Dog-earing your own books is fine. Dog-earing someone else's books... not so much.

“No one likes the maps at the start of books” GEOGRAPHY IS EVERYTHING SMH

"Books don't need to be more than 500 pages." I had a professor in college who would not give page minimums or limits on paper assignments. He said we should just write until we're finished, whether that takes more words or less. He said he would know if it was the right length. While this was annoying as an assignment (I didn't want to be marked down because of a professor's whims) I think it was actually excellent writing advice. Whatever you write shouldn't be artificially bloated or shortened. It should be exactly the length required to get the concept/story/information across.

Friends to lovers this, enemies to lovers that. We all know enemies to friends is the superior trope

"20000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was okay." Blink-and-you-miss-it" hot take right there, hoo boy.

Unpopular opinion: the biggest reason I will hesitate to read a book? Small font size. If it's long, that's one thing, but long with tiny font means that for me, a non-avid reader trying to recover from English major burnout, it's going to be a commitment.

"Sanderson isn't that great, just consistent and fast" Wow a hot take that's actually a hot take, those are rare

I have this weird opinion that we need more maiming in stories. Casue I feel like a lot of the time it's like "We can't kill him/her!" Okey sure don't kill them but at least maim them so they can't get away, mess up their legs or something. Break some bones, cut an ear off. Especially if one character in X group has an immense hatred for the captured person and really wants to kill them but isn't allowed for whatever reason. Just do some maiming man

I'm not a fan of Brandon Sanderson's works, but I think that the ability to produce consistent, fast and quality novels automatically makes you great. If I was a literary agent or an avid reader, I would probably not be enthusiastic about a long-term relationship with author whose only able to produce a good book once a decade - sorry but not sorry to Rothfuss and Martin fans.

Hot take: I don’t want writers to kill characters only for stakes’ sake. I actually hate that “for realism” mindset. I want GOOD endings, if that means death, then that it is. But most of the time is not. I want complete arcs, tragedy, lessons, loss, change, but I hate character deaths only because is supposed to be realistic. Sometimes a happy ending is the best way to end a story and it can be just as satisfying as a bittersweet ending. I guess what I’m saying is, write what fits the story and themes/arcs best (and what fits the tone and genre, or what subverts it if that’s what you want to say with the story). Just stay true to what you want to say and what the story means. The lord of the rings has 100 endings but it’s because the story needs them.

Here’s a hot take: I actually enjoy your ads. Usually I just skip ahead to normal content. Your ads are clever, I enjoy seeing where you’re going with them. Advertisers take note!

I feel like a lot of people miss the point of Sanderson's writing. I don't think he set out to create stories so thematic and complex in narrative structure that it'll take scholars decades to figure out what they mean. I think he simply wants to create fantasy worlds filled with fun magic systems, unique creatures and interesting cultures that everyone can escape to. There's a reason why his fans always talk about the fantasy elements and mental health representation in his stories.

I actually think liking happy endings has become an unpopular opinion. I think there is this weird discourse around the whole concept that has devolved into "if you prefer happy endings, if you like feel-good satisfying conclusions, if you want all the characters to live, then you are not as intelligent or clever or well-read." I feel like I hear people constantly talking about their "prefer bittersweet" or "only like dark and destructive" opinions, while the other side of the sphere is shot down or ridiculed when expressing their views. My own lukewarm take: People use "unpopular opinion" concepts as a way to mock and devalue others' preferences and views. (I absolutely don't think that you did that, nor have I seen anybody in this comment section acting like this. This is a wholesome af community.) But I do think that there are a lot of people in the greater book-loving community? bookosphere? who take advantage of this concept to feel superior by decrying the taste and interests of others. Also maps in the front of the book are the best and that opinion is the only 100% true one.

my rating criteria is: 1 - the book pissed me off for a reason or another 2 - the book had no impact at all 3 - I enoyed it 4 - loved it and I felt intense emotions 5 - my personal Olympus give me a 1 to 100 rate system and I'll propbably implode

I'd love to see a book with a cast of characters that slowly die off and get replaced till the final group has no original members.

I love it when other people have rainbow shelves. They're just so pretty. But I'm loath to do mine like that as even thinking about the books in the same series not being together, or books by the same author not in one place makes me wanna punch someone.

In response to watching the adaptation first I have 2 thoughts: 1. It can help readers who are not as visual better visualize what they’re reading if they’ve seen it first 2. I think it can be very helpful when you want to read an older classic to watch an adaptation first because I think it can help to better establish the setting and the story and give overall context

Thinking about an emotional impact without killing characters always brings me to Donna Noble's ending in Doctor Who. It is way more emotional seeing her lose all of her memories and character development, going back to seeing herself as nothing special, than her death could have been.

Happy endings are great when they feel earned. Bittersweet works when it works. I don't need a token bitter event in the ending to make it feel "realistic". Sometimes it's more realistic for a plan to go correctly because you put in all the work for it to do so.

I like a satisfying ending. That doesn't mean it has to be happy, just followed the progression of the story. Actions have consequences, and if the author has to remove consequences to make the ending happy, I'm not a fan of that at all. Like, hey, you know all those problems that have been plaguing this character this whole time? Yeah, none of it really mattered. I appreciate maps in books, especially fantasy. I've found it useful in some nonfiction too. The third book of trilogies being unsatisfying. I think this is the exact reason Patrick rothfuss won't give us the third book. The hype is so much, and he knows he can't make everyone happy. That pressure can be crippling. I had a reading experience preference when I was younger, but now that I'm a mom of three, any way I can consume stories is a win. Audiobook, ebook, hard copy, I don't care.

"I will break your spines" "I want people to die" Merphy Napier 2021

Here is a hot take i actually prefer falls from grace over redemption arcs. Redemption arcs are rarely ever earned especially in recent years it seems. So seeing someone fall into darkness is in my opinion more interesting of a arc

My favorite thing is when authors put maps in the inside of the dust cover of a hardback (such as Sanderson in the Stormlight Archives does) so I don't even have to flip back, I can just map their progress with the dust cover next to me as I read.

Pretty much all of Tolkien's work is very slow and meandering. That being said, if tomorrow they discovered another 2000 pages of story for his world hidden in an old trunk somewhere, sign me up. I'm happy to live in Tolkien's world while he weaves stories around me for as long as possible. There's never been a better worldbuilder, period.

I think the problem with some trilogies is that the writer may not have planned it to be a series in the beginning. You see this with tv shows too where you can start to tell that their just adding stuff now instead of working off of ideas that were determined from the beginning of the series. *cough*stranger things*cough

With the length of books, I remember seeing some video (forget who it was by) about "common mistakes" newbie writers make and one of them was "it's not the proper length for its genre". And I was like, "ec-frickin-scuse me?" If a book is going to be at its peak form, who gives a damn if it's 50,000 words shorter or longer than the "standard size" for its genre? It's got the same energy as your literature teacher telling you your book report has to be four pages long when your opinion can be easily explained on a single page, maybe a page and a half. Books should be written to their peak quality, not fit some arbitrary word count quota.

I completely agree with the Sanderson take-but I think a needed counter-statement is that it's impressive in its own right. There are plenty of authors who are more skilled at penning prose, developing characters, or worlds but only put out 1/5-1/10 the volume that Sanderson ever has that you just need to appreciate the sheer professional capability of Sanderson. If the book writing world were anything like how television is, I feel Sanderson would be an absolutely AMAZING producer... and we're all a bit worse off that this reality will never come to pass. In fact, the only author working today I could say that is both more consistent and more skilled than Sanderson is [g]Oda.

On the topic of physical books vs. audiobooks vs. ebooks: - Can't get into an ebook, especially not if it's on my phone. I find it gets tiring and distracting, for some reason. - Audiobooks are obviously super convenient, but I find that they *need* a good reader. I've abandoned quite a few audiobooks because I wasn't feeling the person reading it, even if I've come back and later enjoyed reading the physical copy. The Wax and Wayne books are excellently narrated, by the way. - Physical books are my favourite of all three. I like the way that it forces me to focus on just one thing, and the feel of holding something in your hands.

Shadow and Bone's biggest crime was having no map at the start.

I love maps, especially in fantasy with a lot of travel like Shannara. I almost want to get a picture of it to have on the side so I don't have to flip back to it all the time.

I really think stephen king is so beloved because of how he writes his characters. His prose is phenomenal. The relationships like how he writes the father-daughter relationship in firestarter is one of a kind. Firestarter is perfect if you like shorter novels because he does not overwrite in that one whatsoever. No other author i have ever read has made me feel the way it feels when king writes. It feels like its your uncle or grandfather telling you a story and i think thats why a lot of fans call him "uncle stevie". He has written over 60 novels and they are all connected in his multiverse so there is a HUGE amount of reference porn. I love his books so much that on release day i dont even pre-order because i dont want to wait for the mailman and i dont want it to get damaged. After reading the dark tower i want to reread all of his books in chronological order. For readers that love characters more than plot it just shocks me how they dont like stephen's characters or dont fall in love with his characters, even the bad guys are morally gray (sometimes). i just dont get it. It depends which era you read because old king and new king has a lot of differences. For anyone into science fiction or fantasy i highly recommend firestarter and the talisman. Joyland is another quick read about a coming of age kid in a amusement park. Not everybody is gonna like every author but since king has so many books in so many genres i just feel like he has something for everybody.

Yeah I’d probably half agree with the map one. Like if it said “we’d need to move our army north to bledfgshr land” what’s the use of me going to the map just to say “oh yes bledfghsr land is indeed in the north”. City or town maps on the other hand helps in the visualization of the events in the area.

Opinion: ebooks > physical. I have poor vision and basically no night vision, so the only way I can read physical books is under a lot of light. Plus, the text is often too small-I prefer sans serif fonts-and causes me eye strain and distortion. Audible books are fine, but often I can’t focus, haha! With ebooks, I can adjust text size, contrast, and device brightness. ☺️

"The smell of used books isn't as satisfying as the taste of used books." This was my submission. TELL ME I'M WRONG, KZfaq.

On reading the book first/watching the movie first: I always try to watch the movie first, then read the book. If you watch first, when you go back to read you get to experience this world that you love expanding and filling in, and also often get to enjoy whole new plotlines that were left out. On the other hand, if you read it first, when you watch the movie all you'll see is the massive amounts that were left out to hit the running time.

Call me a masochist, but I'm still looking for a book in which half of the story is just main characters kicking ass so I have a false sense of certainty they will never be killed and then proceed to utterly butcher them one by one on the other half like it's the ending of Invinsible's first episode.

On the "reading one genre doesnt make you smarter" and your point about romance books - like you said, romance can explore other themes and really dark themes, and I love that, but in my opinion exploring the concept of love and romance and partnership is absolutely a deep theme in itself. Romantic relationships are present in everyone's lives (even if one isn't in a romantic relationship themselves, they're surrounded by them in society) and often reflect how we function individually, with other individuals, and in society as a whole. Love as a concept is infinitely interesting because it is so hard to singularly define, and can be explored in so many ways. Reading romance books can help readers explore their own relationships, their sexualities, their response to love, and so much more. People look down on romance because it is perceived as light, fluffy, or just sexy, but a theme or genre being near universal and easy to identify with does not make it vapid or empty of intelligent discussion, introspection, and value.

As far as watching movies before reading the books goes. Well, I watched all the Harry Potter movies before reading any of the books. Getting into the books was like experiencing the entire thing for the first time again. I'm so happy I experienced it that way. Personally it's better when I loved a movie and discover it was based on a book.

I absolutely agree. Rate books out of hundred instead out of five. While I absolutely love how convenient audibooks are especially because I can listen to them at 2x speed, I don't think its quite as satisfying as reading by myself. Again, that's for me. Someone else could totally feel different about this.

Resurrection tropes makes sense to me when they are part of the overarching theme of a book or series. Yes, it obviously makes sense if it's literally a Christian allegory like Aslan, but if the author is established again and again this idea that say love is the purpose of life or that evil never truly dies or something else builds up a reason why a character could be resurrected... Then I get it. This can still be done really sloppily, but I think occasionally it might work

Here's a hot take: Hot takes are underrated. Listening to people's varied opinions on different subjects is a lot more fascinating than we'd like to admit.

I think it would be nice if the books also put images to help poor souls like me better visualize the characters and locations.

I love listening to an audio book WHILE reading the physical book. Otherwise I’ll be lost and zone out. And also it’s so nice to be able to put it on 2x. You read faster but you also understand what you’re reading. Irl maybe it’s because I’m a very slow reader and I sometimes bore myself with my slowness.

10:00 - It is a general misconception that some people have in our time. They think that being anti-men means pro-women, or anti-white means pro-black, when in reality it's just the other side of the same coin. You can't be anti sexist by being a sexist to the _bad_ gender, or anti racist by being a racist to the _bad_ race.

I will say, if you love prose I can understand finding Sanderson to be a little lacking, compared to HG Wells or Tolkien it is very weak in that department. But in my opinion there are strong and weak parts of every writer, Sanderson has many strengths in areas that the more highbrow kind of reader and critic finds less important, but I love him for his strengths.

Happy endings provide a sense of hope. Hope elicits a positive outlook. I'm a fan of happy endings.

I love how we can all have different opinions but we can still enjoy books together and although there are certain opinions that sometimes I do not like, it is also good to listen to different points of view, I think that helps us to grow as a readers.

I loved Daniel's livestream yesterday where Joe Ambercrombie explained he does not put maps at the beginning of the book specifically because he knows some readers use them like Merphy. Sometimes a writer doesn't want you to stop reading to look at a map. Authors have to think about every single thing they put in the books, it's fascinating.

"Samwise didn't want to help people" Well duh, everyone cares about saving the world mostly because they love someone in it. No one wants to willingly run in such danger for the sake of a bunch of strangers, unless you are Jesus Christ or some shallow anime maiden

I actually think it is becoming more common the dark, not so happy endings. I find myself looking for something with a happy ending now

I used to dog ear my books in place of a bookmark. Dog ear the top of the page to save your place in the book and dog ear the bottom to mark the position of interesting notes. I'm glad I've dropped this habit.

Hot take: the romances should have a happy ending is such an American take. I discovered it for the first time when online and it shocked me? In the romance section on my country it's not uncommon to have books with bad or bittersweet endings, actually the most famous historical romantic story in my country ends with one of the persons being murdered. And then I moved to China, and there you have a 50/50 on picking a random romance book and it having a happy ending. So I'm always surprised when I'm discussing books online and it gets to a point where I hear "if it doesn't have a happy ending it's NOT romance!!"

* people criticising Sanderson * me: Ok, i get that. * people criticising Tolkien * me: I see, i guess you have a different taste on books. * people criticising Oda * me: LISTEN HERE YOU LIL SHI. . .

Some people like to have books be pristine always, part of an beautiful collection, while others prefer to be fully engaged in their books to fully enjoy them with no worries about what it looks like. And both are valid and just right.

Ebooks, softcover, hardcover : these are books. Audiobooks, movies, plays, television: these are adaptations of books in another media.

Regarding decimals: it's the grading system we have in school where I live, so I would naturally gravitate to it.

I love how you are the counter gate keeping. You just really want people to enjoy literature with no prejudice whatsoever. You are a kind soul, thank you for being this way :)

A few things: I wish maps in fantasy books were flip outs or like a bookmark so you can just have it on hand and not flip all over for it. I also totally got the octunnumi because of the cover. New books feel great, but the purpose of a book is to be loved. The more dog ears, annotations, broken spines etc. the more a book has been read and enjoyed. That being said, I hate people who write IN the book because then its distracting. And I do mostly ebooks because there are a lot of books I don't know if I want to buy and have on my shelves. I like being able to look at my bookshelf full of beloved books and also being able to recommend or loan those out to friends. So yeah I'll buy a book twice sometimes.

I love maps in books! I can’t even begin to express how excited I was when I bought way of kings and it had a MAP WITH COLORS at the front

Goodreads and Storygraph is for us sick in the head people that love cataloguing everything in our lives. I used to list my read books in the 90's, I loved to keep track of that and I love to see my statistics. We're not sane, I know, but we exist and love it 🤣

The longer the story, the merrier ! I only look at book over 500 pages and almost never stand alone, I’m in need of big book in big series 🥰

Re: Resurrections One of my favorite examples of resurrection working in books is the book Jhereg. In that world, resurrection is physically actually fairly easy, provided your body isn't too messed up and you're found within a few days. Crime lords will use death as a warning; "Next time, you won't be brought back." That kind of thing. But also, and this is the part I find the most interesting, not everybody has access to resurrection because of the financial cost. You can be stabbed to death and up and walking about in a couple of days provided you have enough money or if you have a wealthy patron. I think bringing class into it really makes it adds back in at least some of the tension that lesser stories lose by having resurrection as an option.

I think maps are good measuring stick on how deep the world building and how epic the story will be on the book

I love maps too! Also refer to map frequently, and Daniel is a goblin- see Sean Aston video for proof

I enjoy watching an adaptation first so that when I read the book I can separate them and enjoy/dislike them on their own. I’ve found that if I read the story first I’m too fixated on any changes made that I end up, almost always, hating the adaptation. Howl’s Moving Castle is what got me to realize if I watch an adaptation first I can end up loving both, if I had read the book first I would have hated the movie but because I watched the movie first they both ended up being one of my favorite movies/books respectively.

Whenever a town name or landmark is mentioned in a fantasy story I'll always flip back to the map lol

I don't have a problem with killing a character if it serves a purpose like advancing the story or provoking an emotional response at a key moment. But now days authors kill off a character at the drop of a hat for no real reason or purpose. They do it just to do it because it's in vogue to kill your characters.

I also love maps in books! Checking the map throughout the story is so helpful.

I feel the same way about tracking my reading progress. All the apps feel like a chore. Reading specific journals always have sections I find completely useless. The thing that works best for me it just a small notebook to write down title and author and maybe a few details just so I don't forget what I have read. Normally that is enough to jog my memory. I also talk with one of my bffs weekly about books we have read.

Oh now I would love to see a video about the best final books in a series!

I would like to thank you for actually giving references for the idea of this video! So many claim originality of ripped off ideas on YT. Thank you for setting a great standard!

I actually do agree with watching the adaptation first and then reading a book. I’ve done that many times it makes me more able to put faces to names and locations a more accurate picture!

I have bought one book exclusively because I fell in love with the cover. It's called 'De verdovers' by Anna Enquist. The cover is black with in the middle a photograph of a sleeping swan, with its head tucked away under its wing so it is the shape of a drop. Great book, amazing cover

12:45 - Super agree. For me, if I want to experience more time with the characters, I'll just read it again. This goes for video games and movies, too. The experiences that feel really tight and engaging the whole way (that doesn't mean wall-to-wall action BTW) are the ones I return to over and over again. With the really bloated things, I may enjoy the extra time meandering with the characters on my first time through, but I'm less likely to ever want to pick it up again. I also don't understand how a out-of-100 system results in anything other than scoring that over time begins to feel kind of arbitrary. Like a 10 or even 5 point scale is enough that I understand if you like the thing or not and after that if I need to go more granular I'll listen to the actual opinion of the reviewer. And tier lists are better suited for comparisons with other similar books (or other media) than numerical scales are.

SAME with the maps!! Love a good map in a book. I always have to go back and refer to it when characters move. And I love referencing a map in a later book in a series to see how much of it has already been traversed, gaining expectations as to where the characters will go in the newest book.

the lotr map helped me to keep up w the story so much!

I love maps at the start of books! They make the book world so much more real :)

I picked up The Wheel Of Time because of the minimalist black covers sporting the WoT logo, and the fact that they were freaking massive books. So yeah, I judge a book by its cover and its size; possibly because that decision was maybe the best book buying decision I ever made. Also, what made me pick up that series, is that all the books had matching branding and would look good on my shelf. So if a series matches, then I WILL get sucked in, even if I'm not that interested in it.

Bruhh I'm reading Way of Kings now, and I'm constantly referencing the map to see where characters come from. That one hurts.

Ooo hearing you say you have discovered authors which may better suit your tastes (even though you still live Sanderson books) has me excited to see your updated favorite authors and series list at the end of the year! Also I love maps too and am right there with you!

I don’t judge anyone for the method of their reading. I personally cannot keep my attention on an audiobook because I space out for large chunks of it. A very small part of it is the narrator, but in general my audio processing is just trash and I start thinking about other things. It’s so bad but I want audiobooks to work for me so badly. They just don’t 😩

Honestly, I think Sanderson got me into Fantasy again as an adult. thanks to your recommendation I started buying books again and started from Mistborn, followed by the Stormlight archive, the second Mistborn era, the Arcanum, and the Skyward books are on the way. I pretty much loved everything I read from him. And that opened the gates and got me to buy the Gentlemen bastards books, the First Law trilogy, the Expanse books and more good books.

Maps!!! Same! Love them! I look for maps, and love to pore over them before starting the story, and I absolutely flip back and forth and back and forth, following the characters through the lands as they travel.

i had forgotten about this channel. it came up on my home page. i'm three videos in and my ribs hurt from laughter. i laughed at your reactions, how you stay positive even at the most outrageous of hottakes, but then... the add. i'm dying. lol

My Unpopular Opinions I guess lol i couldn't care less if a book uses a well known trope like the ressurection trope, the chosen one trope, or lost royal trope. In fact, I love them lol. And I will honestly read the same story ten thousand times over in a different cover. I love original stories, but I also don't care if I already have read ten books like the new one I've picked up. It actually makes me happy and comfortable when I can see everything coming. I can't usually see things coming in original stories because I'm a little bit of a dumb dumb. (I admit that sometimes in original, fresh stories I sometimes skip to the middle and the ending and read a couple pages just so I know something that will happen and can try to predict things around it.) YA books can be very shallow and similar but that doesn't make them objectively bad. People put too much value in morally grey characters who aren't grey so much as very close to evil or just terrible. I feel like that's almost as unrealistic as a completely good character. Of course there are exceptions but irl, i don't think that's the rule. I'd love to read more characters closer to the middle on morality. The BEST Way to remember your place in a book is to slam the book shut and pretend you remember the page, then when you come back flip through spoilers and things you've already read to find your exact place. Or, alternatively, just psychically open to the exact right page.

I actually watched the Lord of the Rings movies before reading the books and found it super helpful to orient myself because I would recognize a line from the movie and go 'oh, that's where I am!' I often found the books really disorienting at times because there was so much deleted stuff and having watched the movies first was really useful for me to follow along with the books

I use maps and any other reference material often when reading. It helped a ton when I was getting into A Song of Ice and Fire. I always want maps and character references, especially if there’s a lot of similar sounding names and places.

Perfect Design Every Time really helped me to organize my shelves

You gave your own hot take there!!! You've never heard of 20,000 leagues under the sea? Jules Verne is one of the most famous writers in history!

Only time I was glad I saw an adaptation first was The Witcher. The Last Wish would have been a DNF if I didn't already know how that mess interconnected already. I have thoroughly enjoyed the next 4 books so far so I'm glad I had the show to help me trudge through that first book.

maps are awesome... i even have some map making software to make my own... they show you where everything is...

I love the maps too, I usually spend at least a minute looking over them before starting the book. Then frequently refer to it as the characters are traveling around or mentioning locations.

No trope is inherently bad. It just depends on execution, like everything else. EDIT: That's what you said right after the hot take and now I look like a fool... :c

Audiobooks-most of them-are very good for re-reading.

You changed my mind on how I should look at the map in the beginning of a book! While I have looked at them, I should “study them” and track the progress.

Maps really help me when I’m reading a fantasy book! I always turn to the map too when they’re traveling so I can have an idea in my head of how far it is and how quickly they move from place to place.

the problem i have with those "feminist" books that just have mean/bully leads.. if the roles were reversed, boy would that incur a shitstorm of epic proportions, for being so misogynistic...i dont like the double standard the funny thing about Stephen King,.. in my opini0on,.. is that his books under his psydonym of Richard Bachman are all way superior to his normal books. i agree with the "you dont need to kill your characters to have an impactfull story" opinion,.. BUT their actions/decisions NEED to have consequences.. and that is my problem with all the superhero stories,.. if you think about it, nothing happens, no consequences to any actions,.. and if someone is killed, he comes back some time later,...

"Sanderson isn't that great, just consistent and fast." Well, time to start another crusade.

A fantasy book that doesn't have a map in the front is heresy.

I always would have said I prefer to read the book before I watch its adaptation, but recently I've found that the stories I see first on screen and then read tend to be the ones where I feel the most satisfied with both versions. I get to enjoy the adaptation in its own right without comparing it to the book and inevitably feeling disappointed, and then I get to see what inspired the adaptation in the first place and all the details that didn't make it into the movie or show. If there is a story where I really don't want to be robbed of experiencing it fully in book format for the first time, then I will still read the book first, but for the most part I think watching the adaptation first makes it easier to appreciate both versions more fully. Great video!