My Top 3 Books of the Year (so far!)

[@eszternagy597]

I have just found your channel and I and so happy that you mentioned one of my favorite authors, Márai. I am Hungarian, his book, Embers was one of my favorite novels in my later teenage years. He is truly phenomenal! I have seen that you have also read Magda Szabó's two books, The door is another favorite of mine. I appreciate your content and reviews of the books that you read and will be looking forward to discovering more of your content.

[@charlswoff]

I'm really trying to diversify my reading so I'm so happy you've made a video on these books. Definitely being added to my TBR!

[@gemma2275]

As always you're deeply delightful and I will be on a look out for these recs - especially Embers, I think :)

[@marias.5812]

I ADORE Embers. I read it many years ago and then shoved it into my dad's hands and he devoured it as well. It's rarely discussed but deserves all the praise. What a stunning book. 💙✨

[@claudiaferreira585]

Love your review of Embers, I love it so much and it's so sad for me that so many people doesn't like it! Two more books for the TBR!

[@kieranfoley1057]

Your videos are always great, not sure if I should be happy or sad that they always expand my reading list, you've just cost me 20 quid :) Looking forward to reading through Free and Embers though.

[@MatthewSciarappa]

JOY! ❤

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

🎶☺🌻

[@dorianegeorge6434]

Free and Embers sound absolutely fantastic and I will rush to them, I mean if the shops were still open at this hour I'd be down already, not having put anything cleaner on me!

[@DebMcDonald]

I remember reading Embers in the early 2000’s when I was working in a book shop. It was magical. I don’t have a copy now but I need one to re-read this minute. It was special then but I am more knowledgeable now and would see things I didn’t notice before. Thanks for the reminder!

[@marias.5812]

I also worked at a bookshop and read Embers during work. 😆🥰

[@jeremiahbok9028]

Matthew is right, this was a joy. Must look into Free. All I've read of Chekhov is a play called The Cherry Orchard. I adored it, it was witty, well-crafted and cozy. I may have to get that collection.

[@ameliareads589]

I read Embers a long time ago, but really liked it too.

[@johnsaxongitno4life588]

All I can say is that I must get and read free as I am really really intrigued by it love this video and your amazing channel please stay safe and enjoy your reading 📖 love your Australia family friend John xxxx

[@jmismis]

I love your channel because you read and promote so many books by Central/Eastern European authors (I'm Polish myself:)- I got so many good recommendations from you; "Mud Sweeter than Honey: Voices of Communist Albania" by Malgorzata Rejmer, is a very good book on the subject, actually it was much easier for me to understand so many things in "Free" because I had read "Mud Sweeter than Honey" first, it is kind of written similar to Svetlana Alexievich books- multiple voices etc.; and I thought we had it hard in the communist times in Poland! :) we were in heaven compared!

[@xgrayvision]

Really enjoyed these reviews! Added Free to my holds list.

[@Gagging4Lit]

all 3 of these sound so good. Have some stories of Chekhov on my shelves to read so shall get to those first.

[@SarahReadsSlowly]

I’m reading Free at the moment and it’s so good! It really surprises me to hear that it wasn’t originally intended to be a memoir. I’d never heard of Embers but it sounds fantastic!

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

Free is SO GOOD, I'm so excited to find others who have read it!

[@Rodja.]

I've read three books by Márai, Esther's Inheritance was my favourite; but I always feel this deep sense of hopelessness when I read him, to the point that I don't think I'm ever going to again. Divorce in Buda (I hope this is the right name in English) in particular was very difficult to get through in that sense.

[@karenbird6727]

I have read Embers 3 times. It is one of my favorite books. I have also read a few other Hungarian authors because how much I loved this books (Magda Szabo, being one).

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

I'd love recommendations for even more Hungarian authors if you have them!

[@karenbird6727]

I have also read Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz, which I thought was really good.

[@nikolettsarosi5355]

Embers has been one of my favourite,read it in Hungarian and English. I love the Hungarian title of it too, roughly translated : "The candles burn till the end". amazing review of it btw. Another favourite from Márai is Esther's inheritance.Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb another classic

[@tawnyman]

Embers sounds excellent and I don’t think I would have heard of it without this video. I’ve had my eye on Free for a bit now, this gives me the extra push to get to it soon.

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

Amazing, I'd love to hear what you think!

[@electraandbooks5925]

I am so glad that you loved Embers ! I also devoured it when I read it a couple years ago. Yes the ruins of the Empire exactly ! Yes and you learn a lot about the fate of these countries and the borders shifting. So good ! I am so glad because I have found a copy of Free (Penguin) so I will read it. Albania is doing this summer lots of commercials to attract tourists. I have followed a Russian who fled her country and she was in Albania and it was interesting To see the country this way. Now I have to guess your third pick 😃

[@scottbrandon6244]

Sandor Marai's Embers. This was translated and published many years ago. The author has an interesting writing style. I would recommend any of his other books

[@hesterdunlop7948]

Thank you for sharing your choices . Brilliant reviews , especially Embers . I'm sure you'll have read Wasted Morning by Gabriella Adamesteanu but I feel she captures that same demise of the empire perfectly , but this time through the eyes of women.

[@dorianegeorge6434]

Hi, yes I remember her reviewing it in the Central & Eastern Europe / Fiction/2020 Wrap up video, Enjoy! kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIqXhqmhqp2bb5o

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

You're spot-on with this comparison! Wasted Morning was one of my favorite books of 2020 (I seem to have a type) but I hadn't thought of the two in tandem yet

[@lenaliu463]

ohhh embers is so great!! it was one of my favorites from last year. i read it in chinese - sandor's works were republished in chinese a few years back and he became quite popular. your mentioning it made me so happy! i feel like sandor is less well-known among anglophone readers?

[@bignatesbookreviews]

Amazing

[@saintonfire77]

I have the novel 'Embers' by Sandor Marai but have not read it yet. I also have by Marai ''Casanova in Bolzano' but have not read it either-so much to read! Your video reminded of these books- 'The Red Count: The Life And Times Of Harry Kessler' a biography by Laird M. Easton 'Journey To The Abyss: The Diaries Of Count Harry Kessler 1880-1918' Edited And Translated By Laird M. Easton 'Berlin In Lights" The Diaries Of Count Harry Kessler 1918-1937' Translated And Edited By Charles Kessler Introduction By Ian Buruma I always your videos and your smile-hope the cats are doing well-peace

[@electraandbooks5925]

Anton … I am feeling the same about reading Russian authors now. I have been lately (winter) buying books about Russian classics and also contemporary Russian authors (just read a good one before the invasion) and now I just feel weird about it. I am a big fan of Bulgakov who is often called a Russian author though he was born in Kiiv before moving to Moscow. He wrote in Russian and was born in the Russian Empire so it makes sense but his books were censored and he died really young. But Wikipedia mentions his Ukrainian roots. But yes I could read at least the classics and this collection of Anton because it was written a long time ago. I would love to read more Ukrainian authors. And I studied Russian and wish I could learn Ukrainian now.

[@Christine-jg2ch]

Do you feel weird about reading books written by citizens of the USA because their successive governments have invaded more countries and overthrown more democratically elected governments than any other?

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

@Christine I wonder if you intend to continue these conversations or to end them by a comment like this. I of course hope it’s the former. A useful comparison, to your point, is if an adult reader who wasn’t an American felt a general sense of discomfort around American authors immediately following our unprovoked invasion of Iraq. If such a reader did feel the discomfort I described, I wouldn’t blame them. Nor would I blame, for example, a Congolese or Nicaraguan reader for bringing similarly awkward feelings and a sharper eye to American authors, with the suspicion that unexamined imperialism would be embedded even in otherwise innocuous texts. This idea that “well obviously you must never have considered AMERICA’S role in the world” is simply untrue for many people, including many Americans. (Apologies if you really did intend to continue a conversation with your comment, instead of using it as a “gotcha”)

[@Christine-jg2ch]

@@InsertLiteraryPunHere yes, I am happy to continue the conversation and didn’t mean this to be a ‘gotcha’ at all. It was a genuine question. As a British person I have difficulty with a lot of our literature as it concerns empire and colonisation, but reading from the perspectives of coloniser and colonised is important, I feel.

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

@@Christine-jg2ch Thank you for clarifying Christine (one of the frustrating things about the internet--it's so difficult to convey the tone you really intend, especially in a written comment). I've been thinking a lot recently about Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell; it's a favorite of mine (have you read it?), and one of the male protagonists is an "explorer" in Africa in a VERY 19th-century British way. I felt twinges when I read those sections for the first time in my early 20s, but I also know that I largely tamped down on those feelings because I didn't want them to interfere with my love for the book. I guess you could say I'm embarking on a similar project with Russian authors as I have been with British authors (and American, French etc.)--I want these facets of these books to be subjected to the critical eye they deserve. Not in a way that cancels out everything else about these works of art, but also without lying to myself about my own motives for minimizing obvious evidence of empire and colonization, exactly as you say

[@Christine-jg2ch]

@@InsertLiteraryPunHere I’ve only read Cranford and North & South by Gaskell, the others are patiently waiting on my shelves! The issue I have with the OPs comment is that a lot of citizens of (insert problematic country here) don’t agree with the actions of their government, and therefore I think we shouldn’t feel weird about reading from them.

[@smilinglooksgood77]

Waaaaaaaah

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

Andrew go to bed

[@zubaerchaudhari8267]

Hello

[@buddhabillybob]

Your review of _Embers_ is outstanding. I'm going to hunt for it. Is it possible that _Embers_ was written with a bit of anxiety over what would become Orban's Hungary? I'm on the hunt for it now. Also, your comment about anti-Humanism was very perceptive. Since 2016, I have often questioned my commitment to Humanist/Enlightenment principles (In my decaying worldview, the best parts of Christianity ARE a kind of Humanism.). Wouldn't it be easier to just manipulate all the little fearful, anxious puppets running around? My God, they WANT to be ruled. Shouldn't they be?

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

Sándor Márai was vehemently antifascist and published Embers during the initial stages of WWII, so I'm sure he'd have many (gloomy) thoughts on Orbán's present regime in Hungary. The fact that the novel is so backward-facing and so obsessively ruminative does seem to speak to certain anxieties around the moment he was living in at the time

[@elizabethmclean5277]

Please read Mud Sweeter Than Honey, by Malgorzata Reimer, a horror story of life in Communist Albania, written by an eminent Polish writer who lives there.

[@InsertLiteraryPunHere]

Thank you for the recommendation, it sounds great

[@Nastya-uj9bg]

Thank you for mentioning about reading russians now. As a Ukrainian I must admit it makes me so angry people still uncritically picking up them since the war began because i assume they don’t give a shit. Even someone like Steve Donoghue who in his latest vids about books that should be penguin classics and are not couldn’t stop waxing poetic about awesome russians. I had to unsubscribe because it hurts to be honest. And I obviously can’t even imagine reading russians any time soon but I discovered so many interesting Ukrainians! I would recommend The city by Valerian Pidmohylny. There’s an english translation! ❤️

[@deirdre108]

Thanks for the recommendation. I haven't read anything by Ukrainian authours but I'll try this one.

[@Nastya-uj9bg]

@@deirdre108 You're most welcome! And no surprise there, there's hardly any translations, esp of the older classics. And def nothing Ukrainian in your bookshops. I hope it will change. The translation of the City is from sitesDOTutorontoDOTca/elul/Ukr_Lit/Vol04/

[@laura0104]

I understand your point, especially because unfortunately it is still going on. But you can't judge a country or its people because of their ruler. Many Russians are against the war too. I can't be angry at English people because of what Margaret Thatcher did. How many countries would I hate because of the IMF? Should I hate Spain for colonizing my country? If I thought like that... would I be fair to their people? They did nothing. The same goes to writers. Why should I punish authors, even the ones that have been dead for centuries, because of something they didn't do? It would be just an emotional response. And it is a dangerous way of thinking, even if it is fueled by pain.

[@Nastya-uj9bg]

@@laura0104 because russian lit is very imperialist from pushkin to dostoevsky to bulgakov. because ukrainian writers were killed in the gulags in the stalin's purges of the 30s (later they were jailed in 60s for being ukrainian writers) and were only published in the late 80s (and only a few copies because russia had a monopoly on Ukrainian book market for ages), because the empire dominated the discourse for decades, sometimes centuries in some countries. I mean, read what you want, I personally don't give a rats ass, but just don't be naive and try to educate me.

[@Nastya-uj9bg]

and also forgot to mention - the huge majority of russia supports this genocidal war. so son't give me "not all russians" lie. not when i know russian and can see their discourse with my own eyes.

[@nikkivenable3700]

I love Russian lit and always have. I’ll read it and savor it no matter what world turmoil there is. Every country commits some kind of atrocities, some bigger than others, some known but many are unknown and so if we stopped reading the authors from those countries, well, what would we be left with? America is no exception. I love my country but she’s a hot mess and has committed atrocities far and wide. The more history I learn about America, the more I wish I didn’t know. All governments suck but the art that comes from the atrocities that these governments commit still very much deserve our attention.