I got to 53 "you know"s and gave up counting... good video tho! love a good classic :|

@TiffWaffles

2 жыл бұрын

It could be a cultural thing? Sometimes people will say words like 'you know' or 'eh' or equivalents depending on the region they live in. I have noticed a lot of New Yorkers who visit Canada will have the abundance of 'you know' in their sentences, just as an example.

@thechildprodigy3595

2 жыл бұрын

@@TiffWaffles read the description in the video :)))

My 13 year old daughter who is an avid reader was blown away by The Picture of Dorian Gray. She said "how can I go back to other newer books, when these sort of books exist". As a classic lover, that made me happy

@paureads8141

2 жыл бұрын

Your daughter’s taste is amazing😍

@TiffWaffles

2 жыл бұрын

Just out of curiosity, but did your daughter read the abridged version of Dorian Gray or the updated version that kept everything that the author wrote? I read Dorion Gray in an older publication of Oxford Classics and when my grandma got me a new edition from another publisher, I was surprised to learn that the older publications left a lot of the original out.

@coffeemachtspass

2 жыл бұрын

Those remarkable works persist because of their quality. She may not have read “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde. My mother used to read it to me, although my older brother would sob too much at the ending, so he would get Jack London stories instead.

@thechildprodigy3595

2 жыл бұрын

damn then we read that book at the same age :D and truly changed my opinion on the books i drove towards before and since then my tastes did a whole 180 :))

@FootlooseFishing

2 жыл бұрын

That's awesome!

finally, a booktuber who talks about philosophy and classic literature! love how passionate you talk about classic literature!

@TiffWaffles

2 жыл бұрын

There are many booktubers that will talk about classic literature. If you want recommendations, I will be more than happy to point you to them. I am happy to have found another booktuber who speaks about classics and classic literature.

@booker526

2 жыл бұрын

@@TiffWaffles Hello Tiff! For the past few months, I also started seeing other booktubers who focuses on classic literature. Please do so, I would love to hear more about your recommendations!

@charu2774

2 жыл бұрын

@@booker526 you can check out emmie

@CallsignWildfire

2 жыл бұрын

@@TiffWaffles I do, please point me in their direction :D

@finalva7886

2 жыл бұрын

Hi. I'd like to recommend Benjamin McEvoy, Marian H, tokyochemist (i trust her taste in japanese classic literature), Fiction beast, Read A Day Club, the Black Ponderer, JuanReads, Ahead of the curve.... and those are channels if you need more classic lit & philosophy contents.

I love how passionate and devoted you talk about classic literature. I can feel your love for books through the screen.😁

Your Library is fantastic. It has everything from Ancient classics, to philosophy, to modern classics, and politics. Now only some theology is missing. Nice well-rounded collection. Respect.

I love how he talks about getting the books. The journey that ends in us having a new book, maybe with a back history, it's just lovely 🌟

A man after my own heart. This was absolutely like a warm hug! I love your shelf/editions and your passion for classics.

this was amazing, finding fellow lovers of classic literature always makes me so happy! my personal favourites are les misérables, the picture of dorian gray, doctor zhivago, tolstoy's short stories, the importance of being earnest, anything written by dickens and tess of the d'urbervilles :) i also read italo calvino's why read the classics last year and adored it

I think the Bible has been the biggest inspirational book of the western literary culture

@miguelbranquinho7235

4 ай бұрын

Don Quixote is right there, dude.

ahh i’m so happy to find a booktuber talking about classics !! i appreciate modern fiction but i’ve never been able to get into it like classics so i can’t wait to see what else u put out,, this is such a lovely vid to watch as a nerd lmao

@nemutai3596

3 жыл бұрын

just as a warning - i wouldn’t recommend trying Finnegans Wake by James Joyce anytime soon,, it’s considered his masterpiece but it’s also considered hugely inaccessible, most scholars can’t even agree on the plot of it :-//

@ctwith3

3 жыл бұрын

Very true. It puzzled me.

@prodomango712

3 жыл бұрын

@@nemutai3596 umm, ambiguous plot isn’t a reason not to read it. The inaccessibility is part of the books magic.

@lizam8964

3 жыл бұрын

I also love reading classics and my favorite booktubers that talk about them include Eric Karl Anderson, BookishTopics, SupposedlyFun, whatpageareyouon, Claire Fenby and lucythereader (just to name a few)!

@TiffWaffles

2 жыл бұрын

@@prodomango712 it depends upon the book. If the writing is too dense (if that's the term here), then it's a book that many will not be able to read because of the language or the sophistication of the plot, discussion, etc. It's part of the reason for why I stick to fiction or historical nonfiction when it comes to classic works instead of picking up a book on philosophy... Which goes over my head and makes me angry since I can't understand it. But maybe it's my little scientist brain thinking that philosophy is too hard to understand.

We know mark, we know.. This is the thing that brings us all together as readers of classical literature, it’s universal and you will always, always find people who read and love them..

I love when book youtubers talk about classics 🥰 I haven't read that much (yet!) but right now my favourite is definitely 'Master and Margarita'

@drunzo363

3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you enjoyed it! And yeah the Master and Margarita is just incredible, one of my favorite classics as well.

@tonybennett4159

3 жыл бұрын

Oh, yes, just love that too. My paperback copy dates from 1968 (!) and a quote from the Times Educational Supplement reads " ....just when you think the whole thing is a funny satire, a chilling wind out of Ingmar Bergman country blows and yet again, as you search for some moral significance, there are pages of sheer and beautiful fantasy". Sums it up pretty well. It's unique.

@khadimndiaye7730

2 жыл бұрын

Master and Margarita was highly affected by Goethe‘s Faust which is the Classic of German Literature :)

@user-tu2xf4uf3n

6 ай бұрын

did u get her number --- she kinda weirdo ??? @@drunzo363

@flyinglobster9552

Ай бұрын

Probably won’t respond but have u read any Homer? Or Herodotus

You NEED to add Pale Fire by Vladmir Nabokov. I read somewhere that Nabokov made his writing like a chess problem. The whole structure of the novel is well thought out. I absolutely loved it. I recently finished One Hundred Years of Solitude. It was quite dense but the last sentence of the book will forever be ingrained in my heart. I also don't think you mentioned George Eliot's Middlemarch. It is a chunky book but every sentence is so beautiful like it belongs on a wall to be displayed. Really enjoyed the video! Glad I found your channel!!!

@drunzo363

3 жыл бұрын

Okay, you have sold me on Pale Fire, I have to check that out now. I hope to get around to reading One Hundred Years of Solitude this year as it's been on my reading radar for quite some time now. I have not yet read Middlemarch but due to its reputation I had to pick it up once I spotted it in a thrift store. Thank you for the kind words and recommendations!

@tonybennett4159

3 жыл бұрын

Wow, those three books you mention are also among my favourites of all time. Mark's channel seems to be a place where we can meet other people who share our enthusiasms.

@ctwith3

3 жыл бұрын

Despair by Nabokov is excellent s well.

@17:50 "I'm not brave for this yet." 😂 This how I exactly feel when a book looks quite intimidating and daunting

Your story makes me really happy and your enthusiasm is very infectious! I feel like I've read a ton of classics but have still only scraped the surface and its so much fun. I really miss thrift shops...

I find your story very inspiring - so many of us were taught classics badly, and many of us in adulthood regret ignoring the opportunities they presented. Your passion is obvious. The only gap I can see is Proust. Love your videos.

This was such a great video! My recommendations would be Dante’s Inferno, Charles Dickens and the English Gothics (since you love Frankenstein) - Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Oscar Wilde, etc. All a must for a classics shelf :)

@drunzo363

3 жыл бұрын

I just picked up The Divine Comedy and can't wait to make the journey with Dante! Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde are current blind spots for me that I soon hope to remedy. I intend on reading The Pickwick Papers and Dorian Gray later this year. Thank you for the kind words and recommendations!

@whalefin1173

2 жыл бұрын

The picture of dorian gray

@adrln1818

2 жыл бұрын

I really wanted to read Dante's inferno.

@mxs8976

2 жыл бұрын

Theres an anime of dantes inferno , its really good i would recommend it.

@charu2774

2 жыл бұрын

@@mxs8976 name of the anime?

I think maturity has something to do with reading classics. Also, the teacher who is passionate about the literature and inspires you will have an influence. Certain professors just made the books for me.

your collection is a dream!! really cool that you‘re so much into philosophy and the classics. you‘re so well-read! this inspires me to get way more into classics and the foundational philosophical works.

Just found your channel and I’m enjoying it. I don’t have any edition of Les Miserables but that Penguin deluxe edition there is so wild looking that I must have it! Also wanted to say that none of that trifecta- Infinite Jest, Gravity’s Rainbow, and Ulysses - are impenetrable. Those are three of the most amazing reading experiences I’ve had. Gravity’s Rainbow was an absolute game-changer for me; it had a profound effect on how I perceive the world. Keep up the great work.

I love your enthusiasm for books! It's contagious!

This is such a great insightful video into the classics! I’ll be watching another time again later. Thank you for sharing your love for classics and all the different kinds of classics there are. Also Frankenstein is on another level of literature for me... I mean wow....and you’re inspiring me to take another look into Shakespeare!! Don Quixote was also so interesting... read it last year and was blown away. Anyways all your book recommendations are up my alley!!

I’m nearly influenced by KZread to collect classics editions because of how pretty they look.. nearly. But I’m still thrifting my way through my collection. The one thing I like is finding annotations on my thrifts, it’s second closest to actually discussing the book with a friend.

I normally skip through the boring bit in the beginning when folks monologue but this was really entertaining and interesting. Good job man, keep putting these out.

Just found your channel and after watching this video I subscribed. I read Moby Dick and The Brothers Karamazov back to back summer reads, big books lots of time and loved both of them. When I go into book stores I look for classics. Barnes & Noble printed many books and I would pick them up once in a while for maybe $5 but I don't find them anymore and will check used books stores now. BTW it was Faye Dunaway in Chinatown.

So agree, I have the very same book, The Penguin Classics Book. I love how it gives a little info about the author as well as the books. I am always referring to my copy all the time.

I picked up the Tempest when I was in high school to see if I could figure out Shakespeare without a teacher and kept reading classics ever since… The problem is, aside from online I don’t know anyone that has read the Iliad, Les Miserables, Count of Monte Cristo, Anna Karinina… no one to talk with about them…

Very impressive. I love that you came to these on your own, post-school. As an autodidact myself, I find this really inspiring. Good on you!

I love your enthusiasm here! It's interesting hearing about your past experience of not liking/not really bothering to read classics in previous years and seeing how much that's changed! You have a great collection, granted I haven't read most of them- you have a lot more antiquity and philosophical works than I do. Also, after I hit subscribe and checked out your channel page, I noticed I've actually watched a handful of your film podcast videos. I'm also a big cinephile :)

You encouraged me about reading but mostly about our youth. You are a great example. Thank you.

I really loved this video! It cemented to me why i love reading classics so much! Thank you !

Wonderful job! I am glad you gave Classics another whirl. I also am a classic movie fan. So many great films began as books. Looking forward to future videos. Now if I can only get the theme song to "The Third Man" out of my head lol!

You're a man after my own heart! Everything you said, I was like "yes yes! I get it. I do that too!" Absolutely loved this video and your take on all your books. You have a lovely collection

this made me pick up frankenstein off my shelf, also makes me want to buy even more second hand classics aha

What a delight to watch, Mark! I began to have an interest in good and old books right around my 12th grade (2016), and began to purchase them over the course of the next few years but I never *actually* read them- I would just buy them and read little bits and pieces but didn't manage my time well and squandered it away. It wasn't until around July of last year (2020) when I began to read The Hobbit before my shower each night and this slowly evolved into reading a couple of those many unread books until, now, I regularly read a regimen of five at a time- my life, mind and artistic range is *immeasurably* enhanced and matured, even as I still consider myself an infant in good literature. I mourn that it seems classics are appreciated only in the minority, but I love to see videos like this and share in the- yes- absolute treasure trove that these glorious works contain. As a writer I hope to bring this kind of richness, beauty and wisdom to what I consider a sadly-lacking contemporary literary climate. P.S I absolutely *love* Moby Dick as well. Top 10 for sure. P.P.S Check out the Gormenghast novels. They're an absolute cornucopia of magnificent writing and a kind of gothic speculative narration. My top ten as well. My Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/user/show/53654364-joseph-bradford

@drunzo363

3 жыл бұрын

I have not heard of the Ghormenghast novels, I'll check those out! Thank you for the kind words!

Dude, I picked up Frankenstein as well, and my mind was blown. Really got me into the classics, and I love reading them so much!

I have been a fan of classic literature since I was a teenager and Penguin Classics is perhaps the most complete and best source for the great classics.

I totally get where you’re coming from and can really relate as i’ve had the same experience where i found a passion for reading classics about a year ago and have already an absurd amount of books on my shelf i want read. Great video 👌

i'm literally studying literature at uni so i shouldn't have to be convinced that classics are great but your speech at the beginning made me look at my bookshelf with envy for the first time in a few weeks,, thank you for this haha!

Great shelf tour. You've got some wonderful books. Peace!

I have Don Quixote for months now in my shelf collecting dust because I'm so intimidated to read it coz it's too longggg lol. But I'm really curious to see for myself how such literature still survive to this day. Thanks for the video! It encourages me to read more classics. I'm currently reading Frankenstein and you're right, it's so much different and better than the movies. The novel really makes you think.

Really loved the video, was really interesting to see what books other people read and to get inspiration for new books to purchase!

I just spent the last year listening to "East of Eden" on audiobook and I absolutely loved it. I can't stop thinking about it and am looking for that same feeling again. I think 2022 might be the year of classics for me. I want to read "The Picture of Dorian Grey" badly !

@ericalbert7940

5 ай бұрын

If you liked 'East of Eden' try 'Middlemarch' by George Eliot or 'Freedom' by Jonathan Franzen.

I love classics too and I love your enthusiasm (just found your channel). I'm always curious about others' collections. Moby Dick is a favorite of mine, too, and what you said about Of Human Bondage was interesting because I had the exact same experience - it came into my life at a perfect time and I enjoyed it so much. I had no idea how much it would speak to me. Gravity's Rainbow and The Master and Margarita are 2 that I haven't read and don't own yet that I have on my "eventually" TBR list. :) I'm also a scienc-y person and it is nice to be able to enjoy the classics as an adult on my own time and to my own depth, and not feel like I have to write a book report or get every nuance. There are many levels on which to enjoy these books. Oh, and the classic that got me into classics was probably Crime and Punishment.

lol im glad im not the only one who gets so many books from thriftbooks and gets cheap classics to read. i've prob got like 25 by now-i just started finding reading a truly enlightening experience

I totally get that you find Kant hard to digest. I am german, and I got taught some his basic ethics in my philosophy class; we had a brilliant teacher who explained them very well, but even though I therefore knew what Kant was getting at, I found the excerpst we worked with rather hard to read. He was a groundbreaking thinker, but not a very good stylist; his german prose is famous for being awkward and wordy; it's pretty exhausting even if you understand what he is talking about. I guess that carries over into the translation. If you like revenge plots and philosophy, "Michael Kohlhaas" by Heinrich von Kleist should be right up your alley.

Holy cow. This is exactly what I am going through. Went through an "I hate reading" phase in highschool, but I loved watching old movies and seeing what influenced what. I do want to get into classic lit, but it's a high bar. For now I just want to ease myself into reading and enjoy before I dive in. Honestly gave me inspiration to read more classics with that viewpoint

Now, I'm gonna watch the rest of your videos cause you're so entertaining and lovely to watch.

Dude, please keep going with this channel. I laughed so hard at that Frankenstein joke because I once perceived it to be like that

What an enviable collection! And very relatable to someone also in a STEM field who loves classics and reading in general. 🙂

@drunzo363

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Sara! Glad you enjoy the classics as a STEM major too!

i started reading classics fairly recently, and now i’m just down this rabbit hole and i can’t stop thrifting classics it’s so fun :) loved your video!

Geez man thank you for this. I am trying to get into classics and this popped up which just sparked my motivation even more. I love the video!! Can't wait for your channel to blow up!

@drunzo363

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the kind words!

i love your passion about literature, it really makes your videos so interesting! Hope you keep doing this :)

Really loved this video! I remember translating Ovid in my Latin class. Metamorphoses is a wonderful peice, that in my opinion is written rather engagingly, and also doesn't require all too much backgroundknowledge

Brother thank you for this video. This was a very wholesome and much needed reminder of why I got into reading in the first place: the thrill of the childlike exploration of the greatest minds in history. Self education must come from a place of passion and humility! Cheers!

I just now found your channel and I’d like you to know I really enjoy your vibes, you’re so cute and it’s refreshing to see a man in my age group who loves classic literature as I do, I don’t really have anyone who shares my appreciation for literature, lmao, I’m sending you so much good energy I can’t wait to watch more of your videos💕💕❤️

I've just seen your channel and I already love it. I'm going to read Frankenstein again now.

I actually had to read Frankenstein for my American history course in college. I think that gave me a different experience reading it in that context. From what I remember, he wanted us to look at it from the context of industrial revolution. I also read A Brave New World for that class as well.

Please, post more!!!! Loved this video, classics are my favourites I'm so happy that I found you 🇧🇷💖

I've always loved the classics, but you mentioned some books on your video that I had never heard of and that sound great. I've added them to my list of books to get. And you should definitely read Eugene Onegin. It's wonderful (and not a difficult read).

This is fantastic! You should do videos on films too. The Barry Lyndon reference and the 2001 poster makes me think we have the same taste in movies as well as books.

I totally get you about the rougher a book is the more appealing it is! That way you can see how much it has been loved. Also on another note I bought Jane Eyre in such a condition, which I enjoyed until I came across pages that were full of blood.. idk if someone got murdered with it or their nose started bleeding. I still have to decide which of both terrifies me more

@EmiZViolet

3 жыл бұрын

Bed bugs I think? Not sure if that's reassuring or not....

@PadraigTomas

9 ай бұрын

Books that are effectively petri dishes laden with dangerous pathogens are not appealing.

I love your enthusiasm! This video was a blast!

Augustine's Confessions is one of my favorites! I liked Sarah Ruden's translation because it's very modern and doesn't sound like King James English

Picture of Dorian Gray got me back to reading again in 2019 after a few years of not reading. I saw it at a local bookstore as I was window shopping. I have loved the classics ever since. I also like my classic books in old editions. I mostly buy them in second hand bookstores. I save money and it feels more personal especially if I get a copy that is already out of print or hard to find.

The Twelve Caesars, one of my faves... salacious history! He includes both the sound and the gossip...

Also thanks for the tip on the Penguin classics catalog book! I ordered that right away and can't wait to drool over it. :)

I was a philosophy Ph.D. - It's really interesting to see how you've dipped your toes into the field without taking (many) classes in it. For Kant, I'd recommend reading "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals" instead of the Critique of Pure Reason. It is simpler to read and more applicable to everyday life. The CPR is one of the most brilliant pieces of philosophy ever written, but it's one of those things that you really need a grounding in previous thinkers (mainly Descartes, Spinoza, and Hume) to know why it's such a brilliant and powerful move. I think Descartes' Meditations and Spinoza's Ethics are understandable without the need for a class / commentary. If you then wanted to jump to the CPR through a commentary or online lectures, that should be doable. :) If you are a classics reader, looking to understand the best that has ever been written / thought, I would say eventually you'll want to read Kant, then Hegel, then some near-contemporary German and French thinkers: Nietzche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Arendt, de Beauvoir, and Sartre. That's just a rough idea though, there are plenty of different ways into the history of philosophy.

@CallsignWildfire

2 жыл бұрын

What do you mean by ''was'', did it get revoked? Have you died?

@rishabhaniket1952

Жыл бұрын

I started with a very short introduction by Scruton and another lesser known book called Enlightenment by Kant himself. CPR lies scowling at me since 2 years on my bookshelf still waiting for it’s mighty spine to be cracked open.

Funnily enough Frankenstein was also my entry point into the classics and reading in general. I’m not sure why. I just remember thinking, “wow I can’t believe words can be so beautiful and you can talk about such profound ideas…what else is out there that I haven’t read.”

Very nice collection. I too love the classics and read little else other than history. So many books, so little time indeed. Subscribed!

I absolutely love classics! Whether it's movies, books, music, etc. Thanks for making this video!

this is my new favourite video thank you - genuinely very inspiring!!!

Ok I love it, awesome shelf just jam-packed with classics - 🤩🤤. And hello from another ThriftBooks junkie! That place is ridiculous. I have spent hours on that site, combing through the editions of books, trying to find what exact copy I want. The number of books I have been able to get from buying old instead of new has increased my Tsundoku like crazy. But, I am unwilling to stop buying books, haha, so I keep having to find new places to put things. Frankenstein is a great book, I’m glad that one lured you back to classics. I love that you’re picking up Shakespeare again after hating it, I am currently getting into that again, I had never read any Shakespeare that wasn’t assigned in high school until this year. I actually loved hamlet and Macbeth from 12th grade, but I was never brave enough to just read a play to myself for some reason. I also purchased brand new that exact copy of Les Mis for the rave reviews, the white Christine Donougher copy - though I am at a loss as to why it’s a “deluxe” Edition when it’s still just paperback. I read an older copy with a different translator, and it is one of my most favorite books ever, so I’m hoping to enjoy the new translation! War and Peace is one I want to read as soon as I can! I also get intimidated by those epic (epoch?) poems. I started Dante’s divine comedy last year, but I haven’t even finished the Inferno yet. It’s beautiful, but it takes concentration. And it’s best to read it out loud I think. I also got that Robin Buss translation of Count of Monte Cristo. One of my favorites and I heard rave reviews of that translation, so I gotta try it again. Last year I read Ben-Hur by Lewis Wallace, and I was fascinated by the compare and contrast of Judah Ben-Hur and Edmond Dantes that my mind was doing. It’s another great book.

Love your library of classics! I hope one day you can do a video of The Great Gatsby and delve into it. Not because I love it, I don’t. But I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on it & tell me what was so great about Gatsby. Great content, keep the vids coming! 💯

This is so wholesome , I’ve been getting into classics too ❤ty for the video

I feel like you and Emmie (another booktuber) would get along so well...

@arianaybarra9564

3 жыл бұрын

that’s how this was recommended to me 😭😭

@whateverbabe

3 жыл бұрын

That's the first thing I thought about when I first saw this on my recc list 😅 they have same taste.

@bakhtawarkhan2137

3 жыл бұрын

omg yes!!

@callistahurter5955

3 жыл бұрын

They would talk for hours...

@madeleine8662

3 жыл бұрын

yes omg

Hi mate, love love love, absolutely love this video. I recently got a variety of classics during the Barnes and Noble 50% off hardcover book sale. And ohhh mama, I got some of the ones you just mentioned here. And I just started Don Quixote last week and I’m loving it so much. Super hilarious and rich story so far.

I'm so inspired to go read classics now. Nice video!

Agreed with everything you said. Stick with the classics, you’ll never run out of

You definetely should try some latin american classic authors, some as: Clarice lispector (my favorite), Machado de Assis and Gabriel García Marques

Just came across your channel. Loved your books. I also share your love of classics.

I've just found this channel and Film Frauds, both excellent. Congratulations. I'd like to share my story of getting into the classics. I also thought anything with the adjective "classic" attached to it was bound to be boring. When I left school I went into teacher training college. Our education lecturer, as a way of widening our thinking, recommended certain book titles, mainly fiction, that dealt with child psychology in an insightful or challenging way. Among them were A Member of the Wedding, Lord of the Flies, and My Childhood by Maxim Gorky. Nah, I thought, bound to be boring. After I qualified, while browsing in a bookshop, I came upon My Childhood, and on impulse, bought it. I was blown away! I bought Fathers and Sons, A Hero of Our Time, Eugene Onegin, War and Peace and others in quick succession. Then, because of that experience, I tried classical music and discovered the genius that is Beethoven. Strange how one chance decision can change so much. Your choice of books is certainly challenging, but your enthusiasm for the books on Greek philosophy makes it an area I should try. If I were to recommend one classic novel to you, it would be one that reversed my story, in that classical music inspired it. After listening to the magnificent Verdi Requiem, I read the notes and saw that it was dedicated to the author Alessandro Manzoni. Who could inspire such music and why? Manzoni wrote just one novel, The Betrothed and I'll leave it up to you to discover how very important this book is, not just to Italian literature, but to the Italian language. It's exceptionally readable and is one of the most neglected books of European literature. BTW, of COURSE, you've read Nietzsche, that's a 2001 a Space Odyssey poster I spot on your wall!

@drunzo363

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for such a wonderful comment! I will definitely check out My Childhood and the Betrothed!

Extremely insightful, motivating, and enjoyable. Thanks!

I have an entire bookcase of classics and have adored most of them when I read them. I do have a dedicated shelf of the nonfiction history classics that were published by figures like Ceasar and other controversial historical figures, but I adore the Penguin Military classics that you can find sometimes at secondhand bookshops. Those books cover a range of topics from medieval warfare to the Nazis, and their information is first class in terms of history books. Many of the books you have are books that I have in my personal library and have either read or am waiting to read. Also, for your medieval literature collection, I recommend picking up The Lais of Marie de France, the Arthurian poems called Morte Arthure and Le Morte Arthur which were some of the works that inspired Sir Thomas Malory with his own Arthurian, and Chretien de Troyes Arthurian Romances. It's difficult to find Marie de France and de Troyes works in a verse translation, but they do have prose translations which are able to do the job.

Great video! I read a lot of 18th and 19th century classics, but very little from earlier eras. Ngl those ancient political classics terrify me lol. Looking forward to more videos from you!

Thank you for recommending more classics and happy to see someone praising them in this day and age, as most people get turned off my education in college. Still, thank you for these and keep up your marvelous work! P.S If you could make a video on the Iliad, it would be greatly appreciated.

@drunzo363

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the kind words! And I plan on making a video on the Iliad/Odyssey hopefully this year.

Awesome collection man, I look forward to future reviews!

Like you I have tremendous enthusiasm for great writers so can't help mentioning a relatively modern great writer - Roberto Bolano. A brilliant mind. Suggest starting with his short story collection "Last Evenings on Earth". Add Cortozar (stick with the stories), Bulgakov, Bunin, Chekhov, Marquez (stick with the novels), Joyce (Ulysses might take a couple of tries to get it, but when you do you'll understand), Woolf, Proust). Like you I could go on. I'm going to try a few that you mentioned, several of which I tried but which didn't grab me the first time around. Lastly, here's the mistake in our education system about reading. They don't instill the love of reading to start. No teenager wants to read "Silas Marner". Perhaps the greatest teacher I ever had, certainly the most influential from a developmental perspective, did this for me and my fourth-grade classmates. She told us to read whatever we wanted and write a one page book report. We read books about our favorite athletes, low grade fiction, etc. But we read. I believe that the students averaged 60-70 books. We were hooked. I'm going to save this video so when I want a suggestion or two I can jump in somewhere for suggestions. Thank you.

Oh my, I feel the same way about Shakespeare 😂 as someone who easing their way into classic literature that man scares me haha. But one thing I remind myself is that my English teacher told me his work is meant to be seen as a play and not necessarily as a book, so I don’t feel bad if some of his works don’t stick to me :) Love the video!

Great video; great books. I appreciate that you kept Napoleon and Wellington on separate shelves.

I was like you: I didn’t enjoy the classics when I was young and read them in school (read: Spark Noted them) and got back into them through classic gothic fiction. What solidified returning to classics for me, though, was poetry. Epic poems are great, but learning the ins and outs of traditional poetry - meter, rhyme, traditional forms - opened up a whole new world for appreciating the works of poets like Shakespeare, Basho, Blake, Dickinson, Whitman, and Eliot. For a good survey of English Poetry, check out Harold Bloom’s anthology of the best English poems. He has an introductory essay on how to read poetry, and short biographical/contextual blurbs before each poet.

Hello Mark. It's cool that you've found so much joy reading the classics. A book I read that opened up the world of great literature to me was THE NEW LIFETIME READING PLAN by Clifton Fadiman. The author was a member of a panel of editors who evaluated books for inclusion in catalogs mailed out by the Book-of-the-Month Club. The book isn't a list of what to read. It presents suggested authors and their best work. If a book is a challenging one it says so, highlights what's most important or noteworthy about them, etc. I'm sure there's some overlap with the Penguin book you use, but I think you may find this one useful as well. Have fun on your reading journey.

Great video! One of the most influential authors of 20th century is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. His must reads are "The Gulag Archipelago", "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", and "Cancer Ward".

@alidabaxter5849

Жыл бұрын

If you're going to read 20th century Russian authors please may I recommend Mikael Bulgskov who wrote The White Guard and The Master and Margarita - the latter a satire which Russians were amazed he'd got away with.

@folksurvival

Жыл бұрын

And 200 Years Together.

@ElonMuskrat-my8jy

3 ай бұрын

​@@folksurvivalBased.

@ElonMuskrat-my8jy

3 ай бұрын

I really want to read Cancer Ward one day. I have much of his works including all three volumes of Gulag Archipelago, but that one sticks out most to me.

The only classic that I saw that you missed was Green Eggs and Ham😂😂 Amazing vid, you've inspired me to start reading more than ever before!

I'm in high school and just started reading classics. I was on the fence about The Count of Monte Cristo but now I think I'll give it a shot

@anubhutijain5487

3 жыл бұрын

That's one my favourites ugh. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

This was so fun to watch! I would recommend reading Candide by Voltaire, I found it really funny and interesting, and it is really short. If you haven't read any O. Henry short stories, I would highly recommend his. He is my favorite short story author, and was highly influential in the early 20th century. Just a few recs!!

You have quite a beautiful bookshelf and I thoroughly enjoyed viewing your collection. If you have still yet to read it, I would highly recommend Les Mis. It is absolutely incredible and completely blew me away when I read it. Also, Jane Austen is an amazing classics author to try out too. Particularly Pride and Prejudice or Emma. I would also recommend The Phantom of the Opera. Overall, you have an amazing collection though.

recommended my 13 year old sister frankenstein and she fell in love with the book. i have yet to read it but i watched wendigoon’s summary and was pretty captivated by the story and how different it was from how frankenstein is portrayed now.

@ElonMuskrat-my8jy

3 ай бұрын

I read it in hs and was not impressed. The portrayal of DeNiro was great but it still didn't get me much except the ending. I'd like to reread it though. I preferred Dracula more which is a great horror tale. Wendigoon's takes are great. I read Blood Meridian last year and it is very beautiful, bleak and brutal. It's meant to be read aloud.

High taste in books. Barry Lyndon is also among my favorite films ever and Kubrick is my favorite director (A Clockwork Orange is my favorite film). Great content and a legendary collection.

@ElonMuskrat-my8jy

3 ай бұрын

Anthony Burgess wrote the novel that inspired Kubrick. He wrote another dystopian work worth looking into called The Wanting Seed.

Congratulations on your KZread channel which I have recently discovered. As a professional librarian, reading has been my life's work and I am always happy to discover another avid reader. I have also served as a book reviewer for both Library Journal and Choice (the premier book reviewing periodical for college and university libraries). My personal library, until I moved to a nursing home, consisted of several sub-collections. First, my Watergate and Nixon Administration collection had 350 books, mostly hardcover and mostly first editions. Secondly, I had -- finally!! -- successfully had a complete run of books by Gore Vidal; his essays are better than his novels. Finally I had started to purchase Signed First Edition society books. Less seriously, I had just started trying to collect first editions of first novels on an annual basis. As an introduction to Shakespeare, you might want to purchase Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. Also as an introduction to Michelangelo, Irving Stone published a biographical novel of the artist tiitled The Agony and the Ecstasy. Finally, all of Thomas Pynchon's novels are impenetrable; his book of essays, Slow Learner, is much more comprehensable. Now if I want a book, I buy e-book versions whenever I can find them. My e-book library right now comprises over 500 items. I also have over 300 Audible.com audiobooks. At least they don't take up.any physical space. As a librarian used to handling physical items -- reading after all is a tactile, visual and smell experience -- it has taken me some time to get used to alternative methods of "reading." Once again congratulations on your KZread channel and continued best of luck.with great reading!