Weekend Reading Report 1/7/24

[@sketchyloop951]

We should also get opportunity to witness the lady of Vaughan manor in your channel.

[@tristanhogue4690]

You wish

[@LadyJaneBooks]

Its like 2023 never ended 🤣🤣🤣 truth! 🤣🤣🤣

[@ellesse3862]

A fellow capricorn, happy birthday, don't party too hard with Roger in the time machine. This week I started reading Michael Moorcock - Elric of Melnibone, from The Tale of The Eternal Champion collection, volume 8 of 14. I'm about half way through, almost finished The Fortress of the Pearl.

[@timmeyer9191]

1200 pages in the Great Book of Amber? That's a Shogun level of pages, which I'm currently re-reading after 10 years.

[@ManDuderGuy]

I read Eyes Of The Dragon as a teen, my friend lent it to me, twas pretty darn good, I still have it (thanks Dean). Every time I've read it I always find myself wishing I could give the prince in the tower (peter?) just one more blanket to keep warm.

[@lock67ca]

I'll be 57 in a couple of weeks. And you call yourself old! Happy Birthday Michael.

[@inanimatecarbongod]

I'm already on my first *two* books of the year, cos I'm trying out a reading plan I found online which goes like this: -1 book per week -1 classic per month -1 non-fiction per month -1 short story per day I don't normally do reading plans of this sort, even just vague ones like "just read one book a week", but when I saw this it seemed kind of doable for me, so I'm having a crack at it to see how long I stick it out (I've posted about it on my blog, too, so I suppose I've got something to hold me accountable). So, for the daily short stories I'm currently going through a Cornell Woolrich collection called Nightwebs (nearly halfway through that) and this month's non-fiction is Monster She Wrote by Lisa Kroger & Melanie Anderson, a history of women writers of horror and speculative fiction. Should be done with that tomorrow. As for being 53, well, I turned 49 last November so will be 50 this year, and given my medical history I'm kind of impressed to be here at all. Don't know that I'll necessarily want to be 53 as such when the time comes, but the alternatives are rather less attractive.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

True.

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

I remember Thinner. I remember a pulsating cake.

[@thejackbull210]

It's so funny when Mike yells at Rodger. 😆

[@davebrzeski]

I suspect that Tabitha might have been upset had she existed! 😁

[@charliedogg7683]

I read "Thinner" decades ago, I still have vivid memories of it. Richard Bachman the author does exist in at least one parallel dimension Michael. Happy birthday from a fellow January-born reader. It's not that it's been thousands of years since Roger was 53, it's that Roger has been 53 for thousands of years because he refuses to divulge his true age. As is his prerogative. Always happy to see Rhonda of course.

[@tyghe_bright]

I hope you're counting the Great Book of Amber as ten books toward your Read What You Own! You say you're a slow reader, but I bet if you went by page count and included all the comics you read, you'd be reading more than average.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Definitely ten books!

[@glockensig]

I have a birthday this month too! I want to be 53.....'cause I am turning 62!!

[@rickcantrell5302]

I'll take either of those. I'm turning 70 this month.

[@davebrzeski]

I've wanted to be 53 for the last 14 years!

[@howardjones5741]

So delighted to hear you're enjoying Amber. I loved that first series so much I read and re-read it the way LoTR fans re-read the trilogy. I love his pacing and his weird world building and the voice of the narrator, not to mention the secrets within secrets. Between this and Leiber in junior high I turned from a science fiction reader into a heroic fantasy reader. My second St. Martin's series (the Ring-Sworn trilogy) was a love letter to Amber because I really wanted to spend more time in the company of characters like Corwin and Benedict.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I guess I need to read the Ring-Sworn trilogy!

[@howardjones5741]

I think I have a few copies left. Give me a few days and I'll ship some your way. (Hanuvar is better though!)@@michaelk.vaughan8617

[@troytradup]

That's a strikingly clean and pretty copy of Thinner you have there. It's not bad -- pretty lean and mean. Enjoy!

[@freelivefree7221]

I wonder before his alter ego was revealed, if there were people who liked Bachman but not King or vice versa. The Amber books are great. Zelazny was a fan of comics. He included a character from comics in the later books: Grimjack from the John Ostrander series of the same name. He changed the name but it is the same character.

[@lindachurch4555]

I read the Amber books ages ago and I love them!

[@ToddsBookTube91]

Todd here. I'm so happy I discovered your channel M.K.V. !! you've turned into one of my favorite booktubers. I enjoy the positive vibes you send out into the world.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks Todd!

[@raymondkilminster2194]

Don't worry about turning 53 Michael . I turn 60 in April so your still young .

[@briteskin]

During my two week holiday. I caught up on my unread floppy comic books and what few manga volumes I have around. Getting back into novels starting 2024 as I ended 2023 with a reread of 'Cujo' by Stephen King. 'Thinner' was the book that got me banned from reading Stephen King for a little while. My mom decided to try King when she saw how 'thin' the book was compared to King's other books I had been reading at the time. She was upset about the cause of a certain event in the book. This led her to try a Clive Barker 'Books of Blood' volume. Which horrified her even more. So that led 10th grade me to originally trying John Norman's 'Gor' books since wasn't allowed to read King & Barker.

[@tonette6592]

Hi, Rhonda! Thanks, Michael. I was debating whether or not to delve into The Eye of the Dragon.I will do so. I read Thinner long ago, although I may have to rely on an audiobook of Dragon, with the insane soap opera that is my life,but who knows. I'm suffering through the beginning of Carrie right now. (I just finished "Holly", which I enjoyed. He has gotten tamer, needing less gore to get people to read his books, which are about social commentary, not horror, and I will die on that hill!) Enjoy that birthday, Child. I have 16 1/2 years on you, so SHUT UP.

[@إسماعيلسعيد-خ8ذ]

Hello Michael Hello. Thanks for your videos. I agree with you:2024 falls short of ideal for me at least.

[@HeyYallListenUp]

Too bad 2024 has started poorly for you. I'm glad you enjoyed The Eyes of the Dragon. I haven't read it, but apparently it was inspired by his kids reading Piers Anthony novels. The Books of Amber sounds interesting as well.

[@April_Davis]

I'm so glad you liked Eyes of the Dragon. One of my SK faves. Hi Rhonda 🐾

[@JamesRuchala]

Hi Rhonda. I just recently got a hardcover omnibus of the first five Amber novels. Maybe I'll give that fist installment a try. Sounds fun

[@TheJohno95]

A few years ago, I tried doing a "read the entire works of Stephen King" thing. Honestly, most of his books are pretty good. Eyes of the Dragon was a good relief from the skulking evil trope he tends to get hung up on. A solid fantasy read. Thinner...I like it a lot. For a lot of years, you could tell King was wanting to just do straight crime fiction. I know he does know for that crime imprint company. But back in the day, you could see his longing for it. And Thinner, even though it has a supernatural element, goes heavy into the pulp crime direction. And he does it well. It's not one of his more famous works, but I liked it a lot. I've read some of the Merlin books in the Amber series, but I could never find the Corwin books. They seemed to be locked down by Sci-Fi book club back in the day and I could never talk my parents into letting me join. The Merlin books were alright, but I felt like I was missing the gist thanks to not having read the earlier ones. Zelazny was a great author, though. I've read several of his stand-alone books, and you're right. They don't give you time to get bored. Sometimes I feel like they could have used some more fleshing out, but overall good stuff. He's kind of like Michael Moorcock...The lost fantasy authors. Both very prolific, but just not well-remembered, even though their works have had a ton of influence on modern culture. Zelazny really made heavy use of the multiverse concept which the world has been stuck on since the Berenstain Bears controversy. And Moorcock's Elric in particular is a series I'm surprised is not more popular, since Elric and Gen Z have a lot in common. I loved Thor comics as a kid. Any time I was at a store that sold comics, I would try to pick up any Thor comics I was missing. I had a good run from the mid-70's through the mid-90's. Ironically enough, I sold most of my comics, then started collecting again about a decade ago. Now I have most of the old issues, and few of the ones I used to have. Thor was fun, though. And I thought they caught his character well during this period. He's dumb as a box of rocks. But then, Thor is supposed to be that way in mythology. Those old issues are a ton of fun! That Blood Devils book looks fun! This reminds me of the Permuted Press books of the late 2000's/early2010's, before they just started being a pop culture publisher. Or the Bizarro fiction houses. I enjoy these companies that bring new genre writers to us. Someone you're reading today could be the next H.P. Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard. I'll have to check them out.

[@davebrzeski]

You should probably take a break after the first 5 Amber books. The next batch, I have to admit isn't as good. Then there are some more by Jon Betancourt, which are not close to as good.

[@ericcasagrande]

Hey Mike, while a relatively new subscriber I always appreciate your videos! Happy New Year to you and Mrs. Vaughan manor! I am currently in the process of reading "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", by Robert Louis Stevenson.

[@tiffanyvantine3322]

Isn’t it wonderful to get back to reading lots after the craziness of the holidays? I finished a graphic novel and made some really good progress on a couple of books this weekend. By the end of this week, I expect to have my first three items of ‘24 marked as read on Goodreads. Maybe even 4 or 5…

[@GrammaticusBooks]

If you think he was stoned on the first couple books I can't wait till you get to 'The Courts of Chaos'! Hopefully it's not torture reading the full series. Good reviews Michael and Happy Birthday!

[@MasterMalrubius]

I felt the first five or so were great but then downhill from there.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks!

[@angusmckeogh659]

The Eyes of the Dragon was originally published by Philtrum Press (King's own publishing company) in 1984 and was limited to 1,000 numbered and signed copies. And as far as Thinner, I loved that book, one of his few that has a great ending, although it might be riddled with some temporal insensitivity relating to Romani population.

[@sterlingreads547]

The ending to Thinner is great also it’s one of his thinner novels 🤣

[@missstarbuck]

Happy Birthday already! :)

[@TheMikester307]

I know one of Zelazny's inspirations were the portal fantasies of Henry Kuttner/C. L. Moore (like "The Dark World" and the others collected in "The Startling Worlds of Henry Kuttner.")

[@bigaldoesbooktube1097]

Great to hear that Eyes of the Dragon is good 👍 I’m reading it in late spring and have been feeling a bit nervous about it. I am trying to find all the amber books in their individual paperbacks because I didn’t fancy reading over 1200 pages of them 🙈 but it is challenging to find them all in the wild.

[@thebookishbryants]

Thinner is a book I like A LOT! I read it probably 30 or more years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday. I am excited to see what you think of it. It is one of the more underrated King books. I am so excited for Horror MAYhem! It is going to be such a good time. Have a wonderful reading week! Scott.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Yeah, I’m really looking forward to May and the MAYhem!

[@bookssongsandothermagic]

Glad you liked Eyes of a dragon. I have that to read. He really is a great writer. I’d say most people say that; I’ve only seen a few people say they didn’t like him - but having said that, Thinner may be the weakest one I’ve read our of the 25+ books I’ve read by him. Interesting what you say about the influence of The Amber books. I would say that Gaiman’s narrative style is different to Zelazny, so it may just be the aesthetic influence you can see….maybe.

[@tonette6592]

I don't always like King's content, but I love the way he writes. Those who don't like him generally judge by the ghastly movies made of them, or don't like the over-the-top gruesomeness of his earlier works. He used that to grab his audience. If you pay attention, he has much to say about the world.

[@Spacejack-xx2yp]

When you hit the halfway point you're gonna realize how inappropriate it is to have them all in one volume like that. The two series are VERY distinct.

[@BookBlather]

Cheering for you to get through all of Amber. Glad you’re enjoying it! I’d like to read it too, but it seems so overwhelming for me 😬. Olive says hi to Rhonda!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

It is a lot of Amber!

[@DanielsBibliophagy]

Rhonda!

[@wbbartlett]

I read the first three ambers (was in one volume). I won't bother with any more. They did get better as they went on, if you skipped the pages and pages and pages where they 'walk through shadow'.

[@DavidWiley7]

Sounds like I should watch for a copy of Eyes of the Dragon in the future! I'm not a huge King fan, but I imagine this one is likely to work for me.

[@Lake-Reads]

wonder who that is in that Bachman picture, I feel tempted to pick an ebook copy of The Eyes of the Dragon, sounds like it could be a fun read.

[@inanimatecarbongod]

According to Wiki it's someone called Richard Manuel, who was the insurance agent for Kirby McCauley, King's literary agent.

[@GentleReader01]

I don’t believe Zelazny was stoned a lot; as I recall, he never used much. His imagination just was that way, and the early ‘70s were among his peak years.

[@Carlo-V.]

Hi Mike! Happy (belated) New Year! I quickly looked through the comments and haven't found it, although someone may already have written it, anyway: the Eyes of the Dragon was indeed first published by a small press, it was called Philtrum Press and had different artwork in it. Fun fact: Philtrum Press was in fact SK's own microscopic small press, I guess he just published another couple of books...

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Interesting. Thanks!

[@woolybooger7770]

Just read the first quintet of Amber this January and save the second quintet for next year.

[@nunyabizness6595]

53? I'm 66. You are a kid.😂😂😂😮

[@ABT212]

Stephen Colbert is going to adapt The Chronicles of Amber, I'm reading online.

[@wburris2007]

I put The Great Book of Amber back on the shelf and continued with my previously scheduled projects.

[@DamnableReverend]

Eyes of the Dragon was one of the first Stephen King books I read. At the time I was a little anxious because I'd been told by various adults in my life that King was trashy. My parents and such encouraged me to read and they wouldn't have outright prevented me from reading anything, i expect, but i still kind of felt like I had to hide that i was reading King. Only for a bit though. After a while I realised he was just an extension of the sort of stuff I was already reading; and a softy at heart to boot. I do have some fond memories of Dragon. BTW, did you do the earlier Bachman books? I don't remember them coming up in the Stephen King challenge before. Did I just miss them? I read Nine Princes and Amber a long time ago but didn't go further with the series. I really should. I think at the time there were two issues...the pacing thing you mentioned, and maybe, too much superpower type stuff for me at the time. Since then I've read a lot more Zelazny. A Night in the Lonesome October is one of my favourite new reads of the last several years, and I loved Jack of Shadows Creatures of LIght and Darkness, and Lord of Light. SO I do think it's time.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I’ll be reading the Bachman Books soon. I will read them as they were released under King’s name in that collection.

[@crawdad19141]

No one told you eyes of the dragon was really really good??!! I told you! Roger was there and will vouch for me. You never listen to me Michael!!!😢

[@hisforheretic1765]

So are you counting The Great Book Of Amber as one book or ten? I'm 54 and wouldn't mind being 53 again😂😂

[@adinlucena7047]

When you wanna read Steven Kind but you have too much to read for school. 😅😢🤦🏻 SMH💔

[@macrosense]

I have decided not to read most Stephen King books!

[@Yesica1993]

I hope life calms down for you. Also, how dare you be 3 years younger than me!

[@Bruelax11]

Have you ever done anything on Geoffrey Homes? I just found out about this writer this week from TCM.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

No, not yet.

[@stretmediq]

I enjoy your videos but I'm curious about why you're always looking around like someone is trying to get in. I hope the manor isn't under attack by zombies

[@neiltaylor513]

am I the only one that thinks this book is trash, it is like a person who has no clue about fantasy is trying to write fantasy, it is clueless