7 Books I Need To Read

[@CitizenKane359]

Moby-Dick is a towering masterpiece. I finally read it a few months ago, but prepared myself by going over random paragraphs every day for a month. The sound of the language is very different from what I'm used to, even from other books written in the mid-nineteenth century, but once you let yourself fall into it, it is uniquely captivating. Not for everyone, so don't feel bad if you don't like it, but it's unlike anything else I ever read.

[@ToReadersItMayConcern]

Moby Dick is one of those books that is best appreciated when you have nothing else to read: it requires time and attention and slowing your pace (and not glancing at forthcoming reads wishing for the ease of their newness). If you read without that steady attention, it can feel like the plot plods and meanders; with attention, each paragraph becomes a resounding gift. I think you're probably right that you won't 'enjoy' the work-I don't think I particularly 'enjoy' Moby Dick, though some do. It's more like after reading Moby Dick I can open any passage and feel it, and miss it, and often I find inspiration in Melville's devotion to every phrase. It feels Biblical in its scale, though the plot itself on the surface seems so particular. It's actually a truly special book the more I think on it. It rests in my memory completely unlike most other books I've read.

[@TheActiveMind1]

I think you’re right - which is why I’m careful to not rush it into my plans. I’ll have to try and savor it when I crack it open

[@tinabierk]

I was also really impressed by Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville - it was around 30 pages long in my edition. You might start with this one

[@sharpasaknife6456]

The very first publication of "Magic Mountain" was in November 1924, so we had some interesting features here in Germany for the 100 anniversary. I'm curious to hear more about your announced book club.

[@dqan7372]

Love these picks! Took me three attempts to get past the first fifty pages of Moby Dick. Probably took Cliffs Notes / Wikipedia to finally find my sea legs. Now it's one of my favorite reads. I get why people don't like it. In terms of pure plot, it maybe could have been a novella. But I loved the passionate deep dive into the world of whaling. Looking forward to your thoughts on Joyce. I'd start with Dubliners. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is actually my favorite of his, so I would encourage you to be on the lookout for it. It too required some encouragement from Cliffs Notes from the very first page, though if I had just rolled with it I think I would have caught on quick enough. I too had trouble reading Emma, but the college lectures on it were fascinating. Like we were reading totally different books. I'm still slowly hate trudging my way through P&P. I'm sure part of it is that I just don't get it (I'm reading a very interesting social history to get caught up), but an even bigger part is that I just don't care. Planning to give it another chance some day.

[@BobCanRead]

Thanks for the shout out, sir! Phenomenal take on this tag, as well. I see a lot of comments in defense of _Moby-Dick_ and they're all correct. I would say that I went into it with very similar reservations, but found myself loving the vast majority of it, to the point that it is now one of my all-time favorites. True, there are absolutely passages that will test your patience, but it's well worth pushing through them. The sheer depth of its themes, the richness of the storytelling, and the terrifically detailed portrait of human nature it paints make the experience incredibly rewarding. _Finnegans Wake_ is a book that I've tried to read several times, but it just keeps defeating me. The relentless wordplay and the layers upon layers of meaning . . . it's a challenge that continues to elude me. For now I will simply admire it from afar. Great video, pal. Cheers!

[@HenryEdwards-ms9jm]

Man I really respect you and your reading passion. Youre a really good booktuber. Before you tackle Ulysses id recommend reading Dubliners first as there are characters from it in Ulysses (only minor characters tho) this is where i get annoying.... id recommend reading A Potrait of the Artist as a Young Man before as Ulysses is basically a sequel of it. The main character Stephen childhood is explored in A Potrait and then his adulthood in Ulysses (A portrait is a lot shorter and easier btw) Also i found Dubliners highly enjoyable, i think James Joyce had a lot of self restraint.

[@aleksandrshapovalenko4263]

Yeah, the most rational way to read Joyce's books is probably: Dubliners > Ulysses > Finnegans Wake.

[@hatethenewyou]

Stoked for that book club you mentioned!!

[@thebearclaw2724]

I read Twilight of the Idols for the first time earlier this year, and it is a fantastic book. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it!

[@tinabierk]

I read Moby-Dick a few years ago, and it instantly became one of my favorite books of all time. I used articles and lectures to better understand the references, though. I’m planning to re-read it in the future, when I read King Lear, Paradise Lost, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Metamorphoses by Ovid, and Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus. And ofc The Bible. But even without reading those works, I was still able to enjoy the story, the ideas, the language - everything. The whale anathomy chapters were my favorite. Some of them were so funny I was laughing out loud :)

[@TheActiveMind1]

I’m behind on all of those as well!

[@marciajohansson769]

As you probably know Herman Melville is from Massachusetts. Every year they have a Moby Dick read a thon ( next is January 3 to 5, 2025) at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. I have yet to read the book myself. Now that I am retired I am trying to play "catch up" and get to some of these books. I heard about your channel from Steven Donoghue and enjoyed the video you both did together. It was fun to watch. Be well and keep up the The Active Mind video's, great content.

[@TheActiveMind1]

Happy to hear you enjoyed my chat with Steve! I suspect I’ll fall in love with the novel….once I stop procrastinating haha

[@burke9497]

Great to see this video today! It will be interesting to see what you end up thinking about Moby Dick. I’m near the end of rereading it after many years. It has some beautiful moments. It’s fascinating that it has proponents of being the best novel ever written, and then there is the camp that absolutely hates it. Thanks for the video! 🎉

[@aadamtx]

From the top: Yep, Moby-Dick can be a chore, as every other chapter is about whales, with the actual story of Ahab and Company in the alternate chapters. Required reading, however. For something completely different, read Melville's The Confidence Man, Billy Budd, and "Bartelby the Scrivener." Grossman is also on my TBR list, although I read his Armenian Sketchbook and a truckload of other big fat Russian novels (Bely's Petersburg is very good). Step away from Finnegan's Wake. Very far away. Only the most serious academic Joyce scholars give it a go. Start with Portrait of an Artist, then get Stuart Gilbert's James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study, which will walk you through chapter by chapter. Everything by Mann is excellent, so Magic Mountain or Buddenbrooks would be good choices. Klaus Mann and Heinrich Mann are also very good - and much more accessible (Heinrich wrote The Blue Angel, the basis for the Marlene Dietrich film). Don't start with Wings of the Dove for James - trust me on this one, he was one of my foci (focuses?) as a grad student. Start with Turn of the Screw, The Bostonians, The American, The Ambassadors, or Washington Square. Just finished Everett's JAMES - should have won the Booker, should be a Pulitzer shoo-in.

[@kl0pper]

You've got the wrong idea about Moby Dick. No other book is more fun to read.

[@TheActiveMind1]

I hope you're totally right! It seems others agree with you too

[@mitchellscott1843]

The language is so alive and yet almost alien it takes you place's you wouldn't expect. A terrific read up there with Don Quixdote as my favorite book.

[@taylorr.1589]

Moby-Dick is my favorite book of all time (often fighting The Brothers Karamazov for #1). It's definitely hard to recommend. And honestly it's shocking when people don't kind of hate it on their first read. But to me, Melville's prose and humor and wit and sensibility excels. Read the book knowing it is perhaps the greatest novel ever written, but also, is really, at bottom, a joke.

[@joshuacreboreads]

I can understand that reaction to Emma. I read it a couple years ago and enjoyed it, but found that it lacked some of the charm of Pride and Prejudice. The character Emma certainly isn’t as likeable as Lizzy and Jane! So I completely get that response.

[@DUFMAN123]

I'll give it a go Classic I've been meaning to read forever and haven't - Don Quixote On the shelf for ages and haven't read yet - The Death of Virgil Recent purchase that I haven't read yet - Of Human Bondage A book recommended by a friend - Orbital (of recent Booker shortlist fame, I don't think I'll get to it ever though) Next book on my TBR - Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (my most recent buy)

[@TheActiveMind1]

Don Quixote is one I've yet to read as well!

[@ireadbooks3475]

I've been reading Moby Dick for about a month now (I tried to read at least one or two chapters everyday, sometimes failing to do so), and I have not found myself nearly as intimidated by the novel as I previously thought I was going to be. If you have a solid grasp on the movements or tendencies of certain authors, you begin to almost communicate with the author one on one. Herman Melville is certainly one of those authors who you can communicate with. Seeing how you read and find depth in nearly every book you talk about on this channel, I think you'll have a field day with Moby Dick. Sure, there are chapters devoted to the biological history of whale, or the proper way to cook a whale-steak, or the utilization of whale-resources in the growing industrial world of the novel's setting -- but these things are what make Melville special. He has fun with what he writes. The Romantic symbols and climate of Moby Dick is like no other novel. Otherwise, if you're really interested in Melville, but don't want to commit to one of his longer novels, he has many short-to-medium length works, and many MANY short stories. Benito Cereno is a fantastic novella (about 80-90 pages in most publications), which I am currently reading. Otherotherwise, I recently brought home a book haul. The books are Messiah by Gore Vidal, Smoke by Dan Vyleta, and a collection of W. Somerset Maugham's writings, including, but not limited to, Of Human Bondage and The Summing Up. Great video! Love your channel! Appreciate your dedication to your viewers (aka, appreciate you reading this long-ass comment).

[@TheActiveMind1]

After reading the enthusiasm of so many in the comments, now I'm very excited to read it!

[@Cristinact]

I have never read Moby Dick and it is also on my TBR list! BUT I read "Ahab's Rolling Sea: a Natural History of Moby Dick" by Richard J King a couple of years ago. This book helped me understand the context, the language, what the whale hunters knew or thought they knew about whales and what we know now, etcetera. It is a very thick book, too but I enjoyed it very much. Now whenever I'm reading Moby Dick (and God knows when that'll be!) I will understand the whale lingo better. Or maybe I'll just skip it :)

[@darkstarsbookcavern]

The first time I read Emma I wasn't very impressed. Pride & Prejudice certainly is Austen's best work, but on re-reading Emma is a genuinely nice time

[@JamesI88]

Have you already read the people immortal and stalingrad before you read life and fate? I have the last 2 of the 3, and will eventually read them once I have the 3.

[@TheActiveMind1]

Not yet

[@notmyrealname3370]

I totally get buying books by an author before reading anything by them (my excuse is I live in a non-English speaking country, so some English-language books are hard to come by). For example, I've had two books by Hawthorne for a couple of years at this point. Coincidentally, the reason I got them was the fact that none other than Melville was obsessed with Hawthorne, and I wholeheartedly trust his judgment) Whenever you get to Moby Dick, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

[@isoney]

I think Sense and Sensibility is closer to Pride and Prejudice than Emma. I don’t mind Emma but it’s quite frothy. I think the payoff in S&S is much more emotional and I personally think it edges ahead in terms of my favourite of Austen’s. Elinor is such a relatable big sister.

[@magnumopus7502]

Joyce said about this novel that "I wrote not to be read, but to be heard." It is a poetic work rather than a prose work. P.S. "Moby Dick" is the best English-language book, in my opinion! I read it every summer. Two years ago, on my birthday, in July, I was on a boat across the Atlantic specifically to read it to me. I have never had such pleasure in my life! P.S.P. S. Sorry, I don't know English well! :)

[@TheActiveMind1]

I’m curious to know whether I’ll enjoy Joyce’s works or feel stumped by them

[@magnumopus7502]

@@TheActiveMind1 Foresight is crucial. If I read it after "David Copperfield" and go into the process with expectations created by Dickens, I will feel confused. If I delete all the books I have read in my brain and read them like a newborn baby takes food, then I will enjoy it.

[@WilliamBlakePoetry]

Before our read Life and Fate you need Tom read Stalingrad by Grossman. Life and fate isn’t a sequel to Stalingrad and I read Life and Fate twice before knowing it was a sequel. I don’t know why this isn’t more we’ll known but the start of Life and Fate follows directly from the end of Stalingrad. Both amazing books but Stalingrad is also very long!

[@WilliamBlakePoetry]

There are lots of typos in my comment. Please excuse them. TLDR: read Stalingrad before Life and Fate.

[@TheActiveMind1]

Although that’s a fair point, I’ll probably just read L&F first since I already have it and since Stalingrad will be a heavy read as well like you mentioned

[@WilliamBlakePoetry]

Do what works for you. If I could go back in time and choose the order I read them in, I would 100% read Stalingrad first. But on the other hand, I read Life and Fate without even knowing it was a sequel and it was instantly one of my favourite books. This was my first video of yours, so I look forward to hearing about it!

[@HannahsBooks]

If you like James--or even if you don't especially like James--you might give Edith Wharton a shot. House of Mirth is my favorite, but Age of Innocence is beloved too.

[@TheActiveMind1]

I've seen her name often at the local bookstores near me but was unsure where to start. Now I know!

[@HannahsBooks]

@ She and Henry James were friends. I find her work to feel more modern in its approach than Henry James (whose early works feel pretty Victorian to me).

[@Unpotted]

So what I hear you saying is that you, as an aspiring influencer, are being influenced by your audience. 😉 If, in your travels, you find a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, you might want to try it. It has parallels to other books on your list. Enjoy your weekend. 😺✌️

[@janee166]

Hi, I work in a used bookstore here in Toronto and came across the poems of Anna Akhmatova-have you heard of her? She is described as one of the greatest poets of Russian literature and one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century-how incredible the world doesn’t know her name and work

[@TheActiveMind1]

I have! I’ve been trying to find some of her work here but haven’t had any luck. I did find some of her poems online and have read a few

[@tonybennett4159]

I have a different approach to book buying as I rarely have a pile of unread, but there is often a book at the back of my mind that I intend to buy at some point. That was the case with Moby Dick which after a promising start became a chore and for my taste, vastly overrated (I preferred Billy Budd). Not so, Life and Fate, a wonderful, involving epic. I liked The Dubliners and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, but bailed on Ulysses on page 180 as I came to the conclusion that if I had ever been in the company of James Joyce, I would find him insufferable and I no longer wished to be in his company. I don't know about Wings of a Dove, but I thoroughly enjoyed Portrait of a Lady and found it unexpectedly easy to read. I have just bought The Magic Mountain for my next major read this year. With both of these authors I would recommend reading the Colm Toibin's novels The Master (about James) and The Magician (about Mann). Wonderful books in their own right.

[@TheActiveMind1]

I’ll look into those novels!

[@Oaz_Oliver_proof]

Have you read any cormac McCarthy?

[@TheActiveMind1]

I've only read Blood Meridian

[@BobTurner-ru9yy]

Well, I kind of admire your "ambition", but from my reading experience, may I make a suggestion? Since you haven't read Joyce, do yourself a favor and work first-to-last. I fear if you begin with FW you might not ever give D, PoTA or U a chance, which would be a real shame. As for James, I think, again, you're diving into the deep end before really getting to know his earlier, and relatively more easily digested, works. His last few novels, while terrific, might not be the best place to start. But hey, what do I know? Good luck and have fun.

[@TheActiveMind1]

No worries, I didn’t plan to read FW first at all. I’ll probably start with Dubliners

[@aquariuslibrarian]

Hi! I'm pretty new on booktube, and I kind of made a book tag to connect with other creators and stuff. It's about books that changed your life. I made a video about it but it's pretty self explanatory. So consider yourself nominated (If you want to hehe)

[@TheActiveMind1]

I'll check it out!

[@jackwalter5970]

I don't like Jane Austin at all. I'm excited to hear about your book club. I'm planning on reading Life and Fate soon.

[@barneysoldierson54]

I read moby dick recently, immensely fun and rewarding book I could not put it down, probably it's my second favorite book behind Frankenstein. I didn't want to believe how funny it was.

[@TheActiveMind1]

I hope I have the same experience!

[@FabriceLEQUEUX]

HELLO NICE BOOKS MERCI BEAUCOUP HI FABRICE

[@TheActiveMind1]

Thanks Fabrice!

[@Steve-Duh-Rino]

Moby-Dick, Pride and Prejudice, The Picture of Dorian Gray et al are not the best literature choices, despite what the ‘critics’ say. My First Thirty Years, Les Miserables, A Confederacy of Dunces, and anything by Turgenev are better reads.