the way you talked about bibliophobbia and esp when you said "I'm always afraid the sentence never coming" it reminded me of one of my favorite poems called "the fear" by Mahmoud Darwish, I couldn't find a translation for it so I'll try to translate it the best I can even though I'm not a translator "fear has the taste of the magical lotus in the bigger odyssey. and might the stranger forget his land and his dog his loyal friend and his first wife and take up wandering I'm afraid I'd forget and I'm frightened of the burden of my memory on the manuscript of tomorrow. there I'm neither there, nor here. And I'm afraid of not writing the last line of the poem"
pinning this!!! thank you so much for your translation of this wonderful poem! i always think about the next day, how much hope and wonder i’ll carry into it. the great perhaps, though always full of fear of the unknown, is one so full, also, of anticipation 💫
Wow, beautiful translation. This is why I wish I understood more languages because I know in the original it’s even more stunning. English is so limiting. Thank you for sharing that.
so glad to hear that the Heti made an impact on you! and ahhh thank you for growing with me through all these little videos 🥹🫶🏼 wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
I’m grateful to have stumbled upon your channel. It feels like a rare find, a quiet corner where taste and discernment reign. Your reading recommendations stand apart, distinct and untouched by the noise of everywhere else. This is exactly what I’ve been searching for. You’ve earned my subscription, and I’m eager to see what comes next.
oh gosh this is too high of a compliment for me to accept but thank you graciously! it’s comments like these that keep me going and inspire me to continue putting out videos. 10,000 thank you’s 🙇🏻✨💐
I think I have discovered your channel roughly a year ago and I still remember the feeling of perfect serendipity I had that day. Now, roughly one year later, I wanted to say thank you for each of the videos you make - they feel like little precious gifts that I get to unwrap at will and can never have enough of.
bahhhh this is the sweetest comment ever tysm for always taking the time to watch them! it truly means a lot! words like these push me to continue doing it when it all feels a bit worthless so thank you a million ✨🫶🏼🥹
ahhh you’re too kind! thank you for taking the time to watch! and YES! peach fuzz is the pantone color of the year haha wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 📚🐛
Sir you have no idea how happy I am for you to see this video blowing up and your big brain and kind heart getting the appreciation it deserves. Phenomenal top ten - still waiting for Rejection to be released here, and Human Acts has crept ever so slightly closer to the top of my read-next pile.
i just woke up to all of this and am incredibly surprised myself 😭😭😭 but ty king !!! cannot WAIT for your list! pls pls PLS get to Human Acts! am very curious to know your thoughts on it! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 good sir ✨📚
first time watching you and i'm already in love with how you share your most memorable/intrigued sentences of the book instead of the book title first! definitely adds the imaginative sense of how the book is gonna b. thanks, and also i immediately interested in no. 8 sentences as it's hit too close to home lol, as a writer who also loves to read other people's work and still finding myself as a person, it's confusing where the role is on and where is off, where's necessarily more dominant over others, well. alas! you just got a new subscriber😁
i think you’d really like the no8 picks! really made me less scared about writing and reading and just doing more of it! and having fun with it! thank you for watching! hope you have a wonderful reading and writing year in 2025 💌💌💌
the hearing test almost made it into my list! the anthropologists, rejection and human acts were already on my 2025 tbr, so i'm happy (and not surprised) to see them here. i also have we do not part as an arc, so i'll probably read that soon as well. i'm curious about the italy letters, bc it's the only book on yr list that i haven't read or already intended to read soon. and as you say, there's a dearth of vietnamese writers in the general booksphere conversation thanks for bringing us another fabulous year of videos 💖
The Hearing Test was one that fidgeted a lot in placement for my list but i think it captures our spirits so very well - so in tune with different kinds of art speaking to each other and it’s really how i understand everything around me! would be curious to know your thoughts on The Italy Letters ❣️ and THANK YOU for an incredible year of videos!!! love you forever, dear Sophie ✨💌
I also read The Bluest Eye in 2024, and I felt pretty much exactly the same. So inspired, yet so intimidated. Like I know writing isn't a competition but honestly, what can I possibly add to the pot of human understanding when there are already books like this?
it’s amazing what Morrison created! and with every hook i wonder how it is even possible to come up with my own words. but i think we must continue to add to the pot, no matter the competition, no matter the stakes, no matter the consequences ✨💌
@@nickturnbow2948 well, thank you for taking the time to watch the video and leave a comment yourself! it means a great deal. your presence here matters 💫
i’m so excited about this AHHH i love the idea of “important reads” & i’m really looking forward to reading the italy letters hopefully next month 😊 also had a year of quite a few rereads & it’s been fun!!! thank you for this lil holiday present 🫶🏼
to more important reads in 2925!!! ✨📚 and EEP! would love to know your thoughts on The Italy Letters! so so wonderful to have met you this year! and to many more hangouts in the new year ✨🫶🏼
This is my first time watching your videos and its not gonna be last , so glad I found your channel . I don't even remember the last time I watched the whole video in one sitting ; watching someone passionately talking about books , reading & writing feels amazing . Lots of love from India ❤
So lovely hearing people talk about what they love. This was such a joy! I can’t wait for more book thoughts in the new year. Hope you’re feeling better! Take care! (Time to check out your letterboxd byeeee)
I was also quite moved by Human Acts. The rare impulse to read it again as soon as I finished, just so I could take in all the essence of the technique in the writing, and the stylistic intentions, AND to learn about a democratic uprising of which I was not aware.
i also had this impulse but i wanted the work to sit with me. there was a haunting presence to the book as an aftertaste that just felt necessary to sit with as i reflected upon the political climate of the world. i have to give it another go to look at the technicalities of how she did it! much like Mrs. Dalloway, the multi-narrative structure of the book is intriguing! 🧐
@ I read it just before the recent political declaration of martial law. Needless to say, it was a remarkable coincidence. I borrowed the book from the library, so I did as you, let the book reverberate and linger without an immediate reread. I agree about the multi-narrative. Haunting is the perfect descriptive.
I'm so glad I found your channel. This is an curated, nuanced, and diverse list that have introduced me to so many new authors to check out. You are truly a gift! Looking forward to more of your content
I picked up Alphabetical Diaries as well as The Hearing Test because of you this year and all I have to say is THANK YOU !!! (especially for the Heti, it really stuck with me) for talking about books so passionately, your candidness, your earnestness, it is all very appreciated
still niche and want to stay that way tbh !!! 😭 but of course! thank you always for taking the time to write wonderful comments and your recs as well! your engagement is valued! your presence here truly matters 💫
Thank you for sharing this list! I’m adding The Italy Letters to my TBR. I have lived in the Vegas Valley for about a year now and this one sounds very intriguing.
I continue to be amazed by how so eloquent you are when talking about books you love 🤩 here are my top reads of the year: - Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (i know it didn’t do it for you but i was sucked into her world, i never read anything quite like it) - Down the Drain by Julia Fox (i am in love with the grit, grime and all the small things that glimmer in this dark memoir) - Honourable mentions: The Shards by Bret Easton Ellison (man could've seriously cut down the length but i also wanted to stay in that world for a while); Assembly by Natasha Brown (a must read imo, it might or might not have kick started my burnout but for all the right reasons, i saw myself in the protagonist); Upstreams: Collected Essays by Mary Oliver (this book is so calmly intelligent, it feels like a cleansing breath in this crazy world) oops this is a very long comment 🤭 anyways, happy holidays Nathan 💖
different strokes for different folks! i’m so glad when books work well for others! it is quite a world to be sucked into! i’m just patiently waiting for the netflix adaptation 😭😭😭 also LOVED the Julia Fox memoir! it would’ve made my top list for memoir but Bibliophobia swept in 😮💨 eep! i still have yet to do Mary Oliver! perhaps for 2025! happy holidays to you too! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨💪🏼
truuue!! always interesting to see what people liked and disliked about books I read, it gives you a more well-rounded view of the work I think :) also very excited for the netflix show tbh 🤩 I had such a vivid picture in my head when reading it, I wonder how it will compare! I'm really curious about bibliophilia, it's defo on my 2025 tbr 🫡 also looking forward to your thoughts on Mary Oliver when you get to it!! thanks Nathan!!✨️✨️ (also I'm so happy to see this video/your channel get the recognition it deserves!! best bookish content out there, you may quote me on that)
such an impeccable lineup 🥰 love the quotes you chose for each book. can’t wait to get to bibliophobia/the bluest eye, the anthropologists, and the italy letters!! so excited to see what 2025 brings for you bb 🫶🏻
I loved hearing you talk about Letters. I can’t wait for my library to get Bibliophilia in and Parade. What an enhanced experience this book was for me this year as a result of our read a long. It really was. More Morrison - for me in 2025. Thank you for the reminder. 👏. Human Acts is on the top of my list of books for ‘25. I want to experience this writer. Happiest of New Years, my friend.
thank you so much for our reading of Parade! it was such a joy in tackling such a tough text! and would love to know your thoughts on Han Kang! a very interesting writer for our times! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
Also a recommendation, and my favourite book of 2025 was, 'A language of limbs' by Dylin Hardcastle. Not sure if it got much press outside of Australia, but is centred around the queer community in the 70s/80s in Sydney, a parallel lives type of story. Poetic with lines that will hit you out of nowhere. Has stuck with my since the beginning of the year.
oh!!! i have this as an e-arc! will probably get to it in the coming months as the US pub date is May 27th of 2025! thank you for mentioning it! i’m excited to get to it now!
Finally finished 'The Little Friend' after your recommendation earlier in the year. Can't believe it sat on my shelf for 4 years. The ambience that Tartt is able to create in this book is so visceral and I found myself underlining so many lines. It's made me curious to see what other hidden gems have been sitting on my shelf this whole time!
don’t you just love that? honor the backlist! and don’t let those books collect so much dust! it’s amazing what treasures have been hiding in plain sight like this. so glad you finally got to it! i think it’s her most visceral book! i felt The Goldfinch had that same feeling, but only for the beginning, but the atmosphere of The Little Friend remained throughout, even in the fullest moments, i could feel the stretch of sun lull me into a dazed fatigue -0-
that quote from The Anthropologists was 🤯 i also turned 30 this year - i am going to put this on my short list. some great recommendations here, some books i hadn't heard of. i also appreciate your thoughtful commentary on each (including in your reading wrap-ups), and it blows my mind that you can read so quickly and still have such great commentary on each haha. have a great 2025!! edit: i also wanted to recommend A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan if you haven't gotten around to it yet! i think you would enjoy it
ahhh thank you so much for tuning in! it was difficult to wind down 177 books to a mere 10, and to many more in 2025! wishing you a wonderful reading year! ✨📚 and ahhh i’ve been meaning to read the Egan ever since middle school 😭😭😭 will try to get to it! ✨💪🏼
ahhh thanks for taking the time to watch and listen to everything 😭😭😭 truly means a lot! would love to know what you pick up as your first read of the year! ✨📚
I literally finished The Anthropologists on the last day of the year and still processing it, but it's interesting to see it ending up on you and Alex's list.
Wow, 177 is a remarkable number of books. I'll check out the books - going to check out the book by Ayşegül Savaş. My reading list for 2025 gets longer and longer... I can relate to your sentiment about giving recommendations. I would struggle with that.
I CANNOT believe you narrowed down 10 books from 177. I don’t know how you did it but you did! I was not able to get to Alphabetical Diaries this year but I certainly plan to in 2025. Han Kang is also on my list, absolutely. I’m now also interested in Bibliophobia and Rejection!
a major struggle tbh!!! but i am trying to read everything out there in the world !!! pls pls PLS do Han Kang! would love to know your thoughts on her! can’t wait to see what you cook up in 2025! hopefully more vlogs and notes on writing! much love to ya love 💗
every year i read a toni morrison book and it changes my life (sula 2023, song of solomon 2024). i have so many options, but you reminded me that i have to go back to the beginning lol
I will definitely read the Italy Letters. I know so little about Vietnamese culture. If you have any other recs on the subject let me know. I already have a hold on Rejection whenever it gets to my library.
i think it captures the spirit of being Vietnamese very well, especially within the mother-daughter relationship. can’t wait for you to get to Rejection!!! ✨💪🏼
I love that you preface each book with a quote! I also have the anthropologists as a quiet fav this yr. Wait do u have the sunnys toni morrison evangelist hat?? Saranghae 😙
i find this to be intriguing as i feel most people start off with the others! i would be curious to know what you think of her other books, but a reread is always nice! happy reading in 2025! ✨📚
omg omg i read "human acts" in the last week of Novemeber and when I saw news about South Korea , it gave me chills . And you are so right about democracy is so important to civilians there bcuz I heard it's their 3rd president in the month . About "Human acts" I have to say that this book is in my top three reads of the year , she TOTALLY deserved that Noble prize !
right ?! i can’t believe a book written years ago still speaks to so much truth now as the year is ending. much reflection and the way wars are still waged now have gave me a lot of thought in how i placed Human Acts in this list! have you read any other of Han Kang’s work?
@@nathansnook sadly i am late in it :( I remember BTS Namjoon recomending several authors in his old Vlives , so this year I thought of picking few korean authors from it . i read Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 "by Cho Nam-joo during late September and next was Han kang's "human acts" . these two books are my highest reads of the year :) will read other works of these authors in upcoming months bcuz they actually made me addicted (in a good way) to Korean literature
Idk Nathan, who am I? *spirals in existentialism* I SOO so so agree with you on Rejection. A must read! And Kang is absolutely on the tippy top of the list for 2025. Such a great list boo! Grateful for you! Happy almost new year!
I hate picking favourites, but if I had to: 1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 2. The Unicorn from the Stars & Other Plays by W. B. Yeats 3. The Letters of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath 4. Matilda by Mary Shelley 5. Poor Things by Alasdair Gray (much better than the film, which frankly butchered the story)
favorites are SO HARD! and so glad to hear you enjoyed Poor Things as a novel versus the film. still need to read it! and i think with your Plath pick, I’m gonna pick up Colossus real soon! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 ✨📚
Yes to Parade, Alphabetical Diaries and The Bluest Eye. I read Morrison for the first time this year and will definitely be reading many more of her works in the coming year.
Your intro music sounds so much like the guardians theme from breath of the wild and every time I open one of your videos I get a little tiny panic attack thinking a guardian has a laser on me😭
first time viewing your channel but i have to say i enjoyed the list & your views. i especially liked that you had a quote for each -- bravo! thanks for sharing & for doing the fieldwork, 177 books in a year is wild. i look forward to watching more of your content. 😻😻😻😻😻 5/5
i swear i wrote a comment here, but well i fear it's been lost in the metaverse haha! but i found your channel like the day before yesterday and i absolutely LOVE the way you talk! your words are so eloquent and the points of the books really get across wonderfully, and i look forward to dissecting those same books some time as well! :) a lot of them are on my tbr (which, i fear, is the depth of the mariana trench) happy new year and i hope you have an equally, if not more, awesome reading year in '25!
ahhh thank you for taking the time to watch and re-comment on this video! i say crack down on that tbr for 2025!!! wishing you a wonderful reading year in the new year 📚 🐛
amazing list nathan 👏🏼 i’m planning to read rejection in the new year!! like right in january!! excited to see what it’s all about. also human acts is also high on my list for 2025. & you’ve officially put the italy letters on my radar. hope you have a happy new yr!!
eep! can’t wait for you to get to these priority reads!!! happy holidays and a happy new year to you! so lovely to have gotten to know you more through books and vlogs this year! and to plenty more in 2025 ✨🥂
The concerning part is, as much as you said 'the now' some people will never get it. These definitely aren't my typical reads but the way you spoke about them has me desiring to add a few to my list.
history truly repeats itself! i want it to repeat less with ongoing conversations and connections. i hope to see more of it in 2025, no matter how small the conversations and connections may be. happy reading to you in the new year ✨📚
Really enjoyed this! Thank you and I already added all the books, except like 2 or 3 in my TBR long ago from your previous vlogs and wrap-ups, haha, I was really thinking that Human Acts might be you #1 this year also a few months back, the way you were talking about My Friend by Donna Tartt really gave me similar sensation that you might keep it in your top 10. Other than that, all were kind of more or less expected, really adore and love your vlogs, wrap-ups and everything, Nathan! The comfiest space for me to relax and gain critical insights. One thing I would like to add, the commentary you made on how all books are political, how intricately and masterfully you dwelled onto that topic and gave your reasoning for your statement, that really made me genuinely surprised and it was really striking too, to say I really and whole heartedly agree with all you said and you opened up many insights and possible angles for me to consider whilst enlightening me on the topic. As a fellow lover of literature whose passion is reading and engaging critically with texts, I much rather prefer you and your style of taking everything in and how you so beautifully and skillfully deal with everything, how you have this flow and this manner of approach that I adore, than someone who chooses to post a statement without further backing it up or giving any reasoning. I read 18 books this year, my personal best, and these are the top 5: 1. On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong 2. Swimming In The Dark by Thomas Jedrowski 3. Lie With Me by Phillipe Besson 4. The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka 5. Animal Farm by George Orwell Just recently purchased both The Vegetarian and Human Acts by Han Kang and really excited to start them the coming year. Happy Reading!
oh gosh thank you for such an immense comment! books mean a great deal to me, and in such a hot political climate occurring globally, much of my politics and how i stand and move through the world is a toll of time and action that i must participate in! but also!!! i too read to escape! and i do that through art yet try and blend it all in a way that makes me come back to reality. thank you always for taking the time to watch these videos! it truly means a lot and comments and sentiments like this really push me to continue at all! so thank you kindly ✨🙇🏻♂️ and golly !!! these are wonderful picks! love Ocean and CANT WAIT for his new novel coming out next year! i still need to read Besson! perhaps for 2025 😭 wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025!! ✨📚
I need to honour my backlist more in 2025. Much more. I’m hoping to squeeeeeeze in All Fours before the end of the year. I also really want to read The Italy Letters, mostly because of you and the vlog you made. Ooh, I soooo thought Rejection would be your number one, shows what I know. Haha. I do need to read your number one though. Great list. Ps. The ending with the thumbnail. I’m dead. Loved it 😂
DONT NEGLECT THAT BACKLIST!!! i think you’d get a kick out of The Italy Letters! it’s quite a naughty one ;0 and Rejection did come in CLOSE!!! it battled for first place for quite a while, but you’ve got to give thanks to the current climate of the world and korea to really push my numero uno haha thank you king for a wonderful year of videos. can’t wait to see what you cook up for 2025 ! ✨🧑🏼🍳
Really liking your top 10! I also loved the anthropologists and I have the hearing test at home but only read the first 20 pages so far, curious to read more! I was planning on reading Han Kangs the white book, but now I am also curious to read human acts. 😊
thanks for watching! would love to know your thoughts on The Hearing Test! and The White Book is the perfect wintering book ! ❄️ Human Acts though is a MUST! ✨💪🏼 wishing you a good reading year in 2025! 💌💌💌
I read a lot and been doing it for years, and for easier to read books, like Murakami, reading at good pace, while still doing it calmly and being able to imagine and process what i'm reading, i read about 20p./h. For Nietzsche or Freud, for example, it would be less pages/hour. So let's say that for an average of 400p/ book, reading 177 books in a year, to me it would mean 10h of focused reading every single day of the year. You're also creating 2 videos a week, let's say 6h of work per video, adding about 2h extra of work each day... To me that alone would be 12h/day, just reading and making the videos. Could you explain how you did it? I'd love to be able to do it too!
i wish i could see reading as rationed in time like this but i can’t 😭😭😭 it’s also hard to factor all of this because a good number of books this year was poetry! just whatever time i do have outside of my 9-6 (and reading on my lunch break), and commuting too, i just read when i can and i also sleep very little (averaging 5 hours a night). on top of all that, i’m an insane person!!! all of this goes undisciplined as well 🫠 perhaps maybe in the near future i’ll have a video on how to manage it all! thank you for your breakdown though! i always find it so interesting how other people do it!
❤ Parade and The Bluest Eye ❤ I’ve DNF’d Alphabetical Diaries twice, but I will try it again sometime because it’s Sheila Heti. Also DNF’d Human Acts but you have convinced me to pick it up again. Along with a whole bunch of other titles that I have added to my TBR (thank you!). My best of 2024: The Age of Insecurity by Astra Taylor.
i think Heti books are always a matter of timing so it will be in tune and tempo with you at some point! i best believe it! and ahhh yes! i think a global reframing of what has been going on with a second shot at Human Acts will definitely give it a lot more flesh. will definitely take a look at the Taylor book! just added it to my tbr ! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
@@nathansnook Thanks for your response Nathan. I agree that timing (or mood) is everything when it comes to unconventional narratives. Canisia Lubrin’s Code Noir and Jordan Abel’s Empty Spaces both took me a couple of attempts before the time was right for enjoying them. I just read Clarice Lispector for the first time-Agua Viva-a text that can be entered at any point. I believe you are correct that the time will come when Alphabetical Diaries feels like the exact book that I need.
Thank you for your list. Completely agree with your bafflement at powerful men still killing thousands of people to get their way. Its terrible. My favorite books were migratory birds by mariana oliver, enter ghost by isabella hamad and a small place by jamaica kincaid. Hope you have a lovely new year.
thank you for tuning in! it truly is baffling! history continues to repeat itself and i don’t understand why it can’t be changed with a thorough talk. why must weapons of mass destruction take away simple becomings just because negotiations can’t be met ? ahhh i’ve been meaning to get to Enter Ghost! And Kincaid forever ✨🫶🏼 thank you for sharing your favorites ! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 ! ✨📚
Have heard so many good things about Rejection will probably HAVE to get it. Just finished a minor classic called The Dinner by Herman Koch and wish I’d read it five yrs ago when it came out. Be well and Merry Xmas.
i have not heard of The Dinner! i’ll have to add it to the tbr! and love that it’s a reread for you! happy holidays to you and a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
the way you talked about bibliophobbia and esp when you said "I'm always afraid the sentence never coming" it reminded me of one of my favorite poems called "the fear" by Mahmoud Darwish, I couldn't find a translation for it so I'll try to translate it the best I can even though I'm not a translator
"fear has the taste of the magical lotus in
the bigger odyssey. and might the stranger forget
his land and his dog his loyal friend
and his first wife and take up wandering
I'm afraid I'd forget and I'm frightened of the burden of my memory
on the manuscript of tomorrow. there I'm neither
there, nor here. And I'm afraid of
not writing the last line of the poem"
pinning this!!! thank you so much for your translation of this wonderful poem! i always think about the next day, how much hope and wonder i’ll carry into it. the great perhaps, though always full of fear of the unknown, is one so full, also, of anticipation 💫
Wow, beautiful translation. This is why I wish I understood more languages because I know in the original it’s even more stunning. English is so limiting. Thank you for sharing that.
Finding your channel on Christmas Day is truly a gift. Better late than never.
Ho ho ho! 🎅🏼 thanks for tuning in! your presence here matters 💫
Alphabetical Diaries was insane. I never thought a book with that premise would hit me the way it did. Thank you for sharing these
so glad to hear that the Heti made an impact on you!
and ahhh thank you for growing with me through all these little videos 🥹🫶🏼
wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
I’m grateful to have stumbled upon your channel. It feels like a rare find, a quiet corner where taste and discernment reign. Your reading recommendations stand apart, distinct and untouched by the noise of everywhere else. This is exactly what I’ve been searching for. You’ve earned my subscription, and I’m eager to see what comes next.
oh gosh this is too high of a compliment for me to accept but thank you graciously! it’s comments like these that keep me going and inspire me to continue putting out videos. 10,000 thank you’s 🙇🏻✨💐
I think I have discovered your channel roughly a year ago and I still remember the feeling of perfect serendipity I had that day. Now, roughly one year later, I wanted to say thank you for each of the videos you make - they feel like little precious gifts that I get to unwrap at will and can never have enough of.
bahhhh this is the sweetest comment ever tysm for always taking the time to watch them! it truly means a lot! words like these push me to continue doing it when it all feels a bit worthless so thank you a million ✨🫶🏼🥹
its the time of year where wrap up videos on my homepage help me find new booktubers to refresh my rotation
ahhh thank you for taking the time to watch! your presence here matters 💫 i hope you have a wonderful reading year in 2025! 📚🐛
This is the best book review I’ve watched so far! You are veryy genuine and well articulated. Also the colors and font are perfect
ahhh you’re too kind! thank you for taking the time to watch! and YES! peach fuzz is the pantone color of the year haha
wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 📚🐛
Sir you have no idea how happy I am for you to see this video blowing up and your big brain and kind heart getting the appreciation it deserves.
Phenomenal top ten - still waiting for Rejection to be released here, and Human Acts has crept ever so slightly closer to the top of my read-next pile.
i just woke up to all of this and am incredibly surprised myself 😭😭😭 but ty king !!!
cannot WAIT for your list! pls pls PLS get to Human Acts! am very curious to know your thoughts on it! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 good sir ✨📚
first time watching you and i'm already in love with how you share your most memorable/intrigued sentences of the book instead of the book title first! definitely adds the imaginative sense of how the book is gonna b. thanks, and also i immediately interested in no. 8 sentences as it's hit too close to home lol, as a writer who also loves to read other people's work and still finding myself as a person, it's confusing where the role is on and where is off, where's necessarily more dominant over others, well. alas!
you just got a new subscriber😁
i think you’d really like the no8 picks! really made me less scared about writing and reading and just doing more of it! and having fun with it!
thank you for watching! hope you have a wonderful reading and writing year in 2025 💌💌💌
A treat for the holidays ❤ thank you for the amazing insights as per usual. Sending you (all the) love
all the love felt 🫂🫂🫂
happy holidays and a happy new year to you ✨🫶🏼
So glad I came across your channel. This is such a refreshing and inspiring list!
thank you for watching! i hope you have a great reading year in 2025 ✨📚
The Bluest Eye is the only Morrison book that’s stayed with me and I read it before you were born. Interesting list.
quite a claim! curious to know what, which other Morrisons come in second and third for you in terms of staying with you? ✨💌
the hearing test almost made it into my list! the anthropologists, rejection and human acts were already on my 2025 tbr, so i'm happy (and not surprised) to see them here. i also have we do not part as an arc, so i'll probably read that soon as well. i'm curious about the italy letters, bc it's the only book on yr list that i haven't read or already intended to read soon. and as you say, there's a dearth of vietnamese writers in the general booksphere conversation
thanks for bringing us another fabulous year of videos 💖
The Hearing Test was one that fidgeted a lot in placement for my list but i think it captures our spirits so very well - so in tune with different kinds of art speaking to each other and it’s really how i understand everything around me!
would be curious to know your thoughts on The Italy Letters ❣️
and THANK YOU for an incredible year of videos!!! love you forever, dear Sophie ✨💌
I also read The Bluest Eye in 2024, and I felt pretty much exactly the same. So inspired, yet so intimidated. Like I know writing isn't a competition but honestly, what can I possibly add to the pot of human understanding when there are already books like this?
it’s amazing what Morrison created! and with every hook i wonder how it is even possible to come up with my own words. but i think we must continue to add to the pot, no matter the competition, no matter the stakes, no matter the consequences ✨💌
@@nathansnook It's enormously meaningful that you take the time to respond to comments this way. Thank you so much.
@@nickturnbow2948 well, thank you for taking the time to watch the video and leave a comment yourself! it means a great deal. your presence here matters 💫
i’m so excited about this AHHH i love the idea of “important reads” & i’m really looking forward to reading the italy letters hopefully next month 😊 also had a year of quite a few rereads & it’s been fun!!! thank you for this lil holiday present 🫶🏼
to more important reads in 2925!!! ✨📚
and EEP! would love to know your thoughts on The Italy Letters! so so wonderful to have met you this year! and to many more hangouts in the new year ✨🫶🏼
This is my first time watching your videos and its not gonna be last , so glad I found your channel . I don't even remember the last time I watched the whole video in one sitting ; watching someone passionately talking about books , reading & writing feels amazing .
Lots of love from India ❤
ahhh thank you so much for tuning in! your presence here matters 💫
wishing you a great reading year in 2025! ✨📚
So lovely hearing people talk about what they love. This was such a joy! I can’t wait for more book thoughts in the new year. Hope you’re feeling better! Take care! (Time to check out your letterboxd byeeee)
thank you so much for watching ! your presence here matters 💫
This video is really good…I’m just finding you today!! Thank you for this! I love listening to you express yourself in this video 🥰
ahhh thank you for taking the time to watch this video! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 :)
I was also quite moved by Human Acts. The rare impulse to read it again as soon as I finished, just so I could take in all the essence of the technique in the writing, and the stylistic intentions, AND to learn about a democratic uprising of which I was not aware.
i also had this impulse but i wanted the work to sit with me. there was a haunting presence to the book as an aftertaste that just felt necessary to sit with as i reflected upon the political climate of the world. i have to give it another go to look at the technicalities of how she did it! much like Mrs. Dalloway, the multi-narrative structure of the book is intriguing! 🧐
@ I read it just before the recent political declaration of martial law. Needless to say, it was a remarkable coincidence. I borrowed the book from the library, so I did as you, let the book reverberate and linger without an immediate reread. I agree about the multi-narrative. Haunting is the perfect descriptive.
Nice selection. I only got through 4 this year. 177 is very admirable.
always quality over quantity! thank you for staying literate and reading regardless! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
Always a delight, thank you for sharing and being you.
thank you kindly! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
LOVE that you add quotes! Love to preview writing style before committing
reasons why i love reading the first few lines of a book before i bring it home!
New to your channel and loved your reviews. Some have been on my list and some i hadn’t heard of. Happy reading in the new year! 🎉
thank you so much for tuning in! wishing you a wonderful reading year ! ✨📚
I'm so glad I found your channel. This is an curated, nuanced, and diverse list that have introduced me to so many new authors to check out. You are truly a gift!
Looking forward to more of your content
excited for you to check out these works! thanks for tuning in! your presence here matters 💫
thumbnail was a big slay
choosing the right one will always be a struggle 😭
I just discovered your channel and really, what a great way to start the year!
thanks for being here! your presence matters ✨💌
I picked up Alphabetical Diaries as well as The Hearing Test because of you this year and all I have to say is THANK YOU !!! (especially for the Heti, it really stuck with me) for talking about books so passionately, your candidness, your earnestness, it is all very appreciated
still niche and want to stay that way tbh !!! 😭 but of course! thank you always for taking the time to write wonderful comments and your recs as well! your engagement is valued! your presence here truly matters 💫
Whoa Rejection sounds super compelling, top of my list for January
would love to know your thoughts on it when you end up getting to it!
Girl, 177 books? Oh lordi Lordi Lordi!
we might have gone overboard this year.. 🤦🏻♂️
found this video right when i needed it, feeling calm and inspired to read - thank you
thanks for taking the time to watch! i hope you have a wonderful reading year in 2025 :)
Thank you for sharing this list! I’m adding The Italy Letters to my TBR. I have lived in the Vegas Valley for about a year now and this one sounds very intriguing.
oh wow! yes! i think The Italy Letters would be interesting for you! we honestly need more vegas lit !!!
@ We totally need more Vegas lit! Btw, you mentioned the Vietnamese food here. And I love it! I just went to Pho Kim Long the other day!
@ omg jealous!!! i want vietnamese food rn 😭😭😭
@ Same!!! 😭🍲
Also turned 30 this year and can’t wait to read The Anthropologists (and likely all the other books I haven’t heard of)
please do!!! made me less scared of my 30s to be honest !!!
I continue to be amazed by how so eloquent you are when talking about books you love 🤩
here are my top reads of the year:
- Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (i know it didn’t do it for you but i was sucked into her world, i never read anything quite like it)
- Down the Drain by Julia Fox (i am in love with the grit, grime and all the small things that glimmer in this dark memoir)
- Honourable mentions: The Shards by Bret Easton Ellison (man could've seriously cut down the length but i also wanted to stay in that world for a while); Assembly by Natasha Brown (a must read imo, it might or might not have kick started my burnout but for all the right reasons, i saw myself in the protagonist); Upstreams: Collected Essays by Mary Oliver (this book is so calmly intelligent, it feels like a cleansing breath in this crazy world)
oops this is a very long comment 🤭 anyways, happy holidays Nathan 💖
different strokes for different folks! i’m so glad when books work well for others! it is quite a world to be sucked into! i’m just patiently waiting for the netflix adaptation 😭😭😭
also LOVED the Julia Fox memoir! it would’ve made my top list for memoir but Bibliophobia swept in 😮💨
eep! i still have yet to do Mary Oliver! perhaps for 2025!
happy holidays to you too! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨💪🏼
truuue!! always interesting to see what people liked and disliked about books I read, it gives you a more well-rounded view of the work I think :) also very excited for the netflix show tbh 🤩 I had such a vivid picture in my head when reading it, I wonder how it will compare!
I'm really curious about bibliophilia, it's defo on my 2025 tbr 🫡
also looking forward to your thoughts on Mary Oliver when you get to it!!
thanks Nathan!!✨️✨️ (also I'm so happy to see this video/your channel get the recognition it deserves!! best bookish content out there, you may quote me on that)
such an impeccable lineup 🥰 love the quotes you chose for each book. can’t wait to get to bibliophobia/the bluest eye, the anthropologists, and the italy letters!! so excited to see what 2025 brings for you bb 🫶🏻
yes yes tuff up that tbr for 2025!!! thanks for giving us a year of wonderful videos!!! love ya, Cass!
THAT HUGE SOYA SAUCE THINGY AAHHHHH I LOVE IT!!!!!
hehe it’s a light!! 🐟✨💡
I loved hearing you talk about Letters. I can’t wait for my library to get Bibliophilia in and Parade. What an enhanced experience this book was for me this year as a result of our read a long. It really was. More Morrison - for me in 2025. Thank you for the reminder. 👏. Human Acts is on the top of my list of books for ‘25. I want to experience this writer. Happiest of New Years, my friend.
thank you so much for our reading of Parade! it was such a joy in tackling such a tough text! and would love to know your thoughts on Han Kang! a very interesting writer for our times! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
Also a recommendation, and my favourite book of 2025 was, 'A language of limbs' by Dylin Hardcastle. Not sure if it got much press outside of Australia, but is centred around the queer community in the 70s/80s in Sydney, a parallel lives type of story. Poetic with lines that will hit you out of nowhere. Has stuck with my since the beginning of the year.
oh!!! i have this as an e-arc! will probably get to it in the coming months as the US pub date is May 27th of 2025! thank you for mentioning it! i’m excited to get to it now!
Finally finished 'The Little Friend' after your recommendation earlier in the year. Can't believe it sat on my shelf for 4 years. The ambience that Tartt is able to create in this book is so visceral and I found myself underlining so many lines. It's made me curious to see what other hidden gems have been sitting on my shelf this whole time!
don’t you just love that? honor the backlist! and don’t let those books collect so much dust! it’s amazing what treasures have been hiding in plain sight like this. so glad you finally got to it! i think it’s her most visceral book! i felt The Goldfinch had that same feeling, but only for the beginning, but the atmosphere of The Little Friend remained throughout, even in the fullest moments, i could feel the stretch of sun lull me into a dazed fatigue -0-
that quote from The Anthropologists was 🤯 i also turned 30 this year - i am going to put this on my short list.
some great recommendations here, some books i hadn't heard of. i also appreciate your thoughtful commentary on each (including in your reading wrap-ups), and it blows my mind that you can read so quickly and still have such great commentary on each haha. have a great 2025!!
edit: i also wanted to recommend A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan if you haven't gotten around to it yet! i think you would enjoy it
ahhh thank you so much for tuning in! it was difficult to wind down 177 books to a mere 10, and to many more in 2025! wishing you a wonderful reading year! ✨📚
and ahhh i’ve been meaning to read the Egan ever since middle school 😭😭😭 will try to get to it! ✨💪🏼
LOVED this video, especially the quotes. You actually have made me want to read. P.s. your spotify playlists are a slay.
ahhh thanks for taking the time to watch and listen to everything 😭😭😭 truly means a lot! would love to know what you pick up as your first read of the year! ✨📚
I'm glad I found your channel through this video! You have great taste in books and I love how you discuss them. All the best in 2025!
thank you so much for watching! also wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 ✨📚
I literally finished The Anthropologists on the last day of the year and still processing it, but it's interesting to see it ending up on you and Alex's list.
ahhhh what a moment! would love to hear your thoughts on it 💗
all of these (that were not already there) were added to my goodreads 'want to read' list.
eep! so exited for you to get to these titles! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! 📚🐛
Intro ate, instant sub, love your energy 😤🔥
✨🙇🏻♂️ thanks for tuning in! your presence here matters 💫
Wow, 177 is a remarkable number of books. I'll check out the books - going to check out the book by Ayşegül Savaş. My reading list for 2025 gets longer and longer...
I can relate to your sentiment about giving recommendations. I would struggle with that.
it’s so hard!!! especially to complete strangers! wishing you a strong reading year in 2025! the Savaş is wonderful! 💫
Thank you for sharing this and for all the thoughtfulness
thank you for taking the time to watch this video! your presence here matters 💫
Instant fan! Donna Tartt and Han Kang? I claim you.
ahhh thanks for watching! we stan both! Hope you have a wonderful reading year in 2025 ✨📚
I CANNOT believe you narrowed down 10 books from 177. I don’t know how you did it but you did!
I was not able to get to Alphabetical Diaries this year but I certainly plan to in 2025. Han Kang is also on my list, absolutely.
I’m now also interested in Bibliophobia and Rejection!
a major struggle tbh!!! but i am trying to read everything out there in the world !!!
pls pls PLS do Han Kang! would love to know your thoughts on her!
can’t wait to see what you cook up in 2025! hopefully more vlogs and notes on writing! much love to ya love 💗
❤️❤️❤️
every year i read a toni morrison book and it changes my life (sula 2023, song of solomon 2024). i have so many options, but you reminded me that i have to go back to the beginning lol
i feel absolutely the same way!!! there's a great humanity to her work that makes me love life a lot more. definitely do give The Bluest Eye a shot!
wow this was such an amazing walkthrough, adding these to my tbr. looking forward to your future vids - just subscribed!
so glad you enjoyed it! and thanks for being here! your presence here matters 💫
A minute in and already obsessed with you. Happy new year! Thanks for sharing 🫶🏽
thanks for tuning in ! your presence here matters 💫
hope you have a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
I will definitely read the Italy Letters. I know so little about Vietnamese culture. If you have any other recs on the subject let me know. I already have a hold on Rejection whenever it gets to my library.
i think it captures the spirit of being Vietnamese very well, especially within the mother-daughter relationship. can’t wait for you to get to Rejection!!! ✨💪🏼
just found your channel. the intro was enough to get me to sub 😂
you are very well spoken, reminiscent of Ocean Vuong a bit. Thank you for this list, very interesting!
oh gosh the highest compliment! thank you so much! thanks for tuning in! wishing you a good reading year in 2025 ! ✨📚
what a beautiful description of The Anthropolgists :") sending you lots of xo's, Nathan
xo’s felt!! 🫂🫂🫂
wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 bb !!! ✨📚
I love that you preface each book with a quote! I also have the anthropologists as a quiet fav this yr. Wait do u have the sunnys toni morrison evangelist hat?? Saranghae 😙
Hi Yena! Thanks for recommending Nathan. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!
@@jjcabello1who wouldn’t!! ❤
ahhh love the booktube community 🥹🫶🏼
hooray for quiet favs!!! 💕
and i do have the hat!!! needs more wear out tbh !!!
Bish when you said “art is fungal”. I’ve never hit subscribe faster.
it truly is in how it spreads into our heads and daily living! time is spatial and art is fungal ! 🦠💚
177? What allows you to freeze time like that?
being off my phone !!! i had such a gnarly screen time addiction i just wanted to fix it and i think i went overboard..lol 🫠
@ good for you!!!!!
The Little Friend is the only Tartt I’ve ever read! Now I’ll be rereading. ✨
i find this to be intriguing as i feel most people start off with the others! i would be curious to know what you think of her other books, but a reread is always nice! happy reading in 2025! ✨📚
Ive only started following you around june but it has been such a wonderful time on your channel
ahhh thank you so much for being part of the space! it truly means a lot! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 ✨📚
Okay maybe commenting in real time wasn’t the best call bc now I know you ARE a writer and it makes sense why your narrative tone is soooo compelling
haha no worries at all! love the live-commenting !
omg omg i read "human acts" in the last week of Novemeber and when I saw news about South Korea , it gave me chills . And you are so right about democracy is so important to civilians there bcuz I heard it's their 3rd president in the month .
About "Human acts" I have to say that this book is in my top three reads of the year , she TOTALLY deserved that Noble prize !
right ?! i can’t believe a book written years ago still speaks to so much truth now as the year is ending. much reflection and the way wars are still waged now have gave me a lot of thought in how i placed Human Acts in this list!
have you read any other of Han Kang’s work?
@@nathansnook sadly i am late in it :( I remember BTS Namjoon recomending several authors in his old Vlives , so this year I thought of picking few korean authors from it .
i read Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 "by
Cho Nam-joo during late September and next was Han kang's "human acts" .
these two books are my highest reads of the year :) will read other works of these authors in upcoming months bcuz they actually made me addicted (in a good way) to Korean literature
Idk Nathan, who am I? *spirals in existentialism* I SOO so so agree with you on Rejection. A must read! And Kang is absolutely on the tippy top of the list for 2025. Such a great list boo! Grateful for you! Happy almost new year!
it’s a loaded question i get it 😭😭😭 yes yes yes would love to know your thoughts on Han Kang!
and wishing you a wonderful reading year for 2025! ✨📚
I hate picking favourites, but if I had to:
1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
2. The Unicorn from the Stars & Other Plays by W. B. Yeats
3. The Letters of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath
4. Matilda by Mary Shelley
5. Poor Things by Alasdair Gray (much better than the film, which frankly butchered the story)
favorites are SO HARD! and so glad to hear you enjoyed Poor Things as a novel versus the film. still need to read it!
and i think with your Plath pick, I’m gonna pick up Colossus real soon!
wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 ✨📚
@@nathansnook Plath is so enriching! And the same good wishes to you! :)
Christmas came early! A Nate special 👌👌👌
just for you 🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼 wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 good sir! ✨📚
Yes to Parade, Alphabetical Diaries and The Bluest Eye. I read Morrison for the first time this year and will definitely be reading many more of her works in the coming year.
oh wow! so happy you got to Morrison this year! which Morrison did you read? ✨💌
I've read 3 books this year and this is my TOP 10.
always quality over quantity! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 !! ✨📚
Your intro music sounds so much like the guardians theme from breath of the wild and every time I open one of your videos I get a little tiny panic attack thinking a guardian has a laser on me😭
It's "M.A.Y. in the Backyard" by Ryuichi Sakamoto, featured on the soundtrack of Call Me by Your Name
hahah omg i totally didn’t make this connection but totally hear it now 😭😭😭
and yes! thank you for listing this!
first time viewing your channel but i have to say i enjoyed the list & your views. i especially liked that you had a quote for each -- bravo! thanks for sharing & for doing the fieldwork, 177 books in a year is wild. i look forward to watching more of your content.
😻😻😻😻😻 5/5
thanks for tuning in! your presence here matters 💫
wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
i swear i wrote a comment here, but well i fear it's been lost in the metaverse haha! but i found your channel like the day before yesterday and i absolutely LOVE the way you talk! your words are so eloquent and the points of the books really get across wonderfully, and i look forward to dissecting those same books some time as well! :) a lot of them are on my tbr (which, i fear, is the depth of the mariana trench) happy new year and i hope you have an equally, if not more, awesome reading year in '25!
ahhh thank you for taking the time to watch and re-comment on this video!
i say crack down on that tbr for 2025!!! wishing you a wonderful reading year in the new year 📚 🐛
merry christmas, dear nathan 🎄
thank you so much! hope you have a wholesome christmas ✨🎅🏼
A bit late but will always be seated for my darling Nate. Happy New Year
happy new year to you, Jon! wishing you a wonderful year of reading in 2025! ✨🙌🏼
amazing list nathan 👏🏼 i’m planning to read rejection in the new year!! like right in january!! excited to see what it’s all about. also human acts is also high on my list for 2025. & you’ve officially put the italy letters on my radar. hope you have a happy new yr!!
eep! can’t wait for you to get to these priority reads!!! happy holidays and a happy new year to you! so lovely to have gotten to know you more through books and vlogs this year! and to plenty more in 2025 ✨🥂
The Hearing Test is an amazing read. Phenomenal writer.
right?? such a beautiful scope on so many forms of art and how singular it is to the individual ✨💛
The concerning part is, as much as you said 'the now' some people will never get it. These definitely aren't my typical reads but the way you spoke about them has me desiring to add a few to my list.
history truly repeats itself! i want it to repeat less with ongoing conversations and connections. i hope to see more of it in 2025, no matter how small the conversations and connections may be.
happy reading to you in the new year ✨📚
Brilliant Nathan! You have perfect taste! I took so much from this, thank you! Happy Holidays❤
thanks for tuning in! and happy holidays to you and a happy new year 💫
loved hearing about all of your favorites!! also human acts is def my favorite han kang I've read it.
it’s the perfect Han Kang!!! i forget but have you done The Vegetarian??
@@nathansnook yes! i have! it was my first han kang!
I just purchased Rejection a couple weeks ago so I’m so glad to hear it’s so good!
ahhh so excited for you to get to it!!! would love to know your thoughts :)
So happy you have The Italy Letters :’)
✨🫶🏼
I've been eagerly waiting for this!
the wait is over! thanks for tuning in ✨💌
Human Acts was my nr1 book of 2024 too ❤
it’s one that holds a lot of worry and truth for what is going on in the world right now. thank you for reading it ✨🙌🏼
coming through w great recommendations as always, thx for sharing
always got you! thank you for watching ✨🫶🏼
Awesome No.1 pick sir!! Gotta add the others to the TBR ❤❤
you pushed me with your Han Kang video! and i can’t wait to get to The Vegetarian! thank you for a year of videos king! ✨📚
the soy sauce fish lamp is a dream and so is your channel ! new subscriber here 🤍
it’s my fav light! and thanks for being here! your presence here matters ✨💛
Thank you for all your wonderful videos in 2025!
of course! thanks for always watching! ✨🫶🏼
Really enjoyed this! Thank you and I already added all the books, except like 2 or 3 in my TBR long ago from your previous vlogs and wrap-ups, haha, I was really thinking that Human Acts might be you #1 this year also a few months back, the way you were talking about My Friend by Donna Tartt really gave me similar sensation that you might keep it in your top 10. Other than that, all were kind of more or less expected, really adore and love your vlogs, wrap-ups and everything, Nathan! The comfiest space for me to relax and gain critical insights. One thing I would like to add, the commentary you made on how all books are political, how intricately and masterfully you dwelled onto that topic and gave your reasoning for your statement, that really made me genuinely surprised and it was really striking too, to say I really and whole heartedly agree with all you said and you opened up many insights and possible angles for me to consider whilst enlightening me on the topic. As a fellow lover of literature whose passion is reading and engaging critically with texts, I much rather prefer you and your style of taking everything in and how you so beautifully and skillfully deal with everything, how you have this flow and this manner of approach that I adore, than someone who chooses to post a statement without further backing it up or giving any reasoning.
I read 18 books this year, my personal best, and these are the top 5:
1. On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
2. Swimming In The Dark by Thomas Jedrowski
3. Lie With Me by Phillipe Besson
4. The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
5. Animal Farm by George Orwell
Just recently purchased both The Vegetarian and Human Acts by Han Kang and really excited to start them the coming year. Happy Reading!
oh gosh thank you for such an immense comment! books mean a great deal to me, and in such a hot political climate occurring globally, much of my politics and how i stand and move through the world is a toll of time and action that i must participate in! but also!!! i too read to escape! and i do that through art yet try and blend it all in a way that makes me come back to reality. thank you always for taking the time to watch these videos! it truly means a lot and comments and sentiments like this really push me to continue at all! so thank you kindly ✨🙇🏻♂️
and golly !!! these are wonderful picks! love Ocean and CANT WAIT for his new novel coming out next year! i still need to read Besson! perhaps for 2025 😭
wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025!! ✨📚
What a wonderful list - thank you for sharing your thoughts!
thanks for tuning in! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025!!! ✨📚
I need to honour my backlist more in 2025. Much more. I’m hoping to squeeeeeeze in All Fours before the end of the year. I also really want to read The Italy Letters, mostly because of you and the vlog you made. Ooh, I soooo thought Rejection would be your number one, shows what I know. Haha. I do need to read your number one though. Great list.
Ps. The ending with the thumbnail. I’m dead. Loved it 😂
DONT NEGLECT THAT BACKLIST!!!
i think you’d get a kick out of The Italy Letters! it’s quite a naughty one ;0 and Rejection did come in CLOSE!!! it battled for first place for quite a while, but you’ve got to give thanks to the current climate of the world and korea to really push my numero uno haha
thank you king for a wonderful year of videos. can’t wait to see what you cook up for 2025 ! ✨🧑🏼🍳
most of your recs look very good, thanks
hope you get to some of them! happy reading in 2025! ✨📚
Saint Nook brings gifts early
i said HO HO HO ✨🎅🏼
Really liking your top 10! I also loved the anthropologists and I have the hearing test at home but only read the first 20 pages so far, curious to read more! I was planning on reading Han Kangs the white book, but now I am also curious to read human acts. 😊
thanks for watching! would love to know your thoughts on The Hearing Test! and The White Book is the perfect wintering book ! ❄️ Human Acts though is a MUST! ✨💪🏼 wishing you a good reading year in 2025! 💌💌💌
I read a lot and been doing it for years, and for easier to read books, like Murakami, reading at good pace, while still doing it calmly and being able to imagine and process what i'm reading, i read about 20p./h. For Nietzsche or Freud, for example, it would be less pages/hour. So let's say that for an average of 400p/ book, reading 177 books in a year, to me it would mean 10h of focused reading every single day of the year. You're also creating 2 videos a week, let's say 6h of work per video, adding about 2h extra of work each day... To me that alone would be 12h/day, just reading and making the videos. Could you explain how you did it? I'd love to be able to do it too!
i wish i could see reading as rationed in time like this but i can’t 😭😭😭 it’s also hard to factor all of this because a good number of books this year was poetry!
just whatever time i do have outside of my 9-6 (and reading on my lunch break), and commuting too, i just read when i can and i also sleep very little (averaging 5 hours a night). on top of all that, i’m an insane person!!! all of this goes undisciplined as well 🫠 perhaps maybe in the near future i’ll have a video on how to manage it all! thank you for your breakdown though! i always find it so interesting how other people do it!
Best wishes for what you read I 2025. I hope you get some great stories.
thanks so much! same to you ✨🥂
❤ Parade and The Bluest Eye ❤
I’ve DNF’d Alphabetical Diaries twice, but I will try it again sometime because it’s Sheila Heti. Also DNF’d Human Acts but you have convinced me to pick it up again. Along with a whole bunch of other titles that I have added to my TBR (thank you!). My best of 2024: The Age of Insecurity by Astra Taylor.
i think Heti books are always a matter of timing so it will be in tune and tempo with you at some point! i best believe it!
and ahhh yes! i think a global reframing of what has been going on with a second shot at Human Acts will definitely give it a lot more flesh.
will definitely take a look at the Taylor book! just added it to my tbr !
wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚
@@nathansnook Thanks for your response Nathan. I agree that timing (or mood) is everything when it comes to unconventional narratives. Canisia Lubrin’s Code Noir and Jordan Abel’s Empty Spaces both took me a couple of attempts before the time was right for enjoying them. I just read Clarice Lispector for the first time-Agua Viva-a text that can be entered at any point. I believe you are correct that the time will come when Alphabetical Diaries feels like the exact book that I need.
Thank you for your list. Completely agree with your bafflement at powerful men still killing thousands of people to get their way. Its terrible.
My favorite books were migratory birds by mariana oliver, enter ghost by isabella hamad and a small place by jamaica kincaid. Hope you have a lovely new year.
thank you for tuning in! it truly is baffling! history continues to repeat itself and i don’t understand why it can’t be changed with a thorough talk. why must weapons of mass destruction take away simple becomings just because negotiations can’t be met ?
ahhh i’ve been meaning to get to Enter Ghost! And Kincaid forever ✨🫶🏼 thank you for sharing your favorites ! wishing you a wonderful reading year in 2025 ! ✨📚
I'm so intrigued by this list!
i hope you get to read some of these titles off this list! 📚🐛
You are hilarious - instant subscribe! And thank you for articulating so humanely the absurdity of current wars. Warm wishes from Kyiv ❤
i stand with ukraine!!! ✊🏼🇺🇦 sending you warm wishes and wholesome moments as we tidy up these last few days of 2024 ✨💌
Loved this!
thanks for tuning in! your presence here matters 💫
reassured I'm not the only one who thoroughly enjoyed the little friend.
so glad someone else enjoys it as much as i do ! is it your favorite Donna Tartt? :)
@@nathansnook the secret history is haughtily taunting me from my TBR, but I preferred the little friend to the goldfinch.
Have heard so many good things about Rejection will probably HAVE to get it. Just finished a minor classic called The Dinner by Herman Koch and wish I’d read it five yrs ago when it came out. Be well and Merry Xmas.
i have not heard of The Dinner! i’ll have to add it to the tbr! and love that it’s a reread for you!
happy holidays to you and a wonderful reading year in 2025! ✨📚