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Happy '25 bro 😊

After watching the series on Netflix I can't help but think whoever wrote Encanto was definitely a fan of this book. 😅

Really enjoyed your review. It seems we had a lot of the same takes. Just finding your channel. Great stuff! Cheers

just finished this book tonight. i completely agree with your assessment. i think this is a book that i personally do not love, but i respect it. the way the book was crafted and written gave it a lot of points for me. unlike most fantasy i read, the plot did not have to be super compelling due to the writing just being so enjoyable. just being able to kinda bask in the world and soak it in was enjoyable. i wouldn't call it a cozy read but i felt cozy reading it.

Like you I loved it and I thought Paradais was just as good. I have her white Fitzcarraldo book This is not Miami to read this year and can’t wait!

"Jose Donoso is my favorite author of the Latin American boom (better than Gabriel Garcia Márquez)." ― Fernanda Melchor Loved Hurricane Season. If you can handle the gore and the sadism and the dysfunction, I would recommend The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso.

I agree with that you have to pick the right time to read it. I started it last year but had to postpone after a few pages. Great review!

Love what you did with the place, hope that wasn't a supporting wall.

Well, now I'm going to have to revisit this book. I tried once and the dense prose was too much. Clearly, the pay off is worth the work in the beginning. Looks like I'll be requesting this one from my library again.

Happy New Year. I'm going to give it a go. I'll let you know. Thanks.

This snuck onto my best of 2024 list right at the end. Brilliant book and completely agree with you

I started reading the First Law series following your rec and excited to read more. Gonna try to pick up Rejection and Annie Bot v soon too. LOVED James. My other fave was Justin Torres Blackouts

was not surprised to find the Tony on this list!!! and two John Williams??? what a list!!! wishing you a sexy reading year in 2025 king!!! <3

Waiting for Demon Copperhead to turn up in the local charity shop to read a Kingsolver. However seeing Poisonwood Bible made the list, I might start there as there is NO shortage of Poisonwood Bibles in second hand stores. Like enough to build a house with.

Nice

A couple of these are very much on my radar to read soon. Happy new year!

I liked the book. The characters are interesting and relatable and the story is intriguing (though a little predictable). I just didn’t like all the time travel paradoxes that come up if you think about it.

Favorite novel read in 2024 is the startling In a Free State by V. S. Naipaul 1971; special mention goes to The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann 1924-incredible English translation by H. T. Lowe-Porter 1927. Thanks for your insightful and energetic reviews of serious books.

Two of these are my faves as well. Great list Andy 📚❤️

Both boys with Abercrombie and Stoner on their lists, we're eating this year

Dude - lose the riff at the beginning! 😂

Rejection slid in 11th hour as one of my top reads and I read based partly on your review so tysm 📖📖🪱💚

Ahhh I'm so happy to see Foster Dade making it onto your best of list for this year! I'm still thinking about that book 16 months on 😃 . As for my best reads of 2024: 1 - Anyone's Ghost, by August Thompson 2 - Runt, by Niall Griffiths 3 - God's Own Country, by Ross Raisin . Full list and extras up on my instagram lol 😉 - @disaffected.youth Have a great 2025 everyone! :)

I very much appreciate the thumbnail. I *think* my tops include James, Committed by Suzanne Scanlon (memoir), The God of the Woods, Soldier Sailor, Ordinary Human Failings, both Brooklyn and Long Island by Colm Toibin, that's off the top of my head, I'll have to look properly at my list. But I feel like it's been quite a conservative reading year.

Soldier sailor was also one of my favourites this year

Beautiful!

Our top 10 lists have James and Soldier Sailor in common. I will be trying Joe Abercrombie in the coming year thanks to you.

I loved Rejection. It was my surprise for this year. But yes, definitely not for school.

First time viewer and already love your content! I personally haven’t read Annie Bot (and I didn’t initially intend to), but I have consistently seen this book be on either “The Best of 2024” videos or “The Worst of 2024” videos. The massive contradictions in opinion I’ve seen on this novel are now making me want to read it.

1 I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman 2 Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden 3 Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy 4 Prophet by Paul Lynch 5 Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey 6 James by Percival Everett 7 Again and Again by Jonathan Evison 8 So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan 9 Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro 10 Monstrilio by Gerardo Samano Cordova I could just keep on going..... 🤷🏻‍♀️

Annie Bot and Rejection are already on my TBR; James was my #1 of the year. My video also posted today. Now I’m also interested in Foster Dade. This was fun to watch!

1. Soldier Sailor- Claire Kilroy 2. The Love Songs of WEB DuBois-Honoree Jeffers 3. There Are Rivers In The Sky- Elif Shafek 4. And So I Roar- Abi Daré 5. James Percival Everett 6. Wellness- Nathan Hill 7. Little Rot- Akwaeke Emezi 8. The Vaster Wilds- Lauren Groff 9. I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together- Maurice Vellekoop 10. Ohio- Stephen Markley (I had this book for years and your review motivated me to finally read it)

Great list. I am looking forward to Rejection. His 2016 novel Private Citizens is brilliant.

If anyone wants to really understand what slavery and slaves were like, I would recommend reading 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. This autobiographical novel is an excellent non-fictional account of a free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The story is compelling and the writing excellent. It is factual unlike James and really is a superb book. John Williams is a master and Hyperion was excellent also. Have a Happy New Year. Thanks.

Read Stoner this year too! I read 3 Deborah Levy books this year- they would be my number one this year

I’m pretty sure that I read Soldier Sailor, Hyperion and Stoner this year because of recommendations from this channel. Rated all highly, although only one made my Top Ten (not ordered!): Private Rites by Julia Armfield North Woods by Daniel Mason All Fours by Miranda July Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy The Bee Sting by Paul Murray Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke Intermezzo by Sally Rooney The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

I’m with you… book before movie. I remember when Girl with the Pearl Earring opening in the theaters, I was reading the book. I did a 2 hr marathon read to finish the book then ran out, THAT DAY, to see the movie😉😁

One thing I already know for sure about you: You LOVE this Abercrombie guy! Anyway hope to read Rejection next week if my local library comes through. Be well, Happy New Year!⚛❤

The thumbnail 😂 Very pleased to see Soldier Sailor here. James too. Bloody loved them both. Glad you liked Rejection - I’m looking forward to it getting its UK release in the new year. And this is the second video in a row I’ve watched with Stoner at number one… sign from the universe maybe? 👀

Thank you! There's a couple here I want to read. My favourite of 2024 has been "The Sons of El Rey" by Alex Espinoza.

My top 5 are James, My Friends, Long Island, How to Say Babylon, & Knife. Hit a reading slump (around Election Day). Hope to start the New Year with fresh energy & a long TBR. Happy New Year! ,

Nice list. Happy New Year and Happy reading!

I really didn't like The adventures of Huckleberry Finn and couldn't finish it. Would you say James can be understood and enjoyed as much if you haven’t read/didn't like Huckleberry Finn?

Really happy to have found you channel this year. It's nice to find someone with similar reading taste (except for Stoner lol). Here's to great books in 2025. My top 5 this year were 1)Wellness 2)Small Things Like These 3)Eileen 4) The Rachel Incident 5) The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

O yes, Stoner is one of my favorites 😍

Lol i appreciate your thumbnail and including an entire series as one of the top 10-it totally counts! Happy to have seen your reading life unfold all year, excited to see how 2025 fares ❤

Love your list! Hyperion, James and Stoner were also some of my favorite books. Annie Bot and Soldier Sailor were two of my least favorites last year. That is the magic of books, something for everybody. Rejection is on my tbr list but going into it with some trepidation.

What a corking selection of books. I have been wanting to read Foster Dade since I first saw you talk about it - just need to get my mitts on the edition you showed. Butcher's Crossing sounds great, love a beautiful but brutal book. I will be reading Rejection early in the new year, am excited for the uncomfortableness ahead.

How can people read long long books like this one?? There’s something wrong with me for sure

Are you watching the netflix series?