Q1 Check-in: Failures, Personal Growth and a 5 Star Read!

Time to take a look at the progress I have made on my reading goals for 2024 so far!
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[@BookishChas]

Congratulations on winning your competition Tom! Amazing accomplishment!

[@TomOrange]

Thanks!!

[@BrianBell7]

I really appreciate how you set short term and longer term goals, and then do a check in with yourself formally to see how it’s going and what needs adjusting. For sure a winning strategy. And the lights look great!

[@TomOrange]

Thanks Brian! Its easy to set goals and forget about them so checking in gives that accountability to keep pushing for them

[@Whodey-AJ]

There are no failures. Only successes and learning opportunities 🙂 Keep it up, Tom, and congrats on the strongman comp win.

[@TomOrange]

Thanks! That is a very positive way to put it

[@PrimaryLateralSclerosis]

Thanks for putting in clips of the strongman competition. I love reading and powerlifting, so your channel is a perfect fit for me! I used to be a rookie powerlifter until I developed an extremely rare neurological disorder. I still go to the gym though and push some weight around but instead of challenging myself to beat 1,200 lbs across the big three lifts, I tally the volume I’m able to do from one week to the next. Also, I’ve been inspired to break my yearly reading and lifting goals up into quarters. Much more manageable that way.

[@TomOrange]

Glad to hear you are still finding ways to workout! Switching up how you train like that can be really hard so it awesome you have figured that out. Best of luck with lifting and reading

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

I think I got a hernia just watching you lift all that weight . . . Congratulations on winning that competition and also on meeting so many of your goals. It's hard to put down that phone, though!

[@TomOrange]

Thanks Philip! I have thought about switching away from a smart phone back to basically a flip phone but I dont think its a real option. I need my phone for work too much

[@Johanna_reads]

You're lighting looks great! Congrats on all your reading and strong man achievements!

[@TomOrange]

Thanks Johanna!

[@bookswithabel]

Love the new lighting 🕯️

[@TomOrange]

Thank you!

[@vintagesf]

Thanks for adding the strong man clips. Congratulations!!

[@TomOrange]

Thanks!

[@omarreyes2219]

The lighting is great 👍 And you are an absolute beast!! 💪

[@TomOrange]

Thanks!!

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

Epic win on the strongman competition! For your non US/UK reads, two very powerful books worth considering: - Animal's People by Indra Sinha - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez - close enough you might want to count it to the classic goal also.

[@TomOrange]

Thank you for the suggestions!

[@acidunicorn1225]

Dudes an absolute unit. Congrats on winning 👏

[@TomOrange]

Thanks!

[@CNavo.TheNextChapter]

Loving the lighting it really makes your awesome collection pop! Hope to read more Sci-Fi this year myself and have been on track with that so far. I plan to start into the Expanse this year. Also Congrats on the Strong Man competition, you're our resident BookTube Superman...maybe you need a second channel covering health and fitness!💪🏼 - Cheers!

[@TomOrange]

Thanks! Your lighting is still some of the best around though. I had a great time with the expanse. To me the first book is the weakest but still good. Booktube Superman is too kind

[@christhewritingjester3164]

My default classic suggestion is The Three Musketeers. It's a fantastic book. If you wanted a US based classic, Unlce Tom's Cabin is a really good book as well. I'm not sure outside of the Euro/US sphere, so I'd like to know about classics from other cultures as well. Altough, does Sun Tzu count? If so, I've read that one. I found it interesting, though not a long read. Can't wait to see what challenges you have to overcome since you can't do novice strongman competitions anymore. I'm intrigued at least!

[@TomOrange]

Three Musketeers is a book thats been on my list for a long time! I have read Uncle Tom's Cabin and Sun Tzu's Art of War.

[@BookBuds]

Dude my back hurts just watching you lift. Holy crap. I’m impressed. I knew there was a reason you look so good in your orange Tees lol. Great video.

[@TomOrange]

Thanks!

[@bartsbookspace]

We got to get you to enjoy SF again!!! Btw, super impressive results in the strongman. 🙌 That clean to a series of jerks was sick! 🔥

[@TomOrange]

Thanks! Split jerk feels a lot more natural to me than the traditional push press. I’m confident I’ll have some great sci-fi reads soon

[@bartsbookspace]

@@TomOrange Yes. The split looks good. Maybe you could drop down a little bit more, a bit faster, but solid. 🙌

[@throughthepages_with_dee]

Well done Tom on the strong man comp. Your dead lift is superb I’m a bit of a strong man fan so impressive congrats 🎉

[@TomOrange]

Thank you! It was a lot of fun

[@TangibleReads]

this year is flying

[@TomOrange]

Yes it is! I wouldnt mind if it slowed down a little lol

[@FantasyBookFather]

Congrats buddy! Reading the complete comers in one year plus other books is insane. Ive just been reading in the last year or so, trying to get into the fantasy game!

[@TomOrange]

It was a lot of books! Hope you enjoy getting into it there are so many good books

[@tjfmd]

I've been doing a "read around the world" type challenge myself and have really been enjoying it. Eventually I'd like to read at least one book by an author from every country. I've been tracking it on StoryGraph, I could have a look through the list of books I've read and see if there are any I think you'd like 🙂 I noticed the background lighting in your previous video, I didn't realize they could change color. It looks great! You could color code your reviews, having certain background colors for certain genres of books. I think something like that could be fun! Congrats on the win!! Super impressive that this was your first competition.

[@TomOrange]

Thats a pretty neat idea with the lights! I would love any recommendations that you have!

[@tjfmd]

@@TomOrange I've had a scroll through the books I've read by authors from different countries and have a few I think you might enjoy but they're all kind of strange. "The Employees" by Danish author Olga Ravn is a weird little sci-fi book where the crew from a space ship are being interviewed. Some of this crew are human, some are not. "You Should Have Left" by German author Daniel Kehlmann is another really short and weird one. It takes place over the course of seven days and tells the story of a family who are staying in a house in the mountains of Germany while the father works on a screenplay. "My Annihilation" by Japanese author Fuminori Nakamura might be the weirdest one I'm suggesting you to look into. I don't know how to describe this one without giving too much away but it gets weird 😅 There are a few more I could recommend but I don't wanna throw too many at you at once!

[@TomOrange]

@@tjfmd I added The Employees to my library! Thanks for the rec!

[@this_alec]

Congrats on the strong-man win! That's incredible.

[@TomOrange]

Thank you!

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

Holy crap that strong man win is life goals!! Loved that montage at the end showing you beasting. For me just holding up my hardcover of Shogun while I read is an effort! Glad to see you’re getting in more author variety too-and the new lights do look great!

[@TomOrange]

Thanks Ben! To be fair that is a hefty book lol.

[@TheDragonbornReviewer]

Dude, I totally hear you on the manga thing. I used to read so much manga and I feel like it’s been neglected but I’ve just been far more interested in reading novels as of late that I don’t know when I’ll mix it in to my reading again. Also, awesome job on the strong-man win, brother.

[@TomOrange]

Thanks! I have noticed that when I am in the mood for manga I end up reading a huge amount of it in a short period of time and the stop again. Feels like it works better for those binge sessions than reading weekly.

[@someothercharacter]

You could carry all your 5 ⭐ reads and the fridge out in case of a fire. Better yet, throw your books in the fridge and carry it out.

[@TomOrange]

lol thanks!

[@jan2bratt]

OMG I'm so glad you included your strong man video clips! Awesome! I had to go back and count your lifts, very impressive! I'm wondering if all this contest is in one day? I don't know the stats of other peoples lifts but I'm impressed. I just don't want you to get hurt but keep going for now if you are enjoying it. Foreign book: Have you read 100 Years of Solitude? That is a classic and foreign. And good.

[@TomOrange]

It was a one day comp! Started at about 11am and finished up close to 5pm. I won the deadlift medley and keg event outright. Tied for first on the safe press and overhead medley and got second on the Conan wheels. I knew I had won before the Conan Wheel so I like to think I could have pushed a little more if I really needed to. I have not read 100 years of solitude. Its a book ive thought about reading a few times just has not happened yet.

[@ItsLitBookReviews]

Your strongman clips got me hype. Got to collab on a book and get a workout in asap!

[@TomOrange]

Yes we do! Maybe Empire of the Damned? I know you are currently not really in love with Kristoff though

[@TalonBray]

Disappointed you didn't like Blindsight, my personal favorite book..I'll admit you do need to be in the right head space for it, hopefully you come back to it one day as it's brilliant

[@TomOrange]

It very much could be a time and place issue with it. Maybe on day it can break my brain!

[@lisbethfajardo7349]

Like 3 weeks ago I started watching those weight lift competitions men and women. Somehow I got so into watching it. And you guys are so amazingly STRONG!! I’m not an athlete but I try to workout as much as I can. I work at an office and most of my day I’m sitting down. But awesome work! And congratulations 🍾 on your winning 🏆! What do you eat on the day of a competition? 🤔

[@TomOrange]

That's awesome! I think watching the competitions are so fun. I highly recommend the channel Big Loz Official. He is a former professional strongman and he and his wife do all kinds of strongman content. My competition was in the morning so about 2 hours before I had: 2 glasses of orange juice, a waffle with chocolate chips, and an English muffin with peanut butter.

[@lisbethfajardo7349]

@@TomOrange I will look on his channel then! Thanks! And by the way somehow you remind me of Henry Cavill . 😎

[@DiggerdanReads]

Tom this is my first video of yours I watched, and I just gotta say man your mustache is the envy of all men. And if any men disagree with me, they're lying to themselves. I mean you pull it off better than the king of the nerds himself Henry Cavill. Anyway great video! I always love seeing others people's goals and what they liked and didn't like.

[@TomOrange]

lol thanks! I actually started growing it as a joke but it grew in pretty great.

[@kristen7623]

Strong men read 💪

[@TomOrange]

Absolutely!

[@MrRorosuri]

congrats on the strong man win . way to go, Tom

[@TomOrange]

Thank you!!

[@reggieswilliams]

How did youlike Phillip chases 3rd book

[@TomOrange]

Im about 55% of the way in and so far its been fantastic. Easily the best one so far.

[@reggieswilliams]

@@TomOrange sweet

[@anotherbooktubechannel]

Pfft, I win Strong Man competitions every day (the only other competitor is my girlfriend and the contest is to open various jars)

[@TomOrange]

That is the most important job we have lol

[@Chance.Dillon]

Competition looked sick. You gotta rip the sunglasses inside next time though. That’s the only thing I’m upset about

[@TomOrange]

lol Thanks!