Welcome to Litsy!

Last book I read in September would be a fitting #HauntedShelf rec although not in the traditional spooky season sense.

The darkness drops again! There is quite a bit of humor in this book about Gerald whose consciousness gets trapped inside of Slack leaving his body behind. I think the format of this book solely in the form of Slack chats lends itself to a lighter mood, but this really is a horror book. ⬇️

What an odd but kind of creepy book!

I feel like this situation would be one of my worst nightmares :O

Read for PopSugar 2024, Read Harder and The 52 Book Club's 2024 Reading Challenge.

Library book 📖

4.5/5

I've seen this conceit executed a lot better. The book has some funny moments and was easy to read. But overall plot and characters were half baked. I still might have given it a soft pick but the way he glides over the care of the comatose body of the MC made me so angry on behalf of carers. That is so much hard work and he treats it like it's nothing.

Just what I needed! I've never actually used Slack, but interoffice electronic communications is a very relatable subject, and this just upped the volume by being the perfect amount of surreal. Almost body horror, but felt too funny/profound to label it that way? Gradually weirder glimpses in between the 'normal' conversations is definitely my vibe. Managed to pack in a couple mysteries and a queer romance too - loved the ending. 😉
⚠️ Dub-con(?)

Such a thoughtful bot. 😅

🤨 I have concerns...

This was delightfully odd. The format is intriguing and the story's weirdness-as-normal(?) feel reminded me a lot of Welcome to Night Vale. The story itself was such a fun ride. The ending felt a little sudden on the solution, but getting there was still a ton of fun. #LGBTQ #Formatting #Weird

I grabbed this for my #TransDayOfVisibility post for the library I work for, and decided to read it after flipping through and seeing the interesting format. It is several people at a PR/marketing company communicating over Slack as unusual things happen (that nobody actively acknowledges). I‘m really enjoying this weird story so far. #UniqueFormat #LGBTQ #Weird

See inside the sun

See inside yourself

See yourself inside

Is outside better ?

Or is it just faster? Is it just … a lot?

Do you have to look away? Is it too bright? Too glaring? Too sunny?

My favorite book read on January 2022. This was a weird, often funny, book about a man whose consciousness gets accidentally uploaded to his work Slack channel. A smart commentary on the modern workplace.

#12Booksof2022

After mulling it over, I had a few issues with this book. So much of the book was communicated through gifs and emojis. I don't have a problem with that, but the book only showed the code for the emoji and gif. By the end of the book I had no clue what they were trying to say. 👀 🧹 Couldn't they have just printed the emojis!? It is such a small detail but really was a large part of the story. Final thoughts: :dust-stick:

...what is a workplace but a cult where everyone gets paid, really?

🤣🤣🤣

I listened on audio from the library. It was funny in parts in satire of how people avoid work with email. But overall it was just odd. Not my favorite of the TOB titles.

An actual photo of me trying to read this shit.

NOPE.

Quirky with a capital Q! Such a fun read too!

Haven't made quicker work of a book in a while, but this modern office weird satire told through Slack chats really hit the spot.

I didn't get this read in time for #ToB2022, but I'm glad I finally had the chance.

The idea of a guy somehow becoming stuck inside his computer seemed ludicrous at first, but Kasulke manages to create a funny read that focuses on office relationships and how we interact with others in a virtual world.

I ended up enjoying this much more than I thought I would when I started reading it.

Today the Morning News Tournament of Books continues with No One Is Talking About This vs. Several People Are Typing.
No One Is Talking About This is about a woman with a continually trending Twitter account who basically thinks in tweets until she is shaken out of her obsession by a real-life crisis. Several People Are Typing is about a man who becomes accidentally trapped in his office Slack.

This strange little story is told completely in slack messages. It is short and compelling, I could put it down and finished it on my breaks and lunch over the last 2 days. Clever and unique, this debut author has a fresh new voice! #epistolary

3.25⭐ This was a very quick read and overall very enjoyable. I think it is especially enjoyable for those who have had to use Slack professionally, like I have. It fits firmly into the category of absurdity, but it also has some laugh out loud moments and some creepy moments. 👇

I'm reading this odd little book with my coffee ☕ and breakfast 🥓🧁 this morning. I'm enjoying it so far, but being stuck in the Slack app (having used it for many clients) is my nightmare!

3.5 ⭐️s

A VERY quick read, all written in the form of slack chats. One of the office workers gets stuck in slack and all sort of weirdness ensues. It is quirky, funny but don‘t expect any deep life lessons out of this one 😁 if you have a few free hours, give it a try.

As a person who has used Slack for years, I was loving everything about this book. Until almost the very end. There is one particularly incident that completely took me out of the story, and found the glossing over a non-consensual situation quite problematic and triggering. (More discussion on that under a spoiler alert in the comments)

Also, for #pop22 folx, would this be considered a social horror novel?
#tob2022

Strange, quirky & hilarious are words used to describe this book. All true - along with quick & compulsively readable. Gerald, while WFH at a PR firm, has his mind inexplicably sucked up into the firm's Slack messaging system. Hilarity & some existential stuff ensue. This ended exactly as I expected, & at the same time included something I hadn't expected at all (but really liked). I LOL'd more than once.

Full review: https://tinyurl.com/2fc8xy9a

This is one of those books where it feels oddly true even thought I have never worked in that field or that office, or had a coworker get trapped inside the work slack. Fast paced. Actual LOL moments.

Got this out of the library, as the gimmick of it made it a incredibly short read, but I like it enough that I'll probably pick up a copy for myself someday! Stranger than I anticipated, more than its Slack gimmick, I had a really good time with this late stage capitalism romp. #howling

I laughed out loud throughout this short and pithy novel. Gerald's consciousness is literally stuck in Slack (though his body is not), and the whole book is written in the various Slack channels of the PR agency where he works. While I don't use Slack specifically, anyone who texts or works in the modern office world will be able to keep up. I enjoyed this one, even if the plot lines felt a bit thin. Now I'm off to search for sunset images.

This isn't a mind-blowing novel, but it's cute and fun with a little deeper existential stuff. There's a big red herring that rankles me, and I feel really ambivalent about Slack, but overall I enjoyed reading it. I did most of it on audio and finished on eBook. The audio is weird in a kind of delightful way, especially on 1.5x. It came on in the car and made my teenager lose control with laughter.

Second book done for #ToB2022

A wonderfully strange novel about a man whose consciousness is accidentally uploaded to his work's slack channel. Other odd things are happening, too, but all Gerald's coworkers think this is some sort of elaborate prank. A really fun, quick read. Some people might find the format too off-putting, but I actually really liked it.

Starting this fun, weird book about a man whose mind is somehow accidentally uploaded to Slack

Mmmkay, I don‘t understand what happened with Tripp and Beverly or how Lydia was able to manifest...but otherwise this story of how a PR firm employee accidentally gets his consciousness downloaded into his work Slack channel was pretty fun and often funny. I also dug the romance angle. My work uses a different program and is in a different industry, but a lot of the workplace attitudes and actions were nonetheless familiar to me. 😅 #TOB #ToB2022

This book is very funny, and also weirdly moving in the end, despite its absurd premise (a man gets stuck in his company's Slack chat). I think it could have been a novella, actually; I think a couple of subplots could be excised without losing a thing. But I grew really attached to some of these characters -- Gerald and Pradeep in particular.

Really enjoyed this on audiobook! It made me laugh, and was actually pretty cute. Plus it was a one day listen which is always nice! Will be recommending it to my colleagues on our book-club Slack 😆

Glad it‘s on the #TOB22 shortlist as I might have missed it otherwise. Book 6 of 18 done!

I‘m dating myself here, but couldn‘t resist taking this photo. 😁 The book was fun and clever, but I certainly don‘t see it winning the #ToB2022. (I didn‘t ‘get‘ a lot of the slang and had to return the book to the library before I could look it up - oh well.)

This book is crazy funny. If you work from home (as I do) you will definitely laugh through the beginning, it is just spot on. Suspend reality and you will enjoy this one.

This book made me laugh out loud. It is so recognizable to me. Slack, the use of emojis, the attitude towards the clients: it's really like the typical office culture within creative agencies. I enjoyed how the whole book was written in Slack channels and I liked the storyline, even though I'm not sure how it ended with Gerald and Slackbot. A fun read, but not really memorable and I doubt if it's worth the Rooster! #Tob22 #pop22 #SocialHorror

This was a quick read due to the format. I love that it was told through slack messages. It was quirky and definitely funny at times. However it lacked any real oomph to make me thoroughly invested in either the plot or characters.

#BookSpinBingo

I've been working from home since the beginning of the pandemic and I'm on Slack every day with my coworkers. So I totally related to this story, which is a rather horrifying thought!

It's a short, fun and very different kind of book.

#ToB2022 #20in4 @Andrew65

Review to come. [between Pick and So-So]

This is an impulse read for #WinterGames2021 #TeamGameSleighers @StayCurious

#WrapItUpReadathon @keys_on_fire

I gave this 4/5 in goodreads (book cover as in the gr app, Esther assisting) though I actually listened to the #audiobook. It is an unreal situation and told quite amusingly; office dysfunction and romance. It is full of surprises. #tob2022 #DogsofLitsy

Super quick read (~2 hours), written in the form of Slack messages. While it was an enjoyable read, the subplots seemed to die halfway through (what happened to Lydia?? Why were the emoticons for Tripp & Bev screwed up???), so I was left wishing the ending had better resolution. 😕

Wow. What did I just read? This was a surreal but also relatable book told entirely in posts within different Slack channels of a PR company. One of the employees actually gets stuck in Slack (out of his body… don‘t ask, you just have to suspend disbelief) and then things get pretty bizarre. Amidst the absurdity it was a super creative take on modern office culture. It‘s hard to explain, but I liked it a lot!

Largely enjoyable. Not all of the characters worked for me, and the story seems to sag in the middle (and the Lydia subplot felt odd) but it‘s funny, fast-paced, and unique. Definitely a book to check out if you want something light to read.

I‘m on the fence about this one. It has a lot to say about current work culture, especially in these COVID times, but in a small package. A fast read, or listen in my case. I probably won‘t remember the specifics of the book, but it will add to my view of some of the ridiculousness that goes on in modern jobs. I was surprised at the romance factor!

I found this office romance / sci fi told through a company‘s Slack channels surprisingly moving. The ending between Gerald and Pradeep even made me tear up a little.

Took me a minute to get into the groove of this on audio, but I ended up really enjoying the experience! It's a weird and lovable book. I frequently cackled at the silly genius of certain lines and their delivery by an excellent full cast. I'll also now often want to use “dusty stick“ as a reaction to things in life, but I'm not on Slack and nobody (like pre-reading-this-book me) will get it...sigh.