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'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.
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
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!
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).
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.
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.
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 😊
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.
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 :)
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 😆
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.
Oh Jasper Fforde is so great and clever! I don’t feel like he’s talked about enough on BookTube. Hope you enjoy, Merphy!
So happy too see Jasper Fforde here. Hope it clicks with you!
I'm looking forward to the Thursday Next discussion.
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.
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'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.
Love the merch, they all look nicely done
I love the Wndless Nights vlog idea!! Please please please!
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
That dino t shirt is so good!
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!
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).
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.
New merch looks amazing!!
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.
Foster hit me harder than Small Things Like These, even though it's a much simpler story, and different emotions.
Awwwww yeh!! We going with agatha christie book, nice!!
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.
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 😊
😮
Agatha Christie is amazing.
The new mercendice looks gorgeous.
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.
Dresden ! Brief cases ftw. you're gonna love it ^^
Yay for some Agatha Christie 🙌🏼
Merphy has obviously been inspired by Slagatha!
(Is that how you spell your alter-ego?)
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 :)
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!
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.
Fall is 100% mystery season 🥰
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.
Getting really close to the end of Malazan! Im hoping to start book 4 sometime soon though it may not be till next year
Looking forward to the Agatha Christie solve-along!
Toll the Hounds is awesome. Witness!! And let’s the thumbnail-less chaos rule everything! 😂
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.
Toll the hounds! Let's go! I love this one.
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!
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.
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.
winter reading are the books i get gifted for christmas :3
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 :(
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.
I hope you enjoy Foster! Hooray that Ben agrees! Fortunately, it’s short, so no high stakes.😊
fantasy/mystery? fantastery!
Foster is so good.
Winter recommendation: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries ❤
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.
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.
Oh Foster 😊 my only book by this author.
Do you know there is a movie called Quite Girl?
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.
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 😆
immediately clicked on the notification ❤ btw I'm reading red seas under red skies and loving it
yay!!!! It's SUCH a good book!
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!
Hi Merphy! Are you still planning to continue the Discworld series?
I have a copy of nightward as well!
I’m surprised Absolution isn’t on this list.
Are u going to read the sun eater saga 🤔 somewhere in the future
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.
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
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!
I hope you like Endless Night, it is my least favorite book of hers.
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!
Blasphemy!! You can never have too many books, everyone knows that!!