Just found your channel through Heather Gregg's recent 12 Booktubers of Christmas and I absolutely love your calming and beautifully done videos. The music and the background with plants really adds to the beauty. Absolutely, wonderful. One of my all encompassing goals in the new year is indeed to read more classics. I want to get more Shakespeare in, notably. As I've only read Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, and Midsummers Night's Dream -in that order. Actually starting this month with a reread of Macbeth that I'm doing with a fellow booktuber as a buddy read. Aside from that, I'm still deciding. I know I will be doing other buddy reads with that same person for books of folk and fairy tales, and that I have several classic group/buddy reads planned out: Moby Dick, Count of Monte Cristo, lots of Virginia Woolf. Still trying to consider more year-long goals. The only one I have at the moment is a Shakespeare every month -which might indeed be your system? Unsure as I haven't really checked if you have a system for your shakespeare videos. Anyway, I've rambled long enough! Have a great day and a great new year!
Hi! Thanks for checking my video out :) Glad to find a fellow Shakespeare and classics enthusiast. I'm still putting together more detailed plans in order to reach my goals. I tried reading one Shakespeare per month last year but didn't quite manage - the plays are very dense, a lot to think about! What's your favourite Shakespeare for now by the way? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!
@@adayofsmallthings Seeing as how I've only read 5, it really should be easy ... but I'm still indecisive. It's between Hamlet (I've jokingly said that Hamlet is the character I'm most like, that is to say the indecision) and The Tempest. What about you?
@@adayofsmallthings Midsummers Night's Dream didn't really do as much for me, but I want to give it another chance in the future. Did you watch the stage play in person or a filmed adaptation?
I am really excited about your reading goals, most of the books you mentioned, I have!! Got them over the last couple of years. Waiting for your tbr lists 2023, I will be so encouraged to read them and listen to your thoughts on them and share views. You will definitely enjoy Andrew Lang and all his colour fairy books. Also Jack Zipes, he has books on fairy tales classification etc. Sadly, there is no one I know in Malaysia who enjoys these things. I am so glad to have come across your channel. 📚👍.
What lovely coincidence! We can definitely discuss more next year :) I must check out Andrew Lang’s fairy books - another viewer mentioned it as well! I’m very curious now. I’ll also check out Jack Zipes. Thanks for the recommendations! Very glad to be book friends :)
I love the goals that you set to shape your part for better reading and understanding. I too have evolved so much in my reading and I've taken a similar part as yourself in reading more classics, ancients, and Roman and Greek mythology, for me to better under the things I read. What I've noticed since I started is that the Bible and mythology are heavily quoted in the classics and ancient texts. The Bible reference I easily identifiable to me, ( I'm a Christian and have read the Bible fully several times) but I have to read more mythology to broaden my understanding. I love this video Nicole and Yes, I'm back watching your videos as I love how you present your content 🤗💕
Hi Kelly, glad to hear we have reading goals in common! Yes similar situation with the Bible and mythology. Which Roman and Greek classics have you been reading? My progress is rather slow! Thanks so much for watching the older videos :)
@@adayofsmallthings I have only started this year and haven’t reached far. I started by reading some of Edith Hamilton’s works ( through the advice of a friend) to get familiar with Greek and Roman mythology. I also started Marcus Aurelius and Plutarch but I have not reached far. I'm reading them slowly
If only I had half your level of organisation I know I would read tons more. My reading plans for 2023 were buy less, read more. It might need some work. Lovely video as always!
Hi Katherine, thanks very much! Most of the time it's probably just thinking too much about books haha. 'Buy less' is definitely a good idea - I shall aim for that as well - so many books on the shelves already!
I just received my copy of How To Read Literature Like a Professor and this makes me even more excited about reading it. I was planning on reading it as my first book in 2023, but now I think I'll go ahead and read it now as it may help me with my reading goals for next year, too. If you read Elizabeth Gaskell, you'll find lots of biblical references. I'm the same in that I'm most familiar with the Bible because I've read it for so many years. I'm hoping to read more Greek and Roman myths this next year. I am clueless when it comes to most of them, so thanks for mentioning Jean's Thoughts. I'll hop over and watch that Where to Start episode. I look forward to watching your videos in 2023 to hear of your progress and I'm sure I'll learn a few things, too. Thanks so much!
Oh lovely, hope you have a fab time reading the new book. It gives a list of recommended books at the back. I’m sure it’ll give you a lot of ideas! Nice - will look out for biblical references in Gaskell next year. Hope Jean’s videos help you too! If we end up reading the same titles, we can have fun discussing the books! Thanks so much :)
Nice! My goal for 2023 is: - Finish 'Leaf by Leaf' 's 'Western Core' Series (I'm only 5/15 of the way through) - Read the works of William Gaddis - Finish the works of Pynchon (5/9 so far) - Try to finish the Old Testament (only read Genesis and Exodus haha)
Excellent video very good ideas my main reading is late nineteen early twenty American history,lots of biographies and literature Russian and French will look into the classics UA-cam channel,thanks again for an excellent presentation..
Its uncanny how similar our reading goals for 2023 are. For the longest time I've been mostly interested in reading Western authors but over the years I came to realise that a lot of the subtext of these books was going over my head because these fundamental texts that you listed and which these authors reference liberally in their works were completely alien to me. For example I read East of Eden and while I enjoyed the experience, not knowing a thing about the biblical references in that book meant that a large chunk of it just flew over my head. I think I'm going to focus on "just" Shakespeare and the Bible next year. The Bible in particular is very tricky for me as I'm not from a place where it's discussed/taught at all. I settled on trying my luck with the KJV because I think its supposed to be pretty "literary" and I'll make up for the inaccuracies in the translation by following the endnotes etc. that are provided for that purpose in my edition (Norton critical). Last year I read a couple Shakespeare plays and followed them right up with watching a theatrical adaptation. Watching the thing really makes it stick in the mind and clarifies some doubts, apart from just being plain fun. I picked up Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber which discusses each play in some detail and breaks down the characters/themes and all that jazz. I'd recommend that one wholeheartedly and afaik she also has some Shakespeare lectures on youtube so you can get a feel for things before deciding whether or not to get the book. So yeah, apart from focusing more on English classics (I haven't read a thing from the Bronte sisters, Austen, Hardy etc!) that's what I had in mind for next year. The Greek and Roman stuff will have to wait for now. Even more interested in the How to read literature book now btw, really feels like it was put together for me. Sorry if that was a bit of a long ramble, I just got very excited seeing how similar our reading goals were. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on these works in the upcoming months!
Hi Sid, so nice to read your thoughts and reading experience! Yes we do have very similar reading goals - that’s very exciting. I completely understand your feeling of enjoying a book but missing a lot of the references, I felt the same a lot of the time. So lovely to hear you’re going to focus on Shakespeare and the Bible next year. The Bible is quite big and can be challenging to wrap my head around all of it. Large parts of KJV were translated by William Tyndale - one of my favourite historical characters, I think that translation influenced Shakespeare to some extent as well. For an amazing summary and outline of each Bible book, I highly recommend the Bible Project UA-cam channel - short videos with beautiful animations. Hope you get on with it alright :) Glad to hear you’re watching Shakespeare on stage! It definitely helped me a lot this year as well. I haven’t heard of Marjorie Garber’s book before. Just googled - it looks interesting! Will definitely look out for a copy - thanks so much for the recommendation! So lovely hearing from you! An early wish to you for a fabulous reading year!
I am fascinated by your multiple reading goals for next year. For fairy tales, a good place to start would be the Brothers Grimm, if you haven't read them already. One suggestion is "Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version," by Philip Pullman. These are closer to the original German tales than many children's versions. Andrew Lang's "The Blue Fairy Book" has a good selection of the most famous stories, although edited for children. I would also suggest a collection of Andersen's fairy tales as I think they have influenced a lot of 20th and 21st century culture and literature.
Hi Elizabeth, thanks so much for the recommendations! I think I might have read some of the Brothers Grimm when I was little, it would be nice to read them again, especially translated by Philip Pullman - that'll be interesting! I just checked out Andrew Lang - a Victorian Scottish man! I'm already interested. Thanks very much!
My reading goal is to finally finish Ulysses this summer. To that end, I am also filling in the holes in the English novel. Recently, I completed Far From the Madding Crowd and Jane Eyre. Additionally, the European novelists who may have inspired Joyce like Flaubert and Zola are on the list. JE is the mother of "romance" novels and children's fiction like Matilda. I believe JE is a variant on Robinson Crusoe. Jane is Crusoe, shipwrecked on a really big island called England. While Jane is a steadfast Protestant christian, the cannibals become the pious hypocrites Jane is tormented by. My favorite books of the Bible (KJV) are Ecclesiastes and The Song of Solomon. Psalms are great, also. The Wisdom Books are where the action is!
Hi lovely to hear about your reading goals and favourite books of the Bible! Very interesting thoughts about Jane Eyre! I never thought about it like that - if I read it again I will keep Robinson Crusoe in mind.
Greetings Nicole. Indeed an aspirational video, well thought of and exquisitely presented by you. For 2023 I was planning to read the unread list of books of the writers who have influenced me the greatest during my life time. In addition, I wanted to add to my 2023 TBR, books that have been recommended by you in your videos such as, Mad about Shakespeare, Professor Foster’s three books on literature, novels, poetry, and Ulysses. Your video today inspired me to add Greek, Roman literature and Crossway’s Bible. Thus, I will keenly look forward to your videos on these themes. I don’t know if you have ever investigated Ben’s Hardcore Literature Bookclub. It’s worthwhile for any passionate follower of literature. It’s a paid service and sort of expensive for us retired folks in India. Thus, that will have to wait. Nicole, thanks once again for your lovely videos and glory to you and your pursuit of literature. Take care.😊😇🌞
Hi Anil lovely hearing from you! You must be a very keen and experienced reader with all those things on your TBR! Who are some of the writers that influenced you the greatest? I’m very curious if you don’t mind sharing :) I know of Ben’s Hardcore Literature Bookclub! I would love to know what they talk about there haha but yes agree it’s a bit expensive. But fortunately he also has a UA-cam channel and a podcast we can listen to for free :) You’re most welcome, my pleasure, thanks so much for being book friends on the internet!
Hi Nicole. Thanks for the lovely and swift reply. Since you want to know my favourite writers, it is my privilege to send you the list of the same, who are indeed my inner circle of lifelong friends: William Faulkner, Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout, John Steinbeck, John Irving, John Updike, John Cheever, Thomas Wolfe, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, F Scott Fitzgerald, Theodore Dreiser, Toni Morrison, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, William Shakespeare, George Eliot, Émile Zola, Honore Balzac, Marcel Proust, Jean Paul Sartre, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Chinamanda Adichie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth, Rohington Mistry. With reference to Ben’s Hardcore Literature Club, I can not resist further and intend to join the same on January 1, 2023. Warm regards and best wishes dear friend.🪷🌼🌺
@@anilsbawa wow that’s a long list of many great authors! So glad for you that you’ll be joining Ben in the new year! Hope he’s super nice and helpful - I’m sure he is - and that you’ll learn loads from the videos!
@@adayofsmallthings Nicole, I just recalled you mentioned you were considering diving into Shakespeare’s Sonnets, I feel you will not regret it, once you get stuck in. In retrospect I regret I came late to his Sonnets; I had read all of his plays and only then explored his poetry. I immediately found there was so much in the Sonnets that are reflected in his plays and opened new approaches and considerations of issues raised in his works. I strongly recommend not dipping in here and there. Working through from start to finish is important as there are themes that cover different lengths as an example sonnet one through twenty are about progeny and need for carrying on the blood-line. If one dips in here and there may be rewarding but seeing the process of a specific theme through several sonnets is so enlightening and rewarding. I strongly recommend the thick book of the Sonnets edited with analytic commentary by Stephen Booth. What is wonderful about this is that he doesn’t tell you the meaning of the sonnet but he analyses the grammar, syntax, etc etc but emphasises the reader MUST reach their own conclusions and opinions on the sonnet. Please avoid the books that give a complete recap based on what THEY have disseminated and THEY feel they know what is being said, that is of little or no value. Some sonnets I have worked through in a day in analysis and some I have needed to mull over for two weeks! Each one is a joy in its own way and be prepared for condensed language and meaning it is packed with nuances ...and is totally different that reading his poetry within his plays. Sorry for rambling…good luck and enjoy them !!
@@larrybowe774 thanks so much for the lovely long message - I really appreciate your thoughtful approach and thanks for sharing it with me! I’ll definitely check out Stephen Booth, what you said completely make sense. I’m a bit nervous about poetry in general - wish me luck!
My reading goals are to read in between 50-70 books...my prioritys are to read malazan,red rising series, sun eater...ive got a few classics picked out like crime and punishment and a few stand alone novels like lonesome dove and 1q84..aside from that i don't know
@@adayofsmallthings yup malazan is supposed to be a harder adult fantasy series but i heard its super epic and amazing...almost one of those series that u prob love more and get more out of it the second time reading it
Love these vedios you mede, motivating me to read more and deeper, BIG thank you!
Yay I’m so glad to hear! My pleasure :)
Great video! Keen to see how it goes for you.
Thank you! Will do my best :)
I love your approach to creating videos, specifically how you share so much of your thoughts. Thank you.
My pleasure :) really glad you liked it!
Fantastic goals - and brilliant to hear your thinking behind them! :)
Thank you! I hope I can keep them - will see lol
Thank you! I’ve picked up a few ideas. 😀
You’re most welcome! Glad to hear it’s useful :)
Wonderful goals! I wish you luck and will be checking in on your progress.
Woo-Hoo!
Thank you!
Just found your channel through Heather Gregg's recent 12 Booktubers of Christmas and I absolutely love your calming and beautifully done videos. The music and the background with plants really adds to the beauty. Absolutely, wonderful.
One of my all encompassing goals in the new year is indeed to read more classics. I want to get more Shakespeare in, notably. As I've only read Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, and Midsummers Night's Dream -in that order. Actually starting this month with a reread of Macbeth that I'm doing with a fellow booktuber as a buddy read. Aside from that, I'm still deciding. I know I will be doing other buddy reads with that same person for books of folk and fairy tales, and that I have several classic group/buddy reads planned out: Moby Dick, Count of Monte Cristo, lots of Virginia Woolf.
Still trying to consider more year-long goals. The only one I have at the moment is a Shakespeare every month -which might indeed be your system? Unsure as I haven't really checked if you have a system for your shakespeare videos. Anyway, I've rambled long enough! Have a great day and a great new year!
Hi! Thanks for checking my video out :)
Glad to find a fellow Shakespeare and classics enthusiast. I'm still putting together more detailed plans in order to reach my goals. I tried reading one Shakespeare per month last year but didn't quite manage - the plays are very dense, a lot to think about! What's your favourite Shakespeare for now by the way?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!
@@adayofsmallthings Seeing as how I've only read 5, it really should be easy ... but I'm still indecisive. It's between Hamlet (I've jokingly said that Hamlet is the character I'm most like, that is to say the indecision) and The Tempest.
What about you?
@@theramblingreviewer5150 haha nice!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream :) I watched a gorgeous production that’s mostly why
@@adayofsmallthings Midsummers Night's Dream didn't really do as much for me, but I want to give it another chance in the future. Did you watch the stage play in person or a filmed adaptation?
@@theramblingreviewer5150 I watched a filmed stage play by National Theatre :)
I am really excited about your reading goals, most of the books you mentioned, I have!! Got them over the last couple of years. Waiting for your tbr lists 2023, I will be so encouraged to read them and listen to your thoughts on them and share views. You will definitely enjoy Andrew Lang and all his colour fairy books. Also Jack Zipes, he has books on fairy tales classification etc. Sadly, there is no one I know in Malaysia who enjoys these things. I am so glad to have come across your channel. 📚👍.
What lovely coincidence! We can definitely discuss more next year :)
I must check out Andrew Lang’s fairy books - another viewer mentioned it as well! I’m very curious now. I’ll also check out Jack Zipes. Thanks for the recommendations!
Very glad to be book friends :)
I love the goals that you set to shape your part for better reading and understanding. I too have evolved so much in my reading and I've taken a similar part as yourself in reading more classics, ancients, and Roman and Greek mythology, for me to better under the things I read.
What I've noticed since I started is that the Bible and mythology are heavily quoted in the classics and ancient texts. The Bible reference I easily identifiable to me, ( I'm a Christian and have read the Bible fully several times) but I have to read more mythology to broaden my understanding. I love this video Nicole and Yes, I'm back watching your videos as I love how you present your content 🤗💕
Hi Kelly, glad to hear we have reading goals in common! Yes similar situation with the Bible and mythology. Which Roman and Greek classics have you been reading? My progress is rather slow!
Thanks so much for watching the older videos :)
@@adayofsmallthings I have only started this year and haven’t reached far. I started by reading some of Edith Hamilton’s works ( through the advice of a friend) to get familiar with Greek and Roman mythology. I also started Marcus Aurelius and Plutarch but I have not reached far. I'm reading them slowly
@@KellyannMitchell Cool. All the best with the classical stuff!
If only I had half your level of organisation I know I would read tons more. My reading plans for 2023 were buy less, read more. It might need some work.
Lovely video as always!
Hi Katherine, thanks very much! Most of the time it's probably just thinking too much about books haha. 'Buy less' is definitely a good idea - I shall aim for that as well - so many books on the shelves already!
😂 As long as thinking about books trumps thinking about problems then that will be my wish for you for 2023: lot's of bookish thoughts!
@@katherinevdkirk that’s a lovely wish! A lot of bookish thoughts!
I just received my copy of How To Read Literature Like a Professor and this makes me even more excited about reading it. I was planning on reading it as my first book in 2023, but now I think I'll go ahead and read it now as it may help me with my reading goals for next year, too.
If you read Elizabeth Gaskell, you'll find lots of biblical references.
I'm the same in that I'm most familiar with the Bible because I've read it for so many years. I'm hoping to read more Greek and Roman myths this next year. I am clueless when it comes to most of them, so thanks for mentioning Jean's Thoughts. I'll hop over and watch that Where to Start episode.
I look forward to watching your videos in 2023 to hear of your progress and I'm sure I'll learn a few things, too. Thanks so much!
Oh lovely, hope you have a fab time reading the new book. It gives a list of recommended books at the back. I’m sure it’ll give you a lot of ideas!
Nice - will look out for biblical references in Gaskell next year.
Hope Jean’s videos help you too! If we end up reading the same titles, we can have fun discussing the books! Thanks so much :)
Nice! My goal for 2023 is:
- Finish 'Leaf by Leaf' 's 'Western Core' Series (I'm only 5/15 of the way through)
- Read the works of William Gaddis
- Finish the works of Pynchon (5/9 so far)
- Try to finish the Old Testament (only read Genesis and Exodus haha)
Lovely! To be honest I don’t know most of these names lol sorry! But all the best for 2023 :D
Excellent video very good ideas my main reading is late nineteen early twenty American history,lots of biographies and literature Russian and French will look into the classics UA-cam channel,thanks again for an excellent presentation..
You’re most welcome. Lovely to hear about your reading goals as well! Hope you have a fabulous reading year :)
Its uncanny how similar our reading goals for 2023 are. For the longest time I've been mostly interested in reading Western authors but over the years I came to realise that a lot of the subtext of these books was going over my head because these fundamental texts that you listed and which these authors reference liberally in their works were completely alien to me. For example I read East of Eden and while I enjoyed the experience, not knowing a thing about the biblical references in that book meant that a large chunk of it just flew over my head.
I think I'm going to focus on "just" Shakespeare and the Bible next year. The Bible in particular is very tricky for me as I'm not from a place where it's discussed/taught at all. I settled on trying my luck with the KJV because I think its supposed to be pretty "literary" and I'll make up for the inaccuracies in the translation by following the endnotes etc. that are provided for that purpose in my edition (Norton critical). Last year I read a couple Shakespeare plays and followed them right up with watching a theatrical adaptation. Watching the thing really makes it stick in the mind and clarifies some doubts, apart from just being plain fun. I picked up Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber which discusses each play in some detail and breaks down the characters/themes and all that jazz. I'd recommend that one wholeheartedly and afaik she also has some Shakespeare lectures on youtube so you can get a feel for things before deciding whether or not to get the book.
So yeah, apart from focusing more on English classics (I haven't read a thing from the Bronte sisters, Austen, Hardy etc!) that's what I had in mind for next year. The Greek and Roman stuff will have to wait for now. Even more interested in the How to read literature book now btw, really feels like it was put together for me. Sorry if that was a bit of a long ramble, I just got very excited seeing how similar our reading goals were. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on these works in the upcoming months!
Hi Sid, so nice to read your thoughts and reading experience! Yes we do have very similar reading goals - that’s very exciting. I completely understand your feeling of enjoying a book but missing a lot of the references, I felt the same a lot of the time.
So lovely to hear you’re going to focus on Shakespeare and the Bible next year. The Bible is quite big and can be challenging to wrap my head around all of it. Large parts of KJV were translated by William Tyndale - one of my favourite historical characters, I think that translation influenced Shakespeare to some extent as well. For an amazing summary and outline of each Bible book, I highly recommend the Bible Project UA-cam channel - short videos with beautiful animations. Hope you get on with it alright :)
Glad to hear you’re watching Shakespeare on stage! It definitely helped me a lot this year as well. I haven’t heard of Marjorie Garber’s book before. Just googled - it looks interesting! Will definitely look out for a copy - thanks so much for the recommendation!
So lovely hearing from you! An early wish to you for a fabulous reading year!
I am fascinated by your multiple reading goals for next year. For fairy tales, a good place to start would be the Brothers Grimm, if you haven't read them already. One suggestion is "Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version," by Philip Pullman. These are closer to the original German tales than many children's versions. Andrew Lang's "The Blue Fairy Book" has a good selection of the most famous stories, although edited for children. I would also suggest a collection of Andersen's fairy tales as I think they have influenced a lot of 20th and 21st century culture and literature.
Hi Elizabeth, thanks so much for the recommendations! I think I might have read some of the Brothers Grimm when I was little, it would be nice to read them again, especially translated by Philip Pullman - that'll be interesting! I just checked out Andrew Lang - a Victorian Scottish man! I'm already interested. Thanks very much!
My reading goal is to finally finish Ulysses this summer.
To that end, I am also filling in the holes in the English novel. Recently, I completed Far From the Madding Crowd and Jane Eyre.
Additionally, the European novelists who may have inspired Joyce like Flaubert and Zola are on the list.
JE is the mother of "romance" novels and children's fiction like Matilda. I believe JE is a variant on Robinson Crusoe. Jane is Crusoe, shipwrecked on a really big island called England. While Jane is a steadfast Protestant christian, the cannibals become the pious hypocrites Jane is tormented by.
My favorite books of the Bible (KJV) are Ecclesiastes and The Song of Solomon. Psalms are great, also. The Wisdom Books are where the action is!
Hi lovely to hear about your reading goals and favourite books of the Bible!
Very interesting thoughts about Jane Eyre! I never thought about it like that - if I read it again I will keep Robinson Crusoe in mind.
Greetings Nicole. Indeed an aspirational video, well thought of and exquisitely presented by you. For 2023 I was planning to read the unread list of books of the writers who have influenced me the greatest during my life time. In addition, I wanted to add to my 2023 TBR, books that have been recommended by you in your videos such as, Mad about Shakespeare, Professor Foster’s three books on literature, novels, poetry, and Ulysses. Your video today inspired me to add Greek, Roman literature and Crossway’s Bible. Thus, I will keenly look forward to your videos on these themes. I don’t know if you have ever investigated Ben’s Hardcore Literature Bookclub. It’s worthwhile for any passionate follower of literature. It’s a paid service and sort of expensive for us retired folks in India. Thus, that will have to wait. Nicole, thanks once again for your lovely videos and glory to you and your pursuit of literature. Take care.😊😇🌞
Hi Anil lovely hearing from you! You must be a very keen and experienced reader with all those things on your TBR! Who are some of the writers that influenced you the greatest? I’m very curious if you don’t mind sharing :)
I know of Ben’s Hardcore Literature Bookclub! I would love to know what they talk about there haha but yes agree it’s a bit expensive. But fortunately he also has a UA-cam channel and a podcast we can listen to for free :)
You’re most welcome, my pleasure, thanks so much for being book friends on the internet!
Hi Nicole. Thanks for the lovely and swift reply. Since you want to know my favourite writers, it is my privilege to send you the list of the same, who are indeed my inner circle of lifelong friends: William Faulkner, Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout, John Steinbeck, John Irving, John Updike, John Cheever, Thomas Wolfe, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, F Scott Fitzgerald, Theodore Dreiser, Toni Morrison, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, William Shakespeare, George Eliot, Émile Zola, Honore Balzac, Marcel Proust, Jean Paul Sartre, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Chinamanda Adichie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth, Rohington Mistry. With reference to Ben’s Hardcore Literature Club, I can not resist further and intend to join the same on January 1, 2023. Warm regards and best wishes dear friend.🪷🌼🌺
@@anilsbawa wow that’s a long list of many great authors! So glad for you that you’ll be joining Ben in the new year! Hope he’s super nice and helpful - I’m sure he is - and that you’ll learn loads from the videos!
Oh, about fairy tales: Vladimir Propp; Morphology of the tale.
Oooh haven’t heard about it before, will check it out, thank you!
Do yourself a big favour and get a copy of "Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold" by Stephen Fry.
Will look out for a copy!
@@adayofsmallthings Nicole, I just recalled you mentioned you were considering diving into Shakespeare’s Sonnets, I feel you will not regret it, once you get stuck in. In retrospect I regret I came late to his Sonnets; I had read all of his plays and only then explored his poetry. I immediately found there was so much in the Sonnets that are reflected in his plays and opened new approaches and considerations of issues raised in his works. I strongly recommend not dipping in here and there. Working through from start to finish is important as there are themes that cover different lengths as an example sonnet one through twenty are about progeny and need for carrying on the blood-line. If one dips in here and there may be rewarding but seeing the process of a specific theme through several sonnets is so enlightening and rewarding. I strongly recommend the thick book of the Sonnets edited with analytic commentary by Stephen Booth. What is wonderful about this is that he doesn’t tell you the meaning of the sonnet but he analyses the grammar, syntax, etc etc but emphasises the reader MUST reach their own conclusions and opinions on the sonnet. Please avoid the books that give a complete recap based on what THEY have disseminated and THEY feel they know what is being said, that is of little or no value. Some sonnets I have worked through in a day in analysis and some I have needed to mull over for two weeks! Each one is a joy in its own way and be prepared for condensed language and meaning it is packed with nuances ...and is totally different that reading his poetry within his plays. Sorry for rambling…good luck and enjoy them !!
@@larrybowe774 thanks so much for the lovely long message - I really appreciate your thoughtful approach and thanks for sharing it with me! I’ll definitely check out Stephen Booth, what you said completely make sense. I’m a bit nervous about poetry in general - wish me luck!
Your so cutee
My reading goals are to read in between 50-70 books...my prioritys are to read malazan,red rising series, sun eater...ive got a few classics picked out like crime and punishment and a few stand alone novels like lonesome dove and 1q84..aside from that i don't know
Hello 50-70 that’s a lot of books! I just searched Malazan, look really cool. Hope you have a wonderful year reading!
@@adayofsmallthings yup malazan is supposed to be a harder adult fantasy series but i heard its super epic and amazing...almost one of those series that u prob love more and get more out of it the second time reading it
@@burge2695 wonderful!