he moves with a clumsy boyancy,tumbling over his feet and talking all the while as he goes. His thoughts,as he says himself, "so throng to get abroad they over-run each other in the crowd."
The Old Curiosity shop is an abysmal work of sentimental claptrap. Bleak House, on the other hand, is a truly great novel. Please don’t send the Spivey Police after me.
Just so you know I subscribed early, before you became famous. I fully expect to be spared your secret police ever smashing down my front door once you conquer the world. It would be an absolute scan-dahl otherwise.
You and your family have nothing to fear. In fact, I even had you penciled in for a seat on my interior legislative cabinet. That's only if you turn out to be a loyal ally and apparatchik!
I grew up obsessed with Penguin black covers-just the site of one drove me crazy with desire. But I’m into more Oxford Classics now-I think they’re covers are more beautiful and they tend to be less costly.
"Another book by Leo Tolstoy: one of the greatest in all the languages of the world, War and Peace. Not only the greatest but also the most voluminous...thousands of pages. I don’t know that anybody reads such books except myself. They are so big, so vast, they make you afraid. But Tolstoy’s book has to be vast, it is not his fault. War and Peace is the whole history of human consciousness - the whole history; it cannot be written on a few pages. Yes, it is difficult to read thousands of pages, but if one can one will be transported to another world. One will know the taste of something classic. Yes, it is a classic. Nobody is more worthy of a Nobel Prize than Leo Tolstoy. His creativity is immense, he was unsurpassed by anyone. He was nominated, but refused by the committee because of his unorthodox stories on Christianity. The Prize committee opens its records every fifty years. When records were opened in 1950, researchers rushed to see whose names were nominated and cancelled and for what reason. Leo Tolstoy was nominated, but never given the prize as he is not an orthodox Christian. Tolstoy is one of Russia’s wisest men of the 20th century and his ideas on non-violence deeply influenced Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology. Mahatma Gandhi declared three persons his master. The first was Leo Tolstoy, the second was Henry Thoreau, and the third was Emerson. Once Leo Tolstoy was asked - How many experiences did you have of divine ecstasy in your life? Tolstoy started crying. He replied - Not more than 7 in my life of 70 years, but I am grateful for those 7 moments and miserable too. In those moments it was evident that is could have been the flavor of my whole life but that didn’t happen. Those moments came and went on their own. But I am still grateful to God that even without any conscious effort on my part, once in a while He has been knocking at my doors."
Lovely Video ! I have that copy of Dorian grey and have been meaning to dig into it ! Also planning to get into some Dickens this year. Currently reading the Master and the Margarita to start off 2024 : )!
Coningsby - Benjamin Disraeli Scarlet and Black - Stendhal Waverley - Sir Walter Scott Selected Writings - Thomas Carlyle The Picture of Doria Gray - Oscar Wilde The Egoist - George Meredith War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens The Major Works - Samuel Johnson Iliad & Odyssey - Homer
Hello! Your energy and vocabulary are exhaustive (exhausting?) and delightful, and I am thrilled to have found your channel. I've subscribed with alacrity and am happy to welcome our new literary overlord.
I added a few of your recommendations. I'm currently reading "War and Peace" and I'm enthralled so far. I read "Anna Karenina" and I would say that it would take a huge coup de tête to knock that off of my favorite and best classic and book I have read of all time.
If you found the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation stultifying, perhaps it simply means that you got the very authentic experience of reading Tolstoy)) Because most of my classmates (in russian school) had the same opinion about the original text) I would say what Pevear and Volokhonsky do is take russian sentences and write them in english words (at least that's how it looks). Although this method may be controversial, given that Tolstoy's language is unique and original even for russian literature, it may not be the worst way to translate him.
The Egoist by Meredith has been on my list for a while - I'll keep an eye out for when you discuss it here and see if I have time for it then. Keep up the good work and don't let the confederacy of dunces get to you (having just watched your video covering 'current events').
Oxford world classic’s War and peace translated by Maude but with edited/revisions is the best !! You can read it in 6-8 weeks - a large part of it goes by really fast ! In general i stay away from Pevear and Volokonsky! They translate too literally to the point that it’s clunky and difficult to read. The spirit isn’t there.
I co-read "War & Peace" with my grandson in 2023. I truly read it ...and truly loved it. I found it helpful to compile a list of the main characters with their varying names/titles & their relationship to other characters. I loved the switch back and forth between the Russian aristocracy in Moscow & St. Petersburg (none of whom are likable at the beginning - but be patient!) and the battles. I also found it helpful to read by section with other books read in between, although the momentum carried me directly from Section 2 to Section 3. Enjoy!!
Will these snap crepuscular police raids take the form of War and Peace pop-quizzes in the gloaming? And as early subscribers can we apply to the Joe Spivey Office for a written exemption?
The eloquence of your speech is a joy to listen to. Great recommendations, I will be adding some of these to my classics TBR for sure. Oscar Wilde always makes me marvel at the abilities of the English language when I read him and I remember having a great time with the Portrait of Dorian Gray so it’s definitely worth the reread!
You really should read the 'Anthony Briggs' 2005 translation of War and Peace. [I also have enjoyed the Ann Dunnigan (1968) translation.] The Maude translation is inferior.
Oooo, a beguiling list! yes, of course a q&a! Oooh, the world of War & Peace. I’m sad to be out of that world. Not for long…I’m starting Anna Karenina tomorrow. I may be interested in trying Our Mutual Friend this year because I want to read a Dickens in 2024.
Well surely Our Mutual Friend ought to be our read-along book! I'll be surprised if you don't find Oblonsky the most enticing character of Anna Karenina!
@@JoeSpivey02 , I can't wait to find out (re: Karenina)! As far as our read-a-long, I agree. And... not included in my Classics for '24 video, but there are 2 American classics I'd like to get to this yr...maybe consider reading an American classic sometime this yr...more on that later...🙂
I'm also planning on reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in 2024, so I'll be interested in seeing what you think of it. Congratulations on 1,000 subscribers!
I loved it. I read it this year. It was an easy read with rich writing, but be prepared to be pissed off😂 the misogyny 😡but the writing is undeniably beautiful.
Gosh, you are a real speed talker ! Are you also a speed reader ? I am English and find it that it is usually our cousins across the pond who talk fast 😅 Happy New Year from Cheshire.
Picture of Dorian Gray, War and Peace (I'd like to find the audio by Jonathan Firth...the younger, better looking and better actor bother of Colin), currently reading A Christmas Carol because I suddenly (at 77) realized that I've a collection of almost every movie including Black Adder but NEVER read the book. However, I have read the others and Dickens' books usually sound the way they do because they were serials and he was swayed by public opinion and word count, even he regretted he left Dodger being sent down. I, finally, read Black Beauty (but still love Mark Lester's movie turn) and am currently set to read Beauty and the Beast. I must say, that there is a lot of confusion over Fan's child in A Christmas Carol. Seems a lot of movies say Scrooge's sister had a daughter but she did, in fact, have a son. And Scrooge was DRESSED, not in a nightgown and cap, during the ghosts' visits. Then, there is 'trying' to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I have found that Dover publication is the best and, as a plus, sounds like Shakespeare wrote it. Yes, I love reading Olde Wobblesword and proud of it.
Picture of Dorian Gray is a must-read, though I personally prefer the "uncensored" edition which was his own original version of the story before it was cut for magazine publication (the final novel version being an expansion of that rather than the original). As far as War and Peace goes, I want to read it mainly because I don't want to say it defeated me. I've made two attempts on it, most recently in 1999 and finished neither; first with the old Penguin edition by Rosemary Edmonds and second the Wordsworth edition you show. Second time round I made even less headway than I did on the first go. I am determined that one day I *will* finish it (though this may not be the year that I do it; if I could make it all the way through Ulysses, W&P should hold no comparable terrors apart from the length. Translation is a vexed issue, depending on taste. I'm guessing that's the Samuel Butler translation of Homer. Seems a slightly small book to contain both Iliad and Odyssey, though.
I absolutely hated Dickens as a child and young adult, but have found some worth reading as an adult and now wish to read one book by him each year. LOVED Hard Times A Christmas Carol HATED Great Expectations and so many others I began I quit for being bored of them, but can't remember which ones.
Quite candidly, instead of reading War and Peace myself, I would almost prefer you describe the preface more through the eyes of this windswept campy cartoon lady! I suppose proving how one should not judge a book by its ridiculous cover. Wordsworth might not approve of his name on this marketing scheme. Or it could have been bring your daughter to work day and allow them artistic freedom? I enjoy your sense of humor! Refreshing!
I read Disraeli's Tancred a few years ago and didn't love it--but I certainly would like to have even a mediocre novelist at the head of government these day.
@@JoeSpivey02 I love your energy, but you talk too fast, I feel like I'm at work, where my boss dictates what I need to do :) At 0.75 I receive same message, but in a more relaxed way ;)
The Maude translation of War and Peace works but obviously with some stilted early 20th Century English. I listened to the audiobook with that translation last year but separately read the Anthony Briggs translation from 2005. The Briggs translation is very readable and translated into modern English. I think that would be an easier read throughout.
I’m doing war and peace in my Bookclub and I like Maude, then again I’ve read it using this translation several times over the years, so used to it. Whatever you do, have a printed out list of characters to refer to since characters have several names they are referred to by eg first, last, nickname.
I definitely agree re list of characters. I had a list of characters tab open on my desktop internet browser for the first 300 pages until I had them all memorized.@@Scottlp2
That's actually a fun list. Just found this video recommended to me lol From this list I read only War and Peace, which took me five months to read (finished early December) and yeah, I don't usually take that long to read a book, but I had with this one. I confess I wish I could have liked it me more even though I recognize its value in the literary world so I'm definitely excited to watch your opinions on it. I read the same edition you got, the Wordsworth Classics, and I gotta say the translation is amazing. It flows really well.
I typically fast forward past intros, but you're hilarious!😂😂so glad I found your channel. Seems we have the same taste in media. My Q&A request is if a film adaptation is released for a novel, must you read the book before seeing the movie?
Congratulations on reaching a thousand Joe! Planning on rereading Our Mutual Friend this year and have Conningsby loitering on my iPad somewhere so look forward to seeing what you think 🤔
Have you read anything by Thomas Brookside? He’s done two of the more amazing pastiches I’ve read in some time. De Bello Lemures is allegedly a recent recovered Latin manuscript with footnotes and all, a letter from the commander of Roman forces in Brittany to Emperor Commodus about the Romans’ fight against an unleashed zombie horde. The Most Extreme Crueltie and Revenge of Shylock of Venice: Born a Jew But a Christian by the Mercy of the Doge and Antonio the Merchant is a sequel to The Merchant of Venice,min which a mysterious figure grants Shylock vast supernatural power and urges him to seek revenge. It feels like a style that Umberto Eco somehow failed to write.
I love Scott, unfashionably, but who cares about fashion? Waverley is excellent, but I absolutely love The Antiquarian. A nice list altogether. War and Peace is a great favourite. I have read it every 2 or 3 years for decades. I totally agree about Pevear and Volkhonshy, they are overhyped and their Brothers Karamazov is lousy, despite a loads of endorsements on here.
Happy to be free from your future secret police raid 😂 9:28 had me laugh out loud, thanks for the humor going into the nw year. I'm also interested in reading the picture of dorian gray...i remember starting it years ago but then i fell off reading it. very atmospheric and grear characterization, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.
Congratulations on reaching 1k+ subscribers! 👏🏻 Your channel will only continue to grow I'm sure and very soon I'll be saying "ah, I knew him when..." 🤓 War and Peace is on my shelf, unread; I have the Pevear version which was a total _cover buy._ 🙄
Several "book" yt channels have popped into my feed last few days. So i heard upteen recommended lists. What is it with you Brits TOTALLY ignoring a top 10 19th century book....."Moby Dick"? Really should read that!
Re Waverley: the Jacobite Rebellion was defeated in 1745 at the Battle of Culloden. The Battle of Bannockburn was in 1314, some time earlier. Oscar Wilde was part of the aesthetic movement in the late 19th century. I love Dorian Gray for the atmosphere he creates.
I tried to read war and peace but only got a little over 100 pages into it. I think it might have been the translation. It was translated by Ann Dunnigan. I am gonna see about a different one.
Happy New Year, and congratulations on 1K subscribers! Always enjoy your videos^^ I'll be making my first attempt at Jane Austin in 2024, but now I have to add Waverly to my list as well and you've reminded me to get to Homer's work✍ Might also cave and try The Picture of Dorian Gray, it's so well-known and I want to know what for👀
Thanks so much! Ditto for me with your videos! Oh you’ll love ANYTHING that Austen put to paper. Of course you have to start with Pride and Prejudice in my opinion.
@@JoeSpivey02 In San Antonio, next to the Alamo, is a hotel called the Menger. One of its claims to fame is that Oscar Wilde stayed there. And, of course, the bar where he drank there is still open, too.
I was looking for your review of Great Expectations but couldn't find it. I'm really struggling through it. I enjoyed many of Dickens other books but I'm half way through GE and want to DNF it. Did you prefer it to his others that you've read?
i highly recommend adding something by Toni Morrison to you reading list this year. Beloved, Sula, or Song of Solomon. She’s one of the greatest authors who ever lived, and she is in fact punished by penguin as well
You should host a readalong in 2024. Either have your audience vote or you can flex your dictatorial powers and force a book of your choice upon us.
In which case I might find myself putting it to a vote. How hideously democratic!
This feels very old youtube and thats cool
he moves with a clumsy boyancy,tumbling over his feet and talking all the while as he goes. His thoughts,as he says himself,
"so throng to get abroad they over-run each other in the crowd."
The Old Curiosity shop is an abysmal work of sentimental claptrap. Bleak House, on the other hand, is a truly great novel.
Please don’t send the Spivey Police after me.
Just so you know I subscribed early, before you became famous. I fully expect to be spared your secret police ever smashing down my front door once you conquer the world. It would be an absolute scan-dahl otherwise.
You and your family have nothing to fear. In fact, I even had you penciled in for a seat on my interior legislative cabinet. That's only if you turn out to be a loyal ally and apparatchik!
And I’m here thanks to Michael’s recommendation. This may or may not be to his credit. :)
I grew up obsessed with Penguin black covers-just the site of one drove me crazy with desire. But I’m into more Oxford Classics now-I think they’re covers are more beautiful and they tend to be less costly.
You in politics? The way you speak and the amount of words 😮😮😮 you should be in politics
I shall aim to be more than a mere footnote in the biographies of the greats 😂
I subscribed please don't hurt my family
"Another book by Leo Tolstoy: one of the greatest in all the languages of the world, War and Peace. Not only the greatest but also the most voluminous...thousands of pages. I don’t know that anybody reads such books except myself. They are so big, so vast, they make you afraid.
But Tolstoy’s book has to be vast, it is not his fault. War and Peace is the whole history of human consciousness - the whole history; it cannot be written on a few pages. Yes, it is difficult to read thousands of pages, but if one can one will be transported to another world. One will know the taste of something classic. Yes, it is a classic.
Nobody is more worthy of a Nobel Prize than Leo Tolstoy. His creativity is immense, he was unsurpassed by anyone. He was nominated, but refused by the committee because of his unorthodox stories on Christianity. The Prize committee opens its records every fifty years. When records were opened in 1950, researchers rushed to see whose names were nominated and cancelled and for what reason. Leo Tolstoy was nominated, but never given the prize as he is not an orthodox Christian.
Tolstoy is one of Russia’s wisest men of the 20th century and his ideas on non-violence deeply influenced Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology. Mahatma Gandhi declared three persons his master. The first was Leo Tolstoy, the second was Henry Thoreau, and the third was Emerson.
Once Leo Tolstoy was asked - How many experiences did you have of divine ecstasy in your life? Tolstoy started crying. He replied - Not more than 7 in my life of 70 years, but I am grateful for those 7 moments and miserable too. In those moments it was evident that is could have been the flavor of my whole life but that didn’t happen. Those moments came and went on their own. But I am still grateful to God that even without any conscious effort on my part, once in a while He has been knocking at my doors."
Gosh I’m so glad I came across your channel, you’re a breath of fresh air! Thanks for all the recommendations
First time viewer. Hilarious! Have you ever considered stand up? LOL
I wouldn’t want to sully an already damaged industry! 😂
The cerebellum would not help you in remembering anything....hereth speaketh a medic !
Honestly, I am serious.
Lovely Video ! I have that copy of Dorian grey and have been meaning to dig into it ! Also planning to get into some Dickens this year. Currently reading the Master and the Margarita to start off 2024 : )!
❤ Dickens DOMBEY and SON was a truly magnificent story. ❤
Coningsby - Benjamin Disraeli
Scarlet and Black - Stendhal
Waverley - Sir Walter Scott
Selected Writings - Thomas Carlyle
The Picture of Doria Gray - Oscar Wilde
The Egoist - George Meredith
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens
The Major Works - Samuel Johnson
Iliad & Odyssey - Homer
If ADHD was a person....it would envy Mr. Spivey here
Agreed! He speaks so fast he makes me weary. 😳
The UA-cam algorithm is with you. Just have discovered you. I read War and Peace, took me 9 months to read. Hi from Australia
What a marvellously witty intro!! Such a great belated Christmas present coming across you. Have a great year
Hello! Your energy and vocabulary are exhaustive (exhausting?) and delightful, and I am thrilled to have found your channel. I've subscribed with alacrity and am happy to welcome our new literary overlord.
I added a few of your recommendations. I'm currently reading "War and Peace" and I'm enthralled so far. I read "Anna Karenina" and I would say that it would take a huge coup de tête to knock that off of my favorite and best classic and book I have read of all time.
I have read War and Peace, I'm a geeky wargamer which I felt helped my ease of reading this tome. It truly is brilliant.
Just came across your channel. I am now thrilled to watch your reviews. It looks like you have good taste in literature.
Your energy is so addictive
If you found the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation stultifying, perhaps it simply means that you got the very authentic experience of reading Tolstoy)) Because most of my classmates (in russian school) had the same opinion about the original text)
I would say what Pevear and Volokhonsky do is take russian sentences and write them in english words (at least that's how it looks). Although this method may be controversial, given that Tolstoy's language is unique and original even for russian literature, it may not be the worst way to translate him.
This man speaks at a pace which my adhd brain can actually receive
You're too funny, it's cool to see such enthusiasm
The Egoist by Meredith has been on my list for a while - I'll keep an eye out for when you discuss it here and see if I have time for it then. Keep up the good work and don't let the confederacy of dunces get to you (having just watched your video covering 'current events').
Oxford world classic’s War and peace translated by Maude but with edited/revisions is the best !! You can read it in 6-8 weeks - a large part of it goes by really fast !
In general i stay away from Pevear and Volokonsky! They translate too literally to the point that it’s clunky and difficult to read. The spirit isn’t there.
subscribed so quick. picture of dorian gray is on my 2024 tbr! cant wait
Thanks so much! I’ll be sure to keep Dorian towards the top of my list too!
you’re hilarious! the way you put these into a modern context
I co-read "War & Peace" with my grandson in 2023. I truly read it ...and truly loved it. I found it helpful to compile a list of the main characters with their varying names/titles & their relationship to other characters. I loved the switch back and forth between the Russian aristocracy in Moscow & St. Petersburg (none of whom are likable at the beginning - but be patient!) and the battles. I also found it helpful to read by section with other books read in between, although the momentum carried me directly from Section 2 to Section 3. Enjoy!!
I always make it my routine to write about the characters in books so thankfully that's second nature!
The Scarlet and the Black!
I’m predicting you’ll enjoy it the most out of the ones you’ve listed here; there’s some real Spiveyesque satire to it.
You had me at sesquipedalian
Thank you UA-cam for recommending this gem of a channel. A read along would be ideal.
It’ll be centred around the life and works of Lord Byron, since his death will be 200 years ago in April!
If your getting into SF please cover Philip K Dick.
Will these snap crepuscular police raids take the form of War and Peace pop-quizzes in the gloaming? And as early subscribers can we apply to the Joe Spivey Office for a written exemption?
My boys will be round to issue identity papers when the New Year is settled in.
The eloquence of your speech is a joy to listen to. Great recommendations, I will be adding some of these to my classics TBR for sure.
Oscar Wilde always makes me marvel at the abilities of the English language when I read him and I remember having a great time with the Portrait of Dorian Gray so it’s definitely worth the reread!
Eloquence, schmeloquence...
You really should read the 'Anthony Briggs' 2005 translation of War and Peace. [I also have enjoyed the Ann Dunnigan (1968) translation.] The Maude translation is inferior.
A man of taste... i subscribe when i heard Selena Gomez and the waverly Place 😆 hi from France !
Oooo, a beguiling list! yes, of course a q&a! Oooh, the world of War & Peace. I’m sad to be out of that world. Not for long…I’m starting Anna Karenina tomorrow. I may be interested in trying Our Mutual Friend this year because I want to read a Dickens in 2024.
Well surely Our Mutual Friend ought to be our read-along book! I'll be surprised if you don't find Oblonsky the most enticing character of Anna Karenina!
@@JoeSpivey02 , I can't wait to find out (re: Karenina)! As far as our read-a-long, I agree. And... not included in my Classics for '24 video, but there are 2 American classics I'd like to get to this yr...maybe consider reading an American classic sometime this yr...more on that later...🙂
Wow! Congratulations on reaching 1K so quickly! Love the imaginative and rapid delivery of the verbal gymnastics.
I can't take all the credit. Mind-altering drugs do most of the work!
why am i in love
I love Dickens but to each his own.
'War and Peace' reads quickly and then you regret that it's over.
I'm also planning on reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in 2024, so I'll be interested in seeing what you think of it. Congratulations on 1,000 subscribers!
I loved it. I read it this year. It was an easy read with rich writing, but be prepared to be pissed off😂 the misogyny 😡but the writing is undeniably beautiful.
Congratulations on reaching 1000 subscribers!
Gosh, you are a real speed talker !
Are you also a speed reader ?
I am English and find it that it is usually our cousins across the pond who talk fast 😅
Happy New Year from Cheshire.
But they don't use such wonderfully obscure words at intervals. Love and Happy New Year from NZ
Picture of Dorian Gray, War and Peace (I'd like to find the audio by Jonathan Firth...the younger, better looking and better actor bother of Colin), currently reading A Christmas Carol because I suddenly (at 77) realized that I've a collection of almost every movie including Black Adder but NEVER read the book. However, I have read the others and Dickens' books usually sound the way they do because they were serials and he was swayed by public opinion and word count, even he regretted he left Dodger being sent down. I, finally, read Black Beauty (but still love Mark Lester's movie turn) and am currently set to read Beauty and the Beast.
I must say, that there is a lot of confusion over Fan's child in A Christmas Carol. Seems a lot of movies say Scrooge's sister had a daughter but she did, in fact, have a son. And Scrooge was DRESSED, not in a nightgown and cap, during the ghosts' visits.
Then, there is 'trying' to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I have found that Dover publication is the best and, as a plus, sounds like Shakespeare wrote it. Yes, I love reading Olde Wobblesword and proud of it.
You have earned a new subscriber/slavish devotee to your cause
Welcome along for the ride!
Hi Joe enjoying your excellent channel. Have you read the Count of monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas?
Thanks so much John! Sadly not but I've heard very good things. I infer that you've read it?
Unabridged translated by Robin Buss (penguin black classic) is best😊
@@JoeSpivey02 The Count of monte Cristo is a tremendous book Joe
Benjamin Disraeli wrote an essay called “Grind my Gears” that influenced the first power trio in rock.
Waverley is normal.
Picture of Dorian Gray is a must-read, though I personally prefer the "uncensored" edition which was his own original version of the story before it was cut for magazine publication (the final novel version being an expansion of that rather than the original).
As far as War and Peace goes, I want to read it mainly because I don't want to say it defeated me. I've made two attempts on it, most recently in 1999 and finished neither; first with the old Penguin edition by Rosemary Edmonds and second the Wordsworth edition you show. Second time round I made even less headway than I did on the first go. I am determined that one day I *will* finish it (though this may not be the year that I do it; if I could make it all the way through Ulysses, W&P should hold no comparable terrors apart from the length. Translation is a vexed issue, depending on taste.
I'm guessing that's the Samuel Butler translation of Homer. Seems a slightly small book to contain both Iliad and Odyssey, though.
I absolutely hated Dickens as a child and young adult, but have found some worth reading as an adult and now wish to read one book by him each year.
LOVED
Hard Times
A Christmas Carol
HATED
Great Expectations
and so many others I began I quit for being bored of them, but can't remember which ones.
Very ambitious. You can do it!
Quite candidly, instead of reading War and Peace myself, I would almost prefer you describe the preface more through the eyes of this windswept campy cartoon lady! I suppose proving how one should not judge a book by its ridiculous cover. Wordsworth might not approve of his name on this marketing scheme. Or it could have been bring your daughter to work day and allow them artistic freedom? I enjoy your sense of humor! Refreshing!
Bleak House is Dickens' best novel.
I read Disraeli's Tancred a few years ago and didn't love it--but I certainly would like to have even a mediocre novelist at the head of government these day.
New subscriber from Australia 🇦🇺 looking forward to your book selection..
I play this video on 0.75 speed
And why would you do a thing like that? 😂
@@JoeSpivey02 I love your energy, but you talk too fast, I feel like I'm at work, where my boss dictates what I need to do :) At 0.75 I receive same message, but in a more relaxed way ;)
Me too.
Translation, shmanslation. Just read it.
The Maude translation of War and Peace works but obviously with some stilted early 20th Century English. I listened to the audiobook with that translation last year but separately read the Anthony Briggs translation from 2005. The Briggs translation is very readable and translated into modern English. I think that would be an easier read throughout.
I’m doing war and peace in my Bookclub and I like Maude, then again I’ve read it using this translation several times over the years, so used to it. Whatever you do, have a printed out list of characters to refer to since characters have several names they are referred to by eg first, last, nickname.
I definitely agree re list of characters. I had a list of characters tab open on my desktop internet browser for the first 300 pages until I had them all memorized.@@Scottlp2
Our Mutual Friend is a good one.
He makes it home. Penelope is annoyed.
you are my new favourite booktuber
Is this about acting, or reading books?
Can't it be about both? I was astonished by your performance in Hannibal Ed! Do you have any more acting gigs coming up?
@@JoeSpivey02 Ed Norton was in Red Dragon not Hannibal, it was Julianne Moore in Hannibal. Both great performances though.
Congratulations Joe 1.2k 👍 xxxx
Thanks Aunt Jayne!
Home address?
Just found your channel and I love your sense of humour. New subscriber here. Greetings from Mexico City
The Signal Man , i believe thats the name, is a short ghost story by Dickens. Arguably (imho) the only good story by him
Subscribed at 2.65K, I hope I do not receive any thumb screws or get shipped off to distant lands.
That's actually a fun list. Just found this video recommended to me lol
From this list I read only War and Peace, which took me five months to read (finished early December) and yeah, I don't usually take that long to read a book, but I had with this one. I confess I wish I could have liked it me more even though I recognize its value in the literary world so I'm definitely excited to watch your opinions on it.
I read the same edition you got, the Wordsworth Classics, and I gotta say the translation is amazing. It flows really well.
I understand that you weekend on your yacht with a wealthy and beautiful supermodel. Could you share with us photos of the boat?
I second that motion.
All in jest my friend! Plus Ariadne doesn’t take kindly to having her photo taken out of hours.
I typically fast forward past intros, but you're hilarious!😂😂so glad I found your channel. Seems we have the same taste in media. My Q&A request is if a film adaptation is released for a novel, must you read the book before seeing the movie?
Congratulations on reaching a thousand Joe! Planning on rereading Our Mutual Friend this year and have Conningsby loitering on my iPad somewhere so look forward to seeing what you think 🤔
Have you read anything by Thomas Brookside? He’s done two of the more amazing pastiches I’ve read in some time. De Bello Lemures is allegedly a recent recovered Latin manuscript with footnotes and all, a letter from the commander of Roman forces in Brittany to Emperor Commodus about the Romans’ fight against an unleashed zombie horde. The Most Extreme Crueltie and Revenge of Shylock of Venice: Born a Jew But a Christian by the Mercy of the Doge and Antonio the Merchant is a sequel to The Merchant of Venice,min which a mysterious figure grants Shylock vast supernatural power and urges him to seek revenge. It feels like a style that Umberto Eco somehow failed to write.
I love Scott, unfashionably, but who cares about fashion? Waverley is excellent, but I absolutely love The Antiquarian. A nice list altogether. War and Peace is a great favourite. I have read it every 2 or 3 years for decades. I totally agree about Pevear and Volkhonshy, they are overhyped and their Brothers Karamazov is lousy, despite a loads of endorsements on here.
Happy to be free from your future secret police raid 😂
9:28 had me laugh out loud, thanks for the humor going into the nw year.
I'm also interested in reading the picture of dorian gray...i remember starting it years ago but then i fell off reading it. very atmospheric and grear characterization, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.
I’ve subscribed out of fear. Please don’t hold it against me that I did not make it into the first thousand
“Because they're cozy!” A sentence that has immediately been adopted into my lexicon.
Congratulations on reaching 1k+ subscribers! 👏🏻 Your channel will only continue to grow I'm sure and very soon I'll be saying "ah, I knew him when..." 🤓 War and Peace is on my shelf, unread; I have the Pevear version which was a total _cover buy._ 🙄
Ohh we're all guilty of cover buys every now and then!
Amazing chanel! "Scarlet (or Red) and Black" is on my 2024 list too.
You look like a handsome young Mark E Smith.
Does founder member status extend to the US if your legislative power extends across borders :(
Several "book" yt channels have popped into my feed last few days. So i heard upteen recommended lists.
What is it with you Brits TOTALLY ignoring a top 10 19th century book....."Moby Dick"?
Really should read that!
British education may have a blind spot for American authors and literature.
Are you related to the "How Art Made the World" guy?
Sadly me and Nigel Spivey are not related. Nor, as has been suggested, are we in a civil partnership 😂
@@JoeSpivey02 I couldn't remember for sure if that was his first name.
I fell asleep reading the back of Meredith.
Yes Q&A interested to know where you come from
War and Peace is a book for people who wear reading socks.
I really enjoyed the Rosemary Edmonds translation of "War and Peace."
Re Waverley: the Jacobite Rebellion was defeated in 1745 at the Battle of Culloden. The Battle of Bannockburn was in 1314, some time earlier.
Oscar Wilde was part of the aesthetic movement in the late 19th century. I love Dorian Gray for the atmosphere he creates.
I knew I’d slip up somewhere. Forgive me if I take Scottish victories with a pinch of salt! 😂
I tried to read war and peace but only got a little over 100 pages into it. I think it might have been the translation. It was translated by Ann Dunnigan. I am gonna see about a different one.
The Penguin version reads much easier.
Happy New Year, and congratulations on 1K subscribers! Always enjoy your videos^^ I'll be making my first attempt at Jane Austin in 2024, but now I have to add Waverly to my list as well and you've reminded me to get to Homer's work✍ Might also cave and try The Picture of Dorian Gray, it's so well-known and I want to know what for👀
Thanks so much! Ditto for me with your videos! Oh you’ll love ANYTHING that Austen put to paper. Of course you have to start with Pride and Prejudice in my opinion.
@@JoeSpivey02 Will do, absolutely🤩
What a fun list. Maybe I'll add these to my TBR for the year. Although I'm not sure if I'm up for Dorian Gray again. Wilde is just so "precious".
I think we can agree that ethereal would be a better adjective ;)
@@JoeSpivey02 In San Antonio, next to the Alamo, is a hotel called the Menger. One of its claims to fame is that Oscar Wilde stayed there. And, of course, the bar where he drank there is still open, too.
Doctor Johnson !❤❤❤❤❤
Waverley was good!
It's looming rather large on the end of my bed 🤣
@@JoeSpivey02 Heart of Midlothian is longer
I was looking for your review of Great Expectations but couldn't find it. I'm really struggling through it. I enjoyed many of Dickens other books but I'm half way through GE and want to DNF it. Did you prefer it to his others that you've read?
Sadly my reading of Great Expectations preceded my Booktube channel! It'll be re-read at some stage for sure.
@@JoeSpivey02 I look forward to it.
Will the Spivey cabinet (and benign regime) be ultimately based in the appellation of the U.S.A. ?
It will still be known as the United Kingdom, with The People’s Republic of East Yorkshire given rights as a municipal tax haven!
@@JoeSpivey02 So does Devon way foot the bills then?!
Bleak House is quite bleak
Samuel Johnson was the first man to call himself a doctor without being able to prescribe drugs.
Really?
Me thinks there’s an agenda beyond books here.
How do you do it Holmes?
@@JoeSpivey02 the Clues are there Watson.
i highly recommend adding something by Toni Morrison to you reading list this year. Beloved, Sula, or Song of Solomon. She’s one of the greatest authors who ever lived, and she is in fact punished by penguin as well