I am 75, a clinical psychologist who started out with a bachelors in English. When I watch your videos, especially this one, I see myself. I was young, articulate and very well read. That you have found Khalil Gibran, Tolstoy and Turgenev brings me joy. I read these in high school…. I ran our family grocery store in high school so could have hours for reading. I’m trying to speak to you from your future self if I could be so bold. This vibrant reading passion will never waiver and will carry you through the great complication that is a whole long life. You will always be able to lean into it when you need to. One difference between us is that you possess a lovely quiet confidence which I have now but not when I was your age. Your channel is becoming my fave book place to go, so thank you for this. Sending you such positivity.

Emmie, I absolutely adore the range of books that you read. You'll read science fiction to middlegrade to poetry and you'll read Latin American, Russian, or South Korean. Absolutely love hearing about what you're reading!

As a Brazilian reader, I am so happy to see you mentioning The Alienist, by Machado de Assis. Actually, I am rereading this in this moment. Great list!

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" is my favourite of the year. I will need to go back to Macondo constantly. An UNBELIEVABLE book! 🤯 🦋

Top 3 of the year: "Daisy Jones and the Six" "One to Watch" "Giovanni's Room" | Very different but all super relatable to me in different ways

i read “war and peace” this past year too, because of your tolstoy diaries…and yeah, everything you said i stand by it too, it’s true, i never thought in a million year that a book that long and about something so distant from me could make my heart and soul scream, what a piece of art.

I'm so glad you loved Anne of Green Gables! It is one of my favorite books of all time, and my go-to comfort book. It was first gifted to me by my grandmother, so it also reminds me of her whenever I read it. Anne is who I always aspired to be, and she reminds me the world is beautiful during the times when it seems the most dark.

My favorite of the year was In the dream house, which is a memoir written in a very creative way, using horror and fairy tale tropes. It reads like fiction and the audiobook is narrated by the author herself. Highly recommend it!

OMG! Emma idk if you gonna able to read this but anyway, you become my favourite one on KZfaq I’m not joking like I’m waiting for the day you upload 🥲😔🤍🤍!! I love you so much and I’m sending you visual hug 😔🫂♥️.

I'm so happy to see The Girl Who Drank The Moon get the recognition it deserves. I am a teacher and I can't wait to do a novel study of this book with my students someday!

Hi, Emma. I have no idea if you'll ever see this, but I wanted to share with you how good you feel to my little reader self. Your satirical and enthusiastic personality brings me so much joy! I've watched you for a little over a year now...I was with you when you introduced Calcifer to us, I was with you when you were getting used to Toronto. Your inner light shines so bright, Emma. Thank you, thank you so much for being you and fervently taking the time to show us your fire spark.

My favorite read of the year was absolutely Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore.” Such a fascinating novel that manipulates reality so much. Can’t wait to read it again!

I love the atmosphere of your videos so much. I really appreciate you. I’m currently getting into reading proactively for the first time, you’re helping a lot!

“The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah!!! My favourite book for 2021! (probably for all time) I cried a lot because of this book, it was very emotional🥺

you're easily my new favorite channel when it comes to book recommendations! i love how you branch out into so many different and unique types of genres and recommend books ive never heard of before or wouldn't have picked up otherwise. my personal favorite book of 2021 was 'we were liars', i read it twice and i loved it so much more the second time it totally blew me away :)

Adding a few of these to my ever-growing TBR! I’ve started reading again in the last 3-4 months after probably 8 years of barely reading any books at all, and passionate readers like you on KZfaq make me feel so excited to explore new books. Thank you 😊

my top read this past year was “jane eyre”, i read it twice and it was so magical to me! and a nonfiction, “quiet” by susan cain. ❤️

My favourites of the year are hugely influenced by you, Emma, and for that, I am eternally grateful! The books are: - The Night Circus - The Picture of Dorian Gray - The Girl who Drank the Moon - The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran) - Little Women - The Great Gatsby - Beloved - Circe

I am so looking forward to the next 51 minutes of my life. The cosiest time of day ☕️ thank you! ♥️ oh, and not a first read but I was absolutely *consumed* by Alex Garland’s novels this year; The Beach has been my go-to rec for the last 6 months+ and the audio book got me through *many* a stressful coursework sesh

Yayy we have some overlap in our favorites list, I also ADORED The Girl Who Drank the Moon and The Enchanted Sonata. I picked up The Enchanted Sonata based on your recommendation and I'm so glad I did, it's one of the best YA books I've ever read. I can't wait to read Entwined now! My other absolute favorites of the year were; 1) A Snowfall of Silver by Laura Wood, which is a historical romance set in 1930s London, it's about this young girl who dreams of becoming an actress and she goes on tour with a theatrical troupe. It was sooo cozy, it's literally hot chocolate in book form!😭 2) The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, this is hands down the best gothic novel I've ever read and has become one of my all time favorite novels in general. This is one of those books that once you start reading it you physically can't stop reading. It was like going into a trance, Diane Setterfield must be a witch or something. 3) The Fruit of Knowledge by Liv Strömquist, this one's nonfiction and it's a graphic novel about the history of the vulva. I learned so much from this book, it was such an empowering read and it's also seriously one of the funniest books I've ever read. I think this should be required reading for everyone.

I just finished Frankenstein in Bagdad. I really liked it: the writing, the stories, the atmosphere, the characters and their relationships... Really beautiful book. I never would have picked it up if it wasn't for your recommendation. Thank you so much!

My favorite book of 2021 was Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy’. I read ‘Inferno’ in January and then ‘Purgatorio’ and ‘Paradiso’ in November. Life changing!! You can definitely read them separately, but the experience of all three is just... I have no words! So beautiful! Everyone should read it!

this video really makes me wish i found your channel sooo long ago. some of the books that you have talked about that i didn't recognize made me realize there was so much of you and your channel that i missed. you have become one of my fav youtubers and truly inspire me to read more and expand my reading. thank you for popping up on my recommended this year because it has been a highlight. cannot wait for 2022.

Aahh I've been watching your videos for almost a year and a half now and it's been such a joy to see this little corner of the internet grow so wonderfully in 2021! I love your videos so much, can't wait to see how you grow this new year

Thank you Emma for sharing your passion for the books! It’s so contagious and cozy! I really love you videos. My favorites of 2021 was “tender is the flesh” and gone with the wind. I already bought the iliac crest thanks to your comments 😉 feliz Año Nuevo from México 🇲🇽

there is something about watching the pure joy you have for these books that not only makes me so genuinely happy, but also makes me want to pick up every book I own and not stop till I've finished them. also, my favorite books of 2021 were The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Phantom of the Opera, Malibu Rising, The Song of Achilles and Horrid! 🖤

Thank you emma for staying dedicated with reading and books no matter how big your channel gets. And also, you delicately "forced" me to read classics. I also have to thank you for that. ❤️

Thank you for your hard work throughout the year, Emma! You made 2021 better. Hope you have an amazing 2022 ❤

Anne of Green Gables made it to my top 10 last year as well! I think you should definitely read the whole series, although there are some books that aren’t as good as the first one, I absolutely love the brilliance of LM Montgomery writing and detailed description of nature elements, ughhh, so adorable ❤️

Thanks to you for being in our lives

I read The Secret Garden and A Little Princess this year. I loved the movies as a kid so it was about time.

You have the most beautiful descriptions of books and it makes me so happy, I've already added most to my list!

happy new year, emma! I absolutely love kick starting this year listening to you rant about your favourite books of the year. my favourite books of 2021 are (in no particular order) untold night and day, the crocodile (this is a short story by dostoevsky but I loved it nonetheless), dog songs, dombey and son, the girl who wrote loneliness, and the band played on, and a pale view of hills.

I LUV U EMMA!!! My favorite reads of this year are: Piranesi, The Death of Vivek Oji, Tender is the Flesh, Strange Weather in Tokyo, and The Housekeeper and the Professor! Here’s to another wonderful reading year 💖💖💖 all the best in uni!!!

The Three Body Problem (the entire series) was my favorite read of this year by far! I know I'm a bit late, but was super happy to see someone else talking about this book!

Thank you for your insights, enthusiasm, and knowledge. Watching your postings reveals that you are a grand soul.

I've had such a great reading year, too! I think War and Peace and Les Misérables might've affected me the most, but there's so many! About Les Mis I wanna say that I think a lot of ppl go into the book expecting the musical which is such a shame! It rly is a very different kind of story. I think if people went into it not expecting anything they'd get to love it much more than they would otherwise. It's the story of Paris as a living being and one of hope despite hope lost. I simultaneously felt like comforting the book and comforted by it. It sustained me emotionally in a big way all year. I don't know how it manages to be so beautiful and hopeful despite all the tragedy. The musical is very different in that. (And it's also valuable, just super different!) It's now almost a year since I finished it and it's one of those books I've been wanting to reread since i first read them.

my absolute favourite book of the year was "on earth we're briefly gorgeous" by far like i adore this book with my whole heart but i also really really loved (in no particular order) "the priory of the orange tree" by samantha shannon, "normal people" by sally rooney, "human acts" by han kang, "autobiography of red" by anne carson (which i read after your recommendation), "the fifth season" by n k jemisin and "mister impossible" by maggie stiefvater!! and another general favourite of my reading year was reading romance and even though this list is lacking on it it's only because i haven't found a romance novel that is as beautifully written as these books here (even though a lot of them include or mainly revolve around romance and genre isn't a monolith anyway)!

Your way of describing each book is so convincing that i feel restless untill i can get my hands on all of them! Cannot wait to read. Much love, x

ahhhhhh i could listen to your voice all day

Read the three body problem in Chinese last year as well. I've heard of this book before, there was a KZfaqr who said this was top of the list of books borrowed at Tsinghua university (most prestigious university in China) library, and then saw that Emma was reading it too, so I went and read it as well. It is way beyond my expectation, especially since I'm not usually into Sci Fi and this is my first one. The trilogy is Sci Fi, but not simply Sci Fi, to me it's more like putting humanity and human society under the extremes and imagining how it would behave, like projecting the human history into the future under this Sci Fi backdrop. The science part is very fun to read as well, my high school physics came back to me a bit. Towards the end, the story almost felt like it was going in a direction I didn't like, but it worked for me in the end, it was gentle and cruel at the same time. There are certain aspects of the book that I don't fully like, but I'm totally willing to ignore cuz this trilogy is just amazing! It opened me up to seeing the world beyond how things are today, and ultimately makes me love humanity and this blue marble that we have more than before.

My favorite read from this year was One Hundred Years of Solitude, I am Colombian and this was one of the books that intimidated me, but it is a beautiful masterpiece. Another magic realism book that I loved and recommend is Like Water for Chocolate by Mexican author Laura Esquivel, it is wonderful and beautiful. Love from Colombia

I love your description of stuff and the way you describe how things feel without giving away spoilers. i love your excitment. everytime i watch your videos i'm sold on a different book. the castle in the clouds sounds incredible. and so does 3 body problem and girl who drank the moon. thank you and happy new year!

Hi Emma! Soo glad you're reading Latin American works :')) I'm starting Pedro Páramo this month, which is a Mexican novel that I've had on my tbr for a while and I'm really excited. I'm also reading And Then There Were None and 1984. I hope you have a great 2022!! Love your videos; your channel made me get back into reading 🌻

''The secret History" by Donna Tartt, is my favourite of the year. I LOVEEE ITTT! Highly recommend it!

here's my top 5 of 2021 (in no particular order) - the song of achilles - entwined - empire of sand - the hunger games trilogy - the bear and the nightingale honorable mentions: - the witcher - sword of destiny - unholy blood - little women

I just love your videos and sometimes I read and watch your videos at the same time and you made me get back to reading and sometimes when I watch your videos I just want to read and it’s an amazing thing!! Love ya

Ahhhh so many great books in this video!! Thank you for sharing, I loved hearing you talk so passionately about your favorites for the year :) I am definitely going to be reading The Three Body Problem this year and hopefully I can squeeze in Anne of Green Gables and The Enchanted Sonata. I've also added A Castle in the Clouds, Untold Night and Day, and the Iliac Crest to my TBR hehe. I noticed that I've been finding a lot of joy in reading books that I thought were hard to read, and I think it's what you said. Reading books that are challenging is rewarding, and I also learn a lot from them too. I also like it when you talk about writing, I'd love to hear some of your story ideas ❤️🥰

I think my favourite read of 2021 was either Borges' "Ficciones" or Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia". Probably Borges because he basically lifted my brain out of my skull and twisted it into a balloon animal, but Orwell's account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War is really fascinating and his prose is just gorgeous.

I loved Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock - set in Scotland, witchiness (not fantasy, but a mixture of historical settings and present day), I thought the whole thing was brilliantly done!

Thank you, Emmie, for so many wonderful videos and countless great recommendations this year! My top five books were The Secret Life of Bees, The Phantom of the Opera, Girl in Landscape, Trainspotting, and the Shining! Honorable mention to The Gunslinger

Your videos are wonderful. I am 64 years old and have been an avid reader all my life. Anne of Green Gables is a re-read favourite from childhood and I love the whole series. This year I finally tried more L M Montgomery and loved Emily of the New Moon (a trilogy) and The Blue Castle (a stand alone novel). Thank you for your enthusiasm and for introducing me to many more authors and books.

as a reader who consumes books from all different genres I always get so many good recs from you - happy new year!!

"I'm Thinking of Ending Things" is my favorite book of 2021. it keeps coming back to me and i still get random sentences from the book stuck in my head even though i've read it months ago. psychological horror is one of my favorite genres to read and this book tackling the subjects of loneliness and getting old in such a profound way is really special to me! also, the movie adaptation of this book was really good for entirely different reasons and i loved that too

what an enjoyable video! i can feel the love you have for these books so clearly and it just makes me want to read them even more. also, what a range! it's one of the things i mostly admire in a reader, the ability to admire different genres and topics! i really enjoyed this, i felt like we had a nice hour long chat that left us both feeling more enriched, if that makes sense. much love, emma!

My year of rest and relaxation! I needed this during a very difficult second quarantine.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is by far my favorite book that I've read in 2020. I highly highly highly recommend you read it if you haven't already! It was the type of book that I had to put down every now and then just so that I don't finish because it was too good.

Emma, first of all : your blouse is gorgeous! Second: Yes, The Enchanted Sonata is a dream. I loved it, thanks for the recommendation. And third, others of my best books of 2021: Les Miserables (Victor Hugo), The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux) and Daughter of the Forest (Juliet Marillier). 😘💖✨

i added the iliac crest to my reading list because i literally fell in love with your description

u had me hooked as soon as u described the first book. amazing descriptions i’m definitely following u

I picked up Nevernight on a lark and ended up falling in love with the world myself. I've heard a lot of readers don't care for the footnotes, but I adore them.

my favorites of the 2021 are definitely "Despair" by Nabokov (I read this in January and I still think about it 👀), "Kafka on the shore" by Murakami and "Never let me go" by Ishiguro! 🌻🌞

Alright. You've convinced me to add your top 3 to my tbr even though they're not really my style. Your excitement over explaining them is infectious! I might try out the three-body problem and first love too.. They all sound so good!

i have been waiting SO excitedly for this video!! i have gotten so many of your recommendations over the last few months, and am overwhelmingly excited to read them, thank u for ur channel and the books and reviews you have graced us with this year

I loved Jane Eyre, the book is famous, I new already a lot about it but I did not expect it to be so good. The internal monologue is amayzing.

The Iliac Crest really sounds like my kind of book! You describe it so wonderfully.

Not me watching this video and aggressively adding the books to my cart. I was just mesmerised by your description of the books, had to add all of them to my tbr. Thank you for existing in our lives too Emma, much love.🥰❤

You’re so soft spoken and I love your reviews! You make me want to check these books out.

If you like L.M. Montgomery as a writer, I can not more highly recommend The Blue Castle. It has been a favourite of mine since I first read it, I have bought three copies of it, it is the first book I ever annotated... it's just phenomenal. Her prose blows me away every time, and I have never fallen in love with characters more than in this book. I've written three essays about it, that's how much I adore this book.

I think I'm going to add "The Iliac Crest" and "First love" to my TBR list. I know Russian, but I've only read "Mumu" by Turgenev for school. I adore Anne of Green Gables. It's one of my favourtie books to reread. My favourite books from last year were a biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera, "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini and "And then there were none" by Agatha Christie.

I love the range of books that you're talking about and you are selling me on every single one! So many books I'm adding to my want to read now that I never expected I would want to read. Thank you!

your voice is so calming, I loved the way you described every book :)

I think my favorite was the house in the cerulean sea. Thank you for all the lovely videos and book recs last year; as a librarian I am never short of books I want to read but you have made my tbr list grow so much. And thank you for creating such a safe and comforting place :)

I just started being interested in books and reading recently and your video helped me start! Thank you so much, I'm subbing right now :)

I love these videos! I always end up with so many book recommendations!

My favorite book of the year is the second book from “The Scythe” trilogy. I was not much impressed with the first book but the second book was SO good. I was anxious to open the book to read, what the main antagonist will do to the protagonists. I cannot describe it really good but it was one of the best books that gave me emotional tension. I hope the third book will be as good as the second.

Always love hearing you talk about books you love; I can not wait to read some of these. This past year I truly fell in love with classics and read so many that I absolutely loved. My favorite books of the year that I read for the first time are: 17. A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott (A very underrated gothic Alcott novel.) 16. Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo (Not generally a fan of YA fantasy, but I loved these two books.) 15. Animal Farm by George Orwell 14. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (Incredibly weird.) 13. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux 12. Medea by Euripides (Perfect revenge plot.) 11. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson 10. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (A ton of fun and my introduction to Dumas. Can not wait to try out The Count of Monte Cristo.) 9. Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (A brilliant Russian novella that focuses on the Lady Macbeth archetype but in Russia.) 8. The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis 7. The Metamorphoses by Ovid (This is basically the perfect classic collection of Roman myths.) 6. Passing by Nella Larsen (A very underrated and powerful story by a black woman author.) 5. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 2. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (Despite being so old, it was surprisingly relatable, humorous, and emotional.) 1. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (I loved this one so much; it was so emotional, epic, and beautifully written.)

for the last 2 years i’ve used this as my ultimate cosy relaxed video that i put on and even though i’m behind, i’m slowly but surely working my way through all these books ❤

Aw I'm so glad that Anne made it on to your list! I think it tops my own list from this year. Either that or The Song of Achilles. They both really made my summer.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones was my favorite of 2021, I’m already contemplating reading it again! It’s definitely a comfort read ❤️

1984 has to be my best book of the last year. So glad could finally get my hands on it and omg, I loved it and howwww. Special mention to The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, loved to see that you mentioned it in your top 14 too.

Last year was difficult in many ways and sometimes when things get difficult, I turn to my books and just read. I picked up and started a handful but couldn’t finish any of them. 😭😒 I’ve watched a few of these “Best Books of 2021” videos in hopes of finding something inspiring and here you are! I watched your video in entirety and it was such a joy listening to you talk about these books. I came looking for one book recommendation and now I have an entire list! I’M SO EXCITED!! Thank you! ♥️

My favorite books from last year are The mill on the floss and Lonesome dove, two terribly long reads but I enjoyed them both very much felt a lot of emotions during and after reading. My recommendation for anyone who is looking for a tough but humanizing journey to embark on! Thank you Emma for your videos! Happy new year!

For me the top books of the last year were definitely The Picture of Dorian Gray and Anne of green gables. It was through your channel that I finally picked them up and read them. Thank you Emma! 🌼

I started the year with Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and finished it with House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski - great bookends. Crime and Punishment was very affecting. I also read the Harry Potter series for the first time - I'm 43! What an experience! It's unlocked the world(s) of fantasy fiction for me: currently reading The Hobbit and plan to read the LOTR trilogy this year (I have the same gorgeous box set as you). This channel was such a good find and has inspired me to finally dip into classical mythology. Happy reading.

My favourite book this year was John Williams’ ‘Stoner’. Such a beautiful, heart wrenching story about the mundanity but importance of everyday life, following an English professor through his life. This book deserves so much more attention than it receives, I never hear anybody talk about it! The best book I have ever read, please read it!

I HAVE BEEN WAITING ALL YEAR FOR THIS!!!! so excited :)) thank you emma for always been so inspiring. you've been a huge part of my life being the only youtuber i enjoy watching.

Omg I just read “the girl who drank the moon” last week and it’s so so good! Everyone should read it. It was way better than I even thought it would be, it just wonderful

my favs for the year are "Jane Eyre" "davinci code" "the little prince" re-read "Christ Recrucified" "Carmilla"

Thank you for all the books that you are bringing into my life and everything else honestly cause your videos have been a huge and great part of my life! Love you!!! ok on my way to read The Iliac Crest right now

you are the first person ive ever seen on youtube that talked about the three body problem, i read it back in 2020 and i enjoyed it so much!

My favorite book I have read this year is Anne of Green Gables. I first watched the series Anne with an E and was HOOKED. Unfortunately, that show got cancelled. However, my bestie gifted me the 1st book and I immediately read it. Now I own the whole series (total of 8 books). Currently in book 4. I love this series so much, gave me much happiness and comfort that I definitely needed at that time. Kind of like this channel 😚😚 Love you emma

the girl who drank the moon is one of my favorites for the year! I loved it so so much I got a lil dragon tattooed on my arm so I always have fyrian with me

I love the way you explain books! SO in depth and full of thought.

What an amazing reading year! Thanks so much for sharing with us 💕 Happy new year 🤞🏽✨📚

51 minutes of Emma. Splendid!!!

aah, my favorite read of this year's definitely been 'No Longer Human' by Osamu Dazai. I wouldn't even really know how to explain it well, it's not really plot nor character driven, mostly feels like following inner thoughts. Very sad and heartbreaking, especially when you learn more about the author, but in the end it can seem hopeful as well

I read the Castle in the clouds because of you and had the exact same feelings. Such a cozy and nice read!

Honestly, got into your videos like at Christmas and I love them. I also relate so much to starting the year hungover 🙃

some of my favorites of 2021 are a little life, the picture of dorian gray, the girl who drank the moon and normal people! i also read lots of norwegian books and my favs were kinderwhore by maria kjos fonn, tollak til ingeborg by my fav norwegian author tore renberg and unnskyld by ida hegazi høyer 🥰 great video, as always !!