I feel like a slacker: 1. I just buy and read what I want, 2. I don’t do challenges or keep any lists, and 3. I’ve learned to DNF without regret. These hippie hijinks work for me, keeps me satisfied and stress-free.
I'm with you, buddy. I have no plan or lists, except for a few mental notes and preferences. Sometimes my choices are made by what turns up at the library sale.
You mean you just read whatever book you take a notion to read, and you quit whenever you want? How is that even still a thing in 2024? 🤣 I’m with you, though planning does help me get to the books that’s I’ve been putting off for too long. I hate to dnf, but the moment I decide I don’t want to finish a book, I walk away from it. I’ve only walked away from two in the last few years, but they were both highly regarded.
For the love of all that is holy, don't let Roger use the Necronomicon. The eldritch horrors unleashed could end life as we know it! Using the time machine to go back and stop himself would create a temporal paradox, sure, but it is the safer option.
This is why I just read whatever I feel like. No challenges, etc. They make it more like work, and reading should not be work unless it’s part of your job.
I have three words for you - vintage science fiction. Whatever happened to VSF? On the comic front, start with the hulk. You can knock out his first run in an afternoon.
Re: the 500 book challenge. Read the easy stuff like Longarm, the Executioner, and Star Trek as much as possible. At this rate, you're going to be in your 80's before you buy another book. 😆
Hilarious intro Michael! You had me in stitches! 🤣 So many awesome reading projects, especially the Stephen King one. You should manage all of them because I hear you are a super fast reader. 😀
So sorry to hear about Wilkins. Once again I am impressed by your plate spinning skills, so many projects yet you manage to keep them in a strange weaving rotation pattern without exploding or having a meltdown.. impressive. Is there still Superman / Batman Sunday? Do you still plan to embark on the Elric odyssey after Amber? Are you sure Wilkins is dead and it's not a ruse by Roger to run amok with the Necronomicon again?
December at Dunwich seems like it will be fun. I took part in Cthulhu Christmas two years ago and I'd love to try to read all of Lovecraft, as there are several big ones I've neglected namely Dunwich Horror and At the Mountains of Madness.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 he is a mummy. I’ve seen those movies, unless you’re his reincarnated lost love you may be in danger. He’s plotted against you before with some of these challenges. We know who to call if he starts really misbehaving!
A long time ago I set myself the challenge of reading all the TV tie in books of any TV series. I chose Space 1999. I read them all. They were not bad at all. Only downside is that I hear that we going to put nuclear power on the moon? Nooooo!
Ahh, the behind the scenes interactions with Roger😂. You know how I feel about your 500 book challenge so moving on......I’ve got about 16 challenges, readalongs, events and goals for the year that I work on. I’ve been doing this for three or four years and I usually finish most, if not all of them. None are hard, it’s just all for fun. June on the range is one, my own variation of your book challenge (you wouldn’t approve of my variation)is also one along with the others that will finish at year’s end.
Reading projects. Yes. lol. I don’t have many and I’m failing terribly at them. I started the year off by reading all of my Edgar P. Jacobs and Blake and Mortimer comics. So far I’ve only read one and that one wasn’t even written or drawn by Jacobs. It was a graphic novel bio on Jacobs.
You’re not alone or ridiculous. I’m working on: Graphic Novel series-Fables and all related spin-offs -Unwritten (because, while it’s not a spin off, it ties into Fables) Book Series-Sigma Force by James Rollins (I’m almost caught up on that one!) -Harry Dresden Files by James Butcher (an occult detective series. I’m 1/5 through the series…) -Blue Blood and related spin offs (YA vampires and witches. I’m almost done with the main part of the vampire story, but then there’s 6 or so witch books, and then another 4 vampire follow ups. They read fast though.) A Marilynne Robinson historical fiction series (Oprah’s book club, and slow reads. Only 4, and I did read the first 2) Crave series by Tracy Wolff (more YA vampires and witches. I listened to the first one for garbaugust last year, and I’m saving them for all following Augusts…) Plus reading events, plus I tend to set myself a theme if there isn’t an event I’m interested in (march I planned to read stories by and about Women for Women’s history month, February I read romance and things by Black authors…), plus whatever Kindle event is going on. The problem with loving to read is that there are so many things w e want to read, and only so much time to read. So we all go a little mad here.😸
Omg good luck! I'm lucky if I can find the time to read a couple books a month right now. I do really like those projects though and look forward to hearing your thoughts. I don't think I could ever read all lovecraft in 1 month though. That's a lot with the holidays lol. Also, the glove did not fit!! Roger couldn't have done it!!
You’re still talking about comic book challenges, and I’ve already lost count. 😉. The 500 book challenge along with your diligence to stick to it is extremely impressive. I’m going to try my own book buying ban. I’m going to try going an entire week without buying any books. It starts tomorrow because it’s too late for today. Wish me luck 😂
I think your opener should be the cut of Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone Episode "Time Enough at Last" where he's organized hundreds of books into piles and talks (with much anticipation) about his planned reading schedule.
It was quite shocking to hear Roger arguing at the beginning of the video. Is he off his meds? Sacrificing virgins seems rather extreme, especially merely to meet a reading challenge, although I certainly recognize the importance of achieving your goals. Wait! Did I actually hear Roger speaking or did I just imagine it?
As long as you're gallivanting about stately Vaughn Manor sans pants, you could always take up another challenge and start reading a smut novel every week -- assuming you can find them without the pages sticking together, that is. There are the 'classic' smut novels from the 19th Century and earlier, of course. Then there are the sorts of smutty novels one could only purchase in an adults-only 'shoppe', such as those published by Beeline in the latter half of the 20th Century -- I have it on good authority that many of those novels were ghost-written by authors of mainstream fiction (anonymously, of course, lest their reputations suffer) for the paycheck. And then there are certain series of novels which were published in mainstream circles, yet were really little more than smut novels gussied up with the trappings of other genre fiction -- such as THE MAN FROM PLANET X series written by "Hunter Adams" (probably a pseudonym), #1 titled "The She Beast" [1975], #2 "Tiger by the Tail" [1975], and #3 "The Devil to Pay" [1977]. The protagonist is a humanoid alien named Pritan Lansol who lands in a UFO in order to study Earth-people as a sort of galactic anthropologist, surgically altered just enough to pass for a human. He goes by the name 'Peter Lance' -- a double-whammy of a sexually suggestive persona, given that his 'member' is described as somewhat prehensile and capable of vibrating during the 'act', such that women whom he gets-it-on with achieve such heights of satisfaction that they usually pass out from the pleasure -- a phenomenon which helps him get out of the occasional bit of trouble. He basically becomes a secret agent working on behalf of a right-wing politician (whose daughter had picked him up while hitchhiking early in the 1st novel) who recognizes his talents in the fisticuffs department, and could use a 'man' like him to serve his interests despite there being no record of his existence (because he's from Planet X, of course). There's also the 'GOR' novels by John Norman, starting with TARNSMAN OF GOR [1966], set on an Earth-like planet orbiting in Earth's orbital path but hidden behind the Sun (i.e. located in the Sun-Earth :3 libration point). It's basically a barbarian fantasy world where a warrior (such as the protagonist becomes) learns how to ride a huge falcon-like bird called a Tarn (hence the 1st novel's title), with men dominating the women of Gor in every conceivable way. As one might imagine, most women decry the series as male chauvinist wish-fulfilment gone amuck and, yeah, that's pretty much it. I bought the first 20-odd books in the series, but only managed to read the first 5 of them before I found it getting too tedious with the author's getting too overbearing regarding the Male Domination of Women theme and his philosophizing of it. Perhaps Lord Vaughn has read further into the series than I managed, and has things to say regarding them . . . ? Maybe such 'literature' as the above paragraphs could be dealt with in Garbaugust. On the other hand, if Lord Vaughn prefers to keep his reading list in the PG-to-R range, rather than veering off into 'X' territory, well, I could very well understand that. Not every genre is to everyone's taste. If I had to guess, though, you've probably read at least the first few GOR novels, given that they were mass-market paperbacks with great covers painted by Boris Vallejo, probably marketed as Fantasy and, thus, shelved near the CONAN novels in the SCI-FI/FANTASY section of the local bookstores you frequented in your youth.
I did tell Roger not to return Doctor Doom's time travel platform. The Wilkins situation could have been so easily solved and those virgins would still be alive. Are you including the Marvel b/w magazines like Savage Sword in your Conan comic reading plan? If so, that's another 250 or so issues (Savage Sword, Kull And The Barbarians, Savage Tales) and each one is three times the length of a colour comic. Also, if yes, will you read the entirety of each issue even though not all issues are exclusively Conan? Your plans are the yardstick by which we lesser readers measure our successes and hopes. Good luck Michael, now go put some pants on.
As I just wrote elsewhere, I have no serious schedule for reading. I wouldn't even TRY to read all of Stephen King -- he writes them faster than I want to read them -- I will re-read all of the short stories though. For that matter, I'd really like to get all the Alfred Hitchcock paperback anthologies (some stories from the magazine, some not) and read them. As to comic book runs, Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu sits high in my regard -- I'd really like to give that title another go. Hellboy, too. I reread as much as I had of The Spectre a while back, and those were good as well. It would be nice to finish up Herman Melville as a bucket list item, but it probably won't happen. The Decameron and The Thousand Nights And A Night sit on the shelf, tempting me. But, no, no plans... heh heh. PS: If Roger sacrifices all the virgins, your channel viewership will be significantly reduced. Just sayin'.
I have an American history project reading from the colonial period to the present. It's going to take years and years. With that, Historathon, and other reading events, it's a little overwhelming.
Looks like an amazing time, Michael. At an issue a day, I'm guessing you'll be done with Thor by mid/late October. What character do you think you'll start after that? I'd vote FF, but the Acts of Vengeance and Serpent Society arcs on Captain America I remember fondly for some reason. Happy reading.
As time marches on, I realize not every book is worth reading and, especially, not every book is worth finishing. I give myself permission to stop if it is not grabbing me. Life is too short to read bad books or even weak books. My TBR pile, if piled, is easily a 4 story building. If I ever get down to a 8 foot pile, I'll become less picky. Challenges are meant to be fun. If it stops being fun, do something different.
Reading all of Lovecraft in a month is not possible. I have difficulty getting through a single story without tossing it in the fire. Good thing I don't have a fireplace.
Michael, I love you but I think you may be out of your head. I suggest lying down with the full run of The Fantastic Four. My projects are: Read a hundred before i buy; read through Diac World, read all the nonfiction books on the premises having to do with the Victorian Era in the British Empire. I may expire from sheer old age before I accomplish that last one. I’ve often listened to H P Lovecraft while falling asleep, so clearly I have issues of my own. My best to Roger.
You slay me.However, with the stopped time there, you THINK you could get the reading done. If I lived to be, (well, "lived" is a relative word here), as old as Roger, I would not read all of my books, and you keep adding to my list.
I feel like a slacker: 1. I just buy and read what I want, 2. I don’t do challenges or keep any lists, and 3. I’ve learned to DNF without regret. These hippie hijinks work for me, keeps me satisfied and stress-free.
I'm with you, buddy. I have no plan or lists, except for a few mental notes and preferences. Sometimes my choices are made by what turns up at the library sale.
Reading competitively is a thing. I prefer to vacation in a text.
You mean you just read whatever book you take a notion to read, and you quit whenever you want? How is that even still a thing in 2024? 🤣
I’m with you, though planning does help me get to the books that’s I’ve been putting off for too long. I hate to dnf, but the moment I decide I don’t want to finish a book, I walk away from it.
I’ve only walked away from two in the last few years, but they were both highly regarded.
I was expecting to see Michael run screaming from the room at the end of the show. The face he made cracked me up though!🤣🤣🤣
For the love of all that is holy, don't let Roger use the Necronomicon. The eldritch horrors unleashed could end life as we know it! Using the time machine to go back and stop himself would create a temporal paradox, sure, but it is the safer option.
Another classic Michael K. Vaughan video...which is to say it's excellent!
I want more Vaughn fiction, it's better than anything on booktube
”…where Roger and I are not wearing pants.”
Mike’s mild Manor…where there are more books than bugs. Thank you Michael. Easy money
Welcome back to….pantless Vaughn Manor 😒🧟♂️
This is why I just read whatever I feel like. No challenges, etc. They make it more like work, and reading should not be work unless it’s part of your job.
Far be it for me to side with the 10,000 year old Egyptian necromancer, but...maybe Wilkins had it coming??
Roger was framed.
I have three words for you - vintage science fiction. Whatever happened to VSF?
On the comic front, start with the hulk. You can knock out his first run in an afternoon.
The Fate of Wilkins Remains Unknown(?)
You do kill me, Michael. Your segue from Roger had me chuckling.
You're gonna be older than Roger by the time you're done with all these challenges!
Re: the 500 book challenge.
Read the easy stuff like Longarm, the Executioner, and Star Trek as much as possible. At this rate, you're going to be in your 80's before you buy another book. 😆
I know exactly how you feel. Between my personal projects, booktube stuff, and buddy reads I am running out of time!
You are SO adorable! It sure has been fun following your crazy 📚 projects over the years!
I think Wilkins is in a "better place now".
He went to a nice sunny farm where he can just run and run.
Hilarious intro Michael! You had me in stitches! 🤣 So many awesome reading projects, especially the Stephen King one. You should manage all of them because I hear you are a super fast reader. 😀
So sorry to hear about Wilkins.
Once again I am impressed by your plate spinning skills, so many projects yet you manage to keep them in a strange weaving rotation pattern without exploding or having a meltdown.. impressive.
Is there still Superman / Batman Sunday?
Do you still plan to embark on the Elric odyssey after Amber?
Are you sure Wilkins is dead and it's not a ruse by Roger to run amok with the Necronomicon again?
I would love to see a video on roger's origin story, you know before he kills us all (I'm not a virgin I swear!)
Omigosh.
There were a bunch of your reading projects I forgot!
Good luck!
December at Dunwich seems like it will be fun. I took part in Cthulhu Christmas two years ago and I'd love to try to read all of Lovecraft, as there are several big ones I've neglected namely Dunwich Horror and At the Mountains of Madness.
😂😂😂 Roger! Horror MAYhem… 🙌🏻
Cracking me up as usual! Beware Roger, he might try to sacrifice you for some sneaky schemes!
He wouldn’t dare…..or…..would he….?
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 he is a mummy. I’ve seen those movies, unless you’re his reincarnated lost love you may be in danger. He’s plotted against you before with some of these challenges. We know who to call if he starts really misbehaving!
Your book projects are stressing me out. And I'm not even doing them!
A long time ago I set myself the challenge of reading all the TV tie in books of any TV series. I chose Space 1999. I read them all. They were not bad at all. Only downside is that I hear that we going to put nuclear power on the moon? Nooooo!
LOL! Thank you (and Roger!) for the biggest laugh I got all week! (And I needed that!)
Very funny. I enjoy "what happened to wilkins?"
20 twenty thor. I got that reference.
The libaray phantom strikes again! Heavrs know where they have hidden all the 'misplased/disapared' books 😆
Ahh, the behind the scenes interactions with Roger😂. You know how I feel about your 500 book challenge so moving on......I’ve got about 16 challenges, readalongs, events and goals for the year that I work on. I’ve been doing this for three or four years and I usually finish most, if not all of them. None are hard, it’s just all for fun. June on the range is one, my own variation of your book challenge (you wouldn’t approve of my variation)is also one along with the others that will finish at year’s end.
Reading projects. Yes. lol. I don’t have many and I’m failing terribly at them. I started the year off by reading all of my Edgar P. Jacobs and Blake and Mortimer comics. So far I’ve only read one and that one wasn’t even written or drawn by Jacobs. It was a graphic novel bio on Jacobs.
You’re not alone or ridiculous. I’m working on:
Graphic Novel series-Fables and all related spin-offs
-Unwritten (because, while it’s not a spin off, it ties into Fables)
Book Series-Sigma Force by James Rollins (I’m almost caught up on that one!)
-Harry Dresden Files by James Butcher (an occult detective series. I’m 1/5 through the series…)
-Blue Blood and related spin offs (YA vampires and witches. I’m almost done with the main part of the vampire story, but then there’s 6 or so witch books, and then another 4 vampire follow ups. They read fast though.)
A Marilynne Robinson historical fiction series (Oprah’s book club, and slow reads. Only 4, and I did read the first 2)
Crave series by Tracy Wolff (more YA vampires and witches. I listened to the first one for garbaugust last year, and I’m saving them for all following Augusts…)
Plus reading events, plus I tend to set myself a theme if there isn’t an event I’m interested in (march I planned to read stories by and about Women for Women’s history month, February I read romance and things by Black authors…), plus whatever Kindle event is going on.
The problem with loving to read is that there are so many things w e want to read, and only so much time to read. So we all go a little mad here.😸
You'll get oberwhelmed by Stephen King books like from a barbarian horde. Guy writes faster than a cimmerian thief steals a jewel from a tower....
Omg good luck! I'm lucky if I can find the time to read a couple books a month right now. I do really like those projects though and look forward to hearing your thoughts. I don't think I could ever read all lovecraft in 1 month though. That's a lot with the holidays lol. Also, the glove did not fit!! Roger couldn't have done it!!
You’re still talking about comic book challenges, and I’ve already lost count. 😉. The 500 book challenge along with your diligence to stick to it is extremely impressive. I’m going to try my own book buying ban. I’m going to try going an entire week without buying any books. It starts tomorrow because it’s too late for today. Wish me luck 😂
I think your opener should be the cut of Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone Episode "Time Enough at Last" where he's organized hundreds of books into piles and talks (with much anticipation) about his planned reading schedule.
It was quite shocking to hear Roger arguing at the beginning of the video. Is he off his meds? Sacrificing virgins seems rather extreme, especially merely to meet a reading challenge, although I certainly recognize the importance of achieving your goals. Wait! Did I actually hear Roger speaking or did I just imagine it?
Your reading list sounds more daunting than mine... Good luck!
As long as you're gallivanting about stately Vaughn Manor sans pants, you could always take up another challenge and start reading a smut novel every week -- assuming you can find them without the pages sticking together, that is. There are the 'classic' smut novels from the 19th Century and earlier, of course. Then there are the sorts of smutty novels one could only purchase in an adults-only 'shoppe', such as those published by Beeline in the latter half of the 20th Century -- I have it on good authority that many of those novels were ghost-written by authors of mainstream fiction (anonymously, of course, lest their reputations suffer) for the paycheck.
And then there are certain series of novels which were published in mainstream circles, yet were really little more than smut novels gussied up with the trappings of other genre fiction -- such as THE MAN FROM PLANET X series written by "Hunter Adams" (probably a pseudonym), #1 titled "The She Beast" [1975], #2 "Tiger by the Tail" [1975], and #3 "The Devil to Pay" [1977]. The protagonist is a humanoid alien named Pritan Lansol who lands in a UFO in order to study Earth-people as a sort of galactic anthropologist, surgically altered just enough to pass for a human. He goes by the name 'Peter Lance' -- a double-whammy of a sexually suggestive persona, given that his 'member' is described as somewhat prehensile and capable of vibrating during the 'act', such that women whom he gets-it-on with achieve such heights of satisfaction that they usually pass out from the pleasure -- a phenomenon which helps him get out of the occasional bit of trouble. He basically becomes a secret agent working on behalf of a right-wing politician (whose daughter had picked him up while hitchhiking early in the 1st novel) who recognizes his talents in the fisticuffs department, and could use a 'man' like him to serve his interests despite there being no record of his existence (because he's from Planet X, of course).
There's also the 'GOR' novels by John Norman, starting with TARNSMAN OF GOR [1966], set on an Earth-like planet orbiting in Earth's orbital path but hidden behind the Sun (i.e. located in the Sun-Earth :3 libration point). It's basically a barbarian fantasy world where a warrior (such as the protagonist becomes) learns how to ride a huge falcon-like bird called a Tarn (hence the 1st novel's title), with men dominating the women of Gor in every conceivable way. As one might imagine, most women decry the series as male chauvinist wish-fulfilment gone amuck and, yeah, that's pretty much it. I bought the first 20-odd books in the series, but only managed to read the first 5 of them before I found it getting too tedious with the author's getting too overbearing regarding the Male Domination of Women theme and his philosophizing of it. Perhaps Lord Vaughn has read further into the series than I managed, and has things to say regarding them . . . ?
Maybe such 'literature' as the above paragraphs could be dealt with in Garbaugust. On the other hand, if Lord Vaughn prefers to keep his reading list in the PG-to-R range, rather than veering off into 'X' territory, well, I could very well understand that. Not every genre is to everyone's taste. If I had to guess, though, you've probably read at least the first few GOR novels, given that they were mass-market paperbacks with great covers painted by Boris Vallejo, probably marketed as Fantasy and, thus, shelved near the CONAN novels in the SCI-FI/FANTASY section of the local bookstores you frequented in your youth.
I habe significantly less projects than you and I still can't keep up. I like to think of it as a time-honored tradition.
I did tell Roger not to return Doctor Doom's time travel platform. The Wilkins situation could have been so easily solved and those virgins would still be alive.
Are you including the Marvel b/w magazines like Savage Sword in your Conan comic reading plan? If so, that's another 250 or so issues (Savage Sword, Kull And The Barbarians, Savage Tales) and each one is three times the length of a colour comic. Also, if yes, will you read the entirety of each issue even though not all issues are exclusively Conan?
Your plans are the yardstick by which we lesser readers measure our successes and hopes. Good luck Michael, now go put some pants on.
As I just wrote elsewhere, I have no serious schedule for reading. I wouldn't even TRY to read all of Stephen King -- he writes them faster than I want to read them -- I will re-read all of the short stories though. For that matter, I'd really like to get all the Alfred Hitchcock paperback anthologies (some stories from the magazine, some not) and read them. As to comic book runs, Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu sits high in my regard -- I'd really like to give that title another go. Hellboy, too. I reread as much as I had of The Spectre a while back, and those were good as well. It would be nice to finish up Herman Melville as a bucket list item, but it probably won't happen. The Decameron and The Thousand Nights And A Night sit on the shelf, tempting me. But, no, no plans... heh heh.
PS: If Roger sacrifices all the virgins, your channel viewership will be significantly reduced. Just sayin'.
True.
I love your reading projects. I rarely talk about mine, so I should make a similar video.
I have an American history project reading from the colonial period to the present. It's going to take years and years. With that, Historathon, and other reading events, it's a little overwhelming.
Looks like an amazing time, Michael. At an issue a day, I'm guessing you'll be done with Thor by mid/late October. What character do you think you'll start after that? I'd vote FF, but the Acts of Vengeance and Serpent Society arcs on Captain America I remember fondly for some reason. Happy reading.
As time marches on, I realize not every book is worth reading and, especially, not every book is worth finishing. I give myself permission to stop if it is not grabbing me. Life is too short to read bad books or even weak books. My TBR pile, if piled, is easily a 4 story building. If I ever get down to a 8 foot pile, I'll become less picky. Challenges are meant to be fun. If it stops being fun, do something different.
Reading all of Lovecraft in a month is not possible. I have difficulty getting through a single story without tossing it in the fire. Good thing I don't have a fireplace.
Have you dropped the Hornblower project? Perfect for Spring into Adventure!
I found you to be a very charming person.
By the way, the oakdale affair is just the Mucker, part three
If you don't mind me asking, what kind of job do you have? Are you able to read at work?
I could have sworn there were more projects underway but who am I to judge. 😂
When Roger does a duce, does he use the papyrus of Ani?
Michael, I love you but I think you may be out of your head. I suggest lying down with the full run of The Fantastic Four.
My projects are: Read a hundred before i buy; read through Diac World, read all the nonfiction books on the premises having to do with the Victorian Era in the British Empire.
I may expire from sheer old age before I accomplish that last one.
I’ve often listened to H P Lovecraft while falling asleep, so clearly I have issues of my own. My best to Roger.
You do put a lot on your plate.
Perfectly manageable. 🤓
Ummm, Doc Savage? The Shadow?
That’s right! I knew I was forgetting something. I blame Roger.
You slay me.However, with the stopped time there, you THINK you could get the reading done. If I lived to be, (well, "lived" is a relative word here), as old as Roger, I would not read all of my books, and you keep adding to my list.
😊
But you wont get to A Fire Upon the Deep until next year now !! 😭 And when you do, you'll say to yourself, 'why didn't I prioritise this?'.
I just dug out my old paperback of that. I’ll sneak it in somewhere.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 😁😁
What about the Ace doubles project?!?!? 😂
Did I have one of those? That’s a good idea. I wish I had thought of it!
How many GB does that tablet have ? :>
How much does the Lady of the Manor read?
She reads plenty…and it’s all boring!
Pants are overrated.
So true.