I've just been getting into "booktube." Despite being an avid reader for a while now, I didn't know there was such a community on here. Safe to say, I'm not too impressed by most, but you are very articulate, the production on your videos is great, and you say very interesting things, and have cool insights. Thank you. Love the ambient music you put too.
The Education of the Stoic - Pessoa A Sport and a Pastime - Salter Solenoid - Mircea Cartarescu The Book of Monelle - Marcel Schwob The Rest is Slander - Thomas Bernhard The Little Girl who was too Fond of Matches - Gaetan Soucy Underworld - Don DeLillo Non-fic: The Stammering Century - Gilbert Seldes The Medium is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan
Always a joy when you upload. Here are my top picks of the year. - Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy (second reading) - Suttree - Cormac McCarthy - The Inconsolables - Michael Wehunt - The Terror - Dan Simmons - Gormenghast #2 - Mervyn Peake - The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler - The Mad and the Bad - Jean-Patrick Manchette - The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson - A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick - Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe (halfway but should be done before the end of year)
Great list...id love to know what is your favourite, Blood Meridian or Suttree...I love The Book of the new sun by Gene Wolfe. Gonna have to check out his other work.
@@Arsenal.N.I7242 Suttree is the greatest piece of prose fiction I’ve ever read, but the visceral imagery and the character of the Judge in Blood Meridian makes it my favorite American novel.
I also read Solenoid this year (honestly, it took up most of my reading time) and totally loved the way it collapsed the walls between "reality" and dream.
I loved Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein. It’s been awhile since I felt I experienced something as new - and was thrilled to see her win the Giller. Teach us to Outgrow our Madness was my “favourite” read of 2023.
Lovely list to end the year. I agree Solenoid was special and deeply under-appreciated. I’d say my top 5 are The Magus - John Fowles Solenoid - Mircea Cartarescu Growth of the Soil - Knut Hamsun The Birds - Tarjei Vesaas Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy Honestly I read so much good stuff this year I could write a list of 20 amazing books I’ve read
Thanks so much! That's a wonderful list. I absolutely love most of these books. I've never read 'Growth of the Soil', but I like Hamsun's 'Pan' and 'Hunger' very much.
I read The Vet's Daughter myself only a few months ago. Very cold and chilly climate surrounds it, feels like everything's made from crystal and is liable to shatter at any moment.
Thanks for another great video . Some highlights for me - Clive barker . The hellbound heart Connor habib- hawks mountain Annie ernaix -the years Graeme macrae burnet- the disappearance of Adele bedeau Br Yeager -negative space Quentin s crisp- the paris notebook John Steinbeck -east of eden I could go on but I will leave it there
Amazing list! Here's my top 12 of the year - 1. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño 2. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 3. The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise by RD Laing 4. The Divided Self by RD Laing 5. A Short History of Decay by Emil Cioran 6. Confessions by St Augustine 7. Utopia by Sir Thomas More 8. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin 9. Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, & Samson Agonistes by John Milton 10. The Road by Cormac McCarthy 11. An Essay on Man, An Essay on Criticism, & The R*pe of the Lock by Alexander Pope 12. Words by Jean-Paul Sartre
Here's my list: - Spillover - David Quammen - The Rising - Brian Keene - In Ascension - Martin MacInnes - Lord Byron - Low, The Book of Chocolate Saings, Narcopolis, and 2 poetry collections all by Jeet Thayil - No Longer Human - Osamu Dazai - Cinema Speculation - Quentin Tarantino - Scum Manifesto - Valerie Solanas - Complete Matsya Puran - Tibetan Book of the Dead - The Long Take - Robin Robertson - Shining - Stepehen King - On the Road - Jack Kerouac - Naked Lunch - Burroughs - EM Cioran - Debt: The First 5000 Years - David Graeber - Quarry - Damon Galgut - Mysteries - Kurt Hamsun - On Killing Oneself - Hermann Burger Cannot remember the rest, too many alcohol binges
It's great to have a new video from you and to get some new books to dive into 👍🏻 your opinion is top class and recommendations are always worth checking out. I tried to read more close to my home this year so my list might be more Irish. 1.John Banville -The Book of evidence 2.Cormac McCarthy -The Road ( re-read). 3.Rob Doyle-Threshold. 4.John Banville-The singularities. 5.Philip Roth-Sabbaths theater...and many more...Have a good Xmas and happy new year 🙂👍🏻...and happy reading.
Ah great - hope you like some of my recommendations! Thanks for sharing your list. Happy to see you were into the latest Banville - I haven't read anything by him since 'Ancient Light'. Was very tempted to pick up 'The Singularities' - the cover of that hardback is gorgeous, too. Thanks again and merry xmas!
Sherds, my favorite books this year,Manda Scott’s Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle, Daughter of the Empire by Janny Wurts & Raymond Feist, the Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman & Guards! Guards! by Terry Prachett.
Fantastic list. I've definitely put a couple on my list of titles to read. This year, I read a number of things but the ones that stuck out were: THE OTHER NAME: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse MORBID TALES by Quentin Crisp ROARINGS FROM FURTHER OUT by Algernon Blackwood THE WHITE PEOPLE & OTHER WEIRD STORIES by Arthur Machen DENIS BRACKNELL by Forrest Reid I have also begun to explore the work of two writers with whom I was not familiar until now: Robert Aickman and Joel Lane. Aickman's COLD HAND IN MINE was pretty fantastic and my first experience with Joel Lane, THE WITNESSES ARE GONE was a short, dark, nightmarish stunner. I can't wait to read everything I can get my hands on by these guys. Oh--and I picked up SOLENOID this past year and am itching to fall into that one soon. Can't wait! Happy New Year and thanks again for a fascinating list of recommendations!
So many good recommendations, particularly excited to learn about Grandsen's video game influence. That's an immediate sell for me. Some of my favorites this year also incorporate or are written by authors who have previously incorporated video game influence into their work: namely, B.R. Yeager's Burn You the Fuck Alive, and Dennis Cooper's I Wished. My other favorite first time reads -Blake Butler, Scorch Atlas -Anna Kavan, Ice -Brett Easton Ellis, The Shards -Brian Evenson, The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell Hoping to finally get around to some classics in the coming year, focus on writing improvement through deep reading. Looking forward to more of your stuff in the coming year! Merry Christmas
I absolutely loved Rebecca's novella. 'Sea of Glass' from a few years ago is also well worth checking out. Yes, I've heard B. R. Yeager talking about video games and atmosphere in interviews before. Didn't know Dennis Cooper had been influenced by them. Thanks so much for sharing your list. Have 'The Shards' waiting for me here - time to pick it up soon. Evenson is also someone whose work I'm very keen to explore. Thanks again! Merry Xmas.
I read Moby Dick by Herman Melville Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq Blood meridian by Cormac mccarthy Leaves of grass by Walt Whitman Tender is the flesh by Augustina Bazterrica Faust by Johann Wolfe von Goethe Hamlet by William Shakespeare The hit parade by Izumi Suzuki Erotism by Georges Bataille Diogense the cynic saying and anecdotes with other popular moralist a new translation by Robin Hard Oxford world classics. and I just bought 120 days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade
I recently found your channel and have enjoyed your discussions/reflections on what you have read this year. I noticed in the background this book on one of your bookshelves 'Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind' by Mike Jay-I read this year a large portion of this book. I also have this book edited by Mike Jay that you might find interesting 'Artificial Paradises: A Drugs Reader' Edited by Mike Jay. I will list below some the books that I found to be a rich interesting experience this year-just some of the books not all- 'Midnight In The Century' A Novel by Victor Serge Translated And With An Introduction By Richard Greeman 'Conquered City' A Novel by Victor Serge Translated By Richard Greeman 'Last Times' by Victor Serge Translated from the French by Ralph Manheim with revisions by Richard Greeman (one of my reading goals this year was to finish reading all the novels of Victor Serge one of the greatest writers of the 20th century in my judgment) 'The Story Of A Life' memoir(?) by Konstantin Paustovsky Translated By Douglas Smith (absolutely amazing memoir!) 'A Different Sea' novella by Claudio Magris Translated From The Italian By M. S. Spurr (this slim novella is haunting in its literary beauty) 'Zama' A Novel by Antonio Di Benedetto Translated By Esther Allen 'Pnin' A Novel by Vladimir Nabokov 'Rakes of the Old Court' A Novel by Mateiu Caragiale Translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter non-fiction standout for me was 'A History of Bombing' by Sven Lindqvist
Thanks so much for the kind words, and for the recommendation. Actually, I have yet read 'Psychonauts', though I'm very curious about it. This is a really interesting list, too - thanks for sharing. I haven't read Serge either, I'm afraid, but I'm quite keen to.
Great video! I love the aesthetics of your productions - the voice, the ambient, the footage of fields and groves. Here are my favorites of 2023: 1) "Dziady. Rzecz o wędrownych żebrakach i ich pieśniach" by Piotr Grochowski. An etnographic thesis about wandering beggars, who were an important strata of Polish rural areas up to the second world war. Fascinating analysis of their chantsons, public image, and their roles in the spiritual lives of villagers. 2) "The Plague" by Albert Camus. 3) "Ballad for Sophie" by Filipe Melo. A beautiful, touching story of the fictional piano superstar, who reminisces his life for a journalist. 4). "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin. Simple but excellent story about growing as a person. Besides these, this year wasn't the best in terms of quality or quantity, but I hope to read some great books in 2024! :D
Thanks ever so much for saying so - I really appreciate it. And thanks for your list - the Grochowski book sounds especially interesting. I hope you find 2024 a bit more satisfying in terms of your reading. Wesołych świąt!
Your videos are always so enlightening. This one is no exception. My favorite books this year were two cosmic horror collections by authors I with whom I was unfamiliar: Justin R. Burnett's The Puppet King and Other Atonements Curtis M. Lawson's The Envious Nothing I was saddened to hear that Mark Samuels died recently. I plan on rereading his work next year. The writer and Ligotti scholar Matt Cardin has published two volumes of diaries. I plan on reading those too. I'm always delighted when I see a new video of yours. Thank you. Happy holidays and best wishes for a Happy New Year.
Thanks so much for saying so. I was also very sad to hear about Mark Samuels. I really enjoyed the two collections of his that I read. Perhaps you saw Quentin S. Crisp's moving tribute from a couple of days ago. James Champagne also wrote a lovely piece about him. I had no idea Matt Cardin had published diaries - this is defnitely worth investigating. Thanks for letting me know about it. Merry xmas!
I spent most of the year moving into a new house with my girlfriend, but did manage to read a number of Kawabata's novels. The Master of Go, in particular, is a masterpiece. The Lake and Thousand Cranes impressed me as well.
What a great end of year list, Sam. I’ll definitely be tracking down a few that I’m unfamiliar with. Alma Cogan sounds like it’s the Gordon Burn book I do have the stomach to read. The Rebecca Gransden also sounds excellent. Another small press/self-published author to discover. Yes Clark is up there as one of Connell’s most enjoyable novels. I was just thinking how eloquently you were summarising it, and I nearly fell off my chair when you started quoting me!!! Thank you so much for your kind words. I can’t tell you what that means to me. I like your reading plans for the coming year. Good luck with them. I’d love to hear what you think of M John Harrison when you do get round to reading him. I know you’re a Book of the New Sun fan, so you might enjoy Viriconium as a starting point. Wishing you all the best for Christmas and the New Year.
Thanks so much, Shaun! I hope you get something out of Alma Cogan - the ending, in particular, absolutely floored me. Rebecca Gransden is wonderful. Ah it's my pleasure. It was a great review, and very much echoed my thoughts on what I enjoyed so much about the book. My copy of Viriconium has arrived, by the way, so it's likely to be one of the first on my list for next year. You, too, Shaun. Hope you have a terrific Xmas. All the best!
_The Long-Legged Fly_ (1992) by James Sallis _Borderlines_ (2015) by Michela Wrong _A Legacy of Spies_ (2017) by John le Carré _Wish I Was Here_ (2023) by M. John Harrison "Only on the margins does growth occur." -Joanna Russ.
@@SherdsTube I like the way you talk about books, do you like slyvia Plath, some of the ways you described things reminded me of her poem wuthering heights
M. John Harrison is one of my favorite writers, and also one I'm planning on reading more of next year. I'd love to see you do a video on something by him! Solenoid was definitely the stand-out recent novel for me this year as well. Starting in a couple weeks, the literature reading group I run is going to read it. We're breaking it up into four parts, and since we meet biweekly, this will give me the opportunity to re-read it while talking to others about it over the course of two months, which I'm very much looking forward to. Besides Solenoid, my favorite reads of this year: -Septology, by Jon Fosse -Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih -The Cairo Trilogy, by Naguib Mahfouz -Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes -Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin -Apple in the Dark, by Clarice Lispector (in the new translation by Benjamin Moser - an incomparably better read than the old translation by Gregory Rabassa) -(Nearly) the complete fiction of Dostoevsky, which I've been reading in chronological order. I had hoped to finish by the end of the year, but I still have The Adolescent and The Brothers Karamazov ahead of me -(Nearly) the complete Love and Rockets, by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez: I still have a few of Gilbert's volumes to get through before I'm fully caught up on 40+ years of their two storylines.
So glad you also liked 'Solenoid'. Just going back to it briefly to make the video, I was tempted to re-read it. Probably will soon. Gosh, there's so much on this list that I'm dying to read. Have 'Septology' lined up soon and keep meaning to pick up 'The Cairo Trilogy' in that nice Everyman edition. Thanks so much for sharing, and for being such a huge supporter of the channel! It means a lot :)
@@SherdsTube If you do end up reading Mahfouz and are hankering for more Arabic literature, I'd highly recommend Season of Migration to the North. Most of this year my literature reading group were reading sub-Saharan African literature, and this was the stand-out for me. It was recommended by a Sudanese woman in the group: apparently, in Sudan it's widely considered as their greatest modern novel, and has a glowing reputation in the Arabic language world, though it's mostly been overlooked in the west. A chilling and dark inversion of Heart of Darkness
Pleasant surprise to see this video drop :) Last year's "list" was great and so is this one. This time around I happen to have read none of the books you highlighted. I have however read "A Personal Matter" by Kenzaburo Oe and it is highly recommendable. For my coming reading year I am thinking to pick up at least two of your mentions: Hurricane Season and Clark - the latter especially has been pushed further up on my agenda after watching this video. My best reading experiences this year were (in no order) as follows: David Diop - At Night All Blood is Black New Juche - Mountainhead Quentin S. Crisp - Morbid Tales Ófeigur Sigurðsson - Öræfi - The Wasteland Hernan Diaz - In the Distance And the absolute worst was Fernando Pessoa's 'The Book of Disquiet' - a much lauded work that I despised with a passion. I am not on Instagram [is it worth it to be on there for the literary stuff?] so hoping to see mere videos from you in the coming year. Have a good one.
Haha, I'm as surprised as you that I managed to get the video out. ;) I really hope you enjoy Clark - it's one of the best I've read by Brendan Connell so far, but pretty much everything has been great. Very pleased to see New Juche and Quentin S. Crisp on you list. Curious about the others, as they're mostly new to me. How interesting that you disliked 'The Book of Disquiet' so much - I've pretty much only ever heard praise for Pessoa, but have never tried reading him myself. Yes, I'd say there's a really nice - and very supportive - book community on Instagram. Give it a try, if you feel like it. I hope to get a few more videos out relatively soon. I have a reading diary that I filmed in the summer, but didn't have the time to finish up. Hopefully that'll come out soon. Merry Christmas, and thanks for being such a supporter of the channel.
I am so glad to see that I'm not the only human on the planet who hated _The Book of Disquiet_. Utter garbage, and I don't say that about many books (_The Catcher in the Rye_ is another book I wholeheartedly hate with my entire soul). I just could not embrace it.
I feel that Im being 🎉 lucky finding your channel here on youtube.
I've just been getting into "booktube." Despite being an avid reader for a while now, I didn't know there was such a community on here. Safe to say, I'm not too impressed by most, but you are very articulate, the production on your videos is great, and you say very interesting things, and have cool insights. Thank you. Love the ambient music you put too.
The Education of the Stoic - Pessoa
A Sport and a Pastime - Salter
Solenoid - Mircea Cartarescu
The Book of Monelle - Marcel Schwob
The Rest is Slander - Thomas Bernhard
The Little Girl who was too Fond of Matches - Gaetan Soucy
Underworld - Don DeLillo
Non-fic:
The Stammering Century - Gilbert Seldes
The Medium is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan
Thanks for sharing these. Nice to see you also loved Solenoid!
Always a joy when you upload. Here are my top picks of the year.
- Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy (second reading)
- Suttree - Cormac McCarthy
- The Inconsolables - Michael Wehunt
- The Terror - Dan Simmons
- Gormenghast #2 - Mervyn Peake
- The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler
- The Mad and the Bad - Jean-Patrick Manchette
- The Killer Inside Me - Jim Thompson
- A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
- Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe (halfway but should be done before the end of year)
Glad to hear that. Excellent list - very keen to try The Wizard Knight soon, too. :)
Oh - agreed! Wehunt's new collection is terrific. :)
Great list...id love to know what is your favourite, Blood Meridian or Suttree...I love The Book of the new sun by Gene Wolfe. Gonna have to check out his other work.
A scanner darkly is one of the only texts to bring me to tears. I blubbed when arctor hit rehab
@@Arsenal.N.I7242 Suttree is the greatest piece of prose fiction I’ve ever read, but the visceral imagery and the character of the Judge in Blood Meridian makes it my favorite American novel.
Best wishes with your reading choices in 2024. I would recommend Hunter's Sketches by Turgenev.
I also read Solenoid this year (honestly, it took up most of my reading time) and totally loved the way it collapsed the walls between "reality" and dream.
Really glad to hear you were into it, too. It's such a special book.
I loved Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein. It’s been awhile since I felt I experienced something as new - and was thrilled to see her win the Giller.
Teach us to Outgrow our Madness was my “favourite” read of 2023.
Thanks so much for sharing. Glad to hear that! Oe is really something special, isn't he?
Study for Obedience is new to me, but I'll have a look.
Lovely list to end the year. I agree Solenoid was special and deeply under-appreciated. I’d say my top 5 are
The Magus - John Fowles
Solenoid - Mircea Cartarescu
Growth of the Soil - Knut Hamsun
The Birds - Tarjei Vesaas
Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Honestly I read so much good stuff this year I could write a list of 20 amazing books I’ve read
Thanks so much! That's a wonderful list. I absolutely love most of these books. I've never read 'Growth of the Soil', but I like Hamsun's 'Pan' and 'Hunger' very much.
@@SherdsTube Pan is fantastic isn’t it. Growth of the Soil follows in the same vein
Well, I must get to it soon in that case. :)
This is an excellent video!
I read The Vet's Daughter myself only a few months ago. Very cold and chilly climate surrounds it, feels like everything's made from crystal and is liable to shatter at any moment.
Thanks for another great video . Some highlights for me -
Clive barker . The hellbound heart
Connor habib- hawks mountain
Annie ernaix -the years
Graeme macrae burnet- the disappearance of Adele bedeau
Br Yeager -negative space
Quentin s crisp- the paris notebook
John Steinbeck -east of eden
I could go on but I will leave it there
Thanks so much! A few faves on here for me. Was thinking of reading 'East of Eden' soon - I should just take the plunge, shouldn't I? :)
Most definitely. My first Steinbeck. Alot of themes delivered in a thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing manner
Amazing list! Here's my top 12 of the year -
1. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
2. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
3. The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise by RD Laing
4. The Divided Self by RD Laing
5. A Short History of Decay by Emil Cioran
6. Confessions by St Augustine
7. Utopia by Sir Thomas More
8. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
9. Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, & Samson Agonistes by John Milton
10. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
11. An Essay on Man, An Essay on Criticism, & The R*pe of the Lock by Alexander Pope
12. Words by Jean-Paul Sartre
Thanks so much for sharing. What a list! The top two are all time favourites of mine.
Here's my list:
- Spillover - David Quammen
- The Rising - Brian Keene
- In Ascension - Martin MacInnes
- Lord Byron
- Low, The Book of Chocolate Saings, Narcopolis, and 2 poetry collections all by Jeet Thayil
- No Longer Human - Osamu Dazai
- Cinema Speculation - Quentin Tarantino
- Scum Manifesto - Valerie Solanas
- Complete Matsya Puran
- Tibetan Book of the Dead
- The Long Take - Robin Robertson
- Shining - Stepehen King
- On the Road - Jack Kerouac
- Naked Lunch - Burroughs
- EM Cioran
- Debt: The First 5000 Years - David Graeber
- Quarry - Damon Galgut
- Mysteries - Kurt Hamsun
- On Killing Oneself - Hermann Burger
Cannot remember the rest, too many alcohol binges
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting list.
Thanks for another year of great videos!!
My pleasure. Thanks for watching. :)
It's great to have a new video from you and to get some new books to dive into 👍🏻 your opinion is top class and recommendations are always worth checking out. I tried to read more close to my home this year so my list might be more Irish.
1.John Banville -The Book of evidence
2.Cormac McCarthy -The Road ( re-read).
3.Rob Doyle-Threshold.
4.John Banville-The singularities.
5.Philip Roth-Sabbaths theater...and many more...Have a good Xmas and happy new year 🙂👍🏻...and happy reading.
Ah great - hope you like some of my recommendations! Thanks for sharing your list. Happy to see you were into the latest Banville - I haven't read anything by him since 'Ancient Light'. Was very tempted to pick up 'The Singularities' - the cover of that hardback is gorgeous, too.
Thanks again and merry xmas!
Sherds, my favorite books this year,Manda Scott’s Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle, Daughter of the Empire by Janny Wurts & Raymond Feist, the Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman & Guards! Guards! by Terry Prachett.
Thanks for sharing! :)
Great video - insightful reviews/recommendations like this are hard to find on UA-cam these days
Thanks so much for saying so.
Fantastic list. I've definitely put a couple on my list of titles to read. This year, I read a number of things but the ones that stuck out were:
THE OTHER NAME: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse
MORBID TALES by Quentin Crisp
ROARINGS FROM FURTHER OUT by Algernon Blackwood
THE WHITE PEOPLE & OTHER WEIRD STORIES by Arthur Machen
DENIS BRACKNELL by Forrest Reid
I have also begun to explore the work of two writers with whom I was not familiar until now: Robert Aickman and Joel Lane. Aickman's COLD HAND IN MINE was pretty fantastic and my first experience with Joel Lane, THE WITNESSES ARE GONE was a short, dark, nightmarish stunner. I can't wait to read everything I can get my hands on by these guys.
Oh--and I picked up SOLENOID this past year and am itching to fall into that one soon. Can't wait!
Happy New Year and thanks again for a fascinating list of recommendations!
So many good recommendations, particularly excited to learn about Grandsen's video game influence. That's an immediate sell for me. Some of my favorites this year also incorporate or are written by authors who have previously incorporated video game influence into their work: namely, B.R. Yeager's Burn You the Fuck Alive, and Dennis Cooper's I Wished.
My other favorite first time reads
-Blake Butler, Scorch Atlas
-Anna Kavan, Ice
-Brett Easton Ellis, The Shards
-Brian Evenson, The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell
Hoping to finally get around to some classics in the coming year, focus on writing improvement through deep reading. Looking forward to more of your stuff in the coming year! Merry Christmas
I absolutely loved Rebecca's novella. 'Sea of Glass' from a few years ago is also well worth checking out.
Yes, I've heard B. R. Yeager talking about video games and atmosphere in interviews before. Didn't know Dennis Cooper had been influenced by them.
Thanks so much for sharing your list. Have 'The Shards' waiting for me here - time to pick it up soon. Evenson is also someone whose work I'm very keen to explore.
Thanks again! Merry Xmas.
I read Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Serotonin by Michel Houellebecq
Blood meridian by Cormac mccarthy
Leaves of grass by Walt Whitman
Tender is the flesh by Augustina Bazterrica
Faust by Johann Wolfe von Goethe
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The hit parade by Izumi Suzuki
Erotism by Georges Bataille
Diogense the cynic saying and anecdotes with other popular moralist a new translation by Robin Hard Oxford world classics.
and I just bought 120 days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade
Always nice to see Mary Webb being read. Like Hardy again, her poetry is the secret kernel of her work.
I totally agree - they have a certain melancholy in common, too.
Yes, rendingly so at times. @@SherdsTube
I recently found your channel and have enjoyed your discussions/reflections on what you have read this year. I noticed in the background this book on one of your bookshelves 'Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind' by Mike Jay-I read this year a large portion of this book. I also have this book edited by Mike Jay that you might find interesting 'Artificial Paradises: A Drugs Reader' Edited by Mike Jay. I will list below some the books that I found to be a rich interesting experience this year-just some of the books not all-
'Midnight In The Century' A Novel by Victor Serge Translated And With An Introduction By Richard Greeman
'Conquered City' A Novel by Victor Serge Translated By Richard Greeman
'Last Times' by Victor Serge Translated from the French by Ralph Manheim with revisions by Richard Greeman (one of my reading goals this year was to finish reading all the novels of Victor Serge one of the greatest writers of the 20th century in my judgment)
'The Story Of A Life' memoir(?) by Konstantin Paustovsky Translated By Douglas Smith (absolutely amazing memoir!)
'A Different Sea' novella by Claudio Magris Translated From The Italian By M. S. Spurr (this slim novella is haunting in its literary beauty)
'Zama' A Novel by Antonio Di Benedetto Translated By Esther Allen
'Pnin' A Novel by Vladimir Nabokov
'Rakes of the Old Court' A Novel by Mateiu Caragiale Translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter
non-fiction standout for me was 'A History of Bombing' by Sven Lindqvist
Thanks so much for the kind words, and for the recommendation. Actually, I have yet read 'Psychonauts', though I'm very curious about it.
This is a really interesting list, too - thanks for sharing. I haven't read Serge either, I'm afraid, but I'm quite keen to.
Keep em coming Sam!
I'll do my best! :)
Great video! I love the aesthetics of your productions - the voice, the ambient, the footage of fields and groves. Here are my favorites of 2023:
1) "Dziady. Rzecz o wędrownych żebrakach i ich pieśniach" by Piotr Grochowski. An etnographic thesis about wandering beggars, who were an important strata of Polish rural areas up to the second world war. Fascinating analysis of their chantsons, public image, and their roles in the spiritual lives of villagers.
2) "The Plague" by Albert Camus.
3) "Ballad for Sophie" by Filipe Melo. A beautiful, touching story of the fictional piano superstar, who reminisces his life for a journalist.
4). "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin. Simple but excellent story about growing as a person.
Besides these, this year wasn't the best in terms of quality or quantity, but I hope to read some great books in 2024! :D
Thanks ever so much for saying so - I really appreciate it. And thanks for your list - the Grochowski book sounds especially interesting.
I hope you find 2024 a bit more satisfying in terms of your reading. Wesołych świąt!
Your videos are always so enlightening. This one is no exception. My favorite books this year were two cosmic horror collections by authors I with whom I was unfamiliar:
Justin R. Burnett's The Puppet King and Other Atonements
Curtis M. Lawson's The Envious Nothing
I was saddened to hear that Mark Samuels died recently. I plan on rereading his work next year.
The writer and Ligotti scholar Matt Cardin has published two volumes of diaries. I plan on reading those too.
I'm always delighted when I see a new video of yours. Thank you.
Happy holidays and best wishes for a Happy New Year.
Thanks so much for saying so.
I was also very sad to hear about Mark Samuels. I really enjoyed the two collections of his that I read. Perhaps you saw Quentin S. Crisp's moving tribute from a couple of days ago. James Champagne also wrote a lovely piece about him.
I had no idea Matt Cardin had published diaries - this is defnitely worth investigating. Thanks for letting me know about it.
Merry xmas!
I spent most of the year moving into a new house with my girlfriend, but did manage to read a number of Kawabata's novels. The Master of Go, in particular, is a masterpiece. The Lake and Thousand Cranes impressed me as well.
Kawabata is definitely on my list. Not sure why I've never got round to reading him - feels like I've wanted to forever.
@@SherdsTube Oe has been on mine for a while too.
What a great end of year list, Sam. I’ll definitely be tracking down a few that I’m unfamiliar with. Alma Cogan sounds like it’s the Gordon Burn book I do have the stomach to read. The Rebecca Gransden also sounds excellent. Another small press/self-published author to discover.
Yes Clark is up there as one of Connell’s most enjoyable novels. I was just thinking how eloquently you were summarising it, and I nearly fell off my chair when you started quoting me!!! Thank you so much for your kind words. I can’t tell you what that means to me.
I like your reading plans for the coming year. Good luck with them. I’d love to hear what you think of M John Harrison when you do get round to reading him. I know you’re a Book of the New Sun fan, so you might enjoy Viriconium as a starting point.
Wishing you all the best for Christmas and the New Year.
Thanks so much, Shaun! I hope you get something out of Alma Cogan - the ending, in particular, absolutely floored me. Rebecca Gransden is wonderful.
Ah it's my pleasure. It was a great review, and very much echoed my thoughts on what I enjoyed so much about the book.
My copy of Viriconium has arrived, by the way, so it's likely to be one of the first on my list for next year.
You, too, Shaun. Hope you have a terrific Xmas. All the best!
I'm so glad you liked Solenoid! It was so good! Also thanks for talking about Oe. He's tragically underread.
Yes, it's just astounding, isn't it? Yes, he doesn't come up as often as you'd think considering the fact that he won the Nobel Prize.
_The Long-Legged Fly_ (1992) by James Sallis
_Borderlines_ (2015) by Michela Wrong
_A Legacy of Spies_ (2017) by John le Carré
_Wish I Was Here_ (2023) by M. John Harrison
"Only on the margins does growth occur."
-Joanna Russ.
Thanks so much for sharing. I don't know the first two at all, so I'll definitely have a look.
But my top re reads this year which I do every year are the vampire chronicles by Anne rice, lady Susan by Jane Austen and Ariel by Sylvia Plath.
Thanks for sharing! :)
@@SherdsTube I like the way you talk about books, do you like slyvia Plath, some of the ways you described things reminded me of her poem wuthering heights
M. John Harrison is one of my favorite writers, and also one I'm planning on reading more of next year. I'd love to see you do a video on something by him!
Solenoid was definitely the stand-out recent novel for me this year as well. Starting in a couple weeks, the literature reading group I run is going to read it. We're breaking it up into four parts, and since we meet biweekly, this will give me the opportunity to re-read it while talking to others about it over the course of two months, which I'm very much looking forward to.
Besides Solenoid, my favorite reads of this year:
-Septology, by Jon Fosse
-Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih
-The Cairo Trilogy, by Naguib Mahfouz
-Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes
-Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin
-Apple in the Dark, by Clarice Lispector (in the new translation by Benjamin Moser - an incomparably better read than the old translation by Gregory Rabassa)
-(Nearly) the complete fiction of Dostoevsky, which I've been reading in chronological order. I had hoped to finish by the end of the year, but I still have The Adolescent and The Brothers Karamazov ahead of me
-(Nearly) the complete Love and Rockets, by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez: I still have a few of Gilbert's volumes to get through before I'm fully caught up on 40+ years of their two storylines.
So glad you also liked 'Solenoid'. Just going back to it briefly to make the video, I was tempted to re-read it. Probably will soon.
Gosh, there's so much on this list that I'm dying to read. Have 'Septology' lined up soon and keep meaning to pick up 'The Cairo Trilogy' in that nice Everyman edition. Thanks so much for sharing, and for being such a huge supporter of the channel! It means a lot :)
@@SherdsTube If you do end up reading Mahfouz and are hankering for more Arabic literature, I'd highly recommend Season of Migration to the North. Most of this year my literature reading group were reading sub-Saharan African literature, and this was the stand-out for me. It was recommended by a Sudanese woman in the group: apparently, in Sudan it's widely considered as their greatest modern novel, and has a glowing reputation in the Arabic language world, though it's mostly been overlooked in the west. A chilling and dark inversion of Heart of Darkness
It has been on my radar for a while, but this is just the encouragement I needed to give it a try. Sounds fantastic.
Just picked up both of these, by the way! :)
@@SherdsTube Great!
I already had a long Want to read-list and now it's even longer.
My apologies, mate! ;)
Pleasant surprise to see this video drop :)
Last year's "list" was great and so is this one. This time around I happen to have read none of the books you highlighted.
I have however read "A Personal Matter" by Kenzaburo Oe and it is highly recommendable.
For my coming reading year I am thinking to pick up at least two of your mentions: Hurricane Season and Clark - the latter especially has been pushed further up on my agenda after watching this video.
My best reading experiences this year were (in no order) as follows:
David Diop - At Night All Blood is Black
New Juche - Mountainhead
Quentin S. Crisp - Morbid Tales
Ófeigur Sigurðsson - Öræfi - The Wasteland
Hernan Diaz - In the Distance
And the absolute worst was Fernando Pessoa's 'The Book of Disquiet' - a much lauded work that I despised with a passion.
I am not on Instagram [is it worth it to be on there for the literary stuff?] so hoping to see mere videos from you in the coming year. Have a good one.
Haha, I'm as surprised as you that I managed to get the video out. ;)
I really hope you enjoy Clark - it's one of the best I've read by Brendan Connell so far, but pretty much everything has been great.
Very pleased to see New Juche and Quentin S. Crisp on you list. Curious about the others, as they're mostly new to me.
How interesting that you disliked 'The Book of Disquiet' so much - I've pretty much only ever heard praise for Pessoa, but have never tried reading him myself.
Yes, I'd say there's a really nice - and very supportive - book community on Instagram. Give it a try, if you feel like it.
I hope to get a few more videos out relatively soon. I have a reading diary that I filmed in the summer, but didn't have the time to finish up. Hopefully that'll come out soon.
Merry Christmas, and thanks for being such a supporter of the channel.
I am so glad to see that I'm not the only human on the planet who hated _The Book of Disquiet_. Utter garbage, and I don't say that about many books (_The Catcher in the Rye_ is another book I wholeheartedly hate with my entire soul). I just could not embrace it.
I’m new here but I have 100 books read this year and they’re mostly 5 star reads because I just re read all the time. I don’t buy anything new really