eep!!! what i've been waiting for all year! am not surprised that some of my favs ended up on this list (ie Tulathimutte and Didion), and you just reminded me of fun! it's so silly to say, but i have to remind myself that this is all fun and i should be having more fun! fun and discipline for 2025! wishing you a hot year of sexy reads in 2025! love you bb!
Great list, and such unique titles too! I also loved The Extinction of Irena Rey and have been meaning to pick up Tulathimutte's Rejection (fun fact: I was in his writing workshop a few years ago, and indeed he's a superb editor). Hope you're enjoying the new year!
Happy New Year to my favorite booktuber ❤ I'm definitely reading Vigdis Hjorth this year totally influenced by you! And the Stepdaughter is also priority read
The vid we've been waiting for! Love these picks, and love that you talked about some of your own reading projects. I actually need to read Kairos for a reading project of my own, and I was feeling a bit... not anxious exactly, perhaps trepidatious. But you've warmed me up to it. There's also a different Caroline Blackwood I very much want to read soon - The Fate of Mary Rose - which I've heard is brilliant. Happy new year! 🎉
Happy New Year! Or as we might have said in this former outpost of old New France, “Bonne Année!” I enjoyed reading Percival Everett’s “James”, though I found it more of a wish fulfilment fantasy than a retelling of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. It was as if Liam Neeson had rewritten “A Christmas Carol” from the point of view of Tiny Tim, where Tiny Tim is on the phone with Ebeneezer Scrooge just a few days before Christmas and tells him, “You’re going to let my father have the day off on Christmas-with pay! Do that, and that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you.” I also enjoyed “Run River”, which is the only Joan Didion novel I’ve read so far. I agree with you about the Southern Gothic atmosphere pervading the story, thanks largely to the lack of a/c at the time in which the novel takes place. After hearing your comments about the women’s fashions, I wish I had paid more attention to that aspect of the story. I didn’t find any part of the novel boring, and actually wished it had been 75-100 pages longer, as there was ample room for the plot to expand in various directions. I have a copy of John Williams’ “Butcher’s Crossing”, which I hope to read before long. I’m curious as to how it will compare to his “Stoner”, which I read … last year, I guess I have to say now. As for worst books I read in 2024, I can’t really think of any that fall into that category, though obviously I found some books I read better than others. As for best books, I really enjoyed “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf, along with “Tipping the Velvet” by Sarah Waters. I also read three novels by Clarice Lispector last year, of which my favourite remains her first one, “Near to the Wild Heart”. Then there was “Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961” by Paul Hendrickson. Although I can’t say “The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love” by Rachel Feder was one of my favourite books of last year, I sure enjoyed the furor provoked by Alyssa the Nerdy Nurse’s reasoned rant about it over on her channel last summer. Ever since first seeing “An Cailín Ciúin”-“The Quiet Girl”-almost two years ago, I’ve had a persistent interest in topics related to Ireland. Of the books I’ve read about the 1916 Irish Rebellion, “Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion” by Charles Townshend is the best one I read last year. Another Irish-related book I enjoyed was one you recommended, Kiran, “We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland” by the Irish writer, Fintan O’Toole. Back in November, after the release of the film version of “Small Things Like These”, I exchanged comments on a UA-cam film review channel with some Irish filmgoers about the historical background to Claire Keegan’s story. When I explained that I had found O’Toole’s book to be highly informative about what it was like growing up in late 20th century Ireland, a Catholic police officer from Belfast told me he had gone out on bought a copy of “We Don’t Know Ourselves” based upon my recommendation. I then informed him that my recommendation was based on your recommendation and referred him to your channel, so maybe you’ll get a new subscriber.
Amazing video. These are my 10: Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel The Force by Don Winslow The Silmarillion Wellness by Nathan Hill A Much Younger Man by Dianne Highbridge The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones Thieves of State by Sarah Chayes Erasing History by Jason Stanley The worst were: After the Quake by Murakami Less Than Zero by Easton Ellis
You got quite the list there! James was an excellent read, albeit the degrading ways in which enslaved people were treated then. I especially liked the parts where he is mentally talking to Voltaire...? There were many aspects to that book...all to say that I'm glad it was among the nominated books for the goodread choice award.
eep!!! what i've been waiting for all year!
am not surprised that some of my favs ended up on this list (ie Tulathimutte and Didion), and you just reminded me of fun! it's so silly to say, but i have to remind myself that this is all fun and i should be having more fun! fun and discipline for 2025!
wishing you a hot year of sexy reads in 2025! love you bb!
Love your list! Was considering getting The Extinction of if Irena Ray and youge convinced me. Happy new year! Siân
Great list, and such unique titles too! I also loved The Extinction of Irena Rey and have been meaning to pick up Tulathimutte's Rejection (fun fact: I was in his writing workshop a few years ago, and indeed he's a superb editor). Hope you're enjoying the new year!
I did a group buddy read and I really enjoyed Rhine Journey! The way her daydreams would blend into the story. And that cathedral chapter!
Kirannnn my fav booktuber happy new year!!!❤❤❤🎉🎉 deffo loved ur recs through the year and hope to more in ‘25
Looking good, my favorite booktuber. Always leaving me with the best recommendations. Happy new year, Kiran. Lots of love.
Happy New Year, boot! Can't wait for another year of books, books, books
Happy New Year to my favorite booktuber ❤ I'm definitely reading Vigdis Hjorth this year totally influenced by you! And the Stepdaughter is also priority read
The vid we've been waiting for! Love these picks, and love that you talked about some of your own reading projects. I actually need to read Kairos for a reading project of my own, and I was feeling a bit... not anxious exactly, perhaps trepidatious. But you've warmed me up to it. There's also a different Caroline Blackwood I very much want to read soon - The Fate of Mary Rose - which I've heard is brilliant.
Happy new year! 🎉
So many great recommendations on this list! Happy new year 🎊
So many things I need to get to already like Rhine Journey and Kairos
Oh my god that dress is amazing
I had to scroll too far for this comment. Style!
Curious to read Tony Tulathimutte's collection which is on so many lists. And good that a lot of us read not only newly published books.
Happy New Year! Or as we might have said in this former outpost of old New France, “Bonne Année!”
I enjoyed reading Percival Everett’s “James”, though I found it more of a wish fulfilment fantasy than a retelling of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. It was as if Liam Neeson had rewritten “A Christmas Carol” from the point of view of Tiny Tim, where Tiny Tim is on the phone with Ebeneezer Scrooge just a few days before Christmas and tells him, “You’re going to let my father have the day off on Christmas-with pay! Do that, and that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you.”
I also enjoyed “Run River”, which is the only Joan Didion novel I’ve read so far. I agree with you about the Southern Gothic atmosphere pervading the story, thanks largely to the lack of a/c at the time in which the novel takes place. After hearing your comments about the women’s fashions, I wish I had paid more attention to that aspect of the story. I didn’t find any part of the novel boring, and actually wished it had been 75-100 pages longer, as there was ample room for the plot to expand in various directions.
I have a copy of John Williams’ “Butcher’s Crossing”, which I hope to read before long. I’m curious as to how it will compare to his “Stoner”, which I read … last year, I guess I have to say now.
As for worst books I read in 2024, I can’t really think of any that fall into that category, though obviously I found some books I read better than others. As for best books, I really enjoyed “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf, along with “Tipping the Velvet” by Sarah Waters. I also read three novels by Clarice Lispector last year, of which my favourite remains her first one, “Near to the Wild Heart”. Then there was “Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961” by Paul Hendrickson. Although I can’t say “The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love” by Rachel Feder was one of my favourite books of last year, I sure enjoyed the furor provoked by Alyssa the Nerdy Nurse’s reasoned rant about it over on her channel last summer.
Ever since first seeing “An Cailín Ciúin”-“The Quiet Girl”-almost two years ago, I’ve had a persistent interest in topics related to Ireland. Of the books I’ve read about the 1916 Irish Rebellion, “Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion” by Charles Townshend is the best one I read last year. Another Irish-related book I enjoyed was one you recommended, Kiran, “We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland” by the Irish writer, Fintan O’Toole.
Back in November, after the release of the film version of “Small Things Like These”, I exchanged comments on a UA-cam film review channel with some Irish filmgoers about the historical background to Claire Keegan’s story. When I explained that I had found O’Toole’s book to be highly informative about what it was like growing up in late 20th century Ireland, a Catholic police officer from Belfast told me he had gone out on bought a copy of “We Don’t Know Ourselves” based upon my recommendation. I then informed him that my recommendation was based on your recommendation and referred him to your channel, so maybe you’ll get a new subscriber.
Started reading Vigdis Hjorth in 2024 and she is out of this world talented. Loved her book Is Mother Dead.
Amazing video. These are my 10:
Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
The Force by Don Winslow
The Silmarillion
Wellness by Nathan Hill
A Much Younger Man by Dianne Highbridge
The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones
Thieves of State by Sarah Chayes
Erasing History by Jason Stanley
The worst were:
After the Quake by Murakami
Less Than Zero by Easton Ellis
Happy new year!
Am going to get James soon and read it even though everybody has raved about it. And HNY!⚛❤
Starting the year with my favorite booktuber 🎉
The dress, the hair, the makeup 😍
Oh that debut novel by Jennifer Croft looks very interesting!
You got quite the list there! James was an excellent read, albeit the degrading ways in which enslaved people were treated then. I especially liked the parts where he is mentally talking to Voltaire...? There were many aspects to that book...all to say that I'm glad it was among the nominated books for the goodread choice award.
Good good.
Channeling your 2024 reading year into my 2025 year - twas not an amazing reading year for me :(
i've missed you!!!!! 2025 will be a better year!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Your favorite booktuber"? Um, and you know that how? ha