Who is the Better Writer: Hugo, Hesse, Cervantes, Tolstoy, Austen, Dostoyevsky, or Proust? (Book Battle III) (Patreon)

It's time for another book battle.

This time with new criteria, as we pit the authors we've read thus far against each other.

In the last two book battles (here and here), we ranked and graded our authors on the following dimensions:

1) Characterisation

2) Pacing

3) Language/voice

4) Theme

5) Metaphor/allegory

6) Wisdom/prophecy

In this video, as the pool of contenders widens, we're adding more criteria:

7) Humour

8) Symbolsim

9) Applicability 

10) Digression

The most exciting part of undertaking a reading adventure is comparing authors against each other.

When you finish a book, ask yourself:

• Who is this writer better than?
• Who do they fall short of?

Play along at home and score them with me.

Let's compare notes.

There are no right or wrong answers. It all comes down to your personal taste.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 introducing the new criteria
• 1:20 applicability
• 3:00 Les Misérables and social change
• 5:00 the art of the digression
• 5:30 how I learnt to love Austen
• 6:30 Hugo vs Proust
• 8:30 symbolism 
• 9:00 the poetry of Victor Hugo
• 10:30 Dostoyevsky and allusion 
• 12:00 Cervantes the humorist 
• 13:00 who creates the best characters?
• 14:30 how to read Proust 
• 15:30 prophecy 
• 16:00 what Hugo got wrong
• 17:00 Tolstoy and the meaning of life
• 17:30 why we deep-read these books
• 18:20 Hesse and meditation
• 18:45 enduring themes
• 19:00 why Austen and Hugo resonate with me
• 19:30 Tolstoy and Cervantes as supreme
• 20:00 share your ranking

Share your scoring below!