Welcome to Litsy!

I don't know. Ultimately I liked this book and I know Neal Stephenson writes really long books, but I feel like this book could have used some paring down. Plus I wasn't sure what the main thrust of the story was supposed to be? Was it an internet cautionary tale? Was it a story of have and have-nots? Was it a biblical retelling? Was it a technology cautionary tale? ⬇
#ARC @WilliamMorrowBooks
This was my #bookspin for September!
@TheAromaofBooks

Just to make the September #Bookspin official. I thought I was about halfway through Fall or, Dodge in Hell. Turns out I'm only about 1/3 of the way through this 800+ chunkster! And Eleanor Roosevelt v. 3 is about 700 pages. Got my work cut out for me this month!

@TheAromaofBooks

An 880-page monster (typical of Stephenson) that gets progressively crazier until a completely bonkers last 100+ pages; this would not be the book of his that I‘d recommend as an entry point but on the whole I greatly enjoyed it. As always, major respect for ambition and creativity - I do agree with other reviewers that the book definitely loses some steam in the latter portions, though.

This book is near future sci-fi, Bible retelling, and a hero on a quest in this order. On 900 pages. It is too much. In his better books, Stephenson is lengthy at times, but this felt if he tried to do all of this at once and it just did not work out. The last part could have been good, but I overflew the pages because I just wanted it to end.
Interesting concept, but just too much ideas in one book.
#WinterGames TBRread (Buddyread with @julesG

Sunshine, tea, books, and two cats...

#booksandtea
#catsoflitsy

Not sure about misty, but it might be rainy. And there are some mountains around Seattle, right?

#MistyMountains
#SoaringScores @CrowCAH @Cinfhen

PS: the view of the past eight weeks. I am sick and tired of the noise, dirt, and wet wood on my balcony. 😵😠

This is not a doorstopper, it's a trousers stopper. 😂😂😂

Found this new pair of jeans at the back of my wardrobe. I bought it four years ago and it was a bit tight. Well, now I need to alter it. Just means I have to find a good audiobook to listen to while mending.

@DuckOfDoom #BuddyRead

@wanderinglynn #BFCR4

Thursday mornings don't usually look like this. Thanks to a bank holiday I may drink tea and read in bed. Normally, I'd try to get my kids out of bed and ready for school at this time (7am).

Catching up on my #BuddyRead with @DuckOfDoom - I have reached Part 4,btw.

A bit too long this, I got bored by the end as it seemed to drag on to it's obvious conclusion.

It looks like my husband and my youngest daughter are in competition for who‘s reading the fattest book. I estimate that neither will finish before the new year. 🙃

What to do when the kiddo wakes you up at 3? Get some quiet reading in on some #chunksters!

The Overstory is amaaaaazing.

I love Neal Stephenson, but can the man write a book under 500 pages??? I‘m nervous about this one, v. v. mixed reviews.

#libraryhaul- I may have a too many books problem...

#BookMail Pt8 As a big SciFi fan, I‘m constantly surprised by how many of the top authors of the genre I haven‘t read yet! There‘s so much talent in this area, you could read a different writer every day for a year & still have many more to try. This novel by Stephenson is actually the 2nd in an informal set featuring the character of Dodge, a billionaire that runs a virtual world, the 1st being Reamde which is on order for me from Booktopia.

This book was just too long. It stared off super interesting and fun but then it just kept going. So many bible stories were included. So many other details were added that just weren‘t necessary. So many things were built up that just didn‘t really go anywhere or mean anything in the end. If this had been divided into a trilogy, i would have stopped at the second book which i would have tried because the first was amazing.

This novel is a sequel to Reamde, which I didn‘t love but liked enough to try this one. Twelve hours into this novel, I would have said this was a much better audiobook than Reamde. Then, it started to lose steam and slowly petered out. By the end, I wasn‘t interested in the outcome. Some of the interesting storylines were abandoned, and there was a lot of filler. Still, I stuck with it til the bitter end. Overall rating: 3.82 stars.

“The softer illumination if the nighttime brought relief from seeing and knowing so much, and made it so that even the most industrious souls could find a few hours‘ relief from the intensity of their perceptions and the burdens thereof.”

I've got a dilemma, littens. I just reached the halfway point in this book. It started off strong, but the last 100 pages or so have really slogged. I feel like I'm forcing myself to keep picking it up. The only thing is, it's almost 900 pages. 😐 I already read about 450 pages. If I give up now, is all that time wasted? Since I've come this far do I try to push through to completion? Or do I throw in the towel? Thoughts? 🤔📚

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this title.
In general, I was more interested in the events back in the “real” world, rather than the development of The Land. The end of death as we know it has profound effects on Meatspace, not all of which Stephenson takes the time to fully explore. The resulting story is a strange brew of mythology and scripture, meandering at times, and engrossing at others. Full review: https://wp.me/p2P6GA-591

I'm only about a hundred pages in, but I'm already really loving this book so far. A super interesting concept with lots of descriptive details that help flesh out the story. I can't wait to keep reading! 🤗💕📚 #littenkitten #catsoflitsy

Still working my way through this 800+ page beast! It has been a weird ride so far.

A strong contender for worst sex scene of the year. Although it is possibly deliberately bad.

YESSSSSSsss

Please let the phrase "doodle containment" become a thing! ??? Between the continued use of "doodle" and the way they "perform sexual intercourse", this is pretty much the least erotic sex scene I've ever read! Absolutely loving the book so far, but come on...Neal Stephenson couldn't come up with anything better than "perform sexual intercourse"?? ?

New Neal Stephenson! *happy dance* Paired with pizza and MexiCoke, does it get any better than this? 😄🥰#readandeat #newrelease

New release Tuesday! Nothing better than coming home to find one of my pre-orders delivered.

Well...there goes gardening/adulting for a while.

It‘s Friday, I JUST got to the classic Stephenson move in this ARC of his new book out Tuesday (to completely change direction/time frame on this story making me scramble@to catch up), and I‘ve got a raspberry iced tea. Sometimes - only sometimes - being an adult is great.

I won a giveaway! I almost never do but then I don't enter all that many either. Only for books I really want to read. Looking forward to this tale about uploading your brain to the cloud. 👍😂😂☁️ Thanks @WilliamMorrowBooks!