Top 10 Books I Read in 2019

What books did you love in 2019? Let's talk about it in the comments!
My full top 20, with links to my reviews (if I filmed it). The top 11 (!) is in alphabetical rather than numerical order so as not to spoil you the immense fun of watching the video :D other than the reviews, you'll find links to buy these books on IndieBound or Blackwell's; in an affiliate of both websites.
20) Perry - The Essex Serpent
19) Blackwood - Ancient Sorceries & Other Stories
18) Fitzgerald - Tender Is the Night: • Tender Is the Night by...
17) Machen - The White People & Other Stories
16) Zafon - The Prisoner of Heaven
15) Smith - Autumn: • Autumn by Ali Smith RE...
14) Various authors - Milano (Italian short story collection published by Sellerio)
13) Tomatis - Il laboratorio (only available, to my knowledge, in Italian - a great pity: it is a wonderful novel about academic life, as relevant today as it was in the mid 60s)
12) Zafon - The Angel's Game
Apollonius of Rhodes - Jason & the Argonauts (translated by Aaron Poochigian)
R: • Jason and the Argonaut...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Barnes - Flaubert's Parrot
R: • Flaubert's Parrott by ...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Bester - The Demolished Man
R: • The Demolished Man by ...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
DeLillo - Running Dog
R: • Running Dog by Don DeL...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Lethem - The Feral Detective
R: • The Feral Detective by...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera
R: • Love in the Time of Ch...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Maupassant - A Parisian Affair & Other Stories
R: • Guy de Maupassant: Is ...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Melville - Moby Dick
R: • Moby-Dick by Herman Me...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Tomasi di Lampedusa - The Leopard
R: • The Leopard by Giusepp...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Wodehouse - The Code of the Woosters
R: • The Code of the Wooste...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind
R: • The Shadow of the Wind...
IB: www.indiebound...
BW: blackwells.co....
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[@nicolaslebrun3157]

This is literally the best youtube channel about books

[@vanishing_girl]

top 10 books I read for the first time in 2019: 1. Middlemarch 2. The Brothers Karamazov 3. The Idiot 4. To the Lighthouse 5. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said 6. Miss Lonelyhearts 7. The Mill on the Floss 8. Cat's Cradle 9. Billy Bathgate 10. The Testaments

[@KanwarAnand]

I also read Middlemarch last year. I think the idiot is FD's best book with BK being the second best.

[@vanishing_girl]

@@KanwarAnand my favorite FD book now has to be Demons, but I read that in February of this year. He's an amazing writer.

[@KanwarAnand]

@@vanishing_girl I haven't read that but now I will. Reading master and margarita by some other russian author presently..it's not great.

[@vanishing_girl]

@@KanwarAnand lol I always see others praising that one but it never looked like it was my kind of thing. I think I'll definitely stay away from it now.

[@margotnightingale8290]

@@KanwarAnand Master and Margarita is my favorite book of all time. Can't even describe why. Something so ahead of its time and classical 19th century that mixes up in this Stalinist resistance novel. It's randomness and magical realism themes just kept me so intrigued.

[@theofficialassmob]

first, love you fullmetal bookchemist

[@ericgrabowski3896]

1. White Noise 2. MaoII 3. Libra 4. The name of the rose 5. The Amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay 6. The Master and Margherita 7. Grendel 8. The bell jar 9. We have always lived in the castle 10. Winesburg, Ohio 11. The book of sand and Shakespeare's memory 12. A universal history of iniquity 13. The insufferable gaucho 14. The thin man 15. The God of the small things 16. Invisible Man 17. The Magician 18. My Antonia 19. O' pioneers 20. Death comes for the arch bishop In no particular order those are some of the more memorable books i read last year. I also read Americana by Delillo - Cosmopolis and Zero K. All were good but didn't have the same impact as the others did. Reading Falconer by John Cheever now.

[@caralineg6568]

Eric Grabowski grendel is amazing!!! i read it in eighth grade after i read beowulf for class and it’s still on my favorites list

[@ericgrabowski3896]

@@caralineg6568 Yes! I hope to read it again at some.point.

[@caralineg6568]

Eric Grabowski at first I didn’t care for the unique style of writing, but I came to fall completely in love with it.

[@ericgrabowski3896]

@@caralineg6568 I havent read anything else by him have you? I guess he was an experimental writer. What else do you like to read?

[@caralineg6568]

Eric Grabowski I haven’t read anything else by him. maybe one day though. I love anything that’s dystopian- 1984, Brave New World, etc. I’ve read some Kurt Vonnegut too and I LOVE his stuff. Markus Zusak is also a good author. I’m not too picky in the type of books I read, but I am in writing styles. I’m currently reading Dune by Frank Herbert and it’s a monster of a book but I’ve enjoyed it so far. What about you?

[@d-5037]

Thanks, Bookchemist. Your vids are inspirational. My favorites in 2019: 1. George Orwell: Homage to Catalonia 2. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Half of a Yellow Sun 3. Ivan Repila: The Boy Who Stole Attila's Horse 4. John Crowley: Little, Big 5. Jennifer Egan: A Visit From the Goon Squad (picked this because of Bookchemist's video)

[@authorgreene]

It's been years since I've tracked the books I've read.r. After watching this video, I think I'll start keeping a list for 2020. Thanks for the inspiration.

[@KanwarAnand]

top ten books I read for the first time in 2019: 1. Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene 2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt 3. 21 lessons from the 21st Century by Y N H 4. The Golden House by Salman Rushdie 5. Hard Times Create Strong Men by Stefan Aarnio 6. Intensity by Dean Koontz 7. Middlemarch 8. The Corrections 9. Atomic Habits 10. The girl in Room 105

[@HannahsBooks]

I was stunned by how much I loved the Iliad. While the stories of the Odyssey will always be part of my life, it has never been the incredible reading experience for me that the Iliad was. (I am hoping to read Emily Wilson’s translation sometime soon.)

[@Roughv8]

My top ten from 2019: 1. The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead 2. Beloved. Toni Morrison 3. Dawn - Octavia Butler 4. The Keep - Jennifer Egan 5. A visit from the goon suad - Jennifer Egan 6. Zone One - Colson Whitehead 7. The Three Body Problem - Xixin Liu 8. Cygnet - Season Butler 9. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guine 10. Adulthood Rites - Octavia Butler

[@SpringboardThought]

Wonder if you know of the newer Canadian novel meant to be in conversation with The Leopard, Lampedusa, by Steven Price? I loved that book, and it’s what actually put The Leopard on my radar. “A man’s death and a masterpiece’s birth are the conjoined subjects of Steven Price’s brooding, beautiful book “Lampedusa.” It imagines the thoughts and emotions of Giuseppe Tomasi, the “last Prince of Lampedusa,” as he writes “The Leopard…”

[@manuetells]

Hi! As a french woman, I was happy to hear you say you wanted to learn the language in order to be able to read in french! Thank you for the recommendations!

[@tomgou78]

10. The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati 9. The Spectre of Alexander Wolf by Gaito Gazdanov 8. Old Goriot by Honoré de Balzac 7. What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe 6. The Emperor's Tomb by Joseph Roth 5. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houllebecq 4. Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon 3. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 2. The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov 1. In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman

[@alexcross5]

My top 5 books I read this year: 1. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 2. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante 3. Skagboys by Irvine Welsh 4. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 5. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford

[@Splackavellie85]

I absolutely loved Shadow of the Wind. It really made me want to reach as many good books as I could get my hands on.

[@browngirlreading]

Love Guy de Maupassant! I read The Count of Monte Cristo this year and loved it! Sadly I didn't like Love in the Time of Cholera. I prefer One hundred Years of Solitude. One day I'll get to Moby Dick...

[@TheBookchemist]

To be fair, I probably prefer One Hundred Years myself. Great reads by the way :D!

[@arthurdoktor]

2019 was the year I discovered my new favorite author Haruki Murakami. I read "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the end of the world", "Kafka on the Shore" and "The wind-up bird chronicle". All tree of them were amazing in their own way.

[@kaylemkerr6989]

I've yet to read him. I hope to one day!

[@KidASquared]

I read his memoir "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" this year and I loved it. I have yet to get into his fiction works, but he is definitely on my list now.

[@romm4516]

I love Murakami. My first book was 1Q84, and I loved it. I liked the books you mentioned, but 1Q84 will always have a special place in my heart. If you haven't gotten to it, don't be intimidated by the size: it's just as fast paced as his other novels. His short stories are also worth a glance.

[@arthurdoktor]

@@romm4516 I will definitely read 1Q84 some time this year

[@romm4516]

My biggest accomplishment in 2019 was reading Gravity's Rainbow. It took a bit longer than your reading project's schedule as life with a toddler means there is just little time to dedicate to reading a text like GR. Thanks again for those videos. I was also able to re-read The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Gaiman, Valis by Dick, and Slaughterhouse Five. Running Dog is on my short list to read this year, along with Numero Zero by Ecco and V by Pynchon (which I'm currently reading).

[@alext7621]

The Ocean at the End is a delightful little book, isn't it?

[@romm4516]

@@alext7621 Absolutely. I couldn't have chosen a better adjective if I tried. Delightful indeed!

[@lysanderhock7014]

My favourite book in 2019 has been The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. There are few other books I've read that did engage me that much on an emotional level. I also read Inherent Vice, which was a lotof fun and finished Gravity's Rainbow after having put it on the bottom of my stack a few years ago. Your videos have been a great companion for that matter. Currently finishing Against the Day. I forced myself through a third of Look Homeward Angel, a book I had been looking forward to read, but didn't become intrigued by it and gave up. Rabbit Redux has been much fun and imo is much better than Rabbit Run, which is also a good book. Really looking forward to continue the series. I also liked The Keep, which I bought in a nice antiquarian bookstore in Jerusalem. Currently writing a paper on it for a seminar. The next books I plan to read are Wonder Boys, The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon and Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.

[@TheBookchemist]

All amazing reads, most of my very favorite are in here :)

[@timothyduke6993]

I really enjoyed reading On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong and also The Zygote Chronicles by Suzanne Finnamore. The former was beautiful and written as a letter to the illiterate mother of the narrator (who is very closely linked to the author; despite this being a novel, the first chapter was published as a memoir in The New Yorker). Vuong wrote an article "the 10 books I needed to write my novel" and in it the one that I found most intriguing was Herman Melville's, Moby Dick. Vuong said for his novel, the proverbial "white whale" of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is that his mother can never read the letter-this both is a sad point for the narrator, but also freeing. Vuong is a poet living in New York who previously published a book of poems, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, which is also fantastic. The latter was a novel, which also borders the line of novel and memoir, written by my best friend's mother. It won the Washington Post's Book of the Year award and her memoir, Split: a memoir of divorce was featured on Opera's list. Its form is also a letter, but from the author to her soon-to-be child. Finnamore wrote it while pregnant with my best friend and is as much a depiction of what it is like to go through pregnancy as it is all the hopes and facts of life she wants to tell her baby. Reading this following Vuong's novel and having known the writer and baby in question for 10 years, was especially impactful since the former was a letter from son-to-mother, the latter a letter from mother-to-son. I highly recommend both!

[@poojawadhwa4657]

Was eagerly waiting for your best reads of 2019 Always a delight watching you talk about books.

[@guilhermeteixeiradossantos3717]

I discovered your channel a few months ago, and now i'll probably gonna give a try to Michael Chabon and Thomas Pynchon in 2020 (i'm already a fan of Lovecraft). My favorite books from 2019(Reading order): The Magic Mountain The Decameron Don Quixote The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis The Old Man and the Sea The Tartar Steppe - Dino Buzzati (the most depressing novel that i ever read, and it's italian) All Quiet on the Western Front Portnoy's Complaint The Relic - Eça de Queirós The Catcher in the Rye Actually, the only ones that I read in english were Catcher in the Rye and The Old Man and the Sea, the other ones were in portuguese.

[@blipsontheradar]

Will you release a decade list?

[@brainfragrances]

Fiction 1. The Overstory (Powers) 2. The Four Books (Lianke) 3. Speaker For The Dead (Card) 4. The Book Of Disquiet (Pessoa) 5. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (Dick) 6. What Is The What (Eggers) 7. Lost Children Archive (Luiselli) 8. The Test (Neuvel) 9. Down And Out In Paris And London (Orwell) 10. Convenience Store Woman (Murata) Non-Fiction 1. The Ape That Understood The Universe (Stewart-Williams) 2. Everybody Lies (Stephens-Davidowitz) 3. The Case Against Reality (Hoffman) 4. Bad Blood (Carreyrou) 5. The Fabric Of The Cosmos (Green) 6. Tribe (Junger) 7. Awakenings (Sacks) 8. The God Delusion (Dawkins) 9. A Walk In The Woods (Bryson) 10. Freakonomics (Levitt)

[@eterimach7697]

A very interesting list as always. I would recommend Black Water, a short story anthology of fantastic literature. It has wonderful gems of stories assembled my Alberto Manguel, and it was where I discovered Lampedusa for the first time, with his relatively unknown, yet captivating short story. I'm sure you would love the book, check it out if you get a chance.

[@marinamaccagni5253]

I love to listen to an italian guy that speaks English so fluently! You are my ispiration!

[@Gabrielcezar94]

I’d love to hear him pronounce “awed” and “flawed” correctly tho 😂

[@sardarebbad8608]

I'm extremely grateful for being blessed with such a wonderful and more importantly, honest book-tuber. You're amazing 💯

[@mrl9418]

I read 2 (two) Pathfinder Tales, detailing the life of people in Nidal under the boot of the Midnight Lord, the horrors of living near Cheliax, and finally an ancient curse and no less than the appearance of something worse than both the 9 hells and the Abyss. For the minor works, I can't recall them all at this time of the day. Here are some : Brief Interview With Hideous Men - David Foster Wallace, which I wish had been longer; The Book Of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa, one of the most interesting books I read last year, about the nature of said disquiet. Maybe too long for what it tries to accomplish, but that's justified by the framing narrative; The Looser - Thomas Bernhard, tight, this one; The Noise of Time - Julian Barnes, also about a famous musician, and oppression. A bit too on the nose; Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy. "Join Victober," they said. "You'll have lots of fun," they said.

[@rkosurvivor]

Looking forward to adding these to my list, thank you brother

[@ianp9086]

Really interesting list - thanks. Four of my all time favourites were on there - Moby Dick, Flaubert's Parrot, Love in the time of Cholera and Autumn (which I only read this year). So I must catch up with some of the others!

[@johncrwarner]

As an Italian is not French relatively easy to learn read - when I travelled to Northern Italy with my family in the 1970s - the lingua franca was often French as Brits often don't learn Italian but are forced to do French and Italians in those days seem to have studied French more often. More recently when I have been to Ticino (Italian speaking Switzerland - but I think the dialect is close to the Milanese dialect) - my halting spoken was basically a cross between Latin and French - so I coped buying "latte di soia" and "fiocchi d'avena" for our breakfast in the supermercato. I was not of course reading literature but there must be enough in common for the vocabulary to make it easier than Germans or British people.

[@TheBookchemist]

Being romance languages, and close at that, they're not too far at all, especially when you look at them written down. I swear I cannot pronunce a single word of French, but I can extrapolate meaning from what I read half of the time. (Of course, reaching any form of literary appreciation is something else entirely!)

[@johncrwarner]

@@TheBookchemist I was temporarily living in a village near Asti in Piemonte and my Italian was poor but the postmistress said in Italian that she spoke French - I did my Northern French accent and she replied in what I can only call a southern French accent and the languages were incompatible so we went back to pidgin Italian LOL The sound systems of standard Italian and standard French are far apart - as you get closer to the border they merge.

[@StankPlanks]

Great list mate. Here’s to hoping 2020 will be another great reading year.

[@marcelsirna499]

Read Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy and it was incredible, by far his most underrated and most under appreciated works Provinces of Night by William Gay was also fantastic

[@TheBookchemist]

I might very well agree, it's a cut above his other pre-Suttree novels!

[@nl3064]

M'kay, here's my ramble on the stuff I read in 2019. My favorites were: *Glamorama (Bret Easton Ellis) - I began it in December 2018, and finished in January 2019. *In Watermelon Sugar (Richard Brautigan) *If They Move, Kill 'Em! ...The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah (David Weddle) *This way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (Tadeusz Borowski) (My favorite Short Story I read that Year) Middle Tier: *Almost Transparent Blue (Ryu Murakami) *The Atrocity Exhibition (J.G. Ballard) - conceptually, I loved it, but it was pretty boring. *Runaway Horses (Yukio Mishima) - Not bad, but boring. *Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh) - mixed feelings, the book was uneven; the movie is way better. *If On a Winter's Night a Traveler (Italo Calvino) - Essentially an anthology with an intricate framing device - I liked the first "book", but the rest was so,so,so _boring_. Meh: *Lunar Park (Bret Easton Ellis) - not bad, light disposable reading. Cheesy ending. *The New York Trilogy (Paul Auster) - a couple neat parts, but mostly realy, really, really _boooring_. * Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino) Bad: *Imperial Bedrooms (Bret Easton Ellis) *The Informers (Bret Easton Ellis) - I only read like half the stories, the only one I liked was the vampire one. *The Willows (Algernon Blackwood) - Neat idea, love the description of the setting, interesting ending - absolutely boring as hell. *Hunting the Devil (Richard Lourie) - Biography on Andrei Chikatillo and the detective who caught him, though like 2/3 of the book focused more on the detective rather than Chikatillo, and that pissed me off. And it was really boring.

[@nl3064]

And the short stories I read: 1. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (T. Borowski) 2. The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved (H.S. Thompson) 3. The Sentinel (A.C. Clarke) 4. The Secrets of Summer (B.E. Ellis) 5. The Men who Murdered Mohammed (A. Bester) 6. Taylor Swift (H. Bhem-Steinberg) 7. The Paper Menagerie (K. Lui) 8. Discovering Japan (B.E. Ellis) 9. "-All You Zombies-" (R. Heinlein) 10. The Lottery (S. Jackson) 11. Sticks (G. Saunders) 12. The Nine Billion Names of God (A.C. Clarke) 13. Or All the Seas with Oysters (A. Davidson) 14. Girl (J. Kincaid) 15. The Fifth Wheel (B.E. Ellis) 16. The Laughing Man (J.D. Salinger) 17. A Very Short Story (E. Heminway) 18. Answer (F. Brown) 19. The Huntress (S. Samatar) 20. Josephine the Singer (F. Kafka) 21. Flowers for Algernon (D. Keyes)

[@minotaurmangum7911]

Top 10, excluding re-reads: 10. 6 Memos for the Next Millennium- Italo Calvino 9. Jesus' Son- Denis Johnson 8. The Unlimited Dream Company- JG Ballard 7. The Book of Imaginary Beings- Jorge-Luis Borges 6. The Culture of Narcissism- Christopher Lasch 5. Paradiso- Dante 4. Purgatorio- Dante 3. Suttree- Cormac McCarthy 2. V.- Thomas Pynchon 1. Hamlet/Macbeth/King Lear- Shakespeare

[@Pabloaxolotl5628]

Minotaur Mangum I love Borges and Calvino! Have you read Lafferty by chance?

[@minotaurmangum7911]

Kyler Baumoel No, but I have a big box if vintage SF that may have dome Lafferty in it. What’s the best book or best to start with?

[@Pabloaxolotl5628]

Minotaur Mangum Unfortunately a lot of his books are limited printings. You can go on Project Gutenberg and read some of his short stories, you can also find his works scattered around the web if you look.

[@CharlesWarrenOnline]

Always look forward to the end of year vids bro.

[@DimitrisLian]

Every year I'm waiting for this particular video and even more so for the one about the books you plan to read in the following 12 months! My favorite books I read in 2019 were Achebe's African Trilogy, James's The Portrait of a Lady, plus three Italian masterpieces, Svevo's Senilità (I looooved it sooo much, now I must read La coscienza di Zeno!), Elsa Morante's La Storia that made me cry bitterly and yes, Il Gattopardo too, I read it after your review last June! I hated Plath's Bell Jar and unfortunatelly Malraux's La Condition humaine, I failed to understand their greatness. Happy New Year.

[@motides5392]

my top 3 1. David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest 2. Virginia Woolf - To The Lighthouse 3. Don DeLillo - White Noise

[@renatoraia4103]

This year I've read far less fiction than usual as I've graduated. So I've read more philosophy and stuff, as this is what I'm studying. However, three novels I've read this year are among the best I've ever read: Solaris by Lem, Baudolino by Eco (one of the few books that made me cry, it is absolutely wonderful) and the trilogy The Notebook-The Proof-The Third Lie by Agota Kristof. I also tried to read Madame Bovary but the pacing felt to slow and I surrendered halfway through.

[@alext7621]

I've had Baudolino on my TBR list for a while. I'm not a huge fan of medieval lit, but I'm definitely a fan of "modern" literature with a medieval setting. I've never read any Eco. Is Baudolino a good place to start? And I also read Madame Bovary this year lol. I finished it, but it's one of those books that I admired more than I actually enjoyed.

[@renatoraia4103]

@@alext7621 Baudolino is far easier that The Name of the Rose. Less historical background, less random discussion of Aristotle's work, less random latin and philosophy. So I think it is far more enjoyable. I've read both in italian thought so I don't know how the translation can feel like. A tip: do not start with Foucault Pendolum is a very very difficult book, and I think it is not even his best one.

[@niriop]

My reading last year was pathetic: nine complete books only. The stand outs were A Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood, and Braided Creek by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser (a collaborative poetry collection). I did start to read Moby Dick, but I ended up putting it down. I did grow to like it as I was reading it, but I started to feel unsure of myself-was I “getting it”?-and had to stop. Silly I know...

[@eveantonov]

nine books isn't pathetic at all, we all have different obligations, timetables, reading paces and so on; reading isn't about competition but learning and expanding one's culture -- and nine books is still nine more books in your cultural landscape!!

[@TheBookchemist]

Although I understand the frustration of feeling like you haven't read enough, it does look like you read some excellent stuff :)! If you go back to Moby Dick I hope it goes better the second time ;)

[@niriop]

@@TheBookchemist Thanks man, I will. :D

[@buddhabillybob]

Thank you! Interesting, thoughtful list.

[@jh1618]

For the Odyssey, try the new translation by Emily Wilson, it's very light, fast English (but in iambic pentameter): Tell me about a complicated man. Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy, and where he went, and who he met, the pain he suffered in the storms at sea, and how he worked to save his life and bring his men back home. He failed to keep them safe; poor fools, they ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god kept them from home. Now goddess, child of Zeus, tell the old story for our modern times. Find the beginning.

[@GabyG48]

If you haven't read rune mysteries I recommend you dig into them and also Janarric runes

[@irena7777777]

You should read The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Mass. It was published 2019, is the best postmodern, meta book I've read. I think you'd love it as you like Auster, DFW, DeLillo etc.

[@elizabethabraham2695]

Wonderfully articulate and informative video.

[@CorreaSamuel]

Read The Secret History by Donna Tartt which was good. Currently reading Dune.

[@EYliaster]

Great books! Could you do a video about the music you liked the most in 2019? I loved a video you filmed two years ago (I think).

[@bumsmanifesto123]

I enjoyed Flaubert's Parrot but in no way does it compete with If on a Winters Night a Traveler.

[@Gabrielcezar94]

I guess the most gripping book I read last year was Olga Tokarczuk’s Primeval and Other Times.

[@ameliareads589]

Could you please give me a recommendation where to start with Jonathan Lethem's books? Also read The Leopard in 2019 and really loved it! Because Julian Barnes is one of my favourite living authors I loved to hear you praising Flaubert's Parrot. And what a huge compliment to hear you comparing it to Calvino.

[@TheBookchemist]

I would start with Motherless Brooklyn: it might well be his most enjoyable book, and it showcases his writing chops and some of his major concerns. After that, the obvious choice is Fortress of Solitude: very dense, somewhat difficult, terribly sad, but absolutely unforgettable. Thanks for the comment :)

[@rogeriomorais4581]

10 - The Relectutant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid); 9 - Aos 7 e aos 40 (João Anzanello Carrascoza); 8 - The Infatuations (Javier Marías); 7 - Embers (Sándor Márai); 6 - À Rebours (Joris-Karl Huysmans); 5 - The Loser (Thomas Bernhard); 4 - A Heart so White (Javier Marías); 3 - The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky); 2 - 2666 (Roberto Bolaño); 1 - Three brasilian short stories collections by Chekhov: A Dama do Cachorrinho e Outras Histórias, O Beijo e Outras Histórias, O Assassinato e Outras Histórias.

[@vins1979]

I mean, your 1, 2 and 3 are MASTERPIECES!

[@GeorgeMillerUSA]

Nice to see someone mentioned 2666 here. I read it 2018 and it is life-changing.

[@vins1979]

@@GeorgeMillerUSA it is indeed. Have you read Savage Detectives?

[@GeorgeMillerUSA]

@@vins1979 Not yet, but I did read A Little Lumpen Novelita last year, and it became my favorite Bolaño book.

[@vins1979]

@@GeorgeMillerUSA I think I hated Savage Detectives for the first 100-pages or so, and then it became not only my favourite Bolaño book, but one of my favourite books ever! Give it a try.

[@sabineottala3588]

Hello Bookchemist, this is my first time on your channel and I really appreciated your insights. Can you or any other followers recommend a particular English version of The Leopard?

[@rubeng9092]

Didn't read that much this year. (from least enjoyable to most enjoyable) 4. A heart so white by Javier Marias (Starts off strong, but meanders in the middle and later sections. The philosophizing felt not that interesting or genuine, besides a couple exeptions) 3. White Noise by Delillo ( Hilarious book. Satirizes media in interesting ways. Gives an authentic picture of family life in that time, I believe. The Ending is far too bleak and cynical and almost ruins it for me.) 2. Absalom,Absalom by William Faulkner ( Interesting structure and characters. Loved the dynamic between the halfbrothers. Gives insight into the south and the civil war and thomas sutpen is a great character. The longass sentences are beautiful but following some of the plotlines can be a pain in the ass. Read it in the original english, which had some words I had to look up but felt rewarding regardless.) 1. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (Hits me. I cannot mention the best passages because I don't wanna ruin it for other people. The prose is strong even in the german translation, which I picked due to hearing of IJ's difficulty. I'll reread in english someday.) This year I'll be diggin through pynchon starting with V.

[@GeorgeMillerUSA]

Which edition of V.? Editions that are besides Bantam and Vintage Classics has error texts.

[@rubeng9092]

@@GeorgeMillerUSA Vintage Classics

[@GeorgeMillerUSA]

@@rubeng9092 Then you’re all set.

[@rubeng9092]

@nice try167 I'll be going to GR afterwards.

[@tominl.a.1582]

Shadow of the Wind is weak and bland. Everything else you said is 100% in line with my own taste and extremely well articulated.

[@Tweak54]

You need to read Proust, whether you do it in french or not, you need to read it.

[@timkjazz]

You absolutely 100% have to read 'The Twisted Ones' by T. Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon - Hugo Award winning author, an incredible take/continuation on Arthur Machen's "The White People. Truly creepy.

[@TheBookchemist]

Interesting!

[@constancecampbell4610]

I love that you included a short story collection. The book that made the biggest impression on me in 2019: Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. Not fiction, but memorable and artful.

[@M_SC]

It’s been over 10 years since I tried to read shadow of the wind but i couldn’t do it and hated it- I didn’t then know what narcissistic personality disorder was but I think the author must have it

[@GabyG48]

I think I should do a KZbin book channel cuz I also love reading. Reading holds magic. :). I'm a beginner in alchemy. I have a rune mysteries book that I been sharing info to people in my social media :) right now I'm dissecting the The Devil in the white city which is about Chicago's 1893 world fair and H.H Holmes

[@ianalbreski7124]

I read more in 2019 than any other year, but would have to say I feel privileged to have read "The Crying of Lot 49" last year.

[@timkjazz]

Pynchon is always a treasure, '49' a true gem. Try 'V' next, a masterpiece.

[@ianalbreski7124]

@@timkjazz I actually read V. first and loved it. I felt like 49' has a bit more streamlined, V. is excellent but so dense that it's almost upsetting. Working up the courage to start 'Gravitys Rainbow'

[@timkjazz]

@@ianalbreski7124 You will not be disappointed, in my opinion as great as any novel ever written, and Pynchon's masterpiece.

[@nikchemnyk]

Thanks for the channel, Bookchemist, as always. Also this time I notice you have a book by one of my fellow citizens Andrey (Andriy) Kurkov ("Death and The Penguin"). Is it popular in Italy in general?

[@TheBookchemist]

It's not mine ;)

[@Signsoflife-rc4uq]

Love your channel! Question, do you always read only one novel at a time? Or do you ever juggle multiple novels at the same time?

[@TheBookchemist]

One novel at a time! Although I do read nonfiction alongside fiction (and I always have a Goosebumps book going at any given time).

[@eveantonov]

so glad you want to pick up french!! who are the authors you've read by now?

[@TheBookchemist]

Flaubert, Verne and Voltaire would be the one that stuck the most ;)

[@eveantonov]

@@TheBookchemist well then i would definitely recommend reading Zola (L'Œuvre and La Bête humaine are my absolute favorites) and Balzac -- i'm obsessed with the 19th century so i'm kinda biased but they're among the best and most known authors of this century, alongside with Flaubert! i also think you would love La Chute by Camus (20th century), it's kind of an absurd novel where the narrator tells his story to a 2nd character whom we never hear, as if the reader was supposed to "fill in the blanks" or take his place. and finally my favorite author of all time is Léon Bloy, his novel Le Désespéré is truly the best french prose i have ever read (but idk if it has been translated or if the translations are any good)

[@MarcNash]

I've got Libra to read this year to complete Delillo. But I really didn't get much out of Running Dog. Do you think we'll see anything new from him?

[@GeorgeMillerUSA]

Oh, yes, it's called The Silence.

[@Frenposter]

The #1 book that I read last year was Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide. Not fiction (go figure) but very powerful and sad.

[@pietroppic]

have you read any China Mieville?

[@TheBookchemist]

Kraken, plus a handful of short stories; I don't think I'm really a fan of the New Weird/slipstream & related (didn't really love Neuromancer, adored Annihilation but was left a bit cold by its sequels), but I'd still like to read at least one of Mieville's major works, maybe The City & the City?

[@adrienneclaire78]

Hi! I recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Let us know what you think :)

[@jacqualinemc7122]

Are you the guy in Gwen Stefani's 'Cool' music video?

[@tad256]

What's the name of the book which was laying towards left to *the Golden State* ?

[@TheBookchemist]

Either Pride & Prejudice or Ayelet Waldman's excellent Nursery Crimes

[@ScarpediMetallo]

sarei curioso di sentirti parlare di Superwoobinda ad un pubblico non italiano. Lo hai letto?

[@nikchemnyk]

No one said it better than Mellville himself: "No, Hal, it's just about whales."

[@sjin8896]

Do you have an iPhone book scientist? If not I understand...

[@mzakharov]

Finally!

[@Khvost_]

Is your hair naturally grey like that? It looks so beautiful

[@AceHardy]

📙💯

[@djamesfrancis]

Any women on that list? I suggest Xiaolu Guo. A Chinese lady who writes in English. Themes are often about isolation, change, love.

[@SparklingBlue89]

I read Moby Dick as well...150 pages of whale anatomy and whaling tools...not my thing

[@LordOfElderon]

chemist, you looking old

[@LordOfElderon]

ps when are you going to read the golden bowl by henry james?

[@LordOfElderon]

pps whats with colour coding your books? I went into a shop the other day and they did it with the albums, it means nothing.