My book club is reading Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower. On the plus side, playing the audiobook at 1.5X reduces the panic attack to just 8 hours. 🙃 - ThreadSky

lizdye.bsky.social • 81 days ago

My book club is reading Octavia Butler's The Parable of the Sower.

On the plus side, playing the audiobook at 1.5X reduces the panic attack to just 8 hours.

🙃

Comments

demwriter.bsky.social•80 days ago

I need to read it again, but I'm afraid to. The first time sent me into a real tailspin.

buzrex.bsky.social•81 days ago

Do I need to add a whole new type of fuel to my existential dread?

Sounds like a yes.

buzrex.bsky.social•80 days ago

@lizdye.bsky.social

THIS WAS A MISTAKE.

I should have waited... one fascist regime.

coreyv.bsky.social•79 days ago

So spot on. The plausibility of the first book is eerie and somehow amplified in the second.

jnrn.bsky.social•80 days ago

You’ll need a lot of wine at your book group meeting. Such a tense book for our times!

reneeguillwriter.bsky.social•79 days ago

I haven't read that in decades. She's an amazing writer. I don't think I could handle that book today, with my anxiety issues. 🖖

azzageddi.bsky.social•81 days ago

Mine too! And I'm listening to the audiobook (though I've read the paperback, which I still have--it's been a long time and I need to reread as I'm hosting the session).
https://app.thestorygraph.com/book_clubs/4cf79638-5226-46ba-8470-540fee712e1d

bevinne.bsky.social•79 days ago

Ah, I've reserved it at my library. I've been looking forward to it but now I'm not sure my heart can take it, lol, not lol.

lauraelliott3.bsky.social•81 days ago

😂

suecarnold.bsky.social•80 days ago

Wait until you read Parable of the Talents 😬 you’ll need to listen minimally at 5x speed.

jump3dtheshark.bsky.social•80 days ago

Amazing book! The sequel follows the rise of a theocracy. On point for this moment I fear

andreafred.bsky.social•80 days ago

I need a new book, I am going to look at this one. Ty

lgtaylor.bsky.social•81 days ago

I am a person who reads a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction because it makes me feel weirdly hopeful (plucky survivors overcome the odds), but Parable of the Sower just flat out scared me.

chickenmama707.bsky.social•80 days ago

It inspired me (finally) to create a go-bag, including paper maps…

lizdye.bsky.social•81 days ago

Ughhh. I’m finding it excruciating.

samm1955.bsky.social•80 days ago

Yes, read that and Parabel of Talents. Written in the late 90's and the story includes a unhinged president whose slogan was "make america great again.

andrewrfrench.bsky.social•80 days ago

For real?

z.propheteer.org•79 days ago

For real
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Talents_(novel)

dspizza.bsky.social•80 days ago

I read it last summer. At the time I wished she lived long enough to write a prequel. I don't feel that way now because we're living it. Drill, baby, drill; wipe away clean air and water, oh, my!

teresagomez.bsky.social•80 days ago

I had to bump it up to 1.5x too. I listened to most of it walking in the woods with my dogs which was not a great choice for my anxiety.
I bought a fire starter kit and and first aid/survival kit for my bug out bag. Everything is fine. 😨

kaurifish.bsky.social•80 days ago

Thank goodness I discovered Butler back in the '90s when her forecasts were still about the day after tomorrow, not yesterday.
Also, her advice about the publishing industry is why I'm an indie author now.

rachelwash78.bsky.social•80 days ago

And to clarify I WILL read it…just at what particular time….??
😄

rachelwash78.bsky.social•80 days ago

I’ve been meaning to read it

chicagojcb.bsky.social•80 days ago

I am reading it as a regular book. Last night I had to put it down and go do something else.

smchugh630.bsky.social•80 days ago

I read Sower a few weeks ago. As disturbing as it was, it ended on a hopeful note. The sequel is really dark and way too relevant right now. I couldn’t finish it.

motherofmushrooms.bsky.social•80 days ago

I’ve had to take breaks because it is so relevant at the moment.

lilyuno.bsky.social•80 days ago

Just received it as a gift a couple of weeks ago. Ive clearly been putting off starting it. 😭

camillev52.bsky.social•79 days ago

I started this on Libby audiobook, but it always puts me to sleep to listen to books at bedtime. Next time I will try with a regular e-book, but it was a long waitlist.

sinistar7510.bsky.social•80 days ago

It's a pretty realistic peek into what life is going to be like in 10 to 20 years except maybe fascism in America is a little ahead of schedule.

puddlejumper011.bsky.social•81 days ago

...and then you read Parable of the Talents and panic just a little bit more, despite thinking that you were all panicked out for the month re book club.

elliemargolis.bsky.social•81 days ago

I just re-read that a couple weeks ago. This time around it felt like an instruction manual.

deborahahrens.bsky.social•80 days ago

Me too.

megtaintor.bsky.social•80 days ago

I’ve been working my way through Parable of the Talents for months now. It’s great, but I keep having to walk away from it because it’s just too terrifying.

friend-0.bsky.social•80 days ago

Read it in Dec. and I truly believe she was a time traveler. I can’t read the sequel (yet) because I’m still really depressed on what we’ve become. Stay Safe & read whatever the hell you want. ✌️

njsmith.bsky.social•81 days ago

😬

blue25boy.bsky.social•80 days ago

I'm currently reading that!!!

vero1986.bsky.social•80 days ago

Berlin, 1933, white Nazi students pulled books off a truck and threw them into a public square. Works by Albert Einstein; Helen Keller, Theodore Dreiser, and more. Books they stole that didn’t support Nazi ideology encouraging free thinking.
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/democracy-as...

vero1986.bsky.social•80 days ago

Read everything 📚
Go to the library and visit your friends

teacher12.bsky.social•80 days ago

I retired on Friday after working 54 years. Parable of the Sower is the first book on my reading list.

brittbritt13.bsky.social•80 days ago

I had to stop listening to it! I started in November and the anxiety was just too high and I had to stop. Maybe I can woman up , put my big girl panties on and start it again.

mswillnotgoback.bsky.social•81 days ago

It’s a wonderful read. Enjoy it. Hits a little close to home, eh?

njsmith.bsky.social•81 days ago

A tad. Especially since I’ve moved back to Southern California and the landscape is, well, here and now.

johnsisko.bsky.social•80 days ago

The panic doesn't stop, it just seeps into the marrow of one's bones and lines the neural pathways, a dormant fungal infection waiting for the next newscast.

haleycyon.bsky.social•79 days ago

Recently finished it and loved it. Went ahead to Parable of the Talents, but had to take a break for something more lighthearted. It's just a lot with everything going on lol.

dadair1.bsky.social•80 days ago

Wonderfully book by a wonderful author. Read it years ago. No sure why everyone is suddenly reading it now 😬🙄

chickenmama707.bsky.social•80 days ago

Because it opens in 2025, and (having been written in the 1990s) feels quite prophetic.

dadair1.bsky.social•80 days ago

I was being a bit sarcastic 😀. So glad that Butler is finally getter her due.

dus1e.bsky.social•79 days ago

Glad to hear I’m not the only one that sometimes speeds up books! 🥰

iwasanoptimist.bsky.social•80 days ago

Her writing is so powerful. I couldn’t get past the scene where the main character sees the little girl run out of the alley bleeding.

redgp.bsky.social•80 days ago

Hope you also read The PARABLE of the testaments.

gammareigh.bsky.social•80 days ago

Please follow up with the Talents. The Sower left me a wreck, but the second book really helped to calm me.

sandycat56.bsky.social•79 days ago

I’ve not read one. Maybe it will bring back some hope.

yanceylot.bsky.social•80 days ago

Us too!

coreyslack.bsky.social•81 days ago

Great book. Read it with my book club a few years ago. It was easily one of the most beloved books we’ve read in 3-4 years of doing the club.

deblnelson.bsky.social•81 days ago

I think about this book everyday.

iaindelaney.com•80 days ago

Read that a couple of years ago. Saw that the sequel was even MORE depressing, so I skipped it. Later learned that she planned it to be a trilogy but the third book was SO depressing she never finished writing it. Can you imagine?

gotham-lark.bsky.social•81 days ago

Mrs. Butler was just hitting her stride with the parable books. Everything she wrote I could get my hands on had me enthralled.

srhrah.bsky.social•80 days ago

It’s really soul crushing and scarily real. talents is also those things but more hopeful towards the end. I read them in undergrad in 2010 and then again in january this year. WOOF it’s such a difference reading it mid fall of american society

aksassygirl.bsky.social•80 days ago

I just started it but I’m having a hard time deciding if I want to continue.

ebwell.bsky.social•80 days ago

I started reading it again the weekend of the LA wildfires and whooo boy did I pick the wrong week.

kaitydid21.bsky.social•80 days ago

Oh god

deborahahrens.bsky.social•80 days ago

Re-read that last month and egad.

jpcolindesign.bsky.social•80 days ago

Wonderful author.

theambercampbell.com•80 days ago

The only thing that reduces the panic is action. Decide what slice you can take on and get started.

ecterbob.bsky.social•80 days ago

She was an amazing author but that book depressed me for a week. Probably because it described such a likely future.

heatherupperleft.bsky.social•80 days ago

I just bought this book and now I’m kinda scared to read it

sl0wt0wn.bsky.social•80 days ago

It's on my list of things to read, but there are so many things on that list, and they all feel equally urgent and necessary, and they're all going to give me an anxiety attack.

spotonthesun.bsky.social•80 days ago

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

hamybear.bsky.social•80 days ago

Oh my god! My book club did it too! We just had our discussion Friday and now we are all depressed.

theblackveggie.bsky.social•80 days ago

I read it last year. Lauren’s optimism got me through it.

jackieb5.bsky.social•80 days ago

😆
For those struggling to get through it, I highly recommend the podcast Octavia's Parables hosted by Toshi Reagon and adrienne maree brown - they ground the heavy subjects with discussion and questions.

iamantigone.bsky.social•79 days ago

Reading it now and it's feeling very close to home.

ezzielouise.bsky.social•80 days ago

I've purchased this and would love book club to do it so I can force myself to read it as otherwise not sure I will

10dogmom.bsky.social•80 days ago

Play the audio book backwards. It's the Monkees Greatest Hits.

mjclayman.bsky.social•80 days ago

The parable duo is so darned amazing.

jamesgleventhal.bsky.social•80 days ago

The audio book read by Lynne Thigpen, so good!! 😮‍💨🥹💜

arctcfx.bsky.social•80 days ago

I read it a few years back, and it absolutely wrecked me with how prescient it was. Then the sequel ripped my heart out and stomped on it. Truly excellent works!

kjomo.bsky.social•80 days ago

Great book!

tornadobunnyaurora.bsky.social•80 days ago

I want to read that

ebwell.bsky.social•80 days ago

It’s really, really…a lot.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply