Totally not me opening my tbr and adding all the books that I haven’t read there because I know that Merphy’s taste is impeccable. Have a great day everyone and happy holidays! Don’t forget to take care of yourself by drinking water, getting enough rest and eating something.
It seems wild that some of these were this year... I remember seeing you get excited about some of these when you read them and it seems soooo long ago!! Seems like you had an awesome reading year, I picked up the Gentlemen Bastards this year because of your videos and am loving it (on book 2!)
MY DARK VANESSA IS ALSO ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THIS YEAR AND I READ IT BECAUSE OF YOU! SORRY FOR THE CAPS BUT I'M ACTUALLY THAT EXCITED ABOUT IT MKSDFKMSDFHJ
Take it from an English teacher: Yellow Wallpaper is a short story, just a long one. It’s not long enough to be a novella (about 50) pages, which would be the step before novel (or book).
My top-10 of the year 1 Through the Looking Glass 2 Persepolis 1&2 (graphic novel) 3 Pride and Predjudice 4 The Return of Sherlock Holmes (so far. currently reading but almost done) 5 Brave New World 6 Murder on the Orient Express 7 Jurrasic Park 8 Slaughterhouse-Five 9 The Bell Jar 10 The Kite Runner
I was still on the fence about reading WoT because I can't just stop reading a series after I start it and WoT is big-ass commitment but seeing that it made your list was the final hit that convinced me
Ooh, listening you talk about Tubmans bio I think you'd really appreciate The Black Count. It's a biography (so the following hopefully isn't too spoilery) about Alexandre Dumas' father. It's sometimes quite meta, he was the prototype for Count Monte Christo and Porthos. And he was a count who was also the son of a Caribbean slave and at one point might have become the military leader of the French Revolution instead of Napoleon but drama happened.
Really happy I discovered your channel this year! Happy Holidays!! Started WoT this year (because of you and Daniel), I'm almost done with Book 6 & I think #4 is my favorite - SO FAR
My favourite books of the year were probably the chaos walking trilogy by Patrick Ness. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THOSE BOOKS, Patrick Ness has such an incredible way of creating a story that it’s just amazing, he makes you believe things about characters and slowly think that they’re good and make you debate for pages and pages whether they’re bad or good. ALSO MERPHY READ DRAGONKEEPER, I think you’d really enjoy it (hopefully) it’s an amazing historical fiction/ fantasy and it’s just amazing. Love you’re videos ❤️
My Dark Vanessa was among my top books too. I was also impressed by the most beautifully respectful nod to Twin Peaks. Every book that gives a nod to it remembers only Twin Peaks's quirk and crazy. This one remembers that Twin Peaks also had violence towards women as a central plot. I was touched and impressed.
I've had kind of a rubbish reading year but I did pick up the Lies of Locke Lamora on your recommendation! I loved it beyond words (a solid 5 stars from me) and reading a book I felt so strongly about pulled me out of my slump, so thankyou!! I've asked for book two for Christmas and I can't wait to continue with the series. Some other books I enjoyed and would recommend to everyone in the comments are (in no particular order)... 1) Everyone's an aliebn when you're an aliebn too by Johmny Sun 2) If we were villains by M. L. Rio (this was a reread but it definitely deserves to be here) 3) The Secret History by Donna Tart 4) Lord of the Flies by William Golding 5) The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson (this was the second book in the series, imo the first was better but this was still quite good) In the new year (or maybe in the little period after christmas but before january) I plan to start a book given to me by a friend called Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe, hopefully I'll like it, it was strongly recommended to me.
If you like Michael Crichton, you should read Timeline (or add it to the huge pile of books that you want to read 😅). I found it because of the movie, but the book was so much better! I adore you, your family, and your channel, Merph! I always feel so care-free when I watch your videos and you just seem like someone so full of love. Thank you for that. Merry Christmas! Love from Colorado!
I did not know you are starting Shogun, I am currently reading it now and 400 pages in. It is a monster of a book but I am enjoying it. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.
My Favourites of the year are The First Law (+standalones) Words of Radiance The Word for World is Forest by Ursula LeGuin Dune & God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
I asked for She Came to Slay for Christmas and discovered it on your channel. If you haven't seen it already I recommend you watch Erica Armstrong Dunbar's presentation at the National Book Festival (it is recorded on RU-vid). I also want to read The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse, now, so thank you for your recommendations!
Here i am, proud of having read like 12 books this year (albeit some chunkers!) And that's like not even the number of "best books" Murphy has read! :D.. Impressive. Also some good recommendations in here. I will definitely give Northanger Abbey a try, since i really loved Emma and Pride & Prejudice.
I actually DNFed In a Holidaze! I think I’d have liked it, but I picked it up on the heels of another messy timeline book, and that one has no reason for being messy, so I had no patience for something that was going to confuse me. I’ll definitely pick it up again soon, as with exception of Twice in a Blue Moon (a permanent DNF), I have at least liked all of Christina Lauren’s books.
If you enjoy The Sleeper and the Spindle you could check out Snow, Glass, Apples also by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Colleen Doran....it’s a retelling about Snow White and the ‘evil’ queen
my fav book of the year was the rage of dragons hands down! I haven't finished the fires of vengeance yet, but I am sure it will be up there as well...
I've been following you for a full year now, and I've heard you say quite a few times you don't usually read romance, but I feel you've read a dozen of them this year? Which, for someone who doesn't reach for romance (even though you've made me read Pride and Prejudice and I'm grateful for it), sounds like a lot. xD I've also read Rebecca and loved it, so My Cousin Rachel is on my list for next year for sure. ❤️ But there are so many books on this list I cannot put my hand on unless I buy them, and I really can't afford it 😭 But I might make an exception with Abercrombie. Oh and I found cheap and pretty editions of Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park recently! Emma will be next for sure!
I've been in a massive reading slump for years 😭😭😭 But I might have found an author and series that might take me out of it. My favorite books of 2020 are the Jack the Ripper series, by Kari Maniscala. Oh my gosh they are amazing. Her writing style is beautiful and the way she wrote this murder mystery series was chilling and kept me on the edge of my seat. I LOVE her and this series. It's made it to my top series of all time list.
Was Mexican Gothic influenced by The Yellow Wallpaper? It sounds interesting. Out of curiosity, do you use a green screen for your videos or just a very specific lens?
Just a slight warning: Shogun has a lot of ... erm ... mentions of the size of Blackthorne's junk. It was weird. The rest of the book was pretty fun, imo. But yeah ... XD
Never read Peter Pan but theres a movie out thats called Wendy that takes the Peter Pan story and twists it around. Only caught a little bit of it but it seemed kind of gritty.
I just read yellow wallpaper and oh my god... This is the first horror book I am reading and I was so scared that I paused the audio book (I was listening to it at night.) And read it again morning... I was very scared... Especially the audiobook narrators voice is so scary. Very nice story
My top ten of 2020 Goldfinch Count of Monte cristo Don quixote Circe A little life 5 second rule Can’t hurt me Ready player one 12 rules of life Shuggie Bain
Today is when I suddenly realise that black shape with your white spine collection is a female figure on the actual spines and not a Baradur/eye of sauron figurine in front of the books. Not that I googled trying to find that non-existent figurine earlier this year or anything.
Perhaps I could enjoy Northanger Abbey more if I'd read more gothic novels before I first read it... And if I'd had lower expectations for our heroine. But because it was my last Austen, I had fallen in love with Lizzie, Elinor, Marianne, Fanny, Emma, just so many incredible ladies... And I was just disappointed by the heroine in Northanger Abbey. I can't even remember her name. Again, I went in expecting something more sincere than was intended, so maybe that's on me, but still! She was just so fixated on one thing but not funny enough to pull that off, at least in my opinion.
Great list! My top 14 (in no particular order) 1. Gone With the Wind Margaret Michele 2. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo 3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 4. Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson 5. The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan 6. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien 7. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes 8. Misery by Stephen King 9. Emma by Jane Austen 10. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 11. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 12. The Waste Lands by Stephen King 13. The Talisman by Stephen King 14. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
@@rishabhdave5773 yeah, over quarantine this year since I had so much extra time I decided to read all of the super scary classics that I had been putting off for so long
In A Holidaze was such a nice, fun, cute read. Honestly I almost gave up on the romance genre because everything that's considered 'trendy' is just a romanticised toxic relationship. In A Holidaze proved that there ARE some romance books I can get behind, I was just too unlucky hence I got horrible recommendations. I just have to keep digging to find more books with good romances.
Wow me too, but it won't be long before they come along. They will be leaving super long and opinionated book opinions or reviews. Nobody will want to read through all of it unless they have also read the book, or they want to read the book. Unfortunately, some viewers of this channel might accidentally click the "read more" button by mistake. These people will have to handle a large amount of scrolling through these entirely too long comments. Seriously, how dare these people make such long and useless comments of such a length. Really, do they not realize how long they're taking to type? Do they go in with an evil smile spread across their faces? Perhaps we will never know. Never the less, we will most likely never see the end of comments like these unless RU-vid decides to put a limit on the number of words that one is allowed to type when commenting. Perhaps there already is such a limit of this kind, and I am yet to know of it yet. Maybe we should email, call, text, or tweet RU-vid to find out. We could do all four, along with all the other options I did not mention, including writing a letter, reaching out through Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media platform. Another way of finding out though, is to simply test the limit, which we would never had thought of doing, if it weren't for those annoying commenters who tend to take forever! And often times it isn't even a book review. It's a very long and super monotonous comment that is only telling a long story with no point, which is fine, but personally I would rather read a book about how chainsaws are made than an essay on how one time a person couldn't find the cap to their water bottle. But those comments rarely appear here on this channel, so that's a benefit of watching book related channels on RU-vid. I'm sure in reality these innocent commenters mean no despair to us readers, and that they just wish to share their opinions and experience s with everyone they can, but perhaps they could learn to tune it down a bit. Honestly who would be so deliberately evil that they feel the need to write out eight hundred full words just to provoke and annoy another human being. Do they have nothing they like to do in their free time? They could play a sport like basketball, soccer, volleyball, football, baseball, and so many more. Or if sports aren't their thing, they could spend their free time making art pieces. If they like typing so much, they could even be an author! Or they could do what they probably love to do if they're on this channel, and they could read a book! I am almost certain they have a huge pile of books just begging to be read by them. But all the same, I'm sure they do not have rude intentions. In fact, I don't really see much of a problem when I realize that this is a channel full of people who long to read as many books as they can in their lifetime, so why would they have a problem with reading a long comment. It would be as if they were reading another book. On the other hand, this could be because book lovers do not wish to spend their time reading long winded comments, but rather reading actual books. But what if a comment were to be published and made into an official novel? Would people enjoy reading it then, even if nothing about the actual comment has changed, other than its format? Maybe there is something to be learned from these people. Maybe we should all realise that no matter what particular thing someone is reading, they are still indeed reading, whether it be a newspaper, a recipe book, or the instructions on the box of a lawnmower. As long as you are taking in the text, you are in fact reading. Then again I'm sure these are just average people with normal lives who simply want to get their opinions out there, and that they rarely think of how their comments may affect other people. What do I think? Well, I think that no matter how long a comment is, someone felt the need to put it there, so why not give reading it a shot? That is only my opinion though. Maybe everyone else disagrees with me, or maybe I hit the nail on the hammer and everyone who reads this comment will agree with all of it. Who knows? I know I don't. All that I can say is that while they may be annoying, comments are still comments all the same.
@@artbycallie6816 Oh my goodness, can I offer you a cookie? 🤣🤣🤣💕. I was literally entering in a philosophical mood when you mentioned the comments being published as books. GENIUS
It was a great reading year (despite all the things that happened). I think my favourite series was Gentlemen Bastards and I wasn't influenced at all...
I’ve read a couple books you’ve recommended and I really trust your recommendations! I think a fun book video would be to recommend books based off each of Fredrik Backman’s books. I’m constantly looking for a book like Beartown! :) have a merry Christmas and thanks for the videos 💗
The Yellow Wallpaper is one of my favourites so I am so glad it made this list! I also really enjoyed Northanger Abbey this year. I recently got the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse and cannot wait to read it. My Dark Vanessa, My Cousin Rachel and Jurassic Park are also on my tbr! Yay for so many favourites.
From your list, I've read my dark Vanessa, sleeper in the spindle, and jurassic Park. I have too many favorites from this year. Beartown, us against you, legendborn, a man called ove, a song of wraiths and ruin, the lunar chronicles(I read a lot of really depressing books, these were a great pallet cleanser) , arc of a scythe trilogy, warbreaker, a curse to dark and lonely...
I can’t wait to pick up some of these, even though it adds a ton of books to my TBR! Merry Christmas Merphy, thank you for your wonderful videos all year!
You're the second person on Booktube that placed My Dark Vanessa in their top 10 for the year. Guess it's going on my TBR! Shogun is on my winter TBR and I've only heard good things. Looking forward to your review.
If I were an algorithm that gave recommendations based on your list of favorite books, I would urge you to check out Drood by Dan Simmons, if you haven't already.
Sadly fantasy got me the most but the prince by Machiavelli has been my best( it isnt fantasy btw), but the others are 1.Malazan Empire 2. Dresden Files 3. Black Company 4-7 Joe Abercrombie( best served cold, Red country, A little hatred and the Heroes) 8. The Dune. 9. Sanderson ( basically finished his cosmere this year).
I read The Holidaze and it was ok for me , I've loved other Cristina Lauren books better. But it absolutely belongs in this list! I think other people in book tube often forget that books are all about the experience and how you like it, not how well does it check certain boxes. Happy holidays 😘
In a past video I commented asking her to read the Yellow Wallpaper and she read it! I don't know if that's because of my comment but I'm still so happy she read it and liked it.
I read The Sleeper and the Spindle a few years ago, and loved it. With your liking of it, I would recommend Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples. An adult retelling of Snow White with stunning artwork.
![Best Books of 2020 [CC]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
