Shadowing Practice: 10 Books That Will Get You OBSESSED With Reading - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

Hey guys, today I have a stack of 10 books I want to talk about.

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Hey guys, today I have a stack of 10 books I want to talk about.

If you're just trying to get into reading and you don't really know what to read,

I really feel like you'll like at least one of these.

These are all books that help me get into reading.

Most of them I read a long time ago,

but some of them I did just read recently.

These are some great books that will just make you fall in love with reading.

When I was just starting out reading,

it was pretty hard to find books that I really liked.

And I feel like that's why I didn't enjoy reading for so long.

I just wasn't enjoying the books I was reading.

So yeah, I'm hoping this video can inspire some of you to dive into some new books

and find the type of books that you want to read.

All right, I'm going to start out with a book that's honestly kind of insane,

and it is The Metamorphosis by Kafka.

This is one of like the most famous first lines in a book ever,

and I'm going to tell you what it's about.

It's not really spoiling it because you learn this right away,

but it's about this guy that wakes up and he is turned into some sort of giant insect,

and it just opens up with that.

There's no explanation.

It's really crazy, but it really just hooks you right away,

and you just want to keep reading.

And it's also very short,

so it's a great starter book.

And in the book, we follow this guy as he realizes that he's now this insect,

but the book doesn't read like it's some sort of fantasy or adventure.

He treats it like it's just an inconvenience that he's been transformed into an insect.

He's like more stressed about if he's going to be late to work or not than he is about being this bug.

So I don't think this book is really about being turned into a bug.

It's more about people, you know, the main character.

And it's just so weird, but it's so good.

You know, he's like the only one supporting his family.

He's working this job that he doesn't like.

He's doing all this stuff and then suddenly he just can't function anymore because he's not a human.

And then we follow the people around him as they react to this.

It's actually a pretty sad book because it becomes obvious

that he's really obsessed with the value that he provides and when he can't produce that value he's used to anymore,

it all just goes downhill.

But this is such a good book.

Now another thing about Kafka is that he wasn't this famous writer

when he was alive at all and I that just makes this book even more interesting.

From what I've heard he was actually pretty insecure about his writing.

He like wasn't really into it.

I definitely need to read more of him

because I've only read a couple of his books but this is such a solid book.

Super easy to digest if you're new to reading and yeah like I said it's very short.

You could read it in one sitting if you wanted to.

I think it took me like two days to read it

and I still think about it all the time and the writing isn't very dramatic.

It's just extremely straightforward, gets right to the point

and it's like pretty calm which is weird because the situation is so insane.

It's such a ridiculous book but it is just awesome.

I think this is a great classic book to jump into

if you want to start reading classics because

when a lot of people think of classics they think of like a really big boring dense book

and this is just not that at all.

It's very strange, it's kind of uncomfortable,

but it is also very relatable in a weird way and

when you finish it you just sit there with it

and you end up thinking about it for a long time or I did at least.

So yeah I think this is a great place to start.

It's very short but it's very memorable.

It's just something unique and weird.

I love it.

Great book.

All right, the next book is The Kite Runner by Koled Hosseini.

This is another book that will really stick with you for a long time after you read it,

and this is just overall a very heartbreaking book.

It's really sad, but it's really good.

It's set in Afghanistan, and I'm pretty sure the author was actually born there before he moved to the United States,

which just makes this book even more interesting,

and it makes the setting of the book feel very real.

The book follows these two young boys as they grow up.

They're They're kind of raised together in the same environment,

but they're not really equal.

One of them is the wealthy son,

and then the other one is the servant son.

So there's this interesting dynamic there.

And I feel like the entire book does revolve around something that happens.

Kind of close to the beginning.

I don't want to spoil it.

There's just this one key moment that's pretty intense.

This is a very readable book.

It's not very long.

It's not dense.

And it's written in a very clear way.

So it's very easy to just get sucked in and follow along with the story.

Yeah, this book flows very, very well.

But with that being said,

this book does follow some very traumatic themes with violence and trauma and stuff like that.

So this might not be for everyone because there are some scenes that are pretty emotionally distressing.

But overall, if I had to sum it up,

I would say this book is mainly about guilt

and the act of like trying to make something right after you've done something wrong.

And it feels very relatable and real because everyone makes mistakes.

Everyone makes bad decisions.

And we all do things that we regret sometimes.

So for me, I felt like I could see myself in the flaws that these characters had.

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It's super easy to get immersed into this book.

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I just remember when I read this for the first time,

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it was very refreshing just because of how easy it was to read.

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And I have seen some people online don't like this book.

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So like I said, it might not be for everyone,

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but personally, I liked it.

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Next, we have a book that I actually just read recently and that is Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.

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This is like in my top five favorite books of all time.

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It is so good.

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It feels more like you're meditating than reading when you read this.

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It's very short.

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It feels very quiet, very calming.

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And it's also super easy to read,

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which is why I feel like it would be a great beginner book if you're just wanting to get into reading.

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And this is one of those books that you can come back to when you're older.

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I'm probably going to read this many more times in the future because there's so much you can get out of it.

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It's just such a powerful book and it shows that reading doesn't have to be something super complicated.

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You don't have to think about it too much.

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You can just kind of sit down and enjoy a good book and you can learn a lot from just doing that.

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This book is pretty much just a fictional spiritual journey that this man named Siddhartha has.

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We follow him through his whole life pretty much and he's just searching for meaning in his life.

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He's always searching for something and we don't always know what it is but he just lets things pass by.

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He has all these different experiences

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and I feel like we could all really learn a lot from the main character in this book.

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He tries all sorts of different things

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and every time you try something he thinks it's going to be the answer for him

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but it doesn't really work out for him and I feel like that's pretty relatable for me at least.

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You know I'm always thinking about I just need to get this job

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or I just need to make this amount of money

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and then I'll finally be happy but I feel like whenever I accomplish something like that,

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I'll maybe be happy for a little bit,

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but it's not really lasting and I'll still feel incomplete,

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if that makes sense.

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And this book is exactly that.

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It's written in a very simple way, but it's very poetic.

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It's really beautiful writing that's not really gonna overwhelm you and it's not too intense or anything.

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It's just, it's very calm, you know?

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It's a calm book, that's how I'd describe it.

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It's very, very accessible.

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If you're feeling a little bit lost in life and you don't really know what the next steps are for you,

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I would highly recommend this book.

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I read it in a time in my life where I was feeling like that,

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and it really helped me out a lot.

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Yeah, overall, this book is about just how you have to just experience life and take things as they come.

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And the end of this book is just awesome too.

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It's a perfect ending.

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It's not something crazy, but I feel like it's just exactly how it should have ended.

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I don't know.

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But yeah, this really changed the way I thought about my own journey in life,

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my own path.

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And after I read this,

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I was so eager to start reading more again.

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It really gave me that spark I needed again to get back into reading more books

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because it really showed me there's so much to gain from reading.

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Like I said before, it's super short,

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so go pick this up.

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I promise it is just great.

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Okay, so the last book,

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like I said, wasn't very dramatic.

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This book is very dramatic.

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It's The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde,

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and I love this book.

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It's like the perfect classic book in my opinion.

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I knew I was going to like this book as soon as I heard the premise.

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Pretty much about this guy named Dorian Gray,

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and he's just the most beautiful guy ever.

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He's absolutely flawless and he gets his portrait painted

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and he pretty much wishes that he would no longer age and instead this portrait of him would age.

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So yeah, it's a very unique story.

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I've never heard of a story like this before.

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So when I first read it,

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I thought it was pretty refreshing.

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And you know, when he realizes that he's no longer going to age,

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he starts doing all sorts of things that he probably wouldn't have done before.

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But what I love the most about this book is the writing.

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This is the type of book where you just want to underline everything.

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It's super dramatic, like I I said.

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It's very witty, but it's also very readable,

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which is why it's on this list.

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This might be a little bit harder to digest than some of these other books,

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but for a classic, I feel like it's pretty easy to read.

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Like you wouldn't expect this,

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but at times it's really funny.

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It can be sarcastic and all that kind of helps you get into the story.

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And yeah, it just flows really well.

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This book is very interesting.

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It explores themes that for the time are very controversial.

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And because of that, it feels rebellious.

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And I think that just adds another layer that makes this a really cool book.

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At the end of the day, it's about image.

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It's about beauty and your reputation,

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your status, all this stuff.

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And all that feels pretty current to today's world.

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There's a lot of tension when you're reading.

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It's just a very fun book to read.

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So yeah, I'd also just say it's a great book for people that want to get into classics,

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but want something that's not super dry.

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Like I did not realize I would like a book from the 1800s this much.

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Yeah, it kind of changed my whole perspective and broke

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that stereotype that I had in my head that these super old books aren't accessible.

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And there's some twists and turns in here that are just, it's very intense.

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Such a good book though,

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so definitely check this out.

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Okay, this is a very popular book and it's 1984 by George Orwell.

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I feel like I always heard about this book for so long and I never read it.

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It definitely is different reading it than just hearing about it

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because I did not know I was going to like it this much.

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The story follows this guy named Winston that lives under this government that pretty much controls every aspect of everyone's lives.

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They control the language, all the history,

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the information and even like thoughts

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and it's just this crazy futuristic world where someone's always watching you you know the whole big brother

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and you can get a lot out of this book a lot of people have their own interpretation of it

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but why i put it on this list is simply

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because it is so entertaining i was

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so entertained the whole time reading this especially after the first 100 pages

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or so like it picks up

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and you get sucked into it there's only ever been a few books that have really sucked me in this much.

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But yeah, this book's about rebelling against an oppressive system.

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It's like not a super,

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well, it's kind of action-packed,

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but it's not like maybe what you'd expect.

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It's just a solid dystopian book.

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And my favorite part about this book is this romance story.

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And I was not expecting that at all.

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But yeah, there is a romance aspect to this book,

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and it is great.

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Like I said, you can get a lot out of this.

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You might even look at the world a little bit differently after reading this.

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It's definitely not a comforting book.

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It's kind of scary, but it does get you thinking about stuff,

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which I think is great.

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It just sucks you in.

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It's very, very entertaining.

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So a great book if you just want to get into reading,

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but don't really know where to start.

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Check it out.

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Up next, we have White Nights by Dostoevsky.

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I read it in this short story collection from Oxford Classics.

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This is such a good short story.

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It's super short.

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I think it's like 80 pages or something like that.

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Might even be less, honestly.

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And you know, everyone hears about Dostoevsky and how intense his books are,

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how difficult they are.

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If you want to get into that side of reading,

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I feel like this is a great place to start because it's super short.

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You can literally just read it in one sitting.

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It's about this young man living in St. Petersburg and every night he's wandering around the streets.

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And one night he meets this woman.

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They end up meeting up a couple of times and that's pretty much what this book is about.

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Definitely not plot heavy at all,

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but it's like a very emotional book.

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You know, the narrator has all these thoughts.

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He feels like he's invisible and I feel like a lot of people can relate to that a little bit.

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You know, you can have like your social media,

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you can have your friends,

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you can be surrounded with people,

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but you can still feel alone sometimes.

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And I feel like Dostoevsky really captures that.

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So yeah, this isn't one of those giant books like Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov.

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Those are great books, but they're also very intimidating for someone that's just wanting to get into reading.

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I feel like this is just kind of a shorter,

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simpler version that'll give you a glimpse into his style of writing.

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Yeah, I think this is a great introduction to Russian literature.

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It feels very human.

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It's about longing.

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I really like how simple the plot is in this book.

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It's just two people talking.

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Yeah, it's a great book.

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And if you like this,

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you're going to love his other books.

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So that's White Nights.

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The next book is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

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This is another pretty short book.

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You can get through it in a couple of sittings.

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But like the previous books,

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it's very easy to read, very easy to digest.

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But it does cover some extremely heavy stuff.

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So the author was actually a psychiatrist,

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I believe, that survived the Holocaust.

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He was imprisoned in several concentration camps, including Auschwitz.

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So the first half of this book is just his memoir going through his life.

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It's very sad.

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And then the second half is kind of philosophical,

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and I feel like together it just pairs so nicely.

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This book is all about attitude and how your attitude can impact your life.

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You know, he talks about how suffering is going to happen no matter what,

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and it's how you respond to it that truly matters.

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And whether you agree with that or not,

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it really gets you thinking.

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And for me, it really changed my perspective on life.

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I started looking at some of my own things I'm struggling with differently.

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Overall, this book is very short.

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It's very clear.

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It's structured really well.

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It's just overall a great book if you want to get into reading.

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It does cover some heavy themes though,

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like I said, so it might not be for everyone,

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but if you're up for that, it's a great book.

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I haven't read this for a long time,

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but I still think about it a lot.

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I definitely need to revisit it soon,

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and this book made me want to read more books that can kind of expand you,

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you know, make you think about things differently.

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It really just made me want to go out and find more books like this.

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So great book.

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Next up we have Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahaten Ali.

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I just read this like last month and oh man this was such a good book.

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It really surprised me.

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Like I was genuinely not expecting to like this as much as I did.

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The book follows this guy and he's very passive.

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He doesn't really talk to anyone.

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He's kind of a loner in his workplace and the book opens up with someone else getting access to his notebook.

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That's pretty much his journal for his whole life.

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And then the rest of the book is just his journal

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and we get to learn about this guy and why he turned out the way he did.

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This book is all about yearning.

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In the notebook we learn about his early life when he was younger,

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living in Berlin, and he met this lady.

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And they have this very unique,

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strange relationship, but they, you know, fall in love.

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It's very emotionally intense.

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This like longing starts building up throughout the story.

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And you know, the protagonist has all these problems.

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He's pretty insecure.

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He he overthinks about everything.

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He has a lot of hesitation, so it's pretty relatable.

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You know, he feels misunderstood by the world,

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and he feels like his life has pretty much sucked until he met this lady.

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I'm not going to spoil it, but it's pretty sad.

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Oh man, pretty devastating.

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Now, it's on this list because it's fairly short,

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and it flows really well,

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like all the other books.

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Super easy to read.

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The language is super straightforward,

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even in translation, because it was written in Turkish originally.

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I feel like this book is so underrated.

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I hardly I can't really ever hear anyone talk about it,

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but it's so good.

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I can't even really describe it.

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It just made me feel,

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I don't know, it just felt like a very unique,

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charming book, and I hadn't really read anything like it before.

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But yeah, like I said,

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I just read it last month,

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but I'm still thinking about it like every day.

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Like it really stuck with me,

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and I feel like this would be a great book if you want to get into something a little bit more unique. So yeah.

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Okay, next I have After Dark by Haruki Murakami.

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I know Murakami is pretty polarizing.

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I feel like people either love him or hate him.

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But I feel like this book is one of his more tame books.

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It's pretty short.

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It's like about 200 pages long.

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And the entire book just happens over the course of one single night.

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You know, we follow this young lady as she's meeting all sorts of different people,

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having all these strange experiences throughout the night in Tokyo.

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It just has such a unique atmosphere and it really sucks you in.

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I feel like it just really captures that late night feeling when no one else is up and everything feels paused.

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I don't know.

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It's hard to explain, but I really like this book.

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I feel like I didn't love it when I first read it,

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but after having time to kind of reflect on it,

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I've started to appreciate it more.

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But yeah, it's very calm.

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I will say one thing about this book,

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there's a lot of stuff that happens that isn't really explained or you don't understand it until later on in the book.

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And I know a lot of people don't like that,

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so if you don't like that,

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this might not be for you.

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There's like a kind of a mystery element to it, I guess.

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This book is definitely different than all the other books I've recommended so far.

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It's a newer book, but I feel like it's a good gateway into reading just

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because it really captures this mood so well in a way that I haven't really experienced from other authors.

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So yeah, it's kind of a weird book,

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but I really like it.

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If it sounds interesting, maybe give it a try.

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And then the final book is also another one I just read last month.

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If you watched my books I read in January video,

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you've already heard about it.

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But if you haven't, It is Stoner by John Williams.

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Oh, this book is so good.

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Now, I'll say this right off the bat.

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Nothing crazy happens in this book.

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It's just about a man named William Stoner.

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He grows up on a farm.

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He ends up going to school to study agriculture,

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but there he falls in love with reading,

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and he ends up becoming an English professor at this college.

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He gets married, has a kid,

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he gets older, follows his entire life, and that's it.

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You know, that's the whole book.

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But this like rewired something in my brain.

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You know, I always kind of thought the story is what makes a book interesting.

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It has to have an interesting story.

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They have to be eventful.

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You know, something has to,

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something crazy has to be happening.

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This book just proves that wrong.

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I said this in my last video,

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but I'll say it again.

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Someone once said that if there's an author that can write a book about a boring story,

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but make it super engaging and interesting,

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then that's a really good author.

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And I'd agree.

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John Williams did a great job making a very seemingly boring story.

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Super fun to read.

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So yeah, this book opened my eyes to that.

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It's a very relatable book because most of us aren't really doing anything crazy.

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You know, we're just waking up, living our lives normally.

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And my favorite thing about the main character in this book is how he never complains about anything.

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I feel like we can all learn a lot from him.

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He's definitely not perfect.

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He makes some mistakes.

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But if there's one thing you can learn from the main character is that complaining isn't going to get you anywhere.

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And it's something that I've been trying to work on since reading this.

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It's crazy.

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He just lets things happen.

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It could be something pretty bad,

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but he'll just go with it and move on with his life.

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The writing is super calm.

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It feels almost kind of emotionless.

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I'm not doing a very good job of convincing you to read it,

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but I guess the calm writing kind of makes some of the emotional moments hit way harder,

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if that makes sense.

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You get to know the main character so well.

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You know everything about his life,

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you know everything he's feeling,

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and it really makes you feel things.

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It's very emotionally impactful.

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But why I put this on this list is because our main character here,

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he falls in love with reading in this book,

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but he falls in love with reading kind of on accident.

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It wasn't intentional.

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And I feel like that's kind of how it was for me too.

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And it might be how it is for you.

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We don't really know if we're going to like a book until we jump into it.

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But when you find that right book,

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something changes, you know, and you just want to keep reading more and more.

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Or that's how it was for me, at least.

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But yeah, it's also super accessible.

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It's only like 300 pages, less than 300 pages.

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So it's very short and simple, but very, very impactful.

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And I will be thinking about this for so long.

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Definitely need to read more books by John Williams after reading this.

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So that wraps it up.

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Those are 10 books that will just get you addicted to reading.

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I really tried to make sure these books weren't too similar to each other.

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Of course, I have like my own taste,

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but I tried to kind of take things from different writing styles and countries and time periods and stuff like that.

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So I hope you could find at least one book that sparked your interest.

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And if you have already read some of these,

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let me know in the comments if you liked any of them.

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And also let me know if you have any books

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that really sparked your love for reading because I'd love to hear about them.

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I read all the comments.

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I'm so thankful.

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I love reading them.

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So thanks so much for the support and leaving all these comments.

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It's just awesome.

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But yeah, that's all I have for this video.

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I'll see you guys later.

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Shadowing Practice: 10 Books That Will Get You OBSESSED With Reading - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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