The Month: Nov 2023 - quality reads, a massive haul, and Fitz!

November 2023 shall forever be known as the Month of No Impulse Control - not great for my bank balance, but great if you love a book haul. Here's what I read, what I bought, and some other fun stuff from November.
Channels mentioned:
​⁠‪@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy‬
​⁠‪@mikesbookreviews‬
​⁠‪@ACriticalDragon‬
​⁠‪@ToriTalks2‬
‪@SheWasOnlyEvie‬
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00:00 Intro
00:56 Reads
09:33 Haul!
24:00 The channel
28:18 Fitz Feature!
29:30 Other stuff!
34:27 Wrap-up
+++ Theme song "Dust on the Road" by lemonmusicstudio
+++ pixabay.com/music/rock-dust-o...
#bookhaul #booktube #fantasybooks

[@BrianBell7]

Love your month in review! I'm so glad you are back!! Yeah, Tori's book totally rocks. Your program always looks so professional to me and there's always something of value.

[@MattonBooks]

Thanks for the kind words Brian. 😘

[@thefantasythinker]

Lone Wolf and Cub is a great epic! I'm glad somebody else is going to read it. That is quite the spoil yourself book stack there, enjoy!

[@MattonBooks]

Yeah man, I’ve already got LW&C omnibus 2 & 3 on the way. Loving it. ♥️

[@TuftyMcTavish]

😲 DUDE! SWORD!! 🗡️ Look at that bad-ass thing!!! 😍 Epic haul, sir. Very impressive impulse control failure 😆 I too have had “Legend” on my TBR for the past couple of decades at least. Loved the mix of interests, from 🐈‍⬛ to 🎮 via 📺.

[@MattonBooks]

Yeah mate, I’m totally in love with Anduril. It’s gorgeous. 😍 I was actually wondering if maybe cat & shows & games would just make the whole video way too long, so glad to hear you’re enjoying it. 🙂👌🏻

[@vaughnroycroft999]

Well this was a treasure chest chock full of coolness. So delighted to see Bold Ascension among the coolness. So glad to see you flourishing in so many ways: channel growth, reading, watching, cat dad-hood... swordsmanship...? (how are those wrists coming along? lol). Fun video! Thanks so much for the feature. Hope you enjoy B.A. when you get to it!

[@MattonBooks]

You laugh Vaughn, but as soon as I unpacked Anduril, I thought I’ll need to swing it around some and beef up my wrists. 😆 Looking forward to BA, though it’ll probably have to wait until next year.

[@heidi6281]

I loved Legend, it is more unique than one would expect, in a good way. A very enjoyable read.

[@MattonBooks]

I’ve only heard good things Heidi, can’t wait! 🙂

[@SheWasOnlyEvie]

Fitz gave the ball toys a try…by acknowledging their existence as they rolled past her. Haha! I hope you love The Vanished Birds!

[@MattonBooks]

Seriously, one time I threw a ball for her, and she just continued staring at me, as if it didn’t exist. 😆 I’m excited for The Vanished Birds, if The Spear is anything to go by. Thanks Evie! 😀

[@BooksWithBenghisKahn]

You have me excited to try the Chronicles of Amber! Right with you on loving the Tawny Man books, Hobb is a master no doubt. Awesome book haul and I especially want to grab those new Elric omnibuses!

[@MattonBooks]

Dew it Ben! Amber’s some of the best, and with such short books there’s no excuse! 😜

[@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

Congrats on the books and the sword! I expect you to have much more muscled wrists in the future. Looking forward to the Fellowship discussion on Saturday, the 9th (you said Sunday the 9th in the video, but folks will see the announcement later). Fitz obviously needs her own channel. 😁

[@MattonBooks]

Ah yeah, indeed it is Saturday. 😬 And I'm honestly afraid that if I gave Fitz her own channel, it'd be FAR more successful than mine, which wouldn't be very motivating for me. 😆

[@verosnotebook]

A good month then 😊 Can’t wait to carry on with Hobb. Going to check Amber, and Blue eyed samurai. Looking forward to that discussion on Fellowship too 😊

[@MattonBooks]

Definitely watch some Blue Eye Samurai, it's so worth it, and far less time consuming than reading RotE. 😆

[@esmayrosalyne]

Sounds like a good month, you're really making me want to reread RotE!! And what a haul! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on The Vanished Birds, because I just read that last month and it became an instant fave. Will have to read Spear asap now!! Also, Evie is just the gift that keeps on giving, what a gem 🤩

[@MattonBooks]

Yes! Read RotE Esmay. It’s soooo good. 😍 So looking forward to more Jiminez, and yeah, Evie’s the best. ♥️

[@jan2bratt]

Robin Hobb is my favorite fantasy author. I read Amber years ago when they were new, I have mostly forgotten them. Middle Earth is always fun to visit, both the books and movies. Personally I am always a mood reader and don't make lists to read next, I just read what strikes my fancy at the moment. This year I started attempting to join read alongs and it screwed up my reading so I had to stop that (mostly). Wow! that sword! I'm not personally into weapons but that is pretty cool! Severing Son, high on my want to read pile. Spear that Cuts Through Water, I'm making an exception and plan to read that with a group next month. Tom Bombadill! I love him! He is ancient. Cool poster! Do you still have it? I haven't gotten into Manga. Cool mug. Fitz is gorgeous. None of my five cats like catnip. Just subscribed, keep up the great content!

[@MattonBooks]

Welcome to the channel, Jan. 🙂 Yeah, Hobb’s the queen, love her work. ♥️ I was getting over committed earlier this yea - just too excited to read so many good books with friends - and ended up taking a break from the channel for 5 months. So Ive promised myself I’ll take it easy and just read what I want, when I want. Feels much better. 🙂

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

I read the first and second of the Elric bindup books and really liked them.

[@MattonBooks]

Yeah, Elric’s the good stuff. I’m looking forward to getting onto a re-read. 🙂

[@thatsci-firogue]

Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't get the hate for first person perspective.

[@MattonBooks]

I know, right? Makes no sense to me. Modern readers are sensitive kids, aren’t they? 😜

[@thatsci-firogue]

In November I read: *Classic* The Yellow Wallpaper / Charlotte Perkins Gilman *Fantasy* Kithamar 2: Blade of Dream - Abraham's one of the Goats of Modern Fantasy imo Witness 1: The God is Not Willing - Not my favourite Malazan book so far. Most of the newer characters took a long time for me to latch onto and i didn't realise a certain aspect about a character i wasn't jiving with at all until I watched an interview with Steven Erikson and already I'm appreciating that character more on now knowing that. I was under the weather while reading the last half so that didn't help. *Sci-Fi* Flowers for Algernon / Daniel Keyes - If it wasn't for Wall of Storms, this would be my book of the month. *Silkpunk* Dandelion Dynasty 2: Wall of Storms - Book of The Month and one of my favourites of the year! I'm currently reading: *Classic* The Three Musketeers / Alexandre Dumas *Fantasy* Liveship Traders 1: Ship of Magic Wars of Light & Shadow 1: Curse of the Mistwraith

[@MattonBooks]

Quite some quality there, Rogue. Flowers is one of those "I know I really should've read that by now" titles for me. And I'm really looking forward to getting back to Abraham with LPQ #2, soon(ish)!

[@sw3dge]

That wolf and Cub publishing looks awesome. Incredible sword. That was the dream for me and my friend group back in high school. The War Tales dev has an INCREDIBLE Dune game called Spice Wars which is a blend of RTS and 4x but with unlimited pausing. Also, great month! Happy Holidays!

[@MattonBooks]

Funny you should mention Spice Wars… 😏 Off work sick today and started playing it. Confusing at first, but pretty good now that I have some idea what’s going on. Hope you have a lovely season Trevor. 🎄

[@sw3dge]

You too @@MattonBooks!

[@ToddsBookTube91]

Todd here. Nice set of books Matt! in this November wrap up!

[@MattonBooks]

Thanks Todd. Hope you also had a great November. 🙂

[@ToddsBookTube91]

@@MattonBooks I did it was my birthday and I've been reading The Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee having trouble putting it down!

[@MattonBooks]

@@ToddsBookTube91 Happy birthday mate! Today’s mine. 😉

[@k2u364]

From watching your content and getting an idea of what you like to read I strongly believe that you'd enjoy reading the manga Berserk Its very dark but probably one of the best mangas ever created. The art is insane and once I got into the story I was unable to stop until I was done.

[@MattonBooks]

I’ve heard that about Berserk K2, and it’s definitely a series I want to check out. If only the gorgeous deluxe editions didn’t cost €50+ each, and there weren’t so many of them! 😬

[@andreabknight]

Of course Fitz is taking over- as they say...you own a dog but a cat owns you....😆

[@MattonBooks]

Indeed Andrea. I’ve added “successful cat servant” to me resumé. 😜

[@Paromita_M]

Interesting perspective on Fool's Errand and Golden Fool. I don't think it is the beginning that bothers me so much, its the inconsistent pacing and bloat throughout. Its not unpleasant to read but its not wow either and one does wonder a bit (at least I did) why so much page time was required. I have the same critique with Martin but his is more fast-paced because he cuts scenes much better imo. But glad you enjoyed it. Fellowship of the Ring - the beginning of perfection in fictional form. 🤩 Nice haul. 😁 Fitz the cat is awesome. 💜

[@MattonBooks]

Yeah Paromita, our Tawny Man opinions differ somewhat, but for me it may’ve simply been I was super happy to be back with Fitz & the Fool again. 🙂

[@almaaguado347]

Great interesting video!! I want to start reading half of the books you showed even if I am in the middle of a few 😅. Blue eyed samurai caught my eye... maybe I will give it a try, I love anime. And why people dont like first person narration?, I dont really understand it

[@MattonBooks]

DEFINITELY watch Blue Eye Samurai Alma, it’s so good. 😍 And yeah, what the hell’s the problem with 1st person? Don’t get it either, but that is one of the most common I’ve heard that people (largely younger readers) bounce off of.

[@thefairylibrarian3282]

The Tom Bombadil video sounds very interesting! I'm not sure how i feel about the manga that is reversed so that you would read it from left to right like we're used to. It's weird because it's not what we're used to in manga. But at the same time, Why aren't all manga reversed like that? It would make more sense to do that. If Western comics are translated to Japanese, it equally make sense to reverse them so that the Japanese version would be read from right to left. I hope i'm making sense

[@MattonBooks]

Yeah, I get what you mean Kaat. I do read R->L manga as well - basically ALL of them except LW&C - and I can only imagine most don’t do that because it’s A LOT of work. I can also imagine many western manga fans would actually object.

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

Speaking of Manga, have you read Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind manga? I found it very impressive.

[@MattonBooks]

Nope. Another thing for the list. 🙂

[@idastokbaek]

Fitz fixes feists fits fat suffices

[@MattonBooks]

Indeed! 🙂