Welcome to Litsy!

I really liked this book. While it revolves around baseball (which I find boring to watch), it‘s actually an exploration of a future US, racism, and prejudice. It features Gwen, who is discriminated against, but has one of the best pitching arms perhaps ever seen. Her talent (and development of that talent) push her places she could not otherwise have gone. Really good read.

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2021/09/10/the-resisters-gish-jen/

I'm not a baseball fan, but no worries to others who aren't because you'll still enjoy this book. 💚

After seeing several good reviews about this one I was happy my hold finally came through. The dystopian world created here feels very realistic and like it's something our society could easily slip into. Such a thought provoking story about resistance, family, and advancements in society.

This book took me a while to get through, but it was so I interesting and clever I kept going when I normally would have bailed. This story about resistance, baseball, parenthood, and automation was like nothing I‘ve ever read before. I‘m glad I stuck with it.

First outdoor reading session on the year! Yay spring!

“How about humor? Is that above your paygrade? I wanted to say. Because that was pretty funny.”

Ooooh! Really enjoyed this #ToB21 Tournament of Books play in book. Rooting for this one to make it in.

“... the pie was a highlight...” #iLovePie #PieInLit #LitPie #CaresBooksandPie #ToB21

This book was amazing, highlighting what our world could look like with full automation and who would work and who would consume and how that would impact the social hierarchy of our american society. It was wild. What a great , thought provoking story. Highly recommend.

Another good one from the #TournamentOfBooks. I have a fondness for near-future science-fiction, and there seem to be several books in this category on the #tob21 list. I love that baseball and knitting are both featured prominently in this story.

Third book finished for #FabulousFebruary. With luck, I'll be able to finish another one before the end of the readathon. @Andrew65

I really enjoyed this book! It takes on a terrifying dystopian world (that feels not all that far off as per usual these days) with a great sense of dry humor and unfailing heart and perseverance. Maybe showing that there is hope for some of us to do the right thing, even when so much is wrong.

This was quite the surprise! Reading from the #ToB short list is starting out strong 👌

Set in a not-too-distant future, we meet Grant, Eleanor and their daughter, Gwen, and learn how they resist AutoAmerica in different ways, but mostly through baseball. I‘m not really a fan of sports, so I was hesitant about this, but it worked well, and it was as much about relationships and oppression, as it was about baseball 👍

#Bookspin pick from November

Fantastic!!!

THIS. BOOK. What a timely and important read. And I‘m not even a baseball fan. This is fiction at it‘s finest-good story, well-written that makes the reader stop and think about society and our future. Eleanor and Grant have a daughter, Gwen, who is a pitching prodigy. In AutoAmerica, where the country is run by AI and the Net, Society is divided into the Surplus and the Netted. Baseball gives Gwen the chance to escape being Surplus. (Cont‘d ⬇️)

Decided to try a new genre. Definitely not my cup of tea.

This was liked a subdued Hunger Games mixed with Brave New World that‘s focused on baseball. I was curious enough to finish it and liked a number of the characters. I normally really like dystopian novels, but this one was just ok for me.

Guys I finished it! I started this book the day work got closed for me. 5 weeks ago. I only could focus enough to read a few pages a day. I really love the concept of this dystopian but it‘s scary how this could be real life!! The middle section was a little long for my taste. And all in form of letters from school. I thought the choice of narrator was unique. Seeing his daughter and wife‘s achievements from his viewpoint. Overall a win.

1. Harrow the Ninth, We Ride Upon Sticks, and She Came To Slay

2. The Resisters by Gish Jen

3. When my puppy is happy or excited (which is a lot) she wags her whole entire butt, and it makes me smile every single time

#weekendreads

Total books: 14
Pages: 2,929
Audiobooks: 4
Longest: Daisy Jones and the Six (355)
Shortest: b.b free
Favorite(s): Daisy Jones and the Six, The Resisters, From Here to Eternity, and A Prince on Paper

Overall, having gone on vacation and then the stress of the last 2.5 weeks at home have meant that I didn‘t read as much as usual. I‘m shocked to see it was 7 and that I‘m still on track with my goodreads goal. I loved The Resisters and really liked Real Life, the rest were okay. Except Elevator Pitch, which was pretty terrible.

A powerful dystopian novel about the pitfalls of where capitalism can lead & how AI automation can be used to divide & conquer a nation. In Auto America, there are the haves--the Netted--and the have-nots--the Surplus--but a remarkable gift for pitching and the desire to best Chin-Russia at baseball in the Olympics gives one young woman the incredible--& terrible--choice of crossing over to the Netted. But is it really a choice at all?

Today's walks brought more sidewalk art and the end of the incredible tagged audiobook

A bit of macrame, a bit of audiobooks

#thoughtfulthursday
1. Tagged. It‘s a pretty neat dystopian. I‘m also listening to Born With Teeth by Kate Mulgrew
2. I ate some delicious Chinese food I picked update from my favorite local restaurant!
3. Digital drawing! FaceTiming and writing letters.
4. “While there‘s LIFE there‘s HOPE . “ -The Hobbit
Tagging @DaveGreen7777 @Branwen @Soff @JoScho @Megabooks

3 ⭐

I wanted so much from this but it just fell short. The concept is pretty cool but the actual storyline did nothing for me. I also really didn't like how such a large part in the middle was told in letters from Gwen. It wasn't for me.

This is my #newin2020 pick for #booked2020
@BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft @Cinfhen

Finally signed up for libro.fm today in an effort to help support the new local bookstore opening in my town soon. Looking forward to listening to these two incredible sounding books on lots of dog walks over the next few weeks.

As someone who doesn‘t care about baseball at all, but loves dystopian fiction I can say that this 😉 knocked it out of the park! Seriously! Contender for best of the year already!

When people kept describing this as a baseball book, I felt I could skip it, but now that I‘m actually reading it and seeing it classified as science fiction, I‘m glad I checked it out. I‘m still very early in though.

Really loved this book, although it totally gave me the creeps to be reading it at the same time as the Age of Surveillance Capitalism. I was really impressed by the clarity of the author‘s vision of the near future, and the way she was able to pull together so many current trends in economic inequality, racism, surveillance capitalism, and artificial intelligence. Not a grim book at all, but clearly a warning.

Dystopian fiction doesn't have the same appeal for me as it did not that long ago. The genre wasn't meant to be instructional—it was supposed to be cautionary. Anyway, this one has a young female baseball talent protagonist. I'm torn between pick and so-so. If you love the genre, try it. If you're a fast reader and don't mind the risk, read it.

Part library haul, and one book from my own collection. I feel like I read faster when it‘s a library book than when it‘s my own book. Already finished 3 books this week!

Wow. Scary, plausible spec fic. Gripping.

#januarywrapup Interesting reading month. Almost everything either new or upcoming. No audio. #arc and #Netgalley account for a bunch! I‘m addicted! My VERY favorite is tagged. #bookreport

In Gish Jen‘s explosive new speculative fiction novel, “The Resisters,” underclass parents risk everything in a stifling technocracy just so that their kids can play baseball. Endlessly entertaining, with an “aha” of disturbing recognition on every page. The Cannon-Chastenet family will melt your heart. Five stars! Released February 7. #arc #speculativefiction #scifi Full review at https://www.librarything.com/work/23666364/reviews/178166578

Knocked my socks off. Ann Patchett does not exaggerate. Review of #arc coming soon as soon as I get a chance to write it.

Good idea, @KarenUK - here are my #mostanticipated2020.

I‘m a glutton for punishment, which is why I added Stephanie Danler‘s book! 😂