I love your videos. I get such great book recommendations from you and you've really helped expand my reading this past year. Wishing you the best for 2019.
Milkman, The Overstory and When I Hit You were on my best of list too - all so so brilliant - and I agree about reading Milkman on audio. The rhythm and the sing-song quality of the prose was brought out by the narration. I have the Jenny Erpenbeck on my list (I loved Visitation and The End of Days) and both of Olga Tokarczuk’s books in English translation on my TBR shelves. Thanks for such a great video - I love how measured you are.
I like it when you make yourself laugh! 😄 I still need to get to Warlight and Julian Barnes' new novel. And I'm SO happy to hear how strongly you were moved by Kandasamy's book! Great list and great reading year, my friend. Happy New Year! 🎉
Happy New Year to you too, Eric and thank you for being kind (re making oneself laugh). Kandasamy was brilliant, one of the most memorable books I read over the year. Seen it on your list too.
I’m with you on Warlight and The Overstory Kamil, I’m a fan of Ondaatje’s anyway and think Richard Powers could become a favorite author. Obviously a great reading year!
Kamil, I ordered The Overstory after seeing your review on Goodreads. It was, by far, my favorite read of 2018. Thank you so very much for leading me to it. Wishing you a joyous year in 2019.
Kamil, as ever, your enthusiasm is infectious. Of the books you listed, I'm most likely to read The Overstory, Warlight and The Only Story in 2019. I agree with you about Milkman, it's a great and original novel. For me it is a razor sharp dissection of the social and political pressures that made it so difficult to lead a life that was free of constant guardedness during that period. The style took a while to adapt to, but then it took on a momentum of its own. I can't honestly list ten books, because much as I enjoyed Call Me By Your Name and Less, both have faded rather quickly since I finished them. Others shared the same fate, so my favourite reads are Milkman, Age of Iron(Coetzee), Man in the Dark(Auster), Black Narcissus(Godden), Do Not Say We Have Nothing(Thien), A Whole Life(Seethaler), Woman in the Dunes(Abe) and of course, Stone Upon Stone(Mysliwski). Biggest disappointment was Donna Tart's The Secret History and my worst book of the year was Conversations With Friends(Rooney).
Thank you Tony, that is great to hear. Milkman is brilliant, the writing style just makes it more unique. I agree with you regarding Call Me By Your Name, as even though I put it among my ten favorites due to its many fantastic qualities, it's a book that is not something that your mind drifts to months after reading it. Let me say again, so happy you liked Myslivski, and allow me to report his last one, I finished yeserday is brilliant. We have quite similar teste in literature, which makes me even more interested to pick up Rooney as it's fascinating hearing you saying that it's the worst, since everybody else is gashing about her nonstop on booktube. Then Donna Tart, even though I have not read The Secret History yet, is not a surprise for me. I have not read that one as I was unlucky and picked up Pultizer winning Goldfinch, which probably I would never read to the end and would just think this is Michel Feber, David Mitchel type of writer, that some people go crazy about due to the stories, but there's very little merit in those books. However from Pulitzer winner I would expect more, this book was just ridicules at places. She can create quite compelling atmospher with her writing though. Now, I expect similar things from The Secret History so I feel like my time to pick it up went by when I was 20. Still maybe someday will make myself and will pick it up just so people would stop telling me, that one is different, its really great :) Coming back to Pulitzer, one per 3-5 books that wins Pulitzer lately is great, the rest are just average and I blame it on the whole structure the award is run with.
@@WhatKamilReads Just a little postscript. A female friend of mine tried Conversations With Friends and reached the same conclusion, so it's not just a male thing!
Drive Your Plow will be published this year in the US finally - so we will get some more of that Tokarczuk magic. I have only read the Kandassamy from your list and now have to make sure to get to the rest. I hope you continue to make yourself laugh into the new year :)
Milkman was my read of the year too! I can't wait to reread it... Great selection of books - I've got to read the Richard Powers. Too many people have recommended it, I can ignore it no longer! Happy New Year 😊
Really interesting to hear Snow is one of your favourite books. I have it on my shelf and have been meaning to pick it up for an age. It sounds like we have quite similar taste in fiction and we've read quite a few of the same books this year. Although none quite made my top 5, I love hearing how you talk about them. There's so much to love. The writing in Warlight has really stuck with me, for example, even if I felt the plot lacked at times. Hope 2019 is a fabulous year for you in life and in books!
Hi Kamil, love the picks. I will try your top two in 2019. I've recently wrapped up Eileen, and many random short stories, (Hawthorne,Kafka, Flannery). I am now reading essays of May Sarton and poems of Katherine Mansfield, but nothing big in size after Crime and Punishment....🤐 I am excited for January, my line up is The Blind Owl, The Days of Abandonment, and The Emissary....😁 Happy 2019 !!!
Fantastic list! I really want to read The Overstory at some point. I’ve never read anything by Dostoyevsky, I have a couple of his books on my wishlist that I need to get too soon.
Happy new year 🥳 loving the count down numbers in the corner they’re fab. I really loved call my by your name haven’t read any of these other titles. I love a bit of Nihilism you might like The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide it’s one of my favourites. I’ll definitely check out Biesy ☺️
Happy New Year, thank you Oly for noticing the fab numbers. I will pick up something by Gide this year and if I get my hands on the one you recommended it will be it.
I am so happy you liked 'Warlight' by Ondaatje! I truely agree with you, exquisite writing style! And, in the end, the plot makes sense as well. I read it in a day. And again, thank you for the many interesting book recommendations!!
That is a great list, thank you for sharing it. I am reading ' The Master of Petersburg' by J.M. Coetzee about Dostoevsky after his stepson died, set before he wrote 'Demons' & may explain his negativity in that novel being linked to grief. His stepson was involved in the nihilistic movement. Wondered if you have read it?
Unfortunately not, it’s one of Coetzee’s I still have to get to and was actually planning to do that just after reading Brothers Karamazov (planned for Jan) but it seems like it’s something that would make sense doing now after I read Demons. Coetzee is my favourite writer so I should somehow squeeze it in especially that his books, as dense as those are, are tiny.
I have. And enjoyed it through and through. It doesn't take long to read it, quite a short story but very complex. It puts a reader at a new angle in the context of Dostoyevski's life and interpretation of his (massive...) novels. Kamil, you definitely have to give it a go.
I was really disappointed in Go Went Gone when I read it last year (am a big fan of Erpenbeck usually). It seemed completely listless as we drifted aimlessly with the emeritus professor, but perhaps that was the point, to match the statelessness of the migrants? I don't know, it just wasn't an enjoyable read for me. But delighted Milkman won, it was number 2 in my top 10 for the year.
Interesting Marc, I didn’t feel it was listless but maybe I’m a bit too much into social commentary as those bits and pieces of ie French corporations activities in Congo was what I lived for reading this book:) I remember your list, there are two books from it,at least, I’d like to pick up in 2019.
I like and admire Ondaatje's writing, but I didnt like _Warlight_ as much as you. He is a masterful writer, but the story didnt work for me. Julian Barnes is one of my favorite working writers, but again, this story didn't work for me and I found the narrator to be so un-likable that the "love story" seemed false. I always enjoy your discussions of books.
Thank you, I didn’t mind the unlikability element I believe that made it more real to me I guess. He acted very human in this relationship, with all faults it brings, especially being that young. Re Warlight I was fascinated with the topic so that probably added to it and the writing is so clean.
Funny enough, Milkman was my worst read this year; second book ever that I couldn't finish. def added the Barnes to my TBR list; Sense Of An Ending is great. My top list for 2018 (in no order): Doerr - All The Light We Cannot See Erpenbeck - Go Went Gone Camus - The Stranger Liu Cixin - Dark Forest, Death's End & Wandering Earth Backman - Beartown Yamamoto - The Stories Of Ibis Zusak - The Book Thief McCarthy - The Road
My top two match Yours minus Dostoyevsky. Three others on my top ten match Yours. The Troubles were not just IRA. Happy New Year Kamil 🍀☘️🎉👋. There are too many books I'd want to tell you about. Favourites from last two months The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson An Unremarkable Body by Elisa Lodato Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate ( based on a true story) Dark Pines by Will Dean Idyll Hands by Stefanie Gayle Why Did You Lie? by Yrsa Sigurdardottir The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver This is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Broken Girls by Simone St James Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb A Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman Mad, Bad & Dangerous to know by Colm Toibin
Happy New Year Jaqueline! Btw I’ve sent you a small bookish gift via BookDep, hopefully it reaches you if haven’t yet soon. Out of the books you’ve mentioned I’ve read only The Immoralists. It’s not a great book in my opinion but very readable and I had a good time reading it. I’ll definitely will check the rest.
WhatKamilReads Dziekuje Ci, Jestes zbyt mily. I have become przjaciele z a bezdomny Polskie mezczyzna who has MS Multiple Scelorsis. He sells big issue near me. He's trying to teach me little phrases in Polish. I have Olga ? book Drive Your Plough Over The Bones of the Dead Women Talking by Miriam Toews Kindred by Octavia Butler Meet Me At The Museum The Illumination of Ursula Flight A Thousand Acres A Gentleman in Moscow The Music Shop The Witch Elm by Tana French On TBR for January Currently reading Sirens by Joseph Knox Szczesilwego Nowego Roku Mozesz miec wszystko Czego cheesz Kiedy sa twoje urodziny? I have a copy of The Hoarder by Jess Kidd if you wanted it to read?
Oh, one of the two books I’ve sent you is Drive your Plough... damn I want to make a review of the books I have and read to make a bit more room next year so whenever I do that I’ll let you know maybe something will be to your interest. Don’t worry about my birthday. Thank you for your offer but I have more than 500 unread books so it will take me some time before I need anybody to send me books :) and then I’ll reach out to you:) Sorry to hear about Polish man’s situation. Hope he is fine.
I more or less accidentally took a course on Jenny Erpenbeck this semester and I love her work. I'm glad she's getting international recognition.
I love your videos. I get such great book recommendations from you and you've really helped expand my reading this past year. Wishing you the best for 2019.
Happy New Year 2019 Amy, thank you for those kind words, that means a lot to me
Milkman, The Overstory and When I Hit You were on my best of list too - all so so brilliant - and I agree about reading Milkman on audio. The rhythm and the sing-song quality of the prose was brought out by the narration. I have the Jenny Erpenbeck on my list (I loved Visitation and The End of Days) and both of Olga Tokarczuk’s books in English translation on my TBR shelves. Thanks for such a great video - I love how measured you are.
I like it when you make yourself laugh! 😄
I still need to get to Warlight and Julian Barnes' new novel. And I'm SO happy to hear how strongly you were moved by Kandasamy's book!
Great list and great reading year, my friend. Happy New Year! 🎉
Happy New Year to you too, Eric and thank you for being kind (re making oneself laugh). Kandasamy was brilliant, one of the most memorable books I read over the year. Seen it on your list too.
I’m with you on Warlight and The Overstory Kamil, I’m a fan of Ondaatje’s anyway and think Richard Powers could become a favorite author. Obviously a great reading year!
Kamil, I ordered The Overstory after seeing your review on Goodreads. It was, by far, my favorite read of 2018. Thank you so very much for leading me to it. Wishing you a joyous year in 2019.
Thank you so much. That is lovely to hear you liked it so much and picked it up because of me.
Kamil, as ever, your enthusiasm is infectious. Of the books you listed, I'm most likely to read The Overstory, Warlight and The Only Story in 2019. I agree with you about Milkman, it's a great and original novel. For me it is a razor sharp dissection of the social and political pressures that made it so difficult to lead a life that was free of constant guardedness during that period. The style took a while to adapt to, but then it took on a momentum of its own.
I can't honestly list ten books, because much as I enjoyed Call Me By Your Name and Less, both have faded rather quickly since I finished them. Others shared the same fate, so my favourite reads are Milkman, Age of Iron(Coetzee), Man in the Dark(Auster), Black Narcissus(Godden), Do Not Say We Have Nothing(Thien), A Whole Life(Seethaler), Woman in the Dunes(Abe) and of course, Stone Upon Stone(Mysliwski). Biggest disappointment was Donna Tart's The Secret History and my worst book of the year was Conversations With Friends(Rooney).
Thank you Tony, that is great to hear. Milkman is brilliant, the writing style just makes it more unique. I agree with you regarding Call Me By Your Name, as even though I put it among my ten favorites due to its many fantastic qualities, it's a book that is not something that your mind drifts to months after reading it. Let me say again, so happy you liked Myslivski, and allow me to report his last one, I finished yeserday is brilliant. We have quite similar teste in literature, which makes me even more interested to pick up Rooney as it's fascinating hearing you saying that it's the worst, since everybody else is gashing about her nonstop on booktube. Then Donna Tart, even though I have not read The Secret History yet, is not a surprise for me. I have not read that one as I was unlucky and picked up Pultizer winning Goldfinch, which probably I would never read to the end and would just think this is Michel Feber, David Mitchel type of writer, that some people go crazy about due to the stories, but there's very little merit in those books. However from Pulitzer winner I would expect more, this book was just ridicules at places. She can create quite compelling atmospher with her writing though. Now, I expect similar things from The Secret History so I feel like my time to pick it up went by when I was 20. Still maybe someday will make myself and will pick it up just so people would stop telling me, that one is different, its really great :) Coming back to Pulitzer, one per 3-5 books that wins Pulitzer lately is great, the rest are just average and I blame it on the whole structure the award is run with.
@@WhatKamilReads Just a little postscript. A female friend of mine tried Conversations With Friends and reached the same conclusion, so it's not just a male thing!
Drive Your Plow will be published this year in the US finally - so we will get some more of that Tokarczuk magic. I have only read the Kandassamy from your list and now have to make sure to get to the rest. I hope you continue to make yourself laugh into the new year :)
Milkman was my read of the year too! I can't wait to reread it... Great selection of books - I've got to read the Richard Powers. Too many people have recommended it, I can ignore it no longer! Happy New Year 😊
Thank you, love your channel title :) Happy New Year!
Really interesting to hear Snow is one of your favourite books. I have it on my shelf and have been meaning to pick it up for an age. It sounds like we have quite similar taste in fiction and we've read quite a few of the same books this year. Although none quite made my top 5, I love hearing how you talk about them. There's so much to love. The writing in Warlight has really stuck with me, for example, even if I felt the plot lacked at times. Hope 2019 is a fabulous year for you in life and in books!
Hi Kamil, love the picks. I will try your top two in 2019. I've recently wrapped up Eileen, and many random short stories, (Hawthorne,Kafka, Flannery). I am now reading essays of May Sarton and poems of Katherine Mansfield, but nothing big in size after Crime and Punishment....🤐
I am excited for January, my line up is The Blind Owl, The Days of Abandonment, and The Emissary....😁
Happy 2019 !!!
I liked Eileen and really was captured by The Days of Abandonment, I think I prefer it to her Neapolitan series. Happy New Year to you too!
The Overstory and Go Went Gone are also among my favourites of this year! Milkman less so, but your audio recommendation intrigues me.
I believe it really makes the reading experience very very different in case of that book.
You inspire me... The video was actually very exciting to watch! 👍👍
Thank you 🙏
Warlight and The Overstory were on my top 10 as well. Now I am interested in The Milkman, thanks to your recommendation. :)
Thank you, that is lovely to hear you want to pick up Milkman thanks to me.
Fantastic list! I really want to read The Overstory at some point. I’ve never read anything by Dostoyevsky, I have a couple of his books on my wishlist that I need to get too soon.
Thank you, Richard, both The Overstory and Dostoevsky are strongly recommended!
Happy new year 🥳 loving the count down numbers in the corner they’re fab. I really loved call my by your name haven’t read any of these other titles. I love a bit of Nihilism you might like The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide it’s one of my favourites. I’ll definitely check out Biesy ☺️
Happy New Year, thank you Oly for noticing the fab numbers. I will pick up something by Gide this year and if I get my hands on the one you recommended it will be it.
WhatKamilReads let me know if you do🙌
I am so happy you liked 'Warlight' by Ondaatje! I truely agree with you, exquisite writing style! And, in the end, the plot makes sense as well. I read it in a day.
And again, thank you for the many interesting book recommendations!!
Thank you Luke for watching and I believe we both feel that Warlight was a bit underappreciated here in the reading community.
brother
very informative and nice job
make more videos like this so get more advantages for readers
best of luck
thanks
Thank you Muhammad
That is a great list, thank you for sharing it. I am reading ' The Master of Petersburg' by J.M. Coetzee about Dostoevsky after his stepson died, set before he wrote 'Demons' & may explain his negativity in that novel being linked to grief. His stepson was involved in the nihilistic movement. Wondered if you have read it?
Unfortunately not, it’s one of Coetzee’s I still have to get to and was actually planning to do that just after reading Brothers Karamazov (planned for Jan) but it seems like it’s something that would make sense doing now after I read Demons. Coetzee is my favourite writer so I should somehow squeeze it in especially that his books, as dense as those are, are tiny.
I have. And enjoyed it through and through. It doesn't take long to read it, quite a short story but very complex. It puts a reader at a new angle in the context of Dostoyevski's life and interpretation of his (massive...) novels. Kamil, you definitely have to give it a go.
nice video. I like some of the titles and intrigued to read them. :)
Thank you, lovely to hear that.
I was really disappointed in Go Went Gone when I read it last year (am a big fan of Erpenbeck usually). It seemed completely listless as we drifted aimlessly with the emeritus professor, but perhaps that was the point, to match the statelessness of the migrants? I don't know, it just wasn't an enjoyable read for me. But delighted Milkman won, it was number 2 in my top 10 for the year.
Interesting Marc, I didn’t feel it was listless but maybe I’m a bit too much into social commentary as those bits and pieces of ie French corporations activities in Congo was what I lived for reading this book:) I remember your list, there are two books from it,at least, I’d like to pick up in 2019.
I like and admire Ondaatje's writing, but I didnt like _Warlight_ as much as you. He is a masterful writer, but the story didnt work for me.
Julian Barnes is one of my favorite working writers, but again, this story didn't work for me and I found the narrator to be so un-likable that the "love story" seemed false.
I always enjoy your discussions of books.
Thank you, I didn’t mind the unlikability element I believe that made it more real to me I guess. He acted very human in this relationship, with all faults it brings, especially being that young.
Re Warlight I was fascinated with the topic so that probably added to it and the writing is so clean.
Funny enough, Milkman was my worst read this year; second book ever that I couldn't finish. def added the Barnes to my TBR list; Sense Of An Ending is great.
My top list for 2018 (in no order):
Doerr - All The Light We Cannot See
Erpenbeck - Go Went Gone
Camus - The Stranger
Liu Cixin - Dark Forest, Death's End & Wandering Earth
Backman - Beartown
Yamamoto - The Stories Of Ibis
Zusak - The Book Thief
McCarthy - The Road
You have a nice combination here. From huge names like Camus to the ones I don’t recall like Backman. A few I love too, like The Road for instance.
Can u tell me from where u read books especially eBooks app
Great assortment, thanks
you are welcome
Is anyone have this books epdf, please ?
What was the name of number one Book from Russia? I COULDN'T hear that name? :)
It’s called Demons.
I'm in love 😮
My top two match Yours minus Dostoyevsky. Three others on my top ten match Yours.
The Troubles were not just IRA. Happy New Year Kamil 🍀☘️🎉👋.
There are too many books I'd want to tell you about. Favourites from last two months
The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson
An Unremarkable Body by Elisa Lodato
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate ( based on a true story)
Dark Pines by Will Dean
Idyll Hands by Stefanie Gayle
Why Did You Lie? by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
This is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Broken Girls by Simone St James
Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb
A Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman
Mad, Bad & Dangerous to know by Colm Toibin
Happy New Year Jaqueline! Btw I’ve sent you a small bookish gift via BookDep, hopefully it reaches you if haven’t yet soon. Out of the books you’ve mentioned I’ve read only The Immoralists. It’s not a great book in my opinion but very readable and I had a good time reading it. I’ll definitely will check the rest.
WhatKamilReads Dziekuje Ci, Jestes zbyt mily. I have become przjaciele z a bezdomny Polskie mezczyzna who has MS Multiple Scelorsis. He sells big issue near me. He's trying to teach me little phrases in Polish. I have Olga ? book
Drive Your Plough Over The Bones of the Dead
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Meet Me At The Museum
The Illumination of Ursula Flight
A Thousand Acres
A Gentleman in Moscow
The Music Shop
The Witch Elm by Tana French
On TBR for January
Currently reading
Sirens by Joseph Knox
Szczesilwego Nowego Roku
Mozesz miec wszystko Czego cheesz
Kiedy sa twoje urodziny?
I have a copy of The Hoarder by Jess Kidd if you wanted it to read?
Oh, one of the two books I’ve sent you is Drive your Plough... damn I want to make a review of the books I have and read to make a bit more room next year so whenever I do that I’ll let you know maybe something will be to your interest. Don’t worry about my birthday. Thank you for your offer but I have more than 500 unread books so it will take me some time before I need anybody to send me books :) and then I’ll reach out to you:)
Sorry to hear about Polish man’s situation. Hope he is fine.
WhatKamilReads I can gift my copy to a friend or send my copy back. Don't worry 😉🍀☘️👋
U are adorable... I want to sink my teeth on this books now
Thank you :) that made me chuckle :)
Are you Polish?
Yes, I am. Tak jestem (that's in Polish)