I'm brazilian and it was so exciting to see you'll be reading brazilian classics! Machado de Assis is definitely amazing, I hope you enjoy these books!
OMG, Clarice Lispector is the goddess of Brazilian literature. She’s not only a classic, she’s unique. Watch Euclides da Cunha. This is not a novel, and it is hard going for even Brazilians like myself. It can be a little too much. I would tread with care. Lima Barreto is so underrated. You will love it.
Os Sertões é muito difícil mesmo no início, tem que ter persistência pra chegar no diamante que ele é. Mas compensação qualquer coisa depois vai ser um passeio no parque
Jealous Bentinho... Machado makes you feel nervous for not being able to change the characters actions, and I love that. Another classic, that is amazing and was written by this author is "The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas". I felt like the book talked to me while I was reading
I would recommend that you should start with Dom Casmurro and leave Euclides da Cunha for later, Machado de Assis has a great writing and his books are always fun to read. Also I wanna say that, as a Brazilian, I’m really happy to see that the Brazilian literature is being appreciated ❤️ thank you
I'm so happy to see so much Brazilian Lieterature here! It's one of the best in world yet severely underappreciated and underestimated. The joy of seeing your prestige with it doesn't fit in my chest! Please don't further away from more of Clarice Lispector ("The Passion According to G.H.", as well as her short stories, which are mesmerizing). Furthermore, I must beg you to, please, read "The Brothers: A Novel", by Lebanese descent Brazilian author Milton Hatoum, as well as "We Were Six", by Maria José Dupré! Those two are some of favourite books, and will hopefully be transforming in your reading perspectives! P.S. There's also Guimarães Rosa, a Brazilian author cararactherized for his studies of regional dialects, language innovations and short stories. Likely there are no comparable writers in worldwide Literature. Of his works, "The Devil to Pay in the Backlands" is of utterly importance. Thank you very much! Subscribed!
You should read A Hundred Years of Solitude, and The Open Veins of Latin America if you want to get a grasp on South American literature, I'd also recommend Julio Cortázar's short stories, he's probable one of the biggest Argentine writers of the 20th century, and lastly another modern classic I'll recommend is Blindness by Jose Saramago. Love the videos💞
I love Brazilian literature and Clarice Lispector is my favourite author. I recommend you The Passion According to GH. It is such a great book. I love your videos. They are always so interesting.
I want to cry, Im so happy Brazilian literature is getting some attention. We are so vastly known for beaches and parties (which is accurate and not a problem at all), but not much about our arts and humanities. We have such a beatiful literature because of how rich it is. I hope you enjoy our books, thank you again for taking time to know it! 💚
I'm brazilian and Machado de Assis is my favorite author! I love "O Alienista", one of his best book. Clarice Lispector, Lygia Fagundes Telles ("As meninas") and Raquel de Queiroz ("O quinze") are amazing too. 🇧🇷
I came just to see what she would say about brazilian literature but ended up loving the whole video. I think i gonna start looking for welsh literature for now on. But pleaaaase, when you finish Dom Casmurro, tell us if you think she cheated or not (honestly its a question debated until this day)
I love to think that if he were alive, he would be getting asked this question during interviews supposed to be about his new release, he'd just roll his eyes, refuse to answer and get annoyed that no one gets how the book is not about that.
OMG I'm so excited to see more brazilian books aroud booktube. Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado and Barren Lives by Graciliano Ramos are some of my favorites
Ok, so, Euclides da Cunha and his greatest book started as a result of naturalism and eugenics, it is determinist, so it is really hard to read if you part of that culture and that people. He started trying to explain the "sertanejos" and why they were fighting against the Brazilian republic, having in mind their land and their ethnicity (which is very complex), after months of resistense, Canudos was transformed into piles of dust and dead people, the Brazilian government killed them by not allowing water and food to come in, they died by littles, because they would not succeed otherwise, Canudos was a community of people who intrinsically understood their land, they were winning in the beginning. Euclides da Cunha was there to explain their revolt in a very suiting way to the government, but it ended up being the only journalist piece of that tragedy that explained it in a respectful way from that age. It is very important to have in mind that cases like that are not rare, nordestinos, sertanejos, caipiras have always been treated like shit by Brazil. It is a masterpiece, but I really thing you should only read the "fight" part, cause the first two parts are a very determinist study of the nordestino land and people, so it can get very technical and, of course, pseudoscientific.
I recommend you start reading Clarice first and then move towards Machado (actually in Portuguese sounds like mashadoo), Lima Barreto and Euclides da Cunha. You've selected amazing Brazilian works, they are all pinnacles of Brazilian literature!! Hope you enjoy all the way through :) P.s.: Yesterday I started reading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse.
You MUST read "The Woman from Tantoura: A Palestinian Novel" by Radwa Ashour. It is not as internationally famous as Nagib's works but it is pretty famous in Arabic culture. I think it would introduce new issues rarely talked about in the west so I think it would be a pretty good opportunity to learn about other cultures. Hope you enjoy it and enjoy whatever you read from the Arabic literature.❤❤
The story of stone is also called “the red chamber/ the red mansion”. I would say it’s a very CHINESE book. If you want to understand it thoroughly, you have to know a lot of Chinese cultures. I am a Chinese teacher from Hong Kong, who loves reading, and I would say The Story of Stone is not easy to understand but it’s definitely a masterpiece. Its structure is phenomenal! Btw, to let you know more, ppl said that the last 28 Chapters of the book was lost, the current ending was written by another two writers. The ending was criticised by quite a lot of ppl in China. Hope to see your review on it. :)
While I haven't read Dom Casmurro yet, I have read The Alienist by Machado De Assis, and I loved it! It is a delightful novella that I was able to read it in once sitting.
I loved this video, it is so cute, and I am very happy to see other people reading what our native authors write !! I love Clarice Lispector, she was a unique writer, I will always read your books. Macunaíma was the most difficult book I've ever read, and I think you might think it's a little crazy, but it's a classic in our culture, we need to read it once in our life hahaha. Machado is incredible, I just want to say this. I always recommend Capitães da Areia, it's a book by Jorge Amado, and it's one of my favorite books. You need to read !!
I recommend Julio Cortázar, argentinian author. I don't know if there any good translations of his works, though. He has some interesting short stories, and quite a unique writing style in my opinion! I don't think he suits everyone's taste but I think you should look him up and see for yourself! Love your channel 💕
I’ve got some Japanese classic recommendations for you 🙂 Kokoro by Natsume Soseki Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata Confessions Of A Mask by Yukio Mishima The Makioka Sisters by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki
Wow! So rare to see a Bootuber recommending Chinese literature! Lu Xun's short stories are often satirical and realistic. He was a fabulous writer when it comes to "Chinese-ness", a sharp observer of humanity, a fearless soul to fight against corruptive nature of certain tranditional Chinese value. I have a great respect for him. The Story of Stones is my all time favorite, a truly masterpiece. It may look like a family drama, but in essence it is way beyond that. It's hard to describe it in English, or in a few words in general. It's best to be inmersed in those beautiful ryhtm and prose to feel the underlying themes, the beauty and the decay, the true meaning of youth and life. Also I would recommend the Love in a Fallen City or Half a Lifelong Romance, both written by Elieen Chang. She was an iconic writer in 1940s China. Her stories are always excellent and realistic depiction of love and marriage, and how women's situation were in that period.
Oh my God, Lucy! I can’t believe you’re going to read the Hour of the Star! It’s one of my favourite books ever! I love Clarice Lispector! I see you have a lot of Brazilian fans and I’m definitely one of tem! Keep up with the Brazilian literature, it will surprise you! Try The Alienist by Machado de Assis, it’s really really good. ❤️
A tip from a portuguese speaking native: when you have a "c" and a "h", it reads "x", so you say "Maxado" not "Macado" ;) and you should look into portuguese Literature (Portugal):Eça de Queiroz, Almeida Garrett, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Alexandre Herculano, Fernando Pessoa. Love your videos, and because of your recommendations I have been reading more Classics ;)
@@karinasdeluca even if you say that, people who dont speak portuguese won´t know that sound described this way. And x can have a "ch" sound, look up the word Xaile, the difference is that the sound is at the begining of the word than in the middle. Or the word baixo, ameixa, these have an "x" but is pronunced "ch". So is more easy to say to someone who doesnt speak portuguese to pronunce the "ch" like "x".
I just read The Tales of Hoffmann in June! I reviewed it in my June Wrap-Up. Hoffmann also inspired two other pieces of classical art: the ballet The Nutcracker (he wrote the original short story) and the opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann (based on "The Sandman", "Councillor Krespel/The Cremona Violin", and "The Lost Reflection"). It's very meta and strange, but one of my favorite operas. I think that will be the focus of a video next month for my new opera series. Hope you enjoy the stories, too!
I am Brazilian and I have to say I am astounded - in a good way! It's so refreshing and interesting to see so many wonderful Brazilian authors finally being recognized in other countries.Machado de Assis, Lima Barreto and Clarice Lispector were all geniuses, and their books are sensational. About "Backlands" ( I am a little suspitious to say what I am about to , because it's one of my favorite books), but I believe this book is one of the best war journals / sociological studies / literary coverages ever written, in any language. It reminds me of John Reed's work, specially his "War in Eastern Europe" and "Insurgent Mexico". Both deal with wars and revolutions, however, the text does not simply deal with combats and fighting, taking its time to talk about history, society, and the root causes for those conflicts. That said, I have a warning to give.: the book is divided into three parts "The Land", "The Man" and "The War". The first one (the shortest part of the book), is a very poetic but also dry description about the geography of Brazil's Northestern backlands - where the War of Canudos took place. It's really heavy and hard to read in Portuguese. I don't know how good the Penguin translation is. So, if you think it's too unbearable (really, many people find it very difficult to finish this part), please, don't give up on the book. It only lasts some 70 pages. The two other parts are unbeliavably fascinating and well written. The war involved a group of peasants, in late 19th century, that formed a city, led by a popular preacher, in which they waited for the arrival of a lost Portuguese king, who they saw as a messianic figure, who would stablish a heavienly kingdom of social justice (they were an opressed and cruelly explored population, so this kind of message got to be extremely popular). After the local state government realyzed this, they decided to send troops and simply destroy the city. What they didn't expect, iwas that the peasant would form an army - a very effective one - and expel the police. Later the government decided to send the army. Which was defeated. And then... well, the story is really unbelievable, and tragic.It's definetly a masterpiece, and a warning about how economic elites and governments are capable of the most atrocious violence, while also describing how far fanaticism (of any kind, religious and political), can go. Really, it's a masterpiece! And also, thank you, as an influencer, for disseminating Brazilian literature, and showing Brazilian viewers how much our authors are appreciated aborad! Congratulations on your channel.
You are such a sweet person and you inspire and motivate me so much to push through my comfort zone. I read so often and so many books and I'm just getting tired of reading books and not feeling like there was any takeaway from them. Like I'm just reading to increase some random statistical goal. I want to read books that mean something, that teach you something, and that stay with you and have lasting importance. Both you and your channel are things that I am very grateful for. Thank you Lucy.
dear Lucy, what a beautiful collection of books you have brought us! I am Brazilian and since I was a child I feel privileged to have been born in Brazil for the reason of being able to have contact with our literature that is really beautiful, fantastic and that is not known by so many people outside our country. About the books that you are about to read, Clarice Lispector is often compared to Virginia Woolf, by some people, because of the style she often approaches something they call "Flow of Consciousness". The Hour of the Star is a beautiful book, really mature, that discusses life, hope, and many other things, in a unique style that has made this author a landmark in all world literature. I always thought that the main character of this book (Macabea) represents, in some way, the people of Brazil. Machado de Assis, for some theorists, has been placed alongside the greatest names in world literature, his style is shrewd, intelligent, and humorous. I believe that you have made an excellent choice to start with this Romance, its chapters are quick, funny, and I hope the translation is good, as much of your humor base a lot in his manner to play with words, but I imagine Penguin will not disappoint! If you would like to continue your readings around the world, there are giants of literature that I don't know if you already know, (I imagine yes! but I will write here anyway) such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia) with his "One Hundred Years of Solitude" which is a milestone in Fantastic Literature, Mia Couto (Africa) with his "Terra Sonâmbula" and Valter Hugo Mãe (Portugal) with books such as "Son of a thousand men" and others (this last one is a contemporary writer, not a classic - yet - but is really a wonderful writer to know!) All of these that I mentioned have a poetic language and are highly impactful and important literature, they are not just books, they are life-changing readings. In addition to many others in South America. A Mexican author who has a work that is mandatory for Literature lovers is Juan Rulfo and his famous book "Pedro Páramo" is a work of enormous importance, its looks like a ghost story, but in the end is so much more than that. I will write here other names os writers that I absolutely love, just to share with you: Eduardo Galeano, Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda. There are so many others, but think I have written a lot already! So much love for you, love your readings! ❤️ Thank you!
Swedish classics recommendation: The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg. It’s a four book series about the mass emigration of Swedes to America before/during the time of the American Civil War. There’s a miniseries from I think the 70s and it’s amazing, though it’s in Swedish :)
when you pulled out The Hour of the Star, when I tell you I SCREAMED!!!! This is my favorite book of ALL TIMES, like oh m GOD, I'm sure you'll love it!!!!!
Lucy, Hour of the Star is a great place to start with Clarice! After this one, you should try Água Viva or The Passion According to GH. Both are phenomenal!
If you are looking for Japanese classics, you //have// to read The Tale of Genji!! Many consider it to be the oldest novel ever written. It is surprisingly accessible. I also recommend Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata and Masks by Enchi Fumiko.
Lucy, please consider reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez! He won the Nobel Prize in Literature for that novel, it is a masterpiece and a hallmark of Latin America literature written in the Spanish language. There are some really beautiful editions out there and the translation is always good.
That would be awesome if she did!😁 I read it LONG ago & don't remember anything. Would love to read it if Lucy & others do like for Hispanic Heritage month or somethibg like that! Ha! -Pero si me encantó "El Amor En El Tiempo Del Cholera."💗
Hello from a fellow Victorian literature lover! I just started reading How green was my valley and am loving it - so I’m very excited to see your video about more Welsh authors!
The hour of the star is one of the saddest books I've ever read!! It's beautiful and you should start reading it right now lol. And I'm quite sure that everybody here who is brazilian, just like me, is excited about you having these brazilian classics and each one of us will recommend a better way to begin with, but actually we only wish you enjoy it and have the best time! Hope you like it! :)
Really proud of you for broadening your reading horizon! Lu Xun is definitely an influential writer and a significant figure of the language reform and the may fourth movement. The story of the stone is for me is quite a challenging read... Of course everyone’s reading experiences are different, I read it in the original chinese version. Some other recommendations: Writers like Shen Congwen are known for their mastery in flowery and descriptive writing. Lao She is known for his straight-forwardness and his piercing analogies of the nature of people, especially Chinese people. Many allegorical stories/books emerged during the late Qing dynasty, such as the Travels of Lao Can by Liu E. If you’re interested in poetry, the Tang, Song and Yuan verses are very good places to start!
I’m Lebanese Moroccan and I have to say that I’m glad that you want to read Arab literature, starting with Naguib Mahfouz. His works are taught in many Arab countries as part of our syllabus in Arabic. Palace Walk is the first book in a trilogy that he wrote knows as the Cairo trilogy. Although I wouldn’t say that that’s the best book to start by him. I’d say books that you could potentially start by him are “The Thief and Dogs”, The Karnak Cafe, Cairo Modern and Miramar.
Wonderful selection of Brazilian books! I've read all of these and if you can recommend one to start with, it's certainly Dom Casmurro. Clarice Lispector is my favorite writer and the story of Macabéa in Hour of the Star is incredible. Lima Barreto is guaranteed fun, especially with that title (which I love). Backalands is a non-fiction book, reporting a sad and revolting episode that took place in northeastern Brazil. I believe that the first part of the book will be quite boring, as it is a technical account of the geography and climate of the region. The second part has somewhat prejudiced ideas about the "sertanejos", but it gains more interesting outlines in some points, mainly in the beautiful description of the overflow of the cattle and when it starts to deal with Antônio Conselheiro's past. The last part is an accurate and sad account of everything that happened in Canudos.
I have a love/confused relationship with Clarice. My heart melts for her, while other momets my brain twist and turns trying to figure out wth shes saying. Although I have rated her books 3.75's most often, my heart wants to give her a 5.
As a Brazilian, I'm really excited that you are going to read some of our classics. You will sure love them. I recommend you let Euclides da Cunha for last and be prepared the first two parts are extremely technical and demanding, while the third is engrossing. In fact, many Brazilians read only the third part.
Caribbean Literature/ poetry - love after love by ingrid persaud, doe songs by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, A year in San Fernando & Green days by the river by Micheal Anthony, Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo, One Year of Ugly by Caroline Mackenzie, Earl Lovelace - the wine of astonishment and salt
Loved this haul, Lucy! I think aside from the Clarice Lispector I hadn't heard of any of these titles. Definitely a push to broaden my own classics reading horizons!
I really want to get into Welsh literature, so I'm definitely going to add these to my TBR (as well as the Clarice Lispector book, I've heard great things about but never read her). For Chinese literature I recommend the poetry of Li Bai (also known as Li Po, I believe). I haven't read that many of his poems, but those I know I really enjoyed.
Hii! I'm from Brazil and it's very exciting to see books from my country around the world. And Machado de Assis' writing is a bit complicated, so I suggest that you start with Dom Casmurro, because it's more easy than the other one.
Also, Egyptian: That Smell and Notes from Prison by Son'allah Ibrahim French: The Lover by Marguerite Duras American (USA): Giovanni's Room and Another Country by James Baldwin Korean: Flowers of Mold (short stories) by Ha Seong-nan NB: I'd call them all classics, but they're definitely published more recently. Of this bunch, I believe Giovanni's Room is the oldest and it was published in the mid-50s. I'm personally obsessed with 20th century literature and never was all that great at following the prompt to the letter.
Great video thanks. I really really recommend The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (Portuguese) and Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese) especially his book The Prophet.
Interesting selection. I thought I would chime in with some recommendations in a few different literary traditions that you might enjoy, some more challenging than others. I've looked over your shelves on Goodreads, so I'm trying to stay off areas it looks like you've already explored. First, in American literature, some authors and works that may not have made it onto your TBR yet: Washington Irving (his most famous short stories and Tales of the Alhambra), Nathaniel Hawthorne (while I read The Scarlet Letter in high school and loved his writing style, but I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, so I would actually recommend starting with The House of Seven Gables, which absolutely blew me away when I read it 50 years ago, and some of his short stories including "Rappaccini's Daughter"), Booth Tarkington (The Growth Trilogy: The Turmoil, The Magnificent Ambersons, and The Midlander, later retitled National Avenue; The Gentleman from Indiana; Alice Adams; and, in the unlikely event that you're into early 20th century YA in the vein of Tom Sawyer, the Penrod trilogy: Penrod, Penrod and Sam, and Penrod Jashber); Bret Harte (short stories, including "The Luck of the Roaring Camp" and "The Outcasts of Poker Flats"), Zora Neale Hurston (Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God), and Richard Wright (Native Son and Black Boy). In a 20th century poetic vein, I would suggest Wallace Stevens (Sunday Morning, The Man with the Blue Guitar, and whatever else strikes your fancy; some may be very difficult), e.e. cummings (selected poetry, The Enormous Room, and Six Nonlectures), T.S. Eliot (I know, you think he's English, but if you think The Wasteland is off-putting, at least he wrote The Old Possum's Book of Cats, which became the libretto for Cats), Edgar Lee Masters (Spoon River Anthology), Theodore Roethke (Collected Poems), and Ezra Pound (his Cantos is perhaps the Mount Everest of obscurantist poetry in (mostly) English, but trying to understand even parts of it will lead you into other byways in world literature; he wrote a lot of other stuff too, all of which is erudite, much of which is vain and obscurantist, and some of which is complete loony tunes). Second, some classic classics that were foundational in Western culture. These are somewhat culturally distant now, so you will have some homework to understand it. It starts with Homer (The Iliad and The Odyssey, find translations you are comfortable with; good notes and readers' guides will help more than a pretty cover), Virgil (The Aeneid), Quintus Smyrnaeus (Posthomerica, fills in some of the gaps in the tale of the Trojan War we find in Homer and between Homer and Virgil), Hesiod (The Theogony, fills in mythological references in Homer and Virgil), and Sappho (the most frustrating of my ancient recommendations because all that survives of her poetry is extremely fragmentary, but it is tantalizing, and 2,000 years ago, when more of her poetry was still extent, it was getting very good reviews, some of which have survived). For modern reimaginings of this literature which may help with motivation and understanding: Madeleine Miller (The Song of Achilles and Circe), Pat Barker (The Silence of the Girls), and Margaret Atwood (The Penelopiad). For a very challenging read which is both temporally and culturally distant, there is The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu from 11th century Heian Japan. I started this for a buddy read in your Goodreads group at the beginning of the year and just finished it a few days ago. The thread for the buddy read went dark months ago. I suspect everybody else bounced off and won't be finishing it anytime soon. The Penguin edition I read was very well annotated, but it was still helpful to have another reader's guide. For Norwegian literature: Henrik Ibsen (start with A Doll's House, that will get you hooked) and Sigrid Undset (Kristin Lavransdatter). French literature: Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, Jules Verne, and Marcel Proust. That's enough. You're tired of reading this. Just some thoughts. Good reading!
If you want anymore diverse classics recommendations, the best account is The Artisan Geek! She does so much research and includes such a great range of authors, countries, LGBT rep etc.! ♡ p.s. I love your jumper, so cute!
I love this list so much! And I also love how “broadening one’s reading horizons” often comes with an excuse to buy books haha. I’m the same way. I’m really looking forward to your thoughts on both the Lu Xun and the MacKay books. I totally agree with you on the short story thing! I’ve been enjoying many anthologies/collections this year.
Hi Lucy! You should read Maria by Jorge Isaacs and of course 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The first is a classic of Colombian literature from 1867 and the second is more a modern classic that won de Noble for Literature. Aside from that, you should read books by Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortazar, Carlos Fuentes and Jorge Luis Borges who were the most important writers during the Latin American BOOM decade of the 60s.
I can't believe you're going to read Hour of the Star! That's one of my favorite books of all times. Clarice Lispector is a genius. I hope you enjoy it!
I'm Brazilian and Machado de Assis and Clarice Lispector are such big names there thats so hard to imagine that ppl didn't grow up hearing about their books! Clarice Lispector has a very specific writing style thatss often compared to Virginia Woolf bc shes also a big fan of stream of consciousness. If you like Hour of the Star I would recommend basically anything else by her, but one of my favs is 'The Apprenticeship, or The Book of Pleasures'. Super excited to hear what you think of these books
I know it may seem obvious to a reader who wants to enjoy literature, and to be educated to be somewhat impartial ...but I appreciate your approach to reading a range of books with an unbiased approach to 'subject and culture' it says a lot about you character - in that you are diverse
Read captains of the sands, is an incredible book by Jorge Amado! You gonna love !! Clarice Lispector is a fantastic writer! Intimist, realism and crucial in brazil literature
Still English language, but some late Victorian and Edwardian Australian classics are Seven little Australians and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (if you read novels for kids) and My Brilliant Career, a great proto-feminist semi-autobiographical novel about a girl from the bush who wants to be an author. There’s also picnic at hanging rock and a fortunate life which I haven’t gotten to yet. My Brilliant Career and Picnic are also classic Aussie films.
Oh, Lucy, you definitely chose two of the best Chinese authors, if not the bests! I do hope the translation retains the essence because their writing styles in Chinese are so good! But I m not very optimistic about that because English and Chinese are so different languages. Lu Xun's is sort of poignant and humourous. And Caoxueqin's is extremely exquisite and beautiful! But their character building both are excellent!
backlands is a classic but it is a bit of a tough one to get through. It is divided into three parts (the land, the man and the battle - rough translation here). The first two parts are quite academic and heavy on the geography aspect but I think it is a wonderful book to learn more about a part of brazil that most gringos don't even realize exists - the northeast. Brazil is a huge country and the cultural differences between regions is huge. Talking about northeastern brazilian authors, I would also recommend Jorge Amado, his books really take you to the brazilian state of Bahia and are extremely rich in description.
italian classics that might interest you😊: La coscienza di Zeno by Italo Svevo, anything by Italo Calvino (my favourite one is Il barone rampante), I promessi sposi by Alessandro Manzoni, Il fu Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello
I’m new to your channel and this is the first video I’m watching. Coincidence or not, you’re talking about reading some brazilian literature and I’m from Brazil and I was really, really happy to hear that! I just had to subscribe to your channel! Machado de Assis is one of my favorite authors and Dom Casmurro one of my favorite books! Hope you have fun while reading them and enjoy it as much as we do!
There are two short stories by Machado de Assis that may change the way you see the world, the first one is "The Devil's church" and the other one is "Father against Mother" both very powerful, but the second one is harder to digest...both masterpieces.
Palace walk is great place to start but you have to know that it's the 1st in a trilogy. The story is definitely worth reading.Mahfoudh is that kind of author who makes you live within the book and feel with the characters. He has that simple but still deep and descriptive style. He is one of the best people who represented the human psyche.
Hello, Lucy! I've recently got into reading classics and I went on booktube for recommendations and I luckily found your channel. I absolutely love your videos. You seem to enjoy what you're doing and you inspire me to read more classics 😊 I especially like this video because it includes classics from other countries that are not located in Europe. However, I noticed that not a lot of people read Southeast Asian classics. This being said, I would like to recommend Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo by Jose Rizal which are Filipino classics. The books were written in the late 1800s during the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. The first book has themes of love and martyrdom while the second book is more on revenge. The books tackle the injustices of the Spanish colonizers as well which led to Rizal's execution. I thought you might enjoy reading these 2 books from the Philippines and I would also really would like to know your thoughts on them. I hope you will get to read this. Stay safe always! 😊
Thank you so much for your kind words -- and for your recommendations! I actually do have and would love to read Noli Me Tangere, but didn't include it in this video as I have it on my Kindle, rather than as a physical book. Both sound brilliant. Hopefully one day I'll get to read them!
If you enjoy reading autobiographies and if you can find it, I would recommend Sand in My Eyes by Seigniorage Russell Laune. It’s the story of life in Woodward, Oklahoma at the turn of the century. It’s very good.👍
From my country I'd recommend The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz. As far as classics from other countries go I liked Eileen Chang's stories (China), Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai (Japan), Jagua Nana (Nigeria), Julio Cortazar's stories (Argentina), The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas (Norway), and Aura by Carlos Fuentes (Mexico).
I'm brazilian and it was so exciting to see you'll be reading brazilian classics! Machado de Assis is definitely amazing, I hope you enjoy these books!
I love Machado de Assis. I read and reviewed Posthumous Mmoirs of Bras Cubas. Amazing!
AMOOOO Dom Casmurro, mds q obra prima kkkk
Machado de Assis and Clarice Lispector are great choices. Hope you enjoy the adventure.
OMG, Clarice Lispector is the goddess of Brazilian literature. She’s not only a classic, she’s unique. Watch Euclides da Cunha. This is not a novel, and it is hard going for even Brazilians like myself. It can be a little too much. I would tread with care. Lima Barreto is so underrated. You will love it.
Os Sertões é muito difícil mesmo no início, tem que ter persistência pra chegar no diamante que ele é. Mas compensação qualquer coisa depois vai ser um passeio no parque
Jealous Bentinho... Machado makes you feel nervous for not being able to change the characters actions, and I love that. Another classic, that is amazing and was written by this author is "The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas". I felt like the book talked to me while I was reading
I would recommend that you should start with Dom Casmurro and leave Euclides da Cunha for later, Machado de Assis has a great writing and his books are always fun to read.
Also I wanna say that, as a Brazilian, I’m really happy to see that the Brazilian literature is being appreciated ❤️ thank you
The Brazilian Literature is amazing! The books and the autors are excelents, I'm so happy people around the world read it.
I'm so happy to see so much Brazilian Lieterature here! It's one of the best in world yet severely underappreciated and underestimated. The joy of seeing your prestige with it doesn't fit in my chest! Please don't further away from more of Clarice Lispector ("The Passion According to G.H.", as well as her short stories, which are mesmerizing). Furthermore, I must beg you to, please, read "The Brothers: A Novel", by Lebanese descent Brazilian author Milton Hatoum, as well as "We Were Six", by Maria José Dupré! Those two are some of favourite books, and will hopefully be transforming in your reading perspectives!
P.S. There's also Guimarães Rosa, a Brazilian author cararactherized for his studies of regional dialects, language innovations and short stories. Likely there are no comparable writers in worldwide Literature. Of his works, "The Devil to Pay in the Backlands" is of utterly importance.
Thank you very much!
Subscribed!
You should read A Hundred Years of Solitude, and The Open Veins of Latin America if you want to get a grasp on South American literature, I'd also recommend Julio Cortázar's short stories, he's probable one of the biggest Argentine writers of the 20th century, and lastly another modern classic I'll recommend is Blindness by Jose Saramago. Love the videos💞
these are all magnificent 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️
I Loved 100 years of Solitude. I read it when I joined my first reading group.
I love Brazilian literature and Clarice Lispector is my favourite author. I recommend you The Passion According to GH. It is such a great book.
I love your videos. They are always so interesting.
I want to cry, Im so happy Brazilian literature is getting some attention. We are so vastly known for beaches and parties (which is accurate and not a problem at all), but not much about our arts and humanities. We have such a beatiful literature because of how rich it is. I hope you enjoy our books, thank you again for taking time to know it! 💚
i see brazilian and i click
love seeing people talking about my culture
HAVE YOU SAID MACHADO DE ASSIS?? I'M HEEERE, my favorite book ever is Dom casmurro, the book that made me a classic lover 😍, I love the video !!
I'm brazilian and Machado de Assis is my favorite author! I love "O Alienista", one of his best book. Clarice Lispector, Lygia Fagundes Telles ("As meninas") and Raquel de Queiroz ("O quinze") are amazing too. 🇧🇷
Dom Casmurro is definitely the ultimate Brazilian classic.
Also, I think you'll enjoy Jose de Alencar novels.
yeah, Senhora is my favorite brazilian romantic novel
It's so good to see foreign people reading Brazilian literature ♥️
I came just to see what she would say about brazilian literature but ended up loving the whole video. I think i gonna start looking for welsh literature for now on. But pleaaaase, when you finish Dom Casmurro, tell us if you think she cheated or not (honestly its a question debated until this day)
haha Capitu traiu ou não traiu é o maior dilema do Brasil
I love to think that if he were alive, he would be getting asked this question during interviews supposed to be about his new release, he'd just roll his eyes, refuse to answer and get annoyed that no one gets how the book is not about that.
OMG I'm so excited to see more brazilian books aroud booktube. Captains of the Sands
by Jorge Amado and Barren Lives by Graciliano Ramos are some of my favorites
Ok, so, Euclides da Cunha and his greatest book started as a result of naturalism and eugenics, it is determinist, so it is really hard to read if you part of that culture and that people. He started trying to explain the "sertanejos" and why they were fighting against the Brazilian republic, having in mind their land and their ethnicity (which is very complex), after months of resistense, Canudos was transformed into piles of dust and dead people, the Brazilian government killed them by not allowing water and food to come in, they died by littles, because they would not succeed otherwise, Canudos was a community of people who intrinsically understood their land, they were winning in the beginning. Euclides da Cunha was there to explain their revolt in a very suiting way to the government, but it ended up being the only journalist piece of that tragedy that explained it in a respectful way from that age.
It is very important to have in mind that cases like that are not rare, nordestinos, sertanejos, caipiras have always been treated like shit by Brazil.
It is a masterpiece, but I really thing you should only read the "fight" part, cause the first two parts are a very determinist study of the nordestino land and people, so it can get very technical and, of course, pseudoscientific.
I recommend you start reading Clarice first and then move towards Machado (actually in Portuguese sounds like mashadoo), Lima Barreto and Euclides da Cunha. You've selected amazing Brazilian works, they are all pinnacles of Brazilian literature!! Hope you enjoy all the way through :)
P.s.: Yesterday I started reading Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse.
You MUST read "The Woman from Tantoura: A Palestinian Novel" by Radwa Ashour. It is not as internationally famous as Nagib's works but it is pretty famous in Arabic culture. I think it would introduce new issues rarely talked about in the west so I think it would be a pretty good opportunity to learn about other cultures. Hope you enjoy it and enjoy whatever you read from the Arabic literature.❤❤
The story of stone is also called “the red chamber/ the red mansion”. I would say it’s a very CHINESE book. If you want to understand it thoroughly, you have to know a lot of Chinese cultures. I am a Chinese teacher from Hong Kong, who loves reading, and I would say The Story of Stone is not easy to understand but it’s definitely a masterpiece. Its structure is phenomenal! Btw, to let you know more, ppl said that the last 28 Chapters of the book was lost, the current ending was written by another two writers. The ending was criticised by quite a lot of ppl in China. Hope to see your review on it. :)
While I haven't read Dom Casmurro yet, I have read The Alienist by Machado De Assis, and I loved it! It is a delightful novella that I was able to read it in once sitting.
I loved this video, it is so cute, and I am very happy to see other people reading what our native authors write !! I love Clarice Lispector, she was a unique writer, I will always read your books. Macunaíma was the most difficult book I've ever read, and I think you might think it's a little crazy, but it's a classic in our culture, we need to read it once in our life hahaha.
Machado is incredible, I just want to say this.
I always recommend Capitães da Areia, it's a book by Jorge Amado, and it's one of my favorite books. You need to read !!
I recommend Julio Cortázar, argentinian author. I don't know if there any good translations of his works, though. He has some interesting short stories, and quite a unique writing style in my opinion! I don't think he suits everyone's taste but I think you should look him up and see for yourself!
Love your channel 💕
YAS JULIO CORTÁZAR 🙌🙌🙌 what a king. i don’t know any translations either tho :(
And you should listen to him reading the short story Casa Tomada - it’s just amazing and you can easily find it here on youtube
I’ve got some Japanese classic recommendations for you 🙂
Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
Confessions Of A Mask by Yukio Mishima
The Makioka Sisters by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki
I heard about yasunari kawabata and im really looking forward to reading some japanese classics!
I loved Kokoro!!!!! I will try these ones as well!! Thank you!!!!
Kokoro is such a beautiful book! I loved it. I will add something by Kenzaburō Ōe.
Wow! So rare to see a Bootuber recommending Chinese literature! Lu Xun's short stories are often satirical and realistic. He was a fabulous writer when it comes to "Chinese-ness", a sharp observer of humanity, a fearless soul to fight against corruptive nature of certain tranditional Chinese value. I have a great respect for him.
The Story of Stones is my all time favorite, a truly masterpiece. It may look like a family drama, but in essence it is way beyond that. It's hard to describe it in English, or in a few words in general. It's best to be inmersed in those beautiful ryhtm and prose to feel the underlying themes, the beauty and the decay, the true meaning of youth and life.
Also I would recommend the Love in a Fallen City or Half a Lifelong Romance, both written by Elieen Chang. She was an iconic writer in 1940s China. Her stories are always excellent and realistic depiction of love and marriage, and how women's situation were in that period.
Oh my God, Lucy! I can’t believe you’re going to read the Hour of the Star! It’s one of my favourite books ever! I love Clarice Lispector! I see you have a lot of Brazilian fans and I’m definitely one of tem! Keep up with the Brazilian literature, it will surprise you! Try The Alienist by Machado de Assis, it’s really really good. ❤️
A tip from a portuguese speaking native: when you have a "c" and a "h", it reads "x", so you say "Maxado" not "Macado" ;) and you should look into portuguese Literature (Portugal):Eça de Queiroz, Almeida Garrett, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Alexandre Herculano, Fernando Pessoa.
Love your videos, and because of your recommendations I have been reading more Classics ;)
It'd be more of a soft "sh" sound! So you would say "Mashado" :) As in "splash" or "shark".
@@karinasdeluca yeah, otherwise it would sound like "macksado"
Yes, mashado!!
@@karinasdeluca even if you say that, people who dont speak portuguese won´t know that sound described this way. And x can have a "ch" sound, look up the word Xaile, the difference is that the sound is at the begining of the word than in the middle. Or the word baixo, ameixa, these have an "x" but is pronunced "ch". So is more easy to say to someone who doesnt speak portuguese to pronunce the "ch" like "x".
@@giuliahupalo oh, so then you pronunce baixo, ameixa, enxaqueca, like "baicko", "ameicka", "enckaqueca" ???
I just read The Tales of Hoffmann in June! I reviewed it in my June Wrap-Up. Hoffmann also inspired two other pieces of classical art: the ballet The Nutcracker (he wrote the original short story) and the opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann (based on "The Sandman", "Councillor Krespel/The Cremona Violin", and "The Lost Reflection"). It's very meta and strange, but one of my favorite operas. I think that will be the focus of a video next month for my new opera series. Hope you enjoy the stories, too!
I am Brazilian and I have to say I am astounded - in a good way! It's so refreshing and interesting to see so many wonderful Brazilian authors finally being recognized in other countries.Machado de Assis, Lima Barreto and Clarice Lispector were all geniuses, and their books are sensational. About "Backlands" ( I am a little suspitious to say what I am about to , because it's one of my favorite books), but I believe this book is one of the best war journals / sociological studies / literary coverages ever written, in any language. It reminds me of John Reed's work, specially his "War in Eastern Europe" and "Insurgent Mexico". Both deal with wars and revolutions, however, the text does not simply deal with combats and fighting, taking its time to talk about history, society, and the root causes for those conflicts. That said, I have a warning to give.: the book is divided into three parts "The Land", "The Man" and "The War". The first one (the shortest part of the book), is a very poetic but also dry description about the geography of Brazil's Northestern backlands - where the War of Canudos took place. It's really heavy and hard to read in Portuguese. I don't know how good the Penguin translation is. So, if you think it's too unbearable (really, many people find it very difficult to finish this part), please, don't give up on the book. It only lasts some 70 pages. The two other parts are unbeliavably fascinating and well written. The war involved a group of peasants, in late 19th century, that formed a city, led by a popular preacher, in which they waited for the arrival of a lost Portuguese king, who they saw as a messianic figure, who would stablish a heavienly kingdom of social justice (they were an opressed and cruelly explored population, so this kind of message got to be extremely popular). After the local state government realyzed this, they decided to send troops and simply destroy the city. What they didn't expect, iwas that the peasant would form an army - a very effective one - and expel the police. Later the government decided to send the army. Which was defeated. And then... well, the story is really unbelievable, and tragic.It's definetly a masterpiece, and a warning about how economic elites and governments are capable of the most atrocious violence, while also describing how far fanaticism (of any kind, religious and political), can go. Really, it's a masterpiece! And also, thank you, as an influencer, for disseminating Brazilian literature, and showing Brazilian viewers how much our authors are appreciated aborad! Congratulations on your channel.
You are such a sweet person and you inspire and motivate me so much to push through my comfort zone. I read so often and so many books and I'm just getting tired of reading books and not feeling like there was any takeaway from them. Like I'm just reading to increase some random statistical goal. I want to read books that mean something, that teach you something, and that stay with you and have lasting importance. Both you and your channel are things that I am very grateful for. Thank you Lucy.
dear Lucy, what a beautiful collection of books you have brought us! I am Brazilian and since I was a child I feel privileged to have been born in Brazil for the reason of being able to have contact with our literature that is really beautiful, fantastic and that is not known by so many people outside our country. About the books that you are about to read, Clarice Lispector is often compared to Virginia Woolf, by some people, because of the style she often approaches something they call "Flow of Consciousness". The Hour of the Star is a beautiful book, really mature, that discusses life, hope, and many other things, in a unique style that has made this author a landmark in all world literature. I always thought that the main character of this book (Macabea) represents, in some way, the people of Brazil. Machado de Assis, for some theorists, has been placed alongside the greatest names in world literature, his style is shrewd, intelligent, and humorous. I believe that you have made an excellent choice to start with this Romance, its chapters are quick, funny, and I hope the translation is good, as much of your humor base a lot in his manner to play with words, but I imagine Penguin will not disappoint! If you would like to continue your readings around the world, there are giants of literature that I don't know if you already know, (I imagine yes! but I will write here anyway) such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia) with his "One Hundred Years of Solitude" which is a milestone in Fantastic Literature, Mia Couto (Africa) with his "Terra Sonâmbula" and Valter Hugo Mãe (Portugal) with books such as "Son of a thousand men" and others (this last one is a contemporary writer, not a classic - yet - but is really a wonderful writer to know!) All of these that I mentioned have a poetic language and are highly impactful and important literature, they are not just books, they are life-changing readings. In addition to many others in South America. A Mexican author who has a work that is mandatory for Literature lovers is Juan Rulfo and his famous book "Pedro Páramo" is a work of enormous importance, its looks like a ghost story, but in the end is so much more than that. I will write here other names os writers that I absolutely love, just to share with you: Eduardo Galeano, Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda. There are so many others, but think I have written a lot already!
So much love for you, love your readings! ❤️ Thank you!
Swedish classics recommendation: The Emigrants series by Vilhelm Moberg. It’s a four book series about the mass emigration of Swedes to America before/during the time of the American Civil War. There’s a miniseries from I think the 70s and it’s amazing, though it’s in Swedish :)
I'm loving the regular uploads, Lucy x
So glad to hear that - I am trying! I hope you'll enjoy my upcoming videos too. x
when you pulled out The Hour of the Star, when I tell you I SCREAMED!!!! This is my favorite book of ALL TIMES, like oh m GOD, I'm sure you'll love it!!!!!
Lucy, Hour of the Star is a great place to start with Clarice! After this one, you should try Água Viva or The Passion According to GH. Both are phenomenal!
I recommend; Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, and Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor, both from Mexico!
I’m Brazilian and here no one talks about Juan Rulfo. I was blown away earlier this year when I read Pedro Páramo
@@RamiresHelena it's an incredible book! I had to read it twice to begin to fully grasp it.
Hi, i am Brazilian and i love your videos about victorian classics books. My favorite Brazilian classic book is Senhora by José de Alencar.
If you are looking for Japanese classics, you //have// to read The Tale of Genji!! Many consider it to be the oldest novel ever written. It is surprisingly accessible. I also recommend Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata and Masks by Enchi Fumiko.
We appreciate soooo muuuuuch we read all those Brazilians books!!!
You have opened my eyes to other books to read. The Chinese books sound good. It's not like I don't have lots of time to invest in the Classics 😊
I just LOVE "the sad end of policarpo quaresma", I hope you enjoy
Lucy, please consider reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez! He won the Nobel Prize in Literature for that novel, it is a masterpiece and a hallmark of Latin America literature written in the Spanish language. There are some really beautiful editions out there and the translation is always good.
Yes!!! García Márquez is fantastic and that novel in particular is amazing 😊
That would be awesome if she did!😁 I read it LONG ago & don't remember anything. Would love to read it if Lucy & others do like for Hispanic Heritage month or somethibg like that! Ha!
-Pero si me encantó "El Amor En El Tiempo Del Cholera."💗
This one is definitely a masterpiece!
Yes Lucy please!!!!!! You will love it! It’s a masterpiece
Yes lucyyyy do it 💓 🇨🇴
Hello from a fellow Victorian literature lover! I just started reading How green was my valley and am loving it - so I’m very excited to see your video about more Welsh authors!
The hour of the star is one of the saddest books I've ever read!! It's beautiful and you should start reading it right now lol. And I'm quite sure that everybody here who is brazilian, just like me, is excited about you having these brazilian classics and each one of us will recommend a better way to begin with, but actually we only wish you enjoy it and have the best time! Hope you like it! :)
Great slections! I love Machado De Assis.
Really proud of you for broadening your reading horizon! Lu Xun is definitely an influential writer and a significant figure of the language reform and the may fourth movement. The story of the stone is for me is quite a challenging read... Of course everyone’s reading experiences are different, I read it in the original chinese version. Some other recommendations: Writers like Shen Congwen are known for their mastery in flowery and descriptive writing. Lao She is known for his straight-forwardness and his piercing analogies of the nature of people, especially Chinese people. Many allegorical stories/books emerged during the late Qing dynasty, such as the Travels of Lao Can by Liu E. If you’re interested in poetry, the Tang, Song and Yuan verses are very good places to start!
I’m Lebanese Moroccan and I have to say that I’m glad that you want to read Arab literature, starting with Naguib Mahfouz. His works are taught in many Arab countries as part of our syllabus in Arabic. Palace Walk is the first book in a trilogy that he wrote knows as the Cairo trilogy. Although I wouldn’t say that that’s the best book to start by him. I’d say books that you could potentially start by him are “The Thief and Dogs”, The Karnak Cafe, Cairo Modern and Miramar.
Wonderful selection of Brazilian books! I've read all of these and if you can recommend one to start with, it's certainly Dom Casmurro. Clarice Lispector is my favorite writer and the story of Macabéa in Hour of the Star is incredible. Lima Barreto is guaranteed fun, especially with that title (which I love).
Backalands is a non-fiction book, reporting a sad and revolting episode that took place in northeastern Brazil. I believe that the first part of the book will be quite boring, as it is a technical account of the geography and climate of the region. The second part has somewhat prejudiced ideas about the "sertanejos", but it gains more interesting outlines in some points, mainly in the beautiful description of the overflow of the cattle and when it starts to deal with Antônio Conselheiro's past. The last part is an accurate and sad account of everything that happened in Canudos.
So many great sounding books here!
I have a love/confused relationship with Clarice. My heart melts for her, while other momets my brain twist and turns trying to figure out wth shes saying. Although I have rated her books 3.75's most often, my heart wants to give her a 5.
As a Brazilian, I'm really excited that you are going to read some of our classics. You will sure love them. I recommend you let Euclides da Cunha for last and be prepared the first two parts are extremely technical and demanding, while the third is engrossing. In fact, many Brazilians read only the third part.
Caribbean Literature/ poetry - love after love by ingrid persaud, doe songs by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, A year in San Fernando & Green days by the river by Micheal Anthony, Cereus Blooms at Night
by Shani Mootoo, One Year of Ugly
by Caroline Mackenzie, Earl Lovelace - the wine of astonishment and salt
Guimarães Rosa is worth trying too, kind of a unique writer and very inventive with words.
Loved this haul, Lucy! I think aside from the Clarice Lispector I hadn't heard of any of these titles. Definitely a push to broaden my own classics reading horizons!
LOVED THIS! And the little opening was so cute!
I really want to get into Welsh literature, so I'm definitely going to add these to my TBR (as well as the Clarice Lispector book, I've heard great things about but never read her).
For Chinese literature I recommend the poetry of Li Bai (also known as Li Po, I believe). I haven't read that many of his poems, but those I know I really enjoyed.
yesss i've been meaning to read more books from around the world
Hii! I'm from Brazil and it's very exciting to see books from my country around the world. And Machado de Assis' writing is a bit complicated, so I suggest that you start with Dom Casmurro, because it's more easy than the other one.
Clarice Lispector is a favorite writer of mine. Since you're interested in short stories as well, I would definitely recommend her Complete Stories.
Also, Egyptian: That Smell and Notes from Prison by Son'allah Ibrahim
French: The Lover by Marguerite Duras
American (USA): Giovanni's Room and Another Country by James Baldwin
Korean: Flowers of Mold (short stories) by Ha Seong-nan
NB: I'd call them all classics, but they're definitely published more recently. Of this bunch, I believe Giovanni's Room is the oldest and it was published in the mid-50s. I'm personally obsessed with 20th century literature and never was all that great at following the prompt to the letter.
The Welsh classics have gorgeous covers
Children of Gebelawi is one of best Nageeb mafuze book with the most intersting cocept highly recomeded 🤓
I love that you’re getting all these recommendations because I know it will help me branch out too!
Brazilians have been conjured here! Kkkkk
Go for Guimarães Rosa after Machado. Total genius
Nice video! I might want to read some of these classics
Clarice Linspetor is the the best autor we had here be ready for a poetical language, Portuguese is very poetical it’s beautiful
brazilian classics are the best, i'm soooo proud of my country,glad you like it♥️♥️
Great video thanks. I really really recommend The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (Portuguese) and Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese) especially his book The Prophet.
Such a great collection! I would certainly recommend starting with Epitaph of a Small Winner as soon as you get the copy. The style is very accessible
Interesting selection.
I thought I would chime in with some recommendations in a few different literary traditions that you might enjoy, some more challenging than others. I've looked over your shelves on Goodreads, so I'm trying to stay off areas it looks like you've already explored.
First, in American literature, some authors and works that may not have made it onto your TBR yet: Washington Irving (his most famous short stories and Tales of the Alhambra), Nathaniel Hawthorne (while I read The Scarlet Letter in high school and loved his writing style, but I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, so I would actually recommend starting with The House of Seven Gables, which absolutely blew me away when I read it 50 years ago, and some of his short stories including "Rappaccini's Daughter"), Booth Tarkington (The Growth Trilogy: The Turmoil, The Magnificent Ambersons, and The Midlander, later retitled National Avenue; The Gentleman from Indiana; Alice Adams; and, in the unlikely event that you're into early 20th century YA in the vein of Tom Sawyer, the Penrod trilogy: Penrod, Penrod and Sam, and Penrod Jashber); Bret Harte (short stories, including "The Luck of the Roaring Camp" and "The Outcasts of Poker Flats"), Zora Neale Hurston (Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God), and Richard Wright (Native Son and Black Boy). In a 20th century poetic vein, I would suggest Wallace Stevens (Sunday Morning, The Man with the Blue Guitar, and whatever else strikes your fancy; some may be very difficult), e.e. cummings (selected poetry, The Enormous Room, and Six Nonlectures), T.S. Eliot (I know, you think he's English, but if you think The Wasteland is off-putting, at least he wrote The Old Possum's Book of Cats, which became the libretto for Cats), Edgar Lee Masters (Spoon River Anthology), Theodore Roethke (Collected Poems), and Ezra Pound (his Cantos is perhaps the Mount Everest of obscurantist poetry in (mostly) English, but trying to understand even parts of it will lead you into other byways in world literature; he wrote a lot of other stuff too, all of which is erudite, much of which is vain and obscurantist, and some of which is complete loony tunes).
Second, some classic classics that were foundational in Western culture. These are somewhat culturally distant now, so you will have some homework to understand it. It starts with Homer (The Iliad and The Odyssey, find translations you are comfortable with; good notes and readers' guides will help more than a pretty cover), Virgil (The Aeneid), Quintus Smyrnaeus (Posthomerica, fills in some of the gaps in the tale of the Trojan War we find in Homer and between Homer and Virgil), Hesiod (The Theogony, fills in mythological references in Homer and Virgil), and Sappho (the most frustrating of my ancient recommendations because all that survives of her poetry is extremely fragmentary, but it is tantalizing, and 2,000 years ago, when more of her poetry was still extent, it was getting very good reviews, some of which have survived). For modern reimaginings of this literature which may help with motivation and understanding: Madeleine Miller (The Song of Achilles and Circe), Pat Barker (The Silence of the Girls), and Margaret Atwood (The Penelopiad).
For a very challenging read which is both temporally and culturally distant, there is The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu from 11th century Heian Japan. I started this for a buddy read in your Goodreads group at the beginning of the year and just finished it a few days ago. The thread for the buddy read went dark months ago. I suspect everybody else bounced off and won't be finishing it anytime soon. The Penguin edition I read was very well annotated, but it was still helpful to have another reader's guide.
For Norwegian literature: Henrik Ibsen (start with A Doll's House, that will get you hooked) and Sigrid Undset (Kristin Lavransdatter).
French literature: Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, Jules Verne, and Marcel Proust.
That's enough. You're tired of reading this. Just some thoughts.
Good reading!
If you want anymore diverse classics recommendations, the best account is The Artisan Geek! She does so much research and includes such a great range of authors, countries, LGBT rep etc.! ♡ p.s. I love your jumper, so cute!
I love this list so much! And I also love how “broadening one’s reading horizons” often comes with an excuse to buy books haha. I’m the same way. I’m really looking forward to your thoughts on both the Lu Xun and the MacKay books. I totally agree with you on the short story thing! I’ve been enjoying many anthologies/collections this year.
hour of the star is an unique experience, there's nothing like it. It's short but it needs to be read with your soul.
Hi Lucy!
You should read Maria by Jorge Isaacs and of course 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The first is a classic of Colombian literature from 1867 and the second is more a modern classic that won de Noble for Literature. Aside from that, you should read books by Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortazar, Carlos Fuentes and Jorge Luis Borges who were the most important writers during the Latin American BOOM decade of the 60s.
The tales of Hoffmann are wonderful!!
I can't believe you're going to read Hour of the Star! That's one of my favorite books of all times. Clarice Lispector is a genius. I hope you enjoy it!
Naguib mahfouz Palace walk is AMAZING
It's the first part of cairo trilogy and ranked first in the list of best 100 Arabic novels of the 20th century
Yay for more diverse classics!! :)
I'm so excited to hear your thoughts on these!
Whoa!!!! So many cool titles! 😍 Genuinely so excited to hear your thoughts on them! 💗💗💗
Hi Lucy!!! Great video!!! Thank you!!! I will check for the Welsh books, as my Grandma was half welsh, from Anglesey!!! Great recommendations!!!
Oooh I can't wait to see what you think of these and to get some recommendations! All my classics are very white and British (mainly English)
I'm Brazilian and Machado de Assis and Clarice Lispector are such big names there thats so hard to imagine that ppl didn't grow up hearing about their books! Clarice Lispector has a very specific writing style thatss often compared to Virginia Woolf bc shes also a big fan of stream of consciousness. If you like Hour of the Star I would recommend basically anything else by her, but one of my favs is 'The Apprenticeship, or The Book of Pleasures'. Super excited to hear what you think of these books
I know it may seem obvious to a reader who wants to enjoy literature, and to be educated to be somewhat impartial ...but I appreciate your approach to reading a range of books with an unbiased approach to 'subject and culture' it says a lot about you character - in that you are diverse
Read captains of the sands, is an incredible book by Jorge Amado! You gonna love !! Clarice Lispector is a fantastic writer! Intimist, realism and crucial in brazil literature
Still English language, but some late Victorian and Edwardian Australian classics are Seven little Australians and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (if you read novels for kids) and My Brilliant Career, a great proto-feminist semi-autobiographical novel about a girl from the bush who wants to be an author. There’s also picnic at hanging rock and a fortunate life which I haven’t gotten to yet. My Brilliant Career and Picnic are also classic Aussie films.
Oh, Lucy, you definitely chose two of the best Chinese authors, if not the bests! I do hope the translation retains the essence because their writing styles in Chinese are so good! But I m not very optimistic about that because English and Chinese are so different languages. Lu Xun's is sort of poignant and humourous. And Caoxueqin's is extremely exquisite and beautiful! But their character building both are excellent!
So good to see people reading brazilian classics!
backlands is a classic but it is a bit of a tough one to get through. It is divided into three parts (the land, the man and the battle - rough translation here). The first two parts are quite academic and heavy on the geography aspect but I think it is a wonderful book to learn more about a part of brazil that most gringos don't even realize exists - the northeast. Brazil is a huge country and the cultural differences between regions is huge. Talking about northeastern brazilian authors, I would also recommend Jorge Amado, his books really take you to the brazilian state of Bahia and are extremely rich in description.
italian classics that might interest you😊: La coscienza di Zeno by Italo Svevo, anything by Italo Calvino (my favourite one is Il barone rampante), I promessi sposi by Alessandro Manzoni, Il fu Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello
I’m new to your channel and this is the first video I’m watching. Coincidence or not, you’re talking about reading some brazilian literature and I’m from Brazil and I was really, really happy to hear that! I just had to subscribe to your channel! Machado de Assis is one of my favorite authors and Dom Casmurro one of my favorite books! Hope you have fun while reading them and enjoy it as much as we do!
There are two short stories by Machado de Assis that may change the way you see the world, the first one is "The Devil's church" and the other one is "Father against Mother" both very powerful, but the second one is harder to digest...both masterpieces.
I’m from Brazil and I love Machado de Assis! You should definitely read epitaph of a small winner, it’s fantastic
Palace walk is great place to start but you have to know that it's the 1st in a trilogy. The story is definitely worth reading.Mahfoudh is that kind of author who makes you live within the book and feel with the characters. He has that simple but still deep and descriptive style. He is one of the best people who represented the human psyche.
Hello, Lucy! I've recently got into reading classics and I went on booktube for recommendations and I luckily found your channel. I absolutely love your videos. You seem to enjoy what you're doing and you inspire me to read more classics 😊
I especially like this video because it includes classics from other countries that are not located in Europe. However, I noticed that not a lot of people read Southeast Asian classics. This being said, I would like to recommend Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo by Jose Rizal which are Filipino classics. The books were written in the late 1800s during the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. The first book has themes of love and martyrdom while the second book is more on revenge. The books tackle the injustices of the Spanish colonizers as well which led to Rizal's execution.
I thought you might enjoy reading these 2 books from the Philippines and I would also really would like to know your thoughts on them. I hope you will get to read this.
Stay safe always! 😊
Thank you so much for your kind words -- and for your recommendations! I actually do have and would love to read Noli Me Tangere, but didn't include it in this video as I have it on my Kindle, rather than as a physical book. Both sound brilliant. Hopefully one day I'll get to read them!
@@lucythereader I will be looking forward to your thoughts on them but in the mean time, I will continue to watch and enjoy your videos! 😊
If you enjoy reading autobiographies and if you can find it, I would recommend Sand in My Eyes by Seigniorage Russell Laune. It’s the story of life in Woodward, Oklahoma at the turn of the century. It’s very good.👍
From my country I'd recommend The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz. As far as classics from other countries go I liked Eileen Chang's stories (China), Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai (Japan), Jagua Nana (Nigeria), Julio Cortazar's stories (Argentina), The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas (Norway), and Aura by Carlos Fuentes (Mexico).
Another great book written by Machado de Assis is Epitaph of a Small Winner or also translated as Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas. U have to read it.
Nice haul! Palace Walk is one of my favorite books
I got excited when I saw the title of this video. 💛💛
What an amazing collection! I'm excited for you!! :)