Welcome to Litsy!

“At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever... Halfway across the globe, the deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security scrambles to mount a response to the rapidly spreading pandemic leapfrogging around the world, which she believes may be the result of an act of biowarfare. And a rogue experimenter in man-made diseases is preparing his own terrifying solution.”

It‘s a drizzly day, but it hasn‘t dampened my enthusiasm for the farmers‘ market - and especially the Friends of the Library book sale (which is thankfully under cover!). Sitting in the library now enjoy my coffee and donuts 🍩 ☕️ 📚 #bookhaul

I'm happy to say I'm off work Saturday and Sunday, so the #20in4 readathon is just at the right time for me.
Goals:
Finish Ancillary Mercy
Finish Salt: A World History
Start Kiln People (not start killing people 🤣🤣)
Start Profiles in Ignorance
Read for 20 or more hours

Good luck to everyone joining in.
#20in4 @Andrew65

A virus outbreak of a virulent strain of influenza in an Indonesian camp becomes a lethal global pandemic. Political tensions escalate. CDC member, the brilliant Henry Parsons tries to find the source of the outbreak and if possible a cure... Very factual and informative too I thought.

I thought this was really well done. The audio was great. Also, I wish people would either get vaccinated and wear a mask, or at least wear a mask….

A novel about a worldwide pandemic, because reality isn't scary enough, apparently.

Tagged book - way too much telling. ⭐️⭐️
Home Before Dark (title???) - fun, creepy, quick.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
Survive the Night: quick, tense, psychologically fascinating, not shocking 😜. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rec‘d my 2nd #fffs pkg - thank you @CrowCAH !!
🧡🧡🧡

And re #HHS:
1. No but I love ‘em 🎃
2. Yes!! Women‘s med 🧦
3. The jewel tones 🥿🪖🌂🥀
4. Sweatshirts
5. Themed teas 🫖
6. I ♥️ the creative ones 🤩 (I‘m not creative w costumes 😔)
7. Beanies w poofs 💖

This novel turned out to be fantastic, easily a 4 star read. A virus has turned up and Henry and his team along with the world can not stop it. You seen him go to country after country trying find a way to form a vaccine all while finding a way home to his family in Atlanta.
The writing does go in depth medically about the history of viruses and diseases. But fairly easy to follow as some is explained throughout the book.

This one is a pick, but there are issues. I love a good pandemic story, and this one, written just prior to 2020 is eerily prophetic. The medical stuff was fascinating and reminiscent of the best of Crichton. I imagine Wright's nonfiction is terrific. The novel, however does have holes and other problems, not the least of which is how 2 parents (one of whom is a top dog at the CDC) could be so wildly unprepared for this. 💉💉💉

This isn't my usual genre, but it's about a pandemic so I was curious. I thought it was make my anxiety about covid worse. The pandemic in the book was much worse so it made me feel a little better. It's a very scary book. It's very well researched and everything seems probable. The ending was great and by great I mean terrifying.

I had this on my book spin list for next month, but I'll switch it out with another book.

😬😷💉

Wow this is so interesting; pandemic, vaccines 💉 this is the world we live in right now.

Ok, so maybe going in blind sometimes can bite you in the butt . I have to pick the one book about a global pandemic. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket too then 🤣

I‘ve enjoyed Wright‘s journalism through the years and this book isn‘t bad for someone that doesn‘t typically write fiction. However, I had two thoughts frequently while reading it. (1) This book is like a TV docudrama in written form. (2) It is like one of those TV sitcom episodes that is an amalgamation of clips from previous episodes. (2) is really pronounced since items from Wright‘s past reporting are scattered though out the book.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3677199822?book_show_action=false&from_rev...

In light of our own current pandemic, this book comes startlingly close to what we are experiencing. The glaring difference is the virility of our virus versus the book. It makes you think how utterly unprepared we are for a more deadly virus. One that we all know is out there waiting to strike.

This was a great book. Very eerie how similar events are unfolding in real world. The plague in this book is deadlier than ours but paranoia and fear are the same. Brilliantly written and researched. There is a bit more science and history of plagues in here, but I think if you liked Station Eleven you will like this book as it connects you with the characters and their heart wrenching stories.

I was really hoping to finish the tagged book and get three bingos, but that is just not going to happen. I feel like I had a great month of seasonal appropriate reads. 👻🎃💀👣🦛🥕

@4thhouseontheleft Thank you for hosting #Screamathon again!

@TheAromaofBooks Thank you for hosting another month of #Bookspin !

Week 4 wrap-up for #Scarathlon2020! This was a fun way to spend October again! I read 10 books total, which is a pretty good month for me. Looking forward to #WinterGames in December :)

#TeamHarkness @StayCurious

As a former microbiologist, I liked the history of various pandemics mentioned throughout (if I had gone further than a BA in micro, would have considered epidemiology for higher degrees. But became a full-time mom instead). A lot of this book‘s events relate to today. Pandemic in this story is worse than covid though. Gripping story! And apparently author started this a few years before it came out — getting it published in 2020 was very timely!

This was ok, I enjoyed certain parts and I was engaged for the most part. It made me feel better knowing our current world situation is in better shape than the alternative world that Lawrence Wright created. It‘s weird to read about a world pandemic when one is living through one. #BorrowNotBuy because I don‘t think you‘ll want to read this story more than once. A light pick.

Lawrence Wright! You are a warlock sir. Not only did you write about a devastating pandemic the year before it happens but got A LOT of the details right. Even the president getting it. In the book, it‘s way creepier and dramatic because while he‘s giving a speech the president‘s eyes start bleeding. Oooohhh ahhh ahhh ahhh. In case some of you were still looking for a Halloween book, I‘d say this counts. Lol Happy reading, Littens!

Love the view!!! weather, not so much ☹️It‘s muggy, humid and overcast. Having trouble focusing on my book. I think all the excitement from the days leading up to my trip have me overwhelmed (mentally & physically)

I‘ve arrived.... sort of! Just waiting for my flight to Miami but it‘s good to be back ❤️

This book certainly had remarkable timing--it's about a devastating pandemic and its earth-shattering consequences, and especially in the early stages a lot looks familiar. While not great in terms of characters (e.g., very unrealistic kids), the larger story is fascinating and well-researched, with lots of scientific history and geopolitical twists and turns. Read this book if you'd like to be reminded that things could be even worse.

My second digital loan expired without me finishing this audiobook. Honestly, the further I got into it, the less interested I was in finishing it. While I enjoyed the globe trotting race to solve the pandemic, I just never connected with any of the characters, which kept me from ever getting fully invested in the story. The narrator also has a boring monotone voice.

I started listening to this when it first was available from my library, but the loan expired before I could finish it. My second hold is now about to expire again, so I am trying to finish this before the end of the week! An interesting counterpoint to the Pull of the Stars, which I am also currently reading. Both of which are especially prescient currently!

Well... after saying I wasn‘t in the right brain-space for this, I promptly did this. #Judge2020bytheCover Using books from my bookshelves... let‘s see yours!

@marleed

If you took out the history of viruses, US/Russia relations, and the inner workings of domestic politics from this book, you would have a somewhat compelling novella.
Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright makes his 2nd foray into fiction and it didn't really work for me. There are moments that stretch believability and in one instance, an irrelevant flashback that only serves to pad the anemic story.
That said, it's a timely one!

Sounds so familiar...

Well that was... creepy. Believe it or not, I was hooked at first. It's crazy that this was released just before our own ish hit the fan, because the virus similarities are striking. But as time went on, things shifted further and further from "medical" to "political" and I grew weary. It tried to cram SO much in that it stopped doing anything particularly well (plot holes abound). And its lack of humanity felt like a real missed opportunity ??

I was amazed at the similarities between the virus in this book and our own current pandemic, considering this was written last year. It hits eerily close to home. But I didn‘t particularly love the writing style. It comes across as a thriller, with undertones of war and Russian interference. I think I was looking for more of the humanity aspect with better character development, and it just wasn‘t there.

There were a couple places where this was almost too much for me. I'd like to say it's too far fetched but unfortunately it's too on point for that. I'm glad I read it but I'm so unsettled now that I'm going to have to rethink what I read next. I need something light and frothy. #BookSpinBingo

🎧 Nothing like reading about a pandemic worse than our own to make you think! The timeliness is spooky! Plenty of history on past viruses, pandemics, etc & some politics.

The hero Henry Parsons was likable. There‘s some pretty far-out-there moments but it‘s fiction & forgivable.

Majid! Prince/doctor/soldier. Favorite character.

Liked Teddy & Helen. I‘m glad that storyline was included.

I read it strait through. Fun read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️2/3

This is next. Like many, I wonder how I'll feel about reading this in the midst of Covid 19. My Mr and I recovered nicely but we know a few people who weren't so lucky so I'm expecting this to be INTERESTING. 🤞

Was it a good idea to read this book in the middle of a pandemic? No. Do I feel better now that our pandemic is just a run-of-the-mill deadly flu and not a global super plot to unleash chaos and destruction on the world? Yes.

Also, if I wanted a history lesson in vaccines, pandemics and international relations, I wouldn‘t be picking up a novel.

The End of October is a very interesting book about a global pandemic without a vaccine in sight! Similar to what the world is facing now. Lawrence Wright started writing this novel in 2017 and was released in April 2020😳 To see the events come to fruition is astounding. As eerie as the book is, reading it is was tiresome. It had a slow build to it and then it leveled off. It took me a long time to read. But it‘s still worthwhile to check out.

Night snack & read since I am going into work later tomorrow.

So I started this book and realize it reads like an Non Fiction about diseases but the book is fiction and I am just not feeling it. So DNF it goes... Little sad about that... Just couldn't get into it.

If you've read this book you'll know why this story from The New York Times sent a shiver down my spine. 😬

Well, I may not be reading as much as I‘d like, but I‘m accruing books faster than I should! Here‘s some from recent hauls... 😁😍😁😍

#bookhaul

Finally unboxed my June #BOTM selections. Can‘t wait for ALL of them, for very different reasons! #bookhaul

I have to say I agree with @Reggie the first few pages were frighteningly close to what we are going through with coronavirus, I had to put it down😳.Wright finished it in the summer of 2019.In his interviews he is a little shocked that IRL came so soon after his speculation about whether the U.S. was prepared for something similar to the 1918 flu .It is fast paced & scary, I don‘t recommend reading it before bedtime.😳😳😳Stay safe , everybody!