February Reading Wrap Up

Here are the books I read in February of 2023, it was an incredibly consistent month in which I was happy with the amount of books I read.
Trending back in the right direction
My goodreads : / truthless_of_shinovar
Intro music: Music is by Budapest BluesBoy
ccmixter.org/fi...
the music is is Creative Commons licensed for commercial use

[@duffypratt]

I’ve read them all. The best of them is yet to come for you: A Civil Campaign is easily my favorite. I don’t understand why there isn’t more about her on KZbin. I guess it’s just the natural result of recency bias. I picked up Shards of Honor after hearing Steven Erikson strongly recommending her on someone’s video or podcast. Reading them in chronological order within the fictional world makes sense, except for Falling Free. That one you can read anytime after quaddies are first introduced (I forget which book that was).

[@marianamasbooks]

Shards of Honor is just so fun! There really is great banter, and I agree, Bujold is such a great character writer. I ended up rereading The Curse of Chalion in February, which has secured its place as a favorite book for sure, I see myself rereading again at some point. Now I'm excited for The Hallowed Hunt, and I kinda want to go and finish the Penric novellas? I read the first one a few years ago and loved it (before I read The Curse of Chalion), but having read the novels and knowing I love Bujold's writing, I want to go back to the Pen and Des stories. (I do also want to continue the Vorkosigan books at some point!).

[@jakebishop7822]

I thinks I'm gonna do a bunch of Vorkosigan before The Hallowed Hunt, don't forget Paladin of Souls though!

[@marianamasbooks]

@@jakebishop7822 I already read that one! 🙌🏼 (I loved it too, but Curse is my fave of the two)

[@goldvondensternen]

I’m happy you enjoyed An Autumn War, and that my recommendation of The Children of Húrin was not only successful but played out as I had hoped. Also, cat!

[@jakebishop7822]

Now I shall move on to reading things you don't care about.

[@fithfath3615]

Hi Jake, looks like you've had a very good month of reading for February. I got off to a bad start with 'Childhood's End'. I really didn't gel with it at all and 'The Giver' was somewhat disappointing for me also, but everything else was good reading for me. I read 5 books and 4 comic books. Books: Childhood's End - Arthur C Clarke The Curse Of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold The Giver - Lois Lowry The Seasons Of Albadone - Elan Marche & Christopher Warman A Contract In Sol Forne - Elan Marche & Christopher Warman Comic Books: Punisher Max - The Complete Collection Volume 2 - Garth Ennis Punisher Max - The Complete Collection Volume 3 - Garth Ennis Punisher Max - The Complete Collection Volume 4 - Garth Ennis Punisher Max - The Complete Collection Volume 5 - Garth Ennis Book of the month was the excellent 'The Curse Of Chalion' (thanks to you for highlighting this in a previous video) & 'The Seasons Of Albadone' being a great 2nd place, also nobody writes The Punisher anywhere near as good as Garth Ennis so all of the volumes were top reads.

[@jakebishop7822]

I just like when the book I have heard of is the book of the month

[@toinenosoite3173]

It is interesting how we differ as regards the Long Price Quartet, i.e. the WMD saga. My ranking is fairly clear: (1) Autumn of War - what an expansion of the world, (2) Betrayal in Winter - Shakespearian in its core, (3) Shadow in Summer - fascinating introduction into the world, (4) Price of Spring - didn't really hit the landing. The two first got five stars from me, the other two four, so I clearly loved the books more than you. All the Seas of the World: Luckily I read the two books in the right order. All the Seas was a very good book, but it is still the little sister of Brightness. Vorkosigan Saga: Read four books last year starting with Warrior's Apprentice, and then just stopped. They were all three or four stars, but nothing really interesting. Actually, I started to get annoyed by some "funny" things, particularly in Ceteganda.

[@laurablakeauthor]

paralysis by analysis - amen 😂

[@jakebishop7822]

Trying to decide between 17 different responses to this comment

[@laurablakeauthor]

@@jakebishop7822 😂😂

[@readbykyle3082]

I have started Shards of Honor, so far so good!

[@jakebishop7822]

Woooo! What discord are you reacting in

[@anothersarahreading9961]

OMG, if you gave Shards 9/10 then you have a very enjoyable time ahead of you. As your GGK campaign seems to be working on Booktube now, maybe in 2 years everyone will be reading Vorkosigan too 🎉

[@jakebishop7822]

That is quite possible

[@thatsci-firogue]

My book of the month was Fool's Errand, followed very closely by Lonsome Dove and Ship of Destiny. I feel like a fool for putting off Liveship and Tawny Man for so long. Forgive me Jake.

[@jakebishop7822]

I do forgive you

[@esmayrosalyne]

I had never heard of Vorkosigan before Angela from Literature Science Alliance started gushing about it, but now you have both completely sold me on it!! And heck yes for Sword of Kaigen, I really want to reread that as well. Hope March is treating you well ☺

[@jakebishop7822]

Me and Angela need to start the Bujold propaganda machine

[@esmayrosalyne]

@@jakebishop7822why yes, please do

[@demidrek-heyward]

Guess who’s back, Back again!

[@jakebishop7822]

Me!

[@Matt42MSG]

Oddly, I'd argue that the Vorkosigan series is best started with 'The Vor Game', then 'The Warrior's Apprentice', THEN start at the beginning.

[@jakebishop7822]

I have seen this before but more people told me to start with Shards of Honour, we will see what I think when I am caught up

[@Matt42MSG]

@@jakebishop7822 -- the key difference is that developments which are a surprise for the protagonist of the later books are known to the reader from the earlier ones, so a story about improvisation and the unexpected becomes an extended exercise in irony if you've read the previous works. Also, the previous books weren't written in interior chronological order.

[@praetorxyn]

Almost done rereading Fool's Quest and it's both better than I remembered while Fitz was even dumber than I remembered. We demand more kitties!

[@jakebishop7822]

I only have the one cat! You know in Fools Assassin Fitz thinks about how he is much wiser now, but he might be at his dumbest in that trilogy

[@praetorxyn]

@@jakebishop7822 Not putting together who the Unexpected Son was for like 1400 pages is probably THE stupidest Fitz has ever been.

[@AnEruditeAdventure]

The story of Children of Hurin is my favorite, but in terms of experience reading, LOTR and The Hobbit take it every time. But yeah. Brilliant decision to read the full story rather than just what’s in The Silmarillion. Silmarillion is fantastic, but there’s so much there, and a ton of names. So as much as I enjoy it, and on an enjoyment scale put it as a 10/10, on a more objective ranking, it can’t be much more than a 8 or so. -T

[@jakebishop7822]

I was definitely given good advice on reading Children of Hurin. I don't even bother with an objective scale, all based on enjoyment

[@AnEruditeAdventure]

@@jakebishop7822 good call. That’s mostly what I do as well, but my brain doesn’t always allow me to ignore flaws. 🤣

[@mattygroves]

Bujold is a master of the craft. Feed that poor starving cat!

[@jakebishop7822]

The cat is fine!

[@aerialruin8568]

Tolkien is my favorite author, but despite my absolute love of LOTR and The Hobbit books I found The Silmarillion almost impossible to get through the first time. Upon reread however it was amazing and all just clicked, especially as I found some great chapter by chapter explainers here on KZbin. The Children of Hurin I found immediately accessible but loved even more the second time. With Bujold I loved The Curse of Chalion and started Falling Free but some distraction made me DNF it. Have you read it? Perhaps i should just jump to Shards of Honor. Cheers.

[@jakebishop7822]

I haven't read Falling Free, haven't even heard of it actually. I did also read Paladin of Souls which I like quite a lot, but less than Chalion and Shards of Honour

[@readbykyle3082]

Ahhhh called out immediately

[@jakebishop7822]

I don't remember calling you out, oops

[@readbykyle3082]

@@jakebishop7822 just about not reading All The Seas haha

[@jakebishop7822]

@@readbykyle3082 oh ya, forgot about that

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

Oh wow what a sick reading month!! You’re getting me hyped to try all of these books/series (besides the Tolkien esoterica), and Vorkosigan especially sounds right up my alley as a no-brainer.

[@jakebishop7822]

I think Vorkosian is indeed a no brainer for you

[@aerialruin8568]

You don't like Tolkien esoterica?

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

@@aerialruin8568 I don’t even like the Tolkien non-esoterica 😅

[@aerialruin8568]

@@BooksWithBenghisKahn despite this utter blasphemy I still like your channel hahahaha

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

@@aerialruin8568 hah glad to hear it! I grew up watching and loving the LotR movies though so Tolkien is still near and dear to my heart, just not for reading his actual texts (yet…I think when I come back to LotR at the right time and head space I’m gonna love them)

[@marianamasbooks]

Also, this might be Tolkien heresy, but I don't think it's necessary to keep track of the names in The Silmarillion. To me it's one of those books you enjoy for the prose itself and retaining information is not necessary. You'll retain the information that for some reason or another was relevant to you. (But I have controversial opinions about the need for retaining information when you read, so 🤷‍♀😅)

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Great wrap up. It sounds like you had a good month. If you want some real stinkers to read so you can reset your ratings let me know 😂. Shards of Honor was great. After you gave reactions to the first few chapters in Jimmy's discord I downloaded the audiobook and it made my weekend. I need to move Daniel Abraham further up my TBR queue. I have only read The Dragon's Path. My big hurdle is I keep waiting for a copy of any of his books to show up in my local bookstores. The same goes for GGK. I am going to have to just carve out the time for them without leaving it to chance. If I don't leave things to chance, where would you suggest I start with GGK?

[@jakebishop7822]

My default GGK recommendation to start is The Lions of Al-Rassan, but there are like 8 good start points, if only I had a video of the pro's and cons of each

[@JosephReadsBooks]

@@jakebishop7822 I will check the video out now that I know it exists.

[@bentheoverlord]

Need to prioritise reading GGK this year, as I have like 4 of them haha. Also YAS for Vorkosigan, read the first two in March, and just about to start book 3. I love Cordelia so much and she was so much to follow in Shards of Honor. Long Price is a hard one for me to rate, like they were all 5 stars for me, but which one is my fav just moves about every time I reread it.

[@jakebishop7822]

I love Cordelia! I know most of the series is about a dude named Miles, and that eventually he will likely be my favorite as well, but he has so big shoes to fill!

[@bentheoverlord]

@@jakebishop7822 yeah I’m away to start the first Miles book but I’m excited for that. Really looking forward to your thoughts on Barrayar, because I loved book 1 but then book 2 just blew it out of the water

[@MacScarfield]

Jake! Bishop! The Man! How you doing, you mild-mannered Canuck! 😄 I finished «The Last Light of the Sun» in February, though it has a rival for my Book of the Month for February, a Norwegian book, «Når Landet Mørknar» («When The Land Darkens»), Historical Fiction set on Greenland in the 13th Century as the Norse Settlement there are disintegrating due to harsher climate changes. Currently I am reading «Brother Red» by Adrian Selby (Grimdark Fantasy following a Trading Guild akin to the East India Company)! I plan to read the «Lyonesse» Trilogy by Jack Vance together with the «City of Victory» Trilogy by Adrian Goldsworthy over the Spring months, and the «Prince of Nothing» Trilogy and «Memory, Sorrow & Thorn» over the Summer Months («DBC» already in May, «TSOF» in June and «TGAT» part 1 & 2 in July & August respectively)!

[@jakebishop7822]

Go Last Light! IDK why that book has such a low goodreads rating.

[@samm8190]

Your cats not starving and is fine???? That’s exactly what someone who is starving their cat would say!!!! This is an outrage!

[@jakebishop7822]

Objection, someone actually starving their cat would cut out the clip of the cat claiming they are starving

[@praetorxyn]

Almost done rereading Fool's Quest and it's both better than I remembered while Fitz was even dumber than I remembered. We demand more kitties!