Connie Converse’s music is brilliant and her life story is so haunting to me. Definitely need to read the book

Had to go back to this video to hear your thoughts on the Babitz! might need to pick it up before the end of the year..

the full size glass bottle of pellegrino is awesome

i just bought a lee miller biography! i bought the other one tho oops. i didnt realize the one you talk about was by her son

Call me old-fashioned, but I’m inclined to think that a book such as “Middlemarch” demands to be read in the same way it was written-slowly, carefully, and one word at a time. When I read “Middlemarch” some years ago, I committed myself to spending a few weeks immersed in George Eliot’s world, and letting everything else in the way of reading hang fire until I was done. That wasn’t difficult, because Eliot writes so well and, as a male reader, I couldn’t help but feel protective of her central character, nineteen-year-old Dorothea Brooke, who ends up in the same situation as some of Jane Austen’s young women such as Marianne Dashwood and Emma Woodhouse-married to a man significantly older than herself, but with far less happy results. I’ve come to the conclusion that “Martyr” is not so much about the meaning of life, or what it means to have a meaningful death (answer: concentrate on living a meaningful life and the meaningful death will take care of itself), but about the central character, Cyrus Shams, coming of age and learning to be an adult and accept adult responsibilities, including the responsibility to keep on living when your life seems to have no point; though, in fact, by the end of the novel Cyrus has more reasons to keep on living than many people. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed your stay in Toronto-The Big Smoke-where, according to a claim once made by the current Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford (brother of the late Mayor Rob Ford), there are more libraries than there are Tim Horton’s.

Love this list - added loads to my tbr. I really loved the recent biography of Kathy Acker by Jason McBride. Siân

you've got me interested in praiseworthy -- although it looks like a CHUNKER lollll the siren song of booker list

"there are time when he says things and i'm like, you are so real for that, i see you, we might be same person" 😭 read Tropic of Caner when i was a tween and it altered something in me. still can't believe he and Anais Nin were such a power couple. and reading Didion and Babitz with you has made the book a lot more bearable than if i read it alone...lol

Middlemarch! Middlemarch. I miss that cast of characters. 🥰. I’m interested in Praiseworthy. I keep looking at it from the library. I’d like to give it a go!

Ooo I'm excited for the Didion/Babitz, i read Anoliks other book on Babitz and yeah its super frothy - but I kinda like it! Martyr I did not really enjoy tho. Hope all is well with you! Siân

Balmy weather eh? Concerning both Martyr and Praise Worth; I DnF’d martyr - it came to close to home, heck of a read! MC had quite the imagination sometimes it could have seemed really depression in a sense one can wish one could give a hug to the character since you can almost sympathize with him. Praise worthy Dunkeh, yet to finish a hundred pages in! Very poignant to subject matter.

I'm going to have to re-read Tropic of Cancer. Praiseworthy in the flesh looks like more of a brick in the flesh than the page count suggests. Shame about Didion and Babitz. I was looking forward to that.

Praiseworthy for the win! (I'm saying that everywhere, lol). First time I've seen Evie Wyld's new one on a list, cool. It's on my TBR. Some very intersting books there, great list!

i read an anna dorn novel this summer! i must be doing something right😮

Your hair is just fine.

I totally agree with your thoughts on all fours. It was an interesting read for me as I’m a similar age to the narrator. The extreme ( and not acknowledged ) privilege was really irritating though.

Love this long list, would love to see Kirsty Capes get longlisted!

I randomly stumbled upon this. I was the first and only one, but then I panicked that I was the only one and left.

looking forward to the next sprint!!

One biography of a woman I’ve read recently and would recommend is “A Passion for Government: The Life of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough” by Frances Harris, published in 1991. If you saw the film, “The Favourite”, a few years ago, starring Olivia Colman as Queen Anne, Emma Stone as Abigail Hill, and Rachel Weisz as Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, you’ll know who I’m talking about. I’d also recommend “Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay” by Nancy Milford, published in 2001. I knew next to nothing about Millay when I read this biography a few years ago, but the author provides a very detailed account of the troubled life and career of this American poet. Millay’s poetry went out of fashion after her death at age 58 in 1950, but in recent years her work has received renewed critical attention. She is probably best known for the following short poem, which sums up her philosophy of life. My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends- It gives a lovely light! Millay’s home, Steepletop, is located in Austerlitz, New York, and has been designated a national historic site. I’ll also mention, “Captivated: J.M. Barrie, the du Mauriers and the Dark Side of Neverland”, by Piers Dudgeon published in 2008. This book isn’t exactly a biography of a woman, but it does describe the dark influence that James M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, allegedly had upon those around him, including the young Daphne du Maurier. The author cites Mrs. Danvers’s description of Rebecca de Winter as evidence of Barrie’s Peter Pan seeping into du Maurier’s characterization of her infamous villainess, for Rebecca had “the spirit of a boy … She ought to have been a boy, I often told her that.” Some critics have looked askance at Dudgeon’s book for relying too much on circumstantial evidence and amateur psychologizing, but I thought I’d mention it anyway, as I don’t think anyone has absolutely debunked it. I was glad to hear you say that many of the books you refer to in your video remain unread, as it helps alleviate my own guilt at having so many volumes on my own shelves that I haven’t quite got around to. These include “The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith” by Joan Schenkar, published in 2009. Highsmith is probably best known these days for her novel, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, which has been made into at least two film versions that I’ve heard of, though I’ve never seen either one. Years ago, I read every Penguin paperback Highsmith novel I could find, about seventeen in all, though for some reason I’ve avoided this biography of her. The same goes for “Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives”, a biography by Robert Thacker from 2005 that I have yet to read, though I’ve read just about every Munro short story I’ve come across. Finally, there is “Faithful Handmaid: Fanny Burney at the Court of King George III” by Hester Davenport, published in 2000. Fanny Burney was a popular writer of the late 18th century, whose works Jane Austen read and admired, so one day I really should sit down and read this book. This is not a full biography of Fanny Burney, but instead concentrates on her years at court as Keeper of the Robes to Queen Charlotte (you may recall Helen Mirren as Queen Charlotte n the 1994 British film, “The Madness of George III”, which was released in America under the title, “The Madness of King George” because the British film distributors feared that if American moviegoers saw a film titled “The Madness of George III” they wouldn’t bother to go see it because they’d think they’d already missed “The Madness of George” Parts I and II. True story!)

I need to know how you read so many books, only in my dreams could I get that many books in a month!

Definitely recommend "Catherine the Great" by Robert Massie - incredible to read about a woman at this time who actually was quite progressive even by today's standards but even she let her power take over her mind at the end. The author was great in connecting the reader with her, both in admiring her and looking down on her. Also anything by Annie Ernaux!

omg more love for Elaine Mays. she was such a gem. i wish she had written more because her jokes just land, just right. and EEEP! Didion and Babitz buddy read when??? also have the e-ARC!

Ah, so many good choices here! Ursula! Jean Rhys! Fantastic!

Kiran doing the feminist work. 💜

I now have SO many more biographies on my list now. This was so good. Currently reading Chasing Beauty and really enjoying it so far!

The Margaret Cavendish biography sounds cool! I'm about to start Boel Westin's biography of Tove Jansson and I'm excited! I have a few more biographies on my tbr shelf but they're about... men.

Omg i was secretly hoping for this and so so happy to see you posted it! Will definitely try to check these out they all sound so interesting.

have heard so much about james and really liked the film that was based on everett's book erasure⚛😀❤

Oooh a prediction video. So hard to make and so so fun! I’m off to explore some of these books!

Excellent video, Kiran!! And a pass, ofc, great work. I would be v happy to see The Echoes on the longlist, I loved it so much. Less so Spoilt Creatures because I DNF’ed it but maybe that’s Booker’s vibe