Top 20 Books I Read in 2016

[@andymarin6725]

Here my top fifteen books I've read in 2016: 1. Ghost Writer by Philip Roth 2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 3. Demons by F.M. Dostoyevsky 4. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin 5. Queer by William S. Burroughs 6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 7. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 8. Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis 9. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 10. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King 11. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney 12. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson 13. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh 14. Henry and June by Anais Nin 15. Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg

[@TheBookchemist]

That's a killer list!! Very curious about Ghost Writer, it's been a while since I read my last Philip Roth

[@onyxianz8132]

2016 has been my first year of serious reading, so there was an almost equal amount of terrible experiences as well as undescribably amazing experiences. If I can make a quick top 5 list of my favorite books of this year, it would be: - 5. The Road - Cormac McCarthy - 4. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger - 3. 1984 - Orwell - 2. On the Road - Jack Kerouac - 1. The Fall - Albert Camus Thank you for introducing me to some awesome authors, litterature is amazing but it can take a lot of time before getting into it and some help doesn't hurt.

[@TheBookchemist]

Dope list!

[@allaboutdmagic]

Great list you put together, I'm delighted that you reacted so well to House on the Borderland and Against the Day, both favourites of mine. The Chums of Chance were partially inspired by a turn-of-the-century comic strip called The Explorigator, you know.

[@TheBookchemist]

Awesome, I had no idea!!

[@WhatKamilReads]

I need to read Pynchon finally. Where would you recommend me to take off? I remember you said to read his latest novels first, but I have V and Crying of Lot 49. Very interesting list, lots of things I was surprised seeing it here. I wasn't big on City on Fire, but its just not my cup of tea... Very exited about The Keep. I loved Oscar Wao and Egan's Pulitzer winning A Visit from the Goon Squad.

[@billypilgrim1]

Crying of Lot 49, definitely! It's short and sweet. You could also try Inherent Vice or Bleeding Edge but Pynchon's style drifts out a bit for his last 3 books

[@TheBookchemist]

If you like Wao and Goon (both masterpieces) I'm sure you'll love the Keep. As for Pynchon, my suggestion's always to start with Inherent Vice, which is easier than the rest but as great and dense as the best of his stuff. Between the two you've already got... Eh! I'm not the biggest Crying fan, I think it's my least favorite of his efforts. It's still very short and will get you used to his style and prose, so there's that. Tell you what, if you've some experience with big Modernist books (Sound and the Fury, Woolf's stuff, Ulysses) begin with V. It's awesome and thrilling and 100% Pynchonian, but it's definitely a Modernist work, and can be a bit disorienting. Otherwise go with Crying!

[@Earbly]

everyone says to start with lot of 49, but i started with Gravitys Rainbow. its a challenge, but i dont see why one shouldnt start there unless youre like learning to read or something. Mason and Dixon seems beautifully written too. I would say though to stay away from Against the Day at first. That is a serious beast

[@Amnalam1013]

I always have a wonderful time watching your videos, and your recommendations have expanded my reading horizons for several years now. Keep it up!

[@aineebasir4263]

just finished S. this morning, I had ordered it right after your review and it has been an amazing experience reading it. what I really loved was how it made me aware of the construction ongoing in my head, the piecing together of Eric and Jen's lives from different parts of their lives, it was just superb😍 I will read house of leaves next

[@ghost2031]

I'm so glad i've found your Channel. Very inspirational and great choices of what to read. Looking forward to your 2017 list. Currently reading Salem's lot by Stephen King. Happy X-mas.

[@TheBookchemist]

Awesome novel - and thanks man!

[@keithwittymusic]

I'm reading Moonglow now. Hoping to have it reviewed Mid-January. Our lists are so different! I swear for the first time we weren't just catching up on all the Masterpieces we were supposed to have read and finally just reading in the veins we enjoy the most. I will be ordering The Keep ASAP, and that's my biggest take from this list considering that I haven't read Egan yet and this year I'm going to try my damndest to read more female authors. I find it endlessly fascinating that you found Against the Day so easy while I think it may be Pynchon's most difficult at times. Yet the highs are so high that I cannot deny how worthwhile the difficulty is. I'm curious how many books you read this year.

[@TheBookchemist]

You're not alone actually, before I read it I had people describing AtD to me as an "unreadable" book. And of course it's no stroll through the park, I guess the awesomeness made the difficult parts manageable ^^ and I had the same feeling about catching up and stuff, also this year I was able to read more books that had just come out than in past years. As for numbers, counting only fiction, including re-readings but excluding children's books and comics and such, I'd say between 35-40 books.

[@trappintrev9711]

thank you for telling us about wittywordplay blog. I love what he says about IJ. Also, I would like to see a video of how you got to where you are at, studying American Lit and when you began reading as a kid and all that would be cool!

[@TheBookchemist]

Keith's a great reviewer indeed! I did film a video like that a few years ago, the light in there is even shittier than usual but here you have it ;) kzbin.info/www/bejne/imLaiqmZjpple6s

[@gabirusky.]

Have you heard about Nutshell by Ian McEwan? I'm very excited about reading this one. Anyway, happy new year!

[@FleurPillager]

Dying to read Nutshell-Atonement is one of my favorite books ever.

[@iain2080]

Gabriel Pereira Santos Nutshell was such a great book. Nice and quick too

[@TheBookchemist]

I've heard about it and read all about the controversy around its publishing. I have not read it, but what I have read by McEwan makes me think he might be the best Britain has to offer today. I'm sure it's a great book. Happy new year man :D

[@Marandi61]

Against the day was the first book I engaged in in 2016 and it set the bar very high for me. I loved it even though it was my first Pynchon novel and took me three months to complete. The only other book to approach those heights, or match them even was Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate. Notable mentions go to Jonathan Littell's The Kindly ones, Richard Llewellyn's How Green was my valley, and a volume of Gogol's stories which I'm currently enjoying. I've loved your list and shall make sure to pick up some of those books in the coming months. I already own Mason & Dixon and I hope it will be as much fun and thought provoking as Against the Day.

[@TheBookchemist]

I'm sure it will be! Kudos for the heavy readings and thanks :)

[@CharlesWarrenOnline]

Hey man! Love your reviews. Could you please make a video ranking all of Michael Chabon's novels? This would be great to see.

[@TheBookchemist]

I actually did film it sometime ago! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHrUdpt4m9-WhLs Moonglow had not come out yet, but if I had to film it again, I would put it 3rd I reckon.

[@CharlesWarrenOnline]

The_Bookchemist thanks man

[@mrtimezone8658]

You do an awesome job with reviews, however, your use of "foul language" (now & then) is why I cannot share your reviews with Mom. *Sure I know this is common these day, just hope you care somehow about feelings.

[@joaopires51]

Nice list. I have been quite interested on the Invaders one, since your review, but I hadn't got the chance got read it. Do your links also work for kindle versions? My list of 2016 in chronological order: The anatomy lesson, Philip Roth Equal rites, Terry Pratchett Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury Death with Interruptions, Jose Saramago American Pastoral, Philip Roth Robot Visions, Isaac Asimov The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon After the Apocalypse, Maureen F. McHugh Lord of the Flies, William Golding Sandman, Vol. 1,2&3, Neil Gaiman

[@TheBookchemist]

Great list man! As for the links, sure - I believe they take you to the general page of the book and you can then choose whether to purchase it as a paper copy or ebook ;)

[@juanborjas6416]

Great video, lots of interesting books to read. Thanks for intruducing them.

[@marianap.goncalves2037]

I saw your review of S on goodreads and was really intrigued by it. I had no idea JJ Abrahms was publishing books! It came pretty high on this list so I will definitely read it soon! From your list I have only read The Name of the Rose but it was such a long time ago I should definitely re-read it, Eco is a master at sewing together very different kinds of information and writing genres, making his books interesting to basically everyone. Would you say Mason & Dixon has a bit of "Grapes of Wrath" feeling? Thanks for the video, a lot of suggestions!

[@TheBookchemist]

I see what you mean with Grapes - it does, sure, but I think all of American Literature in general, from Stephen King to DeLillo, is ruled by the tension between being very critical of the country and clearly very much in love with it. It's one of the things that make it so beautiful to me. Thanks for the comment!

[@dronegrey]

Great video! I just picked up Moonglow and am excited to jump into it. Have you read any of China Mieville?

[@TheBookchemist]

I've read some of his short stuff and also his novel Kraken! I'd love to read some of his more acclaimed books, I really like his style and stuff, but he's sadly outside my research area and I can only read a handful of writers like that a year.

[@dronegrey]

That's fair. I haven't read Kraken yet, but I've read a lot of his short stories, specifically from Three Moments of an Explosion and I can tell he's up there (at least for me) as one of the best.

[@michelle2615]

So happy to hear you praise "Monster". That was the story that sparked my interest and subsequent love for Junot Diaz.

[@TheBookchemist]

So great!

[@vins1979]

I think that, with hindsight, Against the Day, together with the last pages of Vineland (and keeping Mason & Dixon between parentheses), will be considered the 'turning point' of Pynchon's literary project: from bleakness to hopefulness. It is like Pynchon, as a writer, decided to take responsibility for the future, to indicate the way of hope and not to just describing the darkness of the world.

[@TheBookchemist]

Agreed! But I'd group Mason & Dixon with the hopeful books too, there's lots of bleak reflections and dark stuff in it (like in Against the Day after all) but the book's playfulness is very different from his early works I think!

[@vins1979]

The_Bookchemist yes. It's just that the fact that it is a historical novel makes it look as if it came out of the blue. However, some people may argue that even Bleeding Edge is, in a sense, a 'historical novel', because today is so much different from the beginning of the 2000s...

[@johannbadenhorst4920]

Have you read Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer yet ? It seems like a book right up your alley. By the way I love your passion for good literature and how you express that passion, coming from a fellow English major haha. Cheers

[@TheBookchemist]

Cheers man! I haven't and I actually don't think I will very soon; I liked both Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud, but not *too* much, and what I know about Here I Am (including its size) is kinda discouraging. Is it very good?

[@johannbadenhorst4920]

The_Bookchemist To be honest it's a bit disappointing. I went in strong but after about 50 pages the book lost me completely, but then I started Moonglow which is now my favorite novel of 2016 haha. I might give Here I Am a second go later this year, though.

[@tonybennett4159]

Very interesting selection. I've read both Mason Dixon and V by Pynchon. The first is less experimental in style and therefore an easier read, but still densely written. V was wild and strange but a bit of a struggle, which tended to put me off Against the Day because it is such a huge commitment. May have to reconsider. For me, The Name of the Rose was a joy to read, and the introduction of historical background, if anything, made it even more pleasurable : it's great to feel you're learning something while at the same time being swept along by the story. My favourite books this year reflect cultures that are alien to me, but succeed in earning my involvement : (1)A Brief History of Seven Killings, (well known to many). (2)A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk a story of Istanbul shown through the eyes of a Turkish everyman : the beautiful simplicity of its style hides many layers. (3)The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami, a great epic covering feuding generations in Syria. The blurb makes you think it might be a massive detective story, but its far from that, and finally (4)Seibo There Below by Laszlo Krasnahorkai, a book of episodes that reflect the striving of humanity for transcendence through art. The style is amazing, if initially off-putting, as he writes page after page with no full stops or paragraphs, only commas and semi-colons but let it take you over, and becomes like a surfers great wave : you have to stick with the exhilarating ride, you daren't wipe out. Like nothing you've ever read.

[@jefarge7077]

Great list. Thanks for sharing it. One of the only good things about this year was that it brought books by several of my favorite authors. Chabon, Mcewan, Delillo, and Lethem. Of these, Zero K took the longest to shake off. Delillo always manages to get under my skin. Here's my best of the year: Top 7 new books: 1. Homegoing​ ​by​ ​Yaa​ ​Gyasi 2. Zero K by Don Delillo 3. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead 4. My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Stroud 5. Moonglow by Michael Chabon 6. Nutshell by Ian McEwan 7. A Gambler's Anatomy by Jonathan Lethem Top 7 Older Books 1. City of Glass by Paul Auster 2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt 3. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy 4. Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac 5. The Promise by Pearl Buck 6. A Bend in the River by VS Naipaul 7. Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather

[@TheBookchemist]

That's a great list! And you're not the only one who liked Nutshell a lot, I should probably check it out

[@PetrSvoren]

Can you please do a guide for Infinite Jest with (spoiler-free) tips for people approaching the book for the first time? I want to read it but it is quite intimidating.

[@PetrSvoren]

Also, please read the Nix, it is amazing and I think it is right down your alley.

[@aswinunni1811]

Petr Svoren i think he did tht smetime ago...along with a reading Guide for Gravity's Rainbow...

[@TheBookchemist]

I did film a Reader's Guide to Infinite Jest sometime ago, but it is more for people who've read the book and are looking to get a bit more out of it. The kind of guide you suggest would be a great thing to film but I grew quite skeptical about IJ in recent years and I don't think I have it in me to plan a video such as that! One golden suggestion for first-time readers: carry on until at least page 300-350. The first part can be quite confusing, but once you reach that part of the book it all starts making sense and getting fun. And thanks for the suggestion too, my friend Keith Witty liked the Nix a lot and made me very curious about it!

[@adelineyvette5395]

Thank you! I am going to read from your list! I love your videos!

[@nl3064]

My favorites I read in 2016 were: 1. Blood Meridian (C. McCarthy) 2. Inherent Vice (T. Pynchon) 3. The Master and Margarita (M. Bulgakov) I also began reading All the Pretty Horses by McCarthy that year (great prose, boring as hell), it was so boring it took me like over two years to finish it. Apart from that, I don't remember what I read that year.

[@Rasselas_Urasawa]

could you please do a review on david foster wallace's this is water? I looked it up and it's 4.5/5 in goodreads!!! infinite jest is only 4.3/5!!!

[@TheBookchemist]

I might, but for now, instant review - I liked it a lot too when I was really into DFW, but I can see now it's kind of an exploitation of his popularity on the publishers' part. I liked it (and I think lots of people liked it) because many of the stories in it are among his most enjoyable, and talk about depression or death in very clear terms; but once you take a step back and read it coolly you realize that there's not much of a story anywhere in the collection. Most pieces just go on in a loop talking about how difficult life is and then end without a resolution, and they are kinda emotional, but only because they are over-the-top honest in a very unsubtle way. The title-piece is a speech DFW gave at a graduation ceremony I think anad again, although very emotional, it's a bit all over the place in its view of the role served by the humanities in society. So yeah, here's my take, but keep in mind that I have grown very skeptical of DFW's fiction, and that I was never much into his short stories (and that I have friends who are better scholars than me who think they are great and deserving).

[@renatoraia4103]

My list: 1) Siddharta by Hesse 2) Fictions by Borges 3) Small Moral Works by Leopardi 4) Memoirs of Hadrian by Yourcenar 5) The Tartar Steppe by Buzzati 6) The Leopard by Lampedusa 7) Diary of a Body by Pennac 8) Steppenwolf by Hesse 9) The Double by Saramago 10) The Baron in the Trees by Calvino 11) Lolita by Nabokov 12) Soldiers of Salamin by Javier Cercas 13) The Plague by Camus 14) The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway 15) The Golden Ass by Apuleius (PS: I'm currently reading Infinite Jest)

[@TheBookchemist]

That's a great list, the very best of Italian literature there!

[@renatoraia4103]

The_Bookchemist I'm italian so I read mostly italian books

[@alfonsomango_suyu]

I also read (among many others )Thomas Bernhard "Five autobiographical narrations" which was a deepening fall into the development of a young soul drunken on anguish; another to highlight The quiet american by Greene, this one succeeded on its portrait of a man full by a stressful existence.

[@emilioocchialini6094]

I didn't even read 10 books this year haha... The first six months were dedicated to Gravity's Rainbow, which i integrated with the reading of some tales of Slow Learner (that, actually, i think i missed the one you consider a masterpiece)... Then i enjoyed In watermelon sugar, you advised me as a first easy starting point for reading books in english. Indeed it was very fluent, a fable filled with allegories which it can be considered a "Yellow Submarine" (I don't mean only the song, but also the cartoon movie and all the universe built toward it) of literature. There has been the occasion to rediscover the prose of Stephen King with the beautiful and passionate reading of 11.22.63, a plunge into the sixties where the melodrama meets the spying movie and also horrorific parts that King doesn't spare (like a famous crossover with another famous book from old, and gold, times). I also read my first Vonnegut with Cat's Cradle that, together with Gravity's Rainbow, is a nihilist glimpse at the society of the Cold War. At the end of the summer i also read the first 100 pages of Against the day which i had to interrupt for many reason (maybe a purpose for next year)... Useful was the reading of Zero K that my friends gave me for my birthday. At the beginning i was afraid that i wasn't going to enjoy it at all because i have read until that time only Libra and the first 100 pages of Underworld (which i interrupted with 11.22.63). Instead i like ad it a lot; it grew up slowly page after pages turning into a existential and spiritual experience which explores other channels of experimentation of the language. I consider it important also because it gave me an key of lecture to recover and enjoy at all Underworld (many themes interwine between the two works, like the fear and paranoia of the own body, the impossibility of feeling safe and sane into the progress of this society). These are the book i read totally in this year. I started also the Correction but with the beginning of the University i was obliged to interrupted it when i realized the amount of books i have to read for the first exams at university. D: Obviously i'll finish The Corrections in 2017.... and to read more and more books PS: they give me for Christmas an english version of 'The American', an 19th century's book by Henry James. Did you read it?

[@TheBookchemist]

It's the quality that matters and you read a lot of masterpieces this year!! And the kind of dedication that makes you spend six months on GR is nothing but commendable ;) I haven't read The American but keep in mind that Henry James is my MORTAL ENEMY D: !! Lol jokes aside I'm curious to know what you'll think of it, lots of people adore James, especially in Italy - like, seems to me that 90% of American Lit scholars in Italy study James exclusively (!!).

[@aswinunni1811]

wondering whether u read pure philosophy books....if so fav philosopher ?...:)

[@TheBookchemist]

Nope! I don't even really read non-fiction except for a book about music every now and then (and academic stuff on literature of course). Narrative or bust!

[@aswinunni1811]

The_Bookchemist haa...i too used to read just fiction....but now trying to study german to read 'Being and Time'....also heard its a very tough read ...fingers crossed.....:P...

[@vins1979]

From the top of my mind: 1-2. Bolaño - The Savage Detecives 1-2. Bolaño - 2666 3. Bulgakov - The Master and Margherita 4. Mario Vargas Llosa - Aunt Julie and the Scriptwriter 5. Massimiliano Parente - Contronatura 6. Guido Morselli - Dissipatio H.G. 7. David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas 8. Alessandro Barbero - Romanzo Russo: Fiutando i futuri supplizi 9. Giuseppe Lo Presti - Il Cacciatore Ricoperto di Campanelli 10. Christos Tsiolkas - Merciless Gods 11. Roberto Bolaño - Amulet 12. Antonio Moresco - Gli Esordi 13. Don De Lillo - Cosmopolis 14. David Mitchell - The Bone Clocks 15. Antonio Moresco - Canti del Caos There must be other books, but I don't remember which ones or whether I read then in 2016 or 2015. Others were read in between (i.e., I started Musil's The Man without Qualities in 2015 and I must have finished it sometimes in January 2016, I think). I still cannot decide between 1 and 2, because Bolaño slapped me in the face hard, really really hard. And I liked it. Also, I think I've been a bit unfair to Antonio Moresco. On the other hand, I still cannot understand whether Moresco is a great, visionary writer or just an old fool who did far too many drugs and who is now pulling everybody's legs. I need more Pynchon in 2017 though. And, also, some thinner books: positions 1, 2, 12 and 15 alone make up 3,000+ pages!

[@TheBookchemist]

That's a hardcore list, kudos! I've heard lots of bad things about Moresco, some people dislike him quite a lot!

[@vins1979]

The_Bookchemist some people are totally addicted to him though. To be honest, I am happy that I have read the first two parts of his trilogy of the 'uncreated'. I haven't read the third and final instalment - 'The Uncreated', indeed. I think that the incipit to "The Beginnings" is one of the most beautiful in Italian literature and I recognise that some of the pages of "Songs of Chaos" are simply sublime. Some of its characters are still hunting me and I still imagine Princess, the wanderer African prostitute, walking around the globe with her beloved Removal Man. I like many of Moresco's parts, I am not convinced about the whole, his own vision of novel.

[@williamrobinson6059]

Have you read The Familiar: 3 yet? I can't wait for the review!

[@TheBookchemist]

Not yet! I have just too much stuff to read for my PhD and The Familiar kinda slid back to the bottom of my list :(

[@dalaimommadrama8929]

"....it's kinda the thing reviewers say when they have nothing to say".....AHAHAHA!! Love your honesty!! Always love watching your reviews.

[@jackgreendal8814]

read Consumed by David Cronenberg

[@StankPlanks]

Some great ones mate thanks!

[@SuperSporting11]

how many books have you read/re-read in 2016?

[@TheBookchemist]

All things included and counting non-fiction too, I'd say about 50, give or take a couple!

[@alfonsomango_suyu]

One book that I distasted was The Eleven by Pierre Michon. I think only a french parisian reader could find it worth to read. I don't think it is a friendly book for non-french readers.

[@jamesmacdonald8170]

20) House of All Nations 19) The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead; 18) A Book of American Martyrs 17) The Accursed 16) What I Lived For 15) Blonde Joyce Carol Oates 14) The Human Stain Philip Roth; 13) The Corrections Jonathan Franzen; 12) Underworld Don de Lillo; 11) Nostromo Joseph Conrad; 10) The Golden Bowl Henry James; 9) Women in Love D.H. Lawrence; 8) Middlemarch George Eliot; 7) The Red and the Black; 6) The Magic Mountain Thomas Man; 5) Ulysses James Joyce; 4) Don Quixote Cervantes; 3) The Confidence Man Herman Melville; 2) Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner; 1) The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoyevsky

[@mrtimezone8658]

Non-fiction: The Game, by Neil Strauss (2013)- - - - - Save money(only 25 & 50 cents!) at Goodwill Outlets, you'll find great books you never heard of...that's how I found The Game.

[@williamrobinson6059]

You My personal library has expanded threefold this year. I acquired most of my new books through Goodwill ($0.25-$0.50) and my local library ($0.25).

[@williamrobinson6059]

You My personal library has expanded threefold this year. I acquired most of my new books through Goodwill ($0.25-$0.50) and my local library ($0.25).

[@trappintrev9711]

DUDE! WHAT ABOUT ZADIE SMITH SWING TIMEEE

[@TheBookchemist]

Eeeeh I still have to read White Teeth man, it's been on my shelf for ages! Maybe in 2017 :P

[@josesilva-kv6fs]

you look like younger version of the actor Gael García Bernal. O_O

[@justsayin5110]

Wtf with this mustache man?! 😂😂😂

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

Great reviews, and very interesting choices, although my feminist heart is bleeding that only one female author made your list. But hey, maybe things will improve in 2017 :-)

[@libraryofthelabyrinth]

Britta Böhler true

[@reichplatz]

Yeah maybe Caitlyn Jenner will write a book xD

[@libertyhopeful18]

Britta Böhler I'm not a feminist, but i must say judy poucault's (sp?) newest book was wonderful. not normally the type of book i read, but thats certainly at least one female author who did something right this year :) check it out of you want

[@nicolaspoblete2087]

As the countdown was going I was dreading the same thing!

[@aboutdesouffle178]

yeah it's a sad reality. Which books would you recommend though? I'd recommend you a Spanish posthumous collection of short stories by Lucia Berlin named "Manual para mujeres de la limpieza' which is a sarcastic feminist wonder, dont know if its been translated to English though; hope it does!+

[@ilPitproductions]

holy fucking shit dowling!?!? aahahhaha OMG guess I have to read it