Its sad that John Williams is not there. For me, underrated is an euphemism to describe him. His books changed my life. Also just wanna say that I love your work and the fact that we share the same passion for literature, which makes me wanna be a better reader. Keep going!!

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Appreciate you!! I’m planning to read Stoner later this year

@alexandregois3065

11 ай бұрын

@@williampdozier I dont have enough words to describe that book. Great, great choice. I believe you are going to love it too. PS: Butucher's crossing is also very good.

@alexandregois3065

11 ай бұрын

*Butcher's

@JohnS-hj2bw

11 ай бұрын

@@williampdozier phenomenal book, phenomenal writer. really interested to see what you have to say about it

Glad to see Faulkner at 10. Could have been higher, but oh well Murakami as an author is so incredibly easy to read, I don't think I've burned through a book that fast before purely because the language was so accessible. So honestly, save his work for like if you're in a reading slump or just need something super easy to read. Norwegian Wood is good, but he's written a lot, and you can't go wrong with starting most anywhere (except 1Q84) Do be prepared for rampant, casual misogyny though.

William if you see this comment, Cormac McCarthy is my favorite author.

Dostoevsky is love ❤️ Crime and punishments was masterpiece but I felt a strange connection with Notes from underground. I really felt he was talking about me 😅. And you introduced me to Camus and many more so thank you very much ❤️

I live in Russia. I know the Russian language. I can confidently say that I am proud of it. I am very surprised and delighted that in countries other than Russia they read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. It's amazing. Thank you, William, for such a wonderful video. P. S. I highly recommend Dostoevsky's "White Nights." It's very short. This is an unusual work of Dostoevsky, it is not so dark, combines elements of romanticism and sentimentalism. A great book to start reading Dostoevsky.

@cadenconley3153

11 ай бұрын

White Nights destroyed me and I loved it

Thank you for igniting my passion for literature your guidance and enthusiasm have enriched my life in ways i never imagined grateful for the journey we're embarking on.

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Right back at you. Operating this channel brings me so much energy. Thanks for this kind note. Glad you’re getting something out of these videos!

I just started reading this year and you’ve been a great guide to many books. hats off to you!

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Hell yeah! Glad you’re getting something out of these videos 🙏🏻

Hey William love your channel just ordered your book can’t wait to read it keep up the good work 👍🏻

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Right on! Hope you enjoy it 🙏🏻

Top 3 are perfect. Makes me happy to hear. Currently reading east of eden and I HIGHLY recommend. Im deeply in love with this. Ive not cried over a character death in a long time since this book and im not even half way though. Dostoyevski is my love, my life. Took me 3 winters to finish crime and punishment. I never wanted it to end. I think about it often

I was about to write a negative comment but you mentioned dostoyevsky. Lucky you

Great video! I'm surprised Salinger didn't crack the top 20

Great video! ❤

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Yet another great video, William. A lot of big names didn't make the top 20!

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

TONS

Great Video. My favorite author is Khaled Hosseini. He should have been on that list. :)

My vote wasn't for Vonnegut, but Cat's Cradle led me back to reading again in high school and made me want to be a writer. It will always be one of my favorite books because of that and Vonnegut will always have a special place in my heart.

Interiority? I had to look that one up. Learn something new every day. 😊

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Learning is for life 📚

Sirens of Titan is my personal favorite Vonnegut and science fiction novel in general of all time

I knew he wouldn't be up there but I was still sad to not see Erich Maria Remarque. Only author I decided to read every book by. If you like moody prose and unapologetically flawed characters I recommend.

Great video, just finished reading Fumes and really enjoyed it, would love a longer novel with more depth of characters in a similar style

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for reading! Full-length novel is in the works now. Can’t share details, but I’m focused and making progress

@js0001xg

11 ай бұрын

@@williampdozier good to hear, good luck!

Mother Night by Vonnegut is a great read - eager to give Breakfast of Champions a try too :)

In my early twenties I went through a Vonnegut phase. But it wasn’t till going back to school in my thirties and rereading Slaughterhouse-Five that I was able to fully appreciate it and Kurt. Mother Night was my favorite from that first go around. It sparked the questions: at what point to we become what we pretend to be? and, do the ends justify the means? But that was now almost twenty years ago! 🫣 Maybe time for a reread to see if it’s held up.

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Do it! Sounds like it’s time

Much love from Ethiopia ❤️❤️

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching!! Hope you enjoy

Diving into Donna Tartt as I type. So far, Secret History’s prose is magnificent. How she dances that line between someone punchy like Hemingway and someone more verbose like Salter. I’ll definitely be reading more of her in 2024.

Any Poe on the list?? He’s my all-time favorite!

East of Eden is a masterpiece. Cathy Ames is one of the greatest villains in all of literature, up there with judge Holden

Thanks!

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Thank you! 🙏🏻

@marciajohansson769

11 ай бұрын

@@williampdozier recently found your KZread video's after enjoying many of your TiKTok or was it Instagram shorts. Great recommendations. Look forward to reading your book Fumes. Just ordered.

The first Vonnegut novel I read was Cat’s Cradle. I think if you’re starting Vonnegut then you should pick up Cat’s Cradle first

A bit late to the party but The Brothers Karmazov is definitely my favorite Doestoyevsky novel. Crime and Punishment is an extremely good novel with the worst epiloge I have ever read, I wished I'd skipped it, it really dragged the book down for me. Also for any anime fans Crime and Punishment gave me some real Death Note vibes.

Terrific video! I've been missing your polls because I'm not on IG or FB, and YT doesn't give notifications about pists that aren't videos. Would you mind posting video announcements about these polls to KZread, so that subscribers will get notified and then get to participate? For my late vote, I would have said CS Lewis. I'm curious how many votes, if any, he got.

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Thanks! CS Lewis got 4 votes. Pretty close to the top 20

@robertluff6623

11 ай бұрын

@williampdozier thanks for the quick answer! I love Lewis because he wrote so broadly on deep themes, fiction and non, and especially for his fiction. Til We Have Faces is a brilliant, mature novel that I highly recommend, and The Great Divorce is a great, short allegory that you can read in an evening.

Massive Vonnegut fan here, I've read 7 or 8 of his novels. I've lost count. Cat's Cradle is fantastic, so is Mother Night (My personal favourite) and Mr Rosewater. Slaughterhouse-5 was life-changing. The film is excellent too. I really didn't like Breakfast of Champions as much as I thought I would, same with Bluebeard and Happy Birthday Wanda June. I found those to be his most disappointing works. Player Piano is good too, though Vonnegut himself kind of dismissed it. His early stuff is really where he peaked imo, and I think he himself agreed with that. You can really start wherever you would like with his works.

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Appreciate this insight!

The great god pan/the hill of dreams/the white people by Arthur machen and Arthur Rimbaud good also heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad

My favorit Vonnegut is Galapagos

I still like as my favorite, Robert C Bauer, "The Kid Gallagher Story ".

Let me be the third vote for Shakespeare

the data gathering must've been a nightmare! next time just use a shared excel or anything that would easily do the job :D btw, what's stopped you from reading Murakami so far? Any particular reason?

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

No particular reason - too much to get to, not enough time

Where’s Juan Rulfo ?!

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Only got a few votes :/ Love Rulfo

hey William, have you read any Norman Mailer?

@williampdozier

9 ай бұрын

I haven’t, no

@sophiebrettasker5808

9 ай бұрын

I really enjoyed An American Dream, definitely worth checking out if you have time, love your channel btw!@@williampdozier

Think the Jonathan Franzen 1 vote is kinda accurate 🌚

Wish Brett Easton Ellis, Frederick Douglas, and Mark Twain made top 20. Pablo Neruda, Chinua Achebe, and Joseph Conrad as well.

Arthur Miller is propably my favourite writer along with Hemingway, but I just wanted to ask if anyone in this comment section has heard/read the Finnish writer Jörn Donner?

You need to expand your territory into the international #booktok That list is more like a : "Your top 20 American Novelists who changed your life..."

@simonemasetti6114

11 ай бұрын

He is american, most of his followers are americans, it's perfectly normal. If a french did the same thing there would probably be mostly french writers.

@PurpleRhino1388

11 ай бұрын

@@simonemasetti6114 He speaks English. Not the same with those who speak non-world languages. He make videos about American writers mostly that's why algorithm shows his videos to the Americans. He should also be doing reviews about Russian/French/Japanese/German etc. writers so that he can't expand into international #booktok

@simonemasetti6114

11 ай бұрын

@@PurpleRhino1388 honestly i'm glad he talks about american writers, i must admit i know NOTHING about classic american literature, i've never read anything by hemingway steinbeck faulkner...

Wow where the fuck is Proust 😰 haha where is Joyce? Again where is Proust?

@williampdozier

11 ай бұрын

Proust and Joyce only got a couple votes each. I was surprised!

Vonnegut and Murakami are quite overrated. East of Eden is not Steinbeck's best.

@JohnS-hj2bw

11 ай бұрын

Glad I’m not the only one who thought this, East of Eden is a good book, probably a very good book, but not a great one . Maybe because I read a ton of Dostoevsky right after finishing it so all other literature just dissipated for me after that

All i gotta say: I hear good things about Murakami as well so I read Norwegian Wood to start off with this summer and I found it to be the cheesiest most sexist (possibly lesbian fetish and very r*pey fetishes that murakami has shine through!) book I’ve read. Plus the characters all are knobs.

Reading fiction books is a waste of time

@collinsceski605

Ай бұрын

Reading this comment was a waste of time.