Welcome to Litsy!

A dear friend that gave me an Amazon gift card for Christmas. I have to say I think I did very well. I made that card squeak. This was my haul. The only one I've read so far is American Hippo, which was good but not as good as I had hoped. I found it difficult, and in some cases impossible, to connect with the characters in any meaningful emotional way.

#AHardDaysNight

During World War II, Oblivion and Fogg were the best of friends. Together they used their superpowers to take out the Nazis and their übermensch. But then something happened one night in Berlin in 1946 that destroyed their relationship. This book spans decades but everything leads back to that one brutal night.

#HeyJune

I can't decide if this would have been better if I'd read it first or if I'd have bailed on the print version. There's plenty to love-compelling writing, interesting characters, but the narrative jumps around a lot and I had trouble remembering where/when we were in the story, so I tended to zone out while listening. But, the narrator has an incredible voice and I'll listen to more by him. (Cont. 👇🏻)

I can't read outside, but I can listen to this while I do mindless data entry this afternoon. 😉 #multitasking #blameitonLitsy

I love the narrator. He's probably one of the top five I've ever had the pleasure of hearing.

I did a great job of sticking to the Book Buying Ban in May! So how did I celebrate? Well...

The audiobook of The Violent Century is my best book of the year #sofar (selected for me by the good people of Litsy) so I had to own a copy. A blurb on the back says "if the X-men were written by John le Carré" which is the PERFECT description*.

And #hallelujah the text has a whole additional short story about Spit, the girl with ballistic saliva.

Because I am a moody reader and I know something terrible is most likely going to happen tomorrow that will emotionally devastate me, I refuse to create a #tbr that I know I will not adhere to. Instead, my only goals for June will be to finish the audiobook I'm currently listening to on my commute, the print book I'm actively reading, and the book for the postal book club. #splashintosummerreads

This audiobook is the best book I've experienced so far this year. 96% perfect.

In the '30s a German scientist unleashes a probability wave across the world that gives some people powers. Every country scrambles to enlist their Übermenschen.

We follow British operatives Fogg and Oblivion through WWII to the present, jumping around in time until we learn the mystery of what happened that night in Berlin in '46.

What makes a hero?

"It‘s a bird! It‘s a plane! No, it‘s—

It‘s a plane."

So you're listening to your audiobook about how the emergence of superpowered individuals in the '30s has changed the course of world history, and it jumps around a lot in time: London, 1944. Berlin, 1946. Laos, 1967. Afghanistan, 1984. And then suddenly the narrator says New York, 2001 and then reads the quote above and you get chills.

My current audiobook (selected by polling the good people of Litsy) is AMAZING!

In 1932 the Vomacht wave sweeps the world and some people are... changed. The Übermensch are born. Countries draft their superpowered individuals into service.

The book focuses on British operatives Fogg and Oblivion. Narrator Jonathan Keeble handles accents and action expertly.

Put simply: Superheroes in WWII, but dark AF.

Keeping up the superhero theme from this weekend with this recommendation. Lavie Tidhar's brilliant novel imagines a world where those with amazing abilities work for the world's governments. Starting during WWII and spanning decades, The Violent Century is an epic comparable to Watchmen. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️