Welcome to Litsy!

“Huh?” I say, not because I didn‘t hear her, but because I‘m not ready to go there.”

-I poke fun of my husband for doing this when he doesn‘t want to answer me. “Huh?” Some people will say “hmm?” Or “What‘s that?” Drives me nuts lol you heard me don‘t pretend you didn‘t!

You‘ve got to do something you‘ve never done, to have something you‘ve never had.

As a kid, you idolize your parents. You think they‘re perfect, because they‘re the yardstick by which you measure the rest of the world, and yourself. Then as teenager, they just piss you off, because you realize that not only are they not perfect, but they may be even a little more screwed up than you. But there‘s that moment when you realize they‘re not superheroes, or villains. They‘re painfully, unforgivable human.

“You understand this is not about your father and me getting back together,” she tells Dalton and his sister, but for kids of divorce, hope springs eternal.

😩

3.5/5⭐️ I really enjoyed this one! The authors did a good job of keeping me exceedingly nervous during peak high-pressure situations.

The book made me very thirsty. I think I was drinking something the entire time. The story was interesting, though I didn‘t like any of the characters. I didn‘t care enough about them to be sad if they died, but I enjoyed the book. Doesn‘t seem that far-fetched.

#ScarathlonPhotoChallenge #Orange #Scarathlon
@clwojick @StayCurious

#TeamCreepinItReal

I will shamelessly admit this book landed on my TBR for the sole reason that Noah Galvin is one of the narrators. This actually ended up being a pick for me though. This story chronicles a water shortage called the Tap-Out in California and its impact— terrible consequences in some cases. For a book published in 2018 there were some eerie similarities to Covid hoarding. Fits #TBRTarot April prompt for a book with a one word title.

This felt like a worst case scenario that may be in Southern Californias future. The Tap Out, when the Colorado river is damned by other states and they get no water at all. This feels surreal now with parallels to COVID, in how nena people became to each other. Water Zombies. Killing over water bottles. These kids have ptsd after what they fought to survive. The multiple perspectives, these kids and not, help bring in the devastating reality.

This is an engaging story that tackles a situation that is shaping up to be a serious problem in our world—water shortage. I‘ve been following the story of how Lake Mead is drying up and how the western states are suffering through this prolonged drought, and this fictional tale really hits close to home. This story shows how quickly the situation can spiral out of control. I just couldn‘t shake that parched sensation while I read . . . 🥵

Dry Is an amazing book full of realism and action. We follow the journey of several different characters such as Alyssa, Kelton, Jackie, and Henry, trying to survive once there is no more water. They will need to band together to survive this drought apocalypse and find some way to not die of thirst. Its a thrilling book which constantly throws twists at you and pulls you in. I would definitely recommend it.

I thought this was really well done. I loved the use of multiple narrators too. It legit made me want to store water in my house. I think it was a realistic look at humanity in crisis mode. It was also surreal to read this during a pandemic considering some of those human behaviors are being seen now. (Excuse my kitty sticker over the library address.)

I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new - don‘t judge me I have a lot of books.
Join the fun if you want. This is day 158.
#bookstoread
#tbrpile
#bookstagram

Picked up this book because it's almost Earth Day! And this book is amazing in explaining how people can really be like in desperation. Very well done and also scary too. #ya #earthday

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5. This book made my throat feel dry.

Residents of Southern California suddenly find themselves without any water and without any assistance. I love a dystopian book like this that tweaks one seemingly small, taken-for-granted aspect of society, and shows you how quickly and immensely the world can change without it.

“Things pass. Even big things. And when they‘re far behind us, they don‘t look big anymore.”

Another good one!

This had so much potential! The societal aspects were spot on and the breakdowns felt accurate but the characters and their development didn‘t work for me. As a YA however, I think it‘s a good one for teens. Having no romance is also refreshing.

A day of reading with my buddy

Another great book by Shusterman (and son!) 👏👏👏

He is one of the best dystopic writers in my opinion. Unfortunately this one felt a little more timely. Rather than a pandemic, what if there was an intense drought that led Southern CA to completely run out of water? Not-so-spoiler: shit hits the fan.

This story takes place in California as the state runs dry of water. The main focus is Alyssa and her little brother who rummage through to find water wherever possible. The book transitions to different points of views of characters going through their own struggle with the situation. I haven‘t finished it yet, but this book is actually decent. I never read so it is hard for me to like books.

I can't roll my eyes hard enough at the way "The Guest List" ended. Like, come on. ?

Anyway, Neal Shusterman is one of my favorite authors & I know I'll make quick work of this one.

Did anyone else go to Costco when the pandemic hit? Lucas and I did because we knew that we were going to be shut in for God knows how long. We didn't hoard anything, we just saw what was happening and did about a month worth of shopping rather than two weeks.

But, this book was written in 2018. It's like Shusterman predicted how people would act in a crisis...except this is about a drought, not a never ending pandemic.

Hoping this one pulls me out of my funk a little

1) we do not carve pumpkins. None of us like touching the pulp and seeds lol we do paint our pumpkins tho!
2)yes. Doesn‘t matter what color the pumpkin starts out, once we paint it it‘ll be spooktacular!
3. I don‘t know about spookiest but Dry by Neil Shusterman was a total mind fuck. Reading this during a pandemic was not the best idea I‘ve ever had lol but it was a crazy scary read for sure. Will you play @CaffeineAndCandy

#clifi

The overall plot was really interesting and examined all the behaviors of humans in a crisis. Each character was extremely important to the plot to show how a crisis affects people differently. I liked this book and found it eerily relatable to the crisis of what is going on currently and found some very sad similarities.

Thank you for tagging me @eanderson 🙂

1. No, I grew up in a small town 75 miles southeast of San Antonio.
2. There are many things, but contact-free pick up at the library was nice this week.

I tag anyone who missed this yeasterday and would like to share.

#ThankfulThursday

This book is taking me a bit out of my comfort zone genre wise. It is a true dystopian, and not so far fetched at that. About a catastrophic drought brought about by climate change. It feels all the more real and not-dystopian-like by the fact that the challenges they face (riots, police violence, hoarding of supplies, and the general public turning against each other) feel eerily familiar to the real world. I'm enjoying this one so far.

I finally finished another book. Even now with home office, reading couldn't really get a grip on me. But hey, maybe it'll get better this weekend. The #24B4Monday Challenge is at the start again. I only liked Dry moderately. It is often long and some turns are a bit too sudden and fell from the sky. Just like the end.

Reading this during the CoVid-19 Pandemic gave me a different crisis to think about. The characters are teenagers they made some dumb choices but it stuck to that theme. Were they changed in the end yes, but only in the ways you'd expect teenagers to be they didn't suddenly become wise. The story kept me engaged and the suspense hit at the right points. The ending did seem to come a little fast but it doesn't take away from the story

Next #librarybook

Reading at the train to work.

Unabridged Podcast Buddy Reads have become, after only two months, one of my favorite things. Re-reading Neal and Jarrod Shusterman's Dry with such a fabulous group of bookstagrammers made me consider the events and message of this amazing and important YA novel in a new way.⠀
⠀
Dry begins on June 4 of an undesignated year that can't be too far into the future. That's the day that the Tap-Out begins. ⬇️

Excellent dystopian (or not too far of a stretch from realistic fiction) YA novel. Follows some teens who are left to fend for themselves when all of southern CA water taps run dry.

#4 of my year. This one is going to scare me silly I just know it lol because I can see this happening for reals 😅I didn‘t realize he wrote so many books, I‘ve read the Scythe series so now I have to check out his other books!

Suggestions, please! I‘m a school librarian, and I‘m working with our 7th grade ELA teacher to select some dystopian cli-fi (climate fiction) for her students to read in literature circles—like a mini-book club. Any ideas? We would love to throw a graphic novel and/or a novel in verse into the mix, but haven‘t found any (yet). Also, if you‘ve read any of the books pictured, what did you think?

Thanks @AmyG for the #jolabokaflodswap goodies!!! The chocolate has been sampled and deemed extremely delicious, and I can't wait to read this, I love Shusterman's stuff! I know my mom will be wanting to borrow it after I'm done! And thanks @MaleficentBookDragon for organizing!

4 ⭐

I enjoyed this. Running out of water is a really scary concept, but definitely something we should be thinking more about. Although this is set in southern California, it's just as applicable here in Australia.

I liked the characters and the story, although it definitely is targeted more towards YA.

This is my #clifi pick for #booked2019
@Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage
Only one more book to go!

"The question is, can you forgive them for being human anyway?"

Book 2 of #SummersEndReadathon - In 2017, when Hurricane Harvey hit, we had a gas panic. The lines were long, gas stations ran out, and some people apparently filled personal barrels. That was for gas, but what if it was an issue with water, which we all need to survive? Dry brings that situation to life as the taps run out. I soaked (ha!) this one up. It‘s plausible fiction and I had to force myself to turn it off. #Booked2019 #Clifi

Listening to “Dry”, it got kicked to the top of my tbr since there are like eight people waiting behind me for this.

#summersendreadathon @Clwojick #dry #nealshusterman #jarrodshusterman #audiobook #libby

Finished this one during a buddyread.... Well, I like the idea behind the book pretty much, but the book is too long, it's too dump and there are happening so many things, that I don't believe them to happen. But besides it was a read definitely out of my comfort zone... 😉