Hey man, I discovered your channel earlier and its just really encouraging and helpful for me trying to get back into reading as a young adult. I really like that you have a nice little community here, made sure to subscribe cause I like your energy. I know you have a lot of books on your list to read, and it seems like you mostly like fantasy series' but I would recommend a short, book (I think set in like the fifties) called flowers for Algernon. I read it a few months ago and it's become one of my favorite if not my favorite one off book.
I'm so excited about Tigana! With luck, I might start it tomorrow, but I imagine it will take me some time to finish. You own so many nice editions for your TBR, and I can relate to having a growing Kindle maybe list.
I need to read more GGK. I read Tigana last year and I thought it was good, but it didn't blow me away. In April I'll be reading Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff. I just started Blackwater by Michael McDowell. I think that will take quite a while. It's 1400 pages. And then I hope to get to the 2nd Dagger and Coin book by Daniel Abraham, and possibly start the Suneater series.
From those you mention, I've just read Tigana. I think it may be my favorite by Kay. I'll be very surprised if it it's not a contender for your book of the year.
My spring TBR is Liveship Traders, I am halfway through the Ship of Magic and just love it! Other series : finishing the Bound & the Broken and starting Lawrence’s The Library Trilogy on Dr Chase’s recommend. I too have not read him yet. I going to attempt to read Lions of Al- Rassan but I have not liked GGK so far. What I finally realized is that I do not have the tolerance for dense prose. The ceiling for me has been Hobb, Wurts in Empire and Scott in Boudica.
Totally agree with GGK. I loved Tigana and now I have Lion of al-Rassan and Ysabel coming up. Rama!!! Yay❤ so good. I loooove the science in this. Dickens wow that's been a while.
I feel like I should really take this as my sign to finally tackle Tigana... but I also know myself better than that and will probably keep procrastinating 🤣 Those Broken Empire editions are so pretty, I hope you like the story inside! And nice to see some Lehane in the plans, I will keep my eyes peeled for that in-depth video about his works! Happy reading, hope you have a wonderful spring ahead of you ;)
Joining you on the Tigana read. The Three Musketeers is lovely - hope you enjoy it. I feel like re-reading Monte Cristo one of the days. Really want to get to A Tale of Two Cities, and Bleak House, this year... Otherwise, I have Mad Ship, the new Katherine Arden and Tchaikovsky this April. Hope all your travelling goes smoothly 😊
Glad you'll be reading Tigana with us! Bleak House I haven't read yet - that's the one Dickens novel I don't have in the Easton Press Editions I own, but A Tale of Two Cities is a top 2 work of Dickens for me. It or David Copperfield get my top pick, depending on my mood!
Lots to enjoy! Going in with tempered expectations with Tigana might just make the book blow your socks off, haha. I loved it personally (and went in with high expectations).
Probably? Strong possibility? I will take it! Spent many hours of my life listening to Joe Jackson, I will be over the moon if I am the one who introduced you to him! It is amazing that at 50 & at 53 you can still discover new/old music. Just the other day I fell in love with 2 Simon & Garfunkel songs I never heard before: The Only Living Boy in New York & Leaves that Are Green.
Sounds like a good reading plan, Josh. Hopefully you will get to most of them in the spring. I have Lions of Al-Rassan on deck. I’m visiting Madrid in early June for vacation and I thought it would be a good one to read. I’m currently reading The Farewell Angel by Spanish novelist Carmen Martin Gaite. It is literary fiction but has a surreal effect to it & after 50 pages and it is giving me a contemporary feel of Madrid. Good start so far. I’m so glad GGK is getting a lot of love from the Booktube Community. I truly believe he is one of best novelists working today regardless of genre. I hope more readers discover his work by the videos that several Booktubers are posting. Looking forward to Lions of Al-Rassan which will be my 7th Kay novel. And I plan to read Tigana after that one. Good video, Josh. Happy Reading! 👍🏿
Lions would definitely be a great prelude to vacationing in Spain. It's such a fantastic book. I started Tigana last night and marveled at the beauty of the Prologue! Kay is truly a master.
Good to know Lions of Al-Rassan. Kay is a master. Glad to read you are liking Tigana. Even though, it was his breakout novel. It has been divided amongst the readers. Still, I’m looking forward to reading it after Lions.
Very much looking forward to your review and discussion of «Tigana»! This March I have/will have finished: «Brother Red» by Adrian Selby (Grimdark Fantasy, standalone «midquel» to «Snakewood» & «The Winter Road») «Judas Blossom» by Stephen Aryan (Fantasy inspired by the Mongol Conquest of Persia) «Suldrun’s Garden» (Lyonesse Trilogy #1) by Jack Vance ((Pre-)Arthurian Fantasy) Due to a recent family loss, I had to push «The Fort» (City of Victory Trilogy #1) by Adrian Goldsworthy (Historical Military Fiction set during Emperor Trajan’s Campaigns) back from my March TBR until April. My April TBR List: «The Green Pearl» (Lyonesse Trilogy #2) by Jack Vance ((Pre-)Arthurian Fantasy) «Ash: A Secret History» by Mary Gentle (Alt-Historical Military Fiction inspired by the Mercenary Wars of the Renaissance) «The City» (City of Victory Trilogy #2) by Adrian Goldsworthy (Historical Military Fiction set during Emperor Trajan’s Campaigns) «Empire of Silence» (Sun Eater, #1) by Christopher Ruocchio (Space opera) My April MBR list: «After Rome» by Morgan Llywelyn (Historical Fiction set in Post-Roman Britain) «Idoru» by William Gibson (Cyberpunk) «Kings of the Wyld» by Nicholas Eames (Fantasy Humor) My May TBR List: «The Wise Man’s Fear» by Patrick Rothfuss (Fantasy, sequel to «The Name of the Wind») «Madouc» (Lyonesse Trilogy #3) by Jack Vance ((Pre-)Arthurian Fantasy) «The Dragonbone Chair» (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1) by Tad Williams (Epic Fantasy, a key influence for George R. R. Martin's « A Song of Ice and Fire»)
It's a good idea to read a short story between novels. I haven't bought a collection of short stories for years because i am mostly interested in series. I've got a few historical series to follow up, but it would be nice to have a short stories in other genre.
Excited for your thoughts on Tigana and Rama. Loved them both for different reasons. Read the Krondor books forever ago but I remember I liked them. Hope you get to more Dresden! Ha, on Prince of Thorns oh-Champion of my DNF Challenge. It was the runner-up.
Great video Josh! I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts on Tigana. I hope you enjoy Broken Empire. I DNFd Prince of Thorns and don’t plan on going back.
My current WIP is essentially historical fantasy, in that it's set in a world heavily inspired by the European Bronze Age (and by Indo-European mythology). I've been reading and greatly enjoying Poul Anderson's The Golden Horn, first book in his The Last Viking series about Harald Hardrada, and although the time period is very different, the common element of European warrior cultures is very resonant for me. Also, his prose is *incredible.*
I love how you show us the books in a small montage. Looking forward to hear your thoughts on Tigana,hope you'll like it. I haven't read any GGK yet,I wanted to read Under Heaven but unfortunately couldn't get to it this month. I've finished Empire of the Damned and the trilogy Memory,Sorrow and Thorn,I will definitely start reading GGK next month.
I just love Rendezvous with Rama. I hope you love it as much as I did. It's my third favorite science fiction book (after Dune and The Martian Chronicles). I also really enjoyed The Old Curiosity Shop. I didn't expect that much from this novel, but I really enjoyed it.
Will be interested to hear how you like Rendezvous with Rama. I read 2001 A Space Odyssey recently and liked it but didn’t love it. I’m trying to read more classic sci fi but I find it can be difficult to find books that still hold up today. I have Mystic River and will be reading it soon. Also, bought The Twelve since I enjoyed The Passage so much.
Tigana has been on my TBR for years. I'm eager to hear what you think of it. Inspired by you, I ran out and bought a copy of Under Heaven by GGK. Buddy read in April is Age of War by Michael J Sullivan (he's become my favorite author). Also, May is the ebook Kickstarter release of Drumindor by Michael J Sullivan.
I read Tigana a long time ago and from my memory it was a good read, for me his weakest book is River Of Stars. It's good to see you reading more of the Riftwar Saga. I really need to give it a re-read. Did you ever read Feist's stand alone novel Faerie Tale? It has been so long since I read it, but I do remember enjoying it. I have Rendezvous With Rama on my wish list, but after having read Childhood's End and not enjoying it, I'm not so sure about giving Rama a go. I'll be interested to see how you get on with it.
I read Faerie Tale a few years ago. I really liked the first half, but felt the last third was weak. I just started Tigana last night and am enjoying it!
I read a number of Dickens's books in my younger years but they were a bit of a strain for me when he got into his tedious mode. Too often I was turning pages to see how long he was going to go on describing the bright red jacket of a hotel doorman etc. However, for a Dickens adjacent novel, check out Dodger by Terry Pratchett. Dodger (from Oliver Twist) is here as a teenager living an underground survival life in London. By a twist of fate he encounters Sweeney Todd the murderous barber and disarms him. A newspaper reporter named Charles Dickens hears about it and writes him up as a hero. It's an easy read that takes us through the streets and sewers of Elizabethan London, and a typical Pratchett romp.
Great vid you have a very open mind on books I have tried many different book but always come back to sci-fi or fantasy, love Michael connelly series too, I have read one of Haruki Murakami a talk about running book I remember it been good I don't think I would be into many of his books but wanted to ask if you have read 1Q84 I get the twist in the name with the 1984 novels I have read reviews and book write up very mix reviews but does sound very different if you have read what your take on it
Hey man, I discovered your channel earlier and its just really encouraging and helpful for me trying to get back into reading as a young adult. I really like that you have a nice little community here, made sure to subscribe cause I like your energy.
I know you have a lot of books on your list to read, and it seems like you mostly like fantasy series' but I would recommend a short, book (I think set in like the fifties) called flowers for Algernon. I read it a few months ago and it's become one of my favorite if not my favorite one off book.
Thanks for hanging out on the channel! Flowers for Algernon is firmly on the TBR and I hope to get to it sometime soon!
I'm so excited about Tigana! With luck, I might start it tomorrow, but I imagine it will take me some time to finish. You own so many nice editions for your TBR, and I can relate to having a growing Kindle maybe list.
Tigana looks like a chunkier one from Kay. I'll likely start tomorrow!
I need to read more GGK. I read Tigana last year and I thought it was good, but it didn't blow me away. In April I'll be reading Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff. I just started Blackwater by Michael McDowell. I think that will take quite a while. It's 1400 pages. And then I hope to get to the 2nd Dagger and Coin book by Daniel Abraham, and possibly start the Suneater series.
THE DAUGHTERS' WAR!! June 🙌🏼
From those you mention, I've just read Tigana. I think it may be my favorite by Kay. I'll be very surprised if it it's not a contender for your book of the year.
Oh awesome!
Rendezvous with Rama is one of my faveorites, excited to see what you think :)
Awesome!
Great plan you have made!
My spring TBR is Liveship Traders, I am halfway through the Ship of Magic and just love it! Other series : finishing the Bound & the Broken and starting Lawrence’s The Library Trilogy on Dr Chase’s recommend. I too have not read him yet.
I going to attempt to read Lions of Al- Rassan but I have not liked GGK so far.
What I finally realized is that I do not have the tolerance for dense prose. The ceiling for me has been Hobb, Wurts in Empire and Scott in Boudica.
Glad you're enjoying Ship of Magic and I hope you like Lions!
Blood Rites is so fun 🦃
Totally agree with GGK. I loved Tigana and now I have Lion of al-Rassan and Ysabel coming up.
Rama!!! Yay❤ so good. I loooove the science in this.
Dickens wow that's been a while.
Awesome - I hope you enjoy Lions!
I feel like I should really take this as my sign to finally tackle Tigana... but I also know myself better than that and will probably keep procrastinating 🤣
Those Broken Empire editions are so pretty, I hope you like the story inside! And nice to see some Lehane in the plans, I will keep my eyes peeled for that in-depth video about his works! Happy reading, hope you have a wonderful spring ahead of you ;)
Haha you should join us for Tigana! I hope your reading this spring is amazing!
Joining you on the Tigana read. The Three Musketeers is lovely - hope you enjoy it. I feel like re-reading Monte Cristo one of the days. Really want to get to A Tale of Two Cities, and Bleak House, this year... Otherwise, I have Mad Ship, the new Katherine Arden and Tchaikovsky this April.
Hope all your travelling goes smoothly 😊
Glad you'll be reading Tigana with us! Bleak House I haven't read yet - that's the one Dickens novel I don't have in the Easton Press Editions I own, but A Tale of Two Cities is a top 2 work of Dickens for me. It or David Copperfield get my top pick, depending on my mood!
Lots to enjoy! Going in with tempered expectations with Tigana might just make the book blow your socks off, haha. I loved it personally (and went in with high expectations).
I hope so! It's hard for me to not have high expectations with GGK.
The audiobook is amazing ❤
Probably? Strong possibility? I will take it! Spent many hours of my life listening to Joe Jackson, I will be over the moon if I am the one who introduced you to him! It is amazing that at 50 & at 53 you can still discover new/old music. Just the other day I fell in love with 2 Simon & Garfunkel songs I never heard before: The Only Living Boy in New York & Leaves that Are Green.
I'm sure I'll explore his music as I read the memoir just to get further understanding.
Excited for Rama, and hopefully you love Tigana! For musician memoirs I feel strongly that you would love Acid For the Children by Flea
Oooh, a Flea memoir? I'm writing that one down!
Sounds like a good reading plan, Josh. Hopefully you will get to most of them in the spring.
I have Lions of Al-Rassan on deck. I’m visiting Madrid in early June for vacation and I thought it would be a good one to read. I’m currently reading The Farewell Angel by Spanish novelist Carmen Martin Gaite. It is literary fiction but has a surreal effect to it & after 50 pages and it is giving me a contemporary feel of Madrid. Good start so far.
I’m so glad GGK is getting a lot of love from the Booktube Community. I truly believe he is one of best novelists working today regardless of genre. I hope more readers discover his work by the videos that several Booktubers are posting. Looking forward to Lions of Al-Rassan which will be my 7th Kay novel. And I plan to read Tigana after that one.
Good video, Josh. Happy Reading! 👍🏿
Lions would definitely be a great prelude to vacationing in Spain. It's such a fantastic book. I started Tigana last night and marveled at the beauty of the Prologue! Kay is truly a master.
Good to know Lions of Al-Rassan. Kay is a master. Glad to read you are liking Tigana. Even though, it was his breakout novel. It has been divided amongst the readers. Still, I’m looking forward to reading it after Lions.
I've read several of Guy Gavriel Kay's books, including the Fionavar Trilogy. Great author; I enjoyed them all.
Awesome! I'm just getting started but he's 4 for 4 with me.
Absolutely down for a Dennis Lehanne video, I read Mystic River and A Drink Before The War and was blown away.
He's really really good
Very much looking forward to your review and discussion of «Tigana»!
This March I have/will have finished:
«Brother Red» by Adrian Selby (Grimdark Fantasy, standalone «midquel» to «Snakewood» & «The Winter Road»)
«Judas Blossom» by Stephen Aryan (Fantasy inspired by the Mongol Conquest of Persia)
«Suldrun’s Garden» (Lyonesse Trilogy #1) by Jack Vance ((Pre-)Arthurian Fantasy)
Due to a recent family loss, I had to push «The Fort» (City of Victory Trilogy #1) by Adrian Goldsworthy (Historical Military Fiction set during Emperor Trajan’s Campaigns) back from my March TBR until April.
My April TBR List:
«The Green Pearl» (Lyonesse Trilogy #2) by Jack Vance ((Pre-)Arthurian Fantasy)
«Ash: A Secret History» by Mary Gentle (Alt-Historical Military Fiction inspired by the Mercenary Wars of the Renaissance)
«The City» (City of Victory Trilogy #2) by Adrian Goldsworthy (Historical Military Fiction set during Emperor Trajan’s Campaigns)
«Empire of Silence» (Sun Eater, #1) by Christopher Ruocchio (Space opera)
My April MBR list:
«After Rome» by Morgan Llywelyn (Historical Fiction set in Post-Roman Britain)
«Idoru» by William Gibson (Cyberpunk)
«Kings of the Wyld» by Nicholas Eames (Fantasy Humor)
My May TBR List:
«The Wise Man’s Fear» by Patrick Rothfuss (Fantasy, sequel to «The Name of the Wind»)
«Madouc» (Lyonesse Trilogy #3) by Jack Vance ((Pre-)Arthurian Fantasy)
«The Dragonbone Chair» (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #1) by Tad Williams (Epic Fantasy, a key influence for George R. R. Martin's « A Song of Ice and Fire»)
How are you enjoying the Jack Vance books? They're on the "someday" TBR. And I need to read Tad Williams too!
Good stuff, Josh! I may have to join you all for Tigana in April. I read a Song for Arbonne because of your rave review and I freaking loved it.
I'm so happy to hear you loved A Song for Arbonne and hope you can join us for Tigana!
It's a good idea to read a short story between novels. I haven't bought a collection of short stories for years because i am mostly interested in series. I've got a few historical series to follow up, but it would be nice to have a short stories in other genre.
Yes, I try to move around with the short story authors into different genres, too! But a lot of them naturally write in different genres.
Excited for your thoughts on Tigana and Rama. Loved them both for different reasons. Read the Krondor books forever ago but I remember I liked them. Hope you get to more Dresden! Ha, on Prince of Thorns oh-Champion of my DNF Challenge. It was the runner-up.
I'm VERY interested to see what I feel about Prince of Thorns!
Great video Josh! I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts on Tigana. I hope you enjoy Broken Empire. I DNFd Prince of Thorns and don’t plan on going back.
Thanks, Chas! Time will tell with Broken Empire!
I also tend to read one Dickens a year but more around Christmas Time. I don't have a specific order. My next will be Martin Chuzzlewit.
My only order is I'll be reading my unread ones by publication order. So Martin Chuzzlewit is 2025 for me!
You've *really* sold me on GGK! I love history and I love fantasy, so he sounds like the perfect author for me.
My current WIP is essentially historical fantasy, in that it's set in a world heavily inspired by the European Bronze Age (and by Indo-European mythology). I've been reading and greatly enjoying Poul Anderson's The Golden Horn, first book in his The Last Viking series about Harald Hardrada, and although the time period is very different, the common element of European warrior cultures is very resonant for me. Also, his prose is *incredible.*
Thanks for tipping me off to Poul Anderson - I had only tangentially heard the name. And I do think you'll like GGK!
I love how you show us the books in a small montage. Looking forward to hear your thoughts on Tigana,hope you'll like it. I haven't read any GGK yet,I wanted to read Under Heaven but unfortunately couldn't get to it this month. I've finished Empire of the Damned and the trilogy Memory,Sorrow and Thorn,I will definitely start reading GGK next month.
I hope you love GGK when you can fit him into your schedule!
I just love Rendezvous with Rama. I hope you love it as much as I did. It's my third favorite science fiction book (after Dune and The Martian Chronicles). I also really enjoyed The Old Curiosity Shop. I didn't expect that much from this novel, but I really enjoyed it.
That's high praise for Rama! I hope to love my latest Dickens as well.
Wooo happy to see Becoming a Druid won the poll! I’ll also be getting to Tigana later in the spring and can’t wait!
Oh awesome!
Wow that Easton Press Edition 😍. This might be the best start to a TBR ever 🤔 the quality is off the charts.
Oh yes, I love those editions!
Will be interested to hear how you like Rendezvous with Rama. I read 2001 A Space Odyssey recently and liked it but didn’t love it. I’m trying to read more classic sci fi but I find it can be difficult to find books that still hold up today. I have Mystic River and will be reading it soon. Also, bought The Twelve since I enjoyed The Passage so much.
I've been told that Clarke's works are all quite different. I hope you love Mystic River!
Tigana has been on my TBR for years. I'm eager to hear what you think of it. Inspired by you, I ran out and bought a copy of Under Heaven by GGK. Buddy read in April is Age of War by Michael J Sullivan (he's become my favorite author). Also, May is the ebook Kickstarter release of Drumindor by Michael J Sullivan.
I do need to try Michael J. Sullivan at some point- I've heard good things.
I read Tigana a long time ago and from my memory it was a good read, for me his weakest book is River Of Stars.
It's good to see you reading more of the Riftwar Saga. I really need to give it a re-read.
Did you ever read Feist's stand alone novel Faerie Tale? It has been so long since I read it, but I do remember enjoying it.
I have Rendezvous With Rama on my wish list, but after having read Childhood's End and not enjoying it, I'm not so sure about giving Rama a go. I'll be interested to see how you get on with it.
I read Faerie Tale a few years ago. I really liked the first half, but felt the last third was weak. I just started Tigana last night and am enjoying it!
When do you think you might start Rendevous with Rama? 🥳
I have Rama up third this month, so probably starting around somewhere around the 12th-14th would be my best guess.
I read a number of Dickens's books in my younger years but they were a bit of a strain for me when he got into his tedious mode. Too often I was turning pages to see how long he was going to go on describing the bright red jacket of a hotel doorman etc. However, for a Dickens adjacent novel, check out Dodger by Terry Pratchett. Dodger (from Oliver Twist) is here as a teenager living an underground survival life in London. By a twist of fate he encounters Sweeney Todd the murderous barber and disarms him. A newspaper reporter named Charles Dickens hears about it and writes him up as a hero. It's an easy read that takes us through the streets and sewers of Elizabethan London, and a typical Pratchett romp.
That Pratchett novel sounds interesting!
Great vid you have a very open mind on books I have tried many different book but always come back to sci-fi or fantasy, love Michael connelly series too, I have read one of Haruki Murakami a talk about running book I remember it been good I don't think I would be into many of his books but wanted to ask if you have read 1Q84 I get the twist in the name with the 1984 novels I have read reviews and book write up very mix reviews but does sound very different if you have read what your take on it
1Q84 is my favorite of the 14 or so Murakami books I've read.
@@RedFuryBooks I really enjoyed 1984 thanks I will check it out, do you no there a Julie Sandra Newman from Julie side in 1984
@@grahamguy4656 don't expect a retelling - I would just say that the inspiration is there, but Murakami tells a very Murakami-esque story.
@@RedFuryBooks I think I get you inspired buy 1984 but his own story I look forward to reading it I will pick up a copy soon many thanks
@@grahamguy4656 I hope you enjoy it!
I just bought a Dave Grohl biography 🙌🏼
Nice!!