After requesting feedback from fellow BookTubers and friends, I decided to clip a section from this video where I attempted to express why my poor ratio of male to female authors on my bookshelf was a reflection of my inexperience in literature and not a consequence of intentional avoidance. Despite understanding from many viewers, I worry my rhetoric lacked a level of extensiveness and care with a potentially sensitive topic. I want to acknowledge this mistake and reiterate that I am new to the wonderful world of literature and my library is in a germinal state. I eagerly await to discover more female authors beyond the ones I've read and am grateful to have you all along this journey with me :)
@@TheActiveMind1 personally I think you should have kept the clip in. I saw your video before you clipped it, and I greatly appreciated your openness and honesty, and I could tell there was nothing malicious or disrespectful in what you said. You don’t have to defend the demographic details of the authors represented on your bookshelf. I respect you, and I love your takes on books. And I get the feeling that you are a good person. But I’m disappointed that you felt like you had to remove a clip that was genuine and sincere, because someone got their feelings hurt. It seems like giving in to a form of censorship.
@@burke9497 Not giving into censorship but rather acknowledging that I failed to articulate my argument with the level of rigor and precision that I would prefer. Weak persuasion invites defensiveness instead of understanding
"one book you could not put down" - this is a very interesting, thoughts provoking question .... and for me it was: "4-3-2-1" by Paul Auster! Tnx for your inspiring video!
I read The Master and Margarita 7-8 years ago. I thought it was "fine," but I also realized that I just didn't "get it." So I decided I'd come back to it later. I'm re-reading it now and almost done -- while following along with lectures by Ben McEvoy. It has brought the book to life for me, and I now love it. Point being, I can understand people not really loving it, but I do think with the right guide the book can come alive for them. And I see you have the Burgin O'Connor translation. I think that one is the best. I previously read P&V, which I have realized I don't like for any Russian translations. And I also tried Hugh Aplin translation this time around, and it just didn't work as well as Burgin O'Connor for me. Excellent choice on having Behemoth over for dinner. He was the first character on my mind when you raised that question. I read Pride and Prejudice earlier this year. I get the Mr. Bennett love, and while he certainly has positive attributes -- I also saw negatives. For one, he was distant and aloof from his whole family. Second and more importantly, he didn't seem to care all that much that his daughters and wife would be left destitute if he died before they were married off. And he did almost nothing to help them in that regard. And sometimes did the opposite (e.g. sending Lydia away leading to her elopement.) Instead he just hid away, reading his books, because he couldn't stand his wife and only married her because she was hot (not realizing she was an anxious idiot.)
True, some of those negative qualities of Mr Bennett eluded me in the moment. I tend to like P&V for Dostoevsky but I haven't read others of the same books so I can't quite make that claim with any evidence to back it up. I'm glad you came back around to M&M and loved it!
watching you for a while, smile. love your thinking explaining things. I also like your goofiness. par excellence. And the books you like. There you are smiley, happy and upbeat, and then every once in a while, your tattoos ! ! ! Rock on kid.
I too really connect to introspection in literature--and while I love to play with complicated texts, I am always terrified of massive tomes. As for Emma: It might be my very favorite Austen, but I think it is totally reasonable to talk on booktube about why you didn't like something you DNF'ed (unless, perhaps, your critique is explicitly about the plotline). Still, I do hope you will give Emma another try at some point in the future--as well as more female authors! Thank you for tagging me!
When I gave it a rating on Goodreads months ago and saw you adored it, I assumed I likely was missing something and that it merits a re-read in the future - so I'll be sure to do so! Also, I've got Wuthering Heights on deck for next week which might entice me to read your beloved Jane Eyre before the end of the year :)
@@TheActiveMind1 I fell in love with Jane Eyre as a young person-and I cannot quite imagine what it is like to read it for the first time as an adult. I’ll be eager to hear your thoughts.
No need to defend yourself on what books you like to read, nobody should choose a book just because of the authors gender or colour. The dead white guys have written great books
Hi, thanks for the tag. I love Jane Austen but you're allowed to be wrong lol. Also, I just created an original tag with Ruben and I would love to hear your recommendations, consider yourself tagged!
Hello! I’m new to your channel and have been watching your older videos too and wanted to recommend the following books bc of your interest in philosophy! Demian by Herman Hesse Bless me, Ultima Tuesdays with Morrie The five people you meet in heaven (last two are by Mitch alb
@@TheActiveMind1 Nice! Next year my TBR is all translated works, plus Chaucer in original Middle English, not sure which I’ll read Iliad or Odyssey but I got the Emily Wilson for both. I’m scared but I’m reading Russian Lit for the first time starting with White Nights and going right into Brothers K, possibly in January. As always great video!
After hearing what you enjoy in a book, I instantly thought of how well that matches on to Proust. You would definitely enjoy In Search of Lost Time. I recently finished Swann’s Way, and even though I typically prefer something more in the vein of Dickens, Turgenev, and other realist writers, it was one of the greatest literary experiences I have had.
After requesting feedback from fellow BookTubers and friends, I decided to clip a section from this video where I attempted to express why my poor ratio of male to female authors on my bookshelf was a reflection of my inexperience in literature and not a consequence of intentional avoidance. Despite understanding from many viewers, I worry my rhetoric lacked a level of extensiveness and care with a potentially sensitive topic. I want to acknowledge this mistake and reiterate that I am new to the wonderful world of literature and my library is in a germinal state. I eagerly await to discover more female authors beyond the ones I've read and am grateful to have you all along this journey with me :)
@@TheActiveMind1 personally I think you should have kept the clip in. I saw your video before you clipped it, and I greatly appreciated your openness and honesty, and I could tell there was nothing malicious or disrespectful in what you said. You don’t have to defend the demographic details of the authors represented on your bookshelf.
I respect you, and I love your takes on books. And I get the feeling that you are a good person. But I’m disappointed that you felt like you had to remove a clip that was genuine and sincere, because someone got their feelings hurt. It seems like giving in to a form of censorship.
@@burke9497 Not giving into censorship but rather acknowledging that I failed to articulate my argument with the level of rigor and precision that I would prefer. Weak persuasion invites defensiveness instead of understanding
👏🏼✨“i don’t need the identity of the author to dictate how i value a book, how i experience a book or why i read it”✨👏🏼
"one book you could not put down" - this is a very interesting, thoughts provoking question .... and for me it was: "4-3-2-1" by Paul Auster! Tnx for your inspiring video!
I've heard great things about Auster so I need to get to him in 2025
I read The Master and Margarita 7-8 years ago. I thought it was "fine," but I also realized that I just didn't "get it." So I decided I'd come back to it later. I'm re-reading it now and almost done -- while following along with lectures by Ben McEvoy. It has brought the book to life for me, and I now love it. Point being, I can understand people not really loving it, but I do think with the right guide the book can come alive for them. And I see you have the Burgin O'Connor translation. I think that one is the best. I previously read P&V, which I have realized I don't like for any Russian translations. And I also tried Hugh Aplin translation this time around, and it just didn't work as well as Burgin O'Connor for me.
Excellent choice on having Behemoth over for dinner. He was the first character on my mind when you raised that question. I read Pride and Prejudice earlier this year. I get the Mr. Bennett love, and while he certainly has positive attributes -- I also saw negatives. For one, he was distant and aloof from his whole family. Second and more importantly, he didn't seem to care all that much that his daughters and wife would be left destitute if he died before they were married off. And he did almost nothing to help them in that regard. And sometimes did the opposite (e.g. sending Lydia away leading to her elopement.) Instead he just hid away, reading his books, because he couldn't stand his wife and only married her because she was hot (not realizing she was an anxious idiot.)
True, some of those negative qualities of Mr Bennett eluded me in the moment. I tend to like P&V for Dostoevsky but I haven't read others of the same books so I can't quite make that claim with any evidence to back it up. I'm glad you came back around to M&M and loved it!
watching you for a while, smile. love your thinking explaining things. I also like your goofiness. par excellence. And the books you like. There you are smiley, happy and upbeat, and then every once in a while, your tattoos ! ! ! Rock on kid.
I too really connect to introspection in literature--and while I love to play with complicated texts, I am always terrified of massive tomes. As for Emma: It might be my very favorite Austen, but I think it is totally reasonable to talk on booktube about why you didn't like something you DNF'ed (unless, perhaps, your critique is explicitly about the plotline). Still, I do hope you will give Emma another try at some point in the future--as well as more female authors! Thank you for tagging me!
When I gave it a rating on Goodreads months ago and saw you adored it, I assumed I likely was missing something and that it merits a re-read in the future - so I'll be sure to do so! Also, I've got Wuthering Heights on deck for next week which might entice me to read your beloved Jane Eyre before the end of the year :)
@@TheActiveMind1 I fell in love with Jane Eyre as a young person-and I cannot quite imagine what it is like to read it for the first time as an adult. I’ll be eager to hear your thoughts.
Thanks so much for the tag! Happy Reading 😎📚👍
Saludos de Colombia
If you want more Jerzy Kosinski you may also enjoy Being There, a wicked satire of the modern media world circa about 50 years ago. I loved it.
No need to defend yourself on what books you like to read, nobody should choose a book just because of the authors gender or colour. The dead white guys have written great books
Hi, thanks for the tag. I love Jane Austen but you're allowed to be wrong lol. Also, I just created an original tag with Ruben and I would love to hear your recommendations, consider yourself tagged!
Haha fair enough...I'll have to give Emma another crack. I'll check out the tag!
Hello! I’m new to your channel and have been watching your older videos too and wanted to recommend the following books bc of your interest in philosophy!
Demian by Herman Hesse
Bless me, Ultima
Tuesdays with Morrie
The five people you meet in heaven (last two are by Mitch alb
I'll add them to the list!
What translation of The Odyssey are you planning on reading?
It's a Robert Fagles translation
@@TheActiveMind1 Nice! Next year my TBR is all translated works, plus Chaucer in original Middle English, not sure which I’ll read Iliad or Odyssey but I got the Emily Wilson for both. I’m scared but I’m reading Russian Lit for the first time starting with White Nights and going right into Brothers K, possibly in January. As always great video!
That sounds wonderful! You’re sure to find plenty of recommendations for Russian literature on my channel after The Brothers Karamazov 👍🏼
After hearing what you enjoy in a book, I instantly thought of how well that matches on to Proust. You would definitely enjoy In Search of Lost Time. I recently finished Swann’s Way, and even though I typically prefer something more in the vein of Dickens, Turgenev, and other realist writers, it was one of the greatest literary experiences I have had.
I definitely plan to tackle Proust in the future. I suspect you’re right that I’ll find it a delightful experience
@@TheActiveMind1 A bunch of us are thinking about reading Proust in 2025. We’d love for you to join us!
@@HannahsBooks Hmmm...I might have to join in on the fun!
Everyone adores Jane Austen, but I can't stand her writing. Thanks for your comments about Emma.
I’m confident Persuasion or another work of hers will revitalize my spirit for her writing
@@TheActiveMind1 I like your attitude, but I'm done with her, ha ha!