Hi Jake, August was a slow month for my reading and I not entirely sure why. (I might have spent too much time playing Valheim) Bakker has been on my radar for a while. I might have to try and fit him in sometime. I only read 4 books in August and one of those was a short story The Forgotten Beats Of Eld - Patricia A McKillip (excellent book) Piranesi - Susanna Clarke (awesome read, which made me buy Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to read also) Priest Of Bones - Peter McLean (not the worst book I've read this year, but reasonably pants) The Willows - Algernon Blackwood (short story, but a very good read, excellent prose) Book of the month was Piranesi, really loved it.
Quality over quantity!! I keep going back and forth on whether I am the right reader for The Darkness That Comes Before, but I almost just want to try out it out of pure morbid curiosity. Good to know about the solid character work though, that is defnitely new to me and intrigues me more!
The audiobook narrator for Project Hail Mary also does the Terminal List books by Jack Carr and he’s excellent in those. I’ll have to check PHM out myself! Bakker is on the list, but just like Malazan I’ve only ever heard people talk around the series and not give a pitch about what the plot or set up is…so I’m not sure when I’ll get to it. (To be fair I’ve heard more about Malazan since then, it just took a while. lol)
The Darkness That Comes Before is about a bunch of folks preparing for a holy war, with some people there to get info about other stuff, some people trying to get power from it, and some who wnat to do some holy warring. Then some dude named Kellhus shows up who generally puts a big wrench in things with his ability to perfectly understand people's emotions from visual queue's
Our August wrap ups are comically opposite in terms of number of books, but it’s cool to have a more focused month with something deep like this! I’m pretty pumped to try Bakker
Awesome stuff Jake! I feel like I would reallllly need to hype myself up before jumping into Bakker I'm glad to hear Terra Ignota is strong through to the end 💪🏼
You will be fine reading Bakker, it is dark, but I don't think it is an outlier in darkness compared to other dark fantasy books Perhaps the Stars is so goooood
Bakker’s stuff sounds like the epitome of “misery porn” even moreso than the stuff I usually apply that designator to. I read 5 books for a readathon, with Court of Assassins by Phillip C. Quaintrell being the standout. I’ve been dragging ass through Oathbringer ever since. Will probably take me another week at least,
Bakker is an amazing writer. Sometimes, I wished he just wrote something else. His writing is incredibly visceral and he just gets in your head. He also made me put down a book and just walk away for a few minutes. But that is much later.
Bakker is super underrated. I couldn't stop highlighting quotes on my first read. So glad you read this book. I definitely understand why you were worried about getting into the Second Apocalypse. It is NOT for most people. That being said, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on The Warrior Prophet. Rock on, dude!
Kyle can indeed by a good influence on occasion 🤗 he got me to prioritize Sarantine Mosaic which unless something insane happens is going to he my book of the year. I don’t know if Bakker is for me. I’m such a melancholy person by nature that I would definitely have to be in the mood for it. It does sound amazing though. Abberant month what with this move abroad but August was still relatively positive. I relistened to the audiobook of Dune, which is stilll a great book and probably one of my favorite reads of all time. Not much to report on that one except Scott Brick is a severely underrated voice actor and narrator. He plays Duke Leto the Just in the audiobook as well as God Emperor Leto the Second in the God Emperor epitaghs. Such an interesting voice! Also finished reading, finally, the Art and Soul of Dune part 1 which talks about the making of the 2021 film. This supplies further, undeniable evidence that practical effects are the way to go. :D Some short fiction I read was Kawabata's Master of Go and the fifth installment of Legend of the Galactic Heroes series, both of which I had a great time with. LOGH is my go to cheesy sci fi series when I need a break from other things. I do think it is funny though how much Tanaka, the author, loves to talk about exactly how good looking one of his main characters is. I mean, he described his laugh in one book as sounding like gemstones clattering together or something. Maybe it's the translation. Still amuses me to know end so I can't really complain about it. Kawabata continues to impress me with his books about post war Japan. Master of Go is literally about one game of Go that takes place over a six month period between an elderly Master and a rising Go genius. Fans of the Queen's Gambit may be interested. I am planning on reading Snow Country in November, which heavily contributed to his Nobel Prize. A five star book for me this month was actually an art book. The Art of the Ghost of Tushima. Absolutely stunning content here. The love these developers had for their game is palpable. This is in the running for my top ten of the year. I was inspired to find some reading material on the history of Japan during this tumultuous period because of this game so I read The Mongol Invasion of Japan by Stephen Turnbull this month. This is apart of a large series of books called Osprey Campaigns which are usually between ninety and 100 pages long and include large illustrations. Each book focuses on a historical battle and are great for people who are interested in learning more about military history but don't have a good background in the subject. I read their book on Sekigahara last month and it was quite informative. Had a few mild disappointments this month. Beasts of a little land by Juhea Kim was a read I have been looking forward to for a bit. It takes place in Korea between the World Wars when Korea was under Japanese occupation. I thought this was going to focus more on history but it ended up being more of a romance so unless you were really interested in these characters there wasn't a ton to see. Ah well. For a premier book it wasn't bad it just wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Bigger dissapointment was, sadly, Tigana by GGK. This book.....it just wasn't my thing. I almost wish it had focused more on the sorcerer who cursed Tigana and the love story on the island so we could see it develop a bit more naturally. Or maybe it could have been written as a dark comedy about two dictators trying to sabotage each other and the local people being passively uncooperative. There was a section of the book that was written just like this that had me actually cracking up when I was driving (this is obviously a land grab how stupid does he think we are?). The way this book is, Kay never really develops the unique culture or history of Tigana, except for the importance of the name, and I never quite came to care about it. Kay is still one of my favorite authors though and I have three books of his planned for the rest of the year while I am abroad. Happy reading guys and have a splendid week!
Thanks, for some reason I am kinda happy when people like Sarantine and don't like Tigana just to create a counter narrative to Petrik's reviews. (nothing against Petrik ) Also yet another reason to not start with Tigana
Well, happy to be of service. I started with Under Heaven which was my book of the year last year. I would say that or Lions is a good start. Sarantine is so funny to read as a history person 😆 particularly when Kay puts in these very famous quotes from history. Once and a while it feels more akin to historical fiction but then you get these big slaps in the metaphorical face that remind you this isn’t history and you have no idea what’s going to be the actual result. Cheers 🍻
Personally I think free will is a pretty nonsensical concept, and I certainly don't believe in it, at least in the way that I think it would most often be philosophically defined. But I also agree that determinism/lack of free will's implications and often wildly overstated, I don't think the belief I hold really should directly lead to any sort of pessimism or, for that matter, nihilism, at least with the negative connotations that we all associate with that word. I am definitely waiting for release date before I read WAT. But THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE PAGES!!!!?? That's like longer than some novels...
Yeah, Bookborn would despise Bakker's books. In August I read: *Comics* Green Lantern Book One Written by Geoff Johns | Art by Ethan Van Sciver - I think Hal Jordan become my fav DC character. He shuts Batman up with 1 punch 🤣 Hawkeye Volume 1: My Life As a Weapon Written by Matt Fraction | Art by David Aja - He's lame in the films but I adore Hawkeye in the comics. Thor God of Thunder: God Butcher Written by Jason Aaron | Art by Esad Ribic - Fantastic! *Fantasy* Rain Wild Chronicles 1: Dragon Keeper - Really liked it. Wars of Light & Shadow 2: Ships of Merior - I'm in it for the long haul now! With the exception of Dakar, I really enjoy these characters and this world. I'm a mood reader anyway, especially with this series. I NFNed Jonathan Maberry's Patient Zero (again) and Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo. I'm currently reading too many things 😅: *Comics* Astonishing X-Men Complete Collection 1 Written by Joss Whedon | Art by John Cassaday New Avengers Complete Collection 1 Written by Brian Bendis | Art by David Finch *Fantasy* Malazan BotF 2: Deadhouse Gates (re-read) Memory Sorrow & Thorn 2: Stone of Farewell *Historical-Fantasy* A Song for Arbonne / Guy Gavriel Kay *Mystery* Mystic River / Dennis Lehane - About a third of the way through, and its fantastic.
Hi Jake, August was a slow month for my reading and I not entirely sure why. (I might have spent too much time playing Valheim)
Bakker has been on my radar for a while. I might have to try and fit him in sometime.
I only read 4 books in August and one of those was a short story
The Forgotten Beats Of Eld - Patricia A McKillip (excellent book)
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke (awesome read, which made me buy Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to read also)
Priest Of Bones - Peter McLean (not the worst book I've read this year, but reasonably pants)
The Willows - Algernon Blackwood (short story, but a very good read, excellent prose)
Book of the month was Piranesi, really loved it.
The beauty of this comment is immeasurable, it's kindness infinite
Quality over quantity!! I keep going back and forth on whether I am the right reader for The Darkness That Comes Before, but I almost just want to try out it out of pure morbid curiosity. Good to know about the solid character work though, that is defnitely new to me and intrigues me more!
I literally have felt the same about Darkness That Comes Before, and pushed it back for like 2 years
@@jakebishop7822 Maybe I should finally follow in your footsteps then...
Excellent !!!
Kellhus know you would type this
The audiobook narrator for Project Hail Mary also does the Terminal List books by Jack Carr and he’s excellent in those. I’ll have to check PHM out myself!
Bakker is on the list, but just like Malazan I’ve only ever heard people talk around the series and not give a pitch about what the plot or set up is…so I’m not sure when I’ll get to it.
(To be fair I’ve heard more about Malazan since then, it just took a while. lol)
The Darkness That Comes Before is about a bunch of folks preparing for a holy war, with some people there to get info about other stuff, some people trying to get power from it, and some who wnat to do some holy warring.
Then some dude named Kellhus shows up who generally puts a big wrench in things with his ability to perfectly understand people's emotions from visual queue's
@@jakebishop7822 sounds like a bunch of stuff happening to a bunch of people somewhere!
Our August wrap ups are comically opposite in terms of number of books, but it’s cool to have a more focused month with something deep like this! I’m pretty pumped to try Bakker
You hit 12 right! I'm gonna try and stat pad one of the remaining months
@@jakebishop7822 hah yep it was 12…with some definite stat padding. Average book length was probably 300 mmpb pages
Bakker is fantastic. 😊 Glad you loved it too 🎉
Cold Moon over Babylon by McDowell was my favorite last month. Spooky small town in Alabama.
Spooky home Alabama, where the skies are so blue
Awesome stuff Jake! I feel like I would reallllly need to hype myself up before jumping into Bakker
I'm glad to hear Terra Ignota is strong through to the end 💪🏼
You will be fine reading Bakker, it is dark, but I don't think it is an outlier in darkness compared to other dark fantasy books
Perhaps the Stars is so goooood
Bakker’s stuff sounds like the epitome of “misery porn” even moreso than the stuff I usually apply that designator to.
I read 5 books for a readathon, with Court of Assassins by Phillip C. Quaintrell being the standout. I’ve been dragging ass through Oathbringer ever since. Will probably take me another week at least,
I wouldn't quite go that far. It isn't all misery, I was kinda worried about the same thing.
Bakker is an amazing writer. Sometimes, I wished he just wrote something else. His writing is incredibly visceral and he just gets in your head. He also made me put down a book and just walk away for a few minutes. But that is much later.
@@EricMcLuen i can see that happening. I'll take it over someone who can't cause any viseral reaction though
Bakker is super underrated. I couldn't stop highlighting quotes on my first read. So glad you read this book. I definitely understand why you were worried about getting into the Second Apocalypse. It is NOT for most people. That being said, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on The Warrior Prophet. Rock on, dude!
@@slay.187 🤟🤟🤘
Kyle can indeed by a good influence on occasion 🤗 he got me to prioritize Sarantine Mosaic which unless something insane happens is going to he my book of the year.
I don’t know if Bakker is for me. I’m such a melancholy person by nature that I would definitely have to be in the mood for it. It does sound amazing though.
Abberant month what with this move abroad but August was still relatively positive. I relistened to the audiobook of Dune, which is stilll a great book and probably one of my favorite reads of all time. Not much to report on that one except Scott Brick is a severely underrated voice actor and narrator. He plays Duke Leto the Just in the audiobook as well as God Emperor Leto the Second in the God Emperor epitaghs. Such an interesting voice!
Also finished reading, finally, the Art and Soul of Dune part 1 which talks about the making of the 2021 film. This supplies further, undeniable evidence that practical effects are the way to go. :D
Some short fiction I read was Kawabata's Master of Go and the fifth installment of Legend of the Galactic Heroes series, both of which I had a great time with. LOGH is my go to cheesy sci fi series when I need a break from other things. I do think it is funny though how much Tanaka, the author, loves to talk about exactly how good looking one of his main characters is. I mean, he described his laugh in one book as sounding like gemstones clattering together or something. Maybe it's the translation. Still amuses me to know end so I can't really complain about it.
Kawabata continues to impress me with his books about post war Japan. Master of Go is literally about one game of Go that takes place over a six month period between an elderly Master and a rising Go genius. Fans of the Queen's Gambit may be interested. I am planning on reading Snow Country in November, which heavily contributed to his Nobel Prize.
A five star book for me this month was actually an art book. The Art of the Ghost of Tushima. Absolutely stunning content here. The love these developers had for their game is palpable. This is in the running for my top ten of the year.
I was inspired to find some reading material on the history of Japan during this tumultuous period because of this game so I read The Mongol Invasion of Japan by Stephen Turnbull this month. This is apart of a large series of books called Osprey Campaigns which are usually between ninety and 100 pages long and include large illustrations. Each book focuses on a historical battle and are great for people who are interested in learning more about military history but don't have a good background in the subject. I read their book on Sekigahara last month and it was quite informative.
Had a few mild disappointments this month. Beasts of a little land by Juhea Kim was a read I have been looking forward to for a bit. It takes place in Korea between the World Wars when Korea was under Japanese occupation. I thought this was going to focus more on history but it ended up being more of a romance so unless you were really interested in these characters there wasn't a ton to see. Ah well. For a premier book it wasn't bad it just wasn't exactly what I was looking for.
Bigger dissapointment was, sadly, Tigana by GGK. This book.....it just wasn't my thing. I almost wish it had focused more on the sorcerer who cursed Tigana and the love story on the island so we could see it develop a bit more naturally. Or maybe it could have been written as a dark comedy about two dictators trying to sabotage each other and the local people being passively uncooperative. There was a section of the book that was written just like this that had me actually cracking up when I was driving (this is obviously a land grab how stupid does he think we are?). The way this book is, Kay never really develops the unique culture or history of Tigana, except for the importance of the name, and I never quite came to care about it. Kay is still one of my favorite authors though and I have three books of his planned for the rest of the year while I am abroad.
Happy reading guys and have a splendid week!
Thanks, for some reason I am kinda happy when people like Sarantine and don't like Tigana just to create a counter narrative to Petrik's reviews. (nothing against Petrik )
Also yet another reason to not start with Tigana
Well, happy to be of service. I started with Under Heaven which was my book of the year last year. I would say that or Lions is a good start.
Sarantine is so funny to read as a history person 😆 particularly when Kay puts in these very famous quotes from history. Once and a while it feels more akin to historical fiction but then you get these big slaps in the metaphorical face that remind you this isn’t history and you have no idea what’s going to be the actual result.
Cheers 🍻
Yaaaaaa I need to get to this book heavy
Even if you stall for 2 years you will still be taking less time to get to it than I did
@@jakebishop7822 okay fantastic-I think I have 18 months left
Kudos on keeping the review under 10 mins.
Thanks, it was really difficult
Personally I think free will is a pretty nonsensical concept, and I certainly don't believe in it, at least in the way that I think it would most often be philosophically defined. But I also agree that determinism/lack of free will's implications and often wildly overstated, I don't think the belief I hold really should directly lead to any sort of pessimism or, for that matter, nihilism, at least with the negative connotations that we all associate with that word.
I am definitely waiting for release date before I read WAT. But THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE PAGES!!!!?? That's like longer than some novels...
I missed this comment somehow but yay compatibilism
Also yes, that is more than some novels, and not enough Ineedmorenowitiskillingme
just bought hail mary!!!!😊
It's legitimately great! Didn't talk about it much since it's a reread, but it is so addictive
Yeah, Bookborn would despise Bakker's books.
In August I read:
*Comics*
Green Lantern Book One
Written by Geoff Johns | Art by Ethan Van Sciver
- I think Hal Jordan become my fav DC character. He shuts Batman up with 1 punch 🤣
Hawkeye Volume 1: My Life As a Weapon
Written by Matt Fraction | Art by David Aja
- He's lame in the films but I adore Hawkeye in the comics.
Thor God of Thunder: God Butcher
Written by Jason Aaron | Art by Esad Ribic
- Fantastic!
*Fantasy*
Rain Wild Chronicles 1: Dragon Keeper
- Really liked it.
Wars of Light & Shadow 2: Ships of Merior
- I'm in it for the long haul now! With the exception of Dakar, I really enjoy these characters and this world. I'm a mood reader anyway, especially with this series.
I NFNed Jonathan Maberry's Patient Zero (again) and Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo.
I'm currently reading too many things 😅:
*Comics*
Astonishing X-Men Complete Collection 1
Written by Joss Whedon | Art by John Cassaday
New Avengers Complete Collection 1
Written by Brian Bendis | Art by David Finch
*Fantasy*
Malazan BotF 2: Deadhouse Gates (re-read)
Memory Sorrow & Thorn 2: Stone of Farewell
*Historical-Fantasy*
A Song for Arbonne / Guy Gavriel Kay
*Mystery*
Mystic River / Dennis Lehane
- About a third of the way through, and its fantastic.
Bro has a lot going on