Favorite Books of All Time

[@GypsyRoSesx]

I love Edith Wharton’s writing too! She is one of my favourites for sure

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Yay for Edith Wharton! 🥰

[@eyesonindie]

Wonderful list! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Happy to hear you've enjoyed it!

[@FollowSmoke]

You do a wonderful job explaining these books. Good video!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Aww, thank you so much!! ❤️

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

Going by the books I have read the most are Jane Eyre, The Forgotten Garden, Persuasion, The Lunar Chronicles, Uprooted, The Great Gatsby, Salem's Lot, A Game of Thrones, and Wicked. As I commented a previous of yours I just watched on rereading, I only do sometimes, because I feel guilty about all my books I haven't read on my shelf.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Great list of favorites! And I feel you re feeling guilty about all the unread books...

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

@@brittabohlerthesecondshelf I could discover a whole new story or I could sift out the books that turn out not to be for me.

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

A beautiful selection that sums you up as a reader I think.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Aww, that is a lovely idea!

[@1zangelique]

Thanks do much for doing this. And I love it that you mentioned Le Guin, who I’ve been a fan of for decades, and Emily Wilson, who’s a recent discovery for me. (Judith Thurman has a profile on Wilson coming up in the New Yorker.)

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

That is wonderful to hear, thank you! And also thanx for the tip about the profile, I will check it out.

[@RovingReader]

I just requested Trieste and I've been wanting to re-read The Odyssey this summer so I requested this translation! Thanks :)

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

That's great, Karen, so very happy to hear that! ❤️

[@kimswhims8435]

I've been meaning to read The Age of Innocence for an age, hopefully you've given me the oomph to get reading! All the others are on my TBR too, loved your video of them.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Aww, thank you very much, Kim! I hope you will pick up Age of Innocence!

[@SpringboardThought]

Age of Innocence really impressed me when I picked it up on a lark. Yesss I loved the Wilson translation of The Odyssey, I try to get everyone I know to pick it up saying it’s so different than others. Can’t wait for her Iliad. Very happy to see that here.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I'm very much looking forward to Wilson's Iliad!

[@jennywhisconier7777]

Oh, my god -- I LOVE Left Hand of Darkness!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

It's absolutely fantastic, isn't it?

[@jennywhisconier7777]

oh, yeah -- I liked Leguin a lot -- I'll have to re-read it -- it's been a long time. Love your channel! J

[@michaelsamerdyke108]

So glad to see that Le Guin is on your list. I really love "Coming of Age in Karhide," a story set in the world of "Left Hand of Darkness" written around 2000.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Oh, somebody else who loves Le Guin! 😊 I still have to get to many of her short stories, and I'm looking forward to reading Coming of Age in Khartide.

[@RememberedReads]

Interesting mix of titles! 👍 I love Daša Drndić's work, but I've never read Trieste. One of these days!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Oh, I think Trieste is a true 'Jen-book'. 😊 And happy to hear you like the mix!

[@ericneff9908]

I love your list. Left Hand of Darkness is a long-time favorite of mine. Octavia Butler is certainly on my shortlist.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

So happy to hear you've enjoyed the list. And Le Guin and Butler, big yay!

[@GoreVidalComicbooks]

Interesting list. I have "Age of Innocence" next to "The Great Gatsby" and "The Good Soldier." They form an interesting trinity I like to re-read together. The Countess Ellen Olenska is a wonderful character. My first email had her name which annoyed my friends who had to type her long name. Wonderfully painful ending.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I can see the appeal of that 'trio' to read together, yes! I agree about Olenska, and love the story of your email-address. 😊 And, yes, that ending!

[@hesterdunlop3982]

I'm with you on Edith Wharton . Sublime and a writer at the top of her ability .as for Trieste, I've just finished it and I have to say I agree it's a masterpiece . The way she is able to approach the subject of the Holocaust from a less travelled location with a family who , for reasons we understand clearly , are adept at fitting in is extraordinary . Here we have the behaviours of ordinary people not heroics , the intergenerational story of why they'd behave like that and the subsequent void and unquenchable thirst for knowledge once the terrible truth is revealed .. Katalin Street by Magda Szarbō is another of my favourites, a portrait of ordinary human reactions to the Holocaust that maps the psychological devastation in a more conventional fiction . I love the collage of Trieste , the lists , the photographs , the historical context . So powerful .

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I love your analysis of Trieste! Oh, yes, Magda Szabó, she is a fantastic writer as well but I havent read Katalin Street yet. Thank you for the tip. ❤️

[@hesterdunlop3982]

Thanks , please do...I was afraid to read another Szarbō after The Door but Katalin Street is as good. Up there with Toni Morrison in the way she uses her own experiences of the deep legacy of intergenerational trauma to create arresting novels with complex, believable characters . Also love the space she leaves for the reader. Less is more.

[@penelopegough6050]

I have not read the Age of Innocence. Have seen the film and I will certainly read it now Britta. Nice choices!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Oh, I very much hope you will enjoy it as much as I did!

[@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH]

Great list. I will definitely get to Wilson's Odyssey early next year!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Oh, I hope you will enjoy it! It's so different from other translations, and in a good way!

[@susprime7018]

I agree Wharton was terrific. In school I enjoyed the Illiad more than the Odyssey, first we had to read the Greek Mytholgy book by Edith Hamilton, then the Odyssey, the Illiad on my own that other classes read and my pal was happy to give it to me. My favorite is Jane Eyre and since I'm from Missouri, Mark Twain's books. In truth, I have too many favorites. I love Scandinavian mysteries for fun. I'll be reading another one of your books for March Mystery Madness, oh yeah, Agatha Christie too. 😊

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Yay to Edith Wharton! Love your list of favorites!

[@loriroemer1122]

I loved the Age of Innocence. I thought that Wharton did such a wonderful job describing a society where so much went unsaid. She managed to convey those unstated thoughts and feelings so well.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

That is so very true, Wharton really is a master when it comes to show us 'hidden truths'.

[@alldbooks9165]

Rereads is a good indication of a favorite. What would I pick up to reread …. 🧐

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I want to know! You have to make a video! 😊

[@myreadinglife8816]

You remind me that I want to read Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey and that I need to get back to my Octavia Butler project!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Yes, the Butler-project, I was wondering how you got on with it. And Emily Wilson's translation is so very different.

[@deblawrence8341]

Thank you for sharing this amazing list of books with us! I, too, love Edith Wharton and remember while reading "The Age of Innocence" being blown away by her writing and thinking "now THIS is a masterpiece." I've never heard of "Trieste" but it's now on my "want to read" list in Goodreads. The book on that topic that has been the most moving for me is Corrie Ten Boom's "The Hiding Place". Both her and her sister were so courageous, but it was her sister, Betsie, whose faith and absolute trust in God really wowed me! It made me look at my own self and my walk with God. As for the book that I reread? ... it's James Fennimore Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans". It's not perfect by any means, but I just love being inside that book: deep in the forests and wilderness of New York when Indians still freely roamed the land. Not to mention the hero of the novel, Natty Bumppo. He was my first literary crush and remains such a hunk in my eyes to this day. 😍

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

How wonderful that you are so moved by Hiding Place! ❤️ I have only ever read the first in Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, good that you reminded me to read on. (I'm all in for a literary crush / hunk. 😊)

[@LaurieInTexas]

I have one Le Guin book I consider a favorite, but it is The Dispossessed. I haven't ever reread it because I am fearful that I won't love it as much the next time. That seems silly but I have that same feeling about other favorites.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I love The Dispossessed as well. And I know the anxiety of re-reading a favorite, and being afraid you won't love it as much anymore...

[@chetanbansal7389]

I have the left hand of darkness in my tbr , adding the rest as well Thank you for sharing your list Some of my favorite works are Mother by Gorky , diary of Anne frank, exodus by Leon uris , day of jackal to name a few

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Great that you added the books, and I hope you will enjoy all of them. And thank you for sharing your favorites, wonderful!

[@barbaraboethling596]

Excellent list. I've yet to read Trieste and Dawn, but the others were great books! It has probably been 30 years since I read The Age of Innocence, so I must read it again to see how it's aged in my mind. Wharton is my favorite female author. I want to try that translation of the Odyssey, and Dawn too!! Thanks for installment 99+ of TBR Sabotage!!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Thank you very much, Barbara! And I take my work as a TBR-saboteur very serioulsy, yes. 😊

[@AnaMariaGavrilaM]

I wanted to read Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey this summer, but then I found out that her translation of The Iliad comes out at the end of September. I will wait and read them together

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

This is a fabulous plan!! Love it!

[@maslina4567]

Trieste is now on my list...I live near Trieste in Croatia as an expat and am keen to learn more. Thank you!

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

That is great, happy Trieste made it on your list. I have been to the city only once, and that was before I read the book...

[@maslina4567]

In my view Trieste is underrated. It will be interesting to visit Trieste shortly after reading the book for context and an entirely different perspective.

[@EveningReader]

I'm planning to re-read The Age of Innocence this year, along with some other Wharton. She's such an astute writer.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Fabulous plan! Enjoy!

[@MsTerriB]

I love Age of Innocence and other Edith Wharton books. I’ve always referred to Ursula K. LeGuin as writing Speculative Fiction rather than Science Fiction. The difference between these two namings was quite the topic in the 70s and 80s. Libraries generally shelved and categorized her books into the Science Fiction section back then rather than general fiction. Not sure where they get shelved these days.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

And yes, I agree, speculative fiction is a much better term for Le Guin's work! And interesting that there was such a big discussion about the two 'names'. You have to tell me all about that when we talk next on Voxer!

[@eiketske]

Dawn is also one of my all time favorites 🙂

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Yay for Dawn!! ❤️

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

There’s a good dozen, or more, books that I’ve read twice, but I’m hard pressed to think of any I’ve read more than that - and the reasons for those rereads are obscure to me. I’m more focused on trying to read books that are new to me. _The Age of Innocence_ is a work I must get to. This video has helped me settle that it will be this and not _The House of Mirth_ that I undertake when I do. Both are talked of highly on BookTube.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I can understand the appeal of the new books, yes. And I think Age of Innocence is a more mature' work than House of Mirth, even though I also really liked it.

[@timetoread1795]

The Age of Innocence has been on my shelves for so lonnnggg...same edition ;) I need to read it!!! Trieste is going on the list. The Left Hand of Darkness is so so SO good. I need to read more in that series, have only read that one and The Dispossessed, both amazing reads. Lol, I bought The Word for World is Forest on Adam's rec on indie bookstore day :) Ugh yes...lol...I bought that edition of The Odyssey the week it was published and still haven't read it!!! ARRGGG. I wish I could take a one year break from work to just read and eat and travel, lol. I also need to read more Butler. I have only read Kindred and honestly did not love the writing. Oh that's a lie...I read Blood Child and LOVED that one, but Kindred left me kinda disappointed. The emotion was there and in retrospect I think about the book positively, but while reading the writing bothered me...very hand-holdy with a lot of overexplanations of things. Aka, not trusting the reader to figure things out on their own. I will read more of her books, probably all of her books, but am a little nervous...

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

A break for a whole year to read and eat and travel (and sleep) sounds heavenly! I want that! 😊 Are you planning an extensive break when the baby is born at least? Kindred didn't work for me at all. I thought the plot was trite, to be honest. But Dawn is very different, so it's worth giving a try, imo.

[@timetoread1795]

@@brittabohlerthesecondshelf Just a few months...my mom will be here, so hoping I have enough brain cells awake to get some reading in, lol.

[@StephaniePatterson-jb5it]

I love Age of Innocence, but when any of my friends get misty and romantic about the 19th century, I suggest thy read "The House of Mirth."

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I had to chuckle at this comment, but you're sooo right!!

[@MarilynMayaMendoza]

Thank you Britta. I read Edith Wharton’s The age of innocence for the first time last year and enjoyed it but I think it deserves a second reading because this so much in the side wonderful Characters (and) Amazing sense of place: New York City at that time. Also thank you for introducing me to a holocaust book I’ve not readI’ve read a lot of Shoah books. Fact I want to read all of the books you mentioned. Aloha

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I agree, Age of Innocence deserves a re-read! And Trieste is one of a kind, I think you will appreciate it very much.

[@Robert.Sheard]

I've been intending to read the Le Guin for ages but have never picked it up.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I'm not sure it's a Robert-book but it's worth a try!

[@Robert.Sheard]

@@brittabohlerthesecondshelf I wondered. One of my former teaching colleagues suggested it repeatedly. I actually have a copy of it somewhere.

[@juliequick5526]

I’ve not read any of these and I’m interested in how to approach anything to do with WW2 with a German person. I don’t want to be insensitive and I don’t think you are particularly prickly in the subject, but it still feels a bit awkward to me xx

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

I think with people like me, born after WWII ended, you don't need to be cautious to approach the topic. Also, in Germany the discussion about 'national guilt' and the past is very vivid, still, so don't hesitate to talk about it!