Saturday, March 16, 2024

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.

Friday, March 15, 2024

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.

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Readathon April 2020 Closing post

How would you assess your reading overall?

 My overall reading was good and I was able to get a whole book done in the 6-7 hours I actually had to read.  I had hoped to have more time but since I haven't moved to a private cabin in the woods by myself that was wishful thinking at best.
 .
Did you have a strategy, and if so, did you stick to it? 

My only strategy was to read when I could and so I guess I stuck to it.  It's always easier to stick to the simple plans.

What was your favorite snack? 

Marinated mushrooms and chocolate/white chocolate truffles.

Wanna volunteer for our next event?  

Volunteering for anything just isn't in the cards for me as long as my mother lives.  Caregiving is a better than full time job it turns out which negates most things except eating and sleep and sleep is pretty iffy.


Final Thoughts: I read an actual book for probably the first time in 2 years.  I've listened to many books as I would go insane without stories and audio books are my lifeline to sanity but reading has been impossible.  Carving out the time, even on readathon day, was very interesting as my brother needed tax/stimulus check help, my mother doesn't understand the whole concept of give your daughter a day off and my niece had a complete meltdown  while caring for her but reading did happen and I very much enjoyed it!  I should mention that in principle my family supports giving me a break on readathon day but in practice it won't happen as long a my mother lives and I love my mother a lot more than reading.