Welcome to Litsy!

I'll rate it a pick for the scare value (the consequences of trading privacy and freedom for convenience under surveillance capitalism) and for daring to have a not especially sympathetic MC. But, oh, did it drag... right up until it got wind of the finish line, towards which it fairly galloped!

Maybe I've got the peri-menopausal rage-tinted spectacles on again, but isn't it also about how this economic culture depends on unpaid female labour?

May reads: 7 tense reads this month. Usually this month is my highest of the year, but due to my focus on my physical and mental health and a very busy time at work, it‘s a little low. Don‘t think I will make my yearly reading goals.
My favorite read has to be The Dream Hotel.

Lalami's writing is sometimes a little obvious in its intentions, but this one plays with nuance a little better than The Other Americans, which I appreciate. It's definitely paranoia-inducing, so if you're reading fiction to avoid doomscrolling or if you don't want to look at your smart devices with suspicion, this might not be your best option. But aside from those caveats, I quite enjoyed this one.

I had a lovely time at the orchid exhibition at the botanic garden yesterday. It was a nice break from national news, unlike the tagged, which I started on audio. It seems pretty good, but I don't know if I'm in the right headspace to cope with the paranoia. (I also played at a piano recital and was so nervous that I pretty much blacked out during my performance, so I might need something lighter to read to help me even out.)

Would you get an implant that would help you sleep? What if it tracked your dreams and rated you on your actions? What if your rating landed you in jail?

I saw somewhere that this is for fans of Minority Report, which I‘d never read, so I decided to do my homework and check out some Philip K. Dick before I read this. Now that that‘s completed, I‘m excited to dive in!

This feels like a story that could happen soon if the tech bros and the government want it to happen. Technology is used to determine if they can stop crime from occurring by tapping into your dreams & thoughts. If you are determined to be a threat, off you go to a facility and at that point you best hope you can get out of there. This book was freaky, unsettling, frustrating and had me hurrying through chores in order to pick it up to finish it.

A well-written book, but a bit too close to home with so much gaslighting.

#DynamicDs Day 28: It is #Difficult to dream differently in this dystopian universe lest you be perceived as dangerous and subsequently detained by an all-knowing government. Looking forward to reading it.

“Freedom isn‘t a blank slate she wants to tell them. Freedom is teaming and complicated and yes risky and it can only be written in the company of others.”

“By definition outliers aren‘t predictable. Which also means that they‘re not profitable. Soon their actions become aberrant. Their ideas peculiar. Their lives transgressive. They are delinquents.”

Is it just me or are these dystopian science fiction stories starting to seem a little too real?! It‘s not much of a leap to see our government detaining those that they believe might commit a crime based on data points they establish and using them for labor or experiments or anything else. Holding them for whatever extraneous reasons they want. It‘s truly terrifying! But you know what also comes of this? Resistance! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

These dystopian novels, paired with the dystopian times upon us thanks to unbelievable actions of the government is starting to be too much for me. The way the facts are manipulated in this book (the main character isn‘t wrongfully imprisoned, she‘s merely “under observation”) is so disturbing and something I can see our world sliding into. The use of technology to predict future behavior, believable. This book is unsettling. More⬇️

A rather sinister news item featured in many UK press publications this week. Scary timing for those of us who have recently read the tagged book.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/08/uk-creating-prediction-tool-to-i...

As all good dystopian fiction should be, this is eerily prescient and portrays a future one can almost see, and certain fully imagine. What was lacking for me is a full exploration of tech firm DreamSaver Inc; we get a chapter or two focussed on one of their developers, but nothing more and this felt a missed opportunity to take the story further. It also had echoes of other dystopian fiction I‘ve read, however overall a great read.

Thanks to spring break, I got a lot of reading in! These were my favs for March.

#womensprizeforfiction This is a very well written, compelling, and uncomfortable read. Particularly uncomfortable in Trumps America. I am happy I read it, but I can't say I enjoyed it. 4 🌟

Last weekend I noticed a brand tote for the first time, I don‘t remember discussing it, but since then my feeds are full of Bogg Bags advertisements. I told my DIL that my phone was crawling into my head. …So is it a stretch my phone charging at my night stand could soon steal my dreams for profiling? Damn😱

I found this story of a retention system that holds people with elevated danger scores to allegedly prevent crimes engrossing. It has so many parallels to the current immigration approach in the US as well as mass incarceration. I do feel that the dream element should have either been more fleshed out or removed entirely. I really feel like Lalami‘s books could be exceptional with a little more editing.

I lifted @squirrelbrain 's graphic and added stickers for the ones I've read. I've got my fingers crossed for Ministry of Time and The Dream Hotel making the shortlist. Still hoping to read some more of the others: found it harder to get hold of all of them this year.

#WomensPrizeLL25

The reflection that meets her in the mirror reminds her of the pandemic of her childhood. Unlike some of her classmates in school she never minded wearing masks: they concealed her bouts of acne, the rage she felt whenever a boy told her she needed to smile more, her impatience with strangers who asked, "So what are you?" She couldn't have known that the skill would come in handy so many years later.

I think I‘ve been reading too much dystopian fiction lately, while living in a more dystopian world each day. This #WP25 book about women being detained because of their dreams, ruled by angry white men, feels utterly improbable but I thought the same of what‘s happening right now in the US. It can‘t be? Yes it can 😬
I normally love dystopian books but this one is just okay for me. I blame current politics, not Laila Lalami.

A woman detained because of future crimes she might commit according to her dreams and the system that keeps her there. Crisp writing and a clear depiction of the helplessness of having your rights stripped away and being at the mercy of the whims and moods of those with power over you. Yet I had a hard time picking this back up after putting it down. I think it was too much for me when I already spend my days in fear watching the news.

Book 9 #wpf25

This was a scarily prescient read, particularly in the current political climate. Sara is pulled aside on her way through LAX and ‘detained‘ in a facility (not imprisoned!) due to her dreams indicating she *might* commit a crime in the future.

I liked the interactions and the menace in that facility - where the inmates can‘t do anything right so their retentions get extended. I felt that more could have been made of ⬇️

Scary dystopian shit, that‘s not really dystopian. Claustrophobic and you can feel this isn‘t far away.
Great read, even if terrifying.

The writing was so precise it put you in place the entire time. Discomfort, anxiousness, overwhelm, all of it felt alongside the protagonist. The concept was very intriguing, but so damn scary if you allow yourself to think about it a bit further. Like the moment of denial at the cusp of a catastrophe. You need to be in high spirits not to be too affected by the story. That speaks to the writing.

#WP25 book 7/15
This is very good. It has feelings of Handmaid's Tale to it while being wildly different. The story focuses on a group of women but we know women are not the only ones targeted. The crimes they "might" commit are hypothetical. If you were not paranoid about government monitoring before reading this you soon will be. Everything here feels horrifically plausible (thinking of Musks brain implants people are actually getting)
4/5