Happy birthday!🎉 I'm now intrigued enough to read this book as frankly your opinion is much more valuable than Goodreads.

I loved this video and there are so many thoughts I have on this topic but I'll limit myself to these. I've been reading fantasy since the 90s and it was obvious that it was geared towards males. There were several reasons for that. Women authors were not equally represented and most books at bookshops were from male authors. Perforce I read many male authors and loved them. Perhaps as a result I developed a preference for books targeting males. Also traditionally I think, fantasy was a genre males tended to enjoy. I knew very few women who liked it. I've never been a reader to take offence easily from a book. It all depends on the context. I won't stop reading because there is violence or racism or sexism. Unfortunately they are a part of life. Gratuitous violence however is another story. Perhaps that is yet another reason I'm drawn to what some consider male targeted fantasy. My audience is also predominantly male which I think stems from the books I discuss.

Happy Bday! I just finished this , we are Bookclubing it for the SF/F bookshop where I work and I found it quite delightful and charming. I was rather surprised to see the dystopian tag when i looked it up on Storygraph but I guess that does make sense. Klara's perspective is so well written, interesting and funny at times. An interesting change of pace for me.

A belated Happy Birthday Johanna!! 🎂Its very interesting how you said that Ishiguro doesn't go heavy on the worldbuilding rather he chooses to reveal things quite slowly. I'd say he does the same thing for Never Let Me Go, which I love. You have definitely convinced me to pick up Klara and the Sun. I was initially put off by the reception but thank you for reminding me that I ought to have more faith in Ishiguro, especially considering The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go are favorites.

Congratulations on your birthday and thanks for this video. As always wonderfully articulated. I loved the background music!

Thanks for specifying in the title that it is spoiler free. I haven't read it yet, so almost skip over it until I saw that tag.

First of all, happy belated birthday dear, hope you had a wonderful day!! 🥰 Between you, Jimmy and Merphy all gushing about this book your own unique ways, I am now desperate to try it out for myself! I am also not the type of reader who seeks for a lot of explanations in my sci-fi/speculative fiction, so this sounds perfect for my tastes.

This was so much fun to watch. The betrayals 😂😂 ... I really enjoyed hearing your answers. I'm on book 25 of the Discworld myself and need to get back to it. Favourite read and book that made me cry has to be Deadhouse Gates.

Since you and Jimmy Nutts are both making your way through Ishiguro, any chance of a live discussion once the bibliography is completed? Ishiguro is becoming a really special author to me so I am always happy to see people talk about him. Happy Reading and Happy Birthday! 🎂 📖

❤🎉📚❤️ Happy Birthday! I loved Klara and the Sun!!😊

Happy Birthday! Ishiguro is amazing, and I love your background

I've only come around to watch the video today #teamreplay. But boy am I always happy to see and hear you guys. A very interesting as well as insightful conversation. Also, I love how all three of you have such a healthy and well-reflected perspective on the larger booktube 'thing'. I much prefer adult Booktube (no, not THAT kind of 'adult' 🤣) to the hypefest of the earlier years. Thanks, Johanna for always being a great host. And also thanks to Rick Thunder and Cat Stevens for being on the show!

Happy birthday Joanna! That was a brilliant review and I agree so much with everything you said. I love Ishiguro’s writing. His story telling is so subtle and nuanced, I feel like his worlds all have something hidden that he gradually lets you explore through the characters’ experiences. I think you would enjoy Never Let Me Go.

I really want to read this book and do a Ishiguro themed video. I’m so glad it has gotten high praise from you and I’m glad I have a better understanding now to not focus too much on figuring out the worldbuilding bc of the lack of info dumps. Ps the salamander was super cute at the end

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHANNA ❤🎉🎉 hope you had a beautiful day !

AI ultimately falls to the nievity of mankind who thinks he can medicate his pain and loneliness away. That we are so operable to the point that a machine could somehow reflect us in name - because it could never exist toward the human possibility of virtue, silent though that virtue is right now.

Great video! I'm really looking forward to reading this one soon. Need to finally finish Ishiguro's works (but I always do this, I leave one or two novels by an author I love, just so I know I have something new to come back to...)

Ishiguro is my second favorite living author. Glad you liked Klara and the Sun. I too loved it but prefer many of his others. Can't wait for you to read them

Happy birthday Johanna! Great review. Sometimes a really simple style works best to convey the ideas the author wants to get across. I’ve often found Goodreads ratings to be lacking.

Ishiguro is not a "genre writer," unless one considers literary fiction a genre. Most of his recent novels have used various genres as a kind of nonphysical setting -- horror, mystery, fantasy...and now scifi. But just as his novels are set in Japan, England, Central Europe or wherever to suit his literary purposes rather than him being interested in describing life in any particular place, the scifiness of this novel is just a means to an end. This book may not fit in the box that many readers are expecting -- on the contrary he plays with boxes only to at times transcend, escape or ignore them. He pays no particular respect to scifi conventions -- maybe some people don't like that. For me it's one of the very best novels of recent years -- tastes can differ!

🌞 I am going to have to get to this author and this book at some point! Even though I tend towards the hard end of SF. I was looking out for your 🦌 visitor again today 😍 🍌 Is that a Banana plant behind your right shoulder, left-hand side of the screen?

Happy birthday. Thank you for the review :)

Happy Birthday Johanna!!! Mine is this Monday. It's the most elite time of the year for birthdays. The way you and Jimmy are talking up Klara and the Sun ihas caught my attention. The most acclaimed novels of all time seem to sit at 3.5 to 3.8 stars on Goodreads. Work that challenges or dares to be different is going to alienate some of the audience.

Love the video! I have read a lot of Ishiguro, but not Klara and the Sun yet, so it's on my soon to read TBR. Now I'm super excited! Happy Birthday :)

Happy Birthday! I thought the writing in this book was fantastic and I really connected with the character of Klara. I didn't mind the world building being mysterious, although I would have liked some more reveals towards the end. My only issue with the book was that I felt like my emotions were at a level 10 for most of the book, but felt like the ending lacked the punch that I was expecting, which might have made it an all-time favourite.

Happy birthday!💛 I’ve added Klara and the Sun to my TBR.

Happy Birthday Joanna. I hope you are enjoying it. I will be celebrating my birthday next week on the 31st. Looking forward to it since I will be on vacation. Interesting review for Klara and the Sun. I read The Buried Giant a few years back by Ishiguro. I thought the characters (especially the older couple) was well done but it did not quite succeed as an epic fantasy for me. I might have to re-read it to see if I feel differently. However, I do want to read more of Ishiguro’s work especially his novella collection, Nocturnes and his most famous work, The Remains of the Day. Ishiguro is a well regarded author and glad you had a good reading experience with Klara and the Sun. Happy Reading!

Happy birthday, Klara and the Sun was a great read. A lot of great books on Goodreads have low ratings... I gave it 5 stars. Klara and the Sun has a higher rating than Moby Dick!

Happy birthday 🎉 I loved Klara and the Sun when I read it. It really touched me. I'm happy to hear you liked it.

Happy Birthday!🎂 The book sounds wonderful and yet another one to add to my groaning TBR.

Happy birthday Johanna! Great video as always.

Happy birthday Johanna! I will say the same thing I said to Merphy yesterday: Klara is a great book. But Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro just blew me away so I would warmly recommend it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! This book sounds really special. I, for one, have great empathy for our future-AI overlords and want to publicly make it clear that I support them. BTW, I love the magical glow of the woods behind you.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!!🎉. I am so happy you enjoyed this book! It was one of my favorites the year I read it. I felt so connected to the themes of service and searching. ❤

Happy birthday!!! Way to celebrate with an Ishiguro book lol! 🎉 so glad you loved it! I am a themes reader too, and I just love the themes in Ishiguro’s books. And his writing style is immaculate!

Happy Birthday! 🎂🎂🎂 So you're what, 25?

🥳 Happy Be Johanna! ❤ I'm so happy that you also enjoyed Klara and the Sun! Perhaps some readers miss the depth of the book in what appears to be YA-ish storytelling. I found that "fairy tale" quality magical. I love your observation regarding how human character is revealed by how each person treats/relates to Klara. And the background music! 👍

Sounds amazing, especially cuz I eat up non-human POVs. I really liked his early lit fic books but I suspect I might love his spec fic even more.

Happy Birthday Johanna! I have Never Let Me Go coming up since I own that one, but Klara was going to be next! It sounds wonderful.

Have a wonderful Birthday! This is an author I need to get to soon it sounds like.

Happy Birthday! I LOVED Klara and the Sun and it was also my first Ishiguro. My understanding from other perhaps more hard core SSF friends is that they think it isn't Ishiguro's best work and it is not original; they point to Asimov's I Robot as being the better book. However, I think you hit it exactly - this is literary SF not so much about about science and robots as it is about human emotions. I thought it was beautiful and no spoilers but that ending stays with me; it is what I think about first when I remember this book.

Happy Birthday!!!! I have fihished Forge of the High Mage by Ian Esslemont. It was not as good as the previous books but was still worth reading. Thank you for your good Review.

Happy Birthday!!🎉🎉🎉 I can't wait to get to this one. I'm reading him in pub order.

Hello there hey there hey Hello hi there

Happy Birthday and thanks for the review. I dismissed this book when it came out in part because I found Never Let Me Go disappointing, but now I will definitely reconsider.

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO YOU, JOHANNA!!! 🎉🎂🥳🎈🎊🎁

A relatively low score on Goodreads is often (not always) a sign that I’ll find the book is deeply engaging and beautifully written and that it pushes the envelope. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this one, Johanna - I suspect we could learn a lot about humanity from an AI perspective.

Listened to this while shaving. Good review

I know I’m late to this video, but it was such a delight! I enjoyed all of the conversation. Especially interested in the female authors in fantasy in adult sphere and publishing, and the SA in novels.