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What is punky drama means ???? Huh!!! . You are the most dramatic 😡😡😡😡😡

SO many fun books. Thanks!

Thanks! This helps so much!😊

I absolutely loved Piranesi. The specific sentence "I am the beloved child of the house" stays with me. As someone without any religious beliefs, this expression of faith was so beautiful, and it feels like a spirituality that I could share in.

I was also really disappointed with Lady Macbeth. I didn't even finish it 🙈 I recently read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and loved it, and it makes me excited to pick up Piranesi next year! And now you have convinced me to add Remnant Population to my tbr because it sounds interesting!

So fun🥳: I also read Humble Pi in the past several weeks - I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I'm doing the Anthropocene Reviewed right now - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ so far.

Omg that’s a lot of books! I wish some reviews were a bit longer, like Dandreth’s Assassin, which I was interested in picking up bc the premise sounded pretty good. And I can’t believe you read another T Kingfisher, you just keep giving every book 3 stars 😂

Surreal to make this video, in definite sweater weather, talking about some books that I read in the height of summer heat.

🦾 I love that scene! The way I read it was a little different - I think Gurathin's central issue is (and has been all along) not whether Murderbot has the right to make moral judgments, but whether it even UNDERSTANDS that there are alternatives to violence. Remember he hasn't seen the many fights and situations in books 2-3 when Murderbot goes out of its way to use minimum force. I think he's not doubting its morals/intentions so much as its experience/wisdom -- maybe he's making the same mistake that some readers do, assuming that Murderbot's only recently become self-aware -- and Murderbot quite rightly pushes back against that. (AND it does it without pinning Gurathin to the wall this time, which definitely strengthens its argument.) idk I just love their relationship so much, because they're so much alike in some ways. ("55% cognition." "fuck you." "okay make that 60%.")

🚀 It's really striking to me how Murderbot in ASR has this lowkey distaste/contempt for ComfortUnits as a class, which colors its perceptions of (ugh. I don't want to refer to it as "Tlacey's ComfortUnit" because seriously, fuck Tlacey, but it doesn't have another designation-- anyway) THIS ComfortUnit -- but then its investigations and what it discovers about the Ganaka ComfortUnits shake that all up. Also, I second the thanks for not gendering it <3

The corrupt order of Servants was still around at the end of the Tawny Man trilogy.

I was hooked and engaged until the last few chapters. The ending seemed sloppy and unbelievable in my opinion.

Yeah, "read them all...." you mean, read them all at least 3 times?

you're moving too much

oh my god, the ugly cover question is so true lol. Ninth House was my first Bardugo and I think I would appreciate it more now by seeing how her writing has improved, but I definitely didn't love it. Beach Read!!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on that one!

One of Marco's best moments was in the one with the sharks. He is full on board with the mission, not making jokes and pushing to do reckless shit more than rachel. Especially at this point in the series that's not remotely normal and Jake pulls him aside in private and tells him that he is scaring the others and they kind of depend on him being aloof and sarcastic. Then later on they think he drowned but they find him in gorilla morph with an unconscious shark eating a banana.

Thinking fast and slow is a wonderful book Though, it can be very informationally dense and slow going at times, even with good writing and many stories / anecdotes

I actually think Murderbot initially didn't want to become friends with anyone. Rather it wanted to remain as this outsider observing people afar, leading the peaceful isolated life watching soap operas while not experiencing any social conflicts in real life. I totally agree that making some friends is definitely what Murderbot _needs_, but it's not what it wants, because making friends can be so difficult (especially if you've been socialized to function like an object with zero individuality or ambitions). The same thing actually happened with ART, Murderbot definitely became friends with ART, but it was so reluctant to let it happen. Social anxiety + not knowing who you are and what you want and if you can really trust anyone out there. Also, I think there's a reason why all the human characters have been portrayed as very one-dimensional, nearly like caricatures. It's because that's how Murderbot sees humans: superficial and impossible to relate to by any way. I bet it's perception of people will become more vivid and sympathic when the series proceeds.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

10:13 I'm still laughing at me saying "her work has... quality diversity" as a nicer way to say I hated some of her books

🦩 Wow! Such good energy! You make all of these great books seem so exciting! 🤯

I picked up When Among Crows because of your recommendation and really liked it! I should try reading Raven Boys, everyone seems to love it so much, but the main girl’s name just sounds so silly 😂

I wanna be a Frizzle-fool

God, I hate enemies to lovers these days because of how authors don't give actual reasons for animosity.

I'd love to see your take on the Boox Palma.

Couldn’t disagree with you more but that’s the beauty of fantasy novels lol

I just finished the audiobooks within a month. The vocal performances were excellent, and the tension was too intense for me to get bored. The main reason I’m commenting is because somehow I missed that Magpie is Evie! I want to blame it on being distracted while finishing it, but I don’t think I ever would have realized. I’m wondering now if cyanide smiled at her because he recognized her. When was listening, I thought he just liked the idea others continuing the prodigy survival/independence the anarchists fought for. Sounds kind of silly now. :P I’m really glad I know this now, because Evie’s “death” really hurt me. I have a few children, including a baby, and having image was almost enough for me to put it down. I’m glad I continued on, because I love this series.

I also didn’t get the Jade City hype. I thought all of the characters had an interesting base personality. But like you said they don’t have much of a character arc and I have no reason to care about their clan over their rival clan besides the fact that it’s written from their perspective. The world has potential, I actively enjoyed the feeling of this rapidly modernizing society and how the traditional clan structure still held sway and wish it had been explored more.

This was definitely the weakest trilogy. Was super disappointed with it honestly. I could understand Fitz not bonding again but I thought he'd end up more like Burrich being in tune with every animal but not tied to them. The total lack of any development of his Skill & particularly Wit abilities was infuriating. Now I'm just waiting to see how closely GRRM pays homeage to the Graveborn chapter regarding Jon Snows resurrection if The Winds of Winter is ever completed/released. Jon Snow & Rickon Stark are so similar to Fitz in my opinion. I'm sure George has taken some inspiration from Robin Hobb there.

I love your take! Thank you for sharing!

🧟‍♀️ reading Winter Lost now. I took enjoyed binge reading the series. It is Halloween season again!🎃

My love of LOTR started with the movies. I saw the first movie and fell in love with it. It was most of my personality in high school. I read the books in high school too but I didn't really appreciate them. I have been rereading the series because of the new audiobooks narrated by Andy Serkis and his work has definitely made the whole reading experience better. That being said, the books are still kinda boring. But that is my thought about everything that was published more than 60 years ago because ,as most people, you bring your own modern sensibilities to classics and sometimes that negatively effects your reading. (m)

I agree with you about Marcone. I think it was a mistake giving him powers.

thank you for the review!

I think judging Lord of the Rings based on Fellowship alone is like Reading the Farseer Trilogy and then trying to judge the Realm of the Elderlings as a whole. Like, you have quite a lot to go off of, but also.... Liveship Traders. Tawny Man. The best is yet to come!! Ya know?

Hating Lord of the Rings? Heresy. Lunacy. Incomprehensible. Hating the Tom Bombadil chapters? Now THAT is heresy I can get on board with.

I really enjoyed the Scholomance books as well. I dig their sinister whimsy.

I think your issues stem from having a very mathematical mind trying to read a book that is so right-brained its not even funny. So it's okay for you to find it a bit of a slog. I love LOTR because I am Catholic and I love the Catholic themes in the book. I also love the fact that the Hobbits are weak. Tolkien wants to remind us that the smallest and weakest are also heroic, in there own way. He tosses out all of the expected notions of what a hero is.

I think it might have been published in three books because paper was still rationed. Tolkien intended it to published as one with the Silmarinan as well.

I feel like this about the Silmarinan (not sure if I've spelt that right). I tried to read it a few times but find that I can't get into it.

I understand not loving these books, but it hurts me a little bit that you don't like the movies 😅 There are definitely things in the book that I struggle with, like the songs and Tom Bombidil. I usually skip those 🙈 Tolkien is great at writing horror and creeping doom. He really likes exploring characters who choose hope in hopeless situations. I feel like Lord of the Rings is a plot and themes story, not really a character story. I definitely like character driven books more now, but I have nostalgia for LOTR

The fellowship of the ring, as you said, is not 1 book; but its the first part of the book "Lord of the rings". So you cant criticize lord of the rings as a whole without reading.... Lord of the rings. In general, yeah it has its flaws and its weak chapters, but as a whole its pretty well paced and Tolkiens prose is unlike anything you find in modern fantasy (his nature descriptions are amazing). Also, there were some huge dramtic sequences done really well (the scary moments you mentioned, along eith lazad dhum and the flight to the ford); along with internal struggles from Frodo and Sams show of devotion at rhe end. There also is that moral greyness from Boromir, and the reconciliation between the elves and dwarfes, through Gimli and galadriel. We also have the introduction of a previously good character, Saruman, who we learn switched to bad side and teams up with Sauron, and then in turn betrayes Sauron. We also have the amazingly written chapter The Council of Elrond, which is just a masterclass in exposition and how to make it fun. It would be cool if tou could put one those literature professor more often, and if you did, maybe you wouldn't miss obviously well this book is written. It would be interesting to hear why its a bad book though, because a lot of the things you mentioned are either just subjective opinion on what you want and what you think is boring; also the fact that these things you want to happen, actually happen later on in the book (Lord of the rings).

Alright, so I've heard your opinions at the many points all throughout the video (which I found really fun and interesting). You're not qualified yet to "still be a hater". It may not be your thing, and that's totally fine, but you cannot hate what you haven't understood. You cannot be a 'hater' of Lord of the Rings trilogy anymore than you can be a 'hater' of the Copenhagen Interpretation of the wave-particle superposition of general quantum mechanics applications. You're getting closer, but as is true for all great literature, it either calls to you viscerally (very rare) or it's actually a bit of a pain to finish chapter after chapter. I'll let you off the hook with grace if instead of to finish Two Towers and Return of the King you instead commit to finish either Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe to1852) or Grapes Of Wrath (Steinbeck 1939). [both these books are very good and very well worth reading. They aren't exactly very thrilling, but 🤷 All good fiction books seem to be very often way more boring than they really are. If you loved Harry Potter years ago you'd also find it pretty dull today too. So it goes.

So I'm a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings and the broader Tolkien Legendarium, though I have my own nitpicks with it (such as his unending hatred of and dismission of industry of any sort), and I found this video by happenstance. I wholeheartedly agree with your takes so far. The first book or so covers the Hobbits' flight from the Shire until Rivendell and maybe farther, I can't remember exactly where it ends. All of the lore means *so much* once you've invested enough to understand it thoroughly, but if it's your first time reading I'd recommend you to just trudge and make it through. Don't skip, but don't work too hard either. By the time they're headed "across" the Misty Mountains the action will pick up again and you'll follow along easily. I'd highly recommend you to look at maps while reading, specifically the ones on glyphweb_com, aka "the encyclopedia of Arda" (they look a lot like Google Maps). The particular potential paths and destinations are important to understand at least generally, and I find Tolkien's own maps to be...not very good. Without a framework for the world or the time periods, it's hard to find a foothold. You should also figure out the time period, this you can look up but you should know: 1. What month is it currently? 2. What year is it? 3. What era are we in? Tolkien's world is separated into ___ Ages, and at a pivotal moment where the world drastically changes, the era moves from ~3400 λA to 1 (λ+1)A. For reference, the One Ring was forged in approximately 1600 SA. Figure out what that means and how the current time (in the book) generally relates to this description.

Yoooo, Magic Tree House was AMAZING. I loved those stories #memoryunlocked

As someone who also doesn't like Lord of the Rings, this was very satisfying to watch :) helps me justify not trying again even though it's probably been 15+ years since I originally read the series.

Why do I love the Lord of the Rings? I read this as a kid multiple times and it has ignited my love affair for books and especially fantasy books decades later. I love everything about it....... I do skip all the songs though.

I think it’s a mistake to read any book for the first time with the attitude that you’re either going to love it or hate it. There are few books that I hate and few that I love; and I don’t normally love any book on first reading. I’ve reread _The Lord of the Rings_ repeatedly over the years, but I don’t love it; I like it, on the whole, although it has its faults and there are some parts that drag. It was written a long time ago in a style that was old-fashioned even then, aiming to emulate old legends. I think because it was aiming to emulate old legends, there are few women in it. I agree that the songs and poems are superfluous, but I can easily skim over them; this is more difficult if you’re listening to an audiobook, I suppose. _The Fellowship of the Ring_ is really only the beginning of the story, and it’s a very slow-starting story, as you observed. The hobbits in particular go through much more character development in the next two volumes. However, if you dislike the first volume enough that you don’t want to continue, you’re probably not going to love the whole story. You might like volumes two and three better than volume one, but who knows? I like the books better than the films. The films make a fun visual supplement to the books, but they change the story in many ways, mostly for the worse. Sometimes I set out to rewatch the films, but after a while I give up and go back to the books. I don’t mind Tom Bombadil, but he’s not essential to the story, and I can tolerate that he was cut from the film. It’s much worse that they cut the Scouring of the Shire from the third film-a chapter that Tolkien regarded as essential. Without it, the third film reaches a climax and then tails off weakly. I first read the books in 1968, at the age of 14. I read _The Hobbit_ earlier, at the age of 9, and I think I liked it then. I don’t like it so much now; I rarely reread it. It was written for children, and Tolkien had a slight tendency to talk down to children, which I don’t like.

Fellowship is a hard book to love. The pace remains slow in the next books, but there are also more at stakes and the new characters really help... With that said, I don't think I'll reread the series anytime soon. I read through it in 2018 and didn't enjoy it at all (although maybe an audiobook would have helped? I know the story pretty well thanks to the movies so I would not be afraid of loosing my place in the story). The extended movies I'll rewatch endlessly, to the point where I have to hide my boxset or it's the only thing I watch over and over again for months. How could your friends not recommend the extended version? I hope you continue, Two Towers is my favourite (book and movie) of the trilogy and I would love to see you try more Rohan recipes :-p

Oh, I absolutely have seen this coming from a mile away. Even though I do like the books and movies, I still don't think it's the best that fantasy has to offer, even with its extensive world-building, lore and depth. What makes so many people love the story is the breadth of the world, the richness of the language and how iconic everything it did is. Much of what we see today in fantasy began there, that it's hard to appreciate the foundational aspect of it. From what it set out to do, it achieves it masterfully, even if it doesn't really conforms with modern trends in the genre.