Welcome to Litsy!

Speculator Lazlo Ratesic is assigned a new partner as he begins investigating the death of a fallen roofer.

I enjoyed this exploration through a police procedural of a society where lying is the ultimate crime. Both the world building and the mystery were well done, though I must admit to being a bit baffled at the end as to what the significance of the pumpkins might be.

#lunchandabook

Somebody's telling lies in here, and it's making it hard to eat.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

Something to think about.

My first ever BOTM!!

I liked this book enough. It‘s got mystery, detectives, and sci-fi. And overall it has a thought-provoking theme regarding the concept of truth and how becoming obsessed with it or only willing to accept it rigidly can welcome a dystopian future with constant surveillance—as the truth is sometimes ungraspable, elusive, subjective, etc.

The ending wasn‘t great, but I think it was meant to end inconclusively.

I loved about 90% of this novel, but the end was disappointing to me. The concepts in this book were mind bending to consider. I love books that make me rethink everything around me and the world I exist in.

Next read

"These are the custodians of the Record. They are Librarians, and they do not fuck around."

"A question is a cup you hold out to be filled, and there are those that will always fill it to the brim, pour in all the truth they can think of, until it overflows and spills and spreads across the table. That's not me. Me, I'll give you what's precisely true and no more; I'll answer your question and shut up."

I'm starting another #botm book today. If I'm remembering correctly, this was the first Book of the Month I ever received. 😁

Another dystopian read with a slightly rushed ending that I also enjoyed recently 📖👍

This was so good - incredibly smart, thought-provoking, and apparently just what I needed to read right now. I mean, a place where truth is the most valued commodity imaginable? Genius - and so well executed. Highly recommended.

I need to find a book that will hold my attention but be an easy read too.... Fingers crossed 🙏📖🙏

#currentlyreading #noconcentration

This was my second favorite book in this year's (2020) tournament of books. It's a great dystopian novel about Truth and what isn't true and how truth can be distorted to suit someone's reality. It was an excellent story that had many twists and turns that kept me at the edge of my seat. Would highly recommend.

Impulse buy #bookmail thanks to a positive comment from @BarbaraBB
I even paid twice as much for this cover... It's also a #floppybook so this must be the US edition?
An anticipated read 👍

Finally! Today starts the #ToB2020 with the play-in round. I haven‘t read We Cast a Shadow yet but
I hope Golden State will make it into the tournament. I really liked that one. Oval was good too but didn‘t have as much effect on me in the end.

Which is your favorite of these three?

I have made the call - Ben H. Winters is the Philip K. Dick of our generation. The way he expands an idea into a novel (in Golden State - an alternate/future California ruled by absolute truth) and the flawed characters that you root for anyway, but also that sense of maybe the ending could have been stronger. 4/5 stars with some redemption in clever and funny moments. This was another read from the Tournament of Books.

Ben H. Winters's Golden State gave me crazy Fahrenheit 451 vibes. It's definitely not cribbing heavily from Bradbury's novel, but it has the same feeling of projecting for readers a world that's just a year or two from being possible. (There are also some fabulous scenes where we see the protagonist tempted unbearably to read banned fiction.)⠀
⠀
Lazlo Ratesic is a Speculator, a sort of police officer whose job is to enforce the truth. ⬇️

Was this great literature? No way. Was it exceedingly entertaining and readable? Heck yeah! Meant to be a social commentary on our current state of willful deception by politicians, influencers, and the media, this is set in a dystopian society where lies are the ultimate crime. Unfortunately, this means that anything in the official record is accepted as truth. The main character was great, but the book didn‘t quite deliver in the end. #tob2020

I enjoyed this book a lot. It‘s about a dystopian world where lying is the ultimate crime and a whole society is build on protecting the truth. Beside dystopian the book is a thriller in which two detectives (‘speculators‘) are hunting for the ultimate truth to protect their golden state.
The question is: what is true? I loved this premise and its execution despite it feeling a bit rushed in the end.

#ToB2020 #ATY2020 week 4 #pop20
#JennyIs30

#WeeklyForecast 05/20

I am currently reading and loving Ways to Hide in Winter. I‘ll finish it soon I guess, not able to do much more until I know how it ends.
Then it‘s on with the #ToB2020 shortlist, hoping to tick off some prompts for the challenges as well.

A murder mystery that takes place in a surveillance state where truth is all and lies are punishable by prison time or banishment. I really enjoyed Lazlo, the main character, and the beginning of the mystery, but towards the last half of the book the plot became so convoluted that it lost momentum for me. It also failed to stick the landing.

#tob #tob2020

The author stated he began writing this after hearing Kellyanne Conway talk about alternative facts. The premise is interesting & involves living in Golden State, a place where only truth can be told. Cameras capture everything, daily logs are kept and stored, and certain individuals have the ability to sense when a lie is being told. It‘s both a sci-fi & mystery. The mystery part, unfortunately, gets bogged down and messy.

My book I am racing to finish before NYE

I hope to finish this audiobook before midnight 🎉 Tuesday! It will be the 73rd book of the year. I can‘t decide if I should skim-read a few cookbooks, too because my year goal was 75 books. SO CLOSE! 🤣
I will have to comment the hashtag because I have already forgotten it... I do know to thank @Clwojick !! 🌟

Really liking the vibe so far -ten % on on audiobook. #tob20202

This is a great futuristic tale of a world where lying is a crime. It reminds me a little of 1984.

Ok, here is the list. Of the 7 I have read so far, I would LOVE for Ben Winters to win this tournament.

#Tob2020
#TheRooster

https://themorningnews.org/article/the-2020-tournament-of-books-shortlist-and-ju...

#readingonroam

This book is set in a future nation (which is now California) where lying is the ultimate crime. For anyone, like myself, who has wished there were a way to prevent people from lying (esp online) it's an interesting premise but the execution is uneven. If the ending hadn't been so rushed I think it would be a pick but it only posed more questions without offering answers.

A new tea mug from my sweet sailor and a very intriguing book. It's the little things. 😊

The premise and setting were cool but the plot itself had a few too many cliches and the main character was kinda inconsistent.

Even though the ending felt rushed and I wanted more detail, I still really liked this book.

The premise is one I haven't read before and I loved all the issues radiating from the central theme of humans just being honest all the time. Of course what do you do when your world built on truths starts to crumble? That's the journey this book takes you on through the main character's quest for the "truth" surrounding a suspicious death.

This quote stood out to me today while reading the tagged book. Set in a Los Angeles of the future, society now upholds truth as the greatest law and anyone caught lying is punished.

I'm really enjoying it so far. Anyone else read this one?

Interesting premise but the plot took a few too many liberties for me to believe it. Ironic considering the premise is about being honest.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Golden State was my BOTM pick for January 2019, and I thought it would be a good read for my trip to California. This was definitely an interesting book and the world that Winters writes is intriguing and I felt could have been explored more. However, I felt that the end of the book fell flat and I wish that Winters had expanded a bit more and given us more of a conclusion. In addition, I wish some of the plot had been explained better.

Today I read by the ocean and it was magical 🌊 📖

Golden State was a really interesting book, but the style wasn't my favorite.

I recommend it if you like dystopian/mysteries, and I wouldn't mind a follow up book because the ending kind of fell flat, but I don't think I'll be adding it to my forever shelf.

Really enjoyed this dystopian-type police procedural. It‘s set in a sort of futuristic California (though that name is never mentioned) where telling the truth is all-important and telling a lie will get you sent to jail. Society is based on confirming facts and keeping strict documentation of what happened. It has echoes of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, but also has a playfulness about it that kept it from getting too dark. Weird ending but I loved it

View from my walk today! #litsywalkers #bookfitnesschallenge This book has mixed reviews. I enjoyed it but not quite sure about the ending, wondering if there will be a sequel...

After a rough beginning that read like a hackneyed cop story (intentionally?), this novel drew me in enough to keep me reading until the end. I feel about the ending of Golden State like I feel about the ending of Vox. Things just start breaking down, narratively speaking, and weird things happen. Hex was like that, too. The authors start with a great dystopian idea and then seem unsure where it should lead.

Starting a new book today! Hoping to get out for a walk after the rain moves through #litsywalkers #currentlyreading

I have this feeling like a 100 times a week! Anyone else?