Answering YOUR Questions to Celebrate 50,000 Subscribers (Thank You)

📚 Read the Great Books with Hardcore Literature: / about
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🎙️ open.spotify.com/show/70IZA24... (Subscribe to the Hardcore Literature Podcast on iTunes & Spotify)
🏫 hardcore-university.teachable... (Hardcore University, Exam Preparation Courses)
✍🏼 benjaminmcevoy.com My Personal Website
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Hardcore Literature Lecture Series
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📔Contents Page: cutt.ly/CmNhRY3
🎖️ War and Peace: cutt.ly/U3nzGma
🎭 Shakespeare Project: cutt.ly/B3nxHH7
🐳 Moby Dick: cutt.ly/K3nzVKf
☄️ Blood Meridian: cutt.ly/P3nz6Qp
🍂 Wuthering Heights: cutt.ly/N3nxxYt
🇮🇪 Ulysses: cutt.ly/x3nxQmN
🚂 Anna Karenina: cutt.ly/vmNhAWv
💀 Crime and Punishment: cutt.ly/rmNhFt5
⚓ Persuasion: cutt.ly/amNhX7b
☕ In Search of Lost Time: cutt.ly/5mNh8oD
⚔️ The Hero’s Journey: cutt.ly/UmNjrE3
🌸 Siddharta: cutt.ly/YmNjuzi
🎠 Don Quixote: cutt.ly/cmNjoK4
❤️Shakespeare’s Sonnets: cutt.ly/nmNlW7V
🇫🇷 Les Misérables: cutt.ly/J3YixoA
🕯️ The Turn of the Screw: cutt.ly/nToAQQ3
🖋️ Dickens Seasonal Read: cutt.ly/9ToAybt
📖 Middlemarch Serial Reading: tinyurl.com/45rv965c
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0:00 thank you for reading along
0:30 how to read to improve our lives?
4:30 what books have you reread the most?
5:07 most difficult books you’ve read?
6:00 your 5 top quotes/ideas from your reading?
13:00 are you reading McCarthy’s ‘The Passenger’?
14:14 what 3 books would you give to Shakespeare?
16:20 who is your favourite character, and why?
17:39 what are you favourite spiritual works?
19:31 appreciating a really lovely message
20:04 lesser known 19th century female novelists?
22:28 can you talk about reading with the seasons?
24:27 if you could read a book again for the first time?
24:44 balancing science and the humanities?
28:55 appreciating another lovely comment
29:08 how does the reading experience differ as we age?
31:52 objectively best work in the English language?
32:49 how will you answer all of these questions?
33:10 which canonical book did you not finish?
33:47 how does music complement your reading?
39:09 modern books you’ve added to your canon?
40:51 introducing literary themes to young readers?
42:09 how to read the eastern canon?
46:16 how to read Finnegans Wake?
48:00 your thoughts on fantasy?
48:55 favourite stories that aren’t books?
49:45 favourite films adaptations of books?
51:50 best William Golding novels?
52:03 discerning subjective vs objective worth?
54:37 thoughts on Barthes’ death of the author?
56:32 how do you respond to snobbery?
57:52 tips for finding advanced essay topics?
59:31 do you like Sir Walter Scott?
59:57 recommended non-fiction literary works?
1:00:30 any plans for author biographies?
1:01:22 is dramaturgy alive? And favourite playwrights?
1:03:25 have you learnt a language to read its literature?
1:04:37 how do you feel about translations?
1:05:20 have we exhausted Shakespeare analysis?
1:05:58 tips for managing test-taking anxiety?
1:07:47 Is there a poem that has impacted your life?
1:08:03 how does running relate to reading?
1:10:47 what is your favourite poem?
1:11:17 any plans to write your own book?
1:11:25 best time to join the book club?
1:11:59 what George Eliot have you read?
1:12:17 favourite contemporary writers?
1:12:30 what would you like to contribute to criticism?
1:12:39 why do you love Moby Dick?
1:13:57 your go-to stories when the world gets you down?
1:14:16 recommended novel for rural male students?
1:14:59 a heartfelt thank you to you all

[@mushfiquefahim141]

Your contribution in developing and improving the reading habits of so many people around the world is a matter of truly joyous recognition. I'm from Bangladesh, a country you probably wouldn't expect too many admirers from but here I am getting prepared to read Blood Meridian solely because of you. Thanks for the work you do, Ben. Congratulations!

[@shahrivarhossain]

Kemon achen bhai? I'm from Bangladesh too! 😊

[@maristarwars]

I’ve discovered your videos a 1/2 weeks ago… since then you kept me less lonely, and more loving of my passion for books and reading. Thank you for that :)

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Aw, that makes me so happy to hear that. Thank you so much for sharing your love of literature with me :)

[@criss8836]

I subscribed to your channel before you hit 20K subs. In this TikTok literature era, your channel feels like an oasis in the desert, refreshing and necessary to keep going. To understand why we read, what we read and what messages we should get out of classic literature. Thank you very much for guiding us. All the best to you, Ben.

[@vicente3j]

Tiktok literature 😭 very true

[@vicente3j]

Man it's so easy to get engrossed in these videos. At first I thought a 1 hour video was a lot but now I'm thinking it's not enough to get through everything 😂

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Vicente :) That's so lovely of you to say. I'm happy to have you here, my friend!

[@pthornburgh1]

An unexpected yet enjoyable rabbit hole

[@myramorgan4379]

Ben, Your channel stands like Mt. Everest above the abundance of drivel and mediocrity out there! Thank you so very much for your unlimited passion and knowledge of literature, AND your desire and effectiveness in sharing that impressive knowledge. Although an avid reader myself, I only discovered your channel in September and have enthusiastically shared this discovery with my many bookish friends. This Q &A has been another treasure trove of insights…thanks so much for all your terrific contributions to life’s enrichment. 🌹❤️

[@mihaigrts5976]

Amazing to see your chanel grow so fast lately. Imagine how many lives you’ve changed including mine. Thanks for the work you put out got us

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much 😊 I really deeply appreciate that!

[@thetruth4654]

@@BenjaminMcEvoy I just wanted to say that i agree with your take on training in regards to reading. And if you haven`t i would recommend trying martial arts as someone who has struggled with overthinking most of my life, martial arts lets my mind rest and be entirely present in the current moment. It is like an experience of Zen for me , highly recommend it i look forward to hearing you cover a wider range of literature(I look forward to hearing more about japanese, italian and religious\mythological literature)

[@GrrmPleaseWrite]

This channel has inspired me to vastly improve my reading habits. It’s also given me a giant list of classics to read! I just finished Wuthering Heights, and it was riveting and beautifully written. Next on my list is Dracula. Thank you for all you’ve done for this community. It’s wonderful to see your channel growing so quickly

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Wow. I'm so thrilled to hear that, Mason! Thank you so much :) And I couldn't be happier to hear that you loved Wuthering Heights. One I personally reread around this time each year! Do let us know what you make of Bram Stoker's Dracula! :)

[@marianapgar4409]

I have had a lifelong interest in reading the classic novels and have read quite a few. You are truly a gift to readers of literature. Thank you for your enthusiasm and for your outstanding discussions. It gives me hope that people such as yourself still exist.

[@terencemeikle534]

I'm simply bowled over by the insights and enthusiastic approach in these videos. I'm so glad the KZbin algorithm led me here. Utterly compelling viewing. 👌

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, Terence :) I really appreciate that deeply, and am so grateful you're here!

[@caracarlson-roberts6325]

When I learned of Dr. Bloom’s death, I wondered who would pick up the baton and run with it - I think it could be you.

[@dontravis5657]

Years ago I lost my desire/concentration to read long books, and eventually, books in general. I am thrilled to have found your channel Benjamin and am trying to remind myself of the joy I once had in reading. I just read, and loved, "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis. I know it is not a large book, but it is a start. I read it in two days and that was part of the fun, remembering (and experiencing) the feeling of being hungry to continue reading something. Maybe this is a part of the start of a new Ark for my life. Thank you for creating enjoyable content.

[@bethnoel1148]

Ben!!! Congratulations. It's great, isn't it? All of us collectively agree that you're changing our lives. I'm so happy. Thank you. You're improving my concentration, and making me an intentional reader and I don't feel bad for savoring books and reading slow.

[@motivationalenglish7802]

Hey man, I improve my British accent from your videos. Thanks for the videos.

[@gommine]

50,000! Amazing! I'm looking forward to signing up for your Patreon club. It will be my treat to myself for 2023. PS: I volunteer in a charity bookshop. Today I came across a copy of "Paradise Lost" with the iconic illustrations by Gustav Doré. I read Paradise Lost a few years ago but didnt' really absorb it. I saw the book today and thought, I'm going to buy it and listen to Ben's lectures on it and actually LEARN something. Thank you for everything you do, Ben.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Paola! How exciting to hear you'll be joining us for 2023 :) We've got some great works on the schedule that we'll be announcing a little later this month. And nice one on coming across a Paradise Lost with Gustav Doré's illustrations. One of my favourite artists. I love his illustrations for Paradise Lost, the Bible, Dante's Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. I'm a bit obsessed with him actually :) And thank you so much for your kind comments and for being here!

[@gommine]

@@BenjaminMcEvoy The illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy are incredible. I'm Italian so I've grown up associating them with the Commedia (which in Italy is part of the high school curriculum). I have an antiquarian edition of the Commedia with Doré's illustrations, it belonged to my parents. I used to be terrified of lookig at those pictures when I was growing up - but you know children... every now and then I'd take a peek and then be traumatised for a whole week XD!

[@kellysober9352]

I just want to say thank you Benjamin. I am a newer subscriber and cannot get enough of your channel. You rekindled my love of the classics and I just bought a gorgeous edition of Anna Karenina. You and this community gives me hope for the world.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, Kelly :) I really appreciate that so deeply. Thank you for being here, and I'd love to hear how your experience with your beautiful edition of Anna Karenina goes! :)

[@felicityyoon2612]

The thing is even though this is Q and A video, there are load of things to learn from it. I am so grateful for your channel and what you're doing.

[@marnasorensen988]

Love Gaskell and Braddon, also Sackville-West, and hope to see some discussion on these authors. Your videos are a lifeline. Seems less lonely knowing you and your subscribers are out there reading.

[@michaelbenz8092]

I love a quote from Turgenev taken from a hunting narrative: 'We sit in the mud and aspire to the stars."

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I love that! So true.. 😂

[@32island11]

Congrats Ben! The focus on classical literature is what drew me to this channel initially and your commitment to exploring and talking about books with timeless messages has kept me watching every one of your videos since!

[@PennyBluebottle]

Ben, thanks to you I have started reading again xxx

[@rosanna5515]

Yes, Don Quijote is my ultimate favourite character who embodies myriad human characteristics and is a great teacher and wise counsel in his persona. The second book is particularly poignant in its transparency through human behaviour, proving once more, for me at least, that a great writer must, perforce, also be a great philosopher. I read Don Quijote for the first time as an undergraduate in 1972. Since then, I have presented and discussed this wonderful work with my university students many, many times. I urge all who have not yet regaled themselves with this delightful and reflective creation to do so very soon. Enjoy. Buena lectura.

[@Tommy-xy1eh]

I still remember your joy when 5,000 Q+A Keep this good attitude even one day when your followers hit 1 million or 2 ….. Cause you are brilliant ❤ 🍀

[@Fuhugawagah]

Here I am studying Ben's bookshelves in the background for hints of the coming reading schedule for 2023...

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I've definitely been dropping little clues.. ;)

[@benedict5850]

You've helped so many people. Your religious studies teacher would be very proud.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

That's so kind of you, Benedict. Thank you. I do wonder how she's doing these days.. :)

[@GlennErikMathisen]

I was never much of a reader growing up. Individuals I respect and channels such as yours made me pick up the russian classics. In the last year I've read Crime and punishment, Notes from underground, some of chekhovs short stories, and I just finished Anna Karenina. This has been a transformative experience, and I am very greatful for your tips and advice on how to approach theese works. Thank you man! On a less serious note: I am actually surprised at how easy it was to picture Shakespeare watching the Sopranos! Big bowl of popcorn in his lap and everything... It is a great series after all!

[@baxtermaxtor]

So many good questions. I've only started classic literature in the past few years for empathy , pattern recognition and narrative description. Books are friends and these are the conversations you can have with the eminent dead.

[@lesterstone8595]

I'm glad you mentioned Jane Austen so many times. She is also a favorite of mine, but I was always reluctant to admit it out of fear of losing my man card. I really enjoy reading and re-reading Emma. Congrats on reaching over 50K. You're an inspiration. 😇

[@vicente3j]

Haha I picked up Northanger Abbey over the summer and immediately fell in love with the prose. But it wasn't my most testosterone filled reading 😂

[@lesterstone8595]

@@vicente3j lol

[@LaurenceHuntKenora_Ontario]

Golding: To the Ends of the Earth, and a magnificent BBC film adaptation with Benedict Cumberbatch! I fell in love with the TV series.

[@carolbresnahan1244]

So well deserved. You have bought so much to so many people and enriched our lives. I'm glad that you have proof of how much you are appreciated 🌻

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, Carol. I'm so grateful for you 😊

[@toddm599]

Hey, I'm a fellow McEvoy from Canada 🇨🇦 and I enjoyed this video 👍

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Hey, Todd, my fellow McEvoy! I'm thrilled some of our clan made it over to beautiful Canada. A country I called home for quite a few years! :)

[@chrissy1510]

Hello Ben! Each one of your videos feels like a gift, and this one is no exception. The Hardcore Literate Bookclub has literally changed my life. Thank you for everything you do, and huge congrats on the 50k!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Hello Chrissy! Thank you so much for such a lovely comment. We're so happy you're a part of the club and reading deeply with us 😊

[@susprime7018]

Congratulations! I have been rereading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, dipping in and out occasionally, while reading Peter Matthiessen's Snow Leopard. Alan Sillitoe's Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a great short story. Red Comet mentioned the Sillitoes as friends of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. Enjoyed, thank you.

[@vanessamay3689]

Wow. Awesome work Benjamin. So deserving as the best go to on literature as you make it engaging like the books themselves. So pleased to have found your Channel.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Vanessa! :) That's so kind of you to say. I appreciate you being here😊

[@giarabito7171]

What an excellent channel. You got me at Shakespeare and The Sopranos!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that :)

[@andreabaird8950]

You are such a wonderful human Benjamin and I adore this project of Hardcore Literature that you are offering to the world! I came to your channel to get ideas for starting an in person Bookclub and now my TBR list is like decades long!!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Andrea :) I appreciate you being here! And I relate to the 'decades long' TBR. So many books, so little time...

[@brancellbooks]

I gotta say, as an aspiring Fantasy/Sci-Fi novelist, hearing you say that you expect the next great work of literature to be speculative fiction feels good. I have a number of ideas about things I want to write about, and I’m already crafting my ‘magnum opus’ novel in my mind. I’m not yet at a point where I can do it justice, so I’m writing novellas and other novels in the meantime. I’m almost as passionate about those as I am about The Big One!

[@bjornjensen1309]

Ulysses broke me. Have had to re read it many times.. It's not even a book... It is experiencing a mind on a journey.

[@NeonRadarMusic]

Congratulations man! I thought you should know that I bought Moby Dick, Middlemarch and the first volume of In Search of Lost Time recently entirely thanks to your recommendations. 😊

[@suzannebousquet2710]

Congratulations on reaching 50,000 subscribers! Thank you for helping enrich our lives through your love of great literature. Thanks too for all the time and thought that you put into your videos. Before you know it, you will reach 100,000 and beyond......📚

[@kendama99]

I'm really glad you mentioned Alice Munro. I'm Canadian (Vancouver), so I suppose I'm a little biased, but I think she is beyond brilliant. I was introduced to her in college with Lives of Girls and Women. I was recently in England and gave her book The Moons of Jupiter to a dear friend as thanks for letting me stay with her for a few days. I also gave her a copy of Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion, a book I adore and upon finishing it ran outside and kept running down the street, so filled with a feeling of joy. Regarding music and reading, I often have something classical on quietly in the background. I started this in my early 20s (I'm 63 now) because of my tinnitus. Finally, I'm really pleased that you mentioned Little, Big, a truly magical book that I first read when I was doing my teacher training in the mid-80s. And finally, finally have you read Andre Alexis' Fifteen Dogs? A slim read but absolutely delightful, especially for a fellow dog lover.

[@DressyCrooner]

Loved this Q&A session. I am glad to have inspired your rediscovery of Mahler :) the final movement of his 2nd makes me emotional every time I listen to it. My absolute favourite piece by him is the first movement of his 3rd, 'Pan Awakes', which represents for me the rising of everything within me long-dead and suppressed by this hostile world, my awakening to life and freedom, much as the god Pan awakes in the symphony and brings in the spring with its resurrection of dormant life. It is a symbol to me of my successful escape from a cult. Also, I love the first movement of Holst's The Planets - that has the same symbolism for me as the 2nd and the 3rd, that of a heroic struggle of the individual against the herd. I see Beethoven's Third and Fifth the same way. I was listening a lot to Beethoven's 6th this summer - a very appropriate piece of music for summer, a lot like Mahler's 3rd actually. I've also come to appreciate Stravinsky's Rites of Spring - it has the same idea of life as struggle, represented by the atonal chords, as the first movement of Mahler 3. I also enjoyed your answer to the question on dealing with snobbery. I have had my own unpleasant experiences with persecution from the herd, and as a result I am very socially isolated from my peers. I make no apology for being different and it is perfectly acceptable to drop people who mock and shame us for our passions from our lives. I made the same mistake as Bradbury - I gave in to pressure from the Marxist cult I joined and stopped reading Nietzsche and other thinkers I liked, and only read Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky and Ted Grant. Eventually I saw the light, left the cult, dropped Marxism and went back to my old life, and I am much happier and healthier. I will never involve myself with such a satanic enterprise again. I have had great fun reading Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Emerson and other 'heretical' authors that I would have been shamed by the cult for reading. Meanwhile, I have shoved all the cult's publications to my shed and have no intention of reading them again. It is always better for the individual to go his own way and let the herd be the herd, and bathe themselves in mediocrity. My go-to stories are probably the works of Dostoevsky. That man is utterly brilliant. I want to read The Brothers Karamazov for the third time this year this Christmas.

[@user-io9yh1in6c]

👍

[@Michajeru]

I am so thrilled to have found your channel. I have been delving into the classics for about seven years now. Oh how I wish I had started earlier. Your videos are very helpful in my reading journey. Thank you so much from Sydney Australia.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I'm so thrilled you're here too :) Thank you so much for reading! Keep up the great work deep reading the classics in Sydney 🇦🇺

[@freddyshaw1905]

Having been watching you from the start, glad to see you doing so well - your videos have deserved it for years. Onwards to 100k!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Freddy :) You really have been here since the very beginning, my friend, and I appreciate it so much 😊

[@lailapeak2363]

Such an amazing video! Thank you

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Aw, thank you so much! :)

[@pleiades07]

Props to Ollie for reading such heavy books at that age. I started reading Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare religiously at 12 years old and fell in love with literature, though I didnt have the guts to read Dostoevsky or Dickens like Ollie 😂 I'm 17 now and graduated high school last year, but in those senior years my reading fell away in favour of homework. I'm really struggling to get back into the habit of reading, especially with the goal of tackling the untackleables and stepping out of my comfort zone with great literature. This channel is helping so much though with rediscovering that drive and hunger for great books! Lovely to see Ben's following has more than doubled a year after this video 🤗

[@londondream]

Amazing channel. You spreading your love to the literature with so much passion that I can't help watching you. We all need love, and you are a pure concentrate of it. Congratulations and thanks.

[@juliasampaio3364]

Thank you for your answer Ben! And be sure that I will update you on my masters 😂 It's so nice to find someone who understand my obsession with Shakespeare hahah keep the amazing work! x

[@donaldkelly3983]

Congratulations on exceeding the 50,000 subscriber mark! I look forward to each of your posts. When you discussed promoting literary values to younger people, The Red Badge of Courage came to mind. The novel is accessible to adults and children and has a "rites of passage" element that would make it resonant with high schoolers. The idea of an Eastern Canon has often occurred to me. I'm reading as much Asian Lit. as I can and I wonder where the center is? Confucius? Tu Fu? Lady Murasaki? The Persian poets?

[@adrianasanchez3669]

¡Felicidades, Ben! 20 minutes, 40, minutes, 75 minutes... it doesn't matter, all your videos are such a pleasure to watch. Thank you for sharing your time with us. Looking forward for the 100k celebration video very soon :)

[@kellyl5349]

I am so grateful for this channel. Every Xmas, I only ask for books, as long as I have one new book to read on Xmas day I am happy. However, each one of these videos feels like the perfect gift for me because they feed my soul. I will be watching some this holiday season as a little gift to myself.

[@krzysamm7095]

Awesome to hear that. It’s great that so many people are into great literature

[@kimmyk3640]

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities, my first book from Dickens!! I feel proud of myself and I loved the book. You have mentioned that this is not considered to be his best work, so I'm excited to read more. I love your channel!!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

You should be so proud of yourself, Kimmy! I'm proud of you :) A Tale of Two Cities is such a brilliant entrance to the world of Dickens. I would be very keen to hear which works you explore next. Thank you so much for your kind words and for watching :)

[@iraliolis518]

I’m a scientist as well. As I get older I’m interested to getting back to classic literature. I absolutely love your channel.

[@Roondawg_Valhalla]

Thanks so much for answering my question! I plan to read more George Elliott and appreciate these recommendations!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I'd love to hear how you get on with your Eliot journey :)

[@user-sz2ur9pz5g]

thank you for your support and time for us! i am from russia. you help to go through these hard times. i'm also a poet! thank you

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, my friend!!

[@amariah5673]

I’d love to see an essay dedicated to crafting essay topics in a non-academic setting. I constantly have an urge to write essays for fun but run into a bit of a struggle finding topics. Your tips were magnificent! Thanks for all the work you do dude.

[@baileystork5909]

If you want recommendations for contemporary fantasy, Brandon Sanderson is one of the most popular writing currently. His books are usually quite long but he wrote a great novella called Emperor's Soul that won the Hugo award in 2013. I would recommend!

[@hegofuchino1104]

Just subbed! As an English major, I love this channel. Helps me procrastinate while still thinking about literature!😅

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, my friend! I'm so happy to have a fellow reader of English here :) I relate to your procrastination! I remember I used to put my essays off until the night before they were due and then be in the library all through the night... 😅

[@nicholastoftemark7337]

Surprised you only have 50 you’ll def be at 500k in no time 😮

[@strange.lucidity]

I think you'll love this quote by Niels Bohr: "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." Thank you for everything Benjamin and greetings from Austria 🙂

[@jamesbattista1466]

I am enjoying your comments and observations, as usual. Benjamin, have you read Loren Eiseley? He was an anthropologist, naturalist, biologist, sociologist, and paleontologist and had a poetic view of the natural world. His prose is just up your alley, and his poetry original (!) and quite different.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, James! I have indeed :) I adore the writings of Loren Eiseley. His essays are incredibly poetic and poignant. You’ve reminded me I really need to return to my Library of America editions of his works 😊

[@toddbelanger1923]

No sound..lol..darn...was so looking forward to this video

[@melisabell7770]

Keep these coming! I love and grow so much from Al you share!

[@jimowen1262]

Definitely enjoyed this video and many others. You are an instrument of thy will, as we say. There is so much I would like to talk to you about I feel a bottleneck. I started reading Proust about a year ago due in part to you. I have now enjoyed the 7 volumes and 35 books in my local library system about Proust. I have also purchased the 7 volumes and intend to spend this winter rereading them. I have not heard you mention Yukio Mishima. His 5 volume set where he describes being reincarnated from life to life often with the same people is one of the most m eaningful things I have read in my 78 years of reading. Thank you so very much for all that you do.

[@julielynn86]

Wonderful video Benjamin! I thoroughly savored it. 😊

[@GoGoGirl22100]

would still love to see your video on “lessons learned from reading great literature” :)

[@jonraymond]

After hearing your thoughts on Sopranos, I wonder if you've ever seen Mad Men. The creator/writer from Mad Men got his start writing on the Sopranos. In my opinion, Mad Men is the strongest writing of any TV show ever.

[@thorngarden5252]

Yes, a part 2! Love the videos

[@MilesWilliams88]

Congratulations on 50,000. You deserve it. This channel has been a great resource for my reading. Keep it up👍

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Miles :) I really appreciate that! 😊

[@BrandonsBookshelf]

Unbelievable man! I am so jealous and inspired!

[@monazaneefer8762]

Thank you for the essay "discuss" tip. Would love to see a video/podcast on similar advice

[@solithecat]

Belated congratulations on 50k! Extremely well deserved! I would love to hear your thoughts on The Stormlight Archive sometime 🎉

[@Dragon-ob8is]

love love LOVE your content, just had a really overwhelming and intense week (exams) and your videos helped me to get through this

[@kingfisher9553]

joining hardcore in the new year. Love your channel.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, my friend :) We'll be so happy to have you reading with us!

[@martinkirsch5969]

Wonderful video. The questions are excellent and the answers are very interesting (I'm going to order some books because of this video... naughty Benjamin haha). Thank you for answering my question on Finnegan's Wake. P.S. I'm reading Wallace's Infinite Jest at the moment... I'm loving the experience.

[@dad102]

Congrats of 50K. You totally deserve it. I am happy for you. You have one of the coolest channels on KZbin. 100K is on the way.

[@MortalWeather]

Excellent! Nice job.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Kevin! :)

[@benjaminchiarolanza3493]

I, like many people here, am new to your channel. I love the content you're putting out and I can't believe the number of books I have added to my reading list since discovering this channel. Thank you

[@kasiatabor265]

Hello Ben! Congratulations on your channel which I find most stimulating and informative. On this occasion I would like to ask your thoughts about other European classics like Gustav Meyrink's Golem or The White Dominican? Thank you for all you do!🌹

[@legendaryswaglord123]

These are my favourite videos. Thanks for getting me into Japanese literature by the way!

[@iyousef46]

Congrats man. I've been subscribed for a while now and I love the q&a videos (I listen to them while walking). Thank you for the great content. I am not sure if you will take this recommendation but you might want to take a look at "Die Schachnovelle" (in English it's called "Chess" or "The Royal Game") by Stefan Zweig. I read it last year in German class and it's a book I loved even though I read it for school. Looking back at it now, the teacher's choices were special. We also read "The Physicists" by Dürenmatt with her, which I also liked. I hope this reaches you.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I loved asking a question and also congratulations again on 50K Subscribers! 👏🏽

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Aw, thank you so much, Pokhraj :) I really appreciate that!

[@ivettberenyi]

I've never been happier to be this early to a video! Hardcore Literature has been THE podcast to me recently, thank you infinitely for your work!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I'm very happy to have you here this early, Ivett :) Thank you so much for watching and listening! I appreciate you deeply 😊

[@Lynn_Ann_Jackson]

Another inspiring video, Ben…I can’t wait to dig into some of the books and authors you mentioned, particularly Alice Munro, and also Cormac McCarthy, whose name first came to my attention in a Jeopardy question just the other evening during the Tournament of Champions. Guess I’ve been too immersed in vintage classics to put my head up and explore the newer classics! A Part 2 of this video, with more answered questions, would be very welcome. Happy Sunday!

[@shabirmagami146]

Great video ... always a treat to hear your thoughts.... Thank you for everything ❤

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, Shabir 😊

[@jeff8835]

Well done Ben, seems like just yesterday you were at 10k!!! That would be awesome watching The Sopranos with Shakespeare, for me i'd like to watch Breaking Bad with Nietzsche 😆

[@KikiFu]

Congratulations 🎉 on the growth of your channel!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much!! :)

[@sydnei5567]

Just subscribed to your channel. Love your videos and your voice is hypnotizing! 😊

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, my friend :) I'm so happy to have you here!

[@CoolBeans45]

Bro…I’ve said it in a previous comment & I’ll say it again.. my anticipation for your 2023 book club plan is eating my soul alive😂 I’ve been religiously checking back on your channel cause I know it’s coming soon My personal reading plan is almost set in stone, but I’m waiting to see how much I can overlap/merge it with yours. Super excited to see what you have in store!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I'm so happy you're as excited as I am for the big reveal! We'll have the schedule video coming out later this week, so almost there :) I'd love to hear what you've got lined up for your personal reading plan for the new year - I'm sure there will be some overlaps, my friend! :)

[@CoolBeans45]

@@BenjaminMcEvoy to name the main ones I’m most excited about: - Dead Souls - Nicomachean Ethics - Mrs Dalloway - The Idiot - Faust - Canterbury Tales - Great Expectations - Hard Times - Paradise Lost/Regained (+ C.S. Lewis’s introduction to PL) - Brothers Karamazov - Don Juan - Ovid’s Metamorphoses - Gulliver’s Travels - House of 7 Gables …either East or Eden or Grapes of Wrath - Confessions of St Augustine - Alice in Wonderland/Thru the looking glass Non-classics: - Story of a Secret State by Jan Karski - a few of GK Chesterton’s short biogrpahies on people like Dickens, St Francis, and so on - Suttree (I actually used to live near Cormac McCarthy) - History of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

[@AhmedalHijazi]

The way you talk about literature and books in such a passionate way makes me love reading more

[@ericgeneric135]

Thanks for answering my question! My book orders were due last week for my literature couse and I ended up choosing In Cold Blood for our novel, although Stoner was actually my second choice! I also like the idea of Middlemarch. I hadn't thought about it but will keep it in mind for future semesters. Keep up the excellent videos!

[@Dak36]

You are one of the finest professors I have heard. My study of philosophy and literature was a long time ago. I read a lot of history and a readable well documented history is a true treasure. I had forgotten how important reading fiction is. I undertook many of your suggestions through a good education. “Crime and Punishment” is my favorite. Well, maybe Everything Shakespeare followed by Hesse, Faulkner, etc…. Have you found Walker Percy? He was a good friend of Flannery O’Conner. Thank you so much.

[@patd.3368]

Congratulations…very well deserved!!!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Pat!! :)

[@RRScott-uz1lg]

Your channel and your podcast are wonderful recent additions to my life. I'm absorbing everything faster than you can possibly produce it. Please keep up the great work. Your insights and opinions are both thought-provoking and immersive, and I always come away from all of your efforts with a few more better-informed brain cells.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

You've made my day. Thank you so much for watching and listening and for the kind words :) I really appreciate you being a part of the discussion, my friend :)

[@jacklawrence2212]

Lovely, wise and gracious video, Ben. Like all of us feel, thanks for your work on this site and top recommendations.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Aw, thank you, Jack :) That really means a lot to me!

[@EduardoHenrique-nd1ro]

Congratulation on your 50k, Benjamin! Cheers from Brazil!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, Eduardo :) I appreciate you!

[@FrancisGo.]

Congratulations! And I love this channel!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, Francisco 😊

[@ferdawsabedi402]

I’m grateful that I’ve found you and your channel and I love your content!!❤

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, Ferdaws :) I'm so happy to have you here, my friend!

[@kathy2539]

I enjoyed this so much, I've just joined Hardcore Literature, haven't yet decided what book to pick up for it but seeing as I have almost 20 books borrowed from my local library to immediately get through, well, I think my choice of first read for HL can wait just a bit until I'm not weighed down by library books. I'm so impressed with your lists of books and with your video content. So good. Looking forward to finding my way into HL.

[@rickwilson2728]

This is a wonderful video, Benjamin, and congratulations on reaching a milestone in your subscriber count. I would add Emily Eden to the list of lesser known 19th-century female novelists.

[@thebarky1988]

I am so happy for you! I discovered your channel about 3 weeks again and joined hardcore literature. Shakespeare was always intimidating to me. I am exciting to start the journey.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Maria :) We're so excited that you're deep-reading Shakespeare with us! He will certainly cease to be intimidating very soon, and I'm sure he will soon become your friend! 😊