I adore LeGuin, and I'm not surprised that she's for you. I think you may also like The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Octavia Butler, Connie Willis, Karen Lord, Little, Big by John Crowley, and The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson. If you don't mind a long series try The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold.
@@pamelatarajcak5634 Thank you for all the recommendations. I’ve read two other LeGuin’s but this one was my favorite. I’ve only read on Octavia Butler.
Happy Birthday month! Book shopping is the best. I'll be looking forward to hearing about Permafrost. I also have high intentions of reading Ghost Mountain soon. It sounds like a great pile of possibilities!
This was awesome, I’m so humbled you did this! I am very sorry you didn’t enjoy AGOT, it’s one of my favorites but I get it. I will say those minor characters might become more important later but hard to see it in book one. Hoping to get to Moon Witch Spider King soon, I’m very curious how I’ll like it. Cheers, I hope you have a great August!
Happy birthday month! I’m really enjoying As I Lay Dying, so interesting to see everyone’s thoughts in the group chat. I enjoyed The Vegetarian, looking forward to your thoughts if you get to it. I’m loving Katie’s book too! Thanks for highlighting The Stygian Society, I will definitely look into it!
Thank you very much! We have a good chat group this year. Everyone is following the reading guidelines up to this point and all of the comments have been very good. I finished Katie’s book and am hoping to film a review today.
Hope you continue on with Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle to see how her writing evolves. The early books, like Rocono’s World, have that 60s planetary romance feel that was common at the time. The latter is where she separates from the crowd to be remembered as one of the greats from that era.
Oh, I thought you were reading Moon Witch, Spider King this month...whoops. Anyway, I started Moon Witch, Spider King a few nights back and it's really good, you were right when you said it's very different from Black Leopard, Red Wolf. It's taking me a while to get used to the voice of the novel and getting used to Sogolon's perspective, but then again it took me some time to get used to Black Leopard, Red Wolf as well. That first chapter was an absolute banger, and Marlon James throws so much at you that it can be overwhelming. It's like a puzzle that you have to wrestle and thrash with in order to fully 'get it.' I admire how Marlon James didn't just do 'Black Leopard, Red Wolf II.' We're seeing a whole new perspective from Sogolon and James adjusts his writing style accordingly. Sounds like you'll have a busy August. I'm keeping mine rather light, as I want to focus on getting through Moon Witch, Spider King. I also hope to catch up with some comics this month since I haven't been reading very many throughout the year. Keep up the great work!
Moon Witch Spider King is a lot. Your description of its first chapter and how both it and Black Leopard Red Wolf take a while to get used to is perfect. Like you I admire James ambition, his writing, and his skill in creating these books. I am looking forward to the third.
For what it's worth, my favorite fantasy novels are the Gormenghast trilogy, by the British author and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968), comprised of 'Titus Groan' (1946), 'Gormenghast' (1950), and 'Titus Alone' (1959). Gormenghast is an immense, sprawling, partly crumbling castle isolated from the rest of the world in which it exists, with its inhabitants ruled by the lordly family of Groan and in thrall to a rigid protocol of ritual and ceremony, with everyone born to an inflexible station. Titus is the child born to inherit this estate as its seventy-seventh Earl, with his story told in parallel to the rise of the upstart Steerpike, a lad born to the kitchen serfs who through his exceptional intelligence and utter ruthlessness manipulates the castle denizens to rise to power and threaten the ancient traditions held sacrosanct by all save himself, and, unexpectedly, Titus as well. Peake's powers of description are masterful, and he vividly conjures a thoroughly alien world and its colorful characters through his poetic prose. The books are low fantasy, with no fantastic creatures or supernatural elements, yet the overall effect is one of beguiling if sometimes grotesque enchantment.
I feel like we have exchanged comments about Gormenghast before. Your description certainly makes me curious about them. I will check out my library resources to see if they have the first volume.
Fantasy is such a huge genre with different types of books. A lot of people go into it with books like Game of Thrones thinking that's what you had to read as a continuation from Lord of the Rings. I personally enjoy my fantasy more light hearted and funny than the grim dark and epic stuff. Persoanlly I am still surprised how much I like Brandon Sanderson, as I always had him in a similar line as GRR Martin. I hope you are not giving up on fantasy.
That is very true and one of the reasons I am trying to re-engage with the genre. For sometime I feel like I have been ignoring it because I suspected that I was tired or the Swords and Sorcery, Northern European type of fantasy. I read the first book in Hobb's the Farseer series and suspected this was true and then reading GOT just confirmed it. But some of the other books I read ,with different settings and different cultural foundations have made me more curious about the genre again.
That was a big brave dip into fantasy - deserving of a medal of some kind! I think you could be right about the excessive description as I am thinking about the books I have read recently and I’m not sure I was told what any of the characters look like. I guess it’s seen as part of the ‘world building’. I am starting As I Lay Dying tomorrow as I love it but am interested in what everyone has to say about it on the group. Otherwise I am reading a couple of the Booker books and a different Jenny Erpenbeck (Go went gone) before I get to Kairos. I think Eva Baltasar’s latest book is out this month too so I might get to that. I just finished James which I thought was an amazing piece of work, especially for the way that it presented the choices and actions available to James. Everett’s decision about the spoken language in the book really worked for me too.
I’ll take a bronze medal.James is my book of the year. I’m thinking of making a second video about it. I just think that kind of long, immersive fantasy book isn’t for me any more. Thanks for the heads up about the upcoming Baltasar book. Look forward to your As I Lay Dying group.
I'm glad you tried fantasy. I don't think Game of Thrones would be up my alley either. I'd like to try the Emily Wilde's series at some point. It sounds like a cute comfort read.
It was interesting to go back to what used to by my favorite genre and see what still worked and what didn't. I hope you enjoy the Emily Wilde series and make a video. It sounds like something my wife would like.
Sorry to hear most of those fantasy books weren’t great for you. ASOIAF is a top tier series for me, but my husband picked up A Game of Thrones and was bored to tears with most of it. August is my birthday month too! Happy birthday! 🥳
It was a good reading month. I learned a good bit about my current fantasy reading tastes. I already started another book in LeGuin's Hainish cycle, I am looking forward to the next book by Marlon James in the Dark Star Trilogy, and I was impressed by Kay's writing and originality. The books I read didn't blow my socks off, but they did make me more curious.
Awesome video. Loved that you liked Le Guin. I think you'll like the other Hainish books even more. I didn't realise Daenearys was so young in the book! (I haven't read the book...) Congrats on getting another story out for the Stygian guys. Ahh wow, i'm typing this while I'm watching it, and am very grateful for the shout out!! Glad you liked "Itch". Great video.
When the Game of Thrones show was around, I was never a very big fan. When I decided to read the books (I've only gotten through the first) I had some trouble with it. The first seasons hewed so closely to the books that it was dragging for me, since I knew what to expect, and the writing didn't do much to pull me in on its own. I will continue at some point. I appreciate Martin's mix of influences and bringing a historical fiction eye to fantasy, but it's more of a stumbling intro for myself compared to many. I want to read some Baltasar and Erpenbeck. Boulder and The Visitation have been on my TBR for a while. I've seen praise around for Leonard and Hungry Paul by Hessian.
I think Martin does some very good things in GOT, but I just don’t think that kind of thing is for me anymore. The other authors and books you mention are some of my absolute favorites from the last five or so years. Visitation is great. Thats where I started with Erpenbeck.
Thanks Brian! Congrats again on your book! I’m not much of a SF/fantasy fan (tho I really love Jon. Strange & Mr. Norrell) but started GofT. I didn’t get very far bf I DnF’d it mostly bc it didn’t provide the action thrills that I hoped for. Maybe they come later?? I had the same reaction you did to the future queen’s (can’t remember her name) sexual victimization. Thanks again!! 😊
Thank you Susie. I came very close to DnFing GOT. The action is definitely limited early on with a lot of description of the political divisions instead.
So glad to hear you're investigating sci-fi as I've long been a fan of the genre. I've never been interested in game of thrones either the books or the tv show though I did read the lord of the rings trilogy in my teens though I remember almost nothing about it. I understand how you are repulsed by the description of child marriage in the book but sad to say it still happens in some muslim countries. In fact if you look at the life of mohammed there's no getting around that fact he'd be called a child rapist today. Did read islands in the stream back in the seventies but it didn't leave much of an impression. Tina Fey is a very witty woman and it's no surprise that she became the first female head writer on SNL. Still remember how excited I was when the show first debuted in 1975. There'd never been anything quite like it on american tv before. Recommend a book called creation lake by rachel kushner coming out next month that's gotten dynamite reviews. Read a very good book of essays by her not long ago. Be well!⚛
Thanks Frank. I understand that child marriage still unfortunately takes place, but I still don’t understand why the author of a fantasy series feels the need to include it along with scenes describing sexual acts in which the child character is involved. There was more about 30 Rock (which I also loved) than SNL in Fey’s book.I have never read a book by Rachel Kushner so I really appreciate your recommendation.
@@myreadinglife8816 Thank you! I won’t be going on with the books that follow GOT. I can’t get past those issues and that type of fantasy just doesn’t interest me very much.
