Seveneves: A Novel | 
One of the best science-fiction novels I've read in ages.
I've posted a longer book review at my blog, John C Adams Reviews.
https://www.johncadamsreviews.com/single-post/seveneves-by-neal-stephenson
#sciencefiction #nealstephenson
My initial impulse for today's prompt was to post about Tom Cullen from The Stand. Then, I remembered Stephenson's novel that opens with a bang, literally. The #moon explodes & humanity must come together to devise an exit strategy. I admit this is still TBR but I really enjoyed Snow Crash.
I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words on my anniversary post yesterday. You are the best!
#GratefulHarvest @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
pickOkay so this book is huge but part three is so different it feels like a separate book but in a really good way. I don‘t really read a lot of hard sci-fi but this wasn‘t too overly technical so I really enjoyed it.
#BuriedAliveChallenge
I‘m excited by how much progress I made today on Seveneves. It‘s finally feeling like I‘ll be able to conquer this chunkster in a reasonable time frame. The book has been really good too.
Spending Caturday reading while the girls bird watch in the window. I‘m finally getting back into Seveneves after taking a romcom detour the past two weeks. I like it so far but I‘m overwhelmed by the size.
#CatsOfLitsy
Progress on Seveneves has been slower than I‘d like. I keep getting distracted by comfort rereads. I mean I‘ve enjoyed what I‘ve read so far so I can‘t understand my aversion to picking it up more. Maybe Sierra can offer me some emotional support to push through.
#CatsOfLitsy
#BookReport
Managed to have a pretty successful week even if I went completely off forecast for the first half. I read the entire Don Tillman trilogy which was good AND managed to complete my first chunkster of the month. I learned that when it comes to ereading I can only handle the equivalent of 450 pages before I get bogged down.
#WeeklyForecast
My goal is to make considerable progress in chunkster no. 2 of the month and maybe finish it.
Getting ready to head into my second chunkster of the month. I haven‘t read the blurb so I‘m going in blind. This is my #bookspin for the month.
Here‘s my April tbr featuring my #LibraryHaul and #Bookspin selections. My book spin and double spin come in at a combined 1367 pages! I‘ve never done macrame before so I‘m curious about my library take and make craft kit.
#3books I hated
I couldn‘t even finish I Have No Mouth it put me off so much with its misogyny. Seveneves felt like a giant waste of time, skipping over everything I wanted to hear more about in favor of things that did little to nothing to get me to care about what was happening. And Emergency Skin just beats you over the head with its message, which is something I cannot stand whether I agree with the message or not.
Also while rearranging, I found a long lost package 😬 Books I ordered before 2020 decided to be a tish-show. Some I‘ve already read and loved, some I‘ve been wanting to read for a while!
pickIt took me over two months to read this 800+ pager. Although parts were slow for me, seeing over 5000 years of human “history,” survival, and innovation unfold made it a worthy read.
It had been on my tbr for a while but I decided to read it bc my library had a “read a book set in space” task for their reading challenge.
#auniverseofstories
1. I‘m honestly surprised I managed to keep myself from completely raging in my review of this one because I absolutely HATED it. 🙃🙄😅
2. The Office
3. Oatmeal
4. CST
5. Black Bones
#friyayintro
pickThis was an interesting one by one of my favorite authors, and one that introduced me to the “hard sci fi” genre. It‘s thoughtfully-written, and almost entirely believable as a possible future, albeit one with some conveniently-interesting developments. Neal‘s ability to start wide and bring everything together is definitely apparent in this book, and though long, was an easy and enjoyable read!
Learned a concept called Amistics. We think of technological change as linear and always improving but in reality, people and circumstances dictate which tech will be adopted.
Ex: irl, our phone/internet tech is evolving rapidly while humans haven‘t made as many advances in spacefaring. In this book, 5000 years in the future, phone tech is what we were using in 2005 but they have advanced robotics, and permanent settlements in Earth‘s orbit.
panI don‘t generally like to give bad reviews, but I barely made it through this one. The basic story line was great and well written- and that made up about a third of the book. It was so constantly being interrupted by these mind numbing scientific details, that by the time they got back to the story you forget what was going on. If I wanted a science book I would have bought one.
I don‘t think I‘ve ever read a book that spans such a long time period. 😂
Seveneves is 800+ pages and it‘s a commitment for me bc I don‘t read as fast as most of you on here.
But reading an epic story like this is quite rewarding.
Here are some reproductive topics I‘ve taken issue with so far:
1. Back when they still had embryos and sperm samples, the Arkies and Gpop were expected to get pregnant with those embryos. If I was one of the last remaining humans and was responsible for carrying on the species, I‘m my getting pregnant with my own gd embryo and genetics.
2. This post-menopausal women is basically described here as worthless. [cont.]
I reached the third act of this book and kind of lost interest. 🤭 There was a huge shift and I‘m sure it‘s going to get really good, but I am ready to move on. Do you ever feel like you‘ve been reading the same book for so long, you just want to be done with it?
A couple times a year I go through my #tbr and cull the list. It‘s very freeing.
I just reduced my tbr time from 4 years and 2 months to 3 years and 7 months.
There are 215 books on my Goodreads #tbr.
In 2018 I read 51 books.
At this rate, it will take me 4 years and 2 months to read all the books on my list.
It will be October 21, 2023 and I will be 33 years old.
Want to do this yourself? readitforward.com/tbr-time/
I‘m getting close to being halfway done with this one but I still can‘t get around the fact that nothing was done to prevent the White Sky and Hard Rain while so much effort and resources were put into preserving a small amount of human life. It seems like they could have pushed the boulders out of orbit soon after the Agent, when scientists started to realize what would happen.
New summer hobby: indoor bouldering. 💪🏽
It‘s definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone and is p addictive.
I‘ll attempt a route a few times which only takes a few minutes, then I‘ll need a 5-7 minute break. This is where books come in!
I‘m enjoying this title so far but it‘s a big commitment.
My favorite setting from a book is the future from Seveneves where the Habitat Ring around the Earth is where all of humanity lives. I wouldn‘t want to live in world where humans couldn‘t occupy our planet anymore, but I always find myself thinking bout this book and this concept. It‘s such an unusual idea. I think Neal Stephenson is brilliant. #gigibookbox @GondorGirl
Picked this one up up after hearing Griffin's recommendation of it on the latest episode of the Wonderful! podcast.
1. -15°F (feels like -35°F!)
2. 72°F
3. 65°F
4. allllllll of it!
5. 🤔🤔🤔 I tagged the book I'm reading RIGHT NOW because I am enjoying it and I couldn't pick otherwise!
#HelloThursday
I guess hard science fiction is where I'm at right now
pan⭐️1/2
This book was 868 pages of what felt like mostly science info dumps. Some of the science was interesting, but character development and pacing both suffered due to the excessive focus on explaining these concepts, when, especially considering what the first 2/3 of the book are about, it really could have used some compelling characters instead. Unfortunately, all the characters felt surface level, and I struggled to find any sort of ⬇️
I read 1-3 books at a time. I‘m currently reading three and it‘s right on the edge of being too much for me, so I can‘t do more than three. I feel like I get the most reading done when I read two at a time because if I don‘t feel like reading one book, I‘ll usually feel like reading the other, whereas if I‘m only reading one book and I don‘t feel like reading it, I just won‘t read. So, two is preferred for me, but 1-3 is my range. #TuesdayTidbits
I read several reviews about this book back before I added it to my TBR, and they all mentioned that there was a lot of science. I thought, sure that‘s fine. I can handle that... Oh my god, there is so much though! 🙃
@shadowspeak17 Roped me into reading Seveneves a few days before the start of #NaNoWriMo... Its great so far, but I doubt I'll be able to finish it in time.
Bf: You should read Seveneves next!
Me: I don‘t know if I want to read that next though...
Bf: Do it!
~I start Seveneves~
Bf: Yay, you‘re reading it! How far are you?
Me: 12%
Bf: 😐
Me: 😁
Bf: Already?!
Me: ...yes.
Bf: No, you‘re reading it too fast! I‘m only at 34%.
Me: You know how fast I can read. Why did you tell me to read this next if that was going to be too fast for you? 🤦🏽♀️😂
#thestruggleisreal #slowreadervsfastreaderproblems
“We‘re not hunter gatherers anymore. We‘re all living like patients in the intensive care unit of a hospital. What keeps us alive isn‘t bravery or athleticism, or any of those other skills that were valuable in a caveman society. It‘s our ability to master complex technological skills. It is our ability to be nerds. We need to breed nerds.”
pickThis book took me way longer than expected to finish. I liked the concept and the overall plot but I thought sometimes he focused too much on the mechanics of the equipment and less on the people. Also the transition between the 2 sections was jarring and that's when I lost interest, but it picked up by the end.
@kstadt929 is doing a #4567blindgiveaway!!! See the original post for details.
I'd like to win #7 because 7 is my favorite number and science fiction is one of my favorite genres.
pickI really like this one! It got bogged down after the time jump, but the first half would have worked really well as a stand alone. Still recommend!
So. Much. Hard science info dump 😬😬😬. I'm soldiering on but I doooon't think I'm smart enough for all this technical talk.
Well all right then. Let's do this. #firstlines
Just over halfway through this one. Super invested, very much against one of the characters who I don't like, but I keep reminding myself that the second half jumps 5000 years in the future. So...don't have to worry about that person much longer. Hope to finish by the weekend!
"The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason."
Seveneves is off to a great start already.
NEXT DAY EDIT: This is the only time I can recall where I've chosen to wake up early on a Saturday to read, rather than sleep in half the day. 187 pages in!
1. I honestly don‘t pay attention to the gender of the authors of the books I read 😊 I just read what sounds interesting.
2. 36!
3. Orange 🍊🧡
4. Black 🖤
5. Danielle Steele
6. News
#QuickBookQuiz
#BookNerd 💙📚
