Thanks for these thoughtful reviews, Brian. I loved Denon Copperhead but I didn't read David Copperfield until afterwards so I was in complete dread and suspense during Demon's teen years. I'm pretty sure I took "Reading Bad Hemingway" in high school!

Hello, I discovered your channel many months ago from Everyone Who Reads Must Converse (Noah Channel) I enjoy some of your videos but for some reason, i didn't subscribe. But now i just did. Your last (courageous) video on the Israel-Palestine conflict (if we can call it a conflict) was just amazing, powerful and thought provoking. Thank you so much.

Your experience of Demon Copperhead was similar to mine. I felt a bit churlish but did find it increasingly preachy. The picture of Appalachian culture was great though. Cuddy was probably my book of the year last year so I hope you enjoy it too. Wandering Stars is on my May TBR too.

I hope you enjoy Hard by a Great Forest, it is on my TBR for May, too. The reading bad Hemingway sounds a fun project. I found the Old Man and the Sea tedious, it wasn't bad but it felt a lot longer than it was.

Honesty! Reading what we want is path to best reading! IMHO. 📖🥰📚

I really enjoyed the audible version of Demon Copperhead. I thought the narrator was excellent.

Could you elaborate on *why* you want to re/re-read bad Hemingway? What is the goal or anticipation? That maybe it isn't as bad as you remember, or you life/reading experiences since first reading have changed enough to create new context? Or maybe that even bad Hemingway is better than (fill in the blank)? Or... ? I don't spend a lot of time re-reading, not even books I have enjoyed. But when I do I always find that if I am open I can find something new in abook, develop a new relationship or dialogue with it, if I try. So I understand why people enjoy re-read challenges... I'm just curious if you might want to explain a little more what your impetus was for starting this project and what you hope to gain from the experience...

Very interesting take on "Demon" that made me rethink my experience with the book. I do agree that the childhood years are a master class, the rest when Demon is a teenager and a football star is still a good book, but it does not have the same impact. I DNF:ed "Brotherless Nights" because I had it on a 14-day-loan from the library and someone else had booked it.

Your brief comments about other people's comments now have me intrigued by Cuddy!

Best books read in April Service by Sarah Gilmartin 🇮🇪 For Thy Great Pain , Have Mercy on My Little Pain ( about the Anchoress Julian of Norwich and the mystic Marjorie Kemp) Brotherless Night ( I liked it more than you did) Night Bloom In May , I’m just carrying forward lots of books started end of April. And Then She Fell River East River West The Maiden 🍀👋☘️📖☕️📕📚

It took me a minute, but I like that POP acronym. 😀

I just finished Demon Copperhead (took this slow reader 4 weeks 🤓) and so I have finally listened to that section of this video. I certainly agree with your comments about the voice of Demon, the humour, and the location. Fortunately I haven’t read the Dickens version (I recall I was supposed to read the first chapters for school and only read the first page before dnfing) so for me the story was not predictable and I wasn’t ticking off the plot points as they happened - that would be grim. Your point about preaching is interesting - I can see what you mean but it didn’t bother me enough to detract from Demon’s story. Kingsolver is a serial offender with this though - I felt the last half of Poisonwood Bible had too much dumping of information about the Congo conflict, characters explaining to other characters what was going on when they would already have known etc. This is usually one of the things I respond badly to in a novel (I even dnfed Mill on the Floss by George Elliot for its preaching) but I didn’t think it was so obvious in Demon.

I had the same reaction to Demon Copperhead. It was a fine book, but I felt the book was too closely built off the skeleton of David Copperhead. The beats were all there and it made for a less interesting read for me because like you, I know where it’s going. I felt My Year of Rest and Relaxation to be a fantastic expression of grief. The desire to numb oneself is so real. I enjoyed it tremendously, after expecting to just find it ok. Looking forward to hear your thoughts on Wandering Stars!

My body wants to sleep all the time and sometimes it’s a struggle not to; so I don’t know how much empathy I could have for such a character. Yet folks trying to blunt their consciousness appear to abound in our society - this description reminded me of _Night of the Living Rez._ My natural “take” would be that of the almost Republican viewpoint you described: “She’s just spoiled and lazy.” Yet there’s trauma behind it.

Not one thing in this video made me unhappy! My feelings on Demon were similar … likewise for Brotherless Night. I’m used to being contrarian by now! Have not yet read the Moshfegh, but it is on my shelf. Also have not read the trans woman book. Thx for your time and effort. 😊

I’m very interested in Any other City, Brotherless night and Hard of a great forest. I have no clue why you would want to read bad Hemingway but to each their own 😂

Look, I'm just going to make the joke that's begging to be made: 'Reading bad hemingway, or... just reading hemingway'

The only Hemingway I've read was 'The Sun Also Rises'. I thought at the time that he'd perhaps have been a better journalist rather than a novelist. The descriptive passages were well written and the best part of the book. Maybe I should try more of his?

As someone who didn't read David Copperfield beforehand, I thought that Demon Copperhead was a masterpiece. But I was in a space of being in constant surprise as a reader, whereas a jaded Dickens reader could have the sense of checking plot points off of a list and being bored in the process. I'm in a real quandary with James b/c I've forgotten all of Huck Finn since high school, and the consensus seems to be that the best reading experience from James comes from at least knowing the basic framework of Huck Finn and its racial discourse. I didn't feel compelled to read David Copperfield since I'm not much of a Dickens fan, but something feels different about HF. Not sure how I want to approach this yet, and I really want to start James immediately.

About My Year of Rest and Relaxation: I think it was a short, entertaining read, but it did feel a bit pointless at times. I enjoyed how blatant and ugly the narrator's thoughts were, how she talked about everything exactly as it was (with no glamorization). I liked how honestly unbothered she was, but I do wish she had explored her emotions more in the book. There are points where she dwells on her childhood trauma, but they are brief and underdeveloped. I do understand it could've been a conscious choice by Moshfegh to do this, but I would've preferred more contemplations of the narrator's personal history. I think my favorite part of this story was actually Reva! She is so complex, so relatable. She seemingly wants nothing more than to be another glamorous New Yorker. She is carried away by the romance of city living and tries so hard to fit in. In reality, her facade hides something very real and authentic. I wish the narrator would've opened up more to her because I can tell that Reva really loved her. The ending felt... ODD to me. I was at a bit of a loss. It felt like a cheater's ending. Would I read it again? Probably not. But, did I enjoy it? Yes, I think I did.

Hi Brian, I tried to read my year of rest and relaxation, but I really disliked the main character and when that happens, it turns me off the book, I also find Barbara Kingsolver quite preachy. So I’m not mad at your reviews at all. I’m going on vacation less than two weeks but I want to concentrate on mental health awareness this month. Your Hemingway project sounds interesting. Aloha friend.

No matter how much praise I hear about Demon Copperhead I just can't get interested in investing the time. On listening speed. I notice with such long books and depending on how invested I am in the story I can speedthem up slowly over the time. Especially when I want to just finish something I can push myself to go up to 4x (okay, mostly German audiobooks of russian classics)

I enjoyed DC more than you but I understand your criticisms.

Hi, this is a comment on your “I was wrong video”. I happened to stumble upon it. The claims you make at the beginning of the video I found to be very interesting, as it is rare for a person to understand their stance on things. I agreed with your points except for the last one where you claim that although president Biden is bad, President Trump would be worse (I also noticed you couldn’t even bring yourself to say his name, referring to him as Biden’s opposition, which I found odd). I am interested in hearing from you, why you objectively think, or worse, subjectively feel the way that you do about Trump. Thank you

I was going to get demon copperhead until u said the second half wasn't that great and as for hemingway there seems to be a lot of people who think the short stories are superior to the novels⚛😀

This is why I'm generally uninterested in retellings

I sympathize with the idea of wanting to, at times, hide away from society and be in bed, not necessarily asleep, but in bed, but maybe for different reasons than this character wants to do so. I've never considered getting major pills to do that. I've never read Hemingway. He seems overrated.

Why did you disable comments on your KZfaq video I was wrong about Israel Palestine?

Hi. You suspended comments on your video about the Israel-Hamas war, so I decided to tell you here: was going to subscribe to your book channel, but I've decided not to. I have also instructed the algorithm to not recommend your channel at all. I think you should have avoided this topic, but you chose to get into it. I liked your no-nonsense approach to books. Fortunately, there are plenty of other YT book channels.