I have obsessive compulsive disorder, and it took away my ability to read for pleasure as I entered adulthood. I'm 30 now, and I've begun to read again, but it was a long road, and it can still be painstaking at times. Your videos give me so much inspiration and motivation to push through. Thank you both!

I don’t know . . . I just couldn’t tell if you enjoyed Best Served Cold, John. 😁 I agree with everything you said about it, though! I haven’t read Annihilation, but that sounds like a winner too. I’ll be starting Of Darkness and Light in a week or so myself. Thanks again for the great livestream yesterday - it was wonderful to celebrate Jacquelyn Hagen’s accomplishments!

I think Best Served Cold is Abercrombie's most tightly-plotted work. Masterfully so. And: my heart broke for Shivers.

So glad you loved Best Served Cold! Abercrombie somehow improves with every books.

I'm currently on Best Served Cold on my Abercrombie reading journey. (I read the First Law Trilogy twice) Hope to get to it sometime this summer. Cahill's 2nd novel will be a second half of July read for me but current reads I have going on are Wurt's To Ride Hell's Chasm and John Williams' Augustus.

If you loved BSC this much, Age of Madness is gonna blow your socks off.

I’m reading Ashes of Man and The heroes now ! Glad you enjoyed Best Served Cold

I've listened to all six books, the First Law trilogy and the three stand alones, back to back. I have been dragged out of a reading slump by Joe Abercrombie. Just started A Little Hatred this morning. ❤

I just got myself the first law standalones recently and have been dying to get back to the world. You’ve got me so hyped!

Okay that’s it! I’m picking up The Last Argument of Kings asap! I can’t wait for your rave review of Of Darkness and Light! You’re going to love it John

I haven't been watching any booktube while on vacation (in Belgium), but you better bet I made time to tune into the weekly reader, the week just isn't complete without it!! 🤩 Love to hear that you enjoyed BSC so much, I think you will have a blast with the other standalones as well. And gosh, the release party has been so much fun to watch, I hope to binge the last half soon! Happy reading, John ☺

"This is a G-rated channel...so anyway, Joe Abercrombie." Glad to see your July started with such a bang! My first week of the month was pretty good. I started with a reread of Piranesi, which if anything is even better the second time around. Now I'm about 1/4 through Curse of the Mistwraith, and already ordered book 2 so I can just go right into it afterwards. Rereading Annihilation after some 6-7 years, and it's every bit as unnerving/uncanny/fever-dreamy as it ever was. Looking to start The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa soon. After the wash that was June, this month seems promising.

If you ever need to get pumped up to read, just listen to John.

I just started reading Joe Abercrombie! I’m finishing up the First Law Trilogy now then I’ll moved to Best Served Cold; hoping to finish it before the end of the month!

The Chesapeake Bay Monster sounds interesting. I wonder if the author is from Maryland, because I live near the Chesapeake Bay and there’s an urban legend about a giant snake named Chessie that lives in the Bay. I’ve never seen it, but several people claimed they have.

Love the spurs gear! Out of my reading slump by reading other genres- a lot of American history…struggling to decide what fantasy to read next…maybe the Cahill series…I got the first novel and novella for Christmas, so I should start them! Have a great week!

Yess!!! I knew you would love Best Served Cold. Abercrombie does not write bad books. I'm confident The Heroes will blow you away just as well

Man, I really need to read those Abercrombie standalones! This week I finished up Demon In White (which left me speechless) and started Godeater (which somehow got delivered a fee days before the actual release date) so it's been a great week here!

Hahaha tingle meter😂😂. I will say, when I saw you subscribed I definitely got a tingle! Okay, I see Jacobs point now rereading my comment out loud. Anyways, Best Served Cold!!! Love that one. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the rest. What a ride you are in store for!!!

On the note of Jeff Vandermeer, I would recommend reading Ambergris, it is so great.

Bookclub with the Best Minton... and John ;) I swear, every time John says "tingle" Jakob gets a new therapy session :D

I just picked up Best Served Cold this weekend can’t wait to dive into it! Great work

You’ll love the rest of the series after Annihilation! I have a feeling Of Darkness and Light will be a serious contender for your book of the month! Love the Wemby shirt! So happy the Spurs got Stephon Castle. As a lifelong UConn fan and someone who watched all of his college games, they got a really good player and person.

I read the original first law trilogy like a decade ago and have been meaning to get back to Abercrombie ever since, it just keeps slipping on the infinitely long TBR...one of these days

Thank you so much for your kind wishes, John! Alas the unicorns won't join you on this one. But look on the bright side. It's not easy to host a herd of magical animals. There'll be straw all over your house and then the insane amount of chocolate chip cookies you'll need to keep them entertained.😁 But I will be looking out for the discussion when it comes out!

I just finished a re-read of BSC last night, so enjoyable. It's hard not to pick up The Heroes straight away. I was listening in the background while I worked on something, yes I was still watching haha

You need to listen to Between Two Fires if you haven't already.

Great video John! I need to get into Best Served Cold soon.

Another video from John reminding me of all the people who've read all those unread books on my shelf. Lol. Great video!

I love the Book Club with the Mrs. idea! I vote Game of Thrones over The Blade Itself forever and ever, but I’m so happy you’re continuing to love the First Law books. Age of Madness is la crème de la crème!

I finished Warbreaker this week and then also read Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Both very fun reads. And you've absolutely made me want to read Best Served Cold... but I haven't read any First Law yet.

Since you were waxing poetic about cowboyin' the other day, I thought I'd tell you about The Strange, which I recently finished and thought was pretty damn good. It's a western set on Mars, and it's a pretty good time. I've heard it be described as "True Grit on The Martian Chronicles" and I'd say that's a good enough way to put it. I read it while I was on vacation out in Arkansas, and it was a startlingly appropriate read for being out there. It's a good palate cleanser book, since I'm reading too big books right now. I also read more of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell while I was out there, and man I gotta say this third act is cracking. I am approaching the end of the book, and I don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye just yet. It really does feel like you've been on this long journey with these characters as they've squabbled and competed, but also have worked together to bring magic back to England! I also started Lonesome Dove, which is a proper cowboyin' novel. I can see why everyone likes it, McMurtry has the eye for human drama and he's good at making slice of life stories interesting. There's also colorful characters too, and I can't wait to dig in some more. Keep up the good work gentlemen! Great video as always!

Clicked on this soon as you mentioned Joe, ha. I can't wait for you to get to The Heroes, the best of all the First Law books!

You guys are thematically hilarious 😂 I'm working on Of War And Ruin so I look forward to hearing what you think about book 2!

I accidentally started into Abrecombie with Best Served Cold. I was 75% when i found out where the book falls in the series. It was still great and i didn’t feel like i was lost doing that. I can’t wait to get into that series properly.

I'm excited for you to start The Heroes!

Glad to hear you are checking out more animated content. Still need to watch y'all visiting artist with the voice actor. Almost finished with Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It revolves around an archeologist and the search for Quivira in the American southeast. I am looking to start my trek into the Western genre and start with Sackett's Land: A Novel by Louis L'amour since it is short. Starting that once I finish my current read. Also half way done with watching The Pacific limited series.

Best served is brilliant and now you get The Heroes and then my favorite: Red Country ❤🤪 Simple backstabbing... 😲🥴🤣

Bookclub with the Missus? What a great title! I'm halfway through Annihilation right now and should be finished before that video comes out. Looking forward to it!

Hi John. I've only read The Blade Itself and Sharp Ends by Abercrombie so far. I intend to return to his work in the future. Currently reading and enjoying To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

After that summary I might have to read it again😂 Really glad to hear you enjoyed BSC John, it’s my favourite of the standalones. I felt the theme of individual agency really strongly in this as well. (Spoiler) Specifically female agency in that Monza is this legendary mercenary, but as we go through we realise most of what shaped her life/reputation was driven by others, all of which are men (pulled into thousand swords by Cosca, forced into leadership by Orso, massacre of Caprile and nearly died because of her brothers scheme). Bit of an essay but I think this ties with the exploration of revenge in that it’s the easier option, rather than choosing to live for yourself which she does in the end. Would be interested to hear your thoughts (if any) on that.

Your family is adorable ❤

My grandfather liked to lick the plate when the meal was over. He was funny :)

Sunday Weekly Reeeeeeeaaaader! Love it. I was 100% confident you'd love Best Served Cold and feel the same about The Heroes. I don't think it's us vs them on the books on bibliotheory. I think we rank each category and whatever wins, wins. Check with aaron! I think it's the thumbnail that makes it look that way :)

I also picked up Annihilation this week and I can't wait to hear yours and Amy's thought!! I'm also a huge romance reader so I picked up Bride by Ali Hazelwood and should be done with it by next week weekly reader and should be moving on to a reread of The Fifth Season after I finish up Bride.

I loved the heroes more than best served cold, moving onto red country next before I hit the age of madness. Glad you loved it

I just finished Best Served Cold yesterday and am starting Heroes today. It was SO good.

“No one does characters like Joe” **laughs in Robin hobb**

If anyone is a cure for reading slump it's you John! That reminds me, I really should try Abercrombie. Have only heard good things about him so far. Well maybe I can get to it next year. 2024 is pretty much overfilled on my TBR 😅 Otherwise, hadn't had much reading done, been busy this week. But I got to go together with my writing group this weekend at a lovely market trying to sell our anthology. Been a lot of fun but a little hectic so I look forward to slow down and get back on reading/writing.

📖made it to the end 😁

I knew you would love Best Served Cold (aka fantasy Kill Bill 🤣🤣). My favourite of this book was Cosca. Being in his chaotic mind was just soooo fun. And also his dynamic with Friendly was just amazing to watch. Just that scene where he goes "I am Nicomo Cosca, famed soldier of fortune, and I am here for dinner" ... AND IT ACTUALLY WORKS 😂😂😂. Not to mention Shivers and his .... Transformation ... During this book. This world really is not for men who "want to be better" 😵‍💫 Are you going to make a review video for it?

I am so excited to hear your thoughts on the rest of the stand-alones and Of Darkness and Light. I think you’re going to love all of that. I wrapped up A Song for Arbonne then pushed myself to read a nonfiction book (The Body Keeps the Score), but I realized that I was in the middle of a reading slump so I leaped into the Warlord Chronicles hoping it will pull me out. This next week is going to be extremely exciting because number one, thanks to you guys and Jacquelyn Hagen I have the first three Riverfall books so I might jump into them early. AND, thanks to the immense help/encouragement from the both of you and two to ramble- my camera is coming in so I am going to set that up and start a book tube channel while submitting my Town square thingy. I kinda want to do something akin to your talking with toobers because interacting with the community is what I really want. Anyways, amazing video and I hope that you all have an amazing day because my week has been made before it has even started.

I've had Abercrombie on my priority list for 2 years now but I just never seem to get to him. I think I just can't put it off any longer now after your review. August it is.

Ice Cold DDP sounds like a bad night on the streets with a definite tingle in the morning... Any Way I finished Absolution Gap by Aleister Reynolds and Dark Age by Pierce Brown very much enjoyed both. Absolution Gaps Ending for me was a bit of a damp squid on the other hand very much loved the ending to Dark Age both great science fiction epics! Now I'm starting The dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin and Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. probably some of my favourite authors I loved the world and characters Mervyn Peake made in Titus Alone the first book.

A day late, but a frosty Old Style on hand.

Oh yeah, and forgot to mention. Glad you enjoyed Annihilation. I had an inkling that you would take to VanderMeer's weird scientific take on cosmic horror. I can't wait to see what you and Mrs have to say about it! And Best Served Cold, glad you liked that too. Though it seems you liked it more than I did!

John, you have to check out the documentary, BRATS from Andrew McCarthy. I enjoyed it, a trip down XGener memory lane!

First Law!!!

Man…Emma D’Arcy slays as Rhaenyra!!! Lots of exciting stuff coming up!

Singular sensation 🤣😅😂

Well, if you enjoyed vought on ice, you'll love ep 5. I started Fire and Blood, haven't gotten far. It's definitely a dryer read than ASOIAF, the names are killing me and there's no map, which drives me crazy. I honestly don't remember much of my week besides that, I think I got my new phone on Monday and I worked 4th of July. Also, there's a name missing from your patreon, I'll blame it on Jakob dropping the ball since you already threw him under the bus at the start. Jakob, that is why Pooh is the favorite son 😂.

Best Served Cold was amazing. I read it for the first time about 8 months ago. I'm looking forward to the movie they're going to make of it. I hope they don't screw it up. Lol

I've been reading The Library Policeman novella by Stephen King. Definetly check it out if you haven't read it. It's part of a novella collection in Four Past Midnight.

Hey John I’m not sure if you have the Age of Madness trilogy yet but the hardcovers are like 50% off on Amazon right now.

Prodigy Season 2 is excellent! No spoilers, but MAN the guest cast is freaking amazing!

My name is already in almost every fantasy novel ever written 🤪🤣

See? Now you get why I'm constantly pushing you to not put off reading more First Law. The Heroes is my favourite of the standalones, then again I like most First Law books more than most Fantasy I've read and I include the likes of Tolkien and Sanderson in that regard. I didn't get much reading done, I was in Belfast for a few days and got distracted with gaming on my return. But i did read the first two volumes of Mark Millar and Wilfredo Torres' Jupiter's Legacy. I'm currently reading: *Historical-Fantasy* The Last Light of the Sun / Guy Gavriel Kay *Historical-Fiction* Red Sky in Morning / Paul Lynch - I wanted to read more Irish authors, and this is set in my home county of Donegal. So far so good. *Sci-Fi* Cloud Atlas / David Mitchell - I really struggled with that first story, I will continue but I'm not optimistic going forward. So I might set it aside for now and pick up something else instead. *Thriller* The Winter of Frankie Machine / Don Winslow I finished playing Last of Us Part 2, ultimately I do like it but I standby my criticisms of the structure and pacing. I think it did the story a disservice. But I don't think I liked it enough to continue should Part 3 be made, nor watch the adaptation. This will no doubt be controversial, but I didn't find Ellie's storyline that interesting in this because I don't think the side characters were up to her level, and its a paint by numbers revenge tale, nothing new nor an interesting take on the subject.

All I'm saying is Logan has 9 fingers and Jamie has 5. Can't do jazz hands with 5 fingers. At that point you're just waving at strangers and that's kinda weird😅