I agree. Mantel and Wolf Hall is akin to a college course, not a monthly book choice I think. Some of us are busy moms trying to keep our place in the swim lane! ...Dickens? Coughing and sputtering already
These look great! I’ve already read all of them except Piranesi but rereading is a sign of culture! I’ll plan to read along with some of these and will listen in to the spritely conversations regardless.
Yes, excited to revisit great titles and looking forward to a couple episodes with some more debate. :) Thanks for posting - these winnowing episodes make me laugh so much!
Great list, though I wish there were a little more variety in the types of classics - I love all of these but it seems we stick with the more serious and realist classics - Wuthering Heights (as a gothic romance) and Much Ado will provide a little change. :) Sad Handful of Dust didn't make it (wasn't sure why it was described as long) and would love to see that another year! Doesn't seem like we do much satirical and dark humor so that would be a nice twist, and it has some really interesting points about literature and culture!
Just caught up and listened and I’m a little bummed My Brilliant Friend got cut. I read the first 3 in the series with a friend a few years ago and we both felt like we were immersed in an Italian soap opera, so we stopped. It’s one of those books I would have loved to listen to a discussion about to broaden my understanding.
So I want to throw out the possibility of the quartet being a subscriber series, in addition to Heidi’s suggestion of the Mantel trilogy. I loved the deep dive and months and months of Kristin Lavransdatter and would repeat that experience in a heartbeat.
If Wolf Hall ends up on the subscriber show, Close Reads will have officially jumped the shark. The Netanyahus was one thing, but nearly 2000 pages of pro-Cromwell fake news is quite another.
I would enjoy the whole series as a HQ item as well. I found it to be an unbelievably fast read because I couldn't stop.
Also, the reference and reverence for classic works is woven in so much, it's hard not to love it. It's so highly ranked because it's an author or book lovers book.
I don't think it will ever happen, but I bet we get My Brilliant Friend next year.
In spite of having read a lot of classic works in high school & college, noticing references in other stories is only something just now becoming part of my reading in my late 30s. Another reason I want a reread and a close read!
Wow, I will be busy next year! So excited for the old books!
I'm glad you didn't select My Brilliant Friend. The Neapolitan quartet is excellent. I am in a weekly reading group on Zoom going through all four books in a year (finishing book 3 this week). They are about a complex relationship between two girls and several other families from mid-20th-century Naples, and they're definitely discussion worthy. But I would not say any of them stand alone. They are one long story, and each of the first three books ends in a cliff hanger. You won't want to stop after one. For an Elena Ferrante read, I nominate stand alone Days of Abandonment (which was also in the top 100 of the 21st century).
I have not read this one! Going on my list b/c I love the Waugh I have encountered so far. I love that this list made me smile with relief - b/c I own all but one - but then I looked at my list of extras from the episode and I still have plenty going on my shopping list!
That was a great episode as always! Thank you Heidi, Sean, Tim & David for another great year of Close Reads to look forward to.
-My biggest disappointment was seeing how close A Room with a View came to making it only to loose out in the end.
- I’m most excited to read O Pioneers with you all. I have actually just finished the Prairie Trilogy, which I loved and it’ll be great to get to discuss it.
- I don’t like Wuthering Heights but I can’t wait to hear Heidi’s perspective.
- A Tale of Two Cities will probably be like eating my vegetables (thanks for the metaphor Tim) but I’m ready to give Dickens another chance and this will be good motivation.
I too was holding my breath trying to play it cool for Wuthering Heights because MAN do I love that book, and it gets such a bad rap sometimes :( can't wait for all these!!!
I'm excited for the 2025 list! A lot I have been wanting to read but they get pushed aside by others.
No matter what we do I am thankful. This podcast and group has kept me reading through a new baby homeschooling and hard things in life over the past few years. It has also helped me read books I never thought I could read and to understand on a level I never thought I could. So thank you for the work you put in to make thing happen each year ❤️
Most simultaneously exciting and heartbreaking episode of the year! Cheers to another great year of reading. As a new mom, I'm thankful for this show and community for keeping me externally motivated to read when it can be difficult to summon the will internally.
My philosophy is the one who does the cooking gets to choose the menu, so I'd like to propose the list for 2026 be selected from your Favorite Reads of 2024 episode. My favorite thing about CR is being introduced to authors I've never heard of, but I will read and listen and know 2025 will be a hoot, like this episode.
I am a person who has asked for more master and margarita, and I feel the need to explain: multiple people have told me it is their favorite book and I have read it and I understand it 0%. I am starting to think those people are just full of.s*** since it keeps getting dismissed pretty rapidly from selection
I read it 20 years ago while living in Russia during an exchange semester in college. I just remember loving it so much and have retained my copy from college. I keep wanting to re-read as an older adult but would love to do so with a group of other adults. I think I enjoyed it so much partially because I was immersed in Russian culture at the time. I wonder if it’s one of those books that understanding/experiencing the culture makes better. I’d also love to read it in a group simply to remind us all of the vast humanity that lives in Russia that’s so much like us. I feel like most conversations about Russia these days swirl around their dictator leader, because I hate when the news in other countries paints all Americans with broad political caricature brushes, I’d love to be part of a conversation that brought to the front our common humanity.
I agree. Mantel and Wolf Hall is akin to a college course, not a monthly book choice I think. Some of us are busy moms trying to keep our place in the swim lane! ...Dickens? Coughing and sputtering already
I am quite excited about this list. I might make it a goal to read along for everything, which I have never done before...
These look great! I’ve already read all of them except Piranesi but rereading is a sign of culture! I’ll plan to read along with some of these and will listen in to the spritely conversations regardless.
Yes, excited to revisit great titles and looking forward to a couple episodes with some more debate. :) Thanks for posting - these winnowing episodes make me laugh so much!
Great list, though I wish there were a little more variety in the types of classics - I love all of these but it seems we stick with the more serious and realist classics - Wuthering Heights (as a gothic romance) and Much Ado will provide a little change. :) Sad Handful of Dust didn't make it (wasn't sure why it was described as long) and would love to see that another year! Doesn't seem like we do much satirical and dark humor so that would be a nice twist, and it has some really interesting points about literature and culture!
When can we expect to see the final list?
final list is posted above!
Just caught up and listened and I’m a little bummed My Brilliant Friend got cut. I read the first 3 in the series with a friend a few years ago and we both felt like we were immersed in an Italian soap opera, so we stopped. It’s one of those books I would have loved to listen to a discussion about to broaden my understanding.
So I want to throw out the possibility of the quartet being a subscriber series, in addition to Heidi’s suggestion of the Mantel trilogy. I loved the deep dive and months and months of Kristin Lavransdatter and would repeat that experience in a heartbeat.
I'm two books in, starting the third, and I would also love a close read.
Oh... just wait. That's all I i will say.
If Wolf Hall ends up on the subscriber show, Close Reads will have officially jumped the shark. The Netanyahus was one thing, but nearly 2000 pages of pro-Cromwell fake news is quite another.
I would enjoy the whole series as a HQ item as well. I found it to be an unbelievably fast read because I couldn't stop.
Also, the reference and reverence for classic works is woven in so much, it's hard not to love it. It's so highly ranked because it's an author or book lovers book.
I don't think it will ever happen, but I bet we get My Brilliant Friend next year.
In spite of having read a lot of classic works in high school & college, noticing references in other stories is only something just now becoming part of my reading in my late 30s. Another reason I want a reread and a close read!
Wow, I will be busy next year! So excited for the old books!
I'm glad you didn't select My Brilliant Friend. The Neapolitan quartet is excellent. I am in a weekly reading group on Zoom going through all four books in a year (finishing book 3 this week). They are about a complex relationship between two girls and several other families from mid-20th-century Naples, and they're definitely discussion worthy. But I would not say any of them stand alone. They are one long story, and each of the first three books ends in a cliff hanger. You won't want to stop after one. For an Elena Ferrante read, I nominate stand alone Days of Abandonment (which was also in the top 100 of the 21st century).
Agree with Sean about Waugh's Sword of Honor. I would love you guys to do that book on the subscriber show at some point.
I have not read this one! Going on my list b/c I love the Waugh I have encountered so far. I love that this list made me smile with relief - b/c I own all but one - but then I looked at my list of extras from the episode and I still have plenty going on my shopping list!
It's my favorite Waugh after Brideshead. Though Helena is close after it and could probably change places if I re-read it.
Such a great list -- I'm literally excited about every single book! (Even after hearing this about A Farewell to Arms ...
Tim: It is gonna rip people's hearts OUT.
Sean: And their arms!
😂)
This made me laugh out LOUD. Sean is moving up on my funny-people list.
That was a great episode as always! Thank you Heidi, Sean, Tim & David for another great year of Close Reads to look forward to.
-My biggest disappointment was seeing how close A Room with a View came to making it only to loose out in the end.
- I’m most excited to read O Pioneers with you all. I have actually just finished the Prairie Trilogy, which I loved and it’ll be great to get to discuss it.
- I don’t like Wuthering Heights but I can’t wait to hear Heidi’s perspective.
- A Tale of Two Cities will probably be like eating my vegetables (thanks for the metaphor Tim) but I’m ready to give Dickens another chance and this will be good motivation.
I too was holding my breath trying to play it cool for Wuthering Heights because MAN do I love that book, and it gets such a bad rap sometimes :( can't wait for all these!!!
I'm excited for the 2025 list! A lot I have been wanting to read but they get pushed aside by others.
No matter what we do I am thankful. This podcast and group has kept me reading through a new baby homeschooling and hard things in life over the past few years. It has also helped me read books I never thought I could read and to understand on a level I never thought I could. So thank you for the work you put in to make thing happen each year ❤️
AGREE!~
Most simultaneously exciting and heartbreaking episode of the year! Cheers to another great year of reading. As a new mom, I'm thankful for this show and community for keeping me externally motivated to read when it can be difficult to summon the will internally.
My philosophy is the one who does the cooking gets to choose the menu, so I'd like to propose the list for 2026 be selected from your Favorite Reads of 2024 episode. My favorite thing about CR is being introduced to authors I've never heard of, but I will read and listen and know 2025 will be a hoot, like this episode.
I am a person who has asked for more master and margarita, and I feel the need to explain: multiple people have told me it is their favorite book and I have read it and I understand it 0%. I am starting to think those people are just full of.s*** since it keeps getting dismissed pretty rapidly from selection
I read it 20 years ago while living in Russia during an exchange semester in college. I just remember loving it so much and have retained my copy from college. I keep wanting to re-read as an older adult but would love to do so with a group of other adults. I think I enjoyed it so much partially because I was immersed in Russian culture at the time. I wonder if it’s one of those books that understanding/experiencing the culture makes better. I’d also love to read it in a group simply to remind us all of the vast humanity that lives in Russia that’s so much like us. I feel like most conversations about Russia these days swirl around their dictator leader, because I hate when the news in other countries paints all Americans with broad political caricature brushes, I’d love to be part of a conversation that brought to the front our common humanity.
I feel like I have permission to not read One Hundred Years of Solitude now 😅😂
Love in the Time of Cholera is the better novel anyway!