Welcome to Litsy!

Happy Friday! Wishing all Littens a weekend of good reads.

I had mixed feelings about this one. Overall, it was engaging and interesting, but the pacing felt off sometimes. I also didn't care for the ending exactly (spoiler below). The author also seemed to feel like he had to mention that climate change is killing everyone on basically every page. Okay, I get it already. Sheesh. Still a fun thriller and I can see myself trying Crouch again sometime. Soft pick.

#NewYearNewBooks @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#ScienceGoneWrong

This is the first book I thought of. I loved the idea/theme the author presents that being smarter doesn't mean we are wiser.

#Movie2BookRecs @Klou
Movie: Lucy

Crouch always writes high octane science fiction where I don‘t understand all the science but I still get a rush from the race to solve the issues it creates. However, I am beginning to find his stories a bit formulaic as they all seem to follow similar arcs.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#botm #sciencefiction

I highly recommend visiting the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library. Gorgeous building & the top floor is a rooftop garden!

I also spent some zen time with the jellies at the Vancouver Aquarium, shopped at the Granville Island Broom Co., which made some of the HP brooms, & found this heatable, huggable corgi butt that I *almost* bought at Indigo (where I did buy the tagged) because who doesn‘t need a heatable, huggable corgi butt?!

Not only do his novels take you on imaginative but very feasible utopian journeys, but they will challenge your intellect as well.

Upgrade is a story of humanity in its raw form and an investigation of what actually makes us human. In the end, is it only compassion that our world needs in order to be saved from itself?

I don't read a lot of science fiction, but I really enjoyed this book!
Very interesting plot-line about upgrading human DNA. It has a bittersweet ending.

#upgrade #blackecrouch #sciencefiction #apatternonthecover

I absolutely love Blake Crouch's books. I care about the characters, the plot is fascinating and I always learn something. Loved this one!

"We found Henrik Soren at a wine bar in the international terminal, thirty minutes from boarding a hyperjet to Tokyo."
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

Book #65
4.5/5
I don't read much Sci-fi, but Crouch's novels really grip me, with his ideas of multiverses, genetic tampering, and morality. This one did not disappoint.

#Movie2BookRecs @Klou
Movie: Upgrade

This is a fast paced, sci-fi thriller that immerses the reader (through main character, Logan) in a near future where genetic engineering poses a tremendous and immediate threat but also holds great possibilities. I enjoy the way Crouch explores big questions in a fun, personal way. It seems like a book that could easily be turned into a script for some kind of modern superhero-like origin story.

I kind of feel like Blake Crouch just finds the most interesting-sounding nerds he can through his local university and he's like, "ok what's the scariest thing that people in your field think could happen," and then he writes the hell out of it. I find his evil geniuses believable, his stories unimaginable, and his prose delightful. Recursion is still my fav.

This is an entertaining, high-speed adventure with the very future of Homo sapiens on the line. For a science heavy, often violent, thriller, this is quite thought-provoking.

#MayMontage @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#DiscussionBook

I loved this book and thought at the time I read it, it would make a great book club pick. So many issues this books brings up. For example: Is intelligence more important than compassion? If we become too smart, can we lose our humanity? Does might make right? These are just a few of the questions raised in this book.

Exciting, smart, and though provoking, I love how Crouch always surprises me. Wonderful-this would make a great movie! #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

This book is a somewhat realistic thriller about what might happen in the not-too-distant future when gene-hacking tools are a few levels more advanced. Agent Ramsay works for a federal agency that goes after unauthorized genetic work and is infected with a massive gene upgrade. He has to run to avoid becoming a science experiment and try to stop the potentially catastrophic genetic virus developed by his own family before it's unleashed.

Another fun, fast paced science thriller from Blake Crouch. I didn‘t love it as much as Dark Matter, but it was still engaging

When you can't decide whether to read or knit... I wanted to finish these socks before World Down Syndrome Day tomorrow as its "Rock Your Socks" day at school. Fortunately I was able to get the audiobook of this title and I'm enjoying it enormously #audioknitting #knittersoflitsy

This one really got me thinking about what it means to be human. How do our experiences and expectations impact our relationships and responsibilities to those we love and the world writ large?

🖋: Pilot Custom Heritage 92 Smoke 14k FM, Pilot Custom Heritage 91 Orange 14k FM, Pilot Custom Heritage 92 Clear 14k B, Pilot Custom Heritage 91 Yama-guri 14k M
🩸: Colorverse Alpha Ori, Robert Oster Caffe Crema, Diamine Oxblood, Krishna Brown Pink

If you haven't read this yet, get it now while it's $1.99 on Kindle! Great book and that price is a steal!

For readers who enjoy plot-driven science fiction novels, Upgrade will be the book for you. There is a mix of gene science and ever evolving problems caused by it. Instead of dwelling too long on the repercussions against relationships and personal needs. The story steadily moves along, sometimes doing time jumps to accentuate the progress of forced gene evolution.

Review https://www.behindthepages.org/post/upgrade-by-blake-crouch-book-review

February #Bookspin finished.
This was another really fun, wild, and thought provoking book by Crouch. I love him in all his bat-shit-crazy glory.

I'm doing pretty good on my #bookspin and #doublespin reads. I'm only one behind right now. #bookspintracker

@thearomaofbooks

This is my least favorite Crouch. I listened to it on audio and I don't know if that just made it more corny but it was a struggle. This is a hard science book and when he feels the need to explain a double helix? I found that annoying.
1 thing I love that's consistent with Crouch is his use of very smart, clever and strong cast of women supporting characters.

This was an intense book that drew me in quickly. I liked this author‘s earlier books, and this one holds up with them. I like that it made me think…just because we have the ability to do something, does that mean we should. The ending was not quite as strong as the beginning, but it still delivered.

Finally! I placed this on hold on December 3rd!!

Light pick - a bit underwhelmed by this one. Crouch (like Andy Weir) has a talent for explaining complex scientific ideas in a way non-science people can understand. Unfortunately, I think this was his least successful book (following Dark Matter, which I thought was brilliant, and Recursion, also very good). The premise of upgrading human genes to create a superhuman was interesting enough but the character motivations were not conveyed as well.

A quick moving sci-fi thriller with a highly scientific plot. Reads like a blockbuster movie with a lot of action & fairly high stakes. Because of scientific detail, there are pieces where the information was well above my understanding, but the scientific basis feels solid. There is a lot of thought-provoking material including climate change, human impact, & the basic foundations of humanity. This kept my attention & was a lot of fun to read.

11/150 This is my first read by Crouch, although Dark Matter is on my TBR shelves. I've read quite a bit of nonfiction about genetic engineering, so I'm aware of how frighteningly possible this story can be. Logan Ramsey, and his sister, are upgraded by their renegade mother, made smarter, stronger and faster. Their mother wants them to give the upgrade to the rest of mankind to save the race.
⬇️⬇️⬇️

#ManicMondat #LetterU @CBee

📘 Upgrade
🖊 ?? Can't think of one.
🎬 Up
🎤 U2
🎶 Unchained Melody

My nightstand will topple over soon! My goal is to tackle this pile first in the new year!

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It got into the weeds a but about DNA, but the story and characters were great.

#12BooksOf2022 @Andrew65

February's favorite book was Upgrade by Blake Crouch. ❤️📖❤️📘❤️📚❤️

Finally ready to dive into this one. Tried to minimize my TBR piles 😂🤣📖🪱

Yay!! Thank you so much for this happy box @Karkar !! I have had this one on my TBR and am so excited to read it. And obviously I didn't open these Reese Cup trees before I even took the picture 😂 Merry Christmas!!

Thank you so much for hosting the #JolabokaflodSwap @MaleficentBookDragon - it's one of my very favorites!!

Bad News: Sick Kiddo and not feeling so hot myself
Good News: gave me some time to finish my #bookspin for December

Humanity is on the brink of extinction but genetic engineering is a possibility. Could it result in creating the perfect human to save the species? At what cost? While not my favorite from Crouch, still very good. Had to skim through some of the science details, but ultimately would recommend if you‘re a fan of his other work.

My nerdy heart is very happy. All the genetics talk was fun. I quite enjoyed the mix of science and action throughout this book. Thank you @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks for the book ☺️ #litsylovereads

There were a couple science hangups for me (very minor, but this is my field so I noticed). I will toss them below under a spoiler cover. Please note my second observation refers to the end of the book.

I love Crouch for his ability to take an idea that we see in our current society (in this case, genetic modification), and pushes it to the darkest boundaries that humans can go. Logan Ramsey is a police officer in the genetics bureau, policing humans from modifying themselves, when an accident leads him to being ‘upgraded‘. Crouch asks an important question: if we can fix humans to recognize what we are doing to the planet… should we?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

And with that, we have reached the last book in my audiobook backlog!! 🙌 I‘ll be listening to this one tomorrow. I have a bit of a drive ahead of me. ❤️

I love his books. Hard science and lots of action. And plot twists.

🧬 Wow I was certainly not expecting some of the plot twist in this one. I also didn‘t think I‘d be crying at the end of it, but here I am crying! 🧬 4.5/5 🌟

I‘m conflicted. The last chapter of this book was excellent, especially the letter that the protagonist left for his family. But the rest of the book was just so so. It contained way too much scientific gibberish for my liking. It was also very action packed, which is not my thing. If the entire book had been more like the last chapter, I would have loved it.

Best book of September!

I didn‘t love this one quite as much as his other 2.

“If you ever find a sliver of happiness & peace, just be thankful and live. Don‘t reach for more, because the sliver is more than most people ever find.“

“I ache with homesickness, & for a moment, I let the ache have its freedom.”

“You‘re working off a flawed assumption. Higher intelligence doesn‘t make you less greedy or self-centered or evil. It doesn‘t necessarily make you a good person.”

Blake Crouch writes a very good story! This was a great book with a great ending. Lots of science, lots of action. This was the 3rd book of his that I've read, and they each were 4 star reads. Thoroughly entertaining.

Read almost 6 hours yesterday for the #20in4 readathon, snuggled inside with my reading buddy #benthecat since work was closed due to Ian 🌀
Making decent progress on this book as well as some #scarathlon reads today
#OminousOctober #Cat @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs @Andrew65

Another great sci-fi from Blake Crouch. In this dystopian future, everyone is under constant surveillance and gene hacking has become a black market industry. Logan‘s mother accidentally triggered a massive famine from gene editing and now he‘s working for the US agency that tracks down other gene criminals and worried about his mother‘s legacy.

Didn‘t enjoy this one as much as the previous two. Felt rushed and overly simplistic. I did like the technical parts, but the story was bland.