - seven if you count having read one of Ellroy's other L.A. books - and made a serious stab at War and Peace. It's an interesting list, but if I were to try and put together a top-ten list, none of yours would be on it, with the possible except of Kafka, and I would have to think about that a lot. Still, I do have hopes for Barney's Version, so I thank you.
First off, thanks for watching and commenting! Clearly, we have different views on almost all of the books on this list, so I have to commend you on being open to trying out Barney’s Version. Given the overlap in our personal tastes I’d be very curious to get your thoughts once you’ve read it. Let me know!
Henry, I loved your comment, and agree with most of it. Thank you for your comment on Hemingway - OldMan and the Sea is on so many lists, but it's not his best. The other writer's comments were hilarious. What are your favorite mystery/crime/spy favorite novels?
@@barbarapaige4587 Thank you for your kind words. My taste in mystery/crime/spy novels is fairly varied. If you are starting out, you can't go wrong with Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle is the Shakespeare of the genre. He was followed around the turn of the last century by R. Austin Freeman, who pioneered the forensic detective story. Freeman was a creature of his time, and his female characters tend to delicate flowers who might weep or faint at the slightest shock, but the mysteries are good and I recommend The Red Thumbmark. Early Agatha Christie was very good, but avoid any after the mid-50s. A Coffin for Dimitrios by Ambler is the quintessential spy novel, and another great one from the early days is The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim, although I don't like anything else by him. Of the Golden Age writers, beside Christie, I like Dorothy Sayers and Marjorie Allingham very much. Hammett and Chandler are both terrific. The Maltese Falcon is one of my all-time favorites. My favorite contemporary crime writer is John Lawton, who has two series - the Frederick Troy series about a Scotland Yard officer and the Joe Wilderness series, which are MI6 espionage - both of which are terrific. Lawton in my opinion writes better prose than anyone else in the genre. Even my late wife thought he was good, and she, an Ivy League English major, almost never stooped to reading crime novels, although she did also like A Coffin for Dimitrios. There are a number of great spy novelists over the last few decades - Jean le Carre of course, his American counterpart Charles McCarry, whom I actually like better (both le Carre and McCarry had actually worked for MI6 and the CIA respectively and knew what they were talking about) and you might try McCarry's The Tears of Autumn, which is wonderful, Alan Furst is very good, Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon books about a Mossad assassin are good, if a little lighter than le Carre and McCarry's. In no particular order, my favorite books over the past decade or so are Terry Hayes' I Pilgrim, which I found to be an absolute page-turner, although with nothing much to say. Rennie Airth's A River of Darkness was wonderful, although subsequent efforts were less good. Tana French, whose novels are set in Ireland, is very good. A strange and wonderful writer is Fred Vargas, a woman who in real life is apparently a well-regarded French archaeologist: her character Commissaire Adamsberg is one of a kind and I like her novels a lot. JanWillem van der Wettering's novels set in Amersterdam are terrific. I could go on for a while, but I suppose that enough for the moment, except that my all-time favorite series are the Judge Dee novels by R.E. van Gulik. Judge Dee was based on a real 7th Century figure from the Tang Dynasty who was later popularized in detective stories during the Ming Dynasty 700 years later. Van Gulik was an expert in ancient Chinese and Japanese (he finished his career as the Dutch ambassador to Tokyo in the 1960s), and he initially translated one of the Ming books of Dee stories, but then started writing his own. His stated ambition was to present what life during the Tang Dynasty would have been like to westerners. I love them. If you are interested, the Chinese Gold Murders are the place to start. I hope that this has been helpful.
@@henrytberry Wow, Henry - thank you so much for your long and thoughtful reply. You are certainly well-read, and I appreciate your time in answering. Most of these authors I am not familiar with so you have given me some great (and new) suggestions. I just started on the spy stories, although I have read a bit of true crime and true spy stories. I have read several of Alan Furst's novels, and I especially enjoy the atmosphere he presents; you feel like you're there. I am also a history buff and enjoy reading about WWII. My Dad fought in Patton's Third Army and he's gone now, but somehow reading about WWII helps me to stay close to him. You sound so knowledgeable , and I wish you'd start a UA-cam channel - you'd be great.
@@barbarapaige4587 It's a coincidence that your dad was in Patton's Third Army. My dad was in the Normandy invasion. If you've seen Saving Private Ryan, the rollover at the opening says something to the effect of Normandy, France - Omaha Beach, Easy Section - June 6, 1944, 6:45 a.m., which is when and where my dad landed. Like most of those men, my dad never talked about the specifics of combat, but when my brother and I went with him to the movie, I asked him what he thought of the first twenty minutes, and he looked me in the eye and said, "That was pretty much what it was like." I'm grateful that I never say anything like that personally. I was in during Vietnam, but was in intelligence and never got near bullets flying. I know my dad had bad dreams for the rest of his life, and he was a very though guy. His unit was attached to the First Division and my brother and I had the enormous pleasure and honor of accompanying him to the Fiftieth Anniversary celebration in Normandy. I can see why you like Furst's books, as they all are set during the lead-up to the war, and as you say his great strength is that he creates an incredible sense of verisimilitude regarding time and place. I really liked his Kingdom of Shadows. You might like Berlin Noir, which are three mysteries featuring a police detective in Nazi Berlin during the war. They are very good. And the earlier of the John Lawton Troy novels - Black Out and Bluffing Mr. Churchhill - take place in London during the war. Lawton's Then We'll Take Berlin is partly set in Germany during the post-war allied occupation. They are all very good. I think I'm a bit old to start a video channel. The upkeep would be too much work. Thank's for the complement though.
A very interesting selection. I run a traditional blog and am also a very diverse reader who enjoys nearly all genres (from graphic novels, classics to sci-fi and non-fiction), so I understand you well. However, despite you having Murakami (popular) and Tolstoy (obviously) there, I think your choices are still very English-language driven. Understandable and nothing wrong with that, but I personally consider it rather limiting. Have you read much foreign/translated fiction?
To be honest, I don’t go out of my way to read translated works that aren’t either classic or hugely popular and that’s more out of a fear of the quality of translation than anything else. That said, that still leaves a huge catalog of books for me to dive into, which I definitely plan on doing more of!
Respect for including Kitchen Confidential. Bourdain put the whole culinary world in context for everyone. This book was the beginning of that. Im gonna have to give this one a re-read.
Totally agreed. Even if some of the more memorable bits are now a bit outdated (by and large it’s okay to order fish on a Monday now), the book itself shone a light on a culture that was everywhere but unseen. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I really enjoyed hearing your list and went to check out Barney’s Version and Kitchen Confidential ebooks from the library. I’m a 73 year old retired librarian and have been an avid reader all my life. What’s funny is that if I were to make my own list, my number one favorite book is one I read in 1966 called Boys and Girls Together by William Goldman. I recently reread it for maybe the fourth time, and it checks all the boxes of what I look for in a great novel. It’s a big one too. My #2 would be Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk, also read in my youth and reread later on. Not to say I haven’t read hundreds of great books since, but those two are just like long-time best friends.😊
And I’ve never heard of either! Thank you for sharing. I will be adding them to my list of books to check out! If you have a chance let me know what you think of Barney’s Version and Kitchen Confidential.
Hi Adam, just wanted to let you know I’m about 50 pages into BV and this is definitely my kind of book. I’m American, but lived in Montreal between 1968-70, and I just loved that city. I don’t know if it’s still as great, but it was a fantastic place to be at 18. I remember having a season pass for Expo 67 - $15!
This is so great to hear! In some ways, Montreal has changed quite a bit since then, in other ways it’s exactly the same. I know I’m biased but it’s still one of my favourite cities in the world! I hope you enjoy the rest of Barney’s Version just as much!
I rank The Sun Also Rises higher than The Old Man and the Sea because it does for the '20s what On the Road does for the '50s - it captures the zeitgeist of a generation in a single book. Both deal with the restlessness and lostness of a postwar society. The Old Man and the Sea may be the best sea story written (after Moby Dick), and it's a great book, but I feel like the prose is starting to show Hemingway parodying himself. Also, if you haven't read In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, you ought to give it a whirl. It can be read in an afternoon (I read it the first time sitting on the floor of a bookstore -- I couldn't put it down), and it has On the Road's energy applied to the late '60s and early '70s as dystopian fiction. Brautigan's work has been described as Mark Twain wandering into a cannabis patch. Great Murakami pick. In your later years, Anna Karenina will probably replace War and Peace as your favorite Tolstoy (War and Peace was my favorite novel of all time for more than a decade). Thanks for the recommendations. You've introduced me to a couple of writers I haven't read before.
Hmm... I never thought of the Sun Also Rises in that light. Thanks for the Brautigan recommendation. I'll definitely need to check that out. It almost makes me want to create a new list where each book is a representation of its period. Throw in Douglas Coupland's Generation X, and probably a few others... Thanks so much for the insightful comment!
Thanks for sharing a very interesting and diverse top ten list of your favorite books. While the only book that is also on my personal top ten list (as of today, because like you my list can change from time to time) is Tolstoy's War and Peace. That having been said, I have read and admire some of the other books on your list including The Old Man and the Sea, Kafka on the Shore, and On the Road. I was fortunate to attend an exhibition of Kerouac memorabilia, here in Chicago, that included the original manuscript of his book. I will look forward to any future changes to your list based on your planned fiction reading project.
Cool! Ironically, despite being a huge Murakami fan, 1Q84 is probably my least favourite book of his. Different strokes… Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@HoldenNY22 there is indeed. 1Q84 is by Haruki Murakami. However, as you might guess by the title there is thematic allusion to 1984 by George Orwell (despite the stories being nothing alike)!
The fifth Kingsbrigde novel came out three days ago. The Armour of Light. Pillars of the Earth is in my top 3, with the second, World Without End definitely in my top ten. I'm really hoping the Armour of Light makes it too, just started it.
Thank you for your interesting list which I've taken down, read two and heard of four. You've only read War and Peace once, did you ever research the best translation and that's the one you bought? Can you recommend your translation and mention it? Thank you.
The translation I read was the Maude translation published by Oxford Classics, and I would definitely recommend it. I chose that particular translation for 3 reasons: 1) Tolstoy himself apparently approved of it. 2) I read the first few pages of a few different translations (you can do this for free on Amazon), and I liked the style. 3) In the original Russian, there's a lot of dialog that's actually written in French and then translated in footnotes. This translation preserves the French in the text and translates the footnotes, while other translations translate the French directly in the text, making it impossible to know which parts were originally Russian and which were originally French (also, I happen to be able to read French, so there's that). The other translation I've heard good things about is the Briggs translation published by Penguin Classics. I hope you enjoy it when you read it! Cheers and thanks for commenting!
Great list. Your sentiments on War and Peace mirror mine regarding The Count of Monte Cristo (finished it last night). It's so long yet consistently good that it automatically ranks very high for me. Infinite Jest is the only other book like that for me. Regarding W&P, I own it and will read it. But after reading and mostly disliking Anna Karenina, I'm dragging my feet. Hopefully, it's drastically more interesting than AK.
Haven't yet read The Count yet (it's on my list, but all the French books on my list seem to keep getting postponed due to me being adamant that I MUST read them in French ;), but I have read Infinite Jest, and regardless of how anyone feels about DFW, I think Infinite Jest is a masterpiece! As for W&P vs Anna Karenina, from comments on this channel, there appear to be three camps: those who love W&P, those who love AK, and those who just love everything Tolstoy wrote. Clearly, you're not in the latter two, but there's still hope you might be in the first! Thanks for the comment!
@ADudeWhoReads Man, I am so happy that I have no aspirations of reading literature in anything but English because I'd get painfully bogged down in that pursuit, knowing me. I don't have the mind for it, but I know it must be thrilling to read great books in their original language. I'm all but positive you'll love The Count. I'll have to report back after W&P to give the final judgment on it lol Thanks for the reply!
10) Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe 9) Dubliners, James Joyce 8) The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien 7) The Dictionary of Khazars, Milorad Pavić 6) Malone Dies, Samuel Beckett 5) A Game of Thrones, George R R Martin 4) 1984, George Orwell 3) The Island of the Day Before, Umberto Eco 2) The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons 1) Unnamable, Samuel Beckett
Dan Simmons and that series is as good as science fiction gets I think. We were in the same dorm, Martindale Hall, at our tiny Indiana college, Wabash, at the same time. My roommate, the only person who kept the same extreme night owl hours as Simmons, swore he was a highly interesting guy. He was tiny and deathly pale. He is an excellent writer in all genres.
Good list. Nice and varied. Here's my top 10 as of this moment. The order is very loose. 1. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 2. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers 3. The Alexandrian Quartet - Lawrence Durrell 4. Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak 5. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien 6. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 7. Peace Breaks Out - John Knowles 8. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 9. Swann's Way - Marcel Proust 10. (tie) Go Tell It on the Mountain/Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin I cheated a bit with the quartet, the LotR trilogy, and the Baldwin tie. It's tough to narrow it down to only 10 books. As I Lay Dying, The Sun Also Rises, Tender Is the Night, and many more might find a spot depending on the day you ask me.
Fantastic list! James Baldwin is one of my all time favourite authors, and the only reason Go Tell it on the Mountain didn't make my top 10 list was because it's been so long since I read it that I wasn't sure I remembered it properly. I'm due for a re-read. Thanks for watching and for sharing!
If you enjoy humorous, absurd books like the hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy (never read it, buying it soon!) I recommend Catch-22. Just finished reading it and absolutely loved it, continuously absurd it made me laugh out loud multiple times, awesome stuff
Catch-22 is consistently listed as one of the best humourous novels ever written and yet I STILL haven’t read it. I really need to get around to it! Thanks for watching and commenting!
An interesting list, have read 5 of them and greatly enjoyed 4. And I have added four of the unread 5 to my reading list; I just don't really enjoy many graphic novels. Thank you for the suggestions 🙏
I really thought when I published this vid, no one would have heard of Asterios Polyp! It makes me so happy to know I’m not alone in my love of this book! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Love that list. Read only one of them, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and yes sooo lol. Thanks for encouragement to read War and Peace. If haven’t yet check out The Death of Eli Gold by David Baddiel. 👏🏼🐀😎👍
Completely agree about War and Peace. I read it during a winter of unemployment 50 years ago. It would be inaccurate to say it “changed” my life. W.&P shaped my public life. My political and professional life. Often when I had to make a strategic decision, I thought, “what would General Kutuzov do?” He believed in letting matters work themselves out, as opposed to Napoleon’s inclination to intervene to shape events. Tolstoy deeply believed in Kutuzov’s philosophy. I do too.
I love this comment for so many reasons. Oftentimes, when people read great literature, they focus on the beauty and the art (which is great), but rarely do they talk about the very real, practical lessons there are to be gleaned from these masterpieces. Thanks for sharing!
I read War and Peace 18-ish months ago and it shot to the top of my list too. Since then I’ve read a few more of Tolstoy’s works and so far they’re all great. I also have Hitchhiker’s Guide in my top ten!
I read _Anna Karenina_ and *looooovvvvvveeeedddd* it, so thought I would give _War and Peace_ a try and loved it even more! I kept thinking, "How did I get to be 60 years old and not know these books?!" I then realized I _had_ to be 60 to read them, to understand them, to know I could take my time... to know I couldn't have read them in my hands, but had them read _to_ me on Audible. What a joy they were (and are) in my life! I love that _War and Peace_ is on your list and you, too, have recently read it. (All that said, *you* do NOT have to be 60 to understand them. _I_ did because I didn't have the life experiences to relate. I am sure I was a late-bloomer. If you are intrigued, pick it up!)
@@HealthAtAnyCost You're so right. What you bring to a book is just as important as what's in the book. While I'm not 60, I freely admit that I wouldn't have appreciated this book 20 years ago... maybe not even 10 years ago!
Hemingway was a misogynistic ass but he did know how to write. TOM&TS is such an excellent story. I wish people - by whom I mean those who fancy themselves literary snobs - didn't feel compelled to bust on his short, choppy writing style. I like Steinbeck better, although IMO they wrote equally depressing stories when it comes down to it. Props to you for putting a graphic novel on your list. They just don't get enough love. I think people who aren't familiar with the genre just assume they are the same as comic books or comic strip compilations and dismiss them as unworthy of their time .
Agree with pretty much everything you wrote! Of Mice and Men is another short novel that I could easily have swapped out for The Old Man and the Sea if I'd been making this list on a different day. As for the Graphic Novels, they've started to get a little love, but it's a slow process. Just need to get good graphic novels in the hands of readers!
Interesting list. I'd never heard of your number 1, so must check it out. I don't know what my top 10 would be, except that Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset would be top of my list, head and shoulders above the rest. And I think I'd replace the Hemingway with some Steinbeck, probably The Grapes of Wrath.
I've never heard of Kristin Lavransdatter, so I'll have to look into it! On another day, I very well could have switched Hemingway with Steinbeck (although, it probably would have been Of Mice and Men). This was a tough list to narrow down to 10! Thank you so much for the comment!
I've read the Hobbit: tedium; War and Peace: at various memorable camping holiday locations; and The Old Man and the sea: I've read all of Hemingway. All his protagonist die. Ernest taught me the meaning of melancholy. You've right about whether it should be your number one or your number ten. I understood the story to be about wasting one's entire life pursuing one ardent goal at the expense of all else, only once finally realised to have it taken away, as if the shark never actually existed because, by now the protagonist is still a lonely man, well past his prime, never having achieved much.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting! If you called the Hobbit tedious, I'd hate to hear what you think of Lord of the Rings ;) My relationship with Hemingway is complex. There are times where I think he may just be one the greatest writers who ever lived (as with Hills Like White Elephants), and then there are times where it feels like he's a musician who only knows how to play one note and just keeps hitting it over and over and over again (as with To Have and Have Not). This is why, for me at least, it is much easier to talk about Hemingway's individual works, than it is to talk about Hemingway himself. Although, I suppose the same could be said about many authors!
Hi I've added an appendix to the end of my comment. Also, Ernest left an unfinished manuscript at the time of his passing. Much later, his brother attempted to finish it off. However, for me, the difference in style, depth and delivery is rather and blatantly (harsh word) obvious. The impact of Hemingway's abrupt passing ended with that book. So much so that I can't even recall the name of it, the brother's name, and nor have I ever wanted to. Of Tolkien's stories I luv Letters from Father Christmas, rather I luv the story behind it's creation. Tolkien couldn't afford Christmas presents for his young children. He therefore wrote them letters of touching tales about the adventures and misadventures of Father Christmas and his helpers. I persevered with the Hobbit wanting to stop many times. It highlighted a test of my reading patience. That made it easier for me to not continue with any future reading that mess with my mind.
I hadn't heard the story of Hemingway's brother and his last manuscript, but the idea of someone trying to finish a piece by Ernest Hemingway just sounds so absurd. There are many writers whose style can be emulated easily, but I think there's only one Hemingway (regardless of whether you feel that's a good thing or a bad thing!)
Another ‘Dude Who Reads’ here and not usually a Commenter (definitely more of a ‘Lurker’). Whilst my favourite genre is ‘American Southern Gothic’, I wanted to share some lesser known works by some Australian authors, as this seems to be a ‘safe space’ to complete such an act. I hope I would not be defined as presumptuous to say, that the following could potentially be defined as ‘Australian Gothic’, if such a category exists. (Side note, earlier spelling of ‘favourite’ denotes my own origin of Australia). Kenneth Cook: Wake in Fright Elizabeth Harrower: The Watchtower Janette Turner Hospital: Oyster Patrick White: The Tree of Man Elizabeth Jolley: The Well Alexis Wright: Carpentaria All 6 evoke such a strong sense of place, which for me, is the indomitable strength of Australian Literature. A spattering of contemporary ‘bush’ or ‘outback’ works, as well as some mid-century (20th) urban pieces. Having previously been so averse to Australian writing, due in part to my ignorance that I need not have my ‘culture’ explained to me in a written format, I have in recent times had perhaps what some would define as an ‘epiphany’. These writers (and of course, many more) are extremely skilled in translating and distilling Australian Identity, Culture and Landscape to the literary form. I do still adore ‘Southern Literature’, and have come to realise (British spelling) the many parallels that correlate between them. Oozing with dark, typically ‘sultry’ (Southern) and ‘humid’, though sometimes ‘devastatingly arid’ (Australian) atmosphere, I do not think I can ever be satiated of desiring that certain modern Gothic flavour (Brit sp.) Anyway, diatribe over. This comment will most likely be ‘lost’ amongst the sea of other comments, but I was feeling particularly inspired by another ‘Dude Who Reads’ passion, and felt like joining in. 😉
Thanks so much for sharing! I’m Canadian (in case it wasn’t obvious from the video), and I went through a similar progression with Canadian literature, and I think part of it stems from having it force fed to me in school. But as I got older I saw the importance, the beauty and the truth in it. I confess to never having read any of your selections, but the idea of deep diving into a culture based on its literature is immensely appealing. I’m going to keep this list handy, because eventually I’d love to do some immersive reading like this. Maybe as I visit Australia! Thanks again for watching and sharing this! 🙏
Mission accomplished! I hope you enjoy it, and if you get a chance, drop me a note once you've read it and let me know what you thought. Thanks for watching.
Hemingway is ok, I rate him highly, would not make my top 10 probably with his semi-journalistic style, but I respect his legacy, James Ellroy I haven't read but your video makes me interested to try reading him, David Mazzuchelli I know from other graphic novels, Polyp is on my to read list, JRR Tolkien belongs on any top10 list of books, I am agnostic towards the choice of the specific book though :) the next book I know nothing about, Kerouac I haven't read anything yet, but he appears on many top10 lists, so I will one day, I read one book by Murakami that I got as a gift, it was good, I lend it to a friend and he becomes her favourite author :) War and Peace is very good, I agree, I would maybe cut out some chapters from tome 3 where nothing happens for many pages, Douglas Adams I DNFed, not my style at all :) I admit I never heard about your number 1, but I am interested
Thanks. If you do, let me know how it goes. I started out with a chapter a day, but after a while, I was enjoying the book so much I was doing more and more. It still took me a few months to finish, but totally worth it!
Thank you for the comment! There are definitely female authors I love like Margaret Atwood, Joan Didion, Ursula K LeGuin and Doris Kearns Goodwin, but somehow their books didn't crack the list. That said, I'll freely admit that I have read far more male authors than I have female authors, and it's a pretty serious gap in my personal reading history. I'm not sure about creating a separate list of books by women, because something about separating them out feels wrong (or maybe I'm just wrong)... Instead, I'm committed to reading more female authors. Just a few that are on my reading list for the coming year include: Austen, the Brontes, Du Maurier, Eliot, along with a few recommendations that have come from me posting this video! Thanks again for watching and commenting!
Excellent call on Barney's Version. I am a big Richler fan but that book was easily the one I would recommend most. I really could not put it down and finished it in a day. I read it again recently and it still held up
Thanks, and yes, you are correct. I noticed that when I put the list together, too. This is, to be perfectly honest, partly a reflection of what I’ve read (which has been largely white male authors) and partly a bit of happenstance (for example, James Baldwin is easily in my top 10 favourite WRITERS of all time but none of his individual books cracked my top 10). It’s something I’m keeping in the back of my mind as I choose books in the future.
This is m first video of you. I am recently retired and want to read again. So I visited some top ten videos. All of them fantasy. What I liked about your collection is the allround approach. And... you seem to be a sensitive person who likes the connect with the books. Also your presentation is so real and not overdone. No one else I visited on UA-cam gave me that feeling of a real and honest person. Thanks for sharing and I wil try to read some of your list. I am from holland and there libraries are very poor provided. It I give it a try. Translations are also poorly made. So maybe I have to buy them in English., thanks wim
Hi Wim. Thanks for watching and for your kind words. I truly means a lot. My guess is that you can probably get the classic books and the really popular ones translated into Dutch. So, things like War and Peace, The Old Man and the Sea, The Hobbit and Kafka on the Shore are all probably readily available in a good translation. Other books I'm not even sure I'd want to read as a translation. For example, I don't think the humour of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would translate well. Personally, whenever possible, I like to read books in their original language (English is my mother tongue, but I also read French well enough), but that will depend on your level of comfort in the language and the difficulty of the book. Best of luck and if you do end up trying some of these books, let me know how you like them!
I haven't read The Trial yet, and I don't think I've read many of Kafka's short stories, but I can safely say that all of it is quite different from Kafka on the Shore. :)
Not on this list, but for ancient books I'd say my favourite is the Odyssey (many prefer the Iliad, but I like the adventure aspect of the Odyssey). I've also re-read Meditations a few times, so that would probably be up there. In terms of philosophy I like Hume, Simone de Beauvoir and just recently discovered Simone Weil (a contemporary of the other Simone). I haven't read much contemporary philosophy. For history, I love Will Durant's The Story of Civilization. Some of the ideas are a little outdated, but he writes beautifully. For something that's not 11 volumes and a little more accessible, I don't think you can go wrong with Sapiens, or if you want something to argue over Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. For mathematics, I confess I've never read a math book that wasn't a text book, so I'm definitely not the right person to ask.
That was fun... I share your love of Murakami and War and Peace as well 😁... I love HHGG too (although it's the BBC tv series from 1981 for me) What do you think of Infinite Jest (my #1)?... Imajica by Clive Barker?... Douglas Coupland? So glad to have found you friend 😁
It would appear we have very similar tastes! I think Infinite Jest is a masterpiece, and I need to find time to re-read it and give it the attention it deserves. I love Douglas Coupland. Generation X is one of the books I keep on my small bookshelf, because I enjoy it so much. I've also enjoyed his novels and wish he would write more, but from what I understand he's turned his talents to visual art. As for Imajica, believe it or not, I hadn't heard of it until a couple days ago, but now you're the second person in as many days to mention it to me! Thanks so much for watching, and given how similar our tastes are, if you have any other recommendations, I'm all ears!
I read The Hobbit 13 times. I usually read non-fiction, but books like Stranger in a Strange Land and Shane got me started. I am a huge fan of Homer and the Bible (both Testaments ) and Shakespeare (particularly Hamlet). I have read a lot of the Canon, and am better for it. I used to participate in Great Book discussion groups. I have begun reading elementary books in Spanish, and would some day like to read Don Quixote in the original. J. Warner Wallace's books using cold-case detective skills on investigating the historical accuracy of the Bible narrative are amazing. My most recent useful book is Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, PhD.
Reading Don Quixote in the original is one of my goals as well! English is my first language, but my French is good enough that I have read (although in some cases not in their entirety) Proust, Dumas, Camus in the original and can confidently say that even the best translations can only go so far! If you liked Tiny Habits, have you read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg? A lot of books have been written about habits in the last few years, but The Power of Habit remains my favourite.
I think this would have been better titled top 10 favorite books. I have a top 10 list of what I would consider the greatest books of all time and only a few of them would be among my favorite books. Conversely many of my favorite books I would know way consider amongst the greatest books of all time. For one thing, if I'm not mistaken, the oldest book on the list was War and Peace. That alone seems to reveal a bit of snobbery towards the past. I did enjoy the video, I just think it's better to described as your favorite books. Please, keep the videos coming!
Confession: I read Confederacy of Dunces and didn't find it all that funny. 😬Maybe I was too young when I read it and the humour went over my head... I know this book is widely regarded as one of the best comic literary works, I just didn't get it. I think I'll have to give it another try sometime.
I can see that. I've also heard arguments in favour of The Sun Also Rises and Farewell to Arms being his best work. The Old Man and the Sea just happens to be my favourite, because I like Hemingway best in the short form. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!
I am also puzzled that Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland Thriugh the Looking Glass doesn't make lists. It's my favorite. Delightful, so curiously odd, filled with wonder and charm and nonsense. I've read it so many times.
I think children's literature in general gets the short end of the stick when making lists like this. I think we all want to believe we've "matured" beyond that (HAH!). However, I can say that I've reviewed a LOT of "Greatest Books of All Time" lists in the last few years as I've tried to assemble my list of books to read before I go, and I'd say MOST of them include Alice in Wonderland.
@@sandraelder1101 totally get it now and can agree! I wasn’t smart enough to realize there was a typo in your original comment and was therefore incredibly confused… not my finest moment 😅
I so appreciate how you discuss books concisely while providing enough information for to have something to go on. Thank you.
Thanks to you for the kind words!
I am a huge Tolkien fan and agree 100% that 'The Hobbit' is his best book. I love the rest of his stuff, too, but 'The Hobbit' is his best crafted story.
I think we may be in the minority, but glad to have a kindred spirit! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great list, have read most of them but yes, I am in the majority who cannot understand how The Hobbit is there instead of the LOTR!! It's still a great list, and Kafka On the Shore is also my favourite Murakami. Like you, I'm in the minority that prefers War and Peace to Anna Karenina, which is usually placed ahead of it. Will need to check up on Barney's Version, never heard of the author before. This is why these lists are fun and useful.
I disagree. The Hobbit is one of the worst books I’ve ever read.
No! Just no! Respectfully…
@@feanorian21maglor38I agree with you about LOTR and War and Peace (even though I would be surprised if what you said is true about most people preferring Anna Karenina to War and Peace).. as for Murakami I feel like I will never be able to rank his books but my top in no particular order would be Killing Commendatore, Kafka on the Shore, the wind up bird chronicles, 1Q84, Dance Dance Dance and Pinball,1973
I love "best" lists, particularly personal lists. Some of mine self-selected when I asked which books I've read more than once. Thanks for your contributions.
Love that! Some of the books on this have definitely been read multiple times!
@@ADudeWhoReads, MY TOP TWELVE BOOKS
0) "The Holy Bible: King James Version" copyright 1967
1) "Verbal Behavior" by Dr. B. F. Skinner
2) "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy
3) "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4) "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev
5) Myth Adventures - series by Robert Asprin
6) The Chronicles of Narnia - series by C. S. Lewis
7) "Vilette" by Charlotte Brontë
8) "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy
9) "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
10) "Smoke" by Ivan Turgenev
11) "Chesapeake" by James A. Michener
12) "Poland" by James A. Michener
@@ReligionOfSacrifice Definitely some excellent reads on that list, and not one, but two Michener books! As well as a few I've never heard of. Thank you so much for sharing!
@@ADudeWhoReads TOP 40 BOOKS
0) "The Holy Bible: King James Version" copyright 1967
1) "Verbal Behavior" by Dr. B. F. Skinner
2) "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy
3) "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4) "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev
5) Myth Adventures - series by Robert Asprin
6) The Chronicles of Narnia - series by C. S. Lewis
7) "Vilette" by Charlotte Brontë
8) "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy
9) "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
10) "Smoke" by Ivan Turgenev
11) "Chesapeake" by James A. Michener
12) "Poland" by James A. Michener
13) "Roots" by Alex Haley
14) The Silmarillion - The Hobbit, or there and back again - The Lord of the Rings - Middle Earth stories by J. R. R. Tolkien
15) Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov
16) "Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin
17) "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
18) "Paris 1919: six months that changed the world" by Margaret MacMillian
19) "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Brontë
20) "Virgin Soil" by Ivan Turgenev
21) "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
22) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn - by Mark Twain
23) Old Mother West Wind series - wildlife series by Thornton Burgess
24) "Microbe Hunters" by Paul de Kruif
25) "Cancer Ward" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
26) "Teacher Man" by Frank McCourt
27) "Kon Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl
28) "From Beirut to Jerusalem" by Thomas Friedman
29) "The Berdine Un-Theory of Evolution: and Other Scientific Studies Including Hunting, Fishing, and Sex" by William C. Berdine
30) "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair
31) "Caribbean" by James A. Michener
32) "Hawaii" by James A. Michener
33) "The Painted Bird" by Jerzy Kosiński
34) "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice
35) "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
36) "Torrents of Spring" by Ivan Turgenev
37) "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis
38) "Emma" by Jane Austen
39) "In the First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Another way to evaluate is FAVORITE AUTHORS
1st) Ivan Turgenev (Fathers and Sons) seven more books in the top 200 not shown here
4) "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev
10) "Smoke" by Ivan Turgenev
20) "Virgin Soil" by Ivan Turgenev
36) "Torrents of Spring" by Ivan Turgenev
59) "First Love" by Ivan Turgenev
2nd) James A. Michener (Chesapeake)
11) "Chesapeake" by James A. Michener
12) "Poland" by James A. Michener
31) "Caribbean" by James A. Michener
32) "Hawaii" by James A. Michener
3rd) Leo Tolstoy (Resurrection)
2) "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy
8) "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy
57) "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy
84) "A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy
4th) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich)
9) "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
25) "Cancer Ward" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
39) "In the First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
72) "The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: an Experiment in Literary Investigation" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
5th) Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Idiot)
3) "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
17) "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
108) "Poor Folk" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
135) "The Gambler" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
142) "White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
6th) C. S. Lewis (The Magician's Nephew)
6) The Chronicles of Narnia - series by C. S. Lewis
37) "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis
165) "Out of the Silent Planet" by C.S. Lewis
176) "Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life" by C.S. Lewis
7th) Charlotte Brontë (Vilette)
7) "Vilette" by Charlotte Brontë
67) "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
138) "The Professor” by Charlotte Brontë
162) "Shirley" by Charlotte Brontë
@@ReligionOfSacrifice Bible yes. Idiot is good, and sad, but Brothers Karamazov is better. Narnia Yes. Tolstoy is a jerk. Poland by Michener was a great book.
Your selections introduced me to some exciting new authors and reminded me to reread some of the oldies again. Please hold your book up longer, especially when you are introducing it to us. I write down your recommendations and often I struggled to actually know the names to facilitate writing them down. (author's names were difficult to write down when rushed)
Ah. Sorry about that! I’ll make a conscious effort for future videos. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!
You can Freeze the Video.
It is difficult to see the books the way you keeping moving them around. Thank you
Thanks a lot ~~~
Nice variety and happy you included Mazzuchelli's book. It's interesting how his style has radically changed from his Frank Miller Daredevil books like "Born Again" and "Batman Year One."
Thanks! I’m not sure that Mazzuchelli’s style changed so much as he adapted his style to the story he wanted to tell. The style he used in Year One wouldn’t have worked for Asterios Polyp and vice versa. Regardless, the man is incredibly talented as both an artist and a writer! Thanks for watching and commenting. :)
I really like it and it makes me happy that a person like you values The Hobbit as much as I do. Disguised as a children's story, in reality a very serious novel, a map of internal paths, a route of mythical wisdom, a rounded and perfect narrative.
Couldn't agree more. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I was so skeptical when I saw the title of this video, but I respect it. Old Man AND Kitchen Confidential?! Hell yeah! Excellent breadth and depth here.
Hah! Nothing like someone declaring that they're going to give you the top 10 books of all time to make you a little suspicious, eh? Thanks for the comment!
There is nothing NOTHING like War and Peace!! I’m 84 and I didn’t particularly like Tolstoy and I didn’t like war so I had no plans to read the book. Tolstoy’s ’ “virtue” was shouted from the rooftops all my life; yet, he never considered his wife when he decided to be celibate and he made her lie next to him to test his celibacy. His wife wasn’t happy with this. (Gandhi did the same-I don’t know if he was influenced by Tolstoy) Given his personal life, I was amazed when I finally read the book a year or two ago and saw the breadth and depth of his human observation and the actual aspects of war not the glory of the thing that I grew up with post WWII. I’m glad I read it late in life when I could bring more to it.
A hint to new readers: the book begins with a lot of characters all at once with their multiple names and titles which can be confusing and discouraging. You can google a list of characters to keep at hand. After firmly getting into the book, I found it interesting to go back and see their introduction in the first chapters.
This is the best book ever!
…..well, there’s Moby Dick which I’ve read 5 times, 2 of them aloud.
I agree with everything you wrote here and especially with your hint to new readers. At some point I’ll probably do a video specifically about War and Peace and how to approach reading it.
With regards to Moby Dick, I haven’t tackled that whale, yet. It’s probably going to be sometime next year, but I’m looking forward to it!
I've read everything on your list except for The Big Nowhere and your #1! Gonna add them to my Goodreads. Thanks!
Wow. You're like my reading twin! Thanks for watching. 😀
This was excellent. Thank you! I haven’t read all of these and will be adding them to my list. I LOVE Bourdain. I have read all his books. Hitchhikers guide are also fantastic and I can’t wait to read them to my kids one day. Reading a chapter of war and peace per day sounds totally doable! Currently reading the Iliad then the odyssey, then Tom Sawyer (with my kids for school). Looking for some books for myself. This list is a great inspiration.
I *just* finished re-reading the Iliad! I'm saving my re-read of the Odyssey to read alongside Ulysses (it's going to take a while...). Happy I was able to provide some inspiration. Thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
You described War and Peace similar to how I feel about Anna Karenina currently. I'm so excited to read War and Peace after I finish
I think the biggest difference between the two are the themes that Tolstoy is tackling. While there's a lot of personal focus in War and Peace (which is impressive considering how many characters there are), there's also a large part of the book that's devoted to broader discussions on things like the role of historians. I hope you enjoy both, and if you can, let me know what you think once you've had a chance to read both. Thanks for watching!
Dostoevsky is a much better writer. Tolstoy is great at describing how things really occur in life. "Tolstoy has a fundamentally accurate perception of events" - Nabokov. However, Tolstoy is a moral hypocrite and a philosophical idiot. If you think I'm kidding, then read about his life, and you will see that is true. Eg. Paul Johnson on Tolstoy. Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov addresses the actual issues of how to live, and shows the path of Alyosha is best. I would choose to try to be smart like Ivan, but kind like Alyosha. Audiobook version makes it easier to get thru it fast, then selectively read the best parts like the grand inquisitor.
@@PeterRogersMDDefinitely agree! Dostoevsky is the greater writer overall. I think Tolstoy is better than Dostoevsky in terms of literary style, whereas Dostoevsky wasn't a master stylist like Tolstoy. Dostoevsky often wrote in a hurry if not frenzy and his style can be quite jagged and chaotic. It's as if a madman grabbed you by the arm as you're walking down the street, shouting at you, yet what he says is utterly riveting and intelligent and meaningful.
However, with regard to far more fundamental matters like the existence of God, good and evil, the meaning of life, and such questions, Dostoevsky is greater than Tolstoy.
And indeed Tolstoy was an immoral person in real life, though Dostoevsky also had his issues (e.g. gambling addiction, possible affair, anti-Semitism). But, unlike Tolstoy, it seems Dostoevsky hated himself for his sins and he seemed to have tried to turn away from most of them as he matured. The exception is perhaps the anti-Semitism. It's no more excusable than, say, the Founding Fathers owning slaves, but it is at least explainable in the sense that it was commonplace in his time and place.
Both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy should be read in good translations to best appreciate them. Especially Dostoevsky for the reason I've given above about his style. I'd recommend Michael Katz for any of Dostoevsky's major works except for The Idiot since Katz hasn't done a translation for The Idiot yet, though Katz had told me he's working on it now. Alternatively, Oliver Ready is great for Crime and Punishment. The Garnett translation that's updated by Susan McReynolds Oddo is great for The Brothers Karamazov, likewise Ignat Avsey for The Brothers Karamazov though he plays a bit fast and loose here and there, and McDuff is decent for the same but I don't like McDuff as much as the previous two. Robert Maguire did a great translation of The Demons. Notes from Underground I like Ronald Wilks, but Kirsten Lodge pretty good too.
I don't care for Tolstoy as much. However, the Maudes's War and Peace updated by Amy Mandelker is good. Anthony Briggs for The Death of Ivan Ilyich which in my view is actually the best book Tolstoy wrote. And Rosamund Bartlett for Anna Karenina. But again I don't really like Tolstoy
Regarding the very popular Pevear and Volokhonsky translations in general. See articles like: "The Pevearization of Russian Literature" (Gary Morson); "The Pevear/Volokhonsky Hype Machine and How It Could Have Been Stopped or At Least Slowed Down" (Helen Andrews): "Socks" (Janet Malcolm); and "Pevear and Volokhonsky Are Indeed Overrated" (John McWhorter).
@@pattube You certainly know a tremendous amount about Russian literature. I partially went through several different translations of Brothers Karamazov, and found Constance Garnett to be the best; because hers was the most religious. Dostoevsky was trying to figure out "how does a person live a good life; a life that helps others, and makes them happy; and how can Russia be saved from serfdom, atheism, tyranny & cruelty?" Modernists try to take the religion out of Dostoevsky. The fact remains: you can't have Christianity without Christ. He's the reason for everything; for all the great stuff like great painting, literature, music and improved behavior.
@@PeterRogersMD Yes, amen! I'm a conservative Christian so I'd agree with you. I also like Garnett, though the issue(s) with her translations is that she often simply elided passages in Dostoevsky she didn't quite understand, not to mention the textual basis for some of her translations isn't always the best, and she is known to have smoothed out passages in order to make Dostoevsky sound better than he does in the original Russian. This latter point about making Dostoevsky sound better than he does is a matter for fair debate and I could see a good case made either way, though contemporary translators tend to think it best to leave Dostoevsky as is and let his own voice come through. In any case, I think Garnett (as well as the husband-wife team of the Maudes) did the English speaking world a tremendous service in translating so much great Russian literature, and Garnett mostly holds up, but I'd prefer to recommend a revised or updated version of Garnett's work. For The Brothers Karamazov, I love the Garnett translation that's been revised by Susan McReynolds Oddo. If I recall, I believe this is published in the Norton Critical Edition. The modern revisions fix all the problematic issues in Garnett without losing Garnett. May the Lord bless you and keep you!
I have recently begun a project of reading classic novels that have somehow escaped me. I'm reading the Count of Monte Cristo at the moment (having just read Great Expectations), but I have many, many more to go. I quite enjoy fiction, but there are some nonfiction works that are tremendous as well - The Devil in the White City or The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, for example.
Indeed! And it sounds like a wonderful project. Good luck, enjoy and thank you for watching and commenting!
'Kafka on the Shore' good choice. Love Murakami and would probably pick 'Dance, Dance, Dance.' Tolstoy is a miraculous writer but Dostoevsky's 'Brothers Karamazov' is the ultimate for me.
Love Dance, Dance, Dance and Wild Sheep Chase (they have somehow become one book in my memory). At this point, Brothers Karamazov is probably the first or second most recommended book by people who watch this channel. I think I need to get to it sooner rather than later. Thanks for watching and for the recommendations!
Agree, Brothers K is the greatest novel.
Idiot better imo
For war and peace, print out a list of all the characters to refer to as you read. Necessary because characters go by several names (eg nickname, and family name).
Good tip! Many editions, including the Oxford Classics edition I show in the video, also have a list of characters at the front or back of the book (including nicknames), so a sticky note on that page can also work.
nice to see a (my home town) Montreal based story make a top 10 list! Mordecai Richler is greatly underrated on the international front! Thank you for taking the time to describe each book; I've now added a few to my TBR list!
It should probably come as no surprise, then, that I'm clearly biased, being a Montrealer myself. ;) Happy to hear you were able to find some books to add to your TBR. Thanks for watching and commenting!
As you can tell from the comments, haters are gonna hate. I hope you don't let the negative get to you. Your favorites are your favorites. The way you talk about books is very intelligent. Let them get out there and start a channel if they want to be so critical.
Haha! I don’t think you can express an opinion on the internet without expecting some degree of push back and discussion. And frankly, that’s fine. It’s all in good fun! Really appreciate you watching and commenting!
"Kitchen Confidential" was a great read. Thanks for the tip. I knew nothing about Bourdain and it was a great introduction. Very entertaining.
Awesome. Glad you liked it!
Finally a list that doesn't feature booktok garbage
The advantage of not being on TikTok! :) Thanks for watching!
As soon as you brought up kitchen confidential I subscribed. I was not expecting that, and you perfectly described exactly how I felt about him and his passing. Well done 👍🏻
Happy to hear it! I think Bourdain was one of a kind, and our culture is poorer for his loss. Thanks so much for watching and commenting. 🙂
KC and Medium Raw are two great reads. As Frank Zappa used to say ‘so many books, so little time’. They were kind of kindred spirits. Miss them both.
Here are some of my favorite books, in no certain order:
1. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
3. A Seperate Peace by John Knowles
4. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
5. Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
6. A Painted House by John Grisham
7. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
8. King Of The Hill by A.E. Hotchner
9. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
10. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
11. Sphere by Michael Crichton
12. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.
13. Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
14. Street Boys by Lorenzo Carcaterra
15. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.
Enjoy!
Welcome to the book tube world. I love the fact that your reading is so diverse as mine is as well. I plan to check out Barney’s Version soon.
Thank you and I really hope you enjoy Barney’s Version as much as I do. Drop me a note and let me know what you think of it if you get a chance!
It is mesmerizing and by turn hilarious and melancholy and thought provoking throughout. Good choice.
A young man who reads books. Rare....keep on your good videos!
Thank you! One of the things I love about this channel is that it’s the only place anyone refers to me as a YOUNG man. 😉
Sorry last comment - I have not read Bourdain but I did read Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson and found it really interesting and a fascinating look at what goes on behind the kitchen doors.
No need to apologize. The conversation is why I'm here! I haven't read Samuelsson's book. I will definitely check it out now, though.
I think the point you raise at the end is so important for anyone trying to put together a list of the best books of all time: how a book affects us is as much driven by our familiarity with literature as it is what we are experiencing when we read a particular work. I know, for example, that Atlas Shrugged, Huckleberry Finn, the Foundation and Robot series, and all of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books are at the top of my list. This is not necessarily because they are in a top ten list. Instead, I rank them highly because they had such a profound a d joyful impact on me each time I read them.
100% agreed!
'm so glad I stumbled upon your video! there are a lot of new authors I have never read. Sometimes it just gets overwhelming! Because I'm not in the loop to begin with I am interested in reading a number of the ones that you mentioned and it's always great to have, a personal recommendation, especially when a book has made, someone laugh or cry...
I'm impressed that you could narrow it to 10. I would have such a difficult time with books, films, and music, all of which seem to have saved my life, especially during my younger years.
If I were to make a spontaneous list that I didn't have to suffer to narrow down and analyze, that might be a very good exercise for me. So here goes!
1. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
3. Charlotte's Web by EB White
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen
5. To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. A Tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
7. My Antonia by Willa Cather
8. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
9. Random Harvest by James Hilton
10. The Object of my Affection by Stephen McCauley
That's a fine list with a few thrown in I've never heard of. Thanks for sharing!
Good list
My #1 book is Godel, Esher, Bach: The Eternal Golden Brsid by Douglas Hoffsteader. A story about art, beauty, and self-referential philosophy--deep! It is stunning how the author mimics the points being made in the structure of the writing itself.
I’ve never heard of it, but based on your description it sounds VERY intriguing. Thank you so much for sharing.
it seems incredible that that book is an isolate
I too am somewhat obsessed with the 50s 60s Americana era. I'm always looking for books that take place in this time. James Elroy is definitely on my tbr list now ,thanks to you. I would love to hear of more that you've discovered from this era. Maybe another list?
This is a great question (and not a bad idea for a future video, either...)! If you like Kerouac, then reading any of the Beats (Ginsberg, Burroughs, Cassady) is probably a no-brainer. Also, one of my favourite writers is James Baldwin, and his work is set in this era (thematically VERY different from Kerouac or Ellroy). Finally, this is not a book, and not quite in the right time period, but if you have a similar obsession to mine, you'll want to check out the film Vanishing Point (1971): it's a knight-errant quest story, but instead of horses and medieval landscapes, it's muscle cars and Route 66.
@@ADudeWhoReads Thank you for the further recommendations! And I'll try to check out the movie as well, that sounds fun.
Appreciate the variety of your choices, like serving delicatessens for sampling, satisfying my taste buds for the "unexpected" .
Also impressed by your personal response to each comment, like "my Dinner with Andre", conversing with a friend cozily over good food n wine!
Happy you enjoyed. Thanks for watching and commenting!
thanks for this - i loved many of the books you listed and never read #1 so just bought it! and maybe one day i'll muster up the courage to attempt War & Peace
Awesome. Let me know if you end up reading it what you think. As for W&P, I JUST released a video today about how to read it, so maybe that can help you out. :) Thanks for watching!
I personally took like 8 months to read it. I read other books concurrently and even took a short break halfway through because it is broken up into 4 parts. It’s amazing though and WELL worth it!
Nice varied selection of books in your top 10 list covering a wide choice of Genre's and writing styles.
In no particular order here are my current 10 favourite books i've read.
The Stand - Extended Edition -
I was so engrossed in this lengthy novel with so many characters (both good and evil) going on their travels that i was completely immersed in the story. This easily gets into my top 10 list.
His Dark Materials -
This fascinating tale felt completely fresh and took me on a grand adventure in different Worlds with so many types of characters coming together to fight for what is right against seemingly impossible odds.
The Godfather -
The classic crime family story is wonderfuly told with great drama and events that are compelling throughout.
The Great & Secret Show -
An abstract battle between nightmares and good dreamt heroes that is both horrifyingly strange and wonderfuly beautiful.
Treasure Island -
The classic adventure story was so much better than i expected it to be, i heartily enjoyed this tale.
The Three Body Problem -
This Sci-Fi Alien invasion (sort of) story was very smart and technical with it's attention to scientific detail told over the course of Centuries in three novels is wonderful.
Dune -
Fantastic space opera with feuding aristocracies for control of a mining operation on a hostile Planet is brilliantly told, and is easily one of my favourite stories.
Robots And Empire -
The fate of the future of Humanity and Planet Earth is in the hands of two robots. I loved this story.
I Am Legend -
Possibly my favourite novel mixing Sci-Fi and Horror. A morality tale of finding out who are the real monsters, us or them? Great story.
1984 -
The pinnacle of totalitarian novels in my opinion, equal parts frightening as it is fascinating.
Thanks for making this video.
Cheers.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve actually read most of your top 10, so we must have pretty similar taste. My thoughts on a few of your selections:
It took me three tries to read The Stand and when I finally got through it I realized the problem. I liked the characters and the slice of life stuff so much better than the main plot! Seriously, that book could have just been about how the protagonists got along in post apocalyptic America without any of the “evil horror” stuff and I probably would have enjoyed it even more!
I agree with you that the Godfather is a fantastic book but most people I talk to about it claim that it’s that rare exception where the book is inferior to the adaptation… never quite understood why the book gets ragged on so hard when the movies are such a close adaptation.
The Three Body Problem is on my TBR and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve heard so many good things!
Overall, love your list. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@ADudeWhoReads
Thanks for replying.
I get your point about The Stand, it may well have been more compelling without concentrating on the evil ones, an interesting thought.
The Godfather movie adaptation is really close to the novel, there are a few events and characters that fill out the World a little more, they compliment each other really well though.
I'm sure you'll really enjoy the Three Body Problem, once you begin the series you may find yourself drawn to complete the trilogy to see how the story plays out.
Cheers.
@@JD.78 Part of my issue with books like the Three Body Problem is that I hesitate to start them, because I know that there's a good chance I'll want to read the whole series, and therefore need to set aside that much more time! :)
@@ADudeWhoReads
I agree that a trilogy is a lengthy investment of time, a possible alternative would be an audiobook version if you enjoy them.
@@JD.78 I'm definitely not opposed to audiobooks for certain types of books. I'll probably read the first book in print and depending on how much I like it, will choose whether to read, listen or ignore the last two :)
Thanks for the list! Never heard of a Richler, and I love that you included a graphic novel! And what variety. Subscribed.
My absolute pleasure! I'm happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I enjoyed this video very much because I too am a dude who reads. The only book on your list that is on mine was for years my #1.
It is On The Road by Jack Kerouac. I started reading it exactly 60 years ago as of Sept 2023. I was seventeen and in love with the idea of just getting into a car and going. All these years later it has slipped down to #5.
My number 4 is: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway #3 The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque
#2. More Than Conqueror by Grace Livingston Hill and #1 is (drum roll) The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. That book literally changed my life. And my trajectory toward eternity. I recommend it to all people. Thank you.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us! I understand that impulse from reading On the Road. I will check out Lindsey’s book as I’ve never heard about it before right now. Thanks again!
@@ADudeWhoReads You're welcome. And I'm going to check out many of the books on your list, especially #1.
At this late hour of my life and since I'm retired I really should read War and Peace. I did read part of a book by Tolstoy about The Cossacks, etc. First time I ever saw the word etc in a title except maybe e e cummings. Saroyan was one of my favorite authors growing up. Especially his short stories.
Books are so subjective and personal..im so varied in my reading but here are some of my favourites.
1. Jayne eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. Anne Frank's diary
3. Weave world, Clive Barker
4. Kingdom for sale sold, Remond E feist.
5. Bridges of Madison county yes my romantic one lol
6. Godnight Mr Tom, Michelle Magorian.
7. Danny champion of the world, Roald dahl.
8. Little women and little men by louisa may Alcott..i read these to my kids every night.
9. Memoirs of a geisha, Arthur holden.
10. Screwtape letters..C.S. Lewis
Very cool list, with several entries I’d never heard of, including “Little Men.” I had no idea there was not one, but multiple sequels to Little Women!
@@ADudeWhoReads little men is awesome I read it to my son every night and he loved it is just beautiful
So now I’m curious. What about Jo’s Boys? Which from my understanding is the sequel to Little Men?
@@ADudeWhoReads it follows the plumfield boys when they are grown a great read ❤️
@@ADudeWhoReads most people know little women but I preferred the little men series
"Anna Karenina" is one of the best books I've ever read. What a page-turner! I recently bought "War and Peace"...can't wait to read it!
I hope you enjoy it just as much as Anna Karenina!
I like that you read all sorts of genres. I also read classics, modern fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, non-fiction. I notice some Star Wars on your shelf as well - not ashamed to say I read Star Wars fiction on the regular as well! Mostly Canon, but the original Thrawn trilogy is excellent. Very interesting top 10 books, look forward to more on your channel! Subbed!
@tazzypumpkin I bought the Thrawn Trilogy as a boxed set because it was one of my two favourite Star Wars stories back in the day (we're talking before there was a prequel movie trilogy). I've tried a couple of the newer Canon books, but not many, and was left lukewarm (which is better than my feelings on episodes 7, 8 and 9, but still...). Any recommendations for the Canon books to check out? Part of the challenge with Star Wars novels is that there's just so much to pick from, and quality is up and down.
@@ADudeWhoReads Yeah for sure, the quality is very uneven. I think some of my favorites from canon are Lost Stars, Rebel Rising, Dark Disciple (if you are a Clone Wars fan, it feels like a story arc straight from the show), the Rogue One novelization, and the first Thrawn trilogy.
Sweet. Thanks for the recos. I’ll check those out!
Enjoyed that. I'd struggle to pick a top ten. Hitchhiker's probably would but not On the Road. Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita and Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth would make it. James Hoggs private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner would have to be in there.
Very cool! Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth seems to be a very popular pick, which is really cool considering that prior to this video, I hadn't heard anything about it. Thanks for watching and sharing.
@@ADudeWhoReads He is such an interesting writer. For years he produced good, but not always brilliant thrillers of average length. Then he wrote The Pillars of the Earth. He openly talked about how he changed his writing style with that doorstep of a book, giving more focus on character. He said prior to that, he wrote almost as if he was imagining an action film. Since, he has written many more big books in a no nonsense style that he's become a master of. Pillars is the first in a series of five, his Kingsbridge series. The latest, The Armour of Light came out just 3 days ago. I'm reading it now. I can't recommend them highly enough.
Since watching your video I've been recalling books I'd have in my top ten. It's almost impossible to settle on.
Thanks for the additional context. I will have to read it, if for no other reason than it’s been recommended so often. I’m very curious now.
Agree with you on War and Peace and The Old Man and the Sea and your opinion as to Hemingways lesser works. I would also add Anna Karenina to the Tolstoy list. Thomas Mann The Magic Mountain is one of my favourites and no one who makes favourites lists seems to mention him, yet he won the Nobel Prize. His short story Life and Death in Venice too. For W&P what remains with me is when PA died, it took like 100 pages to kill him off, and when the little boy Count inherited all that land and serfs and people just stared at him.
I confess to having never read Mann, but The Magic Mountain is on my to-read list. As for PA's 100-page death in W&P, to me that's the perfect example of Tolstoy's genius; it would have been tedious written by anyone else, but Tolstoy makes it seem completely natural. Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
I will be reading War & Peace next year as I continue with my Classics reading for a 3rd year.
Excellent! Congrats on keeping up the habit, and thanks for watching, Patrice!
So cool finally seeing someone else appreciating asterios polyp. Mazzuchelli’s changing style throughout the book is awesome. Have you read his adaptation of city of glass?
I have not, but I will now! Thanks for the reco.
It's always fun to hear someone discussing books they enjoyed. I have read almost all the books you mentioned and was particularly pleased you mentioned Anthony Bourdain. I really enjoyed his book and him as a chef. Glad you threw in some foreign authors. As a child of the 50s you are quite right about those decades, the 50s,60s and 70s ', an awesome time to have lived through .
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I miss Bourdain. No one's been able to replace him, and those who've tried don't even come close in my mind (thinking of people like David Chang).
Great list. It’s nice to see another reader that enjoys a variety of genres and is open to new authors. I will be checking out some of these books on your list. Cheers
Love it! Nothing feels better than introducing someone to something that they might potentially love. Once you've had a chance to read any, let me know how you feel about them..
Really surprise me with number 2, i have read it twice and while is amazingly creative and absurd i never thought it will be anyone's top 2
Well, it was definitely in my top 10… maybe 2 is a bit high, but Adams opened my eyes to a whole new style of writing, and it’s one of the few books that I can read over and over again and never get tired of :). Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great list. Since everyone is listing theirs, I think you missed out on PKD's "Ubik", Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking", and Kafka's "The Castle".
Thank you for the recos and thanks for watching and commenting!
Ok so I watched this video for a 3rd time because I just finished a monumental book Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry. Out of curiosity I discovered that my local backwoods library carried Asterios Polyp so I checked that out. Sure it’s one of the larger graphic novels I’ve read but it can be finished in just a couple of hours. The story is pretty good, very human, I’m glad I read it, but it comes nowhere near the radius of my personal top 10 favorite books. Still, thanks for the recommendation. I wouldn’t have read it if not for your channel.
Cheers
First off, I don't even think I've watched this video 3 times, so thank you! As for Asterios Polyp, being good, but maybe not top 10 good, I think that's completely fair. One of my goals with this list was to try and give as broad a cross-section as possible of my favourite books across different genres so that hopefully I introduced people to new things, and as a result, I think a comment like this was inevitable. Still, the fact that you checked it out means that my mission was accomplished!
You should read these books and review them
1. Stoner
2. Notes from underground
Both are on my radar! It's funny, I had never heard of Stoner until about 6 months ago, and now, you're probably the fifth or sixth person I've seen recommend it. Either Stoner is undergoing a revival, or I just wasn't paying attention before. Thank you so much for the recommendations!
I loved Stoner - a quiet, philosophical book. Recommend it highly and would be interested in your opinion.
Stoner is awesome. One of my all time favorites.
The Old Man and the Sea is the only Hemmingway book I've been able to get through
Have you tried his short stories? I think that’s where he shines.
Love the diverse list. Good luck with your channel.
Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy what’s to come!
James Ellroy is one of my favorite writers, the LA quartet is great. Joan Didion “The White Album” & “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”. Truman Capote “In Cold Blood”. Always loved “Catcher in the Rye”. Philip Roth, William Faulkner, Kurt Vonnegut, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, so many writers change your life
In a few sentences you named so many of the authors I struggled so hard with excluding from this list: Didion, Salinger, Faulkner, Roth, Vonnegut… fantastic selection.
Very interesting list. It doesn’t follow a usual trend and for that it gave me exposure to some works that are new to me.
Thanks for putting it together, I hope to comment once I have gone through some of those less common picks
Thank you so much. This is precisely why I did this! If you like some of the things on my list and have never heard of some of the others, then maybe you’ll want to check them out, and if I can help someone discover a new favourite, then that makes me happy! I’d love to hear from you once you’ve had a chance to check some of these out! Thanks again for watching and commenting!
You inherently cannot “disagree” with any favorites list! Haha
Tell that to about half the commenters on this video ;) Thanks for watching!
Lists like this are fun. On my list, I would include Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway and Lady Murasaki's Tale of Gengi. I also really liked War and Peace, like you.
Tale of Gengi has always intrigued me. I’ve never gotten around to reading it though. Thanks for watching and for the comment!
You've given me some wonderful material to enjoy in the coming months. I'll be looking forward to your reviews and judgments for 2024.
Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure and thank YOU for watching and commenting :)
Wow! Love your top 10 because your favorite books are so varied! You are certainly not stuff in a rut. I agree with you about W&P (also just read it last year) but I hated On the Road (may be more appealing to younger males than retired women). Love that you included Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the same list as W&P. Thanks for introducing me to Mordecai Richler. It's going to be so interesting to see how you react to these cherished books in about 20 years. I enjoy re-reading my favorites every so often, but it's as though I never read the same book twice since, as I get older, the books seem different. Oh wait. I'm different!! 🙂PS A favorite classic of mine is The Count of Monte Cristo. You may enjoy it, too.
Thanks for the comment, Susan. You're right that this may be the only top 10 list that puts the Hitchhiker's Guide next to War and Peace. Hah! And you're absolutely right that the way you respond to a book changes with you, which is why I'm such a fan of re-reading. As for On the Road, I actually did first read it 20 years ago, and re-read it recently, and it still held up (for me)! I can definitely see how it would appeal more to a younger male audience, but I think what I love about the book is more the energy of the writing and the atmosphere it creates than the themes and story itself. The Count of Monte Cristo is on my list to read, and my goal is to read it in the original French, so it might take me a while. Thanks again!
@@ADudeWhoReads I love Hitchhiker's Guide, On The Road, and War and Peace (but Anna Karenina better). Hate the Hobbit, though. :-)
Oh well. No one bats 1.000 I suppose 😉 thanks for sharing!
Great video just started reading myself and it’s a bit overwhelming with how many countless books there are your channel is helpful so thanks!
Happy to hear it was helpful! Best of luck in your reading journey 😃
Well, this was an interesting and useful video. As is the case with you, I was introduced to Murakami through Kafka on the Shore and like you, I went on a Murakami binge. Kafka on the Shore remains my favorite of his books, although The Windup Bird Chronicle is close, and Murakami is my favorite living author. And, while Anthony Bourdain was neither a great writer nor, I think, particularly insightful, I too loved Kitchen Confidential. It was in its day, a cultural bomb at least in the New York restaurant-goer world, of which I was a part at the time. It made you wonder if he was talking about the place where you were eating. Bourdain also tried to write some mystery novels, and they are awful. Also, because of your video, I just ordered Barney's Version, which I had not heard of. So many books, so little time.
Your list is interesting and, of course, such a list is intensely personal. My favorite novel is Kipling's Kim, and nobody I know agrees with me on that. The Hobbit is fun and I enjoyed it, but it's a children's book and not in a league with The Wind in the Willows and numerous others; On the Road was great when I was a seventeen-year-old college freshman trying to figure out the world and what I wanted from it, and was impressed by the beats and bebop musicians, but sixty years later it is unreadable. Truman Capote famously said of the book, "That's not writing, that's typing," and I think in retrospect that he was right. Ellroy is, in my view, a second-rank crime/noir writer, way below Hammett or Graham Greene in his Brighton Rock mode. (Unlike you and to my discredit, I have over the past 65 years read a trainload of mystery/crime/thriller/spy novels, quite literally thousands, and I read L.A. Confidential on someone's recommendation, and decided to not read any of Ellroy's other novels.) The Old Man and the Sea is Hemingway long past his prime, and not up to his best stuff, such as The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and the Nick Adams stories. I always thought of it as a minuscule homage to Moby Dick, and I emphasize the minuscule. I suppose it's hard to quibble with War and Peace, but I have never gotten through it, though I have tried several times. As Woody Allen once said, "It's about Russia." I don't read, if that is the proper verb, graphic novels, which tend to strike me as pretentious comic books, and while I thought Douglas Adams was a funny man - I loved his line, "Let us now eff the ineffable" - the Hitchhiker's Guide is hardly a great book.
So, I have read six of the books on your list - seven if you count having read one of Ellroy's other L.A. books - and made a serious stab at War and Peace. It's an interesting list, but if I were to try and put together a top-ten list, none of yours would be on it, with the possible except of Kafka, and I would have to think about that a lot. Still, I do have hopes for Barney's Version, so I thank you.
First off, thanks for watching and commenting! Clearly, we have different views on almost all of the books on this list, so I have to commend you on being open to trying out Barney’s Version. Given the overlap in our personal tastes I’d be very curious to get your thoughts once you’ve read it. Let me know!
Henry, I loved your comment, and agree with most of it. Thank you for your comment on Hemingway - OldMan and the Sea is on so many lists, but it's not his best. The other writer's comments were hilarious. What are your favorite mystery/crime/spy favorite novels?
@@barbarapaige4587 Thank you for your kind words. My taste in mystery/crime/spy novels is fairly varied. If you are starting out, you can't go wrong with Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle is the Shakespeare of the genre. He was followed around the turn of the last century by R. Austin Freeman, who pioneered the forensic detective story. Freeman was a creature of his time, and his female characters tend to delicate flowers who might weep or faint at the slightest shock, but the mysteries are good and I recommend The Red Thumbmark. Early Agatha Christie was very good, but avoid any after the mid-50s. A Coffin for Dimitrios by Ambler is the quintessential spy novel, and another great one from the early days is The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim, although I don't like anything else by him. Of the Golden Age writers, beside Christie, I like Dorothy Sayers and Marjorie Allingham very much. Hammett and Chandler are both terrific. The Maltese Falcon is one of my all-time favorites. My favorite contemporary crime writer is John Lawton, who has two series - the Frederick Troy series about a Scotland Yard officer and the Joe Wilderness series, which are MI6 espionage - both of which are terrific. Lawton in my opinion writes better prose than anyone else in the genre. Even my late wife thought he was good, and she, an Ivy League English major, almost never stooped to reading crime novels, although she did also like A Coffin for Dimitrios. There are a number of great spy novelists over the last few decades - Jean le Carre of course, his American counterpart Charles McCarry, whom I actually like better (both le Carre and McCarry had actually worked for MI6 and the CIA respectively and knew what they were talking about) and you might try McCarry's The Tears of Autumn, which is wonderful, Alan Furst is very good, Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon books about a Mossad assassin are good, if a little lighter than le Carre and McCarry's. In no particular order, my favorite books over the past decade or so are Terry Hayes' I Pilgrim, which I found to be an absolute page-turner, although with nothing much to say. Rennie Airth's A River of Darkness was wonderful, although subsequent efforts were less good. Tana French, whose novels are set in Ireland, is very good. A strange and wonderful writer is Fred Vargas, a woman who in real life is apparently a well-regarded French archaeologist: her character Commissaire Adamsberg is one of a kind and I like her novels a lot. JanWillem van der Wettering's novels set in Amersterdam are terrific. I could go on for a while, but I suppose that enough for the moment, except that my all-time favorite series are the Judge Dee novels by R.E. van Gulik. Judge Dee was based on a real 7th Century figure from the Tang Dynasty who was later popularized in detective stories during the Ming Dynasty 700 years later. Van Gulik was an expert in ancient Chinese and Japanese (he finished his career as the Dutch ambassador to Tokyo in the 1960s), and he initially translated one of the Ming books of Dee stories, but then started writing his own. His stated ambition was to present what life during the Tang Dynasty would have been like to westerners. I love them. If you are interested, the Chinese Gold Murders are the place to start. I hope that this has been helpful.
@@henrytberry Wow, Henry - thank you so much for your long and thoughtful reply. You are certainly well-read, and I appreciate your time in answering. Most of these authors I am not familiar with so you have given me some great (and new) suggestions. I just started on the spy stories, although I have read a bit of true crime and true spy stories. I have read several of Alan Furst's novels, and I especially enjoy the atmosphere he presents; you feel like you're there. I am also a history buff and enjoy reading about WWII. My Dad fought in Patton's Third Army and he's gone now, but somehow reading about WWII helps me to stay close to him. You sound so knowledgeable , and I wish you'd start a UA-cam channel - you'd be great.
@@barbarapaige4587 It's a coincidence that your dad was in Patton's Third Army. My dad was in the Normandy invasion. If you've seen Saving Private Ryan, the rollover at the opening says something to the effect of Normandy, France - Omaha Beach, Easy Section - June 6, 1944, 6:45 a.m., which is when and where my dad landed. Like most of those men, my dad never talked about the specifics of combat, but when my brother and I went with him to the movie, I asked him what he thought of the first twenty minutes, and he looked me in the eye and said, "That was pretty much what it was like." I'm grateful that I never say anything like that personally. I was in during Vietnam, but was in intelligence and never got near bullets flying. I know my dad had bad dreams for the rest of his life, and he was a very though guy. His unit was attached to the First Division and my brother and I had the enormous pleasure and honor of accompanying him to the Fiftieth Anniversary celebration in Normandy. I can see why you like Furst's books, as they all are set during the lead-up to the war, and as you say his great strength is that he creates an incredible sense of verisimilitude regarding time and place. I really liked his Kingdom of Shadows. You might like Berlin Noir, which are three mysteries featuring a police detective in Nazi Berlin during the war. They are very good. And the earlier of the John Lawton Troy novels - Black Out and Bluffing Mr. Churchhill - take place in London during the war. Lawton's Then We'll Take Berlin is partly set in Germany during the post-war allied occupation. They are all very good.
I think I'm a bit old to start a video channel. The upkeep would be too much work. Thank's for the complement though.
A very interesting selection. I run a traditional blog and am also a very diverse reader who enjoys nearly all genres (from graphic novels, classics to sci-fi and non-fiction), so I understand you well. However, despite you having Murakami (popular) and Tolstoy (obviously) there, I think your choices are still very English-language driven. Understandable and nothing wrong with that, but I personally consider it rather limiting. Have you read much foreign/translated fiction?
To be honest, I don’t go out of my way to read translated works that aren’t either classic or hugely popular and that’s more out of a fear of the quality of translation than anything else. That said, that still leaves a huge catalog of books for me to dive into, which I definitely plan on doing more of!
@@ADudeWhoReads "out of a fear of the quality of translation"? I cannot say I understand this at all, but to each his own and fair enough.
Excellent list; Now I need to go read *The Big Nowhere* . Thank you very much for making this video. Cheers 🤘
You're welcome and thank you for taking the time to watch and comment!
Respect for including Kitchen Confidential. Bourdain put the whole culinary world in context for everyone. This book was the beginning of that. Im gonna have to give this one a re-read.
Totally agreed. Even if some of the more memorable bits are now a bit outdated (by and large it’s okay to order fish on a Monday now), the book itself shone a light on a culture that was everywhere but unseen. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Поздрав из Србије! Дивно је када схватите да на другом крају света неко воли исте књиге, као што су Толкин, Толстој... Свако добро!!!❤
I'm not going to try and type a reply in Serbian, but I agree! And thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment. :)
The Sun Also Rises is an absolute gem.
I really enjoyed hearing your list and went to check out Barney’s Version and Kitchen Confidential ebooks from the library. I’m a 73 year old retired librarian and have been an avid reader all my life. What’s funny is that if I were to make my own list, my number one favorite book is one I read in 1966 called Boys and Girls Together by William Goldman. I recently reread it for maybe the fourth time, and it checks all the boxes of what I look for in a great novel. It’s a big one too. My #2 would be Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk, also read in my youth and reread later on. Not to say I haven’t read hundreds of great books since, but those two are just like long-time best friends.😊
And I’ve never heard of either! Thank you for sharing. I will be adding them to my list of books to check out! If you have a chance let me know what you think of Barney’s Version and Kitchen Confidential.
Hi Adam, just wanted to let you know I’m about 50 pages into BV and this is definitely my kind of book. I’m American, but lived in Montreal between 1968-70, and I just loved that city. I don’t know if it’s still as great, but it was a fantastic place to be at 18. I remember having a season pass for Expo 67 - $15!
This is so great to hear! In some ways, Montreal has changed quite a bit since then, in other ways it’s exactly the same. I know I’m biased but it’s still one of my favourite cities in the world! I hope you enjoy the rest of Barney’s Version just as much!
I rank The Sun Also Rises higher than The Old Man and the Sea because it does for the '20s what On the Road does for the '50s - it captures the zeitgeist of a generation in a single book. Both deal with the restlessness and lostness of a postwar society. The Old Man and the Sea may be the best sea story written (after Moby Dick), and it's a great book, but I feel like the prose is starting to show Hemingway parodying himself. Also, if you haven't read In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, you ought to give it a whirl. It can be read in an afternoon (I read it the first time sitting on the floor of a bookstore -- I couldn't put it down), and it has On the Road's energy applied to the late '60s and early '70s as dystopian fiction. Brautigan's work has been described as Mark Twain wandering into a cannabis patch. Great Murakami pick. In your later years, Anna Karenina will probably replace War and Peace as your favorite Tolstoy (War and Peace was my favorite novel of all time for more than a decade). Thanks for the recommendations. You've introduced me to a couple of writers I haven't read before.
Hmm... I never thought of the Sun Also Rises in that light. Thanks for the Brautigan recommendation. I'll definitely need to check that out. It almost makes me want to create a new list where each book is a representation of its period. Throw in Douglas Coupland's Generation X, and probably a few others... Thanks so much for the insightful comment!
Thanks for sharing a very interesting and diverse top ten list of your favorite books. While the only book that is also on my personal top ten list (as of today, because like you my list can change from time to time) is Tolstoy's War and Peace. That having been said, I have read and admire some of the other books on your list including The Old Man and the Sea, Kafka on the Shore, and On the Road. I was fortunate to attend an exhibition of Kerouac memorabilia, here in Chicago, that included the original manuscript of his book. I will look forward to any future changes to your list based on your planned fiction reading project.
That is an incredibly cool story! Any entries on your top ten list that you think I should be checking out? Thanks for watching!
I love seeing Kafka on here, it's probably my favorite of all time. Murakami is truly a god of literature.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett was my no.1 book for 20yrs until I read 1Q84 earlier this year.
Cool! Ironically, despite being a huge Murakami fan, 1Q84 is probably my least favourite book of his. Different strokes… Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@ADudeWhoReads - I thought you menat 1984 by Geroge Orwell. But there is a Book called 1Q84?
@@HoldenNY22 there is indeed. 1Q84 is by Haruki Murakami. However, as you might guess by the title there is thematic allusion to 1984 by George Orwell (despite the stories being nothing alike)!
The fifth Kingsbrigde novel came out three days ago. The Armour of Light. Pillars of the Earth is in my top 3, with the second, World Without End definitely in my top ten. I'm really hoping the Armour of Light makes it too, just started it.
The top book reveal was a really unexpected.
Thank you for your interesting list which I've taken down, read two and heard of four. You've only read War and Peace once, did you ever research the best translation and that's the one you bought? Can you recommend your translation and mention it? Thank you.
The translation I read was the Maude translation published by Oxford Classics, and I would definitely recommend it. I chose that particular translation for 3 reasons: 1) Tolstoy himself apparently approved of it. 2) I read the first few pages of a few different translations (you can do this for free on Amazon), and I liked the style. 3) In the original Russian, there's a lot of dialog that's actually written in French and then translated in footnotes. This translation preserves the French in the text and translates the footnotes, while other translations translate the French directly in the text, making it impossible to know which parts were originally Russian and which were originally French (also, I happen to be able to read French, so there's that). The other translation I've heard good things about is the Briggs translation published by Penguin Classics. I hope you enjoy it when you read it! Cheers and thanks for commenting!
Great list. Your sentiments on War and Peace mirror mine regarding The Count of Monte Cristo (finished it last night). It's so long yet consistently good that it automatically ranks very high for me. Infinite Jest is the only other book like that for me.
Regarding W&P, I own it and will read it. But after reading and mostly disliking Anna Karenina, I'm dragging my feet. Hopefully, it's drastically more interesting than AK.
Haven't yet read The Count yet (it's on my list, but all the French books on my list seem to keep getting postponed due to me being adamant that I MUST read them in French ;), but I have read Infinite Jest, and regardless of how anyone feels about DFW, I think Infinite Jest is a masterpiece!
As for W&P vs Anna Karenina, from comments on this channel, there appear to be three camps: those who love W&P, those who love AK, and those who just love everything Tolstoy wrote. Clearly, you're not in the latter two, but there's still hope you might be in the first! Thanks for the comment!
@ADudeWhoReads Man, I am so happy that I have no aspirations of reading literature in anything but English because I'd get painfully bogged down in that pursuit, knowing me. I don't have the mind for it, but I know it must be thrilling to read great books in their original language. I'm all but positive you'll love The Count. I'll have to report back after W&P to give the final judgment on it lol
Thanks for the reply!
@@DiogenesNephew Please do, and I'll be sure to post my thoughts on the Count when I get to it!
10) Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
9) Dubliners, James Joyce
8) The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien
7) The Dictionary of Khazars, Milorad Pavić
6) Malone Dies, Samuel Beckett
5) A Game of Thrones, George R R Martin
4) 1984, George Orwell
3) The Island of the Day Before, Umberto Eco
2) The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons
1) Unnamable, Samuel Beckett
I love it. Great to see Beckett in there, and a much deserved inclusion of GRRM! Thanks for sharing.
8) The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien
7) The Dictionary of Khazars, Milorad Pavić
I didn't think anyone else on earth knew about these two books!
Dan Simmons and that series is as good as science fiction gets I think. We were in the same dorm, Martindale Hall, at our tiny Indiana college, Wabash, at the same time. My roommate, the only person who kept the same extreme night owl hours as Simmons, swore he was a highly interesting guy. He was tiny and deathly pale. He is an excellent writer in all genres.
@@michaelcrosby5031 'He is an excellent writer in all genres.'
Yup. Songs of Kali is amazing.
James Ellroy - very intellectual. Love his writing.
Good list. Nice and varied. Here's my top 10 as of this moment. The order is very loose.
1. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
2. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers
3. The Alexandrian Quartet - Lawrence Durrell
4. Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
5. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
6. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
7. Peace Breaks Out - John Knowles
8. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
9. Swann's Way - Marcel Proust
10. (tie) Go Tell It on the Mountain/Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin
I cheated a bit with the quartet, the LotR trilogy, and the Baldwin tie. It's tough to narrow it down to only 10 books. As I Lay Dying, The Sun Also Rises, Tender Is the Night, and many more might find a spot depending on the day you ask me.
Fantastic list! James Baldwin is one of my all time favourite authors, and the only reason Go Tell it on the Mountain didn't make my top 10 list was because it's been so long since I read it that I wasn't sure I remembered it properly. I'm due for a re-read. Thanks for watching and for sharing!
We have incredibly similar taste
I just read As I Lay Dying. It was awesome. I can see how McCarthy was influenced and I love all Cormac McCarthy.
LOTR is not a trilogy; it is one novel.
If you enjoy humorous, absurd books like the hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy (never read it, buying it soon!) I recommend Catch-22. Just finished reading it and absolutely loved it, continuously absurd it made me laugh out loud multiple times, awesome stuff
Catch-22 is consistently listed as one of the best humourous novels ever written and yet I STILL haven’t read it. I really need to get around to it! Thanks for watching and commenting!
An interesting list, have read 5 of them and greatly enjoyed 4. And I have added four of the unread 5 to my reading list; I just don't really enjoy many graphic novels. Thank you for the suggestions 🙏
4 out of 5 is a pretty good hit rate. If you feel like it, let me know how you like the ones that you pick up! Thanks for watching and commenting!
omg finally some love for asterios polyp!!! one of my faves ever
I really thought when I published this vid, no one would have heard of Asterios Polyp! It makes me so happy to know I’m not alone in my love of this book! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Love that list. Read only one of them, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and yes sooo lol. Thanks for encouragement to read War and Peace. If haven’t yet check out The Death of Eli Gold by David Baddiel. 👏🏼🐀😎👍
Awesome. Thanks for the reco. Have not read The Death of Eli Gold!
Completely agree about War and Peace. I read it during a winter of unemployment 50 years ago. It would be inaccurate to say it “changed” my life. W.&P shaped my public life. My political and professional life. Often when I had to make a strategic decision, I thought, “what would General Kutuzov do?” He believed in letting matters work themselves out, as opposed to Napoleon’s inclination to intervene to shape events. Tolstoy deeply believed in Kutuzov’s philosophy. I do too.
I love this comment for so many reasons. Oftentimes, when people read great literature, they focus on the beauty and the art (which is great), but rarely do they talk about the very real, practical lessons there are to be gleaned from these masterpieces. Thanks for sharing!
I read War and Peace 18-ish months ago and it shot to the top of my list too. Since then I’ve read a few more of Tolstoy’s works and so far they’re all great.
I also have Hitchhiker’s Guide in my top ten!
Nice! Thanks for watching and sharing!
I read _Anna Karenina_ and *looooovvvvvveeeedddd* it, so thought I would give _War and Peace_ a try and loved it even more! I kept thinking, "How did I get to be 60 years old and not know these books?!" I then realized I _had_ to be 60 to read them, to understand them, to know I could take my time... to know I couldn't have read them in my hands, but had them read _to_ me on Audible. What a joy they were (and are) in my life! I love that _War and Peace_ is on your list and you, too, have recently read it. (All that said, *you* do NOT have to be 60 to understand them. _I_ did because I didn't have the life experiences to relate. I am sure I was a late-bloomer. If you are intrigued, pick it up!)
@@HealthAtAnyCost You're so right. What you bring to a book is just as important as what's in the book. While I'm not 60, I freely admit that I wouldn't have appreciated this book 20 years ago... maybe not even 10 years ago!
Hemingway was a misogynistic ass but he did know how to write. TOM&TS is such an excellent story. I wish people - by whom I mean those who fancy themselves literary snobs - didn't feel compelled to bust on his short, choppy writing style. I like Steinbeck better, although IMO they wrote equally depressing stories when it comes down to it. Props to you for putting a graphic novel on your list. They just don't get enough love. I think people who aren't familiar with the genre just assume they are the same as comic books or comic strip compilations and dismiss them as unworthy of their time .
Agree with pretty much everything you wrote! Of Mice and Men is another short novel that I could easily have swapped out for The Old Man and the Sea if I'd been making this list on a different day. As for the Graphic Novels, they've started to get a little love, but it's a slow process. Just need to get good graphic novels in the hands of readers!
hemingway loved women, although he did hate his mother - and for good reason by most accounts
Interesting list. I'd never heard of your number 1, so must check it out. I don't know what my top 10 would be, except that Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset would be top of my list, head and shoulders above the rest. And I think I'd replace the Hemingway with some Steinbeck, probably The Grapes of Wrath.
I've never heard of Kristin Lavransdatter, so I'll have to look into it! On another day, I very well could have switched Hemingway with Steinbeck (although, it probably would have been Of Mice and Men). This was a tough list to narrow down to 10! Thank you so much for the comment!
I've read the Hobbit: tedium; War and Peace: at various memorable camping holiday locations; and The Old Man and the sea: I've read all of Hemingway. All his protagonist die. Ernest taught me the meaning of melancholy. You've right about whether it should be your number one or your number ten. I understood the story to be about wasting one's entire life pursuing one ardent goal at the expense of all else, only once finally realised to have it taken away, as if the shark never actually existed because, by now the protagonist is still a lonely man, well past his prime, never having achieved much.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting! If you called the Hobbit tedious, I'd hate to hear what you think of Lord of the Rings ;)
My relationship with Hemingway is complex. There are times where I think he may just be one the greatest writers who ever lived (as with Hills Like White Elephants), and then there are times where it feels like he's a musician who only knows how to play one note and just keeps hitting it over and over and over again (as with To Have and Have Not).
This is why, for me at least, it is much easier to talk about Hemingway's individual works, than it is to talk about Hemingway himself. Although, I suppose the same could be said about many authors!
Hi
I've added an appendix to the end of my comment. Also, Ernest left an unfinished manuscript at the time of his passing. Much later, his brother attempted to finish it off. However, for me, the difference in style, depth and delivery is rather and blatantly (harsh word) obvious. The impact of Hemingway's abrupt passing ended with that book. So much so that I can't even recall the name of it, the brother's name, and nor have I ever wanted to.
Of Tolkien's stories I luv Letters from Father Christmas, rather I luv the story behind it's creation. Tolkien couldn't afford Christmas presents for his young children. He therefore wrote them letters of touching tales about the adventures and misadventures of Father Christmas and his helpers.
I persevered with the Hobbit wanting to stop many times. It highlighted a test of my reading patience. That made it easier for me to not continue with any future reading that mess with my mind.
I hadn't heard the story of Hemingway's brother and his last manuscript, but the idea of someone trying to finish a piece by Ernest Hemingway just sounds so absurd. There are many writers whose style can be emulated easily, but I think there's only one Hemingway (regardless of whether you feel that's a good thing or a bad thing!)
Another ‘Dude Who Reads’ here and not usually a Commenter (definitely more of a ‘Lurker’).
Whilst my favourite genre is ‘American Southern Gothic’, I wanted to share some lesser known works by some Australian authors, as this seems to be a ‘safe space’ to complete such an act.
I hope I would not be defined as presumptuous to say, that the following could potentially be defined as ‘Australian Gothic’, if such a category exists. (Side note, earlier spelling of ‘favourite’ denotes my own origin of Australia).
Kenneth Cook: Wake in Fright
Elizabeth Harrower: The Watchtower
Janette Turner Hospital: Oyster
Patrick White: The Tree of Man
Elizabeth Jolley: The Well
Alexis Wright: Carpentaria
All 6 evoke such a strong sense of place, which for me, is the indomitable strength of Australian Literature. A spattering of contemporary ‘bush’ or ‘outback’ works, as well as some mid-century (20th) urban pieces.
Having previously been so averse to Australian writing, due in part to my ignorance that I need not have my ‘culture’ explained to me in a written format, I have in recent times had perhaps what some would define as an ‘epiphany’. These writers (and of course, many more) are extremely skilled in translating and distilling Australian Identity, Culture and Landscape to the literary form.
I do still adore ‘Southern Literature’, and have come to realise (British spelling) the many parallels that correlate between them.
Oozing with dark, typically ‘sultry’ (Southern) and ‘humid’, though sometimes ‘devastatingly arid’ (Australian) atmosphere, I do not think I can ever be satiated of desiring that certain modern Gothic flavour (Brit sp.)
Anyway, diatribe over.
This comment will most likely be ‘lost’ amongst the sea of other comments, but I was feeling particularly inspired by another ‘Dude Who Reads’ passion, and felt like joining in. 😉
Thanks so much for sharing! I’m Canadian (in case it wasn’t obvious from the video), and I went through a similar progression with Canadian literature, and I think part of it stems from having it force fed to me in school. But as I got older I saw the importance, the beauty and the truth in it. I confess to never having read any of your selections, but the idea of deep diving into a culture based on its literature is immensely appealing. I’m going to keep this list handy, because eventually I’d love to do some immersive reading like this. Maybe as I visit Australia! Thanks again for watching and sharing this! 🙏
Another dude who reads. Hey, my favorite type of person! Good to meet you.
Same! Thanks for stopping by and for commenting. 😀
I always enjoy a Top Ten list where I’m persuaded to buy a book in the middle of a video:
Asterios Polyp *purchased*
Mission accomplished! I hope you enjoy it, and if you get a chance, drop me a note once you've read it and let me know what you thought. Thanks for watching.
Hemingway is ok, I rate him highly, would not make my top 10 probably with his semi-journalistic style, but I respect his legacy, James Ellroy I haven't read but your video makes me interested to try reading him, David Mazzuchelli I know from other graphic novels, Polyp is on my to read list, JRR Tolkien belongs on any top10 list of books, I am agnostic towards the choice of the specific book though :) the next book I know nothing about, Kerouac I haven't read anything yet, but he appears on many top10 lists, so I will one day, I read one book by Murakami that I got as a gift, it was good, I lend it to a friend and he becomes her favourite author :) War and Peace is very good, I agree, I would maybe cut out some chapters from tome 3 where nothing happens for many pages, Douglas Adams I DNFed, not my style at all :) I admit I never heard about your number 1, but I am interested
Thank you for the detailed comment! My evil plan to make more people aware of Richler is working 😈
Fantastic choices. War and Peace is still on my list, unread. However, maybe I will try the chapter a day. Thanks.
Thanks. If you do, let me know how it goes. I started out with a chapter a day, but after a while, I was enjoying the book so much I was doing more and more. It still took me a few months to finish, but totally worth it!
10...Arthur Conan Doyle/Hound of the BaskervilleS
9..Marguetite Young/Miss McIntosh,my darling
8..R.L.Stevenson/Dr.Jekyll& Mr.Hyde
7..Douglas Adams/Life,the universe & Everything
6..Malcolm Lowry/Under the Volcano
5..Charles Dickens/The Pickwick Club
4..P.G.Wodehouse/The Goldbat& Other stories
3..Clive James/Unreliable Memoirs
2.Jack Kerouac/Doctor Sax
1..James Joyce/Ulysses
Nice! I think you managed to name the one thing written by Kerouac that I've never read :)
Great vid & great list 😊 are you planning on doing a list of your ten favourite books by women? Would love to see that!
Thank you for the comment! There are definitely female authors I love like Margaret Atwood, Joan Didion, Ursula K LeGuin and Doris Kearns Goodwin, but somehow their books didn't crack the list. That said, I'll freely admit that I have read far more male authors than I have female authors, and it's a pretty serious gap in my personal reading history. I'm not sure about creating a separate list of books by women, because something about separating them out feels wrong (or maybe I'm just wrong)... Instead, I'm committed to reading more female authors. Just a few that are on my reading list for the coming year include: Austen, the Brontes, Du Maurier, Eliot, along with a few recommendations that have come from me posting this video! Thanks again for watching and commenting!
Excellent call on Barney's Version. I am a big Richler fan but that book was easily the one I would recommend most. I really could not put it down and finished it in a day. I read it again recently and it still held up
Right on! Not often I run into a big Richler fan, so thanks for watching and leaving a comment here. Much appreciated. 😀
Some of the books here are favourites of mine as well (number 10, 3 and 2). It's a great list but very white and male dominant.
Thanks, and yes, you are correct. I noticed that when I put the list together, too. This is, to be perfectly honest, partly a reflection of what I’ve read (which has been largely white male authors) and partly a bit of happenstance (for example, James Baldwin is easily in my top 10 favourite WRITERS of all time but none of his individual books cracked my top 10). It’s something I’m keeping in the back of my mind as I choose books in the future.
@@ADudeWhoReads just read good writing
This is m first video of you. I am recently retired and want to read again. So I visited some top ten videos. All of them fantasy. What I liked about your collection is the allround approach. And... you seem to be a sensitive person who likes the connect with the books. Also your presentation is so real and not overdone. No one else I visited on UA-cam gave me that feeling of a real and honest person. Thanks for sharing and I wil try to read some of your list. I am from holland and there libraries are very poor provided. It I give it a try. Translations are also poorly made. So maybe I have to buy them in English., thanks wim
Hi Wim. Thanks for watching and for your kind words. I truly means a lot. My guess is that you can probably get the classic books and the really popular ones translated into Dutch. So, things like War and Peace, The Old Man and the Sea, The Hobbit and Kafka on the Shore are all probably readily available in a good translation. Other books I'm not even sure I'd want to read as a translation. For example, I don't think the humour of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would translate well. Personally, whenever possible, I like to read books in their original language (English is my mother tongue, but I also read French well enough), but that will depend on your level of comfort in the language and the difficulty of the book. Best of luck and if you do end up trying some of these books, let me know how you like them!
It’s very much a dudes list, No it’s not because there’s no romance novels.
Indeed
It's nice to see, as there are way too many feminine lists on UA-cam already.
@@mh4841 That's such a strange thing to say. A good book is a good book regardless of "feminine" or "masculine".
What a feminine comment
@@X64813yeah i know right. some hyper masculine insecurity right there
I haven’t read Kafka on the Shore but I have read Kafka. Metamorphosis, The Trial, and his short stories would make it on my Top Ten.
I haven't read The Trial yet, and I don't think I've read many of Kafka's short stories, but I can safely say that all of it is quite different from Kafka on the Shore. :)
No ancient books? No mathematics books? No history books? No philosophy?
Not on this list, but for ancient books I'd say my favourite is the Odyssey (many prefer the Iliad, but I like the adventure aspect of the Odyssey). I've also re-read Meditations a few times, so that would probably be up there. In terms of philosophy I like Hume, Simone de Beauvoir and just recently discovered Simone Weil (a contemporary of the other Simone). I haven't read much contemporary philosophy. For history, I love Will Durant's The Story of Civilization. Some of the ideas are a little outdated, but he writes beautifully. For something that's not 11 volumes and a little more accessible, I don't think you can go wrong with Sapiens, or if you want something to argue over Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel. For mathematics, I confess I've never read a math book that wasn't a text book, so I'm definitely not the right person to ask.
God forbid he could have a personal choice, eh?
That was fun... I share your love of Murakami and War and Peace as well 😁... I love HHGG too (although it's the BBC tv series from 1981 for me)
What do you think of Infinite Jest (my #1)?... Imajica by Clive Barker?... Douglas Coupland?
So glad to have found you friend 😁
It would appear we have very similar tastes! I think Infinite Jest is a masterpiece, and I need to find time to re-read it and give it the attention it deserves. I love Douglas Coupland. Generation X is one of the books I keep on my small bookshelf, because I enjoy it so much. I've also enjoyed his novels and wish he would write more, but from what I understand he's turned his talents to visual art. As for Imajica, believe it or not, I hadn't heard of it until a couple days ago, but now you're the second person in as many days to mention it to me! Thanks so much for watching, and given how similar our tastes are, if you have any other recommendations, I'm all ears!
I read The Hobbit 13 times. I usually read non-fiction, but books like Stranger in a Strange Land and Shane got me started. I am a huge fan of Homer and the Bible (both Testaments ) and Shakespeare (particularly Hamlet). I have read a lot of the Canon, and am better for it. I used to participate in Great Book discussion groups. I have begun reading elementary books in Spanish, and would some day like to read Don Quixote in the original. J. Warner Wallace's books using cold-case detective skills on investigating the historical accuracy of the Bible narrative are amazing. My most recent useful book is Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, PhD.
Reading Don Quixote in the original is one of my goals as well! English is my first language, but my French is good enough that I have read (although in some cases not in their entirety) Proust, Dumas, Camus in the original and can confidently say that even the best translations can only go so far!
If you liked Tiny Habits, have you read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg? A lot of books have been written about habits in the last few years, but The Power of Habit remains my favourite.
Enjoyed your list. A suggestion? Try Willa Cather or Shirley Jackson on the distaff side
Thanks for watching and thank you so much for the suggestions. I'll check them out!
I think this would have been better titled top 10 favorite books. I have a top 10 list of what I would consider the greatest books of all time and only a few of them would be among my favorite books. Conversely many of my favorite books I would know way consider amongst the greatest books of all time. For one thing, if I'm not mistaken, the oldest book on the list was War and Peace. That alone seems to reveal a bit of snobbery towards the past. I did enjoy the video, I just think it's better to described as your favorite books. Please, keep the videos coming!
Fair enough. Nonetheless, I appreciate you taking the time to watch and write a thoughtful comment. Thank you.
May I suggest "A Confederacy of Dunces" be an inclusion on your next list? It's difficult to write funny and this book is a masterpiece of humor.
Confession: I read Confederacy of Dunces and didn't find it all that funny. 😬Maybe I was too young when I read it and the humour went over my head... I know this book is widely regarded as one of the best comic literary works, I just didn't get it. I think I'll have to give it another try sometime.
Look for Wolfville. That's a real funny book.
Old man and the sea so often makes the list but I so preferred For Whom The Bell Tolls
I can see that. I've also heard arguments in favour of The Sun Also Rises and Farewell to Arms being his best work. The Old Man and the Sea just happens to be my favourite, because I like Hemingway best in the short form. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!
I am also puzzled that Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland Thriugh the Looking Glass doesn't make lists. It's my favorite. Delightful, so curiously odd, filled with wonder and charm and nonsense. I've read it so many times.
I think children's literature in general gets the short end of the stick when making lists like this. I think we all want to believe we've "matured" beyond that (HAH!). However, I can say that I've reviewed a LOT of "Greatest Books of All Time" lists in the last few years as I've tried to assemble my list of books to read before I go, and I'd say MOST of them include Alice in Wonderland.
I must reread War and Peace. It was SO good! 100% agree with your analysis. I did find some of his digressions irritating.
Thanks for watching! And sorry, but whose digestions were irritating? :)
@@ADudeWhoReads I think I was so caught up in the lives of the characters that any break in the narrative made me itching to get back to them.
@@sandraelder1101 totally get it now and can agree! I wasn’t smart enough to realize there was a typo in your original comment and was therefore incredibly confused… not my finest moment 😅
@@ADudeWhoReads OH MY WORD. How funny!!! I will correct that. 🤭