Ha ha! I love the opening! And I don't own a tuxedo, but if I did, it would be a tweed one. 😁Also, we now have video evidence that not only is Rick Thunder NOT the same person as Brian Bell, but he is also several inches taller . . . Or maybe it was the hair . . . Anyway, this was so much fun, Josh! Thank you for inviting me to participate!
Yes, Rick and Brian are officially not the same person! Thanks again for taking part and sorry Dennis Lehane edged you out this year for Favorite Reread!
This was so fun, I love the work you put into all your videos. I haven’t read any of these but some are on my TBR. Congrats on 10K, very well deserved!
I was hoping to see the tights. 😅 Loved the intro! Someone said it already: the classiest awards show on Booktube. Not surprised at your book of the year which I'm adding to my TBR. I suspect I'm also going to love GGK and hope to get to Song for Arbonne in the next few months.
The Tux! 😎🙌 Congratulations on the 4th Annual Fury, Josh! Ruocchio, «Sarantine Mosaic» & «A Brightness Long Ago»! 🤩🙌 As for myself: Best Self-Pub: Perhaps a bit cheating, but «The Lesser Devil» by Christopher Ruocchio (Novella #1.5 in the «Sun Eater» series) was technically a Self-Pub at first at least! 😅 Favorite Reread: «Frankenstein» by Mary Shelley (the awesome illustrated edition drawn by Bernie Wrightson!) Best Nonfiction: «The Power Broker» by Robert Caro (Political Biography/Investigative Journalism Classic: What an amazing mix of encyclopedic knowledge, real life larger than life characters & wit, as a showcase, his description of NYC Mayor La Guardia as a mayoral candidate: «La Guardia possessed qualifications for making the run beyond the fact that, half Jewish and half Italian, married first to a Catholic and then to a Lutheran of German descent, himself a Mason and an Episcopalian, he was practically a balanced ticket all by himself.» 😂) Best New Author: A very crowded field with Christopher Ruocchio («Sun Eater»), R. Scott Bakker («The Prince of Nothing») & Tad Williams («Memory, Sorrow & Thorn»), but Tad wins this year! Author of the Year: Again, many great contestants, with Tad Williams, R. Scott Bakker, Guy Gavriel Kay (so close!), but me this year’s author was Robert Harris (the «Cicero» Historical Fiction Trilogy)! Best Series: «The Prince of Nothing» would definitely win Most Challenging Series, and «Memory, Sorrow & Thorn» has a magnificent buildup to the ending in «To Green Angel Tower», but I have to give it the «Cicero» Trilogy by Robert Harris, consistently top tier writing and story, with the eponymous Cicero being my favorite character of 2024! Best Book of the Year: I am tempted to «A Brightness Long Ago» by Guy Gavriel Kay the sole title as compensation for Robert Harris & the «Cicero» Trilogy’s winning streak, but I HAVE to split this between «ABLA» by GGK and «Imperium» by Robert Harris («Cicero» #1)! Cheers Josh, may 2025 be an even greater reading year! 🙌
@ Harris has such a great knowledge of the period, but my main selling point is that he really brings the historical figures to life with great wit and humanity: Pompey (pompous, and long disliked by the Senate for his relative lack of pedigree, military prowess and popularity among commoners, but also rather inept in politics and a genuine family man wearing his heart on his sleeve), Crassus (one of the wealthiest man of Empire, but forced to be a calculated power behind the scenes with his lack of military accomplishments in a martial oriented society, constantly keeping track of every slight against him and every service owed to him), Caesar (at first written of as a populist libertine coming from a prestigious family, but greatly indebted (seemingly making him a lapdog for Crassus), but soon showcase a political and military mind that would outgrow both Crassus and Pompey), Cato (the staunchly ideological stoic and conservative senator, championing anti-corruption and defending the Republic against potential dictators, but also SO socially inept and austere, that despite his pedigree and wealth that comes across as a cranky and often very unpopular hobo and mood killer, my second favorite character! 😄) and of course Cicero (a great and humane portrayal, clearly inspired by Harris’ involvement in British Politics: A great rhetorician and family man, but often tempted by power and prestige (often at the risk of his loved ones and the expense of his principles), constantly shifting between being the sole defender of justice against much powerful forces, an «untouchable» «Master of the Universe» and attempted exiled or assassinated by his rivals)!
Well done Josh! superfun to watch. Everyone is putting so much time and attention in making these videos. I feel next year someone should host the 'book award' awards 😉
Started Lions of Al-Rassan last night, just over 100 pages in and I see exactly why you gush over Guy Gavriel Kay. Planned on going to the book store today and now I might have to snag the first book of The Sarantine Mosaic. As usual, you never steer me wrong.
That intro, ICONIC hahah. Loved seeing all the nominees and winners, you really had such a strong year! Hope 2025 can live up to it. Can't wait to get back to Lehane and GGK, you've got me so excited!
I want to read A Brightness Long Ago as my next GGK. I know it connects to other books he's written, but not sure how. Is it okay to read it if I've only read Lions, Tigana, and Under Heaven?
You're fine reading Brightness - the connections are extremely minor. You'll get some Lions Easter eggs and some from the Sarantine Mosaic, but nothing that rules out having to read them first.
Interesting choices, think you've convinced me to give Guy Gavriel Kay a go, and maybe after watching the LeHane video I'll be brave enough to try him too despite my prejudices. Another great end of year show!
Book of the year - Navigators Children by Tad Williams. I predict that when you get to the end of Osten Ard this will definitely feature on your awards.
Hahaha! Tuxedo in tights? Great hearing all your choices, Josh! I’m so happy Sword of Kaigen won the self-published category, and I’m excited to pick up A Brightness Long Ago!
This was so much fun to watch ! I had a look at all the books I read in 2024 and as a fiction book 'A Brightness Long Ago' wins, as a non-fiction book 'The Book of Hope : A Survival Guide for Trying Times' by Jane Goodall wins. I hope we all have a very satisfying reading year in 2025 !
Great job with the video! I think my book of the year was maybe Pillars of the Earth or Blackwater Saga. Neither of them are fantasy, so that's pretty unusual for me. I guess my fantasy book of the year is either Demon in White, Empire of the Damned, or the Trouble with Peace.
A stellar year, Josh! My reading in 2024 was fallow, for personal reasons, but I still had some excellent reads. My top five are: 1. Declare - Tim Powers 2. Tender - Sofia Samatar 3. Grace of Kings - Ken Liu 4. Power and the Glory - Graham Greene 5. Romeo and Juliet/The Winter’s Tale - William Shakespeare
@ I mean, I’ve started with Lions of Al-Rassan, so 2025 is off to a great start! Just moving slowly because it’s such a heavy workload this semester :)
This makes me want to read more Dennis Lehane. I read Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone and they were excellent. I have never read any Guy Gavriel Kay, so I'll have to add him to the TBR. My favorite books this year were World Without End by Ken Follett, The Royal Succession by Maurice Druon, Jade City by Fonda Lee, Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Eversion by Alastair Reynolds.
I hope you enjoy more Lehane! Guy Gavriel Kay has quickly become a favorite author of mine. World Without End is fantastic, and I hope you continue to enjoy the Druon books - The Lily and The Lion is my favorite of them all.
I’m sure your TBR is massive and you receive many recommendations, but since you mentioned Midnight in Broad Daylight, I’d like to make a recommendation for a non-fiction book that really had a big impact on my life, and it’s called Alicia: My Story, by Alicia Appleman-Jurman. I read the book maybe 15 years ago and after finishing it, I looked up the author’s number and she was listed. Alicia answered the phone and I couldn’t help but ball my eyes out, and she was so gracious and we ended up talking for a good 20 minutes. Turns out, she received calls weekly from all over the world from readers like me and she enjoyed talking to them, even when they woke her during the night. Alicia passed away in 2017 at the age of 86. Her book remains one of the most profound non-fiction books I’ve ever read and I recommend it to anyone. 🙏
Thank you for the recommendation - I do have a ridiculous amount of books on the TBR, but the spreadsheet can easily have another line to add this book.
Great video - you set a high bar for booktubers. Also, this should finally put to rest the ridiculous falsehood that Brian and Rick are the same person.
I’m curious about something… do indie authors like Tori Tecken choose to self publish? I read The Blood Stones and devoured that back from start to finish. How is she is not with Penguin or S&S or others? And I wonder if it’s perhaps by choice? Maybe there’s a freedom authors like Tori enjoy that allows for some greater creativity. I haven’t read any other self published authors only because my TBR is already big, but I know there are plenty out there that I will get to, that I’ve learned about from book tubers.
I can't answer for individual authors, but I do know that some of them self-publish to maintain 100% control of the product. I'm sure that there are many that try the traditional route and don't find a publisher so publish it themselves to get the book into the hands of readers. As for Tori Tecken's book being traditionally published, I agree, it definitely is of high quality that you would think a traditional publisher would want to publish it.
Ha ha! I love the opening! And I don't own a tuxedo, but if I did, it would be a tweed one. 😁Also, we now have video evidence that not only is Rick Thunder NOT the same person as Brian Bell, but he is also several inches taller . . . Or maybe it was the hair . . . Anyway, this was so much fun, Josh! Thank you for inviting me to participate!
Yes, Rick and Brian are officially not the same person! Thanks again for taking part and sorry Dennis Lehane edged you out this year for Favorite Reread!
@@RedFuryBooks No problem! 😊 I’ll be reading Mystic River in March for the Quilluminati, so I’ll get a taste of his writing!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy oh that's right! I think you'll enjoy your time with him!
This was so fun, I love the work you put into all your videos. I haven’t read any of these but some are on my TBR. Congrats on 10K, very well deserved!
My top five are:
The Passage, A Song for Arbonne, This Tender Land, The Lincoln Highway and In Memorium. Honorable mention to The Frozen River.
Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the congrats! And I love that A Song for Arbonne and The Passage were both in your top 5 this year!
Great show, Josh! Truly honored to see Altar in the mix, and a hearty *congratulations* to the winner!
Thanks and glad you liked it!
Great video Josh! A Brightness Long Ago does sound really good. I’m not surprised it was your book of the year.
Thanks, Chas!
I was hoping to see the tights. 😅 Loved the intro!
Someone said it already: the classiest awards show on Booktube.
Not surprised at your book of the year which I'm adding to my TBR. I suspect I'm also going to love GGK and hope to get to Song for Arbonne in the next few months.
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on A Song for Arbonne!
The Tux! 😎🙌 Congratulations on the 4th Annual Fury, Josh!
Ruocchio, «Sarantine Mosaic» & «A Brightness Long Ago»! 🤩🙌
As for myself:
Best Self-Pub: Perhaps a bit cheating, but «The Lesser Devil» by Christopher Ruocchio (Novella #1.5 in the «Sun Eater» series) was technically a Self-Pub at first at least! 😅
Favorite Reread: «Frankenstein» by Mary Shelley (the awesome illustrated edition drawn by Bernie Wrightson!)
Best Nonfiction: «The Power Broker» by Robert Caro (Political Biography/Investigative Journalism Classic: What an amazing mix of encyclopedic knowledge, real life larger than life characters & wit, as a showcase, his description of NYC Mayor La Guardia as a mayoral candidate: «La Guardia possessed qualifications for making the run beyond the fact that, half Jewish and half Italian, married first to a Catholic and then to a Lutheran of German descent, himself a Mason and an Episcopalian, he was practically a balanced ticket all by himself.» 😂)
Best New Author: A very crowded field with Christopher Ruocchio («Sun Eater»), R. Scott Bakker («The Prince of Nothing») & Tad Williams («Memory, Sorrow & Thorn»), but Tad wins this year!
Author of the Year: Again, many great contestants, with Tad Williams, R. Scott Bakker, Guy Gavriel Kay (so close!), but me this year’s author was Robert Harris (the «Cicero» Historical Fiction Trilogy)!
Best Series: «The Prince of Nothing» would definitely win Most Challenging Series, and «Memory, Sorrow & Thorn» has a magnificent buildup to the ending in «To Green Angel Tower», but I have to give it the «Cicero» Trilogy by Robert Harris, consistently top tier writing and story, with the eponymous Cicero being my favorite character of 2024!
Best Book of the Year: I am tempted to «A Brightness Long Ago» by Guy Gavriel Kay the sole title as compensation for Robert Harris & the «Cicero» Trilogy’s winning streak, but I HAVE to split this between «ABLA» by GGK and «Imperium» by Robert Harris («Cicero» #1)!
Cheers Josh, may 2025 be an even greater reading year! 🙌
Thanks for recapping your year for me! You REALLY have me intrigued about the Cicero Trilogy now!
@ Harris has such a great knowledge of the period, but my main selling point is that he really brings the historical figures to life with great wit and humanity: Pompey (pompous, and long disliked by the Senate for his relative lack of pedigree, military prowess and popularity among commoners, but also rather inept in politics and a genuine family man wearing his heart on his sleeve), Crassus (one of the wealthiest man of Empire, but forced to be a calculated power behind the scenes with his lack of military accomplishments in a martial oriented society, constantly keeping track of every slight against him and every service owed to him), Caesar (at first written of as a populist libertine coming from a prestigious family, but greatly indebted (seemingly making him a lapdog for Crassus), but soon showcase a political and military mind that would outgrow both Crassus and Pompey), Cato (the staunchly ideological stoic and conservative senator, championing anti-corruption and defending the Republic against potential dictators, but also SO socially inept and austere, that despite his pedigree and wealth that comes across as a cranky and often very unpopular hobo and mood killer, my second favorite character! 😄) and of course Cicero (a great and humane portrayal, clearly inspired by Harris’ involvement in British Politics: A great rhetorician and family man, but often tempted by power and prestige (often at the risk of his loved ones and the expense of his principles), constantly shifting between being the sole defender of justice against much powerful forces, an «untouchable» «Master of the Universe» and attempted exiled or assassinated by his rivals)!
Amazing job as always Josh! And congrats again on the 10k :)
Thanks on both accounts!
That was awesome Josh, off to buy A brightness Long ago ❤ pS special mention to 3 veŕy funny guest presenters 😂😂😂
I hope you love the book, and yes the guest presenters were awesome!
Nice TUX lol, hey! Great to see @PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy here! Good to see self-pub work here, too.
Thanks for checking out the show!
Well done Josh! superfun to watch. Everyone is putting so much time and attention in making these videos. I feel next year someone should host the 'book award' awards 😉
A Book Awards show about Book Awards! Yes! lol
Started Lions of Al-Rassan last night, just over 100 pages in and I see exactly why you gush over Guy Gavriel Kay. Planned on going to the book store today and now I might have to snag the first book of The Sarantine Mosaic. As usual, you never steer me wrong.
So glad Kay is working for you!
That intro, ICONIC hahah. Loved seeing all the nominees and winners, you really had such a strong year! Hope 2025 can live up to it. Can't wait to get back to Lehane and GGK, you've got me so excited!
Haha the ending was such fun!
Always look forward to the Awards! I always add your books to my list of books to read. My favorite book is read last year was Frankenstein!
Happy to provide solid recommendations for you and glad you loved Frankenstein!
I want to read A Brightness Long Ago as my next GGK. I know it connects to other books he's written, but not sure how. Is it okay to read it if I've only read Lions, Tigana, and Under Heaven?
You're fine reading Brightness - the connections are extremely minor. You'll get some Lions Easter eggs and some from the Sarantine Mosaic, but nothing that rules out having to read them first.
Loved this vid and the cameos! Also loved seeing all the big wins for GGK - so well deserved for Sarantine and Brightness!!!
A big GGK year for both of us!
Great choices. GGK is one of a kind.
Agreed!
Thank you Josh for the fury awards 2024, i got to read some this year.
The classiest awards show on book tube!
Thank you!
Interesting choices, think you've convinced me to give Guy Gavriel Kay a go, and maybe after watching the LeHane video I'll be brave enough to try him too despite my prejudices.
Another great end of year show!
Glad you enjoyed the show and I hope both authors work for you!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying Sun Eater! I’ll try to take better care of the award envelope next time 🤦♂️
Thanks again for presenting! Next year we'll pin it to your shirt!
Book of the year - Navigators Children by Tad Williams. I predict that when you get to the end of Osten Ard this will definitely feature on your awards.
One book in, I'm definitely enamored with the world. I can see why so many people call Williams their favorite!
Hahaha! Tuxedo in tights? Great hearing all your choices, Josh! I’m so happy Sword of Kaigen won the self-published category, and I’m excited to pick up A Brightness Long Ago!
That first scene was fun to shoot! Thanks again for moving the Sword of Kaigen up my TBR - it obviously was a great choice for me!
This was so much fun to watch !
I had a look at all the books I read in 2024 and as a fiction book 'A Brightness Long Ago' wins, as a non-fiction book 'The Book of Hope : A Survival Guide for Trying Times' by Jane Goodall wins.
I hope we all have a very satisfying reading year in 2025 !
Glad you enjoyed the video and that we had the same book of the year! On to 2025!
Great job with the video! I think my book of the year was maybe Pillars of the Earth or Blackwater Saga. Neither of them are fantasy, so that's pretty unusual for me. I guess my fantasy book of the year is either Demon in White, Empire of the Damned, or the Trouble with Peace.
Thank you! And Pillars is a fantastic book of the year!
Josh how do I choose between Trouble With Peace, Ship of Magic, Lions of Al Rassan and the Witchwood Crown? 2024 was a very good year!
That's a fantastic year!!!!
A stellar year, Josh! My reading in 2024 was fallow, for personal reasons, but I still had some excellent reads. My top five are:
1. Declare - Tim Powers
2. Tender - Sofia Samatar
3. Grace of Kings - Ken Liu
4. Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
5. Romeo and Juliet/The Winter’s Tale - William Shakespeare
I hope 2025 is more productive for you, but these are some heavyweight authors that you did manage to read last year!
@ I mean, I’ve started with Lions of Al-Rassan, so 2025 is off to a great start! Just moving slowly because it’s such a heavy workload this semester :)
@@paulwilliams6913 don't be surprised is The Lions of al-Rassan is your wire-to-wire book of the year for you in 2025!
@ I fully expect that to be possible, though Gene Wolfe waits in the wings….
That opening 👌. That movie was a riot on release 😆
That quote has been living rent free in my head for 30 years!
Really feel I need to read my GGK and Denis lahane, great vid
Yes and yes and glad you enjoyed the video!
And yes your intro was really funny!!
Thank you - that was fun!
This makes me want to read more Dennis Lehane. I read Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone and they were excellent. I have never read any Guy Gavriel Kay, so I'll have to add him to the TBR. My favorite books this year were World Without End by Ken Follett, The Royal Succession by Maurice Druon, Jade City by Fonda Lee, Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Eversion by Alastair Reynolds.
I hope you enjoy more Lehane! Guy Gavriel Kay has quickly become a favorite author of mine. World Without End is fantastic, and I hope you continue to enjoy the Druon books - The Lily and The Lion is my favorite of them all.
You're going to have a blast diving deeper into GGK's stuff!
I'm almost done with Kay until rereads! I only have 5 left! Eek!
The sarantine mosaic was a top read of 2024 for me and is in my top reads of all time. GGK is incredible.
Indeed - he's an author of note to put it mildly.
I’m sure your TBR is massive and you receive many recommendations, but since you mentioned Midnight in Broad Daylight, I’d like to make a recommendation for a non-fiction book that really had a big impact on my life, and it’s called Alicia: My Story, by Alicia Appleman-Jurman.
I read the book maybe 15 years ago and after finishing it, I looked up the author’s number and she was listed. Alicia answered the phone and I couldn’t help but ball my eyes out, and she was so gracious and we ended up talking for a good 20 minutes. Turns out, she received calls weekly from all over the world from readers like me and she enjoyed talking to them, even when they woke her during the night. Alicia passed away in 2017 at the age of 86. Her book remains one of the most profound non-fiction books I’ve ever read and I recommend it to anyone. 🙏
Thank you for the recommendation - I do have a ridiculous amount of books on the TBR, but the spreadsheet can easily have another line to add this book.
Great video - you set a high bar for booktubers. Also, this should finally put to rest the ridiculous falsehood that Brian and Rick are the same person.
Yep! Rick appears to be a few inches taller than Brian! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Josh I just downloaded the audio for Midnight in Broad Daylight from my library, it sounds great!!
I hope you enjoy it, Heidi!
how have you not read John Gwynne by now ?
My 18 year break from the fantasy genre. I'm still playing catch up!
@@RedFuryBooks ahhhh ,understood . Bless you
I’m curious about something… do indie authors like Tori Tecken choose to self publish? I read The Blood Stones and devoured that back from start to finish. How is she is not with Penguin or S&S or others? And I wonder if it’s perhaps by choice? Maybe there’s a freedom authors like Tori enjoy that allows for some greater creativity.
I haven’t read any other self published authors only because my TBR is already big, but I know there are plenty out there that I will get to, that I’ve learned about from book tubers.
I can't answer for individual authors, but I do know that some of them self-publish to maintain 100% control of the product. I'm sure that there are many that try the traditional route and don't find a publisher so publish it themselves to get the book into the hands of readers. As for Tori Tecken's book being traditionally published, I agree, it definitely is of high quality that you would think a traditional publisher would want to publish it.
Waiting from Chile.
From Sweden here ;)
Hahahaha that intro
Glad you liked it!