Welcome to Litsy!

I'm in the minority in not liking this book much. I had no interest in reading it, but my book club picked it. I'm not into video games and don't understand how games are made, so I didn't like those parts, and I just didn't care about the characters.

"There is a time for any fledgling artist where one‘s taste exceeds one‘s abilities. The only way to get through this period is to make things anyway."

"This is what time travel is. It‘s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently. And that mode of transport only worked with those one had known a significant time."

And soon to be 15, as we are reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow for our faculty book club this month!

NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st century I have read 6 and have 1 on my TBR. Not really interested in the others on the list.

1. I‘ve seen almost every episode of CSI Miami at least five times, but somehow I keep watching it!
2. Chutes and Ladders
3. Tagged
#wondrouswednesday

⭐⭐⭐⭐ #audiobook

I rarely give up on a book , but there are so many great books to read why waste your time on something that doesn‘t work for you . This book gets great reviews and they say don‘t be put off by the gaming element ‘ but it was that that finished it for me - the writing is good ,the story line touching but the constant references to gaming drove me mad ! I suspect it‘s an age thing ! But if you aren‘t into gaming I would avoid this !

June stats. I‘ve hit 70/100 so far. Joined two new Litsy book clubs and bought 11 new books for the collection.

From my tbr.
#Waves. #SummerSouls

@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I love everything about this book! I‘m going to go play ACNH now

A bit of a break from the weeding, random window washing and training videos. I have a bunch of small hostas to transplant. This book is so good. I‘m at 70% and the narrator just switched and I feel quite shook

The heat wave broke yesterday 👏🏻👏🏻 so the a/c is off, windows are open, sheets are on the line, weeding is ongoing and rabbits are being chased out of the yard. First time since I planted these coneflowers years ago they have been able to bloom like this #fuckingrabbits I love their colours so much (this book is amazing, Twelth Night is playing at Stratford this summer and I think I should go see it again.

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

1. I am decent with technology… there are some things I wish I knew more about
2. Tagged

@BethM @JenReadsAlot @peaKnit

Next up on audio. I‘m home all alone today with no car. The To Do list today includes washing the furnace filters, closing up all the windows to put a/c on cuz a week long heat wave hits today ( I really hate not having the windows open), folding laundry, meal planning, grocery list making, toilet cleaning. Being an adult is overrated but this book is not

“What is a game?" Marx said. "It's tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It's the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.” Loved this book!

This cover reminds me of rainbow ? colors -and- it has waves ?!

#Rainbow

#SummerSouls

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I dont think ive ever seen my neighborhood so red and orange before!
This book hit me just right. You don‘t often see a male+female friendship shown as something deep and complex, and watch it play out over decades. Sam and Sadie are best friends as children and business partners as adults, designing video games. There is also a lot about gaming in here - not my jam IRL but i found it engaging and interesting. A book with a lot of heart. ⬇️

Current holiday reads. Long veiw - mark hurst tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow -gabreille zevin which got from shop on beach.

I really enjoyed this. I play some video games and like reading about how people make them. The brainpower needed to create a realistic world that covers a mind-boggling array of possible choices is fascinating. My favourite character was Marx because of how he quietly paved the way for Sam and Sadie to do great things. We should all be so lucky to have a Marx in our lives (and need to appreciate them when we do).

This is a soft pick. It was a touching story about friendship and love. However, I found the characters a bit flat especially halfway through the book and did not feel much affinity for them. There were some parts that I loved...but overall, I think the book felt a little too overhyped for me.
#roll100 #24in2024

Quite literally one of the most unique books I‘ve ever read. Heartbreaking yet heartwarming… I loved it. #LitsyLoveReads

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ love, friendship, despair and gaming. This book reminded me a lot of A Little Life, filled with complicated characters, engaging storylines but took me awhile to get through. #grammaslibrary

Sam and Sadie bond over video games as kids, have a falling out, but reconnect in college. They create a video game together and, over the course of 20 plus years, share the ups and downs of life. The story itself becomes almost like a game, as their friendship has stops and restarts. They love each other but they use each other, frustratingly don't talk about things and assume the worst. And Sadie struggles to have her contributions acknowledged.

3-30-24: My 7th book of 2024! I picked this book up at a book swap because I loved the cover. I wound up loving the story too. Sam and Sadie are childhood friends who bond in a hospital over a video game. Through a series of events they reconnect as young adults in colleges in the same city, far from where they grew up, and they bond again over a video game, this time making one instead of playing one. I loved following these characters.

I loved this book, but I can also understand some of the criticisms of it. It sometimes felt a bit crowded and meandering and in thinking about it this morning there are things that I‘m still not sure why they were included, so I‘m looking forward to talking about it at book club, but overall it is a lovely book about the fragility of life and friendship.

I have around 100 more pages and it‘s my bedtime but I know I‘ll be staying up late to finish it and this is making me cry…

I really loved this story. I could almost pick it up and start reading it again. Also made me want to have a go at playing a game. Not a shooting one though. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

This book was a slow burn for me and I didn‘t really love it until the end. A beautiful illustration of how life is messy and painful and you just have to find a way to keep moving forward.

Happy Tuesday! Here are today's #Two4Tuesday questions. Thanks to everyone who played last week. Have a fabulous day!!

My answers:
💗 No plans, I have to work.
💗 The tagged book because not only is it well written but love and friendship are an important theme in the book.

Want to play? @Eggs @dabbe @wanderinglynn @Read4life @Kshakal @The_Penniless_Author @peaKnit @TheLudicReader @BethM @Jari-chan

This was a long one. It had a saga-like feel, and it took a minute to get absorbed into the story, but I ultimately liked it. A fun visit back to the 90s. Could have done with an epilogue, but that‘s what I almost always say.

1. Flowers … or wine 😀
2. Nothing came to mind, so I asked google. The tagged book was one of the suggestions. It‘s on my TBR for book club.
#two4tuesday

The characters‘ struggle with permanence, even as adults, broke my heart - it‘s almost like they use the idea of nothing ever being permanent in video games as a protective lens in experiencing life. The progression from the childish denial to the gradual acceptance of all BUT one thing in life not being temporary - death - will stay with me for some time.

“What is a game?” Marx said. “It‘s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It‘s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”

Thanks for the tag @Eggs

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

1. I loved only the beautiful by Susan Meissner
2. I am most looking forward to the tagged book… so many people have told me I need to read it!

@BethM @JenReadsAlot @peaKnit

I dk how to describe my thoughts on this one. Probably bc I have conflicting thoughts. Some of the fighting between the leads felt out of proportion. I really didn‘t like the relationship btw the one of the leads and their lover - in any way. Overall, it‘s a pick for me, but I don‘t think I‘ll be recommending it to the average reader.

⭐⭐⭐1/2

This one left me perplexed: I had high expectations but I'm here with a few doubts and many "why?"
The beginning was a massive pick! But as the story developed, i was losing interest because it felt like an endless (and toxic) cycle.. and then the DRAMA happened and I was furious!! At last, the final part that didn't feel like an end at all..

?: ai ichigo ? by nevada, found on pinterest.

Let‘s see what the hype is about!

I wish I would have read this with a book club, because I had questions and strong opinions that I don‘t see posted in reviews. Looks like I‘m the only one who couldn‘t stand one of the main characters! Despite that, I really liked this book and am glad I finally pulled it out of the TBR pile to actually read.

“What is a game?” Marx said. “It‘s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It‘s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”

All the stars. I was not expecting to love this book so much. I‘m not into gaming. At all. And yet this novel spoke to me in so many ways. Really, it is about how we deal with grief and loss in life, about friendship. I got a bit teary towards the end.

The hype is real- this novel is a really immersive and emotive reading experience. Zevin has managed to craft a novel which is about gaming, but is still engaging for a reader who is not a gamer. I found this novel engaging on an ideas level, as well as being invested in the friendships and trials of its characters. For me, it was shy of being pitch perfect as the proliferation of traumas throughout required me to suspend a bit of disbelief.

I was reminded of A Little Life when I was reading this (nowhere near as heart-wrenching or good IMO). I did like it though.
I knew nothing about it before I started and chose to read it because I received it in my book club‘s Secret Santa, and I have promised to loan it to another member of my club who is keen to read it.
I should add that I read the second half with a Covid brain, and that may have impacted on my experience of it.

A new audiobook for an easy sunday morning.. I've heard great things about it!

Great book to start the year with! You don‘t have to be a gamer or a fan of romance to enjoy the story of this tender but fraught relationship because it‘s really about friendship that survives lapses, creative partnership and a different kind of love.💗

My last read of 2023 has been on my list all year. My favorite part was about the gaming and I am not a gamer but I identify with the creative process and Zevin gets that really well in this book. I think she was heavy handed with the plot in spots and maybe tried to do too much but overall I was glad to spend time with these characters.

Goodreads was down for me yesterday, which is where I track my reading, so I couldn't choose my book for June until now! 😂

#12booksof2023 @Andrew65

There is so much this book did that I liked and that moved me—on the level of nostalgia, for sure, but also in form, and in how it thinks about games and gaming. But what I‘m thinking about most right now is how the structure is so much like a romcom, and yet the central relationship is rooted in friendship and collaboration. There is something deeply lovely about how it shows the power and impact of love outside of romance.

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