Stuff, some things maybe

It's Sunday night, I have a Lily-scarf across my neck, so of course it's the perfect time for a vague sort of life-update post.

I say "vague" because not a lot has been happening, really. Patrick turned seven(!!!) last month, I turned 43(!!!) a couple of weeks ago, and life shuffles along as it is wont to do.

Patrick asked me a few weeks ago if scientists were real, because he wanted to know if he could learn to make potions. After assuring him that yes, scientists are real, he now wants to be  a chemist. It's an advance on a ninja or Spider-man anyway.

All valid career choices, obviously.

Work remains work-ish. There's not a lot to say when you literally, actually work in an office from 9-5.

The period of doom hasn't returned *fingers crossed*, and now I'm just waiting to hear about a scan.

I saw What We Do in the Shadows - a Kiwi-made vampire comedy - yesterday, and it's hilarious. Very, very Kiwi in its sensibilities and sense of humour, and very unapologetic about it.

Great fun.

Uh ...... I also slayed a dragon and discovered life on a distant planet.

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted by Sheila, here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

It's been a couple of weeks, I'm not sure what happened there.

Anyway. I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude, and it remains as devastating as ever.

I also embarked on another graphic novel, and read the first part of Y: The Last Man. I liked it a lot, but I'm going to dig deeper into it before I go any further than "like."

I finally picked up Shirley Jackson, and read We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which is a creepy little novel.

I finished Dog Will Have His Day, which is .... odd. Interesting, but kind of odd. However, that might have been the translation, I'm not sure.

I'm still reading Wool, and The City & The City. I got Mr Mercedes by Stephen King for my birthday last week, and I'm half way through that.

That's ... a lot of dudes. Next up, to balance the universe, a lot of ladies.

What are you reading?

It's Monday

It's that time of the week. :-)

Your meme is hosted by Sheila, here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I finished The Snow Child by Eowyn Levy last week, and I have to say I liked it really rather a lot. It's set in 1920s Alaska, and it felt like the landscape was a whole other character.

It's based on the old fairytale which, from memory ends rather sadly, but The Snow Child was great. A little sad, but great.

I also read Daytripper, a graphic novel by Fabio Moon. It's a kind of day in the life/stream of consciousness thing, which highlights different days in one man's life. At the end of each segment, the man dies, and it all kind of knits together at the end. I really, really enjoyed it.

I also read The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon, which was a nice, light read after the previous two angst-fests.

Now, I'm reading Wool by Hugh Howey, and I'm about to start Dog Will Have His Day by Fred Vargas, and embark on a re-read of The City & The City by China Mieville with Jodie. And I'm slowly making my way through One Hundred Years of Solitude for the fourth time.

What are you reading?

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan is framed as the memoirs of the early days of famed dragon naturalist, Lady Isabelle Trent.

Lady Isabelle decides to write her own story her own way, and delves into her own early life with refreshing honesty.

I was, I have to say, expecting more dragons, but ultimately A Natural History of Dragons isn't really about dragons at all, but about Lady Isabelle forging her own path in a world that has very definite ideas about what is and is not suitable for a young lady.

Needless to say, Isabelle has her own ideas on what's appropriate, and before she knows it she's on an expedition with her new husband to a remote location to study dragons.

I enjoyed A Natural History of Dragons, but I felt like I was waiting for something to happen the whole time. There's a lot of sort of .. running about with not getting much done, and a sub-plot that reminded me of an Enid Blyton novel I read as a youngster (I can't remember the name of it - it had Mountain in the title), and then at the end there's a bit of a rush of  A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENING VERY QUICKLY and it felt a bit unbalanced.

Still.

Dragons.

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I'm about halfway through One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I'm reading on my lunchbreaks at work, so it's slow-going.

It's always good to revisit a favourite though.

I started The Snow Child by Eowyn Levy yesterday, and on Saturday, finished The Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan.

Not sure what's up next, but I'm hopefully back on track after a relatively slow reading patch.

What are you reading?

Health stuff and hey I read some books

See here: http://justaddbooks.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/readathon-and-health-thingies.html

And now, the sequel. (This gets TMI for anyone who's a bit delicate about discussion of interior ladyparts).

I went back to the doc, and I'm anemic (which, I had my period for three weeks, NO SHIT SHERLOCK) and I have an infection. So I have iron tablets and antibiotics. Yay.

Anyway. I'm waiting to hear back from the hospital about an ultrasound, and after that the doc said the next likely step would be a Mirena coil, which is apparently a tiny magic piece of plastic that gets fitted inside your ladyparts, lasts for five years, and reduces/stops your period.

I AM VERY ON BOARD WITH THIS. But nothing can happen till after the scan. Doc said getting the coil fitted wouldn't be my best day ever but honestly after the period of doom, I don't care - lol.

I also learned that, at the tender age of 42, I'm not menopausal. So, there's that.

And that's what you missed on Glee!

Now, reading. I'm a bit behind with the goodreads challenge now - six books apparently - but I have finished a few since I last did a mini-reviews post. I'm not going to do another one now - I'm too lazy - but suffice it to say I'm keeping up with my challenges - Women Writers, the TBR challenge and also Once Upon a Time, so there's that at least.

Most recently I've finished
A Storm of Swords part 1 by George R R Martin
Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
Adaptation by Miranda Lo
While We Run by Karen Healey.

I've had a good run because I did enjoy all of those books a lot. Especially Adaptation, and While We Run, which is the sequel to Healey's novel When We Wake. I'm going to hand-wave writing reviews because I'm lazy and still kind of recovering.

Now I'm re-reading One Hundred Years of Solitude for the fourth time (RIP Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and reading A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan which is taking me ages to finish for some reason.

:D

Readathon - introductory meme

I'm cheering rather than reading, but won't be doing any actual cheering until tomorrow morning my time, as I live in the future.

(Yes. The future IS so bright you'll need to wear shades.)

Anyway, on to the readathon introductory meme:


1) What fine part of the world are you reading (cheering) from today? New Zealand :-)
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? No stack, but I'm hoping to get around all the blogs on #teambutler :-)
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Mid-afternoon cup of tea tomorrow.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I'm 42 years old, I think I've taken part in one way or another in every single readathon and uh ...... I like cats.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? Same as always - have fun! :D