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Oh my goodness, I forgot how good it feels to hear a sane voice in this world. I had students in my university literature classes call eclecticism elitist and Lolita a glorification of abuse. Thanks for your sound opinions.
Calling eclecticism elitist seems a very short step from saying education in any more than one field is ... . Students these days are often a reflection of the culture at large, and that culture seems to have lost the ability to appreciate or put up with nuance, of accessing more than one perspective at once, and to be skeptical (of one's own beliefs, most of all).
Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you.he died so that you could go to Heaven.He wants you to live for him and is the way to heaven.Believing in Jesus and what he did is the way to Heaven. If you don't already, you should read the Bible ✝️❤️
@@ManiacMayhem7256 Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you.he died so that you could go to Heaven.He wants you to live for him and is the way to heaven.Believing in Jesus and what he did is the way to Heaven. If you don't already, you should read the Bible ✝️❤️
@@patternsofdisorder1695 Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you.he died so that you could go to Heaven.He wants you to live for him and is the way to heaven.Believing in Jesus and what he did is the way to Heaven. If you don't already, you should read the Bible ✝️❤️
i'm an adult and i read a lot and i loved catcher in the rye. i suffered through his rants about society until the very end with his sister, then i realized i judged him too harshly, he's just a teenager and we were all like that at that age. it's easy to dismiss it as sad boy novel or whatever. it's harder to look through and see the pain in his character and how adults around him failed him. remember the holden who danced with his sister and did everything so she would be happy and took her to the carousel, not the holden that complained about phonies
Frankenstein isn't that great. Better than I can do I will admit. But it all boils down to a man who creates life without a woman and still doesn't want to take responsibility for it. And no I'm not a single mother and have never been done wrong by a man. Mary Shelley was great though. I've read a lot of her short stories. I did like Crime and Punishment a lot. Not my favorite but I liked it. I don't read a lot of the classics but I'm getting old and I'm trying to read at least 1 classic a month. What is your all time favorite book? Classic or not?
@@katherinegarcia3256 Honestly Frankenstein might be my favorite book lol. Crime and Punishment is certainly up there. I also really like The Lord of the Rings. Some books that I read recently that I loved were Giovanni’s Room and Antkind.
@@jakfan09 I hate to say it but I liked the Lord of the rings movies better than the book. I only read the first book. That almost never works that way for me but I didn't like the songs and I felt it was too slow moving. But the languages the author came up with and the world building was great. The movie had an urgent feel to it. I liked it.
The only thing I would say is I would not recommend watching either of the Lolita movies. The whole point of it is how it's written, should never have been made into a film.
Yeah, I always got an impression that the book was describing ugly things like cheap motels or tourist souvenirs as beautiful, in a way ironically, but also to highlight that the narrator presents twisted version of reality. Both movie adaptations totally miss that by making every shot and scene look polished and beautiful. If I was to make a Lolita movie I would want the scenes to be ugly or very realistic, and I would play Humbert's flowery, descriptive internal monologues over them.
Amazed nobody ever seems to mention H.E.Bates. He was writing mid 20th century in the UK, and wrote novels, short stories, novellas and 2 gardening books. I am in absolutely in awe of his art! He was a master of the short story and novella. At least 25 published collections of short stories were under his belt. His novels, "Love for Lydia", and "Fair Stood the Wind for France" are critically acclaimed, some people saying the latter was the best novel published about World War two. "Love for Lydia" is in my top five books ever. Henry Miller loved his stories and noted how his descriptions of nature and flowers are a marvel. His dialogue is excellent too. He wrote lots of other good novels, like "The Flaming Sword". Definitely an under rated author.
It’s funny how people seem to be either be Tolstoy people or Dostoevsky people, as far as who’s writing they prefer. I’ve got a shelf full of both and love them both but to me there’s not any doubt all that Tolstoy was the better writer. I’d even argue that it’s silly to argue otherwise.
You should really explain your criteria for ranking the books; it seems to be not related to how 'good' a book it is, but rather based on the impact of the book on literature, and whether you can get anything "actionable" out of the book. I would like to see a video on this topic (how you are judging your books, and the criteria for doing so).
J. D. Salinger actually wrote two books: being the Catcher in the Rye (1955) and Franny and Zoeey (1961). And after the publication of those books, he then continued publishing short stories and collections until around the mid 1990s to early 2000s when his health started taking a rapid decline.
Should have said "novel." Everything after Catcher was a novella or short story. Thanks for the insightful comment and for watching! Best wishes Camron!
Franny and Zooey is a composite novel. “Franny” and “Zooey” are 2 seperate short stories originally published separately, which were then jammed together into “Franny and Zooey”
Ah ok, now I get how I ended up here, and connect with so much of what you say. The Stranger also radicalized me as an adolescent. Absurdity without reason can certainly do that.
Reading your comment and other people's comments makes me glad I read The Stranger in my mid 30s and not my teen years. As an atheist and recently recovered from depression, the absurd has given me a new lease on life. It has made me more grateful and I see so much more beauty in the simple things. Had I read this as a teen, I probably would've been radicalized as well thinking "what's the point" and bordering nihilism instead.
Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский. Probably, the greatest Russian author/writer of all time. Love his work. Apart from Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment also great are Demons (Бесы), Idiot (Идиот) etc. Enjoyed this video a lot 👌
The irony lies in disliking the elitism depicted in "The Great Gatsby" while simultaneously holding an elitist perspective on which book should be deemed someone's favorite. It’s very interesting to say the least.
Just came across this video and ended up subscribing. I enjoy hearing your points even when we don't agree, and that's quite rare for me lol. It was really nice hearing some passionate praise for The Stranger! During uni a fellow student stuck a love letter in a copy of that book and gave it to me. Didn't work out but I loved the book.
I'm confused by your rationale: Some books you judge based on its historical and cultural impact and influence and then some based on their content. Don Quijote is the first modern novel, most influential and one of the most acclaimed in history. Epitome of Spanish literature. And only a B? But Faulkner who did the same but for south american literature, only way more recent than Cervantes, in an unnecessarily complicated way as well, is ranked as S? Same goes for Pride and Prejudice (even tho i dont like it much). I enjoyed the video and you gained a follower but couldn't relate to your logic.
Lol! Multiple times! My favorite was at a ski resort when I was working as a lifty. Some snobby people knocked on the booth and said "Put the book down and start paying attention." I said "your job is to get off this lift, and if you mess up your end and are dying I will save you." The man I told that to was the cousin of the resort owner 🤣
I haven't read the comments, although under me is a reference complimenting your sanity and I strongly agree with the knight. Cancel culture is narrow minded and makes me think of the burning of books. We need to be challenged mentally, imaginatively, morally and a great writer uplifts, even if we disapprove of the subject matter.
Surprised Wuthering Heights isnt on this list. Whenever someone judges Jane Eyre, Wuthering Hieghts is right behind it. I would have liked to see where you rate WH? So many prefer Jane Eyre but Im a WH person myself. Tge writing and storyline was just so much better.
@dustincecil9640 I liked Jane Eyre...I wasn't in aww of it like a lot of people. I wouldn't say it's overrated, but Wuthering Heights just caught that emotional Connection for me, the world and mood was on point. Strangley I didn't even know what the Moores looked like so I personally visioned a midsouthwest vibe that was more plains than rocks...that made the story more romantic for me. I've watch movie adaptations and they ruin the book. Emily was more of a Romantic I believe especially after reading her poetry.
I was surprised you ranked this book so low: i read 'Lord of the Flies' at high school in 1968 and recall the writing was excellent, and that I felt it was an accurate portrayal of the deepest emotions within humans, even as children we have these. And at that time in the 1960s when I read the book we were still shaking from the near-nuclear -holocaust of the Cuba Missile Crisis, a scenario which this book took one step further. The book was considered a classic for many years, and maybe still is. Of course the book is not so relevant to today's world and to the younger generations, but, to my Baby-boomer generation it was one of the greatest books of the 1960s especially during and after The Cuba Missile Crisis. After Russia acquired nuclear weapons in 1949, the world went through a series of stand-offs between the USA(The West)and Russia, and most people felt that nuclear war was quite likely. What would it be like? Who would survive? The Lord of the Flies offers a possible scenario of what would happen during a nuclear war, and also then shows how somewhat pointless and ironic it would be to save some children from the holocaust so they can rebuild humanity again, when those children have all the killer instincts which created the situation they were saved from, and are in fact soon forming competing groups and killing each other off. There are some complex issues raised in the book about human behaviour, politics, emotions, and rationale.
You should try Golding's The Inheritors. It's not allegorical or topical as far as current events (at the time) and it's basically inaccurate given the dearth and inaccuracy of information in 1954 in the field of paleoanthropology, but as far as language and prose goes, it's spectacular. It's challenging and very rewarding once you find your footing while reading.
Ha, amazing that you should mention The Inheritors, as I have actually been trying to read my copy of 'The Inheritors' during these past few weeks, but, it is just not grabbing me. It's basically a very watered-down version of the same theme that powers Lord of the Flies; how humans have always been savages, and The Inheritors is about a tribe of Stone-Age humans doing their primordial stuff. Very watered down Lord of The Flies, and I could not read much of it before shunting it aside to make way for something with more bite to it, such as Conan Doyle's writing. Golding published The Inheritors one year after Lord of the Flies was published, and this ties in with my take, which is that Golding was rehashing the 'savage humans' theme from Lord of The Flies, to try to cash in on the great impression Lord of the Flies made on literature just one year eariler.
@@gregoryross.303 it took me three tries (false starts of varying lengths) before it spoke to me! I felt like I just needed to be more open to his attempt at the nebulous imagery that signified a kind of consciousness-pidgin, if you will. I'd never tell anyone they HAVE to read something because tastes are so different and in the end it doesn't really matter, but I highly recommend it as a more experimental novel. And I agree, humans as savages is certainly a central theme but I think it's still more than that.
50 intelligent well read people will make 50 different tier choices, some commonalities and a few striking differences. That’s how I view your list. But I enjoy your video though I clearly would make a different tier list.
clicked on another list and this guy ranked CIR decently high. starting mumbling on about a random tv show. then he mentioned his distaste for capitalism. so i turned it off and disliked the video. came here and immediately was interested in ur approach to lit, as well as a real understanding of CIR. Glad i didn’t continue that video after hearing he also ranked Dune an F. Pathetic. I later found out the previously video was jack edwards.
He has the right to his opinion on capitalism, I have some critiques of the system albeit of a different nature from his leftist leanings, but him judging a book based off it is stupid. Art doesn't have to follow political beliefs. I love Dirty Harry yet I despise authoritarianism. I love Top Gun Maverick yet I don't think we should go to war with Iran. I love Braveheart despite any and all issues behind the scenes. I love Apocalypto despite Mel Gibsons beliefs. Art MUST be separated from ones own political beliefs.
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis is a book that I think belongs in the S-tier. It's a retelling of Cupid and Psyche, but told from the perspective of Psyche's half-sister. It's a brilliant treatment of the human search for truth, identity, justice and love in a hectic and hard world.
I want to see an author tier list now. I also really liked your review on Never Let Me Go and I would love if you went back in time a few years and did a review of The Book of Disquiet. thanks for all the work.
Catcher in the rye is interesting to me because it welcomes the audience to listen past the boring sad unreliable narrator to see a sexually abused boy in a mental institution. I love the story of getting fired to read btw.
I would like to hear someone review the book Satan in Goray by Nobel Prize winner, the Yiddish writer, Isaac Bashevis Singer. I've searched for this book review and aside from a couple in Polish, nothing. This was singer's first novel published. It is a masterpiece. I think people are afraid of this book because it contains the word Satan frankly. Which is ridiculous! It is a historical novel about a wave of messianism in the Lublin area of Poland after Cossacks murdered Jews during the 17th century
@Write Conscious Probably a high B. It's one of those books which were very influential but has sadly fallen away over the years. People seem intimidated by its sheer volume. Shame
Modern civilizations set up a world where you could survive and thrive with a pure logical framing of reality. All classes can follow set logical paths laid out for them and never have to innovate their own life. With technology a class of logical berserkers has taken over our society. To become a modern expert in technology or science you need to spent tens of thousands of hours functioning in a logical reality. All your colleagues will be also. Most develop a God like mentality toward the world. They then use reductive logic to a high degree to define their inter-personal relationships, reality, art, God, and everything else. Those areas of life should have a minimum amount of logic involved. Most common people view the logical framing as the most successful and start engaging in logical insanity where they try and frame any situation they can through logic. This creates huge problems lol.
@@WriteConscious bro, don't fool yourself. You can't avoid using logic, even if you want to. You can pretend you're not being rational though. Let's take one of the examples you mentioned: art. If you're not being logical when painting a picture, how do you distinguish the red color from the yellow? Or if you're writing a novel, how are you able to put together a sentence properly if you don't use the rational side of your brain to follow the english grammar rules? You can pretend you're irrational if you think you come across as a sort of genius, but you'll only fool another fools like you. The only people that can truly dodge being rational are people that suffer from mental illnesses. The rest are just fools pretending being irrational.
If the adults still harping on about 1984 read The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz their heads would pop from how hard it would make them spiral out. The High School books are right where they should be man. So many people I know have stayed on a juvenile level of understanding because they never read anything past those books. Speaking of Huxley any thoughts on the elementary particles by Michel houllebecq?
Love the channel. Recently fell back in love with reading and read girl with the curious hair by DFW. I particularly love the short story by the same name. Specially the quick prose or it. I heard it was a jab at minimalism. But do you know any writers or books that have the same feeling?
Huckleberry Finn is a profound read. S-tier for sure. when was the last time you read it because if it was high school, read it again. Slaughterhouse 5 is S-tier, too.
The example about nuking Peru assumes that no one involved, let alone the person pushing the button, is subjected to propaganda and thought control like the citizens of 1984. Imagine this happened in North korea, do you think anyone would just say 'no' or do you think they would have a plethora of reasons why Peru is a threat?
I personally rank the stranger by Albert Camus an A because of its commentary on existentialism and how the common man can’t face a human mind that seems to be abnormal and inhuman due to a lack of moral empathy. However a lot of the scenes drag on and do serve meaning and analysis on different harsh living styles but sometimes do not need to go as long as they end up being. So I like that you put it in B but I respectfully disagree and don’t think it should be all the way down in the C or D range. But I do need to read more books so if there are any classics or books you would recommend to the average reader please inform me. Nice list.
Hey, I love "The Stranger." It's one of the five books I'd give a new reader in the classics. But, compared to some of the other heavyweights I couldn't throw it on the top!
I just can’t agree about “The Catcher in The Rye” being over rated. There’s a LOT of people who hate it, teachers and students alike. I’d go as far as to say it’s one of THE most hated classics. I agree it’s not the very best literature has to offer, and I honestly don’t think it needs to be taught in schools. But even still, it resonated with me hard growing up and I’d give it a solid 7/10. I think a better term would be “polarizing” you either love it or you hate it. (edit: On the other hand, I HEAVILY agree with Call of the Wild. I first read it in grade school and it’s what got me into classic literature) (edit 2: Checked your channel out, saw you were a David Lynch fan. I’m subscribing)
I think you may have left out Faust? That said, it would be cool if you or someone did lists or short reviews like this based on nationality, like German, English, American, French books etc.!
Glad you gave Moby Dick a high rating. Moby Dick was based on an incredible true event which happened in the 1800s at the time that Melville was working on a whaling ship. A huge white whale actually did attack and sink a whaling ship named The Essex, in the Pacific. it was world news at the time, went viral, especially because the few surviving crew lived for many days in a lifeboat and survived due mainly to their cannibalism, which shocked the mainly Christian world at that time. It's a great book and a solid piece of our literary heritage. '1984' was much more relevant to the world when it was first published in 1949, at a time when the Great Depression and WWII had recently turned the world and politics inside out. And The Russian Revolution and the Chinese Revolution and the Spanish Civil War, and the Russian posy-war takeover of eastern Europe, all made the novel quite fitting at that time. Glad you gave Austen a C. Bronte gets a B.
I recall going to see a newly-made movie version of Moby Dick when I was eight in the late 1950s in Montreal. It was the 1956 movie starring Gregory Peck as Cpt. Ahab. I'm guessing that about eight different movie versions of the story have been made over the past 100 years. It's a magnificent tale of adventure and survival in our world where the saying is: fact is stranger than fiction. And indeed the true story of Moby Dick is far more morbid than Melville's interpretation in Moby Dick. Please keep up your excellent and inspiring reviews and analyses of the world's literature.
That's not at all what it was based on, though. That's an entirely different tale in an entirely different place. It also has nothing to do with what Moby Dick is ABOUT.
Great Gatsby was a complete slog. Fuck that book. I’d give it a D. The Beautiful & Damned was pretty fun. IMO, anything under A on this list is BORING. Love Camus, but his novels were kinda dry. Same w/ Sartre. I can’t with a lot of the French writers. Virginia Woolf is B for me. She is a big part of why I don’t care for British writing. Boring, unnecessarily wordy (also Dickens), and kinda mid.
I was blown away by your rating of War and Peace. I’m new to the classics, and I’ve yet to read it, but every other review I’ve seen of it has it as one of the greatest novels ever.
@@WriteConscious Yeah, but politics aside I find myself almost smelling the gin covered streets and the stuffy feeling liguering in every corner of the apartment upstairs or feeling the paperweight pulling down in my pocket. It's not the best, but I find the way it comunicates space is (for me) a good one. Of couse It's no "Memorias Póstumas" (One of the best books of Brasil), but I find it well made. Just like homemade food or a cup of tea. Enjoyable, memorable, but maybe not restaurant worty. I agree with you critics, just making a point.
Agreed! When I read it in high school it changed my life! For sure felt like something home made. When they went it the upstairs room I had a major pit in my stomach. Crazy story and honestly helped a lot of people wake up to the control system.
@@WriteConscious If I may, maybe recomend me some books. You might have already read it but "The aestetic" from Eugene Veron is a good one. It's a philosophy book on aestetic value. Very sassy and flavorful. I found it by chance in a library overflow donation (when there are more books than the local library can handle they just give them away, usually things they found a better copy, a new edition or just replacion the books no one read for more popular ones). It is perfect. My copy is localy translated and printed in 1980. Leatherbound in red leather with black embelishments. Another one I enjoyed when I was younger was a second world was autobiography called "Quando Hitler robo el conejo rosa". I read it when I was about 10, so there's a lot of sentimental value and might not be as good as I remember.
For context sake I'm 19, austistic, second year med student in summer break, I like romances, fantasy, philosophy and political fiction. I enjoy things from varius parts of the world from chinese novels (Yes, I've read Tian Gu Ci Fu and yes I did liked it's), to Judith Buttler's work, to Sophia's World, to Brazilian authors, children's brazilian "manga", to spanish poetry, to Sherlock Holmes all the way to Green Gables. I'm a beginner in reading and want to expand. I have Frankenstein, Emma, Howls Moving Castle and Heidi just waiting and a few poems to go through, but if I want to survive summer break and whitout going crazyvI need more content. You can't go from reading 100+ pages a day to reading just about nothing and expect your brain to accept it. Currently surviving on fanfiction (god bless Ao3) and podcast. Espinoza and Diogenes are my favorite philosophers. Anyway, I'm a young hatchling just having free time to explore a bit and asking for help in every book you may think I'll ever like.
Oh man, what a great channel, been watching a lot of your recent videos and it is mint grade inspirational stuff I agree with lots on this list but you gotta give heller some love He wrote some of the greatest characters in catch 22 and basically coined a term that so perfectly captures the absurdity of bureaucracy. Very Kafka book in my opinion. You can argue it’s verbose and repetitive but I don’t man, I love it.
I know this is an old video and your views and opinions may have changed. However, I want to say two things. First, is that I find it interesting that you draw the line of tainted perspective at eugenics for Huxley. Rightfully so, eugenics is a horrid and nonsensical practice, but for Nabokov the actual exploration of disgusting predilections do not seem to affect the work for you when they're both equally as skilled writers, in my opinion. Secondly I so wholeheartedly disagree with obviously the placement of Lolita it's not important to read that filth, but also Lord of the Flies. It is my favorite book to this day and it's what got me into reading in the first place.
Thanks for posting. It will be a really useful guide for my future reading list. Can you do another one with selections from Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century not included in this post? I really enjoyed your point about people camping on books they were forced to read in high school. For a long time 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, etc. were my favorites but it wasn't until I forced myself to read Lawrence, Nabokov, Steinbeck, Melville, etc. that I truly began to marvel at the power and beauty of the written word. Also, can you show Grapes of Wrath a little more love? It was a book I had always avoided because I was judging it by its cover. Having finally read it at age 53, I thought it was a damn near perfect novel that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed as much had I read it when I was younger.
Yes, for sure! I just looked at the list and I'll do it at some point! Glad you kept moving and started to touch better authors. It only gets better from here! You got three or four more decades of good reading! Haha, yeah I probably need to read Grapes of Wrath again. Looking back a C was a bit harsh. Probably a B. This was someone else's list so I tried to have a genuine reaction with how I felt. Now, looking back I'd change a couple picks but I can't lol.
I agreed with 90% of your political ranting 👍 Our literary preferences though, clearly differ. Of these books I read, all or at least much of the way through: A: Lolita (tho I prefer Pale Fire), Catcher in the Rye, Great Gatsby B: Catch-22, Wind-Up Bird, AQOTWF C: Lord of the Flies, Alice in Wonderland D. Berlin Alexanderplatz*, Hamlet, Slaughterhouse-five, Brave New World, Grapes of Wrath, To Kill A Mockingbird, Call of the Wild F. Ulysses, The Stranger, The Iliad, The Odyssey * Berlin Alexanderplatz was one of those left over at the bottom you didn't rank.
Been listening to some Star Wars novels on audible always been interested on taking reading more serious. Have you made a video on books non readers would love if they read them or a beginners list hey to be honest a response with one or two recommendations will suffice. My interest seem to go towards the stories where the protagonist isn’t the boy scout type for instance I keep going through the Darth Bane trilogy and the Darth Plagueis novel on audible both are revolved around “villains” in Star Wars. But I would read just about anything if it jump started my love for literature. Moby Dick based on your story sounds like its worth a try.
Moby Dick may be too hard. You may like "Blood Meridian" if you like violence and darkness. Also, I will be making a whole series taking readers from beginning literature to harder literature this year!
Hey man I know this comment is a year old but you should check out any of the Richard Stark novels they're really good starting with the hunter would be a good idea
WOW finally someone said it besides me. The Catcher In The Rye SUCKS! I hated it. I kept hearing "How can you be 58 and never have read it?" So I did. And I regret it. I know this is an old post and you will probably never see it but I'm thrilled I found your channel. Subscribed. And liked every video Ive seen.
I’ve read a bunch on the list. The only one I disagree with is Brave New World. I think it definitely deserves a B. I think you ranked it a C only because it is widely read amongst the classics and you let your feelings about Huxley effect your placement. Which early in this ranking you declared people shouldn’t let an author personality effect their judgement on their works. I thought it was visionary.
My favorite novel (not series) is the Lord of the Rings, so obviously agree that it is a "S". NB: It is one novel that was published in 3 volumes. I would rate War and Peace as an "S" as well.
really enjoyed your tier list. Mainly because of proper substantial subjectivity vs societal objectivity mix. But also loved you ranting about current cultural mentality and lunacy :D
very nuanced to rank these works not just for their obviously skilled structure and prose, but for their greater ideological impact on the world as a whole haha
Yup. So, take this video with a grain of salt lol. I never read the sequel! What do you think? I would rate it an 8.5. But, that's in the re-read list. I have a feeling it could score lower!
Ok but where is all the dark fantasy spice bro 🌶🌶🌶 Jokes asides this was a great video, you can tell that you are both very knowledgeable and passionate about the classics.
I think adolescents should read The Adolescent by Dostoevsky and not Catcher in the rye. :D Other than Tolstoy I agree with everything, I'd put Anna Karenina in S honestly. One of the most beautiful piece of art ever created.
Downvoted because Pride and Predjudice only got a C. Every single novelist in the world is standing on Jane Austen's shoulders. Because she got there first! Before her, novels were novel all right. Make believe, sensational, and melodramatic. Nothing to do with real life.
Lol! Glad you liked it! Wish they had a really good Moby Dick movie! All the decent ones are too old and the new ones are always to stacked with weird love stories. A short Netflix series with a ton of freedom to stick to the story would be pretty sick.
" Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world. If one has to decide on 10 great novels in all the languages of the world, one will have to choose at least 3 novels of Dostoevsky in those 10. Dostoevsky’s insight into human beings and their problems is greater than your so-called psychoanalysts, and there are moments where he reaches the heights of great mystics. His book BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is so great in its insights that no BIBLE or KORAN or GITA comes close. I cannot conceive of how you can live beautifully if you don’t know Dostoevsky’s books… BROTHERS KARAMAZOV to me is more important than any BIBLE. It has such great insights, that THE BIBLE should not be counted at all, even for comparison. But THE BIBLE will be read - and who is going to bother about BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, in which Dostoevsky has poured his whole soul? or ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy, or FATHERS AND SONS by Turgenev..."
@@Angelicamuscaria To an extent, the narrative is nice, aka the setting and theme. But the rest is a little bland. It's one of the best examples I've scene of establishing a setting.
I think a lot of your opinions are vaild and im happy to see someone critical of 1984 and that coming from someone who loves dystopians. It has so many problems. But one that i would have to disagree with is moby dick. My main reason is because of length but i understand why you and other love it. I love this video and i hope you keep telling people about your opinion on cormac McCarthy and other books much love.
i'm going to give all quiet on the western front a go because of this. love that time period. mostly agree with your list. except i think moby dick as is- is a total yawn. should have been edited to a short story.
I have read most of these novels (90%) and I want to thank you for exposing some overrated books. For me, Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and Lord of the Flies are the three most overrated books in literature. Also, 100 years of solitude is D, for sure.
Hahaha, thank you!!! The Catcher in the Rye fans have been hating hard 😂 I just can't imagine defending Catcher or Gatsby. It would be like me defending N'Sync albums as great works of music. I like plenty of crappy bands and books, but I wouldn't except other people to think they're good.
mockingbird isn’t even a high school book at the district I work at. They read it in 7th grade, I also tell them it was probably written by Truman Capote.
This list lacks some books that I consider classics, like Robinson Crusoe, 1001 Nights, Notre Dame of Paris, Ivanhoe and Treasure Island, among others.
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Oh my goodness, I forgot how good it feels to hear a sane voice in this world. I had students in my university literature classes call eclecticism elitist and Lolita a glorification of abuse. Thanks for your sound opinions.
Calling eclecticism elitist seems a very short step from saying education in any more than one field is ... . Students these days are often a reflection of the culture at large, and that culture seems to have lost the ability to appreciate or put up with nuance, of accessing more than one perspective at once, and to be skeptical (of one's own beliefs, most of all).
How many those students partook in critical theory classes and those like it
Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you.he died so that you could go to Heaven.He wants you to live for him and is the way to heaven.Believing in Jesus and what he did is the way to Heaven. If you don't already, you should read the Bible ✝️❤️
@@ManiacMayhem7256 Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you.he died so that you could go to Heaven.He wants you to live for him and is the way to heaven.Believing in Jesus and what he did is the way to Heaven. If you don't already, you should read the Bible ✝️❤️
@@patternsofdisorder1695 Jesus loves you and wants a relationship with you.he died so that you could go to Heaven.He wants you to live for him and is the way to heaven.Believing in Jesus and what he did is the way to Heaven. If you don't already, you should read the Bible ✝️❤️
Nice video. The main message for me:
1) Go outside
2) Talk to people
3) Touch grass
4) Read here and there a book
Cant understand that the controversy around Lolita still goes on. Art is allowed to do everything. One of the greatest novels.
Well, it seems that in an odd twist of fortunes that adults who like younger people are gaining acceptance for their "preferences" now 🤣
@@WriteConscious
By the very same political group that condemned Lolita! The irony
i'm an adult and i read a lot and i loved catcher in the rye. i suffered through his rants about society until the very end with his sister, then i realized i judged him too harshly, he's just a teenager and we were all like that at that age. it's easy to dismiss it as sad boy novel or whatever. it's harder to look through and see the pain in his character and how adults around him failed him. remember the holden who danced with his sister and did everything so she would be happy and took her to the carousel, not the holden that complained about phonies
I also really like Salinger, but I do prefer Franny and Zooey and most of the Glass family stories.
Frankenstein is an S for me. I might sound crazy but I found it just as impactful if not more so than Crime and Punishment.
Frankenstein isn't that great. Better than I can do I will admit. But it all boils down to a man who creates life without a woman and still doesn't want to take responsibility for it. And no I'm not a single mother and have never been done wrong by a man. Mary Shelley was great though. I've read a lot of her short stories. I did like Crime and Punishment a lot. Not my favorite but I liked it. I don't read a lot of the classics but I'm getting old and I'm trying to read at least 1 classic a month. What is your all time favorite book? Classic or not?
@@katherinegarcia3256 Honestly Frankenstein might be my favorite book lol. Crime and Punishment is certainly up there. I also really like The Lord of the Rings. Some books that I read recently that I loved were Giovanni’s Room and Antkind.
@@jakfan09 I hate to say it but I liked the Lord of the rings movies better than the book. I only read the first book. That almost never works that way for me but I didn't like the songs and I felt it was too slow moving. But the languages the author came up with and the world building was great. The movie had an urgent feel to it. I liked it.
@@katherinegarcia3256I want to cut off my eyes after reading this bullshit comment about lotr
The only thing I would say is I would not recommend watching either of the Lolita movies. The whole point of it is how it's written, should never have been made into a film.
Yeah, the were pretty underwhelming
Yeah, I always got an impression that the book was describing ugly things like cheap motels or tourist souvenirs as beautiful, in a way ironically, but also to highlight that the narrator presents twisted version of reality. Both movie adaptations totally miss that by making every shot and scene look polished and beautiful. If I was to make a Lolita movie I would want the scenes to be ugly or very realistic, and I would play Humbert's flowery, descriptive internal monologues over them.
I read The Trial when I got jury duty. No one commented on my joke, but I enjoyed it very much.
Lol, why did you even show up???
Watched the whole thing, love the humor and the controversial opinions. You earned a sub.
AYeeeeee. Thank you! LETS GO! Honestly want to do this again to trash some of the classics. So fun.
"The Divine Comedy? Eh, a C."
lol, it's funny 700 years later I can just give a C to one of the most canonical books in history
Amazed nobody ever seems to mention H.E.Bates. He was writing mid 20th century in the UK, and wrote novels, short stories, novellas and 2 gardening books. I am in absolutely in awe of his art! He was a master of the short story and novella. At least 25 published collections of short stories were under his belt.
His novels, "Love for Lydia", and "Fair Stood the Wind for France" are critically acclaimed, some people saying the latter was the best novel published about World War two. "Love for Lydia" is in my top five books ever. Henry Miller loved his stories and noted how his descriptions of nature and flowers are a marvel. His dialogue is excellent too. He wrote lots of other good novels, like "The Flaming Sword". Definitely an under rated author.
I don't mind the CITR hate as long as we recognise 'Franny & Zooey' is dope af
It’s funny how people seem to be either be Tolstoy people or Dostoevsky people, as far as who’s writing they prefer. I’ve got a shelf full of both and love them both but to me there’s not any doubt all that Tolstoy was the better writer. I’d even argue that it’s silly to argue otherwise.
You should really explain your criteria for ranking the books; it seems to be not related to how 'good' a book it is, but rather based on the impact of the book on literature, and whether you can get anything "actionable" out of the book. I would like to see a video on this topic (how you are judging your books, and the criteria for doing so).
I will have to return to this video or one like it. I made this when I had under 100 subs and was just messing around!
J. D. Salinger actually wrote two books: being the Catcher in the Rye (1955) and Franny and Zoeey (1961). And after the publication of those books, he then continued publishing short stories and collections until around the mid 1990s to early 2000s when his health started taking a rapid decline.
Should have said "novel." Everything after Catcher was a novella or short story. Thanks for the insightful comment and for watching! Best wishes Camron!
Franny and Zooey is a composite novel. “Franny” and “Zooey” are 2 seperate short stories originally published separately, which were then jammed together into “Franny and Zooey”
What about 9 stories , salinger wrote excellent short stories.
Ah ok, now I get how I ended up here, and connect with so much of what you say. The Stranger also radicalized me as an adolescent. Absurdity without reason can certainly do that.
Reading your comment and other people's comments makes me glad I read The Stranger in my mid 30s and not my teen years. As an atheist and recently recovered from depression, the absurd has given me a new lease on life. It has made me more grateful and I see so much more beauty in the simple things. Had I read this as a teen, I probably would've been radicalized as well thinking "what's the point" and bordering nihilism instead.
The way you pronounced Dostoyevsky was hilarious 😭😭
Been getting it right and wrong for 16 years now. Honestly don't care lol. Actually love messing of his name and others to make people cringe.
Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский. Probably, the greatest Russian author/writer of all time. Love his work.
Apart from Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment also great are Demons (Бесы), Idiot (Идиот) etc.
Enjoyed this video a lot 👌
The irony lies in disliking the elitism depicted in "The Great Gatsby" while simultaneously holding an elitist perspective on which book should be deemed someone's favorite. It’s very interesting to say the least.
Ate
Found the gatsby fan
Just came across this video and ended up subscribing. I enjoy hearing your points even when we don't agree, and that's quite rare for me lol.
It was really nice hearing some passionate praise for The Stranger! During uni a fellow student stuck a love letter in a copy of that book and gave it to me. Didn't work out but I loved the book.
This is the kind of manic passion that I wish my highschool English teachers had lmfao. Your energy makes me want to read the books you like.
Where would you put books by David Foster Wallace, Cormac McCarthy, Don DeLilllo, Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth
Love most of those guys 👍
Your honesty is contagious. I love a person who knows what they know because they know that they are right! Yes......
Mad Respect my Guy..mm
I'm confused by your rationale: Some books you judge based on its historical and cultural impact and influence and then some based on their content. Don Quijote is the first modern novel, most influential and one of the most acclaimed in history. Epitome of Spanish literature. And only a B? But Faulkner who did the same but for south american literature, only way more recent than Cervantes, in an unnecessarily complicated way as well, is ranked as S? Same goes for Pride and Prejudice (even tho i dont like it much).
I enjoyed the video and you gained a follower but couldn't relate to your logic.
Alright, you had me at--fired from job for reading a book. Hell yeah.
Lol! Multiple times! My favorite was at a ski resort when I was working as a lifty. Some snobby people knocked on the booth and said "Put the book down and start paying attention." I said "your job is to get off this lift, and if you mess up your end and are dying I will save you." The man I told that to was the cousin of the resort owner 🤣
I haven't read the comments, although under me is a reference complimenting your sanity and I strongly agree with the knight. Cancel culture is narrow minded and makes me think of the burning of books. We need to be challenged mentally, imaginatively, morally and a great writer uplifts, even if we disapprove of the subject matter.
Yes, thank you. for the kind words!
Surprised Wuthering Heights isnt on this list. Whenever someone judges Jane Eyre, Wuthering Hieghts is right behind it. I would have liked to see where you rate WH? So many prefer Jane Eyre but Im a WH person myself. Tge writing and storyline was just so much better.
WH is one of my top three of all book. i thought jane eyre was so overrated. and charlotte bronte seems like such busybody!
@dustincecil9640 I liked Jane Eyre...I wasn't in aww of it like a lot of people. I wouldn't say it's overrated, but Wuthering Heights just caught that emotional Connection for me, the world and mood was on point. Strangley I didn't even know what the Moores looked like so I personally visioned a midsouthwest vibe that was more plains than rocks...that made the story more romantic for me. I've watch movie adaptations and they ruin the book. Emily was more of a Romantic I believe especially after reading her poetry.
I was surprised you ranked this book so low:
i read 'Lord of the Flies' at high school in 1968 and recall the writing was excellent, and that I felt it was an accurate portrayal of the deepest emotions within humans, even as children we have these. And at that time in the 1960s when I read the book we were still shaking from the near-nuclear -holocaust of the Cuba Missile Crisis, a scenario which this book took one step further. The book was considered a classic for many years, and maybe still is.
Of course the book is not so relevant to today's world and to the younger generations, but, to my Baby-boomer generation it was one of the greatest books of the 1960s especially during and after The Cuba Missile Crisis.
After Russia acquired nuclear weapons in 1949, the world went through a series of stand-offs between the USA(The West)and Russia, and most people felt that nuclear war was quite likely. What would it be like? Who would survive? The Lord of the Flies offers a possible scenario of what would happen during a nuclear war, and also then shows how somewhat pointless and ironic it would be to save some children from the holocaust so they can rebuild humanity again, when those children have all the killer instincts which created the situation they were saved from, and are in fact soon forming competing groups and killing each other off. There are some complex issues raised in the book about human behaviour, politics, emotions, and rationale.
You should try Golding's The Inheritors. It's not allegorical or topical as far as current events (at the time) and it's basically inaccurate given the dearth and inaccuracy of information in 1954 in the field of paleoanthropology, but as far as language and prose goes, it's spectacular. It's challenging and very rewarding once you find your footing while reading.
Actually reread it last semester with my class and I would rank it higher now!
Ha, amazing that you should mention The Inheritors, as I have actually been trying to read my copy of 'The Inheritors' during these past few weeks, but, it is just not grabbing me. It's basically a very watered-down version of the same theme that powers Lord of the Flies; how humans have always been savages, and The Inheritors is about a tribe of Stone-Age humans doing their primordial stuff. Very watered down Lord of The Flies, and I could not read much of it before shunting it aside to make way for something with more bite to it, such as Conan Doyle's writing. Golding published The Inheritors one year after Lord of the Flies was published, and this ties in with my take, which is that Golding was rehashing the 'savage humans' theme from Lord of The Flies, to try to cash in on the great impression Lord of the Flies made on literature just one year eariler.
@@gregoryross.303 it took me three tries (false starts of varying lengths) before it spoke to me! I felt like I just needed to be more open to his attempt at the nebulous imagery that signified a kind of consciousness-pidgin, if you will.
I'd never tell anyone they HAVE to read something because tastes are so different and in the end it doesn't really matter, but I highly recommend it as a more experimental novel.
And I agree, humans as savages is certainly a central theme but I think it's still more than that.
Just stumbled upon this. Five minutes in, I immediately subscribed. Need more of this, excited to check out other content on this channel.
50 intelligent well read people will make 50 different tier choices, some commonalities and a few striking differences. That’s how I view your list. But I enjoy your video though I clearly would make a different tier list.
clicked on another list and this guy ranked CIR decently high. starting mumbling on about a random tv show. then he mentioned his distaste for capitalism. so i turned it off and disliked the video. came here and immediately was interested in ur approach to lit, as well as a real understanding of CIR. Glad i didn’t continue that video after hearing he also ranked Dune an F. Pathetic. I later found out the previously video was jack edwards.
He has the right to his opinion on capitalism, I have some critiques of the system albeit of a different nature from his leftist leanings, but him judging a book based off it is stupid. Art doesn't have to follow political beliefs. I love Dirty Harry yet I despise authoritarianism. I love Top Gun Maverick yet I don't think we should go to war with Iran. I love Braveheart despite any and all issues behind the scenes. I love Apocalypto despite Mel Gibsons beliefs. Art MUST be separated from ones own political beliefs.
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis is a book that I think belongs in the S-tier. It's a retelling of Cupid and Psyche, but told from the perspective of Psyche's half-sister. It's a brilliant treatment of the human search for truth, identity, justice and love in a hectic and hard world.
I want to see an author tier list now. I also really liked your review on Never Let Me Go and I would love if you went back in time a few years and did a review of The Book of Disquiet. thanks for all the work.
Catcher in the rye is interesting to me because it welcomes the audience to listen past the boring sad unreliable narrator to see a sexually abused boy in a mental institution. I love the story of getting fired to read btw.
Thanks! Well, I'm glad you like Catcher in the Rye! I liked it when I first read it too.
I would like to hear someone review the book Satan in Goray by Nobel Prize winner, the Yiddish writer, Isaac Bashevis Singer. I've searched for this book review and aside from a couple in Polish, nothing. This was singer's first novel published. It is a masterpiece. I think people are afraid of this book because it contains the word Satan frankly. Which is ridiculous! It is a historical novel about a wave of messianism in the Lublin area of Poland after Cossacks murdered Jews during the 17th century
Will look into it
what do you think of clarissa and where would you rank it?
Lol, haven't had time for 1500 page slog yet! Where would you rank it?
@Write Conscious Probably a high B. It's one of those books which were very influential but has sadly fallen away over the years. People seem intimidated by its sheer volume. Shame
What’s that term you used? Logical Insanity? Can you break that down for me?
Modern civilizations set up a world where you could survive and thrive with a pure logical framing of reality. All classes can follow set logical paths laid out for them and never have to innovate their own life.
With technology a class of logical berserkers has taken over our society. To become a modern expert in technology or science you need to spent tens of thousands of hours functioning in a logical reality. All your colleagues will be also. Most develop a God like mentality toward the world. They then use reductive logic to a high degree to define their inter-personal relationships, reality, art, God, and everything else. Those areas of life should have a minimum amount of logic involved.
Most common people view the logical framing as the most successful and start engaging in logical insanity where they try and frame any situation they can through logic. This creates huge problems lol.
@@WriteConscious bro, don't fool yourself. You can't avoid using logic, even if you want to. You can pretend you're not being rational though. Let's take one of the examples you mentioned: art. If you're not being logical when painting a picture, how do you distinguish the red color from the yellow? Or if you're writing a novel, how are you able to put together a sentence properly if you don't use the rational side of your brain to follow the english grammar rules? You can pretend you're irrational if you think you come across as a sort of genius, but you'll only fool another fools like you. The only people that can truly dodge being rational are people that suffer from mental illnesses. The rest are just fools pretending being irrational.
What's your opinion of A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole? I think it's fantastic and am glad it was pushed to be published posthumously.
Love it!
If the adults still harping on about 1984 read The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz their heads would pop from how hard it would make them spiral out.
The High School books are right where they should be man. So many people I know have stayed on a juvenile level of understanding because they never read anything past those books.
Speaking of Huxley any thoughts on the elementary particles by Michel houllebecq?
Love the channel. Recently fell back in love with reading and read girl with the curious hair by DFW. I particularly love the short story by the same name. Specially the quick prose or it. I heard it was a jab at minimalism. But do you know any writers or books that have the same feeling?
Huckleberry Finn is a profound read. S-tier for sure. when was the last time you read it because if it was high school, read it again. Slaughterhouse 5 is S-tier, too.
The example about nuking Peru assumes that no one involved, let alone the person pushing the button, is subjected to propaganda and thought control like the citizens of 1984. Imagine this happened in North korea, do you think anyone would just say 'no' or do you think they would have a plethora of reasons why Peru is a threat?
The Catcher in the Rye made me want to move on in life despite what my family thought.
Yo do you like Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
I personally rank the stranger by Albert Camus an A because of its commentary on existentialism and how the common man can’t face a human mind that seems to be abnormal and inhuman due to a lack of moral empathy. However a lot of the scenes drag on and do serve meaning and analysis on different harsh living styles but sometimes do not need to go as long as they end up being.
So I like that you put it in B but I respectfully disagree and don’t think it should be all the way down in the C or D range. But I do need to read more books so if there are any classics or books you would recommend to the average reader please inform me. Nice list.
Hey, I love "The Stranger." It's one of the five books I'd give a new reader in the classics. But, compared to some of the other heavyweights I couldn't throw it on the top!
I’m really surprised the picture of Dorian gray isn’t here
Yep! Didn't make this list haha! Probably should have added a bunch more! Whoever made this had books from the 80's in here lol.
@@WriteConscious I know it’s not your list but this guy really didn’t put the picture of Dorian gray if it was on the list what would you give it
@@WriteConscious I also think the inferno is like an A or B but the rest is a C
The picture of Dorian Gray?
The Picture of Melky Duran
I wanted to know where you would rank it 😭😭 lol
Lol. Low B! How about you?
I just can’t agree about “The Catcher in The Rye” being over rated. There’s a LOT of people who hate it, teachers and students alike. I’d go as far as to say it’s one of THE most hated classics. I agree it’s not the very best literature has to offer, and I honestly don’t think it needs to be taught in schools. But even still, it resonated with me hard growing up and I’d give it a solid 7/10.
I think a better term would be “polarizing” you either love it or you hate it.
(edit: On the other hand, I HEAVILY agree with Call of the Wild. I first read it in grade school and it’s what got me into classic literature)
(edit 2: Checked your channel out, saw you were a David Lynch fan. I’m subscribing)
I think you may have left out Faust?
That said, it would be cool if you or someone did lists or short reviews like this based on nationality, like German, English, American, French books etc.!
Glad you gave Moby Dick a high rating. Moby Dick was based on an incredible true event which happened in the 1800s at the time that Melville was working on a whaling ship. A huge white whale actually did attack and sink a whaling ship named The Essex, in the Pacific. it was world news at the time, went viral, especially because the few surviving crew lived for many days in a lifeboat and survived due mainly to their cannibalism, which shocked the mainly Christian world at that time. It's a great book and a solid piece of our literary heritage. '1984' was much more relevant to the world when it was first published in 1949, at a time when the Great Depression and WWII had recently turned the world and politics inside out. And The Russian Revolution and the Chinese Revolution and the Spanish Civil War, and the Russian posy-war takeover of eastern Europe, all made the novel quite fitting at that time. Glad you gave Austen a C. Bronte gets a B.
Lol, glad you aren't too mad like others in the comments! Love Moby Dick though.
I recall going to see a newly-made movie version of Moby Dick when I was eight in the late 1950s in Montreal. It was the 1956 movie starring Gregory Peck as Cpt. Ahab. I'm guessing that about eight different movie versions of the story have been made over the past 100 years. It's a magnificent tale of adventure and survival in our world where the saying is: fact is stranger than fiction. And indeed the true story of Moby Dick is far more morbid than Melville's interpretation in Moby Dick.
Please keep up your excellent and inspiring reviews and analyses of the world's literature.
That's not at all what it was based on, though. That's an entirely different tale in an entirely different place. It also has nothing to do with what Moby Dick is ABOUT.
Another great classic is Middle March what do you think of it
Never read it! Adding it to the Quandale list after the histories!
@@WriteConscious you know who George Elliot is right
Great Gatsby was a complete slog. Fuck that book. I’d give it a D. The Beautiful & Damned was pretty fun.
IMO, anything under A on this list is BORING. Love Camus, but his novels were kinda dry. Same w/ Sartre. I can’t with a lot of the French writers.
Virginia Woolf is B for me. She is a big part of why I don’t care for British writing. Boring, unnecessarily wordy (also Dickens), and kinda mid.
I was blown away by your rating of War and Peace. I’m new to the classics, and I’ve yet to read it, but every other review I’ve seen of it has it as one of the greatest novels ever.
Read it and tell me if you disagree!
25% of the way through War and Peace and enjoying it so far
It's great
was also blown expected an A at least
1984 it's quite good. The paper weight, the room upsteairs... it was a good novel for it's construction over the objects and places.
Not saying it's bad! But, if we scale it against the best classic novels of all time it looks pretty average!
@@WriteConscious Yeah, but politics aside I find myself almost smelling the gin covered streets and the stuffy feeling liguering in every corner of the apartment upstairs or feeling the paperweight pulling down in my pocket. It's not the best, but I find the way it comunicates space is (for me) a good one. Of couse It's no "Memorias Póstumas" (One of the best books of Brasil), but I find it well made. Just like homemade food or a cup of tea. Enjoyable, memorable, but maybe not restaurant worty. I agree with you critics, just making a point.
Agreed! When I read it in high school it changed my life! For sure felt like something home made. When they went it the upstairs room I had a major pit in my stomach. Crazy story and honestly helped a lot of people wake up to the control system.
@@WriteConscious If I may, maybe recomend me some books. You might have already read it but "The aestetic" from Eugene Veron is a good one. It's a philosophy book on aestetic value. Very sassy and flavorful. I found it by chance in a library overflow donation (when there are more books than the local library can handle they just give them away, usually things they found a better copy, a new edition or just replacion the books no one read for more popular ones). It is perfect. My copy is localy translated and printed in 1980. Leatherbound in red leather with black embelishments. Another one I enjoyed when I was younger was a second world was autobiography called "Quando Hitler robo el conejo rosa". I read it when I was about 10, so there's a lot of sentimental value and might not be as good as I remember.
For context sake I'm 19, austistic, second year med student in summer break, I like romances, fantasy, philosophy and political fiction. I enjoy things from varius parts of the world from chinese novels (Yes, I've read Tian Gu Ci Fu and yes I did liked it's), to Judith Buttler's work, to Sophia's World, to Brazilian authors, children's brazilian "manga", to spanish poetry, to Sherlock Holmes all the way to Green Gables. I'm a beginner in reading and want to expand. I have Frankenstein, Emma, Howls Moving Castle and Heidi just waiting and a few poems to go through, but if I want to survive summer break and whitout going crazyvI need more content. You can't go from reading 100+ pages a day to reading just about nothing and expect your brain to accept it. Currently surviving on fanfiction (god bless Ao3) and podcast. Espinoza and Diogenes are my favorite philosophers. Anyway, I'm a young hatchling just having free time to explore a bit and asking for help in every book you may think I'll ever like.
Oh man, what a great channel, been watching a lot of your recent videos and it is mint grade inspirational stuff
I agree with lots on this list but you gotta give heller some love
He wrote some of the greatest characters in catch 22 and basically coined a term that so perfectly captures the absurdity of bureaucracy. Very Kafka book in my opinion. You can argue it’s verbose and repetitive but I don’t man, I love it.
I know this is an old video and your views and opinions may have changed. However, I want to say two things. First, is that I find it interesting that you draw the line of tainted perspective at eugenics for Huxley. Rightfully so, eugenics is a horrid and nonsensical practice, but for Nabokov the actual exploration of disgusting predilections do not seem to affect the work for you when they're both equally as skilled writers, in my opinion. Secondly I so wholeheartedly disagree with obviously the placement of Lolita it's not important to read that filth, but also Lord of the Flies. It is my favorite book to this day and it's what got me into reading in the first place.
I do love your content (especially on Cormac McCarthy content) and I am admittedly young, but I just can’t agree with your Take on Catcher in the Rye.
Haha, all good!
Thanks for posting. It will be a really useful guide for my future reading list.
Can you do another one with selections from Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century not included in this post?
I really enjoyed your point about people camping on books they were forced to read in high school. For a long time 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, etc. were my favorites but it wasn't until I forced myself to read Lawrence, Nabokov, Steinbeck, Melville, etc. that I truly began to marvel at the power and beauty of the written word.
Also, can you show Grapes of Wrath a little more love? It was a book I had always avoided because I was judging it by its cover. Having finally read it at age 53, I thought it was a damn near perfect novel that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed as much had I read it when I was younger.
Yes, for sure! I just looked at the list and I'll do it at some point! Glad you kept moving and started to touch better authors. It only gets better from here! You got three or four more decades of good reading! Haha, yeah I probably need to read Grapes of Wrath again. Looking back a C was a bit harsh. Probably a B. This was someone else's list so I tried to have a genuine reaction with how I felt. Now, looking back I'd change a couple picks but I can't lol.
No tale of two cities? :(
Read enough and talked about enough Dickens for a lifetime!
Kafka was a body made of literature.
I agreed with 90% of your political ranting 👍
Our literary preferences though, clearly differ.
Of these books I read, all or at least much of the way through:
A: Lolita (tho I prefer Pale Fire), Catcher in the Rye, Great Gatsby
B: Catch-22, Wind-Up Bird, AQOTWF
C: Lord of the Flies, Alice in Wonderland
D. Berlin Alexanderplatz*, Hamlet, Slaughterhouse-five, Brave New World, Grapes of Wrath, To Kill A Mockingbird, Call of the Wild
F. Ulysses, The Stranger, The Iliad, The Odyssey
* Berlin Alexanderplatz was one of those left over at the bottom you didn't rank.
@nl3064 YES! I thought the Stranger sucked!
Been listening to some Star Wars novels on audible always been interested on taking reading more serious. Have you made a video on books non readers would love if they read them or a beginners list hey to be honest a response with one or two recommendations will suffice. My interest seem to go towards the stories where the protagonist isn’t the boy scout type for instance I keep going through the Darth Bane trilogy and the Darth Plagueis novel on audible both are revolved around “villains” in Star Wars. But I would read just about anything if it jump started my love for literature. Moby Dick based on your story sounds like its worth a try.
Moby Dick may be too hard. You may like "Blood Meridian" if you like violence and darkness. Also, I will be making a whole series taking readers from beginning literature to harder literature this year!
@@WriteConscious awesome please do already looking forward for that video.
Hey man I know this comment is a year old but you should check out any of the Richard Stark novels they're really good starting with the hunter would be a good idea
What a shame seeing Don Quixote in the section "B". Or Catch-22 in "D". 😐
WDYM? Don quixote is probably >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> catch-22
@@Billiethekid8 They both must be in superb category.
"catcher in the rye - F" FUCK YES DUDE! subscribed. Would love to hear you talk about Gene Wolfe and Book of the New Sun at some point.
Love Gene Wolfe! Soldier of Sidion is beautiful historical fiction.
WOW finally someone said it besides me. The Catcher In The Rye SUCKS! I hated it. I kept hearing "How can you be 58 and never have read it?" So I did. And I regret it. I know this is an old post and you will probably never see it but I'm thrilled I found your channel. Subscribed. And liked every video Ive seen.
I’ve read a bunch on the list. The only one I disagree with is Brave New World. I think it definitely deserves a B. I think you ranked it a C only because it is widely read amongst the classics and you let your feelings about Huxley effect your placement. Which early in this ranking you declared people shouldn’t let an author personality effect their judgement on their works. I thought it was visionary.
Sorry for letting you down :(
My favorite novel (not series) is the Lord of the Rings, so obviously agree that it is a "S". NB: It is one novel that was published in 3 volumes. I would rate War and Peace as an "S" as well.
Just reread War and Peace in anticipation of the Napoleon movie and I agree it is an S. Very beautiful
@@WriteConsciousyes, the way he describes such a huge variety of people and their mannerisms is beautiful
The most insightful hot take on WW1 is 'Hitler, Born at Versailles' by Leon Degrelle. Oughta be mandatory reading, imo
love the energy
Thanks!!!
really enjoyed your tier list. Mainly because of proper substantial subjectivity vs societal objectivity mix. But also loved you ranting about current cultural mentality and lunacy :D
Thanks l4qs! I am trying to bring a different ENERGY to BookTube! Next I'm trying to give a proper dose of substantial infinity! LETS GO!!!!
@@WriteConscious Keep up the great work 🔥
very nuanced to rank these works not just for their obviously skilled structure and prose, but for their greater ideological impact on the world as a whole haha
Thanks brotha!
Completely agree the wind-up bird chronicle being S
Lets go!
You were stoned when reading Madame Bovary in college 😂😂😂
Read every book from 18-23 stoned lol
@@WriteConscious every book on the tier list😂😂😂
@@WriteConscious what do you think of the sequel to all quiet on the western front
@@WriteConscious what would you rate House of leaves out of 10
Yup. So, take this video with a grain of salt lol. I never read the sequel! What do you think? I would rate it an 8.5. But, that's in the re-read list. I have a feeling it could score lower!
I loved this review but the background music was horrible. Gave me a headache.
Yup! Don't use it anymore.
Ok but where is all the dark fantasy spice bro 🌶🌶🌶
Jokes asides this was a great video, you can tell that you are both very knowledgeable and passionate about the classics.
Homie, I agree with this list almost verbatim. Keep grinding.
aayyyyyeeeee. You a real oneee
Orson Welles did the movie.
Pride and Prejudice Meh But WTF does campy mean?
Something that is completely cliche and artificial and exaggerated
@@WriteConscious The way you use it, sounds like something literary and canonic.
Master of the game by Sidney Sheldon #1 Book of all time
lmao.
Why does Emma not get the spotlight the Pride and Prejudice does?
I think adolescents should read The Adolescent by Dostoevsky and not Catcher in the rye. :D
Other than Tolstoy I agree with everything, I'd put Anna Karenina in S honestly. One of the most beautiful piece of art ever created.
Thanks for the support Marton! Looking back a B was probably a tad too low for "Anna Karenina" haha.
i just finished reading a clockwork orange thats a real horrorshow profile picture droogie
@@zzz8630 Kubricks done a great job with that book!
43:00 it's acceptance
Orwell overrated...?
Oh dear...
Downvoted because Pride and Predjudice only got a C. Every single novelist in the world is standing on Jane Austen's shoulders. Because she got there first!
Before her, novels were novel all right. Make believe, sensational, and melodramatic. Nothing to do with real life.
Moby Dick was perfect except the length cause of all the whaling information
Lol! Glad you liked it! Wish they had a really good Moby Dick movie! All the decent ones are too old and the new ones are always to stacked with weird love stories. A short Netflix series with a ton of freedom to stick to the story would be pretty sick.
@@WriteConscious yeah that would be cool Moby dick got one of the best ending in a book no movie can make it better than that
There are more ; and , than periods. Holy run on sentences.
" Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world. If one has to decide on 10 great novels in all the languages of the world, one will have to choose at least 3 novels of Dostoevsky in those 10. Dostoevsky’s insight into human beings and their problems is greater than your so-called psychoanalysts, and there are moments where he reaches the heights of great mystics. His book BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is so great in its insights that no BIBLE or KORAN or GITA comes close.
I cannot conceive of how you can live beautifully if you don’t know Dostoevsky’s books… BROTHERS KARAMAZOV to me is more important than any BIBLE. It has such great insights, that THE BIBLE should not be counted at all, even for comparison. But THE BIBLE will be read - and who is going to bother about BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, in which Dostoevsky has poured his whole soul? or ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy, or FATHERS AND SONS by Turgenev..."
Osho is correct.
@@WriteConscious Yes, I think so too.
YOU DID CATCHER IN THE RYE DIRTY, jk, but I feel Moby Dick should be in S tier. The book holds so much to my heart.
You liked catcher in the rye?
@@Angelicamuscaria To an extent, the narrative is nice, aka the setting and theme. But the rest is a little bland. It's one of the best examples I've scene of establishing a setting.
Salinger did us dirty by even writing it!
I think a lot of your opinions are vaild and im happy to see someone critical of 1984 and that coming from someone who loves dystopians. It has so many problems. But one that i would have to disagree with is moby dick. My main reason is because of length but i understand why you and other love it. I love this video and i hope you keep telling people about your opinion on cormac McCarthy and other books much love.
1984 is a literal masterpiece
The praise that 1984 gets in the Dystopian fandom is absolutely laughable. I’ve never understood it.
The ignorant need a totem to worship too!
i'm going to give all quiet on the western front a go because of this. love that time period.
mostly agree with your list. except i think moby dick as is- is a total yawn. should have been edited to a short story.
No offence but your Anna Karenina ranking is ridiculous
Lol, probably could be an A
@@WriteConscious that's fair
keep up this great content
Thanks Tommy!
KaramAzov. The Brothers KaramAzov. The stress is on the third A.
Братья КарамАзовы
I have read most of these novels (90%) and I want to thank you for exposing some overrated books. For me, Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and Lord of the Flies are the three most overrated books in literature. Also, 100 years of solitude is D, for sure.
Hahaha, thank you!!! The Catcher in the Rye fans have been hating hard 😂 I just can't imagine defending Catcher or Gatsby. It would be like me defending N'Sync albums as great works of music. I like plenty of crappy bands and books, but I wouldn't except other people to think they're good.
Rip my boy Catch-22
lol
Ok i was about to subscribe
mockingbird isn’t even a high school book at the district I work at. They read it in 7th grade, I also tell them it was probably written by Truman Capote.
bro has a strong bias against 19th century joints
lol
Nah pride and prejudice rules
Meh.
I got fired over the martian lol
This list lacks some books that I consider classics, like Robinson Crusoe, 1001 Nights, Notre Dame of Paris, Ivanhoe and Treasure Island, among others.