 Welcome to church of the chair where you guys speak and I listen. I'm your host E and today we're talking about 20 Yes, 20 of my favorite books since you guys have been enjoying the discussion videos. I got another one for you I mentioned redoing my top 20 books of all time and several of you commented and said you wanted to see that so I'm gonna do this like an old-school discussion video cut into two parts and Why this is a discussion video is because I want your input on what your favorite books are I'm hoping that I get whole threads of just people listing their favorite books. That's what I want from you guys So let's go ahead and jump into this There will be no cuts in this video just me talking about 20 books that I love in no particular order Until we get to the top 10 in to sorry the top five in tomorrow's video So I'm doing 15 today 5 tomorrow and tomorrow's video will probably be much longer and more in-depth than this one But first look what I got for Father's Day You guys if you guys don't know if you guys can't tell I'm a huge fan of the nightmare before Christmas And my kids pitched in together to get me zero. He's a coin bank But also they figured out that if you take out the plug down here You can put a light in there and he lights up So once he's finally all lit up and everything I will have him back here. Let's see here I'm gonna put him over here for right now Any cool any cool anyways Yeah, I always show off the stuff that my family gets me and I wanted to share that with you Hopefully you find it as cool as I do but let's jump into the list a book that I've talked about numerous times over and over and over again and you're probably gonna recognize Most of the books on this list is the gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. This book is fantastic I've never read anything like that and that's like it and that's pretty much the overall theme for every single book on This list this is a story about a man who is in a car accident and ends up burning off his genitals Completely they're gone. He doesn't even have the dingle the dangles, you know and he ends up falling in love with a sculptor and The stories that are in this book because it's it's kind of like an anthology Like an anthology movie Where it has four different stories and then the framing story of the love story between the sculptor and The injured burnt up man. He's burnt all over from head to toe and he's lost his you know Reproductive organs, but yeah fantastic weird odd Majestic magical it's absolutely fantastic next up. We have one that I have heard numerous times if you like this book Your your opinion doesn't matter or whatever whatever it may be but I read this book with my wife It took us nine months to read it and ever since then I Daily this is no exaggeration. No hyperbole daily I think of scenes from this book just little things in life will will remind me about this book and that is David Foster Wallace's infinite jest. It's an absolute behemoth of a book It is a very difficult read especially because David Foster Wallace Wrote it with the intention that he wanted you to be hands-on with the book He wanted you to to break the monotony of reading and flip back and forth to the end notes Some of the end notes are short story length to novella length There's all quite a bit of stuff and you can lose your place. It's it's intricate It's beautifully woven together and I've never read anything like it The next one is an absolute classic of horror literature And that is ghost story by Peter Straub my friend Jessica sent me this beautiful absolutely gorgeous first edition and It's even it's got the plastic and everything on it, but there's the price tag But yeah, she sent it to me as just a gift because whatever so Jessica if you ever see this I haven't talked to you in a really long time not since I left Twitter, but if you see this I love you. Thank you so much for this It is of course It's a ghost story but it's not your average ghost story and it goes to some pretty wild places the Story goes that's that's why Stephen King. This is the book that made Stephen King want to write with Peter Straub Because and I don't agree with this. He said he was amazed to find someone who wrote like him I don't think these two authors write anything like each other and it's hella obvious in the talisman and black house But uh, it's uh that I remember there's very specifically in this book the tar paper shack and the scenes With that and of course when this after the snow falls and everything then the town's cut off It's absolutely amazing visual sequences. The next one is one that I talked about recently also is Elinor by Jason girly I don't hear nearly enough people talk about this book. It is a A representation of depression and grief in literary format It has striking visuals gorgeous scenes Where and it's a story is about these I believe they're twins. I haven't read it in quite some time But these twins Either one or both of them die and the other one goes looking for one of them in in like limbo kind of deal Um, maybe one is still alive. I can't really remember but I I remember the striking images of like the dinosaurs and the meteors and the The pitch black abyss that one of the characters is in the mother's Grief is personified into a whole world. It's absolutely amazing. If you love Neil Gaiman, you definitely definitely need to check this one out Unfortunately, I went over to amazon. It looks like it's out of print But they do have some used copies available for relatively decent price, but I couldn't find anything New um, it doesn't seem like the publisher which is crown publishing pretty big publisher Um, I I couldn't find whether or not they were the book is still available on like bookstore shelves Uh, next up we have another one that I spoke of and the reason why all these are placed together is because I had them You know, of course in a stack from the other video I did the books that I love that you've probably never heard of I will link to that video at the end of this one But palisades park by alan bernard brennard, I always get that wrong. It's b. R. E brennard and this is a story about the real life palisades park. I believe it's a fictional Retelling of the family who owns it and everything that they go through I Cannot stress enough how beautiful and wonderful this book is it is a family saga and alan brennard has an affinity for hawaii And there's a lot of that here also. He's written other books like uh, molokai and Daughter of molokai son of molokai. There's like a whole series. He's also written other books in the speculative fiction uh, genre, but this one is Based wholly in the real world. There's no supernatural anything, but I am an absolute sucker for anything amusement park circus Uh carnival anything like that. You're gonna see several of them on this list I'm a sucker for those types of stories. So yeah palisades park Another thing before we continue on if you want to read buy any of these books and help out the channel There's an affiliate. There's affiliate links down there in the description that you can click on Run over there grab them. Also, there's an affiliate link for uh, it's not really an affiliate Maybe kind of is but a scribd link. Uh, if you click on that Numerous of these books are on Scribd, but if you click on that you get a free month. My kids get a free month. It works out Well for everybody next up is a recent read of mine that absolutely had to go on this list And that is black leopard red wolf by marlin james. This is hands down My favorite fantasy novel of all time. I've tried I have I have quit more fantasy books than I have actually finished And that's including robert jordan Uh, brandon sanderson joe amber crombie all that stuff. In fact going back through tokeens lord of the rings I didn't get past the opening chapters of the two towers before I quit it This is unlike anything i've ever read. Like I said, that's going to be a theme for this video and tomorrow's video This is a wholly unique experience unless you're really really up on your african lore Um, and I wasn't so everything in here was new to me and it was brilliantly written Brilliantly plotted. There are twists and turns action adventure love all everything that you could possibly want out of epic fantasy Is in that book Now we have one that is the most recent addition to this list I was going to keep his first novel on this list But I got to thinking about it. I was like no because The first ohio is the name of the book that was on this list I have changed that because this one is going to stick with me far longer than ohio Uh, because it it was so much more meaningful to me and that is the deluge by steven markley And no, I have no idea why the video artifacts like that when uh with blue colors I don't know it just happens. But yeah, this one is about, uh, a race to save the planet But not in a speculative fiction Fantasy sci-fi kind of way. It's all based in real science So if you are a fan of things like the martian by andy weir Definitely check this one out. It is a chunker. A lot of these books are on this list It is 880 pages, but I believe it is worth every single page Next up is a thriller. I do not read too many thrillers. I have a problem with figuring out the twists I have a problem with the suspense not really Not not really working for me Because most thrillers are very one note the cardboard characters or they use the same characters over and over and over and over again This series does that but I've never read anything like the original book or its sequels And that is you by caroline keppness Easily the best thriller i've ever read And one of my favorite literary characters of all time is joe goldberg I am currently reading the fourth book in the series for for you and only you I'm reading that to my wife and we are absolutely loving it every single book Something different happens. It's not all the same thing And in this in the fourth one, it's getting it's it's getting wild. We have 150 pages left. Sorry 130 pages left and I just I'm constantly surprised at how she keeps this series fresh Even authors like john connelly, which I absolutely love none of his books are on this list But even care, you know with his character charlie parker. It gets old sometimes It feels like the same old same old with this one There's always always something fresh coming down the pipeline. The next one is a book I almost Removed completely from my list But I went back and I read certain sections that made me fall in love with the book to begin with And I had to keep it on there. I have definitely fallen out of love and out of trust with this author I have disliked his past three books And that's that's worried me off because I have disliked as many as I've liked from him at this point And that is nos for a two or nose for a two. Yes. I know that's what it's down for Sorry, I got a comment. Someone goes. Did you know that it's pronounced? Yes. I I do know that But uh anyways by joe hill Is something special about christmas land man. There's something absolutely just just special about it and While there are numerous easter eggs for steven king's books I still feel like this is wholly a joe hill book The same cannot be said for uh the fireman for strange weather for full throttle All those feel What is it reductive it feels It feels like the the only reason they exist is to pay homage to his father And I really liked his first three books so much so that I'm drastically disappointed and I won't be buying any of his stuff Brand new anymore. I'm going to wait a while. But yeah, um, I don't even know if he's working on a new novel He's been busy with comics But yeah, this one's on the list if I had to rank it numbers number wise it would be all the way down number 20 It just happened to be here in the stat next one is I would say this is my favorite strictly horror novel of all time as far as a novel that is meant to horrify disgust cause dread to to Whatever you say that places horror In a horror novel in the horror genre This would be my favorite one and that is the ruins by scott smith One of my favorite tropes is bad things happening to bad people And this book has it in spades, man If you don't know it's about a group of 20 somethings I believe I don't think they're teenagers who end up in uh, what was it? Mayan temple or something like that they find out in the uh Out in the I believe it's mexico. I could be wrong But they find an old temple and they end up Being picked off one by one and they end up getting stuck on the top of the temple The movie is not all that great, but the the novel is absolutely fantastic. So if the only Experience you have with the ruins is that movie that was made. It's not a terrible movie It's not great either Definitely pick up the book because I watched the movie before I read the book not knowing I read the book not knowing that it was the book version You know that the uh, that adaptation was adapted from I read that not know I read it not knowing that even though I'd seen the movie I was okay. I was on the fence about the movie, but I absolutely fell in love with the book now the next one is blood meridian by cormac mccarthy We recently lost cormac mccarthy. He passed away at 89 years old And this book has been on this list since since since I read it. It's not going anywhere It would definitely be in my top 10. Uh, this is a truly horrifying brutal Even beautiful at times literary experience And if you have not read it because you hear that he doesn't use quotation marks Or he doesn't use punctuation someone and so forth I beg you to try this one at least give it a shot if it annoys you I I can't help that Everyone has their own personal preferences, but yeah, definitely give this one a shot. It is a masterpiece but This one is tied for my favorite mccarthy with child of god But I had to pick this one because this one I believe has just a little bit more Literary merit, especially with the judge character Next up we have I had to pick a hiruki mitakami this entire shelf over here this entire top shelf Is hiruki mitakami. I have limited editions. I have all of his what I call his rainbow Years or whatever all the reprints of his stuff with very colorful popping covers Um, I also have a couple alternate editions of them one of which that I'm going to show you now Um, but I was I was torn between one q84 and this book which is after dark I think I have read this one more than I will ever read one q84. I've already read this one six times I've read one q84 twice. I listened to the audiobooks book and then I read it also But this one is the one that made me fall in love with hiruki mitakami Everyone said if you want to start with him start here and that's what I tell everybody because this is definitely a gateway drug Um, I know you can say that about most of his books, but for me There's nothing else like this one one q84 is this is this this isn't gonna be right It's more of a portal fantasy kind of deal like you can feel that you're outside of the world In this or outside of the real world in this one It feels like you are in the real world, but weird stuff is happening um, and what I mean by that is there's a There's a camera that's a character in the book It's told from the the camera's point of view like the camera pulls back almost like in a script Um, but this one also has some of the best dialogue. I have read There's a scene where these two characters are just sitting in a diner talking back and forth And it's my favorite part of the book. There is some slight thriller elements But that's not why you read hiruki mitakami you read hiruki mitakami for his characters for his themes that kind of thing So yeah, I had to put after dark on there. All right, we got We got three more before we cut this off and then we tomorrow you will get my top five and those will actually be numbered Next up we have sing unburied sing by jasmine ward The vast majority of this work feels grounded in reality until you get to the end And the ending still haunts me to this day It is a it's not only gorgeous. It's not only beautifully written, but it is very upsetting at times and that's jasmine ward all over the place jasmine ward really Ames for your heartstrings and this is one of those books it won the national book award She's won twice. She won the national book award in 2011. I believe and the year this book came out um I there's another one that there's a scene in here Where somebody ends up getting sick like to their car sick to their stomach and I remember how Striking the visuals were in that scene and how Concerned I was for the characters and it's such a very very small scene in this book But those are the things that make me remember books It's the small scenes how they're how they're treated how they're delivered and this one absolutely nails the small stuff Next one is one that I tried to do a review on I lost the footage and then I ended up posting just the audio You guys didn't like that whatsoever. I got like 50 uh dislikes and that's fine Because I was upset also and I didn't have time to refilm it But that's amber gris gris gris gray whatever it might be I I know how it's supposed to be pronounced, but my my mouth don't work that way Anyway, so this one is Kind of cheating because it's a bind up of the city of saints and madmen finch and uh Let's see here. Hang on Uh, what's the other one? Oh, yeah shriek and afterward and finch City of saints and madmen is a mosaic novel finch No shriek is an novel length afterward that is written like the afterward of a book And finch is a noir detective story All of this happens in this fantasy world that is lush and glowing and absolutely horrifying I was surprised at how brutal and gory and horrifying This book was especially with how beautifully it was written. I've never read anything like it Take a drink every time I say I've never read anything like it. But yeah, not now you're drunk But anyways, this is this is one of those books. I had so much fun with it. Absolutely devoured it He writes relatively short books, um normally and these are only about 200 300 pages apiece But this chunker is 800 some odd pages So yeah, definitely if you can get this version of it get this version of it and I got the link down there in the description Finally finally We have one that almost made it into the top five I I debated a long time. I was like no no no the other ones are far more important and they are especially to me But it would be number six on this list. That's definite Here we are back on that carnival circus bullshit. Yes the pilo family circus by will elliott Never read anything like it take another drink. Uh, this is a story about a young man who goes into an alternate universe where, uh Feels like the entire alternate universe is a circus Uh, and I I don't want to tell you anymore. It's crazy. It's wacky wild surreal It's amazing I hear that the author had a nervous breakdown or a mental break after writing it And all of that stuff comes off in the pages I remember the way he describes grease paint and being absolutely in awe of his Word smithery or whatever you want to call it his prose is is wonderful Uh, but it's also hella fun and that's two things that I need in a book I need beautiful writing and I need to have fun But that's all the time I have for you today tomorrow come on back. We'll talk about my top five books Um, if you've read any of these books, let me know what you thought of them down there in the comment section But also like I said at the beginning of the video I want your picks for your favorite books Because I might come across something that I haven't even heard of before so definitely please You know throw all that stuff down there and until next time You're not editing you're not editing this is why I like editing because I even screw up my outros Until next time. I'll hail the chair