Well, Victober is over now, but KZbin just suggested this video. I'm familiar with some of the authors here. But not these particular books. I read Wilkie Collins Woman in White. I try to read Dickens Christmas Trilogy each year. And I did read Carmilla again last month. Not so much for it being Victorian, but I'd watched a film adaptation and decided since it had been a few years, and it's spooky season, I'd give it another read.
@BobJacobs1015 күн бұрын
As a teacher of Latin, always great to see someone learning the language. Good luck! And nice book haul.
@Montie-Adkins19 күн бұрын
I read Moby Dick for the first time this year and did not like it. It's interesting, and I liked the writing, but the big story point everyone has heard of and seen it made use of in various media is just a tiny portion of the book. But hell, this book has endured for a long time now, so perhaps it'll be for you.
@TheEclecticLibrary17 күн бұрын
I do really like Melville's style... hopefully I'll be one of the people who enjoys it! Sorry to hear it wasn't for you
@renee_angelica21 күн бұрын
Gems in here! Love those Scott and Hardy editions 😍
@jennyyeh473021 күн бұрын
Omg so jealous of the Thomas hardy set ! If you want something more cosy/less tragic, then I’d start with the woodlanders ! If not then the mayor of casterbridge. Far from the madding crowd is my favorite !!!
@TheEclecticLibrary17 күн бұрын
Thank you, that's really good to know!
@jamgart688021 күн бұрын
I remember watching the Black Beauty tv show when I was a kid and enjoyed it. So last year I thought I’d read it for the first time and I hated it. It’s more of a commentary on how absolutely awful people are. I think if you have kids that like riding horses and maybe own one, then definitely make them read this and hopefully they’ll treat their animals with kindness and compassion. 😊
@TheEclecticLibrary17 күн бұрын
I had no idea, that's so interesting! I was never much of a horse girl so I don't really have any expectations
@judykovach691222 күн бұрын
Thomas hardy book… which one did do you read?
@given250124 күн бұрын
9:20, omg they're available in my country as well but i went with the other maroon editions.
@theresas70926 күн бұрын
I really like Tom. Hardy.
@katiejlumsdenАй бұрын
Such a wonderful novel 😊
@richarddelanetАй бұрын
With reference to Michael Paterson's (A Brief History of) _Life in Victorian Britain._ Interestingly enough there is no reference to empire in the index but there is to Engels. There is no chapter devoted to empire either. There is a chapter called Arms & the World - especially pages 296-300 which perhaps reveals your attitude? Perhaps you are saying Paterson has the urge to present the period in the best possible light because he does not conform to a "fashionable hatred of colonialism", and instead simply tells us about it including some of the problems. I can see how you think it might be understood as wrong to present a mainly positive impression of the British Commonwealth during this era but it is plainly and obviously implied that there was indeed much that was positive but that there is plenty of discourse that focuses on a negative interpretation, that no doubt leaves out far too much of the positive. One point may suffice for now: what is the point of taking over a territory (British West Africa, Tanzania etc for example), but not allow your own countrymen to buy and own any of the land? This hardly equates to invading Poland... mm?
@michaelgarcia2973Ай бұрын
I love reading Classics...I watched the 2018 film Lizzie about Lizzie Borden and Chloe Sevigne played Lizzie Borden and Kristen Stewart played Bridget Sullivan great film.
@ksimplerАй бұрын
Hi Celine! The Norton Anthology of Medieval Literature is excellent. The Beowulf included there should be the Seamus Heaney translation, which is wonderful. Also, I highly recommend the Anglo-Saxon poem, “Judith,” which should be in the collection. It’s a bit violent, but it’s great to see a female hero from that period. Also, there’s a wonderful translation of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” which is great! Really, the entire collection is full of good stuff! Hope you enjoy it!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
"Judith" sounds fascinating! I'll mark it to read. It's directly after Beowulf so maybe I'll just keep reading when I finish it, ha. I really look forward to dipping into the collection!
@GrimLordofOregonАй бұрын
Awesome book haul!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Thank you!
@crypsidАй бұрын
You're going to love Fraser's Marie Antoinette book. I read it earlier this year and was in the same spot of knowing a little bit about Marie's death, and absolutely nothing else about her life; needless to say, I was not prepared for how exciting that book becomes, especially in the last third.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
I can't wait!
@RSelcovАй бұрын
I've found that when a used book I've ordered on line is of substandard quality, especially if it does not fit the description that was advertised, I can get a replacement if I write an email to the seller. They don't even ask for the original copy to be sent back.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Considering I bought it for £3 I struggle to motivate myself to contact customer service (I ordered them from World of Books). If they'd been more expensive, I would have
@NeilBruderАй бұрын
Oh I’m jealous, I’ve been looking for a copy of A Month in the Country for a while. If you’re interested there’s a great (UK based) lit podcast called Backlisted that has an episode about it. Worth a listen!
@TheEclecticLibrary17 күн бұрын
Thank for the rec Neil! I hope you'll stumble on a copy soon as well 🙂
@davidmccalip5759Ай бұрын
Hello Celine! I hope you are doing well. Wow! Those Sir Walter Scott and Thomas Hardy books looked fantastic! And what a steal! That was a great purchase! I look forward to your next video. Have a great day!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Thanks David! I'm very pleased with my finds, ha. Hope you have a great day too!
@Maryjane022Ай бұрын
Such a lovely books!!! Love it!📚💕😍😍😍
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
Ken (Cuckoo's Nest) Kesey once said that..."in a thousand years time when the rest of us have been long forgotten people will still be reading Richard Brautigan." A name that I find sadly neglected on booktube nowadays.
@jamesduggan7200Ай бұрын
Brautigan is very good but I haven't read any of his work in generations. He did one on the Butterfly Effect with a title something like the Sombrero Hat Dance, I don't remember exactly, but the drop of a hat in Mexico led to chaos around the world.
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
Sombrero Fallout! One of Brautigan's quirkiest with a special guest appearance from Norman Mailer!
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
In 1966 Ken (Cuckoo's Nest) Kesey along with a group of cohorts called The Merry Pranksters took a trip across America in a converted school bus handing out samples of LSD along the way! One of the drivers of the bus was none other than Neal Cassady, close friend of Jack Kerouac and inspiration for the character of Dean Moriarty in Kerouac's classic novel On The Road.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
That's fascinating! Oh, the sixties.
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
Kesey pronounced Kee-zee. In my humble opinion the book is soooo much better than the film!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Thank you! I really need to reread the book and possibly even rewatch the movie, I haven't read/watched either in over eight years
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
James Hogg's " Confessions Of A Justfied Sinner " was indeed hugely controversial at the time of publication and was later a big influence on Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde. A future comparison video perhaps?
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
The cover of your copy of De Quincy's Opium Eater is in fact an image of the tragic romantic poet Thomas Chatterton who committed suicide by arsenic poisoning at the age of 17. The painting is by the Victorian artist Henry Wallis and - somewhat spookily - was modelled by the young George Meredith who went on to become an eminent poet and novelist in his own right.
@novelideeaАй бұрын
I’ve heard great things about those translations of Homer! Yay! For Moby!! I think many people don’t enjoy the whaling facts in the story but I loved finding out the history and the danger. And Melville’s writing was fantastic! (I liked Bartleby also!) Beowulf was part of a class syllabus for me and I enjoyed the discussion, but I don’t think I would have read/ liked it otherwise! If you aren’t a “battles” in history lover you aren’t probably going to enjoy The Iliad. Though Homer, at least, isn’t as gory details oriented as Virgil in the Aeneid! Still, it’s almost all fighting.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
I'm always really glad to hear from people who did enjoy Moby Dick, it seems to be one of the most disliked American classics! In terms of battles, I don't mind it too much in the books themselves as long as the writing is good, I think I'm just very bored by historical analyses of old timey battle tactics 😅
@jamesduggan7200Ай бұрын
Yes, I do recall a strange excitement amongst my betters about that long biography of the man who wrote the dictionary and thought Shakespeare too racy. Much more exciting to me is Ken Kesey's classic novel, which as a film featured Jack Nicholson as Randall P. McMurphy. The co-star, Louise Fletcher, won an Oscar for her interpretation of head Nurse Ratched. Now you've read it do yourself a big favor and enjoy Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which is a biography more or less of the author, including the time he spent mopping the floors of a mental institution where the doctors happened to be testing Lysergic Acid Dimethalate (sp?). btw, I confess to falling in love with those gorgeous leather bound Hardy novels - Enjoy!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Thanks James! I hadn't heard of Tom Wolfe's book, it sounds really interesting. I need to rewatch the movie of Cuckoo's Nest, it's been such a long time that I don't remember much of it, except some vivid images of Nicholson. I'll put it on the list for our next movie night
@katehowereadsАй бұрын
I am also very interested in daily life when it comes to history. I have loved watching the farm documentary series: Victorian Farm, Tudor Monastery Farm, Edwardian Farm, etc...They are so cozy! All on youtube.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
I've been meaning to watch those, they sound excellent! Maybe something to watch over Christmas break
@dqan7372Ай бұрын
Just saw an Oxford don on KZbin pronounce Martial as Marshall. And a tv interviewer addressed Kesey as Keezee. I've been pronouncing the latter incorrectly I guess. Fun haul!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
It's usually only when I'm filming these videos that I realise I have only ever read these names, never heard them spoken!
@shaunholtАй бұрын
I've read a bit of the ancient Greeks - Plato, Aristophanes, Aeschylus. Euripides and Herodotus are on my to-read list. My favorite has been Sophocles. I'm about 50% through the Iliad and like it even though most of it is just, "And Damentris was killed by Klaxius. And Findel was slain by Murion. Gadalacus killed Pintos and Raymeon, before being himself slain by Hetos of Crete. It's just like.... Okay... No clue who any of those guys are, but okay, sure. I tried Sons and Lovers by Hardy and couldn't get into it. I could see that maybe it had some value, but would've required far more patience and thought than it was worth. I'm unlikely to re-try it or anything else by him. Not my cuppa tea. And I greatly enjoyed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Pretty much everything by Kesey is on my to-read list because of it. I've got Sometimes a Great Notion, as well as a signed copy of Sailor Song. Haunting of Hill House I rage-quit after about 20 pages because of repetition of something. I forget what. Maybe it was "she thought". The second or third chapter had like four per page. Drove me crazy.
@jamesduggan7200Ай бұрын
It's an interesting narrative structure: It begins with a conclave of literate people enjoying Christmas together that then shifts into the letter of a nanny who some years earlier had an experience at Hill House that made her uncomfortable to relate in full. I don't know why James felt so comfortable jumping into her head but most people seem to be satisfied with his interpretation of her as a young woman.... [edit] Oh I am so sorry, please forgive me for conflating Turn of the Screw with Haunting of HIll House. oops!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Glad to hear you've enjoyed Sophocles! He's high on my list. I have quite vivid memories of Euripides' Medea, which we read in our high school class. I read Cuckoo's Nest years ago but never ventured any deeper into Kesey's work, that'll have to be added to my to read list!
@lorriemerson5274Ай бұрын
Great review. I love North and South.
@Maryjane022Ай бұрын
I love this and your channel 😊❤
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Thank you! 😊
@heyheimegАй бұрын
I loved the review! I do love North and South and it is one of my favorite books but I did like Mary Barton more and I'm curious what you will think of that book.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Interesting! I'll probably read Mary Barton soon as I'm on a bit of a roll with the Gaskells 😁
@richarddelanetАй бұрын
"The interpretation may be ongoing...". How can I put this... The chapter about Anthony Everett's _Augustus_ is... what it is... is really quite shoddy scholarship in the final analysis. She might have said I don't like Mr Everett's apparent world view. And left it at that.
@richarddelanetАй бұрын
Would appreciate a video about _The Fall_ by Albert Camus.
@Maeve_Ever_BooksАй бұрын
Loved the review!
@JasonbookcollectingАй бұрын
Great review! I'd be interested in reading that. Thanks!
@joelharris4399Ай бұрын
It's interesting how your vlog mimics the published instalments of serials. Life imitates art🎨
@jamesduggan7200Ай бұрын
It isn't something I've thought about recently but I seem to recall a general prejudice against the picaresque tendencies of single young men.
@Maeve_Ever_BooksАй бұрын
I now need to read Orlando!!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
It's so weird but so good!!
@РоманПаляниця-к5эАй бұрын
Excellent... I'm reading "The Lord of the Rings" right now, bought "King Lear" and Shakespeare's "Hamlet" planned next, "Merchant of Venice" - already read. I would supplement your list with books by Romain Gary, for example, "Air Serpents" and some other historical books. Thanks for the interesting video and greetings from Ukraine!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Those are excellent reads! I'm reading/listening to Othello at the moment. Thank you for watching, hope you're doing well!
@tekstar78Ай бұрын
Good selection! Whenever someone asks me to make a desert island list like that I always include a dictionary so that when I’ve read and re read the other books I start writing my own.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
That's such a good answer! Being on an island would be the perfect distraction-free time to write
@RSelcovАй бұрын
Don't forget your sun block!
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Good point, I definitely need it!
@NeilBruderАй бұрын
You didn't introduce yourself at the start! Thought I suppose if you're alone on a deserted island it doesn't matter 😁In the lead up revealing Orlando I thought you were going to say Proust! One of my picks would be Swann's Way since I want to read it but haven't yet.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Oh no! I guess we'll keep my identity a mystery 😂 Proust would be an excellent choice to be fair! If I can bring more I'd totally add him
@jamesduggan7200Ай бұрын
Great list; for me surely there's Shakespeare and the Bible but after that who can guess?
@LanaCelebicАй бұрын
I have those same editions of The Lord of the Rings and Shakespeare and I'd definitely take them with me as well. Robinson Crusoe - great thinking! I liked it when I first read it as a kid, but I realised later it was an abridged version. When I read the complete book, I didn't like it at all. I also didn't enjoy Moll Flanders by Defoe, which makes me wonder if he's just not the author for me and whether I should try A Journal of the Plague Year.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
I struggled through half of Moll Flanders as well before I DNF'd it, so maybe you would like Journal! Although I know a lot of people found that it hit a little too close to home considering 2020
@LanaCelebicАй бұрын
@@TheEclecticLibraryIt's good to know that you also struggled with Moll and didn't like Robinson, but liked A Journal. I've been interested in it for quite some time, but I was apprehensive about trying it. I might pick it up next year. Thanks! 🙂
@marthajumartinsАй бұрын
what a nice list! totally agree with it 🤩
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Thank you Martha!
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
A top 10 spooky/creepy/scary books to celebrate Halloween perhaps?
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
I'm currently re-reading Emma in preparation for next year's 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth and once again I've been delighted with the likes of the endlessly verbose Miss Bates and the hypochondriac Mr. Woodhouse ("sitting outside is always a mistake"...!) Perhaps a trifle premature but an entire vlog devoted to her novels would certainly be of interest.
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
I've been considering rereading Emma this week, so I'm thrilled to hear you're enjoying yours! Did you see the recent-ish movie adaptation? Bill Nighy is a brilliant Mr Woodhouse. I'm glad they included the hypochondria in his characterisation
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
Mr Woodhouse is described as a valetudinarian, which was a new one on me! Apparently it's an archaic word for hypochondriac!@TheEclecticLibrary
@josephcossey1811Ай бұрын
Splendid top 10 (we'll forgive the minor cheating in choosing the entire works of Shakespeare AND the whole of Oscar Wilde, so long as you read The Tempest first on your desert island!)
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
Ha, of course! No other Shakespeare would suffice in that situation
@joelharris4399Ай бұрын
Frodo, Sam and Tree Beard for all I know could be whispering in your ears to persuade you to bask in The Shire, with is rolling hills, green fields and little rivers
@TheEclecticLibraryАй бұрын
I am a huge proponent of second breakfast, admittedly