So I read Cows by Matthew Stokoe….

[@LunahsLibrary]

Ready to be spoiled because I’m never going to read it 😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Hahah I actually instantly thought of you because I was like “well there’s one person who will never read it” 😂

[@razzledazzle453]

I am so glad I made the decision to not read this book. Even listening to the spoiler section was a bit much 😭 animal abuse is the one thing I can’t do. I am shook.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

I do not blame you!! It was a lot 😫

[@sarajarvis8873]

Thank you for taking one for the team

[@borisb1838]

If you wanna read a good horror book with meaning, read "Perfume The story of a murderer" by Patrick Suskind

[@leonhard.doerflinger]

Not bad. We actually read that one in school in my German classes when I was in 10th grade.

[@Daniel-vf2vh]

Never read the book but the movie is good 🍿

[@Mojo_Jojo9869]

The movie is very good. I saw a movie with the same name about a man murdering women to make the perfect perfume im assuming it’s the same. Very very good movie surreal shots.

[@NaeOnYT]

One of the rare instances where the book and movie are equally good, if in different ways.

[@borisb1838]

That's the one.

[@thesheepwhisperer6546]

Cow- adult female that has had a calf Heifer- female that has not had a calf Steer- castrated male Bull- uncastrated male Cattle- gender neutral plural Fun fact: there is no gender neutral singluar word for cattle. But we choose to default to cow even though it's technically wrong

[@crescentfreshbret]

Wouldn’t “bovine” be a gender-neutral singular word for cattle?

[@thesheepwhisperer6546]

@crescentfreshbret bovine is a blanket term for cattle, bison, Buffalo and antelopes

[@Captain_AAhab_]

I love semantics.

[@adame123321]

the poop/dinner time played like a turn based combat.

[@adame123321]

also, lucy saying: "Our hearts are only two pounds, not much room for love" was a fkn banger of a quote

[@chachisweet756]

Seeing your video helped me know about the book without having to read it. Thank you^^ You made the video entertaining and funny while the book is the opposite, thank you for that^^ Also, I wanted to say that your hair is beautiful;3

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thank you so much!! ☺️

[@_rebekka]

I just read Grandpappy and was totally fine until the part with the dog. Any human body horror I'm gucci and then the animals come in and it's an immediate nope lol

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Ugh I know the animal scenes are always what kill me every time. Humans…..whatever 😂

[@TamikaMichelle]

Glad you read it so I didn't by accident. We thank you for your service.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Any time 😂

[@PixReads]

I think just hearing the non spoiler section is enough for me ima just stay curious about this one 😂

[@RenegadeGamer89]

If there's anything I feel is good about Splatterpunk it's that they just get so absurd at the end all I can do is laugh.

[@JMST8245]

Thank you so much Meg. I wanted to read that book because I've heard it was weird, but that was beyond weird xD Love your energy in this video!

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Lol indeed weird. Thank you!!

[@waziyata]

First that pink top you were wearing is super cute. LOL "I want to see that on the local news"

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thank you! And for real I need more excitement around here 😂

[@Myhrrcat]

I’ve been anticipating for this video ❤ I’m not sure if I can survive reading this 😂 always a pleasure to watch your reading vlogs

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thank you so much!! ❤️❤️ Yeah it was a wild one 😂

[@cwilli0414]

took one for the team. Thank you for sparing me that. Sorry about the poo but omg the gagging had me crying!

[@josephwalsh7546]

An entertaining and funny review. I think I'll wait for the musical !

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Omg great idea!

[@jovana...]

This is a book that shows us how a person who is unloved feels. In the end, he loses all hope for love, and that is very sad because he believed so hard. It shows us how much society can destroy our souls and minds. That is how I saw this book. I never saw it as discusting, but as the enormus pain of a soul that is behind discusting scenes. And you are great because you are weird; ordinary people are boring and mostly full of fakeness, which is why they fit in.

[@robertraygun4987]

Only book that has ever made me gag. It’s more bizarro than horror but I still enjoyed it

[@whitewing61]

This was the first extreme horror book I read. A very intense one to start with 😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Yeah I’d say so 😂😂😂

[@Sage-ig9hk]

My dads name is Steven and he grew up working on a cow farm 😭

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Oh nooooooo lolol

[@SchizoExplains]

15:53 omgg I lovee ur sense oh humour 😭😭😭😭

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thank you 🥹

[@Leanashe23]

Just finished it… It was definitely a Scrootie McBooger Balls story 🤢😂.. One thing I couldn’t for the life of me work out was where it was meant to be set… It had a mixture of British, US and Aussie lingo. Whether that was the author’s intention to make the setting non-specific? But yeah, what a disgusting ride ! 🤮😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

This is a very valid point I’m not sure either lolol

[@i_i_ea]

I just found your channel and I'm obsessed

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thanks so much!

[@CamilaRodrigues-dk2zq]

Trigger warning talking cows 😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

The biggest trigger for me 😂

[@alixpaquet1535]

I couldnt finish this one. A lot of people were talking about it in my Books of Horror Facebook group, so i tried, and it was just a nope. Very rare that something really gets to me, so i definitely applaud Matthew Stokoe for that 😅 but i have a hard time with the... excrement... being a big part of the story. I can handle a bit, but it was just too much for me. Thank you for finishing this book for me so I can know what happens without having to read it myself 😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

I completely understand. This one was a lot for me also 😂

[@shalliefassbender6936]

I thought I had no triggers until I read this one and also couldn’t finish it. Once the cows started talking I was like yeah okay I just really can’t deal with this anymore lmao. And the gross and disgusting details were SO clear in my mind that I couldn’t even eat or anything while reading this.

[@jasonmorgan75]

I love your reactions to reading those parts. I gagged a little bit too.

[@lando8913]

Can't wait for the movie.

[@Marverick1998]

I must've laughed like 10 times listening to you explain this complete monster of a book. 😭 Just wow. Lmfao. Like at this point is it horror or sick comedy?

[@Vladimares]

I think the silent moments in this review spoke volumes, I love the Lord of the Cows ending 🐮

[@bidhanshrestha787]

I am currently reading the book and I’m on chapter 6 and it’s freaking crazy

[@caseywood9803]

I just discovered your channel and Omg I’m obsessed. I love your content and your personality girrrrllll I am game to read this book lmao 🤣 already subscribed ❤

[@ReadingWithMeg]

THANK YOU AGAIN!!! 😂❤️

[@mzcyberbat]

I reacted just like you. This whole book is like Whhhhhyyyyyyyy!! I loved this book though. Gave me just what I wanted in an exteme book. I wanted to feel grossed out. The atmosphere was brilliant too.

[@LunahsLibrary]

Lmaoooo “imagine the obituary” 😂🤢🤢🤢🤢

[@ReadingWithMeg]

😂😂😂

[@jamietyler9038]

The holes in the cows. I cant

[@dakotataylor6454]

just ordered this book. I'm a King fan!!! So going from Stephen King to Cows will be interesting. When you get a chance and i know its not Horror. You need to try A little life and let me know how you feel about it. Warning a lot of trigger warnings

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Good luck!! lol A Little Life is one of my all time favorite books!

[@hoppergrasa]

Yeah I’m glad I watched this lol I don’t plan on ever reading this 😂thanks for taking one for the team ❤ loved your review

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thank you!!

[@leighdanielle]

I don’t eat beef or pork because I have liver kidney disease. We live on a small farm we raise chickens and turkeys but not for meat. We just have eggs haha they are our pets. Ever since I’ve lived up on Bent mountain in Virginia and we are surrounded by cow farms if I could eat cows I wouldn’t! The way they are processed etc It changed my whole mind.

[@Captain_AAhab_]

😂 I had a liver and kidney transplant and I eat meat all the time. 😂

[@plantsandstitches4314]

This was my inner monologue reading this book. Just wtf wtf wtf and then having to go back to work after reading it on breaks? And act normal? But I couldn't put it down. Anyway, insta-subscribed. I am a fellow MeghAn, so I have no choice but to support. 😤

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Right!? Acting normal after reading this is not possible lol us Megs (all spellings!) need to stick together!!

[@jackskelington7377]

I can read the most extreme horror when things happen to people, but I can never stand animal cruelty. Guess I won't read it.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

I hear you there…..not the best read then lol

[@ATP476]

This was a pretty good video despite of the plot of the book lmaoo… keep the quality up🔥

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thank you!

[@michellesmelancholia]

yea I'm never reading this but I'm happy you did 🐄💩 also i feel like the spoilers didn't spoil anything because it was all bleeps so I actually don't know what happened 😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

That’s why I put the emojis so you know what word it is 😂😂 but KZbin demonetized other videos about this book so I had to be extra cautious 😂

[@michellesmelancholia]

@ReadingWithMeg omggg I couldn't see the emojis because I'm at work so I was just listening with the window hidden 🤣😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

@@michellesmelancholia hahaha okay now I see your issue but that’s hilarious

[@bikstokninja]

The Crazy in you, is what makes you awesome! not even kidding!

[@Tylenxl29]

“I think i’d be a little offended” 😂😂 25:31

[@rrezartadeucha6748]

My friend told me about this book and I was cackling at the details !!😂😂😂

[@DarkestHour752]

…. What the f*** did I just watch. Kudos tho for making this video entertaining regardless. Keep up the good work!

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Hahah thank you!

[@danielrobinson5035]

Hearing you describe this book is funny as f=@k ! Thanks !

[@johnward5404]

Still seeing so many books u have that Are on my TBR… for example GOTH and Lasts House on Needless… also love how blunt you are “so she’s a crazy bitch…” about Lucy Lmfao lolol also when depictions of animal cruelty are THAT OUT THERE (the cows not the dog), they reach levels of comedy to where I can’t even perceive it as animal cruelty… EVEN THO IT OBVY IS…

[@ReadingWithMeg]

I liked Goth but was not a fan of the last house on needless street. I’ll get into my rant eventually lol But yeah sometimes animal cruelty scenes are so ridiculous lol

[@johnward5404]

@@ReadingWithMeg thanks for the reply! Your involvement with your comments section encourages me to stay tuned… obviously I don’t expect you to comment back every time but I’m glad you read comments! Cheers!

[@TheLyingFigure]

21:50 He really went full Duke Nukem with that part of the book

[@zachreads]

Some further related reading try White Fang by Jack London The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells The Laws of the Skies by Gregoire Courtios The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks Header by Edward Lee And 120 Days of Sodom is the poopiest book but it's a bad time

[@LexiB-o9c]

I’m sorry, but every time you bleep out a word, it makes the video hilarious to hear. 😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

😂

[@stephaniezelidon2613]

He became the Cow King

[@rdl2820]

Needs a sequel!

[@hexxious7097]

Off topic but I own that same pink top and it looks so cute on you

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Walmart right? Lol thank you!

[@nonfictionfeminist]

Omg I've been waiting for this

[@ReadingWithMeg]

🫶🏻😂

[@xyw8383]

You keep reminding me of the actual mom in How I Met Your Mother... anyone else?

[@ReadingWithMeg]

First time I’ve heard that one! Lol

[@pc3horror675]

Cows is classic splatterpunk. It's one of my favorite works in the genre. I feel like it drops off a little bit after the mother dies, but it's still damn good.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

It did lose me a little bit in that second half but I must admit it did what it was set out to do and I appreciate it

[@leighdanielle]

I love your bookshelves! where did you get those? I love how you have them set up!

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thank you! ☺️ They are just the basic ones from Ikea

[@mamamiabenjamia]

30:12 'normally i disassociate and it's fine' LOL this book doesn't sound worth it. i checked out of reading it once you said the cows started talking. also, i'm just generally trying to put myself through less mental and emotional abuse and probably shouldn't be reading this kind of thing. i get enough desensitization just from being on the internet so much. i'm glad you're weird. you don't seem it right off the bat, but i can see what you mean. not in a bad way, though, it's just that i'm weird too and i surprisingly don't run into that many weird people.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

I totally get it! Also I feel like a lot of people are just low key weird and you don’t know about it 😂

[@huntforbigfloptober1333]

Unrelated but I adore your pink blouse you’re wearing in the spoiler segment of the review. Kinda makes hearing about a guy drowning in poop less… actually it’s still legit vomit inducing either way.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

😂😂😂

[@LunahsLibrary]

Lmaooooo the spoilers ommmmggg 😂 I cannnooot handle that book it sounds soooo disgusting. But I’m going to continue to listen to you talk about it 😂🤢

[@ReadingWithMeg]

😂 it was a wild ride

[@jenniferwilliams9699]

Love your videos! I read this and I tell people if you have a weak stomach at all then don’t read this book.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Definitely! Same here lol thank you!!

[@maddoxrobyn_]

i think the meaning of the book is to also show how dark and twisted cult leaders are created.

[@winfieldwinfield5450]

22:00 I swear I heard R. Lee Ermey yell, "I WILL UNSCREW YOUR HEAD AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK."

[@ice_cube8302]

So I just finished the book. Had a discussion with my partner about it. My best take away from this is that it's a heavy draw from the story of the false messiah. There's too much going on here that makes it not a coincidence. Like when Criggs dies he doesnt actually seem to mind it. If anything he's satisified with what his fate is and what Steven does. The cows eating the flesh scene is pretty much a "eat of my flesh". There's a lot here that basically points as a dark splatter punk retelling of the story of the false messiah.

[@jiminsmxgicshop]

This is probably the weirdest book I’ve heard so far 💀 and I also love the fact that out of all the messed up sh!t that happened in this book the talking cows is where you drew the line at 😭💀

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Hahaha I can’t do the talking cows. The rest……eh

[@mcdoobies7328]

How thick are your walls? Can your neighbours hear you when you talk to the camera? If they never push a Christmas card through your door during the holiday season. I think I know why.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Oh for sure I think he can hear me considering I can hear him all the time 💁🏻‍♀️

[@robertsantana3261]

I really enjoy your reviews. W/O being pushy, how does one get his/her book reviewed by you?

[@Gothic_Druid]

I still need to read the book myself, but... I gotta say my theory: mad cow disease I haven't heard anyone talk about that yet.

[@hugoleonardoamaral586]

The first extreme horror I've read and one of my favorites. I still remember it to this day. I laughed out lout watching your video LOL great content.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

It’s definitely interesting hahah thanks so much!

[@dezzyboots1323]

thank you for your service, this was truly awful but you're a champion

[@ReadingWithMeg]

😂😂😂

[@serenafraticelli1030]

My partner who is vegan was like "oh the concept sounds neat maybe I'll read it" because I only at the time explained how he was helping the cows that escaped (I had also only gotten to this point in the plot) and I was like BROOOO NO PLZ DO NOT DO THIS TO YOURSELF

[@ReadingWithMeg]

STOP THEMMMMMMMM

[@serenafraticelli1030]

@@ReadingWithMeg They know about some of the stuff I read (and honestly, I've told them about more disturbing books than Cows) but poop is a big no no for them, so I try to keep those details as limited as I can. I told them I need to copy and paste the entire book and edit out all the poop eating and cow fuck!ng so they can enjoy the actual plot and metaphors

[@unhingedwoman]

Here for the spoilers lol 😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Don’t blame you 😂

[@unhingedwoman]

Lol I love you. The spoilers were like *bleep bleep bleep bleep cows bleep bleep cows feces*. I’m literally dead 😂😂😂😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

@@unhingedwoman hahaha I was trying so hard to not get demonetized since Mique’s video was 😂

[@TheJericho1123]

obituary: " she ate alot of crap"

[@ReadingWithMeg]

😂

[@dazeval2372]

I love your videos!

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Thank you!

[@T3aR3Drop]

House of the rusing sun. THE ANIMAL'S

[@judgementofkira8966]

Read the title came for the reaction, Didn't disappoint 😂😂

[@ReadingWithMeg]

😅

[@leighdanielle]

This is definitely a book I don’t want to read hahah

[@anthonywheeler2082]

I've been thinking about reading this I'm going to leave at the spoiler warning. I like artsy fartsy weird horror so I'm more intreiged now. Thanks for the funny review Meg!

[@ReadingWithMeg]

You’ll like it then I hope. Make sure you read asap and then come back to hear all the words I had to bleep out in the spoilers 😂

[@savagesinema]

Definitely a grotesque masterpiece for me. Been singing its praises for years. Really enjoyed your review, though, and understand your negatives about the book. I feel it's an incredible portrayal of alienation and how alienated people are attracted to potent sub-cultures. Personally, the animal abuse is bothersome, but less, for me, in fiction, than on screen. I ate up the grotesquerie, though, as I like that type of thing when it's well presented and has a philosophy behind it. Stokoe is a great writer, and it's been funny, over the years, seeing people tear the writing apart when what they're really doing is reacting to the content. His COLONY OF WHORES , HIGH LIFE, and EMPTY MILE are great, too, though very different to COWS. Great channel. ***would love you to cover BAXTER, THE CORMORANT, BIG GURL, HOGG, GEEK LOVE, HIGH LIFE, THE OUTSIDER/THE STRANGER (Camus), SURVIVOR (Gonzalez), SWEET EVIL (Platt), THE GAS (Platt), FUCKNESS, SOCIOPATHS IN LOVE (Andersen Prunty), THE DARK (Herbert) -- most not overly 'extreme' but worthy of debate. ***

[@rosebloom5813]

i think overly gory book or movie are so creative to the point that it's just funny and don't make any sense.. i rather read realistic book than "wtf am i reading" type of book lol. it's also makes me think that this type of book are just someone's fetishes or kink.. especially the torture porn

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

I’ve never even heard of this….

[@awaywiththetheories1833]

I was liking the book. I was disgusted but enjoying it. Then the apple corer happened and as you said, just why?! But I was still enjoying the book. Then the cows started talking and it lost me 😅

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Right there with you 😂

[@OrangeLibrary]

I've watched other videos about this book with spoiler talk but you brought one new thing to me: the goose farm. No one has mentioned that until now. Before watching videos on 'Cows' I thought about reading this for it's reputation, but the one thing that stopped me was not the feces and gore. It was that it's badly written. Not the writing style, but the plot. I am not going to read a book where a herd of stampeding cows can make their way through an urban area with ZERO consequences! By the way, congratulations on getting the pronunciation of 'Stokoe' right. Others have failed to get it right!

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Yeah honestly I draw the line at the talking cows lol the plot just got plain ridiculous to me the second half

[@BabyDoIIx]

The cows dug secret tunnels? How did the cows dig the tunnels? Are they like concealing these tunnels like POWs?? Seems unrealistic, cows creating tunnels xD they’d have to dig veryyyyy slight angles, because otherwise since cows are big & stupid, if they dug down they’d just fall in like idiots, & it’s not like they could use a ladder. Is this ever explained at all? Really weird lol. I saw you have “PENPAL”… did you ever read the other story from online that became a book as well? ‘BORASCA’?? It’s super long - I read it like 10 years ago. Really bizarre

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Hahah no explanation!! No I haven’t read that one but I loved Penpal so now I’m intrigued

[@ggentry5189]

You seem pretty normal to me 😊

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Saving this screenshot for every future argument

[@ggentry5189]

@@ReadingWithMeg lol

[@thebookishbard1051]

Lol you’re wearing the most feminine princess top while talking about these spoilers 😂💩😱😂 Yea I’m going to skip this one. Thanks for storytime.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Hahah it’s how I roll 😂 no problem! 🫶🏻

[@dying.out.west1996]

I got slightly past 25% and it’s already so much… I’m also 🤢 at the sh!t and animal cruelty

[@seagull8415]

Ill pass thanks, just sounds like teenage edgelord crap.

[@shrimpcake5237]

i think we need to keep an eye on the kind of people who write these books. healthy brains don't produce this. also who published this????

[@lloydmatthews8520]

Salo anyone lol

[@leelalo6625]

I am glad I did not buy it. It does not sound that great of a read😂

[@crawdad19141]

I love your video reviews, your reactions and commentary are hilarious, yet concise and well reasoned! I agree with your reactions to Cows on all levels, and yeah it got a little artsy at times with the writing, and the Talking cows was just out of place and surreal for me. I read a lot of extreme Horror, Jon Athan being my favorite author of the genre. He has the unique ability to gross out and horrify without it ever seeming gratuitous or written for the sole reason of grossing one out. His characters are well written and sympathetic, he is an amazing author! There is one book that I have read where I felt dirty during and after reading it. And one that i thought crossed some boundaries that should not have been crossed, and that was HOGG by Samuel R Delaney. The only real value I found in it, is that it set a bar that in my opinion this Genre should never go to. A sort of warning sign if you will for other readers and authors. Just my opinion.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

I LOVEEEEEEE Jon Athan so much I really need to get on trying to read all his books but there are a lot lol Hogg I DNFd after like 5 pages because the writing was so dense lol maybe one day I’ll try again

[@ryangrey951]

while i have a decent amount of respect for extreme horror as a genre I do think that anyone who writes that shit needs to be evaluated

[@bethanyinshadows]

This book sounds like a hot mess with a bad plot line. Thanks for saving me time. Also… I work in a nursing home as well and I can’t do scat either 😉

[@ReadingWithMeg]

Yeah the nursing home trauma is real 😂

[@buzzybeez204]

Moo :]

[@AG-en5y]

Common dont kink shame. Some of us ....uhhh I mean others like Cleveland steamers from our gf sometimes.

[@geswut3144]

What a way to discover your channel 🤮

[@TheMadAfrican1]

The only really disturbing thing about these wastes of paper is that their authors are totally effed in the head.

[@william3onfire]

Sounds like bad read, I'll pass. Too weird for my tastes.

[@nevafails6185]

I hate it when a story takes a supernatural turn like in this book. Talking cows out of nowhere😡 throws it all off for me. But it seems like this man had a huge mental breakdown in a slaughter house and went on a killing spree because he loves animals.

[@ReadingWithMeg]

I agree with you it makes it feel silly then!

[@nevafails6185]

@@ReadingWithMeg this happened to me when I read the extreme horror novel “Talia” as well. Really interesting and horrific story about the p*rn to snu*f pipeline. But the supernatural twist sort of ruins the ending for me.