Ten More Hard Books I Want to Read (But It’s Fine If You Don’t)

Consider each of these a suggestion for The Big Book Summer Challenge 2024 created by @SueJacksonDE.

Here are many other attempts at this same topic:

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*Chapters*
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00:00 On Hard Books
01:37 Book 1 (Fiction)
03:45 Bonus Books that Distend Time
06:12 Final Thoughts on Book 1
06:52 Book 2 (Fiction)
10:38 Book 3 (History & Journalism)
14:24 Book 4 (Fiction)
16:31 Book 5 (Fiction)
21:09 Book 6 (Fiction)
23:38 Book 7 (Fiction)
26:01 Book 8 (Essays & Poetry)
27:58 Book 9 (Science History)
30:01 Book 10 (Philosophy)
33:32 Outro

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*Books Featured* (With Amazon Links)
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I can create these links for any books I choose, so this does not affect my choice of what books to cover for this channel.

[DonQuixoteLaMancha]

I would highly encourage you to keep making youtube videos like this. Ive watched many booktubers and you're the only one whose videos I immediately watch when they come out. Your depth of thought is very rare and is something of tremendous value in this intellectually decaying world we find ourselves in. I would also recommend that you do book reviews where you share your thoughts and give a summary on books you've recently read. These videos will be more popular than you'd think. And would provide an excellent service to your viewers.

[brenboothjones]

"...the details that fractally expand." You are marvellously dextrous with words! Another treasure trove of recommendations. I hope you make a million more of these videos. And thank you for the shoutout, my friend.

You do Virginia Woolf justice every time! And re Black Lamb, Geoff Dyer has a wonderful essay on Rebecca West and BL&GF in particular.

[willk]

Again you have helped expand my perspective even before I tackle any of these books. Much appreciate your insights on these works and why they can be worth our time and efforts to experience in spite of various difficulties.

[TiborHuber]

Oh by the way, regarding the Bonus Books with distended time following Marguerite Young… Include William Golding’s second, “Pincher Martin” - the time frame is the getting out of boots of a drowning man…

[menelvegor]

Been enjoying your videos a lot! Keep em coming!!!

[infernity]

A sequel to my favorite book tube video let's go

[owendavis]

Thank you for another thought provoking and inspiring video! I wouldn't be aware of Bren Booth-Jones if not for you and through him I became aware of Wallace Stevens. I absolutely love with all my being Steven's work, I had never thought to consider how important it could be to look for your response to the words on the page rather than their meaning. Truly a quantum shift. To quote Steven's, "Only as he sees his imagination become the light in the minds of others" Thank you to you for being that light in my mind that fires my imagination. Elfriede Jelineks Children of the Dead reminds me a little of Darkmans by Nicola Barker. It describes a village that is haunted by the ghost of a court jester and the influence his presence has. It was a strange book and I remember wrestling with it for some time but by the end wanting to start over. Very compelling in a difficult to define way, certainly not your typical supernatural story. Would love to see a video on poetry, it's something I have been completely ignorant about but now realize my mistake. Thanks again.

[HannahsBooks]

Such a fantastic and thoughtful discussion, Ruben. Thank you. I’m eager to read Miss MacIntosh.

[materiagrix]

Great to see you continuing with this series of videos. I am currently reading Black Lamb and Gray Falcon, potentially my new favorite…

[michelleizoco]

It's crazy! I just bought Black Lamb and Gray Falcon! I'm very excited to read it as it's a topic I know very little about. I read the Tale of Genji many years ago and have been wanting to reread it again for a while. I'm glad for the reminder. Thanks for introducing some more new books to me as well.

[cesarbolet]

Thank you for your videos, that are very insghtful and full of useful perspectives.

[readreadofficial]

Thanks for this list! That Christine Brooke-Rose Omnibus looks right up my alley, just put it on the wishlist.

[marcelhidalgo]

I really admire the way you spoke about these books. Thanks for sharing.

[christopherjames]

You should place a link for all the books to Amazon in your description. Your videos are awesome! Keep up the good work!

[Summalogicae]

Reading Anscombe won’t deeply inform one of the realism/anti realism topic, but she is a brilliant thinker and cutting one’s teeth on her work seems like a necessity for any serious analytic philosophy student; her husband, Peter Geach, was also a total badass. Check out his Reference & Generality, and Logic Matters.

[BriteRory]

Awesome!!! Everything Lorraine Daston is involved in is bound to be excellent.

[s_b_books]

Hi Ruben! Thank you for making this kind of video content. I have never heard of these books, and your articulate descriptions have made me want to drop an inordinate amount of money at my local bookstore.

[kenneth]

Always good to hear what others have to say about books. Thanks for the insights. I'm currently reading through the Bible and almost finished. I do think one needs to read the most read book of all time, cover to cover. There are so many books I'd love to read, and with over a thousand unread ones in my bookshelf, I need to focus on the ones I already own. Tsundoku is perhaps the apt word.

[michaelmasiello]

We have such similar tastes that it’s shocking sometimes. I own about 80% of the books behind you. I had been wondering what that green Zone book was, though—Objectivity! Sounds amazing; I ordered it on the spot. I have Miss MacIntosh abd the Tale of Genji on the reading docket this summer.

Anscombe is terrific. (She also did the standard English translation of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, incidentally. Brilliant lady.) But I thought I’d recommend one of my favorite works of modern(ish) Anglophone philosophy, in case it hasn’t crossed your path: Bernard Williams’ Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. It will make such a fascinating counterpoise to Anscombe—and is, besides, a tour de force on precisely what the title says, the limits of philosophy in ethics. It is a masterpiece, short, clearly written, and yet remarkably dense, one of those books that makes one feel as though one has climbed to some higher vantage point from which one sees the world differently. I think, given your interest in ethics and metaethics, this is one you might not want to miss. Given our similarities of taste, though, I’d be entirely unsurprised if you’d read it already.

Cheers. I really love your channel. You speak with such genuine interest and insight about everything you discuss. As an English prof, it warms my heart to see someone so manifestly doing the proverbial Lord’s work. I also really appreciate the generosity with which you recommend other YouTubers. You are a community-builder, which is a wonderful thing to be. Thanks for what you do!

[ben]

Frick you, man. Your last video was all major hits, and now I got more to go? Honestly, this rocks, it is just my backlog is far far too long and I am a mortal. But some of these are already in my cart from before I saw this video, so it is not so bad as all that. For the first time in my life, I would not completely turn down immortality, just because I think I am onto somthing but it is such an enormous something I will never even have the time to see a portion of it, much less write it.