I cannot believe how casually you started this video and just segwayed into the fact that you got THE Kate Mosse to recommend you books. ❤ I'm adding at least a couple of these to my TBR as I've been meaning to read some Toni Morrison for ages and Kate Mosse's non-fiction sounds so interesting!
@@fionamoody9028 I've sold out some local bookstores of Morrison's stuff because I've bought them as gifts for so many friends! Beloved is incredibly well-crafted and moving; I'd recommend it as a first read. The Bluest Eye, as mentioned here, has a complex narrative, so I would suggest reading it in sections and taking some time to process in-between. In general though, her work has not only informed and inspired the literary community, but it has also become a cornerstone of academic conversations about race and history. I'm always glad to see people dip in for the first time!
Funny thing: I read this as you meaning that you thought this woman would have been a supermodel in the '90's, and you not realizing she's an author, and then I realized you were referring to Kate Moss 😂 I guess that's a gap in my pop culture education, that I don't know Kate Moss by name (of course I've seen her face countless times).
I’m a new subscriber. How have I not found your channel before? And. The first video I find has Kate Mosse recommending books. Happy day. Right, I’m off to discover more of your videos. I’m an old aged disabled blind lesbian who obviously loves audiobooks but I miss the printed word because a narrator has such a responsibility. A good reader can bring such joy and a poor one can bring a sad experience. I miss the ability to interpret characters in my own head, “inner voice”. Fortunately though, most well known books are readily available in audio format, this is a fairly recent bonus.
I just got scared when a computer voice spoke in German. What a scary way to find out about audio tracks on youtube when I just expected to hear Leena's voice.
Not you casually hanging out with one of my favourite authors of all time 😭 she's so lovely as well, she signed *all* of my books and I have all of her books some in paperback and hardback and she signed them all. This was after a q&a/talk about The Ghost Ship that was one of the best book events I've been to.
Love Kate Mosse. Both myself (40f) and my 70yr old Dad enjoy her books, so whenever a new one comes out we take turns to buy it and then share it. Our tastes are usually different, her books are the only ones we really share.
There's a lesser known author called Melanie Rae Thon. She writes about disability, possible insest and the repercussions of native Americans having to live on and off the reservations in her book called Sweethearts. She has a different take on Toni Morrison's book crafting style that feels a bit more modern. What I love about that style is it asks, Hey, are you still paying attention or are you just passively reading. Think of it like when you inhale your food without thinking and not even taste it. Even if you like what you are eating. Somehow you look down and it's gone and you say, 'hey, wait, what?' Book reading can be done the same way and authors like these require the reader to be fully checked into the text for the full reading time. They ask you to flip back to other chapters, take notes, and weave the sections together. Its sorta like a call to political and communal action when you're reading and when you're done. A 'what 'cha going to do about it, now you know?'
This video was so delightful!! Didn't know about Kate Mosse but I think I will be checking her books out now, as well as some of these recommendations!
This is such a brilliant concept for a video! Despite loving the women's prize I actually didn't know that much about Kate Mosse at all. I am really interested to read The Ghost Ship now, it sounds quite out of my comfort zone which is always good!
This lady is fabulous. I would read anything she recommended. My favorite book I read this year was "Braiding sweet grass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer. All her books are balm and sustenance for the soul. The loss of a women's employment when she married was a thing in the US as well. My grandmother was a teacher. Her boss/principle called her into his office and congratulated her after she got married and said we will miss you, you are such a good teacher. She said, But I want to keep working. He looked at her and shook his head like she was a child he had to correct, and said, You have to go home and take care of your own children now.
I can never pick a single favorite for the entire year, but here are a few. Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H James by Percival Everett Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell The Prospects by KT Hoffman Outdrawn by Deanna Grey Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa Pet by Akwaeke Emezi Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
"The Paper Garden : Mrs Delaney begins her life's work at 72" has just entranced me recently. The writing gently flits between confident poetic flair, reflective questions, and factual retellings. I've been forced to savour it, but also it's been so enjoyable to read in little bites and mull over each portion. It's a biography of a woman who was born in 1800 and made almost a thousand collages of flowers after the death of her second husband, and the autobiography of a woman discovering what it is to be getting older. I think it spoke to me as someone who is disabled and stuck at home a lot - the questions she asks herself felt relevant to my untangling of myself
Thank you for doing an actual good one of these and a 'these recommendations are probably going to be rubbish and useless to you but let's do it anyway'. Definitely going to get a couple of these!
Love seeing you bring on other people on the channel, Kate Mosse seems brilliant! Added a couple of these to my TBR. FYI, the AI translation in Spanish has a common AI-reflects-our-biases mistake, "expert" got turned into "EL experto" which is masculine! I guess AI expects experts to be men! I don't know if you can change that manually (should be "LA experta") but I wanted to leave a heads up.
I haven't read many books this year but my goal was to read more translated fiction and my favourite book came from wandering round my new local library in search of author names that didn't look English until I had a selection of translated works to chose from. Weirdly I left with three books with chickens on the cover, and one of these was my favourite book of the year- Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan. On the cover there was this review: Read this book. It's a balm for the soul. And I don't think I can sell it better than that. Beautifully poetic, filled with the folklore and superstitions of a tiny village in the Armenian mountains, sitting with this fictional village's inhabitants brought me so much peace 💛
Must add Kate Mosse to my TBR. I feel I need more pirates in my life 🏴☠I can't call my favourite book yet but I think it'll be Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. So much fun but also deeply resonant.
Goblin by Ever Dundas healed me from my uni literary burnout this year! It tells the story of a young, creative, rambunctious animal-lover who had survived the Blitz in London and her modern self, working at a library in Edinburgh. If you love a character-focused storyline, there are very few characters I've been drawn into more. She has so much love and interest for the world around her and I think Dundas gives us several genres of queered historical fiction in one incredible account of a life. I will likely forever recommend this one to people I love who've might have once felt unloved. As a young queer person myself, currently searching for my purpose and people, I have never felt so seen. And I've never cried quite so much.
List of books mentioned in the video: The map of bones; The ghost ship; Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries - K. Mosse Half of a yellow sun - C. N. Adichie Brotherless night - V. V. Ganeshananthan The bluest eye; Beloved; Songs of Solomon - T. Morrison Daughters of Jerusalem; The exhibitionist - C. Mendelson Intermezzo - S. Rooney Glory - N. Bulawayo
They spent $750 million dollars looking for Luigi and still didn't find him. You're right about them wanting to make sure there isn't an outbreak of holding the villains responsible for their daily murders of hundreds and thousands of vulnerable, sick people. I heard the insurance company even found a way not to pay the reward money to the McDonald's cashier.
When Kate Mosse started listing pirates I was really hoping she would mention Gráinne O'Malley and did a little cheer when she did 🙌 Gráinne was the first badass woman in history I learned about- but it was during that period in primary school when you're coming out of learning about myths and legends to learn about timelines and narratives and starting to learn about definitely-real history, and I was a child so the line between real and imaginary was a bit thin. So for a long time I thought Gráinne was a legend, and not real, when in fact she was both 🏴☠
My favorite book this year has probably got be The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair. It's been really enjoyable to read a bit before bed. It's really fascinating to read about the histories of all these different colors. Especially as an artist/designer/crafter, it's quite inspiring.
Favourites so far: Piranesi, Women Talking, I Who Have Never Known Men, Man's Search for Meaning, and Priory of the Orange Tree❤ I have read 67 books so far. And it has been a great reading year!
I really love this; maybe you can do this once or twice a year with a different bookish person making recommendations. Plus it's sunny in England...what?!
I studied Beloved at university and really struggled with it, I just couldn't follow what was going on so I feel so relieved to hear I'm not the only one to have struggled with her work! I'm dyslexic so perhaps that's part of it, I'm sure her stuff is wonderful if your brain can comphrend it, it's just not for me
Me too with Beloved! I really tried but found I needed to read chapter analyses throughout just to follow it. I’m determined to read The Bluest Eye though, but almost feel like I need to read it in a book club so I can really talk it out with people.
This has been a great reading year for me, too! My favorite book of the year is a book that doesn't come out until next year actually- You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego. It was such a fun read! But for something that is at a bookstore currently, I read Levithan Wakes by James S.A. Corey for a reading challenge and could not put it down. Happy reading, everybody!
Best book of the year for me has to be The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. It just kept getting better and better, and it started out fantastically so I’m not sure how it managed to keep exceeding itself, chapter by chapter
My favorite book I've read this year is definitely The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst! I love reading her books in general, but this one was so charming and heart warming. If anyone wants to read a book that is warm and fuzzy and delightful, I highly recommend it!
My favourite book of this year was "In memoriam" by Alice Winn, no competition. "All quiet on the western front" meets "Brideshead revisited" in an absolutely devastating story about love and war. Bloody marvellous.
This is a great spin on the book expert recommends type of video! My favourite of this year is Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa. It was first published in 2006 and it's about a Palestinian family living in the refugee camps. There were tears. Real ones.
If you’re still looking for stories about queer pirates, I highly recommend The Constellation Trilogy by Katie Crabb. It’s a retelling of Les Miserables, with aspects of Black Sails and Robin Hood put into the mix. It takes place in the early 18th century in the West Indies, and follows an escaped slave who becomes a big name pirate who attacks slaver ships & freeing fellow slaves, a soldier who’s trying to escape his past as the son of a Romani woman and a pirate, and an adolescent boy who’s become more and more fascinated with stories of pirates as he’s continuing abused by his grandfather, who’s the governor of Jamaica.
my favourite book of the year was actually Intermezzo - absolutely agree that this is Sally Rooney's best work yet (coming from someone who is still not over Normal People)! loved this video and definitely adding all of these to my tbr thanks Leena xx
Great video, added a couple of these to the tbr! My favourite book of this year has been Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Hochschild. This book was paradigm shifting for me, I now feel I understand why populism resonates with the far right so much, and why struggling communities vote against their own immediate interests. So very topical after the recent US presidential election.
Kate Mosse! I hadn't heard of her non fiction book but it sounds like my kind of read so I've added that to my list. My favourite books of the year so far are chain gang all stars, station eleven and in memorium but there's still time to find more!
I just finished Intermezzo at 2 am today lmao. Couldnt put it down for the last 200 pages. It's a lot, but worth it. I think it will stay with me for a while, I highlighted a bunch of things. Here's a list of my 5 ⭐️ reads in desceding chronological order. - Book Lovers by Emily Henry. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much while reading. The banter is EXQUISITE. But also cried reading as well? Wow. I expected a fluff piece and it was just. Perfect. - Whiterward by Hannah Mathewson. Exactly my type of fantasy book. Couldn't put it down. Reminds me very much of the Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab, which is also one of my all-time faves. - I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. Just so tender, sincere, I'd do anything for the main character. - Foster by Claire Keegan. Blown away by her writing. Technique??? To say so much with so few words?? I bow down. Planning on reading Small Things Like These before the year ends. Made me think " not everyone can write like this." Everyone can have an enticing story in them but to write like this? Exceptional.
All going on my TBR. It's been a slow reading year for me (hoping to make it to 30 books by the end). I can't pick just one so my top 3 so far are Look What You Made Me Done (randomly got recommended to me by a man on a train- for once i didn't mind a strange man talking to me lol), Foster by Clare Keegan or Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
One of my favourite books this year was “Babel” by R.F. Kuang! It mixes an historical setting with anticolonial politics and fantasy in a really interesting way. Incredibly good world-building and a really daring and unique storyline.
I read Half of a Yellow Sun right after I graduated from college (uni) bc I was obsessed with Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. I went in knowing literally nothing and bc my Nigerian history was basically nonexistent got to experience the book in real time with the characters. Beautiful book and I had a great time!
My favourite book of the year is probably Private Rites by Julia Armfield, which I read together with other people of the Gumption Club and it was just the best time 🥰
I read quite a few good books this year, the definite outlier though is In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. I loved it so much, the writing is brilliant, the form is something I haven't seen done before and it also delves into a really important subject. I find myself thinking about it at least once a week since I read it in June. Less known favourite from this year is If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga. That one really surprised me by its story telling and I feel it's a perfect companion to the Machado's book.
My favourite read so far this year has been All Fours by Miranda July. I couldn’t put it down. Also, I finally got around to reading The Secret History which I loved
This was a fantastic video. This would make an amazing series with a different author each time.I read The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin this year, obviously a very famous story, but I never hear people talking about the book and it is soooo good. Definitely my favourite so far this year.
I can’t remember all the books I’ve read. I think the most impactful was the Hundred Years War on Palestine. And I just finished a relisten of Iron Window which was just as impactful the second time around as I remind myself of all the important details before the sequel drops in a few days.
Omg I just finished Half a yellow sun and it's BRILLIANT!!! Well Adichie is amazing so no surprise there... But I was so happy when she pulled it out first😍😍
I have also had a great reading year 2024. Hard to pick a fave but up there is murder on a summer break by Kate weston. Fyi, I just picked up Sally Jones book 2 because of you. Really enjoyed it
Your book videos are my absolute favorites ❤ I can’t wait for your book of the year is either Code Dependent or Lisa Marie Presley’s autobiography read as an audiobook by her daughter, Riley.
Half of a Yellow Sun is TOP TIER! Best book this year was Betty by Tiffany McDaniel (coming of age, semi-biographical family saga, absolute WALLOP-to-the-heart, can't recommend enough!)
a) love the conceit of this video, would love to see more like it!, b) my favorite books this year were "river east, river west" by aube rey lescure and "death in the spires" by k. j. charles-very different books, but a common theme of flawed people's pasts haunting them and finding love despite grief
worth noting that Adichie has publicly and repeatedly been terfy---and i feel like this has been erased from the collective memory and/or seriously downplayed or seen as worth ignoring to lift up other aspects of her thinking, which is a shame
@@p_p_p_p_7732 i relate! i swear more than half the profs in my teachers college program showed her "danger of a single story" talk, and everyone always discussed her with such uncritical praise that it made it very awkward to ever bring up this aspect of her ideology
The absolute jumpscare when a completely different voice started talking in Spanish, instead of Leena's voice. I had a panic for a second there thinking I wouldn't be able to deactivate that, phew. I didn't like the experience 😂
Same (in German) and then I switched to the original but couldn't finish the video in one sitting and they pulled this sh*te on me _again_! Can it not be turned off for good?! How horrifying?! UA-cam, what are you doinggg...
Well now I feel bad about soft DNF'ing Labyrinth 😬 what a lovely person Kate Mosse seems to be! And I love her outfit. I solemnly swear to pick Labyrinth back up asap 😞✋
Loved this! ❤ Will be adding Kate Mosse to my reading list together w some of her recommendations. My best reads this year has been Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, Devotion by Hannah Kent, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar and Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Loved multiple books this year! Great circle was a wonderfull 500+ story about a woman in the beginning of the 20th century growing up poor but in nature and wanting to be a pilot and then also mixed in the world wars from a personal perspective and a bit of a lesbian love! And decided to read the book thief because of your and multiple commenters advise and damnnnn! I was never interested in books about wars because i like to read for fun, but holy shit that was amazing and hard and beautiful! Also the bone clocks (David Mitchell, and in my head it’ll stay the comedian) was the second of my toe dipping 500+ page books (after the superb overstory last year!) and the world building and stories locking together was just chefs kiss 😙
My favorite book this year was James by Percival Everett and my life was changed by Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. This was so much fun!
Quick note: Wu Zetian was a bad ass Chinese woman, but she was the first empress of china, not the bad ass pirate. That was Ching Shih ua-cam.com/video/Y8McaUknwn8/v-deo.html&pp=ygUZcHVwcGV0IGhpc3RvcnkgY2hpbmcgc2hpaA%3D%3D Not read Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries but imagine they're both in there and Kate just got momentarily muddled
I cannot believe how casually you started this video and just segwayed into the fact that you got THE Kate Mosse to recommend you books. ❤ I'm adding at least a couple of these to my TBR as I've been meaning to read some Toni Morrison for ages and Kate Mosse's non-fiction sounds so interesting!
@@fionamoody9028 I've sold out some local bookstores of Morrison's stuff because I've bought them as gifts for so many friends! Beloved is incredibly well-crafted and moving; I'd recommend it as a first read. The Bluest Eye, as mentioned here, has a complex narrative, so I would suggest reading it in sections and taking some time to process in-between. In general though, her work has not only informed and inspired the literary community, but it has also become a cornerstone of academic conversations about race and history. I'm always glad to see people dip in for the first time!
just discovered a massive gap in my literary education when I wondered why you got a 90s supermodel to recommend you books :D
To be fair even the model seems to have written a book.
Funny thing: I read this as you meaning that you thought this woman would have been a supermodel in the '90's, and you not realizing she's an author, and then I realized you were referring to Kate Moss 😂 I guess that's a gap in my pop culture education, that I don't know Kate Moss by name (of course I've seen her face countless times).
@@meikusje this is hilarious 😂 we are all products of the pop culture we consume and grew up with haha
Woah, your campaign to be a judge for the women's prize is FOCUSED and DETERMINED
I’m a new subscriber. How have I not found your channel before? And. The first video I find has Kate Mosse recommending books. Happy day. Right, I’m off to discover more of your videos. I’m an old aged disabled blind lesbian who obviously loves audiobooks but I miss the printed word because a narrator has such a responsibility. A good reader can bring such joy and a poor one can bring a sad experience. I miss the ability to interpret characters in my own head, “inner voice”. Fortunately though, most well known books are readily available in audio format, this is a fairly recent bonus.
I just got scared when a computer voice spoke in German. What a scary way to find out about audio tracks on youtube when I just expected to hear Leena's voice.
I had the exact same experience! so uncanny. And I have no idea how to fix the settings so that doesn't happen again :0
@@alastairsmith203 I can't find the settings either 🫠
Me too 😂 I switched my general language to english, but I guess that means my next german Video will be computer dubbed in english...
I was so shocked and at first thought: Now they truly took her voice! 😢
@@maddinar6727 yeah i thought the same 😢
Zomg. This was sooooooo brilliant. I looooooved this soooooo much. You, Kate, The Book Bar, brilliant book recommendations. Just a bloody joy.
“I was probably tap dancing” is a an excellent assumption haha
Not you casually hanging out with one of my favourite authors of all time 😭 she's so lovely as well, she signed *all* of my books and I have all of her books some in paperback and hardback and she signed them all. This was after a q&a/talk about The Ghost Ship that was one of the best book events I've been to.
Love Kate Mosse. Both myself (40f) and my 70yr old Dad enjoy her books, so whenever a new one comes out we take turns to buy it and then share it. Our tastes are usually different, her books are the only ones we really share.
There's a lesser known author called Melanie Rae Thon. She writes about disability, possible insest and the repercussions of native Americans having to live on and off the reservations in her book called Sweethearts.
She has a different take on Toni Morrison's book crafting style that feels a bit more modern.
What I love about that style is it asks, Hey, are you still paying attention or are you just passively reading.
Think of it like when you inhale your food without thinking and not even taste it. Even if you like what you are eating. Somehow you look down and it's gone and you say, 'hey, wait, what?'
Book reading can be done the same way and authors like these require the reader to be fully checked into the text for the full reading time. They ask you to flip back to other chapters, take notes, and weave the sections together. Its sorta like a call to political and communal action when you're reading and when you're done. A 'what 'cha going to do about it, now you know?'
That sounds like exactly my thing, added to tbr. Thanks for the rec!
Missed your book videos so much!! Thank you ❤️
This video was so delightful!! Didn't know about Kate Mosse but I think I will be checking her books out now, as well as some of these recommendations!
I cue up your book videos and immediately make lists of books to buy for the academic library wear I work. So wonderful!
This is such a brilliant concept for a video! Despite loving the women's prize I actually didn't know that much about Kate Mosse at all. I am really interested to read The Ghost Ship now, it sounds quite out of my comfort zone which is always good!
This lady is fabulous. I would read anything she recommended. My favorite book I read this year was "Braiding sweet grass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer. All her books are balm and sustenance for the soul. The loss of a women's employment when she married was a thing in the US as well. My grandmother was a teacher. Her boss/principle called her into his office and congratulated her after she got married and said we will miss you, you are such a good teacher. She said, But I want to keep working. He looked at her and shook his head like she was a child he had to correct, and said, You have to go home and take care of your own children now.
I'm making a note to find some of these!
I can never pick a single favorite for the entire year, but here are a few.
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
James by Percival Everett
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell
The Prospects by KT Hoffman
Outdrawn by Deanna Grey
Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
"The Paper Garden : Mrs Delaney begins her life's work at 72" has just entranced me recently. The writing gently flits between confident poetic flair, reflective questions, and factual retellings. I've been forced to savour it, but also it's been so enjoyable to read in little bites and mull over each portion. It's a biography of a woman who was born in 1800 and made almost a thousand collages of flowers after the death of her second husband, and the autobiography of a woman discovering what it is to be getting older. I think it spoke to me as someone who is disabled and stuck at home a lot - the questions she asks herself felt relevant to my untangling of myself
Thank you for doing an actual good one of these and a 'these recommendations are probably going to be rubbish and useless to you but let's do it anyway'. Definitely going to get a couple of these!
This is incredible Leena! Love the concept and the video❤
Love seeing you bring on other people on the channel, Kate Mosse seems brilliant! Added a couple of these to my TBR. FYI, the AI translation in Spanish has a common AI-reflects-our-biases mistake, "expert" got turned into "EL experto" which is masculine! I guess AI expects experts to be men! I don't know if you can change that manually (should be "LA experta") but I wanted to leave a heads up.
I cannot believe there is a book I have read before Leena!! I love all of Adichie's books - she is an incredible author. Read more of her work!!
I really liked her books too, but since the news about her stance on transgender people I do not trust her
I haven't read many books this year but my goal was to read more translated fiction and my favourite book came from wandering round my new local library in search of author names that didn't look English until I had a selection of translated works to chose from. Weirdly I left with three books with chickens on the cover, and one of these was my favourite book of the year- Three Apples Fell from the Sky by Narine Abgaryan.
On the cover there was this review: Read this book. It's a balm for the soul. And I don't think I can sell it better than that. Beautifully poetic, filled with the folklore and superstitions of a tiny village in the Armenian mountains, sitting with this fictional village's inhabitants brought me so much peace 💛
This is such a great video 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 i’ve been watching you for over a decade now and your channel still continues to give!!!!
I knew she existed but nothing else. Now I have to read her. I LOVED her!
*taking notes* - 6 more books to add to my TBR list
Must add Kate Mosse to my TBR. I feel I need more pirates in my life 🏴☠I can't call my favourite book yet but I think it'll be Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. So much fun but also deeply resonant.
Goblin by Ever Dundas healed me from my uni literary burnout this year! It tells the story of a young, creative, rambunctious animal-lover who had survived the Blitz in London and her modern self, working at a library in Edinburgh. If you love a character-focused storyline, there are very few characters I've been drawn into more. She has so much love and interest for the world around her and I think Dundas gives us several genres of queered historical fiction in one incredible account of a life. I will likely forever recommend this one to people I love who've might have once felt unloved. As a young queer person myself, currently searching for my purpose and people, I have never felt so seen. And I've never cried quite so much.
List of books mentioned in the video:
The map of bones; The ghost ship; Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries - K. Mosse
Half of a yellow sun - C. N. Adichie
Brotherless night - V. V. Ganeshananthan
The bluest eye; Beloved; Songs of Solomon - T. Morrison
Daughters of Jerusalem; The exhibitionist - C. Mendelson
Intermezzo - S. Rooney
Glory - N. Bulawayo
Love Kate Mosse one of my favourite authors
My favorite book of the year so far is a toss up between A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.
I ADORED Psalm for the Wild Built. It was my first read by that author and I’ve gone on to read all the rest, but Psalm is still my favourite.
A gentleman in Moscow is such a great book!
They spent $750 million dollars looking for Luigi and still didn't find him. You're right about them wanting to make sure there isn't an outbreak of holding the villains responsible for their daily murders of hundreds and thousands of vulnerable, sick people. I heard the insurance company even found a way not to pay the reward money to the McDonald's cashier.
I loved this video and this is my favourite I have seen where a person has an expert recommend them books.
When Kate Mosse started listing pirates I was really hoping she would mention Gráinne O'Malley and did a little cheer when she did 🙌
Gráinne was the first badass woman in history I learned about- but it was during that period in primary school when you're coming out of learning about myths and legends to learn about timelines and narratives and starting to learn about definitely-real history, and I was a child so the line between real and imaginary was a bit thin. So for a long time I thought Gráinne was a legend, and not real, when in fact she was both 🏴☠
My favorite book this year has probably got be The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair. It's been really enjoyable to read a bit before bed. It's really fascinating to read about the histories of all these different colors. Especially as an artist/designer/crafter, it's quite inspiring.
Love this book!!
This is so great, I'm in Australia and loved seeing the social media posts about forgotten women in history
Loved the concept of the video. Your interaction with Kate was so genuinely lovely
What a great video and what an incredible woman!
I've never had a chance to enjoy Kate's work. Now I need to!
Loved this video! Super cozy and amazing recs 😍
Favourites so far: Piranesi, Women Talking, I Who Have Never Known Men, Man's Search for Meaning, and Priory of the Orange Tree❤
I have read 67 books so far. And it has been a great reading year!
kate mosse and leena the collab of dreams
This is an incredible video with an incredible guest.
Will you be doing a video of all the clothing you've made this year. I love seeing how far you've come with sewing and knitting ❤
I really love this; maybe you can do this once or twice a year with a different bookish person making recommendations. Plus it's sunny in England...what?!
What a lovely video! thank you
I studied Beloved at university and really struggled with it, I just couldn't follow what was going on so I feel so relieved to hear I'm not the only one to have struggled with her work! I'm dyslexic so perhaps that's part of it, I'm sure her stuff is wonderful if your brain can comphrend it, it's just not for me
Me too with Beloved! I really tried but found I needed to read chapter analyses throughout just to follow it. I’m determined to read The Bluest Eye though, but almost feel like I need to read it in a book club so I can really talk it out with people.
This has been a great reading year for me, too! My favorite book of the year is a book that doesn't come out until next year actually- You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego. It was such a fun read! But for something that is at a bookstore currently, I read Levithan Wakes by James S.A. Corey for a reading challenge and could not put it down. Happy reading, everybody!
I read two of Barbara Kingsolver's books this year: Prodigal Summer, and The Poisonwood Bible. Her writing is phenomenal
I loved Warrior Queen & Quiet revolutions! Highly highly recommend!!!!
Boudicca!?! Leena!! "It's YOUR island!" 😂
Best book of the year for me has to be The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. It just kept getting better and better, and it started out fantastically so I’m not sure how it managed to keep exceeding itself, chapter by chapter
My favorite book I've read this year is definitely The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst! I love reading her books in general, but this one was so charming and heart warming. If anyone wants to read a book that is warm and fuzzy and delightful, I highly recommend it!
Was also one of my 5star reads this year!
I put watching this off until I was cosy in bed and I was not disappointed. Time to buy more books!
My favourite book of this year was "In memoriam" by Alice Winn, no competition. "All quiet on the western front" meets "Brideshead revisited" in an absolutely devastating story about love and war. Bloody marvellous.
This is a great spin on the book expert recommends type of video!
My favourite of this year is Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa. It was first published in 2006 and it's about a Palestinian family living in the refugee camps. There were tears. Real ones.
Oh I adored that book! Read it over the course of seven hours and was a mess for the second half
If you’re still looking for stories about queer pirates, I highly recommend The Constellation Trilogy by Katie Crabb. It’s a retelling of Les Miserables, with aspects of Black Sails and Robin Hood put into the mix.
It takes place in the early 18th century in the West Indies, and follows an escaped slave who becomes a big name pirate who attacks slaver ships & freeing fellow slaves, a soldier who’s trying to escape his past as the son of a Romani woman and a pirate, and an adolescent boy who’s become more and more fascinated with stories of pirates as he’s continuing abused by his grandfather, who’s the governor of Jamaica.
my favourite book of the year was actually Intermezzo - absolutely agree that this is Sally Rooney's best work yet (coming from someone who is still not over Normal People)! loved this video and definitely adding all of these to my tbr thanks Leena xx
Omg what a legendary crossover
Great video, added a couple of these to the tbr! My favourite book of this year has been Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Hochschild. This book was paradigm shifting for me, I now feel I understand why populism resonates with the far right so much, and why struggling communities vote against their own immediate interests. So very topical after the recent US presidential election.
I am SO star struck!! ❤❤ omg!!!
What an amazing video! My favorite book of this year is a sorcerer comes to call by T Kingfisher... I love spooky fantasy!
Kate Mosse! I hadn't heard of her non fiction book but it sounds like my kind of read so I've added that to my list. My favourite books of the year so far are chain gang all stars, station eleven and in memorium but there's still time to find more!
I just finished Intermezzo at 2 am today lmao. Couldnt put it down for the last 200 pages. It's a lot, but worth it. I think it will stay with me for a while, I highlighted a bunch of things.
Here's a list of my 5 ⭐️ reads in desceding chronological order.
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much while reading. The banter is EXQUISITE. But also cried reading as well? Wow. I expected a fluff piece and it was just. Perfect.
- Whiterward by Hannah Mathewson. Exactly my type of fantasy book. Couldn't put it down. Reminds me very much of the Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab, which is also one of my all-time faves.
- I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. Just so tender, sincere, I'd do anything for the main character.
- Foster by Claire Keegan. Blown away by her writing. Technique??? To say so much with so few words?? I bow down. Planning on reading Small Things Like These before the year ends. Made me think " not everyone can write like this." Everyone can have an enticing story in them but to write like this? Exceptional.
All going on my TBR. It's been a slow reading year for me (hoping to make it to 30 books by the end). I can't pick just one so my top 3 so far are Look What You Made Me Done (randomly got recommended to me by a man on a train- for once i didn't mind a strange man talking to me lol), Foster by Clare Keegan or Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
Yesss I’ve missed this kind of video
One of my favourite books this year was “Babel” by R.F. Kuang! It mixes an historical setting with anticolonial politics and fantasy in a really interesting way. Incredibly good world-building and a really daring and unique storyline.
I saw someone reading this while queuing for a flight, googled it, and it's been on my TBR ever since!
@ Then you’ve got a treat ahead of you :)
I read Half of a Yellow Sun right after I graduated from college (uni) bc I was obsessed with Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. I went in knowing literally nothing and bc my Nigerian history was basically nonexistent got to experience the book in real time with the characters. Beautiful book and I had a great time!
My favourite book of the year is probably Private Rites by Julia Armfield, which I read together with other people of the Gumption Club and it was just the best time 🥰
I'm so excited to read that. Hoping to get it for Christmas
My favourite book this year was Eleanor Catton’s Birnham Wood. So DAMN GOOD 🤯🤯🤯
And then she fell- wouldn't have heard about it were it not for your video on the women's award. It was surreal, amazing, sad and brilliant.
Prepare to cry with "The Bluest Eye".
I read quite a few good books this year, the definite outlier though is In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. I loved it so much, the writing is brilliant, the form is something I haven't seen done before and it also delves into a really important subject. I find myself thinking about it at least once a week since I read it in June.
Less known favourite from this year is If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga. That one really surprised me by its story telling and I feel it's a perfect companion to the Machado's book.
Bizarrely my favourite book/reading experience of the year was flowers in the attic. Definitely didnt think it would become a new favourite 😂
My favourite read so far this year has been All Fours by Miranda July. I couldn’t put it down. Also, I finally got around to reading The Secret History which I loved
This was a fantastic video. This would make an amazing series with a different author each time.I read The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin this year, obviously a very famous story, but I never hear people talking about the book and it is soooo good. Definitely my favourite so far this year.
I can’t remember all the books I’ve read. I think the most impactful was the Hundred Years War on Palestine. And I just finished a relisten of Iron Window which was just as impactful the second time around as I remind myself of all the important details before the sequel drops in a few days.
Omg I just finished Half a yellow sun and it's BRILLIANT!!! Well Adichie is amazing so no surprise there... But I was so happy when she pulled it out first😍😍
I have also had a great reading year 2024. Hard to pick a fave but up there is murder on a summer break by Kate weston.
Fyi, I just picked up Sally Jones book 2 because of you. Really enjoyed it
Your book videos are my absolute favorites ❤ I can’t wait for your book of the year is either Code Dependent or Lisa Marie Presley’s autobiography read as an audiobook by her daughter, Riley.
I feel you've juste handed me my TBR list for 2025. I want to read them all
Half of a Yellow Sun is TOP TIER! Best book this year was Betty by Tiffany McDaniel (coming of age, semi-biographical family saga, absolute WALLOP-to-the-heart, can't recommend enough!)
What a delight!
a) love the conceit of this video, would love to see more like it!, b) my favorite books this year were "river east, river west" by aube rey lescure and "death in the spires" by k. j. charles-very different books, but a common theme of flawed people's pasts haunting them and finding love despite grief
My favourite book from this year is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. A bit late to the party 😁 but so happy I read it 🤩
Absolutely loved this video ❤
worth noting that Adichie has publicly and repeatedly been terfy---and i feel like this has been erased from the collective memory and/or seriously downplayed or seen as worth ignoring to lift up other aspects of her thinking, which is a shame
Exactly!!! I loved Purple Hibiscus by her but will not read anything more cause of this
@@p_p_p_p_7732 i relate! i swear more than half the profs in my teachers college program showed her "danger of a single story" talk, and everyone always discussed her with such uncritical praise that it made it very awkward to ever bring up this aspect of her ideology
The absolute jumpscare when a completely different voice started talking in Spanish, instead of Leena's voice. I had a panic for a second there thinking I wouldn't be able to deactivate that, phew. I didn't like the experience 😂
I got the same with French!
@@katukin same 😅
Ah me paso lo mismo jaja didn't like it
Same (in German) and then I switched to the original but couldn't finish the video in one sitting and they pulled this sh*te on me _again_! Can it not be turned off for good?! How horrifying?! UA-cam, what are you doinggg...
My favourite book was We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry and Slewfoot by Brom - quite different, but both witchy books!
Well now I feel bad about soft DNF'ing Labyrinth 😬 what a lovely person Kate Mosse seems to be! And I love her outfit. I solemnly swear to pick Labyrinth back up asap 😞✋
Loved this! ❤ Will be adding Kate Mosse to my reading list together w some of her recommendations. My best reads this year has been Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, Devotion by Hannah Kent, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar and Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Loved multiple books this year! Great circle was a wonderfull 500+ story about a woman in the beginning of the 20th century growing up poor but in nature and wanting to be a pilot and then also mixed in the world wars from a personal perspective and a bit of a lesbian love! And decided to read the book thief because of your and multiple commenters advise and damnnnn! I was never interested in books about wars because i like to read for fun, but holy shit that was amazing and hard and beautiful! Also the bone clocks (David Mitchell, and in my head it’ll stay the comedian) was the second of my toe dipping 500+ page books (after the superb overstory last year!) and the world building and stories locking together was just chefs kiss 😙
Love this!❤
My favorite book this year was James by Percival Everett and my life was changed by Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. This was so much fun!
Favourite book was Matrescence by Lucy Jones!! Everyone should read it
Leeeeeeeeennnnaaaaaaa! I love this video so much! I know of Kate Mosse, but am not familiar with her work and I want to change that now! Eeep!
Loooved it!!!!
'Edenglassie' by Melissa Lucashenko is my read of the year and not even finished yet.
I feel exactly the same way about Morrison’s fiction. Thanks for articulating what I’m always scared to 😊
Quick note: Wu Zetian was a bad ass Chinese woman, but she was the first empress of china, not the bad ass pirate. That was Ching Shih ua-cam.com/video/Y8McaUknwn8/v-deo.html&pp=ygUZcHVwcGV0IGhpc3RvcnkgY2hpbmcgc2hpaA%3D%3D
Not read Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries but imagine they're both in there and Kate just got momentarily muddled