Longlist for the Toobies + Mid Year Check In 2024

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

Thank you for this tantalizing glimpse at the Test-Toobies! I'll be on the lookout for those "Longlisted for the Toobies" stickers on the books in bookstores. I haven't thought enough about my favorites to make a list yet, but I'll likely do so sometime before the end of the year. Cheers!

[@storytoob]

Cheers Philip! We'll see if the Test-Toobies survive long enough in the lab to make it to human trials .... Or wherever else that metaphor could lead... Happy reading to you!

[@tannersturgeon2448]

Forget that hack Jimmy Nutts and the Nutty’s, the Toobies are the real booktube award! Thanks for the shoutout Carlos and to reiterate: READ HYPERION, God Dammit. Also Yolanda, you’d surely love it as well. Would be smitten if you guys made some content about it. You all are the best!

[@storytoob]

Who? I shall! and perhaps we both shall! Cheers Tanner C

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

Loved this! Thanks for giving me anti-fomo on that Lawrence series I’m never gonna read. Love seeing Memories of Ice and Cibola Burn pop up in the long list! For Yolanda I really need to try that Emily Henry book since every now and then I love a good romance!

[@storytoob]

The first book is still brilliant! 🤣

[@someokiedude9549]

My reading's been a bit slow this year, not a lot of books that have really grabbed me. Kindred is the only book I've read this year that I felt was worthy of being given the five star rating so far. Some of my best books that I've read include Kindred, My Dark Vanessa, The Way of Edan, The Power of The Dog (thanks guys for that one), In Cold Blood, Only Killers and Thieves, and Wistful Ascending, among others. Keep up the good work!

[@storytoob]

Nice! Great to see Winslow on the list!

[@thefantasythinker]

Great wrap up! Love the wide variety of stuff you guys get into. Cheers!

[@storytoob]

Cheers Jarrod!

[@bookswithnate]

The Toobie awards sticker will put the "New York Times Bestseller" to shame. You can definitely take a break after Midnight Tides if you wanted. Good spot to take a break. Also just wanted to say I appreciate how diverse both of your readings are. Hope the rest of the year brings good tidings and vibes

[@JosephReadsBooks]

I'm starting Happy Place when I'm done watching this video 😁. Also, I added The Blacktongue Thief to my wishlist(I'm hoping for an audible sale).

[@Scotty-BK]

Definitely with Tanner and would love to see both of your reactions to Hyperion. My top reads of the first 6 months of 2024: 1. Memories of Ice 2. Piranesi 3. The first 3 Expanse books tied 4. Infinity Gate by MR Carey 5. The Mountain in the Sea I am halfway Blacktongue Thief and think it will be a new favorite too.

[@storytoob]

Ohhh nice! I'm curious about Infinity Gate! Great to hear you're enjoying Blacktongue Thief!

[@tovx76]

Great video! Seems like it’s been a great reading year so far. Hope you both have a good rest of your day!

[@storytoob]

Same to you!

[@SarahAsYouWish]

That stinks about your job, Carlos. Unfortunately, I have been there. I hope you find a better position soon. I can completely relate to Yolanda’s feeling of wanting to read something while not wanting to read it so it won’t be over. Yes, Buehlman is very underrated. Between Two Fires really blew me away with the quality of his writing.

[@storytoob]

Yeah, shit happens, but thanks a lot Sarah! It surprises me how underrated Buehlman is, but it's also pretty telling just how many other authors love and respect his stuff

[@laurablakeauthor]

I'm here for test tubes and Emily Henry.

[@nazimelmardi]

Long live the toobies! 🫡

[@storytoob]

🫡❤️

[@timothyburbage]

I always enjoy your videos. I'm sorry to hear about your job Carlos and hope the two of you (And Bilbo and Ginny) are okay

[@storytoob]

Cheers Tim! Appreciate ya... Something always turns up!

[@blacknbluecollarreader]

My test tubies/tublings will be Swan Song, The Scar, Boy's Life, Piranesi and The Power of the Dog.

[@storytoob]

some excellent tooblings! I really gotta read that McCammon guy

[@wibre8753]

At the midway point of 2024, these are the best books I've read this year: Fiction: Act of Oblivion, Thomas Harris Devil Makes Three, Ben Fountain Somebody's Fool, Richard Russo Train Dreams, Denis Johnson City in Ruins, Don Winslow Non-Fiction: Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided, Scott Eyman The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination, Stuart A. Reid Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers, Doug J. Swanson Billy Martin: Baseball's Flawed Genius,Bill Pennington 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool, James Kaplan

[@storytoob]

Oh great to see Act of Oblivion, by Robert Harris I assume you mean haha.. I get them mixed up too! I like his writing. And great to see Don Winslow! Haven't read much in the way of non-fiction this year but The Lumumba Plot sounds fascinating. Cheers, C

[@wibre8753]

@@storytoob Right, Robert Harris. I've read like a dozen books by him. Brain glitch.

[@mollybeechwood]

wonderful video! my longlist is Blackwater by Michael McDowell, Lolita and Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem and Baumgartner by Paul Auster. Biggest disappointment is The Wisdom of Crowds

[@storytoob]

Thanks Molly! Great list! I gotta try Blackwater, I enjoy Southern Gothic. Danke, C

[@esmayrosalyne]

Iron Flame is trash and I am a raccoon! Lol, no shame in devouring that braincandy ;)) And interesting to hear the thoughts on Assassin's Fate, I would definitely love an in-depth video on that once you have all your feelings worked out. Also, I seriously hope The Daughter's War lives up to your expecations, I have heard so many mixed things 👀 Delicious teaser for the Toobies, I am going to have to add some of your guys' faves to my TBR! Happy reading 🤩

[@storytoob]

Sometimes braincandy is all you need 🤣 I’ll film an RotE video sooner rather than later!

[@BookishChas]

“I should just never make plans ever.” 😂 I feel you on that one Yolanda haha. I’m so excited to you to read Hyperion, Carlos.

[@storytoob]

They just never work out the way they’re supposed to 😂

[@SheWasOnlyEvie]

Carlos, hear me out… A classic you could read-and it’s in Spanish-is Don Quixote. Just sayin’! Yolanda, I would suggest teaming up for a discussion on Private Rites, but I’d just wind up ranting so it wouldn’t be very productive. Haha! My Test Toobies: (surprising) the Gormenghast trilogy so far, Equal Rites and Mort, and all the John Steinbeck; (disappointing) People We Meet on Vacation and Private Rites; (longlist) Dreams of Steel by Glen Cook, The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper, The Iliad by Homer, Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Happy Place by Emily Henry, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon, and Mort by Terry Pratchett

[@storytoob]

Excuse me while I add your entire long list to my tbr 👀

[@dlasis]

I’m reading Don Quijote in Spanish too. 😶‍🌫️

[@dlasis]

“Toobies” sounds a bit naughty. Guys, come on. 😂

[@storytoob]

Well obviously it's the only appropriate name then 😏😜

[@Coleton2573]

My Tooblings: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez Freedom of the Mask by Robert McCammon Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson Pet Semetary by Stephen King Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Positive Surprise: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. I knew I would like it because I liked Spear Cuts Through Water. Didn't expect to connect with it so much that it would be my top read of the year so far. Negative Surprise: A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick. I had high hopes but this one just didn't do it for me. Hot take I guess, but I thought it was pretty lame tbh, and I didn't like the prose. I was also pretty surprised that I found The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu to mostly be a slog that I thought would never end. Hyped new release: Leviathan by Robert McCammon!!! Goals for the rest of the year: Read more crime fiction. Read more historical fiction. Read more classics.

[@storytoob]

You've got a NEW MCCAMMON COMING OUT! what a time to be alive man! (We promise to read him eventually) Interesting to hear your thoughts on A Scanner Darkly, I liked that back in college... And also Wall of Storms, seems like a divisive series

[@Coleton2573]

@storytoob I'll still give PKD another shot. Probably will try Ubik at some point, and Do Androids Dream. I can see why people love Dandelion Dynasty, it's quality epic fantasy for sure, it just doesn't quite reach great status for me like my favorite epic fantasies do, at least so far with the first two books.

[@pruntyportraits]

When you said ''I'm quite poor..'' and paused, I thought you were literally saying ''I'm quite poor'', meaning you couldn't buy books lol

[@storytoob]

I mean yeah, also that 🤣

[@pruntyportraits]

@@storytoob 😂

[@thatsci-firogue]

Sucks to hear about that Carlos, hopefully you'll find something that actually appreciates you as well as your skillset. Surprise: Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island, wasn't on my radar really but I loved it. Disappointment: I DNFed Ryan Cahill's Bound & Broken series 100 pages into Book 2. I couldn't give a shit. I was in a more forgiving mood than usual when I read the first one but I don't really get the level of hype surrounding it. New release: I hope we get the 3rd book in Daniel Abraham's Kithamar trilogy and No Life Forsaken, the 2nd book of Steven Erikson's Witness trilogy soon. Book of The Year (So Far) A Brightness Long Ago / Guy Gavriel Kay - My new favourite standalone of all-time. Fool's Errand / Robin Hobb Fool's Fate / Robin Hobb Lonesome Dove / Larry McMurtry Shutter Island / Dennis Lehane The Disaster Artist / Greg Sestero Honourable Mention: Children of Earth & Sky / Guy Gavriel Kay Ship of Destiny / Robin Hobb Boy's Life / Robert McCammon - Of the honourable mentions, this is the only one I didn't love. Beautifully written with some fantastic thematic work, but I thought it was a bit long in the tooth, characters were fine and overall pretty overhyped. I've since DNFed Swan Song so I'm wary of McCammon going forward. Goals: Read whatever the hell I want when I want. I've been enjoying reading more standalones. There's not much Fantasy series left I want to read and I've been enjoying getting back out and reading other genres again so I want to keep that going. Hopefully in the years to come Fantasy won't be as dominant. I'm not going to hold myself accountable for them, but if I finished Realm of the Elderlings and / or Dandelion Dynasty this year, that would be great, but again no pressure.

[@storytoob]

Cheers Rogue! Shit happens, but appreciate it. Dennis Lehane!!! Yesss... Lonesome Dove!! Yesss ... Reading whatever the hell you want!! Yesss Loads of genres!!! Yesss