I set my 2023 goal of 36 books after only reading 12 books the previous two years. I have blown it up Jack!! I have read 77 and will finish at least three more before the end of December. I am an old granny (and English teacher), I adore you. Thanks for inspiring my reading, I have added Joan is Okay from this video.

I accomplished my goal od 20 books, last year it was 15. Thanks to Jack being my accountability partner

let us all please remember to read for pleasure and fun too, not just for goals and consumerism when we dont actually want to read :) my goal for this year was 50, I need six more books but I'm fine when I dont hit the goal...lets see whether it happens or not, not gonna rush myself❤

List of Books: 0:51 Minor Detail by Adania Shibli 2:23 A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir 3:22 The Guest by Emma Cline 5:19 The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li 7:53 Last Summer in the City by Gianfranco Calligarich 10:28 Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang 13:14 Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar 14:15 Death Valley by Melissa Broder 16:26 Rent Boy by Gary Indiana 17:52 After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz

10 books in a month - wow. I'm closing in on 25 for this year. About two a month works for me. I chose one and my book club host chooses the other 😊

That little “well done“ and “hello“ to the 1 year olds was so wholesome

It warms my heart to see your efforts in reading books by Palestinian authors and sharing them with us on here and on your IG stories. Thank you so much for using your platform, my admiration for you continues to grow ❤

“…before the year ends me…” OK I FELT THAT, POET JACK!

I just bought the original copy of Minor Detail in Arabic from a book fair in Lebanon, where it was originally published… I just finished reading it yesterday in one sitting, I didn’t know what to expect, but I admire how smartly the author wrote all those important details in the novel! I can’t wait for your review!

I set a loose goal of 100 books this year and I managed to read 125 so far. Audiobooks on Libby really helped. I like your recommendations!

Really grateful of how you've inspired me to read more in the past couple of years. Also so happy you're reading Rayuela (Hopscotch), a classic of latinoamerican literature, looking forward to that review!

Will you do a one sentence review for all the books you read this year and their rating? I love these videos ❤

i'm so happy that you are reading Cortázar. He is one of my favorite authors and Rayuela (hopscotch) is a masterpiece

I’m almost done with A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beavoir. It’s touching, beautiful and makes me smile as well as cry. It brings death so close to the reader, that you can’t stop but think about the people around you, how you treat them and the way you spend time with them, as well as with yourself

have logged 50 books read this year after years of not reading thanks in part to your impassioned recommendations !! here's to another year of great books

I noticed The Goldfinch on your shelf. I LOVED that book! Favourite book of the year.

the way i stopped everything to watch this video 😭❤ we love youuu

Hi Jack! I live in Canada and a few months ago I decided to read a book by an Indigenous author every month so I can keep learning and expanding my worldview. December's book is The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King. It's the only book I really want to finish before the year is done. But if I can squeeze in something else that's great! I just finished Boy Parts, which I read on your recommendation and I loved it! Of the books mentioned here, Minor Detail and After Sappho look interesting. Happy December!

Hopscotch is fantastic! I read it a long time ago linearly (including the "bonus" chapters) and need to go back and re-read in the recommended order. I feel like Cortazar, who is amazing, used to be better known and has fallen off, great you're bringing him back! Hope you enjoy.

A book I want to finish before the end of the year is Eugene Onegin, a novel in verse🤯 and verse that is comprehensible (not arachaic) and rhyming, the whole thing!! I'm loving it, I listened to the audiobook read by Stephen Fry (4 hours on KZfaq) and it's just absolutely amazing

THANK U FOR RESISTING WITH US & MAKING USE OF UR PLATFORM ILY JACK URE MY FAV KZfaqR THAT MADE ME HAPPIER ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I’ve recently managed to break through my reading goal of 40 books this year🎉here’s to another (at least) 50 in ‘24!

the guest is one of my favorites of the year! hope you enjoy it as well 😌😌

I was at the Frankfurt book fair and there was definitely a reading of the book there! I didn’t know the controversy and was confused as to why random authors were reading someone else’s work.

i’m drooling looking at your copy of the goldfinch

Jack: “I’m microdosing…” Me: (audible gasp) Jack: “…anything to do with the Pandemic.”

I love Hopscotch! Quite a while since I've read it, but I still think about the Berthe Trépat section from time to time :)

So excited to hear your thoughts on A Very Easy Death and Death Valley!!

so happy you’re going to read cortazar!

woahh hopscotch sounds so cool what!!

The book of goose has SUCH a beautiful cover!!!

Merry Christmas happy holidays Jack 😊

Whenever I’m stuck on not knowing what to read, I always come to this KZfaq channel for ideas. Great video! Since September I’ve been wanting to work on my own issues with my minor dyslexia, so I figured why not read more to work through it. I’m currently going back and forth between using a kindle or reading an actual book, I guess it doesn’t matter as long as I’m reading right? lol

Beautiful list of books for December Jack 🎅🏻💚🎄❤️

Hopscotch is one of my favorite books ever... I hope that you love it too! ❤

The Book of Goose is so great!💚💚💚 Plus, it won the Tournament of Books last year! I'll be really interested about what you think of it. 💚

The Guest is such a good one, someone already mentioned but it’d be a great read to save for summer if you don’t have time to finish it! I really want to read Death Valley as well

I have Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo and Out by Natsuo Kirino checked out from the library, so at least those two need to be finished by the end of the month. Anything else is gonna be on a whim! I actually read a couple of other books this month that weren’t high-priority reads, so we’ll see what happens 😂

Thank you for using your voice and platform the way you do❤️ love you jack

I shared it once on Jack's instagram, and since it was met with warm reception, i'll also lay that method for people here: I set low goals purposely, to see how much i can exceed them. That way there is drive to read more without the pressure to meet a certain number. This year i set 40, and I'm at 68 at this moment!

A video for Hopscotch would be absolutely amazing

I read "Joan Is Okay" recently because of your video from about a month ago!! Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down lol

"She was of an age to die" in Simone De Beauvoir's A Very Easy Death is reminiscent of Albert Camus' "Maman died today, or maybe it was yesterday, I don't know" in The Stranger.

A 1-year-old could be watching this if their caretaker put KZfaq on for them to watch Miss Rachel and the baby clicked around randomly before the caretaker noticed. Not sure how many clicks removed Jack would be from Miss Rachel 😂

You inspired me this year and I’ve read 104 books yet ❤

I would highly recommend you "Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter" by Simone De Beauvouir. It's one of my favorite books and I think this book is Simone De Beauvouir at her best!! It's her autobiography and not only her story but also her writing is really beautiful and philosophical. :)

I loved reading and did it a lot in 8th and 9th grade so when I was 13-15 years old. After that I kinda stopped because I got a lot of other interests and just.. life. 2022 but especially 2023 I've really been trying to get back into reading and I'm pretty proud of how much I've read in 2023 even though it's nothing compared to you Edward and a lot of the other comments here. I set my goal for 2023 to 10 books, I only really found and learned about Goodreads about halfway through 2023 so it was also only then I set that goal but somehow I smashed through it and ended up reading 15 books in total. Now I've set my 2024 goal to 15 so wish me look everyone 😹😸😸💜

Julio cortázar is peak latinamerican literature. You will love it. I am already looking forward to your video about it ❤

I hope you like Hopscotch. Cortazar is an amazing writer; if you feel intimidated by his writing, I recommend reading a few of his short stories. They're some of the best I've ever read.

The book of goose sounds amazing beautiful I am definitely going to check it out ❤

Cortazar's book is a classic. I recommend learning about his thinking about the anti-novel and what he wanted to transmit with his book. His recommendation was to read the random order excited to see what you think

I started The goldfinch and just hoping to finish it some time soon tbh. It looks scary

10 before the end is giving apocalyptic end of the world vibes

Thanks for sharing. I want the Shibli book. Hopscotch sounds intriguing so I await your report. My Dec. reading plans includes the first two books of the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn, because a friend wants me to watch season 1 with her over the holiday. And I prefer to read the source before seeing the series based on it. Also, I have the first three Richard Osman mysteries that I want to start. And I received a lovely set of Jane Austen complete works except for Love and Freindship, so I want to re-read all her novels in December and January. In addition, I have a biography of the Mitford sisters titled The Sisters, by Mary S. Lovell that is calling to me.

im currently reading after sappho! i'm loving it but i do find it very hard to focus on so i'm taking it slow, a chapter a day is enough lol

Not jack flaunting his copy of the goldfinch at the back lmao

I have 3 books that I desperately want to finish before 2023 ends! 1. A Portrait of the artist as a young man (James Joyce): I've got like another 90 pages to go 2. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys): I'm like half-ish way through it, and finally 3. Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf): I'm on page 1 lmao. I really wanna finish my reading goal this year (86/100 rn) let's see if I can do it haha.

I really enjoyed Death Valley and I think you will too!

It’s my first time doing a reading challenge and I’m currently 22/24 books 💕 jack edwards motivated me so much lol.

Thank you so much for mentioning this book (minor detail) because it really messed me up for what they did to her book! I’m Palestinian and have enjoyed your videos for years and I’m so grateful that you mentioned the Palestinian struggle. I really encourage you to read more books about Palestine, there are so many brilliant writing about it! You’re the best 🤍🤍 Free Palestine 🇵🇸🇵🇸🫶

I see Circe and the goldfinch in the back ahhhh

Last Summer in the City is also on my list!!

exciting for the Hopscotch video!!

My 10 Before the End (Very different list from yours): 1) Happiness Falls 2) Tom Lake 3) Remarkably Bright Creatures 4) Lessons in Chemistry 5) Demon Copperhead 6) Trespasses 7) The Love Hypothesis 8) Happiness for Beginners 9) Sorrow & Bliss 10) Check & Mate

My comfort youtuber ❤🥹

While I was watching you explain hopscotch is was thinking to myself that you should do a vid dedicated to it and straight after I hear you say ‘I will do one’ so I was like 😊❤

minor detail is on my 10 before the end too! Would love to hear your thoughts when you finish it

cant wait for your review on Minor Detail! reading is resistance ❤

WE’RE BEING FEDDDD

Hope you’re doing okay Jack x

i absolutely love this list it seems amazing! especially minor detail, i think it would be amazing if we could get a full review of however many you finish!!

Also currently reading Minor Detail and it was indeed impossible to find. Also the case for Shibli’s less recent books such as Touch, which I have been looking for everywhere in vain.

The Cortazar book (Rayuela in spanish) is as known Gabriel Garcia Marquez's A hundred years of solitude, I do recommend it for its ludic aspect

Seeing Jack finally picking up Hopscotch makes me so happy! Hope you give a chance to even more Latinamerican writers ❤️

"Reading is resistance" should be a t-shirt. :)

Jack you NEED To read Betty by Tiffany McDaniel!!! Whilst I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t want to cry for days and be traumatised I would recommend you it because it’s A little life level sad!! It’s absolutely fabulous and it’s based on the authors mother’s life !

if you do like hopscotch, 4 3 2 1 by paul auster has a similar premise. house of leaves is also very interesting (and challenging in a comparable way)

Reading is resistance ✊🏼

on the topic of the pandemic and art (in terms of music) i found hozier’s ‘pandemic album’ unreal unearth so fascinating

I love your awareness and care for what's happening around the world, reading is resistance 🤍

I used to read a lot before 2020. In that year I started online classes and I started to spend more time on my phone Even when I don't have class.so I set reading goal this year but setting goals hamper the actual purpose of reading. I don't feel the fun like before. And somehow reading less than before pressurizing me.😔

I wish Story Graph had a function where you could make a note in your TBR list. Like who recommended it, why or when you wanted to read it, etc.

I hit my reading goal already (surpassed actually!) but I'm currently reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and I really want to finish Prophet Song in December bc it's due at the library by then and I'm sure it has a waiting list now that it's won the Booker!

Good luck with the Miami trip! Anyone thinking about going to Florida deserves a bravery award.

Hi Jack, Have you read Okay Days by Jenny Mustard? I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. 😊

This is the first year when I had some kind of goal (100 books) and I am so happy that I achieved it :) Congrats to anyone reaching their goal for 2023!

Everytime you mention Argentinian authors I cry happy tears

I told someone I'd read War and Peace this year... instead I read more than a 100 other books to avoid it. Now that's biting me in the ass as I race to finish it in this last month. Wish me luck!

I am so so so looking forward to the video about Hopscotch and I hope it ISN'T spoiler free😂

The goldfinch 😍

My plans for December: Fourth Wing ✅ Irom Flame ⏳Betty⏳ Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, Kiss Her Once for Me, and Lovelight Farms.

Do you have any tips on how to increase reading time on pages?… I reas often, but still falling under a “slow” pace of reading and its low key discouraging. I am a little heavy on myself as a reader when it comes to reading skill, so this may be a weird question lol.

I love how cursive sounds different when you're reading poetry than when it's ✨a novel✨ 😂

The hello to one year olds sent me😂

Hopscotch itself is enough for one month, lol. Good luck!

Looking at that giant copy of The Goldfinch behind Jack's head is triggering me. Burning books is bad but maybe this once we should just burn The Goldfinche!

Do you have a reading routine? I'd love to see a video about it if you do.

You could have made the number twelve just to make the endeavor a lot relatable. It just feels adJACKtive.

I have now entered "exceptionally mid" into my vocabulary

I decided to try and read A Little Life as my last book of the year. Not sure what I was thinking but wish me luck