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I 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. 🤷‍♀️

Well. This is kind of pathetic. #NYTTop100

It‘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.

#SummerSouls #Camp
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#summersouls #starrynight @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A 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.⬇️

From 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⬇️

An excellent way to explain the multiverse #authoramonth

@Soubhiville

#2024ReadingBracket

My favorite book of May was Station Eleven which I read for the #AuthorAMonthChallenge hosted by @Soubhiville

May #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.

Easily my favorite of the month! #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Loved 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!!

Hoping to squeeze in this last book for #authoramonth

@Soubhiville

I 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⭐

My 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.

#StorySettings @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#Theatre

This 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

This 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

I 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

This 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. 🥺🫣

My favorite hour of the week is about to begin ❤️
#hyggehour

#AuthorAMonth my first ESJM book and it was so good I will be starting Sea of Tranquility tomorrow.

I like the way the novel focuses on survivors with a common past and how it looks at rebuilding civilisation rather than just showing anarchy and lawlessness.

Loved the idea of a touring Shakespearean troupe after the end of the world as we know it.

Also loved all the crossovers from past to present.

Great story with hopeful ending.

Finished this on the train from Prague to Berlin today. Very good and so glad I finally read it! #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Is 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!!

I 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

#ukkindledeal #99ponkindle #authoramonth @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!

I 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

#hyggehour #hyggehourreadathon #litsolace
I'm #currentlyreading Station Eleven and I'm a little lost. I find it hard to read with all these characters.
Tonight was reading on my sofa.
@AllDebooks @TheBookHippie @Chrissyreadit @jenniferw88

Flying to LA today, so I had to pick a good airport book!

A pandemic fueled apocalypse as told by a few people that were connected through the main character. I wonder if this is what people on the front lines of the Covid pandemic thought were happening. The book was kind of choppy and went back and forth through time periods of before and after, but it‘s not chronological. A very odd book. Book #16 in 2024

#WondrousWednesday

1. Evelyn Hugo from the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Luisa Clark from Me Before You

2. William Price from Lost&Found and Four from Divergent trilogy

3. Just started Station Eleven. Also reading The Secret of a Heart Note and Mango and Peppercorns.

@eggs

I cannot believe the daffodils are already this high! 🤯

So this is a ridiculously huge #bookhaul! My @AardvarkBookClub choices came! 🎉🎉 I had two to pick up at the library and somehow three more jumped in my bag. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 Plus I finally have a hardcover copy of Station Eleven! 🤩 Plus three more from Amazon. Kids Run the Show is a #blameiton @Reviewsbylola 🥰👍🏻

#aardvark

Have wanted to read this for quite a while. I'm sick currently so can't concentrate on a physical book-- giving an audiobook a try.

10-3 Dec 23 (audiobook)
I have loved all this author‘s books and wish I had waited to read this in text but I was impatient and it was in the Audible sale.
Set largely in a post-apocalyptic world devastated by global pandemic, it does not dwell on the immediate extreme havoc but on the world 10-20 years afterwards and the question of whether recovery is possible. The interconnected stories of survivors and victims are wonderful and heartbreaking.

This is my first time rereading this since the pandemic. Obviously that added a whole extra interesting layer to reflect on. It remains one of my top 10 books of all time. Technically it‘s about a post-apocalyptic world. But do not let that deter you from reading this if that's not your thing. This book is one of the most well-written connected character sketches that I've ever found. The stories are all connected, woven together beautifully.

This one has been on my list for a long time, and I enjoyed it a lot. If anyone would ask me what this book is about, I probably would struggle to tell, as it swirls together a post apocalyptic society, memories, regrets, and flashbacks. But in the end it works and puzzle pieces fit together. I guess it‘s just about life, how it goes on, despite everything . I know I will be thinking about it for a while. Has anyone seen the tv show?

This book brought back a sense of anxiety I haven‘t felt in close to 10 years. I really enjoyed the story, but it‘s eerie similarities to the Covid-19 pandemic and how bad it could have been made me both eager and anxious to read. The ending definitely relieved a bit of that anxiety and replaced it with hope. Overall, the characters were complex and interesting, and the world building was well done.

Up next from my @AmyG Gallery of Great Reads 📚 It feels like it may be be a stay in bed and read kind of day.

#Litsylove #Readinbed #HideandRead #ReadaJourney #BlanketsandBooks