Welcome to Litsy!

Can you one of your all-time favorite books be read more than once and is still an all-time favorite?

I just reread Parable of the Sower for the third time and answer the above question on my latest blog post.

https://marion-hill.com/can-an-all-time-favorite-book-be-reread/

Though I had read Kindred, this was my first time reading Parable of the Sower. It is disconcerting to read a dystopian novel that is is set in our (now very near) future, and it isn‘t far from a believable possibility. Butler was very prescient in talking about what extreme environmental issues could lead to. The main character, Lauren, is a compelling character. The religious elements were less interesting to me, but they did make a good frame.

I think this might be a case of the right book at the wrong time for me. The world is so crazy right now, and this very dystopian novel is set just a few years from now. I couldn‘t wait to be finished. If it wasn‘t the October book for #mmdbookclub, I would have DNF‘d it and come back to it later. #modernmrsdarcy #Libby #audiobook

Outstanding. Sci-if but Butler was accurate in the way she imagined what would be happening in the 2020s. Lauren is a hyperempath living in a world full of violence and chaos. She imagines a world and religion based on embracing change and trying to shape it. When the walls come down (literally) she and a small band of travelers have to rely on each other to survive. Book 1 of 2. https://cannonballread.com/2021/09/parable-of-the-sower-elcicco/

Shew, this library book has seen better days. But I‘m enjoying it nonetheless. Reading before bed.

Enjoying this much-loved library copy on a beautiful September day.

Such a good book. I don't read dystopian often, but there is something so gripping about watching people survive in such chaos and tragedy. It's easy to imagine the world Butler created become a reality.
I don't know when I will get Parable of the Talents, but I will get it.

I'm not in the right head space for this type of book right now.

The society we know in the US has fallen apart in 2025. Lauren learns what it means to survive inside of her walled neighborhood and outside. I'm not much for books about religion, or dystopian/post-apocalyptic stories (I mostly picked this up because I've loved other Butler books). Even so, I enjoyed this book. I thought the world building was excellent, and loved the collecting of their found family quite a lot. Content warnings for violence.

Beginning in 2024, when society in the United States has grown unstable due to climate change, growing wealth inequality, and corporate greed, Parable of the Sower takes the form of a journal kept by Lauren Oya Olamina, an African American teenager. Her mother abused drugs during her pregnancy and left Lauren with "hyper-empathy" or "sharing" – the uncontrollable ability to feel the sensations she witnesses in others, particularly pain.

This novel took a while to get into - its gorgeously written, but so so bleak. However, once I was engaged I was totally along for the ride. This has hard, upsetting subject matter, but so many interesting things to say about family, and religion, and strength. Will definitely be picking up the sequel.

#bookspin #doublespin
@TheAromaofBooks

I‘m not a big fan of ‘Kindred‘ but my workplace book club chose this other Butler title in a nod to climate change. I‘m a third of the way in and finding it utterly compelling!

In the now-near future, Lauren lives in a poorly fortified enclave of 11 neighborhood houses 20 miles away from L.A. Climate change, social inequity, deteriorating infrastructure & civil services and, polemical politicians have lead to people living in survival mode…

Well, June was a gigantic Bookspin fail, so here's hoping July looks better. 😆

Here's my July list!

@TheAromaofBooks

This classic dystopian novel hits close to home. It starts in 2024 in a world that‘s been torn apart by climate change & political discord. It‘s terrifying to see how quickly things devolve into chaos. A small band of survivors backpacks up the west coast to a safer area in the north. I‘m both excited & terrified to see what happens in the sequel.

“All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change.”

My next #tenatatime #tbr. Number 37 already. I‘m looking forward to all of these.

I might not have been ready for near future dystopia 😬😬😬

I‘m at a loss for words. About a third of the way through.

Started this one. Another copy found at a Free Little Public Library. I've heard of her but have never read any of hers yet. I know it involves Global Warming.

On sale on kindle in the US today! Such a great author, if you haven‘t read her yet, I‘d recommend it.

This is my first Octavia Butler and while I‘m not sure I can say I enjoyed it, it‘s definitely well written and I was very impressed with how accurate Octavia‘s predictions were when it came to climate change and employment practices.

What the heck?! There‘s no “send to Kindle” option! I‘ve never had a Libby book that couldn‘t be sent to my Kindle before.

Of course, I know I have a copy of this book but it must be in a box at my parents‘ house so I can‘t get hold of it before book club…

In a near future America has collapsed into a state of anarchy with danger everywhere. Lauren Olamina is a young girl leading a group of people across California, meanwhile inventing a new religion, Earthseed. It‘s an unpopular opinion but I didn‘t like this book as others seem to. It reminded me of The Stand, The Road and Station Eleven, and didn‘t stood out amongst them. Between a pick and a so-so.

#Booked2021 #SFbyaWoman #Pop21 #Afrofuturist

I couldn‘t put this audiobook down! A young girl, growing up in a world filled with fear, danger, and chaos, must find a way to a safer place using skills, smarts, and faith, while battling her affliction of “sharing” other people‘s pain. The book shows a scary potential reality of people choosing murder & pillage to survive in a deteriorating world, while also showing how people can come together to show kindness and mercy in the midst of chaos.

Set in the not too distant future (2025-27), this post-apocalyptic story set in Southern California hit really close to home. I was expecting spaceships and other worlds, so this was unexpected, but in a good way! Great characters and great storytelling by Octavia Butler.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

In honor of #blackhistorymonth, reading this classic for the first time from one of the few but best known African-Americans in the sci-fi genre, Octavia Butler.

Love all rumination about covers and cover design .....

https://lithub.com/how-to-give-octavia-butler-the-covers-she-deserves/

My last #feastmode post is coming at you from my covid+ cave. I was hoping to finish the tagged book, but I‘ve been too wiped to read.
This Readathon has brought me so much joy this holiday. Truly. It‘s made me so happy to read and “celebrate” this unconventional season. I‘ll try to post the winner of the giveaway as soon as I can this week!

Newest book haul! I love a good used bookstore.

It‘s not a happy book, in fact it seems like one tragedy after the next keeps happening with no light at the end of the tunnel. And it‘s eerily realistic for being written in the 90‘s and talking about what‘s happening in the 2020‘s (government in chaos, rioting, California on fire, lead in the water, lack of gun restrictions).

“I don‘t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won‘t matter if we don‘t survive these times.”

Thank you @rsteve388 for a lovely #litsylovefallswap #llfs gift. I‘m excited to start Parable, and Unnatural Magic! And thank you so much for the book darts! I‘ve never used them before & they remind me of someone I knew a long time ago. So thank you. 🤗
#litsylove

I‘m trying to read more sci-fi. I‘ve only heard good things about this trilogy.

Octavia Butler always wanted to be on the NYT Bestseller list. Fourteen years after her death, it‘s finally happened. Great for her legacy, but it would‘ve been even better if it had happened in her lifetime.

Stayed up waaaay too late to finish this. So good, really a classic. And scary, a pretty plausible vision of a terrible future.
It has a similar feel to The Road, but much much more hopeful.

This is a reread for me. It was just as good the 2nd time. Chilling story of a near future dystopian world in which civilization is crumbling. The MC questions religion, government, ethnic groups and from this she forms the basis of what will be a new religion/way of life. 5⭐

Holy crap! I LOVED this book and blew through it. I‘m so upset I‘ve waited this long. The characters are excellent and the plot kept me on my toes.

I work as an environmental advocate and this hits a bit close to home, falling more in love with “cli-fi”

I can't believe I waited until 2020 (during a pandemic no less) to read this dystopian classic set only 5-7 years in the future. This is a fascinating page-turning book about a young Black woman surviving in a US descended into anarchy: drugs, disease, water shortage, environmental degradation and severe economic depression making it at once totally new and eerily familiar. The protagonist is a prophet of a new religion, very unique. Onto book 2!

In an interview at the end of the book, Butler says to create the 2027 dystopian world in the book she imagined "The United States becoming, slowly, through the combined effects of lack of foresight and short-term unenlightened self-interest, a third world country." ?

#24B4Monday @Andrew65 @SumisBooks @jb72

Friday's readathon hours are in the record books now. Currently working on 2 books. I got a good start on both.

Happy weekend! A great book, beer, dog, and sunshine, what more could you want?

PSA: Seven Stories Press (sevenstories dot com) is having a 50% off site wide summer sale! Perfect time to buy hardcovers of Octavia Butler‘s Parable duology 💕

I love finding notes in used books that other readers wrote! I am wondering the same question, fellow reader. #Marginalia

August reads - Would recommend each of these even moreso than last months‘ reads. It was very difficult to pick a favorite this month, but who doesn‘t love a barely futuristic (set in the 2020‘s) story of survival of the fittest with a tinge of hope for mankind? Too close to home? Maybe. So read anything else on this list. I guarantee you‘ll like it. (Minus some anti-Asian sentiments in Bradley‘s, which I had a strong knee jerk reaction to.)

Fantastic, compelling, horrific look at a future world. I listened to it while running, and I do run at night so few times it felt too dark for the book‘s darkness—it‘s a deep examination of human cruelty, survival, empathy, and pain. The narrator is interesting and smart. The characters so real. The audiobook is read by a woman with the perfect voice. I immediately moved onto the sequel when I finished this. #readthis

While most works of dystopia bear resemblance to the world, the 2020s in Octavia Butler‘s Parables look uncannily familiar. The books are written in the form of journal entries by Lauren Olamina (and later her daughter). In this duology, Butler creates a scary fictional world rooted in reality and explores many themes, including race, religion, ambition, familial tensions, class differences, violence, education and space travel.

The ending felt a little abrupt, so I'm going to have to read the sequel very soon. Overall though, I absolutely loved this! It felt so plausible which was a little stressful to be reading right now, but I couldn't put it down. I might be late in discovering Octavia Butler, but I'm a fan now!

My kids are enjoying a day with grandma, I got a bunch of cleaning done, and now it‘s time to reward myself with a book on the porch. I am loving this one - I can‘t believe it‘s taken me so long to read Octavia Butler!