“That the beginning and the end may have been chosen for us, the string already spun, but the middle had always been left undetermined, to be woven and shaped by us.”
#December2024
The Measure | 
“That the beginning and the end may have been chosen for us, the string already spun, but the middle had always been left undetermined, to be woven and shaped by us.”
#December2024
pickI really loved the premise of this book. It captured my interest right away and held it all the way through. I think maybe there were too many characters and it was a lot to keep track of all the different stories. But, I loved the concept and the way it was written. I think this could definitely be a really cool movie if they adapted it. Definitely a thought provoking and interesting book.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My September #doublespin and Book Club pick for October. Felt good to read a book that I wanted to keep coming back to. I think our group‘s discussion will be a good one.
pickThis was an interesting concept for a book. It made me think about life and living and it has some great discussion topics for a book club. My big question is what happens with life insurance after the strings are released? If you have a short one, can you sign up for insurance knowing you don‘t have long to live and how does insurance companies respond. That‘s my big question.
pickI listened to this on audio and enjoyed it. The concept is interesting…getting a mystery string that tells a person the length of their lives if they choose to look at it. I liked the characters and how the author made their story strings intertwine. My favorite message is that the most important thing is that we get a string at all, not the length of it.
Lots of good ones this month! #MonthlyWrapUp
4 audio 🎧
4 physical 📚
1 dnf (not pictured)
#LitsyLoveReads
7/31/2024
#Coverlove #yellow @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
My favorite book club discussion came from this book!
“The measure of your life lies within.”
Starting this one on Audi today… spur of the moment! It‘s reminding me of The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin… Have you read it??
🧶 😱
pickI read this for book club, and found the concept intriguing: every adult receives a mysterious box containing a length of string that corresponds to the length of their life. While the book explores the ramifications in interesting ways, it relies on coincidence a bit too much, and some of the characters lacked depth. I didn't feel strongly about any of them. Still, it was thought-provoking and should make for an interesting book club discussion.
pickLife is completely normal for the world until a day when all adults receive a box. In the box is a string, all are different lengths for each person depending on how long you‘re going to live. The book goes through a handful of different characters stories whether they have a long string or a short string or even some that don‘t open the box at all. Was a great read but still left me pondering some at the end!
pickOut of nowhere every person on the planet over the age of 22 receives a small box containing a string, the length of which will tell you just how long your life will be. Some choose to look, others do not. But the world quickly arrives at all kinds of opinions, public policies, and judgements about short-stringers and long-stringers. It‘s a fascinating and timely exploration of what constitutes the quality and measure of a life.
pickThis is definitely going to live in my brain for a long time.
pickLoved this… such a surprise. There was a thread of hopefulness, humanity and even love, that ran through the novel that I really liked. It was perfect for my book club… lots of great discussion. Would you open the box? If you did, would it change how you lived? How would we react as a whole, individually, as nations… a speculative pick that really made us all think. #52bookclub24 #pop24 #morethan3POV #morethan4POV
panMy book club chose this. While I think it will probably provoke a good discussion, I felt like the author pushed an agenda at the expense of any substantial character development. I think I‘ll stick with Atwood and Orwell for speculative fiction.
pickSo many characters that it took me half the book to even care about them. Had to go back and listen again so that I could enjoy the story the 2nd time when I already knew the characters and had the lay of the land.
pickIf you could find out exactly how long you‘d live, would you want to know? If you choose to know, how or would you change your life? This book is terrific, insightful, thought-provoking. I couldn‘t put it down and cried through the ending. Incredible.
panI listened to this one, it was just so-so for me. The concept and message were interesting, the writing could‘ve been better. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Just over half-way and hoping this story takes a super exciting and unpredictable turn, soon.
A little bit of late night reading 📖 I‘ll be reading this one for #20in4 readathon and try to score some points for #scarathlon
#blackcatcrew 🐈⬛
A score from my library‘s ongoing book sale 📚I love going to their weekly book sales to see what goodies they have!
panI actually didn't enjoy this. The premise is interesting but my math and science brain thought it was ridiculous. It gave me a headache.
IRL book club pick for September. Best part was I didn't have to pick it.
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
pickThis was fascinating, beautiful, & heartbreaking. It delved into politics, moral dilemmas & the question: is it better to have loved & lost or never to have loved at all. I savored it, thinking about each new quandary the characters faced. Would you open your box? Would you date or hire a short stringer? Should legislation be in place to regulate how they are treated? The parallels for other social persecution are obvious. So much to discuss!
pickThis was good if a bit predictable. The characters were very likable though which kept me reading. 4⭐️
#WondrousWednesday
🍏Walks outside with the cooler weather and autumn leaves
🍎Tired - teacher tired IYKYK
🍏tagged, liking it so far, entertaining though a bit on the nose so far, we‘ll see how it ends.
panHoliday read.
I was looking forward to this, but I felt it was executed quite poorly. The concept was brilliant, but I found that there were too many characters, and I didn't care for many of them. Not my cup of tea.
pickLoved this novel. What would you do if you received a box with a string that told you how long your life was going to be? Would you open it? What would you do if you received a short string; or if your partner did? This book goes into all of that and more.
pickI do love a found family story.
pickthis was an interesting concept, really well-written and carefully thought out. there isn‘t really a plot per se, just character vignettes about how the strings affect their lives. the way the characters‘ stories intertwined kind of reminded me of Love Actually. it took me a while to get through the audiobook and I sorta had a hard time remembering what was going on with each character. I might have done better just reading it. 4 ⭐️s! #audiobook
Grab this one for $2.99! #boleybooks #themeasure #nikkierlick #bookbeast #bookjoy #mustread
pickI really enjoyed this one! Everyone in the world receives a string that measures how long they will live, some long some short. This causes division in society, & the books follows a variety of characters with different string lengths. I liked how all the characters intersected. The story was reminiscent of Covid and US elections in 2020, just everything turning upside down and how people react. My only complaint is it dragged a bit in the middle.
pickThis was an interesting,thought provoking book and I really enjoyed the writing and the creativity. I was invested in all the characters and their stories ❤️I also liked how the author put a spin on how politics played a big role in this story and I felt like there were messages of how politics can create division under times of uncertainty
Book 1 of #JoysofJune readathon
so-soI ended up liking the concept more than the execution. Seemed to have a lot of build up but lacked follow through. Wasn‘t bad, but somehow not a lot of emotional impact or connection. As people struggled to make decisions or figure out their next steps, the impact on them and their families was seen more than felt.
so-soA v unique story and that‘s what kept me reading The writing is good but the characters are a bit stereotypical I would have liked to have had stories from around the world in different countries to get a better perspective. About a quarter before the end it became too sugary and over sentimental for me and I had to race through to the end. It lost an edge I felt and rushed to tie up all the stories. Would still make a great book club discussion.
Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
#boleybooks #themeasure #nikkierlick #bookbeast #bookjoy #mustread #bookbuds
What are you reading? 😊
Started The measure this week and I have to say it‘s an unique story. Well written although I‘m not convinced by some of the characters. I‘m hoping it‘s not religious or has an ultimately “moral” story as I would prefer a more scientific explanation or even a supernatural twist. I really like it so far.
so-soThe concept, riveting! The characters…I found some of them to be highly insufferable. Despite the characters that were ridiculous social caricatures, the style of writing is very good! And the well-written characters were great to read about, and their scope/development was rewarding to read. But as stated earlier, the star of this book is the concept, not the characters. Worth reading? I think so. Wouldn‘t read it twice, but glad I read it once.
pickA 4.5 out of 5 stars for the refreshing topic of how the world (especially the west) reacted to boxes containing strings representing each life‘s span. Erlick cleverly weaves this multi plot point story to cover all human concerns and reactions to the information on a personal and en masse level. Well done!
Some members of my IRL book club and I—with @AmyK1 of course—hit 8 stores on the #greatercharlottebookcrawl today!! It was so much fun; Liberty Bookstore in Rock Hill was my favorite (not a surprise, because I went there in college and adored it). Haul in a separate post!
pickWhat would do you do if you had the chance to know how long your life would be? Would you want to know? This book follows a handful of people when the option is forced upon them.
pickThis was a reread for me since I was in charge of both hosting and leading my book club discussion on this book. I watched a pile of YouTube interviews with the author to hep prepare. But after finding a podcast discussion sans author where the 1st comment was the dislike of the book, I lead with would you open your box vs who liked/disliked it. Good decision as the discussion was great and it turned out only 4/13 people liked the book! ↓
My new plan is to opt for the audiobook whenever Julia Whelan narrates.
pickOne day, everyone wakes up to a box that holds a string that shows the measure of your life. How the world responds is as vast as the cast of characters the book contains. Took me a bit longer to finish than I thought, but overall I really enjoyed this book. It‘s a book I‘ll keep returning to, not because of the writing or story but to consider the real world applications.
pickThe Measure asks, what if everyone on earth could know for certain how long they would live? How would that change things? How would society react? Who would choose to know or purposely choose not to know? How would that change our decisions, change how we live our lives?
