11 Modern Classics I Wish More People Would Read
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- My apologies for any mispronunciations.
Let me know what you think.
Books on the list:
00:21 The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
01:31 To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
02:48 Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
03:52 The Fall by Albert Camus
04:54 La familia de Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela
06:09 The History of the Siege of Lisbon by José Saramago
07:38 The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa
09:23 Jazz by Toni Morrison
10:40 Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee
11:55 The Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
14:20 This is not a novel by David Markson
This video has become a blessing from the utter random nature of UA-cam's algorithm. I immediately engaged thanks to the straight way you enter the main topic of the video without much editing like I've seen in most literary-focused videos. I thank you for focusing on the content rather than the appearance.
Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad the algorithm sent you this way.
The House of Mirth is spectacular. I'm so glad you included in your list. It's shockingly relevant!
_The House of Mirth_ was my first Wharton novel and I was amazed.
While I agree that House of Mirth is a masterpiece I find that I have to be in a good emotional place before reading it because it tends to gut me, especially the ending. You’re absolutely right that it’s a story for our time.
@@BookishTexan It was my second Wharton, the first being Ethan Frome.
@@monicacall7532 Absolutely. The sense of dread expanded with each page and scene after heartbreaking scene. What a book.
@@BookishTexan I don’t care for Wharton because of her anti-Jewish bigotry, but House of Mirth is the only book of hers I really liked.
To The Lighthouse is my favourite Woolf novel. I re-read it about every 3 years and find something new in it every time.
Her novels are so difficult to adapt for the screen or radio, but there's a BBC radio adaptation of To The Lighthouse that captures the 'feel' of it surprisingly well.
Woolf is in my top 5 favourite writers of all time, and I love all her output - novels, diaries, journalism, polemical stuff, everything.
Thanks for your interesting and thought-provoking vids.
Thank you. I am a late arrival to Woolf’s work and still have a lot of big titles to get to.
@@BookishTexan You're in for quite an experience! She's one of few writers who permanently changed how I see the world. Keats also does this.
My only advice would be to read 'The Years' last; her weakest novel.
You may even find yourself in the gift that keeps on giving - the 'Bloomsbury' rabbit-hole. Even the more peripheral figures. Perhaps reading the travel writing of Gerald Brenan. Or the autobiography, 'Deceived With Kindness', of Angelica Garnett, Virginia Woolf's niece who was brought up thinking her father was Clive Bell (the art critic and husband of Virginia's sister; the artist Vanessa Bell) when in fact her father was the (gay) artist Duncan Grant. Angelica went on to marry one of Duncan's former lovers.
Or you might be interested in the garden creation at Sissinghurst Castle by one of Virginia's lovers; Vita Sackville-West.
The economist John Maynard Keynes, the biographer Lytton Strachey, the novelist EM Forster, the poet TS Eliot, the artist Augustus John, even the ballerina Lydia Lopokova - all Bloomsberries to some extent or another.
Enjoy!
To the Lighthouse is a novella, and just plain terrible. (Yes, I have read it.)
@@JohnVKaravitis My copy of TTL has more than 200 pages. Sorry you didn't like it.
1. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
2. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
3. Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
4. The Fall by Albert Camus
5. La familia de Pascual Duarte by Camilo José Cela
6. The History of the Siege of Lisbon by José Saramago
7. The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa
8. Jazz by Toni Morrison
9. Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee
10. The Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
11. This is not a novel by David Markson
Thanks for typing out the list.
5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 but none of the others. Life is too short.
The distribution of literary talent is an enigma. Three of the four women are generally regarded as having been lesbian or bisexual and three were US citizens.
Oh this is a wonderful list. I think The Lighthouse is the only one I've read -- and even that was back in college, when I was reading so much that I barely absorbed any of it. I'm definitely going to have to make my way down this list. Thanks for posting!
Thank you very much. I hope if you do get the chance to read these books that you will enjoy them.
Sailing alone around the world by Joshua Slocum, anyone?
One of the best short stories ever is Edith Wharton’s Roman fever
I’ve never read that. Thanks for the recommendation
Greetings from South Africa.
DO read V.S. Naipauls "A Bend In The River". It's the best description of living in Africa as a non indigenous African you will ever come across that hasn't been "cancelled". Naipaul has nailed it in this book.
Greetings!
Thanks for your comment and support on the idea of reading _A Bend in the River_
My favorite Edith Wharton is The Custom of the Country. I don't know why it is not more popular. IMO it is a satire. The main character is Undine Spragg (great name) and the story is about her social climbing in NYC society. I love this book.
Thank you for that recommendation. I will admit that is not a Wharton title that I was aware of.
I am surprised by your recommendations of Cela and Llosa. There aren't a lot of people (english speaking) out there reading books by great spanish writers (Cela is Spanish and Llosa is Peruvian). Cela received the nobel prize,yet he is not widely known. Llosa is one of my favourite writers in spanish. He gets overshadowed by GG Marquez (quite rihtly , I feel, he is a GIANT of literature) but he is a great writer in his own right. I am so glad you also mentioned Coetzee. “Slow man” was the first book I read by him and it impacted profoundly -I was very young at the time. I feel a re-read is a must. Thank you for the reminder. Finally, There are three books in your list I have not read, so I have added them to my list; “Nightwood”, “Jazz” and “This is not a novel”. Thank you for a thoroughly interesting video.
I read another book by Cela, _The Hive_ , which I feel like went over my head because it involved a lot of Spanish politics that I didnt understand.
I have only read two Llosa books, but I intend to read more. I had, at one time, thought about doing a video about a fight between Llosa and GGM.
Thanks you for your great comment.
@@BookishTexan Thank you for your reply. About “The Beehive”, I understand that it is not an easy book to read without a fair amount of knowledge of Spanish Civil war and post war history. I think it is his gratest work. I really enjoy your wide apprecition of international literature. Wonderful channel.
@@KizetteandTotoro Thank you for the insights and the kind words. Reading more internationally is something I have been trying to do more over the last few years.
@@BookishTexan It’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing your reading life with us.
Holy crap this blew up haha! The algorithm like. I love the heck out of To the Lighthouse. I think I like The Waves more, but it’s close.
Some great stuff here I haven’t read most of them. I think I’ve only read Beloved by Morrison. Happy to see This is Not A Novel there because it’ll push me to pick it up soon. I’ve owned it for at least a year. Gotta pick it up!
This video and the 11 Modern Classics You Don't Need to Read really took off in a way that I don't understand.
Morrison and Markson are both great.
What, no book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez? A Thousand Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera are must reads IMO.
I agree that those are great books, but they are pretty widely read and I was going for books that are not as widely read as GGM's.
Great list, Brian. I enjoyed seeing Jazz on here, along with The Storyteller! Those were two I had not expected. Hope you’re well.
Cheers, Jack
Thanks Jack
The 1983 film version of To the Lighthouse is so, so well done. I found it on PBS years ago. (It might even be on UA-cam, not sure)
I did not know there was a film version of _To the Lighthouse_ I will have to try to find that. Thank you for making me aware of it.
I loved To The Lighthouse 📚☺️ I will definitely take note of the others on this list, thank you for sharing them with us xx
Thank you Charlie. So many people have commented that they loved _To the Lighthouse_ that I feel like it is misplaced on my list.😁
I share your passion for Nightwood and I’ve read a number of Saramago’s novels but not this one. I hope to get to it at some point.
Thanks Eric.
I think _Nightwood_ will take at least one more reread for me. There is a lot there to appreciate.
I found 'To the Lighthouse' an arduous read. Woolf's 'The Waves' on the other hand, which I read the same year, was the literary equivalent of wearing silk. A profoundly beautiful text.
Great endorsement for _The Waves_ which I do intend to read soon(ish).
Thanks.
That is a perfect explanation of how the Waves feels like to read. The present tense continuing can be jarring to get into at the beginning… but then yep.. silk
Great list. I read 3 of them and look forward to the others you mentioned. Thank you.
Thank you for watching and commenting.
An interesting and eclectic list! I completely second the choice of Naipaul, though they are all worthy and I look forward to trying some of the ones I haven't yet read out. Thank you.
Thank you. Glad to hear from someone else who likes A Bend in the River
I'm really looking forward to The House of Mirth. Nightfall recently landed on my to-read list as well. I've been meaning to read more Saramago for a long time and haven't yet. And Jazz is one of the next Toni Morrison books on my list (I may do Sula first, but Jazz is part of the conceptual trilogy that Beloved started, so maybe Jazz makes more sense). I have a copy of V.S. Naipaul's Half a Life that I've been meaning to get to but recently a lot of people have been recommending A Bend in the River, so now I'm torn.
Finishing that trilogy that started with Beloved does make sense, but _Paradise_ is really layered and dense.
I read Naipaul's _Half a Life_ . I remember liking it, but I don't remember anything else about it. I was really hesitant to recommend _A Bend in the River_ because its been a while since I read it. But there are some scenes that really stuck with me. I'm pretty sure _Half a Life_ is shorter if that factors in (I find it is a big consideration with me these days😁)
@@BookishTexan I'm really into short books right now so that does appeal.
Good video! Perhaps the most surprising part wasn't about books but was in fact learning, towards the end, that you or someone you live with is a Spurs fan!
I am a Spurs fan.
Thanks for watching.
Read “Bend in the river” a few years ago, loved it! Interesting list ! Sadly I’ve only read this one book on this list! And I think I’m well read. What a slap in the face! Gotta step up! TY for this list !
I hope you will try some of these books.
I have written all of those down, I plan to read all of them. Also added 'Heart of Darkness' since you mentioned it.
I hope you like them. _Heart of Darkness_ can be a bit of a chore, but its one of my son's favorites.
Thanks for watching
I hadn't read any of the books you recommended. Was hoping to see something that I was familiar with as I do read. I could recommend one for you. One of my favorites. It's a easy read but a beautiful read."I Heard The Owl Call My Name".
Thank you for the recommendation. I will look that book up and see what I think.
Wow, I read this years ago and I can still remember the feelings I had reading it. It’s a really beautiful book. Thank you for the memories 😻
What a great list! Jotted down a few. Thanks, Brian.
Thank you Alba.
My favorite Woolf is To the Lighthouse. I think there is so much in there, which makes it a great novel. My favorite Saramago is The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. I believe it is his best book. It is not an easy book, but it is so good. November 2022 marks the 100 anniversary of Saramago's birth. I am planning to read his entire output starting this month and trough next year. (I will read it in Portuguese, since it is my mother tongue). Llosa's Storyteller is a fantastic book. Great recommendations. Thank you. BTW, did you notice that you recommended six Nobel winners?
Thank you for your comment. I didn't count the Nobel winners in my list, but for a long time most of my reading was focused only on American authors with the exception of Nobel winners. I have been working on correcting that over the last few years.
I have not read “The year of the death…” Thank you for recommending the book. I like Saramago and I will endevour to get round to reading it at some point. P.S. ; I noticed the Novel prize winners too. It is a great list nonetheless.
I'm currently living in New Hampshire and there are two "modern classics" that take place in this state that I've read. I am curious if you've read them and what your opinion on them are:
A. Peyton Place.
B. Look to the Mountain.
I have not read either of those books I am sorry to say. I know of a great booktuber in New Hampshire: Kim from the channel MIDDLE of the Book MARCH
Liked and subscribed, thank you!
Thank you very much.
Me too.😻
@@suerobinson Thank you!
Thanks for this list. I'm glad to see Saramago here and a bunch of Spanish language books. You should try A Viagem do Elefante by Saramago if you didn't already.
Thank you for your comment.
That is not a Saramago novel that I have read.
@@BookishTexan great I've read a bunch of them
To the Lighthouse was on a list of recommended summer reading I got in high school but I remember quickly abandoning it lol. Thank you for the Saramago rec - I loved Blindness but have yet to read any more of his stuff.
_To the Lighthouse_ is definitely a challenging book. I can't remember why I picked it up, but it was my first Woolf and even though I liked it and thought it had some beautiful writing, I didn't pick up another book by Woolf until relatively recently because I wasn't sure I was interested in reading something as difficult.
Thanks Kazen.
I've never read Edith Wharton before and I'm starting with her collection of ghost stories!! It's a good place to start, actually! Just makes me want to read more. Jazz was my first Toni Morrison, so will always have a special place in my heart!
Edith Wharton Ghost stories will definitely go on my TBR. Thanks Sarah
Read Ethan Fromme and The Age of Innocence for sure.
@@BookishTexan Highly recommend her ghost stories. She once told someone she could not sleep in a room that had a book of ghost stories it in. PBS Mystery
a very long time ago adapted at least two of the stories, the one about meeting a ghost but not knowing it was a ghost until much later and the one about
the little dogs. Hers are creepy in a subtle way. Glad to see House of Mirth on the list, a favorite from adolescence, along with Portrait of a Lady.
@@faithworldleader6891 Thank you for the great information and recommendation
Nice suggestions but I miss some European novels and/or by European authors here. Any suggestions?
My own would be Gerard Donovans Julius Winsome. Would a fascinating portrait of a solitary man.
Thanks for the recommendation. That is not a title that I have heard of.
I think To the Lighthouse is the next on my list for Virginia Woolf novels to try out. I'd also love to get round to reading some Djuna Barnes at some point. I've heard passages from her interview with Joyce and she sounds brilliant!
I look forward to your thoughts about either or both of them. I've never heard/ read her interview with Joyce, but I will definitely go searching for it.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a modern classic everyone should read.
Loved that book and the old BBC show.
Thanks
Wonderful list, I have been about to make my own similar list, so this was really interesting to see. I only know of a few of these and have only read two of them. Added a few to my tbr so thank you!
Thanks Brandon.
Interesting list of books I really want to reread, authors I want to read more of and things Ive never heard of.
Thanks Wiebke.
To the Lighthouse is one of my favorite novels of all time. I don't believe it is difficult at all, especially compared to Faulkner or Joyce who also used stream of consciousness. It's just beautiful. I would add Steinbeck's Cannery Row to the list.
Glad to hear that. I guess maybe it was just difficult for me for a the first dozen or so pages. But you are right about it being beautiful.
I love _Cannery Row_. Because I had talked about it several times in other videos I did not include it here.
Thanks for watching.
I haven't read any of these but will be reading Jazz next year. Slow Man sounds interesting to me too. 😊💙
I hope you like Jazz. _Slow Man_ is the book on this list that is, I think, the most accessible, but it also made me ask questions.
Just behind “Summer” is Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth.” She nails “harrowing.” And “To the Lighthouse” is compulsory. 💖💖
I have not read "Summer." Thanks for watching.
@@BookishTexan Summer would make a beautiful film for a just starting film director, I've always thought.
Robertson Davies, the Canadian writer needs to get more attention. His "Cornish Trilogy" is a good place to begin if you enjoy books set in academia. Also a few years ago I picked up a book of essays by Gore Vidal which had a loving review of works by Dawn Powell. If GV recommends something, I'm going to check it out and I'm glad I did in regards to Ms Powell. What a fantastic writer. Her New York novels are a great place to begin. I'm hoping more people will be introduced to her.
Thank you very much for the recommendations. I have never read anything by Davies (which proves your point) or Powell.
One and Two are spot on! I love Edith Wharton, I think she's my favorite non-living author. Lily Bart...ah!
Thank you. I am late to reading Wharton, but the books of hers that I have read are excellent.
I enjoy reading lesser-known or lesser-read novels, novels that are overshadowed by their authors' more famous works. For example, I recommend The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley, Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis, and Agnes Grey by Emily Bronte (which is much less often read that books by her sisters, like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights).
Very interesting list. I have only read one book by each of the three authors whose works you mention here and of those I really only liked Jane Eyre.
Anne Bronte, not Emily, wrote Agnes Grey.
I love Dodsworth, my next favorite to Elmer Gantry. It Can't Happen Here is unfortunately quite relevant to our current political situation and should also be considered.
Another good tremendismo book you may have read is Nada by Carmen Laforet.
Thank you for the recommendation.
A couple books I would like to see more discussion of:
Andre Gide The Counterfeiters, the Caves of the Vatican and almost all of his other works.
When I was young, Gide was a Titan but he seems to have been completely forgotten in the last 30 years.
Another forgotten writer would be Hinko Gottleib whose Key to the Great Gate is one of the most interesting works by a Holocaust Survivor.
Also, I would recommend discussion of books like: It Always Rains in Rome by John F. Leeming,
The Eight Circle by Stanley Ellin, a masterful mystery and also books by Louis Auchincloss
and though he wrote much more well known books, my favorite has always been The Great World and Timothy Colt.
Thank you for all the great suggestions. I have read none of the authors you listed. I've got some work to do!
Vargas Llosa wrote one of the great novels of the 20th Century, in my opinion, The War of the End of the World, an epic work of historical fiction. Camus of course is famous for The Stranger and The Plague, both are awesome but The Plague is deeply relevant to our current medical crisis, which I hope might end just as the bubonic plague suddenly ends in Camus’ book. Saramago also wrote a very dark and disturbing book about a mysterious disease that wrecks society, called Blindness.
Thank you. I have not read The War Of the End of the World. I have read the others you mention.
V S Naipaul 'In A Free A State' is the complement to 'A Bend in the River' in my reckoning. And is the one he won the Booker Prize for. Social relations...
Thanks for the recommendation. I stopped reading Naipaul after two books for no particular reason.
Wow, what a great list. Have read Camus, Woolf and Jose Seramago, glad I'm on the right path. Will enjoy getting my hands on the others... thank you.
I hope you enjoy the books. Thank you for watching.
Of those, I've only read To the Lighthouse and Jazz, but I know Marc will be delighted to see that Markson made your list. How have I never read Edith Wharton?? I should remedy that.
I’ve only read two Wharton novel, but I am sold.
Nice review. Reminds me why I never read novels ( Well, maybe one in the last 45 years )
Interesting that you watched the video.
Thanks
@@BookishTexan I only read non-fiction. I always like the movie more than the book. Directors have much better imaginations than I do.
All great recommendations! I really liked The Fall, but The Stranger is my favorite 😊
Thanks Sam.
Full marks for pronouncing J. M. Coetzee's name correctly. You nailed the first syllable, but the second syllable rhymes with "ear". However, the difference is scarcely noticeable. I loved Slow Man, but his masterpiece is the harrowing Disgrace.
Thank you. I definitely lacked confidence in my pronunciation so I’m glad it was close. _Disgrace_ is an amazing novel.
Existential crisis: I read every one of the books you said just as well to skip. And I only read one of the books you suggest here, that being The Fall by Camus. Should I seek counseling? Or, as I suspect: Is there no hope? Thanks for another thought-provoking video...I think.
There is always hope🤓
Thanks for watching and commenting.
I haven't read any of these but I have Saramago and Vargas Llosa on my list. I find it difficult with well-established authors to determine the best entry point into someone's work. My reading experience in a first novel generally dictates if I'm going to pick up any of their other works.
I wish I had read enough by either to suggest a good place to start, but I have only read a few of their books.
Thanks Elle.
Huh. Generally speaking, the series of events that lead ME to question whether I'm a good person occur in the LAST part of the bottle. (Thanks for the ideas for future reading material.)
You are welcome.
(What was in the bottle?)
Love that you mentioned amazing authors like Saramago and Vargas, they're definitely my top favorite international authors! What Saramago have you read and which one is your favorite? Do you have The Gospel of According to Jesus Christ on your radar? Which other Vargas books have you read?
Thank you. I do have a copy of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, but I haven’t read it. Blindness yes and one more Saramago. The Feast of the Goat by Llosa.
There are two authors that I think are very overlooked at times even though in my mind they've written some of the best books of the last 50 years. William Kennedy's Albany cycle are three of my favorite books and I also would like to espouse The works of Chaim Potok and especially Asher Lev.
I read _Ironweed_ back in the 80s. It was very good. I’ve never read Potok. Thank you for the suggestions.
I read Asher Lev in high school.
I couldn’t get into “To the Lighthouse.” It is a difficult read. Maybe now I am more mature and experienced I should read it again.
Maybe. I didn't read it until I was in my 40s. Sometimes age and experience help with enjoyment of a book and sometimes they dont.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Lois.....next summer, take out yr copy of TTL. Try reading Pt 2 first. See how that goes...then go for pt 1......maybe you'll like a diff order...The two are written in diff styles......
Have Nightwood on my list. Wasn't sure where to start with Cela so thanks for the recommendation!
You are welcome. Thank you for watching.
Thanks for some good recomendations
Thanks for watching.
I’ve read the Camus, Cela, and Naipaul. I’ve read different books by all the other authors except the Barnes. I’ve always thought The Fall was Camus weakest novel, but I’ve been meaning to reread, so maybe I’ll look at it in a different way.
It has been a while since I read _The Fall_, but I have found myself thinking about it more often lately.
Thanks Greg.
(btw I was inspired by a comment you made in a video (?) about there not being good books with happy endings to create a list of such books. I am planning a video similar to this one for next week)
@@BookishTexan I’m looking forward to it.
I just purchased House of Mirth and have it at the top of my list for Jan 2023.
It is a great book. I am listening to The Age Of Innocence this month and it is brilliant.
I read "A Bend in the River." A fantastically good book.
Glad to hear that you agree.
Thank you
and yet, Naipaul is a known jerk
@@christinatweet6580 He is indeed.
I read To the Lighthouse in a college course. I had a good professor who taught us to appreciate this wonderful novel. I'm 65 and still have the book.
Nothing like a great teacher! It is a beautiful book.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
I have only read jazz by toni Morrison 📖
That’s a good one to have read.
Yes, La chute by Camus, definitely one of my favorite books of all time. I liked it a lot more than L'étranger which tends to be more mentioned. In the movie The Expandables there's a scene where mickey Rourke mentions a war story and I'm sure it is a reference to la Chute.
I haven't seen The Expendables but it makes me smile to thing there is a reference to The Fall in it.😁
Thanks for watching and commenting.
C'mon!! La Peste, incroyable! Love the characters....
@@christinatweet6580 I loved _The Plague_ (which is an odd thing to type)
The type of novel Cela started with “La familia de Pascual Duarte” is called “tremendismo”. Seems I still remeber a few of the things I learned in school. 😉
Thank you for that. Glad your education paid off.😁
La familia de Pascual Duarte is the book I recommend when people asks me about how it is to live in Spain (outside of the touristic places). If you really wanna "feel" the country that's the book.
That is a little scary to think about, but I think I understand what you mean.
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Interesting list!
Thank you Vin.
Why don't people read more Wharton? And yes To The Lighthouse is tremendously readable despite its reputation. Djuna Barnes and Cela are obviously authors I should try. I really will get to This Is Not A Novel soon or Marc will despair of me.
I am late to reading Wharton. I think men assume that her books are all romances and really, from my limited experience, they are all terrible sad.
I did struggle with _To the Lighthouse_ but once I settled in an just let my mind make the connections without forcing anything I really liked it.
I agree with House of Mirth. I need to read Nightwood.
It is a very busy, but very good book.
The only book on the list that I have read is Cela's La familia de Pascual Duarte. Was the type of novel you were trying to use to describe it "picaresque?" Cela also won the Nobel Prize for Literature, as did Vargas Llosa and Morrison.
Very interesting video.
Kay Webb Harrison
Another commenter told me the term for the kind of book The Family of Pascual Duarte: tremendismo. There are a few Nobel Laureates on my list. I didnt think about that when I made it, but it reflects my past reading obsession with reading Nobel winners.
Thank you Kay.
@@BookishTexan Yes, tremendismo sounds right.
I didn’t like _To the Lighthouse_ much at all, in spite of its being well written. I dislike a lot of stream of consciousness writing. But a friend told me it worked better for him on the reread, so I’m not tossing out my copy. (I had to rely on the Nicole Kidman recording to get me through the rough patches.)
I feel I’ve read enough Naipaul, at least for now. My favorite books are _The Enigma of Arrival_ and _A Way in the World_ . The latter (I think) touches on some of the themes you mentioned, tangentially, unless I’m misremembering from Paul Theroux’s devastating portrait of Naipaul in Africa.
I understand what you mean about Naipaul. I remember reading experts, I think, from Theroux's take down of Naipaul and then later a defense of him published in the NY Times or the New Yorker. I have only read one other of his novels. For me there are images and ideas (even ideas I react to negatively) that were very striking.
Thanks for you for watching and commenting.
Interesting list. I ordered Nightwood.
Thanks. I hope you will enjoy it.
There are good reasons these are not much read. This includes translated novels but if l were to make a list it would address the issue of under appreciation of non English novels. A good place to start is Nobel prize winners
I'm somewhat confused by your comment, but a agree that in the English speaking world there is an underappreciation of novels not written in English.
1) By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept - Elizabeth Smart, one of, if not the greatest prose masterpiece ever written.
2) Winter's Tale - Mark Helprin - American magic realism novel set in New York.
3) Mulata - Miguel Angel Asturias - Nobel Prize winner's astonishing masterwork.
Thank you very much for the suggestions.
Great list! Thank you, sir
Thank you.
Are your bookcases really concave or is it an optical illusion?
A couple of the books sound interesting.
Haha! Not they are not concave. I use a gopro to film my videos and it gives that fish eye effect.
I've been hesitant to read another Wharton after being assigned Ethan Frome in high school. Is that pretty atypical of her style?
You know I’ve never read Ethan Frome. I always forget she wrote it. Sorry I can’t help.
It’s definitely atypical of her style. Her other books are a lot of fun to read. I think Ethan Frome was written the way it was to show how depressing the life the main character was leading was.
I have read 6 of those and agree with you - especially History of Siege of Lisbon, storyteller, jazz and bend in the River. But as I’ve never read anything by Wharton or Djuna Barnes I will try to next year!
Wharton is well worth your time I think. The Barnes book is short so if you hate it, it's not a big time investment.
Thank you for these recs!
I have the goal of reading more in Spaish next year, but have not wanted to read only the biggest books by the biggest names. Tho Vargas Llosa an Cela are popular authors, I am gleefully adding these two less-well-known books of theirs to my 2023 TBR.
(Also, fun fact: I was looking for the literal translation of Storyteller: "El Cuenta Cuentos" for the Vargas Llosa, turns out it is actually "El Hablador" lit. The Speaker. Wonder why they went with that slight, yet interesting/meanignful change in the translation of the title...)
Thank you.
I don’t speak/ read Spanish, but I knew the title of _The Storyteller_ In Spanish, but I did not know that it wasn’t a literal translation. That is interesting.
@@BookishTexan I look forward to reading it and getting to see whether the Storyteller / Speaker choice of word has much bearing on the whole. Dunno how long ago you read it but, do you have an opinion on that?
@@wardellmitchell2690 My memory is that the non-Llosa main character went to live among the indigenous people of Peru, learns their history, then becomes part of the link in the oral tradition of that people. For good or bad.
I hope you will continue me back and tell me what you thought of it and correct my mistakes.
@@BookishTexan ooooohhh... That's making it even more interesting, because then that might give the Spanish word choice an edge of nuance between an actual traditional storyteller and an "hablante" in a less well regarded speaker/talker position. But I might be getting ahead of myself.
Anywho, I'll definitely DM to you when I read it and let you know!!!
Coetzee pronounces his name something like "Cut-SAY." Just looked it up and heard him in a video. Google is quick with info like that.
Thank you. No matter how many times I hear it pronounced correctly I freeze up when it comes to saying it in a video.
@@BookishTexan 😂 Funny! For my part I'm totally in awe of anyone who can extemporize in front of a camera to deliver coherent, provocative book evaluations as you regularly do.
@@bbbartolo Thanks for the kind words!
BTW, Cela’s style in “…Pascual Duarte” is called “tremendismo” (extremely awful). Extreme realism where lots of really bad things happen...
Thank you.
I’ve only read one so far, the Woolf, but a goal for next year is to read a novel a month by a dead female writer whose work I’ve never read before, so I’m going to put Nightwood on my TBR. Last year reading the big Sontag biography she read Nightwood when she arrived at Berkeley and it was a transformative experience for her. And I see a recent reissue has a foreward by Jeanette Winterson, one of my favorite authors, so with both of you endorsing it how can I not read it!
I wish I had the edition with Winterson's introduction. I think that would add a great deal to the experience. _Nightwood_ is confusing and grotesque (in the old meaning of the word) and weird and dense in images and lovely. I hope you will like it
I’m a very avid Coetzee reader. The Slow Man and Elisabeth Costello are two of my favorites. Really interesting list.
Thank you Ann. I have only read three of his novels, but I have enjoyed (Not sure the is the right word) all of them.
@@BookishTexan no Enjoy and Coetzee don’t match 🤣
Would love to see those bookshelves painted the wall color. 🤔
Interesting idea.
Please allow me to suggest:
Weymouth Sands, by John Cowper Powys
The Known World, by Edward P Jones
The Banana Trilogy, by Miguel Angel Asturias
The Bridge on the Drina, by Ivo Andric
The Tent of Miracles, by Jorge Amado
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers
"Weymouth Sands" is excellent as is all of Powys' writing. "A Glastonbury Romance" is my favorite of his.
Thank you for the recommendations. I have read the Jones and the McCullers, but not the others.
I've read the Ivo Andric Bridge on the Drina and can recommend it highly. I read it when it first came out. As I recall it came out around the time of Lampedusa's The Leopard, and I liked it much better. It had a sort of ferocious atmosphere as was and is suited to Balkan history.
~Great list!
Thank you
I'm sold on reading Jazz ASAP!
I hope you like it.
Don't let Camus hear you call him an existentialist.
Haha! Indeed. I didn’t think about that.
Thanks Vincent.
it’s alright hes not existing anymore 😂
Do you think he’ll want to hear about the guy who read his Wikipedia page and is now defending his honour on the internet?
@@tragicallycanadian8317 He’s dead so i don’t think he’s capable of caring.
@@tragicallycanadian8317 How edgy. Never read his Wiki page. Just everything he's ever published.
Giants in the Earth by Rolvaag; not exactly MODERN, but definitely neglected.
Thank you for the recommendation!
Thanks so much for this list. I have only read one of these which is shameful!! I loved To the Lighthouse and other Virginia Woolf novels, I find her fascinating. I'll put the others on my list.
She was a great writer and intellectual
Thanks for the kind words.
Did you forget "A light in August"?
That is a great book, but I have tons of Faulkner content on my channel and wanted to mention some good books that I wish more people would read that I haven't talked about as much
I haven't read any of those the Storyteller by Llosa sounds intriguing.
I used to list _The Storyteller_ as one of my favorite books, but eventually others pushed it out.
On modern classics, why do people like "Catcher in the Rye"? Somehow, I never had t read it in High School, so I read it much later as an adult, and was unimpressed. Certainly the prose style itself was underwhelming, and the story....meh.
Maybe you have to be an angst ridden teenager to embrace it.
I certainly think it helps to be an angst ridden teenager for Catcher in the Rye to work for you.
I agree with your assessment.
Thanks for watching.
House of Mirth ❤
To the Lighthouse is the only Woolf novel I really like.
I’ll look into Siege of Lisbon❗️
Glad to know there are so many people who liked _To the Lighthouse_.
I surely want to reread Nightwood (one of only three books by a living artist for which T.S. Eliot consented to writing an introdduction).
It is a wild and rewarding read!
A wonderful book! to the Lighthouse.
Yes!
slow man is great, one of the better works from later coetzee period. i gifted it to my gf on our first date~ yeah i know weird gift to give on first date but guess what she liked it (perhaps not as much as i did) and we are still together 2+ years lol
That is an interesting first date gift, but its kind of cool too. Seems to have worked out. Cheers.
@@BookishTexan haha thanks!
Any books about celebrating life?
I am working on a list of modern(ish) literary fiction books with happy(ish) endings. Does that count?
@@BookishTexan Looking forward to it.
'No thank you.' To all of them.
Fair enough.
Great list. Havent read 4. Would add Hoellebecq.
Thank you. I am interested in reading Hoellebecq.
Start with Submission.