I read the Dandelion Dynasty and both of Ken Liu's short story collections this year, based on your reviews, and absolutely fell in love with his writing. I read Piranesi too, and that might be my new favourite book of all time; it was so charming, but also had so much depth and explored its themes in a very compelling way. Thank you for being someone that consistently helps me find books I love, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the year!
I am only 60% through A Feast For Crows but its already my favourite ASOIAF book, and I am with you on the "nobody gets this like I do". Any voice that rises against that masterpiece of character work shall fall.
I myself enjoyed it too! I would say I am struggling with ADWD atm. Find it hard to motivate myself to read it for some reason. Doesn’t interest me too much. Anyway hope you enjoy it when you get round to it.
Great recap! Thank you for making this! Except now my tbr has grown, and I really didn't need that 😉 Looking forward to your Gaiman spotlight, if you go ahead with it. You always have such grounded and insightful takes on these things. Wishing you and the fam happy holidays! 🎄🥳
Had the exact same idea this year. Tier lists are so much fun to make and watch. This video is my lunchtime entertainment today. By the way I LOVE the names you've given each tier 😂.
Feast for Crows love! Such an underrated book.. So far I've only read two Suneater books, and like you, I *liked* Empire of Silence. But I loved Howling Dark. Hopefully you enjoy it more as well
Loved this vid! Made my heart get all warm and fuzzy to see the masterpiece Feast for Crows go into the top tier 💪 I'm also in the midst of a DCC reread to refresh on it before bk 7 -- the fact that you liked bks 1-2 this much bodes so extremely well for falling deeply in love with it overall. Buckle up for the craziness of the next bunch of books!
With the way you and everyone else are hyping up A Feast for Crows, I'm pretty excited to read it. I hope I like it a lot. Idk how anything can top A Storm of Swords (and I'm only 750 pages into it).
Let me counterbalance that hype. Feast is considerably slower than the previous books - even slower than aCoK - while having a lot less plot, so there's this perpetual shallowness to the whole book, like watery soup. It's as if every POV has overgrown their amount of chapters and we're left to read their inconsequential, day to day meanderings - very reminiscent of the slog books in The Wheel of Time - which, even if one likes to read, is inefficient storytelling, and considerably poor editing, both of which Martin didn't engage with in the previous books. The book does deepen the psyche of the characters and thematic work, which is where a lot of the appreciation comes from, but it fails, as a novel, to wrap the arcs it started. Basically every POV ends with a cliffhanger or not where they would've naturally finished if the 4th book hadn't been split into Feast, Dance and, partially, Winds. The fact that the set ups of this book are never met, that we are left to wait for the zenith of both character and thematic work here in Dance or mythical Winds is a blow to this entry. The prose is also less dry in this book than in the previous. Some like it, some don't. There are some moments where I'm very glad Martin took more care, sentence by sentence, to write it very beautifully but there's also a bunch of fluff. Well written, inconsequential fluff. I still think it would've been better to edit Feast down (same with Dance) and publish it as it was meant to be published, one novel, but Feast is, regardless, a very solid book, even if there's a major quality drop from the first three.
It's so sad about Niel Gamin, cuz just beofre the kerfuffle I read 'Ocean at the End of the Lane' and it was my favorite novela I read last year and I'd recommend to any adult. Fortunately I got it 2nd hand
Totally off-topic, but I'd love to see you do videos on The Dark Tower and/or Star Wars and how you'd fit them into the pantheon of subgrenres, etc. you've discussed in other videos. I know you talk briefly about Star Wars in the subgenres video, but something more in-depth would be great. :)
Anxious Generation made it into my top nonfiction list for 2024. Definitely a must read and I hope it makes an impact. Goes good with documentaries like The Social Dilemma and The Creepy Line.
I read the percy jackson books as an adult with my much younger brother. The first two books are actually hard to get through but he really liked them and after that they actually get good. The second set of 5 books was good two. Its still obviously middle grade but not in a bad way?
Looks like you had a great year of reading! Stephen Aryan’s The Coward is well worth your time! My wife absolutely loved The Nightingale and the Falcon series (I haven’t read it yet but it’s high on my TBR for this year)!
I'm right with you on Gaiman. For years, he was one of my favorite authors. I can't deny how much I enjoyed his works. I can't feel comfortable recommending him anymore and probably won't read anything new by him, but I can't deny how much I enjoyed books like American Gods, Good Omens, Anansi Boys, and about a half dozen books and comics.
Absolutely. It’s really difficult for me too because I fell in love with his non fiction essays - his own voice. I took some of his advice to heart. It was a bitter pill to swallow. I’m still working out how I feel about it tbh. I can’t just throw out my love of his words overnight, even if the internet claims you can. For now, like you, im not recommending or reading anything more.
@@Bookborn It does help that as much as I like his writings, I never made that love (for him or any author/series) a core part of my personality, in the way some others have with other artists who turn out to be less-than-great people (not downplaying the allegations, just phrasing to apply more broadly), so I can still acknowledge my love of the works separate for how I feel about the man, and don't feel the knee-jerk need to defend the man because admitting his flaws would force me to take uncomfortable looks at my own views. However, I have had friends asking my thoughts on different works of his, and after telling them how I feel about the man today, I will give them honest answer about his books (most recently, this was a friend asking about giving Coraline, Stardust, or Ocean at the End of the Lane to their middle school aged child and wanting to know if those books were good for that age).
I made a tier list just for me but I experienced something I found interesting: Tier lists made me realize I liked or disliked some books more/less than I thought. As in, well I liked this book more than this one. But the first book I put at say at C tier, so second one has to be D tier but in my mind I had put it in C tier. Or vice versa, pushing some books above the mental tier I had assigned to it without any context. Idk I found it interesting. Watched this video at work cause who in the world gonna be productive on Christmas Eve? Def not me. Edit: I feel the exact way about ASOIAF. They don't know you like I do, GRRM.
I do think it's always interesting to relook at my reading over the year. I find that after some times has passed, I may realize I liked a book more or less then right after I finished.
I loved Dungeon Crawler Carl! I took out the audio from my library, and for some reason my library doesnt have any of the other audiobooks (or ebooks) so idk when I'll finally continue, but yeah, it scratched a specific itch in my brain perfectly.
@@Bookborn I use Libby, and unfortunately on libby they arent even in the deep search for things that are suggestible. But that's a good point, as some point I might actually ask at my library if when libby doesnt have it available to request, I can still request at my library or something! Thanks for the idea!
@@jag519 I use Libby too! But you can go to your library website and request they get it digitily, which would mean it should be availably through libby.
@@Bookborn Thanks for the advise! I actually have to go to my library in 2 days, so I figured I'll just ask them there, but yeah, I didnt think about suggesting it on my library's website
do you think you will watch a knight of the seven kingdoms show when it comes out? i cant immagine dunk and egg adaptation will have the same issues for you as house of the dragon and game of thrones
Excellent video--as usual. Don't mind the length at all. I was interested to hear you were disappointed with Susanna Clarke's "The Wood at Midwinter". Like you, I love her other work, but I was surprised at how blah I found this short story.
I started reading American Gods because of your video earlier this year on Gaiman, and was halfway through when the allegations against him came out. I couldnt finish the book and retroactively disliked the first half because there were too many scenes that felt super uncomfortable when thinking about them with the knowledge of the allegations.
Ok Bookborn, didn’t you read a book about a prisoner of war who became a grandmaster at chess? I’ve been cruising through your videos from this last year trying to find where you mention it, and I can’t find it. So maybe I’m crazy! 😂 or maybe I missed it. Thanks for your reviews and thoughts-I love hearing what you have to say! I also never thought I would try Game of Thrones, and you have almost convinced me 👀 we’ll see :)
Lots of book ideas here, i am working my way through the stormlight archive (i always do a complete re-read before reading the new book). Once that is done, i may have another go at ASOIAF as it was such a long time ago when i first tried the series.
Look forward you reading more Tchaikovsky. Did an all SPFBO book bingo card with 10 finalist from various years, 6 semi finalists from various years a six reads from that year. I made a point to read a couple low scoring finalists. The one you rated low seemed to fit a pattern of being a one judge love but not being highly regarded otherwise. So to me it was a finalist....but. You did well as a judge because even if I disagreed, I could see your logic and could respect your opinion. Good job.
Have you read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt(same author as The Anxious Generation)? Because if you liked Anxious Generation you will love it. It's such a good book that I actually have a hard time talking to people that haven't read it because I feel like they are lacking a base understanding of how we might be seeing things differently
I have recommended this book to her a dozen times so maybe now that someone else is recommending it she might actually read it 😂 agree though, the Righteous Mind is soooo good! Need a reread
I love the Suneater series and would give Empire of Silence a 4.5/5. The concept is unique and the later books really take off. Definitely read more Adrian Tchaikovsky. Children of Time is a great place to start but if you want a really thought provoking read pick up his latest Alien Clay. I really enjoyed it and it’s a standalone.
If you are looking for another Stephen King book to read I have a feeling you would enjoy Christine, Pet Sematary, and Duma Key (It’s a very slow burn but so incredible)
I think I'm going to do Misery next for no other reason then someone brought it to our book exchange and it reinded me that I liked that movie and I want to read it now lol! Then probably 11/22/63 since that gets recommended so much.
@ 11/22/63 is so good. It’s my favorite by him. Misery is definitely a good book but very disturbing and for me hard to read. I hope you enjoy your journey reading more King.
Yeah I agree with you on “The Wolf”, just a middling read that felt like an Alexander the Great story done ok, but nothing groundbreaking or memorable at all though
I hope you have/do share more thoughts on haikyuu at some point! Its characterization and theming becomes so strong as it continues and I'd love to hear your reactions
Am I missing something about The Breath of Dragons? It looks like one you missed, right at bottom of the screen. About the Neil Gaimon stuff, apparently I missed that, but what of HP Lovecraft? He was anti-sematic and more, so you won't read his stories?
Well I haven’t read any HP Lovecraft and likely won’t so no lol. But there’s also a huge difference between someone who isn’t alive and profiting off their works. But also… I’m not telling anyone what to do! I wouldn’t judge someone reading gaiman! I can only say how I feel about it personally 🤷♀️ (And I explained that I’m currently reading breath of the dragon so idk if you skipped the ending or not but I can’t rate it until then)
@@Bookborn Those nerds made this grown man cry in the middle of the day at the office multiple times ("Who?", Barry and Lup's duet, "exits are not made equal", "Enter Julia", every time Clint goes through 4th wall with honest fatherly support for his sons but it's Merle's in-game words that somehow fit the scene, etc.)
IDK if you take recommendations from the comment section, but I really hope you check of "Wings of Fire Legends: Darkstalker." Its a prequel book to the whole series that is a great read as a standalone novel (hence the Legends part of the title) that, while it may be a Y-A book, has stood the time as one of my all time favorite Y-A novels that I think tackled more mature and heavy themes in a great way for younger readers. The themes and messages are so good that I you appreciate and notice them more as an adult than a kid imo, and really makes me appreciate how much passion and respect for a younger audience the author Tui T Sutherland put into that novel.
I didnt know about Neil Gayman, went to the library to get a book that was on my reading challenge and the librarian got really upset that I was looking for The Graveyard and she told me not to read that slime ball. I ended up reading it from another library and thought the book was good not amazing
Given how much Neil Gaiman's fiction and non-fiction seemed to ring true and wise with me, I can't deny I feel somewhat tainted by what's come out about him (and that it could be worse then what he's admitted) - not that being wise and having moral blind spots are mutually exclusive. Surely we haven't got the whole story. I had only read a couple books, and a few comics and short stories, but I haven't continued any since then - I'm sure I haven't stopped though, I'll just have new lenses to consider his work through, and was hoping for more developments. The thing is though, I'm not at all sure why so many are talking about not buying his books new; I just don't see how giving money for his work is money in support of being a sex pest. That's money in support of the stories. Someone like Orson Scott Card, I can see that being a problem, since he's putting his money toward certain homophobic legislation. Does it feed into his celebrity? Perhaps in the past, but unless Neil comes up with a better defense, I think his trust is already ruined, and hopefully anyone thinking of working for him knows about this. I don't know if he'll never publish again, he's a unique perspective and it'll be sad IMO if this is the end, but I personally don't see the moral imperative to not give him money, if we like his stories. And his isn't the only work who's being compensated, what about the illustrators who often decorate his books, and the other people involved when it comes to comics? Anyway, I'll look forward to your video; you always try to find all the angles, though this is indeed a tangled one.
Although I’ve always gravitated towards fantasy my entire life, I do like to read other stuff! Especially some non fiction - I didn’t get to as much as I hoped this year.
I can’t stress enough about how bad of a book The Anxious Generation is. The evidence for his claim is very unfounded by any research. Tap into the If Books Could Kill episode for a good breakdown of its many weaknesses
I don't like this format. It seems many TH-cam reviewers are using it. I can't see the titles of the books in the graphic. I would prefer a presentation where you show the cover of each book as your review it starting from the least favorite to the most. A list of the books in the description ranked by category (Re-reads, Not for me, etc.) would be helpful.
I hadn't heard about Neil Gaiman, I understand your disappointment but I wonder is it fair to take allegations at face value. I looked up what was going on and in my view Gaiman at least deserves a day in court before we pass judgement. Too often judgement comes before the fact finding.
I did my own research and based on stuff Gaimen himself said, I feel that sexual misconduct happened. Everyone of course is allowed to make their own judgements about it when they read about it!
25 books is a LOT. it’s one of the reasons I’ve never done this before - I hate comparing numbers! Remember I read more as a booktuber now because I also need to create content :) and a lot of these were manga which are very quick reads.
I've found out that going the audiobook route gets me through a lot more books than trying to read a physical copy. Last few years I've hardly read anything. Started wheel of time near the end of last year on audio and my "reading" has really picked up. I can't remember exactly but I think I'm over 40 this year. Last 8 of wheel of time, which led me to Sanderson. Read through all 7 mistborn plus secret history, emperor's soul, Yumi, and just finished way of kings yesterday. All of the Sanderson were audiobook except secret history. Most of wheel of time were audiobook too though I did buy Kindle copies of shadow rising and Lord of chaos so I could switch back and forth. Other books included several jack reacher books, some harry Potter rereads, the two short story Witcher collections, a couple posthumous Crichton books, and two Andy weir novels. It's been quite the year lol.
Haha I mean I’m not doing this in a counting thing 🤷♀️ I’m ranking what I read this year and manga was a part of it. I sort of hate the focus on read numbers 🙈 I think when you focus on number you get too into page count. I like to just read what feels good in the moment - whether that means I read 20 books in a year or 75.
Good video! Personally, I’d put A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (all three novellas) in the top tier as well. Dance being a tier below makes total sense. About the Neil Gaiman stuff-I’m not sure why a booktuber would feel the need to address the allegations in a video. Don’t get me wrong, you’re free to make whatever content you want, but it does feel a bit off, like engaging in drama for the sake of it. Most people in the book community are likely aware of the allegations, and for most sane people, it’s a simple case of “this is a terrible person; we shouldn’t support them anymore.” Is there something I’m missing that makes this worth a whole segment? It seems pretty black-and-white to me.
Only feast belongs in the top row as a joke lol so nothing else gets to be there. My video wouldn’t be about the allegations. I had planned to do one of my author spotlights (like I did for Mary Shelly) on him before the allegations came out. I’m interested in still doing that. I would address the allegations there. If I was interested the drama I would’ve made a video right when the news broke. As it’s been several months, I think most rage clicks have ceased.
@RuuyG in england we often have entire sections of bookstores dedicated to manga, and they’re referred to as books in the same way a graphic novel would be
I really wish I got the whole Brandon Sanderson thing. Granted, I've only tried to read one book, the first Stomlight archive, but it felt so hokey to me. The way the assassin at the beginning spoke to himself and thought about others was so reminiscent of the way I thought a cool guy might speak when I was 15
Who are you helping with this comment 🤔 you aren’t informing (authors x,y,z support this etc), you’re claiming I’m a hypocrite (which doesn’t make sense since I can’t be a hypocrite if I haven’t made a statement), so I must assume you are a bot or something
I read the Dandelion Dynasty and both of Ken Liu's short story collections this year, based on your reviews, and absolutely fell in love with his writing. I read Piranesi too, and that might be my new favourite book of all time; it was so charming, but also had so much depth and explored its themes in a very compelling way. Thank you for being someone that consistently helps me find books I love, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the year!
This means so much to me 😭 I’m sooo happy you fell in love with Liu too!
I am only 60% through A Feast For Crows but its already my favourite ASOIAF book, and I am with you on the "nobody gets this like I do". Any voice that rises against that masterpiece of character work shall fall.
WELCOME TO THE OBJECTIVELY CORRECT CLUB!!
😂
Welcome to the Based Club
@@zoesmith3741 welcome to the club. Introspective slow book supremacy.
I myself enjoyed it too! I would say I am struggling with ADWD atm. Find it hard to motivate myself to read it for some reason. Doesn’t interest me too much. Anyway hope you enjoy it when you get round to it.
George RR Martin really the Tom Brady of the bookborn channel
Great recap! Thank you for making this! Except now my tbr has grown, and I really didn't need that 😉
Looking forward to your Gaiman spotlight, if you go ahead with it. You always have such grounded and insightful takes on these things.
Wishing you and the fam happy holidays! 🎄🥳
Merry Christmas PJ! I hope your family had a great one. Which ones are you going to add to your TBR 👀
Had the exact same idea this year. Tier lists are so much fun to make and watch. This video is my lunchtime entertainment today. By the way I LOVE the names you've given each tier 😂.
I love seeing them too! Kind of fun to get a really quick overview for everyone
I'm up for more Diana Wynne Jones 🎉 Will be interesting to see what takes over your 2025.
Happy New Year everyone! Just dropped by to say hi, praise the channel and your videos. Here's to a great year and new videos!!!!
I hope you enjoy Children of Time. I liked the first two thirds of it and loved the last third!
I’m terrified of spiders so I’ve been eh on starting but people have assured me it’ll be fine 😂
@ Recently a commenter told me they are deathly afraid of spiders but loved the book despite this, so I will wish you equally good fortune!
Holy crap... when i saw all the books I immediately realized I've got to step my game up in 2025! Just found Malazan so fingers crossed.
Great reviewing with elaborate details and a good eye candy reviewer to watch!😀
Feast for Crows love! Such an underrated book..
So far I've only read two Suneater books, and like you, I *liked* Empire of Silence. But I loved Howling Dark. Hopefully you enjoy it more as well
Soooo many people have said this so I really need to make time for howling dark this year
Loved this vid! Made my heart get all warm and fuzzy to see the masterpiece Feast for Crows go into the top tier 💪
I'm also in the midst of a DCC reread to refresh on it before bk 7 -- the fact that you liked bks 1-2 this much bodes so extremely well for falling deeply in love with it overall. Buckle up for the craziness of the next bunch of books!
A series that I recommend is Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt. I wish more book tubers talked about it more.
With the way you and everyone else are hyping up A Feast for Crows, I'm pretty excited to read it. I hope I like it a lot. Idk how anything can top A Storm of Swords (and I'm only 750 pages into it).
I think most people prefer storm of swords. It makes sense, that book is excellent. There’s just some stuff in feast that really worked for me
Look storm of swords is better and that's just the facts on the ground 🤣 but Feast is absolutely excellent and very underrated
Let me counterbalance that hype.
Feast is considerably slower than the previous books - even slower than aCoK - while having a lot less plot, so there's this perpetual shallowness to the whole book, like watery soup. It's as if every POV has overgrown their amount of chapters and we're left to read their inconsequential, day to day meanderings - very reminiscent of the slog books in The Wheel of Time - which, even if one likes to read, is inefficient storytelling, and considerably poor editing, both of which Martin didn't engage with in the previous books.
The book does deepen the psyche of the characters and thematic work, which is where a lot of the appreciation comes from, but it fails, as a novel, to wrap the arcs it started. Basically every POV ends with a cliffhanger or not where they would've naturally finished if the 4th book hadn't been split into Feast, Dance and, partially, Winds. The fact that the set ups of this book are never met, that we are left to wait for the zenith of both character and thematic work here in Dance or mythical Winds is a blow to this entry.
The prose is also less dry in this book than in the previous. Some like it, some don't. There are some moments where I'm very glad Martin took more care, sentence by sentence, to write it very beautifully but there's also a bunch of fluff. Well written, inconsequential fluff.
I still think it would've been better to edit Feast down (same with Dance) and publish it as it was meant to be published, one novel, but Feast is, regardless, a very solid book, even if there's a major quality drop from the first three.
It's so sad about Niel Gamin, cuz just beofre the kerfuffle I read 'Ocean at the End of the Lane' and it was my favorite novela I read last year and I'd recommend to any adult. Fortunately I got it 2nd hand
Totally off-topic, but I'd love to see you do videos on The Dark Tower and/or Star Wars and how you'd fit them into the pantheon of subgrenres, etc. you've discussed in other videos. I know you talk briefly about Star Wars in the subgenres video, but something more in-depth would be great. :)
Anxious Generation made it into my top nonfiction list for 2024. Definitely a must read and I hope it makes an impact. Goes good with documentaries like The Social Dilemma and The Creepy Line.
For S.King i loved his short stories more then most of his novels. I love Needful things and Girl that loved Tom Gordon.
I read the percy jackson books as an adult with my much younger brother. The first two books are actually hard to get through but he really liked them and after that they actually get good. The second set of 5 books was good two. Its still obviously middle grade but not in a bad way?
Looks like you had a great year of reading! Stephen Aryan’s The Coward is well worth your time! My wife absolutely loved The Nightingale and the Falcon series (I haven’t read it yet but it’s high on my TBR for this year)!
I'm right with you on Gaiman. For years, he was one of my favorite authors. I can't deny how much I enjoyed his works. I can't feel comfortable recommending him anymore and probably won't read anything new by him, but I can't deny how much I enjoyed books like American Gods, Good Omens, Anansi Boys, and about a half dozen books and comics.
Absolutely. It’s really difficult for me too because I fell in love with his non fiction essays - his own voice. I took some of his advice to heart. It was a bitter pill to swallow. I’m still working out how I feel about it tbh. I can’t just throw out my love of his words overnight, even if the internet claims you can. For now, like you, im not recommending or reading anything more.
@@Bookborn It does help that as much as I like his writings, I never made that love (for him or any author/series) a core part of my personality, in the way some others have with other artists who turn out to be less-than-great people (not downplaying the allegations, just phrasing to apply more broadly), so I can still acknowledge my love of the works separate for how I feel about the man, and don't feel the knee-jerk need to defend the man because admitting his flaws would force me to take uncomfortable looks at my own views. However, I have had friends asking my thoughts on different works of his, and after telling them how I feel about the man today, I will give them honest answer about his books (most recently, this was a friend asking about giving Coraline, Stardust, or Ocean at the End of the Lane to their middle school aged child and wanting to know if those books were good for that age).
I made a tier list just for me but I experienced something I found interesting: Tier lists made me realize I liked or disliked some books more/less than I thought.
As in, well I liked this book more than this one. But the first book I put at say at C tier, so second one has to be D tier but in my mind I had put it in C tier. Or vice versa, pushing some books above the mental tier I had assigned to it without any context. Idk I found it interesting.
Watched this video at work cause who in the world gonna be productive on Christmas Eve? Def not me.
Edit: I feel the exact way about ASOIAF. They don't know you like I do, GRRM.
I do think it's always interesting to relook at my reading over the year. I find that after some times has passed, I may realize I liked a book more or less then right after I finished.
I loved Dungeon Crawler Carl! I took out the audio from my library, and for some reason my library doesnt have any of the other audiobooks (or ebooks) so idk when I'll finally continue, but yeah, it scratched a specific itch in my brain perfectly.
You can always request your library get them!
@@Bookborn I use Libby, and unfortunately on libby they arent even in the deep search for things that are suggestible. But that's a good point, as some point I might actually ask at my library if when libby doesnt have it available to request, I can still request at my library or something! Thanks for the idea!
@@jag519 I use Libby too! But you can go to your library website and request they get it digitily, which would mean it should be availably through libby.
@@Bookborn Thanks for the advise! I actually have to go to my library in 2 days, so I figured I'll just ask them there, but yeah, I didnt think about suggesting it on my library's website
do you think you will watch a knight of the seven kingdoms show when it comes out? i cant immagine dunk and egg adaptation will have the same issues for you as house of the dragon and game of thrones
I’m lightly planning? Gonna let someone watch it first I trust and then report to me. But I expect to be able to!
Excellent video--as usual. Don't mind the length at all. I was interested to hear you were disappointed with Susanna Clarke's "The Wood at Midwinter". Like you, I love her other work, but I was surprised at how blah I found this short story.
I started reading American Gods because of your video earlier this year on Gaiman, and was halfway through when the allegations against him came out. I couldnt finish the book and retroactively disliked the first half because there were too many scenes that felt super uncomfortable when thinking about them with the knowledge of the allegations.
Ok Bookborn, didn’t you read a book about a prisoner of war who became a grandmaster at chess? I’ve been cruising through your videos from this last year trying to find where you mention it, and I can’t find it. So maybe I’m crazy! 😂 or maybe I missed it.
Thanks for your reviews and thoughts-I love hearing what you have to say! I also never thought I would try Game of Thrones, and you have almost convinced me 👀 we’ll see :)
Lots of book ideas here, i am working my way through the stormlight archive (i always do a complete re-read before reading the new book). Once that is done, i may have another go at ASOIAF as it was such a long time ago when i first tried the series.
0:32 When you're not used to doing such a straightforward video concept
😂😂😂
Look forward you reading more Tchaikovsky. Did an all SPFBO book bingo card with 10 finalist from various years, 6 semi finalists from various years a six reads from that year. I made a point to read a couple low scoring finalists. The one you rated low seemed to fit a pattern of being a one judge love but not being highly regarded otherwise. So to me it was a finalist....but. You did well as a judge because even if I disagreed, I could see your logic and could respect your opinion. Good job.
Have you read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt(same author as The Anxious Generation)? Because if you liked Anxious Generation you will love it. It's such a good book that I actually have a hard time talking to people that haven't read it because I feel like they are lacking a base understanding of how we might be seeing things differently
I have recommended this book to her a dozen times so maybe now that someone else is recommending it she might actually read it 😂 agree though, the Righteous Mind is soooo good! Need a reread
@readbykyle3082 mr kyle, you are a gentleman and a scholar and after ASOIAF I don't know how she can not read any of the books you suggest to her.🫡
I love the Suneater series and would give Empire of Silence a 4.5/5. The concept is unique and the later books really take off. Definitely read more Adrian Tchaikovsky. Children of Time is a great place to start but if you want a really thought provoking read pick up his latest Alien Clay. I really enjoyed it and it’s a standalone.
This is neat, I'll try to read most of the ones you rated highly. Thanks for sharing
Merry Christmas Bookborn!
If you are looking for another Stephen King book to read I have a feeling you would enjoy Christine, Pet Sematary, and Duma Key (It’s a very slow burn but so incredible)
I think I'm going to do Misery next for no other reason then someone brought it to our book exchange and it reinded me that I liked that movie and I want to read it now lol! Then probably 11/22/63 since that gets recommended so much.
@ 11/22/63 is so good. It’s my favorite by him. Misery is definitely a good book but very disturbing and for me hard to read. I hope you enjoy your journey reading more King.
"sail the seas" LMAOO I love you
I like Tchaikovsky's style of writing.
Merry Christmas to and ur family 🎊☃️
Merry Christmas!
Yeah I agree with you on “The Wolf”, just a middling read that felt like an Alexander the Great story done ok, but nothing groundbreaking or memorable at all though
I hope you have/do share more thoughts on haikyuu at some point! Its characterization and theming becomes so strong as it continues and I'd love to hear your reactions
Yayy, Haikyuu!! I want to read the manga, but now I'm rewatching the anime.
I’ve never seen the anime! But I love the manga so far! I’ve heard the anime is pretty close to the manga if not dead on.
@Bookborn it looks like the last volumes won't be fully adapted because they'll be movies and not seasons. So next year I'll probably start the manga.
This channel is so fun
... @1:32 I couldn't help it, but my inner middle schooler burst out laughing. I'm new here, so I'll just leave it at that.
What is the Instagram you mentioned for the No Peaks shirt?
Am I missing something about The Breath of Dragons? It looks like one you missed, right at bottom of the screen.
About the Neil Gaimon stuff, apparently I missed that, but what of HP Lovecraft? He was anti-sematic and more, so you won't read his stories?
Well I haven’t read any HP Lovecraft and likely won’t so no lol. But there’s also a huge difference between someone who isn’t alive and profiting off their works. But also… I’m not telling anyone what to do! I wouldn’t judge someone reading gaiman! I can only say how I feel about it personally 🤷♀️
(And I explained that I’m currently reading breath of the dragon so idk if you skipped the ending or not but I can’t rate it until then)
Uh oh, sounds like i need to do some googling about Gaiman...
He was accused of sexual assault unfortunately.
@Bookborn Well, my TBR is already too long to ever finish, so that news makes for some easy cuts.
The Adventure Zone: Balance Arc is a GREAT listen. I laughed so hard to these comedians but ended up crying because the story-telling was that good.
Who didn’t cry during TAZ?? I still remember where I was the first time I heard “who?”
@@Bookborn Those nerds made this grown man cry in the middle of the day at the office multiple times ("Who?", Barry and Lup's duet, "exits are not made equal", "Enter Julia", every time Clint goes through 4th wall with honest fatherly support for his sons but it's Merle's in-game words that somehow fit the scene, etc.)
@@hardyworld "I'd like to use scrying bones"
"Griffin...did you have fun?" 😭
Ok, A Feast for Crows is not a surprise at all!!
You have to excellent taste in books! Glad to come across your channel. The only one I disagree with is Murderbot. I don’t care for that series
I'm stoked to attend the event with Shannon and Fonda Lee with you up in Seattle!
Yay so glad you can come!!
Theres no way this is not going to sound snarky coming from me but you actually read a lot more this year than I would have thought 😂
Lmao but a lot of it was short stuff like manga so it looooks like more than it actually was 😆
Oh, wow. I really caught this one early
Merry Christmas! Where did you get the No Peak shirt?
nevermind, yoiu just said it 🤣
IDK if you take recommendations from the comment section, but I really hope you check of "Wings of Fire Legends: Darkstalker." Its a prequel book to the whole series that is a great read as a standalone novel (hence the Legends part of the title) that, while it may be a Y-A book, has stood the time as one of my all time favorite Y-A novels that I think tackled more mature and heavy themes in a great way for younger readers. The themes and messages are so good that I you appreciate and notice them more as an adult than a kid imo, and really makes me appreciate how much passion and respect for a younger audience the author Tui T Sutherland put into that novel.
Haha my son owns all the wings of fire and loves that book! Maybe I’ll have to read it myself…
What does Y-A mean?
I didnt know about Neil Gayman, went to the library to get a book that was on my reading challenge and the librarian got really upset that I was looking for The Graveyard and she told me not to read that slime ball. I ended up reading it from another library and thought the book was good not amazing
You have an elegance and beauty that's stunning. Thanks for the engaging content!
Great list- Any new favorite authors?
Given how much Neil Gaiman's fiction and non-fiction seemed to ring true and wise with me, I can't deny I feel somewhat tainted by what's come out about him (and that it could be worse then what he's admitted) - not that being wise and having moral blind spots are mutually exclusive. Surely we haven't got the whole story. I had only read a couple books, and a few comics and short stories, but I haven't continued any since then - I'm sure I haven't stopped though, I'll just have new lenses to consider his work through, and was hoping for more developments.
The thing is though, I'm not at all sure why so many are talking about not buying his books new; I just don't see how giving money for his work is money in support of being a sex pest. That's money in support of the stories. Someone like Orson Scott Card, I can see that being a problem, since he's putting his money toward certain homophobic legislation.
Does it feed into his celebrity? Perhaps in the past, but unless Neil comes up with a better defense, I think his trust is already ruined, and hopefully anyone thinking of working for him knows about this. I don't know if he'll never publish again, he's a unique perspective and it'll be sad IMO if this is the end, but I personally don't see the moral imperative to not give him money, if we like his stories. And his isn't the only work who's being compensated, what about the illustrators who often decorate his books, and the other people involved when it comes to comics?
Anyway, I'll look forward to your video; you always try to find all the angles, though this is indeed a tangled one.
I’m reading The Anxious Generation in my PTA book club.
What a great idea! I’m planning to bring it to my pta
Me too I want back to rereading a game of thrones book agree ☺️
Great video and thanks for elaborating a bit. I don’t think you went long at all!
A Feast for Crows is like Jaime, getting carried by Cersei and Brienne.
jaime's dream about joanna > cersei's and brienne's chapters
Glad to see other millennial parents are fans of the ideas in the Anxious Generation. I’m glad I’m not alone.
I think there are many of us! I find myself happier when I’m not glued to social media/my screen. I’m so grateful I read it.
Was not expecting to see Anxious Generation on here but pleasantly surprised! It was a great book and so timely, especially with young kids
Such a good book. I’ve recommended it to so many people!
Did yourkids get the other 2 books from Santa?
You seem to have a much broader spectrum of books that you read in comparison to other BookTubers
Although I’ve always gravitated towards fantasy my entire life, I do like to read other stuff! Especially some non fiction - I didn’t get to as much as I hoped this year.
Different style video for you, I like it!
I can’t stress enough about how bad of a book The Anxious Generation is. The evidence for his claim is very unfounded by any research. Tap into the If Books Could Kill episode for a good breakdown of its many weaknesses
Children of Time has a couple spiders, hope you’ll be OK!
I don't like this format. It seems many TH-cam reviewers are using it. I can't see the titles of the books in the graphic. I would prefer a presentation where you show the cover of each book as your review it starting from the least favorite to the most. A list of the books in the description ranked by category (Re-reads, Not for me, etc.) would be helpful.
Haikyuu is actually top tier
I can’t believe how much I love it
I'm sorry, Eh-Rah-Gon 😅 😅 😅
I hadn't heard about Neil Gaiman, I understand your disappointment but I wonder is it fair to take allegations at face value. I looked up what was going on and in my view Gaiman at least deserves a day in court before we pass judgement. Too often judgement comes before the fact finding.
I did my own research and based on stuff Gaimen himself said, I feel that sexual misconduct happened. Everyone of course is allowed to make their own judgements about it when they read about it!
@@Bookborn That is fair, I just like all the details before I decide where I gtand
Anxious Gen was incredible. I really enjoyed it as well
10:49 conspiracy theories are just real life fiction anyways, so of course it's entertaining
Ok such a good way to put it lol
Howls!!!!!!!!
I never got to read a single Neil Gaiman book before the allegations came out lol
I think that’s easier though? Like if I have something on my tbr it’s easy to take off because I have no emotional attachment to it
Me being proud of reading 25 books, meanwhile Bookborn:
I think that's still impressive, you did good man
25 books is a LOT. it’s one of the reasons I’ve never done this before - I hate comparing numbers! Remember I read more as a booktuber now because I also need to create content :) and a lot of these were manga which are very quick reads.
Most people read way less than that, you did great.
I've found out that going the audiobook route gets me through a lot more books than trying to read a physical copy. Last few years I've hardly read anything. Started wheel of time near the end of last year on audio and my "reading" has really picked up.
I can't remember exactly but I think I'm over 40 this year. Last 8 of wheel of time, which led me to Sanderson. Read through all 7 mistborn plus secret history, emperor's soul, Yumi, and just finished way of kings yesterday. All of the Sanderson were audiobook except secret history. Most of wheel of time were audiobook too though I did buy Kindle copies of shadow rising and Lord of chaos so I could switch back and forth.
Other books included several jack reacher books, some harry Potter rereads, the two short story Witcher collections, a couple posthumous Crichton books, and two Andy weir novels. It's been quite the year lol.
@@Bookborn Thank you for being so kind :D
She’s so pretty! ❤
This tier list is objectively correct.
So glad we agree 😌
Hold up, we're counting manga now? My total read count just went up!
Haha I mean I’m not doing this in a counting thing 🤷♀️ I’m ranking what I read this year and manga was a part of it. I sort of hate the focus on read numbers 🙈 I think when you focus on number you get too into page count. I like to just read what feels good in the moment - whether that means I read 20 books in a year or 75.
@@Bookborn I know I know. I was just teasing.
wow suprised you like ASOIAF but still haven't watched Attack On Titan, its very different but also same\\\
Good video! Personally, I’d put A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (all three novellas) in the top tier as well. Dance being a tier below makes total sense.
About the Neil Gaiman stuff-I’m not sure why a booktuber would feel the need to address the allegations in a video. Don’t get me wrong, you’re free to make whatever content you want, but it does feel a bit off, like engaging in drama for the sake of it. Most people in the book community are likely aware of the allegations, and for most sane people, it’s a simple case of “this is a terrible person; we shouldn’t support them anymore.” Is there something I’m missing that makes this worth a whole segment? It seems pretty black-and-white to me.
Only feast belongs in the top row as a joke lol so nothing else gets to be there.
My video wouldn’t be about the allegations. I had planned to do one of my author spotlights (like I did for Mary Shelly) on him before the allegations came out. I’m interested in still doing that. I would address the allegations there. If I was interested the drama I would’ve made a video right when the news broke. As it’s been several months, I think most rage clicks have ceased.
@@Bookborn lol imagine coming onto your video to accuse you of drama farming many months after the fact. What a diabolical scheme!!
It's so ridiculous that Americans consider manga books 😂😂😂😂 No culture.
🙄🙄🙄
Why single out Americans though? Mangas are books and they are popular worldwide.
@VinnieMF in none of the others countries I know they call them "books".
@@Bookborn 😂
@RuuyG in england we often have entire sections of bookstores dedicated to manga, and they’re referred to as books in the same way a graphic novel would be
I really wish I got the whole Brandon Sanderson thing. Granted, I've only tried to read one book, the first Stomlight archive, but it felt so hokey to me. The way the assassin at the beginning spoke to himself and thought about others was so reminiscent of the way I thought a cool guy might speak when I was 15
Will you read authors who support the genocide in Gaza or will you turn a blind eye to that because you're a hypocrite?
Who are you helping with this comment 🤔 you aren’t informing (authors x,y,z support this etc), you’re claiming I’m a hypocrite (which doesn’t make sense since I can’t be a hypocrite if I haven’t made a statement), so I must assume you are a bot or something