Welcome to Litsy!

"But we might never find them? "

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

In Bewilderment, astrobiologist Theo Byrne tries to help his 9-year-old son control his volatile emotions through experimental neurofeedback treatment. In Orfeo, Peter Else attempts to alter musical patterns into bacterial human pathogens in his home labratory. RP a masterful storyteller based on deep-dives into his subjects. We rightly fear #SciGoneWrong. Pic from 2019 National Book Festival in DC. #NewYearNewBooks @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Loved Overstory so thought I‘d give this a go. I almost bailed but a third of way in I got into it. Then it fell away and it‘s taken me a while to finish. Definitely not a page turner . Lots of home truths about the planet we live on and the fools in charge. Bits were very quotable and struck a chord. Having just finished it I‘m not really sure how I feel about it. Maybe Bewildered. 🤷🏻‍♂️.

#AutumnPlease! Day 5: The book cover has a very #BootsAndLeaves feel to it. One of my book haul while in London early this year. 💕

This book delves into our troubling age of existence. political trials, environmental challenges, neurotypical children are all featured. Most importantly this is love story. Love for our natural world, the ever expanding universe, love for humanity. No wonder it won a Politzer Prize.

Having read & appreciated the message, writing & vastness of Overstory, I was tuned-in when this one came out. But something about Powers‘ agenda & tone, combined with what I thought was going to be a cautionary tale about child psychiatry put me off. A friend then bought it for my birthday, so I had to read it! I think I‘m glad I did 🤔. It was unique, well-written & thought provoking. However, I‘m unsettled & wondering whether Powers is for me…

Loving the afternoon sun that streams into my little reading room in Djeran/Autumn 🍁☀️⛅️.
And enjoying the tagged book so far. #currentlyreading

Be prepared to have your heart broken. Scientist Theo and his 9-year old Robin are trying to navigate the loss of their wife and mother, and Robin is struggling to cope with the world itself. There‘s lots of science here, alongside a backdrop of awful turns in world events that no longer seem so impossible. However it‘s the love between Theo and Robin that will keep you reading. Like The Overstory, not a book I thought I‘d love, yet love it I did

No big deal I'll just be thinking about this book for the rest of my life

While not an easy read, this book stretched my mind and my emotions. Worth the effort- it will leave you more thoughtful and aware of things you‘ve probably never considered.

Incredibly written, a troubled boy discovers his passed mother through her brain imprint, and his father struggles with how to work through it. Beautifully written and skillet plotted.

Received this today in the mail from the wonderful @Lauram Thank you so much- perfect timing! It was lovely to receive a book right at Christmas time! ❤️❤️❤️
Oh, and Max says hey. I just got home from a week at my daughter‘s and he‘s keeping an eye on me to make sure I don‘t leave again!

If Aly and I had been in charge, the luckiest thing in my life — the thing that kept me going when all the luck in the world went cold — would never have existed, not even in my wildest models.

A heartbreaker of a book. The writing is gorgeous, the subject intricate and fascinating, the characters broken and beautiful. What does the impact of climate change and our human reluctance to acknowledge or address it do to our kids? Our future? I‘ll be thinking about this one for a long time. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #Roll100 @PuddleJumper

Tagged book was a 4 star for me & my last read for October. The ending didnt land for me & not a perfect novel, but the themes resonated. What does it mean to be mentally healthy? If facing the unraveling of ecosystems sends you into crushing depression or anger is that a healthy response to the world? Or is it more healthy to be able to ignore all of it and just go along? As a professional conservationist I‘ve struggled with thls question.

I won a Facebook contest sponsored by my library- 10 signed copies of Power‘s latest novel! I have enough for my book club and will have 2 copies to share with my favorite reading community. For a chance to win (open internationally), suggest a book for my group to read the next time I host. Winners to be selected on Friday (11/4). Good luck!

Meteoric and intense, I read this book bracing for impact and annihilation…but my, what a beautiful ride.

Book 120

Bewilderment is a great book for a book club discussion. Well-written, it's an almost-realistic, sci-fi/apocalyptic story about autism and medication culture. There aren't easy answers but the book is a great impetus to asking valid questions. Beautiful characters and relationships. Not for everyone, but worth the read.

My laundry room needs new flooring ( the paint on the cement thing isn‘t working) and the walls need painting. What I wouldn‘t give for a fancy laundry room 🙏🏻 Today I reorganized, cleaned, purged and finished this book. Now I‘m filthy and tired but the room looks better. This is a fantastic book, heartbreaking and thought provoking. A lot of the science is beyond me so I appreciated that often it was being explained to a 9 yr old

Driving around to appointments ( highlighter yellow pedicure) and errands is so much more enjoyable with audio books. I look forward to them, invent more errands to do when the book is good

Check out Meredith‘s Book Review on Book Interrupted‘s Manuscript Mondays. https://www.bookinterrupted.com/post/manuscript-monday-bewilderment

Terrific. Lots of space, but in an accessible way much like trees were in the Overstory. Sad ending but what else was going to happen? Loved it.

I‘m fully engaged in this story of a young widow who is left with an emotionally-disturbed soon-to-be nine-years-old son. I would love to read other works by this author in the future.

This is the second novel by Richard Powers I've read, and probably the last. What he is trying to accomplish with his fiction is noble, to write urgent stories of climate crisis that operate on both the individual and planetary level. What he writes is heartbreaking, horrifying & beautiful. But his tone bugs me. It feels self-important & the characters feel idealized.
I understand why people love this book. Truly a case of just not right for me

I'm about halfway through this and . . . Something about it is bothering me, but I can't quite say what. Something about how the boy is written? Or the tone? I don't know. Anyone else struggle with this one?

Bewilderment is a good word for my general mindset.

Powers latest, on last year‘s Booker longlist, gets mixed responses. Starts out with tropy extremes - overwhelmed single widower father, extra-intelligent difficult son, a questionable new psycho-therapy. But he caught me. My anxiety peaked as I rushed through. We‘re all doomed, our planet is doomed and humanity is pathetically helpless. Now calming my anxiety with denial again.

There's also this work of art which was my April #BookSpinBingo board. I read a lot and didn't get even 1 bingo.

@TheAromaofBooks

May already?! Well, I always enjoy making a list of books. 📚 #BookSpinBINGO

“… ninety-eight percent by weight of animals left on earth were either Homo sapiens or their industrially harvested food.” - !! Really?

And a second book I just started, this time for the 2021 Book Longlist - I‘m still working my way through. No clue what to expect but the first 30 pages went by quick.

This book was beautiful but the Flowers for Algernon vibes were a bit overdone. Still gave it 5 🌟

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

The writing is nice and I agree with the environmental message, but honestly mad about the ending so I had to deduct some (metaphorical) points.0

I enjoyed Powers‘ previous novel The Overstory but that felt very complex. It‘s nice to read a story on a smaller scale with a lot of heart about a dad trying to help his son who appears to be on the spectrum.

“But we might never find them?”

#firstlinefridays
#currentlyreading

@ShyBookOwl

Well. That gutted me. Such a beautiful book!!

I finished this several days ago: it gave me a serious book hangover! While I thought it did tip into sentimentality, RP's fusing of the emotionally involving and intellectually stimulating takes some beating. This is only the second of his novels I've read (the other was The Overstory): now I want to read everything he's written! 😊

After reading Bewilderment by Richard Powers, I thought the book is deep and masterful. My first foray into the works of Powers, I can see why he won so many awards, including the Pulitzer for his opus The Overstory. Bewilderment is ingeniously structured with a hint of literary crossing over to science fiction. I don‘t think it matters but I guess what is remarkable is the astonishing force that Powers delivers his 👇

📚 Preach! 📚

It's a Venti morning after only a few hours of sleep last night. Stopped by Target for a pillow & figured I might as well grab the tagged book and the Yanagihara. Looking forward to both. Anyone else like the starbucks sweet potato chips?

If Richard Power‘s book “The Overstory” was destined to be an award winning bestseller, this book is more like the perfectly crafted masterpiece that the artist keeps for himself to hang in a place of honor and peek at from time to time. Lovely, slightly strange story of a father and son that explores life, death, astrophysics, autism, climate change, and human connection. Marvelous, sobering, and very personal.

😘

#12Booksof2021 Remarkable read from September. A slim novel packed with meaning. Emotional & compelling.

"Nobody's perfect. But, man, we all fall short so beautifully." ☄️

Wow this was intense.

I have to say if I could some way experience the emotional mind of a passed loved one, I would probably do it.

This left me with mixed feelings- I loved the interactions between father and son, and watching Robin‘s evolution. I relate so strongly to his wishes to protect endangered species and share his frustrations with most people‘s ignorance and disregard for the trajectory of human impact.

Truly a bittersweet read.

Belated Christmas #bookhaul !
I hope that all who celebrate had a fabulous Christmas: I woke to a migraine so had to spend much of the morning sleeping it off (and was thus late getting the dinner under way). Mercifully I felt well enough by the afternoon to enjoy my lovely presents!

I‘m an unstoppable Waterstones beast. I‘m trying to spend Christmas money on things that‘ll help me be healthy in the new year - so as well as leggings to help me feel a little confident returning to my yoga studio in January I replaced my lost and broken coffee cup and water bottle, got Bewilderment half price which I‘ve desperately wanted since it came out.

Aaand a couple things for @moll ‘s birthday which are secret since she got Litsy 🤐

I really loved the relationship between Theo & Robin; father & son. I think any parent can relate to that sometime frustrating feeling when dealing with a sensitive, intelligent child and the need to protect them. That arc of the story felt so intimate, raw & personal. It was the scientific dystopian arc I didn‘t really care for. At times I felt Powers was speaking down to his readers, a little too sanctimonious. Good narration.