#274

[@BooksUnbound]

Oops! For a moment there the title was the title for next week... just a big marketing ploy to build hype?? Just a little mistake in the hecticness of the holiday season?? HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Enjoy this insanely big book haul!!!!

[@Book_love001]

i just finished watching the video and was questioning my memory because i could not remember the Goals 😂😅

[@vaibhav6826]

Yeah, I was wondering the same. Happy Holidays guys. It's almost 2025. 🤯🤯🤯

[@emilyinspaaace]

I just got both notifications and thought we got 2 episodes today as a present 😂

[@megbern2416]

I was so confused waiting for that part of the vid thinking I got something wrong 😢😂 lovely episide as always and excited for next week 🥰

[@Kelsey_Rene]

the way i audibly "YAHOO"'-ed when Ariel announced her completed mission. I am so proud.

[@angelaluz405]

These are my favorite episodes of the year! Also, the longer the episode, the better the episode. (I can't be the only one who finds that to be the case.)

[@ameerahalgohary]

Me too! 🎉

[@maevajesse]

Same 😁

[@eszemaszeszed]

facts

[@wellthatsjustduckie]

I feel like a lot of people participated in Game of Tomes this year. I really wanted to read Middlemarch, LotR, and The Count of Monte Cristo but I was not focused on big books this year.

[@emilyhaggard3525]

I was just coming here to say this lol

[@WitchRocks]

Ariel keeps gagging me with these announcements! Congrats on visiting all the bookshops!!! I have loved following along with you!

[@giuliab21]

"Catnip for old Ariel" HAHAHAHAHA♥️

[@pjlacey3990]

I love that Ariel sets huge goals for herself and then actually follows through with them! Well done!

[@Talesinmaking]

Well Done Ariel!! Was not expecting that big goal to be crossed off so swiftly, nicely done!! I love hearing about the community states and next year I plan to change one of them by being in the 26 and above book zone, I am plotting my new bookish goals to throw off your stats haha! I wish 😉that would have to be a community effort really haha!! Happy New Year too all!!! 🥂

[@grenouilleco]

There is probably a large overlap of your audience and the KZbin channel Emmie. She read The Count of Monte Cristo this year as well as Middlemarch, 1Q84, and The Lord of the Rings for her 'Game of Tomes' book club. Therefore I predict popular books for next year will include her picks for 2025: The Magic Mountain, Babel, East of Eden, and/or The Silmarillion. 📚📚

[@writerchic676]

I thought the same!!

[@soph3373]

True! Emma and this channel are the only booktube content I watch

[@tanyahudson2156]

Yes! 84 Charing Cross was a favorite this year. Thanks again!

[@createcek]

Omg!! I think I’m the Count of Monte Cristo person who filled out the survey 🙈

[@waxenapple1195]

Ah! In Memoriam was my favorite book this year! When I finished it I knew I was going to read stacks of books chasing what that book made me feel.

[@itsGabrielaCristina]

Such an amazing book! Made my top 5 last year.

[@chooseyourthoughts7692]

So many little thoughts and comments I had while listening to this, but instead of rambling, I just want to sum it up by saying “thank you!!” …Thank you both for another amazing year of the podcast and this fun bookish community you have created! I feel like all of you are my friends and I am glad we all exist 😊❤❤📚📖

[@veniciak910]

Okay I just had such an eerie moment...as Raeleen was listing off mashed potato books people read this year, I was reorganizing my bookshelf, looked at Middlemarch and thought "I want to read Middlemarch this year" AND THEN SHE SAID "a lot of people read Middlemarch this year"!!! This is obviously a sign, and also I'm kind of spooked 😂

[@cassandralyne]

I’m the “my word of the year was growth” It was the perfect word for the year! 😊 2025’s word of the year will be connection 🎉

[@jazzgirlie]

Omg that’s my word of the year too!

[@cassandralyne]

@ ooooh, yay! 😁

[@MishiBelley]

I've been WAITING for this episode, hooray!

[@bethmw28]

I'm on the "maybe next year" train with War & Peace as well 🙈😂

[@bethmw28]

Ooh tenant of wildfell hall is another mashed potato I've created this year - need to get on it!

[@meganjones3368]

Fun fact about Ariel's copy of Jane Eyre: The edition you have is a big plot point in the movie, "Definitely Maybe." Isla Fisher's character is looking for that exact copy of Jane Eyre throughout the entirety of the movie. I don't want to spoil why, but you should watch that movie if you haven't already!

[@meganjones3368]

I love having like the same copy of a book that a character has in a movie or show if it's like a big enough plot point to the whole thing. I have the exact copy of "Love In The Time Of Cholera" from "Serendipity" because they search for that book throughout the entire thing and that's one of my favorite movies. I also have the edition of "The Complete Novels Of Jane Austen" that Hugh Dancy owns in "The Jane Austen Book Club" simply because of his funny joke where he thinks Austen's books are all sequels.

[@daysleeper1989]

I got excited for a second with the title but I knew we had to wait for the goals one for a bit

[@itsGabrielaCristina]

My top two books this year were A Psalm for the Wild-Built and I Who Have Never Known Men! Both are new all-time favorites! My third favorite? A Little Life 😂

[@DaisyLife_]

This episode is such a joy every year 🎉 also the count of Montecristo came out as a movie in France this year, so I assume that must have played in how many people have read it 😂

[@kui-is-ghost]

The way I gasped when Raeleen hauled Chess by Stefan Zweig! That book is absolutely incredible and I'm now obsessed with reading chess in books!

[@anneangel8699]

I'm listening to this at work, and I stopped doing what I was doing and clapped at Ariel's announcement (thankfully I work from home but I bet you were picturing a crazy lady in a cubicle freaking out her coworkers). Congrats, Ariel!

[@ajwb2301]

what a great way to spend the last day of the year listening to this podcast!! was such a lovely surprise to hear you'd picked up some katherine mansfield ariel, i work in her birthplace museum here in new zealand! i hope you love her stories! :)

[@MishiBelley]

I did answer the survey but forgot: one of my micro themes this year was books where children/ young adults die. About 1/3 of my books had this in some capacity. As a mom, it's been a very hard reading year. We need more books where the conflict isn't losing a child.

[@irhonda31]

I thoroughly enjoyed this! Kudos to Ariel on completing the bookstore project!

[@eladcg]

Holy... I used to watch you guys waaay back in the day and I can't believe this hadn't showed up in my feed till now!

[@kaityduncan]

Oh my gosh Ariel!! I happened upon that same edition of Jane Eyre in a teeny bookshop on the Oregon coast almost 10 years ago. It jumpstarted my love of old books and preserving them and now I plan to get my Masters in Archival Studies! I didn’t even think about how there might be a more books in the same print style. That Wuthering Heights edition is a need for me now!

[@lexiscardinale6186]

I dyed my whole head emerald green once and it was a VIBE. I am loving the green on you ❤

[@rosycosyheart]

Chess by Zweig is so good! Happy Reading! World Literature for a reason👍🏻

[@rosea570]

Hope you're feeling better now, Raeleen. This was a great episode. Love this time of year for books!

[@sds242]

What an amazing 2024! Thanks for all you guys share with us on the pod- it's my favorite part of the week :)

[@elizabethgriffith8684]

Ahhhh I Who Have Never Known Men was my fav of the year!!! It’s soooo good :)

[@hanzbanan]

Since you've mentioned it a couple of times and I don't want you to have the wrong expectations of it, Small Things Like These isn't a cosy Christmas book. It's set at Christmas but is about some difficult topics and a very dark part of Irish history (and arguably still to this day, since people and families who were affected by it are still alive). Hope you still enjoy it! Happy new year to you both! 🎉

[@Flora_Poste]

The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices!!!! I've been thinking about rereading that book lately. I know it's not exactly similar to Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men In A Boat, but I think I giggled my way through both of them and now they live in the same drawer of my brain forever and ever. I'll take this as a sign to re-add it to my TBR ;)

[@puffmaggie]

just wanted to mention it here - my bookish memory was about travelling and bookstores and finding my new faves - Hatchards in London and Good Company Books in Lisbon! i cannot wait to sit down and read other peoples response to that and the other questions, ty for sharing the spreadsheet ❤

[@alexisdonnelly1989]

This is so random, but the edition of Jane Eyre you were gifted is featured in the rom-com Definitely, Maybe! (Her dad gave it to her and inscribed it, but then she lost it.) It's my favorite novel, so I highly recommend reading it! Also, it was so fun to watch this episode while drinking tea from my Books Unbound mug 😊

[@TangeloTaylor]

So excited to see Raeleen with I'm With the Band!! That book was basically my bible in my teens and early 20s :)

[@writerchic676]

I wonder if the Count of Monte Cristo and Middlemarch stats might be partially because of the Game of Tomes book club here on Booktube? They were the first two picks!

[@silvercookies]

May you both have a wonderful New Year!

[@Ver0nica437]

Raeleens hair is looking soooo beautiful. I never thought I’d love green hair so damn much 💚💚💚💚💚

[@myriam8190]

Middlemaech was part of the Game of Tomes hosted by @emmiereads and @carolynmariereads… so that might have something to do with it! 😊

[@Emelia39]

Kiwis love Katherine Mansfield! We read a bunch of her stories in school. For other authors I recommend Janet Frame, Witi Ihimaera, and for a more recent person, Eleanor Catton.

[@circleofleaves2676]

The chickens that your mum made - you could sell those with copies of the chicken book What The Chicken Knows, sell them as a combo deal on your booktruck.

[@skylerjumper]

i love you guys!!!!!!

[@myriam8190]

Stefan Zweig’s writing is incredible. I want to read The World of Yesterday this year. ❤

[@nkfbrx]

I’m so excited to watch this episode but THE AUDACITY you have of uploading it just after I finished a 7 hr train trip today like this wasn’t going to be the best accompaniment 😂😂😭😭

[@takewhisks8193]

Congrats Ariel! You locked in!! Rayleen, I have a bookshop nearish me (I'm not in Canada) called Shelf Life Books and also one of my faves 😄

[@reberclaire]

Just finished 84 charing cross road and LOVED IT 💕💕💕

[@jspiers0825]

I looooove that Raelene has moved, I really enjoy hearing her talk about bookshops in my neck of the woods! Can't wait for you to experience Pages

[@TheKris47]

Just a heads up that the title seems to be wrong on this one!

[@gomordecai3129]

awww I was afraid that was the case

[@arobinreads]

Ariel you're ICONIC

[@Rachel13dw]

In memoriam was my favourite book of 2023 it is absolutely stunning I still think about it a lot

[@MJ-in-Canada]

I look forward to Raeleen going down the Pamela Des Barres rabbit hole. 🐰Pamela wrote more books after “I’m With the Band.” She gives writing workshops, rocks tours of Los Angeles, and you’ve already found her website and videos. Enjoy her endless escapades!😁

[@booksbyleynes]

the thumbnail promises great things, one can always count on you two for book haul madness

[@lindenbug]

Talking of sprayed edges, it’s fun to think about all those books being desirable in secondhand bookstores decades from now. I think next we should bring back paper marbling

[@sakii_here]

I think so many people read Middlemarch because your subscriber base overlaps with that of Emmie reads and Carolyn Marie Reads. The ladies have a book club named Game of Tomes (haha) and one of their picks was Middlemarch 😂

[@katepoche4603]

I read Interior Chinatown AFTER the poll and I loved it! So sad I didn't get to include it in my stats :((

[@pjlacey3990]

Is historical fiction a genre category in your survey? For the buying books, I mainly get mine from the Kobo sale page. In my mind that is separate from buying physical books. Interesting to know would also be who buys used books vs. New books.

[@bethmw28]

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel is one of my favourite books of all time!!

[@RachelHaraburda]

I'm only on my third reading year for fun as an adult and I set the Ariel inspired 100 books goal to push myself. Spoiler, I only made it to 36, which is 2 less than last year. However, I moved abroad for school at the end of August and haven't been able to finish anything until last week (it was small things like these on audio. I thought it was ok, but I should reread because I don't feel like I was paying attention) so it was really nice to hear at the end that its ok to take breaks because life gets in the way and books will always be there :)

[@trestrece313]

Raeleen, piece of advice here: the dark forest is the most difficult part of the trilogy but please don't get disappointed and finish the trilogy, its all worth it!!

[@sierranevadavideos7151]

The Count of Monte Cristo statistics are so funny, I feel like it’s a testament to the overlap between podcast fans and watchers of the emmie books/Carolyn Marie reads KZbin channels. They read The Count of Monte Cristo as part of their Game of Tomes book club this year, and many people read with them and loved it!

[@soph3373]

Ariel with the red nails and Raeleen with the green are Christmas again 😂❤

[@wisker12]

Wes Anderson was inspired by zweig!!

[@ricardaseven6083]

Rae, did you hear about Cher's autobiography? I't coming out in January in Germany and it's titled "Part One" which I think is a pretty bawler move :D And for Ariel, I personally actually use Autobiographies of author I haven't read yet as an introduction to their work - it's the most interesting part of themselves but then makes me curious about their 'actual' writing

[@knitnkitten]

🐦‍⬛what a find🐦‍🔥 Nabakov is a phenomenal author📝 Thank you for sharing🌊omg I want to go feel the salty air of Raven & Griffin's wrap around porch

[@QuestionsIAskMyself]

I LOVED DOPPELGANGER!! Naomi Klein is an instant buy and really loved intellectual in the social science community!!

[@lindenbug]

Oh my haha, the “gay hockey” is probably because Check Please! is currently being re-released on webtoon. Glad more people are discovering it :)

[@jeannareadsbooks8475]

The spike in Middlemarch and The Count of Monte Cristo is likely because fellow BookTube best pal duo Emmie and CarolynMarieReads picked those books for their Game of Tomes book club this year! Emmie is also Canadian and you should definitely check out their channels if you haven't already heard of them

[@batsanddewdrops]

Treasure island is sooooo good!

[@arobinreads]

Please don't read any fantasy if you don't want to! I read very differently from you both, but I am here to just watch you two, because I love hearing you talk about books. Doesn't matter what those books are

[@SarahAtHeart]

I actually think I Who Have Never Known Men regained popularity because of Emily Fox Books on YT, because then Jack Edwards read it and the rest is history. Also, just a heads up Raeleen, the Rachel Denhollander book is very religious. This is one of my favorite episodes every year and as always thank you for a wonderful podcast ❤

[@KitQuirke]

I have this theory that Ariel is ageing into a female Jeff Goldblum and I think the section where she talks about The Captain’s Daughter is evidence that my theory might actually be right..

[@MK39764]

Omg how did you come to meet Amos Paul Kennedy? Second follow up did you visit Detroit!?!!

[@AClaireInSpirit]

omg! Savage Beauty is one of my mashed potatoes! Thanks for inspiring me to commit to conquering that in 2025. ❤

[@lymarisestrada588]

If you get into the 🐀 theme, there’s one about them in NYC… Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan. 😉

[@MJ-in-Canada]

I thank Sy Montgomery for dispelling the myth that chickens are stupid in “What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird.” 🐔All Sy Montgomery’s are fabulous. If you’re an animal lover, you’ll love her books.

[@kayeatoast]

if anyone wants to read a good sibling book, which also features nature/environmental themes, and an android girl i highly recommend The One's We're meant to find by Joan He!!

[@scrumtrulescent57]

Technical note: You two should try to match lighting. The drastic contrast between your feeds creates a visual disconnect.

[@CaitlinSewsSometimes]

I AM SAT

[@juliejacques110]

🪑🪑🪑

[@tinysealooter]

You went to Elmsdale's? pages and pieces?!

[@kandraReadsSometimes]

As a girl who grew up in Hannibal Missouri (hometown of Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens) I am INTRIGUED to go back and review/read his work. We had Tom Sawyer shoved down our throats in school but i think im over the trauma now 😂😂😂❤

[@pithygrapefruit]

I who have never known men was just translated to English in the last few years.

[@J.L.B]

Yall should have a book called comments.

[@meganlovejoy550]

frantically searching the comments for tips on how to read while walking on the treadmill (I get so bored walking in place & desparate for tips)

[@BojanKvakic3]

The Hidden Path to Manifesting Financial Power ebook made me realize so much about attracting wealth, it’s insane

[@vorgebrauchschutteln3859]

Since my favorite book didn't come up and it's my mission to make people read it: Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated by Alison Arngrim. It's so good. Read this if: - you watched Little House on the Prairie. - you like Memoirs that are well written, funny and sad - you are interested in the life of child stars - you are interested in the show business - you want to get to know an awesome woman that does a lot for other people! look up trigger warnings tho!

[@mariecarter1379]

I read that a few years ago! Loved it.... 😊

[@vorgebrauchschutteln3859]

@@mariecarter1379 nice! I feel like nobody knows about it. I hope it picks up some hype at some point. I wan't a German translation for my mother.

[@Kate-mp3du]

I think AI books will have pastel covers tbh :) just a guess!

[@SophieEllenDay]

Loving the ep but just fyi the title is not the content!

[@VivianBB27]

aaaaaaaahhhh yaaaaay

[@janeandclementine]

My prediction for smash hit by a 1st time author in 2025? The Names by Florence Knapp. Let’s talk in 2026.