Books to Read Before We Die...Or by the End of the Year

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Life on Books

Күн бұрын

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@kristophersouza8104 3 ай бұрын

Why do you feel that you’re entitled to a brand partnering with you?

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

I don't.

@MarkMorrison-y5u 2 ай бұрын

What a stupid comment lol

@MarkMorrison-y5u 2 ай бұрын

You also completely misrepresented what he said.

@Josh-et4ki 3 ай бұрын

This is what positive masculinity looks like. A couple bearded guys talking classic novels and Jujitsu. Onward and upward fellow reading men!

@drbenway612 3 ай бұрын

And they’ uh TV g but uh yet y guy yyyhuhgghhfdet uh huhhhggggggggghhhhhhhhttt TV t I

@louyou6614 3 ай бұрын

men being passionate about something and genuine about it , i am sold

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

It's the simple things in life.

@Daniel-fy6ej 3 ай бұрын

If you’re on a Vietnam kick you’ve GOT to read Tim O’briens “The Things They Carried” it’s a masterpiece. Chapter 4 “on the rainy river” might be my favorite single chapter from any book ever

@Lifeonbooks 2 ай бұрын

@@Daniel-fy6ej I have a copy but haven't gotten to it yet

@jayv3264 2 ай бұрын

Excellent recommendation, Sir! 👍👍

@jayv3264 2 ай бұрын

I never thought I would, but I’ll speak openly here about your experiences with publishers and stores correspondence ghosting. I either never get a reply at all or the same thing happens, lol. My book clubs I run have hundreds and hundreds of devoted readers who buy out or borrow all the copies of the monthly selections from area bookstores and libraries (one of those places is NYC). When I reach out to publishers and say: hey, I have limited time as a working person of one, so let me know about frontlist and backlist books you think my voracious reading groups would like…I get nothing. It’s one thing to have the whatever attitude. But it’s another thing when the book industry constantly complains and gripes about readership among the general population being so low and consequent book sales being low compared to yesteryears. It’s like the business owner whose store hours are 9-5 and complains that there are too few customers coming through the door. I just can’t fully sympathize with the industry’s woe-is-us general attitude anymore. 🤷🏻‍♂️ (On a side note, it also doesn’t help the anti-Amazon view when brick-&-mortar stores don’t usually have the books I’m seeking, but Amazon does pretty much every single time.)

@josephwilson-doan4163 3 ай бұрын

Lonesome Dove is the original anti-western, so you will probably get more out of it if you are familiar with all the common tropes of the western genre. I would have problems giving it the very best American novel, but I would definitely put it in the top 5. It is extremely good. Very enjoyable for character forward readers. The last half of the book is superlative.

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

@@josephwilson-doan4163 Great insight! I'm almost 300 pages in now and really enjoying it.

@josephkauslick5034 3 ай бұрын

Which Westerns would you recommend to get a sample of those common tropes?

@josephwilson-doan4163 3 ай бұрын

@@josephkauslick5034 If you want to speedrun it, just watch some John Wayne movies 😆 In a similar vein (because it was adapted into a john wayne movie) Alan Le May’s The Searchers is a very straight-down-the-line, fairly stereotypical western. However, I feel like the western genre is very overlooked here in 2024. A lot of us younger folk often assume its boring stuff for old men over 60. But there are a lot of great books out there that arent getting quite the ammount of modern fame of Lonesome Dove. Theres a lot of stuff thats very unique. Id also recommend The Oxbow Incident by Walter van Tillburg Clark and Warlock by Oakley Hall. I do plan to read more in the future including Dances with Wolves, Butcher’s Crossing, How the West was won, etc.

@mauriciomunoz9587 3 ай бұрын

I’d to listen the infinite jest podcast with leaf x leaf, he’s an expert in that book 🤙🏽

@jonathanbailey65 3 ай бұрын

Plenty of Pynchon, could probably add Farina's "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me" and Oakley Hall's "Warlock"; Pynchon loved both, and was a very close friend of Farina's.

@Metafictional.meathead 3 ай бұрын

Both of these are great reads that I’ve talked about in previous episodes

@salvadorgamma3266 3 ай бұрын

Add Koko by Peter Straub to your Vietnam list. Would love to see it covered.

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

I'll check it out!

@FrostytheAwesome 3 ай бұрын

The two books I want to read before the end of the year (excluding book club picks) are Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. I received both as Christmas gifts last year, and I want to finish them before the next holiday season rolls around. I’m looking forward to both! (Also, for my ‘popcorn reads’, I plan on finishing book 5 of the Stormlight Archive as soon as I can after that comes out, haha!)

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

I've heard good things about Yaa Gyasi.

@corydon. 2 ай бұрын

DANG I didn’t know I was that lucky! I got The Tunnel hardback with the red armband at a local bookstore a couple years ago for ONE DOLLAR. It’s not in perfect condition, but still. I only read the first 20 pages or so back then and decided to save the rest for later so I may read it before this year ends.

@Lifeonbooks 2 ай бұрын

@@corydon. Deal of the century

@pleasereadyourbook 2 ай бұрын

Matterhorn is great, read it while teaching in Vietnam, also check out The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien and The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, which is told from the point of view of soldier from North Vietnam before reunification.

@Lifeonbooks 2 ай бұрын

I've had a copy of The Things They Carried for a While, and I actually just got my hands on a copy of Sorrow of War!

@pleasereadyourbook 2 ай бұрын

@@Lifeonbooks Awesome! I'm going to re-read Sorrow of War this month and do a video on both soon. Hope you get to them soon and discuss them on the podcast.

@jackwalter5970 3 ай бұрын

I just ordered Against the Day. It will be one of my November reads. Just starting Corrigan by Caroline Blackwood (NYRB).

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

You've been influenced!

@jackwalter5970 3 ай бұрын

@@Lifeonbooks yeah, I guess.

@jackwalter5970 3 ай бұрын

Not only that, but I just purchased a paperback copy of The Tunnel for $59. You guys are hard on my wallet!

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

@@jackwalter5970 if it makes you feel any better, we're hard on our own wallets too.

@helmth9880 3 ай бұрын

Love the podcast!

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@billypilgrim1 3 ай бұрын

Have you read "The Quiet American" by Graham Greene? it could go nicely with your current Vietnam itch.

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

I've heard of it, but I don't know much about it. I'll check it out.

@billypilgrim1 3 ай бұрын

@@Lifeonbooks It's a very critical view of American interventionism. It touches a period of the Vietnam war which is seldom talked about; the last years of the French colonial rule over Vietnam and the beginning of the American covert operations inside the country.

@Book-noob 2 ай бұрын

Didn't know The Tunnel became so rare. I got it a few years ago for $8 and it included a borders bookmark!

@Lifeonbooks 2 ай бұрын

@@Book-noob damn! Which edition?

@Book-noob 2 ай бұрын

@@Lifeonbooks Knopf paperback

@BetheQuail 3 ай бұрын

The War of the End of the World is a favorite of mine. Also interesting as a fictional adaptation of a famous Brazilian book about a true story. He uses the author in it as a character that recontextualizes that book a bit. I’d say the first section of Lonesome Dove doesn’t really prepare you for what’s to come (though the opening is a classic)

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

Might have to bump War of the End of the World up my TBR.

@jamgart 2 ай бұрын

Waiting for the final verdict on Lonesome Dove. I also, have only heard amazing feedback. So, very interested if you guys have the same thoughts.

@Lifeonbooks 2 ай бұрын

@@jamgart almost 400 pages in and I'm really liking it

@eli5833 3 ай бұрын

The best book I’ve read about the Vietnam war and just war in general was Nothing Ever Dies by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Great podcast! 😊

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

Wow I somehow didn't even know about that book. Thank you for the rec!

@eli5833 3 ай бұрын

⁠⁠@@Lifeonbooks I hope you like it! It gave me a different perspective on many things. And as we know, Nguyen is a great writer. It amplified my love for the book. I read it last year and still think about it.

@broby06 3 ай бұрын

Have either of you guys read Gnomon by Nick Harkaway? I feel like it would be up Andy's alley for sure

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

This is a new one for me, and I'm pretty sure Andy hasn't read it either. Just looked it up and it sounds interesting for sure.

@_d0ser 3 ай бұрын

Really hoping to finish Titan, the John D Rockefeller biography.

@Daniel-fy6ej 3 ай бұрын

I’m about a quarter of the way through! It’s been so intriguing thus far!

@nathankober2178 3 ай бұрын

It's extremely bleak and non fiction but I would recommend Kill Anything That Moves by Nick Turse on the Vietnam war. It's the most well researched book I've read on any topic

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

Yeah it's been on my shopping list for a while, but i haven't come across a used copy. I just reached out to the publisher, so hopefully they can hook me up.

@melissaaugust7016 3 ай бұрын

Ive been looking for the tunnel ever since it was mention on this channel with no luck

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

@@melissaaugust7016 sorry I'm hoarding all the copies! Dalkey archive is doing a new edition next year through.

@jameshumphries7272 3 ай бұрын

@@LifeonbooksI have a copy😁

@sasankasekharde9835 2 ай бұрын

Hey do I need to read modernist novels before getting into postmodern novels

@sordel5866 2 ай бұрын

No. I don't think it would even help.

@Lifeonbooks 2 ай бұрын

@@sasankasekharde9835 in my opinion, no.

@ashulman2008 3 ай бұрын

Tunnel is great but not for everyone. On Vietnam read the best and the brightest

@Souljacker7 3 ай бұрын

Where can I watch the BJJ matches? Black belt with 20 years of BJJ here!

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

I didn't snag any footage, but I'll be sure to do that at the next comp and put it into the podcast!

@Souljacker7 3 ай бұрын

@@Lifeonbooks That's gonna be the final straw. I'll have to become a supporter if you guys start sharing your BJJ and fitness videos!

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

@@Souljacker7 I'll leave that to Andy, ain't much fitness round these parts anymore 🤣

@jennaaa310 3 ай бұрын

Have you read Kill Anything that Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam? It's been on my radar for a little while and I would like to hear your thoughts on it :)

@Lifeonbooks 3 ай бұрын

On my shopping list but I haven't come across a used copy yet!

@azu_rikka 2 ай бұрын

I share your opinion about Lonesome Dove. Am 340 pages in- plus it is super racist against native Americans. I don't understand how all the people promoting it never mention that...

@Lifeonbooks 2 ай бұрын

I agree, the way indigenous people are portrayed in the book isn't great. I'm going to wait until I'm done reading the book and have done a little research on it before I put my thoughts on that into a video, but it does detract from the work for me at this point.