The Mid Year Book Freakout Tag || 2021

[Music] what up nerds my name is leslie smith welcome or welcome back to the nerdy narrative on this channel i like to talk about all sorts of bookish related things and all of the different genres that i read in whether it be science fiction fantasy horror manga comics literary fiction classics non-fiction why a honestly i just really like to spice up my reading life that way i never find myself in a reading slump and even though i do outline a tbr for the month because i read in so many different genres it also allows for a bit of mood reading as well for today's episode of fun we're almost to the end of june and that means it's time for the mid-year book freakout tag this is one that goes around every year around june and july and they're so much fun to watch i've seen a few come trickling out already last year i was late with it i'm not missing the boat this time this year i am out front and ahead with it and i'm excited to share with you my answers so question number one what is the best book you have read in 2021 now for those of you who have seen me do a few tags because i read in so many different genres i usually pick an answer for each of those genres because honestly there's no way i can pick an absolute all-time favorite because there are things about each genre that makes it unique and i just i just can't pick one i can't pick one but for horror my favorite book of the year so far is the only good indians by stephen graham jones if you have not read this beautiful piece of horror which also is considered literary fiction i urge you to do so this book is absolutely beautiful in so many ways it's a horror story but it also has an underlying theme that is just i love this author and because of this book i decided i was going to start reading all of his work i have not been disappointed in anything i've read by him yet for fantasy my favorite read of the year so far is the mask of mirrors by the author team m.a carrick i love this book and i would dare say if i had to pick one all-time favorite book of the year so far i would definitely definitely have this one in the running most assuredly i mean honestly yeah it would probably win favorite science fiction read of the year is going to be morning star which is part of the red rising series by pierce brown it's book three in the first trilogy and it just felt like pierce brown did something amazing with this one the first book in the series had excellent pacing the second book in the series had some really great action and character development but it was a little too fast-paced this one was a healthy mix of the two and that i found is perfection i loved this book this book did things y'all it did things but definitely if i had to pick a favorite science fiction series of the year that i've been reading it's going to be red rising favorite nonfiction read of the year not that i've read that many which i have got to work on but my favorite so far is man's search for meaning by victor e frankel and this is a book that every person should read every person should read i will be reading it multiple times because i feel like there are so many stages of life and events that can happen or will happen that i think this will address and help and inspire and motivate this book was amazing and then to just combine my literary fiction and classic category favorite read of the year hands down their eyes were watching god by zora neale hurston in fact this book made her become another favorite author another one that i am working through all of her works and again i've not been disappointed by anything i've read by her another one that i plan to reread before the year is out are you sensing a pattern every one of these books i've mentioned so far as favorite reads of the year with the exception of morningstar the other four their eyes were watching god the only good indians man search for meaning and the mask of mirrors i'm already planning a reread before the year is over they're really good books next question best sequel you've read so far in 2021 now i don't have the physical copy for my horror sequel that is the best it's on its way i have ordered it and that is going to be book five and the nightmare land chronicles by daniel barnett which is city of blood i've been working on this series since he first started publishing it the series is absolutely fantastic but the only one that has come out so far this year in that series is city of blood and it just was phenomenal i cannot wait for book six i feel that book six is going to top the other five for reasons i can't share if you haven't read nightmare land if you haven't read it oh man i would definitely encourage you to read that for best sequel and fantasy i've read this year that would be wizarding glass which is book four in the dark tower series by stephen king this book is my favorite in the series right now this one is in the running to be my favorite fantasy series of 2021 i don't foresee anything knocking it out but it's possible because there are a couple of other fantasy series i have my eyes on to read that could knock it down but we'll see but as of right now just what king did with the story in this one i just absolutely loved i just don't feel any of the other books are going to be able to top the beauty that i found in this so for science fiction best sequel i have to have a repeat here and say morningstar by pierce brown for all of the reasons i already listed when i answered the first question my classic and literary fiction genre best sequel so this is probably cheating a little bit but i'm going with hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick this is a collection of short stories by zora neale hurston and while it's not an actual sequel there are a couple of short stories in this one that take place in the same town as their eyes were watching god a sort of continuation flushes out some of the characters and their stories a little bit more so i'm counting it it's my tag i do what i'm on question number three a new release you haven't read yet but want to for horror that is going to be things have gotten worse since we last spoke by eric larocca this is a little novella that has come out recently a lot of my friends have read it and really enjoyed it it's blurbed by josh madderman who wrote the bird box eric's writing is top notch i know i'm gonna love it so i'm very excited to get to this one i hope i'm able to do so very soon for science fiction i haven't landed my hands on an actual physical copy yet but that is definitely project hail mary by andy weir i've seen a lot of really great reviews a lot of folks are comparing it to the martian which is my favorite book by him so i'm hoping to get my hands on that one later this year and get that one ready and then for my fantasy new release that i want to get to is shadow of the gods by john glenn i know y'all are very confused as to why i haven't read this yet because i love john gwynne i haven't actually finished the f blood environment trilogy yet i've started it i haven't finished it i've gotten all up in the middle of tons of other things and projects after july when august hits i'm doing some cleanup i get some series finished and i'm going to get to some new releases dang it but i've heard amazing things about this one as well i mean it's john glenn the man can do no wrong most anticipated release for the second half of the year so my horror pick is the darkest hours expanded edition by mike thorne that is literally in transit to me right now i pre-ordered that one a while back mike thorne wrote sheltered for the dam i love his writing style it's very conversational it's a great way of storytelling in my opinion so i'm i'm very excited to get into that one so for fantasy that will hands down be book two in the rook and the rose series which is the series that began with the mask of mirrors you know the book that i said i'm going to reread i'm going to re-read it in november right before the second book comes out at the beginning of december anticipated release for science fiction that will be the third book in the thrawn ascendancy trilogy which is called lesser evil and then as far as literary fiction classic category i don't have an anticipated release but i do have an anticipated read i am going to be reading anna karenina later this year and i'm very excited to read that one so i'm gonna cheat and let that count question number five biggest disappointment for science fiction that will be greater good which is the second book in the throne ascendancy trilogy it did not hold up to the storytelling and momentum of the first book there are things that happen that i feel did move the plot forward i just really think this should have been a duology i think what he used this book to accomplish could have been condensed and either included in the first book or in the beginning of the next book i am hoping book three redeems the trilogy but this one this one was just a bit of a miss for me but as far as literary fiction and classic biggest disappointment was crime and punishment by theodore doskeyevsky i really wanted to love this one and i did for about 300 pages i just was not a fan of just perpetuating the cycle the same cycle over and over and over it just went on way too long if this had been condensed into about like 350 pages i 100 think it would have been much better much more enjoyable reading experience but it just wasn't for me for horror my biggest disappointment was the final girls support club by grady hendricks i was very fortunate enough to be approved for the arc on netgalley i had this book on pre-order already but once i got halfway through the arc i cancelled my pre-order when i finished the book is not one i would ever reread i did not have that much enjoyment out of it i can't at this point of filming tell you anything else other than that because i'm not allowed to release my review until july 13th but it was a huge let down for me so question number six biggest surprise i would have to start with wise blood by flannery o'connor this falls into the classic literary fiction category i had no idea i was going to love this book as much as i did i think i was really shocked that it was a comedic approach to the just the exploration of what religion means to people and how they go about sharing their views i just love this book i think every time that i read this book i'm just going to pull more pleasure and enjoyment out of it this was my first experience reading flannery o'connor and my expectations going in based off what i heard from people in the community and expecting something dark and what i got was something that had me cracking up had me thinking about it for days and just really exploring what i thought the themes of the story were so it ended up being a huge surprise for me for science fiction biggest surprise the dark that dwells by matt digman and ryan roddy this is book one and what they hope to be a five book series that they haven't named yet but i think we're getting close to what they're going to call it when i read the book description read some information about the book and other reviews i knew i was going to like it i didn't know i was going to love it another one i planned to reread i mean i'm just going to quit saying i plan to reread these books because i just plan to reread all of them so biggest biggest surprise for fantasy ended up being the dark tower series or more specifically the gunslinger again another one that my expectations were set very low and i really enjoyed it i cannot wait to read it again after i finish the dark tower series there have been so many small tie-ins and the subsequent books back to the gunslinger that i've just been overjoyed anytime i've found one i'm sure i've missed some so when i finish the dark tower book seven i'm gonna go back and read the gunslinger just to refresh my memory and see what i might have missed for horror that is 100 going to be betty by tiffany mcdaniel this book was a huge surprise and that i expected trauma i didn't expect a female version of a coming-of-age story and i really didn't expect the the thread of hope that just weaved through this very traumatic tale it was just beautiful the prose was beautiful it was just lyrical the imagery was just some of the best i've ever read i mean there was just a lot of surprises about this book and yet another i mean i said i wasn't going to say i was going to reread all these books did i so question 7 is about favorite new authors you've discovered in 2021 whether they be debut authors or new to me and then all of these are going to be new to me but with horror that will be stephen graham jones no surprise i'm blazing through all of his work for classic and literary fiction zora neale hurston another one that i am blazing through all of her work fantasy joe abercrombie i know these are no surprise to any of you that have been watching my channel for any length of time he is another one i fell in love with on the first book i read by him i am also working through all of his work finally and most recently another fantasy author nk jennison finally got around to starting her work i am in love i was in love with the first book again the fifth season guys i mean when you can just fall in love with somebody and the first book you read by them and with the with the first three that i mentioned i have read several things by them and i have without fail loved every bit so when i got that same feeling with nk jemisin i can trust myself to know that these authors they will forever be autobuy i will have everything that they've ever written in my collection and i know that i will reread many many times so i really got a kick out of this next one and it's question number eight newest fictional crush and while i have had a answer for every genre that i read in so far there was only one for this one and i know a lot of you have probably guessed who that is and that would be the darkling from the shadow and bone trilogy by leigh bardugo i fell in love with this guy he is a bad guy he is definitely 100 the villain i haven't finished the trilogy yet i'm hoping to do so very soon i don't care if he ends up being good or worse or whatever y'all question number nine newest favorite character far science fiction favorite character is definitely severo from the red rising series howler for life that's all i'm going to tell you just in case you haven't read that series yet for fantasy i have to go with one in the dark tower series and that would be odetta deda susanna and again if you don't understand that answer i can't explain it to you if you haven't read the dark tower i just will encourage you to read that series it is so wonderful and unique it's a great experience and the book where you meet her is the second book the drawing of the three and is 100 worth checking out question number 10 book that made you cry and because i haven't read much john gwynn yet this year he's actually off the hook and in his place would be pierce brown red rising i'm not gonna name the character because that would totally spoil it for any of you who have not read the series those of you who have you know you know who it is you know why and if you read this along with the library of alexandria and his discord then you know i've been very vocal about it there so yeah definitely the only books that have made me cry this year have been the red rising series by pierce brown so question number 11 book that made you happy for classic literary fiction i would have to go with wise blood because when i tell you i was chuckling the whole way through i really was i found it hysterical and then as far as fantasy that made me happy it's gonna be the mask of mirrors because i enjoyed this book it did make me happy i loved the story everything about it i am still talking to people about this book and my discord people have been trickling in and starting to read it after i read it with a group and my discord and i have just been living for everybody who read this book with me and my read-along we have just absolutely been all over anybody that steps into that channel and they're like hey i'm about to start reading this book question number 12 is most beautiful book you've bought this year or that you received and i have a lot uh you guys have seen this book on my channel a whole lot lately i've got a group that's reading it in my discord the rave by j.r trash it's the first book in the outfavor series yes the cover is absolutely beautiful but so is the story everybody who has picked this up and read it has absolutely enjoyed it if you have picked this up recently i think i have some folks that are going to be reading it my discord in july so definitely come on over into that channel and join us as you read it i also read winds of strife on my kindle and i was mentioning how much i wanted the physical copy because it had helpful charts in it i wanted to refer to so the author sent me a physical copy and this book is freaking gorgeous piranesi by susanna clark this was sent to me by my friend katrina and while while the cover is definitely pretty the true beauty of this book lies in the hardback itself which is just gorgeous absolutely gorgeous i haven't read this one yet i'm very excited to get to it so i'm going to be making plans on getting that one on the old tbr soon and then next would be the flashlighters by daniel barnett it's book four in the nightmare land chronicles i did read the arc for this one last year but i bought my physical copy this year and daniel sarah does all of the art for the books or at least the first five have all been done by him and they are just gorgeous the fifth one is on its way and then probably the most beautiful book i've purchased this year is westlake seoul by rio yours the cover is gorgeous right but again the beauty of this one like it's the the cloth bounds but it's signed and numbered for one thing and then it's just has gorgeous pages in it it is illustrated throughout and it's in color like it's got red and black and all that another one i haven't read yet it was 100 a purchase because i have heard that it's amazing and i wanted to be one of the 400 to get the numbered signed copy let's see question 13 what books do you need to read by the end of the year why are you calling me out tag like all of them all of them i just don't even my unread tbr is out of control i'm not gonna list all that off uh-uh i don't know and it always changes like i can tell you what books i want to read for the rest of this month but as far as next month and after that well i can cheat a little bit and say the dark tower series because there's only like two of those left that i need to read but yeah uh no we're not even getting started on that we'd be here all day long yeah and that'll do it fam that will take care of all the questions for the mid-year book freakout tag that's always a fun tag to do just to kind of check in and see kind of like where you are in the year and just kind of remind yourself to look back through what you've read and remember what you did really enjoy so i was looking forward to doing it i had a lot of fun looking through all the books that i've read so far this year i've read a lot like this took some work drop on down to those comments down below tell me your favorite books maybe your biggest disappointment and with that i'm going to sign off and put all of these books back up where i got them from and clean up this mess and get to reading so guys thank you so much for your time thank you for watching i hope you enjoyed a little look back on my year of reading i hope you have had a great start to your day i hope the rest of your day is absolutely amazing and i'll see you in the next one

Channel: The Nerdy Narrative

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Length: 23min 48sec (1428 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 23 2021