Reacting to YOUR unpopular book opinions! 😳

You've sent in your unpopular bookish opinions, and today we'll be discussing them.

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00:00 - #1 On Earth We're Briefly Georgeous
00:55 - #2 1984
01:54 - #3 New Adult
02:53 - #4 SJM
03:42 - #5 Poetic language
05:15 - #6 The author's fault
06:05 - #7 Pride & Prejudice
06:50 - #8 Classics & editing
07:40 - #9 Classics & publishing
08:29 - #10 Annotating = destroying
11:23 - #11 Listening vs reading
13:34 - #12 Slow reading
14:29 - #13 Annotating = wrong
16:45 - #14 Harry Potter and materialism
19:43 - #15 Lolita
20:26 - #16 Audiobooks
20:58 - #17 Smell of books
22:01 - #18 Hate Wuthering Heights
23:35 - #19 A Tale of Two cities
24:04 - #20 Game of Thrones

[thJune-zedn]

With regard to writing in your books, I had a university lecturer who was extremely passionate about encouraging people to write in their books, because doing so is incredibly valuable for future historians - not just for when famous authors like George Eliot/Charlotte Bronte/Charles Dickens etc. write in the margins of their books, and we can see what their thought processes were, but for ordinary people like you and me. We can learn so much about how ordinary people lived and felt because of things they wrote down in their books, and this actually makes the books more valuable over time than books that AREN'T written/scribbled in, because unmarked books are less special. Books with special or unique markings are ALWAYS more interesting to book historians and collectors.

Example - one of the reasons we have a terminus ad quem (i.e. a date by which something must have happened) for a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet is because somebody wrote in the marginalia of one of his books "I went to see Hamlet today" or something like that. This little fact had nothing to do with the book he was writing it in, but based on the date of his inscription we know that Shakespeare's Hamlet must have been performed by 1601, and this is a goldmine for Shakespeare historians because it would be so much harder to date Hamlet properly if the guy hadn't bothered to take the time to write this down in his book on a whim. My lecturer made such a convincing case for the importance of people writing in their books that now I genuinely think it is a huge loss on our part and for future generations that they'll never get the thrill of looking in books over 100 years old and seeing notes of their great-great-great grandparents.

[the_eerie_faerie_tales]

I am pro-owning private property so I will always purchase books to keep.. especially important for works they want to censor or ban, and non-fiction. I collect very little.. some art supplies, some decorative yet meaningful knick-knacks, but mostly books. I don't do clutter but love being surrounded by things that I love and enrich my life.

[gerardterveer]

You should give George Orwell a second chance. You should try reading “Down and out in Paris and London”, “Burmese days”, “Keep the aspidistra flying” and “Homage to Catalonia”. These works have a more autobiographical tinge. These works provide a very vivid picture of the twenties and thirties of the last century.

[sorenpx]

1984 is absolutely a must-read. It is not only a great piece of literature but its message is extremely important. It is part of what I call the Dystopian Trilogy, which includes 1984, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451. All are excellent and, at least in my opinion, are required reading.

[davidmccalip]

Hello Emmelie! This week's video was incredibly interesting, especially when you discussed the comment that I submitted which made me smile. 😀 I enjoyed your points and opinions and I agreed on the majority of them. I look forward to next weeks video and keep up the great work. Have a fantastic week!

[Tim_with_Tomes_and_Tales]

On #5 Poetic language... I tend to plot my stories quite a bit: scenes, outline, draft revision draft. I keep a thesaurus nearby after the story is planned out, and then I replace some of the language. Focus on story first. I can always go back and change the language. But that's just me.

[nmdruyd]

Listening to a story is the OG way of consuming literature. Listening to Homer, for example, makes much more sense than reading him, as the Iliad and Odyssey were originally oral poetry. Even after they were written down, they would usually be performed orally. Silent reading didn't become a thing until the Middle Ages.

[GraceAn]

I totally agree about listening vs reading. Reading is much more reflective. If the book is fast paced or easy to digest, then listening is fine, but if the story is intricate or philosophical then reading is more gratifying.

[Tim_with_Tomes_and_Tales]

I have not read Wuthering Heights myself, but it has been sitting on my shelf for a while... looking pretty. I have read Frankenstein twice. It is one of my most favorite books. I also read Dracula and have a review coming out tomorrow on my own channel. Spoiler... I was not as impressed as some people were with it. I found The War of the Worlds by HG Wells more terrifying. Stay safe, everyone and happy reading.

[aaronmyram]

I have a 10 hour drive south to visit my family three or four times per year. Nothing like a good audiobook to make those hours fly by.

[ArthurKain]

I used to underline and write in my books, but stopped because I did it too much and it became a crutch not trusting myself to just deeply read my book and periodically write in my journal. To replace that I have small notebooks and other notebooks aside from my journals to write short thoughts or scribe short lines in them. My journals I use for my in depth musings, story sketches and detailed commentary on what I've read or currently reading.

[stacy]

Finally, someone who shares the same view on audiobooks as I do -- thank you! 😊I thought there was something wrong with me. Multitasking with audiobooks must be a superpower haha. However, unlike you, I've since stopped listening to audiobooks because ONLY listening doesn't work for me either, I always end up falling asleep. And yes to Project Gutenberg! Thank you for sharing your opinions. You've convinced me to finally read Les Misérables and Hunchback of Notre Dame! Also, your aesthetic and taste in books are impeccable!

[belindabramfitt]

Hello Emmelie! I have just discovered your channel, ( which I am enjoying very much, by the way) so please forgive me for being eight months late with my response to your video.
I had a bad experience as a child with George Eliot. I was excited by a tv production of "The Mill on the Floss" and bought a copy with my pocket money. I was about twelve or thirteen years old at the time. Despite being a native English speaker, I struggled to understand Eliot's prose style immediately, especially the passages containing the rural dialect used by the characters - and I gave it up. I was too young, I suppose, but that experience affected me quite badly as I was an avid book worm and had never had that kind of failure before. Since then I have not read another George Eliot novel, although I downloaded Daniel Deronda from Project Gutenberg last year, and have tentatively dipped into it. I think I would enjoy reading that.
I know what you mean about the Harry Potter novels. I took me a while to learn to love them. I came to them as an adult so I didn't have any childhood nostalgia about them. I read the first book in the series - "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and I was disappointed with it. I couldn't see anything special about it and couldn't see what everyone was so excited about. But my sister urged me to continue reading them and when I reached the third book, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, " I felt the writing just massively improved and I realised what a good writer J K Rowling is. Perhaps it is because, with that book, she became much more confident in her writing ability. I would urge anyone who enjoys Harry Potter to read the novels for the same reason I would advise a fan of Lord of the Rings to read the novel. Reading a novel is a completely different experience than watching a movie. The author takes you on a journey with them that requires you to use your own imagination as well as benefiting from theirs and ultimately, this is much more rewarding. Also, there is a lot more story in the Harry Potter novels than in the films and the books can be very, very funny as well.

[radiantchristina]

I love writing in my books. I also love buying books with someone else's notes in them. It feels like I'm doing a buddy read with a stranger. 🤗

[TeeJayx]

Be careful with those tapes - if they are not acid free, they could destroy the paper over time! This mistake is often done by people trying to repair their books with any kind of tape...

[tonyzane]

I'm an older man and I loved the P&P book and I loved the movie with Jennifer Erle & Colin Firth BUT I'm a guy who loves Raiders of the Lost Arc, Casablanca, action, Tolkienetc...You get the picture..and you make me wish I were 50 years younger....ciao

[LibroParadiso-epzt]

Fiction, storytelling, like beauty, are in the eye of the beholder. For those who can't bear too much reality in their life, to paraphrase Eliot, The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights may weigh them down, but not me. True to the human spirit and what makes life bearable. Although, it is a mystery what Jay saw in Daisy to dedicate his life to her.

[anahann]

Another entertaining video 🥰 how come you've never done a 'my favorite books' video? Id LOVE to watch that!

[annamattos]

I suppose I should reread Wuthering Heights, then... 🙃

If you wanna try readind George R. R. Martin, but the "Game of Thrones" series was too dark for you, I suggest picking up his short stories. He has a good mix of fantasy and science fiction out there, all pretty solid. "Dreamsongs" (volumes 1 & 2), "The Ice Dragon" and "Tuf Voyaging" are all very good.

[jayj]

Salut,
Actually, I did like George Orwell's "Animal Farm", (even though we had to study this long ago in the Lycée ‼️), but I do really hate his "1984"!
So for me too, Orwell is an author I won't read any more, time is to precious!
The same for "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger.
I think that, among others, Charlotte Brontë with "Jane Eyre" has in fact reached the perfect balance between amazing rich language and Victorian storytelling.
In general, as for classic literature, you are right.
Nowadays, in reading those books and to appreciate them for their literary value, we should always be able to reset those novels into their real historic and social background.
In our days, as we are living in a very stressing and fast-paced internet- and computer-depending modern world, most people are only looking for rapid and spectacular captivating action scenes in books or movies, concepts which were absolutely unheard-of back then.
One has to consider that social and moral life in the 19th was so far away from such expectations.
Regarding audio-books, I fully agree with your reflections (deep-reading for me is not compatible with multitasking).
As for the post regarding highlighting and annotating books, I think that were some very interesting ideas.
Stay safe! 👍