Jane Eyre is in my top books of all time because it’s a story about two people meeting each other’s freak❤

I have told this story before on other posts, and channels, maybe yours, but here it is again. East of eden is everything to me. I am visually impaired, a braille reader. back when I grew up braille was hard to come by. you had to rely on what the libraries decided to print. certain popular books took years to come out, and you had to borrow them. one braille book is several volumes, and they were too expensive to buy. they had to be shipped in huge boxes, and sometimes because of mail issues only parts of them would come. I cried many tears when I was younger about not being able to just read. I hated audiobooks, and I wanted books in braille. east of eden was one that was hand copied. these books are only loned in limited numbers and for a few weeks. you have no idea how excited I was to get this book borrowed. I devoured it. I loved every page. when I sent it back I was devastated. now happily braille is easy to come by with technology, books to download, and braille displays to read books on. I can now read my favorite book anytime I want. east of eden has everything, great characters, a multigenerational story, good characters who sometimes do horrible things, and bad characters who you sometimes root for and wonder why. It is quite simply a masterpiece.

One Hundred Years of Solitude ruining every other book for you is so real because I literally DNF'd Allende's House of the Spirits because the whole time I was like, "I wish this was One Hundred Years of Solitude, actually". 😂

Yayy lets gooo ive been waiting for a sequel for the “Iasked 1000 people their favorite book” for over two years

The Book Thief ❤ It's about reading, writing, and the importance of words. And how those three things can change, nourish and even save your life.

Also you and Carolyn should be proud, I think this list is the way it is because you two have pushed us to read some of these intimidating monsters. Your first version of this was my first video of yours, and so many of these on this list I believe are influenced by your viewers much more than they were before. It’s really cool to see!

My Brilliant friend - Elena Ferrante Frankenstein - Mary Shelley Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy The Island of the missing trees - Elif Shafak Circe - Madeline Mille [Song of achilles too] Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brothe The housekeeper and the professor - Yoko Ogawa All the lovers in the night - Miko Kawakami All of Jane Austen really And most recent addition to the list: Things you may find hidden in my ear - Mosab Abu Toha

I voted Jane Eyre! I mean honestly, the writing, Jane’s resilience, spiritual themes and personal growth are themes that flow together so naturally. Also, finding one’s worth after so much trauma is probably what drew me in❤

I don't know how much deliberation I will require to be able to express how Frankenstein, almost overnight, transformed from a novel which I had a complete misunderstanding of became my obsession. There is something within this novel that I have never been able to forget. I still do not know what it is xx

I voted for The Picture of Dorian Gray and the way I SHRIEKED when it made it to third place!!! It was like watching a football match LOL

One of the things I like the most about you, Emma, is how you’ve made a lot of people around the world get to know books that aren’t just the typical recommendation. You read from contemporary YA to classics and the work you do here is remarkable. But beyond that, I always get so thrilled that you give them the chance to know and read Latin American literature: Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, etc. and I think that is just amazing. Time will go by and the work you’re doing here and the mark you’re leaving on people is just always gonna be so precious ❤ thank you for loving books from my country and Latin America in general so much, I really hope you get to do what you love forever ❤

so glad Piranesi made the list!!! its my all time favorite, I even plan on getting a tattoo for it! also, The Starless Sea deserved all the love The Night Circus was getting... Piranesi may be my favorite, but I think The Starless Sea is the most stunning collection of words I'll ever read

Emma, seriously, I cant WAIT for you to read Love In The Time of The Cholera

30. 1984 29. The Hobbit 28. Piranesi 27. Harry Potter series 26. War and Peace 25. Song of Achilles 24. Normal People 23. The Bell Jar 22. The Catcher in the Rye 21. A Little Life 20. Les Miserable 19. The Master and the Margarita 18. The Night Circus 17. The Little Prince 16. Crime and Punishment 15. The Brothers Kalamazoo 14. Pride and Prejudice 13. East of Eden 12. Anna Karina 11. Little Women 10.The Book Thief 09. The Secret History 08. Anne of Green Gables 07. Wuthering Heights 06. The Fellowship of the Ring 05. The Count of Monte Christo 04. Jane Eyre 03. The Picture of Dorian Grey 02. Frankenstein 01. One Hundred Years of Solitude

Next time you should do a survey in google forms or something like that :) so you don't have to spend a lot of time checking instagram answers (which mut have been very difficult)

I think The Secret History is so many people's favorite because (imo) there's a lot to unpack and a lot to speculate about). ofc i say this absolutely adoring it but its def not everyone's cup of tea!!!

Don't mind Emmie literally knowing pretty much all the books' starting sentences off the top of her head?! YOU'RE LITERALLY AMAZING ILYYY

Jane Eyre☺️ I don’t know how to explain my love for this book. I think nostalgia plays a big role at this point, as I’ve been reading it since I was very young, but I guess there are two types of people -those who fall in love with Rochester and those who don’t 😅To me, this book is perfect❤

My personal top 5: 1. Sula by Toni Morrison 2. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James 3. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 4. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson 5. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (shes my favorite author I tried doing one book per writer but I would be lying to myself 😂) On another note though, this video reminded me how many "classics" I have yet to read. I've added a bunch to my tbr!!

This was delightful. I was particularly happy to see The Count of Monte Christo so high. It was serialized when first published and people ran through the streets waving it and crying out, "He has escaped from the Chateau d'If!" Many of my top 10 were in your collection, like Frankenstein and Dorian. The Lord of the Rings and Bros. K are my top 2. One that didn't make it at all is Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize winner, All The King's Men. I think you'd love it, it's both raw and poetic, almost incantatory. And it's as politically relevant now as when it was written.

I think that the books that got a higher place this time is honestly because when you have recommended them you really sell them. I mean, the amount of books I have on my list because you have talked about them so passionately is huuuge. so thank you Emma! now I feel I have a pretty damn long list of books for the rest of my life thanks to you and I'm so genuinely happy about it I read frankenstein because of you and it changed my life ♡ (i also voted for it so I'm so happy it got 2nd place!!)

Since you mentioned not knowing where it is; I think I spotted the Bell Jar on the top shelf on the left in the last video. I don’t know why I remember that 😅

this is such a cool way of getting book recommendations, I needed this!!

Wuthering heights! It's my top book!! The writing, charecter development, descriptions of the moors, the plot... it's all so good. I think it really shows you what it means to be a human in a way that's never told before. Nothing has ever made me feel something so intense.

I can't believe a latin american book is in first place😮. García Márquez es un genio total. Greetings from Argentina 🇦🇷

I’m so happy Frankenstein made it to #2. It literally changed my life and I have never stopped thinking about it since. Also I am currently reading a hundred years of solitude and it is such a well written book omg.

So happy Lord of the Rings (my vote) ranked so high🥹

You’re literally glowing in this video. You can tell it’s something that you really care about. Makes the video that much more enjoyable imo

1. The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil - Fay Weldon 2. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 3. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - Patrick Süskind 4. A Time on Earth - Vilhelm Moberg 5. The Artificial Silk Girl - Irmgard Keun Honorable mentions are Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, Darling River by Sara Stridsberg and Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov ❤❤❤

The video you made 3 years ago is actually the first video of yours I ever watched!! So I hold a very special place in my heart for it, since you've helped me a lot to get back to reading

This couldn't have came at a better time! I have recently just got back into reading and have very much enjoyed your channel! I am just about to begin this video and I am very excited to see some new book recommendations, but also what everyone has enjoyed!

this is such a lovely video to see you make again because your initial video a few years ago was the reason i got back into reading!!

*me for the entirety of the list* "Oh? Well, it is good, I give you that, but the best?" *me seeing the first place* "Let's goooo!!!!!" I think it shows that I'm not here by accident, that the winner here is the book that... maybe saying "reignited my love for reading" isn't quite right, because there wasn't a time that I wouldn't love reading, but for years I would read a few pages, then put the book away, then maybe read the next few chapters, then never finish. And then--maybe it was the right book at the right time, maybe it really is everything a book can be. It still took me two weeks to finish, during which I literally never put it down: eating and sleeping with the book, opening it in every free second of my time. And just like that, the spell was broken.

you'll love east of eden!! for me, the book allowed me to understand myself so much deeper. it's like a study on character and overcoming/succumbing to the evil inside you. family and parent-child, sibling relationship are a major theme too

I have been waiting for an updated top favorite books video from you, Emma! Loved the first one!

I think your copy of The bell jar on the shelf with the baby yodas, I’m pretty sure I saw it there in your last video haha

Jane Eyre, of all the fictional characters I've read so far, is the one I relate the most. Because, of course, even if we do not share the exact experiences in life, we share so much of our life's reflections. I can sympathize with her like how I pitied my poor self before. We've thought and felt and desired in similar ways, and I was also learning from her. Her character growth is also well-crafted, Charlotte made the transitions seamless. I felt so many emotions and I was so attached. I have felt her pain, hoped the same hope for her, rejoiced in her successes, had fun and fell in love with their dialogues of Mr. Rochester, and was curious too with the mysteries of the tale. Just amazing 💚

i have been waiting for this! love your channel 🤍🎀

omg i found your channel with the 1000 people’s fav books ! ❤ 3 years FLEW by 🎉

1984 is so good that many people swear we are living it!!

This was an AWESOME video!!! I really love your channel! 😊

I've been waiting my whole life for this video

1. Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky 2. Idiot - Dostoevsky 3. War and Peace - Tolstoy 4. Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde 5. East of Eden - John Steinbeck

It's truly beautiful and inspiring how passionate you are about books and reading.....thank you.

My favourite will always be LOTR, I've reread it so many times since I was a child. Also, I will admit, I read the Count of Monte Cristo for your book club and I am obsessed! I'm already doing a reread to annotate it. One of my new favourites for sure

I don't know, but your channel is my favorite and you actually inspire me to be a better person. You're easy on the eyes too 🤷🏻‍♂️ You're one of the only ones I watch on youtube. Thank you for being you 🙂

I'm half-way through reading The Count of Monte Cristo and I can't put it down!! The story is so captivating, I'm enjoying every second of it. Also, a French movie adaptation is coming out this Friday (June 28) and that was what motivated me to read this book. I wish I did it sooner! What was my life before that???

Omg I think that was the video that got me to find you!! Very happy for the update!! It's been a fun time following you

Today I did a deep dive on Booktube. Watched about 30 videos. Then I see this young woman who has 408K subscribers. What makes her so special. Well after watching this video it is obvious. You are so honest and passionate about books. And you are funny. Really enjoyed the video. Keep up the great work. Signed your newest subscriber.

For me my top 5 would be: 1. Memoirs of Hadrian - Marguerite Yourcenar 2. Death in Venice - Thomas Mann 3. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh 4. Autobiography of Red - Anne Carson 5. Orlando - Virginia Woolf Honorable mentions: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson :))

I'm so happy because I've read 20 books from this list and have 5 more on my tbr ❤ Truly a great selection!

First video of yours I ever watched was the one three years ago asking 1000 people for their favorite book! Don’t think I’ve missed any of your videos in past three years!

Love love love you! Perfect timing for my dinner watch🌟

What a wonderful list! So great to see all these titles. Many I haven’t read but want to, but also plenty of those that I would love to reread because it’s been so long! I keep thinking about reading stuff again, but it’s so hard to fit those in among the neverending TBR of new titles 😭😭🤪

Petition to make Emmie's fanbase name "The Book Wormies"

1984 and Catcher and the Rye are taught in schools in Canada. They were mandatory readings.

I love your channel, but I particularly loved this post. Thank you for this interesting survey.

So excited to watch this that I forgot to write them down. 🤦‍♀️ Will happily watch it again. Great suggestions.❤

I wrote my bachelor thesis on Frankenstein! Its title was "Creator and his creation: Frankenstein vs. I, Robot."

Wow, just found your channel. This is a great video! And I agree with your take on the catcher in the rye, such an amazing and beautiful book! That ending had me almost crying. So sad the Iliad never gets picked haha

When I first read a little life I was a little jarred but still enjoyed the hype and joined that train like the rest. Since then I've heard a little bit more about Yanagihara and her research (or lack thereof) regarding trauma, mental illness, depression etc (a few of many triggering concepts she includes in A Little Life). It was very eye opening and I wouldn't be as adoring as I was when first reading. Eager to hear your thoughts!

The way you feel about 100 Years of Solitude is the same way I feel about Flowers for Algernon LOL

I was there when you made that video 3 years ago. 🥺🥰

This was awesome! Thanks for the recs. Would you be interested in doing a your top 10 must reads? Kind of like those lists of …must read before you go. You opened my eyes to more classics. Thank you.

Thank you Emma for all the hard work compiling our comments.

As soon as you started speaking about the Catcher in the Rye I KNEW that was going to be what you said. My fav book of all time!!

I'm about to start my Master's thesis on Frankenstein because that book is truly singular and its cultural misunderstanding has fascinated me ever since, I will literally never stop yapping about its glory

My favourite one is the shadow of the wind then there are a lot like night train to Lisbon, Paula and of course as long as the lemon trees grow Also I am reading if on winter’s night a traveler and i am really enjoying it

I remember watching your first vid like this years ago! I can't believe I have been watching your vids this long. I still have the letter you sent me btw (i was the one who sent u flower stickers). ty for bringing some peace to my hectic English major life, and i need to pick up some of these immediately P.S. I read Piranesi last summer on a trip and it was amazinggg - lia

i miss the plate trick from the first video, that was quite cool honestly 😩

If I had to list five books that are not on this list but I would rank as my favorites, they would be: 1. The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolaño 2. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami 3. The Magus - John Fowles 4. The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann 5. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier And now it's time to go try and buy the books from this list I don't own yet :P

hi there! just finished a MA in Literature with a thesis on Frankenstein and this fall i'll be starting a PhD on the myth of Frankenstein, so LITERALLY it makes my day to see so many people loving it. thanks, Emmie, for preaching and spreading love for this great book.

I'm currently reading The Bell Jar and I'm seeing so much Catcher in the Rye in it. Happy to see them back to back on this list! ❤

have not been on your channel in a while but i just started reading 100 years after finishing wuthering heights, and my first thought was remembering how much you praised this book. hope I enjoy it

Happy to see Piranesi on here. It may be a newcomer but it's so good and so unique.

I love reminiscing on my time with the characters in War and Peace so much.

I love Jane Eyre because I simply relate to Jane at so many levels. Her story captured my heart

It's as impossible for me to name an absolute favourite book of all time than for parents to choose their favourite kid lol. I don't know how people do that.

I love how you included the first sentences

Piranesi is incredible and I can’t wait for you to read it!!!

I LOVE East of Eden. I love family generational stories and I love the biblical allusions and the characters feel so real. The antagonist character will send shivers down your spine. And the beautiful descriptions of California.

I liked the list. To be honest, I expected more contemporary works. After listening, I thought there was an excellent balance between the old and the new. Thanks : )

As a french person, your french when you read the first line of The Little Prince was really good !!

YES you mentioned PIRANEI I put that one in! FANTASTIC!!! Thank youuuu!!! Thank you!

it’s 3am in India BUT I AM SEATED 😭❤️

I keep waiting for one of the small book presses to do an heavily illustrated edition of Piranesi. I would LOVE to see an artist's take on all those statues.

Loved your words about Catcher in the Rye. It changed my life last December! I’m not sure if it’s my favorite favorite but Collected Fiction by Jorge Luis Borges might be it!

Hi! This is my first comment on a video of yours, although I've been a huge fan for years. Finnish reticence I suppose. This video just made me realize how much more classics your influence has made me read! Thank you for that. Still, the books that started my reading journey are all fantasy, and they retain their place in my heart. So happy you're loving Lord of the Rings so much, I hope you might read some more adult fantasy when in the mood for it. Here's my all time favourites, since we seem to be sharing them: 1. The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson 2. The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch 3. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk 4. Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery 5. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

The loml ref!!! omg ily ❤

Fave is Liitle Women but oh my gosh! Loveddd this video and getting ready to read the top 10!

Great video, Emma! Thank you so much. When you posted the poll the other day I voted for One Hundred Years then remembered the Catalonian Shopkeeper. What an interesting character! ... "that wherever they might be they always remember that the past was a lie, that memory has no return, that every spring gone by could never be recovered, and that the wildest and most tenacious love was an ephemeral truth in the end.”

So many great books on this list. I don't even know if I can choose a favorite book but I am currently reading a book that probably will be added to my favorites! I'm reading House of Leaves for the first time and I'm loving it so far (I'm about halfway through). It's by far the most interesting read I've ever had. I also noticed that House of Leaves was hanging out in the lower left corner the whole time. 🤩

LOVED Night Circus!

1984 is my dissertation text i am obsessed with it :))

Narnia is another favorite . My favorite series The babysitters club. I will never tire of that series 😊

I can’t wait for you to read Little Women. Although i feel like reading it as a teen is how it’s my number one book. But I’ve reread it at least five times. But half of these books you mentioned are runners ups. Love Austen, love Frankenstein, love The Count of Monte Cristo!!

Personally I’m very happy to see 5 of my all-time favs (The Little Prince, Les Mis, The Book Thief, HP & East of Eden) and that almost all on this list I have either read or are on my TBR!

I think the best is classify the novels for theme. For example: the best for bad marriage is Anna Karienina, the best for revenge is count of mount christ, the best for magic realism and family problems is one hundred years of solitude, the best for a poor girl winning in life after lot of struggle is jane eyre, the best with dragons, orcs, fantasy is hobbit and lord of the r, and so on... this way the reader can read a something they are interested.

Should do a video reading all of these books and ranking them

the way you feel about the count of monte cristo is the way i feel about east of eden :) the books themselves aren't similar but the one steinbeck you read i don't think is very indicative of his best work. (cannery row, of mice and men, sweet thursday - all great imo). east of eden is a multi-generational family saga following two families. you get to know the characters really well, (and has the best villain ever written), it's scandalous and riveting - if you like hemingway and marquez i think you'll like it. BUT NO PRESSURE