Book Haul December 2023 - out of control impulse control edition

I really need to stop doing this... yet again, in December, I bought far more books than I probably should have.
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00:00 Intro
01:24 Indie
04:48 Novels
13:29 Short stories
14:28 Tolkien
16:55 Comics & manga
21:15 Wrap-up
#booktube #fantasybooks #bookhaul

[@BookishChas]

Wow Matt, that was an epic haul! Those Sandman editions are so nice! One of my favorite comics.

[@MattonBooks]

Ohhhh yeah Chas, Sandman’s top 3 ever for me. I’ve owned it in various forms over the years, but thought it was finally time to get THE edition. 😜

[@MichaelRSchultheiss]

Thank you so much for your interest in The Altar of My Fate, and for your feedback on the cover! I'm certainly planning to redo the cover at some point, though it'll probably have to be a few years down the road. Again, thank you so much, and hope you enjoy the read!

[@MattonBooks]

My pleasure Michael, and thanks for the book! 🙂

[@MimiWhimsy]

Book hauls are indeed fun, and you have many lovelies in this set! BUT...I totally understand the weird quicksand that book buying can be (financially, space, pressure). Loving your channel and I'd say do whatever it is you love to do, and we'll be here for it. ;o)

[@MattonBooks]

Thanks Mimi. 😘

[@epicgamer2727]

City of Last Chances is such a good book, one of Tchaikovsky's best. It just feels like he is having so much fun with the world in addition to him talking about deeper themes such as revolution and colonialism and the resistance to it.

[@MattonBooks]

Good to hear! 😀

[@sw3dge]

Great haul. That sandman volume is awesome.

[@MattonBooks]

It is! Re-read coming up! 😀

[@jacobdecarli]

Hey Matt! So as much as I enjoyed this video I now have a ton of reads to buy. In all seriousness, I trust your recommendations and truly appreciate your content. Look forward to Sunday Pub

[@MattonBooks]

Hey Jacob, love to hear it. It’s always a pleasure to turn someone on to an awesome book. ♥️📚♥️

[@liviajelliot]

What a haul!! I actually binged through the Empires of Dust trilogy--it's good, and the world is different; the way she uses PoVs is very, very good; however, the last book was too dark, to the point that I questioned whether some things needed to be *that* dark. Regardless it's a great trilogy! The Sandman edition got me oohh-ing and ahh-ing, because I haven't seen it before. And By Force Alone seems interesting, especially because there are so many retellings/rehashes, and this one actually sounded different. Great haul Matt; since you asked--I'm the type that prefer the other, more discussion/review-like videos more, though!

[@MattonBooks]

I just yesterday DNFed “In the Shadow of Their Dying”, co-written by Smith Spark & Fletcher, which honestly make me a bit nervous about Empires of Dust. it from what I’ve heard, she mostly wrote the bits I liked, so we’ll see. And I totally get the “is all this grim darkness really necessary?” feeling, was the same in this novella.

[@BrianBell7]

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on books 2 and 3 in the Edan trilogy. Loved them both a ton. There are some excellent tales in Fragile Things too. All great stuff!

[@MattonBooks]

Yeah Brian, The Way of Edan left me with so many questions & stuff I wanted to know more about, I’m keen to get to 2 & 3. 😀

[@safinan8008]

Happy reading to you!! 😊

[@MattonBooks]

Thanks Safina. 🙂

[@BookBuds]

I love that sword back there !!! So cool. What a great haul! I’ve been hearing so much about the Edan books. I gotta pick them up. Happy reading.

[@MattonBooks]

Thanks mate. That’s “Nametaker”, my sword I forged myself. In my other videos at the desk, it’s a lovely Anduril replica behind me. 🙂 Enjoy Edan!

[@BookBuds]

@@MattonBooks wow !!! So cool !!!

[@AndrewsWizardlyReads]

I’m also pretty much over all the superhero stuff

[@esmayrosalyne]

Oooh yes, I love to see Obsidian: Awakening here!! That made it into my top 10 of 2023 (out of 300 books!!) and it just hurts my soul to see how criminally underrated it is. Beautiful haul, nothing wrong with a little irresponsible splurge sometimes hahah 🤣🤩

[@MattonBooks]

Okay, having heard that, from such an illustrious reviewer as yourself Esmay, maybe I’ll bump it up the TBR a bit. Karjornwan is also such a nice person, which also always plays into my self-pub decisions. 🙂

[@esmayrosalyne]

@@MattonBooks Isn't she?! I've absolutely loved every single interaction with her. Really hope you enjoy the book whenever you may get to it!

[@maggythestray6869]

Can't wait for your thoughts about Obsidian!

[@MattonBooks]

I’m curious about it for sure, but also for sure won’t get to it in the immediate future…

[@ToddsBookTube91]

Nice Haul Matt! Yep I went a little overboard last year buying books I'm going to cut back this year! I want to get to The Blood Stones within the next couple months.

[@MattonBooks]

Low impulse control twins, Todd! 😆

[@duffypratt]

I will be interested to hear what you think about Mistwraith. I’m currently reading book eight of the series and have a love/hate relationship with it. People seem to believe that they should have read all the books that they own. I understand that, but I also think it is the wrong way to look at things. The real question is: Why keep books on your shelves? For me, I came up with what I think are six legitimate reasons: 1) I might re-read it; 2) I intend to read it someday; 3) I will likely refer to it; 4) I will loan/give it to someone; 5)it has nostalgic/sentimental value and 6) it’s nice furniture. Note that this excludes keeping a book simply as evidence of something that I have already read. Periodically, when my shelves fill up, I will purge them of books that don’t fit any of the categories above. An alternative would be to get more shelves, but I don’t have room for the, so my library is limited to somewhere around 50 shelves, or approx. 2000 books.

[@MattonBooks]

I have surely owned a few thousands books at one time or another that I no longer own. I moved too often and too far most of my life to keep them. I’m now a bit more settled, have a spacious flat I plan on staying in, and I really like being surrounded by books. That, and my tendency to re-read good ones, are my reasons.

[@jcmberne]

Agree re: Obsidian Awakening's cover. Much better than anything I could have done! The Authority is one of my favorite series (right alongside Planetary).

[@MattonBooks]

I don’t know, I just seem to have lost any interest in most superheroes. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@jcmberne]

@@MattonBooks nothing wrong with that!

[@ColinsCornerYT]

Sweet Haul brother!!!

[@MattonBooks]

Damn Colin, go to bed! 😆

[@MacScarfield]

Really looking forward to your thoughts on “Obsidian” & “Canticle for Leibovitz”! I found “By Force Alone” very intriguing, but a bit disjunctioned: I would have loved the first part "Grimdark King Arthur meets Guy Ritchie Gangster Movies" and the second part "Lancelot as Jewish Ninja Indiana Jones Adventure Ancient Aliens Archeologist fighting Parzifal as a N@zi Vampire in the 6th Century" (Take That, Wagner! 🤣) much better as seperate stories. And his take on Merlin won my “scariest character” in 2022, clear reference to “The Omen”! Tidhar clearly loves his movie references (especially Sci-Fi), as including those I already have mentioned, I caught at least “Alien”, “Predator” and Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Stalker”! “The Hood” did not have the same highs for me personally, but is a lot more consistent as "Robin Hood Meets Folk Horror, The Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now and Breaking Bad" and slightly more emphatically characters. Have you read or plan to read the «Sun Eater» series by Christopher Ruocchio? I just watched Ruocchio’s interview with «Talking Story», and I’m not gonna lie: Learning that since his «Solian Empire» is primarily based on British and Indian Culture, there is a mythological figure/concept of «Cid Arthur» (Siddhartha + King Arthur), literally made my day and bumped «Suneater» from my Longterm TBR List to my 2024 MBR List! That it is inspired by both “Dune” and “Book of the New Sun” also intrigues me! Also, I have my essay for Vaughn Roycroft’s “Bold Ascension” (his sequel to “The Severing Son” in his “The Sundered Nation”-series) ready and loaded whenever you get to it! 😄 Cheers!

[@MattonBooks]

Canticle’s a re-read, so I can already tell you I love it. ♥️ And yeah, starting Sun Eater is very firmly on the 2024 TBR, probably in the next couple of months. Really looking forward to it! I’ve seen enough interviews with Ruocchio, and love his inspirations enough, I’m very optimistic about the series. 🙂

[@MacScarfield]

@@MattonBooks From the preview of the first 5 chapters of «Empire of Silence», I caught: Jadd: The Jaddite Faith from several Guy Gavriel Kay novels (GGK’s mix of Christian Trappings and the Sun Cults from Antiquity: Ruocchio has stated himself as a fan of GGK, with signed books by him) & Jeddah, an Ancient Port City in Modern Day Saudi Arabia Birth Vats for the Nobility: «Brave New World» by Aldous Huxley Hadrian’s home planet of Delos: Greek Island, Holy Site for the worship of Apollo and Artemis and the Athenian-led Delian League which fought Sparta in the Peloponnesian War of the 5th Century BC + The Name of the Mega-Corporation running the parks in «Westworld» Hadrian’s brother Crispin: The St. Crispin’s Day Speech from «Henry V» The Alien Antagonists, the Cielcin: Ciel (French: Sky) + sin (Mr. Ruocchio is Catholic, alright! 😄) Lothrian: Have some similar language structure as the Free City of Lorath from GRRM’s «ASOIAF» + Lotharingia/Lorraine in Modern Day France Hadrian’s family name Marlowe and their Devil Symbol: Christopher Marlowe wrote «Doctor Faustus», about the eponymous scholar who make a pact with the devil Mephistopheles (+ a reversed color scheme of the Manchester United Devil Logo, given the Marlowes’ English Ancestry?) The Mother of Hadrian’s Family Name, Kephalos: Cephalus, whom Socrates have a dialogue with in Plato’s «Republic». Cephalus give as a definition of justice «to give each what is owed to them», which Socrates refutes by saying that returning a borrowed knife to someone who has turned mad and might therefore hurt themselves, is not just.

[@AndrewsWizardlyReads]

90% of my upcoming hauls are books I’ve read but don’t own yet.

[@MattonBooks]

Much of my past 2 years of hauls have been that, since I’ve read and sold/given away so many books in the past.

[@eros_sore]

Just picked up "Bliss" by Peter Carey after discovering him on your channel, and so far I'm very much enjoying it! I had never heard of any australian author before, so thank you Matt for sharing!

[@MattonBooks]

This is my favourite kind of thing to hear, Eros! 😍 Bliss is a great book, glad you’re enjoying it.

[@eros_sore]

Thank you very much :) @@MattonBooks

[@EricMcLuen]

Not many Thing of Things titles there. Have my dad's 1961 Canticle with the red cover and monk with a knife inching towards my next read. Finishing up an Elric and then to My Effin Life by Geddy Lee. Really need to get some Sandman bind ups since my comics start around 30 and not sure which box they are in.

[@MattonBooks]

Whoa, going deep in my archive Eric! 😆 Yeah, I’ve read Sandman is so many different version, it’s nice having the monster tome. Though it does weigh more than my head, so somewhat less convenient to read. 😜

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

After the Sun Eater series, Grey Mouser reread, Thomas Covenant reread, Black Company series, Hyperion reread, I may, may, have some time to try Janny Wurts.

[@MattonBooks]

That sounds almost exactly like my next few months, Jeroen. 🤔

[@Talking_Story]

The John Picacio cover is sooo much better.

[@MattonBooks]

Oh yeah. This garish yellow one looks like the publisher just let the intern do it. 😬

[@AndrewsWizardlyReads]

Join Tori, Kayla, Niko and I on the read your shelf challenge this year.

[@MattonBooks]

I’m not ready for that kind of commitment. 😆

[@BrianBell7]

dang. I've literally read every book on my shelf in the fantasy / sci fi genre. I can't play with the cool kids!!!

[@AndrewsWizardlyReads]

@@BrianBell7 I bought almost 700 books physically in 3 years lol 😂 it wasn’t the smartest move I could have made

[@TuftyMcTavish]

I love book hauls!!!!!!!! Me? ✅ Buys too many books ✅ Shelves are full. ✅ Don’t have much space. 🚫 Need to have fewer physical books and read the ones I have 😱 😆 My 2023 haulage was 63.4% larger than my 2022 haulage. OOPS. I’m at the stage now that I need time off work to do something about it, though my December holiday didn’t see me turn many more pages than November, so maybe that’s just a theory 🤷‍♂️ I too will be dead before I can read them all. But I don’t buy much else with my pocket money these days, and I don’t (usually!) do special editions. Very, very rarely anyway.

[@MattonBooks]

Colour me unsurprised that you have a %age, correct to a decimal point, for that Tufty. 😜

[@TuftyMcTavish]

@@MattonBooks Haha! That decimal point was a deliberate decision to show it was calculated rather than guesstimated 🤓

[@MattonBooks]

@@TuftyMcTavish If it comes from you Tufty, I *know* it’s calculated. 😜

[@verosnotebook]

🤣 What would it be like if you had lots of shelf space! I’ve resisted buying books, so far. Lots of great titles. I have the first Absolute Sandman too.

[@MattonBooks]

Well, if I’m being honest, I could probably squeeze at least 3’more shelves in my flat. 😜

[@verosnotebook]

@@MattonBooks A bookworm will always find space, somehow😉This bookworm already has 2,200 books, and that is after the Great Purge of 2022-2023 when I gave away 1,000!

[@heidi6281]

“Read your shelf” is the new book haul now.😀 I impulse loan books from the library and never read half of them but that is free addiction.

[@MattonBooks]

I’m not quite ready for “I’m only reading my shelf”, but we’ll see…

[@ExLibrisbyMikeBooklover]

I totally feel you Matt. I used to buy so many books until financial constraints kicked in unfortunately. I now buy just enough but in December I overbought during Christmas. I will probably have to read what I already own till about summer 😢😢😢. Let's hope 2024 brings all of us more time to read and more space to store books!

[@MattonBooks]

@ExLibrisbyMikeBooklover I can imagine time to read could appear Mike, but unless the TARDIS lands in my flat, I can’t imagine where more space will come from! 😆

[@ExLibrisbyMikeBooklover]

@@MattonBooks one can never stop hoping!

[@k2u364]

Do you think its good or bad to call Indie indie and even make a distinction between traditionally published and indie books at all ? Sometimes I think that people had less preconceptions if they didn't even know what is indie and what isn't and we could just enjoy books and stories no matter how they are published

[@MattonBooks]

Possibly true. I don’t think we’re there yet, though. I think there’s still value in calling it out - this is indie, and it’s awesome! - so that one day people may not care any more about the distinction.

[@AndrewsWizardlyReads]

Michael is a really nice guy

[@MattonBooks]

Ain’t he though?

[@ulysses17_]

Was that copy of City of Last Chances really from Broken Binding? I thought the UK paperback was blue instead of red.

[@MattonBooks]

Ah, you’re right! I was getting orders mixed up, and that one was from amazon.de.

[@maggythestray6869]

Next video: Book Haul January 2024 :D

[@MattonBooks]

I can neither confirm nor deny this. 😆

[@laurac56]

The answer is ebooks. Just saying.

[@MattonBooks]

But I liiiiike all the pretty books! 😭

[@laurac56]

@@MattonBooksI understand.

[@duffypratt]

Also, it’s absurd to start buying a bunch of ebooks beforehand. As long as you can get within Wi-Fi range, you can buy anything you want on almost a moments notice. For me, I tend to refuse to buy ebooks because they are likely more expensive than a used copy of a book in print.

[@laurac56]

@@duffypratt The price issue is true. I often find older books are cheaper used in paperback (and maybe even hardcover) than the ebook. Or the older book is not available in ebook. I have a good number of paper books myself. I still like ebooks best and sometimes even borrow a kindle book from the library that I own a paper copy of. That’s mostly because my 65 year old eyes love ebooks.

[@MattonBooks]

@laurac56 I’d be keen on the library thing, if my local libraries weren’t full of almost exclusively books in German. 😬