Welcome to Litsy!

#audiostitching this morning. I've got to get this finished! 😬

Was fortunate to visit the Art Institute of Chicago yesterday where they are exhibiting Hokasai's The Wave. The wood block print is so exquisite and much smaller than anticipated. This photo does not do it justice....but wanted to share anyway.

"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."

#DaysDevotedTo

#GamesPuzzles

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Need a #kindle book for dark nights so will try my final spin for #readyourkindle

@CBee

The same lap as in so many pictures but missing my sweet reading buddy Miss Gatsby. It feels so incredibly empty. I will miss her forever. 😢

The cover is a little wild & chaotic, but it drew me in all the same. It took a little to get into the story for me. The storyline was entertaining, but the characters started to drag on my interest the further I read. I did like the references for video game pop culture, but at times did feel like the writing was pretentious, the author feeling like they needed to put large words in for the sake that they were superior, & forced.

First time I dnf‘d it, then the blue edged paperback addition arrived. I loved this read. Loved Oregon Trail and this gaming story is great. Sadie drove me crazy but at the end she redeemed herself, don‘t we all as we mature?! Loved Sam and Marx. Glad I decided that I needed to read what everyone said they loved. It worked this time!:)

I really wanted to like this book; people I love raved about it. Unfortunately, although I didn‘t bail, I have to characterize it as “meh.” Sam and Sadie have known each other since their tween years, although their initial friendship is based on a transactional fiction, and that‘s basically the arc of the entire story, that has gaming at it‘s core. Although Zebun writes well, I just didn‘t care about any of these characters or their world.

“And what is love in the end, except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else‘s journey through life.”

What can I say without giving the best parts of this book away? I feel honoured to have been able to journey with these characters. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow beautifully depicts one‘s search for connection and understanding, through what appears to many as a platform for disconnection.

“And what is love in the end? Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else‘s journey through life?”

Terrific. Unusual and — who knew there was so much literature and culture in gaming?! — compelling. Worth the hype.

I had no idea that this book was about video games when I started and had I known it would not have been top of my list to read. However I really enjoyed this story of friendship, the ups and the downs, highlighting how special a true friendship really is. I also enjoyed the parallel of living in the real world vs. virtual reality and how we often long for a simpler time where we can just press the ‘start again‘ button whenever things go wrong.

Wondering if I'll love this as much as everyone else seems to ...

I listened to this. I was thoroughly captivated by the characters and the insights into the gaming world. It‘s a story about the ups and downs of friendship. Looking out and after your friends in the good times and the bad. One of life‘s greatest gifts is the love of friends. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Not at all what I expected. I loved it! I thought it was about gaming, but more about growing up, relationships ( friends and lovers and colleagues) it‘s about failing and then figuring out how to get over it and it‘s about loss. So much heart.

I loved this book. One of my favourite kinds of story, where the characters live and breathe on the page, where they have flaws but are still likeable, where there are so many connections and relationships and they all work seamlessly. A story about love — not strictly romantic love, but all its permutations and how they affect our lives and the people we eventually become. Sadie and Sam and Marx will live in my brain for a long time.

Gotta say i‘m a little surprised everyone i follow on goodreads gave this 5 stars - it‘s pretty good but Zevin‘s style annoys me. I would call this 3.5/5.

When all your July reads don't fit in the space to post to Litsy 😂

Fav book: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which spurred such a great conversation at book club. If I ever put together a Narrative in Games class, I'm tempted to include it.

Also a #SeriesLove success completing the Death books from the Discworld series! Not sure if I'll start another branch for the rest of the year or wait until next year as a new goal.

#coverlove #multicolor @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Such a great story about friendship and video games. I enjoyed the behind the scenes look at how games are created but the real storyline are Marx, Sam and Sadie and the relationships between them. There‘s also a message about the horrors and traumas of the real world vs. utopias you can escape to in games. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finally getting to read this one — pretty psyched about the book AND it‘s a buddy read with my book bestie, too😊

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.

Well...well...well.. I've read zero of the 100 books on this list 😯
So there's that.. but to be honest, these are the only ones that I'm mildly interested in 🤷‍♀️
At face value this list felt verrryyyy heavy. 👀
What can I say...heavy and emotional books spook me. 😅
I mostly read for happiness and entertainment 🌞 I like to stay comfortably in my fantasy worlds 🙃

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…