Pick-a-Shelf discussion

September Shelf is social-media

What did you read?
Has it changed your thoughts on social media? Are you tempted to sign up to one? or another one?

I read Seatmate, book 3 in the lovelines series, which are made for audio audible originals. The thing I like about this series is that the characters are genuinely good people and develop a healthy relationship, but it's still a good story. The main character is a pro blogger but the story didn't feature social media heavily apart from that.
3.5 stars

Read for seriously serial
I nominate books about books

I've read The Inheritance Games [06-sep-2022] 4 stars

An intriguing mystery that keeps you guessing. Interesting characters. Very entertaining book.

Read for: Seriously Serial
I'd like to nominate: adventure

I read Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde and gave it 3 stars. This was a cute tale. It reads like fan fiction which is kind of endearing given the subject matter. Love all the representation!

I nominate magical realism.

I read The Circle by Dave Eggers, which is a social-media-themed dystopia. It didn't really change my views on social media, but it was notable in that it was the first dystopian novel I've read in which the protagonist was a major player in the authoritarian organization, rather than a member of the resistance.

While I'm on the subject, I'll nominate dystopia.

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Daphne is a successful insta influencer, sharing messages of body positivity. She is invited to be a bridesmaid for her ex best frenemie, the wealthy and horrible Dru. This starts off as a good chick lit novel, but halfway through there's a bit of a twist and it becomes a mystery. I really enjoyed it overall, even though I though the mystery aspect was a bit clumsy.

I nominate magical realism

I read Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, by Jaron Lanier. Lanier is credited with being the creator of VR (virtual reality), so he's very much a Silicone Valley tech company insider. Nevertheless, he's convinced that the algorithms the major social media companies (especially Facebook and Google) use to target users inherently sow discord and are easy for outside interests to take advantage of.

I don't much care for Lanier's BUMMER acronym, and I think he overuses it. But there is a lot of background and history I didn't know, and some of it goes a long way to explaining a lot of the crazy stuff going on in our world today.

It's an easy, quick read, with a lot of meat to it. So, even though you may not even consider giving up your social media accounts (I'm not), I think it's well worth reading. I think I'll be a bit more savvy about what I'm willing to do on Facebook and Google and their sub-companies, choosing to use email instead for some things, and maybe even considering moving to a different search engine.

I read Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill, 4,5 stars.

The setting is a dystopic world where women are created in a laboratory rather than given birth to. They are "hatched" like birds. Every year there are 30 of them, 3 for each Inheritant, and at their 17th design-date they will be chosen either as companions or concubines. They are only there to satisfy men's needs: to give them sons if they are chosen as companions or to satisfy their sexual needs if they are chosen as concubines. The protagonist is freida (their names are not capitalized as they are only commodities), whose best friend isabel grows ever more distant. They basically live on social media, especially MyFace, where they post photos as well as audio statuses (they can neither read nor write).

"The need to record my life is as fundamental as my need to breathe. Without MyFace, I'm floating. I have nothing to anchor me down, to prove I exist."

This is a great dystopia. It's also a YA, but it can be read by people of all ages and you don't have to like YA to enjoy this book. Well, "enjoy" is not really the right word. The book is extremely upsetting and I advise against reading it if you suffer from eating disorders. These girls are taught to be perfect, they strive towards perfection and attractiveness at all times, they want to be perfect, thin, beautiful. They have a target weight they must not exceed and they're not allowed to cry, lest they become ugly.

I really liked this book, although I have to stress it's very disturbing, so don't read it if you don't like this sort of books.

I nominate dystopia.

ETA: I forgot to say that I used this for Just Read It prompt 6.

I read Crosstalk by Connie Willis I give it 4 stars it would be more but it started very slowly.
Review:Briddy Flannigan is thrilled when her boyfriend Trent wants them to get a new technology implanted that is supposed to bring them even closer together. But when she starts hearing someone else instead of Trent she is very confused. Does it mean that Trent is not her soulmate? Is it the other person. Along with add her very intrusive Irish family who bug her constantly at work, at home. She cannot think straight.

The first part of the book seems a bit slow but around the 1/3 mark it picks up and then I really enjoyed the ride.

I nominate: Favorite Authors
Used in: By the Month

I read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wade Watts is a teenager in the year 2044. His life is pretty miserable and he finds himself most of the time living in a virtual world call the OASIS! The creator of the OASIS passes away and he leaves a puzzle for everyone to solve and the winner inherits his fortune and administrative control of the network. Let the games begin and Wade finds himself right in the middle.

I really wanted to love this book and I did like it, but wished for more. Maybe I'm too old or because I've never been too much of a gamer. Anyway I gave it four stars and will not read the second book in this series!

I nominate dystopia.

[THIS SHOULD HAVE GONE INTO THE OCTOBER MONTHLY THREAD - REPOSTING THERE]

I read The Dinner by Herman Koch
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book should be filed on the same shelf with We Need to Talk About Kevin, Defending Jacob, and maybe also with The Wasp Factory and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. In other words, books with very disturbing, grim themes and unlikeable characters from whom it's hard to look away.

Unlike some reviewers, I found the book compulsively readable and thought that the author managed to entrap me in just what his characters were describing--wanting to watch a horrible thing happen from a just safe enough distance. I felt where the book was going, hated it, but kept going anyway wanting to see it through to the unpleasant and decidedly non-uplifting end.

I don't know that I'll rush to recommend this because of the overall bleakness, but the writing was excellent and I found the pages flew by. Best to go into this one knowing little to nothing about the plot or details.

I nominate guilty-pleasures

I read No One Is Talking About This and it is very evident why this book is on a social media page as it is as disjointed and full of misinformation in its paragraphs of Part 1 as are most social media pages. I gave it a generous 3* due to the story of the second half, the birth of a baby with Proteus Syndrome to the protagonist's sister. Yes, Part II, which was not social media based (well, not as much) saved the book as far as I am concerned.

There is a reason why I do not read in this genre.

OK...I take back my last comment. I am finishing an audiobook that fits this shelf: Logging Off by Nick Spalding.

It is a fun, delightful, tale of a young man who suffered from many stress related ailments and whose doctor recommended a digital detox. So he ends up becoming an analog person for 60 days...or that was the original plan anyway. Along the way, he has lots of funny yet so true experiences. This book changed my mind.

Definitely a 5* read.