I'll definitely have to check these out! I'm just about to finish Fathers and Sons by Turgenev and I have really enjoyed it so I'll have to read Mumu sometime soon.
Thanks for the suggestions! The bell jar was so hard to read, even though it was beautifully written. Few of my friends had a tough time after finishing it. I've read The golden pavilion by Mishima and I can't say I enjoyed it but it was OK and I'll give him another chance. And I found old editions of Maximov so I'm looking forward to reading that one. If I can add a few myself: - Hunger by Knut Hamsun (Pan as well) - Siddhartha by Hesse - White nights by Dostoyevsky - Soul by Platonov
I'd read White Nights, but coincidentally the other three have been on my list! Mishima may not work for you, but I'd give him another try with this work. It's not a happy-go-lucky kind book, but I found it stimulating and worthwhile!
@@TheActiveMind1 It's fine, I actually prefer not-so-happy books haha. Soul and Hunger are particularly challenging while Siddhartha is a beautiful spiritual journey that I hope will get you hooked on Hesse. :)
great adds, Siddharta is a mood capsule for me, back then when I read it, it was just the perfect book for me in the state I was and since then, everytime I revisit I'm regaining some of that peaceful inner calm
@@saphna2095 Oh yes, I had the same experience with it after I first read it in the early 20s. It brought such joy to my life and I re-read it often. This year I re-read Narcissus and Goldmund and I love it just as well if not more.
My dad's uncle was captured in war and taken to a siberian work camp. He didnt talk a lot about it but he hated lentils because he said that's what they fed him.
The descriptions of the conditions are horrific let alone the vicious wilderness of Siberia. I suspect The Gulag Archipelago will be a tough read for that reason but I think I’ll be reading that soon
@@TheActiveMind1 it doesn't seem fun, but a lot of people found the humor even in that. Other relatives talked about still playing pranks and farting in bottles and such.
Thanks for another great video. Like you, I like tackling a larger text, but some of these smaller novels can be powerful and concise. Have a good day!
What an excellent list! I look forward to checking them out! Also can't recommend enough Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, it's super short, but gorgeous and very appropriate for travellers (though it may not be taking about cities at all 😉). Love LeGuin's spec fic work. Would be interested in a list of your fave sci-fi/fantasy in general Also Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - a beautiful cosmic horror haze of a book!
I've heard good things about Invisible Cities! And unfortunately I've barely scratched the surface with sci-fi/fantasy, but I'm getting into it slowly but surely
The only one of these I’ve read is The Bell Jar. But this makes me want to read Mumu. A favorite short book of mine is The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James. Thanks for the suggestions!
There’s an audiobook on UA-cam of the Constance garnet translation for mumu (it’s public domain). She’s not the best translator but this one isn’t bad, and the voice actor is pretty good!
Your first recommendation prompted me to take down my copy of Kolyma Tales by Varlam Shalamov, a collection of short-stories about the Soviet forced-labour camps. Worth reading if you haven't read it already.
It sounds like Vladimir Maximov's A MAN SURVIVES would make a good companion or follow-up to Fyodor Dostoevsky's NOTES FROM A DEAD HOUSE, which I just started reading and instantly hooked me.
I haven't read the first two books but the last three are awesome!!!!!!!mishima is my favourite writer, sylvia plath my faves poet. Congrats for your amazing taste in books. I have never read ursula le guin. What book you suggest for starting reading this writer? Thanks!
Being There by Jerzy Kosinski is a brief, brilliant satire of modern media circa about fifty years ago. Insightful, funny and provocative. A good movie too!
I'll definitely have to check these out! I'm just about to finish Fathers and Sons by Turgenev and I have really enjoyed it so I'll have to read Mumu sometime soon.
Thanks for the suggestions! The bell jar was so hard to read, even though it was beautifully written. Few of my friends had a tough time after finishing it. I've read The golden pavilion by Mishima and I can't say I enjoyed it but it was OK and I'll give him another chance. And I found old editions of Maximov so I'm looking forward to reading that one.
If I can add a few myself:
- Hunger by Knut Hamsun (Pan as well)
- Siddhartha by Hesse
- White nights by Dostoyevsky
- Soul by Platonov
I'd read White Nights, but coincidentally the other three have been on my list! Mishima may not work for you, but I'd give him another try with this work. It's not a happy-go-lucky kind book, but I found it stimulating and worthwhile!
Yes Hamsun is an amazing writer, one you should definitely look out for Brock. I enjoyed Mysteries more than Hunger but both are great reads
@@TheActiveMind1 It's fine, I actually prefer not-so-happy books haha. Soul and Hunger are particularly challenging while Siddhartha is a beautiful spiritual journey that I hope will get you hooked on Hesse. :)
great adds, Siddharta is a mood capsule for me, back then when I read it, it was just the perfect book for me in the state I was and since then, everytime I revisit I'm regaining some of that peaceful inner calm
@@saphna2095 Oh yes, I had the same experience with it after I first read it in the early 20s. It brought such joy to my life and I re-read it often. This year I re-read Narcissus and Goldmund and I love it just as well if not more.
My dad's uncle was captured in war and taken to a siberian work camp. He didnt talk a lot about it but he hated lentils because he said that's what they fed him.
The descriptions of the conditions are horrific let alone the vicious wilderness of Siberia. I suspect The Gulag Archipelago will be a tough read for that reason but I think I’ll be reading that soon
Lentils are incredibly healthy. A shame he was made to hate them.
@@TheActiveMind1 it doesn't seem fun, but a lot of people found the humor even in that. Other relatives talked about still playing pranks and farting in bottles and such.
Le Guin and Plath , yes sir, now that's a list! Great video
Thank you!
Thanks for another great video. Like you, I like tackling a larger text, but some of these smaller novels can be powerful and concise. Have a good day!
What an excellent list! I look forward to checking them out! Also can't recommend enough Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, it's super short, but gorgeous and very appropriate for travellers (though it may not be taking about cities at all 😉).
Love LeGuin's spec fic work. Would be interested in a list of your fave sci-fi/fantasy in general
Also Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - a beautiful cosmic horror haze of a book!
I've heard good things about Invisible Cities! And unfortunately I've barely scratched the surface with sci-fi/fantasy, but I'm getting into it slowly but surely
@@TheActiveMind1 LeGuin is a great place to start 🙂 The Dispossessed is a brilliant, pensive piece
You must keep reading Mishima! The tetralogy is out of this world, would love to hear your thoughts!
The only one of these I’ve read is The Bell Jar. But this makes me want to read Mumu. A favorite short book of mine is The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James.
Thanks for the suggestions!
There’s an audiobook on UA-cam of the Constance garnet translation for mumu (it’s public domain). She’s not the best translator but this one isn’t bad, and the voice actor is pretty good!
"Mumu" is included in Oxford Classics' "First Love and Other Stories".
Your first recommendation prompted me to take down my copy of Kolyma Tales by Varlam Shalamov, a collection of short-stories about the Soviet forced-labour camps. Worth reading if you haven't read it already.
I'll have to check that out!
It sounds like Vladimir Maximov's A MAN SURVIVES would make a good companion or follow-up to Fyodor Dostoevsky's NOTES FROM A DEAD HOUSE, which I just started reading and instantly hooked me.
I think so! I still need to get to Notes from a Dead Horse. It’ll be a 2025 read without a doubt!
I haven't read the first two books but the last three are awesome!!!!!!!mishima is my favourite writer, sylvia plath my faves poet. Congrats for your amazing taste in books. I have never read ursula le guin. What book you suggest for starting reading this writer? Thanks!
I haven’t read any of her other works but I think she has other more prominent books than this one
Being There by Jerzy Kosinski is a brief, brilliant satire of modern media circa about fifty years ago. Insightful, funny and provocative. A good movie too!