I did Dracula Daily last year, and it was delightful! Dracula is epistolary and the whole book takes place between May & November of one year, so the Dracula Daily substack will send you an email each day with the passages that correspond with that date.
hah i came down here to see if anyone had already recommended dracula daily!! i don't think i would have ever picked up dracula if it weren't for dracula daily but it was such a delight getting those semi-regular emails, and made the story so much more intense and real, to follow along for a couple of months, i can highly recommend it, and might just do a re-read this year
I understand where it's coming from, but just to say it out loud: you don't have to love all books by an author for that author for being your favorite! Just like people you love, they will also have sides you are less in love with, but that does't mean you love them less or not at all. If you read the book and it's not your favorite you'll still be able to share if with other fellow book lovers
I *love* Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest books of all time. But Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is one I really dislike. Most authors have their not so great books.
You should sign up for Dracula daily! It emails you the letters in Dracula on the day they were sent in the book so you follow the story in real time! A really interesting way to read the story!
I discovered Terry Pratchett & the Discworld when I was 16ish, and promptly devoured about 20 of them, loved them all. Yet I’m making no moves to finish the series, because once I’ve finished them all there’s no more now
Yes! I have a big (like a4) edition of all Sherlock Holmes that I've got 10 years ago and for the last 4-5 years I have the last story to finish it but I will not, no way I'm done with it! But also the same with pratchett. I have the whole of the guards series to read and I refuse
My friends and I tackled this problem by doing a year of "Read Your Own Damn Books", where you couldn't buy any new books and had to read the paper books off your shelves. We had a contest to see who could read the most books and you won a prize at the end of the year and a dinner. My friend Cheryl won at 35 books.
My best friend did Dracula Daily last year and she loved it, so I am definitely going to do it this year to finally get around to reading it. Dracula is an epistolary novel and all takes place between May and November of the same year, so what Dracula Daily does is you sign up with your email and each day that something happens in the novel it sends you an email with the excerpts of that day, so you're basically reading it in real time if that makes sense
My husband says that a fine library should be like a good wine cellar - the collection should include some fond memories, yes, but also things waiting to be savored at the appropriate moment. Indeed, I find myself shedding books that I keep meaning to REread and never get around to, so I have more vibrant new ideas around me. That said, I have (*checks*) 97 audio and ebooks out from the library, right now, and another 48 on hold as they continuously cycle through. I spend more than 10% of my reading time putting things on hold or renewing them! It is too much!
i thought this was going to be about popular books that you refuse to read because they are problematic / you don't want to support the author / they go against your beliefs and values in some way, which is something i definitely wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on. but this was more fun and a really entertaining video :)
I know two people that desperately want to read Harry Potter and at the same time, are afraid they might 'support' JK that way, because they are part of the LGBT community, but at the same time, are not as triggered by her themselves. I told them to just buy the books secondhand and enjoy them. It almost feels cruel to imagine a scenario where I could enjoy the books (and still love them) and that they can't, while they really want to. You can say a lot about details, whether book or movieadaptation and some people found fault with characters or how they were described or the small amount of diversity etc. I don't know what to say to that, other than that I know that the books saved millions of lifes, simply because it gave people hope, a new world in their mind, a whole lot of words to hang onto. And I feel that, whatever your believes, you should definitely read Harry Potter. I don't know anybody that read the books and became unhappy or a "worse" person because of it. Everybody I know that read it, has benefitted from it.
This is so great. My sole reason for not reading books currently is that I have a toddler and my alone time is really precious and I'm terrified of "wasting" it on things I might not enjoy. I'm working on it though! I'm 500 pages into a 700 page book about the history of the Romanovs and I'm really enjoying it. If I can read a history book that dense, I can do all the things!
Dracula, as classics go, I found quite easy to read and really draws you in. Also I too have made a vow that I actually am going to read the books that I own this year. So far I have made it through 5, although this has really been slowed down by people giving me books that they know I will really love. Which is lovely, but really slowing my progress on my owned TBR!
A fun fact: My AP Lit class read Jane Eyre for summer reading back in 2012. In an early class discussion, I got so passionate in my condemnation of Edward that I cried a little bit, and my teacher added Wide Sargasso Sea to our reading lists
On Day of the Triffids - you should read it, because I swear down every time I've re-read it I have enjoyed it exactly the same amount as the first time I've read it. The joy doesn't fade!
💯 with all of this. I struggle to find sci-Fi that I enjoy, but I have really liked to utterly loved every John Wyndham book I’ve read. I currently own four different editions of The Day of The Triffids. 🙈😄🤓
very similar to the wicked book-i discovered a book that would have been extremely relevant to my thesis about 6 months after i finished it. i bought the book but i don’t think i’ll ever read it both bc i’m afraid of being wrong and also bc i’m so tired of the topic LOL
I made a list this year of every book, comic book and manga volume I have that I want to read. Then I made a seperate list of books I bought this year. I currently have a net positive of 24 items. Seeing my progress this way has really lit a fire under me to keep reading. Especially since the leftovers on the "To Read" and the really insteresting ones on the "Have Bought" lists fuse at the end of the year to make next year's To Read List. So I'm also doing this to get my future self less of a sense of pressure from all the books he'll have to read.
I am forever waiting for Leena to make a video about Wicked the novel 🥺 I read it because you mentioned briefly in another video and it became one of my favorite books of all time, it would be amazing to hear your analysis of it! Love your channel, be well ❤
I'm currently reading Dracula and it's becoming my favorite book of all time. I thought it would be much harder to read but I'm finding it quite simple (as someone who can't read a lot of classics and someone who isn't a native english speaker).
The thing with Jane Eyre is that Bertha was beautiful and Mr. Rochester fell in love with the idea of her, but the family secretly knew that she was destined for madness as it ran in the family and she had showed all the signs. His Father wanted the dowry money. It had nothing to do with her being a different race.
But then why was she a POC? The novel would have worked just as well if she wasn’t, but instead the author choose to other her that extra step - was it an attempt to make Rochester less blame worthy for his abhorrent treatment of her? To make her less human so that she could be easily monstrous? This is a novel not real life so the authors choice here matters, especially considering the time period it was written and how often race was used as a way to excuse the poor treatment of those deemed non-white.
Exactly! I just read Jane Eyre for the first time and the way Rochester and Jane refer to Bertha as "it" and the way in which they describe her as a wild, monstrous animal with bloated, purple features is disgusting and obviously racist! Clearly Charlotte Brontë held racist views and showed as much by comparing pale, gentle Jane to her idea of a savage woc. I found it really hard to get through the book as it was because Mr. Rochester made me cringe whenever he appeared but the descriptions of Bertha where so inhumane that it was almost impossible to read. I only fought my way through it to be able to read Wide Sargasso Sea since it's rare to find woc in the western literary canon, plus, it's premise has always intrigued me. I know a lot of people love Jane Eyre for being an early work of feminism literature but that doesn't make it an untouchable text that can't be criticized! It's weight feminism at it's worst, in order for our weight heroine to be valuable we must find a more marginalized woman to oppress.
This year I made a list of all the books I physically own but have not read (approx 70 books) and I told myself that I had to read at LEAST one of them each month, though in January I read 10 so maybe I'll get through far more than 12. The books that don't get read will probably leave me with an updated idea about what I'm interested in and at the end of the year I am giving myself the freedom to pass along any books I haven't read if they don't seem like books I'd like to give my time to. If it goes well and I feel good at the end of the year, I might make this a project I do every few years.
Yay, I love it when you do bookish content! I’m trying to read more books off my shelves this year too. I pulled down 12 books - one per month - for a “high priority” tbr. I usually don’t like much structure in my reading but this is working really well.
Wide sargasso sea is one of my favorite books of all times (and not a hard read at all) ❤ I got mine from the English bookshop in Zürich (after my aunt recommended it), the seller never heard about it, and she looked it up on her computer, turned around and pulled it out of the bookcase from exactly behind her saying: “Oh, here it is!” Love your video. I have the same problems and want to do something similar 😊
Wow did this hit home! For many years, I saved all literature for my NYC subway commute, to the point where I stopped reading at any other time as to never be left without a subway read. When the commute went away, instead of resuming my couch-reading, I started stockpiling books for when the commute resumed. The commute did not return, and now I have an entire full-size bookcase of "unread." Much like the mashed potatoes, except the books served to eliminate the drudgery of the commute.
I have plenty of “mashed potato” books. My mother and I also read a lot of “potato chip” books. These are books that you can’t put down, are easy to read, and want to read another one right away after you’ve finished it. 😆
I relate strongly to this video... 245 (62%) of the books I currently own are unread and I've gotten into borrowing ebooks from the library recently 😂😂
My most common reason for moving books further down my TBR is when I know they will open me up raw. I have a few authors that I relate to so well, and am always dissected by their interpretations of the world and how we fit into it. I know I will love the books, but it takes a lot to be in the mindset of willfully being ripped open and shown your own essence in a way you haven’t been aware of yet.
A lot of books I own are ones that have been randomly given to me that I wouldn't have chosen myself- but I keep because I might like them and can't bring myself to get rid of that potential
this whole video feels like a personal callout 😂i have at least three of those books and haven't read them for precisely the same reasons you said. i'm glad at least we're all in this together
Ok, but about the Sheila Heti piece, I have an example that may alleviate some stress (if by some chance you even see this lol). I LOVE the band Autoheart. Absolutely love them. They don’t have a ton of albums, but what they do have is generally really good. Most famous and beloved song by then is by far Stalker’s Tango, and I hate that song with a passion. Does it make me less of an Autoheart fan? Absolutely not! I have so much love for the songs I do like, and a bad apple or two, even if they are the popular ones, does not mean that you have to stop saying that you are a huge fan of them.
I FINALLY read LOTR last year, having been given it for Christmas in 2004! I put off reading it for EIGHTEEN YEARS! It felt so good to finally tick it off
Omg I relate about having a book that would've been fantastic for my dissertation that I got a bit too late - I did a music journalism degree (like, 8 years ago) and did my diss on Tony Wilson/Factory Records, and I've collected so many music industry books since that I'm sure are GREAT but for some reason I can't face having missed a chunk of random wisdom
I started tackling my "Mount to be Read" in 2016, and I'm still reading books from it! Being allowed to toss books that you don't like definitely helps. Also, listening to some of them as audio books made progress easier. Enjoy!! :)
I also bought A Reunion of Ghosts based on nothing but ~ vibes ~ lol. I was working in a bookshop at the time it came out and I just had a good feeling even though I didn't know anything about it. It's been a few years since I read it but i remember it being challenging at times and sad but definitely worth the read. Can't wait to hear what you think!
I owned that copy of Dracula, but gave it to a friend! I bought it because it looked nice when I was about 20, but I had actually read Dracula from my school library when I was in grade 5 haha. I remember I had wanted to keep that copy of the novel from the library because it was a thick book (about 500 pages so the type must of been large) and someone took the time to make a whole stick figure flip book across all of the pages including car crashes, explosions and UFO's
I've been making 'read before the end of the year or get rid of it' lists for the past 4-ish years, and it has worked really well! The lists are comprised of books I find really intimidating and books I've had for way too long (I've put stickers on all of my unread books signifying the year they were bought... I love doing the most). I put twelve books on the list, because reading one a month among the 10 or so other books I read each month is very manageable. I also have a massive book folder that contains reviews and stats of all the books I've read and bought since 2018 (like I said, I love doing the absolute most) and I have a physical copy of the list so I can tick each book off as I read them and feel like I'm making progress. Great video, love your book chats
“how should a person be?” is good but IMO it is not Heti’s best. She’s grown so much as a writer in her 2 latest novels (Motherhood & Pure Colour). I think you should go into the book viewing it as her first novel and seeing how much she’s grown, rather than expecting it to be perfect. You’ll still get something out of it! I’m sure you won’t hate it.
oh god we studied wide sargasso sea in school and i still get flashbacks of endless essay comparisons 😫 i'm tempted to re-read it and jane eyre this year though to try and reframe my opinion of them! in contrast, i couldn't put dracula down once i started reading it and was so surprised at how easy it was to read, it's now one of my all time faves 🖤
The timing of this video was perfect. My book club's theme for this month was to pick a book that's been sitting on our shelf unread for too long, and I was so ashamed when I went through my bookshelf and found upwards of 30 books that I've been hoarding and not reading for 5-10 years. I have this weird guilt(?) feeling about getting rid of books that I've purchased - like it's giving back a shelter animal or something? I don't know. But it's helpful to hear that you have the same problem and that you're actually doing something about it. Here's to actually reading the damn thing! (or giving it away - that's good too)
I just have to share my current situation, hopefully some of you will take something good from it :) Right now, I finally got to read a book that was on my TBR since 2018 (could be worse, I know). And now I am beyond shocked by how good that book is and refuse to believe that I was walking around it for so long. I can already tell it's one of the best books of this year. By the way, it's called The Shape of Water and it's painfully underrated.
Out of your ten there's only one I read: Wide Sargasso Sea. It was required for an English course I took about 13 years ago, but I remember enjoying it a lot. It's actually one I'd like to revisit, as I have a much better understanding of racism and colonialism now.
I’m not much of a classics reader but I read Wide Sargasso Sea last month and finished it in about two hours. It was definitely worth it and not particularly heavy
proust and the squid was super enlightening and i don’t think you even have to read it all in one go. just picking it up and reading a single chapter every now and then will be good, too. it makes you really appreciate reading in a new light!
I read 2 pages of Wuthering Heights and it's sat on my bedside table for about 2 months since then already. Also a big pile of borrowed or op shop books I want to read and just never have. This is a great idea
I always put off doing something if I know I’m going to love doing it!! I have SO many examples: - not reading a certain book for ages because I know I’ll love it - not having taken certain modules when I was in college because I enjoyed the ones I did that were related to them too much - not going on a date because I really liked the guy - not watching a certain movie for ages because I know I’ll love it And so much more… I can’t make it make sense 🤣
oof i feel this one! i have 3 billy bookcases. one of them is only unread books... i keep meaning to read more of my own books, but it has not been going too well. ever since i got burnt out some years ago i am *very* reliant on impulse to get anything done. if i dont feel like reading a book when it's time to pick up a new one i won't read it, even if i have *planned* on reading it. but i have also realized that setting expectations also scare me off from reading a book because i don't want to be let down. so my current attempt to remedy my long list of TBRs on my shelves is to actively not set expectations and also give myself enough time to get into a book the first time i sit down with it. i'd be happy just getting 5 of my long-term unread books read this year! some books that would be cool to read: A Master of Djinn, The Seep, The Word for World is Forest, Orlando, The Poppy War, and One Last Stop
Oof, I feel called out 😂. The mashed potato concept has really been helping me articulate my bookish failures and I always feel very seen by books unbound. Day of the triffids is also on my list. I recently borrowed it from the library hoping I'd finally read it with the added pressure of knowing I'd have to return it. Instead I renewed it three times and then kept it so long that the library warned me that I'd have to pay for a new one if it wasn't returned immediately. Needless to say it is still unread haha
I am so relieved that it is not just my bookshelves that contain a large proportion of TBR. I am in a bit of a reading slump at the moment, actually going through the whole of January without reading at all! Not like me. I need to regroup, and it is good to know i have some company! Ps I love Dracula, and you will too.
Really random and not book related, but the overall color-scheme and setting of this video is really pleasing to the eye. I usually listen to most youtube videos, rather than look at them, but I couldn't only listen to this one :o
A few years ago, I implemented a personal rule that any books I purchase in a given year must also be read in that year (exceptions are made for collector's/alternate editions of books I already own). I was very successful in sticking to that rule and and am still continuing with it. I've now married it with the requirement that between each newly purchased book read, I must pause to read a book from my existing collection. In this way, I am both paring down my existing collection and slowing myself from purchasing new books too quickly. What I've realized from this process is that it's a lot of fun to read the books I'm hot and heavy for now instead of reading the books that have gone cold on my shelves over the years (i.e., past Hannah did not have the same taste as present Hannah). Lesson learned!
I've been doing a thing recently where I finally get around to reading the books that I should have read on my English degree but didn't. Due to time restraints there were a lot of books on our reading list that I started but didn't finish, and then didn't pick to use for an assignment, but I knew I'd like if I had the time to read them! One was 'Great Expectations', which I tried so hard to read in time on the course but I only got half way through. I picked it up ten years later, read it in about 2 weeks and absolutely adored it. Funny enough, 'Dracula' was also one of those books which I've now finally read. One of my resolutions has been to read more of Charles Dickens' work, which always intimidated me in the past. I've so far read 'Great Expectations', 'Nicholas Nickelby', 'A Christmas Carol' and 'A Tale of Two Cities', and am currently on 'Oliver Twist', so it's going well so far! :)
This is the year where I told myself to not be intimidated by reading again, thanks to a lot of your suggestions! I definitely understand the fear of "classics". First one of your list will be The elegance of the Hedgehog (which I love so far). :-) So far I've read more this year than last year!
Speaking of dopamine, I feel that sometimes if I have a book on my shelf that I see every day my brain in some weird way feels like I've read it already or is bored of the book? I think it could be an ADHD thing, if I have an idea/thought but don't move on it fast enough my brain will get bored of the idea before I even get a chance to do it 😂🙈 anyway, maybe the solution is to do what people do with their wardrobes, pack away all the books you haven't read and don't look at them for a while, then start dipping into them again and you'll hopefully have forgotten what you have packed away and your brain will think it's something new and exciting again? And think of how satisfying it would be to have all the books on your shelf be ones that you've read!
Leena these videos are so motivating! I recently got back into reading and have accumulated books faster than I know I can read them. I am going on a book-buying ban until I work through them!
There are some books in my bookshelves that I'm convinced I'll never actually read. However, one time I went and separated the books I read against the books I haven't, and I realized I read the majority of the books I own. There's just that 10% sitting there for years with no hope of ever getting picked up
I relate to this video haha. I have chosen 12 books from my shelves that have been there for a while and I'm doing the same thing - roughly read one per month this year. So far I've finished 2! I am delighted it is working haha. Hope your books get read (or at least tried and DNF'd if not enjoyed)
I really relate to not reading a book because it's based on/referencing other books that you haven't read yet, that might give you a fuller experience of the book once you have read those as well. Got The Serpent of Venice for over 8 years I believe and haven gotten round to any of those books yet... And then there's the impression that certain books are intimidating to read in that they'll require more of your focus and time and attention than others, which makes it easier to ignore the intimidating ones and go for something "easier". Got loads of those...
irish book recommendation: Reading in the Dark, Seamus Deane. I can't stop rereading because sometimes I drop everything I'm doing because the backyard of my brain just figured out another thing I missed when reading for the first time
Day of the Triffids is so good and such an effortless read - before you know it you're at the last page. But what you said about not reading it because you know you'll enjoy it, I discovered the pleasures of that method purely by accident. I had determined, solely on a whim, that I would not buy Kazantzakis' "The Last Temptation" online - and for years (literally, years) could find it in no shops. Eventually I succumbed and got it from Amazon and devoured it - it's right up my street so I'm sure I'd have loved it either way but I can't imagine it would have been anything like how I felt after waiting so long. A must read for sure , but wait a while first!
i need to come here and enthuse about wide sargasso sea !!! i studied charlotte bronte and wrote my dissertation about her and i love everything that has to do with the bronte sisters. while studying it, as we read jane eyre, there was one colleague that was doing her research in jean rhys and she presented this book to me and i simply LOVED IT. and if you do love it, cause it's another look in a story that has loads of sides and cause you're from the uk, i'd like to recommend to you Maryse Condé's book "Windward Heights", which is a retelling of the story of Wuthering Heights in the Carabean. i'd love to hear you talk about the bronte sisters more and all these stories made from them.
Glad you mentioned Sheila Heti. I still have my autographed copy of "Ticknor", and I have not read anything else by her. Some books are just not worth your time, and some authors put you off forever. Oh, and I have several of Samuel Beckett's novels that I am putting off.
Haha, totally relate. I've been making a really big effort to read my physical books, and honestly, it's going okay over the past year I've gone from 120 physical unread books and got that down to 57. I am moving house next week into my own home and I suspect this will now exponentially grow, but at least I know the vast majority of books will be new, and not just on my shelved from yesteryear. P.s this does not take into account the hundred or so ebooks I've purchased and left unread but I usually read my kindle on trips away so, it is what it is. 😂
Azar Nafisi is AMAZING. I just recently read her “Reading Dangerously,” and it’s brilliant. So now I’m adding this one on my already extensive tbr list, lol.
Wide Sargasso Sea is also on my To-read list for 2023. I know myself well enough to know that I can’t read it during the winter because of Seasonal Depression. Saving it for Summer. I read Dracula in college, but I think I skipped some of the middle section. I’ll do it again this year.
Books on running, if that one isn't what you want after reading it...Murakami's, what i talk about when I talk about running :)...it's a little book, I read many years ago when it first came out and I really liked it...and I don't run. I cycle. It still applies ;)
This is so relatable! Particularly your rationale for not having read Dracula… I’ve been saving Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire for over a decade because I really want to read it in the desert. In this time I have spent several summers in the desert and was apparently enjoying myself far too much to remember to read it.
I read Dracula last year by participating in Dracula Daily. I see someone else has already commented what that is, but it was really fun. That is also how I read Moby Dick last year, and I basically never read classics so those were two huge wins for me. Also Dracula is so much weirder than you would think based on its adaptations. Read it for Dracula's glorious mustache and the Texan cowboy Quincy. I made a little last chance shelf for myself at the beginning of the year. If I don't read those books this year, they have to go!
I get where your coming from on classics being intimidating! I own some lovely editions of some classics but never had the time to sit down and read due to life being a little more hectic than expected. So I set myself a challenge to read 5 classics last year in either written/audio format and it was a lot easier! I did Dracula in audiobook format while I had a bunch of crochet/sewing projects which worked quite well - I think it was in a collection with Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde which are also good. My bookshelf currently has 2 x double stacked shelves of TBR and a shelves worth of digital. I do procrastinate - I have been bitten my the popular books that people gush over and I've read and disliked so much my brain refuses/ is hesitant to try anything new for a month or two! I may do the same experiment you are to see if I can get some movement going again! Good luck!
so relatable. but at the rate i keep buying new books and borrowing books from the library, i wonder if this is a futile battle. i think 80% of the books i own are unread, which is super shameful considering that i read A LOT. this means my book acquiring habits are literally out of control...but you have inspired me to make a bigger dent in my currently owned books. there's still hope yet
I received Reading Lolita in Tehran a couple of years ago in a "choose a brown paper covered mystery book that our staff recommended" promotion! I've started it a few times but have been unable to connect with the story. Here I was, thinking that I was too uncultured to enjoy this flavor of non-fiction books. Did I consider that reading Lolita or Great Gatsby myself might have been a helpful prereq? Nope! I'm looking forward to adding those classics to my to-read list and giving the Nafisi another try.
Proust and the Squid is on my shelf as homework. It is a prominant book in my field and every conference i go to people talk about it. Have i read it yet?.... 😬
You haven't read Dracula yet????!!! My exaggerated incredulity is because it's one of my favorites, ever since I first read it when I was in high school, nearly 20 years ago. I've read it several times and have three different copies of it. My most recent read-through was this past year when I subscribed to Dracula Daily, which was a pretty fun, manageable way to read it. I can't promise you'll like it as much as I do, but I do think you'll like having read it. Also, if you do like it and also find the actual historical figure Vlad Tepes interesting, I highly recommend The Historian. It's a little bit dry as a novel (because all of the characters are historians), but it's a pretty good, trans-European Dracula romp.
I have an entire bookcase that is just unread books. It just sort of appeared over the last 2 years or so, I never left books unread before. I spent almost all of 2021 not reading anything but still buying them, and then 2022 I mainly reread old favorites. Not sure what that's about, I think maybe it's an anxiety thing. Like I need to know the ending or that I'll enjoy it before I pick it up. This year my goal is to read those books on that bookshelf. So far I've been doing ok, read 4 books that were new and not rereads. However I have bought 8 new books to put on the unread shelves, so 1 step forwards 2 steps back lol.
i saw the title and thought to myself "oh kinda like a mashed potato book?" and you instantly answered that! i think all of these are sound reasons not to get to them tbh, especially the 'first aid kit' feeling! 'Wicked' has made it to my mashed potato book list (i even ordered an old used copy coz i liked the older cover better) all thanks to you! also is it just me or do John Wyndham books have INCREDIBLE covers - ive admittedly bought 3 different books by him, all from different collections, and then not read any coz thats life :P
i'm the same way, I have a bunch of books that I'm saving for some special ocassion, and then they sit thesre for years. This happened with new releases that I was desperate to read, bought them and then they're just... there they are, staring, right now, unread. Let's do this!
I have an embarrassing amount of books I have yet to read but my most shameful is 'Night Film by Marisha Pessel' because it's been on every Autumn/Spooky Season/Middle of Summer tbr I can think of since it came out and I STILL HAVE YET TO PICK IT UP.
Oh god, I had to read day of the triffids for school and it bored me to *death* when I loved literally every other book I’d read ever. I still get flashbacks. Good luck.. but then again its been a long time.. I hope you love it!
When I read wide Sargasso sea I pulled it off my mums bookshelf when I was about 14 and I had a thing about not reading blurbs because one once gave too much away, so I didn't know about it or read the blurb and it wasn't until right at the end of the book that I realised it was about the lady from Jane Eyre 😬
Out of 463+ books I have read only 217 of them so I have like 250 books to read now lol. This year I am going to tackle the unread ones and after that I will be going through once more and getting rid of what I know I won't ever really read and get rid of the books I didn't like anyway. I'm doing really well this year and have found so many new favorites! For me I wait to read a book for "the right time" or I am waiting on a series to conclude lol.
I absolutely loved reading as a child and teenager. Then I did a degree in German literature and this spoiled reading for me for several years. I took me a while to understand that I don't have to read "the classics", I can just read whatever I fancy and am interested in (mostly not books from white old dead men). I really do relate to waiting to be in the right mindset for a specific book, which obviously never happens :D I also made the experience that I was really keen on reading a certain book but waited to read it until I read others first. When I finally got to that book the excitement was gone. So now I tend go with the flow a bit more to keep my pleasure in reading alive and avoid reading slumps. Btw I read Motherhood and How to be a person by Sheila Heti and if you liked the first I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the latter!
I read Reading Lolita in Tehran for my English degree and absolutely loved it. (Also for those interested and in a similar boat, I had never read Lolita and don’t plan to and it was still deeply enjoyable)
This year I have made a conscious effort to only read books I enjoy. I work in a bookshop so have access to lots of books, but have decided it's okay if my review is "I started it and couldn't bear to finish it". Life is too short to waste time reading books that aren't enjoyable, and so giving myself permission this year to stop them will hopefully help me to make a dent in my physical TBR!
I've only started doing this is the past 2-3 years. Before, if I started a book, I made myself finish it, even if I hated it the whole time. Now, I'll give it a decent shot, but if I just never start enjoying it, it's ok to put it down and not feel guilty!
@@skyefeyden Yes it took me a while to realise that was okay! I always thought I needed to finish books so I'd know if it got better, but this year just realised life is too short to waste time reading books you really don't like
I've been feelign this a lot! I have been culling my infinity long storygraph TBR because i dont remember most of the books on it anymore. I also have a bad habbit of putting nonfiction books on my tbr and then struggling to feel interested in reading a '''serious''' book. My solution has been audiobooks on Libby (which i find much easier to get into than physical books!).
I have created a TBR jar and going back to the old booktube monthly TBR (not really a thing for me as a mood reader) but it seems to be working so far two months in.
This is me. I have a ''still to read list'' on my notes section. I keep a maximum of 50 on the list at once and the others I have are unlisted (I read audiobooks so I can quickly check what I have unread and don't need to search bookshelves). I can only add more to my ''still to read list'' when I'm down to 10, I add half that I'm really looking forward to and half that I'm not so much looking forward to (they can surprise me). I do still struggle with longer books (I don't know why but I panic about books over 10 hours - 9 hours 59 mins is fine but 10 hours 2 mins is too long and I ignore it) but I am getting to read some books I've been ignoring. I also check my spreadsheet and search for a type of book I've not read in a while. I'm quite anal about how much I organize my reading but it seems to be working so far.
Yeah, I've had certain books waiting patiently on my shelves for over 20 years now, so I can relate. 😅 I was actually just thinking of one this morning, The Bards of Bone Plain. I've kept it because I like Patricia McKillip's writing, but also because of the cover. Yes, I admit it.
this video was delightful! out of these i've only read dracula and that one was very fun through dracula daily (the email thingy). i was quite surprised when i saw a copy of dracula at a bookstore recently that it's that long and that i read all that through emails haha
I decided that 2023 would be the year I read all the unread books on my shelf before buying/borrowing anymore… but then I had surgery in December and rented a bunch from the library for recovery and I’m still working my way through those bc apparently 14 books in 6 weeks was too ambitious of me 🙈😅
We read Wide Sargasso Sea at school, and while usually I find books we are forced to read at school really tedious, I really enjoyed this one! Definitely get into it! X
I've got some books that I've not got around to reading yet and there are a couple of reasons for this. At uni, I burnt myself out reading, and in 2014 I got an illness that affected my concentration pretty badly for a number of years and that brain fog hung around for a long while. It was only in 2018 that I started reading properly again. (It was the Poldark series and even then, I was slower at reading them than I was before.) Another problem I encountered was with modern books (Those written from the mid 2000's onwards), not being as good as I expected, being too formulaic, etc...) and I also encountered an issue with books from series/worlds that I had been reading for more than ten years referring to events in books I'd read a long time ago and not remembering what it was they were referring to - my mind needed a refresh on them. I didn't want to read some of the 'newer' books that I had in case I was disappointed by them. Due to the illness I had, I don't have the power of concentration that I had before uni even though it's much better now and don't get through near as many books that I'd like to. Instead, I go back to reading books that I've enjoyed, but still be on the look out for something new. My favourite publishing period for books in from the 70's to the mid 2000's, though I do have some classics and early - mid 20th century books that I like. Dracula is one of them and I've got through it a couple of times.
If anyone else was wondering, that edition of Dracula appears to be the Canterbury Classic flexibound edition and they don't seem to be available in the UK :(
I did Dracula Daily last year, and it was delightful! Dracula is epistolary and the whole book takes place between May & November of one year, so the Dracula Daily substack will send you an email each day with the passages that correspond with that date.
I’ve wanted to reread Dracula sometime. This sounds so fun! Thanks for mentioning it😊
hah i came down here to see if anyone had already recommended dracula daily!! i don't think i would have ever picked up dracula if it weren't for dracula daily but it was such a delight getting those semi-regular emails, and made the story so much more intense and real, to follow along for a couple of months, i can highly recommend it, and might just do a re-read this year
I was going to recommend this too!
There's also a current substack for Moby Dick! I actually like it a lot 😂
@@Fenyally Agreed, it was such a rewarding experience.
I understand where it's coming from, but just to say it out loud: you don't have to love all books by an author for that author for being your favorite! Just like people you love, they will also have sides you are less in love with, but that does't mean you love them less or not at all. If you read the book and it's not your favorite you'll still be able to share if with other fellow book lovers
I am a die hard fan of certain authors. And I can confirm some of their works are. . . Garbage mistakes that stink.
Exactly. It's like your fave artist. Chances are you probably won't like every single album/song they release but they remain your fave.
I *love* Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest books of all time. But Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is one I really dislike. Most authors have their not so great books.
You should sign up for Dracula daily! It emails you the letters in Dracula on the day they were sent in the book so you follow the story in real time! A really interesting way to read the story!
i just signed up!! thank you!!
So cool!! Thank you!!
oh what! that sounds so cool!
That's so cool.
I discovered Terry Pratchett & the Discworld when I was 16ish, and promptly devoured about 20 of them, loved them all. Yet I’m making no moves to finish the series, because once I’ve finished them all there’s no more now
This!!!
Same, I still haven't read moving pictures and a few others. I am planning on reading at least that one this year.
Yes! I have a big (like a4) edition of all Sherlock Holmes that I've got 10 years ago and for the last 4-5 years I have the last story to finish it but I will not, no way I'm done with it!
But also the same with pratchett. I have the whole of the guards series to read and I refuse
I'm reading my first Terry Pratchett & the Discworld right now (and I'm 29)! I am excited and terrified about the amount of books ahead of me haha!
I think I have 4 or 5 books still to read (the last one as a hard back first edition). I've actually started re-reading the earlier books!
My friends and I tackled this problem by doing a year of "Read Your Own Damn Books", where you couldn't buy any new books and had to read the paper books off your shelves. We had a contest to see who could read the most books and you won a prize at the end of the year and a dinner. My friend Cheryl won at 35 books.
My best friend did Dracula Daily last year and she loved it, so I am definitely going to do it this year to finally get around to reading it. Dracula is an epistolary novel and all takes place between May and November of the same year, so what Dracula Daily does is you sign up with your email and each day that something happens in the novel it sends you an email with the excerpts of that day, so you're basically reading it in real time if that makes sense
My husband says that a fine library should be like a good wine cellar - the collection should include some fond memories, yes, but also things waiting to be savored at the appropriate moment. Indeed, I find myself shedding books that I keep meaning to REread and never get around to, so I have more vibrant new ideas around me.
That said, I have (*checks*) 97 audio and ebooks out from the library, right now, and another 48 on hold as they continuously cycle through. I spend more than 10% of my reading time putting things on hold or renewing them! It is too much!
i thought this was going to be about popular books that you refuse to read because they are problematic / you don't want to support the author / they go against your beliefs and values in some way, which is something i definitely wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on. but this was more fun and a really entertaining video :)
Clickbaity title!
Same here..
I know two people that desperately want to read Harry Potter and at the same time, are afraid they might 'support' JK that way, because they are part of the LGBT community, but at the same time, are not as triggered by her themselves.
I told them to just buy the books secondhand and enjoy them. It almost feels cruel to imagine a scenario where I could enjoy the books (and still love them) and that they can't, while they really want to.
You can say a lot about details, whether book or movieadaptation and some people found fault with characters or how they were described or the small amount of diversity etc. I don't know what to say to that, other than that I know that the books saved millions of lifes, simply because it gave people hope, a new world in their mind, a whole lot of words to hang onto.
And I feel that, whatever your believes, you should definitely read Harry Potter. I don't know anybody that read the books and became unhappy or a "worse" person because of it. Everybody I know that read it, has benefitted from it.
@@Widdekuu91 Thrift stores and given how fatphobic they open as... Tell them to do one and go from there.
With 'do one' do you mean reading one book, or do one as in, leave?
This is so great. My sole reason for not reading books currently is that I have a toddler and my alone time is really precious and I'm terrified of "wasting" it on things I might not enjoy. I'm working on it though! I'm 500 pages into a 700 page book about the history of the Romanovs and I'm really enjoying it. If I can read a history book that dense, I can do all the things!
Hope you don't mind me asking, but what book is it? I like the subject and I'd love to check it out! Thanks 💖
Is it the Montefiore book?I have a copy of The Romanovs and his novel called Jerusalem: A History as well. I read Jerusalem.
Dracula, as classics go, I found quite easy to read and really draws you in. Also I too have made a vow that I actually am going to read the books that I own this year. So far I have made it through 5, although this has really been slowed down by people giving me books that they know I will really love. Which is lovely, but really slowing my progress on my owned TBR!
Looooove Books Unbound❤️ The Mashed Potato books are too real. Love that the term is getting shared around!
It’s RESONATING for sure
A fun fact: My AP Lit class read Jane Eyre for summer reading back in 2012. In an early class discussion, I got so passionate in my condemnation of Edward that I cried a little bit, and my teacher added Wide Sargasso Sea to our reading lists
On Day of the Triffids - you should read it, because I swear down every time I've re-read it I have enjoyed it exactly the same amount as the first time I've read it. The joy doesn't fade!
This! It's a delightful book!
It's my favourite - just so good.
And not only that but there are other excellent John Wyndham books waiting for you when you finish this one: The Kraken Wakes, Chocky, The Chrysalids!
💯 with all of this. I struggle to find sci-Fi that I enjoy, but I have really liked to utterly loved every John Wyndham book I’ve read. I currently own four different editions of The Day of The Triffids. 🙈😄🤓
Aaaah I'm so happy I've managed to find other Wyndham lovers! He's an absolute fav, I end up doing a re-read pretty much every year 😂
I recommend Reading Lolita in Tehran to my fellow books nerds all the time. One of my favorite books of all time. I still think about it years later
very similar to the wicked book-i discovered a book that would have been extremely relevant to my thesis about 6 months after i finished it. i bought the book but i don’t think i’ll ever read it both bc i’m afraid of being wrong and also bc i’m so tired of the topic LOL
I made a list this year of every book, comic book and manga volume I have that I want to read. Then I made a seperate list of books I bought this year. I currently have a net positive of 24 items. Seeing my progress this way has really lit a fire under me to keep reading. Especially since the leftovers on the "To Read" and the really insteresting ones on the "Have Bought" lists fuse at the end of the year to make next year's To Read List. So I'm also doing this to get my future self less of a sense of pressure from all the books he'll have to read.
I am forever waiting for Leena to make a video about Wicked the novel 🥺 I read it because you mentioned briefly in another video and it became one of my favorite books of all time, it would be amazing to hear your analysis of it! Love your channel, be well ❤
I'm currently reading Dracula and it's becoming my favorite book of all time. I thought it would be much harder to read but I'm finding it quite simple (as someone who can't read a lot of classics and someone who isn't a native english speaker).
The thing with Jane Eyre is that Bertha was beautiful and Mr. Rochester fell in love with the idea of her, but the family secretly knew that she was destined for madness as it ran in the family and she had showed all the signs. His Father wanted the dowry money. It had nothing to do with her being a different race.
But then why was she a POC? The novel would have worked just as well if she wasn’t, but instead the author choose to other her that extra step - was it an attempt to make Rochester less blame worthy for his abhorrent treatment of her? To make her less human so that she could be easily monstrous? This is a novel not real life so the authors choice here matters, especially considering the time period it was written and how often race was used as a way to excuse the poor treatment of those deemed non-white.
Exactly! I just read Jane Eyre for the first time and the way Rochester and Jane refer to Bertha as "it" and the way in which they describe her as a wild, monstrous animal with bloated, purple features is disgusting and obviously racist! Clearly Charlotte Brontë held racist views and showed as much by comparing pale, gentle Jane to her idea of a savage woc. I found it really hard to get through the book as it was because Mr. Rochester made me cringe whenever he appeared but the descriptions of Bertha where so inhumane that it was almost impossible to read. I only fought my way through it to be able to read Wide Sargasso Sea since it's rare to find woc in the western literary canon, plus, it's premise has always intrigued me. I know a lot of people love Jane Eyre for being an early work of feminism literature but that doesn't make it an untouchable text that can't be criticized! It's weight feminism at it's worst, in order for our weight heroine to be valuable we must find a more marginalized woman to oppress.
This year I made a list of all the books I physically own but have not read (approx 70 books) and I told myself that I had to read at LEAST one of them each month, though in January I read 10 so maybe I'll get through far more than 12. The books that don't get read will probably leave me with an updated idea about what I'm interested in and at the end of the year I am giving myself the freedom to pass along any books I haven't read if they don't seem like books I'd like to give my time to. If it goes well and I feel good at the end of the year, I might make this a project I do every few years.
Yay, I love it when you do bookish content!
I’m trying to read more books off my shelves this year too. I pulled down 12 books - one per month - for a “high priority” tbr. I usually don’t like much structure in my reading but this is working really well.
Wide sargasso sea is one of my favorite books of all times (and not a hard read at all) ❤
I got mine from the English bookshop in Zürich (after my aunt recommended it), the seller never heard about it, and she looked it up on her computer, turned around and pulled it out of the bookcase from exactly behind her saying: “Oh, here it is!”
Love your video. I have the same problems and want to do something similar 😊
Wow did this hit home! For many years, I saved all literature for my NYC subway commute, to the point where I stopped reading at any other time as to never be left without a subway read. When the commute went away, instead of resuming my couch-reading, I started stockpiling books for when the commute resumed. The commute did not return, and now I have an entire full-size bookcase of "unread." Much like the mashed potatoes, except the books served to eliminate the drudgery of the commute.
I have plenty of “mashed potato” books. My mother and I also read a lot of “potato chip” books. These are books that you can’t put down, are easy to read, and want to read another one right away after you’ve finished it. 😆
I relate strongly to this video... 245 (62%) of the books I currently own are unread and I've gotten into borrowing ebooks from the library recently 😂😂
My most common reason for moving books further down my TBR is when I know they will open me up raw. I have a few authors that I relate to so well, and am always dissected by their interpretations of the world and how we fit into it. I know I will love the books, but it takes a lot to be in the mindset of willfully being ripped open and shown your own essence in a way you haven’t been aware of yet.
A lot of books I own are ones that have been randomly given to me that I wouldn't have chosen myself- but I keep because I might like them and can't bring myself to get rid of that potential
this whole video feels like a personal callout 😂i have at least three of those books and haven't read them for precisely the same reasons you said. i'm glad at least we're all in this together
Ok, but about the Sheila Heti piece, I have an example that may alleviate some stress (if by some chance you even see this lol). I LOVE the band Autoheart. Absolutely love them. They don’t have a ton of albums, but what they do have is generally really good. Most famous and beloved song by then is by far Stalker’s Tango, and I hate that song with a passion. Does it make me less of an Autoheart fan? Absolutely not! I have so much love for the songs I do like, and a bad apple or two, even if they are the popular ones, does not mean that you have to stop saying that you are a huge fan of them.
I FINALLY read LOTR last year, having been given it for Christmas in 2004! I put off reading it for EIGHTEEN YEARS! It felt so good to finally tick it off
Omg I relate about having a book that would've been fantastic for my dissertation that I got a bit too late - I did a music journalism degree (like, 8 years ago) and did my diss on Tony Wilson/Factory Records, and I've collected so many music industry books since that I'm sure are GREAT but for some reason I can't face having missed a chunk of random wisdom
I started tackling my "Mount to be Read" in 2016, and I'm still reading books from it! Being allowed to toss books that you don't like definitely helps. Also, listening to some of them as audio books made progress easier. Enjoy!! :)
I also bought A Reunion of Ghosts based on nothing but ~ vibes ~ lol. I was working in a bookshop at the time it came out and I just had a good feeling even though I didn't know anything about it. It's been a few years since I read it but i remember it being challenging at times and sad but definitely worth the read. Can't wait to hear what you think!
Hahaha I’m glad I wasn’t the only person obeying the call of vibes!!! You’ve made me even more excited to read it
This is so relatable to me. I have so many books that I haven't read for stupid reasons. Also Wide Sargasso Sea genuinely slaps
I owned that copy of Dracula, but gave it to a friend! I bought it because it looked nice when I was about 20, but I had actually read Dracula from my school library when I was in grade 5 haha. I remember I had wanted to keep that copy of the novel from the library because it was a thick book (about 500 pages so the type must of been large) and someone took the time to make a whole stick figure flip book across all of the pages including car crashes, explosions and UFO's
I've been making 'read before the end of the year or get rid of it' lists for the past 4-ish years, and it has worked really well! The lists are comprised of books I find really intimidating and books I've had for way too long (I've put stickers on all of my unread books signifying the year they were bought... I love doing the most). I put twelve books on the list, because reading one a month among the 10 or so other books I read each month is very manageable. I also have a massive book folder that contains reviews and stats of all the books I've read and bought since 2018 (like I said, I love doing the absolute most) and I have a physical copy of the list so I can tick each book off as I read them and feel like I'm making progress. Great video, love your book chats
“how should a person be?” is good but IMO it is not Heti’s best. She’s grown so much as a writer in her 2 latest novels (Motherhood & Pure Colour). I think you should go into the book viewing it as her first novel and seeing how much she’s grown, rather than expecting it to be perfect. You’ll still get something out of it! I’m sure you won’t hate it.
oh god we studied wide sargasso sea in school and i still get flashbacks of endless essay comparisons 😫 i'm tempted to re-read it and jane eyre this year though to try and reframe my opinion of them! in contrast, i couldn't put dracula down once i started reading it and was so surprised at how easy it was to read, it's now one of my all time faves 🖤
The timing of this video was perfect. My book club's theme for this month was to pick a book that's been sitting on our shelf unread for too long, and I was so ashamed when I went through my bookshelf and found upwards of 30 books that I've been hoarding and not reading for 5-10 years. I have this weird guilt(?) feeling about getting rid of books that I've purchased - like it's giving back a shelter animal or something? I don't know. But it's helpful to hear that you have the same problem and that you're actually doing something about it. Here's to actually reading the damn thing! (or giving it away - that's good too)
I just have to share my current situation, hopefully some of you will take something good from it :) Right now, I finally got to read a book that was on my TBR since 2018 (could be worse, I know). And now I am beyond shocked by how good that book is and refuse to believe that I was walking around it for so long. I can already tell it's one of the best books of this year. By the way, it's called The Shape of Water and it's painfully underrated.
Out of your ten there's only one I read: Wide Sargasso Sea. It was required for an English course I took about 13 years ago, but I remember enjoying it a lot. It's actually one I'd like to revisit, as I have a much better understanding of racism and colonialism now.
Definitely easier and much more enjoyable on the 2nd read. Also makes more sense if you read Jane Eyre again beforehand.
I've read this one too! Maybe I'll read it again to prepare for your forthcoming review:)
I’m not much of a classics reader but I read Wide Sargasso Sea last month and finished it in about two hours. It was definitely worth it and not particularly heavy
proust and the squid was super enlightening and i don’t think you even have to read it all in one go. just picking it up and reading a single chapter every now and then will be good, too. it makes you really appreciate reading in a new light!
I read 2 pages of Wuthering Heights and it's sat on my bedside table for about 2 months since then already. Also a big pile of borrowed or op shop books I want to read and just never have. This is a great idea
I do have a box in my wardrobe labelled "read or get rid" so I think I'm going to have to dig into that this year 😅
I always put off doing something if I know I’m going to love doing it!! I have SO many examples:
- not reading a certain book for ages because I know I’ll love it
- not having taken certain modules when I was in college because I enjoyed the ones I did that were related to them too much
- not going on a date because I really liked the guy
- not watching a certain movie for ages because I know I’ll love it
And so much more… I can’t make it make sense 🤣
oof i feel this one! i have 3 billy bookcases. one of them is only unread books... i keep meaning to read more of my own books, but it has not been going too well. ever since i got burnt out some years ago i am *very* reliant on impulse to get anything done. if i dont feel like reading a book when it's time to pick up a new one i won't read it, even if i have *planned* on reading it. but i have also realized that setting expectations also scare me off from reading a book because i don't want to be let down.
so my current attempt to remedy my long list of TBRs on my shelves is to actively not set expectations and also give myself enough time to get into a book the first time i sit down with it. i'd be happy just getting 5 of my long-term unread books read this year!
some books that would be cool to read: A Master of Djinn, The Seep, The Word for World is Forest, Orlando, The Poppy War, and One Last Stop
Oof, I feel called out 😂. The mashed potato concept has really been helping me articulate my bookish failures and I always feel very seen by books unbound. Day of the triffids is also on my list. I recently borrowed it from the library hoping I'd finally read it with the added pressure of knowing I'd have to return it. Instead I renewed it three times and then kept it so long that the library warned me that I'd have to pay for a new one if it wasn't returned immediately. Needless to say it is still unread haha
You know the avoidance is real when the library threatens you
I am so relieved that it is not just my bookshelves that contain a large proportion of TBR. I am in a bit of a reading slump at the moment, actually going through the whole of January without reading at all! Not like me. I need to regroup, and it is good to know i have some company! Ps I love Dracula, and you will too.
Really random and not book related, but the overall color-scheme and setting of this video is really pleasing to the eye. I usually listen to most youtube videos, rather than look at them, but I couldn't only listen to this one :o
A few years ago, I implemented a personal rule that any books I purchase in a given year must also be read in that year (exceptions are made for collector's/alternate editions of books I already own). I was very successful in sticking to that rule and and am still continuing with it. I've now married it with the requirement that between each newly purchased book read, I must pause to read a book from my existing collection. In this way, I am both paring down my existing collection and slowing myself from purchasing new books too quickly. What I've realized from this process is that it's a lot of fun to read the books I'm hot and heavy for now instead of reading the books that have gone cold on my shelves over the years (i.e., past Hannah did not have the same taste as present Hannah). Lesson learned!
I've been doing a thing recently where I finally get around to reading the books that I should have read on my English degree but didn't. Due to time restraints there were a lot of books on our reading list that I started but didn't finish, and then didn't pick to use for an assignment, but I knew I'd like if I had the time to read them! One was 'Great Expectations', which I tried so hard to read in time on the course but I only got half way through. I picked it up ten years later, read it in about 2 weeks and absolutely adored it. Funny enough, 'Dracula' was also one of those books which I've now finally read.
One of my resolutions has been to read more of Charles Dickens' work, which always intimidated me in the past. I've so far read 'Great Expectations', 'Nicholas Nickelby', 'A Christmas Carol' and 'A Tale of Two Cities', and am currently on 'Oliver Twist', so it's going well so far! :)
This is the year where I told myself to not be intimidated by reading again, thanks to a lot of your suggestions! I definitely understand the fear of "classics". First one of your list will be The elegance of the Hedgehog (which I love so far). :-) So far I've read more this year than last year!
Speaking of dopamine, I feel that sometimes if I have a book on my shelf that I see every day my brain in some weird way feels like I've read it already or is bored of the book? I think it could be an ADHD thing, if I have an idea/thought but don't move on it fast enough my brain will get bored of the idea before I even get a chance to do it 😂🙈 anyway, maybe the solution is to do what people do with their wardrobes, pack away all the books you haven't read and don't look at them for a while, then start dipping into them again and you'll hopefully have forgotten what you have packed away and your brain will think it's something new and exciting again? And think of how satisfying it would be to have all the books on your shelf be ones that you've read!
interesting idea! I have the same issue too
OMG, that’s so true about buy books and reading them being separate hobbies! I love that!
Leena these videos are so motivating! I recently got back into reading and have accumulated books faster than I know I can read them. I am going on a book-buying ban until I work through them!
There are some books in my bookshelves that I'm convinced I'll never actually read. However, one time I went and separated the books I read against the books I haven't, and I realized I read the majority of the books I own. There's just that 10% sitting there for years with no hope of ever getting picked up
I relate to this video haha.
I have chosen 12 books from my shelves that have been there for a while and I'm doing the same thing - roughly read one per month this year. So far I've finished 2! I am delighted it is working haha. Hope your books get read (or at least tried and DNF'd if not enjoyed)
So fun ! Love the brutal honesty. Will have to take a look at my book collection and go through the culprits...
I really relate to not reading a book because it's based on/referencing other books that you haven't read yet, that might give you a fuller experience of the book once you have read those as well. Got The Serpent of Venice for over 8 years I believe and haven gotten round to any of those books yet...
And then there's the impression that certain books are intimidating to read in that they'll require more of your focus and time and attention than others, which makes it easier to ignore the intimidating ones and go for something "easier". Got loads of those...
irish book recommendation: Reading in the Dark, Seamus Deane. I can't stop rereading because sometimes I drop everything I'm doing because the backyard of my brain just figured out another thing I missed when reading for the first time
Day of the Triffids is so good and such an effortless read - before you know it you're at the last page. But what you said about not reading it because you know you'll enjoy it, I discovered the pleasures of that method purely by accident.
I had determined, solely on a whim, that I would not buy Kazantzakis' "The Last Temptation" online - and for years (literally, years) could find it in no shops. Eventually I succumbed and got it from Amazon and devoured it - it's right up my street so I'm sure I'd have loved it either way but I can't imagine it would have been anything like how I felt after waiting so long. A must read for sure , but wait a while first!
i need to come here and enthuse about wide sargasso sea !!! i studied charlotte bronte and wrote my dissertation about her and i love everything that has to do with the bronte sisters. while studying it, as we read jane eyre, there was one colleague that was doing her research in jean rhys and she presented this book to me and i simply LOVED IT. and if you do love it, cause it's another look in a story that has loads of sides and cause you're from the uk, i'd like to recommend to you Maryse Condé's book "Windward Heights", which is a retelling of the story of Wuthering Heights in the Carabean. i'd love to hear you talk about the bronte sisters more and all these stories made from them.
Glad you mentioned Sheila Heti. I still have my autographed copy of "Ticknor", and I have not read anything else by her.
Some books are just not worth your time, and some authors put you off forever.
Oh, and I have several of Samuel Beckett's novels that I am putting off.
this feels like the book equivalent of the "christmas food" my family get in every year weeks in advance and label for no one to eat until christmas
Haha, totally relate. I've been making a really big effort to read my physical books, and honestly, it's going okay over the past year I've gone from 120 physical unread books and got that down to 57.
I am moving house next week into my own home and I suspect this will now exponentially grow, but at least I know the vast majority of books will be new, and not just on my shelved from yesteryear.
P.s this does not take into account the hundred or so ebooks I've purchased and left unread but I usually read my kindle on trips away so, it is what it is. 😂
I should also note I did actually DNF quite a few of those and was quite brutal recently about some books I just knew I was never going to pick up.
Azar Nafisi is AMAZING. I just recently read her “Reading Dangerously,” and it’s brilliant. So now I’m adding this one on my already extensive tbr list, lol.
Wide Sargasso Sea is also on my To-read list for 2023. I know myself well enough to know that I can’t read it during the winter because of Seasonal Depression. Saving it for Summer. I read Dracula in college, but I think I skipped some of the middle section. I’ll do it again this year.
Books on running, if that one isn't what you want after reading it...Murakami's, what i talk about when I talk about running :)...it's a little book, I read many years ago when it first came out and I really liked it...and I don't run. I cycle. It still applies ;)
This is so relatable! Particularly your rationale for not having read Dracula… I’ve been saving Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire for over a decade because I really want to read it in the desert.
In this time I have spent several summers in the desert and was apparently enjoying myself far too much to remember to read it.
I read Dracula last year by participating in Dracula Daily. I see someone else has already commented what that is, but it was really fun. That is also how I read Moby Dick last year, and I basically never read classics so those were two huge wins for me.
Also Dracula is so much weirder than you would think based on its adaptations. Read it for Dracula's glorious mustache and the Texan cowboy Quincy.
I made a little last chance shelf for myself at the beginning of the year. If I don't read those books this year, they have to go!
I get where your coming from on classics being intimidating! I own some lovely editions of some classics but never had the time to sit down and read due to life being a little more hectic than expected. So I set myself a challenge to read 5 classics last year in either written/audio format and it was a lot easier! I did Dracula in audiobook format while I had a bunch of crochet/sewing projects which worked quite well - I think it was in a collection with Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde which are also good.
My bookshelf currently has 2 x double stacked shelves of TBR and a shelves worth of digital. I do procrastinate - I have been bitten my the popular books that people gush over and I've read and disliked so much my brain refuses/ is hesitant to try anything new for a month or two! I may do the same experiment you are to see if I can get some movement going again! Good luck!
love books unbound! personally, i refer to mashed potato books as roast potato/yorkshire pud books as i don’t actually like mash haha
so relatable. but at the rate i keep buying new books and borrowing books from the library, i wonder if this is a futile battle. i think 80% of the books i own are unread, which is super shameful considering that i read A LOT. this means my book acquiring habits are literally out of control...but you have inspired me to make a bigger dent in my currently owned books. there's still hope yet
I received Reading Lolita in Tehran a couple of years ago in a "choose a brown paper covered mystery book that our staff recommended" promotion! I've started it a few times but have been unable to connect with the story. Here I was, thinking that I was too uncultured to enjoy this flavor of non-fiction books. Did I consider that reading Lolita or Great Gatsby myself might have been a helpful prereq? Nope! I'm looking forward to adding those classics to my to-read list and giving the Nafisi another try.
Reading Lolita in Tehran is just fantastic. The members of the class are so wonderful, that is what I remember most about the book.
This literally describes the state of my bookshelf / state of mind 😅 finally I understand the amounts of unread books I still own 😅 thank you! ❤
Proust and the Squid is on my shelf as homework. It is a prominant book in my field and every conference i go to people talk about it. Have i read it yet?.... 😬
Hahaha THIS IS OUR YEAR, pip!
You haven't read Dracula yet????!!! My exaggerated incredulity is because it's one of my favorites, ever since I first read it when I was in high school, nearly 20 years ago. I've read it several times and have three different copies of it. My most recent read-through was this past year when I subscribed to Dracula Daily, which was a pretty fun, manageable way to read it. I can't promise you'll like it as much as I do, but I do think you'll like having read it. Also, if you do like it and also find the actual historical figure Vlad Tepes interesting, I highly recommend The Historian. It's a little bit dry as a novel (because all of the characters are historians), but it's a pretty good, trans-European Dracula romp.
The bit at 9:43 REALLY spoke to me & reading procrastination my guilt… ”the closest to reverence I can give it is to just READ it” 😅
I have an entire bookcase that is just unread books. It just sort of appeared over the last 2 years or so, I never left books unread before. I spent almost all of 2021 not reading anything but still buying them, and then 2022 I mainly reread old favorites. Not sure what that's about, I think maybe it's an anxiety thing. Like I need to know the ending or that I'll enjoy it before I pick it up. This year my goal is to read those books on that bookshelf. So far I've been doing ok, read 4 books that were new and not rereads. However I have bought 8 new books to put on the unread shelves, so 1 step forwards 2 steps back lol.
i saw the title and thought to myself "oh kinda like a mashed potato book?" and you instantly answered that!
i think all of these are sound reasons not to get to them tbh, especially the 'first aid kit' feeling! 'Wicked' has made it to my mashed potato book list (i even ordered an old used copy coz i liked the older cover better) all thanks to you! also is it just me or do John Wyndham books have INCREDIBLE covers - ive admittedly bought 3 different books by him, all from different collections, and then not read any coz thats life :P
i'm the same way, I have a bunch of books that I'm saving for some special ocassion, and then they sit thesre for years. This happened with new releases that I was desperate to read, bought them and then they're just... there they are, staring, right now, unread. Let's do this!
I have an embarrassing amount of books I have yet to read but my most shameful is 'Night Film by Marisha Pessel' because it's been on every Autumn/Spooky Season/Middle of Summer tbr I can think of since it came out and I STILL HAVE YET TO PICK IT UP.
Oh god, I had to read day of the triffids for school and it bored me to *death* when I loved literally every other book I’d read ever. I still get flashbacks. Good luck.. but then again its been a long time.. I hope you love it!
When I read wide Sargasso sea I pulled it off my mums bookshelf when I was about 14 and I had a thing about not reading blurbs because one once gave too much away, so I didn't know about it or read the blurb and it wasn't until right at the end of the book that I realised it was about the lady from Jane Eyre 😬
Out of 463+ books I have read only 217 of them so I have like 250 books to read now lol. This year I am going to tackle the unread ones and after that I will be going through once more and getting rid of what I know I won't ever really read and get rid of the books I didn't like anyway. I'm doing really well this year and have found so many new favorites!
For me I wait to read a book for "the right time" or I am waiting on a series to conclude lol.
I absolutely loved reading as a child and teenager. Then I did a degree in German literature and this spoiled reading for me for several years. I took me a while to understand that I don't have to read "the classics", I can just read whatever I fancy and am interested in (mostly not books from white old dead men).
I really do relate to waiting to be in the right mindset for a specific book, which obviously never happens :D
I also made the experience that I was really keen on reading a certain book but waited to read it until I read others first. When I finally got to that book the excitement was gone. So now I tend go with the flow a bit more to keep my pleasure in reading alive and avoid reading slumps.
Btw I read Motherhood and How to be a person by Sheila Heti and if you liked the first I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the latter!
I read Reading Lolita in Tehran for my English degree and absolutely loved it. (Also for those interested and in a similar boat, I had never read Lolita and don’t plan to and it was still deeply enjoyable)
This year I have made a conscious effort to only read books I enjoy. I work in a bookshop so have access to lots of books, but have decided it's okay if my review is "I started it and couldn't bear to finish it". Life is too short to waste time reading books that aren't enjoyable, and so giving myself permission this year to stop them will hopefully help me to make a dent in my physical TBR!
I've only started doing this is the past 2-3 years. Before, if I started a book, I made myself finish it, even if I hated it the whole time. Now, I'll give it a decent shot, but if I just never start enjoying it, it's ok to put it down and not feel guilty!
@@skyefeyden Yes it took me a while to realise that was okay! I always thought I needed to finish books so I'd know if it got better, but this year just realised life is too short to waste time reading books you really don't like
I've been feelign this a lot! I have been culling my infinity long storygraph TBR because i dont remember most of the books on it anymore. I also have a bad habbit of putting nonfiction books on my tbr and then struggling to feel interested in reading a '''serious''' book. My solution has been audiobooks on Libby (which i find much easier to get into than physical books!).
I have created a TBR jar and going back to the old booktube monthly TBR (not really a thing for me as a mood reader) but it seems to be working so far two months in.
This is me. I have a ''still to read list'' on my notes section. I keep a maximum of 50 on the list at once and the others I have are unlisted (I read audiobooks so I can quickly check what I have unread and don't need to search bookshelves).
I can only add more to my ''still to read list'' when I'm down to 10, I add half that I'm really looking forward to and half that I'm not so much looking forward to (they can surprise me). I do still struggle with longer books (I don't know why but I panic about books over 10 hours - 9 hours 59 mins is fine but 10 hours 2 mins is too long and I ignore it) but I am getting to read some books I've been ignoring.
I also check my spreadsheet and search for a type of book I've not read in a while. I'm quite anal about how much I organize my reading but it seems to be working so far.
Yeah, I've had certain books waiting patiently on my shelves for over 20 years now, so I can relate. 😅 I was actually just thinking of one this morning, The Bards of Bone Plain. I've kept it because I like Patricia McKillip's writing, but also because of the cover. Yes, I admit it.
this video was delightful! out of these i've only read dracula and that one was very fun through dracula daily (the email thingy). i was quite surprised when i saw a copy of dracula at a bookstore recently that it's that long and that i read all that through emails haha
I decided that 2023 would be the year I read all the unread books on my shelf before buying/borrowing anymore… but then I had surgery in December and rented a bunch from the library for recovery and I’m still working my way through those bc apparently 14 books in 6 weeks was too ambitious of me 🙈😅
We read Wide Sargasso Sea at school, and while usually I find books we are forced to read at school really tedious, I really enjoyed this one! Definitely get into it! X
I've got some books that I've not got around to reading yet and there are a couple of reasons for this. At uni, I burnt myself out reading, and in 2014 I got an illness that affected my concentration pretty badly for a number of years and that brain fog hung around for a long while. It was only in 2018 that I started reading properly again. (It was the Poldark series and even then, I was slower at reading them than I was before.) Another problem I encountered was with modern books (Those written from the mid 2000's onwards), not being as good as I expected, being too formulaic, etc...) and I also encountered an issue with books from series/worlds that I had been reading for more than ten years referring to events in books I'd read a long time ago and not remembering what it was they were referring to - my mind needed a refresh on them. I didn't want to read some of the 'newer' books that I had in case I was disappointed by them. Due to the illness I had, I don't have the power of concentration that I had before uni even though it's much better now and don't get through near as many books that I'd like to. Instead, I go back to reading books that I've enjoyed, but still be on the look out for something new. My favourite publishing period for books in from the 70's to the mid 2000's, though I do have some classics and early - mid 20th century books that I like. Dracula is one of them and I've got through it a couple of times.
Wide Sargasso Sea has also been on my 'when I'm feeling smart and emotionally stable' list for several years!
I shall also read it this year!
Hahaha we have to admit to ourselves that that mood will NEVER COME
If anyone else was wondering, that edition of Dracula appears to be the Canterbury Classic flexibound edition and they don't seem to be available in the UK :(