my favorite end of year reads are the ones that feel a little introspective/hopeful! it feels nice to be in that headspace while prepping for the fresh start of a new year
I'm so excited/scared on how you will feel about The Eyre Affair. I love Jasper Fford's books so much. When it comes to end of year books, I'm usually drawn to memoirs. Something interesting and inspirational.
For end of the year books I think I end up enjoying like fairy tale books or retellings. They can be dark or whimsical but there is something about that the works for the wintertime I think.
In the end of the year i like Christmas-ish books. Books that gove that sense of comfort that Christmas gives like little women. Or the house in the cerulean sea. Something that makes me feel warm next to the fireplace
Love Endless Night, I think it's perfect for this season, but it might not be the best one to try and solve, it's not really a standard mystery. Almost any other Agatha Christie's book would be a great pick for your video idea (which I'd love to see), but I think this one you should just read to enjoy it.
Toll the Hounds is one of the best in the series for me. You're in for a ride there. The Nightward is super interesting, will be watching out for your take on it!
I agree, although Jim Butcher is my favourite author his shorter stories is a bit hit or miss for me but Brief Cases was little better with the stories.
Wishing you the very best of luck in your reading 📖 journey for the next month of November tbr prayers and blessings for you and your family love your number one Aussie family friend John ❤❤❤
At the end of the year I tend to focus on the “best of the year” or “five star predictions” that I’ve been pushing off. I always want to end and start my reading year strong.
Love the idea for the Endless Night video. I have already read it, but am currently in an audiobook re-read of all the Agatha Christie books, and I just started Endless Night, so it is perfect! I am looking forward to the video so much 😊
For me when I think of End of the Year books, I think of long books that I've been looking forward to/putting off... mostly because throughout the year, I'm focused on keeping my reading pace and momentum, but by the end of the year, I've usually already hit my reading goal so feel like I can slow down and relax, and also, I usually have time off work, making it often the time I most want to curl up with a huge chunky book that I can just get lost in ☺️
For me end of the year books are preferably in a winter setting, if they're actually holiday themed even better (reading Hogfather during the days surrounding Christmas was THE BEST last year). And I like my end of year books to be cosy, I want to be able to put them down to play a game with my family, go for a walk or prepare a meal, it's not the time of year for absolute page turners, at least for me
The Dollmakers looks like an actually good version of Disney's Wish. Also, hooray, hooray, Merphy's getting into Jasper Fforde's books! 🥳 We're......um....still waiting on the 8th [and hopefully final] Thursday Next book......for 12 years now. 😅 I hope she enjoys the first book enough to keep going. I could say that it's Hitchhiker's-esque, but that might give the wrong impression, so instead I'll be vague and say that it's 'literary surrealism with lots and lots of puns and ridiculous situations.' edit: Looking forward to the book unhaul! My local library doesn't accept donations because it's a relatively small space, so I don't know what to do with my discard books. 🤔 I wish I could just give them to people, but I don't know enough people and the people that I do know wouldn't like the kinds of books I read!
For me an end of the year book is one that, in some way, reminds me of everything I have to be thankful of. Whether that's family, friends, or life in general - having been fortunate enough to enjoy the world for another year. Despite this categorisation, these books don't have to be sad/depressing, in fact they tend to be wholesome, thought provoking, and well rounded. Previous examples that come to mind, both fiction and non-fiction, include: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler, and Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
Merph, there's also a short story that Butcher wrote that is not in Brief Cases. He released during the Christmas season, and is very good. However, it technically takes place after Battleground, but he released it before Peace Talks. It hints at things post Battleground but doesn't actually tell you what happened. Kind of up to you whether you want to read it now or after Battleground. We all got it before, if you want to read in release order.
Love your merch! One warning with Endless Night, trying not to give spoilers, but it isn’t a classic mystery. I’m not sure it is a mystery at all. So I don’t know how trying to solve it would work, but I’ll be interested in how it goes. I do love the book though.
@@merphynapierreviews it is honestly difficult to say without spoilers. And you absolutely do not want spoilers on this one. It would be interesting to see what happens when you try to trace what is going on.
There are some micro fictions the Butcher wrote that aren't apart of any collections. They are 1000 words or less. You don't have to read them all. But the one I recommend is "Journal". That one in my opinion is necessary.
I don't have a specific connection with the end of the year books, other than generally so much time for reading! So longer books maybe? I often got books for christmas, and then spent long hours reading together with my mom :)
End of the year always draws me to the classics. Something about old books and the year ending just fits for me. I read A Christmas Carol almost every year, and I think I'm going to finish Frankenstein (since it is a classic that I DNFed).
I usually don't do seasonal reading but last december I picked up Spinning Silver on a whim and thought it was the best time of the year to read it. I guess I'd really like to see some recommendations for books that feel kinda cold and have a winter setting. On the other hand, I also feel like books that make you feel warm and want to cosy up are really fitting for the end of the year since it's the time of hearthfires and family imo.
Ooooh, I am quite curious to hear your thoughts on The Eyre Affair. I've had that book on my radar for a few years now cause it sounds right up my alley, but I haven't picked it up yet 👀 Also, for me, winter screams cozy magical tales - be it cozy fairy tales (so no dark fairy tales) or cozy magical school settings (I often get a craving to reread HP during winter), or, on the totally opposite side of the spectrum, I end up craving books with summer setting because I miss summer 😆
Two thoughts. One, I hope you get around to reading RA Salvatore Forgotten Realms books at some point. Two, I can't believe you picked a virtually unknown Agatha Christie book to read. I've read all her books, many multiple times, and that wouldn't be anywhere close to one I would suggest reading. Her Halloween Party is good for this season and a better story.
Not sure if Keegan's "Foster" is the same as, or related to a story in the Antarctica collection, but there is one that very much fits the description you provided. There the girl as she becomes a young woman has a predictable impact on young men with a somewhat unexpected effect on one in particular I wasn't very happy with the ending, which maybe could have been more ambiguous.
During the end of the year I tend to always think that current year is already "ruined". That´s why I always try to read the most "embarrassing" things in december, so I can put it on Goodreads and my own sheet this year, and start next one with "cooler" books. I am not really EMBARRASSED actually, but it´s just fun game for me to "ruin" my year of books -list for this year as much as possible, so I can start fresh in the next one. For me these embarrassing books tend to be books that have really bad cover, or have super awkward title or are badly written but still fun plotwise. Or have horrendous reviews. And sometimes it can be reread of something embarrassing I read as a teenager or... fairy p0rn. Basically anything someone could think of as embarrassing to admit to reading or read in public. So what embarrassing but fun book you would recommend?
This whole thing with my Aunt's death and me not knowing how much time I have left in this house has slowed my reading pretty bad, but I really hope I can get to Nicole Maines' memoir (It Gets Better... Except When It Gets Worse) in November. Maybe I can sneak in that Beta Ray Bill graphic novel I've been sitting on all year that month too. December I'll either try to read that book about Siskel & Ebert (Opposable Thumbs) or From Dust A Flame, a fantasy novel that is heavily inspired by the author's Judaism and Bisexuality.
Hello! If you'd like any help remembering info from the books leading up to Toll the Hounds I just finished a guide that has recaps throughout the chapter scene summaries. Posted a link in the discord. Think it'll help alot, especially since a lot of characters were last seen in Gardens of the Moon and Memories of Ice.
Did you ever read "A Turn of the Screw" by Henry James? If not I think you'd like it. It's what Shirley Jackson re-imagined "The Haunting of Hill House" on.
I have a vlog planned for November! If you mean weekly vlogs like I was doing for a while there, my life got too bust to be reading two books a week and vlogging it consistently but I do hope to bring back vlogs a little more in the future 🧡
End of the year recommendation: it is my favorite so far that I have read this year, Seasons of Albadone by Elan Marche and Christopher Warman. 4 short stories linked together in 204 pages. I found it via Tori Tecken. Dresden. I have book 11 which i will start soon, I thought I had only 5 more to go but there are 7 to be caught up and then the short collections. Ugh. Still, Small Favor was my favorite so far. Out of context spoiler quote: "Family would stay." 😭😭 Absolution: I'm on page 300. Would you like a super quick opinion even though I am not done yet? You still have to watch Scavenger's Reign. No really. You said you liked bio-stuff. Really.
I liked The Dollmakers, but i won't say i loved it. I enjoyed the story, but a protagonist this unlikable was very hard to pull off. I think she did a good job, but wow is it hard to push through some of her decisions and thoughts. The character progression is very slow, but i think done well over all. It had a little bit of a lull in the middle, but i think it started and ended very well, but the ending was a little predictable. (not in a detrimental way)
Trying to solve Endless Night sounds like a really fun idea! Would love that. The Canadian booktuber * e m m i e * has also done videos where she tried to solve Agatha Christie mysteries, they were very entertaining. I'm also looking forward to the book memes video! Is there a place where we can send them in? Or will you harvest the memes in the wild.
my favorite end of year reads are the ones that feel a little introspective/hopeful! it feels nice to be in that headspace while prepping for the fresh start of a new year
Oh Jasper Fforde is so great and clever! I don’t feel like he’s talked about enough on BookTube. Hope you enjoy, Merphy!
Love the Endless Night vlog idea~ will have to see if able to join in, think my November plan is pretty full
Endless Night is fairly different for Agatha Christie but worth it. Can't wait to see the vlog.
I'm so excited/scared on how you will feel about The Eyre Affair. I love Jasper Fford's books so much.
When it comes to end of year books, I'm usually drawn to memoirs. Something interesting and inspirational.
I'm looking forward to the Thursday Next discussion.
Oh my word, Jasper Fforde!!!! You're in for a ride!!! I'm so excited for you!!!!!
And Claire Keegan!!! Oh my word I'm so excited!!
Yay for some Agatha Christie 🙌🏼
Merphy has obviously been inspired by Slagatha!
(Is that how you spell your alter-ego?)
For end of the year books I think I end up enjoying like fairy tale books or retellings. They can be dark or whimsical but there is something about that the works for the wintertime I think.
In the end of the year i like Christmas-ish books. Books that gove that sense of comfort that Christmas gives like little women. Or the house in the cerulean sea. Something that makes me feel warm next to the fireplace
Love Endless Night, I think it's perfect for this season, but it might not be the best one to try and solve, it's not really a standard mystery. Almost any other Agatha Christie's book would be a great pick for your video idea (which I'd love to see), but I think this one you should just read to enjoy it.
Agree abt this. There's nothing really to solve.
Toll the Hounds is one of the best in the series for me. You're in for a ride there.
The Nightward is super interesting, will be watching out for your take on it!
Brief Cases is definitely a lot better, and it has one story in particular that's absolutely a must read before PT imo.
I agree, although Jim Butcher is my favourite author his shorter stories is a bit hit or miss for me but Brief Cases was little better with the stories.
I can't wait to hear what you think of Eyre Affair. That's a fun one.
My Lies of Locke Lamora will be here Sunday!
I loved this book, I just read it and fell is love, with a bit of jeez, Locke
So happy too see Jasper Fforde here. Hope it clicks with you!
Wishing you the very best of luck in your reading 📖 journey for the next month of November tbr prayers and blessings for you and your family love your number one Aussie family friend John ❤❤❤
Toll the Hounds may be the slowest burn of all the Malazan books but the end is BOOM! I was sobbing at the end and I do not know why.
New merch looks amazing!!
At the end of the year I tend to focus on the “best of the year” or “five star predictions” that I’ve been pushing off. I always want to end and start my reading year strong.
Love the merch, they all look nicely done
Love the idea for the Endless Night video. I have already read it, but am currently in an audiobook re-read of all the Agatha Christie books, and I just started Endless Night, so it is perfect! I am looking forward to the video so much 😊
😮
For me when I think of End of the Year books, I think of long books that I've been looking forward to/putting off... mostly because throughout the year, I'm focused on keeping my reading pace and momentum, but by the end of the year, I've usually already hit my reading goal so feel like I can slow down and relax, and also, I usually have time off work, making it often the time I most want to curl up with a huge chunky book that I can just get lost in ☺️
For me end of the year books are preferably in a winter setting, if they're actually holiday themed even better (reading Hogfather during the days surrounding Christmas was THE BEST last year). And I like my end of year books to be cosy, I want to be able to put them down to play a game with my family, go for a walk or prepare a meal, it's not the time of year for absolute page turners, at least for me
I wrote a book once. Way back in the day as a child. Even got it PUBLISHED
Omg that pirate sweater 🔥🔥🔥
Getting really close to the end of Malazan! Im hoping to start book 4 sometime soon though it may not be till next year
The Dollmakers looks like an actually good version of Disney's Wish. Also, hooray, hooray, Merphy's getting into Jasper Fforde's books! 🥳 We're......um....still waiting on the 8th [and hopefully final] Thursday Next book......for 12 years now. 😅
I hope she enjoys the first book enough to keep going. I could say that it's Hitchhiker's-esque, but that might give the wrong impression, so instead I'll be vague and say that it's 'literary surrealism with lots and lots of puns and ridiculous situations.'
edit: Looking forward to the book unhaul! My local library doesn't accept donations because it's a relatively small space, so I don't know what to do with my discard books. 🤔 I wish I could just give them to people, but I don't know enough people and the people that I do know wouldn't like the kinds of books I read!
Brief Cases was hit and miss for me, but well worth it just for Zoo Day. So good. So so so so so so so good
Dresden ! Brief cases ftw. you're gonna love it ^^
Brief Cases is the better of the two short story collections, and you'll be happy you read it when you get to Peace Talks.
For me an end of the year book is one that, in some way, reminds me of everything I have to be thankful of. Whether that's family, friends, or life in general - having been fortunate enough to enjoy the world for another year. Despite this categorisation, these books don't have to be sad/depressing, in fact they tend to be wholesome, thought provoking, and well rounded.
Previous examples that come to mind, both fiction and non-fiction, include: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler, and Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
Agatha Christie is amazing.
The new mercendice looks gorgeous.
That dino t shirt is so good!
Merph, there's also a short story that Butcher wrote that is not in Brief Cases. He released during the Christmas season, and is very good. However, it technically takes place after Battleground, but he released it before Peace Talks. It hints at things post Battleground but doesn't actually tell you what happened. Kind of up to you whether you want to read it now or after Battleground. We all got it before, if you want to read in release order.
Love your merch!
One warning with Endless Night, trying not to give spoilers, but it isn’t a classic mystery. I’m not sure it is a mystery at all. So I don’t know how trying to solve it would work, but I’ll be interested in how it goes. I do love the book though.
oh interesting! Is there nothing to solve in it then? I may have to pivot my vlog idea
@@merphynapierreviews it is honestly difficult to say without spoilers. And you absolutely do not want spoilers on this one. It would be interesting to see what happens when you try to trace what is going on.
Great video!
There are some micro fictions the Butcher wrote that aren't apart of any collections. They are 1000 words or less. You don't have to read them all. But the one I recommend is "Journal". That one in my opinion is necessary.
I don't have a specific connection with the end of the year books, other than generally so much time for reading! So longer books maybe? I often got books for christmas, and then spent long hours reading together with my mom :)
End of the year always draws me to the classics. Something about old books and the year ending just fits for me. I read A Christmas Carol almost every year, and I think I'm going to finish Frankenstein (since it is a classic that I DNFed).
I love the Wndless Nights vlog idea!! Please please please!
I usually don't do seasonal reading but last december I picked up Spinning Silver on a whim and thought it was the best time of the year to read it.
I guess I'd really like to see some recommendations for books that feel kinda cold and have a winter setting. On the other hand, I also feel like books that make you feel warm and want to cosy up are really fitting for the end of the year since it's the time of hearthfires and family imo.
I have Toll the hounds on my tbr too, have to really push myself to get back to Malazan cause Reapers Gale wasn’t a favourite :(
More Dresden! Hyped
Toll the Hounds is awesome. Witness!! And let’s the thumbnail-less chaos rule everything! 😂
Ooooh, I am quite curious to hear your thoughts on The Eyre Affair. I've had that book on my radar for a few years now cause it sounds right up my alley, but I haven't picked it up yet 👀
Also, for me, winter screams cozy magical tales - be it cozy fairy tales (so no dark fairy tales) or cozy magical school settings (I often get a craving to reread HP during winter), or, on the totally opposite side of the spectrum, I end up craving books with summer setting because I miss summer 😆
Speaking of pirate ship stuff….have you heard of The Aeronaut’s Windlass? It’s a newer series by Jim Butcher. I think you’d like it!
I LOVED that book when I read it years ago! It's been a long time ago though!
I hope you enjoy Foster! Hooray that Ben agrees! Fortunately, it’s short, so no high stakes.😊
Foster hit me harder than Small Things Like These, even though it's a much simpler story, and different emotions.
Yay, I overtook you in Malazan. Read Toll the Hounds, it's the first in the series I can say is good, like GRRM good.
Toll the hounds! Let's go! I love this one.
Winter recommendation: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries ❤
It's such a fun book. Can't wait for book 3 to be released next year!
If it’s gonna be in the style of Ravings of Mad Woman AoT vlogs then sign me up, I wanna read it too haha haven’t read Agatha Christie in a long time!
Two thoughts. One, I hope you get around to reading RA Salvatore Forgotten Realms books at some point. Two, I can't believe you picked a virtually unknown Agatha Christie book to read. I've read all her books, many multiple times, and that wouldn't be anywhere close to one I would suggest reading. Her Halloween Party is good for this season and a better story.
winter reading are the books i get gifted for christmas :3
Awwwww yeh!! We going with agatha christie book, nice!!
fantasy/mystery? fantastery!
Looking forward to the Agatha Christie solve-along!
Not sure if Keegan's "Foster" is the same as, or related to a story in the Antarctica collection, but there is one that very much fits the description you provided. There the girl as she becomes a young woman has a predictable impact on young men with a somewhat unexpected effect on one in particular I wasn't very happy with the ending, which maybe could have been more ambiguous.
Can you do a video about the books with Time Travel you enjoyed?😊
I have a copy of nightward as well!
immediately clicked on the notification ❤ btw I'm reading red seas under red skies and loving it
yay!!!! It's SUCH a good book!
I love any mystery with baking for end of year reading (the first Aunt Dimity book anyone?)
Fall is 100% mystery season 🥰
I loved Brief Cases, I hope you do too 💐
Oh Foster 😊 my only book by this author.
Do you know there is a movie called Quite Girl?
Are u going to read the sun eater saga 🤔 somewhere in the future
During the end of the year I tend to always think that current year is already "ruined". That´s why I always try to read the most "embarrassing" things in december, so I can put it on Goodreads and my own sheet this year, and start next one with "cooler" books. I am not really EMBARRASSED actually, but it´s just fun game for me to "ruin" my year of books -list for this year as much as possible, so I can start fresh in the next one. For me these embarrassing books tend to be books that have really bad cover, or have super awkward title or are badly written but still fun plotwise. Or have horrendous reviews. And sometimes it can be reread of something embarrassing I read as a teenager or... fairy p0rn. Basically anything someone could think of as embarrassing to admit to reading or read in public.
So what embarrassing but fun book you would recommend?
This whole thing with my Aunt's death and me not knowing how much time I have left in this house has slowed my reading pretty bad, but I really hope I can get to Nicole Maines' memoir (It Gets Better... Except When It Gets Worse) in November. Maybe I can sneak in that Beta Ray Bill graphic novel I've been sitting on all year that month too. December I'll either try to read that book about Siskel & Ebert (Opposable Thumbs) or From Dust A Flame, a fantasy novel that is heavily inspired by the author's Judaism and Bisexuality.
Foster is so good.
I’m surprised Absolution isn’t on this list.
Every October I re-read "A Night in the Lonesome October" by Zelazny. Don't think I've ever seen anyone on Booktube reference it.
Hello! If you'd like any help remembering info from the books leading up to Toll the Hounds I just finished a guide that has recaps throughout the chapter scene summaries. Posted a link in the discord. Think it'll help alot, especially since a lot of characters were last seen in Gardens of the Moon and Memories of Ice.
Have you read the Alex Stern books (The Ninth House, Hell Bent)? Dark, pretty good, urban fantasy (I think), but without any Narnia.
I haven't! They haven't appealed to me but maybe I need to look into them and see if anything grabs me
Did you ever read "A Turn of the Screw" by Henry James? If not I think you'd like it. It's what Shirley Jackson re-imagined "The Haunting of Hill House" on.
Hi Merphy! Are you no longer vlogging?
I have a vlog planned for November! If you mean weekly vlogs like I was doing for a while there, my life got too bust to be reading two books a week and vlogging it consistently but I do hope to bring back vlogs a little more in the future 🧡
End of the year recommendation: it is my favorite so far that I have read this year, Seasons of Albadone by Elan Marche and Christopher Warman. 4 short stories linked together in 204 pages. I found it via Tori Tecken.
Dresden. I have book 11 which i will start soon, I thought I had only 5 more to go but there are 7 to be caught up and then the short collections. Ugh. Still, Small Favor was my favorite so far. Out of context spoiler quote: "Family would stay." 😭😭
Absolution: I'm on page 300. Would you like a super quick opinion even though I am not done yet?
You still have to watch Scavenger's Reign. No really. You said you liked bio-stuff. Really.
I really appreciate you fighting the good fight trying to get Merphy to watch Scavenger’s Reign. It’s so good!
@@GrandSol I've got 5 decades of entertainment intake experience. It's one of the best things I've ever watched.
🧡📚🧡📚🧡📚🧡
I liked The Dollmakers, but i won't say i loved it. I enjoyed the story, but a protagonist this unlikable was very hard to pull off. I think she did a good job, but wow is it hard to push through some of her decisions and thoughts. The character progression is very slow, but i think done well over all. It had a little bit of a lull in the middle, but i think it started and ended very well, but the ending was a little predictable. (not in a detrimental way)
Trying to solve Endless Night sounds like a really fun idea! Would love that. The Canadian booktuber * e m m i e * has also done videos where she tried to solve Agatha Christie mysteries, they were very entertaining.
I'm also looking forward to the book memes video! Is there a place where we can send them in? Or will you harvest the memes in the wild.
We have a meme channel in my discord I plan to pull from!
Forgot to make a thumbnail again?
woke up sick and went back to bed 😂 Didn't even think about the video that was scheduled until I woke up again house late!
I hope you like Endless Night, it is my least favorite book of hers.
Blasphemy!! You can never have too many books, everyone knows that!!