Welcome to Litsy!

Finishing up #12booksof2022 with 3 from the end of the year. Obviously my record-keeping was a bit flakey, but these more-or-less match up with the months.

Wild-built ❤️🤖🫖 Glad I finally got to Becky Chambers

Cities 🌃 Strange but I loved it

Open Water ❤️ A story of a relationship, of life as a black man in London, of art and music… Amazing debut!

Thanks for organising @Andrew65 - I‘ve loved looking back and seeing everyone‘s picks!

A charming sci fi story of friendship. Set in the future, a traveling “tea monk” who feels unfulfilled in his calling sets out to find a lost monastery. On his way, he encounters one of the long lost robots of the factory era, now free and wild. The two become traveling companions and must find their way together. Loved this odd book! Discussions of big questions and great writing. 1st book of 2023.

I tried *REALLY* hard to narrow my top books from 2022, and did pretty alright considering that my list started with 49 books on it. I didn't include multiple books from the same series. If I had to pick only one top book, it would be the tagged. #FavoriteReads #TopBooks2022

#12Booksof2022 On the first day of Christmas, my reading gave to me...a Monk and a Robot having tea.

Nothing beats Becky Chambers. The Monk and Robot books are like a soothing balm for the soul. I will read as many of them as she chooses to write!

@Andrew65

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5 This is a book about finding peace with the present and the beauty of simply existing. I recommend this book for readers who enjoy science fiction and/or books about living in the present. Id characterize this book as queer, cozy sci-fi. It is a small book in length, and it has a sequel! I found it to be a balm for the soul. Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4995309748

I went a little wild with the library holds for #AuldLangSpine 😆 My mom (who works at the public library and often grabs my holds for me) says that this isn‘t that crazy - some people fill a full shelf!

Now I just have to restrain myself from reading them right away. Good thing I have plenty of other books!

April was attacking the bag my mom brought the books in, so her tail is making a cameo in this photo #catsoflitsy

Lists went out. This is a very dangerous day for the length of all our TBRs😂 @SueK I‘m super excited to dig into your list! I also read the Maus books this year and loved them! There are a few books on this list that are on my TBR, so I can‘t wait to dig into them, and a few lighter books I haven‘t heard of but am thrilled to have recs for! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

#SundaySentence

Even if you fully know that you live in a natural world that existed before you and will continue long after, even if you know that the wilderness is the default state of things, and that nature is not something that only happens in carefully curated enclaves between towns, something that pops up in empty spaces if you ignore them for a while, . . .

A soft Pick because this took me longer to get into than I‘d hoped, and you definitely have to be in a cozy contemplative mood to get properly stuck in, but I did like it in the end.

I feel like I need to hug Mosscap and Dex. I kinda felt understood, but not necessarily in the way I was expecting to be. And I‘m crying for absolutely no reason. As per usual. And the crickets!

If you ask six different monks the question of which godly domain robot consciousness belongs to, you‘ll get seven different answers.

#FridayReads #FirstLineFriday

Thanks for the tag @CBee

📗 A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
🖋️ Tamora Pierce and Terry Pratchett
🎥 Pacific Rim
📺 Pushing Daisies
🎤 The Piano Guys
🎶 Praying by Kesha

#ManicMonday #LetterP

I can see why Chambers has so many fans both here on Litsy and in the world because this is well written, but it just didn‘t work for me. Maybe I‘m too cynical or jaded this week but Dex‘s naïveté annoyed me and the robot reminded me of what I hate about the character Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sorry y‘all. ?

#HugoAwardWinner #pop22 1 more to go! I‘m sorry if I miss someone on the tags. It‘s been awhile.

This was a interesting and sweet book to read.

I didn‘t love Becky‘s previous book I read a while back but this was good.

Read for #NerdDaily2022ReadingChallenge

4/5

I try to like science fiction/fantasy, but I just don't.

Really wanted to like this, but it's just not my jam.

A four hour audiobook that took me 2 weeks to finish.

#itsnotyouitsme

❤️❤️❤️ 🤖 🫖

Loved it! I‘ve been meaning to try Becky Chambers for ages, but genuinely didn‘t expect her work to be so sweet. I loved her ideas, the fact that a robot could be so much closer to the natural world than a human, and (of course) the importance of tea!

And the audio was great too!

I love the concept of this novella - that our future need not be doom & gloom. This was childlike and enchanting - a sweet escape. Works for #HugoAwardWinner #pop22 and #Booked2022 #HopePunk ♥️ #Hoopla

Tea monks and robots 🤖 ?!? What have you gotten me into @squirrelbrain @rockpools My final book for #Pop22 and #Booked2022 😃 This is wayyyyyyy outside my reading comfort zone….

I loved this book so much I bought a copy for a friend. She was talking about how she tried reading sci-fi but always made her feel bad. I thought I'd try to show her that not all sci-fi is created equal. What books have you shared with others that you loved?

Time for a cozy, happy #bookandtea reread 🥰🍄

#DeweyOct #Readathon #DeweysReadathon @DeweysReadathon #Scarathlon #Scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash @StayCurious #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #Pointsathon @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES #OutstandingOctober @Andrew65

1) Berkeley, California, U.S., where it's 9 am ⛅
2) Hard to say - I am excited to reread the tagged! 🌳
3) TJ's Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans 😍
4) I'll be reading some with my husband of 2 months, who's also a reader 🥰
5) This is my first Dewey's readathon where I have no undergrad or grad school reading to include, so I'm looking forward to not having pressure to read for school! 😊
#DeweyOct #Readathon @DeweysReadathon #DeweysReadathon

Who‘d have thought I‘d like a book set in the future, with a robot? Well, I did; it was a very sweet book - not at all robot-y! I‘m not sure I‘d read any more in the series though.

This is my last book for #booked2022 #hopepunk- yay!

I‘m also using this for #hugoawardwinner for #pop22 & only have two more books to go for that challenge. One I‘ve just started on audio, and the other is the #authoramonth for November - how organised am I?! 😇

What a lovely story this was. It has this fundamental sense of gentleness and decency to it. In a lot of ways, the book feels like the tea ceremony that forms a major part of its story: a moment of respite and togetherness. The setting is utopic, to be sure, but one that feels unusually lived-in and real. And not one without heartache or burnout or personal existential crisis. Through all that, though, it‘s a story in love with life.

Next

Finally reading Becky Chambers. ❤️❤️❤️

Also, it‘s a book about tea. What‘s not to love?!

#Roll100 October

Hoping to read at least two of the three. The tagged book and The Ex Hex.

I don't really know how to describe my feelings for this book. I took my time with it, even though it is short. So much truth and wisdom in this book. So much understanding of the human condition. It made me feel like I wasn't alone in the things I think and feel. A little less crazy, maybe. My husband is reading the sequel, so I'll wait until he's done to move on to it.

"Without constructs, you will unravel few mysteries. Without knowledge of the mysteries, your constructs will fail. These pursuits are what make us, but without comfort you will lack the strength to sustain either."

Hoooly shit!! If you‘re looking for a cozy autumn read that may make you think about something, please, please, please read this book. It‘s so sweet and hopeful, and now I‘m gonna run away into the woods, goodbyeeee!!!

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/a-psalm-for-the-wild-built.

#scifi #cozy #robot #monk #lgbt

"We don't have to fall into the same category to be of equal value."

"A forest floor is a living thing. Vast civilizations lay within the mosaic of dirt: hymenopteran labyrinths, rodential panic rooms, life-giving airways sculpted by the traffic of worms, hopeful spiders' hunting cabins, crash pads for nomadic beetles, trees shyly locking toes with one another. It was here that you'd find the resourcefulness of rot, the wholeness of fungi."

It's been a long day and my social batteries are drained, but! there was a fair bit of book shopping and that made my birthday a rather lovely one.

Half of these purchases are from my favorite local indie [Awkward, Brave, Shutter, and tagged book] while the remaining are from B&N thanks to gift cards [Meet Me by the Fountain (about the history of malls!), Other Birds (digging the cover on this ed.!), Crush, and travel guides.]

#birthdaybookhaul

A coworker of my husband's loaned this book and the sequel to us. It sounds different from what I would normally read, but I've heard it's good.

OF COURSE it has to go on sale after I just paid full price for it last week. 🤦‍♂️😒

#shouldhavewaited #whyyoudodistome

The Hugo winners are announced! https://www.tor.com/2022/09/04/2022-hugo-award-winners/?fbclid=IwAR3pyT6duEPpPJo...

Loved this cozy book! Great characters and world building. This is one of my first books in the speculative fiction genre and the questions and discussion Mosscap and Dex have were fun to think about and apply to our own world. Definitely a pick.

I put my Momma on a flight back to Arkansas and felt all 😭 about it, so I bought myself a book. I heard this was a balm for the soul kind of read.

Tell me all about (& tag!) the fun, quirky lighthearted books you‘ve loved lately. 💓

Pictured: speaking of fun, here‘s a beer flight I recently enjoyed.

I really liked this one! A quick, quiet, thoughtful read.

I fear I have awoken my inner book dragon. My precioussss! The first fiction I have purchased in a decade. Due to space constraints and fiscal responsibility, I will continue to get 99.9% of my books from the library, but I love these so much, will definitely be re-reading, plus they're so pretty, and I wanted to make a conscious personal effort to support the author. Happy to have the privilege to spend some earnings on Monk and Robot books.

Saw this in an article called “AI envisions a futuristic sustainable city with air-purifying biophilic skyscrapers.” I keep clicking on these articles, so now my Google homepage thinks I always want to see them. This one I clicked on because it reminded me of the tagged book (which is a bit of a step in the opposite direction from the other recent book this type of AI art reminded me of).

A new genre is born! And while “contemplative Sci-Fi” might not be everybody‘s cup of tea (pun intended) it‘s a great listen on walks and in the car!

Today was my first day back to work from vacation and my favorite coworker aka my work sister presented me with a Midnight Library Candle, a gift certificate to our local indie book store and a bookish card for my birthday! You can bet that I went directly to the bookstore after clocking out 💗😍📚💕

This was a delightful journey, following a tea monk (Sibling Dex) and a robot (Splendid Speckled Mosscap), their meeting and interaction. They travel together and there's joy in the travels and discussions. Where inside of someone do their needs, fears, and wishes come from? Are we just the sum of our parts, or more than that, as thought through by a monk and a robot trying to figure things out.

A comforting and fluffy story, that is also deep and touching. Becky Chambers is becoming an instant-buy author for me.

This story about a wandering “tea monk“ and a robot curious about humans is nominated for a 2022 Hugo Best Novella award. It's a charming story but a little too slow and contemplative for my tastes. Still, I've liked everything else Chambers has written and will probably read more in the series.

#hugoawards #hugo2022
#JubilantJuly @Andrew65
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I loved this! It‘s a relaxing slice of life about a monk who struggles to find their purpose, and a robot that loves observing the world around it. Delightfully inclusive, and excellent world-building. How the robots get their names is one of my favorite details. It looks like the second book comes out today (ish), which I am now very excited about! #LGBTQ #robots #Tea #Sustainability #Nonbinary

Re-reading and highlighting new passages (blue are first read, yellow second time)... I might buy the paper book next time :)

A bit too cozy of science fiction for me. Plus, I actively hate the robot. Think I need a story with a bit of teeth to keep me hooked.