first of all: my goodness, the amount of work this must have taken to give us a shot of each and every book! incredible. thank you! i’ve read most of your picks in both literary fiction and mysteries (it is what i tend to read the most) and even some of the romance and sci-fi picks (ventured into those fields since watching your channel and finding new faves). since you asked for our favorites, here they are: non-fiction/bio-memoirs: the madwoman in the attic by sandra gilbert and susan gubar (examination of victorian lit from a feminist view point. blew my mind when i read it in college.) letters of a woman homesteader by elinore pruitt (collection of her letters describing her life as a homesteader in wyoming. almost made me by a saddle-bag and start hoofing it west.) heartburn by nora ephron (her slightly fictionalized account of the break up of her marriage to carl bernstein. i think of the lousiness of cheating husbands every time i make vinaigrette.) literary fiction: olive kitteridge by elizabeth stroud emily, alone AND last night at the lobster by stewart o‘nan mornings at seven by eric malpass auntie robbo by ann scott-moncrief mystery/thrillers: a judgment in stone by ruth rendell the sugar house by laura lippman case studies by kate atkinson and - i shall give it a rest now because i could (and am very likely to) go on and on and on… 🙄
I think you would like I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. One of my favourites of all time I discovered this year! It definitely suits the "isolation" theme you like.
My favorite time of the year!!! I always use these lists going into the next year to try some new books and you have yet to steer me wrong (especially with romance). Hope you have a good time going into December!
It's was so fun to see some of the formative books on your list especially because you don't necessarily talk about some of them. Would you be willing to do a more indepth video on them?
Happy to see Moonflower Murders on here. It's the only mystery/thriller I've rated a full 5 stars this year. I love really complicated mysteries and that book does it fantastically.
Quite a few familiar books & even more that are on my tbr 😄On the top of my head right now, I would say my top 5 are Picture of Dorian Gray, Animal farm, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, Good Omens by Pratchett & Gaiman amd And then there were none.
These videos take me so long to watch because I'm always pausing to add all the books to my queue! 😂 I love all these top book videos from you, I've found so many favourites! Thank you thank you!
I'm a big romance reader so my favorites are heavily in that genre. Some of my favorite books, off the top of my head, are... The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch by Marsha Moyer Paradise by Judith McNaught Slow Heat in Heaven by Sandra Brown The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies Desiree by Annemarie Selinko The Comedy Writer by Peter Farrelly The British Knight by Louise Bay The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman Happily Letter After by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward Mariana by Susanna Kearsley Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn For My Lady's Heart by Laura Kinsale The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren Ain't She Sweet and it Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella LaFayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon The Thing About Love by Julie James Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan The Accidentals by Sarina Bowen Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns Honest Illusions and Hidden Riches by Nora Roberts Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz
Have you read a taste of gold and iron? I feel like it would check all of your boxes that you mentioned in the things you look for. Putting this list together seems like a lot of work but it was fun to see how many things you love. Oooh yaaaaas The Historian!! So good
such a cool video!! I would also consider Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice to be on my all time fave list, but I think those are the only ones we have in common!! I do love Take a Hint Dani Brown though (:
I look for a lot of the same things you do but was struck by the absence of one of my favorite ingredients: humor. Understated but wryly aware and somewhat whimsical will make me love a book. Chacun a son gout .
My sis always says she isn't into reading, but reads a lot of romance novels. Her favorites are historical ones, with highlanders, so I'm going to get her that to try someday! (Outlander was too literary fiction for her. )
What a great list! I agree with several and made a list of several more to look into. One note for the future: I really love the icons. They mostly weren't visible with the captions on, though, so I missed out on some of the information. If you use them again - which I hope you will! - could you put them along the top instead of the bottom? I ended up watching your explanation a few times with captions on then off then on then off to see what each one was and which applied to which book. They're a phenomenal help in seeing which books on the list are similar to ones I already love - really great idea!
I always love these videos and you have reminded me that I really must get to The End of the Affair. Thank you! It would be interesting to see a stat on the number of books that broke in to your list in a given year. 😊
Maus made me cry. If you're looking for more good graphic novels, you have to check out Barefoot Gen (at least the first three volumes). I'm in the middle of volume 7 and I'm crying. It's so good!
I was wondering when you said 6% Kiwi how many were Nalini Singh and then you said it! Also something that made me chuckle early on was the idea of people who study trends and demographics - we have some things in common - similar age, gender, reading preferences, however, ask me to create a spreadsheet for fun and nooooooooo. This has inspired me to create some sort of list in my diary though.
I've looked up some of the recommendations and find several are part of a series. Generally speaking, does one need to start at the beginning of the series? I'm thinking of reading "Treachery in Death."
You&AC always make me smile. Growing up round beige pitch dark hair&eyes waaaay too smart in a whitebread blonde stinky Southern town was awful. My goal was hiding anywhere because if I stuck my nose out or worse my hand out in friendship it would be slapped away teased forever. Middle school summer figured out how to get into town on rinky dink bus. 10cents and looooong walk beside Mississippi River got me to paperback rack at Rexall drug store. Two weeks of saved allowance left me with 20cents total for RT transport 60cents for PAPERBACK AC!!! Spent entire Summer reading her books 2 per month. First time I could hide in a book be taken away from bad reality. Found out later sales clerks in store would see me coming and start hiding the new paperbacks. Refused to sell me anything else because I was too young too read so much. We live anyway.
Yay for all the Agatha Christie! Also, I really need to start The Library at Mount Char. Incidentally, you may have recommended this before but I only recently started listening to the delightful All About Agatha podcast and have been working my way through it over the last month. I happened to listen to the Sleeping Murder episode this morning and got a kick out of hearing your name come up. Very cool!
My five favorite books are: Claire North’s First Fifteen Lives of Harry August Version Control by Dexter Palmer An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Us by David Nicholls Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
first of all: my goodness, the amount of work this must have taken to give us a shot of each and every book! incredible. thank you!
i’ve read most of your picks in both literary fiction and mysteries (it is what i tend to read the most) and even some of the romance and sci-fi picks (ventured into those fields since watching your channel and finding new faves).
since you asked for our favorites, here they are:
non-fiction/bio-memoirs:
the madwoman in the attic by sandra gilbert and susan gubar (examination of victorian lit from a feminist view point. blew my mind when i read it in college.)
letters of a woman homesteader by elinore pruitt (collection of her letters describing her life as a homesteader in wyoming. almost made me by a saddle-bag and start hoofing it west.)
heartburn by nora ephron (her slightly fictionalized account of the break up of her marriage to carl bernstein. i think of the lousiness of cheating husbands every time i make vinaigrette.)
literary fiction:
olive kitteridge by elizabeth stroud
emily, alone AND last night at the lobster by stewart o‘nan
mornings at seven by eric malpass
auntie robbo by ann scott-moncrief
mystery/thrillers:
a judgment in stone by ruth rendell
the sugar house by laura lippman
case studies by kate atkinson
and - i shall give it a rest now because i could (and am very likely to) go on and on and on… 🙄
I think you would like I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. One of my favourites of all time I discovered this year! It definitely suits the "isolation" theme you like.
My favorite time of the year!!! I always use these lists going into the next year to try some new books and you have yet to steer me wrong (especially with romance). Hope you have a good time going into December!
Oh yay I hope you find some books to love!
It's was so fun to see some of the formative books on your list especially because you don't necessarily talk about some of them. Would you be willing to do a more indepth video on them?
I think I did a video like that at some point but might be fun to revisit!
@@bookslikewhoa oh! I must have missed it. I'll be hinting for that now :)
Happy to see Moonflower Murders on here. It's the only mystery/thriller I've rated a full 5 stars this year. I love really complicated mysteries and that book does it fantastically.
I'm impressed by your organizational skills. There are several on your list that would be on mine.
Quite a few familiar books & even more that are on my tbr 😄On the top of my head right now, I would say my top 5 are Picture of Dorian Gray, Animal farm, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, Good Omens by Pratchett & Gaiman amd And then there were none.
A bunch of these will be going on my TBR list. I'm really glad to see The Perilous Gard on here, nobody talks about it and I love it so much.
Ugh, it is SO good but it’s hard to find nowadays!
These videos take me so long to watch because I'm always pausing to add all the books to my queue! 😂 I love all these top book videos from you, I've found so many favourites! Thank you thank you!
I'm a big romance reader so my favorites are heavily in that genre. Some of my favorite books, off the top of my head, are...
The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch by Marsha Moyer
Paradise by Judith McNaught
Slow Heat in Heaven by Sandra Brown
The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies
Desiree by Annemarie Selinko
The Comedy Writer by Peter Farrelly
The British Knight by Louise Bay
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
Happily Letter After by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward
Mariana by Susanna Kearsley
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn
For My Lady's Heart by Laura Kinsale
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
Ain't She Sweet and it Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
LaFayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon
The Thing About Love by Julie James
Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
The Accidentals by Sarina Bowen
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
Honest Illusions and Hidden Riches by Nora Roberts
Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz
I love the icons you used! 💜 Fun! Never Let me Go is one of my favorites, too.
Have you read a taste of gold and iron? I feel like it would check all of your boxes that you mentioned in the things you look for. Putting this list together seems like a lot of work but it was fun to see how many things you love. Oooh yaaaaas The Historian!! So good
such a cool video!! I would also consider Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice to be on my all time fave list, but I think those are the only ones we have in common!! I do love Take a Hint Dani Brown though (:
Always love your Year End Videos - Agree with so many you placed on this Best 100 Books Ever Read List! Fantastic Picks!
I look for a lot of the same things you do but was struck by the absence of one of my favorite ingredients: humor. Understated but wryly aware and somewhat whimsical will make me love a book. Chacun a son gout .
Ah yes that’s something else I look for- I feel like my top books don’t always have that because many are more serious in tone but I totally agree!
My sis always says she isn't into reading, but reads a lot of romance novels. Her favorites are historical ones, with highlanders, so I'm going to get her that to try someday! (Outlander was too literary fiction for her. )
What a great list! I agree with several and made a list of several more to look into. One note for the future: I really love the icons. They mostly weren't visible with the captions on, though, so I missed out on some of the information. If you use them again - which I hope you will! - could you put them along the top instead of the bottom? I ended up watching your explanation a few times with captions on then off then on then off to see what each one was and which applied to which book. They're a phenomenal help in seeing which books on the list are similar to ones I already love - really great idea!
What a great video! I added several to my TBR! 🎉
I always love these videos and you have reminded me that I really must get to The End of the Affair. Thank you! It would be interesting to see a stat on the number of books that broke in to your list in a given year. 😊
Enjoyed it thoroughly. Now 100 best short stories as once you said you started reading them.
Really loved how how you incorporated the icons!
Thank you! They made me despair of my sanity at some points 😹
I read No Visible Bruises based off your recommendation and it would definitely be in my top 100!
Mara, you look absolutely fabulous! The sweater, the jewellery and the metallic eyeshadow 🤩
I think The Color Purple, They Both Die At The End, and Mexican Gothic are my top 3 favorite books of all time 🤧😅🙈
Maus made me cry. If you're looking for more good graphic novels, you have to check out Barefoot Gen (at least the first three volumes). I'm in the middle of volume 7 and I'm crying. It's so good!
YES! Have been waiting for this one. It has to be difficult with the number of books you have read over time. Thank you. Mary (Not Kurt)
Great list, I'm going to try a couple of them soon!
This must have taken so long to do, but it's a great idea! Personal lists are fascinating. A lot of books I like here too :D
Woohoo thank you!
I’m pushing for more South Asian Representation in the Spreadsheet. The Global North and Western Hemisphere has had its moment lol
Oh, can you give us some suggestions?!
Two of those (Ring Shout and Poppy War) are on my December TBR...
Yay I hope you like them!
These are some of my favorite videos to watch.
Me toooooooo 🧡🧡
I really hope I can reread library at mount char soon 🤞🏼
I’ve never reread, I should probably do that sometime to see how I do with the beginning now that I know where it’s going 😹
We Stan a Favourite Books Discourse in this house! Also, I’m not into festivals but the dynamic set of Intros are awesome 👏🏽
You have a beautiful edition of ‘Heidi’. It’s from Rifle Paper Co., if I’m not mistaken.
I was wondering when you said 6% Kiwi how many were Nalini Singh and then you said it!
Also something that made me chuckle early on was the idea of people who study trends and demographics - we have some things in common - similar age, gender, reading preferences, however, ask me to create a spreadsheet for fun and nooooooooo. This has inspired me to create some sort of list in my diary though.
So cool to see a Cat Who mystery on your list.
7:28 HIGHLAND HIMBOS GET IN FORMATION 🔥
i looooOOOooooOOOOved this video, thanks for sharing
Your favourite books in my favourite genres mostly overlap which is nice 👏🏽
🙌🙌
Amazing list!
I've looked up some of the recommendations and find several are part of a series. Generally speaking, does one need to start at the beginning of the series? I'm thinking of reading "Treachery in Death."
Round of applause for Editing Mara.
You&AC always make me smile. Growing up round beige pitch dark hair&eyes waaaay too smart in a whitebread blonde stinky Southern town was awful. My goal was hiding anywhere because if I stuck my nose out or worse my hand out in friendship it would be slapped away teased forever. Middle school summer figured out how to get into town on rinky dink bus. 10cents and looooong walk beside Mississippi River got me to paperback rack at Rexall drug store. Two weeks of saved allowance left me with 20cents total for RT transport 60cents for PAPERBACK AC!!! Spent entire Summer reading her books 2 per month. First time I could hide in a book be taken away from bad reality. Found out later sales clerks in store would see me coming and start hiding the new paperbacks. Refused to sell me anything else because I was too young too read so much. We live anyway.
Kayan Kollyn ❤
The great fantasy adventure book by V VN Mangukiya 😊😊😊
My favourite book after Harry Potter 😊
Waiting for your review ❤❤❤
I’m surprised there aren’t more Canadian authors on your list
Mara’s top 100! I’m excited to see. I don’t read fantasy or speculative romance, but love hearing your favorites in the other genres I read. 😄
It’s the Oscar Nomination Voiceover for me.
Australia represent! 😀
Woohoo! 🇦🇺💙
@@bookslikewhoa I love that one was Sabriel, one of my all time favourites too!
What are "speculative" books? What are they speculating on?
I loved No Visible Bruises. Did you know she has a memoir coming out next year? She apparently left a cult and traveled around the world.
Yay for all the Agatha Christie! Also, I really need to start The Library at Mount Char.
Incidentally, you may have recommended this before but I only recently started listening to the delightful All About Agatha podcast and have been working my way through it over the last month. I happened to listen to the Sleeping Murder episode this morning and got a kick out of hearing your name come up. Very cool!
Have you ever read a portuguese author?
👍🏾📚✌🏾📚❤️📚
My five favorite books are:
Claire North’s First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Version Control by Dexter Palmer
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Us by David Nicholls
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
📕📕🏳️🌈📚📚🏳️🌈😍👌🏾👍