I know it doesn't matter if people disagree on opinions on books, but the absolute thrill of sharing the love of a book is just joyful. Clytemenestra was everything you said, I adored my experience reading it. Especially before I started to hear people talking about it. Pure joy ❤
I think agreeing and disagreeing on books can both bring their own thrills. Especially if the latter is polite. So pleased you enjoyed Clytemnestra as much as I did.
Dig Ben Reads Good! His love of Bewilderment sealed the deal that I’ll be a subscriber for life, but overall I can’t recall disagreeing w you on any books thus far, but a couple ( literally 2 😂) w him, so long story long = gonna pass on Women talking . Ty for another 💎 video. HBD MONTH . 📖🪱💚
“Wordy crack” is a perfect description of TJR’s writing - glad you enjoyed Malibu Rising otherwise that would have been that for us🤣🤣🤣 I DNFed Women Talking so there’s that as well. And now I’m super excited for Clytemnestra which I picked up the other day 😊
Love the new format of going worst to best. And yes, 100% agreed on Women Talking. I love the other Toews I’ve read, but it also left me so cold (perfect description).
Ha. I might not do worst to best every month. Especially with so many women’s prize books next month, I don’t want anyone knowing my order of preference of them until the last possible minute… in June. Hahaha.
Thanks Simon I also loved Secret Lives of Church Ladies and agree one of best short story collections I have read One of others is Daphne Du Maurice’s collection of short stories
Desperately waiting for Clytemnestra to appear in my hoods pile at the library. Three cheers for Joanna Cannon! You have convinced me to read Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions. Very much looking forward to your WP shortlist predictions video!!
The predictions will be over on my mother’s channel because I’m being very generous. There’ll be a vlog and a reaction video (hopefully) on here… so lots of women’s prize content ahead. Woohoo.
I've added Key in the Lock, and A Tidy Ending to my list. My dipping of my toe into the world of Greek retellings came to an abrupt end after slogging my way through the second half of Song of Achilles. But Clytemnestra sounds fascinating so might try again. Thanks for a fab wrap up!
@@SavidgeReads ah of course, sorry my misunderstanding. Dare I say the first four aren’t as good? I love TJR; Evelyn was a turning point in her writing.
Simon, please don't give up on Mariam Toews (and Yay! to saying her name right). I find her books very different from each other and what appeals to one person might not strike another
Am breathing a sigh of relief with regard to Women Talking! Thought it was just me! I know you have hauled it - but am so looking forward to your thoughts on In Memoriam - which I think may well be my book of the year!
I’ve heard sooooo many good things about Memoriam. I’m hoping to get to it in the not too distant future. I think there’s a few of us who weren’t sure about Women Talking. So nice to not be alone.
The natural lighting in the beginning of the video was absolutely mesmerising btw 💛 Also loved to hear you love your age. - Really looking forward to you and your mum speaking on your reading experience with the women’s prize longlist ☀️ Would be a treat to watch an author spotlight and/or backlist experience if you want to do them at some point.
Oooh I’ve done a few of those but am definitely keen to bring them back and do them when those authors and I cross reading paths for sure. Love a naturally lit video, though can be tricky to get the timing right.
Am just finishing The Key in the Lock and I have really loved it. I don’t go easily to historic fiction but this was so well written and the characters were brilliantly drawn. Black Cake sounds intriguing. I read A Tidy Ending and found it okay but I don’t think I appreciated it as much as you did. Fascinating wrap up. Thank you.
Ow thanks for all the wonderful content you make Simon ❤ Love the channel. I'm attempting to read all of the Women's Prize longlist this year. I usually only get through the shortlist but I'm really enjoying the challenge 💪🏻 It will feel a bit lighter once I finish Demon! I like your T-shirt btw 🩶 My daughter is called Sunny 😊
Oooh you should check out CJ Reads and her Sunny’s Book Truck and merch. That’s where I get these and many more tops from. So glad you’re enjoying the content and the longlist.
I agree with you about ‘Women Talking’ I was so disappointed, I just couldn’t get in to it at all. I also loved ‘Weyward’, the revenge aspects were soooo good, very satisfying. I recently enjoyed ‘The cat who saved books’ by Sosuke Natsukawa, it’s such a lovely book about books! Thanks Simon, looking forward to hearing your Women’s prize shortlist predictions x
Oooh not long to go. Hoping to have that video out on mums channel on Tuesday and a women’s prize reading vlog on my channel the same day. It’s a huge vlog, I’ve just been editing just two thirds of it and still have a few days of filming ahead.
Best book read so far this month is Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton Now in the midst of Australian crime fiction Dead Mans Creek by Chris Hammer 🍀👋☘️📕📖💐📚☕️
Hi Simon great haircut and lovely long video, listened to while sorting recipes. Agree, food, glorious food. Not read any of those (been rdg about Putin) but definitely want2 read J Cannon. Reading The Twyford Code. Do read The Appeal whenu can, but I know so many books.....
I was put off The Appeal… by my mother 😮 Imagine. I am realising that the older I get and the more books are published, the more I look for a reason not to read something than read it. Isn’t that weird. That said if it ever ends up on my shelves I may get to it one day, having remembered your recommendation 😉
@@SavidgeReads yeah i think Jen wasnt keen but lauren of Lauren and the books's husband!!!!!, David gobbled it up. As did i. Oh btw u were talking about friends n i was after saying that my hedge was v v unfriendly, v demanding , always wanting cutting. I call it the f******hedge.
As the daughter of a man who was estranged from one of his parents and his sibling, I empathise with people who are estranged from family members, although I don't directly know what it is like, I understand what a difficult and painful situation it can be.
1000% agree about Clytemnestra. It’s currently my favorite book of the year. This book was what myth retellings should all strive to be. I love the reverence she had for the characters and the stories. I’m still working up the nerve for Stone Blind. It should be a slam dunk because I love the Medusa story, but then your mum mentioned that she takes the piss out of Perseus a bit and that put me right off. As I said about Clytemnestra, the reverence to the stories and characters is important to me. But I will pick it up at some point. There were a couple others in this video that I want to read as well. Funny how we see the ratings differently. I always equate 5-1 ratings to A, B, C, D, F grades in school. So 3 or 3.5 is a C or C+ which isn’t a good grade for me. 🤷♀️
It is funny how we grade things, also very arbitrary, 7/10 is really good to me lol. I think mum, and I have to agree, feel Perseus needs the piss taking out of him to be honest. I found it refreshing, though in a very different way from Clytemnestra. I think the difference though.
@@SavidgeReads I’d rather she document his faults and misdeeds than make him a buffoon. But I still want to read it… for Medusa. And I see 7 out of ten as 70%, which isn’t a great grade in school. I need to let that go. I’ve not been in school for nearly 40 years. 😱 I do give mostly 4s and 5s out of 5 on my books. If I give a three, the book is seriously meh.
Ditto on Women Talking, which I purchased as a new release in hardback based on Margaret Atwood's blurb (angered by the book), an unpopular opinion, oh well. I too loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, but I will give the one you spoke of a pass, thank you. I think it is probably best to read books of an author in publication order, keeps you from buying them over again, when you can no longer remember if you read that one or not, which gives away the fact that I seldom read an author's works by publication order.
Great to hear your thought on Malibu Rising. Just finished Evelyn Hugo and LOVED IT. Oddly, Daisy Jones didn't work for me. Also, why does 7/10 sound so much better than 3.5/5 😂
@@SavidgeReads interesting. I don't know if it was the music theme for me and/ or the style it's written in but something really didn't gel with it for me
Thank you, Simon. It's been one of those days so I am sitting here stuffing cherry bakewells and Bounty bars whilst watching you and you are lifting my mood. I have Bitter Orange next on my list so I hope it will take me out of myself as well as you do 🦊🐱📖
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy Women Talking. I recommend listening to it on audio, that helps I think with the many voices. Although I don’t agree with the need to go deeper with each character I found the overall collective made sense for the decision being made for the community as a whole. Anyway I’ll stop going on now. 😂😂😂
Hahahaha. Never stop. I love a good book discussion and am fascinated and intrigued by how books can evoke such different responses in different readers. I think it’s fascinating. I think audio could have been a good call. I just found it so hard, in print, to differentiate the women even with their differing views, which made it all a muchness and less nuanced for me.
Hmmmm I am going to see how I get on with Little Cruelties or whatever it’s called next and give her a second chance but if that’s no good, we’re through. Hahaha. Liz and I, I mean.
I’m reading black cake at the moment also I don’t you don’t read middle grade much Elle mcnicoll books are so good one has just been made on the bbc all the children in her books have disabilities
Hope you told the moaners to bugger off. So now you can't mention the name of authors you know or are friends with, otherwise you risk annoying people? LOL They need to get a life. Thanks for some new book reccies. I also have become addicted to TJR Word-Crack. Safer than the other type of crack. Read 'The 7 Husbands'....its brill.
I politely told them that they’d given me the first laugh of the morning and to not watch my next vlog as I was having fun with my friends in it, which they would undoubtedly hate. Hahaha.
Also :so random ( wrong video!) & obviously live your life & read what YOU want, but when I heard the fruit prompt i immediately imagined you reading Larger Than an Orange . I haven’t so perhaps I’m projecting or front lining you bc I’m curious about it 😂. Ok FR I’m finished Blahdiggityblah-ing 📖🪱💚
So agree on the estranged families, people expect you to accept actions by them that they would never expect you to accept from a partner.
Or a friend. And my friends are the family I choose to have.
I know it doesn't matter if people disagree on opinions on books, but the absolute thrill of sharing the love of a book is just joyful. Clytemenestra was everything you said, I adored my experience reading it. Especially before I started to hear people talking about it. Pure joy ❤
I think agreeing and disagreeing on books can both bring their own thrills. Especially if the latter is polite. So pleased you enjoyed Clytemnestra as much as I did.
I have loved my 40s so far...there isn't much left in them, but looking forward to 50!
I think I’m going to love every decade more and more. That’s the plan anyway.
Dig Ben Reads Good! His love of Bewilderment sealed the deal that I’ll be a subscriber for life, but overall I can’t recall disagreeing w you on any books thus far, but a couple ( literally 2 😂) w him, so long story long = gonna pass on Women talking . Ty for another 💎 video. HBD MONTH . 📖🪱💚
Hahaha maybe you should try Women Talking to see anyway. That could be interesting. I think it’s a book you know quite quickly if it’s for you or not.
“Wordy crack” is a perfect description of TJR’s writing - glad you enjoyed Malibu Rising otherwise that would have been that for us🤣🤣🤣 I DNFed Women Talking so there’s that as well. And now I’m super excited for Clytemnestra which I picked up the other day 😊
Hope you enjoy Clytemnestra as much as I did. Such a corker. I’m so chuffed I started reading TJR last year.
Yes to Secret Lives of Church Ladies! So fantastic. And I put Jollof Rice on hold at my library
Oooh I hope you enjoy Jollof Rice. I loved it. *almost as much as Secret Lives.
I’d love to see the TJR video idea
I feel like it’s a summer video waiting to happen.
So glad you loved The Secret Lives of Church Ladies!🍑
I thought it was brilliant.
Simon, I'm estranged from my family of birth and definitely empathise and agree about how difficult it is ❤
I can imagine that’s very very difficult. Mines only been a few years but it’s tough. It’s also necessary.
Love the new format of going worst to best.
And yes, 100% agreed on Women Talking. I love the other Toews I’ve read, but it also left me so cold (perfect description).
Ha. I might not do worst to best every month. Especially with so many women’s prize books next month, I don’t want anyone knowing my order of preference of them until the last possible minute… in June. Hahaha.
Loved Clytemnestra. She has always been one of my heroes. Her story also fleshed out her sister Helen as more than a blond bimbo.
Yes, yes, yes. I meant to say that. Completely agree. Helen got layers.
Thanks Simon I also loved Secret Lives of Church Ladies and agree one of best short story collections I have read One of others is Daphne Du Maurice’s collection of short stories
It’s just so good. I loved the sauciness and the frankness felt really refreshing. Daphne is great with novels and short stories.
Desperately waiting for Clytemnestra to appear in my hoods pile at the library. Three cheers for Joanna Cannon! You have convinced me to read Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions. Very much looking forward to your WP shortlist predictions video!!
The predictions will be over on my mother’s channel because I’m being very generous. There’ll be a vlog and a reaction video (hopefully) on here… so lots of women’s prize content ahead. Woohoo.
once again reminded I need to pick up The Secret Lives of Church Ladies at some point. I'm utterly intrigued by Isaac and the Egg!
Oooh you MUST get to The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.
I've added Key in the Lock, and A Tidy Ending to my list. My dipping of my toe into the world of Greek retellings came to an abrupt end after slogging my way through the second half of Song of Achilles. But Clytemnestra sounds fascinating so might try again. Thanks for a fab wrap up!
Ha. I absolutely loved The Song of Achilles so maybe don’t heed my advice on myth retellings. Or at least hear that in mind.
I have Black Cake, Key in the Lock, Wayward and Isaac & the Egg on my TBR and very much looking forward to reading them in May, hopefully.
Hope you enjoy them whenever you get to them 📚
I’d LOVE a TJR vlog on the most current 4 books, that’d be amazing 😊
I’ve read all but Evelyn so couldn’t vlog the latest four but could do the first four.
@@SavidgeReads ah of course, sorry my misunderstanding. Dare I say the first four aren’t as good? I love TJR; Evelyn was a turning point in her writing.
Simon, please don't give up on Mariam Toews (and Yay! to saying her name right). I find her books very different from each other and what appeals to one person might not strike another
No plans to give up on her. Will give her another try at some point for sure.
Am breathing a sigh of relief with regard to Women Talking! Thought it was just me! I know you have hauled it - but am so looking forward to your thoughts on In Memoriam - which I think may well be my book of the year!
I’ve heard sooooo many good things about Memoriam. I’m hoping to get to it in the not too distant future. I think there’s a few of us who weren’t sure about Women Talking. So nice to not be alone.
I also really love Nigerian fiction! Almost every book I’ve picked up I’ve really loved!
Yes, same. I can never quite articulate why though.
The natural lighting in the beginning of the video was absolutely mesmerising btw 💛 Also loved to hear you love your age.
- Really looking forward to you and your mum speaking on your reading experience with the women’s prize longlist ☀️ Would be a treat to watch an author spotlight and/or backlist experience if you want to do them at some point.
Oooh I’ve done a few of those but am definitely keen to bring them back and do them when those authors and I cross reading paths for sure. Love a naturally lit video, though can be tricky to get the timing right.
Am just finishing The Key in the Lock and I have really loved it. I don’t go easily to historic fiction but this was so well written and the characters were brilliantly drawn. Black Cake sounds intriguing. I read A Tidy Ending and found it okay but I don’t think I appreciated it as much as you did. Fascinating wrap up. Thank you.
We can’t all love the same books so no biggie on A Tidy Ending. Glad you loved The Key in the Lock.
Evelyn Hugo is my fave TJR. I'm jealous you've still got to read it. Midway through Tidy Ending at the min and saving Clytemenstra for my Summer.
Hope you enjoy Clytemnestra when you get to it. As I hope I enjoy Evelyn when I get to her.
Thanks Simon! I added Black Cake to my library app.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when you get to it.
Ow thanks for all the wonderful content you make Simon ❤ Love the channel. I'm attempting to read all of the Women's Prize longlist this year. I usually only get through the shortlist but I'm really enjoying the challenge 💪🏻 It will feel a bit lighter once I finish Demon! I like your T-shirt btw 🩶 My daughter is called Sunny 😊
Oooh you should check out CJ Reads and her Sunny’s Book Truck and merch. That’s where I get these and many more tops from. So glad you’re enjoying the content and the longlist.
@@SavidgeReads Thank you! I will do 😁💕
I lied I’m not finished- 7 Husbands, IMO, is her best !
I really liked Black Cake, too. Currently reviewing it for my book club tomorrow night. I forgot about some of the twists!
Ooh how did the book club get on with it!
For the most part we all really liked it. Definitely looking forward to the next one by this author 😊
I agree with you about ‘Women Talking’ I was so disappointed, I just couldn’t get in to it at all. I also loved ‘Weyward’, the revenge aspects were soooo good, very satisfying. I recently enjoyed ‘The cat who saved books’ by Sosuke Natsukawa, it’s such a lovely book about books! Thanks Simon, looking forward to hearing your Women’s prize shortlist predictions x
Oooh not long to go. Hoping to have that video out on mums channel on Tuesday and a women’s prize reading vlog on my channel the same day. It’s a huge vlog, I’ve just been editing just two thirds of it and still have a few days of filming ahead.
Thank you Simon ! 📚 Really interesting as always and I am looking forward to Clytemnestra when I get a minute.
Oooh I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Best book read so far this month is
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Now in the midst of Australian crime fiction
Dead Mans Creek by Chris Hammer
🍀👋☘️📕📖💐📚☕️
Oooh very antipodean reading from you on both fronts there.
Hi Simon great haircut and lovely long video, listened to while sorting recipes. Agree, food, glorious food. Not read any of those (been rdg about Putin) but definitely want2 read J Cannon. Reading The Twyford Code. Do read The Appeal whenu can, but I know so many books.....
I was put off The Appeal… by my mother 😮 Imagine. I am realising that the older I get and the more books are published, the more I look for a reason not to read something than read it. Isn’t that weird. That said if it ever ends up on my shelves I may get to it one day, having remembered your recommendation 😉
@@SavidgeReads yeah i think Jen wasnt keen but lauren of Lauren and the books's husband!!!!!, David gobbled it up. As did i. Oh btw u were talking about friends n i was after saying that my hedge was v v unfriendly, v demanding , always wanting cutting. I call it the f******hedge.
As the daughter of a man who was estranged from one of his parents and his sibling, I empathise with people who are estranged from family members, although I don't directly know what it is like, I understand what a difficult and painful situation it can be.
It’s not ideal. But sometimes it’s just the way things are.
Nooooo my first Savidge burn
May it be the first of many 😉
1000% agree about Clytemnestra. It’s currently my favorite book of the year. This book was what myth retellings should all strive to be. I love the reverence she had for the characters and the stories. I’m still working up the nerve for Stone Blind. It should be a slam dunk because I love the Medusa story, but then your mum mentioned that she takes the piss out of Perseus a bit and that put me right off. As I said about Clytemnestra, the reverence to the stories and characters is important to me. But I will pick it up at some point.
There were a couple others in this video that I want to read as well.
Funny how we see the ratings differently. I always equate 5-1 ratings to A, B, C, D, F grades in school. So 3 or 3.5 is a C or C+ which isn’t a good grade for me. 🤷♀️
It is funny how we grade things, also very arbitrary, 7/10 is really good to me lol. I think mum, and I have to agree, feel Perseus needs the piss taking out of him to be honest. I found it refreshing, though in a very different way from Clytemnestra. I think the difference though.
@@SavidgeReads I’d rather she document his faults and misdeeds than make him a buffoon. But I still want to read it… for Medusa. And I see 7 out of ten as 70%, which isn’t a great grade in school. I need to let that go. I’ve not been in school for nearly 40 years. 😱 I do give mostly 4s and 5s out of 5 on my books. If I give a three, the book is seriously meh.
Well Happy Birthday. I would say 30s. I’m 53 and you def can pass for mid-later 30s.
Oh you absolute charmer. Hahaha. Thank you.
Ha I’m a Libra. We are charming!
Ditto on Women Talking, which I purchased as a new release in hardback based on Margaret Atwood's blurb (angered by the book), an unpopular opinion, oh well. I too loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, but I will give the one you spoke of a pass, thank you. I think it is probably best to read books of an author in publication order, keeps you from buying them over again, when you can no longer remember if you read that one or not, which gives away the fact that I seldom read an author's works by publication order.
I think Women Talking was meant to anger, just maybe not in the way it made us angry. Hahaha.
Great to hear your thought on Malibu Rising. Just finished Evelyn Hugo and LOVED IT. Oddly, Daisy Jones didn't work for me.
Also, why does 7/10 sound so much better than 3.5/5 😂
Ooo and it's about siblings! I'm sold. The older I get the more I value my sibs :)
I loved Daisy but Chris didn’t which I found interesting and has sparked some discussion in the Savidge household. 7/10 is better sounding than 3.5/5.
@@SavidgeReads interesting. I don't know if it was the music theme for me and/ or the style it's written in but something really didn't gel with it for me
Thank you, Simon. It's been one of those days so I am sitting here stuffing cherry bakewells and Bounty bars whilst watching you and you are lifting my mood. I have Bitter Orange next on my list so I hope it will take me out of myself as well as you do 🦊🐱📖
Oooooh I loooooooove Cherry Bakewell’s. I’m originally from a town next to Bakewell. They are a treat. Glad I could lift your mood.
💜📚💜
💜📚
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy Women Talking. I recommend listening to it on audio, that helps I think with the many voices. Although I don’t agree with the need to go deeper with each character I found the overall collective made sense for the decision being made for the community as a whole. Anyway I’ll stop going on now. 😂😂😂
Hahahaha. Never stop. I love a good book discussion and am fascinated and intrigued by how books can evoke such different responses in different readers. I think it’s fascinating. I think audio could have been a good call. I just found it so hard, in print, to differentiate the women even with their differing views, which made it all a muchness and less nuanced for me.
What a corkin wrap up 😂 I e been put off by the liz nugent book , it does sound good but I read lying in wait by her and found it so boring 🙈🙈🙈📚
Hmmmm I am going to see how I get on with Little Cruelties or whatever it’s called next and give her a second chance but if that’s no good, we’re through. Hahaha. Liz and I, I mean.
I’m reading black cake at the moment also I don’t you don’t read middle grade much Elle mcnicoll books are so good one has just been made on the bbc all the children in her books have disabilities
Hope you enjoy Black Cake as much as I did.
Hope you told the moaners to bugger off. So now you can't mention the name of authors you know or are friends with, otherwise you risk annoying people? LOL They need to get a life. Thanks for some new book reccies. I also have become addicted to TJR Word-Crack. Safer than the other type of crack. Read 'The 7 Husbands'....its brill.
I politely told them that they’d given me the first laugh of the morning and to not watch my next vlog as I was having fun with my friends in it, which they would undoubtedly hate. Hahaha.
Also :so random ( wrong video!) & obviously live your life & read what YOU want, but when I heard the fruit prompt i immediately imagined you reading Larger Than an Orange . I haven’t so perhaps I’m projecting or front lining you bc I’m curious about it 😂. Ok FR I’m finished Blahdiggityblah-ing 📖🪱💚
I’ve not even heard of Larger Than An Orange. Ha.