Welcome to Litsy!

#RedCover ❤️

#Bibliophile 🎧💌❤️📚🤓📖🐛

#BookNerd 🤓📚💙

I call this category 'books that stuck with me'. While I would hesitate to call them favourites, I cannot stop thinking about them. To the extent that, I'm actually going to try reading the second book in the Mars trilogy. I think all I needed was a break from the tension!

My Sci Fi kick continues 😊🚀 🌌❤️ really enjoying this one so far

#BookNerd 🤓📚💙

Well, shucks. There were parts of this I really liked. The scientific and poetic descriptions of Mars; working out some of the practical problems of space colonization, terra-forming; debating ideologies when it comes to preserving/studying a new environment vs. the pragmatic necessities of considering how to harvest resources/transform land in order to sustain human settlement; how to build a better society. 1/?

Took a moment with context cues to realize that isn't a typo for insulation.
InSOLation: the amount of solar radiation received on a given surface in a given time period.
Nifty! ☀️

The observer effect + environmental concern vs. resource development. A quandary on any planet. 🫤

Sunset on Mars. 🌇

Place your bets now. Which one will take me longer to read?
Honestly, having gotten 75 pages into Red Mars and just past the introduction of Mistake Were Made, the political undertones are enough to want to pair these as companion novels. 🤷🏼‍♂️

#VolumesandVocals @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#RocketMan - Elton John

Meh. It captures everything I dislike about the sci-fi genre. I doubt I'll ever read book 2 or 3 of this trilogy.

But the important thing is it is off my shelf! 🎉

And it fits several of my 2023 Reading Challenges:
🛸 January #roll100 book
🛸 almost a chunkster at 615 pages for #chunksterchallenge2023
🛸 any part of a trilogy for #booked2023
🛸 free choice for #naturalitsybingo2023 (because it does talk a lot about Mars‘s climate & landscape)

When your previous read unexpectedly relates to your current one.

I learned about Hildegard of Bingen, also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, from Da Vinci‘s Ghost. And here she is mentioned in Red Mars.

My January #roll100 books:

Roll 1: Red Mars
Roll 2: The Alienist
Roll 3: LakesEdge (+ ForestFall since it‘s the sequel)

Sunday #Bookmail

I totally loved this but can also understand why lots of people struggle to enjoy KSR. My first read of his was Ministry For the Future, which I also loved, but he definitely has an expansive (some might say… long-winded) way of writing socio-political backdrops that can kind of overshadow the plot and/or the characters. This first book in the Mars series is a treasure for fans of hard sci-fi, but it helps if you like KSR‘s politics, which I do!

So life adapts to conditions. And at the same time, conditions are changed by life. That is one of the definitions of life: organisms and environment change together in a reciprocal arrangement, as they are two manifestations of an ecology, two parts of a whole.

#BeginsWith @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#Red

#BeginsWith #Red

(and ends with blue)

@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Definitely a hard book to read and keep up with due to its writing. It‘s got a good storyline going for it, but there‘s so much drawn out that doesn‘t feel like it needs to be. So many extra words. I do like the scientific stuff about how mars is (expected at this time) to be living on. Everything is talked about. Half is probably politics, the large group splitting into how they want to colonize Mars.

#TBRPile 📚 “Mars was empty before we came.”

Red Mars is hugely acclaimed but I just couldn't finish it. This is the first book in Robinson's Mars Trilogy which tells the story of the terraforming of Mars from the perspective of several different colonists. The big flaw is that some of these characters are incredibly boring! While much of the novel is about political maneuvers, a lot of it is straight up science and engineering. There just wasn't enough drama for me.

Really liked going to the bookstore with him. He asked if he could buy me his favorite book growing up. Absolutely yes. Sharing your favorite book is always a good choice. This book helped him through his tough childhood. How could I not make a point of this? I‘ll have to start this after my library book (it‘s due real soon)
#booklove #favoritebook

I tried, I slogged through it, but never managed to get into the story or find it in myself to give a dman about the characters. It was clearly well researched, but that's all the praise I can give it.

Oh fun, we're launching with racial stereotypes..........😬

#WinterGames2020 #The12ColoursOfchristmas #Dec16 #CranberryRed This ones another non holiday/winter read, but still a great book. Set not far in the future, when colonies have started seeding Mars, before infighting & factions form about terraforming the planet or leaving it as is. 11pts Team #MerryReaders

Finished Bk2 of November. I‘ve called it a pick, which it is I did enjoy it, but it‘s a very science heavy SciFi. It dragged in places, other places I had no clue what they were talking about, but overall it was a good read. If you like old SciFi like Asimov & co, you‘ll probably like this. It‘s also very political, so if that‘s what you enjoy, give it a try.☄️🚀

100pages into this classic SciFi and I‘m calling it a night. It‘s 2.30am and I have to be up early to drag this weak arse body back into a routine after five days in bed. Wish me luck my Litsy family, I think I‘m gonna need it!🙏

Almost in day 3 of this migraine, worst I‘ve had for a very long time, nausea, chills everything. Today‘s #BookMail cheered me up a bit, I‘ve been wanting to read the Mars trilogy for awhile, I‘ll buy everything Leigh Bardugo writes & The Hollow Ones sounds terrifying. Going back to bed now, hopefully tomorrow will be better.🤕

I needed a mask rack and none of the places I went today had anything suitable, so I made my own. #audiocrafting

My interest in RED MARS has waned a bit in the lead up to the big finale, but I‘m still glad I read it. Robinson explores a bunch of different perspectives as he chronicles the first Martian colonists‘ efforts to shape their world. I‘ll look forward to the second book in the trilogy.

I did some #audiocleaning yesterday and ended up with tidy, dust-free shelves! I like how they look without Funko Pops and other decorations perched atop the books, so I‘m gonna try to keep them that way.

I was glad to have more time with RED MARS, too. Somehow, I always thought Robinson wrote the hardest, coldest SF possible, but he‘s got a strong human element alongside the science. I‘m enjoying this one as much as I did NEW YORK 2140.

I‘m in a weird place, audio-wise: I‘ve received and finished every audiobook on my holds list. It‘s been a couple years since I was in this position.

So I figure, hey, I‘ve been oh-so-casually working my way through all the Hugo winners and nominees; might as well focus on that for a couple weeks. I‘m chasing Valente‘s SPACE OPERA with RED MARS—and I should have lots of listening time, because I desperately need new masks. #audiosewing

Mini #bookhaul. My salon is next door to a local bookstore, so I stop in every time I get my hair done. Got a new book (tagged) and a double-sided puzzle. And then found this lovely card from @marleed in my mailbox. 😘

"You can't make love to your fame. Even though some people try."

Reminds me of a certain current president ... hmmm ...????

My new favorite mug and my current read ... 🚀🤩

Yesterday, I chaperoned on my oldest's 6th grade field trip to the California Science Center, which is home to the Endeavor. Some day I will go back in less stressful circumstances so I can enjoy the exhibits more. But this mug was my reward for not losing or killing five pre-teens.

I thought I would get to read this book on the bus, but the environment was not conducive. Lol

I'm starting to feel self-conscious over the number of bails lately. In this case, I thought for sure it was going to work for me. It's a Nebula award winning book about near-future Mars colony.

Alas, after the first chapter that was a pretty intriguing hook, the book turned into a brick wall of "telling". I tried skimming but that didn't help, and I could not get invested in the characters at all.

?

#SpringIntoSpring @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @vkois88
#OutofThisWorld

#PreMondayVibes @pepsicola

📘 Saturday!
🎤 Too many to choose... I love classical music and popular music how can I compare the two..
💼 Back to work
📘 Just finished Red Mars

In a several ways this book reminded me of The Martian. Lots of scientific information writen into the story and characters that are relatable. The plot was a little slow sometimes but it was so well written it didn't bother me much. I thought the story was a realistic view of how things might progress if humans ever colonized another planet. 4.5 stars

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

📘 The Glass Ocean
📘 Red Mars

📘 I never want the weekend to end.

🌸 Plumeria

This is a sci-fi classic that I need to find time to read.

Hour 3 of the stand off between Sophie and myself for the sweet spot on the couch...I‘m fairly sure she‘s more committed than I.

This book is expertly written and explores a really fascinating idea, (what would it be like if we actually attempted to terraform and colonize Mars?) but I was just not in the mood. Got about halfway through and still wasn‘t feeling it, then realized it‘s a trilogy, and decided it‘s just not something I‘m interested in right now. Maybe later!

I can't believe it! This started off so well and now at 70% i feel so fatigued. It doesn't help that this last section is written from the perspective of the character i despise the most. I'm taking a break from it and hopefully can finish it in a day or two but soo disappointed this is how it's ended up.

This book is very heavy on the science part of science fiction but still surprisingly engaging. I'm about half way through it now and enjoying every minute of it so far. #weekendreads #fridayreads

#TuneIntoNovember #anothernightonMars @Cinfhen @Robothugs 🤷‍♀️I can‘t think of anything ( I had to consult my friend google) 😘😘

If you are a Robinson fan you will like this. Interesting tale about how we react to things different than us. Doomed to failure??

The best series ever about off world colonization.

#GIVEAWAYARTEMIS @Liberty

I wasn't sure how to rate this book. I really enjoyed parts of this book and other parts were really slow. The story is great. I love the setting and there is an interesting mix of characters. There were a lot of secondary characters and at times I had trouble keeping track of them. There is a lot going on in this book and I hope it will all come together by the end of the trilogy. I do think I will read the next book in the series eventually.

It was a long hot day selling veggies at the market, now i am going to spend some time on the quiet and cold planet mars!

This is a GREAT book. You can follow the creation of a totally new society in a new planet. One of my top 10 fav books!!! "The story focuses on egalitarian, sociological, and scientific advances made on Mars, while Earth suffers from overpopulationand ecological disaster." Entertainment level: ?????#Clary #DogsOnLitsy #Sha2016