Station Eleven | 
This is a pretty sad interpretation of a Canadian poutine (frozen French fries, instant gravy, and mozzarella because I couldn‘t find cheese curds ANYWHERE). But I‘d definitely be interested in trying the real thing if I ever make it to Canada. 🇨🇦 #FoodandLit
pickThis is another where I don‘t recall a lot about the plot, but I enjoyed the journey. This novel was written before the pandemic, so reading this in a post-Covid era is a bit jarring. It was a little too relatable. It‘s interesting how yearning for normalcy and human connection is so deeply ingrained in us. It‘s a good, contemplative read. May‘s #BookSpin
My #BookScavengerHunt find for #NightSky 🌙
This one was strange and slow but hauntingly beautiful 🌟
#HauntedShelf #BlackCatCrew @BookwormAHN 16 pts
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sitting out on the balcony, luxuriating in the words I just read. I loved this.
A pandemic sweeps across the world leaving very few left alive. This story is about the interconnections between the characters both before & after Day Zero. All connected to one man, who dies in the first chapter, and who never experiences the pandemic.
Luminous and beautiful. It‘s a story of how you touch the lives of others. I‘m so glad I read this.
#WhereAreYouMonday #WhereInTheWorldAreYou @Cupcake12
This novel takes place in a number of places - Toronto (my hometown!), NYC (where I live now!) and LA as well as around the US side of the Great Lakes. The part I‘m currently lot reading is set in Toronto though. I love reading about places I know or reading about a place before I travel there. Getting a feel for the area.
Loving this read, it‘s just my cup of tea.
Borrowed from a friend!
I‘ve been really excited about reading this for a while!
so-soThis has been on my TBR forever. Unfortunately it just wasn‘t my cup of tea, and I don‘t believe it aged well.
pickI was not expecting to love this book as much as I did! I couldn‘t put it down! And then when I did go to sleep I dreamt about it! Fantastic book about a post pandemic world. It was quite eerie reading it and keeping in mind that it was written in 2014 ie pre our pandemic! Very clever concept, great characters that interweave in unexpected ways. Highly recommend this one!
I can‘t agree that these are the 100 best books since I absolutely despised two of these books I‘ve read on the list. The tagged book was my favorite of the ones I‘ve read. Here‘s the link to get past the paywall:
https://modernmrsdarcy.com/links-i-love-461/
Kind of surprised by the choices on this list but as many pointed out on here, there‘s a great many more years to be had to call this list the best of the Century. 🤷🏻♀️ I‘m surprised there was no Gone Girl! Or YA titles? Seems…odd considering the impact on publishing. All of the above I would recommend…other than perhaps The Road, which I read for school.
Some of these I loved, others I didn‘t care for at all. Interesting list.
Ok so the NYT and I do NOT share the same taste in books! 🤣 I do have 26 of their books that I have not gotten around to reading (will consider getting to some of those sooner than later) while the remainder of their list is composed of books I have either deliberately not read or have never heard of. 🤷♀️
pickIt‘s very hard to read this and remember it is not real, because it feels so real, so plausible, like a foretelling. I am scared of what is to come. I am glad I didn‘t read this in spring of 2020, although part of me wishes I had read it then.
pickA flu decimates the world‘s population. This book is a pretty realistic description of what happens next, which we can all imagine from our own experiences when Covid-19 came along. It follows multiple characters and how their lives intertwine despite the inoperable modern communications and transportation, as infrastructure breaks down for decades. I appreciated how the storyline about the “bad guy” was resolved and the hint of hope at the end.⬇️
pickFrom the three books I read by this author, I will say I liked more this one. There were still parts I found repetitive or unnecessary. But wow! at the beginning it was like a flashback to the pandemic situation😳 There were sad parts as expected due to the pandemic situation. I think it was well integrated those elements of what happened in the past and the present through those interviews with Kirsten. I like post apocalyptic topics in novels⬇️
#2024ReadingBracket
My favorite book of May was Station Eleven which I read for the #AuthorAMonthChallenge hosted by @Soubhiville
pickMay #AuthorAMonth #AAM #ReadAway2024 I read another book by this author in May and both were impressive and entertaining. I don‘t necessarily believe that everything happens for a reason and I don‘t believe that is the author‘s intended message. But I do believe that we are all connected. I believe the author communicates this quite eloquently. I‘ll be reading more of her books in the future. Strongly recommended.
pickLoved the way this post-apocalyptic story was told, integrating before, during, and after and examining the ripples of human connection. St. John Mandel‘s imagination of what it must be like to have known all our modern conveniences and then live another whole lifetime without them is so vivid and convincing. I‘m not much of a re-reader but can see myself re-reading this book. Glad #authoramonth finally got me to read it!!
pickI read this for the first time in the fall of 2020 and while it was surreal to read about a fictional pandemic while we were still working through a real life one, I found reading it this time around to be much more emotional for some reason.
This is an amazing, moving novel about the human condition throughout tragedy. SJM weaves a compelling tale about a group of survivors and the interconnections of a life.
5⭐
so-soMy least favorite of “the 3”. It reminded me of The Walking Dead but without the zombies, &the Corona Virus lockdown obviously.
I didn‘t find it as engaging or thought provoking as Glass Hotel or Sea of Tranquility
#authtoramonth
I found The Symphony on Instagram!
#AuthorAMonth
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C62yFx6Cd2r/?igsh=MTJtaTJuMG12bzlqNw==
This week I finally started this book. I had more anxiety while reading the ‘buy everything you can at the grocery store‘ scene than I did during our actual COVID pandemic. I‘m excited to see how this book plays out. Thanks @Soubhiville for hosting #AuthorAMonth and finally getting me to read this book I‘ve had on my shelf since 2017!! I do wonder what it would‘ve been like reading this BEFORE our pandemic.
pickThis was an amazing book! Dystopian, but hopeful. It bounces back and forth, pre and post pandemic, but follows a group of people whose lives are intertwined throughout. (24)
⭐️: 4.75/5
Name sighting! It‘s always nice to see it in print, even though the audiobook narrator pronounces it the “other” way 🤷🏻♀️
#authoramonth
pickThis was phenomenal. While I toggled back and forth between 4.5 and 5 stars (the ending felt too neat for me), I ultimately decided it was my first 5-star read of the year.
I‘m curious if folks who have read it pre-pandemic vibe with it differently, but man - post 2020? This and Parable of the Sower hit where it hurts. #AuthorAMonth
pickI really liked this book. It was an unnerving read with the pandemic still fresh in my mind. I liked the back and forth between before and after to weave all the different narratives together. The ending felt rather abrupt after all the buildup, but that didn‘t take away from the story as a whole.
#authoramonth @Soubhiville
pickThis book, I love it so much. This is my third time reading. It all comes together beautifully, and it only gets better with each re-read. #AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
Started my #AuthorAMonth pick. My library copy is pretty beat up — it was apparently part of a school assignment. I‘m just a few chapters in and I‘m getting why this book would be pretty relatable for kids in school right now. 🥺🫣
pickFinished this on the train from Prague to Berlin today. Very good and so glad I finally read it! #authoramonth @Soubhiville
pickIs there ever a bad time to reread your favorite book? My answer is definitely not! #AuthorAMonth was a great excuse to pull this out again. 💜
A strong flu outbreak from Georgia 🇬🇪 wipes out over 99% of the population in a matter of months. Mandel expertly moves between the outbreak and a time 20 years later when a traveling symphony/Shakespeare company encounters a dangerous doomsday prophet. Just read it!!
pickI don‘t know if I‘ll manage to read a new one of her‘s for #AAM or not, but I‘m really glad I decided to start by rereading this because I found it much more affecting the second time, and I also found I was better able to to approach it inquisitively several more years post pandemic as life is actually snapping back to normal. I also think her books may work better for me in print than on audio. @Soubhiville
repost for @Soubhiville:
Welcome to May #AuthorAMonth readers! Time to pull out our Emily St John Mandel books. What are you planning to read?
#AuthorAMonth is a no-pressure, no-commitment Litsy challenge. The goal is to celebrate the works of a particular author each month. Authors were chosen through polls by Litsy participants. Read as many as you like, skip months when needed, it's entirely up to you!
pickI liked this well enough—it's thoughtful with interesting character studies, but not enough to get the total hype that surrounded this book upon its release. I guess my main issue was that it seemed like it was about the power of art, but not enough about that power was conveyed through the narrative, & it seemed to be about the menace of the unexpected end of the world, but not enough menace was conveyed about that. I wanted to be unsettled.
April has barely started, but I‘m getting ready for May. I‘ve wanted an excuse to read these three all in a row for a while now. #AuthorAMonth
