Beauty by Robin McKinley

 I know I said I'd be reading Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling next and I'm actually 95 pages into that book but my brand new used copy of Beauty by Robin McKinley came today and I couldn't wait to start it.  

Beauty is not the first words of Robin McKinley I ever read as that was actually the first couple pages of The Blue Sword which my ADHD impacted brother, who still can't keep track of any of his possessions at nearly 60 years of age,  accidentally left in the back of our car one day.  (It should be noted that I'm only slightly better at keeping track of my belongings as we both inherited neurodivergence from our father and it has greatly impacted executive function in both of us.)  The Blue Sword will forever in my mind be know as the orange juice book for what I could remember of the first couple of pages a few years later when I saw the cover again.   However, I didn't get past that number of pages before it was reclaimed by my brother and it would be after I read Beauty before I ever had the chance to finish that story.

Beauty does probably have the claim of being the most read book of my adolescence.  I must have read it at least 20 times though I had to borrow it from the library every one of those times.  I managed to find a copy of the cover art of the book I read and it is at the top of this blog post though, try as I might, I couldn't find a good condition copy of the book with that cover art on it for what I can afford.  Anyway I'm now reading Beauty again.  We will see how it goes.

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

 Finished The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley.  This remains a much loved story that I enjoy the reading of.  It is taking me longer to read books than it did when I was younger but I suspect that has more to do with the fact that I have trouble reading for long periods of time.  I can't seem to sit still and keep getting distracted.  The end of the book had to be fueled by carrots and mini cucumbers and bacon cheddar ranch dip from Sam's Club.  I have to say that is very good dip.

Started The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

I'm not overly excited about starting Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling which in my mind I've nicknamed Depression are US so I decided to take a short break and started The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley.  This remains one of my favorite books from adolescence.  I, of course, related to the largely misunderstood Aerin and really was as lonely as she seemed to be in the book as I had a very difficult time making friends.  Having said that, in my 50s, I'm obviously much more settled by I still enjoy the simple, fun story.  

When I pick up this book I'm often left wondering why books have become so big?  It is a lovely complete story at 227 pages but sitting next to Stalking Darkness seems to be undersized.  I find I miss shorter books.  You could feel accomplished by reading one in a day even if you only had a couple of hours and they were much easier to hold and carry.  When I was a teen I could get 6 or 7 in my always oversized purse and never run out of reading material even if it turned out I didn't like a particular book.

Finished Luck in the Shadows

 Since I had a bit of time and a great deal of determination I was able to finish Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling today.  I forgot that it ended with to be continued though I remembered that the first two books were part of the same story.  I enjoyed the reread but am glad to now be able to move on to an actual book.  For some reason I read much slower on screens and it is really annoying but since I've misplaced my physical copy of the book there was no help for it.  I have the other books in physical copy.  I'm not really looking forward to Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling but it is the obvious book to read next.  So on to a not so cheerful read.

The Skeleton's Knee

Finished The Skeleton's Knee by Archer Mayor.  Descent mystery which just had to have people getting shot and killed during the story though the primary mystery was about a 20 year old corpse and another shooting that took place at the same time.   I liked Joe and enjoyed the mystery but I think I need to find a cozy with a 20 year old mystery because I could really do without worrying about the current characters.  I've gotten old at 52.

Let's talk Sjogren's syndrome and reading

 Sjogren's syndrome is one of the many autoimmune disorders that a person can be unfortunate enough to have.  It is probably one of the better ones as these things go especially compare to Rheumatoid Arthritis and crohn's disease but it still causes issues big and small and some of them, at least for me, are with reading.

I have two problems.  The first is that dry eyes causing blurry vision.  I try to solve this with eyedrops and for the most part it works though I'm about to try an eye ointment to see if the good effects last a bit longer.  

The bigger problem for me is joint and muscle pain.  It is very hard to enjoy reading when it causes you pain and holding a book or kindle for more than 5 minutes definitely causes me pain.  However I'm determined to find a way for this to work.  Right now it is by reading from my desktop computer when the kindle gets to heavy but I'm going to try some other ideas.  My thoughts are a wrist brace as the most pain is in my wrist and the added support might be helpful or a pillow tablet and book support.  

If anyone stumble's across this post and has better suggestions please share them and I'll be posting a follow up post in case I can help someone else.

New favorite quote from Luck in the Shadows.

"Seregil rubbed absently at the hidden scar and reflected that, on the whole, his life seemed to be in greater disarray than usual."

Luck in the Shadows and The Skeleton's Knee

 I love YouTube and was looking for someone on BookTube I wanted to listen to but there wasn't anyone who came close to my taste in books.  Most likely this is a combination of the fact that I'm years out of date on books and that the books I read are all over the place.  

Currently I'm rereading Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling and listening to The Skeleton's Knee by Archer Mayor.

Luck in the Shadows is a much loved fantasy book that I have enjoyed a number of times before.  The last time was in 2021 though I don't remember much about it as that year was the year my mother passed away and by the time she passed I had spent a number of years sleep deprived in the extreme.  I believe I first read this book in 2004.  Unfortunately I'm missing a number of details and I've never gone past the original trilogy so when I started to read Shadow's Return, book 4 in the series, I found the references confusing.  So we begin again.  Below there may be spoilers.

It is now 2024

It is now 2024 and I just saw that I haven't published anything on  here since 2020.  It has been a tough few years.  

1. My mother was very ill and had been very ill for a number of years and I was caught up taking care of her.  She has since passed away.  

2. I'm not going to read previous posts but when I started this blog I was able to read quite a bit at work but that hasn't been the case for over 11 years.

3. For many years the majority of my reading was audio books but I am just now getting back into reading physical books and e-books so what I may say here will be a mix.

4.  I just want to keep track of the books I read and what I'm thinking about them.  In short this will be for the joy of books and if someone happens to come along and want to comment maybe we will have a fun conversation.