tier-ranking more classic books (so you know which ones to read) -- part 2 📚
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- čas přidán 29. 09. 2022
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link to part 1 here with more traditional classics: czcams.com/video/92QbQOK8VTI/video.html
Are these typed out somewhere/available to print or something? Would love it to help build my reading list!
Please read Legends of Ilemuria: The Demon's Return
can't believe you haven't read all quiet on the western front!!! my favourite classic.
I have to admit that it seems just so weird to me what is considered "classics" in the anglosphere - that it is just so extremely heavily English-language based. Like, it seems that 90% of the titles are originally in English and that seems completely mad to me. To me, in any list of classics worth its salt, no language should have more than 50% representation - okay, I understand that you are taught in some language so you are allowed for it to have a greater share, but 90% seems just so wildly off the mark. Like, the literatures of different languages were in dialogue with each other, how on earth are you supposed to understand that if you, in essence, are just listening to merely one party in that conversation? How can one have a list of traditional classics, and have it lacking, say, Goethe or Cervantes or Molière? This is not an attack on the author of the video, I understand that this is how these things are defined in the anglosphere but it is just so damn weird.
Really? You're starting with a joke about war and peace - and then there is no Tolstoi at all?
No Alexandre Dumas, no Theodor Storm but 6 times Jane Austen...
Harry Potter is a pop cultural phenomenon, but not a classic. And you didn't mention Astrid Lindgreens books - or Peter Pan (btw. all of them are better than Alice in Wonderland)
Sorry, but someone who rates The Hunger Games higher than Dune or Lord of the Rings loses all credibility in my eyes.
"A classic is a book nobody wants to read but everybody wants to have read."
-Mark Twain
Why is that so true though 😂
😂me buying classics bc of the gorgeous covers while also wishing i could get through them without getting into a slump
He probably just chose bad classics
The quote is wrong, bc nobody wants to read but everyone likes talking about it to pretend they're smart
Why is that trueeee??
Love that you included modern classics too, would be interested in a video breaking down exactly what makes a 'classic' and their importance
omg literally i did an hpq on this topic and it was so so interesting
I would also would love this break down!
@@helvetesmakt1 I wish there was a way to copy comments, because yours is a great summary of the ""defence"" (I hate this term but I can't come up with anything better) of the literary canon. It's just a matter of statistics. Obviously if until the 19th century only white guys could write and publish their novels and treatises that's where we will find the majority of our cultural background. Thankfully nowadays that has changed, but you can't retroactively add works to the canon, even if it means broadening the representation, unless they genuinely are rediscovered as meaningful works of literature and referenced by a majority of people
@@tuqaridha4821 Exactly!
Yes!!!
Gregor Samsa waking up as a bug and his first worry being how he's going to get to work is the most German thing I've heard, relatable
That‘s so true 😭 The Metamorphosis was definitely my favourite German classic I‘ve read in my entirety of my school career (I‘m German), it‘s so weird? But very memorable
@@b4rry420 That's so cool! I don't think I appreciated any of the books we were forced to read in school but I've been trying to read more German classics, picked up Steppenwolf by Hesse recently and loved it. Highly recommend
@@shilo2100Hermann Hesse is great! I looooved Siddhartha
So wrong. Germans call in sick for the tiniest issue. I am German and as soon as I or any of my colleagues have the slightest headache or cough we’ll stay home for 2 days and chill.
@@ag4444 in my current workplace it's the opposite. But at my old workplace it was that way as well. I had to step in so many times and cover my colleagues hours :/ Once I fell off my bike the day before and i had to come in and sit there all day with both hands in the air haha. I'm German btw and I'm tryna say it probably just depends on your workplace 'cause where I work at now people would come in with a crushed finger 🙃
You should review Agatha Christie! She's the most published author ever, only beat by the Bible and Shakespeare. She's written half a dozen classics. I'd love to see you do something similar to your Cain's Jawbone video and try to solve one of her mysteries.
Oh I love this idea! She's one of my fave authors ever I feel like I am constantly recommending her books!
Can we make it a collection of crime novels? Coz I really want reviews on the Sherlock Holmes stories, and I think this would work as a tier video on the best detective stories with Agatha Christie and Dr Jekyll
you might watch her already, but * emmie * has a few videos where she tries to solve agatha christie mysteries and they're really fun to watch
Yes! I’d love to hear his opinion on “Then there were none”
Omg same and then there were none is a masterpiece
1:46 - The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
2:10 - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
2:42 - Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
3:25 - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3:46 - Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
4:27 - Persuasion by Jane Austen
5:23 - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
5:38 - Lady Susan by Jane Austen
6:02 - Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
6:37 - North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
7:04 - East of Eden by John Steinbeck
8:38 - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
9:00 - Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih
9:45 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
10:08 - The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
10:59 - Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
11:16 - The Art of War by Sun Tzu
12:06 - Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
12:14 - The Color Purple by Alice Walker
12:37 - Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
12:56 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
13:21 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
14:09 - Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown
14:44 - The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
15:17 - The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
15:32 - Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence
15:40 - The Stranger by Albert Camus
16:07 - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
16:16 - The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
16:46 - Silas Marner by George Elliot
17:07 - The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
17:19 - The Secret History by Donna Tart
18:12 - Harry Potter by JK Rowling
18:38 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
19:10 - The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
19:35 - The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
20:27 - The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
20:45 - Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
21:10 - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
21:47 - Roxana by Daniel Defoe
22:19 - A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
22:26 - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
22:59 - Nadja by Andre Breton
23:15 - Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
23:36 - The Razor's Edge by William Somerset Maugham
24:00 - Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
24:24 - Howards End by EM Forster
Actual lifesaver
💞thanks
I was about to type this :(
some heroes wear capes
you are God sent. thank you💜
I’d love to see Jack make a video on current books that he thinks will become classics in the future (if he hasn’t already)
I am pretty sure he already has 😊
@@amayac4655 oh cool! do you know the link of the video?
@@amayac4655 link?😅
((((girl, woman, other)))))
@@qnnnnn3557 the link, also know as the URL of the video so they can watch it.
I would love a video where you re-read books, that you read "at the wrong time" like "The Master and Margarita". It would be so interesting to see if / in what way it changes your opinion about the books!
I adore the 'Master and Margarita' after a friend's sister recommended it to me around 20 years ago. The only book that compares is Yukio Mishima's 'Spring Snow', which is hand's down my favourite book.
I too, have many books (of shame) that I tried reading and couldn't get in the right headspace for whatever reason. 'To the Lighthouse' and 'Tender is the Night' are two glaring examples.
I feel less shame regarding 'Ulysses'. I have but a single life and I'm damn well not going to waste more time forcing myself to read it!
"It (Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone) made so many of us readers for life."
Well said, Jack!👏
Yeah…
BUT ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!!!
Harry Potter has better ranking than the Hobbit?!
Please…
@@esfahanius I was commenting on and quoting what Jack says in the video about a particular book. I wasn't saying anything about ranking. Jack is the one ranking and he's entitled to his taste, preference and opinion anyway. But if you for some odd reason have a problem with that, take it up with him don't go disagreeing on my irrelevant comment using caps. Please...
Fr harry potter was the book that got me into reading
I'm just gonna be honest and mention the blatant transphobia of J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter was also a favourite of mine growing up but realizing Rowling's views on everything really puts it into perspective - personally, it's not my vibe anymore. clothbound classic at its best for me
@@avalonrhyswhy does the author's views affect the book?
The Master and Margarita is complicated to read since there are a lot of historical references/inside 'jokes' that are difficult to understand if you are not familiar with that era and its people. It's best to read one with a LOT of footnotes. The version shown here is pretty decent.
I’ve been meaning to read that.
I would recommend the Burkin/O'Conner translation. The pevear/voronsky translation felt like a different, book that over explained jokes, or missed them entirely.
@@carole5648 Thanks for the advice.
I just have to say that, in my ignorance (intentional, as I keep away from info on books - even classics - so that I could go in with a clear slate / mind :)) ) I wasn't even completely sure when Bulgakov was writing that precisely.
So I took it as it is and it's one of my favourite books ever, I found it SO much fun and SO free... like, the way it was written felt very free and liberating. It made sense to learn later that he wrote it in secret basically.
I loved the unhinged imagination, the dark humour... the satire/irony of the absurd situations and characters that transpire even without knowing many details of the background
- not contradicting you, I wholeheartedly agree with what you said, especially as an explanation to why someone might find it difficult
Just thought I'd provide an extra view, so that people would give it a go anyway; maybe it finds you in the right moment :)
I just read the 50th Anniversary edition (the one pictured) and it is THE edition to get. The footnotes genuinely saved me from hours of google searching although I did still spend a lot of time in my reading researching due to it being so soviet-society focused. I found it to be an all-time favorite! A literary acid trip.
‘I’m moby dick without mody part’, - actually killed me 😭
i would also recommend reading master and margarita in two sessions because I don’t know a single person, who liked it from the get go and didn’t get bored out of the mind by everything that didn’t include Woland!
It’s me, I liked it from the get go.
Jack it looks like you read the P+V translation? I would recommend going with the Ginsburg or Burgin O’Connor translations your next go around. P+V translations is kind of stiff and the manic humor doesn’t come across well.
@@maduross i read the oconnor one and tbh i feel like i'll never fully understand & appreciate the humor and nuance bc im not a russian / native russian-speaker
Honestly I'm at chapter 15 and so long I loved every single part of it
@@brothercheems2818 Something of the original context is always lost but I’d say a good translation (along with an informative introduction most editions of classic lit will include) can give most if not all of the original feeling and intent of the work.
for this book in particular I’d say the context of life in the Soviet Union is key to getting the satire but I think even without background knowledge of that stuff the novel does a good job portraying the way the bureaucracy and secret police etc affects people’s daily lives in the text itself from the ridiculous situations that happen (and thus that make fun of their real life counterparts).
@@yatinhu1153 I have completed it and it's actually great. Idk why people hate it so much. Some chapters can be slow and boring but after completing them it's really rewarding.
you NEED to read "a thousand splendid suns" especially if you found "the kite runner" emotional. That is the most heart wrenching and beautiful book I've ever read😢 still waiting for a book to make me feel everything the way that did😅
Read that book on a holiday years ago, completely unaware that I would be sobbing by the poolside for days! So affecting ❤
I got this from a friend on my 19th birthday (I'm now 29) and I still remember how much it made me feel, a lot of scenes and quotes. This book has my heart. And I don't know many people who have read it.
I am fairly devoid of all emotion, so if a book can make me feel something then it’s a pretty damn good book. A Thousand Splendid Suns made me sad therefore it’s an instant five star!
That book destroyed me, I actually found it very painful to read. But so worthwile
and the mountains echoed is khaled hosseinis other book and it is as good and heartbreaking as the other 2 (if not more), it focusses on lots of different characters and is more like short stories which i think puts some people off but i would highly highly recommend
Metamorphosis is my favourite classic by a significant margin. I studied it with my students and the deeper you dig into it the more it rewards and astounds you. I absolutely love it.
Hell yes
I really need to re-read it... One of the first books I bought, very memorable
I would also love to know what Jack thinks of 'The Trial' by Kafka too ❤
Is it too early to ask for a part 3? 😂 I’d love to know your opinion on more classics!
🤣 I was about to ask that too.
I'm pretty sure he talked about them in part 1 🤔
I literally watched Part 1… my brain doesn’t work properly 😆 y’all r right
I think Huckleberry Finn is a masterpiece, but I also think it’s very specifically situated in American (US) culture and history. I agree the dialect is hard to read and aged super poorly, but even so I’d be curious to know if you’d view it differently rereading it after living in the US
Huckleberry is greatest first person novel ever written. Every word in the prose Is from Huckleberry. Unlike modern first person, which is really just 3rd person with the pronouns changed
I would love to see a tier ranking of just children's literature. The comments would be bloodshed
omg need
Already I want to cuss him out for putting HARRY POTTER of all books in the top tier!???
📚TIMESTAMPS 📚
1:47 - The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
2:09 - A Christmas Carol (C. Dickens)
2:41 - Vile Bodies (E. Waugh)
3:25 - Americanah (C. Ngozi Adichie)
3:45 - A Metamorphosis (F. Kafka)
4:27 - Persuasion (J. Austen)
5:23 - Sense & Sensibility (J. Austen)
5:38 - Lady Susan (J. Austen)
6:03 - Northanger Abbey (J. Austen)
6:37 - North & South (B. Percival)
7:04 - East of Eden (J. Steinbeck)
8:40 - The God of Small Things (A. Roy)
9:00 - Season of Migrations to the North (T. Salih)
9:45 - The Kite Runner (K. Hosseini)
10:09 - The Master and Margarita (M. Boulgakov)
11:00 - Siddhartha (H. Hesse)
11:16 - The Art of War (S. Tzu)
12:06 - Giovanni's Room (J. Baldwin)
12:14 - The Color Purple (A. Walker)
12:57 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (M. Twain)
13:22 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (M. Twain)
14:10 - Wieland (C. Browkden Brown)
14:45 - The Bluest Eye (T. Morrison)
15:17 - The Good Soldier (F. Madox Fox)
15:33 - Sons and Lovers (D. H. Lawrence)
15:40 - L'Étranger (A. Camus)
16:07 - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (R. L. Stevenson)
16:17 - The Prince (N. Machiavel)
16:47 - Silas Marner (G. Eliot)
17:08 - The Old Man and the Sea (E. Hemingway)
17:21 - The Secret History (D. Tartt)
18:12 - Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
18:39 - The Hunger Games (S. Collins)
19:10 - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)
19:35 - The Testaments (M. Atwood)
20:29 - The Talented Mr. Ripley (P. Highsmith)
20:46 - Slaughterhouse Five (K. Vonnegut)
21:48 - Lady Roxana (D. Defoe)
22:19 - A Study In Scarlet (A.C. Doyle)
22:27 - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (M. Spark)
22:58 - Nadja (A. Breton)
23:15 - Brighton Rock (G. Greene)
23:37 - The Razor's Edge (W. S. Maugham)
24:25 - Howards End (E.M. Forster)
Siddharta
19:35 isn’t The Handmaid’s Tale
Thanks! All corrected :)
I believe in humanity because of people like you
You forgot Mrs. Dalloway
Omg the orange-juice-after-toothpaste description hit me HARD. 🤣🤣🤣
Uni has caught me in a reading slump basically ever since I started my degree, so thanks for making these videos! I love how accessible you make it and make light of books considered classics - makes me feel okay with not reading classics just for the sake of them being classics.
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe was the first chapter book I ever read; My Dad gave it to me for my birthday. I was already a pretty avid reader, but that book changed my life and cemented my love for reading.
Oh yes, a rather familiar story to me. Not quite the same, as I started with the Magician's Nephew, but the Narnia series (and the Hobbit!) were the first chapter books I read as recommended by my dad.
“Fleagency” is the best thing I heard. Your play on words and jokes are the literal best way to discuss these books.
I do think the Art of War deserves a 2nd read (esp since it’s so short) bc it isn’t just about war and enemies. It can be applied to work and personal life. It also influences major marketing strategies and sports. It’s actually a pretty pacifist text and I feel like if you didn’t like the Prince, you would like this one more. I’ve read that war is not glorified in traditional Chinese philosophy like it is in Western. Sun Tzu constantly says that it is better not to engage in war and to do everything you can to prevent it. And the strategies are more about deception in order to carry out and end a battle in the quickest, most efficient way, rather than strategies for a blood shedding battle. Sun Tzu’s values are rooted in Taoism, so harmony and simplicity are important factors. I would definitely recommend reading it again!
I definitely think you should give the Master and Margarita another try! I recently read it and would say it is a *lot* , but I find the narrative voice so spellbinding, hilarious at times plus I find the plot and characters actually interesting. Definitely more readable than a lot of the old dusty classics in my books
15:32 "Sons and lovers is... a book about mommy issues and... yea, it's fine" the best book review
Hunger games is the book that got me out of a 3 year reading slump, and I can reread it any day! I’m so happy u acknowledged it as a classic, I did not expect it and was pleasantly suprised😄
I had never intended on reading 'the god of small things' but one day I found it in a second hand store for a very cheap price and therefore purchased it. Started reading with no expectations and it turned out to be one of my all time favourites.
literally had the exact same experience
same!
It's ass imo
Video idea: what books you THINK will become classics/modern classics and why
The Color Purple actually made me bawl my eyes out. 10000/10 I’m very happy my English teacher last year chose it for our class because I know that it’s not something I would’ve picked up on my own. But I’m so so glad I read it.
why is it so hard for people to understand that others can have different opinions than yours and are still valid like cmon
Why can't you understand that some people don't want other people to have different opinions?
So Is opinion of other opinion being wrong cannot be valid? In that case absolute inclusivity is validity? In that case you stand for nothing, represent nothing and amount to absolutely nothing. Which is riddled with hypocrisy.
@@eve_______ There's not hypocrisy in standing for nothing. You have to stand for something to be a hypocrite.
Mostly it’s just insecure incels whose entire self-worth is based on reading scifi novels due to not having a social life or societal meaning. Then when people don’t like their hard magik systems they piss their panties. Pretty funny imo.
The fact that I knew about Jekyll&Hyde's plot twist before reading it took away all atmosphere of the book for me. This book would have been so eerie and beautifully grim if I hadn't known about the secret.
I was actually really upset after reading the book because of what could have been. I don't know if you know the feeling. You probably do.
I knew about the plot twist because of Monster High (seriously), so reading it for the first time because I was interested, knowing the plot twist made me miserable
One of my biggest regrets is spoiling Jekyll &Hyde for my sister who didn't know the plot twist, only because I'd assumed that was universal knowledge. She doesn't seem to have any interest in reading it but the fact that I ruined it will haunt me forever.
yes, looney tunes gave it away lol. i still found it fascinating though, 6/5, will be rereading.
The Little Prince, Count of Monte Cristo, and Don Quixote as suggestions if you ever decide to continue this series! Agatha Christie would be cool too, though it could possibly be a list on its own, combined with other famous detective/mystery books
As someone who has studied classic chinese literature, I am always confused why the Art of War is well known in the west lol. If you would like to read a classic chinese novel, I would suggest Dream of the Red Chamber or Water Margins (also translated to Outlaws of the Marsh). These 2 novels are regarded as 2 of the 4 top classical chinese novels. (The other 2 classics are The War of Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West, which I feel are more well known) I will say that since these are novels, they are probably easier to read compared to something like Art of War.
The west is confusing on so many levels lol.
Thank you so much for the recommendations. I am senegalese :)
Ive been waiting for this ever since the last video was posted. Classics are my love ❤ Great job, Jack!
i was 11 when i read metamorphosis and you can be sure that it left a HUGE impression on me, i am still disturbed by it to this day. i remember our literature teacher always told it was her favorite book and one time she wrote the first sentence of the book and made us continue the story, and then awarded me foor writing the best one, and then made it one of the books we had to read in that year, and lemme tell you it did NOT go the way 11 year old me wrote it to be lol.
I just discovered your channel last week. And I’m really enjoying your channel so far. You’ve got the gift of the gab, my friend. I’m no public speaker so I’m really impressed how fluidly you articulate your thoughts. And as an aspiring novelist, it’s insightful gleaning into your thoughts on various books using accessible language. We all know how acerbic reviews on goodreads can get ha.
I looove classics so much, so happy you talk about them as well 😍❤️
the master and margarita is brilliant, you should definitely give it another go! the beginning is a bit confusing, but it all ties perfectly at the end. the metaphors and references to other books are outstanding (have you read goethe's faustus? it's needed to better understand the book)
I will definitely return for this video for recommendations, thanks Jack!
The one book i can comment one, as a russian person, is Master and Margarita. I loved it when i read it for school, it was so different from every other classic russian literature. But I definitely get why it has gone over your head, i think it has a lot integration into soviet culture and also the city with all the little details and humor and context. I imagine it just doesn’t hit as hard in translation and with little context, unlike, for example , war and peace and Anna Karenina, which are kind of simpler and more universal i guess?
Anyway, hope you like it the second time) maybe there is some good commentary on it as well!
0:48 Out of these I've only read Animal Farm, Frankenstein, Lord of the Flies, and How to Kill a Mockingbird (all in high school). I agreed with their rankings.
Absolutely love your videos! Your book reviews and recommendations feel more like a genuine and passionate conversation with a fellow book lover, which is not something I often see with booktubers (at least the ones I've seen so far). Genuine plus points for the puns too lol
Watching your videos has gotten me back on the reading train! My day job is video game development so I usually play games in my downtime but I forgot how much reading can spark new ideas for games too! Love your content always pumped for new videos!
Really glad modern classics were included!
Jack, our chaotic King, constantly doing the lords work. You love to see it ❤
girl idk if we just happen to watch the same people but i see you comment everywhere
girly, ur literally everywhere
i see u everywherree. in almost every vids i watchh xD maybe wr highly share d same interest lolss
The wait was worth it! I love all of Jack’s videos and enjoy listening to his opinions. ❤
Honestly love this! Maybe do a video on what you think will be future classics?
i just read the god of small things back in august, it was on my bucket list this year to read my first indian novel. i've never read anything with a chronology like that. when i was like halfway through, i thought it would be a four star because i thought it wasn't fully working for me and was a bit melodramatic. but after i finished the book and all the little events come together, i thought each scene was actually perfectly crafted. i understood why the endorsement on the cover said they reread the book right away. anyways i'm excited to read more indian lit
hello! here are some suggestions from an Indian! Try The Lowland from Jhumpa Lahiri and The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh.
@@perksofbeingcurvy4827 tysm! i already own two other amitav ghosh books so i might read those first but i'll add these to the list
I love Americanah so much, it is one of my favourite books ever. It is this amazing love story that takes place in three different countries. The writing is phenomenal, beautiful and very easy to read.
Omg I CLEARED my classics TBR thanks your last video like this!!! Tysm Jack!!
Hi Jack! I LOVE your videos…you’ve got me into reading again and I’m so grateful !! Pleaseeeeee can you do your top 10 of ALL TIME…your taste is 🤌 chef kiss ✨
As a former French student, I swear I’ve read whole journal articles about how to translate the first line of The Stranger /L’Etranger 😂😅
I love the early translation the best. “Mother died today or maybe it was yesterday.” Later translations tried to improve upon it, but they didn’t have the impact. 😊
0:18 Yes, as a new adolescent reader, I am starting of with classics to know what is considered good (in a way)
Thank you Jack😊
Hi :) You really got me back into reading, thanks for that. I'd love to one day see a video on modern classics only, ranked or compared otherwise. Or (I keep adding to this hah) something about the books that have guided you though life and influenced you most. Appreciate your channel and good luck with all future moves!
I love the book tier-ranking videos!
this video is literally a sign for me to finally purchase and read Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I avoided this book just as much as I actually wanted to read it but I wasn't entirely sure whether I'd enjoy it. And it's already in my shopping cart on a bookstore's website, and I just hope I would get as much pleasure reading it as you did. so thanks for the video, right on time!!!
id rlly love to see jack read and review Catch-22, its such a cracked up classic-like literal CRACK-with so many tone shifts and a beautiful ending and GOD id fr love to hear his thoughts on it. i literally have not been able to stop thinking about it since i finished reading it
Funniest book of all time.
Second this 💯
omg thank you so much for this video, I felt less lonely when you reviewed The Testaments and The Underground Railroad. I had the exact same (unpopular) thoughts. You also motivated me to read a few classics that have been staying too long in my TBR. Enjoy your weekend, xx
I'm watching this in my train from Paris to Saint Malo and I now want to read The razor's Edge. I really like this kind of videos, please continue to do them ❤️
As someone who comes from ex-soviet country, knows the culture and speaks very similar language to Russian, I even found "The Master and Margarita" hard to read and honestly I took my time with it and loved it in the end! :)
The Metamorphosis is that one book that I randomly found in the library and was instantly hooked when I read the opening line for the first time. I still have some books to read so I did not borrow it that time when I found it. By next week, I went back to the library to borrow it but I couldn't find it in the shelves anymore. Until I graduated from that school, I haven't found the book ever since. It was just gone. I was 15 years old that time but until now I still couldn't forget it so I finally bought one when I turned 20. It became one of my favorite books. The story is just depressing and although it doesn't directly refer to depression, I can't help but relate similarly to whatever George Samsa was feeling. The metaphor of the story towards mental health is so strong in this one. And as someone currently having quarter life crisis, it hits closest to home.
This is a great video. Loved the books you selected for this one
ahhhh sooo happy about all the jack content we're getting lately 😊
I was literally looking for something to watch while having lunch and BAM Jack's got me
so happy to see someone give dr jekyll and mr hyde the praise it deserves its a rlly good book and everyone i know hates it i makes me sad
its literally the only one from this list that I have read
You’re bang on with Gaskell and I wish more people knew how good North and South is. Also that is the perfect description of John Thorpe.
I read north & south and northanger abbey back to back at the start of this year and they're STILL my favourites so far. ik they're still very well-known but I feel like they don't get the recognition they deserve when it comes to talking about classics, so I feel like I'm in my vindication era rn cheers jack
I feel like Northanger Abbey is probably the LEAST discussed of Jane Austen's completed published work, which is such a shame because its definitely in my top 3 of hers (alongside Emma and Pride and Prejudice)
The Kite Runner is one of my favorite books of all time. I didn't read it by choice, but I loved it by choice. It has stuck with me a decade later.
Would love an in depth analysis of the hunger games!! I've been waiting for someone to give us a really academic take on Suzanne Collins FOREVER including looking it up on jstor (middling results)
*cough* Battle Royale *cough*
I remember watching BR early noughties. Had no idea about Hunger Games for many, many years. When I did eventually watch it (Netflix, I think?), I remember thinking, 'Eh? Why does this remind me of BR'?
Quick Google later and wow! Lots of controversy surrounding Collins and her position that she has never heard of BR, despite having all of the same influences.
Note: the BR manga is so much more messed up than the film. Mitsuko is my favourite character, but the manga properly explains her backstory. Good lord .. dark doesn't even cover it.
I felt like drinking bleach just to feel clean ...
the 1st part is my favorite video of yours of all time, amazing!!!
I’m Russian and hearing you say that you weren’t in the right headspace for The Master and Margarita resonated a lot with me. I could only read it fully on my third try and fell in love with it instantly. It is, indeed, very confusing + you have to be very well-versed in Biblical themes and know a bit about at least historical landscape of the time that is depicted as “present” which is Soviet Moscow in roughly the 1930s. This is a very curious book with marvelous characters and I hope you’ll give it one more chance. The beauty of it is that every time you re-read it, you find something new that you haven’t noticed before because you probably lacked experience or knowledge to understand. Bulgakov is such a wonderful and controversial author who was way ahead of his time, I love him!
Hey Jack , I was wondering if you could make an introduction series to various genre of books.
I am *just about to* read Season of Migration to the North for my comparative literature course (and I mean I am actually just about to sit down and read it). I was already excited to read it, but I'm so glad it made a spot at the top as I'm even more excited for it now!
Haven't watched the full thing yet, but just wanted to say that thank you, Jack.
After long days, your videos were my biggest comfort over the last year and so. Watching you feels like being on a facetime with a best friend, thank you so much 💜💜
please please please read "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". I personally think that it's one of the most incredible classics ever written with just how many topics it explores and how controversial it is. Plus it's set in Paris and as we all know, you love that city about as much as I love this book
How am I supposed to ever finish my classic book when Jack keeps posting bangers during my lunch break
Absolutely loved!! I would love to hear your opinion on Latin American classics like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende. Your videos always put a smile on my face :)
So many of these have been on my TBR and I just got some copies recently bc of this channel 😂
yes!! all the love to elizabeth gaskell!! we recently had to read the grey woman and i just immediately fell in love with her writing!!
*Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is my favorite author!* I also love reading translated Russian classics like Ivan Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons.” But I always obsess over Sherlock Holmes, the writing is dense yet smooth. My favorite stories are the “Blue Carbuncle” and “The Adventure of the Naval Treaty.”
Great video again! It would be great to have a video about the best begginer novels/novella. X
Jack, would really love to see you do a video on cookbooks, or rather, food literature? For one, I think it's fascinating to see reactions to genres people don't read often, and two, there is quite a bit of narrative-heavy cookbooks out there, filled with stories and experiences and culture, akin to more of a memoir than just a cookbook.
Was anticipating this video....so excited!!!!!
POV: You're waiting for someone to put the timestamps up.
And to that person thank you so much you're our hero
me rn looking through the comments
@@rrubyprosser illdo it
hahaha i just posted the timestamps for you guys
@@lulun1669 you hurt me
i used to hate metamorphosis with a passion until i realized that kafka is german and one of the hardest authors to translate bc so much gets lost, so now i feel bad and need to read it in its native german sooner or later bc his short stories are fire
He was actually from Prague (Czech Republic) so his native language was Czech
@@charlieboddy1022 Prague was part of austria-hungary back then. his native language is German (or when you want to be more accurate mauscheldeutsch) and he wrote in German. glauben Sie mir bitte, tschechisch könnte er ja, aber seine schreibfähigkeiten waren doch mit'n Paar Fehlern gestreut, darum hatte er seine Erzählungen darauf night geschrieben.
@@charlieboddy1022 He grew up in a German speaking (upper class) Jew family and went to German school in Prague. He mostly participated in German speaking communities, too, iirc
just submitted my final exam for my two undergraduate degrees and watching this video is my mini-celebration! so soothing after reading books for postmodernism. love your content Jack, thanks for being you ☺️🎉🤍
Yesssssss so happy to see North and South it's one of my all time favourite classics
Oh, I read the metamorphasis of Franz Kafka in high school and it was so haunting.
Kafka in general has that vibe where you're super intrigued by the premise and then a little bit scared by it. We actually had the Process from Kafka as one of the books in the final exams and it's even more about people just living for the work and capitalism.
Master and Margarita is like an IT book for Russian students, most of us think (even as the adults) that this is the best book or a fave in Russian classical literature (because it's not boring as lots of our other classical books are, and of course it's layers upon layers)
What lots of other russian classics are boring? Russian literature is literally the best, it would still be the best if you guys would've only had Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. There's an argument to be made that if the only russian author to ever exist was Dostoyevsky, russian literature would still be the best.
well, it's hell of ride to read it in Russian (cause of the older language), but no one says these authors are bad, so)@@konfusionstudio
Yes!!! I literally go back to part 1 all the time when I read more classics.
I absolutely LOVE these vids
i screamed YESSS when you gave giovanni's room 6 out of 5 stars. so glad you enjoyed it!! i loooove that book
The last time, I heard ‘Austussy’. The bar is high for Punnery and Jack will exceed our expectations as always🔥
The little "I'm fragile" at the end, hit me right in the feels.. sending so much love
adding so many books to my tbr bc of you 😩
My favorite childhood classic is “the little prince” so I got excited when you mentioned children’s books😭
I don't see The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, so I'm hoping for a part 3. I love hearing you talk about these books and getting the insight of somebody who knows more about them than I do. This would be a super fun series to keep going!
Exactly! I was going to comment that The Outsiders is missing. Also price of salt by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley's author)
How stunning to have this painting as a background👌🏼
JACK!! THIS IS AMAZING! TYSM
I read Slaughterhouse-5 last year, and it easily became one of my top 10 books. If you like that style of writing and kind of an absurd air to the story, you should read "Still Life with Woodpecker" 🌼
Vonnegut was a true genius!
This is my 3rd video of yours I've watched in 2 days and I've gotten so many great recommendations! It's a shame that I've only read 3-4 of the books across all three vids 😩
That doesn't sound like a shame, but a great opportunity to read the books he recommends :)
Happy you're doing this!!
Jack opens me open to so many new books I’d never consider reading. Thank you ❤❤