the 17-book series about a depressed guy 

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15:20 "I didn't even mention the excellent stuff going on; there are these women getting killed - these prostitutes" Great moment for my wife to walk in

I’ve been waiting for someone to write a book series about me for a while now.

Fine you win I’ll read a book, now get back to the funny guy stuff

Finally, a video about the true "he just like me" protagonist

dear man, who carries things. Your plan has worked, I am reading through the first book of wheel of time.

As much as I love MCT's skits and all, I really enjoy his book reviews! That's what I subscribed for initially, lol. (Back when he was rating Dune covers)

I didnt watch the video yet just wanna say that I've read pronto by elmore leonard that you recommended. Very nice book.

You are your own niche in and of itself on the tube and I'm very grateful for your presence. It's the perfect blend of shitposting and thoughtful book discussion. Thank you.

I love Lawrence Block’s style. Conversational and flows seamlessly

love the more frequent book uploads!

Thank you for making these videos. Your channel played a big part in getting me back into reading.

I really like this video! I usually just skip your video essays on books but I'm glad I clicked on this one. I always enjoy hearing people talk about a thing they are obviously very passionate about and the I wish I would digest books the way that you do, appreciating the themes, style of writing and characters in the story. I would just complete a book and just say wow that was great and never think about it again haha

Always love hearing your thoughts on any and all of the books, Jake! Thank you ^__^

A minute for every book, Man Carrying Thing truly going meta here. The next Pynchon, I'll say

I want to thank you for getting me into the genre with your recommendation of Five Decembers. I loved it so much, and to see you still talking about books in general just reinvigorates my love for reading. You are by far my favorite creator on any platform.

I love this channel for the memes and for the book recommendations! Thanks MCT

I've been watching your channel for about a year now (mostly because of your comedy videos) and recently found a new job in a book store. So your videos and my job kinda combined and I felt this urge to read books (which I do rarely). That's cool! Thank you for all of your videos, Man Carrying My Life

This is my favorite genre of your content tbh. I’ve never heard of this author, I don’t really read crime novels, but now I’m tryna read all these books lol

As other people have said, love your skits but love your book videos (more?). In a totally unrelated context though, I love your bookcase, how it's got the mix of horizontal and vertical stacking. adds to the vibe (or, as this is a literary video, the ambiance)

Please do more books. Your skits never fail to make me laugh, but these book videos are golden!!

Thank you Man Carrying Thing! You always get me excited to read new stuff!! Going to try and recommend this to my dad and get him to not just read the same three crime authors he's been reading for the past two decades.

I love Block, especially the scudder novels, so glad you made this video to give them a little love. He really is a master his command of pacing but especially his dialogue, honestly his dialogue is incredible, the characters leap off the page and feel like real and interesting human beings.

you are the only youtuber where you could upload literally anything and i will watch it no matter what. good video 👍

I want to thank you for introducing this series to me. I've been devouring them in audiobook format. Some are even narrated by Block himself. Audible has quite a few of them available for cheap and several are free! Im officially hooked.

the signature man carrying thing bass intro is what we bump in the clubs edit: i have not been to a club

I really enjoyed this, Lawrence Block is the man. Something about the crime fiction writers who came up in the 50s and 60s really do it for me. They were almost uniformly tight, disciplined craftsmen who often went to places in their stories that are STILL shocking and uncomfortable to this day. There was a magazine back then called Manhunt that both Block and Westlake often contributed to, and in recent years some beautiful publisher (Stark House, I think?) has begun collecting those stories in anthologies called Best of Manhunt. I really think you’d enjoy the hell out of them. The absolute heyday of dark crime fiction.

I love your skits. I love your book videos. That's all.

I would love a video for an introduction to crime fiction, the Great authors, where to start, all that

You should make a clip of that akward swalow after "extended meme" and put it in all your intros and even you channel trailer, cause that is all it sticks in your viewers subconcious. That is your brand. "akward swalow". I am telling you, its gold

Hey Man, just wanted to let you know that your review of The Way of Kings made me pick up a book for the first time in years and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks and hope you have a great day ❤

I was thinking about Lawrence Block just the other day and specifically, the Scudder books. I picked up a paperback in a grocery store when I was younger, not knowing anything about the books or the writer, and took a liking to it straight away. It's been years since I read those books but was looking for a collection of these books. I wonder if we're close to there being a hardcover collected stories of Scudder coming out?

Thank you for making this video. This is one of my favorite series. I’d say overall most books in the series don’t hit above a 4/5. But it’s still a 5/5 series. Better than the sum of its parts.

I'm an avid reader--mostly horror paperbacks from the '70s and '80s, but I also dive into mystery and fantasy from time to time. I haven't read too many crime novels (most recently I did read Ira Levin's A Kiss Before Dying which was great). Anyway, you've sold me on this series. I'm going to add it to my list!

I just finished Five Decembers and loved it! Thanks for making me aware of the book. And now I'll probably have to start in on Lawrence Block soon.

I’m reading Hit Man by Block because of your recommendation. Really enjoying it, so thank you :)

I always look forward to your literature content!! My to-read list, however, fears it...

Getting Off was my first Lawrence Block Book that i've read and since then i can't get enough of his stuff. Love that guy!

Man, if you're only up to Eight Million Ways to Die you've got a lot of greatness ahead of you. The early books are fine, but that's the one where it really kicks into gear. A Dance at the Slaughterhouse is my favorite mystery novel, and I also love Out on the Cutting Edge, A Walk Among the Tombstones, and A Long Line of Dead Men.

Every time I watch one of your serious videos, you give me gag anxiety. Like every other second, I'm just waiting for you to be like, "ha! Get fked, it was all a meme!"

ayy, i just started watching these book reviews again last night and now there’s a new one 😎😎

In your listing of American crime fiction, I think it'd be also worth mentioning Edgar Allan Poe. Not just for his horror stories, but he actually created what we'd recognize as the first detective character in "Western fiction" that was later imitated by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle himself even cited Poe's C. Auguste Dupin stories as an inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. Although he only wrote 3 stories with the character and he's more frequently thought of as a horror writer I still think of him as a necessary figure when trying to flesh out the history of American crime fiction.

Thanks to you i discovered cormac mcharty and ordered "the road" really excited to see how the story develops

Did the alcoholic detective trope come from these books? Reminds me of Disco Elysium.

Been reading the series ever since the video upload. Currently at A Stab in the Dark. Such an easy read. Really enjoy it. Thanks for the recommendation!

Why are there so many depressed detectives in fiction? Is there something fundamentally depressing about being a detective? Have they tried reading detective novels?

Block rarely gets a mention on RU-vid, and he’s fantastic. My favorite Scudder book is When The Sacred Ginmill Closes - grisly nostalgia.

I saw this video not long after it's upload date and have already burned through most of the series. All I lack is a couple of the novels, one ahort and the recent Autobiography of Matt Scudded. Also ssaw the 80s film which I found pleasanly fun despite not being as faithful to the source as one would prefer. Perhaps its due to my going into it expecting it to suck. But yeah, thanks for turning me on to the series. I had read Grifters game and always intended to check out more Block books but hadnt gotten around to it until seeing this video. I've always enjoyed the hardboiled detective type stories and as a depression ridden, addict myself this one appealed to me. Though alcohol isn't my poison, I struggled with uppers. Never understood the appeal of being slowed down but it's all the same kind of recovery process/struggle I suppose. Got to check out the Liam Neison film soon. Apart from an Irish Matt Scudder, the trailer leads me to think its more accurate than 8 Million Ways to Die.

I love these man. Would you be doing a Ruth Rendell one in the future at all??

I watched A Walk Among The Tombstones with my grandma who loves Liam Neeson and I gotta say that it was disappointing, there was something at its core, but it did not manage to captivate me movie-wise, however, I had no idea that it was based on the book until you brought it up, so I guess that I'll have to dive into the books, great video, mister Man, as usual

Thanks for the recomnendation! I just read The Sins of The Fathers and liked it a lot. Lawrence Block was a great discovery

You might like orphan x it’s a similar series with psychologically complex characters and sophisticated villains were no one is pure good and evil.

You should read Naked Lunch, it makes Cormac's The Road feel like Disneyland in comparison

I thought the only 17 book series about a depressed guy was the Cosmere.

I was reading the Keller books in order and I noticed the author photo changed when I checked one out from the library. The new photo was L.B. in a black shirt and wearing a black beret. In the book, Keller has to deal with "arty" people and makes disparaging commentary about how they all wear black all the time, often with a beret. I love the meta he sprinkles through his writing; this was the one I remember most. I have been reading Scudder in a random order (ie whichever books I find in the thrift stores first, mostly), and I don't think it suffers from that despite the long term character arc. Start with whatever book you have.

Yay! Book stuff!

Very good Blog ❤

I'm reading Swag from Elmond Leonard because of you. AND I'M HAVING A BLAST.

I was wracking my brain throughout this video, trying to figure out where I knew the names Lawrence Block and Scudder until you mentioned A Walk Among the Tombstones. Rather solid film of that style, though no idea how it compares to the book(s)

17 minutes about a 17 book series. Amazing

Big Text No Image has to be one of my favorite fiction genres

So you probably won't read this but when this video came out i thought "why not" and started the first one, and i just finished book 10 today. These books are so good, but my personal favourite was When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, surprisingly emotional

Great video, would you recommend that they are read in order? I read Sins of the Father last year and I have never seen any of the other books out in the wild of charity shops. I have been working my way through many of the Hard Case Crime books, so I have read A Walk Among the Tombstones (but I was really conflicted as I think it is about book 8 in the series); I think you will really enjoy it - quite brutal in parts, tone is much darker than SotF.

Bought a couple books for the first time since covid to be a part of booktube and reading the comments doesn't seem like I'm the only one, I'm sorry but you are now an influencer 😔

man carrying thing is now carrying books

This video inspired me to learn how to read

Dr Phil, my favorite author

"incredible stuff going on here, thoses woman getting killed"

The first thing I noticed is that the video is 17 minutes long lololol I loved the (maybe not even intentional) little detail~

Lawrence Block is one of the all-time greats.

My favorite Lawrence Block book is Murder on the Orient Express

Gotta signed copy of 8 million ways to die on my shelf that was gifted to me Still need to read it

I recommend the "Kenzie and Genaro series" by Dennis Lehane.

I am watching this video and I am indeed, in fact, books.

there is a great graphic novel adaptation of 8 Million Ways to Die out there by John K. Snyder III that is worth a look (as are the Parker Graphic Novels)

Matthew Scudder is my comfort character

It was only a matter of time before you got to Scudder. I wonder how you will take Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer or Max Allan Collins' Quarry?

Will we ever get to hear Man Carrying Thing discuss the last two Dark Tower Books?

I thought this was going to be about the Stormlight Archive

Idk if you have but read lonesome dove. It’s likely you have already, but if not give it a go its really great

The 17 minute video about a 17 book series about a depressed guy

A walk amongst the tombstone is a good movie! Not fantastic; but in the infinite pile of movies of liam neeson beign a taken clone badass; this one is the best because it actually doesnt fit that category. Really nice.

I thought he was gonna say diary of a wimpy kid

What's your opinion on David foster Wallace??? I've been reading some books from him and liking It a Lot.

My TBR: *a mile long Me: Okay, I'll start a new series :)

I really liked the Keller series.

Can't wait for your next Dark Tower review in the read-along. ... Any day now, I'm sure.

Talking about books again. Always sexy time

NGL I thought this was gonna be about Dresden Files before I looked at the thumbnail.

Please read the Shardlake Series by CJ Sansom or at least the first Absolution.

Fantastic video - I will check this series out. I think you would enjoy the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly. His first book is Every Dead Thing, give it a try! Thanks Man

Can you do a video on people who want to see meme videos and not book videos because LIFE IS SAD AND I CANT READ

Great series. Read the first 8

¿Have you read "Ghostman" by Roger Hobbs? Excellent noir book by a young writer who died too young.

i can't tell if the ominous music at 4:38 is an in-joke i don't get or just an editing mistake. either way it is mysterious and on-theme for detective books

finally I'm the main character.

I read 40 lashes less one because of you

Tkank you for my birthday present

Yeah, sure...good video and all...but what is your opinion on Trombones? Afraid to talk about things that matter?

Epic