My 5 Favorite Books I Read in 2022

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Please share your favorites of 2022 in the comments, thanks!

[@patrickweller5254]

Not releases from the year but I read East of Eden, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Mishima's The Sailor Who..., Flowers for Algernon and Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Really loved reading these. Non-Fiction wise I really loved Electric Wizards, fantastic book on heavy music.

[@simonschreyer4559]

Graham Greene: Travels with my Aunt William S. Burroughs: The Western Lands Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights Gretel Ehrlich: Islands, the Universe, Home Anjelica Huston: A Story Lately Told Toni Morrison: Tar Baby Kobo Abe: The Woman in the Dunes Yasunari Kawabata: Snow Country Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa: The Leopard Christoph Ransmayr: The Flying Mountain

[@mrbigkmurray]

Favourites were: - Sanmao - Stories of the Sahara - Billie Holiday - Lady Sings the Blues - Vincent Bevins - The Jakarta Method - Mark Lanegan - Sing Backwards and Weep Sadly all the fiction I read this year didnt make my favourites, but honorable mention to The Monkey Wrench Gang

[@toomuchchum5882]

My top five favorites of this year with 1 being the best for me are: 1. Blood Meridian 2. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea 3. As I Lay Dying 4. Lolita 5. The Little Prince

[@forecheckbackcheckpaycheck]

Michael Caine's What's It All About. And watching his old movies along the way, it was great.

[@shaneharrington3655]

I really appreciated how honest you were in your last video/all your videos. That's what we are here for, not to listen to you gush over classics, if you don't feel them.

[@danielmitchell1608]

1. Light Years by James Salter 2. Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams 3. Augustus by John Williams 4.Leaving Las Vegas by John O’Brian 5. The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy Still working on McCarthy’s newest releases

[@ayesha36]

Williams's edition on Augustus seems promising!

[@danielmitchell1608]

Oh, it’s marvelous. It’s an epistolary, so if that doesn’t bother you, then it is truly striking from a master of the craft.

[@adampearson1541]

Ive only read Stoner but I am very anxious to read the rest of John Williams books.

[@rambutanaristotelico]

My top 5 1. My name is red by Orhan Pamuk 2. The savage detectives by Roberto Bolaño 3. Tomorrow in the battle think of me by Javier Marías 4. Hurricane season by Fernanda Melchor 5. The streets of crocodiles by Bruno Schulz

[@Craw1011]

What did you love about Pamuk? Haven't read him, so I'm trying to get an understanding of what he's like!

[@corycastleman6351]

Been really wanting to read Tomorrow in the Battle! I'll have to bump it up my list

[@rambutanaristotelico]

@@Craw1011 he has this allegorical way of telling the story, constantly while reading you will stumble upon things that don’t really make sense but are described in such way that not only do they become believable (in a similar way of magical realism) but they give you a complex portrait of Istanbul as there are a lot of narrators(death, money, the devil and even a tree have a voice). I don’t know what type of genre is, but it reminds me a lot of the way borges tells a story.

[@djdavilastrada]

My personal list from this year: 1. Under this terrible sun by Carlos Busqued 2. Magnetized by Carlos Busqued 3. Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre 4. Last and first men by Olaf Stapledon 5. Slow learner by Thomas Pynchon Thank you for another year, man. You're always an inspiration!

[@curfew10]

If it were not because of you, I wouldn’t have ever have read some of the books I did last year, such as Lord of Dark Places and A Heart So White, among many others (all exquisite, all a joy). Through your humor, introspection, and articulation I’ve found new favorites this year. A book I would love to recommend you would be Tove Ditlevsen’s Copenhagen Trilogy, which I discovered last year and received nightmares from. It is from Denmark’s flagship writer, her memoir, and it reads like a cold white room slowly getting smaller. I highly recommend it, and her life is fascinating as well. Thank you again for your videos, and happy new years!

[@jmiranda11stu]

A heart so white was probably one of my favorite books I've read for sure! From the writing to the way it flows was just great for me.

[@eljohara3679]

Likewise. I picked up Blood Meridian and Coetze’s Disgrace.

[@BaronKatoski]

I read A Heart So White years ago.

[@KanwarAnand]

I just spent 4080 INR on buying all of the books you recommended. I of course only purchased the ones I haven’t read. Here’s a token of my gratitude. Keep it up. Though I’m subscribed, I realised I always kind of disliked you but with this video you resurrect yourself. The least I could do brother man is leave an acknowledgment of my gratitude.

[@happyshowercry]

My Top 10 that I read last year. #1 - Moscow to the End of the Line by Venedikt Erofeev #2 - Germinal by Émile Zola #3 - The Passenger/Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy #4 - Lord of Dark Places by Hal Bennett #5 - American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis #6 - Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky #7 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson #8 - Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West #9 - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami #10 - Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

[@ashleylamont7687]

I remember reading American Psycho on the train to work, trying to hide the cover - great book though! And the Murakami is great one too 😊

[@nl3064]

Great list. Nice to see someone who's read Moscow to the End of The Line; and American Psycho and Fear and Loathing are two of my favorites.

[@muskmadness1]

My top 10 books of 2022 (in no order) - 1. The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa 2. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky 3. This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun 4. The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat 5. Doctor Glas by Hjalmar Söderberg 6. A Memoir of Madness by William Styron 7. Hansen's Children by Ognjen Spahic 8. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith 9. Revenge by Yoko Ogawa 10. Agua Viva by Clarice Lispector

[@gjsykes7924]

My top 5 books of 2022: 1. High-rise by J G Ballard. 2. Vietnam: an epic history of a tragic war by Max Hastings. 3. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. 4. Small things like these by Claire Keegan. 5. Mindf*ck by Christopher Wylie.

[@muskmadness1]

@@gjsykes7924 I would love to read about the Vietnam war

[@wurmmithut]

Thank you for sharing. The Brothers Karamasov and The Blind Owl are both on my shelf, excited to read them this year

[@muskmadness1]

@@wurmmithut I hope you love them too!

[@KanwarAnand]

I’ve only read book 2 from your list but the titles look intriguing, Raskolnikov

[@JNSRfilms]

Definitely going to go pick up Ripley at Powell's! My top 5 1. Period. (George Miles Cycle #5) by Dennis Cooper 2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen 3. Amygdalatropolis by B.R. Yeager 4.The Notebook (trilogy) by Agota Kristof 5. Brothers Karamazov

[@onfaerystories]

Agota Kristof's trilogy is a mind-blowing experience! It still haunts me to that day. I've read it twice, and loved it even more on a reread.

[@distheone9120]

Best books of 2022: 5) Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire 4) L'Assommoir (The Stunner) by Émile Zola 3) Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 2) Martin Eden by Jack London 1) Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

[@muskmadness1]

beautiful selections. 3 and 5 are common with mine :)

[@eliasE989]

I'm currently reading Martin Eden. Really digging it.

[@distheone9120]

@@eliasE989 The ending of Martin Eden is one of the most beautiful passages in literature. Keep me updated!

[@distheone9120]

@@muskmadness1 Have you read Crime and Punishment?

[@muskmadness1]

@@distheone9120 yes, I have! It was the first Dostoevsky I read.

[@niffelac8594]

1. My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard 2. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 3. The Passenger & Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy 4. The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard 5. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner

[@luke_-co8dq]

My favourites in no particular order were: The Songs of Maldoror - Le Comte de Lautreamont Tears of a Komsomol Girl - Audrey Szasz The Setting Sun - Osamu Dazai The Elementary Particles - Michel Houellbecq The Cannibal - John Hawkes Mason and Dixon - Thomas Pynchon JR - William Gaddis Don Quixote - Cervantes Infinite Jest - DFW

[@titusbramble7403]

1. Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of The Dead - Olga Tokarczuk 2. When Friday Comes - James Montague 3. Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail - Hunter S Thompson 4. Burmese Days - George Orwell 5. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

[@gjsykes7924]

My top reads of 2022 were: 1. High-rise by J G Ballard. 2. Vietnam: an epic history of a tragic war by Max Hastings. 3. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. 4. Small things like these by Claire Keegan. 5. Mindf*ck by Christopher Wylie. Honourable mentions: Nina Simone's gum: a memoir of things lost and found. Souvenir (by Michael Bracewell). The Killer Inside Me. The Driver's seat. The Little Virtues. In praise of shadows. A winter book (by Tove Jansson).

[@nicolympara]

I’ve been reading Portrait of Dorian Gray again to find its parallels with Faust, and it’s such a curious experience because the first time I read it, I was 13 (reading mostly in Portuguese because my English was still shit), the second I was 19, and now that I’m a lot more mature (not enough though), there are so many things I see in such a different way, things I pick up a lot easier, especially regarding the references to other books, history, and stylistic choices made by Wilde. Some other things that I feel has helped a lot, is understanding romanticism and aestheticism at the time and the reasons that led him to change the first version and publish a second one in 1891, extending the chapters and adding extra characters (both by his and his editors choice). It certainly is a very interesting book when you feel like questioning free will, ephemerality of life, humans incessantly seeking for joviality (vanity) and resources to remain eternal in some sort of way. Something that has been completely new to me this time around, is that I’m noticing the difference between social classes, how titles functioned throughout the victorian era and what Wilde said in his personal life concerning the “commoners”. Gray is like a bridge between these two worlds, as Wilde considered the reason commoners committed crimes was to feel something new that someone with higher education could achieve through art. On this issue, I assume he understood the importance of education to the lower classes, and how that too, helps against high criminal stats.

[@alexjohnson9798]

Watching your videos helps with my anxiety. Appreciate it man.

[@SoupLagoon]

My top 5 of last year are 5. My Autobiography by Charlie Chaplin 4. Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathaneal West (your review convinced me to FINALLY pick it up) 3. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 2. Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima 1. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I am currently about halfway through The Quiet American and it is absolutely fantastic so far. Thank you always for your reviews and recommendations!

[@Reidvault]

Spring snow is damn cool

[@makebelievestunt]

No particular order: 1. Grant - Rod Chernow 2. KIN - Miljenko Jergovic 3. You Can't Go Home Again - Thomas Wolfe 4. The Passenger/Stella Maris - Cormac McCarthy 5. Elizabeth Finch - Julian Barnes The second 5: 6. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 7. The Dreamed Part - Rodrigo Fresan 8. The Remembered Part - Rodrigo Fresan 9. Voices After Evelyn - Rick Harsch 10. The Books of Jacob - Olga Tokarczuk

[@FilipeMafagafo]

Giovanni’s room is as beautiful as it is tragic, made me Perdue every book he ever wrote. Another Country is also spectacular! You read a bunch of tormented novels, love it, my favorite sort of story. Damn disturbing, don’t know why, just love it. Interesting, I read The Talented Mr. Ripley some years ago but wasn’t so into it, you shed a new light into it for me. Great reads! Happy new year

[@bluehejira]

A few fav reads of 2022 1st time reads Gilgamesh (tr. S. Mitchell) The Little Virtues - Ginzburg Kaspar and Other Plays - Handke Letters on Life - Rilke Operation Shylock - Roth The Tale of the Unknown Island - Saramago Re-reads Ficciones - Borges Lolita - Nabokov Sex, Art, and American Culture - Paglia Oedipus the King - Sophocles (tr. Berg and Clay) Poems New and Collected - Szymborska

[@alexmacdonald9182]

luv ya, cliff, thanks for all the recs!

[@Poatann]

1.The sailor who fell from grace with the Sea-Yukioh Mishima 2.On the Road-Jack Kerouac 3.Lord of the flies-William Golding 4.Big Sur-Jack Kerouac 5.Norwegian Wood-Murakami

[@siege2218]

Excellent list, Cliff - you are a wonderful reviewer and one of my favorite KZbin channels. My list for 2022: 1. Miss Lonelyhearts 2. Leaving Las Vegas 3. A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories 4. The Sound and the Fury 5. Lord of Dark Places And worth mentioning, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake and The Fixer

[@rustyshackelford934]

I’m so glad I just bought The Tartar Steppe, especially when you threw in comparisons to Tarkovsky and Bergman. I was already excited. Now I am truly hyped. Two of my favorite filmmakers of all time. This is on my list next after I finish The Passenger/Stella Maris. Which are absolutely fabulous so far.

[@ihab2002ahmad]

Thank you for you hard work this year, you are definitely my favorite booktuber by a far margin. Keep up the good work. I am personally enamored with modern arabic literature, I loved your video on Migration to the north, i would really appreciate more reviews on arabic literature. I would really like to see a review on men in the sun or the prophet. But any book is greatly appreciated

[@tylerlabrie6347]

1. Ordesa - Manuel Vilas 2. Mysteries - Knut Hamsun 3. Berta Isla - Javier Marias 4. Miss Lonely Hearts - Nathaniel West 5. Hell - Henri Barbusse

[@simonheyne6098]

Some of my favourites were 1. Michel Houllebecq - Annihilate 2. Ernst Jünger - African Games 3. Karl ove Knausgard - The Morningstar 4. Hunter Thompson - Rum Diary 5. Gottfried Keller - The Black Spider I would be very happy to possibly see a review of Houllebecq's supposedly last novel annihilate. Keep up the good wordk man!

[@murrayr7703]

I assume you read Annihilate in French. I’ve not heard a peep about English translation

[@RyanLisbon]

Great summaries and interesting choices. Stopped the second you started describing The Talented Mr. Ripley and immediately ordered on Amazon. Your videos are the most accessible descriptions of great literature I have found on KZbin. Thank you.

[@fuzzydunlop4513]

1. Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino 2. 60 Stories - Donald Barthelme (Kind of cheating because i haven't read ALL of the stories) 3. Post Office - Charles Bukowski 4. Crying of Lot 49 - Pynchon 5. Epitaph of a Small Winner - Machado de Assis

[@ashleylamont7687]

First off, thank you for your top 5...added to 'to be read' list 😊 The best I read (no order & NZ = New Zealand author): The Tip Shop - James Brown (NZ poetry) The Complete Maus - Art Spiegelman Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason (NZ) The Sense of an Ending- Julian Barnes How to Live with Mammals - Ash Davida Jane (NZ poetry) Jonathan Livingston Seagull- Richard Bach

[@annikab2713]

I love Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

[@thebookwasbetter1059]

Just finished the Tartar Steppe, find it hard to start another book because I keep thinking about it! :) My favourites of 2022 were The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Exodus by Leon Uris, The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, Golem by Gustav Meyrink, In the Heart of the Country by J.M. Coetzee, The Daughter by Pavlos Matesis & The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez.

[@booksandboozebookreviews6870]

1. Lapvona - Ottessa Moshfegh 2. A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams 3. Child Of God - Cormac McCarthy 4. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie 5. Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee Love your reviews & you have great taste. Moshfegh is a force, can't wait to see what she gives us next. Onwards!

[@garazaber]

The Passenger + Stella Maris were an amazing reading experience. Truly amazing. I'd put them top of my list of books I've read in 2022, alongside Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen, and Grande Sertão: Veredas, by João Guimarães Rosa.

[@davidnorris166]

The disagreement with some of your views re: Crime and Punishment were not personal. Rather, a disagreement of ideas. I hope everyone respects the work you do Cliff. You are my favourite literary KZbinr. Thank you for all you do sir.

[@corycastleman6351]

Pleasant surprise to see your #1 pick. After I saw your review on it, I just decided on a spur to buy and read it even though it didn't sound like my cup of tea. Holy Hell though I loved it! I went on to read the authors other book, The Cry of the Owl, and was also amazed.

[@iameternalsunshine]

you’ve read so many wonderful classics, life’s great when presently struggling with minds long past. one must imagine sisyphus happy, and here he is with a book in one hand, pushing a boulder up that hill with the other, this is how i shall imagine it.

[@blueberriesinmycoffee1234]

I read Swann's Way, which is really just the first part of In Remembrance of Things Past (or, In Search of Lost Time) by Marcel Proust. Lots of fun, I was able to finish it probably because the act of reading became quite a bit easier after the first section. Excited for the rest, though I might take a bit of a break before starting volume 2. It's a book which devotes a lot of attention to pleasures small and deep.

[@a.l.castillo]

1. The inheritance of loss by Kiran Desai 2. The Secret River by Kate Greenville 3. The grass is singing by Doris Lessing 4. Cal by Bernard MacLaverty 5. Educated by Tara Westover

[@DTOblivion]

1. I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb 2. The Passenger + Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy 3. Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes 4. Disgrace by JM Coetzee 5. The Quiet American by Graham Greene Favorite Non Fiction Books- Assate: An Autobiography and Dispatches by Michael Herr

[@girishgowda7661]

My top 5. 1. Beloved 2. Gone with the Wind . 3. Grapes of Wrath 4. A Confederacy of Dunces. 5. American Pastoral Cliff, please read Toni Morrison's work. I'd like to know your thoughts .

[@cindyo6298]

Beloved is great.

[@girishgowda7661]

@@cindyo6298 my find of the year: Toni Morrison

[@godfreadlaw]

A few favorite fiction books I read in 2022: Dead Souls - Nikolai Golgol Lightning Rods - Helen DeWitt His Name Was Death - Rafael Bernal Glad to see The Tartar Steppe on your list and looking forward to getting to the new Cormac McCarthy books.

[@holdeck]

Nice list, added some of them to my TBR. My favorites of the year were The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and Catcher in the Rye, which funnily enough were quite similar.

[@Craw1011]

In no particular order: Beautiful World Where Are You by Sally Rooney Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor Liberation Day by George Saunders The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

[@daveysaturn7232]

Cormac McCarthy's books are like ghosts that I add to my existence to haunt me. They never go away and after finishing The Passenger, yeah, it'll never go away.

[@TOBuhrer]

My fave of 2022: - Sidharta - The Glass Bead Game - Against Leviatan, Against His-story - Nova Antologia Pessoal - The Mith or Sisyphus

[@TheOasiste]

so happy and so proud that you loved dino buzzati's masterpiece.

[@darrenbrown8952]

5. Absalom, Absalom! (William Faulkner) 4. V. (Thomas Pynchon) 3. Platform (Michel Houllebecq) 2. The Passenger/Stella Maris (Cormac McCarthy) 1. The Crossing/Cities of the Plain/Suttree (Cormac McCarthy (shamelessly grouping all three)) Honorable mention: An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures (Clarice Lispector)

[@ayesha36]

I was lucky enough to just pick up The Talented Mr. Ripley from the library a day ago. I'm even more excited to get into it after watching you talk about it! It's hard for me to choose a top 5 anything at any given moment, but for now, in some vague sense of order: 1. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler 2. Conclave by Robert Harris 3. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 4. Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar 5. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison Honorable mentions: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

[@noahgabriel-landis3559]

A little late, but my top 5: 5. The Forged Coupon, Leo Tolstoy 4. Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett 3. The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie 2. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote 1. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner Thanks as always for your excellent work! I'll have to add The Talented Mr. Ripley to my already-bursting 2023 list (Submission, The Stranger, & Blood Meridian, among others).

[@leiflangford1673]

I like this list! I just got a copy of the satanic verses for 4 bucks. I'll have to check out that Tolstoy.

[@tassiasalazardecamargo4928]

- The Neverending History (Michael Ende) - by far my favourite! - I Am Legend (Richard Matheson) - Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) - Flatland (Edwin Abbott Abbott) - Pet Sematary (Stephen King) - Endless Night (Agatha Christie) - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Susanna Clarke) - Dracula (Bram Stoker)

[@Morfeusm]

Suzanna Clarke is a treasure! Please pick up Piranesi if you haven’t already, it’s totally different and maybe even better!

[@tassiasalazardecamargo4928]

​@@Morfeusm Yeess, I've just finished Piranesi and it's actually still resonating in my head. I don't know which one I've liked better

[@nadominhoca]

Not that anyone cares, but here it goes my top 5 and not necessarily in the correct order: - Hal Bennett: Lors of the Dark Places - Osamu Dazai: No Longer Human - Carson McCullers: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Albert Camus: The Plague - Aluisio Azevedo: O Cortiço (or “The Slum”)

[@Cakewalkingbaby]

We care:)

[@thJune-ze7dn]

Awesome choices Cliff, I'm so glad you liked The Talented Mr. Ripley! I've managed to get ahold of a copy of Stella Maris, but I haven't got The Passenger yet, is it recommended to read The Passenger first? Among some of my favourites of '22 were Pedro Paramo, Season of Migration to the North, The This by Adam Roberts, and The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock (one of the most original and bizarre books I've ever read). Happy New Year!! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and for helping us to keep sane throughout 2022.

[@1russodog]

Yes finally the best read list by my favorite lit blitz. Happy New Year dude!

[@ellelala39]

Cheer up, Cliff! Consider it a reset, and Happy New Year!

[@FisherKing9633]

Favorites: 1. The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy 2. The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy 3. Education of A Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour 4. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 5. The Man Who Was Thursday by G K Chesterton Others I liked, no particular order. Based On a True Story by Norm Macdonald. Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker Sin City: The Long Hard Good Bye by Frank Miller Least favorites: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice Hannibal by Thomas Harris

[@lorenzoconti2006]

audio tip: if it’s a wireless lav try scanning a new list and changing the channel. sync them up on your receiver and transmitter. you could just be getting some interference on that frequency

[@Buckfutter_]

Also wanted to add to this. It sounds like the lav element (the wire part) might not be fully inserted/clicking into place properly. Even if it is, there could be a problem with the wire itself causing it to sound short circuited.

[@NEWodgerable]

5. life at the Bottom - Theodore Dalrymple 4. Human Smoke - Nicholson Baker Written as a chronological compellation of events and quotes from 1925-1943 highlighting the lead up of ww2 and its further escalation. (despite being almost 500 pages it is a pretty easy and quick read) 3. Serotonin - Michel Houellbecq I have to read more of him in 2023 2. Orlando Furioso - Ludovico Ariosto Extremely ambitious, funny and epic but also imperfect with a lack luster plot. One of the most fun I have had with a book. 1. Death on the Installment Plan - Louis Ferdinand Celine I actually enjoyed this one more than journey to the end of the night but found it harder to read. The tragedy in the story is much more personal and internal to Ferdinand as opposed to JEN which is more external and cold.

[@jonathanmarcelthome]

Dude! I really dig your channel, thanks for the great content.

[@marqpsmythe228]

I recently read “The World Of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European” by Stefan Zweig, 1943. Simultaneously Wonderful, clear-eyed, analytic, and in the end, heartbreaking. Much like Raskolnikov’s dream. Your review prompted me to follow through to the end, which was too tedious when I was first exposed to an abbreviated storyline (crime, guilt, and confession to the police) in the 1960s. Thank you ❤

[@distheone9120]

You got me with the Raskolnikov mention lol. Can you please explain how is that book related to Raskolnikov's ideas?

[@marqpsmythe228]

@@distheone9120 Zwieg had a wonderful life as an astute and widely read writer with many friends and collaborators amongst the intelligentsia, including Richard Strauss and Sigmund Freud. He witnessed the chaos of WWI and the subsequent skulduggery and economic collapse caused by the treaty of Versailles. “Small wonder, then, that the entire youthful generation looked with exasperation and contempt at their fathers who had permitted first victory, then the peace to be taken away from them; who had done everything wrong, had been without prescience and had everywhere miscalculated.” -He initially didn't notice the (Raskolnikov’s dream): “terrible new strange plague that had come to Europe:” Fascism. It rapidly goes downhill; he lost his livelihood, his home, escaped to England and there then is classified as an “enemy alien.” He and his wife, leaving everything behind, fled to the USA, where he found that he was listed in the “Black Book” then to Brazil in 1940, where he wrote the memoir, leaving it to a friend to publish the manuscript. (1881-1942) RIP

[@marqpsmythe228]

As Nature goes; First a European epidemic, now a global pandemic. 😨

[@MrUndersolo]

I wrote about my summer reading on Vocal, and I love to compare and contrast my list with others. Thank you for this and the reviews that keep on coming... 📚

[@lileyecuzz3138]

1. Leaving Las Vegas-John o’Brian (Your recommendation) 2. Johnny got his gun-Dalton Trumbo 3. Human all too human-Nietzsche 4.empire of pain-Patrick radden Keefe 5.Notes from underground- Dostoevsky

[@misawaelbow]

The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty Trilogy - Jon Fosse The Peregrine - J A Baker The Lime Twig - John Hawkes Happening - Annie Ernaux When We Cease to Understand the World - Benjamin Labatut Stoner - John Williams Omensetter’s Luck - William H Gass Kindred - Octavia E Butler Complete Essex County - Jeff Lemire The Passenger/Stella Maris - Cormac McCarthy Moon Witch, Spider King -Marlon James

[@Barnes0420]

1. Gravity’s Rainbow 2. Death’s End - Cixin Liu 3. Aurora - Kim Stanley Robinson 4. American Exception - Aaron Good 5. Zombies, Icebergs and the Ultra Thin - Matthew Soules

[@alphonseelric5722]

Recommending Gerald Murnane. 'The Plains' to start, but mainly 'Inland'

[@timkjazz]

1) The Passenger/Stella Maris - Cormac McCarthy 2) Solenoid - Mircea Cartarescu 3) Red Harvest - Dashiell Hammett 4) The Devil Takes You Home - Gabino Iglesias 5) The Books of Jacob - Olga Tokarczuk

[@allofthemmilkingwithgreenf7493]

1. Ilse Aichinger - Schlechte Wörter 2. Rainer René Müller - Gesammelte Gedichte 3. Gerald Murnane - Inland 4. Rosmarie Walldrop - The Hanky of Pippin‘s Daughter 5. Agnes Nemes Nagy - Mein Hirn: Ein See (German translation of a great chunk of her poems) 6. Hernan Ronsino - Cameron 7. Georges Perec - Espéces d‘espaces 8. Maria Sonia Cristoff - Include Me Out 9. Mary Ruefle - My private property 10. Uljana Wolf - Meine schönste Lengevitch

[@spacet1me]

I relate so much to your style and vibe, similar to mine. Found you after your review of Thomas Ligotti's book. Looks like it's been with you since! xD

[@Mintleton]

Life & Fate - Vassily Grossman Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf The Netanyahus - Joshua Cohen The Jakarta Method - Vincent Bevins Black Napoleon - Sudhir Mazareesingh

[@80085word69]

In no order: The Passenger and Stella Maris - Cormac McCarthy Sing Backwards and Weep - Mark Lanegan Harrow - Joy Williams Geek Love - Katherine Dunn ‘Salems Lot - Stephen King

[@Rozenkratz]

My top 5 in no particular order: - God Emperor of Dune - Love in the Time of Cholera - Homage to Catalonia - Hopscotch (A reread) - On the Genealogy of Morality

[@corycastleman6351]

Love in the Time of Cholera was a really enjoyable read. I had an edition with colorful illustrations. Another book that reminded me of it was The Shadow of the Wind, which was my 2022 favorite. Less focus on love (though there is love in the book) and more focus on mystery

[@dancegregorydance6933]

Wooo God-Emperor of Dune!

[@Rozenkratz]

@@corycastleman6351 One of the amazing things for me is how García Márquez can enthrall you by narrating the lives of such despicable people without making you hate them. Although more than once I thought by reading this one, "A writer writes what he knows, and I know for a fact this to be true of García Márquez. Poor Miss García must have suffered, lol"

[@Morfeusm]

I am contemplating to pick up God Emperor but I am not sure, Children was such a chore to get trough. Probably reading it too late in life… But my favorite was definitely Dune Messiah. What would you say is the main reason to pick up God Emperor?

[@JamesADavies]

1. My Struggle (Knausgaard) book 5. 2. Every Day is for the Thief (Teju Cole) 3.Becoming Myself (Irvin Yalom) / Man's Search for Meaning (Victor Frankl). 4. Outline (Rachel Cusk). 5. Farenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury).

[@adehope]

I've just discovered your channel and it's safe to say I'm obsessed with you 😍

[@adehope]

I've also read Buzzati's novel in 2022 (I'm italian), an absolute masterpiece!

[@yohanessaputra9274]

My 5 books would be, in this very order: 1. The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker 2. The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa 3. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald 4. The End of the Affair - Graham Greene 5. The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger My honourable mentions, in no particular order: The Day of the Locust - Nathanael West Miss Lonelyhearts - Nathanael West Nine Stories - J.D. Salinger The Quiet American - Graham Greene

[@bigserbman5962]

1. Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky 2. Remains of the Day by Ishiguro 3. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford 4. Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann 5. Death and the Dervish by Selimović

[@thomascrocker1264]

My Top 5 1: The Setting Sun - Osamu Dazai 2: The Passenger - McCarthy 3: Time Shelter - Georgi Gospodinov 4: Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 5: Autumn - Karl Ove Knausgaard

[@onfaerystories]

Loved Dorian Gray, I really need to go watch your review now! And I'm not surprised you enjoyed The Stranger as you seem to love sociopathic protagonists. 🥴 I liked certain parts that made me think, but it wasn't "it" for me (but I'm not generally into nihilistic literature the way you are). As for Shakespeare, I loved Macbeth and so really need to read Hamlet as well soon! ☺️ I also didn't like Crime & Punishment at all (I DNFed it). Need to watch that review too just for that rant. 👌 My favourite books of 2022 were House of The Dead by Dostoyevsky (autobiographical novel of his 5-year imprisonment in a Siberian prison), I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (still haunts me - your kind of books!), Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes (brilliant and thought-provoking), The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang (amazing themes around parenthood, sacrifices, war and much more - highly praised on SFF Booktube & a self-published adult Fantasy), Ninety-Three by Victor Hugo (slow start, interesting questions on humanity and revolutions, and a memorable ending), and The Iliad by Homer. 👏

[@kflecha1]

This channel is always so inspiring to me ❤

[@jackwalter5970]

1. The Assommoir by Emile Zola; 2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith; 3. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy: 4. Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty; 5. Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh. Forgot Lord of Dark Places! That should be #1. Thanks, Cliff!

[@distheone9120]

The Assommoir is brilliant!! Got me into french naturalism.

[@christianade2937]

My 2022's faves: 1) Felix Timmermans - Intimations of Death 2) D.M. Thomas - The White Hotel 3) Thomas Ligotti - Teatro Grottesco 4) Robert Aickman - Cold Hand in mine 5) Stephen Gregory - The Cormorant

[@badgermerim]

Hey I just discovered your channel! as a French student searching endlessly for English literature (which I study in university) that suits my taste you seem amazing! keep up the good work ^^ 1. Heart Of Darkness - James Conrad 2. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - R.B. Stevenson 3. The Paris Mysteries - Edgar Allan Poe 4. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde (not the first time reading it but I still love it very much) 5. billy Summers -Stephen King

[@kristavaillancourt6313]

I loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation.

[@thegeniusofthecrowd354]

Fascinating as always.

[@Captain1nsaneo]

Hopefully a proper audiophile will answer you. It sounds like a connection problem, does it only happen when you get animated and raise your arms? If so the cable might be pulling loose at one of the ends.

[@renatagiordani7672]

#1 Pillars of the earth - Ken Follett #2 The Razor's Edge - Somerset Maugham #3 The metaphysics of love and other reflections - Arthur Schopenhauer #4 The book of disquiet - Fernando Pessoa #5 World without end - Ken Follett #6 Steve Jobs - Walter Isaakson #7 The house of the spirits - Isabel Allende

[@moodforaday-rl3ww]

Great picks; I'm definitely reading The Tartar Steppe this year. I was wondering if you could review more books by Bolaño too; he is just one great author to discuss.

[@james2529]

Hey Clifford, if you really want to rake in the views and the ire then do a worst five books list as well. I'd watch that.

[@AllOneVoice]

Illuminations by Alan Moore Severance by Ling Ma All About Love, New Visions by bell hooks Devil House by John Darnielle Plainsong by Kent Haruf (really all of Haruf's work)

[@ML-yw4hv]

Thanks so much for doing this!

[@sholtham1]

Ah, at last, a grown-up talking about grown-up books rather than the twaddle presented on BookTok! I've 'enjoyed' all the books you've listed, a real diverse range here! My favourites from 2022: 1. Thomas Ligotti 'The Conspiracy against the Human Race' (Again! I'm constantly going to this for solace) 2. John Gray 'Straw Dogs', a nice complement to Ligotti. 3. Pirandello 'One, no-one & 100,000' - an unusual novel where the protagonist chooses to be multiple selves with interesting results. 4. Carlo Michelstaedter 'Persuasion and Rhetoric.' prompted by Ligotti's account of the philosopher - a slow read. 5. Robert Wright 'Why Buddhism is True', a very westernised and accessible work on how the mind works and our sense of self. in spite of the list, I'm neither a pessimist or optimist, just a guy who gets on with life as best he can.

[@booksbyshahd5988]

Great video (as usual)! I'd love to hear your thoughts on Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend!

[@samuelshaw3058]

The Talented Mr Ripley was my absolute favourite of 2022 as well, sad to say I wasn't quite so captivated by story or character in the follow ups

[@LiteraryGladiators]

This was a great list and an even greater execution! I read the first chapter of The Quiet American for the Try a Chapter Tag, but have not gotten around to reading it since. I would like to, though. Leaving Las Vegas sounds like an intriguing novel. It sounds like something in the realm of On the Road or another beatnik work, but there is something about it that interests me, because I did not like On the Road all that much. I, too, was not too fond of Crime and Punishment. I did, however, like The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Stranger, and Hamlet. I was not too fond of Giovanni's Room, because I felt that none of the characters were likable, which is a shame because it was very well written. I would like to read something by Cormac McCarthy soon. I read The Road and thought it was just pretty good. There was a lot there that turned me off, the ending was perhaps the worst part for me. I almost read The Talented Mr. Ripley for a discussion, but we pulled the discussion before we got around to preparing to read it. Your commentary is making me inclined to check it out. I, too, put together a Top 5 list, everything was nonfiction. Thank you for sharing and I hope your 2023 is better than both of our 2022. 2022 was better in some ways, but terrible in so many others. -Josh

[@edkemper138]

The Perks of being a Wallflower- by Stephen Chbosky Mysterious Skin - by Scott Heim The Passenger- by Cormac McCarthy The Marvel Universe-Origin Stories- by Bruce Wagner Dance Dance Dance- by Haruki Murakami

[@dylanclymer1145]

1. Stella Maris -Cormac McCarthy 2. The Passenger- Cormac McCarthy 3. Candy House-Jennifer Egan 4. A Visit from the Goon Squad- Jennifer Egan 5. Bloodchild and Other Stories- Octavia E. Butler

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

Happy to see that I can find the books that sound the most interesting to me (tartar steppe and the stranger) can be found for free on the internet, on the first page nontheless.

[@connorlane625]

I read all of Sebald and Chatwin in 2022, and I'd include all of those in my top 5 if I could, but that is of course impossible. 5. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. 4. On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin. 3. The Real Life of Sebastian Knight by Nabokov. 2. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald. 1. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (I still cannot get this book out of my head).

[@andatodoran1263]

Mine, in no particular order, were: Stoner by John Williams Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo A temple of texts by William Gass The grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck Anna Karenina by Lev Tolstoi No longer human by Osamu Dazai The physics of sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov Seveneves and Reamde by Neal Stephenson Breasts and eggs by Mieko Kawakami încontro ne îndreptăm by Pavel Nedelcu (romanian novel, no translation yet) Stoner, No longer human and Pedro Páramo I've read after seeing your reviews so thank you!

[@DavidGivenSchwarm]

A temple of texts by William Gass ? The same guy who wrote Middle C? I do not know this one...

[@andatodoran1263]

@@DavidGivenSchwarm Yes, the same one. It's a collection of essays, I've read it after seeing a review by Chris Via at Leaf by Leaf. Haven't read anything else by the author but I most definitely will.

[@CO-jt7ih]

You must know that your "Story of the eye" was screened in the theatre near me where people were laughing, crying and saying that your directorial masterpiece has changed their lives. Your book descriptions are so fascinatingly profound, yet entertaining, that it's hard to imagine how this world could even possibly exist before your voice was born. Great admiration for your early works and waiting for your mature masterpieces!

[@zarathustra1471]

I thought he gave up on that, please explain.

[@CorbCorbin]

Do you mean George Bataille’s Story of the Eye, from 2003? I didn’t thing Clifford’s movie was produced yet.

[@barrymoore4470]

@@CorbCorbin Wikipedia makes no mention of Sargent's projected adaptation. It does cite the 2004 version directed by Andrew Repasky McElhinney, as well as a certain 1974 adaptation called 'Simona', written and directed by Patrick Longchamps.

[@baxtermaxtor]

Might want to check out Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks: 1941-1995 published in 2021. Also found another quote relevant to an earlier video of yours, “It is is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.” - Donna Tartt

[@BaronKatoski]

My favorite Highsmith novel is Edith's Diary.🤩