15 Big Books I Want to Read in 2024

There's a 0% chance that I read all of these in 2024, but a person can dream.

0:00 Intro
1:51 The Obscene Bird of Night
3:37 Praiseworthy
5:43 Chevengur
7:14 The Case of Cem
9:24 Lies and Sorcery
10:28 The Children of the Dead
11:51 The End
13:00 Shimmering Details
14:51 Marshland
16:05 Divine Days
17:30 Gate of the Sun
19:17 City of Torment
20:55 Palurino of Mexico
22:28 Miss MacIntosh, My Darling
24:10 The Stones of Summer
26:23 Conclusions

Books discussed:
The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso, trans. Hardie St. Martin, Leonard Mades, and Megan McDowell (pub. New Directions)
Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright (pub. Giramondo, New Directions, And Other Stories)
Chevengur by Andrey Platonov, trans. Robert and Elizabeth Chandler (pub. NYRB)
The Case of Cem by Vera Mutafchieva, trans. Angela Rodel (pub. Sandorf Passage)
Lies and Sorcery by Elsa Morante, trans. Jenny McPhee (pub. NYRB)
The Children of the Dead by Elfriede Jelinek, trans. Gitta Honegger (pub. Yale University Press)
The End by Attila Bartis, trans. Judith Sollosy (pub. Archipelago Press)
Shimmering Details Vols 1 + 2, trans. Judith Sollosy (pub. FSG)
Marshland by Otohiko Kaga, trans. Albert Novik (Dalkey Archive
Divine Days by Leon Forrest (pub. Northwestern University Press)
Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury, trans. Humphrey Davies (pub. Archipelago Press)
City of Torment by Daniela Hodrová, trans. Véronique Firkusny and Elena Sokol (pub. Jantar Publishing)
Palinuro of Mexico by Fernando del Paso, trans. Elisabeth Plaister (Dalkey Archive)
Miss MacIntosh, My Darling by Marguerite Young (Scribners (repub. by Dalkey Archive))
The Stones of Summer by Dow Mossman (pub. Barnes and Noble)

Reviews mentioned:

Please don't ask why I kept saying "Mc-MacIntosh, My Darling."

[MaskedManta]

I just discovered your channel the other day, and you've quickly become one of my favorite booktube channels- I appreciate how thoughtful your dissections are of literary and international fiction. Here's to reading big books in 2024!

[kieran_forster_artist]

Thanks Sean for sharing ur love of reading and infecting us with the desire to explore / journey forth toward greater self awareness

[TheTallter]

The algorithm gave me this video around when it came out and because of it I read Lies and Sorcery and I am currently 500 pages into Marshland. Neither of these books, or any of others I added to my tbr, would have been on my radar at all if not for your video, and so I have a deep sense of gratitude. Cheers, thanks for the reads!

[davidhall]

Many of these are new to me. But I too have been looking forward to Chevengur. Happy New Year!

[stacksnshelves]

I picked up “The End” a few weeks ago. Also on my list for 2024. Was glad to see you posted - Cheers!

[impywimpy]

So nice having you back, Sean!

Haven't heard about more than half the stuff on your list, but you're usually adventurous in your reading so I'm not really surprised! Have a happy new year, and good reading!

[bookmark_kl]

Excellent list, thanks a lot for expanding my reading. just wow. Happy reading 2024!!

[sudeshnaG]

I'm currently reading Praiseworthy and it's an exhilarating journey. Thank you for your recommendation! I loved reading it aloud and savoring every word. It's my first Alexis Wright, and the prose is breathtaking.

[JorgesCorner]

AMAZING collection, Sean! 😃 2024 will be a fantastic year. The only one I've read, other than the Donoso, is Palinuro de México. I think you will enjoy it immensely. I was recently thinking, "I should do a video on Palinuro, " but I would need to reread it. I may do a video on it for my podcast in Spanish someday. We shall see. In any case, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it, El obsceno pájaro de la noche, and all of these books. Thank you so much for another brilliant video and for the shoutout, my friend! Happy holidays!

[BunsBooks]

I have Gate of the Sun too (as well as Broken Mirrors and Children of the Ghetto). I’ve been thinking about reading it in the coming year as well.
I’ve read a lot of poetry from Darwish and I highly recommend all of his works. Especially The Butterfly’s Burden, that collection made me ugly cry for a solid 20 minutes, I’ve not recovered, especially as someone who spent time in Palestine as a child. But I found A River Dies of Thirst to be very profound as well, so I also recommend that one if you don’t feel like being *completely* devastated beyond repair for your first Darwish experience

[azu_rikka]

I love your recommendations! They always sound so different and fascinating. I am looking forward to more of your videos😊

[josmith]

Marshland and Lies of Sorcery were already on my want to read list but there were lots of other interesting big books here to investigate so thank you for highlighting them Sean . Tomorrow I’ll be starting Funeral Nights by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih which is 1000 pages, there is something so exciting about starting a big book!

[jyuanc]

Love that so many are books in translation! You've convinced me to pick up Lies and Sorcery. Glad you're back, and happy holidays to you :) Hope you have a great reading year!

[TaylorEarlWest]

Love to see some international Wright readers :, 3. I'm anticipating Miss MacIntosh in 2024, also. What a great find for you.

[ЛевНиколаевичъ]

Thanks for the video! I am surprised that someone outside of Russia knows about Chevengur. translating such a book into a foreign language is a huge task, I hope the translators managed to cope with it at least partially. One of my favorite books (I read in the original). By the way, youre making great content, I am very glad that I came across this channel

[severianconciliator]

The Case of Cem is the one I’m most interested in. One of my favorite novels is The Siege by Ismail Kadare, which takes place during the Ottoman conquest of Albania.

[semiote]

Thanks for another great video! I've been wanting to read Carpentaria for a while, but it had somehow drifted out of mind for this year. Your rave put it bac on my agenda!

I read Miss Macintosh, My Darling in early 2021 and it was indeed a fantastic experience. One comparison I'm wont to make is to minimalist music of the meditative, repetitive sort (Eliane Radigue, Pauline Oliveros). People who don't like such music often say something like: nothing is happening; it's so repetitive! And, people who don't like Young's novel often say similar things about it. It is indeed in a certain sense repetitive, often at great length (the Mr. Spitzer section seems to defeat a lot of readers). But it's repetitive in the way great minimalist music is. Young dwells within a vibe, repeating images swirling around - however, not brute repetitions, but rather repetitions with gradual shifts and changes that reward a meditative form of attentiveness. That, in fact, is the comparison I like best. In meditation, the extraordinarily subtle changes in sensation - changes of which we're largely unaware in the chattering distraction of ordinary consciousness - become a vivid world all their own for someone who takes the care to to attend to them.

Young's prose works in this way. It's in many ways the polar opposite of the dense busyness of hysterical realism. Miss Macintosh, My Darling, in my experience, is one of those books that people go out of their way to champion or decry: there seems to be a handful of readers who not only review it badly online, but plead readers not to read because they think it's so bad. I suspect some of these readers are fans of hysterical realism who go in because they love tackling humongous works of hysterical realism, only to find its uncanny double, and they not only don't like it, they find it hateful.

I'm curious what kind of reaction you will have! Please do a video if you read it!

[dorydoesbooks]

Thank you so much! I hadn’t heard of many of these, and I’m excited to add many of the newly translated and re-released books to my tbr.

[Echoesoflostlibraries]

Fantastic video Sean, what a selection! Makes me very happy to see two of my favorites on your list, Stones of Summer got my #1 spot for my best reads of 2021 and Obscene Bird of Night is a wild book that has shown me things I didn't know the novel was capable of as a medium. There's a couple of books I'm planning on reading on this list as well, and tho I had heard of City of Torment I had dismissed it but after hearing you talk about the book it's back on the menu, ordering a copy with my next Blackwells order. Thank you for the good content as always, happy holidays to you and your loved ones!

[vKarl]

I hope you'll do a vid on great short books that you DO have to read! I have 2 recc's one classic, one modern. Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" and "Peach" by Emma Glass.