 Hello everybody, E here. Welcome back to another top five Friday. We're doing things a little different this time We're doing a top 10 list, but it is five of one and five of the other This list was requested by my friend and fellow author Chad Lutsky So I'm just gonna go ahead and jump right into it. I will say actually I won't just jump right into it The top five hopeful books was extremely difficult for me to to pick out In fact, if I was hard-pressed to try and find a sixth one, I don't think I could I went at this for two hours And there was only five books in my collection that I found Eventually where I was like, yeah, that left me with a good feeling of hope at the end Which got me kind of ruminating on on why why am I so drawn to hopelessness? I really Gravitate toward that side of things no matter what and I didn't want to put Nonfiction on here because basically all the nonfiction I read is kind of hopeful I mean it you read a biography or whatever Like becoming by Michelle Obama the whole reason I read it was because I knew it was gonna be hopeful Or unfuck yourself or a subtle art of not giving a fuck or several different things But I didn't think putting nonfiction on this list was right. I don't know why so But if if you think I should have then on this list throw on Michelle Obama's becoming and Throw on unfuck yourself and even the subtle art of not giving a fuck. Those are hopeful books I guess they they trying to make you well Obama Michelle Obama's book isn't but you know, they try to promote hope Because there's no help books if there's no hope. What the fuck are you even doing? Right? All right So the I'm gonna start with the hopeful books and then end with the hopeless books only because I like the hopeless books More let's not say these are bad books. These are all great books It's just I don't I don't tend to care too much for hopeful stories Whatever. So the first one is Robert McCammon's gone south One of the things that I remember the most about this book. It is my favorite McCammon novel is The the theme of acceptance and hope That's that's one of the things that I remember the most about it In fact when I started to search for these things, it's the first book that I grabbed So maybe it's number one none of these aren't really in order at all I even thought at one point in time to alternate back and forth But I think it'd be better if I just went through all the hopeful ones and then got to the hopeless ones so yeah gone south is a great one mainly because of the Not the idea. It's just the the theme of acceptance. I really really dug that next up And no, he's not on this list because he requested it It's literally one of the only other hopeful books I could find and that was Chad Lutsky's skull face boy I love this book. This is something about Levi and the shenanigans he gets up to but the ending is It is very hopeful and I appreciated that because I was I thought for sure You know dude being a horror author that it was gonna go some bad places or I mean he says he's a horror author There's one thing I remember him saying he hadn't seen a certain horror movie He's like what kind of horror author am I I don't think Chad Lutsky is a horror author I think he might be a dark fiction made even literary fiction I I honestly believe he floats more towards the literary fiction side of things, but he definitely Surrounds himself with the with the horror community and he is part of the horror community But I don't consider him a horror author I haven't read anything from him that was horrifying in a horror sense Wallflower was pretty fucking horrifying, but I don't think it was like the intention was to horrify He just tells slice of life stories really with some weird aspects here and there I haven't read a whole lot of his short fiction So if there's more horror in that realm then definitely I also haven't read out behind the barn or same deep water as you either So I don't know but y'all can discuss if y'all read Chad Lutsky down there Y'all can just just talk about him because he watches these videos just talk about him Just say all the things about him. I'm sure he'll appreciate that Next up is the Fault in Our Stars by John Green This book made me cry my my my ass off, but I think the overall message was a hopeful one It's sad and depressing, but at the end of the day this book actually made me smile it it took a terrifying Horrible thing and he didn't make a light of it. It just made it It's personable and understandable and I think all of John Green's work is hopeful there at the end He's one of those authors who looks for the bright side of life kind of deal and if you followed him in fact my You know down there in the doobly-doo when I say that I actually got that from the blog brothers Which is John and Hank Green? Hank Green has a book out too called an absolutely remarkable thing But John Green is really the novelist of the family. He's he's gotten you know He's got what six books by now maybe more. I'm not sure. I haven't read Hanks, but I'm looking forward to it But I consider Hank a youtuber and I consider John a an author. How weird is that right? But anyways, yeah the fault in our stars. I found it hopeful. Maybe you will maybe you won't another one Palisades Park was a fantastic saga of one family and a Boardwalk, I mean this is one of my favorite books of all time. It was on my top 20 list Until something more hopeless Knocked it off. I'm terrible. I know but uh, yeah, so Palisades Park if you have not read this This is a terrific terrific book in If you are a fan of carnivals or boardwalks or amusement parks or anything like that some fascinating stuff in here But overall, this is a hopeful book. It's one of the first I don't want to call it one of the first non horror novels that I just fanboyed over I went out and bought all of uh burnards alan burnards books after this one. Um but Uh It was the first one. Well, I guess it was the first one that I really fanboyed Over and I started looking for other stuff in this In this genre, which I guess is contemporary fiction. I'm not exactly sure what alan burnard is considered Uh, but I went out looking for more books like it, you know, Goodreads is terrible Hey, if you like this book go look at this one. I haven't liked any of those other books So maybe it's just alan burnard's writing that I like but I found that one extremely hopeful Um, this next one is one that I had forgotten about Not because it is forgettable, but because Especially the cover makes you think hopelessness or makes you think something hope hopeless, but it's uh, elinor by jason girly Um, even though the book is tremendously sad. There was a feeling of hope I love how depression is handled in this in this book Um, there's a there's a death in this family and it's the way all the family members react But none of it is like on the on our realities playing. It's all like fantastic It's all basically really dark fantasy almost like a dark crystal kind of thing And the visuals are amazing. That's one thing that I remember about this But I came out of this book feeling hopeful and I hope it's actually Hopeful since I put it on the list. Um, but I do I do have very hopeful I have hope thinking about this book. You know, it gives me a positive Uh, a positive outlook on life and depression and all that stuff on anxiety and um, if you have not read elinor I highly highly recommend that one I'm gonna take a second and restack these things because if not all the hard covers are gonna be on top And then we're done with with the hopeful stuff. So now we are going to talk about the hopeless stuff Um, I'm gonna try and put these in some kind of uh, semblance of order Uh, just because Okay, the first one is this is the hopeless category. So, uh Buckle your seatbelts Beatrice. We're going we're going all in uh, where all light tends to go by david joy I thought this one was going to a completely different place than it did. Uh, when it ended I was left speechless And I felt terrible for for like a week. Uh, the main character I really came to know and enjoy reading about and his books are extremely short I think they're all all of his books are about 250 pages long In fact going into I had to take a lot of time in between this one and his second novel The weight of this world because I wasn't prepared for the soul crushing Feeling that he is as hilarious at his name's david joy His books just crush you. Um, and the weight of this world crushes you also But it has a more hopeful. No, I don't know that it's hopeful It has a happier ending than this one does. This one just Completely just just floored me and beat me into the ground Um, and here's one of the first books that I picked up when I was thinking about doing this list Next up is one of those books that I just made me feel dirty And made me feel like everybody in the world was a monster Um, I don't know why it left me like that, but it's in the miso soup by riyu mitokami Um, there's certain aspects of this book that I remember reading and I still to this day I feel disgusted for having read it and enjoyed it, um it but That there's a there's something to be said about enjoying hopelessness because you know that once you close the book You can go back to your life. It's over and done with it's kind of like getting on and off a roller coaster You know, you know, it's going to be terrifying You know, it's going to be but also you pretty much guaranteed you're going to get off of that ride Um, in intact at least that's the promise when you get on it I know there's been terrible accidents, but that's not what I'm talking about. You know this Um, this book left me utterly distraught Uh, I I still to this day every time I picture every time I see this book I I actually keep it out of sight behind some other books. Um, every time I see this book I think of one certain scene that really really bothered me And I got to thinking about certain things after I finished it I went and looked up certain things that I probably shouldn't have ended up on the wrong side of the internet It was all fucked up. So this book gives me a sense of hopelessness Next I'm sure Up until now you might agree or disagree with all these things But I'm pretty sure that everyone will agree on this book because everyone I talked to Bring up the the the idea of the feeling of hopelessness while you're reading it and that's blood meridian By cormac McCarthy or what's it called or the evening redness in the west? Um, I like blood meridian. I'm glad to be pretty much called blood meridian. I like that title better this book just that There's characters in here that made my flesh crawl But it's just the the overall nature of the book while you're reading You know nothing is going to end well. You know when you read cormac McCarthy You know you were in for a gut punch and this is one of his best as far as that's concerned Um, I've heard silly silly stuff about how he's overrated. Um, he's terrible because he doesn't use quotation marks all that silly stuff, but There's a there's a definite sense of hopelessness when you read cormac McCarthy And it's it's just a sense of nihilism. It's like he knows nothing matters He knows that none of this matter matters and that most of us have terrible aspects of our personality Things that we keep hidden dark dirty secrets in that regard another author that does that really really well or that Normalizes terrible shit is herman coch. I just want to throw this out there real quick If you like cormac McCarthy, uh, you might like Herman coch, but only because they look at the reality of humanity There is hope. There is kindness. There is all that stuff, but we are we are the nasty details That's what we focus on. You know just like with the news if it bleeds it leads that kind of deal Um news organizations know what's going to bring people in and that's the terrible shit in the world And that's what you know what cormac McCarthy Really focuses in on Next up we have Song of callie But or callie. I'm not sure how you pronounce it by uh, dan Simmons This is one of those books again that I feel bad every time I I think about it The ending here has the ending of this book is a bigger punch in the gut than the middle of pet cemetery If you have read pet, I mean pet cemetery you are at least warned what is coming king Does foreshadowing all throughout the beginning of the book warning you what's gonna happen dan Simmons gave no fucks whatsoever He's just like, okay. Well, I'm just going to take this sledgehammer And I'm going to crush your internal organs with it all at one time. I could not believe That that he did what he did in this book Um, it's it's one of those times where I was left speechless and I was left feeling terrible and hopeless Uh, if that's the theme here, of course, but yeah, a song of callie. I don't hear too much about this one It has a really terrifying scene with uh In the dark kind of deal and I love scenes in the dark There's like flashes of of light and the character sees something in those flashes of light And that whole scene is terrifying if anybody ever made a movie out of this I I hope that scene if no other scene is intact. See a song callie now with the number one most Hopeless book of all time. Um, even the author considers it a hopeless book. Just an ugly nasty book That's revival by Stephen King. I am shocked when I hear Stephen King fans say they didn't like this book. Um, I get There was I actually lost a lot of followers back when I reviewed this book and I call this his best book in forever Uh, at that time, you know, he hadn't written the the outsider The you know, uh, we were still I think we had just gotten uh, Mr. Mercedes or Mr. Mercedes was coming I can't remember but before that I mean we had Dr. Sleep, which was and they had 11 22 63, which is and yeah I think it's uh under the dome, which was great until the end Uh, they had a pretty nasty run from for me anyways, my opinion And this one came out of nowhere and people because of those other books I was talking about, you know, like dr. Sleep people were standoffish And when I gave it such high rating a lot of people went out and bought it and then they didn't like it I don't I don't know why these were Stephen King fans I don't know why because it was quintessential king. Um, it is a terrific story of one man's life Um, and the theme that life is so fleeting was amazingly well done Uh, I think the hardcover is like 400 pages. I'm not sure it's hang on I always talk about this how short it is, but someone said it's not really all that short So let me look at the hardcover edition Hardcover is only 402 pages. You know how many books in Stephen King's library that are 400 pages Leave it down to do it. It's not many man. It's not many at all. In fact, I'm looking over here and I'm thinking Well from a Buick 8, you know, a pet cemetery, a Kujo Most of these books man, most of his books are over 400 pages It's 402 pages in hardback. This paperback is the long slender ones. Sarah, if you're watching this This is one of those long ones like the Vince Flynn stuff. I sent you But this one is almost 500 pages because the the because it's so thin I guess But uh talking about hopelessness revival left me and it's supposed to leave you with a feeling of hopelessness That is the entire theme is that nothing matters It's a very nihilistic book even though that there is sense that there is Supernatural aspects and all that stuff. It is a very very nasty book when it comes to the hope when it comes to the truth I mean if you're I don't I guess I consider myself an atheist. I don't believe in it. I believe that when we die, we just die Um, but to think that there might be Something like at the end of this book That's that that's terrifying. Um to me anyways to think that there's anything even if the heaven and hell were real Even if heaven were real and I was a diehard christian and I thought I was going to heaven That is a scary-ass concept that we're going to be alive forever Think about that I barely want to be in my head like one hour of a 24-hour day most days because the you know, I usually Keep myself preoccupied with other things reading writing No, um reading writing video games Talking with uh my my wife playing with my kids those kind of things I I have to keep myself busy if I were just like up in up in heaven stuck with myself That would be terrifying. I know there's probably you know christians out there going Oh, but it'd be just a perfect paradise, you know anything that you could imagine I don't have you read I was about to say have you read my books There's nothing pleasant going on up here. I can't imagine pleasant stuff You know, I I have to create the happiness in my life because there's nothing automatically happy up here Um, but I also So when people tell me you know heaven hell all this stuff at least hell I guess you'd be around cool people Anyways, so those are my top five Uh hopeful and hopeless novels. I'm sorry chat. I know you're a christian dude I'm sorry. Um, but I mean we all differing point of views Why I went off on a tirade in this video in particular. I apologize, but I'm not trying to hate on you It's just just my own point of view when it comes to like, uh hopelessness Uh and the the speech that uh charlie. What's his name charlie jacob's? Yeah, charles jacob's the speech that he gives after Um after the the death that changes his viewpoint on on god and religion and all that stuff Um after that point You know, I mean that's that speech right there is another reason why I love that speech It's like that's that's basically the thoughts that went through my mind when I realized That I might be going down the wrong path and believing in some, you know, like Santa Claus for adults kind of kind of thing So, uh, but yeah, let me know your top five hopeful And the hopeless books down there in in doobly-doo if you want to make a video that'd be awesome too Uh, you don't even have to mention me. I just just linked me so I can go watch it But until next time i have been e you've been you this has been another top five friday. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye. Bye