Welcome to Litsy!

Ugh. I would've bailed on this one about 10% in if I wasn't reading this for school. I enjoyed DeLillo's White Noise for the most part but this just wasn't for me.. It felt like a long ramble on life and death and catastrophism and language but it doesn't even offer any seemingly interesting insights. I'm sure we'll have a good conversation in class but, as a reader, ugh.. DeLillo is a master with the English language, I'll give you that for sure.

Lunch and a book!
I have to read this one for a class I'm taking but I'm struggling to get into it...

I can see how some wouldn‘t enjoy this novel but I thought it was a very philosophical musing on family and death. If you attempt this one, make sure to take your time and savor the language and deep thoughts that Delillo puts in front of you.

Could not stand this book. Made it to the New York portion of the book and decided I really couldn't possibly care less about the outcome.

How can this be the same author as White Noise?

I've read White Noise three times. Maybe it's time I try something else by Mr. DeLillo.

I found this perfect condition, author signed, hardback at the thrift store today for $3.49! ❤️

Up next 📚

Some bookstore finds today!

#FierceFeb #RichMansDream Ross, is a billionaire in his sixties, with a younger wife whose health is failing. He uses his extraordinary wealth to develop a secret compound where death is controlled and bodies are preserved until a future time when biomedical advances and new technologies can return oneself to a fully restored life. Sounds like a fascinating read , right?!? Well, it could have been but I bailed...too wordy, wordy, wordy🙄

“Haven‘t you felt it? The loss of autonomy. The sense of being virtualized. The devices you use, the ones you carry everywhere, room to room, minute to minute, inescapably. Do you ever feel unfleshed?”

This is the first DeLillo book I‘ve read. It‘s weird and wonderful and drags a little here & there. But I‘m loving this sci-fi world‘s commentary on morality & mortality & technology.

What‘s the point of living if we don‘t die at the end of it? #dondelillo #zerok

Chaperoning a student group for a conference this weekend that is about a 4 hour drive away and decided to checkout an audiobook. I hope I like it!

If you enjoy fragmented philosophical ramblings on life, death, existence etc. this book could be for you. I wouldn't have had a problem with that if it still had a plot that would keep me interested but there was very little happening on that front. I also didn't connect with any of the characters. So in summary, life is short and Don DeLillo's musings hurt my inferior brain so I will leave his books for his fans to enjoy.

#challengecheckin #litsyatoz
18/26 for both! 😊❤️📚

A man's wealthy father has chosen to cryogenically freeze himself at the Convergence (Convergence = The Singularity + Mystic Monks). DeLillo always delivers the great subtext, but I'm starting to think that he's starting to skip over the "text."
I mean, I know what the manikins symbolically represent, but why are they actually there? And the ideas he knocking down never seemed built up to begin with.

For DeLillo lovers only.

I strongly suspect that many things that Don DeLillo describes in great detail could not, actually, exist. I wonder if he imagines that they can, or suspects the truth.

Every Don DeLillo novel, ever, distilled into a three word sentence.

I was going along, giving myself over to DeLillo, until I hit the third part. If he had kept the story at the Convergence, it would have worked better for me. Bringing it back to Manhattan just made it extra-surreal & disconnected. I hate to not recommend a DeLillo book, but I can't tell anyone but his most ardent fans to read it. To those ardent fans: let me know what you get out of it. I miss having a deep relationship with his books 😕

Buddy read is on hold, waiting for my buddy 😊 (The Nix)...
Book club book is progressing nicely - it will be both finished & fresh for Monday (Modern Romance)...
No need for a short story - nothing completed just now (McSweeney's)...
That means my #currentread tonight is Zero K!

#MAKEROOMMAKEROOM @Liberty

I didn't get it.

Book and a common breakfast for me, a meal I love mostly #becausecoffee #17booklove @jess.how

On a side note, I'm reading this for Z on #LitsyAtoZ but it's boring me a bit so far. Does it pick up or does anyone have a suggestion that's less of a zzz? #sorrynotsorry

#riotgrams #currentread

Between book clubs, buddy reads, & challenges, I'm in the midst of all of these. I don't usually juggle this many books, but right now I'm enjoying it.

Starting Zero K tonight📚

DeLillo returns returns to a theme that resonated with me from White Noise: the significance that death has on living life purposefully. I've heard criticism that DeLillo brings nothing new to the table with this book, that he is re-hashing old ideas. For me, death is a constant that all living beings must face, so it makes sense to continue to explore what gives value to life.

More on the blog: http://tinyurl.com/gq8lt8b

Enjoying just existing in the new house for a few hours before jumping back into things. Not sure what I think of the book yet. It hasn't gone down very well in the Litsy ratings but I'm keeping an open mind.

#BookAndYourFaveSnack Zero K novel meets Zero F Girl Scout cookies in a dish best served cold.

Zero K? So far, more like Zero Story. But what would you expect? It's a DeLillo book, a philosophical novel of ideas with brilliant nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout the text. #LitsyAtoZzzz.

I liked this so much more than I expected to. One hit, one miss with DeLillo previously. It's about avoiding death cryogenically, but of course a book about death is really a book about life. Gorgeous writing, a little esoteric. ⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️ 4 out of 5 empty coffins.

"Everybody wants to own the end of the world."

#firstlines

"Half the world is redoing its kitchens, the other half is starving."

I am on the furious race to try to read as many of the heavy hitter books by the end of the year. This was on my wait list, so voila! Time to jump on it. I loved Underworld, but haven't always gelled with DeLillo's work. I am intrigued by the subject matter. We shall see.

Latest library haul! And yes, it includes a jigsaw puzzle. I was surprised to discover our library loans them. #libraryday

Made no sense to me till page 28 and then I gave up on reading it any further.

This was a venture faroutside my normal reading...I typically do not read science fiction, but as a possible future library discussion title, I had to pick it up. I had to keep reading; there were parts that confused me, parts that made me feel uneasy, and parts that made me pause and think.

I wasn't a big fan of white noise, but this book was great. It was so easy to read and yet it was full and meaty. These are the best kind of books. Easy reading with deep meanings. I'll be thinking on it for a long time. I'll definitely reread it.

This week we'll start together. I'm sure I'll finish first.

Audiobooking is definitely the nicest way to ease into #readathon even though my progress is slower. Almost done with Zero K. I think I sometimes like it, but who can say?

"Half the world is redoing its kitchens, the other half is starving."

Currently reading (with bookmark).

Way fewer than usual, but oh well. September will be big!

Super enjoying this book, though only 20 pages.

I like #food and like #books. Together is best.

It's science fiction grounded in realism and it's existential to the max. This is DeLillo at his most filmic and also avant-garde.

All the themes he's interested in mesh together and the prose is sculpted--the text whirring with resonances. This took him four years to write, despite its short length, and one can tell why. It's his best book--or at least my favorite of his--and the one in which his voice cuts through the most rich and clear.

Thank heaven I was able to get through this. I put it down once, and then picked it up again because I really do appreciate the author. The book was both unsubtle (yes, modern life is difficult and disorienting--thank you, I wasn't aware) and too abstruse--just what, exactly, was DeLillo trying to get at? I'm really not sure, and I really don't care. I'm just grateful to be done with it. Maybe it will make more sense 30 years from now.

About to embark on my first DeLillo novel

I was ready to give up on this, but saw the comments from others who toughed it out. It's not that I don't like the book, or mind the rather slow pace. It's just that there's a limit to how many gnomic utterances I'm willing to put up with, and this book is full of them. But I'll keep at it--I don't think I could really live with myself if I gave up on a DeLillo book.

DeLillo never disappoints. He's in a class of his own.
Cannot wait until I can buy this in paperback to re-read!

"Shoes are like people. They adjust to situations." p199

Good morning book worms! Hope you find a lovely tree to read beneath today. If not, that's fine, we'll just freeze you as a part of the Convergence. No worries!