June 2024 Wrap Up

[@SheWasOnlyEvie]

Happy Place, yaaaaaaaaaas!

[@JosephReadsBooks]

It is my favorite Emily Henry book so far. To avoid burnout I will read one every two or three months until I have read them all.

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

An eclectic mix and a fun month all in all. Glad you're enjoying GGK, because you're right, that guy needs to be more widely read.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I'm starting Lonesome Dove as soon as I finish A Song for Arbonne!

[@trlspann]

Your DNF rant was on the money. Good video as usual.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Thank you!

[@mollybeechwood]

I feel the same way about DNFs. Ive DNFd more books than ever before this year, and it feels bad at first but if its not doing anything for me its just a waste of time. theres so much out there that Im interested in, theres no reason to keep going with something thats not working

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Exactly. Life is too short for that nonsense. Plus my shelves full of unread books are always watching me 👀.

[@RJGibson7]

Alright you’ve sold me on Happy Place! So glad you enjoyed Red Rising man, can’t wait to see what you think of the later books!

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Red Rising is so damn good! I hope you enjoy Happy Place!

[@pl566]

There are 7 Thin Man movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy that are slay! You’ll thank me later. I have watched them all multiple times. Great video! Thanks.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I will check those out! I filmed the baseball video and the audio messed up halfway through 😭. So I'm filming it again tomorrow! (which is fine with me I wanted to improve it anyways).

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

Yasssssssssss binging the Red Rising trilogy let’s goooooooooo. I did the same thing and just ate em up whole. Haven’t continued on yet waiting for that last book to be ready. Sorry to hear Arbonne isn’t hitting it out of the park like it did for me but glad you’re still appreciating aspects of it. Amen on the DNFs!

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Arbonne is a very good book and I love quite a few of the characters. I am really excited about the rest of the book. GGK is definitely an amazing writer I will keep reading.

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

@@JosephReadsBooks love to hear it-enjoy the rest!

[@Johanna_reads]

Glen Cook books! Glen Cookbooks! 😂 A Song for Arbonne is one of my faves!!! Wow, now I have questions for you about Happy Place. Maybe I missed clues since I listened to the audiobook, but I kind of felt like some of the conflicts were shoehorned in toward the end. You said there were clues early on, so maybe I just missed details. Excited for Lonesome Dove!

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I listened to Happy Place as well. (Happy Place spoilers below for anyone reading this) The big one you can see early is the conflict between Cloe and Sabrina. It starts pretty early in the book. The first time it happened I thought she(Cloe) was being crabby but by the middle of the book I knew there was going to be a blow up. Maybe the "shoehorning" was just good enough to fool me 😂. I would have to dig around for the other stuff. I'm excited to read it again(probably when my wife finally reads it) and take notes.

[@Johanna_reads]

​@@JosephReadsBooks Oh that is a good catch! I think that conflict was set up well. The conflict I didn't see coming was that Harriet was unsatisfied with her job. Was that hinted at early on? She was so committed to it, so it felt like it came out of nowhere to me. I was telling my mom about the story, and she asked a good question: why didn't Wyn and Harriet ever discuss Harriet opening a medical practice in Montana? They need doctors there too. It seemed strange that they didn't consider that or open up any discussion about those plans since they were engaged. 🤷‍♀

[@JosephReadsBooks]

The job thing is kind of odd. I thought the same thing about her going to Montana to practice medicine. I think the big hurdle was she couldn't survive residency and didn't want to. I'm not sure gow difficult it is to change residency. As of the end of the book she was still at least 4 years(I looked it up and Nuerosurgery takes 7 years 🤯) away from being a doctor able to practice medicine. She would have to find a new residency, spend at least 3 years in that, then pass the Montana medical board stuff. (Maybe we can get a sequel someday where they are both close to 40 and she realizes she missed out leaving medicine behind. Lots of drama there! 😂) That did kind of come out of nowhere but maybe she did say she had been going through the motions for a while. We are getting the story from her POV and she seemed pretty delusional(desperate to succeed) when it came to her residency. Wyn saw what it was doing to her but she kept telling him it was going fine 🤷. I think you are right about it being too sudden though.

[@thatsci-firogue]

Glad Red Rising worked for you, its not a favourite of mine and I'll leave it at that 😅 A Song for Arbonne is one of the few standalones I still have left to read from GGK. I think its safe to say he's my current favourite Fantasy author, and he does need to be read more. There was going to be adaptation of Lions of Al-Rassan but supposedly the script was terrible. Love Lonesome Dove, enjoy! In June I read: *Historical-Fantasy* Children of Earth & Sky / Guy Gavriel Kay - Carried over from May. Loved it. A Brightness Long Ago / Guy Gavriel Kay - My new favourite Kay I've read so far, and a new favourite book of all-time! Book of the Month!!! All the Seas of the World / Guy Gavriel Kay - Pretty good. Glad I read this loose trilogy in publication order. I understand the lukewarm reviews and I seem to have liked it more than most, though my favourite parts were the tie-ins to ABLA, CoE&S, Lions of Al-Rassan and Sarantine Mosaic. *Sci-Fi* Vorkosigan Saga 1: Shards of Honor - Definitely be continuing this series. *Southern Gothic* Child of God / Cormac McCarthy - It was fine, but really creepy at times. For now I NFNed Jonathan Maberry's Patient Zero and Christopher Ruocchio's Howling Dark. They're good, just not what I'm looking for right now. As for what I'm currently reading: *Historical-Fantasy* The Last Light of the Sun / Guy Gavriel Kay - Kay's re-imagining of the Viking invasions of King Alfred's England, its really good so far. *Sci-Fi* Cloud Atlas / David Mitchell - Still early days yet but I haven't a clue wtf is going on. *Thriller* Winter of Frankie Machine / Don Winslow - Really good so far.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I really enjoyed Shards of Honor. Lions will be my next GGK read(unless I find another book of his in my local book shop). You had a great June too!

[@thatsci-firogue]

@@JosephReadsBooks Lions is top 3 GGK for me easily, alongside Under Heaven.

[@sw3dge]

I remember Hammett from high school. Been meaning to reread them. Will you read the Maltese falcon?

[@JosephReadsBooks]

Yes. Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest are both in the running for my next Hammett read.

[@chocolatemonk]

I never read those Leonard novels. I can vouch for Rum Punch. I get why it he doesn't work for you.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I will give him another try at some point, probably in audiobook form. His style seems to work well for narration.

[@chocolatemonk]

@@JosephReadsBooks let us know how that works. I only read his stuff. I have 4 of his books. They lack a cadence maybe? I love the Raylan adaptation. A lot to do with actors