My Top Recommendations of All Time (2023)

[@ferl2602]

Great recommendations!

[@williampdozier]

Thank you!

[@kirkschuchardt7440]

Hey, pal. I just wanted to thank you for being a bit of a unicorn in the BookTube world since there aren't too many men talking about the books they love on KZbin. Your channel is a refreshing reminder that not every booktube channel needs to recommend the usual YA or BookTok books. I hope boys in middle school and high school come across this channel and realize how totally normal it is to read literature as a man and find it fascinating. You are a good role model to them because you are authentic in how much you care about literature. Do not think for a second that doesn't matter. I love your recommendations and have read almost all of them. Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O'Connor are wonderful writers. So are William Gaddis, Katherine Anne Porter, and Wallace Stevens. My favorite novel ever might be The Recognitions by William Gaddis, but it's hard to recommend since it's so long and complex. Instead, I'd recommend The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. I was completely overtaken by its magical realism and satire of Soviet life. I think you would enjoy the crazy, surrealistic ride the story takes you on after the Devil in disguise argues with a poet and a literary journal editor on how Jesus should be portrayed in a poem. It's wonderfully absurd in part I think because Bulgakov was trying to make sense of how absurd life was in a Soviet regime that repressed free speech.

[@williampdozier]

Thanks, Kirk. This note made my day. 🙏🏻

[@NK0401]

Just found your channel today and I absolutely love how concise you are and love that all your intros of your videos are only a couple of seconds. No fussing around or 4 minute long intros! Definitely subscribed right away

[@williampdozier]

Thanks! I try pretty hard to be respectful of everyone’s time

i love how most of you're book recommendations are classics i feel like i found a gem on youtube!

[@everrit]

The entire Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy is unbelievably wonderful. I didn't like the Road but perhaps trying to read it during 2020 was a mistake. I love that you have created a video reflecting your taste it's a great introduction.

[@jj-12117]

You are a person Who really loves reading. I also want to be like you

[@bookofdust]

I read the collection A Good Man is Hard to Find this month and that first story floored me, just was such a jolt to the senses.

[@johngoggans]

Loved your recommendations, man! I read Flannery O'Connor for the first time when I started college and I was blown away. I remember thinking "How have I never read this before?" So many of my favorites are classics but based on what you said, I think you might really like In Our Time by Earnest Hemingway and Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey. I first read them over four years ago and despite having ready much, much more since then they are still some of my biggest all-time recommendations.

[@nikkivenable73]

Omg I LOVE this channel. You are my best Booktube find in 2022 and I’m excited to watch everything you put out. A few weeks ago I bought Jesus’ Son as well as Tree of Smoke. I absolutely LOVED Train Dreams but literally everyone told me not to bother with Tree of Smoke(too long, too boring). But I trust you so I bought both and can’t wait to get to them. I hope I enjoy them as much as you did. Keep doing what you’re doing! You’re absolutely awesome! Edit: I’ve read almost everything you suggested here and you’ve got great taste.

[@williampdozier]

Thank you! Hope you love Tree of Smoke. Most beautiful sections are towards the end

[@jonathancooper8620]

Thank you for the list. I ordered All the Pretty Horses, Blood Meridian and The Crossing because of your previous recommendations and thoughts on the books. Had not heard of that author before coming across your videos. Whichever comes in the mail first is the one I start with!

[@neverhuman3975]

Try to get Cities on the Plain too. All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and that one all make up the Border trilogy

[@mudaralchaar5855]

I’m learning about new books that I missed about on your channel way more than I excepted. That’s why I’m taking interest in ur content lately. Definitely gonna check The overstory and a good man is hard to find. Thanks!

[@markoneill7657]

Hi. Thanks again for another great vid. I have to agree about Beloved. I know the topic is complicated as to what is the great American novel, but I think I would vote for Beloved. So painful but incredibly thoughtful a work. It’s hard to describe.

[@PoetNoPoems]

Mine are: - The loser, Thomas Bernhard - The Castle, Franz Kafka - Lolita, Nabokov - Stoner, John Williams - Anna Karennin, Leo Tolstoy - Nightwood, Djuna Barnes. Have yet to read Cormac but I just recieved all the pretty horses and starting it today

[@BrandonsBookshelf]

Nice list, my friend. I ordered Overstory the other day because of your videos!

[@williampdozier]

Thanks! I hope you like it 🙏🏻

[@ved.shankar]

I love how eclectic your recommendations are in terms of writers and genres :) Thanks for your content!

[@kurlykaitlyn]

Mad respects!! Beloved is one of my favorite novels ever! I’ve read it twice and it’s those monologues. Perhaps the best pages of literature I’ve read. I was working in a cafe when one of the regulars, a nice man, shared a love of books and recommended Beloved to me years back. Have you read The Song of Roland? It’s a poem(or novella), about the Christians at war with pagans. It’s an incredible piece of literature! I think you might enjoy it

[@williampdozier]

I haven’t read Song of Roland but I’m always down to read shorter pieces since they’re easier to fit into my schedule. Will have to check it out

[@kurlykaitlyn]

@@williampdozier apparently it is the oldest piece of French literature to survive. At least as far as major works of French literature

[@TK-kf8zc]

What a great list, thank you. Three are new to me. Just put all 3 on hold at tge library. Somehow I have overlooked Flannery O'Conner. And if you love Richard Chamber's Overstory, his latest novel Bewilderment. Gorgeous, devastating. I have had climate grief since I was 16, but back then it would need to have been called something else, we knew we were polluting the planet, we did not even imagine we were killing all organic life. (David Wallace-Wells The Uninhabitable Earth).

[@mohdsyafiqsivakumaran2255]

From your earlier recommendations, I have read What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver, The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson and This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz. All excellent reads!!! In between reads, I squeezed in Train Dreams by Denis Johnson and loved it too. Keep it up by reviewing and recommending good reads, many thanks 🙏

[@bookwarts-readingbeginsath2953]

I just got some unique book recommendations I had never heard about. Thanks.

[@KelanJ29534]

I am so happy I found your channel! You always recommend masterpieces.

[@alynam82]

I've actually purchased a Flannery O'Connor collection book (Library of America edition) based off your recommendation in a previous video. It has A Good Man is Hard to Find, and another one that looks good is The Violent Bear it Away.

[@Lisa-ym1si]

Say Her Name, When the Emperor was Devine, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, The Giver, Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Mrs. Whaley and her Charleston Garden, Not My Father’s Son, Boys in the Boat, Ready Player One, The Road, Whistling Season… these are a few of my favorite things…

[@teatime009]

Revelation by Flannery was quickly one of my favorite short stories of all time when I read it years ago. I have her book, and need to get to it at some point. It takes aim at the centrists of the world and I can't get over how brilliant it is. Reading All the Pretty Horses now because I picked it up at a thrift store and knew I wanted to get in to Cormac. Train Dreams I include in my "human canon" shelf because of how it deals with time and the human mind over time in relation to knowledge and culture, and that might not even have been the point of the novel, lol. I just love it. I love the way Cohen Bros did No Country, and I know of Sunset Limited. I'm a Schopenhauer girl, basically anti-natalist, so he interests me. My favorite is Moby Dick.

[@lindz385]

Hi, I came across your channel by accident. Thank you for the recommendations. It's getting me back into reading. I just completely Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese.

[@williampdozier]

Glad you’re getting something out of the recs!

[@grigory-skurihin]

Hello from Russia. On your advice I read the "Jesus son". This book is quite unpopular here, but I liked it. It was a very unusual experience. I appreciated Johnson's language, it sounds very metaphorical, poetic, figurative and vivid. Maybe someday I will read it in English. Definitely will continue to read Dennis Johnson, not just him. I will try to read Flannery O'Conner's stories in English. Thank you so much for your book tips. Thanks to you, I am now motivated to dive headfirst into American literature

[@solideogloria2022]

Hello, greetings from Poland, have a great day 🇵🇱😊

[@christinam6516]

You are one of my favourite new booktubers/booktokers. So glad I discovered you last December. I guess I would have to add all of them to my list + all of McCarthy's because you really sold me on him too. Have you read What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson? I wish I could hear your thoughts on it. It is my favourite book. Matheson was a horror OG and inspired many including Stephen King. I highly recommend.

[@williampdozier]

Haven’t read any Matheson but that sounds intriguing

[@solideogloria2022]

Thanx I'll check out some of them. Id recommend The white tiger, A clockwork orange, Brave New world, 1984, Weiser David, My struggle series by Knausgard

[@t0dd000]

My current two favorites: Desert Solitaire and Blood Meridian.

[@jamalerdem2055]

the only book I've read for the last 20 years is the Iliad. Gonna check out your recommendations. Thank you brother. :)

[@jacobwilson1095]

love your videos on tik tok. Love these longer videos too!!!

[@hamondaw3577]

Don Quixote is a special gift to give yourself. Is it about those who love to read

[@adambnyc4875]

I'm down with you on Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy, so I'll eventually try to check out Richard Powers and "Jesus' Son" (though I don't like the punctuation). I did like "Train Dreams" a lot. On my list (outside the old classics) are "Ragtime," "On The Road," "One Hundred Years of Solitude," and "Atonement." I'm probably forgetting something obvious, and I've got a lot of honorable mentions. Hey, create a video of favorite short stories that you'd anthologize along with "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." I'd watch that.

[@erinjackobssss]

Great as always

[@doycaveiii]

Don’t know if you’ve read Wallace Stegner, but “Angle of Repose” just knocked me out.

[@adamrowden5133]

Thanks for the recommendations. I just ordered a couple of these! Have you read A Manual For Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin???

[@williampdozier]

You bet! And no, I havent

[@adamrowden5133]

@@williampdozier It's incredible! Thanks again for the recommendations!

[@williampdozier]

@@adamrowden5133 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@RalphS223]

Have you read anything by William Gaddis? I think you would like his work.

[@bearisok]

A Good Man is Hard To Find is one of my favorite short stories too. What are some of your other favorites of hers?

[@williampdozier]

Good Country People and The River

[@bearisok]

@@williampdozier haven't read yet! will do!

[@addithewho185]

Great Recommendations! I'm defenitely gonna read them. The "normal" book that struck me the most is "Limitless" by "Jim Kwik". It changed my life by changing my learning. Take care

[@tylerlevingston2771]

I’m going to read a book or two from this, if I enjoy it I’ll subscribe

[@bellaruthie]

Do you have a good reads? I would love to follow you on there!

[@williampdozier]

Maybe one day. My KZbin, TikTok and Instagram are the best records of what I recommend and what I’m reading

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

I have read all the titles on this list except This Is How You Lose Her. They were all solid choices .

[@alexanderarea6157]

This is how you lose her is two star for me

[@rubyanddelilahandnani]

@@alexanderarea6157 it was a 1 star from me. 0 if it were possible. I detested the MC.

[@KelanJ29534]

I would appreciate it if you gave us your review of these books: -The Count of Monte Cristo. -The Picture of Dorian Gray. -Norwegian Wood. -Stoner. -The Prince -One Hundred Years of Solitude. -Rebecca. -Animal Farm -Brothers Karamazov. -Humiliated and Insulted.

[@ratherrapid]

Read all 26 in Blom's Western Cannon and then read or listen to Musil's Man Without Qualities, which of all books after Mr.S and possibly Act t, Part 2 of Faust Walter Arndt translation only is several degrees above all the rest.

[@ratherrapid]

Act 5 part 2 of Faust

[@ChrisSaenz13]

Thank you these sound great!

[@BL-mf3jp]

1. Lolita 2. Notes From Underground 3. A Storm of Swords (ASOIAF) 4. The Lord of the Rings 5. American Psycho 6. A Dance With Dragons (ASOIAF) 7. Moby-Dick; or, the Whale 8. The Crying of Lot 49 9. Crime and Punishment 10. A Game of Thrones (ASOIAF)

[@brynbstn]

Game of Thrones in a list with Nabokov, Dostoevsky, Melville?? I tried to read it - it's cheap thrills, trash.

[@MichelNJoia]

My favorite two books, and I can't pick a best one between them, is "the sound and the Fury" and "American pastoral".

[@williampdozier]

The sound and the fury is powerful. Haven’t read American pastoral yet but likely will

[@alvaroromanoff4267]

I’m from Mexico. I like it so much your channel. you must read to Mircea Cãrtãrescu. Is a Rumanian autor. He is the best autor l’v ever read. Solenoid is a masterpiece of the literature.

[@williampdozier]

I’ll have to check it out!

[@rodneyphillips9872]

Jesus' Son threw me for such a loop, that it took me awhile to wake! Resuscitation of a Hanged Man is now in my hand

[@joseywosey98]

I read Jesus’ Son after seeing your TikTok about it and it was goddamn amazing!

[@adibshahriar1050]

Keep the camera a bit closer if possible or use a mic.

[@jennyyeh4730]

East of Eden - Steinbeck

[@rebeccaleitman6616]

Thanks !

[@williampdozier]

🫡

[@rodneyphillips9872]

Absalom, Absolom/The Sound and the Fury//As I lay Dying

[@blakebellamy82]

Have you visited the Faulkner House?

[@joemurray6522]

All are great absolom is on a different level

[@rodneyphillips9872]

@@blakebellamy82/ No, but where is it

[@blakebellamy82]

@@rodneyphillips9872 it’s in New Orleans. It’s his old house that they turned into a bookstore. It’s small but very cool to visit. I had to buy a few Falkner novels.

[@joao_brum]

​@@rodneyphillips9872 french quarter in new orleans, right next to st. louis church

[@narjester]

Has anyone ever told you how much you resemble Tom Holland before?

[@williampdozier]

Lol no that’s actually a first

[@residentevilzzz3352]

De dechets et du sang... ...brulant... ...tus.... Of offal and of the blood... ...burning... ...still.... it is free with kindle unlimited it is a collection of English/French poems and short stories hope you like something if you read Here is one of the poems it is a poetic interpretation of head of a dead young man painting by theodore gericault Head of a dead young man Beneath a canvas coarse and crass, the head of a young man upon a cushion soft and of care; feminine chin; upon the lower lip the blood of God; fine nose; hair of an infant here...and...down there; upon his front, the sublime illumination, that descends, intimately as though of ivory flame.... ...when, of lavender and of rose, ascending vaguely towards the exegetic darkness, the offal; disclosed thus, profound and grave, an immense lesion, as though of a dolourous ulcer...from where all comes...where all returns....

[@user-on7zd8yi8g]

The Bible! ❤

[@entiretinofsweetcorn7025]

Fix the audio echo and film some b roll man this is annoying and monotonous to sit in front of

[@elliotdavisonman4]

Have you read Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes?