Video summary

The GREATEST Books I’ve Ever Read (In My Entire Life)

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Overview

The video is a personal countdown of the creator’s 10 favorite books of all time, presented as a list that they expect will change later. They emphasize that their tastes evolve and that they plan to update the ranking.

Standout picks & what makes them special

  1. #10 The Gate (Natsume Soseki) A quiet, plot-light story about a couple living with social isolation and guilt. The creator loves how it delivers that “nothing happening” feeling common to Japanese life/literature—calm, simple, and oddly absorbing.

  2. #9 The Serviceberry (Robin Wall Kimmerer) An outlier on the list—short, illustrated, and reflective. It reframes community through indigenous wisdom and a gift economy, with examples like free little libraries. Especially recommended for people burned out by hustle culture.

  3. #8 Heaven (Mieko Kawakami) Intensely emotional and uncomfortable. The creator highlights how bullying becomes physically relentless—targeting a boy with a lazy eye—and notes that the story’s tension comes from its clean, sharp writing. The title is described ironically as “not heavenly” because the content is so hard-hitting.

  4. #7 100 Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez) Described as a “fever dream”: magical realism at its most intense. The creator says it can be hard to read due to dense, generational character naming, but also deeply rewarding. A humorous example given is the insomnia plague, which makes people forget everything and leads to absurd attempts to label reality.

  5. #6 The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Leo Tolstoy) Called the creator’s favorite short story. They stress fear, regret, and the terror of realizing you didn’t truly live. It begins after Ivan’s death, then focuses on panic and reckoning—ending up unexpectedly motivational.

  6. #5 Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse) A meditative, spiritual search for meaning. The creator praises its “slowed down” feel and the idea that wisdom can’t be borrowed—you must experience life, including mistakes.

  7. #4 Stoner (John Williams) A “sounds boring but isn’t” recommendation. The story follows one man’s ordinary life—farming roots, college, teaching, marriage, aging—while quietly making his patience and lack of complaint stand out. The marriage’s loneliness is highlighted as especially intriguing.

  8. #3 Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy) A long but rewarding Russian classic anchored by the famous opening line about happy vs. unhappy families. The creator loves the relationship drama and the second storyline featuring Levin, which they name as their favorite character—while admitting they disliked Anna at first, then understood her more later. (They also note farming sections may be a boredom point.)

  9. #2 The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov) The creator calls it insane, unique, and sometimes humorous—a satire where the devil visits Soviet Moscow, plus a love story and a bizarre-but-fitting retelling involving Jesus and Pontius Pilate. Scenes include broomstick flight, and it’s described as a “fever dream” with dark romance and absurd unity.

  10. #1 Kokoro (Natsume Soseki) Their favorite overall: quiet, deep, and centered on a young man’s friendship with an older man (Sensei). The creator emphasizes the emotional effect and structure—first you observe the relationship from a distance, then the story pivots to a confessional letter from Sensei that reframes everything. Strongly recommended for readers who want calm but meaningful depth.

Key tone / recurring themes

Across the list, the creator repeatedly praises:

  • Quiet depth (especially Soseki—e.g., The Gate, Kokoro)
  • Emotional impact (e.g., bullying in Heaven, death/regret in Tolstoy)
  • Unreliable reality / magical intensity (100 Years of Solitude, Master and Margarita)
  • Community and meaning beyond hustle (The Serviceberry, Siddhartha)

Jokes / memorable moments

  • Describing 100 Years of Solitude as an experience where you read a page and think:

    “What did I just read?”

  • The insomnia plague in 100 Years of Solitude is described as oddly funny because people start forgetting what things are, then labeling the town’s surroundings.

  • The creator jokes that Stoner is hard to recommend because it can sound dull—yet that “boring” quality is part of why it works.

Personal creator reactions

They describe their feelings as:

  • Astonished/Blown away: 100 Years of Solitude, The Master and Margarita, Heaven
  • Frightened and emotionally tense: The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Heaven
  • Calmed/grounded: Siddhartha, The Gate, Kokoro
  • Obsessed/immersed: the language used suggests near-total engagement with the top picks

Personalities mentioned (authors/characters)

  • Creators on screen: unnamed narrator
  • Authors: Natsume Soseki, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Mieko Kawakami, Gabriel García Márquez, Leo Tolstoy, Hermann Hesse, John Williams, Mikhail Bulgakov
  • Main figures/characters referenced:
    • The Gate: the couple
    • Heaven: the bullying victims/bullied boy
    • 100 Years of Solitude: the Buendía family
    • The Death of Ivan Ilyich: Ivan Ilyich
    • Siddhartha: Siddhartha
    • Stoner: William Stoner
    • Anna Karenina: Anna Karenina, Vronsky, Levin
    • The Master and Margarita: the devil / Master / Margarita / Pontius Pilate; Jesus (in relation to Pontius Pilate)
    • Kokoro: Sensei and the young man

Original video