by Questions from https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/138441.html
1. What is your all time favorite book?
I answered this for another the friday five set a year ago, so here’s a copy/paste of that one because the answer is still the same!
I don’t have singular favorite books that stand above all the others no matter what genre they are. More like I have some favorites in a few genres and they tend to change sometimes depending on my mood and what new books I have read. But here’s some that have remain on the favorite lists for a long while:
Scifi favorites: The Expanse book series by James S. A. Corey and Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. These two revealed to me that I can love modern scifi in novel format very much! I’ve never enjoyed reading classic older scifi such as Asimov or Herbert or Le Guin and and didn’t care for the more modern ones either that I found either and for a long time it felt like that only what’s in my libraries so I stopped looking at some point and just watched all the scifi tv and movies I could get my hands on. Then I came across Seveneves, then started watching The Expanse tv series and read those books and then started to look at what the readers of those properties had also liked and found some newer hard scifi (in English) that I liked.
Scifi/paranormal/supernatural/speculative fiction faves: Whispers, Lightning and House of Thunder all by Dean R. Koontz. Koontz used to write really good books!
2. What is your all time favorite movie?
The first movies that always immediately pop up in my mind when I see this question are The Last of the Mohicans and The Piano. So I guess those two are my all time faves! Although Alien and Aliens should also make that list for scifi.
3. What are you reading right now?
There are several books I’m currently reading!
Most actively I’m working on Rakel by Satu Rämö (because I won’t be able to renew it due to there being 1850+ holds on it). The Satu Rämö Hildur book series is hugely successful and popular – she’s a Finn living in Iceland is writing a fictional crime series of a Icelandic detective Hildur and a Finnish-police-student-who-moved-to-Iceland Jakob working together in Iceland, solving crimes and Hildur’s family mysteries and crimes. I loved the first two books in the series, but was disappointed by the 3rd one which was supposed to focus on Jakob but didn’t (even the book’s name was Jakob!), and this 4th installment is about Hildur’s mother Rakel. I like the current timeline mysteries/crimes solving but I’m totally uninterested in the chapters set in early 1990s and which are of Rakel’s POV and life. But yeah, I have to focus on reading this one because I’ll have to return it in 3 weeks. Luckily it’s easy to read and not a thick one.
The book I’m most excited about is Piirileikki by Carin Gerhadsen though! It’s a 4th in the crime series about a Hammarby murder squad. I loved all the three previous books in the series I’ve read, but you really need to read them in correct order. This one is sort of my reward for reading a bit of Rakel every day.
Another book that I really should start is Peilityyni by Riina Raevaara. Another in a series, this time about a scientist who gets involved in sciency dangers/mysteries and whose own past has sciency secrets as well. This book also has about 50 holds on it waiting, so I probably won’t be able to renew it when the due date is in 3 weeks. Which I only realized while checking my list of library books for this question! So I really need to get started on that, and leave the Carin Gerhardsen to the side for now. Tiina Raevaara is a Finnish author so that’s nice!
Other books I’ve also started on: Ashley Bell by Dean R. Koontz, The Last Testament by Sam Bourne and Ilmetty (The Likeness) by Tana French.
Ashley Bell is weird in that I’m not sure whether I have read it already or not! I’m pretty sure I’ve read shorter something involving the same name by Koontz before, then there was this brick of a book that I’m not sure if I’ve read it or not, I just remember being confused about this title before in the same way but I don’t remember whether I read this brick too or not! Also I find myself skipping a lot – too much purple prose, seemingly unrelated heroics by the main character’s Navy SEAL boyfriend on the other side of the world, and there’s so much details about guns and everyone seems to happy to carry a gun and ’cause everybody carrying a gun and being gun happy isn’t a thing here in Finland, it seems really weird and off and MAGA. I’ve noticed that gun thing in a couple of other recent Koontz books too, and it’s feeling like he’s very gun happy these days. I don’t like it. Just in general I’m not sure I like this book, the main character is awfully cutesy so far and so young I can’t really connect with her at all.
I’m also reading Työttömyys sattuu : arjen kamppailuja työllistämistoimien rattaissa by Sari Näre, Lena Näre which a sosiolocigal study about the effects of being unemployed for a long time and is compiled from the writing challenge for the unemployed about their experiences, by researcherrs/scholars. This study has been peer reviewed. I didn’t write for the challenge, but reading the experiences of other long term unemployed shared for this project, there are so much that could be directly from my own experiences and story. It’s a good read but hard, and I can’t help but think that the people who the very most need to read it, are the ones who could not be less interested: namely prime minister Petteri Orpo and finance minister Riikka Purra but in general, right wing party people. As well as people who do not have personal experience in being unemployed for a year or more, no matter their political leanings.
I’m also in the middle of Kivinen purje by Åke Edwards. I’ve read the series before but recently re-watched the tv series made based on the books, got the thirst to read the books again. They’re so old now that are no holds on them and I can renew them as much as a I like, so this one is sort of my whenever I don’t have anything else to read!
4. What is your favorite show on TV?
This one changes too! If we’re talking all time favorites well, obviously Star Trek TOS, TNG and DS9.
If we’re talking about currently airing tv shows: The Last of Us. A few weeks ago, it was The Pitt when it aired.
5. What is the last movie you saw in the theater?
I think maybe The Queen? IMDB says it came out in 2007 here in Finland. I went to see it with my Mom – we’re both huge Helen Mirren fans! I liked it because Helen Mirren and she’s always awesome. My migraine went chronic and of breathing hurts kind in 2008 and I can’t even think about enduring a movie theatre since then. I don’t think I saw another movie in the theatre after The Queen and Helen Mirren but before the migraine went awful. If I did, it was so forgettable that I have no recollection.
