Category: Reading

Categories Blog Memes & Asks Personal Reading

Look On 2021 – Reading Meme

 

How many books read in 2022?

37 fiction novels cover to cover. Two novels I couldn’t finish – one because I just couldn’t muster enough interest beyond the beginning, and one because I ran out of time to finish it before it needed to be returned to the library due to it having other holds on it waiting. That one I will re-borrow sometime this year.

Plus something like a 1,5-2 million words of fanfic, propably.

Plus a bunch of non-fiction books about baking, and random subjects such as iron defiency or pictorial history books about my home town.

Favorite first-time read?

Ancestral Night and Machine (White Space #1 and #2) by Elizabeth Bear.

Least favorite first-time read?

Mentalisti by Camilla Läckberg & Henrik Fexeus. Just cliche-ridden, meandering and predictable.

Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?

Probably something like 95% fiction, 5% non-fiction. Roughly estimated.

Author gender breakdown?

4 novels by men, all the others by women as far as I can tell purely by names.

Most books read by one author this year?

8 novels by Minette Walters.

Any in translation?

My mother tongue is Finnish. Majority are Finnish translations from English, a bunch from Swedish.

In languages other than English?

My mother tongue being Finnish, the majority of them! I did read 7 novels in English, and all the fanfic was also in English.

Oldest?

Ruumis jääkellarissa (The Ice House) by Minette Walters was published in Finnish in 1995. That one is probably the oldest this time round.

Newest?

About half of the 37 were published in 2021 and 2020, and that’s too many to list.

Longest Title?

Quickly counting the characters in the longest titles and the winner is… Vedenpaisumuksen lapset by Risto Isomäki

Shortest Title?

Pyörre by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Longest book?

I don’t know, I don’t keep count of the page count. A lot (most?) of them were in the 400-500 page range.

And of course, many of the fics I read were well over 100,000 words.

Shortest book?

Ruutitynnyri (The Tinder Box) by Minette Walters

Format of books read?

Paper: 35
Ebook: 2

Re-reads?

At least 5 of the Minette Walters that I know because I actually remember reading them. These are re-reads from 90s and 00s. I’m not sure of the other 3 Minette Walters – they might also be-rereads, but I can’t say for sure I remember them.

First book acquired:

Didn’t buy or get a book as a gift this year. All were library loans.

Last book acquired:

Didn’t buy or get a book as a gift this year. All were library books.

First book finished:

I’m not sure but probably Elsewhere by Dean R. Koontz, or Pyörre by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. I usually have at least two books under works at the same time, and these two are the first ones on my list of books read in 2021.

Last book finished:

Ihon alla by Tiina Raevaara

Book that most changed my perspective:

Semiosis/Inteference by Sue Burke

Favorite character:

None. More like favorite concepts. Such as the plant world in Semiosis/Inteference. So different from what I’m used to reading!

Favorite scene:

None

Favorite Quote:

None

What do you want to read in 2022?

I hope White Space #3 will come out – although I’m not even sure if there’s supposed to be #3!

I’m salivating for the last book of The Expanse series – I’m in line to get it from the library. But there are no Finnish translations of the series done, and only one copy in the original language in local libraries so it’ll take months to get it because it’s only just been published. Last I looked I was number 4 waiting in the line, so assuming everyone keeps it only for the month that is allowed and no overtime, I’ll get it some in May.. waah! I’m trying very hard to be patient, but it’s with ill grace!

Categories Blog Health Personal Reading

Health & Personal Update

Picture from Pixabay, because pretty.

Still struggling with iron defiency. I’ve been taking oral iron supplements for 11 months now and my ferritin levels haven’t improved practically at all. It got from 9 to 21 to 18 and then stayed there, and then the iron supplements finally in mid-September started to make my Crohn’s Disease symptoms worse so I had to stop taking it. My ferritin should be at least 100 because of IBD to be sure that the iron levels are sufficient. Going to have to talk about this to my doctor in my yearly check-up at the end of November. Ideally I should be given an iron transfusion because the oral supplements aren’t effective and I have IBD, but doctors are extremely reluctant just generally to do them; most of them don’t even admit that ferritin has any impact on the body and a person’s well being. So it’s a continuing struggle. I have so many problems (exhaustion that never goes away, daily headache, chronic migraine, memory problems, weakness in limbs, joint pains etc.) that might be helped with getting the ferritin up properly, especially the head pain and exhaustion and I’d like to find out if an iron infusion could help my quality of life.

Otherwise I’ve been much the same as all this year – same level, lesser Crohn’s symptoms since I changed the dose and timing of Agiocur (thanks for the tip, gastroenterologist!) in last November so I’m glad about that. But still daily headache, exhaustion. On the other hand, my sleep’s been a lot better (no waking up a million times) and my insomnia is better – I can usually fall asleep now when I go to bed, for some reason – don’t ask me why – I don’t know! Still sleep about 11-14 hours a day though (without any dent in the tiredness) unless I have to set the alarm because I need to be somewhere. And a few days a month I sleep for 22 hours, only waking up to take my meds during that time. As for my day – I’m usually awake 8-12 hours. It’s been like this at least since 2010, but apparently it’s normal to be tired and sleep a lot when you have IBD, according to gastroenterologists that I’ve complained to. I just don’t get how I’m supposed to work feeling like this so it’s a good thing I’ve been unemployed ever since I got ill.

I dyed my hair red with henna about a month ago, and that’s lifted my spirits 😀

Haven’t felt much like doing site work in the last several weeks, just haven’t felt like it. Also haven’t had energy for creative endeavours since the heatwave broke, I guess recovering from it takes its time.

I’ve been reading a lot this summer and fall and I’m so happy about that! 😀 I’ve been reading Minette Walters’ thrillers, re-reading actually, some of the oldest of them such as The Sculptress and The Scorn’s Bridle (I remember seeing these as tv series!). I’ve also been reading scifi novels: Semiosis and Interference by Sue Burke and Ancient Night by Elizabeth Bear. Also read two books by Tiina Raevaara who is a Finnish novelist who has written at least two scifi leaning novels. Not sure about her earlier ones, I have them from the library but need to finish Ancient Night first. I’m on a scifi kick again, just wanting to read scifi, scifi, scifi! 😆 I felt the same way last year too for a bit. Then earlier this year I mostly read Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths and other thriller/detective novels. I’m only on my 30th book of the year at the moment – last year I made it to 50. But for the first time I don’t mind having more than one or two library books on my bookshelf waiting to be read, and that feels good. Back a few years ago when I couldn’t read anything new for two years, once that started to let up, for the longest time I could only have one new book waiting on the shelf – if there were more I’d panic and not be able to read any of them. I still can’t have more than say 7-8 new books waiting, or I start to panic again, but it’s better than it was two years ago. I wonder what’s that all about? Books have always been easy for me, a refuge. I used to have like 15-30 library books at any time at home, reading 3-4 at the same time before that weird two years when I couldn’t read anything new. I didn’t keep a list of books read back then, so I wonder if I used to read more more books in a year back then than I do now?

Categories Blog Memes & Asks Personal Reading

The Friday Five for 12 March 2021: Books

Answers for today’s The Friday Five questions. Pic from Pixabay.

1) Have you read more books, or fewer books, this past year than usual?

I only started to keep a yearly list of novels I read half way through 2019, but I’d say I’ve been reading books about the same as I usually do! Last year I read 51 complete novels, plus all the fanfic and non-fiction books on top of that.

2) What book are you reading now (or what book did you read most recently)?

The Finnish translation of Dead Water by Ann Cleeves. Having some problems getting through it because I watch the tv series version of these too, and remember just enough of the tv version of Dead Water to make it feel like I know this to well to keep reading, but not enough to remember who the murderer is or their motivation! It’s a quandary.

3) What is the best book you read in the past few years?

The whole The Expanse novel series by by James S. A. Corey, by far margin! Also enjoyed ideas in The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin very much, even if the writing was rather dry.

4) Do you read more than one book at a time, or just one?

Currently only one, and that’s because I currently only have books by Ann Cleeves from the library; they’re a series so I have to read them in order. But I often have at least two books under work, in different genres or different writing styles just so I can switch up if I don’t feel like reading a genre or an author that day.

5) How big is your to-be-read pile (or list)?

It’s got about 10 new-to-me authors to try out at the moment, all sci-fi. I’ve been on sort of a sci-fi kick lately when looking for new authors to read. I also got a vague mental list of new releases by the authors I usually read (such as above mentioned Ann Cleeves and James S. A. Corey) but they usually have a lot of people (like 600) queuing up for them when I put them on hold in the library, so I get them when I get them – it could take like eight months.

Categories Blog Reading Stargate Atlantis

Stargate Atlantis Legacy Books

I’ve finally finished reading the 8 book series Stargate Atlantis: Legacy, chronicling the events taking place after the series finale “Enemy At The Gate”.  The eight books are just as good as everyone has been saying they are! In many ways I think they surpass the tv series itself, going in depth into issues that interest me such as Teyla’s Wraith inheritance and the Wraith society and the retrovirus and what it means to be Wraith. I also loved that Ronon got to do stuff he never got to do on the series and be more than just the muscle. I’ve never been fan of Sheppard or McKay, so I was happy to find that other characters get a lot screentime as well, such as Zelenka, more so than in the series IMHO.

Also read The Lost Queen, by one of the authors of Legacy and takes place in that same universe, which was all about the mystery of a disappeared Wraith Queen and even though Sheppard etc. are there too, it was all from the point of view of the Wraith.

A word of caution – I suggest getting all the books before starting, and definitely read them in order – most of them end in a middle of a story, and you’ll be left hanging if you don’t have the next one ready to go! Indeed, I thought that first five or so books would’ve worked even better as a one book instead of five.

These are probably the best tv tie-ins I’ve read since the Star Trek novels published in 1970s through mid-1990s, and I enjoyed them very much. I’ll definitely be checking out these authors’ other Stargate books as well!

Categories Health Personal Reading

Bad Sleep, Dreaming & Liza Marklund’s Panttivanki

I haven’t slept well the past two nights – hardly at all. I still dream every night, and when I sleep badly, seems like I remember the dreams a lot better than when I sleep well :/ Feeling tired and unenergetic, want to go and try to sleep but I know I won’t be able to and that it’s best wait for the night. Which is bloody 9 hours away :/

I’m trying to read Liza Marklund’s latest I got from the library, Panttivanki (Du gamla, du fria). I’ve liked all the other books by Marklund I’ve read, but I’m having a lot of problems with this one – I’ve been trying for at least three weeks, and I’m only at 81 pages 🙁 Normally, it’d take me maybe three or four days to read the entire damn book. A week at the most!

The main character is a Annika, an investigating journalist. She investigates and exposes human trafficing, corruption, crimes, abuse of power, injustice, evil, the truth, that sort of thing. She’s not a snob, interested in maintaining the correct image or putting out airs. She’s not political. Her husband, Thomas, is all of those, and more.

(The rest is behind the cut because of spoilers for Panttivanki (Du gamla, du fria)).

Continue reading Bad Sleep, Dreaming & Liza Marklund’s Panttivanki